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I've really been enjoying going through the books of the first and second Kings with a lot of cool stories in here a lot of Action excitement, you know different kings and wars and stuff going on But honestly, I think we're getting into the section now is of like my favorite parts of these books I like the early parts with Solomon and that you know David's kind of in second Samuel more but like the early rain was really neat But now at the end here because you remember last week We read all about the northern kingdom of Israel being taken captive They lot, you know, they they they lost to the Assyrians Assyrians took him captive and now in this chapter we're gonna see you know a little bit it kind of recovers that that story because That was dealing with the story from the perspective of the kings of Israel Now we're going to Hezekiah Hezekiah the king of Judah and and he's King Writer, you know at the same time that that was going on So we're gonna see King Hezekiah and King Hezekiah if there was ever a hero in the Bible I mean, he's he is a great hero to have a lot of faith we're gonna see right off the bat Hezekiah and just a lot of the cool things that he's done and we're gonna also be you know, if you want to keep right now if you want to get a Reference in You know what give reference in Numbers 21 because we're gonna go there first But we're also gonna be going to 2nd Chronicles 29 2nd Chronicles We're gonna be you know Obviously like we've done in the past going through a lot of the parallel stories getting extra information In here about Hezekiah and some of the things that he's done. So and just like everybody, you know, Hezekiah wasn't perfect Every hero in the Bible has done things wrong. They're sinners. They've made mistakes But I mean you could definitely tell the difference between the heroes and the villains right the heroes and and those that maybe even didn't Do quite that much for the Lord? Hezekiah is one of these kings and is it I mean it I'm excited to preach this and I'll try not to keep you guys Here too late, but there's just so much that can be said in these chapters, especially the ones that are just get more and more exciting There's a lot of things going on. Let's get started here in verse number one The Bible says now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshia son of Elah king of Israel That Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem his mother's name also was Abba the daughter of Zechariah and he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that David his father did look at verse 4 he removed the high places and Break the images and cut down the groves and break in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made for under those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it and he called it nahushtan now Right off the bat we see as a chi as a different type of game a different type of guy someone who's Already sold out to serve the Lord and notice it relates He did good like Dave according to all that David his father did That's not referenced that much when you see the righteous Kings You know most of them are they did that which was right but not like David their father right like like they did good But it wasn't that good hezekiah is someone who his heart was with the Lord his heart was right with God You know David made a lot of mistakes hezekiah made some mistakes, but their his heart was right I mean we read chapter after chapter after chapter after chapter saying but the high places weren't taken down But they still had the groves, but they still had these alt-right. They still had all of this idolatry in the southern It was just there hezekiah comes in and he says we're getting rid of it all we're tearing down those high places We're stamping it in a powder. We're getting rid of it and being done with it This is one of the reasons why I like hezekiah so much just because he did a lot of things he kept the Passover We're gonna get into that that hadn't been kept for a while And he's coming off the heels of someone who wasn't a good king in Judah, so hezekiah is kind of getting things right We had a lot. He has a lot of good preaching going on during this time in Isaiah We're not gonna get to that today, but Isaiah basically has The same story being told of rapshaki coming and you know telling them that you know that they're gonna come and and The king of Assyria is gonna come and destroy them and all this stuff that we see later in this chapter It's all it's like identical story in Isaiah, and you have all this great preaching of Isaiah And I think it's really hit home with hezekiah And not just Isaiah I mean there's other prophets we've I went through that in a previous sermon where we just kind of went through all these different guys That are preaching during this time, and I think it really is has hit home with Isaiah now one of the things I also want to is is that it's pointed out here that wasn't mentioned before this at all In verse 4 there was it says he break in pieces the brazen serpent That Moses had made so we hear about this brazen serpent and not in Numbers chapter 21 and This was when the children of Israel were in the wilderness and Apparently this braids this brazen serpent wasn't a bad thing when it was made. It was a good thing It was actually something that God had Moses make Now we know that the Ten Commandments say not to make any graven images and not to make any idols But if God says to make something it's not a great a graven image You know I mean, it's not it's not against the law of God He's not you know. It's not even a contradiction if he's telling to make some things I mean you could say the same thing about the you know the temple and And the things that were in there and the cherubim right I mean the Bible says not to make images of anything any likeness of The things in heaven or on the earth or under the earth right so, but yeah the Ark of the Covenant But these things were commanded by God as as being something that they were supposed to do obviously not Breaking any of the commandments, so what God did he had Moses make this brazen serpent It was a good thing and what happened was the children of Israel were being plagued because of their own Problems because of their own sin they were murmuring and complaining and stuff like that and then God sent these Serpents to plague them so they were being bit by snakes and in order to be healed What they had to do was look to this braise brazen serpent that Moses had on a rod And then they would automatically be healed so it's like this miraculous thing right and we're gonna read a little bit about it numbers 21 just because what what had happened though is that They had turned that into an idol so what started off as fine as even good as not sin The children of Israel after time they just they turned this thing into an idol and were bowing down and worshiping This snake that it was not intended for at all so as a result of that as a chi is just like well We're breaking that down, too Because at that point they didn't even really need it for what its intended purpose was anyways right so there's no reason for him to You know there's no problem with him destroying it. He's just saying oh you guys are gonna make this an idol We're done with it. We're getting rid of all the idolatry You're in numbers 21 now. Hopefully look at what a verse number five numbers 21 The Bible says and the people spake against God and against Moses Wherefore have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness for there is no bread neither Is there any water and our soul? Loatheth this light bread that light bread is the manna right the the miraculous food that God provided That they didn't have to work for they didn't have to do anything all they had to do is go out and scoop it up Go out and collect it and eat it They're totally being provided for But after a while they get this bad attitude this rotten attitude about us We don't like this light bread. We know now do we not like it They say we loathe it loathe means hate they abhor this light bread Oh, okay, if I have to eat this for another day I'm gonna die that type of an attitude, and you know we need to watch out for this type of an attitude Because this is the spoiled rotten attitude that so many people are so easy to fall into oh I can't believe we have to eat this Oh, I can't believe we have to have rice or beans or potatoes or whatever the case may be I deal with this all the time because I have so many young children that you know that they Have a tendency to get picky about their food and the only reason why they're even able to get picky is because We live in a rich society We have a lot of means even though even those without a lot of money Overall in this country are living very very very well and have options and we have grocery stores And you know things are just not that expensive overall When it comes to the variety of food that we have coming from all over the place and foods that are that are not in season that we could eat year-round I Mean there's so much that we have yet We have a tendency just to complain in murmur instead of being happy with what God has given us and look I don't care how much money you have if you have a lot or a little You be content with what you have you don't complain. Oh, I can't believe we're having this again. Oh, I don't like that I don't want to eat that you know what God did Let's look at what God did in numbers 21 and look think about this their situation is way worse Compared to yours as far as what they have versus what you have they had one thing to eat For their meals every single day. That's it They never had a change of oh, I could eat this or this or this they were provided with manna and they drank water Water and bread is what they survived on for 40 years Keep that in mind and and look at God's attitude towards them You could say wow. Well if I had to eat the same just bread and water every day for 40 years I might be a little you know, have a bad attitude, too Look at how angry that makes God and now compare that to everything else that you have in your life Where you're not just living on bread and water every day of your life Look at verse number six Because that's what they're doing in verse five They were complaining our soul hates and we loathe this light bread verse six and the Lord sent fiery Serpents among the people and they bit the people and much people of Israel died God sent snakes in to bite them and kill them Because that's how much it made God angry to hear the murmuring and complaining and you know what We ought to have a very serious mindset, you know parent husbands and and dads They don't like to hear complaining either because the husband is the one who's providing for the family Just as God provided for the children of Israel when God's providing for his children and his family He hated the complaining so much that he sent in, you know, five fiery serpents Obviously like me as a father, I'm not going to send fiery serpents to destroy my children But the the attitude is still there and we need to realize this, you know When it comes to the house Children wives whoever anyone in the house Needs to recognize, you know, you ought not to be complaining about what your husband is providing for you What your what your father is providing for you? You ought to just be happy with it and be happy with it Because that's the way that God wants you to be and husbands and fathers we need to be content with what God has given us With the ability that we have with this wherever situation we're in whether we have a lot or a little bit might doesn't matter We need to be content too and not be just upset. Oh, man. I can't believe I have to have this or that God takes this seriously God hates complaining and murmuring Because that shows that you are not content that shows that you are dissatisfied with what God has done for you And that is a wicked attitude to have and that's what he's getting across here these people I mean even just having bread and water every day for 40 years. It's a wicked attitude to not be thankful for that We need to have humble hearts and spirits before God So he sent these fiery serpents as a judgment because of their murmuring because of their complaining look at verse number seven Therefore the people came to Moses and said we have sinned For we have spoken against the Lord and against thee Pray unto the Lord that he take away the serpents from us and Moses prayed for the people so they repented they got right they realized Oh, man, we got got angry, you know, we got angry and we got angry and we got angry and we got angry For the people so they repented they got right they realized oh man we got got angry, you know, we're wrong They acknowledged their sin They're repentant and now He they go to moses. So then the lord Moses goes to god verse 8 says and the lord said unto moses make thee a fiery serpent He's god commanding moses to do this. Moses didn't come up with this on his own. He didn't make an idol God said make thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole And it shall come to pass that everyone that is bitten when he looketh upon it shall live And moses made a serpent of brass And put it upon a pole and it came to pass that if a certain serpent had bitten any man When he beheld the serpent of brass he lived now It's a really cool story. It's great. But obvious this is demonstrating a bigger picture and in john chapter three we get a little bit more insight as to what this all means because it's more than just They got bit by serpents and then they're healed by looking at the serpent god's teaching more. There's there's symbolism there And in john chapter three When jesus is talking to nicodemus in verse 14, he says and as moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness Even so must the son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life This event Of the fiery serpent the brazen serpent being put on a stick Before the children of israel is a picture of salvation It was a picture of jesus christ being put on the cross and whoever looks to jesus is healed Of their sins and their transgressions and they receive that cleansing the same way that the children of israel when they got poisoned When they were corrupted by the the deathly bite of a serpent When they looked to that brazen serpent, they were healed just Just like that. No, you know, no medical intervention. They were miraculously healed just by looking at that the same in the same way You know as the same way that that serpent was put on that stick Jesus christ needed to be lifted up because what he did what most did he lift up? That serpent on the staff right in front of the people for them to look on Jesus christ, of course was lifted up from the earth on the cross And we need to look to him to be saved now you might be asking yourself. Well, wait a minute That's kind of a in a weird image of Why how why would a serpent represent jesus christ? Right, then that's a legitimate question to ask you say because normally serpents are Are um associated with satan in the bible right as the devil is is is commonly referred to as being a serpent And obviously we're not saying that jesus is the devil but think about this. It's not it's not that weird at all when you consider The bible says that jesus christ was made sin for us Right that that when he was on the tree, he bare the sins of the whole world in his own body So he was embodying that sin and became sin And what better image to represent, you know extreme sinfulness all the sins of the whole world As a serpent, right? I mean a serpent always represents evil and you know bad things like that. So It it symbolizes him becoming sin for us And taking that punishment for us, right? So that's it's not saying that jesus is a serpent It's saying that he be you know I mean as in a way became that for us because he became sin and he embodied sin for us In order to pay for our sins, that's why it's being Used as a symbol to symbolize our savior being nailed to the cross um Now what I like about hezekiah is that Not only did he remove the high places and break the images down and stuff like that that um I think would be pretty obvious To anyone reading scripture and being true to god's word that those needed to go right that that was uh Something that had to be done cutting down the groves because these are specifically mentioned in scripture Not to have the high places not to have the groves right even in moses law that they weren't supposed to be doing that But what I really like about hezekiah is that he went all the way And even got rid of that brazen serpent when that was being used as an idol Because that's something where someone he could have left that and said well moses made that Right. This is this is a piece. Well think about this. It's a piece of uh of history What's the big thing we got going on today? You know people are all up in arms and upset about these statues to robert e lee And you know these graven images of all these other people all the radio And the whole raisin thing is a whole nother story. It was stupidity anyways But I say let's not stop with those graven images. Let's get rid of all of them I don't know why any christian cares about an idol or graven image being taken down out of this land Let's remove all of them. Hey, let's get rid of the high places. Let's get rid of all these stinking brazen carved images of man And of beasts and of things up in heaven and things under the earth. Let's get rid of all those idolatry Get rid of all those idolatry Get rid of it all let's not stop with just one or two get rid of all of them for all I care But what we see here is that Hezekiah wasn't afraid to make people upset because i'm sure a lot of people are upset especially with the destroying of that serpent This is an important artifact in our religion think about this. I mean hundreds of years ago Think about something being remaining from hundreds of years ago today From the 1600s from the 1500s or whatever, right something that's really old this artifact that was so important in our faith He destroyed it And he did the right thing by the way He didn't he didn't care as much about the tradition He didn't care as much about what people thought about it What he cared about is that people were bowing down and worshiping and made an idol of he said, you know What idolatry is going to be gone from the land? Yeah, it was good while it lasted it served its purpose but let's get rid of it now we're done with it And he got rid of that serpent, you know, I actually get a little bit concerned With modern day christianity making idols out of things that are not inherently bad just as that brazen serpent wasn't inherently a bad thing And what I see happening is people getting a little bit too idolatrous if you will with the cross And you know what that's going to offend a lot of people I don't think it's gonna offend anyone in this room tonight But I had someone come and visit the church once and just asked us, you know One thing that just I don't understand about you at all and he just came and visited like one time was He and I don't remember his exact words. I'm definitely paraphrasing but he was saying he made a comment about us not having a cross At all And I was like, yeah, we're not going to have a cross And it's not because I have any contempt for Jesus dying on the cross. I don't you know, like obviously i'm extremely glad that our savior paid a price for my soul But my concern is that it becomes too much of an idol I mean there's literally been songs, you know, like of like just kneeling down to the cross And people just bowing down and I don't even want to give off the impression of evil, you know what I mean? And you know what i'm more excited about even more than the cross is the resurrection of jesus christ I'm more excited about the empty tomb. I'm more excited about that than a dying jesus You know, the catholic church is the one that has the crucifix which is like basically the dead jesus Hung up all around their their Hung up all around their their You know their places of worship their churches And that that's the big idol for them and they'll bow down to those crucifix and they'll carry them around their neck and use them as a good luck charm Which is really just an idol Seriously, I mean that's what it is. It's idolatry Thinking that you're getting some special powers or something coming from this object It's idolatry And I don't want to have anything to do with it and that's why we'll never have these big images of crosses and You know or like literal crosses outside of the church now Inherently, there's nothing wrong with the cross. It's not even an image of You know an animal or a person or anything like that at least the ones that don't have jesus hanging on it, right? Just just a regular old cross But I think it's getting to a point like this brazen serpent gotten to where people are just really getting way too into it and looking to that more than just They should you know more than its proper role in the history so We need to be worried about and and you know the things with like the the fish and the cars And the doves and all these symbols that try to symbolize your christianity. Well, wait a minute Let's let's just worry about god's explicit laws first When he says not to make any images or any likeness of any Foul in the heaven or any fish in the sea and those are like the two images that people want to use to represent christianity the fish and the in the dove right And you know if you don't think they're idols that's you know, I don't care But I would just say why even get that close to you know, like i'm just Have a little bit more fear of the lord and just say Let we don't need this stuff, you know, we don't need to to show our faith By putting an image of a beast or a four-footed thing or a creeping thing on our car That's not how we need to show our faith. Why don't you show your face instead of by putting an image on your vehicle? Why don't you show your face by giving the gospel to somebody that's going to be way more effective Anyways than putting some stupid fish on your car? When's the last time someone got saved from looking at a fish on the back of a Vehicle or anything's even happened as a result of that It's just to make you feel better like you're showing your faith somehow And you're getting a false sense of actually doing work for the lord I'm against that stuff Let's go back here now to second kings 18 I just I wanted to bring it up because it makes the point that like it gotten out of control with the With that serpent but that hezekiah was man enough and and not just man enough, but love god enough more importantly To just say we're done with it. All we're cleaning house. We're getting right with god. Praise god That's one of the reasons I love hezekiah. Let's keep reading here verse number five He trusted in the lord god of israel so that and this is a great statement Think about this as a testimony these next words. We're going to read imagine if this could be said about your life He trusted in the lord god of israel so that after him was none like him among all the kings of judah Nor any that were before him He was unique No, king after him nor before him was like hezekiah in the way that he served lord Which is also very very important because joseph Is another great king that we're going to get to in a few weeks In a few weeks Who is one of my absolute favorite characters in the whole bible? He got the sodomites out of the land, which is a big thing, you know scored a lot of points in my book For doing that among other things, you know, he he was another very similar character of just getting things right with god in the land But this is this is a great testimony a great story in god's word for god to be describing hezekiah in such a way Very unique person. Let's look at verse number six For he claved to the lord and departed not from following him But kept his commandments which the lord commanded. Moses. He had respect to god's laws He kept the commandments. I mean obviously he wasn't perfect. But you know, he was he was uh, Definitely doing his best to live a righteous life verse number seven and the lord was with him And he prospered whithersoever he went forth and he rebelled against the king of israel and served him not God was with him and god promises that too, you know when you're going to be doing right by god God will be with you when you're in the will of the lord. God is with you And you don't have any reason to fear and he had boldness and he was going to say he said, you know what? I'm, not going to serve you king of israel and the israelians were way more powerful and mighty than judah was Way more powerful they they they're the ones that that took israel captive and remember before israel was Stronger than judah from earlier battles At this time in their history, I mean that was that's that's where they're at verse number eight He smote the phalistines even unto gays and the borders thereof from the tower of the watchmen to the fence city And it came to pass in the fourth year of king hezekiah Which was the seventh year of hoshia son of elah king of israel that shalmaneser king of is Syria came up against samarion besieged it Against samarion besieged it and at the end of three years they took it even in the sixth year of hezekiah That is the ninth year of hoshia king of israel. Samaria was taken so This is going pretty much in chronological order. We read about the you know, samaria being taken in the previous chapter but at this point so everything that we read about hezekiah, you know not uh Bowing down to the king of israel and everything else that happened that that was happening prior To the israelians actually taking samarion Right because we just read about that before this event. So he was he was standing up to them He was beating the phalistines And then it says in verse 11 and the king of israel did carry away israel into israel and put them in halah And in habor by the river of gozan and in the cities of the meads Because they obeyed not the voice of the lord their god, but transgressed his covenant And all that moses the servant of the lord commanded and would not hear them nor do them and again I covered this last week, but it's again just just demonstrating that God's judgment came upon israel and that's why israel defeated him because they did not want to hear the word of the lord They want to have nothing to do with it. They rejected god god rejected them and brought judgment upon them verse 13 now in the 14th year Of king hezekiah did sennacherib king of israel, so now this is a different king You notice it was shalmaneser king of israel that came and and took samaria But now, you know years later The 14th year of hezekiah which has been eight years since samaria was taken basically Now sennacherib king of israel comes up against all the fenced cities of juda and took them so To this point 14 years hezekiah has been not bowing down to israel And he's been resisting them Even after they took israel even after they took samaria and took them captive and defeated them He still wasn't bowing down but now it's the 14th year and israel comes up against them And they actually take the fenced cities around, you know So like the smaller cities not jerusalem, but like some of the smaller fenced cities that had a little bit of fortification They came and were able to take those cities In verse 14 says in hezekiah king of juda sent to the king of israel to lakish saying I have offended Returned from me that which thou putest on me Will I bear and the king of israel appointed unto hezekiah king of juda 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold So he finally just says, okay fine you got me, you know, like i'm sorry I offended And now i'll pay you tribute. So he's giving and he's backing down right? He's no longer being resisting the isrians now This is not something that hezekiah should have done because we're going to see In the next few verses what he does in order to pay off the king of israel He takes the the gold and silver out of the house of the lord, basically In order to pay that and other kings have done that in the past they get scared They were I mean think about it. He's been he's been dealing with this for 14 years You know, it's been wearing on him israel was taken captive a serious continuing to grow in their power And he had a week. He's having a weak point Now this doesn't define him We're gonna see because this chapter doesn't end with the result of of them basically threatening Hezekiah But he remains strong and we'll see that next week But um after all these years of resistance and stuff He ends up just giving in and trying to pay off this year and leave him alone But we see really quickly that this doesn't even work because he gives them the money, right? But then they still don't leave him alone because then they're still coming back and and saying no We're going to take you captive and you know, like this is just going to be the way it is and That's the way it is with bullies. That's why you don't just give in to people who are just threatening you And scaring you and trying, you know And just just trying to extort you and everything else because if when you give in it's never going to stop It's never going to be enough their wickedness is never going to be satisfied and we see that happening on all fronts Not just monetarily but you know when it comes to uh moral things when it comes to things that are morally right or wrong You know the the wicked people this world are never satisfied just like hell is never satisfied They don't you know when they get the christians and the conservatives backing up on marriage backing off on homosexuality backing off on Adultery and fornication and any type of wickedness. It's never enough They're going to keep on pushing and pushing so don't ever give up an inch To these people at all. It's not worth it I don't care how tired you become how weary you get of fighting Never give in and never give up because if you're in the will of god god won't leave you or forsake you God will be walking with you and hezekiah should have had a little bit more faith to trust in god to say nope God is with me. I don't need to pay these guys off with the treasure of the house of the lord That's what he should have done now Again, hezekiah was a great man of god, but they all have their faults everybody else just as we do None of us are perfect. We've all made grievous mistakes in our own lives as well But the lesson we learn from this and from hezekiah's mistake is don't give up to this And it happens in every aspect of life Let's keep reading verse 15 and hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the lord And then the treasures of the king's house So he doesn't just just use, you know the stuff in the house of the lord He also his own, you know, the king's wealth and stuff. He's just paying off whatever he can And it says in verse 16 at that time did hezekiah cut off the gold From the doors of the temple of the lord and from the pillars Which hezekiah king of judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of asir now This is just a shame because you know hezekiah was getting things right with god and one of those things that he did was over overlaid The pillars with gold again because they had already been stripped previously from other kings and he's like no We're getting back to serving god trying to build this thing back up again And and and get back to serving god and then he he Did that and he took that back down again in order to pay off the asirians? So if you didn't catch that because it says he took it from the pillars which hezekiah king of judah had overlaid He was the one that overlaid it. He's the one that took it back down to pay off the king of asiria Verse 17 and the king of asiria sent tartan and rhapsoris and rabshiki from lakish to king hezekiah with a great host against jerusalem And they went up and came to jerusalem And when they were come up they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool Which is in the highway of the fuller's field And when they had called to the king there came out to them eliah kim the son of ilkiah which was over the household And shebna the scribe and joa the son of asap the recorder And rabshiki said unto them speak ye now to hezekiah Thus said the great king the king of asiria What confidence is this wherein thou trusted so basically what happens is that? The king of asiria sends rabshiki and his servants, you know to go and threaten Judah and hezekiah so hezekiah sends his ambassadors out. He stays behind And and this is the message that they're giving him they're saying, you know Because they're resisting again So you're saying well what confidence are you trusting in what what is it that makes you think that you can resist us verse 20? Thou sayest but they are but vain words I have counsel and strength for the war Now on whom dost thou trust that thou rebellest against me And look at just the pride and arrogance going forth from these guys verse 21 now behold thou trustest upon The staff of this bruised reed even upon egypt on which if a man lean It will go into his hand and pierce it So is pharaoh king of egypt unto all that trust on him But if you say unto me we trust in the lord our god is not that he Whose high places and whose altars hezekiah taken away and hath said to judah and jerusalem you shall worship before this altar in jerusalem Now we have a little bit of the information from the beginning of this chapter, but turn if you would to second chronicles 29 Of of hezekiah getting rid of the high places right and and really cleaning things up and getting the idolatry and the Land we're going to see a little bit more about what he did in second chronicles 29, but um If you understand what rapture he's saying what the king of asiri is saying is saying, you know, wait a minute You know if you're trusting in egypt, you know, they're a bruised reed. They're not going to give you strength Don't be relying on egypt to help you out because we're way stronger and tougher and we're still going to defeat you You know don't think that you're going to get help from egypt to save you and then he's saying well and if you're trusting in the lord Right there god if you're trusting in the lord, I wouldn't do that either because he's saying You want to trust in the lord? And and what from their perspective they're saying isn't that he whose high places and altars hezekiah took away So their understanding of worshiping the lord is just all backwards they have no clue What they're supposed to be doing all they're familiar with is what the people had been doing which was completely wrong Right worshiping in the high places up and they look at this and saying well he took away all these places of worship Why do you think the lord's going to protect you now that you took away all of these high places You know, I mean like they're thinking that the lord will be mad at hezekiah for doing those things because he's taken away all these places of worship As opposed to no he's actually doing the right thing They just don't get it all because they're blind because they're not saved. They don't understand the lord at all They just think he's like these other false gods of the land that they had already defeated And they they have no respect for the lord they don't think that he's a god at all They just they just are going to keep on with their war machine. So that's what they're saying to them like isn't this The same hezekiah that that just took down everything so don't trust in the lord for that Look at second chronicles 29 verse 3. We're going to see a little bit more the exploits of hezekiah and the things that he did Verse 3 says he he in the first year of his reign in the first month Opened the doors of the house of the lord and repaired them So right away is his first piece of business, you know how we hear the president If i'm elected president, well, i'm going to do on day one. I'm going to repeal repeal obamacare, right? I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. Like yeah, right. They're always empty promises Well, what did hezekiah do? He wasn't worried about his foreign policy. He wasn't worried about the economy. He wasn't worried about jobs He was worried about getting right with god On day one of his reign. What do you do the first year of his reign the first month? He opened up the doors of the house of the lord and repaired them and he brought in the priests and the levites and Gathered them together into the east street and said unto them hear me you levites Sanctify now yourselves and sanctify the house of the lord god of your fathers and carry forth the filthiness Out of the holy place because they've been corrupted with idols and things like that from the previous king For our fathers have trespassed and done that which was evil In the eyes of the lord our god and have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the lord And turned their backs And they have shut up the doors of the porch And put out the lamps and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the lord god of israel wherefore The wrath of the lord was upon judah and jerusalem and he hath delivered them to trouble to astonishment and to hissing As you see with your eyes, he's saying all the problems that we're having these days is because we're not right with god He said we're getting right with god We're you know People have been so blind and don't understand why all these bad things are happening to us He says I know why it's not happening because I read the word of the lord And this is what we're supposed to be doing and no one's been doing it. Our father's failed us And instead of following the tradition of his fathers That were wicked He says no, we're just gonna we're gonna reset things and get right with god So he explained this is what you're seeing is happening verse number nine for lo Our fathers have fallen by the sword and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the lord god of israel that his fierce wrath May turn away from us my sons be not now negligent for the lord hath chosen you to stand before him To serve him and that you should minister on him and burn incense He also ended up decreeing turn if you go to chapter 30 To hold the passover which had not been done in a really long time and he sent to israel after that They've been taken captive see hezekiah had a view Of not just judah, but of all israel kind of being one he still considered You know the northern kingdom his brethren and you can see he's reaching out He's he wants to get this unity back again, even though they've already been destroyed They've had a lot of wicked kings he's hoping that hey, why don't you guys come down and hold the passover with us? You're our brethren, right? You're supposed to be worshiping the lord, too We're gonna do this. Come on down because ever since jereboam the son of nebad Pretty much people from israel hadn't been coming down to celebrate the passover because they had their false gods set up Even though they were supposed to be going to jerusalem To hold the passover and these feasts and everything else that's dictated in the law of moses But they weren't doing this so Hezekiah has a good heart. He's trying to bring the people back together bring all the people back to god Hey, let's open up the doors of the temple. Let's get things going again. Let's be offering the sacrifices And we're going to do the passover Now if you remember the the the passover supposed to be on the 14th day of the first month At even followed by the feast of unleavened bread on the 15th day So what happens in this passover and I don't think I have my notes to read it I don't think I have my notes to read it but basically because he's still like repairing the house of the lord and getting the priest cleansed to even be able to Sanctify to be able to do the work of the lord because they needed to be sanctified They needed to have sin offering they needed to be Put out from the temple from doing their service until they were clean and holy to be able to serve god again Because none of this has been done So he's getting the levites back in line and back in order to do the service and the priests And what happens is he holds his passover and he asks god god You know, please forgive the iniquity because they weren't supposed to hold the passover Unless they were clean You're supposed to be clean You know not from touching dead bodies all this other stuff, but nobody was clean No one was saying we're just now trying to get right with you god. It wasn't even the right day It was like a month later and he says god just forgive us. We're trying to do what's right Please accept this passover and god listened to hezekiah and he accepted it You know, even though it was different from what they were supposed to be doing every year Special circumstance everything going on. He allowed hezekiah to do that without without problems So it's really cool look at verse number five of chapter 30 here in second chronicles So they establish a decree to make proclamation throughout all israel from beersheba even to dan That they should come to keep the passover unto the lord god of israel at jerusalem for they had not done it Of a long time in such sort as it was written and that's the important as it was written, right? They were doing it in some sort right with their false idols everything else But not the way that was written not the right way not the way that god commanded it to be done They weren't doing it now pay attention to this because we already saw the attitude that israel had right even when they're being judged They still want to have nothing to do with the lord You would think at this point because this has happened years after they've been taken captive So this is the remnant of israel the people who are still left in the land that weren't taken captive He's sending out to these people saying hey come let's have the passover. They should have been humbled by this point It's been years of them being in captivity and being ruled over by asiria. You would think they'd be like, you know what? Yeah, we need to get right with god. Well, let's see what happens. Look at verse number six So the posts went out that's the messengers, right? Went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all israel and judah according to the commandment of the king saying ye children of israel turn again unto the lord god of abraham isaac and israel And he will return to the remnants of you that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of isiria and be not Ye, like your fathers and like your brethren which trespassed against the lord god of their fathers who therefore gave them up to desolation as you see again, looking that Looking at the the verbiage and what's being said there about the reprobation of of israel, right? They rejected god god rejected them. He's saying you know what don't be stiff-necked like them verse eight Now be ye not stiff-necked as your fathers were but yield yourselves unto the lord and enter into the sanctuary Which he had sanctified forever and serve the lord your god that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you For if he turn again unto the lord your brethren and your children shall find Compassion before them that lead them captive he's saying if you just can turn back to god things will get better for you God will have mercy on you. He just wants you to in your heart just to come back to him So that they shall to come again into this land for the lord your god is gracious and merciful And will not turn away his face from you If you return unto him So the post passed from city to city throughout through the country of ephraim and manasseh even under zebulun Look at this, but they laughed them to scorn and mocked This is why they were taken captive this is why the judgment of god was upon them and he just totally rejected them Because even to this point they still don't care they think it's a big joke and they're mocking. Oh, yeah You're gonna hold a pass over. Oh, yeah, that'll be great Hearts completely of stone Don't care at all about the lord now it that was by and large the reaction he got but it does say in verse 11 Nevertheless diverse was some of asher and manasseh and of zebulun humbled themselves and came to jerusalem Some of the people did come It wasn't a hundred percent but the overall reaction was mocking ridiculing have nothing to do with it Definitely not enough of them for god to have had the mercy for them to return Because that's not what happened That never happened because of their stinking attitude of being stiff-necked and refusing refusing the lord Jumped on to verse number 14 there it says and they arose and took away the altars that were in jerusalem And all the altars for incense took their way and cast them into the brook kydron So this was all the the altars of the false gods right the stuff that had been set up in the place of the house of the lord And and they they smashed them broke them up and cast them in the brook kydron and then in chapter 31 Look at verse number one the bible says now when all this was finished all israel that were present went out to the cities of judah And break the images and pieces and cut down the groves and threw down the high places and the altars out of all judah and benjamin In ephraim also and manasseh until they had utterly destroyed utterly destroyed them all Then all the children of israel returned every man to his possession into their own cities This is after they hold the passover and stuff So there's a lot of good that came out of ezekiah holding that passover I mean, they really just kind of cleaned house and a lot of good things happened. So We see all of this had happened Which is why go back if you would to second kings 18, but keep uh, uh, yeah, we're not okay Yeah, you don't have to keep a place there. That's all we're going to read from second chronicles, uh, go back to second kings 18 18 But this is why rapture he's saying like why are you gonna trust in the lord You're the one that's breaking down all these altars and images and stuff like that Like he's thinking that god's not going to be happy with them after doing all those things which in fact God is really happy about that because he got rid of so much wickedness and idolatry and really was cleaning things up and getting people back Into the will of the lord verse number 23 in chapter 18 Now therefore I pray that you give pledges to my lord the king of israel And I will deliver the two thousand horses if thou be able on thy part to set riders, you know, so he's just mocking him, right? He's saying give pledges to my lord the king like basically. Hey, we'll loan you two thousand horses for the battle All right, if you could even find anybody to sit on these horses and go out to fight we'll give you two thousand horses This this is the way he's treating them. I mean, he's just totally mocking him verse 24 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain? of the least of my master's servants And put thy trust on egypt for chariots and for horses He still is thinking that there's no way that they could even do anything without trusting in egypt That's why he keeps on bringing up egypt Because he's saying he's thinking the horse their forces are so small like there's no way you have no chance of defeating us Don't trust in egypt This is what he's saying to him and he's saying that you know, you can't even he said you wouldn't even be able to defeat The small because asyria is this kingdom that's growing in power right so as they take over More countries and more areas those kings become subservient to asyria So then they'll they're called on to fight in these battles so there's various armies and stuff that are now part of the asyrian army or syrian kingdom he's saying like the least of those you guys can't even beat like our our worst company of soldiers Verse number 25 and I and I now come up Excuse me, am I now come up without the lord against this place to destroy it The lord said to me go against this land and destroy it obviously he's lying. So now he's Every tactic he could think of to scare them to to belittle them And to cause them to doubt and not to trust in everything just to get them to give up Is what's being done here this this sanakarib is a good illustration or image of satan the adversary Of doing everything he possibly can to get the righteous to be scared to tremble to question To doubt to not trust in the lord and look you'll notice over and over again how many times he says Don't trust in the lord. What do you think you're gonna trust in god? Oh god's not going to deliver and we're going to keep reading here. We'll see some more of that And he's saying, you know the lord's the one that told me to come up against you and to destroy it Verse 26 then said eliah came the son of ilkiah and shebna and joa unto raveshiki Speak I pray thee to thy servants in the syrian language for we understand it and talk not with us in the jews language In the ears of the people that are on the wall. See they're worried about the people being discouraged right because he's saying all this stuff That's very discouraging So they're trying to mitigate this and say well, hey look we could speak your language So just just talk to us in your tongue, you know, you don't have to talk to us in hebrew tongue Like we understand you let's talk, uh, you know the isyrian language and um But then he says in verse 27, but raveshiki said unto them Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words hath He not sent me to the men which sit on the wall that they may eat their own dung and drink their own piss with you now the reason why he said this is because That's ultimately what happened if they came and besieged Jerusalem So if they set up a seizure around the city All the resources are cut off So what they're going to be reduced to is drinking their own piss and eating your own dung because they're not going to have anything else To eat it's going to cause a famine in the land now I also just want to briefly make this point is that you know, every word of the lord is pure God's word is pure We have no problem with children being in the service and hearing these words because these are not bad words These are not curse words. These are not swear words There's nothing wrong with any word in the bible being spoken in the presence of a child because every word of the lord is pure So if you have some problem with piss or with dung Then that's your problem and don't judge god's word as being Unholy or as being bad or something that's you know I've had people out sowing like like gasp when I said the word hell in front of their child Hell is not a A word that shouldn't be used in certain company. Hell is a word that is appropriate for all people Now it is a bad word because it's a bad place, right? So I want to meet you know I'm trying to be careful choose my words carefully. It is a curse word because hell is a curse Right, but it's not something that we should avoid saying in regular language because it's a real place It's really important and people need to be warned about hell And it's not a a swear word as as our culture would call swear words, right? So any word in the bible is legitimate. It's good. It's pure And if you think that you're too holy for god's word, then then you need to analyze yourself And and maybe consider again judging god's word um As you being better than god's word somehow look at verse number 28 keep reading here Then rapture he stood and cried with a loud voice in the jews language So now he's just completely you know, they asked him. Hey, can you just speak syrian with us? So now he just goes above and beyond just yelling out in hebrew Right so that everybody can hear what he has to say because why because he wants to scare everyone He has no respect for them and they're just coming in trying to to to bully them and get them scared and everything else so he says Uh, they spake in a loud voice in the jews language and spake saying hear the word of the great king the king of asyria Making that king sound really feel the great king the king of asyria He's so mighty and you're so weak and just just really hammering at their psyche at their at their minds trying to get them scared Thus saith the king let not hezekiah deceive you for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand Neither let hezekiah make you trust in the lord Is there anything more satanic than that let not hezekiah make you trust in the lord Don't don't put your trust in god saying the lord will surely deliver us and this city shall not be delivered in Into the hand of the king of asyria hearken not to hezekiah For thus saith the king of asyria make an agreement with me by a present and come out to me And then eat ye every man of his own vine And every one of his big tree and drink ye every one of the waters of his cistern. He's trying to make Captivity sound not so bad Right tell don't trust in god don't trust in your king don't trust any don't trust in anything else We're going to get you anyways. Hey, just give up. It's not going to be that bad They're still going to take him captive he's like, you know what you'll be able to drink out your own cistern Until verse 30, you know, he tells them all these good things. Oh, you'll eat of your own vine You'll eat of your own fig tree. You'll have your own water Well until I come and take you away To a land like your own land a land of corn and wine a land of bread and vineyards A land of oil olive and of honey that you may live and not die. Oh, yeah, except you'll be in bondage And hearken not unto hezekiah when he persuadeth you saying the lord will deliver us Talk about a minister of satan And we need to be aware of the scary people that seem to have a lot of power And maybe have defeated so many other people because that's what happened here This is a scary force someone who's who's conquered a lot of lands Seems to have a lot of power Right in the eyes and fleshly eyes you're looking at someone they have they have a lot of power or prestige They use scare tactics and they'll try to say whatever they can to scare you and to shake your faith And we need to be aware of people like this. It may not be a king It may not be the king of iseria, but there are other wicked people and there's spiritual wickedness in high places and that's who our spiritual warfare is against and you need to be aware of this and don't let them wear you down and Beat you down and get you to the point where you're questioning. God you need to stand firm Don't be scared by these people no matter how much perceived power you think they have because you know what? There's no power except that come from god The the most powerful people in this world god can extinguish them in a heartbeat He could he lifts up and he takes down So we don't have that's why we don't have to worry If the most powerful people come up against you and try to get you To to denounce your faith or shake your faith or not to trust in the lord or whatever the case may be Because if you're doing what's right god's with you And that's the bottom line Let's finish up the chapter here like verse 33 have any of it and see now he's it should be Now he's it shows you he's just he's just comparing the lord to all these other false gods And he has no respect in the lord look at verse 33 Have any of the gods of the nation is delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of asyria Where are the gods of hamath and of arpeth? Where are the gods of seath are bae abhina and iva have they delivered samaria out of my hand? Who are they among all the gods of the countries that have delivered their country out of my hand that the lord? Should deliver jerusalem out of my hand. Well, that's because you don't know the lord Because the lord's actually real and all the other gods were fake But he doesn't care. He's blind. He doesn't know that verse 36 But the people held their peace and answered him not a word for the king's commandment was saying answer him not Now this goes to show what a great leader asikaya was and it shows you the restraint that they had in order to Heed the commandment of asikaya because think about that I don't know about you, but i'd be getting burned up hearing this guy You know talk bad about the lord saying oh don't trust the lord I'd want to be shouting out from the wall saying oh, yeah, dang it, you know shove it sanekarit because You can't do anything, you know and just kind of mouth it off to him. That's that's really actually that one head Having faith in god, right But they didn't do that No one said anything They just let him go why because the king commanded and they were following the rule of the king And that shows you the respect that he had for no one to even To do that And you know why he had that respect Because he had a true faith in the lord because he got things right. He got rid of all the high places He was acting on principle and on integrity according to the word of the lord. And when you do that You will be respected bottom line Even the world will respect people if you have if you can maintain Integrity in your belief You want respect? And especially among among god's people When you have a good testimony and you're walking according to the will lord, you'll be and you know, it's not about lifting yourself up But if you want to do a great work and lead people and be a good leader You're going to need to have people respecting you. The only way you're going to be able to do that is if you're not a hypocrite You're not a hypocrite Hezekiah was acting in a way that was non-hypocritical Because he fully wanted to follow the lord and the commandment keeping sacrifice and doing all the stuff that they were supposed to be doing and as a result People followed his lead I mean that's that's what got me really Excited about going to faith forward when i've been out of church for years and years and years and been saved for a while But but just never really got in a good church There's a good leader there someone who actually lived the way that he believed And that's the example i'm trying to be with this church And that's the example that you need to be if you're going to have in You know the best and most influence on other people's lives Even if you're not a pastor just being able to have a good testimony to influence other people that know you People influence other people that see you saying wow Well, there is something a little bit different because this person actually does take the bible seriously They don't just go to church and then it's everything else goes the rest of the time At home. No, there's a if there's a standard the bible says something that's what we're going to do And that's the way we're going to live by And that's how you're going to have the most respect and influence on people and that's going to also go into helping to to bring people to understand at least the truth because If you're doing what's right, they're going to at least see okay. Well, he's not being Hypocritical like all these other people It turns people off it turns me I turned me off for a long time i'm even attending church just because of hypocrisy Last verse verse 37 Then came eliah came the son of kai which was over the household and shepherd the scribe In general the son of asaph to record ezekiah with a closed rhymes and told him the words of rapture key next week we'll see how he goes to god and trust in the lord and everything and and We have a couple more chapters of ezekiah before we get on to his wicked son Of uh manasseh And then ammon and joseiah and joseiah is really going to be exciting again But uh, that's far as i'm going to pray dear lord. Thank you so much for your words Thank you for these great stories and these great heroes of the faith lord of ezekiah. I pray to please help us to to dedicate our hearts and our minds and our souls to serving you to Wanting to do what's right according to your word and to having this spirit that that it might possibly be said of us To some level of degree that you know before us there was not the light and either shall it be after us The way it was spoken of ezekiah and the way it's spoken of some other Great men of the bible lord help us to have that type of fervency and spirit And desire to serve you dear lord that you can do great things by using us Because we're offering ourselves up as a living sacrifice god We ask for your blessing upon our church And just help us to do your work and to reach as many people as possible the gospel of jesus christ in his name We pray amen