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

Amen. Okay, Isaiah 38, sorry, Isaiah 39. Last week we were in Isaiah 38 where, just to remind you, Hezekiah, do you remember he had this sort of tumour which was killing him and he was told, as much by God through Isaiah as well, he was told he was going to die. So that's pretty rough when you're already sick and then you're told by the man of God there that no, you're going to die according to the Lord. But yet again, we saw Hezekiah just give us this great example of turning to the Lord in prayer which resulted in him being given 15 years to live. There were pictures of Christ's death, burden and resurrection, especially when looking at the 2 Kings 20 account as well. And then with after the healing, Hezekiah's own writings of what happened, not only showing how sick he was, so we looked at that and it sounded pretty rough, but also his healing being used to picture salvation with some truths of heaven and hell in there too. The result of his being saved, a metaphor for salvation was his wanting to tell others and go to the house of the Lord to praise God for the rest of his life. So we saw that on the back of that. It finished with, rather than just his own healing being the reason to worship, the healing done in a way that the sceptic could deny, we saw that. And then it was also the sign, the sun going back up in the sky, picturing the resurrection, which is ultimately what our faith rests upon, the Gospel itself. Verse 20 said, the Lord was ready to save me, therefore will we sing my songs to the stringed 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 it for a plaster upon the boil and he shall recover. Hezekiah also had said, what is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord? And then Isaiah 39 then says this in verse 1, at that time, Merodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a prayer to Hezekiah for he had heard that he had been sick and was recovered. I'd like to pray and then we're going to get going. Father, thank you Lord for this chapter of the Bible. It's a short chapter, but there's some great truths we can look at in here, Lord. Help me to preach them as you want them preached, Lord, and help people to just have a tent of ears and want to apply it to their lives, Lord. Help me to be full of your spirit as I preach this, Lord. And we just ask all these things to be done in Jesus Christ's holy name. Amen. Okay, so let's look at verse 1 again. At that time, Merodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah for he had heard that he had been sick and was recovered. So this all seems to be in fairly quick succession. So after the defeat of the Assyrians in chapter 37, that's what we looked at a couple of weeks ago, chapter 38 began with verse 1. So he's defeated the Assyrians, he then has this horrible illness. Perhaps, maybe, perhaps partly brought on by the stress of the Assyrian army descending upon them. I mean, if anything's going to make you sick, maybe a load of, you know, rabid Assyrians, you know, you're gathering at the walls ready to slaughter, well, probably torture you in horrendous ways first. I don't know, that's going to stress you out, right? And there's a lot to, stress plays a lot in illnesses and sicknesses, as we've looked at previously in the book of Proverbs especially. So maybe that was part of it. He's had the sickness, okay, and recovered though, and now he's being sent letters and are present by this king of Babylon. So we've had the Assyrian army, we've had then the sickness, the recovery, and now he's got these letters. And just to remind you of where Babylon is right now, okay, where we are in the timeline, it's not for the best part of 100 years from this point until the neo-Babylonian empire begins. So it's not that Babylon's this big empire, okay, remember it's the Assyrian empire is sort of the, well, you could say world power at this point, although it's a bit more localised. So it coincided the Babylonian empire, it coincides with the fall of Nineveh at their hands in 612 BC. So we're now around sort of, you know, 90 odd years from here. So at this point in time, Babylon though was apparently maintaining independence from Assyrian rule for over a decade, which makes sense with them sending gifts and stuff to the people that have resisted, right. So the secular history says that under this king, Merodach, Baladan, they were resisting Assyrian, the Assyrian empire, they were independent from them. So he apparently took the throne back from Assyrian control. So you can see there, therefore, why you seek allegiance with Hezekiah, who had just resisted the Assyrian conquest, right. So there's some sort of allegiance he's maybe seeking here, some sort of friendship it seems. Verse one, just to remind you again, it said, at that time, Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that he had been sick and was recovered. Now there's a saying in life, you might have heard this before, now apparently this proverb comes from some imam, is what people claim, which is the enemy of my enemy is my friend. You might have heard that before, yeah, I'm sure most people have heard that. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, it's kind of worded in different ways, my enemy's enemy's my friend, etc. And even without the saying, I think that it's something that many probably would naturally lean towards. So befriending someone with a common hatred for someone else or something else, right, that's kind of quite a natural thing to do, isn't it? You know, that's something, it almost feels like a good thing to have in common with someone. And a lot of the time you might ignore so many other things and think, well, nothing wrong with, I want to be friends with this person because they also hate whoever it is. They also are an enemy of this person, whoever it is. Elevating someone in their standing with you because they share a common enemy in life, that's quite a common thing, right? You might have seen that around. You see it in the workplace sometimes, right? Often it's like a common hatred for the boss, but it can be for someone else. There might be someone that's kind of a problem in the workplace and people kind of seeking all those allegiance because you can see they both hate this person, or they both feel they're some sort of enemy, right, or something like that. You see it in the online world a lot. So you see people in different things, if you ever look at sort of online sort of arguments, debates in Christianity and other places, well, a lot of the time people will seek allegiance with others who share their hatred. A lot of the time they'll sort of overlook all sorts of things. When it's come to people that hate our sort of church, if you've ever seen this, I mean, it doesn't matter what they believe, it doesn't matter what background they come from, what weird salvation sort of beliefs they have and everything else. As long as they hate our church, or whatever church it is, whatever, then they're happy to all be friends, right? So it's this fleshly desire as well for that. But you do see it within the church house as well sometimes, as well as you see it maybe, you know, someone notices someone else has kind of got a problem with someone and they do, and they'll start seeking allegiance, and often that can be with the pastor maybe as well, or someone else in the church. So this is just a natural thing you see in life, so the proverb, which isn't obviously a proverb of the word of God, isn't sort of some groundbreaking thing, it's quite a natural, I believe, a natural desire there. The problem is though, is that just because you share a common enemy, it doesn't necessarily mean that person's your friend, okay? So it's not a sensible thing. In fact, often those with the biggest axe to grind will often use others to fulfil that purpose. So there are people that are just unscrupulous with this sort of thing, they've got a problem with someone in whatever area, whatever it is, and then they're almost seeking people to join with them. It's not that they like you, it's not that they've got anything necessarily in common with you, it's not that they want to be your friend, they just want someone else to be an enemy of their enemy, right? They want someone else to then befriend and to make their team bigger or whatever it is. And then what then happens with that, a lot of the time then there's flattery, gift giving, etc, which is what we see here in verse one. At that time, Merodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah. And that's not in there, there's no coincidence there, he's sending a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that he had been sick and was recovered. Now just to make it clear, and I like to remind people of this, it's not that all gift giving is bad, okay? Sometimes it's nice to give people gifts, often it comes from a good heart, but there are those that use gifts to manipulate you, and you've just got to be aware of that, right? And it's not always the nicest thing to hear preached, and it's not always the nicest thing to preach, but you know, for me as a pastor, and it really should be for any believer, so it's not just for me, the biggest concern with this sort of thing is the church house. We should care about the church house, shouldn't we? We should care about this sort of thing, we should care about people that may all come in and, you know, sadly this is the way it is, it will try and manipulate people, gift giving in various ways, it could be gifts of their time, gifts of their, you know, gifts, whether it's physical gifts or other type things, favours, etc, and it's not that those things are bad, but the problem is when they're trying to buy and flatter you for their own gain, and that's something we have to be aware of, right? Usually to do what? To sow false doctrine, to cause division, etc, to gain people to their, you know, whatever their goal is, whatever the thing that they're trying to achieve is. Now Merodach Baladan, I believe here, is lightly picturing the devil, or some sort of devil you could say as well, he's sending his messengers to Hezekiah. Now turn to 1 Peter chapter 3, 1 Peter 3. Now additionally, if Hezekiah's recovery also pictured salvation, isn't this a common theme for many after salvation? And for many it's straight after, so that's when the false prophets move in to turn heads, don't they? Pull you into bad churches, false paths, etc. I don't know if any of you, I know I've spoken to people before about this, after they got saved, suddenly it was, I know with me it was Jehovah's Witnesses were on my case, every, I just suddenly bumped into them every time I went into central London, they were just everywhere, and then it was like, well I resisted them for a while, then they just disappeared, and I got to the point where I was, I'm looking forward to seeing these guys, telling them how they're false, how they got this wrong, their false Bible version, I just never saw them again, you know, but probably at the beginning when I was probably weakest, when I maybe could have been distracted, had my head turned a bit, not sure, had doubt put in me and stuff like that, that's when they were on my case, and many I've heard say similar stuff, after salvation, false prophets, weirdos, you know, just other like weird beliefs, other things come in as a temptation, and like I said, if Hezekiah's recovery pictured salvation like we saw last week, this is a common theme, right, so if you're recently saved, basically beware, if you recently say beware, because you know, this stuff happens, Matthew 7 15, you have to turn there, Jesus said beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, that the clothing, they look like sheep, and again, depending on what your idea of a sheep is, depends on what clothing is going to be effective, right, but inwardly they are ravening wolves, so it's not that they're, it's not that, oh well, you know, they're just a bit, some people just believe a bit, some people just come to a church like ours, it's like that guy the other week, yeah, the guy was, it wasn't just, oh well, he just believed a bit different, they knew full well, you know, this, the guy who's been, who's so, so confident in his false beliefs, they don't, you don't just turn up to a church, oh let's just try this one out, he knew exactly what we believe, because he said to me, I take issue in some of the things you preach, so why are you here, you're here to just cause trouble, cause problems, cause division, accuse someone of saying something and acting in a way that wasn't entirely true, then accuse, then cause more of a scene, then spend 10 minutes leaving when you've been told to get out, and this is just common stuff, right, and they come to you, it's not that they just believe slightly different, no, they're coming to you as, they're ravening wolves, whether, how much of it they admit to themselves, that's debatable, right, but that's the reality, so with recently saved people, that's obviously what they're, you know, for him he would love to have had someone recently save someone a bit weak to overhear some of it and be unsure and be like, well I just don't know what to believe, or it's, I mean, I can't believe it, people getting kicked out of that place for, I mean, was it just for disagreeing that, and then they're shouting out things like, this isn't very Christ-like, and all this other stuff, and it's like, but, and for someone weak, they're going to maybe get a bit unsure about that sort of thing, right, so that's obviously one of the goals, and that's just a recent example, but you're not off the hook just because you've been saved a while either, so okay, well luckily you've been saved a while, it's all right, or maybe even I've been saved and I've been reading my Bible a while, because, because salvation, you know, you could have been saved 10 years ago and never opened the Bible, you're still a babe in Christ, right, but if you've been in the Word, maybe coming to church and everything else, either way, you still have to be strong to resist them, don't you? In 1 Peter 5, if you turn there, did you turn to 1 Peter 3, or was it 1 Peter 5 I asked you to turn to, verse 8 to 9 says, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world, so this is, look, just believers in general, you need to be sober, that's an ongoing process, and it's not, and obviously that would include just keep away from alcohol, drugs, all that stuff, but just being, you know, kind of having your wits about you, right, not being one of these that just head berries and just wants to pretend that everyone is nice, everyone is lovely, there just couldn't be any problems, it's just all those, those stupid, you know, exaggerating pastors, you just think everyone's out to get them and everything else, no, we're constantly being warned, be sober, be vigilant, have your eyes open, look out for this sort of stuff, we all have a responsibility in the church for that sort of thing, again, not to make it, I always say the word just because I like, things, things that catch you good to have in your mind, we don't want this to be witch hunt baptist church, yeah, we're not just constantly just kind of eyeing everyone as they must be wicked, and you've got to be careful to then just have what maybe the Bible would call evil surmisings, where you just think everyone's bad, right, but on the same hand we've got to be vigilant, aren't we, so we should have our eyes open because we're doing a good work here as a church, you know, yeah, no, I'm not saying we're all anything special, but we're out, we're soul winning, we're winning souls, so we need to be vigilant, because you're adversely the devil is a roaring lion walking about seeking him, so he's looking for someone to devour, whom resists steadfast in the faith, so how do you resist him? By being steadfast, which is fast fixed, firm, in the faith, how do you get fast fixed and firm in the faith? Through the word of God, isn't it, reading your Bible, being in church, listening to preaching, studying the word of God, being in prayer, that's how you get, that's how you resist, so you could be saved for 20 years, you could be in church for 20 years, reading your Bible, doing all the things you're meant to do, and then you let it go and your faith will become weaker, you won't be as steadfast, you won't be as firm fixed, and you are now someone that he's looking to devour, that's more likely to devour. He said knowing that the same afflictions accomplishing your brethren are in the world, which I think he's saying, basically look, you're going to have to go through the same sort of stuff, you're going to go through the same afflictions, but you need to resist steadfast, don't let it pull you out of the faith. What was Hezekiah's response then? Did he resist steadfast in the faith? Let's go back to Isaiah 39 with that in mind, knowing that look, this is something that happens, this is for me giving that picture of that, did he resist? Well verse 2 said, And Hezekiah was glad of them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not. Now you read this and you think, what on earth? I don't, yeah, you know, he's got through the Assyrians, all the trials and temptations with him, you know, letters, threatening letters, all this sort of stuff, you know, is that, you know, you can understand that was a big problem, but he got through it well, didn't he? Laying it out before the Lord, bringing it to the Lord in prayer, he's got through the terminal illness too, and I mean, when you look at that second part of chapter 38, he really went through it, didn't he? And you think, he got through this, he got through it, he prayed to the Lord, he just turned in prayer straight away, even having been told you're going to die. He's been this great example, especially in prayer. I mean, for me, Hezekiah, you know, as we've studied this out, Hezekiah is a great example of prayer, isn't he? And now he's inviting the King of Babylon's messengers in to show off all this stuff. So what happened, Hezekiah? You know, this great example, he's been like the hero, isn't he, in a way, of Isaiah. He's been, you know, he's a hero in 2 Kings, in those chapters, you know, 18, 19, 20, and then it's like, what's happened? Well, what you need to do, I believe, is turn over to 2 Chronicles 32. So the 2 Chronicles 32 account, I think, helps us understand what's going on here, what's happened to him. So, just to remind you, Isaiah 39 said, At that time, Merodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters in the present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that he had been sick and was recovered. And Hezekiah was glad in them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, Hezekiah showed them not. So that was Isaiah 39. You're in 2 Chronicles 32, and I want to look for verse 22. So 2 Chronicles 32 and verse 22 says, Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side. And many bought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah. So it wasn't just the Lord, it was also to Hezekiah, so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth. So perhaps that was a part of how he built up his wealth. He was given all these, because remember he'd given all this stuff too, it came from the from the house of God, but he'd given all this gold and silver to Sennacherib, or here he's being given all these presents, the Lords, there's all this stuff coming in, so maybe that's kind of where it's building up again. But what happened is his wealth built up, and something else built up as well. Verse 24 said, In those days Hezekiah was sick unto death, and he prayed unto the Lord, and he spake unto him and gave him a sign. But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him, but his heart was lifted up, therefore there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem. So Hezekiah didn't render or maybe give back according to the benefit or favour, profit we might say, done unto him. So either, you could probably apply that to either the presence or the healing. So he didn't give back to God what was due, which could be glory, could be the glory for the healing, could be the, do you remember I mentioned last week, maybe he's going, you know, well I came up with this good fig remedy, maybe he's convinced himself that he got it all sussed himself, well I went to the right people, you know, and we worked out about the figs or something, maybe it was that, maybe, maybe fulfilling those vows to be praising him in the house of God, do you remember he's making those vows, I'm going to, I'm going to praise you for this, I'm going to come and sing to you all the days of my life in the house of the Lord. But I was thinking perhaps even it's talking about the first fruits of all those presents. Remember we've just seen he's been given all these presents, it said he rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him. And maybe, maybe there's that as well, but perhaps it was all of it, perhaps it was all of it, I think it probably was, right, because it probably goes hand in hand. You're not giving to God the glory, you're not giving to God the first fruits, you're not, you're just not giving God what he's meant to have, right. Now why didn't he acknowledge the Lord, why is he not acknowledging him in all these things? Well it said for, in verse 25, for his heart was lifted up. So another way of saying that is that he got haughty, puffed up, prideful, right, and we see that in the following verse as well, it's a prideful heart. So the Lord blessed Hezekiah with health, wealth, and prosperity, basically, and it resulted in Hezekiah getting lifted up. Which I find rather ironic because you've got these people across the world desperately seeking health, wealth, prosperity, right. Health, wealth, prosperity, preaching, with the result here with someone as great as Hezekiah, was it his heart was lifted up? Sounds to me like it's not a great thing to be seeking, right. And again, I'm not saying, you know, people go too far with this, you don't have to seek the pious poverty, right. Just like, I just need to make sure I have nothing, don't even have two pennies to rub together, then I'm going to be really holy, right. No, but what happened when he was blessed with all this stuff? His heart was lifted up, wasn't it? So sounds to me like it's not a good idea to be blessed with all that stuff. And let's be honest, when you look at those types of preach that and teach that, well, they're usually completely prideful, aren't they? Prideful with the wealth that the devil has given them. Anyway, and here's the thing with that, maybe on a lesser extent, maybe we need to remember that the next time we bemoan our health, the next time we get frustrated at maybe struggling financially, our lack of wealth, maybe remember that, well, at least you're not going to get your heart lifted up, you know. Maybe when you have a bit of poor health, at least your heart's not going to be lifted up, right. Maybe when you're not really, when you're struggling financially, at least your heart's not going to be lifted up, and your heart being lifted up is worse than you struggling in those areas. Hezekiah got prideful, it's what was lifted up, and the result was what wrath upon him and his people. And I'll tell you something, if you're a bit unhealthy, or you've got some health issues, or you've got some wealth issues, that doesn't result on wrath upon you and your people. So it sounds to me like that's a better option. So just something to think about next time, you're just thinking, oh, why can't I have this, why can't this go well for me, why can't I be healed from this? Well, maybe it will help you stay humble. But keep a finger here and go back to Isaiah 39. So keep something here in 2 Chronicles 32, and go back to Isaiah 39, and while you're turning, I'm going to just quote to you Proverbs 29 23 says, a man's pride shall bring him low, but honor shall uphold the humbling spirit. And this was a low point for Hezekiah, okay, this is a pretty dishonorable thing to do, really. Verse 2 said, and Hezekiah was glad of them and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures, there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah showed them not. I mean, that was a long old tour, wasn't it? I mean, showing off like that is pretty low, isn't it? That's pretty low, everything, he showed him absolutely everything. These are like messengers, like ambassadors from Babylon, and he's just showing them absolutely everything, it's not even a king himself, it's not like he's walking around with the king of Babylon, which, by the way, wasn't like some big empire, it was just like a small little kind of region at this point, it wasn't like, oh, he's with at least a kind of contemporary, you know, a fellow king, it's like the messengers, they didn't ask to see anything, he's just, not that we can tell, you can kind of imagine maybe these messengers just going, oh, well, it's at the time, got to go, like when he's on to like the fifth kind of, you know, pool of wealth, he's showing them and showing them the next thing, he's like, oh, have I shown you my horses yet? And they're just like, yeah, great, yeah, come on, it's like that, I don't know if you, have you ever like been, have you ever been like around someone's house, he's like, just moved into a new house, and they're like, they want to give you the tour, it's like, I don't care what your bedroom looks like, I don't care what you, I don't care, like, I don't need to see your bathroom, but they're like, oh, oh, I'd love to, let me show you around, it's like, well, I need to see your house, then we're going to stay here, I don't need to see your house, and it really, it's showing off, isn't it, people just love to show off, some people are just like, they're unscrupulous with it as well, and here it sounds like, here's a Kyle, he just went into full showing off mode, and people can do this with other things as well, it's like they get some success, the next thing, they're showing off like they've achieved something, and remember, this is, this is a believer here, so where does it ultimately come from, from God, but he's showing it off as if it's come from him, and like I said, like, you get it with other areas as well, you get it with people, just in areas of their life where they just, they just so want to show off and get some sort of credit for something, well, what do you need when that happens, so if you ever get like that, we could probably all get like that at times, you know, I feel like having a little show off about something, yeah, just to, you know, lift yourself up a little bit, you feel like maybe your ego's suffering a bit, I need a little boost here, let's have a little bit of showing off, right, what do you need, well look at verse three, then came Isaiah the prophet, that's what you need, and the king Hezekiah said unto him, what said these men, from whence came they unto thee, and Hezekiah said, they have come from a far country unto me, 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, now at least he was honest, he'd go, oh well, just saw a couple of bits, oh they asked to look about, and I just kind of showed them this, he's just like, honest, yeah, they've seen absolutely everything, you rumbled me Isaiah, it said, then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord of hosts, behold the days come that all that is in thine house, 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 begin, shall they take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Okay, so really that's some hard preaching, isn't it? I mean that is hard preaching, you know, other men of God have gone and basically confronted kings in the past in Judah and in Israel and ended up getting, being in a bad way for it, right, imprisoned, worse, beaten up, you know, and other such like things. He got some hard preaching, and make no mistake, this is legitimate hard preaching, because some people like to, some people claim to like hard preaching, and look, some people, and understandably, like, preaching can be enjoyable sometimes, you can be a fan of preachers, that's not, that's not a bad thing necessarily, but what many people mean is they like hearing preaching on things that don't affect them. Yeah, I mean that's enjoyable, isn't it? You know, when the pulpits thumped and you're preaching on sodomites, you're preaching on Jews, as long as you're not a sodomite or a Jew, and I don't think we've had any in here, the ushers have been checking carefully, okay, the reality of it is, is that stuff's easy, it's not, it's not hard, you know, it's not hard to preach either. I mean maybe a little bit harder here due to legal issues, but you know, it's not, on the whole, that stuff, it's, in the moment, it's easy to preach, right, less literally like a curly whirly walked in here and stuff, and from up the road, that might make it a little bit more difficult, right, if you preach on the Jews, or you know, if like, if we let Mickey come in with all his buddies, maybe the sod preaching would be a little bit less comfortable to preach, but the reality of it is, it's easy, and it's easy listening to, really, it's enjoyable, and you can be like, wow, you know, but it's, I'm not, look, there's a time and a place for it, I'm not saying that, okay, so I'm not knocking people that preach that stuff, you know, I preach that stuff sometimes, there is a time and a place for you, you know, some of that stuff is important, especially for our own safety around these people, our kids' safety around these people, to know the truth about, you know, who really is God's chosen people, stuff like that, but there is a call for it, turn to Proverbs 15, by the way, but people, some people like the shouting and pulpit banging, they like to see the energy, and it's nice to have some energy in the room, as long as it doesn't apply to them, so it's, oh, I love it, love the hard preaching, I'm here for hard preaching, and then it applies to them, and it's like, and suddenly they don't love it so much, right, now, like I said, wickedness needs preaching, but I'll tell you what's life changing, life changes when a preacher preaches something that pricks you, now, it's life, but the thing is, that doesn't make it life changing, that makes it potentially life changing, it's potentially life changing, but now you have the choice to make it life changing, it'll only help you if you want it to, won't it, that's what it comes down to, it'll only help you, it will only help your life if you want it to help you, if you're humble enough to take it on the chin and try to change your ways, and not try to find ways out of it, and find ways to just, any which way to not have it apply to you, any which way to disqualify the message one way or another, Proverbs 15 says this in verse 31, and it's been a while now, since we're there probably several months, Proverbs 15 31 says, the ear that heareth the proof of life, abideth among the wise, now it's not just someone that, oh well, they've just heard it, that's, when it's all about hearing it, it's someone that's actually paying attention, someone that's listening, that's wanting to apply it, and you know what, that person, that, that ear that does that abides among the wise, that's a wise thing to do, verse 32, he that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul, basically you're doing yourself no good at all, but he that heareth the proof getteth understanding, isn't that something that we want, with all our getting we want to get understanding don't we, so it's your choice basically at the end of the day isn't it, what's to stop you hearing it though, well verse 33, the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom and before honor is humility, it's humility, it takes humility, humility to accept that you need instruction, we all need instruction, we just need to be humble enough to accept that, humility to accept that you don't have it all solved, it doesn't matter, how many times you've read the bible, how many sermons you've listened to, you don't have it solved, none of us do, it takes humility, and for us usually, usually here it's just general preaching really, I mean that's the reality of it, I mean I very rarely name anyone's name, especially not someone in here, you know unless I'm being nice about them, I mean here Hezekiah had Isaiah literally like in his face telling him, I don't know do you reckon he shouted at him, I thought maybe maybe he did it right, and as much as you might look, people like to tell themselves that I'm preaching at them, usually I'm not by the way, okay, so it's actually rare that I'm just, I'm going to preach at that, you know sometimes I, you know I see something here, something like maybe that needs preaching at, but I really try not to do that, and but people kind of think that you are anyway, and you know what that is, that's the Holy Spirit convicting you, and if I am then, amen, great yeah, if I'm like actually that person needs a sermon on this because I can see some issues in their life, it's not out of hatred, it's not because ah let's all get them, watch them squirm, you know, so you see it's awkward, it's uncomfortable, I hate it, sometimes I'm like going for a bible study and it's like man like oh that probably does apply to so and so, but hey ho, if it does it does, if it doesn't it doesn't, it's going to be, it's not company, it's not fun, it's not like you know, but I think people tell themselves that, but it is just general preaching, you're not getting named, not getting named and shamed, but you know what it is though, when that happens, maybe it is the Lord preaching at you, maybe it's the Lord preaching at you, right, no I'm not the Lord, but I believe that God uses me to get a message to you, but you still have to respond, and the Lord was preaching to Hezekiah here, he said, then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord of hosts, verse five, verse six 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. So he said, you know all that stuff that you were showing off, it's all going to be gone, he said, and of thy sons that shall issue from thee which thou shalt beget shall they take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Now turn over to Daniel one to see this fulfilled, Daniel chapter one. See it wasn't just Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, okay, so in Daniel one we see that it was those of the king's seed too, like we've just seen prophesied here, so being sons or grandsons, great grandsons, great great grandsons I believe of Hezekiah. Daniel one verse one says this, Daniel one one says, in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem and besieged him, and the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand with part of the vessels of the house of God which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his God, and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his God, and the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs that he should bring certain of the children of Israel and of the king's seed and of the princes, children in whom was no blemish but well favored and skillful in all wisdom and cunning in knowledge and understanding science and such sad ability in them to stand in the king's palace and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans, and the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat and of the wine which he drank so nourishing them three years and at the end thereof they might stand before the king. Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, unto whom the prince of the eunuch gave names for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar and to Hananiah of Shadrach and to Mishael of Meshach unto Azariah of Abednego. So it does sound like they were made eunuchs, doesn't it? I don't know if you, when you read like later chapters of Daniel, maybe you forget that it sounds like he was made a eunuch, and if you're wondering what that means it usually refers to someone being castrated, okay, and I don't know how they did it, I don't really want to think about that, okay, but the word does literally mean a bed keeper, okay, so someone working the bedroom in palaces and mansions of the wealthy and commonly they were castrated so there was no, what would say, virility or desire in them towards the mistress that they were serving, right, so they could be trusted in those positions. And just to make it clear, it's not talking about sodomites, some people try and like, oh they've decided eunuch must mean something, no it's not talking about sodomites, okay, this is, a eunuch is someone that's been castrated. However we see, I think it's in Matthew 19, the Lord just using the word to just refer to people that have no desire, right, people that are able to basically serve God without that burning desire for, like the Apostle Paul was able to for example, but also he says there are those that are made eunuchs and that's by castration and those that are born eunuchs, but basically that's what happened to these boys, right, along with those descendants of the king too, because we just saw, I think in the beginning, in the verse, where are we, it said in verse, was it verse three, he said to bring sudden of the children of Israel, there we go, and of the king's seed and of the prince's, so of the king's seed, of the prince's, so they're different leaders, so that's the children being brought there, and then of that is Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and they're basically castrated as prophesied like we saw by Isaiah in chapter 39. So that's an example of that being fulfilled. Well back in Isaiah 39 verse 7 it said, and of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away, and there shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon, which just, just to think about this, he's just survived the Assyrian siege. This must have been a pretty startling thing to be told of, don't you think? You've just gone through all of that, you got through it, God's come through for you, he's just healed you from that disease and now you're being told, yeah, by the way, your great great whatever grandsons are going to end up getting castrated after they're carried away into Babylon and basically serve as a eunuch, which is pretty degrading, isn't it, really? I mean, what on earth, he must just be, what on earth, right? Especially as it was the Babylonian's hesychiah just entertained, so this on the back of him just entertaining them, showing them everything, bringing them in, like, oh well they've come with a present, they must like me because we don't like the Assyrians, come on in, and just like bringing them around and letting them ultimately do a diligent search, even if it wasn't fulfilled for, you know, the best part of 100 years after. But back to the previous point, okay, with that, just because someone seems like your friend doesn't mean they won't end up being your enemy, and that happens in life, doesn't it? People that you think are a friend of yours and then in the future they end up being your enemy, so you've got to be careful, right? You've got to watch out. So hesychiah, okay, he got told that the result was that everything would be taken, including his great grandchildren. It said in verse 8, back in Isaiah 39, then said hesychiah 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. Now this seems like a bizarre thing to say, and at first glance it seems like just a strange ending of pure selfishness from hesychiah, doesn't it? You just look at that and you just say, well on earth hesychiah, you know, you're like, oh well great, as long as it doesn't happen to me, right? But having looked at this, I don't believe that's what he's saying. So look again at 2 Chronicles 32, if you kept your finger there. So 2 Chronicles 32, we've just seen him just say, Isaiah just said to him, right, well basically your kids are going to get taken away, turned into eunuchs etc. He said, oh good is the word of the Lord which thou has spoken, he said moreover for there shall be peace and truth in my days. But look at 2 Chronicles 32, look at verse 24, 2 Chronicles 32 verse 24 says, in those days hesychiah was sick to the death and prayed unto the Lord and he spake unto him and he gave him a sign. But hesychiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him, for his heart was lifted up, therefore there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem. Which is where we got to in Isaiah, okay. Well then the 2 Chronicles account says this, verse 26, notwithstanding hesychiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of hesychiah. So firstly it wasn't just hesychiah who got prideful, but the rest of Jerusalem too, okay, so first truth that we see in that verse, okay, they all had to humble themselves. And you can imagine maybe the defeat of the Assyrians being a big part of that, right, you know, we just, you know, God's just come in, it's wiped out 185,000, they probably thought they were pretty special, right. But there's also, look, there is obviously a warning there, you could say maybe part of that was the influence of their leaders, or something to watch out as a pastor, you know, if we get prideful maybe the effect is those following do. But also parents, we need to be aware of that as well, right, if you're a parent, you know, and you're just kind of, and you know, sometimes, I don't know, sometimes dads, we can do it as a joke, can't we, act like we're like supermen and stuff, you know, don't want like, especially the little ones, you can con them for a bit longer, can't you. But maybe we have to be careful because, look, even if it's in jest, and just being prideful, and, you know, it does rub off on other people, doesn't it, right. So notice how Hezekiah in the inhabitants of Jerusalem, humbling themselves, was what resulted in it not coming in his days. So it said in verse 26, notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah. Keep that in mind, verse 27 said, and Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honour, and he made himself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of pleasant jewels. Storehouses also for the increase of corn, and wine, and oil, and stalls for all manner of beasts, and coats for flocks. So it looks like things continue to go well, would you agree as well, right? Moreover, he provided him cities and possessions of flocks, and herds in abundance, for God had given him substance very much. This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David, and Hezekiah prospered in all his ways. That's something I believe it's talked about that he'd previously done, that we saw was something he cut off the water from outside for when the siege was to come. First, so he went, howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the prince of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him to try him that he might know all that was in his heart. So no, they didn't come for the wealth tour, it seems that they come to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, be it the defeating of the Assyrians and his miraculous healing from certain death, but I think where it says that God left him to try him, you could say well God didn't for example send Isaiah to warn him first. He let Hezekiah show his pride, didn't he? Now was it for God to know, or could you read that and say it was for Hezekiah to know all that was in his heart. He said God left him to try him that he might know all that was in his heart. Either way, because God knows what's in her heart, but yeah maybe it's maybe it's meaning for it to be shown to God, or maybe it's for Hezekiah to know what's in his heart, because either way, either way it had the desired effect. Verse 26, just to remind you, said notwithstanding, Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, said the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah. And sometimes it takes you to mess up to then get things right, doesn't it? Someone could, I could shout from the pulpit about pride, or I could even be saying some of you in here are full of pride, some of you in here are haughty, but sometimes it takes it to you to actually display that clearly, and to be able to reflect and be like man what was I doing for you to really accept it, doesn't it? Maybe that's a good way to look at things when you do mess up, do you think? So when you do, because sometimes like we can mess up, we can mess up big sometimes, right, in various ways, not just with pride, just in various things, right, and you get it wrong and you mess up, and maybe you, you know, you come back from a conversation thinking what was I talking about? Why do I act like that? Why do I respond like that? Why do I behave like that in this situation, or why? And sometimes it can take that, and sometimes it can be worse, I don't know, it'd be like you've done something really bad, maybe you got into a bad sin, or whatever it is, maybe it takes that failing for you to really accept that problem, and maybe you could look at it like that and take that comfort from that, and take that positive from it. Some of those people find it hard, especially when they constantly messing up, constantly getting things wrong, they feel like they're just constantly being exposed in terms of their weaknesses in life, but there's something to take from that, that when that does happen it, you're able to address it, you're able to be honest about it, and may be able to change it. So basically it's an opportunity to address the problem. He said in verse 32, now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his goodness, behold they're written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. Verse 33 said, and Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honour at his death. In Manasseh his son reign in his stead. So all strange words for someone who seemed to end Isaiah's account of him celebrating that he's going to be all right. He's like, I'm all right mate, you know, it just doesn't fit, does it, for me. So here we saw that he and the people humbled themselves, resulting in God's decision to forego the punishment in his days. Now look at Isaiah 39 again with that in mind. So we've seen at some point him and the people humbled themselves. God then decided to forego the punishment in his days. That was a result we've just seen clearly in 2 Chronicles 32. Now look at Isaiah 39 in verse 3. It said, Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah said unto him, What said these men? For whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They have come from a far country unto me from Babylon. Verse 4, 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. So it's around this point that he humbled himself. Now that could be part of it, it might not, right. But remember the result was that the Lord's wrath didn't come in his days, which is what Isaiah now prophesies. So here we've just seen that he's kind of just been honest. Maybe this is a humbling point. Are we seeing every word that was spoken? No, Isaiah doesn't claim to be writing now. Verse 5 then says, Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord of hosts. So this is now clearly post humbling. Behold the days come that all that is in thine house, that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left saith the Lord, and of thy sons it shall issue from thee which thou shalt beget. So definitely talking about in the future. It's not like, oh okay, then after that he decided to apply it later. He's talking about the future. Shall they take away and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. So perhaps verse 4 was Hezekiah humbling himself. And my point is that when you have to spell out what you've done, maybe it can help you to accept it. Maybe here where he's going, like he's been asked, well what happened? And he's like, well all that is in my house that they see. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown him. Maybe that's when it dawned on him what he's just done. Maybe. I don't know. Sometimes I get my kids to do this, when like you catch them out lying or something, you know. And then it's like, and then they're like, they try and give you the quick sorry, when you're like, wait I just saw what you did, that's, and they're like sorry. And you're like, I want you to say sorry I just lied to you. It's like, you need to, you know, because it's like, it's all well and good you just quickly turn the other two. But when you actually have to stand and go, okay yeah I just lied about this. I just did this. Yeah I did just say that that happened, but that's not what happened. It's kind of a little bit more damning isn't it, right? You're having to accept it, you're owning it. Maybe that's part of it. And on the back of him and Jerusalem humbling themselves, getting their hearts right again. Verse 8 then says this. So remember at some point they've humbled themselves, they've got their hearts right with the Lord. Verse 8 says, then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, good is the word of the Lord which they had spoken. He said moreover, for there shall be peace and truth in my days. Now he didn't just say peace either. He didn't just say, oh it's all good because there's going to be peace. He said truth too. So I believe, this is what I believe, and if I'm wrong I'm wrong, right? I believe he's saying that they've got right with God again. He's saying thanks for the reproof. We've humbled ourselves and there will be peace and truth in my days. Not, oh my life's going to be fine. No, peace and truth in my days, in my reign. And we've just seen, he goes on, there's the wealth and all these kind of blessings showing a kind of fruitful reign and fruitful for the people continues, right? That's what I think is going on there. And that's what he's, I think that's the challenge for all of us here. So based on what we previously looked at in this chapter, I think that's the theme is that when we hear those words of God convicting us, when you hear that, are you going to say, good is the word of the Lord. Good is the word of the Lord. There shall be peace and truth in my days. Think, yeah, good, I'm pleased I've heard it. I'm pleased I've got that reproof. I'm pleased I've been given a chance to humble myself. There shall be peace and truth in my days. Are we going to shut our ears and harden our hearts? And all of us, right? No, no, it's all right for you, Pastor Tabernacle. I've got to, I've got to dwell on these verses, you know? You guys just hear it for a few seconds. Everyone knows here who's written a sermon, that you're sitting there going, I bet it'd be right on this, right? I bet it'd make sure my heart's right on this before I'm standing here and shouting about it, you know? When the preacher calls out your sins or the word of God calls out your sins, maybe your pride, and sometimes our pride has to get called out, doesn't it? Maybe you're boasting, maybe that's getting called out like we saw here. That's what was getting called out with with Hezekiah here. Maybe the preacher's calling out your sins, your pride, your, maybe you're thinking, yeah, I could be a bit of a boaster, actually. Yeah, I do find myself trying to lift myself up to others about whatever it is. Maybe it's your covetousness, because maybe there was a bit of that in there as well. He's showing them all this stuff because it's like, look at all this money and wealth and everything else. Maybe you're getting that called out. Maybe, maybe that's coming up in sermons, coming up in Bible studies, coming up in stuff, and you need to address that. Your short changing of God, maybe. Be it in glory or financially, either way, right? When the preacher calls out your other sins, maybe it's your failing in, in your different relationships in life, your failing in your work life, maybe it's your laziness, maybe it's your idolatry in various parts of your life, maybe you're getting pricked by it, you feel it, you hear it, you're like, yeah, that can apply to me. Are you going to say, good is the word of the Lord? Are you going to say, there shall be peace of truth in my days, thank you, I've heard the reproof, I'm going to get right. Because Proverbs 17 10 says, a reproof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred swipes into a fool. You know, if you're wise, you're going to hear that reproof and get right before God has to start chastising you. Don't be a fool. So we shall want to be wise men, which I believe is what Hezekiah was. I believe Hezekiah was a wise man, which is a wise man. We see all this glory given to him even after his death. And verse 8 said, then said, Hezekiah to Isaiah, good is the word of the Lord, which they have spoken. So moreover, for there shall be peace and truth in my days. I think he's saying that's in response to what was being preached. That's what I believe on that. Up to you, you can believe what you want. Interesting what you think, if you've got any thoughts on that afterwards. That was Isaiah chapter 39. For me, that lesson there is in response to the word of God. And we're going to finish in a word of prayer. Father, thank you for the book of Isaiah. Thank you, Lord, for the many lessons we've got from Hezekiah over the last few chapters, especially here, Lord. Help us to try and, you know, be more like him in those ways, maybe less like him in terms of boasting, but more like him in his response to being rebuked, his response to reproof, his response to bad situations in life, to be prayer and trying to change things. Lord, help us to, all of us here, to respond to the word of God in the right way, Lord, to keep cleaning our lives up. Help us to get home safe for Sam. Lord, tonight, for those that can make Tilbury on Thursday, to make it, Lord, for everyone else to try and get here on Sunday. In Jesus' name, pray with us. Amen.