God Treasures Humility

Fam, will you pray with me?  Holy Father, will You give us humble hearts, teachable and obedient hearts.  In You kindness may You use me, allow us to receive the truth of Your Word and allow us to not just get smarter but that we may know You and worship You by doing what you have commanded.  We ask this in Jesus’ name.  Amen.   

Family, we have been spending the last five weeks going through Isaiah chapter 36 through 39 of the life of Hezekiah.  It’s been a huge blessing.  I hope you’ve been encouraged.  One thing we’ve learned in Hezekiah for sure is that this man was a good king.  Right?  We see in 2 Chronicles, chapter 31, verse 20 and 21, the Scriptures say Hezekiah did throughout all Judea and he did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God.  And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God in accordance with the Law and the commandments seeking his God, he did with all his heart and he prospered.

2 Chronicles 29 says, verse 2, he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that David, his father, had done.

So we see a man, we’ve learned that he sought the Lord, he walked with the Lord, he trusted the Lord.  In fact, the Scriptures tell us that he actually got great wealth even because of God’s grace because of his faithfulness.  Then we saw last week, Pastor Tom leading us, as we see a man who was about to die.  He prays and cries out to God and God extends his life and he’s healed.  Then what he does in response is he writes a kind of a psalm to God at the end of chapter 38.

So now we’re here in chapter 39 and we have a very interesting story right here at the end of chapter 39.  A very humbling, humbling story, family, of a great leader, an awesome leader who just doesn’t finish well.  He doesn’t finish well.  A humbling story.  Sadly, the Scriptures tell us, and we’ll see, that he gives in to the dangerous, destructive tentacles of pride.

Now just so we can be on the same page, including myself, when we use the word pride, what we’re describing here there’s probably two things meshed together but they can be seen as separate as well in our lives, someone who is aware of and loves their own excellence.  That’s pride.  Right?  When you’re very aware of what you bring to the table.

You couple that with an attitude of independence from God.  So you have people like us who we think well of ourselves, we know what we can do, we know what we have, but then you couple with that a sense of, because of that maybe, or even other things, I can be independent of God.  That’s pride, fam.  And pride, it shackles us.  Right?  We saw it shackle Lucifer. 

Which I wonder, by the way, I wonder if one of the reasons why God talks about how much He hates pride and why we have to fight and struggle with it so much, is because I think it reminds Him of Lucifer.  When you and I are prideful and we think we can be our own gods, He goes, “Man, I remember somebody like you.” 

So hopefully we can learn from Hezekiah’s journey together as we walk in God’s Word.

What I want to do, fam, is I want to provide five signs, as we go through the text, five signs that are showing this narrative as indicative into Hezekiah.  It’s indicative that Hezekiah, in these five signs, that he was struggling with pride.

Number one.  What I want us to do, you know, I talk a lot of times about the Bible’s kind of a play and you have these actors and throughout the play what God is doing in His grace, He’s always asking, “Who are you?”  Right?  In this play.

So as we talk about Hezekiah, because that’s who we’re describing, I want you to see yourself and ask yourself these very same questions.

So the first indicator for Hezekiah was he was slow to make much of God.  In his life he was slow to make much of God, particularly at the end here.

Look at what the Scriptures say.  Look at verse 1.  We’re in chapter 39, Isaiah 39, verse 1.  It says, “At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon,” that’s a tongue twister, “sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered.”

So you have this final narrative.  It’s somewhat dated a few months after Hezekiah’s healing just simply because of the fact that first of all the news had to get to Babylon.  They didn’t have Instagram and all the stuff we got, so the news had to get to them.  Then those guys had to travel to Judah.  They had to travel to Jerusalem.  So we know that there’s been some time.

It says here in the Scriptures, if you look at verse 1, it says that he sent envoys.  These envoys were dignitaries or individuals who were high-ranking officials who represented the king.  So the author wants you and me to know from the beginning that this wasn’t just a, “Hey, how you doing?  We like you” but this political.  There was something going on here.  It seems like maybe perhaps they wanted to make an alliance.  That they were fearful of the Assyrians, Babylon, they hated the Assyrians, probably didn’t really like us.  They probably didn’t like God’s people, but you know how it is, and we see it all the time.  You’ll see nations make alliances with other nations that they don’t even like but they’re like, “You know what?  I don’t like you, but we both really don’t like them.  So how about we kind of bury our grievances for now and despise these guys?”

So they come and they ask Hezekiah, basically, “We heard you were healed.”  Now, family, do you see the low-hanging fruit there?  So picture this.  These people come and they’re like, and I wonder because they want to make this alliance.  Perhaps they were just trying to kind of find common ground.  They know he’s a God-fearing dude, probably they’re like, okay, so I guess we’ll ask him about church or something.  So they’re like, “Hey, we heard you were healed.” 

Here’s an opportunity where Hezekiah could preach the gospel.  I mean, you talk about a lob – “Hey, did your God heal you?”  Here’s a time for him to worship God.  He can talk up the excellencies of God.  He can brag about how God was gracious to extend his life.  He can actually tell them, “Hey, listen, I know you say you have a god, but I want you to cast down those idols because you see that my God is the true living God.”  Here’s an opportunity.  Low-hanging fruit.  He had been sick and has recovered.

Family, has that ever happened to you?  Has God ever done that to you?  God gives you a clear opportunity to preach the Gospel, or He blesses you, He answers a prayer in your life.  You’ve been asking God for a prayer and He answers it, and then just that quick you attribute it to natural circumstances.  Or He gives you an opportunity to preach the Gospel.  Someone asks you, “I heard you go to church.”  Or for me, as a minister of the Gospel, guys, I can never, I always have an opportunity to share the Gospel as soon as someone says, “What do you for a living?”  I just want to make that known.  For all y’all, for all the pastors here, if we’re not sharing the Gospel once or twice a week, something’s wrong with us, because I talk to somebody, “What do you do for a living?”  I must say, sometimes I’m like, “Uh, I’m into person development.”  Low-hanging fruit.

For whatever reason though, he doesn’t make much of God.  Here’s an opportunity for him to proclaim the Lord and he doesn’t.  So what does he do?  It says:      

“Hezekiah welcomed them gladly.”  He welcomes them gladly.  And it says, “He showed them his treasure house.”

Now here it is.  He shows them the treasure house, the silver, the gold, this is in verse 2, “the spices, the precious oils, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.”

So first we see he doesn’t make much of God.  They say, “You’ve been healed.  Tell us about it.”  He says, “You know what?  I’m going to show you the crib.”  I mean, can you imagine?  I mean, it’s crazy.  He shows them the palace.  He takes them around, showing them his Rolexes.  That’s bizarre.

Which leads me to the second indicator that Hezekiah was struggle with pride at this point, that he forgot God’s work in the past.

So he didn’t make much of God and then here you go, he just, for whatever reason, just forgot what God had done.

You might be thinking, well, Pastor, don’t be so hard on him.  He just showed him the house.  He showed them the palace.  What’s wrong with that?

2 Chronicles, the Lord is gracious, again 2 Chronicles 32, verse 24, a little insight into Hezekiah’s heart.  Look what it says here.  It says, “In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death and he prayed to the Lord and the Lord answered him and gave him a sign.”  This is the very sign that they literally said, they asked, “What was the sign?”  And it says in verse 25, family, don’t miss this, but Hezekiah did not make return according to the benefit done to him. 

You hear that?  He did not make return according to the benefit done to him.  Why?  It says for his heart was proud.  For his heart was proud.

Instead of talking about how great God is and what God had done in his life, and how God had healed him and how God had prolonged his life, and how God had protected him before this time from the Assyrians, he talks about how great he is, look at his leadership.  See, when he’s showing all that stuff, what he’s really doing is he’s trying to show that we got stuff.  Okay?  We have riches, we have resources, and why?  Because when you’re with a nation and another nation comes across and wants to connect with you, you need to show that you have things so that they might want to align with you.

So he’s saying, “You know what?  You are real smart to want to align with us because I’m a really good leader and we have a lot of things.  So we actually can hold our part of the bargain.” 

For whatever reason, Hezekiah felt like he needed an alliance.  Think about that, family.  Instead of talking about how great God is, God tells him earlier in chapter 38 verse 6, He tells him, “I will defend the city.”  So Hezekiah hears from the Lord.

See, the Scriptures say he did not return the benefit to Him.  Why?  For his heart was proud.

See, if you feel like it’s because of you that things happen, you got riches, even in this room right now, you’ve got riches, you have education, people like you, you’re popular.  When you think it’s about you, when you think it’s because of, “You know what?  I am a kind of nice guy and I am pretty smart, so I get why my entrepreneurship would work in this situation.”  When you feel like that, you don’t think you owe anybody anything.  When you did it, when it was your hard work, when it was your tenacity, when it was your people skills, then you get blessed, you’re like, “Well, it was really, I think…”  So then why would you return benefit to God when you really, deep inside, don’t think God helped you?

For whatever reason, he missed it.  He forgot.  Can you imagine.  Guys, it was only about a month ago he was about to die and he said, “Lord, extend…”  The Lord said, “I’m gracious.  I’m going to extend your life.” 

But that’s humbling for you and me, isn’t it?  Because in way smaller instances I can forget God’s grace in my life.  I can forget all the things that the Lord has done.  Moment by moment, you think, “Why does He do that?”  God is that good.  He provides you and me all these little moments of memorials because He knows this world is crazy and we’re fallen and broken people and it’s hard to live for Christ in this world.  So He knows when you and I are at our wit’s end and we’re like Lord, can I trust you?  He says, “Remember what I did.  Remember what I did.” 

So then you can go, “God was faithful here, God was kind here, I didn’t know what was going to happen here but God blessed me here.  I can’t believe I have a home.”  You can look at all these things and you can go, “Oh, I don’t need an alliance when I have God.”

I love that concept, “return the benefit to Him.”  You see what God is asking for?  That’s potent.  It’s like, God is like, “Man, all I want is a thank you.  I benefited you.  Can you say God did that?”  All God wanted, this sermon could have been five minutes – hey, tell me about the sign.  God did it.  Let’s pray.  That’s what was supposed to happen.

People ask about your life.  Here’s the thing, family.  Don’t ever think you’re being overly spiritual when you see God in everything.  You know why?  Because He is behind everything.  You should say things about God in your life.  When people tell you about the exam you passed, you shouldn’t just act like you just smart.  When God blesses you with a promotion, when God blesses you when you go to a new place and He provides friendships, when God comforts you with a hard breakup, when God delivers you from disease, when God comforts you when someone in your family hasn’t been delivered from disease and He reminds you of His grace.  God did it.  God is kind.  God wants the benefit.  He wants you to always point it back to Him.

We saw this.  We can see this in good and bad ways.  I mean, I don’t know if you guys have been watching the Olympics, but you see Sydney McLaughlin.  I mean, she points to God.  And you’ve got Noah Lyles, oh my goodness.  You know you have a pride problem when someone asks you a question and you say, “I am incredible.”  You might be struggling with pride, brother.  You follow what I’m saying?  That brother really said that.

Okay. 

He showed them.  He showed them all the stuff.  Unbelievable.

I would encourage you, family, always find yourself making much of God, but then not forgetting what God has done in your life.  It dishonors God.  Worship is when you remember that God has always been there.

So you’ve got Hezekiah showing these guys around, making much of himself, look at all the cool things.  I know, don’t you like that?  The chariots and armory.  He showed them the artillery.  Are you kidding me?  Who does that?

So now he’s in his feelings, he’s doing his thing, and all of a sudden Isaiah walks up.  I can’t make this stuff up.  Verse 3.  Isaiah walks up, and they’re friends, and imagine if they’re friends, so Isaiah sees them and he sees the people and he’s like, “Hey, what’s up, Hezzy?”  He sees them because they’re friends so they’ve got nicknames, you know what I’m saying?  He’s like, “What’s up, Proph?”  You know, they’re doing that.

And what’s interesting, which brings me to my third indicator, that pride was present, family, is that Hezekiah doesn’t inquire of God.  He doesn’t inquire of God in the text.  We know that because look at Isaiah’s question to Hezekiah lets us know that he had not come to Isaiah at all.  He hadn’t come to get God’s wisdom on the matter, which would reveal itself by him talking to prophets, specifically the prophet Isaiah.  He could have asked.  They knock on the door, he could have said, “Oh, my goodness, Babylon.  Okay.  Let me…  Isaiah, what should we do?  God, what should we do?” 

I love how Isaiah, Isaiah comes in and he’s amazing.  It’s very interesting.  He says to him, it says in the Scriptures, Isaiah “came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say?,” verse 3, “And from where did they come to you?””

I just think that’s hilarious.  Don’t you think that’s backwards a little bit?  First you ask who are these guys and then what did they say, right?  But he’s so like, what, he could tell he’s kind of looking at him sideways.  First of all, I don’t know who these brothers are.  __ Isaiah.  Right?  So he’s like, “Who are these guys and what are they saying to you?”

But he still doesn’t judge him yet because he wants to get all the information.  So he’s kind of now, I must say, can I just, a little pastoral moment, this is a key indicator that you might be in the flesh.  Okay?  It’s when you want to make a decision, you want to do something, and I think we’ve all been there, and you now really want to do this, so all of a sudden it becomes very coincidental that you can’t find your Bible, you can’t find no Christians to talk to.  Right?  You know you lose the worship setting on your Spotify.  You just cut off all kingdom influence so that you can make a decision.  If you find yourself doing that, you might be struggling with pride at that moment.  Okay?

This guy has Isaiah, one of his good friends, easy to find, and for whatever reason he didn’t talk to anybody who is kingdom-minded before he did this.  He didn’t inquire about God.  What’s really sad about this, and the author wants you to see this, this isn’t normal.  He used to inquire about the Lord.  He would ask God.  So the author wants you to see the juxtaposition.  He wants you to see the bifurcation, how things go when you do talk to God and how things go when you do not talk to God.  Same guy.  He does not inquire about God.

Isaiah is wondering who are you hanging out with, what’s going on, what have you been saying.  So Isaiah, in verse 4, gets really pointed in the matter.  He says:  ““What have they seen in your house?”  Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house.  There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.””  Verse 4.

Which I think is kind of funny.  I mean, he just pours it all out.  Which I kind of get.  I was thinking to myself, we are all people.  I mean, someone asks you a pointed question like that, your propensity is to at least fudge a little, like not give them all the information.  But you’re not going to lie to Isaiah the prophet.  Okay? 

So he just shares it all out, shares everything.  This is really sad because he knows, Hezekiah I’m sure knows, he’s seen in chapter 30 and 31, he’s seen how Isaiah, God has shown all throughout antiquity that we do not align with foreign nations.  And the reason why we don’t align with foreign nations is because we want all those nations to understand that Yahweh is the true and living God.  The way they’re going to understand what Yahweh is the true and living God is when they see you, a people set apart, from me not doing the things that the world does but trusting in the only true God Yahweh.  Then when they see you only trusting in Me, not trusting in your chariots, not trusting in how much money you got, not trusting in all your armory and artillery but trusting in God and seeing God fight for you as your only true King, now you have evidence to say to them, “You need to put down your idols and serve this King because this is the only true King.”  That’s what should be happening.

So he knew.  He knew, that man, this is wrong.  He did not see God as clearly as he did in the past.

The Scriptures say, in verse 5:  “Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah,” so now he has information, I showed them everything.  Isaiah’s like, “What in the world?”

Verse 5:  He says to Hezekiah, ““Hear the word of the Lord of hosts:  Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up until this day, shall be carried to Babylon.  Nothing shall be left, says the Lord.”  Verse 6.

Then the Scriptures say in verse 7:  “And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

Wow.  This is where we find our fourth indicator that pride is a struggle for Hezekiah.  For whatever reason, he thinks compromise with the world isn’t harmful.  I’m convinced that he must, we’ve all done this, he must have just kind of stored in his mind that, “Man, you know what?  I know that we usually don’t align with nations, but I’m really trying to do this for our people so that we can defeat the Assyrians, so we can honor God.”  Who knows what his apologetic is.  Who knows why he was trying to make an alliance with someone.

Well, actually, the Bible does show us.  Because there’s something that happens, there’s something that happens with you and me when God blesses us with stuff.  When we get stuff, when we get materials, and we get wealth, for whatever reason, man, it is hard to keep trusting in an unseen, invisible God.

You can see the same thing in 1 Samuel.  God has been fighting for Israel for years and winning.  Isn’t that interesting?  It’s one thing you trust God and you keep losing, you should still trust God because He’s the only true God, but at least pragmatically you have a point.  Like, “Lord, can we get some victories?  Can we get some W’s?”  But He keeps winning.  He keeps winning.  And for whatever reason, the people of God in 1 Samuel felt like, “You know what?  I know You’ve been good to us.  I know You set us apart.  I know You’ve been blessing this nation.  I know all the other nations know what You’ve done, but can You just give us a king we can see?  That would be really helpful.  Can You give us somebody we could touch?”

Can you imagine how disrespectful that this to a God who had been fighting for His people?

I wonder if some of that happened to Hezekiah here.  Whatever reason, he thinks compromising with Babylon, it’s not harmful.  It’s okay.  So what Isaiah does here, he says, “I’m giving you a word from the Lord.  This isn’t an opinion, this is an authoritative promise from God.”  He makes it really clear.  First of all, the very person you’re trusting in, the very people he’s trusting, the Babylonians, I want to partner with you, we’re going to do big things together.  He’s like, “Those very people, they’re going to take everything from you.  And guess what?  You’re kids are going to be eunuchs.  So the men are going to be castrated.  They’re not going to be able to have offspring, that means you’re not going to have heirs, and then these guys, your kids, your future, all your heirs, those guys will be in Babylon.  They will be exiled away from the land of God, serving a foreign king, not even able to worship their Yahweh.”  

So does compromise with the world work out?  Absolutely not.  Absolutely not.

This punishment extends to his sons and his grandsons.  It’s tragic.  It’s tragic and scary because I know in my life the struggle of pride.  As soon as God blesses me, I want to find another way, another scapegoat of giving something else or myself glory instead of realizing that I think I did that, it was my work.  So I watch this and I read this and I digest this and I think now this, this is me.  Lord, work in my life where I won’t just start well but I’ll finish well.

This leads to the final point of the five.  It seems like Hezekiah, for whatever reason, that he’s duped.  He’s not only trusting in his stuff, but right here he thinks it’s too late to cry out to God.  You see that?  You see that in verse 8?  It says:   

“Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.”  For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.””

Isn’t that cold-blooded?  When you read that, were you like what?  Did you do a double-take?  You’re thinking is this the same Hezekiah that a couple of chapters ago was fearing God?

Now don’t get me wrong, family.  It’s good to accept God’s will.  I like that part.  He’s accepting God’s will.  But I mean, so you think of it, so right here you won’t cry out to God but a chapter ago you cried out to God to, as it were, make you be born again.  Which one do you think is the more outlandish prayer?  Which one is the easier prayer?  “Lord, I’m sorry, I was an idiot.  Will You forgive me?” or “Uh oh, can You not kill me and let me live a lot longer?”  Which is humbling?  Shouldn’t that be humbling for you and me?  Because it’s like, oh, okay, so sometimes 1 + 1 isn’t 2.  It seems so simple to me, that this would be the time where he would be humble, and yet he wasn’t.  So simple. 

Something happened where those material possessions, what he had, got in the way.

Now, fam, I don’t know why he didn’t ask for mercy.  I don’t understand.  Scholars try to speak into his heart.  I’m not really, I don’t know how to speak to where his heart is.  What I will say is a couple things.

This brother, for whatever reason, does not ask for mercy, he does not comment on the sin.  You don’t see him commenting on the sin, a sense of an admission of it or a repentance.  He’s not like…  I think the author does this intentionally to show us.  Then there seems to be no sadness, no contrition, no weeping over this judgment.  The author wants you to be extremely humbled by his guy’s disposition at minimum, I think.

Finally, you look at that statement where he says, “There will be peace and security in my days.”  At minimum this shows a lack of concern about his sinful actions and how they affect other people.  We can say that at least. 

So you have here an extremely sad story.  You have this pride and it’s lurking and these warning signs that he gives us.  We see him not making much of the Lord, he forgets to mention and understand what God has done in the past.  He doesn’t inquire of God when he has an opportunity to.  He minimizes compromise with the world – I know Babylon, they’ve got a history, but you know, it’s okay.  Then at the end he just thinks it’s too late to cry out to God. 

It’s crazy.  I tell you, obviously that’s a lot of key learnings that God gives us, but I actually think all that, I would say, is good exposition in what God is showing us in the Word. 

There is one other thing that I think is very important in this text here.  Notice something.  I think this is something as we look at the Scriptures as a whole, this is more of a macro-narrative thing.  Have you noticed when you see Hezekiah, or you see these great kings, because we were almost there, y’all.  We almost had a king that had no flaws.  We were almost there.  He  was awesome until 39.  I think that’s intentional.

See, you look at kings and you look at great men in the Scriptures, you see great people in the Scriptures and you see they live life, they serve God, they do what they have to do, and then they die, and then they exit stage left.  Have you noticed that?

Go back and look at even Abraham.  It’s amazing.  Here is a guy that is extreme, he is Father Abraham, and yet when he dies the author just goes on as if, okay, you’ve done your part, now let’s move on with the story.

I’m convinced, guys, I’m convinced the reason why that’s the case is because God wants you and me to never get settled and keep our focus on one of these human individuals.  He wants you to always, He wants me to always leave the text saying, “That guy was good, that person was good, but there’s still something else.  There’s still something wanting.  There’s still something there.”

So, yes, Hezekiah was a great king and we’ll respect Hezekiah.  But guess what?  Hezekiah began well but he didn’t finish well.  The reason why is because God wants us all to always say in that micro-narrative of understanding Hezekiah, there’s a macro-narrative, and that is there is a King that does not only start well but He finishes well.  He wants you guys, He wants me to come away and go, “Wait a minute.  Okay.  Hezekiah, wow, he saw alliances and he wanted alliances in order to strengthen his military and to make sure his people were good.  Who knows what the reason was, but he had alliances and it was actually evil in the sight of God.

I love how our King Jesus had the same issue in the wilderness.  Satan comes to Him, says, “Make an alliance with me.  I’ll give You riches.  I’ll give You wealth.  I’ll give You popularity.”  And what does God do?  What does Jesus do?  He gives him the Word of God.  Right?

So we see where this guy failed, Jesus actually succeeds.  He comes up out of the wilderness and He’s preaching the Gospel.  He’s healing individuals of disease and he states casting out demons and He’s preaching the kingdom of God to people.  See, He didn’t just begin well, He continue well through a life lived.  He continues to do things and to say things that’s unlike the natural world.  He does things different than the world.  He looks at the poor and He says, “I’m going to give you a voice.  I’m going to love you.”  He looks at those who are destitute and He says, “You are valuable because you’re created in My sight.”

See, the world didn’t do that.  He looked at the powerful and He didn’t feel like He needed to align with them.  He didn’t cherish the rich.  Those are the people that killed Him.  He’s a different King.  He’s a different King.  But not only a different King, He’s the only King.  He’s the only King that always took all things and succeeded.

His most magnificent, significant, most amazing act was not at the beginning of His life but was at the end of His life on the cross, where by His grace, for His glory, for our good, He took on our sin.  See, that’s the beauty of Jesus.  He didn’t get caught up at the end and say, “You know what?  I do need some stuff.”  No, He went and hung out with poor folk, hung out with prostitutes, hung out with tax collectors, preached the Gospel, loved the rich and the poor, and showed the world that I can unite you with God, but not in your way, not with military power but with a sacrificial Lamb.  That’s what He did.

So when we read Hezekiah and any other person in Scripture, it always should leave you wanting to go, “There must be something more.”  You are right.  See, Hezekiah and Isaiah, they were looking for a great King.  We have the great King in Jesus.  That’s the beauty.

So whenever we read, we go, “Wait, there must be something more.”  Jesus says, “Yes.”  So when some of you, many of you praise God, you know this great King Jesus Christ, but some of you in this room right now perhaps you don’t.  Perhaps you’re wondering, “Well, how do I have access to this great King?”  He is not hard to find.  What He wants you to do, just like many of us have done by His grace, He wants you to admit that you had the audacity to think you could be your own god, that you could do things like Hezekiah, that you’re weak like me and Hezekiah and all the other people in this room and that you need a rescuer, that you need a Savior, you need someone to do what?  Pay for your sin, to save you from yourself.  God says He promises to do that.  When you and I confess to God and we repent and say, “I’m sorry for thinking I can be my own god, would You be my Savior, Jesus?”  We repent and He says and believe and believe that Jesus is the only risen, perfect King.  Jesus promises He will enter into your life, give you the Holy Spirit, make you His son and daughter, and then you not only experience eternal life right now, but forever eternally you will be united with your God.  That’s the beauty of life.  That’s what God promises us.

So, family, individuals in this room, if you’ve done that, just right now you’ve been saying, “I want Jesus to save me,” I would ask you to write that down and you can bring it up to me, you can put it in the boxes in the back.  The reason why is because when you make that decision and God saves you, we want to come alongside of you, we want to care for you and allow you to be equipped to what does it mean to be His people, to walk with God and to love Him.  So we ask you to do that so we can lock arms with you.

But make no doubt about it, we’re talking about the life of Hezekiah.  Make no doubt about it.  This story is not about Hezekiah.  This story is always about Christ.  So even someone as cool and awesome as Hezekiah, he’s broken, and God wants you to look and gaze at Christ because you see his brokenness and you realize there’s something more.

So the end of Hezekiah’s story is meant to give you pause, family.  It’s meant to say, man, I want to be a woman and a man that finishes well.  I don’t want to be like that.  Lord, would You give me the grace to start well and to take my resources and not think I’m too good for, I’m so cool, but to take those resources and be a steward for Your glory and finish well, to make much of God. 

Lord, I pray that this week even, you would have opportunities, every one of you blood-bought Christians in here, would have opportunities to make much of God.  I pray you’ll be faithful.  I pray you’ll be faithful to consider what God has done in the past in your life as you walk through life, especially when storms hit, I pray you would inquire of God, that we would seek God in prayer on the most minuscule things, that we’ll ask the Lord, we’ll invite covenant community members into our life, for God’s glory and that we would not lock arms with the world, that we would say, no, we are holy, set apart people.  That’s who we are in God and Lord, when we mess up, that we wouldn’t go, “Oh, I guess I’m missing this.”  No, you would go boldly before the throne of grace and you would cry out to God and experience His forgiveness and enjoy that life in Christ.

Hezekiah’s important, but he’s just a foretaste of our Savior Jesus who does not disappoint.  We look to Him.        

Will you pray with me?  Lord, we do ask in Your holy name would You allow us to start well, hopefully people in this world are starting their spiritual journey loving Christ, that You saved them.  Let our hearts not be proud.  Would You allow us to finish well.  Thank You that You have given us generations in this room, in our church, and that we get models of people who are finishing well.  Thank You for that grace.  I’m so blessed to be around saints who’ve been walking and seeking Your face and honoring You for decades upon decades, Lord.  I pray we would finish well at Christ Covenant, making You known, preaching Your Gospel, Lord.  Lord, we pray that we wouldn’t coast as Christians but that You would be exalted.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.