Weekend Sermon-- Hezekiah

    Welcome to this week's edition of the Weekend Sermon.  I am glad that you are able to join me for this week's message.
     I want to thank the Lord for helping me and providing for me this week.  As I left my former job and started my new job this week, I was worried that the check from the old job might not come.  I prayed and asked the Lord to let the money come through, and the Lord answered my prayer.  I also want to thank the Lord Jesus for healing my foot that hurt so bad and for helping me at my new job this week.
     As you are in prayer this week, please pray that I will be able to pass the test I must take this week at my new job.  Also pray that the Lord Jesus will strengthen me to do His will.
     I would ask that we all be in prayer this week about the terrorism situation in Europe.  Let us pray for an end to terrorism, and let us pray that all of the potential terrorists will be found out and brought to justice.  Let us also pray for peace in the world.  Pray for peace in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine and Libya.
     I would also ask for prayer for those in the Philippines who are facing the bad storm.
     For the past several weeks, we have been is a series of messages on the kings of Israel and Judah.  Today is the final message in the series.  I have one more king that I want to give a sermon about, but I will hold that message in reserve for a later date.
     Today, we will focus our attention on the reign of king Hezekiah.  You can read about the reign of Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 29 - 32 and in the book of 2 Kings.
     Hezekiah is a good example of someone who had a bad upbringing, but he did well in spite of his early training.  Hezekiah's father Ahaz was one of the most wicked kings mentioned in the Bible.  Ahaz and the prophet Isaiah had some memorable encounters. 
     Hezekiah began his reign in a great manner.  He started by reversing what his father Ahaz had done.  Hezekiah did not follow the false gods of his father.  Instead, Hezekiah returned to the True and Living God and restored the worship of the True and Living God to Judah.  Hezekiah destroyed the groves, temples and idols dedicated to the false gods of his father.
     One of Hezekiah's greatest reforms was the reinstitution of the Passover Feast.  Before Hezekiah, the people had not celebrated Passover as directed by God .  Under Hezekiah's reign, this was put right.
     Hezekiah was a strong king.  He was able to defeat the Philistines, but Judah faced a powerful enemy in Assyria.  The Assyrians had conquered the norther kingdom of Israel, and now they had their sights set on Jerusalem.  The Assyrians besieged the city, and it seemed as if all was lost.  But, God had something else in mind.
     Hezekiah called out to the Lord in prayer to deliver the nation from the Assyrians.  Hezekiah also asked Isaiah for a word from Lord.  Isaiah told the king that Judah would be delivered from the hands of the Assyrians, and that is exactly what happened.
     By the way, Hezekiah is mentioned outside of the Bible.  Archeologists have found mention of him in ancient Assyrian records.
     All seemed to be going well for Hezekiah until he became sick unto death.  When Isaiah told Hezekiah of the king's impending death, the king wept and cried out to God for deliverance.  The Lord heard Hezekiah's prayer, and the king's life was extended for several years.
     Instead of becoming more humble, Hezekiah became prideful in his later years.  He boasted of his strength, and he made a big point of showing off his wealth to the ambassador's of Babylon.  Isaiah told Hezekiah that this would bode poorly for Hezekiah's descendants as the Babylonians would  invade Judah seeking its wealth in the years to come.
     Hezekiah's heart was set on the things of God, and he eventually repented of his pridefullness and turned fully to God.  Hezekiah's reign was one of the best times in the history of the nation of Judah.  His entire reign was devoted to God.  Hezekiah and Josiah would be the two most righteous kings in the history of Judah.
     So, what can we as twenty-first century Christians learn from Hezekiah.  There are three things that I want to focus on from Hezekiah's life.  First of all, when Hezekiah was faced with a difficult problem, he turned to the Lord in prayer.  This is what we as Christians should do.  No matter what we are facing in life whether it be big or small, we should bring it to the Lord in prayer.  I Peter 5:7 tells us to cast all of our cares upon the Lord because He cares for us.
     In my life, I know that without being able to go to Jesus in prayer, I would not be able to make it through the difficult times in life.  When I faced the hard times with taking care of parents, I needed to go to the Lord for help.  Through all of the financial and health difficulties I've faced, it is the presence of the Lord and prayer times with Jesus that have allowed me to make it through.
     I like to tell Jesus everything that I am going through whether it be good or bad.  I like to talk to Him and just have a conversation.  It is good to talk to the one who loves you more than you can comprehend.
     Whatever issue you are facing in life, take it to the Lord in prayer.  Ask the Lord to deliver you and help you.  Ask the Lord to make you aware of His presence in the hard times in life when you need Him the most.
     The second thing I see in the life of Hezekiah is the need for humility.  Hezekiah was a good king, but he had a problem with thinking more highly of himself than he should have.  Ultimately, this would contribute to getting his ancestors into trouble.
     No matter how much God has blessed us, we must be humble remembering that everything that we have has been given to us by the hand of the Almighty God.  We have received everything by His grace.
     Our ultimate example of humility is Jesus.  He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death.  He left the throne of Heaven and was born as a baby in a manager.  Jesus gave us several teachings on humility.  He taught us to seek the lowest place.  He taught us to serve rather than to be served.  As in all things, we must look to Jesus.  If we follow Him, we too will know how to have a humble heart.
    Finally, Hezekiah teaches a lesson about facing death.  Now, what I am going to say is going to be controversial to some people, and some are going to think that what I am about to discuss is strange.  Nonetheless, I am going to talk about what I believe.  Hezekiah, like many Christians I know, became very saddened and distressed at the prospect of death.  This is something that I have never really understood.  Those who know in Whom they have believed should not seek death, but they should not fear death either.
    If we are in Christ, we know, or should know, that we will go to be with Him in the place that He has prepared for us when we die.  If we really believe what we say we believe, we should not fear death.
    I am not even sure that we should not welcome the fact that we are soon to be with the Lord if we hear of our soon demise.  For me, I can think of nothing better than to go to be with the Lord Jesus.  I wish that He would take me to be with Him right now.  All of the pain of this life would be over.  I would be forever in the presence of the Lord Jesus whom I love.  Also, I would see my family again.  To me, this is a joyful thing and not a thing to dread.  Of course, no one wants to go through a lot of pain and suffering.
    The Apostle Paul had some thoughts about this as well. In the book of Philippians, Paul said that he was torn between two things.  He knew that if he stayed on this earth that he would have fruitful labor for the Lord.  However, he recognized that it would be much better to go and be with Christ.  This is how I feel.  As long as I am here on earth, I want to try to serve the Lord to the best of my ability, but if I got news tomorrow that I only had a few weeks to live, I wouldn't be upset about it.
    These are just my thoughts on this.  You may see things differently.  To me, I just want to be with Jesus.  If I were in Hezekiah's shoes, I don't think I would have wanted those fifteen more years.
     With that said, I want to tell you that if you haven't accepted Jesus as your Savior and Lord, then death is something to be feared.  The Bible says that it is appointed unto man once to die, and then after this the judgment.  Those who die in Christ will be with Jesus for all eternity.  Those who die outside of Christ will be separated from Him and face the judgment of God for all eternity. 
    If you haven't turned to Jesus in repentance and faith and asked Him to be the Lord of your life.  I hope that you will do so today.
    Israel and Judah didn't have very good rulers as a general rule.  As we have seen, Israel had no righteous kings.  Judah had good kings in Asa, Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Josiah, and Hezekiah.  They had some fair kings and some horrible kings as well.  None of the kings was anything compared to the King of Kings the Lord Jesus who will one day establish His perfect reign that will have no end.
    Next week, I want to bring another message in our series on the miracles of Jesus.  I have a couple of more messages in this series.  On Monday, I will post a verse.  I want to post a review on Wednesday, and the Weekend Sermon will appear on Saturday.  May God bless you all.  Amen.