called for the preacher. That is not an unusual thing
for the children of God to do. When it's made known to us that
we're seriously ill, that there appears to be no possibility
of recovery, The servant of the Lord comes with encouragement
and with the promises of God that whatever happens, it's all
good because our Heavenly Father governs all things and He's working
all things out for the good of His people as He works them together. God's preachers come to remind
us, for the child of God, that death should not terrify us, but it should cause us to be
sober-minded and even more serious about the
things of eternity. And our death, our impending
death, well, that reminds us of another death. the death of
deaths, the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in willing obedience laid
down his life in order to save the people that he loved. And we're living witnesses of
the power of the resurrected Savior For we have been begotten
again unto lively hope by his resurrection. And we live spiritually
because he who laid down his life took that life again. He
arose again because of our justification. And therefore we live spiritually
And though these bodies will deteriorate and die someday,
these bodies will live again. And we have the very promise
of God for that. Did the head of our family die? Yes, he did. So must his members. And one of these days the Lord
will call us home. And though the prospect of our
death may to us be right now fearful, yet I'm persuaded in the time
when death arrives, the Lord will speak peace to the hearts
of his people. You see, we don't need dying
grace right now. But I'm fully believed that when
the time comes, he'll give us dying grace. What we need now
is living grace. Living grace. We know we must
all die. We read in Hebrews, and it is
appointed unto men once to die, but after that, the judgment. There's a verse of scripture
I want you to look at, and you can put a ribbon. That's what
I'm going to do. I'm going to put a ribbon right
here in 2 Kings chapter 20. And I want you to look at the
book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 14. Look at Proverbs chapter
14. And this verse puts me in mind
of when the Egyptians were determined to overcome the Israelites as
the Israelites stood before the waters of the Red Sea, Proverbs
chapter 14. And after you find that, you
can look this way. This puts me in mind of when
the Israelites were at the Red Sea and the Egyptians were mad
in pursuit. And as the enemy came nearer
and nearer, the pillar of pillar of cloud that went before Israel
went to the back of Israel and was darkness to the Egyptians,
but it was light to the children of God. The enemy couldn't see,
but the Israelites had the light of the presence of the Lord. And this verse reminds me of
those two groups and how the one was in darkness and the other
was in light. Now look at this verse, verse
32 of Proverbs chapter 14. The wicked is driven away in
his wickedness, but the righteous He hath hope in his death. Here's the one group in darkness. And they're going to be driven
away, driven away in their wickedness. Now, when he talks about the
wicked is driven away, lots of people, when they hear the word
wicked in the Bible, they think of, well, the profane and the
drunkards The murderers and the abusers and folks like that. Understand this. Anybody who
isn't righteous in Christ is wicked. Doesn't matter what kind
of life they live. They may be fine people, hourly,
may be a good neighbor to you. May be a good, dear friend to
you. They may show great kindness,
they may be moral and decent, but in the sight of God, every
believer is wicked. Wicked. And the word wicked means
vicious, polluted, and not righteous. Not righteous. Wickedness is to be criminal
against God. One who is guilty of sins against
God. And Revelation 22 11 says, he
that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he which is filthy,
let him be filthy still. Death doesn't change our state
before God. It changes our state of residence
But it doesn't change what we are. If we're righteous in Jesus
Christ at death, we go to be with the Lord, we're still righteous.
We will be no more righteous then than we are now. We will
be no more washed in the bloody sacrifice of Christ then with
our sins having been put away. We'll be no more washed then
than we are now. And with the wicked, they will
just be as they are now. Wicked before God. What's going
to happen to the wicked at death? They'll be driven away. Driven
away, that means pushed out violently. Pushed out into eternity violently. There is nothing that is pleasant
about the death of the wicked. They'll be cast out into eternity
for judgment and woe. This is a hopeless end. Now, well-meaning family members
may say, and I've heard this a number of times, I'm thankful
they're out of their misery. And I just hang my head. Because
if they died in unbelief, as they appeared to live in unbelief,
now realize, I don't know anybody's heart. But people will give some
evidence of loving the gospel of substitution. They'll give
some evidence of loving the gospel of grace. They'll love to hear
about Christ. and hear about His bloody death
and salvation by the free and sovereign grace of God. And when
people have no interest in the gospel, when they die, oh, their
physical agony from cancer or some other deadly disease, that
may be over, but there's a worse state that they're in now. to be driven away in death means
that you're pushed out into eternity by God suddenly, violently, and
irresistibly. But then there's the manner of
the death of the righteous. Notice what it says, but the
righteous hath hope in his death. That is, and if you look up that
word hope, the root word presents the idea of one who has a refuge. One who is hidden. One who is
protected. The righteous, the imputed righteousness
of Christ being put to our account. We have a strong refuge in life
and we have a strong refuge in death. There is no possibility
that we can perish. As in the case of Hezekiah, when
he did die, as we shall see at the end of the chapter, he went
to be with the Lord. Because he had a refuge. We have
a strong refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we can face
death with confidence. After all, Paul said to be absent
from the body is to be present with the Lord. The child of God
has or should have a strong confidence when facing the departure out
of this life. Look back up at verse 26 here
in Proverbs 14. in the fear of the Lord is strong
confidence. Do you worship the Lord? Do you
worship God through Christ who was your substitute, the sacrifice
for all of God's people? If you worship the Lord through
Christ the Savior, you have a strong confidence. Be confident in the
Lord. Believe him and look at the next
words, and his children shall have a place of refuge. We have a refuge now and when
we leave this world, we have a refuge in glory in the very
arms of the Son of God. Oh God, give us confidence in
the Savior who said to his troubled disciples, You believe in God,
believe also in me. Don't let your heart be troubled.
I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I'm going to come again for you. And one of these days,
he's going to come again for each of us. I know he's coming
to collect all of his bride one day, but he will come to collect
us individually at the hour already appointed. for our exodus out
of this world. The manner of the death of the
wicked, driven away. That's fearful. That's fearful. Driven out of
the presence of God. Forsaken by God, no light, no
hope, no life, no grace, no mercy, no God, no Christ. I tell you, if you're not in
Christ, if you're not looking to Christ, the prospect of facing
God without Christ ought to scare you to death. No mediator, no advocate, no
savior, no redeemer to present his wounds to the father and
say, this is one for whom I shed my blood. Oh my, let us flee to Christ
all of us once again. Well, go back to 2 Kings 20. And in our text, Hezekiah receives
a shocking message from Isaiah. Now here's a righteous man. We
already have learned that he did that which was right in the
sight of the Lord. And the root word for right is
just and righteous. He's a righteous man. The Spirit
of God sums up the entirety of his life. Though he was a sinner
saved by grace, the Spirit of God says he did that which was
right in the sight of the Lord. And yet here he is apparently fearful of dying or he loved this world too much and sought to abide here. Isaiah says, Sit thine house
in order, thou shalt die and not live. But Hezekiah, he shows he's just
a sinner saved by grace. Because he did not bow to the
revealed will of God. Unlike David. David, when he was upon his deathbed,
he didn't ask for added years. He found comfort in the everlasting
covenant of grace. He said, Although my house be
not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, and sure, this is all my salvation. It's all my desire. This is all
I want is God's covenant of grace, which is sure and established
by grace for me before the world began. Hezekiah doesn't seem to have
that same attitude, unlike Simeon in the New Testament. The Lord
said you're not going to die until you see God's salvation. He saw God's salvation. He didn't
say, oh, Lord, give me a few more years. He said, now let us, thy servant,
depart in peace. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Unlike the apostle Paul in 2
Timothy chapter 4, He said, I'm ready to be offered. I'm ready
to go. I'm ready for the sword that's
going to take my head off. I'm ready. The time of my departure
is at hand. You see, the reaction of Hezekiah
is really inconsistent with faith and it's very disappointing. Wouldn't it have been wonderful,
and I don't want to jump too heavily upon Hezekiah, but wouldn't
it have been wonderful if he had prayed, Lord, I want to live,
but thy will be done. That's the right way to pray.
You see, he doesn't mention anything about, Lord, I pray for your
will to be done. If it's your will, These ulcers
or whatever they were, these sores, if it's your will that
this is the way I'm going out into eternity, I bow to your
will. Lord, you know what's best. Don't read that though. But you see this, one thing about
the scriptures, they handle men in honesty. And here's Hezekiah, A man whom
the Spirit of God summed up his whole life as he did that which
was right in the sight of God. Because the obedience of the
Lord Jesus Christ is credited to his account. But now we're
reminded he's just a sinner saved by grace. And that's all you
are. And that's all I am too. Ain't
nothing to any of us by nature. Only what we are by grace. I'm disappointed in Hezekiah,
but then again, I'm often a disappointment to myself. He didn't respond to the words
of Isaiah as Eli responded to the words
of Samuel. It is the Lord. Let him do what
seemeth him good in his sight." That's what Eli said when Samuel
told him, said, God's going to kill your two sons. They're ungodly. They're vile men. They're profane. They're filthy, wicked priests.
God's going to kill them. Eli said, it's the Lord. He didn't
say, may they have many more years. He said, so Lord, let
him do what seemeth him good. Well, as to the added 15 years, let me show you what happened.
Let me begin reading at verse 12. At that time, At that time,
Beroldac Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent
letters and a present unto Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah
had been sick. And Hezekiah hearkened unto them,
and showed, or manifested, to them all the house of His precious
things. He just opened up His own house
and the house of God. He opened it all up. Here's His
arrogance and here's His pride. Look at what I've got. He showed
them all His precious things. The silver, the gold, the spices,
the precious ornament, 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. He's like a proud rooster strutting
around. Look at all I've got. Kind of
reminds you of Nebuchadnezzar, you know, when he walked around,
walked on the walls of Babylon. Then, verse 14, then came Isaiah
the prophet unto King Hezekiah and said, what said these men? What's that visit all about?
And from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They
are come from a far country, even Babylon. And Isaiah said, Well, what have
they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah kind of puffed up
with pride. He's feeling good now. He'd been
healed of his physical ailments. He answered, All the things that
are in mine house have they seen? There is nothing, there is nothing
among my treasures that I have not showed them. And Isaiah said
unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord. Behold, the days
come that all that is in thine house And that which thy fathers
have laid up in store unto this day shall be carried into Babylon. The very people that you boasted
in front of, they're going to get all this stuff. Nothing shall be left, saith
the Lord. And of thy sons that thou shalt
issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, they shall be taken away. And they shall be eunuchs in
the palace of the king of Babylon. Finally, Hezekiah talks like
somebody that's got a little bit of spiritual sense. Then
it said, Hezekiah unto Isaiah, good is the word of the Lord. which thou hast spoken. But then
he added, and he said, is it not good if peace and truth be
in my days? At least we'll have peace through
my days. My offspring won't have peace,
but be peace around here in my days. He's just a sinner saved by grace. There is no No place in the language of a believer
for arrogance and pride. Whatever you have, whatever you've
done, know this, it's only by the goodness and the mercy and
the grace of God. If God has given you some things,
be thankful. Use them for God's glory. Be
generous in the kingdom of God. But don't be filled with arrogance
as though you're the one who obtained all of this. You wouldn't
have anything. I wouldn't have anything if it
weren't for the mercy of God. Like Paul said in 1 Corinthians
15, by the grace of God, I am what I am. And let me just address for just
a little bit reasons why we shouldn't be afraid of dying. I'll give
them to you quickly because my time is about gone, but we shouldn't
be afraid to die because our Lord Jesus has already faced
death for us. Call it the grim reaper, whatever
you want to call death. He died in our stead. And because he died in our place
to satisfy divine justice, we really will never die. The body
will fall asleep, be put in a grave, in a mausoleum, wherever. But it's like the Lord said of
Lazarus in John 11, He sleepeth. The body goes to sleep to be
awakened in the resurrection morning. After all, Christ said,
I am the resurrection and the life. And He says to all of the
people of God, all of us who are the people of God, all of
you who are watching, He said, because I live, you shall live. Job said, The worms destroy this
body, yet I know I have confidence that in my flesh I shall see
God. My eyes shall behold the Redeemer, because He took my place. He
died my death, and in His resurrection I see
the resurrection of my body. I know I'm going to die. You
do, too. Here's what Paul said. He said,
I die daily. I kind of rehearse my death daily. It was said of the preacher George
Whitfield, every night he'd shine his boots, lay his clothes out
for the next day. Somebody said, why do you do
that, preacher? He said, because I may not wake up in the morning
and they'll need my clothes for my funeral, and my boots will
be nice and shined. I'll be ready. I die daily. And remember this, Hebrews 2.15,
Christ delivered us from the fear of death. There's no condemnation
for us. You see, the reason to fear death
and actually the cause of death is sin, right? Sin's the cause. You want to know why people die?
Because in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.
Sin brings forth death. But where there is no sin, and
our sins were nailed to the cross of Calvary, Where there's no
sin, there's no death. We just leave this body for another
tabernacle that God's going to give us. No wonder Paul said for me to
live is Christ. And to die, what's that? That's gain. That's gain. It's
not a loss. It's a gain. He's put away our sins and sends
the reason for death. He's made us perfectly righteous.
And He's told us what to expect when we step out, when our souls
step out of this body into the presence of Christ. He's told
us what to expect. You're going home. You're going
home. You're going to enter into the
presence of the Savior. You're going to awaken His likeness. You will cease from all sin and
sorrow. It will be a perfect freedom
from sin. No more commission of sin, no
more thought of sin, no more word of sin, no more existence
of sin, no more possibility of ever sinning again. Won't that
be wonderful? David said, I'll be satisfied
when I awaken thy likeness. And think of this, the very second
that you leave this body, You're going to dwell with a glorious
group, a multitude of saints. And more than that, you'll be
welcomed by the Savior and be in His presence. You'll enter
into the state of endless bliss. That's why John heard some voices
singing in heaven, they said, They said to me, right, blessed
are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth, that they
may rest from their labors, no more laboring against sin. Their
works do follow them. And though my body and soul are
going to have to be separated for a while, That's a given,
isn't it? Right? The body and the soul
have got to be separated. But my soul is not going to be
separated from Christ. Never. Never. And my body is going to lie in
a grave over at the cemetery until the final resurrection.
And the Savior will say to my body, wake up! Wake up, and He
will. And mortality will put on immortality. And corruption will put on incorruption. And we shall forever be with
the Lord. Wherefore, Paul says in 1 Thessalonians
4, let's comfort one another with these words. Well, let me read two more verses
to you at the end of the chapter. And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah
and all his might, and how he made a pool and a conduit, and
brought water into the city, are they not written in the book
of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? And Hezekiah slept
with his fathers." He asked for 15 years after three
of them had gone by. His wife gave birth to a son
named Manasseh, and he broke his father's heart.
He's one of the most ungodly kings in Judah. But we're going to find out, because
I'm going to bring a message on this. He was a subject for
God's saving grace. God saved him, just like God saved us. Well,
let's get our songbooks. We'll sing a closing song here,
Saved by Grace. That's the one I picked out for
the last song.