Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I would direct your prayerful attention to the portion we read,
2 Chronicles chapter 29, and reading from our text, the last
verse, verse 36. 2 Chronicles chapter 29 and verse
36. And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God
had prepared the people, for the thing was done suddenly. 2 Chronicles 29 and verse 36 When Hezekiah came to the throne
as a young man of 25 years old, he came to a land and to a temple
that was greatly defiled. Ahaz we read of as a summary
in just the last few verses in the previous chapter. how that
he had really desecrated the house of God. In verse 24 we
read, and Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God
and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut
up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made him altars
in every corner of Jerusalem." That is, altars to his gods and
to idols. And we read that Ahaz, he was
such an evil man, He made high places to burn incense unto other
gods and provoke to anger the Lord God of his fathers. And it was at this time that
Hezekiah comes to the kingdom. Now if we were In his place,
if we were in Judah at that time, and of those that feared the
Lord, we look upon all of that devastation and the desecration
of the house of God, and we think, however can it be different?
However can there be a change? Ahaz wasn't the only one in this. There would have been many others
that joined with him in turning away from the true and living
God. There needed to be a great revival,
a great cleansing, a lot done, you might think, that would take
years before ever there could be the real worship of God again
in that place. What a picture it was of discouragement. What a picture of having the
enemy triumph. and God, as it were, cast out. And yet how quickly this changed,
how suddenly it changed. We read that Hezekiah, in the
first year of his reign, he didn't waste time in this matter, opened
the doors of the house of the Lord. and repaired them. And then he set the Levites and
the priests to cleanse the house. We notice they began right in
the sanctuary, right in the most inner coast, inner court of the
Lord's house. They went from inside and then
they went out. And so we read then that they
came after eight days, and they came to the porch of the Lord. So beginning inside, and then
come to the outside porch, cleansing all, taking in all of the rubbish,
all of the idols, all of what was defiling it, and taking it
down to the brook, Kedron. When it is cleansed, then they
come. and report to Hezekiah. And then immediately he comes
and he restores the worship of the Lord and the offerings, the
burnt offerings, the sacrifices, the thank offerings, the peace
offerings. and the people all join with
him unwillingly, and they bring their own offerings so much that
there is not enough for the priest to flay them, to prepare these,
and so the Levites, they join with them. And then we read in
the words of our text, and Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people
that God had prepared the people for the thing was done suddenly. God had prepared them. The people
were willing to offer, willing to cleanse, willing to go along
with Hezekiah in this matter. And so it's not just a rejoicing
of what was done, that the temple was cleansed and the worship
was reinstated, But the people, God's hand had been seen in it. The people had made, the Lord
had made the people willing. And there's this notice that
this thing was done suddenly. It wasn't like we would say,
put notices up and give warning that in a month or two's time
this and this was to happen. No, it had happened very quickly. And instead of man preparing,
God's work had been done. God had prepared the people to
do this work. We know, of course, that the
temple and all of the offerings, those types and those shadows,
they pointed to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Those that were truly of faith
and spiritual mind would look past these things and they would
see the coming Messiah, the promises of God, the way of salvation
through God's provision and could even look to these gospel days
when there is a people made ready and prepared for the Lord and
blessed in a spiritual way in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is
through the Lord that sin is put away. It is through the Lord
Jesus Christ that there is a deliverance from idolatry and all false worship. It is the turn man away from
sin, away from evil, and unto the true and living God. It is
through the Lord Jesus Christ alone that that is brought about,
a people that are reconciled. Instead of a people that are
serving idols and going after them, there's a people that is
turned about to go after the true and living God and to seek
Him. Those that were true worshippers
in these Old Testament days. Those were the people of faith. Those that didn't just take a
delight in bulls and of goats and bloodshed and the service
of the sanctuary in that way, but looked past it. God tells
us in the New Testament that he took no delight in the blood
of bulls and of goats. It was not, that was not the
end of the matter. That was not what they were to
be looking to. This is the same with us today. You know, we are told in the
observance of the Lord's Supper, and that is not a sacrifice. It is a service of remembrance,
but that we are to rightly discern the Lord's body. We are not to
take the view of the Roman Catholics that upon the blessing of the
priest the actual bread and the wine turns into the very body
and blood of the Lord Jesus, but we are not to despise those
elements either, and say well it is only bread, it's only wine,
yes it is, but it is set apart in that ordinance, and to show
forth the Lord's death till he come. And those that are taking
part in that ordinance, they're not to take it part lightly,
or just thinking this is just bread and just wine, though it
is, better look past. This is what our Lord has chosen
to show forth His death. This is what our Lord has chosen
to be an ordinance for the Church of God, to do an remembrance
of Him, of His death, of His broken body, of His shed blood. And true worshippers, they look
past those signed and past the emblems, and they see by faith
their Lord and Saviour in their place, suffering, dying, laying
down His life. shedding his precious blood.
May we never lose sight of the Lord Jesus Christ, whether the
Old Testament saints, they didn't, those truly in faith, and today
when we have so clear a light of the glorious gospel and of
the coming of our Lord, his death and his resurrection and ascension
into heaven. I want to look with the Lord's
help this morning at this word, really, and I'll look at it in
a way backwards from how it comes in our text. Firstly, things
done suddenly. Our text says, for the thing
was done suddenly. And I want to remind ourselves
of how the Lord does things suddenly, has done, and he will still do,
by way of warning and of encouragement to us. And secondly, a prepared
people. That God had prepared the people. The vital necessity of being
a prepared people, and really it is a prepared people for a
prepared place, but for those things that are done suddenly,
the Lord prepares a people. And then thirdly, a rejoicing
people. And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all
the people, that God had prepared the people, for the thing was
done suddenly. Firstly then, things done suddenly. Right from the very beginning,
we have this set before us. Our Lord speaks of the flood,
Noah's flood, and how though He gave warning of that 120 years
before it took place, yet when it did, we read that there was
people that were buying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage,
Until the day that Noah entered into the ark and the flood came
and took them all away. It came so suddenly. You know,
you think of the days in which we live and say, well, we've
got the coronavirus. We better cancel weddings and
we're going to cancel this and cancel that. In a sense, there
is warnings of it. There's impending restrictions
and things that are happening. And people are changing their
plans. And the Lord said, not in Noah's day, no. No change
of plans. They were still doing all of
these things. And a flood came and took them
all away. And he said it was the same also
in the days of Lot. The fire came down from heaven
and destroyed them all. And he says it will be the same
in the last day. When he shall come, the end of
the world, when that shall come, when the signs of it begin to
take place, if you're on the top of the house, you haven't
got time to come back down into the house. If you're out in the
field, you can't say, well, I'm going to go back and I'm going
to tell my wife what I'm beginning to see happening and I want to
be with her. No, it's too late. It shall come. That's suddenly the end of the
world. We are warned of this. We are
warned of it. We think of the cases of Joseph. There is Joseph and he's locked
up in prison, falsely accused. He has rightly interpreted the
dreams of the butler and the baker. The baker is slain. The butler is restored to his
office. And Joseph said, remember me. But the butler, he forgot him. And so there Joseph goes from
day to day, from year to year in that prison. And then suddenly
the prison door opens, and there is a courtier from Pharaoh And
he says, arise and get shaved and get ready and to come in
before Pharaoh. Pharaoh wants to see you. No
warning. He stands before Pharaoh. Pharaoh
tells him his dream. And Joseph, through the Lord,
interprets those dreams. And Joseph then is exalted to
next unto Pharaoh in the land. You might say, in the matter
of hours, if that, gone from prison to be next unto Pharaoh
in the land. The thing was done suddenly. We are told of that. We think
of Moses. Moses had been 40 years in Pharaoh's
household, trained up as a ruler, really, in Egypt. Then he had
40 years in the backside of the desert, looking after his father-in-law's
sheep. And then one day, after being
there for 40 years, he sees this bush in the desert. And it's burning. But the bush
isn't consumed. And he goes over to that bush.
The Lord speaks to him through the bush, put off the shoes from
off thy feet, the ground whereon thou standest is holy ground.
The Lord speaks to him, commissions him, sends him, sends him to
his brethren in Egypt and gives him the command to bring them
out of Egypt. He gives him the signs and the
wonders to work before them. How suddenly that happened. How
suddenly he was brought from being a shepherd to being a leader
of his people. The thing was done suddenly.
God does this. We think of John the Baptist.
Herod had locked him up in prison. He languished in the prison.
And then Herod's birthday came. And the daughter of Herodias
danced before him. And he said that he would give
her whatever she asked, even to half the kingdom. And what
she asked, instructed by her mother, was the head of John
the Baptist on a plate. And so immediately, Herod, he
sends to the prison an executioner. What little warning John Baptist
had. slain at the whim of a woman. Under God, of course, his providence
determined that was the way, that godly man, that last of
the prophets, the one that pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Lamb of God, that he should depart this life in that way so suddenly. We are reminded through the holy
word of God that God does things suddenly, sometimes with little
or no warning whatsoever. May we remember that. May we
remember it. And not just think, well, things
will just continue as they are. Not being a careless, ungodly,
unexercised state and condition, an unprepared position. I remember also when things are
so discouraging, when there's so few that come to the solemn
feasts, so many love the idolatrous things of this world, so many
are turning away from the true and living God, that God is able
to change that scene very suddenly. The Lord is able to send those
local revivals, the turning of a people unto Him in a moment. We might think, well, it'll take
years and very, very gradual, but with the Lord's hand in it,
then it is done in a very sudden way. It was so as the disciples
waited as they performed the Day of Pentecost, already a time
of gathering for the Jews. There they were, with one accord,
gathered together, and suddenly the Lord came, the power resting
upon them, the cloven tongues of fire, and the miraculous speaking
in languages that they had not learned. They were able to speak
them, and those of those languages there at that time in Jerusalem,
they understood them. And they were speaking the wonderful
works of God. It is to be an encouragement
for us when things are so bleak as it was in the end of Ahaz's
reign, that the Lord can change it very, very suddenly. May we be encouraged. May we
lift up our hands. May we be a people that expect
the Lord who is in control will one day come. His kingdom come. We are bidden by the Lord to
pray for that. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. And may we be then in no illusion
as the fact that these things can happen very suddenly. have been ushered out of time
into eternity very suddenly. In the second place, I bring
before us a prepared people. And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all
the people that God had prepared, the people, for the thing was
done suddenly. Prepared. Let us just think of
this word for a moment, prepared. You know, David, he really desired
to build this temple for the Lord, but God said, because he
had been a man of blood, that he was not to build it but Solomon,
but he prepared with all his heart before he died. It means
he gathered all gold and silver and brass. He got everything
ready. Although he didn't do the actual
building. But how vital is preparation? If you're baking a cake at home,
you look at the recipe book, whatever you're baking, You think,
well, have I got the ingredients? You've got to think of going
to the shop and getting the ingredients. You don't get halfway through
making it and suddenly realize you've only got half the ingredients.
You prepare it. You think of if you're going
to sow seed in the ground and the Lord used this in the parable
of the sower. The only ground that brought
forth fruit was ground that had been prepared. The farmer knows
what it is to get rid of the weeds, to break up that fallow
ground, the ground that has just lain waste for so long. He knows what it is to till it.
It was brought up on a nursery and there's many hours we spent
in the ploughing and rotovating and raking over the beds before
ever we planted something in them. The memories that I had
of doing those things, walking behind a rotovator bed after
bed and yard after yard and then raking over from side to side,
taking out the heavy bits and leaving a nice tilled bed for
the sea. Preparation was an important
part. The amount of times we've spent
around the fire with the rosewood, buds, cutting them up into six-inch
bits, ready for the budding season, for when we would do the budding
in the ground. Many hours of preparation. They're used to that. We need
it. In our lives, we have this illustration
everywhere. But here is something that is
spoken of as God's work, not man's work, God's work. God had
prepared the people. Their hearts had been changed. Their minds had been inclined
to do this work and to go after the Lord and to seek the Lord.
That is not how our hearts are by nature. Our language is depart
from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. And we have a contrast,
I think it's later on with Hezekiah, when they came to the Passover,
that there were those that weren't prepared and they just mocked
and they laughed and they wouldn't have anything to do with it.
They have contrasts in the word of God as well in that way. Those
that are prepared and those that are not prepared. We have that
in the parable our Lord told in Matthew chapter 25. When he
likened the kingdom of heaven to ten virgins who took their
lambs, went forth to meet the bridegroom. And he says that
there are five wise, five foolish. Those wise, they took oil with
their In the vessels with their lamps, the foolish, they just
took the lamps with no oil with them. And then when at midnight
there was the cry came, the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him.
Then those that had their oil in their vessels, they trimmed
their lamps, they went out to meet him. But the others, they
said, the lamps had gone out. They asked that the wise give
them their oil. They said, no, we cannot, lest
we not have enough. And you know they knew where
to go and buy. And yet it was too late. Those
that were ready went in unto the wedding feast. Then the door was shut. The word
that the Lord says at the end, Watch therefore for you know
neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh,
whether it is for our death or whether it is at the end of the
world, we do not know that day. And the Lord then uses this as
an illustration of the vital necessity of being prepared. Well, what is it in this gospel
day? What is it to be prepared? John the Baptist, when our Lord
was come, was to go before and to make ready a people prepared
for the Lord. When John Baptist preached repentance
and change and of turning unto the Lord and away from sinful
and evil ways, many were musing in their hearts, was this the
Christ? No, John Baptist, he pointed
to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Christ. But his work was a necessary
work. It brought a people that were
expecting. They were waiting, they were
ready to hear the word of the Lord. And the Lord constantly
uses this, this preparation You know, when Peter was called to
go and preach to Cornelius, then Peter was prepared. And that
happened suddenly, given the vision of the sheep let down
from heaven. You can read that in Acts 10. And then how that he is sent
by the men that had been called at his door to go and preach
to Cornelius is the second Pentecost really. the Holy Spirit falling
on the Gentiles, but Peter comes in and he finds the people all
prepared. Cornelius, you said, now we are
all here before God to hear what the Lord would speak through
you. It's a blessed thing to be prepared. We sung of it in
our middle hymn, to prepare us to receive thy word. So what does the Lord do when
he prepares a sinner to receive the word of God, prepares a sinner
to be blessed through the gospel. Well, one thing that he does
is to teach our sinnership. The law was given that men might
be brought in guilty before God. The whole world brought in guilty. If we do not realize our sinnership,
that we are deserving of hell, that we are completely and utterly
defiled, then we will not be prepared for the gospel, the
good news of the gospel. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one, or we have all gone our own way. It is the testimony
of Scripture that the heart is deceitful above all things and
Desperately wicked, who can know it? And this sense of that sinnership,
our guilt before God, our condemnation. The Lord said that if you believe
not that I am he, you shall die in your sins. The condemnation
is that light is coming to the world, but men love darkness
rather than light. because their deeds were evil. Our deeds are evil, we are sinners. And the work of the Holy Spirit
is to convince men of their sinnership. He brings the law of God, the
holy law of God, the 10 commandments of God, and brings us in as guilty
before God. That preparation is vital. If you and I do not know and
feel our sinnership, then we have no preparation for the gospel. We're not ready for it. We virtually
are saying we're good people. Our good works outweigh our bad
works. We are not deserving of hell
at all. And if that is the case, we are
not prepared for the gospel. We're not prepared to die because
we cannot. stand with our own righteousness
before God. So if we are a prepared people,
one preparation, a vital preparation, not just once in our lives, but
all the time is to know that we are sinners. We are sinners. The second thing is a preparation
of feeling our inability to remedy that. Some might say, well, we
know that we are sinners, but we can change that. We can start
doing what is good, and we can change our own hearts, and we
can make ourselves acceptable with God. Well, a preparation
for the gospel is to be convinced that however many days we're
given, we will not repent, we will not change. We will not
do good, we cannot make ourselves acceptable to God, and that preparation
is vital. Heimreiter says, no help in self
I find, and yet I sort it well, the native treasure of my mind
is sin and death and hell. So our sinnership is one preparation
is vital. Our inability to change ourselves
and our own condition is another vital preparation. Another is a dissatisfaction
with this present evil world. While this world is our home,
we'll never want to hear of something of the next. We read that men's
hearts, fully set in them to do evil, the world is in their
heart. and their languages depart from
us. We desire not the knowledge of
thy ways. Men that have got their pleasures,
as men shall be at the end of the world, lovers of pleasures
more than lovers of God, they will say, well, what can your
religion offer us? We have everything heart can
wish. We have health and strength. We have this world's goods, its
riches, its ways. The Lord says, whosoever is a
lover of the world is an enemy of God. Know ye not that the
friendship of the world is enmity with God? The world lieth in
sin and wickedness, and the prince of this world is the devil, is
Satan. My kingdom, says our Lord, is
not of this world, and his people are not of this world, even as
I am not of this world, he says. So a people that is prepared
is that which is spoken of in Hebrews 11, that they declare
that they are strangers and pilgrims in this earth. That is that they
declare plainly they seek a country which is above. One of the preparations,
remember what we are talking of here is God preparing, the
rejoicing here, was that God had prepared the people. So when
God prepares you and I, when he prepares a people for the
good news of the gospel, he will teach their sinnership in some
measure, he will bring them to know their inability to save
themselves, and he'll make them dissatisfied with this world,
an aching void the world cannot fill. Maybe, as those of you
this morning, you feel miserable because of what's happening in
the world. So many disappointments, so many
uncertainties, so many troubles. Maybe the riches you've sought
have gone away. Maybe the strength that you'd
so rested in has been taken away. Maybe the hopes and expectations
you've had have been dashed so many times. The Lord uses these things to
prepare. There is hope, not in this world,
but in Christ. And so the other preparation
the Lord gives is to give an open ear to the gospel. Maybe
you've gone years thinking, no, I'm not going to hear the gospel,
I'm not going to hear the word of God. I'm not going to go into
the house of God. But then the things that have
happened in your life and in your heart, they're now making
you ready to hear. Maybe that's why you may be here
or tuned in and listening this morning. The Lord has made you
willing to do so. Opened your ear. and think, well,
I'll give this a chance, I'll give this an opportunity, I'll
give this a try, I'll go and hear what this man has to say. And it's a blessed thing if the
Lord opens the ear and makes us willing to hear the word of
God, to hear the truth, and to hear the good news of salvation
through our Lord Jesus Christ, that the Lord Jesus Christ has
come into this world to save sinners and to save them from
their sins and to save them to heaven. I want to then look thirdly
at a rejoicing people and I say this that all those whom God
has prepared and prepared in the way that we have described
will eventually be a rejoicing people. You might not now. The Lord said of those before
he was crucified, ye now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you
again, your heart shall rejoice. You know those who've had everything
go wrong and the world is just all what they look for is taken
away, they don't have joy. Those that are feeling what great
sinners and what an evil heart they have, they don't have joy. Those that have tried and tried
to obey the law and to fulfil the law and have failed again
and again, they don't have joy. But you know, when we have a
narrative in the New Testament of our Lord, and our Saviour
coming. We have a very different thing. We read that when the wise men,
they saw the star in the east, they rejoiced with great joy. When we have the account in the
Gospel according to Luke and the message that was sent from
heaven to the shepherds in Luke 2 verse 10. The angel said unto
them, fear not. Remember when they first came,
they were very afraid. They didn't have joy then. But
the angel said, fear not. For behold, I bring you tidings
of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is
born this day in the city of David a savior. which is Christ
the Lord. What a blessed tidings, what
a tidings of joy. And we read how then that they
went, and they went and saw this sign, they saw the babe lying
in a manger. The coming of our Lord is the
coming of the Saviour, the promised seed, the hopes and fears of
all the years met in thee in Bethlehem that night. But then
it comes to the crucifixion of our Lord. And at the end of this
gospel, according to Luke, we find the two on the way to Emmaus
with great sorrow. They trusted it should have been
he that should have redeemed Israel and the Lord himself,
a risen saviour He drew near to them. He revealed Himself
to them. He showed them in all the Old
Testament Scriptures all things concerning Himself. Ought not
Christ to have suffered these things to enter into His glory? And when He revealed Himself
in the breaking of the bread, then we read that they returned
to Jerusalem. How did they return to Jerusalem? They returned with joy, they
came to the disciples, they heard then that the Lord had appeared
to them as well. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord, the Lord appearing to them in the upper
room. And then at the end of that chapter, when the Lord had
led them out as far as to Bethany after 40 days, and he ascended
up into heaven and blessed them, They worshipped Him and returned
to Jerusalem with great joy, continually in the temple, praising
and blessing God. They understood now what His
mission was. They understood now that the
sacrifice that Calvary had put away sin. They understood now
that in believing on His name, they would have life through
His name. And we read, as the apostles
went forth to preach this gospel, that it is Christ who is the
surety. Instead of the wrath of God falling
on sinners, it fell on him. Instead of it being condemnation,
it was therefore now no condemnation, those that believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ. To those who are convinced and
pricked in their hearts as sinners, The message is believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Those that believe
in him should not perish but should have eternal life. Why? Because Christ has said so and
because Christ has put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. We read that when Philip The
evangelist went through and through Samaria in Acts 8 that he preached
Christ unto them. Those beautiful words, verse
5. Then Philip went down to the
city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord
gave heed. unto those things which Philip
spake. Do you hear, do I hear the things
that are spoken when Christ is preached, when he is lifted up,
when he is set forth as he says, I am the way, the truth and the
life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. In the Lord
Jesus Christ is the good news of salvation, God's provision
for lost and ruined sinful man. And the Lord says to all that
believe on him, if ye continue in my word, reading the word,
hearing the word, observing the word, ye shall be my disciples
indeed, ye shall know the truth, the truth shall make you free.
They read in the city of Samaria there, that there was great joy
in that city. Great joy in that city. It's one real test of receiving
the blessings of the gospel and the assurance of the gospel.
It brings joy and gladness to the heart. Then were the disciples
glad when they saw the Lord. What does the Lord use to prepare
a people and to bring that joy of the gospel. He brings and
he uses the preachers, the preaching of the word, the word of God. He uses these things in preparation
sometimes. He will use what things happen
in our lives, our illnesses, our trials, our afflictions,
those things made to work for good, But in the blessing, the
Lord blesses the word preached. He sends the preacher. He sends
the people whose hearts are prepared. And that word preached does not
return void. It brings joy and gladness to
the heart of those that are prepared people to receive it. May we
be such a people, prepared to receive the word, rejoicing in
the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the good news of salvation,
and a people then that are prepared that when he should come, by
the hand of death or at the end of the world, we shall be ready,
we shall lift up our heads with joy, we shall look forward to
being, as the Apostle said, absent from the body and present with
the Lord. Truly then, this was a time here
in the Old Testament church and with Hezekiah, that the temple
worship was truly restored. And we live in a day when we
have the pure gospel and the teaching of the gospel of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But in Hezekiah's day, they rejoiced. Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the
people, that God had prepared the people For the thing was
done suddenly. The Lord bless us with being
prepared. May the Lord appear for us. And may the Lord help us to rejoice
in his dear name. Amen.