Alright brethren, let's turn
back there to Isaiah chapter 38. You know, the grace of God really
does humble a believer. And it's so part of the burden
being lifted off of us is to be able to be honest, honest
with God, honest about ourselves, honest with one another. It's
just a wonderful thing not to have to pretend, especially pretend
in those things that we know aren't so. Like we have some
sort of goodness or some sort of righteousness about us that
God says isn't there. It's good to be honest. Be honest
with God. That's what Friday night we had
a youth Bible study and that's the primary thing we looked at
was just not saying your prayers but really
being honest with God. If you don't understand Him,
ask Him to give you an understanding. If you're afraid of Him, express
that. If you want to know Him, ask
Him to draw you near and teach you. Be honest. If you are a
sinner, ask Him just to be merciful to you. Just be honest with God. It's hard. We can't do that until
God truly gives us a heart to be honest with God. Well, I pray
now that God will use this Word to humble us and make us honest
before God. I've titled this, A Believer's
Honest Confession. Believer's Honest Confession.
Isaiah 38.1 says, In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. This was about the time the Lord
had defended the city for His glory. It was during or after
that time, the Assyrian assault on Jerusalem that we saw in Isaiah
37. And those days was Hezekiah sick
unto death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son
of Amos, came unto him and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord,
set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live. You know, I'm thankful the Lord
has come and redeemed his people and he's given me the charge
to go forth and tell you the good news of what he's accomplished. Wouldn't this be hard to go to
a faithful man, a believer, and say to him, prepare your house. Thou shalt die and not live.
The Lord sent me to tell you that. Verse 2, Then Hezekiah turned
his face toward the wall and prayed unto the Lord, and said,
Remember now, O Lord, I beseech Thee how I have walked before
Thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which
is good in Thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. Now drop down to verse 9. The writing of Hezekiah, king
of Judah, when he had been sick and was recovered of his sickness. This is one of those precious
times in the Scriptures where the man who is actually being
afflicted says to us himself what was going on in his heart
while he was being afflicted. If Hezekiah didn't say this honestly
about himself, I wouldn't say this about him. This man was
a faithful man. This man was a believer. But
he's being honest and he says these are the thoughts that was
on his mind and on his heart during this time. And he's honest
with us about what he was thinking and feeling and he tells us here
that what swept over him were many fears, many complaints. His heart was full of murmuring.
And he tells us what those things were. Verse 10, I said, in the
cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave.
I am deprived of the residue of my years. He describes this
as cutting off my days. He says, I'm deprived of the
residue of my years. Hezekiah's about 40 years old
at this time. He's in the prime of his life. His nation is in trouble. He doesn't have a son to take
the throne after him. And he's being honest here. And he says, I felt as though
I was being deprived of my years. And then that lets us know something
here that the reason the Lord was doing what he was doing is
Hezekiah did have an attachment for this life. He did have a
zeal for this life. We can understand what he's going
through here, but he had an attachment for this world that was grieving
him in thought, at the thought of dying. And then, you know,
you think, too, he had all those things that, those harsh words
that the Assyrians had just said to his messengers out there that
were hearing all this, to the people on the wall, about how,
don't listen to Hezekiah, don't trust what he's saying. And I
can't help but think that Hezekiah's probably thinking, I'm going
to die here and these people are going to mock me and think
the Lord has really smitten me, has been offended with me." He
has a lot of things on his mind. I think he was probably feeling
somewhat like David. Look at Psalm 73. Psalm 73. David said this on one occasion. He said, Truly, God is good to
Israel, even as such as are of a clean heart. But as for me,
my feet were almost gone, and my steps had well nigh slipped.
For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of
the wicked. For there are no bands in their
death, but their strength is firm. They're not in trouble
as other men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore
pride compasseth them about as a chain, violence covereth them
as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness,
they have more than heart could wish." He had an attachment to
this world, Hezekiah did. Well, these earthly thoughts
clouded his mind so that he was deprived of the consolation he
might have had at this time when he's facing death, knowing that
he's going to be with God in glory now and see God face to
face. But he says, back in Isaiah 38,
11, he said, I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord
in the land of the living. I shall behold man no more with
the inhabitants of the world. He acts as if you only see the
Lord in the land of the living, as if this was not going to be
opening the door for him to walk right into God's presence and
see Him. And this was coming about because of this attachment
he had, this longing to continue in his year. But you notice here
it wasn't hell that grieved him. That wasn't what grieved him.
What grieved him was he wanted to see the Lord. How be it he
wanted to see the Lord in the land of the living, but he wanted
to see the Lord twice, he says here. That's what his complaint
was. Well, thoughts of his own sin swept over him as well. So
that he thought God was cutting him off in judgment. And justly
doing that. Look at verse 12. My age is departed. He's saying my generation is
departed. My life is departed. It's removed from me as a shepherd's
tent. Just that easily, taken down
a shepherd's tent. Look what he says here. I have
cut off like a weaver my life. He said, I've done this. Look
what he says next. He will cut me off with pining
sickness. From day even to night will thou
make an end of me. He ascribes this cause of death
to himself. He knew he was a sinner, and
he was thinking about these things. He knew he had given tribute
to the king of Assyria, probably many other things. He knew these
things were just coming on him. Wave after wave, these thoughts
were coming to him. Verse 13, he says, I reckoned
to a morning that as a lion, so will he break all my bones
from day even to night without making end of me. He said, I
reckoned that I might just make it to morning. But then like
a lion, he'd break all my bones and just cut me off. It's a man
being honest. It's a man being honest. Well,
he was so burdened at these thoughts, he couldn't look up to God. He
couldn't look up to God. It's interesting, don't you think
it's interesting that that first verse there, or I'm sorry, the second verse
there, third verse there, when he turned to the wall and prayed,
this is the Spirit of God giving us the word through the writer
of this prophecy. And He said, this is what Hezekiah
said, Remember now, O Lord, I beseech Thee how I have walked before
Thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which
is good in Thy sight. Now that's what the Holy Spirit
was inspired to write that Hezekiah said, what God heard him say. Hezekiah is telling us what he
said. Hezekiah is telling us what he said. Look now at verse
14. like a crane or a swallow, so
did I chatter. I did mourn as a dove. My eyes
fell with looking upward." All these thoughts he was having,
he couldn't even look up to God. He couldn't even form up words
on his lips to pray to God. Now while all this is going on
and Hezekiah is suffering these things, he's right where God
put him, right on purpose. And while he's suffering these
things, now not a lot of time has passed. This has come on
him like this. And Isaiah has reported the news
to him, put his house in order, thou shalt die. And Isaiah's
turned and he's walking out of his bedchamber, walking down
the halls in the palace. He's almost made
his way out to the middle court. Isaiah doesn't know all this
is going on in Hezekiah's heart. So here's a change that takes
place with Hezekiah. Hezekiah comes to the end of
himself. He's crushed down, He's weighted
down, He's burdened down with all these things. And this became
His groaning within Him. Verse 14 at the end. Oh Lord,
I am oppressed. Undertake for me. Be my surety. Take this burden." What did he
finally pray? Lord, Thy will be done. He finally came to the end of
all this nonsense that he was thinking chattering about and
murmuring about, came to the end of all that. And he said,
like Eli said, it's the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. Oh Lord, I am oppressed. Oh Lord, undertake for me. Are you oppressed? You know,
this word means so much. It's crushed. It means to be
broken. It means to be just burdened down under heavy, heavy
weight. Has your sin become heavy to
you? Has the trial become heavy to
you? Do you know there's no way to
deliver yourself from the trial, from the weight? Have you come
to that place where it just, you can't bear up under it anymore? Here's the only way of salvation.
Oh Lord, undertake for me." He didn't have any hope anywhere
else. He'd come to the point where
he was completely, totally broken. It wasn't as if the kind of trials
that we suffer and that we have some hope that tomorrow's going
to be a brighter day. This was it. This is it. And he's just at the point to
where he can't find any peace whatsoever. None. And he says, oh Lord, I am oppressed. Undertake for me. And Isaiah is walking along,
almost about to make it out to the middle court. And look at verse 4. Then came
the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying. 2 Kings 20 verse 4 says,
Before Isaiah made his way out into the middle court. Not before then. Not before then,
not when all those other thoughts were going on and all that other
stuff. But when he said, Lord, I'm oppressed, undertake for
me. The Lord said, Isaiah, turn around
and go back. Go back. Verse 5, Go and say
to Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father,
I have heard thy prayer. I have seen thy tears. Behold,
I will add unto thy days fifteen years, and I will deliver thee
and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I
will defend this city." I think that what we read there in verse
3 is what the Lord heard. when he heard, O Lord, I am oppressed,
undertake for me. And the Lord remembered, there's
nobody in this world like Hezekiah. There's never been anybody like
Hezekiah. And he sent Isaiah to him. Look
down at verse 21. 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? Verse
7, And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord, that the
Lord will do this thing that he hath spoken. Behold, I will
bring again the shadow of the degrees which is gone down in
the sundial of Ahaz ten degrees backward. So the sun returned
ten degrees by which degrees it was gone down. Now, what can
we learn about this from Hezekiah? Well, I like it when I can just
preach what somebody else already said. And that's what I'm going
to do. I'm going to preach to you exactly
what Hezekiah said for us to learn from this. He wrote it
down. He wrote it down. Verse 15. What shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me,
and himself hath done it. I shall go softly all my years
in the bitterness of my soul. Here's the first thing. Believer,
go softly in the fear of the Lord. Sojourn through this life holding
on to everything very loosely. Very loosely. Ready to let go
of it at any time. You know when we get bitter really?
It's when we really want to hold on to something and it's taken
away from us. And we start saying, that's not
fair. That's not fair. I read somewhere, somebody said,
fair is the thing you go to and ride on rides and eat cotton
candy and step in donkey dung. What God does is right. It's
right. And He's given us everything
He's given us to use for His glory, and when we become attached
to Him, it's not for His glory, and He'll just take them away.
Have your shoes on your feet, have your loins girded and staff
in your hand and be ready to go. Ready to go. Here's the second
thing. He says, I shall go softly all
my years in the bitterness of my soul. This is repentance. Learn from the trial so as to
repent from that which has caused you bitterness. Hezekiah says,
I'm going to remember. I want to go softly and I want
to remember my hastiness. I want to remember my impatience.
I want to remember my inordinate affection for this world so that
when I begin to think like that again, it'll be, I'll remember
this bitterness. And it'll just be bitterness
to me. I don't want to do this again. I don't want to be dishonoring
to my God again. I want to be trusting of Him.
Look over at Job. You know, at the end of Job's
trial, look at what Job said. Job chapter 40. Job chapter 40. Look at verse
1. Moreover, the Lord answered Job
and said, Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him?
He that reproveth God, let him answer it. Then Job answered
the Lord and said, Behold, I am thou. What shall I answer thee? I'll lay my hand upon my mouth.
Once have I spoken, but I will not answer. Yea, twice, but I'll
proceed no further." That's what Hezekiah is saying. I'm just
going to put my hand on my mouth and be quiet. Here's the third
thing. Brother Scott asked me in the
back this morning, do we have anything specifically to pray
for? And I said, yes, thank the Lord
for the trials. Verse 16, O Lord, by these things
men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit, so
wilt Thou recover me and make me to live. By these trials and by these
deliverances from these trials, by these sinkings and these risings,
by these strippings and these clothings, by these emptings
and these fillings, by these things. Spiritual men, God's
men, God's children live, they live in proportion in direct
proportion to how we die to this world, to self, to sense, to
nature, to false religion, in direct relation to how we die
to this world, the life of God is strengthened in our conscience. At first, it looked like Hezekiah's
faith was gone. It looked like his hope was gone.
He sounded like a man that didn't have any hope at all, didn't
he? But underneath all that, God was strengthening his faith
and reviving his faith, making him a stronger believer, a little
more weaned from this world. I remember one time there was
a big oak tree at the back of my grandparents' house. And ivy
had grown all over that tree. And it had gotten so bad. I mean,
it just was all up the tree. And it had gotten all over that
back portion of their house. And so one day, I went down there.
And I took tools. And I went and cut all that ivy
off that tree. It took all day. And you just
have big heaps of ivy. And there was some poison ivy
mixed with it. I think I was, I couldn't hardly
walk for about three days when I got finished. After clearing
off all that ivy, do you think it killed the tree? The tree grew better. The tree
thrived after all that ivy was cut off of it. That's what God's
doing. He's cutting off all the ivy.
That's what He's doing, just cutting off the ivy. And by these
things we live. We live. Well, here's the fourth
thing. Here's what the Father teaches
His children. In everlasting love, God has
put away your sins, and He will not allow one for whom He died
to perish. Look at verse 17. Behold, for
peace I had great bitterness. When our peace becomes this life,
anything but hope in our Savior, God is sure to make it bitter
to us. That's grace. That's grace. But thou hast in love to my soul
delivered it from the pit of corruption, for thou hast cast
all my sin behind thy back. For the grave cannot praise thee,
death cannot celebrate thee, they that go down into the pit
cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall
praise thee as I do this day. before God discovers His peace
to any of His vessels of mercy. We saw this last week. Instruction
in the way. It's like He took them down there
when they came out of Egypt. He took them down there between
those two rocks and between that Red Sea and pinned them in there
with Pharaoh's army coming after them. God's going to always bring
us He's going to bring us to the end of ourselves before He
speaks peace in our hearts. Because if He doesn't, we won't
understand and know and rejoice that He is the peace. And that
very thing He's done for us is our peace. It is our deliverance
from the pit of corruption. And when He speaks this peace
to us, He's going to make us to understand that what He's
doing for us and why He has done what He's done for us, even though
the trial may have been bitter at the time, It's because he
has cast all our sins behind his back and he will not remember
them anymore. And he won't allow us to perish
in the pit of corruption. Hezekiah was going through all
this and he was thinking, Look over at Isaiah 53. Hezekiah was
going through all this and he was saying, I'm cut off. He has
cut me off. I am perishing. I'm being cut off out of the
land of the living. It couldn't be so. It could not
be so. It never could be so. Because
as his surety, another was cut off in his place. Verse 8. Isaiah
53a, Christ was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall
declare his generation, his age, his life? For he was cut off
out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people
was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth, yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. It satisfied God. It satisfied
every requirement God has of His people for Him to bruise
His own Son. And He put Him to grief. When
thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed,
He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in His hand. He'll see the travail of His
soul and be satisfied. Well, that's what the Lord did. He did this for Hezekiah. He
brought him to that place where Hezekiah cried out and said,
Lord, help me. Lord, be my surety. And he said,
deliver him from going down into the pit. I've found a ransom.
I have a ransom for this one. Here's the fifth thing. What do we do with this knowledge?
What do we do with this understanding? What do we do with it? What did
Hezekiah do with it? He honestly wrote it down and
is teaching it to us, his children. And was honest about every bit
of it. Honest about every bit of it. Look what he says here. Let us
teach our children what we've learned by God's grace. Verse
19, the living, the living, he shall praise thee as I do this
day. The father to the children shall make known thy truth. Let's not wait on somebody else
to teach our children. Let me say that personally. Let
me not wait on somebody else to teach my children. I need
to teach them. I need to teach them. I need
to redeem the time and teach my children what God has taught
me by His grace. Isn't that why he's done what
he's done? You know, when he brought him out of Egypt, what
he said to him, he said, now, you learned these things I've
done for you, and you write these things, and you teach them to
your children and to your children's children, and do not forget what
I've done for you. Why is he doing what he's done?
It is for our good. It is for our immediate personal
good. But it's also for the good consolation of others. It's also
for the comfort of others. That's what Paul said. If we'd
be afflicted, it's for your consolation. So that we can comfort you with
the same comfort wherewith we're comforted. the grace of God,
the freeness of God's grace, the truth that He's put all my
sin away, forgiven me completely, He's cast it behind His back,
He's delivered up His only begotten Son in my room and my stead. He's made Him guilty before Him. And He might justly punish Him
in my room instead. so that he might, with the same
justice, show me mercy." What an amazing God. Justice is not my enemy anymore.
Justice is my best friend. Demands I be shown mercy. Because
why? There is no sin anymore. So,
son, when I get to being too high and mighty and I get too
wrapped up in this world and I get to running after this world
and too attached to this world and you see me just brought down
to mourning and crying in sorrow. It's the same thing that I'm
trying to do for you when I'm correcting you and teaching you. When I take you into your bedroom
and set you down on the bed and I talk to you and explain to
you. And we try to teach these kids
not just, that's wrong, don't do it anymore. Why is it wrong? Why is it wrong? because it's
against the one who has the authority over you. It's against the one
who provides everything for you. It's against the one who is your
life. It's against the one who is your
mercy. It's against the one who is your
grace. It is against the one whose every
instruction is right for you, whose every instruction is guiding
you in the way you should go, whose every instruction will
result in you increasing and not being taken captive and lost
in this world. And as we're teaching them that,
we're teaching them, when you see what the Lord's done to me,
I'm not without chastening. I'm not without correction. My
heavenly Father is seated in the heavens at the right hand
of God. He's my everlasting Father. And
God, my Father, and He's correcting me. He will not allow me to be
turned out of the way in these large things that happen, in
these large things that take place where He brings me down,
where He takes away some big thing, may be it a house or a
job or cars or houses or whatever it is. My God is doing exactly,
as a faithful father is doing exactly for me, son, what I'm
trying to teach you. Not because He doesn't love me,
because He does. I heard this story recently.
I didn't realize this, but Brother Walter Groover down in Mexico,
they adopted a child. I never knew this. They adopted
a child in Mexico. And Brother Walter and Sister
Betty were very careful with this little girl because they
had adopted her. And they didn't correct her like
they did their other children. They weren't nearly as thorough with her as they were
their other children. Let her get away with some things.
And she just kept getting worse and worse and worse and worse.
And so finally Walter one day sat her down and he said, this
can't go on anymore. And he gave her a spanking. And
she began bawling and crying and tears coming down her face.
And right in the middle of it, she said, now I know that you
love me. That's happened. Now I know that
you love me. Well, here's the last thing. No chastening for the presence
joyous, grievous, but afterwards it yields peaceable fruit. It
did with Hezekiah. It does with us. So let us praise
the Lord in the house of the Lord the remainder of our days.
Look at verse 20. The Lord was ready to save me.
Therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all
the days of our life in the house of the Lord. He was constrained
by the love of God. forgiving Him, saving Him by
His grace. And it made Him dedicated to
the truth of God. It made Him dedicated to the
glory of God. It made Him dedicated to the
worship of God. That's what God's grace does. I said to you this morning, law
won't do that. Law won't do that. Law will make
a very pious, empty man. But it will not do this right
here. It just won't do that. This is grace. He does this in
conversion. Isn't this exactly, we saw this
last, isn't this exactly what He did in conversion? He brings
us to the end of ourselves and then teaches us who He is and
how He saves and what He's done for us and why He's done it.
And He does it in every trial. And when we come to where Hezekiah
came to, and we probably have these same thoughts that Hezekiah
has, You know what God will do in His grace? He'll do the same
thing He did for Hezekiah, whether He gives you more time or He
doesn't. That's right. He'll bring you
to see His grace is sufficient to save us and strengthen us,
and He'll make us joyous. Has He saved you? Has He done
this for you? I know this of certainty. If
he does, when he does, you'll do what a guy did. You'll say,
I'm going to sing to his name and praise him and worship him
all my days in his house. I am so thankful for what he's
done for me. And it won't be anybody have
to twist your arm or try to drive you like a goat to get you to
do it, either. You can do it singing and dancing and happy,
happy. All right, let's sing a song.