I can take your Bibles this evening
and turn with me to 2nd Kings, 2nd Kings chapter 18. 2nd Kings
chapter 18. And I've entitled this message,
The Ruin of Fenced Cities. The Ruin of Fenced Cities. Now in this book of 2nd Kings,
in these three chapters, chapter 17, 18, and 19, we can see three
kingdoms in these chapters, three kings. There's the King Sennacherib,
which is the king of Assyria, King Hoshea, which is the king
of Israel, and Hezekiah, the king of Judah. And what I want
us to see by these three kings, what the intent of the Holy Spirit
is not to just give us a history lesson. Remember, we're not just
studying Jewish history. We are studying spiritual things. These are spiritual representations
of three distinct beings or persons. We know that the King Sennacherib,
as we'll see, is a picture of Satan. He is a picture of the
enemy of God. He is a picture of the flesh
and the world. This King Hoshea, we're going
to see, he is a picture of all lost religious professors. All those who profess faith in
Christ, who have the name Israel, but do not know Christ. And King Hezekiah, he is a type
and picture of every believer in Christ. You who believe in
Christ tonight, you should see yourself in this man, Hezekiah. Now, let us see this man, I want
us to focus, not so much on the others, but focus on this man,
Hezekiah. There are several things we can
see about this man that we can see clearly, we can identify
with. This man, Hezekiah, King of Judah,
is mentioned in verses one through five, but let's start at verse
five here. And first of all, it says, this
man, Hezekiah, he trusted in the Lord God of Israel. So that
after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any
were before him. For he claimed to the Lord and
departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which
the Lord commanded Moses. So the first thing you see about
this man Hezekiah is what? He trusted in the Lord. This is true of every true believer
in Jesus Christ. We trust Jesus Christ. We, by faith, receive Christ
and we trust in His blood to atone for our sins. We trust
in His righteousness to hold us before God. We trust in Him
alone as all our salvation. And we lean not to our own understanding,
but in all our ways we acknowledge Christ. Christ is all. Christ
is all. We trust Christ. We see that
our salvation, then, is by the grace of God, and we trust that
our eternal souls rest solely in the person and work of Christ.
Is this you? Do you trust Christ? Do you believe
on Christ? Not Christ partially, but Christ
wholly, absolutely all your salvation. This was Hezekiah. This is the
testimony of all true believers. Anyone who claims to be a Christian,
anyone who claims to trust the Lord, but is trusting, not just
resting wholly on Christ, but are trusting in their will or
their works, they may have the name Christian, but they're not
Christian. They're not followers of Christ.
They're not trusting God. Now listen, we can never trust
God too much. Isn't that right? Is there anything
that we keep to ourselves? No. This man wholly trusted in
God. You cannot trust too much in
God. Is there anything in our lives
that we cannot trust him to take care of? Well, Lord, I'll just
give you my soul, but I'll take care of my body. Well, what sense
does that make? That's not trusting Him. We trust
Him with our whole self, our soul, our spirit, our body. Everything belongs to Him. He
is all our hope and stay. That is to trust Him. Notice
this, the second thing, He claimed unto the Lord. That's where it
is very important. It means to adhere to or follow
hard against. It means to lay one's total weight
on someone. That's what this man Hezekiah
did. He put his whole weight on God. He claimed to God. He set all
of his hope in Christ. Whereas the scripture says, in
union with Him. If you're a believer in Christ,
don't you know this? You're in union with Christ. God put you
in union with Christ before the world began. When Christ came
into the world, you were in union with Him, but by experience,
in the experience of grace, when we came to Him by faith, it was
then we were united experimentally with Him. We were united through
faith in Him. Since then, we've claimed to
Him. We've set all our hope on Him. We cleave to the Lord. We believe and cleave to our
great God, our Savior, Jesus Christ, and have no confidence
in what? In the flesh. We put no confidence
in ourselves. All of our hope and trust, we
cleave to Him. We hold fast to Christ. We love our God. We do so, why? Why do you cleave to Him and
others don't? Why do you trust Him and others
don't? We love Him because He first loved us. He first loved us and gave Himself
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
The only way we can cleave to God is that we be made righteous. You can't be in union with Christ
except you be righteous. And Christ has made our righteousness.
Third thing is this, he followed him. Look at that, he said he
trusted in the Lord, he claimed to the Lord, and then he departed
not from following him. From following him. What is it
to follow Christ? You listen, it is to obey his
commands. You cannot follow Christ and
not obey his commands. He followed Christ and listened
to what he said. but kept his commandments, which
the Lord commanded Moses. I like this in Ephesians 5.1,
it says, be followers of God. How? As dear children. As children. Children are dependent
on their parents. They're dependent, totally dependent. They're followers. That word
actually is imitators. Be imitators of God as dear children. We trust in the Lord and we follow
him. He is our great God. And he leads
us and we follow his decrees. He is not like the God of false
religion. Now, Israel, that man, Hosea,
he's a picture of false professors, you know? And in Israel, they
worshiped other gods. They worshiped gods of wood,
gods of stone. They had to carve them out of
trees and out of rocks and they made gods. You know what, if
you make a God and you put him in your pocket, guess what? He
follows you. Now listen, if your God follows
you, your God is a false God. Our God doesn't follow behind
us, our God leads us. Our God controls us, we don't
control our God. Our God is in the heavens and
hath done whatsoever he had pleased, and we follow him. The God of
this religious world, I'll tell you, that man Hoshea, he had
the name Israelite. He was an Israelite. He had it,
but he only had it in name. He didn't have it in reality. And as they carried the name,
and so many today carry the name Christian. They carry the name
Christian, but they're not really Christian. Their God is one that
is to be pitied and not worshipped. Their God is waiting for the
sovereign will of man. Listen, if your God is waiting
for your will, then your God is following you. My God didn't
wait for my will. My God willed it, and it became
so. You see, I only was made willing
in the day of my God's power. And this is the God we follow. And I'll tell you this, God's
word uses very compassionate language in scripture, doesn't
it? Our Lord Jesus Christ, he calls
to the weary, he said, you that are weary and heavy laden, come
unto me. Doesn't that sound good? Isn't
that compassionate? Isn't that compassion? Come unto
me, you that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find
rest unto your soul. That's compassion. That's compassion. Listen, I preach that gospel
to anyone who wants to hear it. Come. I like this. I heard this
today. Enter ye in the straight gate.
No, he didn't say measure the gate. He didn't say weigh the
gate. He didn't say look at the gate. He compelled them to come
in the gate. Come in now. Don't wait. Come
in now. Believe now. What compassionate
language. But I know this, except that
word come in power, it will do nothing. That word cannot do
anything except to come in power of the Holy Spirit. You see,
The God of false religion, their God, they don't have the keys
of death and hell. Man does. And their God must knock at the
door in hopes that they come in. That's not my God. My God
did not wait for me. My God came to me where I was
and saved me. That's what happened to Hezekiah.
He followed God. He followed God because God was
worthy to be followed. He obeyed his commandments. And
what are his commandments? Here it is. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Isn't that his commandment? He's not asking you, listen to
me, he's not asking you to believe. He's telling you to believe.
He is a commandment to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And
the promise is sure to all who believe, thou shalt be saved. And so to follow Christ is to
obey his commandments. It is to obey his word. This
is his word. And what is this word about?
What is this? I'm not saying this is the sum
or this theme. This is the whole thing. The
whole thing is about Jesus Christ, him crucified, the whole book.
So when he says he followed the commandments of Moses, he's not
saying that Hezekiah obeyed the law perfectly. That's not what
he's saying. He said he believed Christ because that was what
the law testified of. It testified of Christ. And he
obeyed and followed his commandment. And listen, all who will not
bow to Christ, will not bow to the word of God, have not bowed
to the son of God. Jesus said, why do you call me
Lord and not do the things I say? Isn't that a simple question? Why do you call me Lord and still
don't believe? Why don't you trust? Why don't
you follow? Why don't you cleave to me? You see, his people will,
his people will. And the fourth thing that Hezekiah
did, now he trusted the Lord, he claimed to the Lord, he followed
the Lord. Now I'm gonna talk about Hezekiah's
rebellion. Hezekiah's rebellion, look at
verse seven. And the Lord was with him. and
he prospered whether so ever he went forth. And he rebelled,
but not against God. Listen, he rebelled against the
king of Assyria and served him not. Hezekiah did not rebel against
God, but the king of Assyria. The nations of Israel, as well
as the nation of Judah, are all types of the son of Adam. I told
you that the King Hosea, he's a picture of professors. is a picture of believers, but
both are pictured as sons of Adam. There was a time when Hezekiah
and Hosea both served the king of Assyria. They both paid tribute
to the king of Assyria. And we know this, the king of
Assyria is a type of Satan. And we all being born dead in
sins and enslaved the dominion of Satan. We are held captive at his will,
the scripture says. Jesus, our Lord, pictures him
as a strong man armed. And he has us held This is the reason men will not
have no such thing as free will. There's no such thing as free
will because man by nature is bound by sin. Man by nature can
only do what is in the confines of his nature. He can't do that
which is outside of his nature. He can only do what is in his
nature. And what we are by nature is sinners. You're not 99.9%
sinner, you are 100% sinner. And we are bound by our sins,
and what do we do? We constantly are offering tributes
to the strong man armed, to Satan. Paul says this, we all walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, that spirit that now worketh where? in the children of disobedience,
where we all had our conversation. This is all of us. But that when
Christ, when the spirit of God comes and he quickens the sinner
to life and that sinner receives Christ by faith, there's a change. there's a change, there's a rebellion
taking place. It's not a rebellion now against
God, it's a rebellion against the strongman arm and Christ
comes in and binds the strongman and casts him out and sets up
his dominion in the heart of his people and from that time
on there is a warfare that takes place. A warfare. The flesh lusts against the spirit,
and the spirit against the flesh, and these two are constantly
at war. And what's different? The new
man will not pay tribute. And the old man wars to seek
to pay tribute. There's a constant warfare. But
praise God that we no longer serve Satan. or self, but we
serve God. And then when he said to the
Thessalonians, he said, I praise God that you turn to God from
idols to serve, who? The living God. We serve the
living God. I mean, read in chapter 17 of
this King of Israel. Now listen, I want you to see
this. In chapter 17, I'm not gonna read it because it's so
long, but it's necessary for you to see it. Hosea also rebelled
against the king of Assyria, but it didn't end well for him.
You know why? He didn't have God. He had his
false god, and he surely tried to take up a moral stance. That's what false religion does.
It takes up a moral stance. But listen, if you don't have
God as your king, If you don't have God in your soul, in your
heart, a new nature, then it will never end well for you. I think of that passage in Luke
chapter 11. Remember, it says this, I'll
read it to you. It says, when the unclean spirit has gone out
of a man, he walketh in dry places. He had an unclean spirit, this
man's filthy, he's wicked, and the spirit leaves him. And all
of a sudden, he's seeking rest. He's trying to find rest, but
he doesn't go to the right place. He goes to dry places. Why would
you go to a desert to seek rest? But that's what man does. He
goes to his works. He goes to works religion. There's
no water in works religion. There's no salvation in works
religion. And what does he do? Eventually,
he says this, I will just go back. I'll just go back to where
I was. And Jesus said, when he comes
back, he finds his house all swept and garnished, but then
he takes in seven more evil spirits than before. And the last estate
of that man is worse than the first. That's what happened to
Hosea. He had another, he sought another God, and when he tried
to rebel and become moral, he was overtaken. And so it is with
all those who try to clean up their lives. They may look good
for a while. Have you ever seen people like
that? They look good for a while. They seem to run well, don't
they? They seem to run faster than you. They seem to run better
than you. You say, wow, I wish I was like that. And all of a
sudden, they're gone. You know what happened? They
didn't have Christ. It was just a profession. Profession. Hezekiah, he rebelled, but he
had in his heart. Now, sixth thing
is Hezekiah also was a mighty conqueror. Look at this in verse
8. The scripture says, He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza
and the borders thereof, and the tower of the Watchmen to
the fenced cities. We that have trusted in the Lord,
we have been freed by the Lord Jesus Christ, who were bound
by the strong man. We are now free. What are we
free from? We're free from the power of
sin. How do you know that? Well, I can believe, right? I'm
free from that power of sin that kept me in unbelief. I'm free
now to believe. I'm free from the guilt of sin. I'm free from the guilt of sin
so that now the burden, like old Pilgrim, he went up to the
cross and that burden rolled off of his back. When we come
to Christ, the burden of our sin rolls away. and we're free
from it. It's never coming back on us
again. God will never demand twice payment, once at my surety's
hand and then again at mine. He'll never do it. And what does
He say then to those who have been freed, those who have been
serving Christ? He says this, there is therefore
now an ever-present, constant now, an eternal now, there is
therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
You are in Christ Jesus, you listen very carefully, and you
hold on to this with both hands. There is no condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus, none whatsoever. And because Jesus
is the captain of our salvation, he goes before us into battle.
All we that believe are counted as mighty warriors. Like old Gideon. He said, thy
mighty man of valor. Me? Are you talking to me? Well,
I know you're the only one there, Gideon. Yeah, I'm talking to
you. Mighty man of valor. That's what he says of all his
people. We are more than conquerors through
him that loved us. So then now, knowing that Hezekiah
trusted the Lord, knowing that he claimed the Lord and followed
the Lord, knowing that he rebelled against the king of Assyria,
Satan, so that we, we trusted the Lord, we followed, we claimed,
we obeyed his word. And we also have a warfare to
fight. And you know what? We are assured
of victory. Therefore, we can go on the housetops
and cry, grace, grace, all of grace. We can call, we can cry
out, come ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick
and sore, God's free bounty glorified. True belief and true repentance,
every grace that brings you. Come on, come to Christ. We say
that with a mighty shout. We say it with confidence. Come
with Christ. Come now, believe now, and he
will save you. He is the conqueror. He is the
mighty captain of our salvation. And you know what? This is true
of all believers. We win. When this thing's wrapped up,
you can be sure of this. We win. Why? Because he won. He won. Hezekiah was a winner. He was a winner because he followed
God, and God won the victory. Christ won our pardon. Christ
won our righteousness. Christ won our victory, and we
win Christ. You have Christ, you have everything.
You win. Now the seventh thing is this. Notice Hezekiah had some finch
cities. The sin of Hezekiah's finch cities. Hezekiah was not a perfect man.
He was a sinner saved by grace just like us. Now these fenced
cities, and this king of Syria, after he had conquered, after
he had conquered the northern tribe of Israel, he felt bold. And so now he sets his sight
on Judah. And he goes down to try to conquer
Judah. The scripture says here in verse
13, it says, now in the 14th year of King Hezekiah did Sennacherib
king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah. And notice this. and took them. Wait a second. Did you say Hezekiah
was a winner? Yes. And I'm telling you, his
fenced cities needed to be destroyed. King Hezekiah, for many years,
enjoyed prosperity and victory at the hand of the Lord. And
over the years, he had built up these fenced cities, these
cities that are fortified. You imagine these cities with
big walls. Big bulwarks, he put up many of these cities, and
these cities went out in front of the wall of Jerusalem, and
they were fortified with soldiers, and they made the people feel
safe. Yeah, we got one of the most
powerful, we have the most powerful army ever in the world. And it
makes us feel what? Safe. You pay attention, don't
you put any trust in that army. Don't you put trust in the power
of this United States. Friend, this thing could be taken
in a moment and you see it happening. You see it collapsing. Don't
put any trust in these things. But I'll tell you this, Hezekiah
and the people of Israel put trust in those cities to protect
them. And in order to do that, guess
what? You have to remove your trust from God. If you split
trust, you're moving trust from God to these fenced cities. That's
what they did. They thought they kept them safe.
They trusted in these fenced cities. And so it is with us believers.
Sometimes we get complacent. Sometimes the word of God becomes
stagnant to our ears and our hearts become hard and cold and
indifferent to the things of God. Why? Because we set and build up defenses. We set and build up things and
we begin to trust in the things we are building rather than trusting
God. We take our eye off of God. And
I'll tell you this, friend, we have a real enemy. He's not fake. You pay attention to me. Satan
is just as real as you are. Satan is a real enemy. He is hateful, he is cruel, he
is a murder of souls, and he is the liar and a father of lies. And like the king of Assyria,
he sets himself in battle against the sons of God who will not
pay him tribute. You have an enemy, friends, and
he's a strong one. Remember what the Lord said to
Peter. He said, Satan hath desired to sift you, Now, we don't sift
wheat. I don't sift wheat. But it's
nothing more than taking the wheat in a barrel and throwing
it in the air and the chap blowing away. That's all it is. Satan
desires it just to shake you and throw you in the air. That's
how easily he could destroy you. He is a powerful being. Satan,
if it were not for the Lord Jesus Christ, would sift us as wheat. Isn't that what he said? But
Peter had this over Judas, right? Satan sifted Judas's wheat. But
what was Peter's hope? But I have prayed for thee. Believer,
our hope that Satan doesn't get to us is this, the intercession
of our Lord Jesus Christ. I like that story in Zechariah
of Joshua, that high priest who stood in those filthy garments.
And Satan stood ready to accuse him, and just before he could
say anything, the angel of the Lord said, don't speak. Is this not a brand pluck from
the burning? Is this not mine? Shut up. You have no authority
here. Clothe him. Put the crown on
his head. That's what our Lord says to
us. If we didn't have him, he would sift us as wheat. What
are these spent cities then? Now listen, this is very important.
Very important. What are fenced cities? They
are anything we would put above our God. Anything we put above our God. Anything we trust to keep us
or make us acceptable to God. They are anything that we would
trust for our peace and our joy, rather than trusting in Christ.
They are anything that we might receive to bring us contentment
in this life. I'm gonna give you a few of them
and see if they resonate with you as they do with me, because
these are my fence cities, and I'm sure that they are yours
as well. What about the fence city of biblical knowledge? Many believers say, well, I believe
in the doctrines of grace. Good. We may understand great things
of the word of God. We may have a command over a
great portion of scripture. You more than likely know more
than me. That's okay. That's all right. We may surely say God will burn
down the false professor. He'll destroy that old Israel
up there, Hosea, those false professors. But you know what?
I have this fenced city of knowledge. This knowledge is going to protect
me from the assault of Satan. What is that but pride? Who maketh thee to differ from
another? Well, what has to happen? That
was not received. And if you received it by grace, then why
do you act as if you didn't? Never let our source, never let
our knowledge be the grounds of our strength against the enemy. Listen, Satan knows more scripture
than you do. And if you start reasoning and
comparing with Him, you'll lose. You'll lose. We must strive not
to know about the person and work of Christ. We must strive
to know the person and work of Christ. There's the fortification. Not your knowledge about Him,
but knowing Him. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. Do you know whom you have believed? I know whom I believe in and
able that he persuaded that he is able. I know him and I know
he is able to keep that. Not me, not my knowledge of him,
but him. What if one day your brain just
explodes and you don't ever have any more understanding of, you
couldn't tell the difference between a leaf and a rock. Well,
see, it don't matter because if you're in Christ, that has
nothing to do with it. You see, we're kept by Him. The
second fenced city is this one. What about the fenced cities
of our families, our friends? I tell you, I hope that God gives
us a good family. There's nothing greater than
a gift in this world that God gives us a good family, a good
spouse, and good children. Now, if you know of a good family,
just tell me. If you know of a good family, I'd like to meet that family
and shake their hand, but there is a gift. There's a gift of
family. We say as believers, surely God
destroyed the family of the heathen. But surely God loves me too much
to burn down this fence. But if God does give us good
children, a good spouse, we should be thankful. These are blessings. But they are not to be the source
of our joy, nor are we to depend on them or hope in them. Listen, spouses leave all the
time for whatever reason. Children disappoint us. They do. We may lose those we love. They
may die. Therefore, God must be the source
of our joy and contentment. Godliness with contentment is
great gain, isn't it? Contentment. Be thankful if you
have a family, but what if you lose it? Be thankful. Trust in God. Don't trust in
them. They're fenced cities. God will
burn them down. What about this one, a fenced
city of our wealth or our job? God can and does give us jobs. He gives us homes and the things
we enjoy, the things we possess, these things, like knowledge
and like family, are gifts of God. But if we trust in our wealth,
If we trust in our job, if we put everything we have into those
things, we are taking away from God. We cannot base our security on
these things. Why? They take wings. Have you
noticed that your money goes out just as fast or faster than
you put it in the bank? It's not to be trusted. Wealth
changes constantly. Don't put your trust in houses
or lands or jobs or money. They're fenced cities that can
be taken in a moment. What about the fenced city of
our health? Don't trust in your health. Don't
trust in your strength. Scripture says all flesh is grass. You know how fast the grass dries
up in the heat of the day and burns away? That's how fast our
life goes. Don't trust in your strength
of your life. Don't put your confidence in your flesh. And
God has promised to all believers that he will come, and for our
good, God has promised this. Now you take this as a promise.
God will burn down your fenced cities. I'm not, this is not
a speculation, this is a promise. Now, I want you to go over to
Hosea. Hosea chapter eight and verse eight. Look after Daniel, Hosea chapter
eight and verse 14. Now this man, Hosea was a contemporary
with Isaiah who was in this same chapter we're reading in 2nd
Kings. And look what Hosea says about Judah. He says, For Israel
hath forgotten his maker, and buildeth temples. But Judah hath
multiplied fenced cities. What does God promise? I will
send fire upon his cities. and it shall devour the palaces
thereof. Now, look, Israel, he's already
lost. He doesn't have anything to do
with it, lets him go. Doesn't even talk about Israel. He talks
about these cities of Judah. They trusted in these multitude
of fenced cities and God says, I promise, I'm going to set fire
to it. Now listen, you put anything
above God, believer in Christ, and God's gonna burn it down. Is there anything we hold more
dear to our heart than God? Is there anything more precious
to us than Christ and his gospel? Are you trusting him in all things?
Are you leaning on your own understanding? Do you hold your children, your
health, your spouse, your job, your home, your retirement as
a source of joy and comfort or security and safety? Is that
what you're holding on to for safety? God says, I'll send fire
on it. Now notice what Hezekiah, go
back to your text, and as he burns these cities down, now
imagine the smoke and the ash and all that work he put into
those cities. It burned down, and now the enemy
stands at the gate of Jerusalem. And what does Hezekiah do? The
last, eighth thing here, Hezekiah and his sin of tribute, look
at verse 14. Verse 14, chapter 18. Hezekiah, king of Judah,
sent to the king of Assyria, Delasius, saying, I have offended. Return from me. That which thou
puttest on me, I will bear. And the king of Assyria appointed
Hezekiah, king of Judah, 300 talents of silver and 30 talents
of gold. You know what the first thing
Hezekiah did? He gave up. All those things he trusted in
were gone. And he quit. He gave up. He gave
in. All they relied on him to protect
him was gone and burned to the ground. He did what any true
sinner would do. He offered up peace. Compromise. You know, I like that story of
the bear and the hunter. Hunter come upon the bear and
the bear said, wait a second. Hunter surprised the bear talking.
He says, hold on. He said, hold on. Maybe we can
compromise. And the bear says, well, what
do you want? And the hunter said, well, I
want a fur coat. And the bear says, OK, OK. All
I want is a meal. And they both walked away with
what they wanted. The bear ate him. He had his fur coat and
the bear had his meal. Listen, if you compromise with
Satan, you'll lose. Why? Because he never, it's never
enough. It's never enough. When Satan
comes in and allowed to burn our hollow eggshells of refuge,
the first instinct of every sinner is to run and pay tribute to
it. To pay tribute to the flesh.
The king of Assyria no sooner stood at the gate of Hezekiah
and said, And Hezekiah said, well, how much you want? How
much you want? When temptation comes and all
of your trust is burned down, what's the first thing you do?
You say, well, just one more. It's not going to hurt. If I
just give a little, just to get a little peace, it'll be okay. You ever done that? You ever
have temptation knocking at the door, knocking at the door, and
you say, oh, well, just open up a little. And what happens? Doesn't it swallow you whole? That's the same thing when all
our fid cities are gone, the temptation of sin crouches at
the door, constantly knocking. We become weak and feeble and
begin to reason. Well, it's just a tribute. It's
just a tribute. Believe or hear me, if you're
at this point where God has burned all your fence cities and Satan
has besieged you, if you give in one tribute, he will never
stop until he has you. That's exactly what happened.
Look at this in verse, look what Hezekiah gave in verse 15. Hezekiah
gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the
Lord and the treasures of the king's house. First of all, he
gave all his private wealth, the king's house. You know what
happens when Satan comes in and you pay tribute, the first thing
he wants is this, you stop studying and stop prayer. Treasures of the King's house,
when believers begin to offer tribute, the first thing that
goes is our private study and prayer. The study and prayer of a believer
should be the most valuable thing in the world. In the word of
God, it is where the treasure of Christ is found. It's where
we receive comfort. But I'll tell you this, when
sin come crouching at the door, in order to have peace, that's
the first thing that goes. The second thing he offered this,
he offered the door of God's house. Look at verse 16. And
at that time, Hezekiah cut off gold from the doors of the temple
of the Lord and from the pillars, which Hezekiah king of Judah
had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. If one gives the stores of his
own wealth of prayer and study, he may keep that secret. Listen,
I don't know if you pray, and I don't know if you study. You
could quit that, and I'd never really know the difference. You'd
keep on. But that doesn't last very long. No one really knows
if you're going to your homes and study. You may put on a good
front. Everything may be okay for a
while. But time will tell, because Satan never stops the public
worship of God. Hezekiah neglected the worship
of God to pay tribute to the king of Assyria. Hezekiah began
to take the silver of the house, gold of the house of God and
scrape the doors. If we neglect study and prayer,
it will not be long until we neglect worship. I found that
to be true time and time again. If a believer is not attending
worship on a regular basis, that's a sign that he had already abandoned
studying prayer. Is there any reason that the
believer should neglect the worship service of God? Any reason? I
understand he's sick, he may not be able to make it. You know
what? The thief on the cross would have gone to worship and
he could get off the cross. Everybody knows that. But he
even worshiped where he was. He worshiped Christ, Is there
any reason in this world? I'm talking about your family,
your friends, your job, what is it? I know it might offend some,
but it's the truth. If you're not attending the worship,
it's a sign of a greater problem. Attending worship does not save
you. But if you put anything above
the worship of Christ, what are you doing? Paying tribute. Paying
tribute to Satan, paying tribute to your flesh. How many times
have we said, well, I just don't feel like it. What are you paying
tribute to? Flesh. You see, you tried to
make peace, didn't you? You tried to make peace between
you and your flesh. And who won? Flesh. Flesh. And if we have given in to our
sin, and offered up a tribute to study and prayer and public
worship. You know what's next? Witness. You're not gonna witness
to anybody, are you? No. If any person is content with
making it into heaven by the skin of the teeth, something's
wrong with that person. I want to be in Christ. I want
to know Christ. I want to serve Christ. This
is the heart of a believer. And listen, if that's not our
heart, it's because we've compromised. Believers see that our enemy
is real and powerful. Luther said this, for still our
ancient foe does seek to work us woe. His craft and power are
great, and armed with cruel hate on earth is not his equal. Is
this your case, believer? Have you fallen into the logic
of the world? Have you offered up the wealth of this world, not to God, but
to Satan, to your flesh. And here's the hope. Here's the
remedy. Hezekiah did the same thing. You're not alone. I like
that, that the word of God reveals the sins of these men for our
good. But Hezekiah had a remedy. And
I like to hear that. This is the next thing. Hezekiah
turned to God. Look at chapter 19. Now, from verse 17, all the way
down to verse 35, you have this man, Reb Shaka, he's wailing
on them for not, for trusting those things. He said, who are
you gonna trust? We done burned down your fifth city, we done
burned down Israel, who are you gonna trust? Don't listen to
your king. Isn't that what Satan tells you after you've fallen?
After you've fallen, huh? Who are you gonna trust now?
You've done abandoned your God, don't trust him. He won't help
you. What does Hezekiah do? Look at
first one of chapter 19. It came to pass when King Hezekiah
heard all the rantings and ravings, all of the accusations of the
enemy. After losing everything, standing
in the pile of ashes of his burnt cities. He said after he had
heard this, he ran his clothes and covered himself in sackcloth
and went into the house of the Lord. You know what you need
to do? Here it is. Go to the house of God. Why? Because that's where Christ is,
isn't it? That's where the help is, where
two or three are gathered together in my name. There I am in the
midst of them. He read his clothes, and what
is this? This is a picture of coming naked
before God, confessing our sins, of trusting in our fenced cities. Father, I failed. And he put
on sackcloth, his humility and humbleness before God, confessing
that God is right to do anything he wills to do. And second of
all, he heard the man of God. Look at that in verse two. He
said, he sent Eliakim, which is over the household, and Shebna
the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth.
To who? The prophet Isaiah, the son of
Amos. And listen to what Isaiah said.
And they said to Isaiah, Thus saith Hezekiah, this is a day
of trouble. Oh, are you in a day of trouble? Are you in a day
of trouble? Are you rebuked? Have you heard
the blasphemy of God by your enemy? He said, for the children
are come to the birth and there is not strength to bring forth. You see, the child of God, are
you in deep distress, entrapped, ensnared, surrounded because
of your compromise? Because of your sin, you know,
we are always in this mess because of our sin. Don't blame God for
any of your mess. Your mess and my mess is our
mess. Surely it was ordained by God,
but you're not going to blame him for it. It's yours. It's
mine. It's our sin. And what do we find in this distress?
We find we have no strength. No strength. Like a woman in labor, You women
understand pain, don't you? Sin is painful. Sin is painful. Remember, believer, the higher
we lift up our fence cities, the further we fall. But notice
what the man of God says, verse six. I like this. Man of God,
look at verse six. And Isaiah said unto them, thus
say ye to your master, thus saith the Lord, be not afraid of the
words which thou hast heard. You hear this, thus saith the
Lord. You see, that's what the man of God always says. The man
of God has one thing to say, thus saith the Lord. Without
that, we don't have anything to say. We don't have anything
to say. Thus saith the Lord. I cannot
tell you 10 steps to rebuild your cities. That's not what
I'm here for. That's false religion. 10 steps how to rebuild your
false city, your cities of refuge, your false fences that you put
up. They want you to build your wealth. They want you to build
your family. They want you to build your morality. They want
you to rebuild the cities. No, I don't want that. I want
what God says. What does God say? And he says
this to you in the midst of your burned cities, don't be afraid.
Don't go rebuild them. Don't be afraid of what they
say. Trust me. Follow me. Cleave to me. Isn't that why he burned your
cities to begin with? That you and I should cleave
to him again. And that's what Hezekiah is doing. He's cleaving unto the Lord.
And not only this, does he go and he hear the word of God.
And now notice something happens when he hears the word of God.
God says, don't be afraid of them that you heard, which the
servants of the king of Assyria blasphemed me. And in verse eight,
down through verse 13, this guy rams up again. He just revs up
and starts telling him, don't do it, don't trust in your God.
Isn't that what happened? You think that when you hear
the word of God, you obviously think, well, everything's gonna
be all right now. No, no, the enemy is going to press harder.
It's going to be more. There's going to be more pressure
from the enemy. The enemy is even bolder. But
when we repent, the enemy will not stop. But let us take all
our cares then and do as Hezekiah did when he heard this. He spread
them out before the Lord. Look at verse 14. And Hezekiah
received the letter at the hand of the messengers I like this, it's a beautiful
picture. Imagine Hezekiah taking those letters and he's laying
them out one at a time. He lays them out one at a time
right before the Lord and he says, Lord, you deal with it. I have no strength. I have no strength. Take all your sin and listen,
spread it out. Leave nothing unsaid. Confess
it all. Bear your soul before God. Why? Cast all your cares upon
him, for he careth for you. He careth for you. Believer, be not afraid of your
enemy. You know what happened to Hezekiah's
men? The next morning, he woke up and 185,000 men were dead. The Lord killed 185,000 in one
night. Our enemy is big. Our God is
bigger. I know that we are true believers
in Christ. There are fenced cities. Listen,
if your fenced cities have not been burned down, they will.
If you trust in them, if you put too much confidence in them,
they will. And when they are, When you give tribute and leave
your study and prayer and witness, come again to the house of God,
hear the word of God, and God will deliver you. I want you
to notice some things in these last verses here. Notice the
care of God for his people. He says, I'm gonna take that
king of Assyria, and God said, I'm gonna put a hook in his nose
and a bridle in his lip and drag him off. And he did. But notice
what he says to you and me. He says, and this shall be a
sign unto thee, you shall eat the year such things as grow
themselves. And the second year, that which
springeth up from the same. And the third year, sow ye, and
reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof. You know
what this was? This was that mentioned in Leviticus,
I believe 25. It's the seventh year. This happened
at the seventh year. Remember God says, you eat the
sixth year of that which is grown, You eat the seventh year of that
which is grown. You plant and sow on the eighth
year. And on the ninth year, you eat
of that. What a picture of Christ. He says this, to those who are
brought to the end of themselves and have no strength to plow
at all. He says this, eat freely of that which grows. That's fruit
of the spirit that grows in your heart. Eat of those things and
be refreshed. Stop working. Don't go back to
rebuild those things. Just eat of what's growing. And
in verse 30, here it is, he says, and the remnant that escaped
the house of Judas shall yet again take root down and bear
fruit upward. What is it saying? Our faith
will grow. Our faith will grow in Christ downward. And in verse 31, he says, and
out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they shall escape
out of Mount Zion, and the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do
this. What does this say? It's saying our gospel will prosper.
Everyone that God has purpose to save, he will save. What confidence
we should have in worshiping God and preaching his gospel. Therefore, saith the Lord concerning
the king of Assyria, he shall not come into this city nor shoot
an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, or cast his bank
against it. By the way he came, by those
same he shall return and shall not come into this city, saith
the Lord. Here's your promise, listen. He shall not come into
your city. He shall not touch the church
of God. Our Lord says, upon this rock
I build my church, talking by himself, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. How do you sin? Be comforted,
God, that not one arrow of accusation shall reach the ears of God.
Christ has already removed your sin. Is Hezekiah you? I pray that he
is. Do you trust the Lord? Do you
cleave to the Lord? Do you follow the Lord? Yes. Have we not been victorious in
Christ, having put away our sins? Yes. Do we still not Trust in
fenced cities. Yes. What is God's promise? I'll burn them down. Why? So that I might show my power
in removing your enemy and securing your soul. He does this constantly. What a great God we serve. May
God give us more faith to trust in Him.