Here am I after twenty six I've
been titled the message this evening a tale of two kings. A tale of two kings and as we
read through this I'm sure you can see what that's all about
there are two kings mentioned here. One is Hezekiah who is
according to the word of God a godly king who was a godly
king Hezekiah interesting Note about hezekiah his father some
say his grandfather probably his father was Manasseh one of
the most wicked kings of Judah that ever lived and So it's an
it's an amazing thing. That's you know, I thought about
when I think about hezekiah. I Think about the Word of God
in John chapter 1 in verse 12 when he's talking about the new
birth and sinners receiving Christ that it's not of blood It's not
of blood. It's not by physical birth or
physical pedigree or heritage that sinners come to know Christ.
It's not of blood, nor the will of the flesh. It's not of the
works of man, nor the will of man, not by the will of man that
people exalt today in this false gospel of free willism. No, sir,
it's born of God, isn't it? Born of God. And then the other
king is the king called Jehoiakim, one of the one of the children
of Josiah. Josiah was a godly king. He was
the one who had been killed right at the beginning of Jeremiah's
prophecy. And then his descendants began
to reign on the throne of Judah. One reigned three months, and
then this one, and then another one, until Judah was destroyed. So there's Josiah. He was a godly
king, but now his descendants Jehoiakim was an ungodly king. And so again, we see it's not
of blood. I always caution our young people,
don't ever think that just because your mamas and your daddies and
your grandmamas and granddaddies are true believers, sinners saved
by grace, that that means that you are automatically, because
there is no automatically here. It's all of the Lord. So we're
going to look at this. Now the issue Believe that it's
set forth here That applies to us more than any other way has
to do with this question and Each one of us should ask this
question of ourselves And that's this how do I respond? to the preaching of God's Word
Whatever that word is How do I respond? to the preaching of
God's word, the truth. Now, as I said before the reading,
here's Jeremiah, the prophet of God, sent to preach God's
word at the gate of the temple. People were coming to the temple
of Solomon to worship. Now, the Bible teaches us, Jeremiah,
in the book of Jeremiah, and we see this in other places in
the history of Judah, that their worship was not a godly worship. And it tells us that good intentions
really mean nothing here. If sinners refuse to seek the
Lord as he reveals himself and to worship him and plead before
him as he reveals himself as the God of all grace in Christ
Jesus, then their worship is not accepted. And here you have
people coming to worship, but it was worship without heart. It was just outward form religion. That's all it was. It was ceremony. It was show. It was hypocrisy. And then also it was worship
without truth. They weren't worshiping God in
truth. It's like the Bible said in another
place, but God said you thought that I was altogether one such
as yourself And that's the way people are by nature. I know
it because I was there now And you all were too We we reasoned
God from the ground up. It wasn't by divine sovereign
revelation Of the Holy Spirit through the truth preached in
the Word of God. It was just what we thought,
you know So they didn't worship God as
he is the sovereign God of all grace who saved sinners by his
grace Through the through the blood and the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ mercy and grace That's what God's all about
when it comes to salvation and it's mercy not without justice
Justice must be satisfied. That's why Christ had to come
Why he had to die as the substitute and surety of his people But
they'd lost sight of all that, you see. And then it was worship
that wasn't pure. It was intermingled with thoughts
of idolatry. The idolatry pervaded the land. Before, I mentioned Manasseh.
That was Hezekiah's father. Manasseh was such a wicked king,
he set up the Baal worship in Judah, in Jerusalem. And it was
during his reign that that the people of Israel would sacrifice
their children to that God. They called it a God, that statue,
would burn their children in the valley of Gehenna, outside
of the city of Jerusalem. And that's desperation now, it's
ignorance, but it's desperation, people desperately seeking a
way out, a way of salvation. You think about how sincere somebody
is who would give up their little child, thinking that that's going to
gain him and the child and them salvation and protection and
blessing. You say, well, we'd never do
that. You better not speak too soon. I tell you, what would
we do were it not for the sovereign restraining hand of God? You
would be sickened by the thoughts of it. And then it was worship. Here's the main thing now. It
was worship without Christ. And that's very significant in
this. They lost sight of what that temple was all about. Who that temple was all about.
That temple was not just about a beautiful building. It wasn't
just about religious exercise. That temple was all about Christ
and Him crucified and risen. That temple Everything about
that temple ultimately led to the glory of God in Christ Jesus
and salvation through the substitutionary death of the Messiah. That whole temple, just like
the tabernacle of old, was built to house that Ark of the Covenant, where the mercy seat was. The
high priest went in there one time a year on the Day of Atonement
with the blood of the Lamb from off the altar. And that's what
it was all about, sinners seeking to be saved and blessed and accepted
before a holy God, not on the basis of their works or their
intentions or their religious exercises, but based solely upon
the sovereign mercy of God in Christ. That's what it was all
about, and they lost sight of that. Well, Jeremiah, and things
got worse from there. You say, well, they had more
problems than all that. Yes, they did. They had a lot of problems.
They're like our country today. We got a lot of problems, folks,
don't we? But I'll tell you where all those
problems begin. They begin when people forget
and forsake God, the true and living God, fail to seek the
Lord. They begin with the problem of
S-I-N, sin. And there's only one remedy for
sin, and that's the blood of the Lamb. And that's it. So, yeah, they had a lot of problems.
We have a lot of problems. But it all comes down to this
issue. How do we respond to the preaching
of the gospel? And here we have two kings. Hezekiah
and Jehoiakim. One responded one way, the other
responded the other way. What was the difference between
these two kings? Well, one was better than the
other. No, they're both sinners. If God were to judge either one
of these kings, Hezekiah or Jehoiakim, based on their best works, they
each deserve hell. And that's the way we are. What
was the difference? The sovereign grace of God. That's
the difference. But let me just show you some
scripture here. I'll just read it to you. You know, over in
1 Corinthians chapter 1. You know, this is interesting
because, you know, The whole human race is divided up into
two classes of people right here. You say, that's rather simplistic.
It is, isn't it? But that's the way the Bible
is. That's the way the Word of God is. It doesn't mince words.
It doesn't complicate things. It tells it like it is, black
and white. Here it is. Verse 18 of 1 Corinthians
1. For the preaching of the cross,
that's the preaching of Christ and Him crucified. Salvation
by grace through his blood and righteousness is to them that
perish literally those who are perishing It's foolishness to
them It's foolishness to them But unto us which are saved or
literally which are being saved it is the power of God Now what
is the preaching of God's Word? the preaching of the cross, the
preaching of the gospel, to me. Is it foolishness? Is it tiresome? Is it wearisome? Is, well, you
know, I need that one time, let's go on. Is that what it is? Or
is it an offense? To some people it's an offense.
You know why it's an offense to some people? Because it destroys
their ground, their refuge, their hope. Because any other hope
or ground or refuge but Christ is a false hope, a false ground,
a refuge of lies. And that brings up the dander
in some people. That's what happened over here
in Jeremiah. The priest, look at it again, Jeremiah 26, verse
11. Then spake the priest and the
prophets unto the princes, unto the civil authorities, And all
the people saying, this man is worthy to die. This man deserves
to be put to death. To them, what Jeremiah was preaching
was blasphemy. You mean to tell me, you say
God is going to destroy this city? Jerusalem? The city of
David? I know Bethlehem is the city
of David, but this also became the city of David. You mean God
is going to destroy a place of worship? The temple? That's blasphemy! Oh, no. Their worship was blasphemy. This man is worthy to die, for
he hath prophesied against this city, and you heard it with your
ears. But now these princes, back over
here in verse 16, Then said the princes of all the people, and
all the people, and to the priests, and to the prophets, This man
is not worthy to die, for he has spoken to us in the name
of the Lord our God." Now, I don't know, I'm not sure exactly what
all that says about these princes, per se. Whether that means they
were true believers, born again by the Spirit of God, and understood
the gospel, and the issues of sin and righteousness, as Jeremiah
presented them, it may have. I tell you, I kind of like to
think that it would. I hope that it would. Or they
could have been like Pontius Pilate. You know, Pontius Pilate,
when Christ stood before him, when Jesus of Nazareth stood
before him, the Jewish Sanhedrin, the priests and all of their
false prophets and whoever was with them, they said, he's worthy
of death. They said, we have a law that
this man ought to die. Remember what Pilate said. Now,
Pilate wasn't a believer. Pilate said, I don't find anything.
Him worthy of death so even Pilate said that so we know a person
can recognize something in this one Jesus of Nazareth that he's
not worthy of death but but either way either way these princes
spoke the truth Jeremiah was not worthy of death because of
what he preached now in himself. He's like all of us again Lord
if our Lord should us mark iniquities who would say if God were to
judge you or judge me or the best of us the worst of us based
on our work We'd be worthy of death wouldn't we? Don't you
believe that? I'm talking about my best moments.
You know you take a king like David Now, David, whenever we think
of David, a lot of times we always use him as an example of a godly
man who had a great fall. When he lusted after Bathsheba,
he arranged it that he could commit adultery with Bathsheba
and then connive to have her husband murdered. And you know,
when you catch David in an episode of his life like that, it's easy
to say, well now, and right then, David's worthy of death, boy.
Even David himself said that. You remember when Nathan the
prophet came to him? What is it, 2 Samuel 12? And he gave
him the little parable about the man who had many sheep. And
then there was just one poor man who had one sheep that he
prized. And the man who had many sheep
stole the sheep that the poor man had. David jumped up and
he said, we'll get him. That man's worthy of death. Remember
what Nathan said? You're the man, David. Thou art
the man. What did David do? How did he
respond to the preaching of Nathan? Well, you better shut up and
not say that anymore. I'm the king. I'm going to close
your mouth. No. He was brought under conviction
of sin by the Holy Spirit. And out of that came Psalm 51. We read that this morning. Against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight
that thou mightest be justified when thou judgest. The only reason that we who are
saved do not get the death we deserve and have earned is because
of Christ. Because of his grace and his
mercy. That's right But you could look at David at
that time you say sure he's worthy of it But what about when he
was sitting down and penning the 23rd psalm was he worthy
of death then? In himself yes, he was But not
in Christ And he said that himself on his
deathbed He said God made a covenant with me that's ordered in all
things and sure this is all my salvation There's no other salvation
except that covenant that's ordered in all things and sure who ordered
it God before the foundation of the world and How was it made
sure? Because he appointed his son
to be the surety of it and all the promises of God in Christ
are yea and in him. Amen Do you realize? That's the only reason That we
who are saved do not get what we deserve Is because of God's
mercy in Christ That's it. How do we respond to the preaching
of the cross? You know, there in Luke chapter
24, after the resurrection of Christ, he walked up on some
who were walking on the road to Emmaus. It says in verse 27,
beginning at Moses and all the prophets, which includes Jeremiah,
He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning
himself. And they drew nine to the village,
whether they went. And he made as though he would
have gone further. But they constrained him, saying,
Abide with us, stay with us. For it is toward evening, and
the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with
them. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he
took bread, and blessed it, and break, and gave to them. And
their eyes were opened, and they knew him." We know who you are. Boy, what a picture of regeneration
and conversion that is. They knew him. And he vanished
out of their sight. And look at verse 32, how they
responded. And they said one to another, Did not our heart
burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while
he opened to us the scriptures? What a response. Did not our
heart burn with passion to hear the word of God? to see more
of Christ. That's the kind of passion I
want. That's the kind of passion I pray that God gives us all,
that passion for the Word. I want to hear Christ preached. Compare that or contrast that
with Stephen in Jerusalem, standing up and going through the whole
history of the nation just to show That their very reason for
being was to bring Christ into the world, and they perished.
So here comes forth the Messiah. And what does Stephen say in
Acts 7, verse 51? You stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost as your
fathers did. So did you. Which of the prophets
have not your fathers persecuted? See, they're persecuting Jeremiah
back here. They slain them which showed
before the coming of the just one of whom you have now Have
been now the betrayers and murderers who received the law by the disposition
of angels And it's not kept it that is under the old covenant
And it says this in verse 54 says when they heard these things
they were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their
teeth You know what? That means that means they gritted
their teeth so hard because they hated him so much They wanted
to kill him And what did they do? They stoned him. They did.
Well, that's what we've got going on back here in Jeremiah 26.
Jeremiah preached the destruction, God's just wrath because of sin. Jeremiah was arrested, brought
before the court, and now we have Jeremiah defending. And
these princes, they brought this up, verse 17 of Jeremiah 26,
"...then rose up certain of the elders." Now, those were the
wealthy people of the place they spoke in all this family of the
people saying and they go to history they go to the prophet
Micah Micah the Morristide verse 18 he prophesied in the days
of Hezekiah Micah was a contemporary with Isaiah Isaiah and Micah
prophesied about 700 years before Christ Probably close to about
a hundred years before Jeremiah, maybe a little fewer than that,
but that was about close to it Hezekiah the king of Jews and
Micah he spoke of the destruction he of Jerusalem and in Judah
You know Micah was talking about Jeremiah's time though. He wasn't
talking about his own time But then at this time When Hezekiah
was king, Jerusalem was being attacked by the Assyrian Empire. That was the empire that destroyed
the northern kingdom, you remember. There was an old king named Sennacherib. Sennacherib, what a name. But
that old king named Sennacherib, he was a dictator, he was a conqueror,
and he had surrounded Jerusalem. And you see, what he's talking
about, what Micah, what Isaiah spoke of, was Destruction upon
the people because of sin and idolatry even in their religion
Here in verse 18 It says that Hezekiah in the days of Hezekiah
king of Judah and spake to all the people of Judah thus saith
the Lord of hosts Zion shall be plowed like a field Zion at
Mount Zion That's Jerusalem. That's the holy place Jerusalem
shall become heaps in the mountain of the house of the high places
of a forest now in He asked this, they asked this question, verse
19, did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death?
Did they kill Micah? The answer is no. Hezekiah feared the Lord. Did he not fear the Lord? To
fear the Lord is to worship the Lord. It's to believe the Lord.
It's to serve the Lord. And it says the Lord repented
him of the evil which he had pronounced against him. Now we
dealt with this thing about God repenting. What about it? Remember I quoted to you? Numbers 23, 19, God is not a
man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should
repent. We think of repentance from our viewpoint as a change
of mind, a change of heart. God doesn't need a change of
mind or a change of heart. 1 Samuel 15, 29, Samuel, the
prophet, hundreds of years before this, he said, the strength of
Israel, who is God, will not lie nor repent, for he's not
a man that he should repent. God doesn't need to repent. God
doesn't need to change his mind. Why would he need to? He's predetermined
everything before the foundation of the world. He works all things
after the counsel of his own will. God has no contingency
plan. God has no plan B. And nothing
takes God by surprise. And God is not a cosmic chess
player just waiting on us to make our move so he can make
his counter move. That's not the God of this book.
He said in Malachi 3, 6, remember we saw this, I'm the Lord, I
change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed." What
is he doing here? He's simply using human language
to bring it down to our level to show how much God hates sin. And he's simply proclaiming that
God would not execute what he had announced, but it was all
and is all according to his sovereign purpose from the beginning. There's
nothing happening here, or there, or now. That is the result of
God changing his mind. But this is the issue. Now, Hezekiah
didn't put Micah to death, but he believed God. And it says
in verse 19, that thus might we, that is, the people of Jerusalem,
procure great evil against our souls by killing Jeremiah. Well,
they'd already procured great evil against their souls. But
I want you to turn to Isaiah 37. Turn over to Isaiah 37. I
want to show you this. Remember I told you now, in the
days of Hezekiah, City of Jerusalem was surrounded by the Assyrian
army and this man named Sennacherib He sent an emissary named Rabshakeh
Into Jerusalem to in a letter to threaten him and to tell him
That he was about to destroy them and that they shouldn't
stand against him because he was so great And look at who
all he had conquered before. He told them, he said, your God's
a liar, Hezekiah. And this letter that Sennacherib
sent in by Rabshakeh, he said, your God is a liar. Don't believe
your God, Hezekiah. I'm going to lower this city
down. I'm going to put it to waste. I'm going to knock her
down. And she's not going to be risen
back up again. And you're going to be conquered
by this Me the great Sennacherib who
is higher than anything you could ever imagine And so he tells
me he puts this into a letter And look look what happens here.
Look over it at verse 14 of Isaiah 37 It says and Hezekiah received
the letter from the hand of the messengers and he read it It's
the letter from Sennacherib and Hezekiah went up into the house
of the Lord. He went to the temple And he
spread it before the Lord, this letter. And Hezekiah prayed unto
the Lord, saying, now listen to this, O Lord of hosts, God
of Israel. Now what Lord of hosts, what
does that mean? That means the invincible God
who cannot be defeated. God of Israel. That's the God
of salvation. Remember what was Jacob's name?
Israel's name before Jacob. That's a picture of us in our
sin. And then his name was changed
to Israel, which literally, we'd say Prince of God, and that's
okay. But it literally means one who prevails with God. Now,
how do you prevail with God? All right, hold on. All right,
look at Hezekiah's praise. He said, O Lord of hosts, God
who cannot be defeated, God of Israel, that's the God who's
saved by grace. Now, how does he say? Thou that dwellest between
the cherubim. Now, where is that? That's the
mercy season. That's where God dwells. That's
the Shekinah glory. Above the mercy seat, Exodus
25, where I will meet with thee and commune with thee on the
basis of what? The blood of the Lamb. That's
how he saves. That's who Hezekiah... See, Hezekiah
hadn't lost sight that this whole thing's about Christ. Christ
is our mercy seat. In the New Testament, it's put
this way. Christ is our propitiation. He's the sin-bearing substitute
who makes satisfaction to the justice of God through his blood
and righteousness, so that God can be just and justify. And
listen to what he says here. He says, Thou art God, and Thou
alone. Of all the kingdoms of the earth,
Thou hast made heaven and earth. Incline Thine ear, O Lord, and
hear. Open Thine eyes, O Lord, and
see. And hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent
to reproach the living God." So here's the letter. Here's
what Sennacherib said, what Hezekiah's praying. Now, here's that Assyrian
army outside of Jerusalem getting ready to attack. Well, what happens? Let's go over, jump over to verse
36. Look at verse 35, rather, of
Isaiah 36. He says, for I will defend this
city to save it for mine own sake. This is God speaking through
the prophet. And for my servant David's sake. What's that all about? David
at this time is gone. He's dead. Well, he's talking
about the son of David. He's talking about the royal
covenant through whom he would bring Messiah, the greater son
of David. Look at verse 36. It says then
the angel of the Lord went forth and smote the camp of the Assyrians
in hundred a hundred and four score and five thousand and when
they arose when Jerusalem got up when the people Jerusalem
got up Waiting for this army to come in Behold, they were
all dead corpses What happened So Sennacherib king of Assyria
departed and went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh. I And it
came to pass as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch, his
god, that Adram-Malik and Sherezer, his son, smote him with the sword,
and they escaped into the land of Armenia, and Esarhaddon, his
son, reigned in his city." Now there's the story of a godly
king. What is a godly king? He's a sinner saved by the grace
of God. Isn't that something? But then
there's another king. Look back here at Jeremiah 26. There was another prophet. Now,
we don't have anything recorded other than right here about this
other prophet. You're right. He was another prophet. Some
people say that he was a... Well, he obviously was a contemporary
of Jeremiah because he was during the reign of Jehoiakim. But some
people say he was like a student of Jeremiah. He might have been.
We don't know anything about him other than what's said right
here. Verse 20, there was also a man that prophesied in the
name of the Lord, Uriah, the son of Shimei, of Kiriath-Jerim,
who prophesied against the city and against this land, according
to all the words of Jeremiah. And what happened? Well, Jehoiakim,
with all his mighty men and all his princes, sought to put him
to death. Uriah fled to Egypt. Jehoiakim sent his soldiers to
get him, arrest him, bring him back, And Jehoiakim, it seems
to indicate here that Jehoiakim himself, the king, smote him
with the sword, killed him with the sword. You see, in the minds
of the priests and the prophets, Jeremiah committed blasphemy,
and they wanted him dead, so they bring up this issue, these
religious people. And so the king of Israel, this
man, Jehoiakim, had God's prophecy. Now that's his response. There's
the response of the natural man. May not go that far physically,
but that's what's in his heart. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. You see, the kings of Israel
were appointed and placed on the throne by God's decree. Did
you know that? Let me show you this and I'll
conclude with this. Look over at Deuteronomy chapter 17. You know, a lot of people, I
think, they think, well, when the people got over into the
land of Canaan, they rebelled against God and they wanted a
king. And just the fact that they wanted a king was rebellion.
That's not so. They did rebel against God in
their desire for a king, and I'll show you why. But God had
always intended on giving them a king. Now, this is Deuteronomy. This is where Moses is reading
the law to the people before they get into the promised land.
And look at verse 14 of Deuteronomy 17. Moses reading the word of God,
the law of the Lord. He says, When thou art come unto
the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess
it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king
over me. And here's the problem. Like as all the nations that
are about me. You see, their rebellion wasn't
just in desiring a king. Their rebellion was in desiring
a king like all those other nations. Because what kind of kings were
they? They were idolaters. They were men who lifted themselves
up as God. You know, most of those kings
thought that they were God and claimed to be God. God was going
to give them a king. He'd already said that. Didn't
he say back in Genesis 49, Jacob on his deathbed, that's the scepter? Who holds the scepter? The king.
The scepter will not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes. God's
going to give him a king, and he did. He gave him David. After
he let them have the king that they wanted, which was Saul. And he says in verse 15, Thou
shalt in any wife set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy
God shall choose. One from among thy brethren shalt
thou set king over thee. Thou mayest not set a stranger
over thee, which is not thy brother. But he shall not multiply horses
to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end
that he should multiply horses. In other words, he's not to put
his trust in horses and armies. For as much as the Lord hath
said unto you, you shall henceforth return no more that way. Neither
shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away,
neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. Think
about David and Solomon both there. You see, the king was
to be the representative of God on earth. The king himself was
a type of Christ, the king of kings. The king was to lead the
people in the word of God and in the ways of God, to look for
Messiah the king. The king was to tell the people,
he's not, I'm not God. God is God. I'm just his servant. The king was always to lead the
people in trusting the Lord, always letting the people know
that God is king and not him, totally dependent upon God, not
horses, not chariots, not army, not silver, not gold. The king
was always to rule in righteousness, first by pointing his people
to the coming Messiah and the promise of him for righteousness,
and secondly, in seeking to rule with justice for all, and in
compassion and mercy taking care of the poor, the widows and the
orphans of the land." Now back over here in Jeremiah 26, and
that's what Hezekiah did. Now we know Hezekiah got lifted
up in pride. He's a human being. We won't
go into all that. But Jehoiakim, the ungodly king,
that's how he reacted the word of God the last verse 24 nevertheless
the hand of a hike him the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah
that they should not give him into the hand of the people to
put put him to death well at this time God spared Jeremiah
through a man named a hike him a hike him had been one of Josiah's
counselors back in 2nd Kings 22 and he stood by Jeremiah and
he used whatever influence he had to have Jeremiah's spirit. So God used this man. So what
we have here, these two kings, they're examples of all men by
nature. Jehoiakim, the natural man in need of repentance. Hezekiah,
the spiritual man, saved by grace and brought to repentance by
the Spirit of God. You know, when God the Holy Spirit
gives spiritual life, you know what happens. That's when He
changes our mind and our hearts and brings us to see that we're
worthy of death. And that our only hope to have
life is the worthiness of Christ, the Lamb of God. All right. Let's
sing hymn number 354.