Alright, now tonight I'm going
to be preaching from Isaiah chapter 39. But before I get to Isaiah
39, I want to introduce the message by turning to some other scriptures.
As I said, this message is entitled, Pride and the Grace of God. Now, we all know, and we know
too well, and sometimes we may lose sight of this, God has a
way in his word and in reality of our daily lives of reminding
us of this fact, that all the problems of man in general can
be traced to one source, and that is sin. S-I-N. Sin is the problem. We can talk
about hatred. We can talk about disease, we
can talk about wars and all that, but it's all because of sin. That's the disease that goes
through the whole human race. And we know that all sin deserves
and demands death. That's the sentence of God's
law against all sin. For the wages of sin is death,
the scripture says. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. Why is that so? Because God is
holy and He's just. And He must punish sin. So whatever
way that God takes care of the sin problem, it must be a way
that's consistent with His holiness and His justice and His truth.
Only righteousness can deserve and demand eternal life. And
that's our problem. We don't have any. By nature
or by practice. We're sinners. We know there's
only one solution for sin, and that is the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, God the Son incarnate. For it's only by the blood, His
blood alone, that sinners are justified and cleansed and forgiven
and pardoned. And it's by His blood alone that
sinners receive all that salvation, eternal life, and blessedness
are. Everything. by Him. When Christ
died on the cross and was buried and rose again the third day,
the scripture says it this way, He saved us from our sins. His name shall be called Jesus,
for He shall save us from our sins. Well, that's what He did
on the cross. He took our place, our substitute. And so that by Him and in Him,
God is just to justify the ungodly in Christ. And there's no other
way. that sin can be solved and taken
care of and cured. In him, the scripture teaches
that we who know him, who are in him, all for whom he lived
and died and was buried and rose again, in him we are no longer
under the dominion of sin. That means this. It means sin
cannot condemn us. We are no longer under the sentence
of death, because Christ is our life. He is the resurrection
and the life. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And
out of His death came our life, eternal life, spiritual life.
So sin cannot condemn us anymore. It doesn't mean that we've stopped
sinning, because we haven't. We're still sinners. But sin
cannot condemn us, for who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect? And that's what it means. Sin
cannot even be charged to us. And the reason is, is because
God justly and rightfully, and by an act of divine imputation,
charged it to his Son. For Christ was made to be sin,
Christ who knew no sin. And he did it for us, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. However, we who
believe on and trust in him still have a problem with sin, don't
we? We're still plagued. with the
presence and the influence and the contamination and the power
of sin in our lives. It pervades and contaminates
everything we think, everything we say, and everything we do,
even right now. It cannot condemn us. It cannot
be charged to us. But we still must take our place,
even as sinners saved by grace, with the Apostle Paul and say,
O wretched man that I am. who shall deliver me from the
body of this death." We're not yet free from the power of sin
to influence our thoughts, our actions, our motives even. We're still not yet free from
the power of sin to contaminate our best efforts to keep God's
Word and obey Him. And that's why that even now,
as justified sinners, we're just as much as in need of the grace
of God in Christ and His blood and righteousness as we ever
were. We'll never find a second in our life where we can say,
well, now I don't need it or I don't even need it as much.
In fact, one of the biggest, I think, parts of growth in grace
and in knowledge of Christ is that as we grow in grace, we
see our need even more. I think that's what spiritual
maturity is all about. And then we're not yet being
free from the power of sin in our inner lives. That's why that
even now, as justified sinners, sinners saved by the grace of
God, we still and constantly have to fight the warfare of
the flesh and the spirit. That warfare will not be over
in this life. It will not be over for us until
we go to be with the Lord. That's why David said, I'll be
satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. That's why John said,
Beloved, it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we'll see
him as he is, for we'll be like him. That's when we'll be perfectly
conformed to Christ in every way and totally free from even
the presence and the influence and the contamination of sin
in our lives. Now, one great enemy that we
have within ourselves in this matter of the fight that we have
to wage against sin And this warfare is human pride. Human pride. Sometimes we don't
know how far that even goes. But I want you to think about
that. Human pride. Really, it shows itself in so
many ways. Fallen, sinful man. Now listen
to me. Fallen, sinful man, lifted up,
as the Scripture describes it, with pride. is the greatest contradiction
in the universe. Do you realize that? A sinner
overtaken with pride is the greatest contradiction in the universe.
Because I'll tell you what, there's nothing more sickening to God.
Think about it. Satan and his angels fell when
they were lifted up with pride. Adam fell and brought the whole
human race under the sentence of death because of his pride. That's what unbelief calls. Pride
of self-righteous sinners keeps sinners from salvation. The pride
of self-righteousness. Let me read you this passage
from Proverbs 30 and verse 12. It says, There is a generation
that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their
filthiness. There is a generation, oh how
lofty are their eyes, and their eyelids are lifted up." That's
human pride, pure in their own eyes. The reason that Cain sought
God's salvation and favor by his works was pride. God warned
Israel under the Old Covenant about pride. Let me read you
this out of Deuteronomy chapter 8, beginning at verse 11. through
Moses, he warned the children of Israel, he said, Beware that
thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping his commandments
and his judgments and his statutes which I command thee this day,
lest when thou hast eaten and art full, that's a time of prosperity,
isn't it? Lest when thou hast eaten and
art full, and hath built goodly houses, and dwelt therein. And when thy herds and thy flocks
multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all
that thou hast is multiplied, things are going great, then
thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God,
which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the
house of bondage." That's so indicative of a proud man, isn't
he? When things are going great,
forget the Lord. He lifted up in pride. You remember
King Uzziah, Isaiah the prophet, that we're studying this book
of Isaiah. Isaiah prophesied under the reign
of King Uzziah. And you remember in chapter 6
of Isaiah, he said, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw
the Lord high and lifted up. What was Uzziah's problem? Well, 2 Chronicles 26 and verse
16 says it this way. It says, When he, that is, King
Uzziah, was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction. Pride. For he transgressed against
the Lord his God and went into the temple of the Lord to burn
incense upon the altar of incense. What pride. He had no right to
do that. He had no command from God to
do that. He was forbidden to do that. He wasn't from the tribe
of Levi. He wasn't one of the priests.
He was from the tribe of Judah. And he disobeyed God. Why? Because
he was lifted up with pride. He disbelieved God. Why? Because
he was lifted up with pride. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 2 with
me. This is Hannah's prayer. And
it's a good example of how when God saves a sinner, you know
what He does first? He brings the proud sinner down. brings him down off of his pride,
brings him down off of his pedestal, brings him down off of that high,
lofty look. That's what happens when God
saves a sinner. Look at verse 1 of 1 Samuel 2
in Hannah's prayer. Hannah prayed and said, My heart
rejoiceth in the Lord. That's another way of saying,
my confidence is in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord.
My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies, because I rejoice in
thy salvation. There is none holy as the Lord,
for there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like
our God. Now look at verse 3. Talk no
more exceedingly proudly. Let not arrogancy come out of
your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions
are weighed. bragging before the Lord, like
a worm bragging about his strength before an eagle that's about
to just devour him. That's what it's like. And then she goes on to talk
about how the Lord lifts the beggar off the dunghill. You see, there's nothing to be
proud of on the dunghill. Nothing to brag about. Nothing
to glory in, see. Our glory is in God who lifts
us off that dunghill. Look at Proverbs chapter 6 with
me. Now, there is no doubt that God
hates a proud look. He says that. I want you to look
at this because He mentions seven things here. I want you to look
at how it starts. And then I want you to look at
what comes with it. Because these go together. Don't segment these
things. Don't say, well, one's like this
and one's like this. This all goes together. And he
says in verse 16 of Proverbs 6, these six things doth the
Lord hate, yea, even seven are an abomination unto him. And
he starts off verse 17, a proud look. That's where it begins.
And then it just progresses or digresses as a lying tongue. What causes a man to lie? Pride. He's got a safe face. He's got
to defend himself. And then he said, hands that
shed innocent blood. What causes a man to murder?
Either by false gospel or literal murder. Physical murder. Pride.
Pride. Verse 18, And heart that deviseth
wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
a false witness that speaketh lies, testifying falsely against
somebody. What causes that? Pride. And
he that soweth discord among the brethren. That's where it
ends up. Pride. Always causes that. Where there's pride. where there's
pervading pride, always the unity of the brethren will be disrupted.
That's it. God hates it, he says. Proverbs
28, 25, listen to it. He that is of a proud heart stirreth
up strife. You see, a proud heart cannot
be at peace. A proud heart cannot sit back
and allow unity and love and peace prevail. He's got to stir
it up. He's got to stir up strife. He's
proud, but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made
fat. That's healthy. Turn over to
Isaiah chapter 2. You remember how Isaiah starts
off with the proud religion that prevails in Jerusalem. And then
he begins to talk about the promise of the Messiah and how the Messiah
is going to come and set things right in verse 10 of chapter
2. Listen to what he says. He says, Enter into the rock
and hide thee in the dust for fear of the Lord and for the
glory of his majesty. That's what a sinner ought to
do at a sight of God and His majesty. And verse 11, the lofty
looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall
be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. God alone is to be lifted up
and exalted. You see, God brings us down to
the dust, and He calls us sinners to submit to Christ. and His
free and sovereign grace and His blood and righteousness as
that which alone saves me, keeps me, and entitles me to all grace
here and all glory hereafter. We come to see that we have nothing
in which to glory save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's
why the Apostle said in Galatians 6 verse 14, God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We
have no righteousness of which to brag. We have no holiness,
but Christ and Him crucified. You want to do some bragging?
Brag on Him. You want to have confidence?
Have confidence in Him and His finished work. You want to exalt
someone? Exalt Him. You want to honor
someone? Honor Him. Then you'll never go wrong. But
the proud can't do that. They've got to talk about men.
They've got to give men their due, their legacy and their eyes.
They have to lift men up. They have to memorialize men.
They have to build monuments to men. They have to give titles
to men. But it's just not the way of
grace. Pride and the grace of God go
together like oil and water. They just don't mix, do they? When God saves us, is our warfare
with pride over? Absolutely not. We have many
examples of believers lifted up with pride. You know, the
disciples were arguing one day, and the Lord heard them. And
here's what they were arguing about. Who is the greatest in
the kingdom of heaven? Now, how in the world can anyone
who knows the Lord argue about a thing like that? But they did.
And I'm going to tell you something. We all have that in us. Who is
the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? That's a no-brainer,
somebody said. Christ is the greatest in the
kingdom of heaven. Who's the greatest? Listen to
what our Lord said to him. This is Matthew 18. He said,
except you be converted and become as little children, you shall
not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall
humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven. Later on, he said in Matthew
19 and verse 30, But many that are first shall be last, and
the last shall be first. That's grace, isn't it? Look
at the book of Philippians chapter 2. I know I'm having you turn
to these, but I want you to see this. Philippians chapter 2. Look at
verse 4. Well, look at verse 3 of Philippians
2. Now, who's he talking to here?
He's talking to the church. He's talking to people who claim
to believe the grace of God. Salvation is by free, sovereign
grace. That's what they claim. People
who ought to know better. And we do know better. And he
says in verse 3, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory. Now, vainglory means self-promotion. Self-promotion will always gender
unto strife. Strife is the problem. Vainglory is the cause. He says,
but in lowliness of mind, that's humility, let each esteem other
better than themselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
but made himself of no reputation." You see, our pride causes us
to spend our lives building our reputation among men. Christ,
in order to save wretched, rotten worms like us, made himself of
no reputation. Now who was he? Who is he? He's
the Son of God incarnate. He's the ever-living Word. He's
the Alpha and the Omega. He's everything. He is all. And yet He made Himself of no
reputation. And yet when somebody gets on
us, boy, we're going to defend ourselves come hell or high water.
Isn't that right? He said, "...took upon Himself
the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men."
That's humility. After the Lord blessed him greatly,
now let's get to Isaiah, but I want you to turn to 2 Chronicles.
But this goes right in with Isaiah. 2 Chronicles 32. After the Lord
blessed him greatly, King Hezekiah, now he's the subject of our text
tonight. King Hezekiah was a man who was
lifted up with pride. Hezekiah, as you remember, he
was a godly king. During his reign, he was recognized
as such by the prophet. He was one who led the people
in the Word of God according to the will of God in the Old
Covenant. He destroyed the idols that were built by his father
Ahaz, and he forbid the people to worship idols. But yet, even
as a believer, Even as a sinner saved by the grace of God, he
was plagued with this old sin, pride. And it was a battle he
had to fight all of his life. Sometimes he gave in. But I want
you to notice something here. After the Lord, now listen to
me. After the Lord blessed him greatly, that's when pride took
over in his life. Now, I want you to remember this,
because this is one of the main lessons out of this. Remember,
prosperity and security are greater, greater trials than adversity
and suffering. I want to show you that. And
it's so. I've seen it in my life. You've seen it in yours. Prosperity
and security are much greater trials. And it's because of this
thing of pride. Look at 2 Chronicles 32. Look
at verse 24. 2 Chronicles 32. Now, this is the
parallel passage to our text in Isaiah 38, and then we'll
go over there. But look at verse 24. It says,
In those days Hezekiah was sick to death, and prayed unto the
Lord, and spake unto him, and he gave him a sign. Now, we read
about that last week in chapter 38. But Hezekiah rendered not
again according to the benefit done unto him. Did you read that
now? Hezekiah rendered not again according
to the benefit done unto him." He didn't return thanks unto
the Lord. He didn't worship the Lord. He didn't serve the Lord. Why? Look at it. For his heart
was lifted up. That's pride. That's the way
the Scripture describes pride. Therefore, there was wrath upon
him. What that's talking about is
the chastisement of God. and upon Judah and Jerusalem."
Now it says in verse 26, "...notwithstanding, Hezekiah humbled himself with
the pride of his heart." Now that's, you remember, when God
told him, you've got that terminal illness, but God gave him 15
more years? And see, when God told him he
had the terminal illness, what did Hezekiah do? Well, he humbled
himself. And then afterward, after he was healed, he was lifted
up with pride again. And then he humbled himself again,
and you remember he wrote what I call the book of Hezekiah,
the writing of Hezekiah. And here it says, verse 26, notwithstanding
Hezekiah humbled himself with the pride of his heart, both
he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord
came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah. And then verse 27,
and Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honor. And he made
himself treasuries of silver, and for gold, and for precious
stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of
pleasant jewels, storehouses also for the increase of corn,
and wine, and oil, and stalls for all manner of beasts, and
coats, and for flocks. Moreover, he provided him cities
and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance, for God had
given him substance very much." Now underscore that in your book.
God had given him. Substance very much. God blessed
him. Verse 30, This same Hezekiah
also stopped the upper water course of Gihon, and brought
it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And
Hezekiah prospered in all his works. Now look at verse 31.
Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of
Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was
done in the land, How Hezekiah was healed and how that great
sign of the sundial, the shadow moving back. God left him to
try him, to test him. God left him alone to test him.
That he might know all that was in his heart. And then he goes
on the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his goodness, his kindnesses
literally. Behold, they are written in the
vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos. You can read
the rest of that. Now, with that in mind, go to
Isaiah 38. Or 39. I know you didn't think
we'd get there, but we did. There's only eight verses here. Now look at this. Look at verse
1 of chapter 39. Hezekiah had the disease. God said, you're going to live
15 more years. God prospered him. Also, God protected him
from the Assyrian onslaught that was going to destroy Jerusalem
and his throne. Hezekiah was humbled before he
was lifted up with pride. Now he's humbled. God is prospering
him with all those things that were described there in 2 Chronicles
32, all the storehouses and jewels. And let's see what happened.
Now look at verse 1. At that time, now this is the
time that's recorded back there in 2 Chronicles 32. It's also
recorded in 2 Kings 20, by the way. At that time, Merodach Baladon,
what a name, the Babylonian king, the son of Baladon, king of Babylon,
sent letters and a present to Hezekiah. For he had heard that
he had been sick and was recovered. And verse 2 says, And Hezekiah
was glad of them, and showed them the house of his precious
things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious
ointment, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found
in his treasures. There was nothing in his house,
nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not. So
ambassadors from Babylon came, and they had a letter from the
king, Merodot Baladon, and Hezekiah was glad. had a present for,
had a, I don't know what the present was, it doesn't say,
but they were honoring Hezekiah and he showed them everything
he had. When Hezekiah, now I want you
to notice the difference. When Hezekiah received a letter
before from the king of Assyria, you remember that? Rabshakeh,
the high lord, came with a letter from the king of Assyria and
basically what the letter said is, I'm going to kill you. and
I'm going to destroy your city, and I'm going to destroy your
throne, and I'm going to do things that you couldn't even imagine,
horrible things to your people." That's what the king of Assyria,
Sennacherib, that was his letter to Hezekiah. Now when Hezekiah
got that letter, that trouble was coming, and that he was about
to be overtaken by an enemy that he did not have the strength
or the resources to defeat, what did he do? He took that letter,
he spread it before the Lord, and went into the house of the
Lord and prayed. Worshipped God. That's what he
did. But now he receives another letter
from the king of Babylon. It's not a letter that has any
threats in it, no trouble mentioned. It's a letter that's full of
flattery. Oh, we've heard of you, King
Hezekiah. You've got a name now. You've got a reputation. We've
heard that God really blessed you. And here's a present. Here's something for you." Now
Hezekiah acts very differently. He was taken in by the flattery
of Babylon. Hezekiah trusted these ambassadors
despite the fact that Isaiah had already before spoken very
clearly of the threat of Babylon that would come. And think about
what Babylon represents. Babylon represents idolatry.
Babylon represents, it's symbolized in the New Testament and in our
day as false religion, works religion that is opposed to Christ,
opposed to the gospel. Everything that was opposed to
what the nation and the people of God and the throne of David
and that king stood for, that's what Babylon represents. And
yet what Babylon and Isaiah told him, not to make an accord with
Babylon. He told him that Babylon was
going to be destroyed. Don't go elsewhere for alliances. You look to the living God. Spread
the letter before the Lord and pray to God just like you did
with Assyria. But no, this letter had no threats. This letter had flattery. And
so King Hezekiah ignored Isaiah's words Just like many today ignore
the clear warnings of Scripture about Babylon, my friend, do
not make an alliance with Babylon. Any religion that teaches anything
other than full salvation by God's grace in Christ, based
on His shed blood and imputed righteousness alone, is Babylon. Don't make an alliance with them. Job said it. about flattery. And that's the way Babylon works.
That's the way Satan works. They flatter people. Get their
ear. Job said, Let me not, I pray
you, accept any man's person, neither let me give flattering
titles unto man. For I know not to give flattering
titles. In so doing, my Maker would soon
take me away. Psalm 12.3 says, the Lord shall
cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaketh proud
things. Paul, in describing the gospel
ministry and how he came to the church at Thessalonica, said,
I came to you in the power of the gospel of God's grace, which
tells us that we're nothing and Christ is everything. We're sinners
and he's the only way of salvation. And I didn't use flattering speech,
he said. I didn't come here to build you
up. Somebody told me a lady said
one time that she was tired of hearing me tell people how much
of a sinner they were. Well, what's the opposite? What's the opposite of that?
Flattery. Let me tell you about how great
you are. Let me tell you about how good you are. Oh, I know
it's all of the Lord. Huh? That's flattery. That's
Babylon. Now, when you come here, by the
grace of God, I want to stand up here and I want to tell you
how great our Savior is. I want to tell you how great
our Lord is, how precious His blood is, how effectual His righteousness
is, and how worthless we are. But for the grace of God, what
are we? Nothing. God's gospel will not
flatter or build up men and women. It will always put us in the
dust where we belong and drive us to Christ, whom we need. That's
right. Because the only thing that's
going to soothe and the only thing that's going to bring peace
to the ears and the heart of a sinner is to hear about the
greatness and the preciousness and the sovereignty and the love
of our Savior. Nothing else is going to do it.
You see, only Christ is to be lifted up. He said that about
his cross experience. He said, except I be lifted up,
I'll draw all men unto me. He was lifted up on that cross
to die for our sins and to give us righteousness that God might
be just and justify. He's lifted up. when he was resurrected
from the dead and ascended and seated on high, ever living to
make intercession. For he's our advocate. He's Jesus
Christ the righteous. Tell me about my advocate. That's
what I want to hear. And he's to be lifted up in the
preaching of the gospel and in the teaching of God's word. Lift
him up. Brother Mahan used to say this,
he said, you can't preach sinners too low and you can't brag on
Christ too much. You can't preach Him too high.
And he's right. And then let's pray that He'll
be lifted up in our hearts by the power of the Spirit. Lift
Him up. You see, here's the fact of the
matter. God will not share His glory with any man. I don't care
how How long that man's been in the ministry, how many people
claim to have been converted under him, or how many men he's
baptized, God will not share his glory. Period. Mark it down. He wouldn't do it with Hezekiah. We've heard of different forms
of pride. Pride of face, pride of race,
and then pride of grace. Somebody said that King Hezekiah
is a prime example of pride of grace. As we read over in 2 Chronicles
32, the Lord God gave Hezekiah all these things that he was
so proud of. It's like a person standing up,
look, look at how God has enabled me to preach. Or look at what
God has done for me. Or look at how God has used me. You know the kind. That problem
existed in the church at Corinth about their gifts. They were
gifted. A gifted church. A rich church. And yet they became
vain in their thinking and proud. And Paul had to tell them in
1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 7, For who maketh thee to differ
from another? And what do you have that you
did not receive? Now, if you did receive it, why
are you bragging? Why are you glorying? As if you
did not receive it. What do you mean receive it?
It means you didn't deserve it. It means you didn't earn it. Look back at Isaiah 39. Look
at verse 3. Now, remember what he did. Then
came Isaiah, the prophet, unto King Hezekiah, and said unto
him, What said these men? And from whence came they unto
thee? Now, King Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country
unto me. That's key. They came to me.
They weren't coming to the Lord. They weren't coming to seek the
Lord. You know, when the Queen of Sheba, it's recorded, and
I can't remember where, I think it's in 1 Kings, but I'm not
sure, or 2 Kings. But anyway, when the Queen of
Sheba came to Solomon, she came to inquire of the Lord. Not just
to see Solomon, but Hezekiah says, they came unto me, even
from Babylon. And verse 4, it says, Then said
he, What have they seen in thy house? And Hezekiah answered,
All that is in my house have they seen. There is nothing among
my treasures that I have not shown them. Everything. That's like a guy taking a thief
into his house and showing him where everything valuable is.
Now, here's where my safe and here's the combination. Let's
open it up and look at all the money and the jewels. You'd say,
well, how silly. Well, that's what pride does
to a person. It makes them silly. That's why it says contradiction.
That's what Hezekiah did. These Babylonians, they were
not friends of God and God's people, and he took them in and
he showed them everything he had. Like taking an enemy into
your fort and showing him all your defenses. And then it says in verse 5,
it says, Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the
Lord of hosts, the Lord of a great army. You see, Isaiah is confronting
Hezekiah with the Word of God. That's the way you deal with
pride. You confront him with the Word of God. That's the way
I need to be confronted with the Word of God. See, by showing
his storehouses, Hezekiah showed him his strength. He showed a
willingness to work with Babylon, with idolatry. Why? Because they
flattered him. Because they honored him. And
remember again now what Babylon represents, false religion, the
servant of Satan who uses lies, flattery to feed pride, whatever
false preacher does. And so he says, hear the word
of the Lord of hosts, verse 6, Behold, the days come that all
that is in thine house and that which thy fathers have laid up
in store unto this day shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing
shall be left, saith the Lord. Hezekiah said, I've shown them
everything I have. Well, he said nothing will be left then. They're
going to take everything you have. Everything you're so proud
of. Everything you're bragging about
and you're banking on. Everything they flattered you,
they're going to take it away. It's all going to be taken away. And
that's the way God deals with pride. Someday He's going to
take it all away, isn't He? Anything. God forbid, you see,
that we should glory save in the cross of Christ. That'll
never be taken away. But all this other stuff that
we're so proud of now, all this other stuff that feeds our pride,
it's going to be taken away. It's going to be gone. You say,
I'm proud of my family heritage. Bull. It's going to be taken
away. You'll take it back to Adam.
That's it, isn't it? If you say, I'm proud of my family
heritage, you're just proud of sin. That's what you're saying,
isn't it? Because we were born in sin, for in Adam all died. I'm proud of all my accomplishments.
Now, I'm not talking about the self-esteem and things like that.
I'm talking about what men are proud of. And he said, you're
going to take it all away. And then look at verse 7. And
of thy sons that shall issue from thee. Now, Hezekiah at this
time didn't have any children. But later on, three years after
the Lord healed him, Manasseh was born. And of course, you
know what he turned out to be. The most wicked king of Judah. The one who burnt the children
on the arms of Molech sacrificed his own children and the children
of Judah. But then later on, Josiah was born. He was a good
king. Of course, you know how the Lord
preserved that line. But he says, He's going to take
all your sons away from which thou shalt beget, shall they
take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the
king of Babylon. Now, as a result of God's answering
hesitized prayer, God accomplished His sovereign purpose. He did
preserve Judah. Somebody said, well, He's going
to take all of them away and they're going to be eunuchs.
Well, where's the line of David going to be? Well, not all of
them were taken away, but the majority were. There was a preservation
of the line of Judah. And God brought His Son. He had
the purpose of salvation in mind there. But you see, God accomplished
his sovereign purpose in preserving Judah, but how did Hezekiah respond?
Well, his head was filled with pride, and then secondly, Judah
and Jerusalem were marked for destruction. Now, the first 38
chapters of Isaiah that we've studied mainly dealt with the
threat against Judah from the Assyrian Empire. The rest of
Isaiah, from here, beginning at chapter 40 on to the end of
the book, will prophetically speak of the threat of the coming
Babylonian Empire. Right here's where it began.
All it began with flattery and pride and just showing them the
precious things. Sharing that with the idolaters.
That's what happened. And you know that symbolizes
the warfare between Christ and Satan as the prophet shows how
all of it will eventually be settled. How? by the coming of
the Messiah. And you see some of the most
beautiful prophecies of Christ onto the end of this book. The
one most notable to you is probably Isaiah 53. But that's how it's
all going to be settled. That's how the final battle is
going to be won. By the Lord Jesus Christ on the
cross of Calvary, making an end of sin, finishing the transgression,
and bringing in everlasting righteousness. And that's how Satan and Babylon
are all ultimately going to be defeated. And that's what this
takes place. Now, Hezekiah, he showed all.
He's going to lose all. The future would reveal it. The
people of Judah and all their valuables would eventually be
carried away into Babylon. Now, it would be more than 100
years after this that it would actually take place, and you
can read about that in 2 Kings 24 and 25. That happened when
Nebuchadnezzar came down and destroyed the temple, destroyed
Jerusalem. But you know this prophecy, I
want you to see something. This prophecy is so remarkably
accurate that many unbelievers insist, without grounds other
than unbelief, that somebody else wrote the rest of the book
other than Isaiah. Because they say it couldn't
have been that accurate unless they wrote it down after it happened. But it was written down before
it happened. Because you see, God He declares
the end from the beginning. So Hezekiah's descendants would
become eunuchs. Now, again, how shall the line
of David survive? It would only be some of Hezekiah's
descendants. God would preserve the line and
keep his covenant with David, the sure mercies of David, and
through the son of David to come, the Lord Jesus Christ. He would
bring salvation to all nations. Now, Hezekiah, in being pleased
with himself and in wanting to please men, stopped being the
servant of God. That's what happened. When we
live to please men, and we live because of the honor of men,
we cannot at the same time live to honor and please God. When
we live to please men, we're really living to serve ourselves,
aren't we? Because what we value from men
is the praise and honor and recognition they may give us, and even their
friendship. It's a glorious thing to live
to serve men, but not to live to please men. The desire to
please men can get even believers sidetracked, but it's been the
cause of many, many denying the gospel entirely. Someone said,
just as Samson revealed his strength to Delilah, so Hezekiah revealed
God's glory to the devils as though he were their companion.
and had received favors from Babylon. Well, the last verse,
it says in verse 8, then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, good is the
word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. He said, moreover, for
there shall be peace and truth in my days. Now, that verse is
a little difficult to understand because of the way it's written.
It's true. And some commentators say, well,
Hezekiah was still being self-centered here, as if he were saying here,
well, God's Word is true, but at least I'm going to have peace
in my day, the trouble's coming later. And that would be an awful
selfish thing. I don't believe a godly king
could just totally speak that way of his posterity. Now, it's
true that when men become consumed with pride, all they can think
of is themselves. We've seen that. What about the
nation, though? What about the throne? What about
the sheep? I think about this when preachers
fuss and fight and argue, and I get so daggone sick of it,
and I want to just, what about the sheep? What about the people?
What about the church? But I don't believe that was
Hezekiah's attitude here. First of all, I believe he was
repentant. He said to Isaiah, good is the word of God, the
word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. You're right, Isaiah. And then he said, moreover, for
there shall be peace and truth in my days. I believe Hezekiah
himself is speaking prophetically here, that even though in his
sin and in his pride he brought trouble upon Judah and Jerusalem,
that ultimately there's going to be peace and truth in his
days, because his day is our day. His day is the day of the
Messiah. It's the day of salvation. All
that I believe Hezekiah is simply saying here is, look, God's going
to save us in spite of ourselves. Isn't it? That's the way God
saves all of us, in spite of ourselves. It's not because of
ourselves, it's in spite of us. But God is going to be true to
his word. He's going to be glorified. And
we will, we will have peace in our day when the Lord comes and
takes us home. Okay, let's sing hymn number
118, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.