Well, you've all been very hospitable,
and I appreciate it very much. It's just when you go different
places, you know, you don't know what to expect. And Melinda and
I, we don't expect much. We're just glad to be a part
of the truth. Years ago, Actually, it may have been one
of the first messages I preached once the Lord called me, which
incidentally, everybody knew it but me. It was the tribe of Dan. They
were the last ones. They were all the way in the
back, smallest number, but they had the banner. And Spurgeon
preached a wonderful message on it, and I kind of took it
to heart. We're not much. We at Jackson, but we are a little
family. That's all that matters, because
there's not much family anymore anyway. And I know the Whiteheads,
you guys are all over the place. We were talking about that from
Washington to Houston to here. But the true family of God, That's
where it's at. That's where it's at. Well, turn
back with me. Like I said, I'd like to thank
you all for having me, Darvin for calling me, and Brian's hospitality,
picking us up. And Scamps, he's just amazing.
He's just, if some kids were like him, no. He's just there,
you know. Turn in our text back to 2 Chronicles
chapter 31. I read this, the previous chapter
30, about Hezekiah because he was quite a man. There wasn't,
you know, I don't know if there's anybody that walked with the
Lord after him because it said, you know, he was, since the time
of Solomon, the son of David, there was not the like in Jerusalem. And then in verse chapter 31,
they're gathering together and they're rejoicing. They're taking
offerings. And the third month, they began
to lay foundation of the heaps and finish them in the seventh
month. And they're giving of themselves,
selflessness. And so is Hezekiah. Hezekiah,
he's kind of leading them. It's like Joshua. As for me and
my house, we'll serve the Lord. A lot of times you pray for one
another, but you really can't enter into what somebody's going.
Even a brother or sister in Christ, you can't, Christ can. Christ
can enter in, but sometimes we can't. We try, we should try. But these words of Hezekiah,
these words about Hezekiah, thus did Hezekiah, verse 20, Chapter
31, thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah. We should know and
we should suspect this king pictures in type our all-glorious king,
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a beautiful picture of
Christ before us. And indeed, we know from the
New Testament that the law and the prophets spoke of Christ. One man said, years ago, you find Christ in the text and
you get right at it. I may have told this illustration,
there was a young preacher, was preaching a message in a new
church, and there was an old preacher whom he highly respected,
a grace preacher, both of them. And the old man was sitting in
the back, and he presented the message, and then the old pastor
tried to get out the door before the young guy got him. He didn't
make it. He got his arm. He said, whoa,
whoa, whoa, I want to ask you some questions. He said, oh,
I need to get out of here. And he said, no, I need to ask
you some questions. What did you think of the message? And
the old preacher looked at him and he said, well, I didn't think
much of it. We ought to be able to take rebuke.
He said, what do you mean he didn't think much of it? Were my illustrations, he says,
illustrations were wonderful. The right word usage, the Greek,
he said, no, above board. Did it lack character? No. Well, what did I do wrong? He
says, son, you didn't preach Christ. He says, I beg your pardon,
Christ wasn't in the passage. And he said, I beg your pardon,
Christ is in every passage, and your responsibility is to find
him and preach him. I bet that young man started
with Christ thereafter. But this is what we're gonna
look. We're gonna look together, by the grace of God, at this
one point in Judah's history and truly behold his story. It's history, but it's his story
about Christ. Look at verses, chapter 31, verses
20 and 21. Thus did Hezekiah, thus did Christ, wrought, and he wrought, that
which was good, right, and truth. Good, right, and truth. Could those three words ever
be used for a greater person than the Lord Jesus Christ? Was there ever any unkindness
in what Christ had said, spoken, or did? They laid charges at
his feet, but they were all false. Matter of fact, Acts chapter
10 and verse 38, this book declares that Christ went about doing
good because he was good. He was, is the goodness of God
manifest in the flesh to the sons and daughters of Adam's
race. You wonder why all things work together for good to the
believer? Because it comes from the fountain of all good. Fountainhead, eternal springs
from him. It says, that which was good
and right and right, or straight. Well, straight is that way. Narrow, the gate, that leads
to eternal life. Christ is that gate. Christ is
the right. Indeed, his way, which leads
to himself, is the straight way, that narrow gate. Our sovereign
Redeemer does always that which is right and above board. We
may not see it. You know, we have a tendency
to good things, bad things. But from God's hand to us, it's
always good, and it's always right. It can never be wrong.
So, well, I don't like this pain. Well, temptations, trials, afflictions,
we're gonna see what's going on here in the history of Judah,
but God's still on the throne. He's still on the throne, and
he does that which is good always, and that which is right. may
seem to vary to us, but rest assured, brethren, he is the
complete package of good, right, and lastly, truth. Thus did Hezekiah. He led by example. Christ was
tempted, never sinned. Peter fell, he said, I prayed
for you that your faith fail not. He is always good. He was always right. And he is
always truth. And that word truth could also
be trustworthiness. Now that's a word, and you young
folks, say something and mean it. Be trustworthy. Because that's
a trait that, it's going, going, gone. But his truth, bless the Lord,
oh my soul, he is the truth. He does all truth. He follows
truth. He makes known and reveals truth. How do we know who God is? This
book is truth. This written word reveals the
living word to us. How do we know our kinsman redeemer? Because it's in the pages of
the book. It's truth, and he is truth. How do we know how
God can be just and justify the ungodly? We know God's character
from this book. How do we know ourselves? Well,
we heard that this morning. Stiff neck, rebels. Well, that's so offensive. That's just terrible. Well, bless
God, at least in this place, in other churches that I know
of, for the Gospels being preached, the pastors are more concerned
about offending God than offending people. I heard Henry Mahan say
years ago, and it's really stuck with me, a wonder. And he was talking to his people,
and he says, if I have to believe this truth alone, I'm going to
do it. So he wasn't trying to be mean to his people, but people
come and go. You know that. You've seen that.
We've seen that. They come and go. And I hate
it, and it bothers me. But then I think, if I have to
believe this truth alone, so be it. So be it. He has truth, and he can withhold
truth. He has it, and he can withhold
it. Our supreme substitute has been
proved. As I said, this word truth is
also trustworthiness. He has been proved over and over
again, and none have ever found him untrustworthy. He says God
be true to every man liar. He speaks not like us, but with
honesty, verity, and credibility. He's truth. So I say without
goodness, without goodness, righteousness,
and truth, there's no salvation. There's no salvation. No God honoring. He's holy and
spotless and pure. This is his character. This was
Hezekiah. This is a man as an example. But I'm speaking to you, one
greater than Hezekiah, of which all the scriptures talk about. But let us look on to verse 21. Not only is this king, Hezekiah,
in the picture of Christ, of maximum character, but he is
of superior exemplar ordeal. Look at verse 21. And in every work, no work excluded,
every work. Now I can't say that, you can't
say that, we're full of sin, we stumble. In every work that he, this is
the king we're speaking of, began in the service of the house of
God, service. That's what a family is, that's
what a church, it's a service, we serve one another in love. in the house of God, in the law,
and in the commandments. Not only is our God truth, righteousness,
and verity, but He performed that which He was. And it has to. We don't have
a partial Savior where He does one thing and then He speaks
and then there's no actions. This is the actions. which is
like our Lord, began in the service of the house of God with God
first. God must be honored first. God's
offended first. God's law must be satisfied.
He's satisfied and in the law and in the commandments. Christ
came to fulfill the law and the commandments in the house of
God with us, with his people, his bride, his remnant, his elect. Every work, at all times, at
any day, at any given moment, this is what he did. This is
what he did, to seek his God, and he did it with all his heart,
and prospered. Successful, successful. We're not preaching to Jesus
that's up there wrangling his hands and wanting you to decide
for him or do something right now. This is a successful Jesus. Our king's service to his heavenly
father, to his house, to the law and its commandments, as
high priest, as king, and as redeemer, he did with his whole
heart and prospered. Well, doesn't Isaiah 53, 10 say,
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand? It did,
it says it there, it says it here. Now if our scope is limited
to this king Hezekiah, oh what a man, we're gonna be boasted
on him. But Christ must have the preeminence in everything
scriptural, must have it. That's what I love about the
pastors we know. It's just one message, just keep
hammering and hammering. the gospel because that's what
an unbeliever needs and that's what believers need. We need
to feast upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because of who's doing the work,
and he did accomplishment completely without fail. He served his father's
demands. He served his children, the church
of the living God. He served even unto death, the
scripture says. Therefore, the law is honored,
the law is satisfied, fulfilled, and put away in Christ. God's commands completed. God's order appeased, God's precepts
triumphant, God's rule satiated. He did it all. Because He is
good and right and truth. And therefore His work is as
He is. Perfect. Perfect. Yes, this is our Redeemer, our
Savior, and our intercessor. This is who He is and what He
did. and these two verses. Redemption
accomplished and Jehovah God most glorified. Now, I want to
remind you of when this is written. Okay, everything's going well
in chapter 31, right? Everybody's, this guy's amazing,
it's wonderful, and now chapter 32. After these things, and usually
that's what happens, Scott Richardson said, The life of a believer
is three phases. You're either entering into temptations,
you're in temptations, or you're leaving temptations. And that's,
kids, it doesn't get any easier. But you have someone who's over
all of that. So I remind us that in Judah's
history, this is what's going on, and after these things, The
establishment thereof, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came and entered
into Judah and encamped against it, the Fin cities, and thought
to win them for himself. He's going to go in and whip
them. He's going to go in and take the rest of the town. So this is the struggle. And
it's a struggle, as we read. But what did we just read? We
just read who the king was and what he did. And God was honored
and glorified. So now what? So what do we do
when we have trials and temptations? Afflictions. You get a phone
call. I didn't expect that from the
doctor. Or you get a phone call about your mom or your dad or
your grandson or your grandchildren. Things happen. Chapter 32, verses 7 and 8. This is what we should do. This
is what we should be. Be strong and courageous. Be
not afraid or dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all
the multitude that is with him, for there is more with us than
with him. All the time. All the time. There's more for us than there's
against us. As you get picked up off the
floor, a guy you just tell that to smacks you. I remember when
I was working the garden center, I was sharing with this guy and
he seemed to be interested and he just turned on me like that.
Just like that. He's a pretty good sized fella.
And we were putting stuff up in the warehouse, and he starts
chucking these big old bales at me. And I couldn't keep up
with him. And he said, hey, did God predestinate
that? Well, did God order that? And he just kept knocking me
around. And it really, it knocked me back. And I just said, yeah.
Isn't that what, remember Shemi? Remember David? They were fleeing from Absalom.
They were fleeing. And Shemi's saying, hey. Who's
this king? And he's throwing rocks at the
king. You remember that? He's throwing rocks at the king. And the second in command says,
let me go over and just take the sword and take his head off.
And David said, no. God told him to do that. God
told him to do that. Be strong and courageous. Or
the scripture says, in another place, quit ye like men. Don't
be afraid or dismayed of what man can do, because God is for
us. Who can be against us? Romans
8. And look at verse 8. And with him is the arm of the
flesh. That's with this king of Assyria.
But with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.
He's going to fight our battles for us. Now, the outcome, we
know he's won. It's done. It may be, like I
say, you may get picked up off the floor, you get slapped around
a little bit. But what I'd like to look at
for all of us for our use and edification and our helps, because
this is where I'm at, is this last phrase. And the people rested themselves
upon the words of the king. They rested upon the words of
the king. That means they leaned upon the
words of the king. You may not be around where there's
friends and family. You may be by yourself sometime.
What are you going to do? Who are you going to look to?
You're gonna look to one who's all good, who's right, and is
full of truth, and he's done the things because his character
dictates that's what he's gonna do. And then trials, storms come. You got plans set, they don't
work. They get smacked around, they get laid low. Rest upon the word. Rest, my brethren, upon the unerring
words of this book, and rest upon his sovereign will for each
and every elect, every church member or bride member, and know
the peace of God that passes understanding. Let's look at a few folks who
did that. Now, I haven't been tried as Joseph had. I don't
know about you. Genesis chapter 50 is one of
my favorite passages of scripture. Again, we're just going to the
word. I'll just read what the word says. Has there anybody
here been tried like this man, Joseph? Left for dead, thrown in prison,
on and on it went. Genesis 50, verse 20, the word
of the king says this to you and I, is all the promises in
Christ are yes and amen. They hold on it, but as for you,
you thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to
bring it to pass as it is this day to save much people alive. Can you not rest in that? 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel 23, you know this one,
this is the last words of David. I want to have peace and comfort
in my last words on this earth. Second Samuel, chapter 23, verse
5, David, although my house be not so with God, my children
aren't saved. They don't care about the gospel.
Sometimes they come, sometimes they don't. I got troubles within, troubles
without. Yet, verse 5, he hath made with
me an everlasting covenant, ordering all things insure, For this is
all my salvation and all my desire, although I don't see it growing.
Rest in the words of the King." This book I'm amazed when I sit
down and study and ask the Lord for direction to preach to the
folks there. It just seems so new and so fresh every time. And then, you know, you get things
that happen, and Melinda and I are, she's big in history,
and there's nothing new under the sun. What things that concern
us, you ought to read about things that concern Spurgeon. We went to his library, it's
in Kansas City, and they built the library just for, they got
all the books from Drury, I can't remember, oh, William Jewell,
they got all his volumes and they took it over and they made
a brand new library and they refurbished, we went and looked
at that. He was concerned that penny pulpit series that he had,
he was concerned that people would stop coming to church and
just read, huh, kind of sounds like YouTube, kind of sounds
like conservative audio, to be honest with you. I've got nothing
against it, but I do because I know how we can abuse it. You
know what, I'm just going to sit at home. I'm not even going
to get any clothes. I'm just going to lay in my bed
in pajamas. We've tried that. There's something
special to set aside a time to gather together, because we're
sitting there, we were both sick, and we're sitting there, and
we're sitting there listening to the message, and then the cat walked by. Oh,
I gotta feed that. Oh, I gotta, that's what we do.
That's what we do. I'm just saying, I know myself.
Rest in the word. Matthew 11, those who are in
labor, heavy laden, I will give you rest. Isaiah 45, 22. Perhaps there's someone here
who has not looked to Christ and not rested in his word. Isaiah 45 verse 22, look unto
me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and
there's no one else. Rest. Don't look anywhere else. It's not gonna help. Look to
Christ. and be saved. Oh, there's got
to be more to it. Yeah, that's our problem. We
want to work, work. We want to feel, you know, Martin
Luther back in the day, he'd try to whip the flesh out. He'd
just whip his back. Rest, lean upon the word. Second Kings, chapter six. I
like this, this is another Wonderful passage, 2 Kings chapter 6. Elisha, he and his servant are
in his house. In verse 8 of chapter 6, the
king of Assyria warred against Israel and took counsel with
his servants saying, in such and such a place shall be my
camp. Well, it kept getting found out.
And the king gets all upset, and he goes, who among you is
spying for Israel? And they had the smart to go,
no, there's a prophet in Israel. He's telling Israelites exactly
what you're doing, because his God's sovereign. He goes, all
right, where does he live? And they said, well, he's down
in Dothan, verse 13. So he gets
his army, they go to Dothan, and they surround the place.
And this servant, the servant of the man of God had risen early,
verse 15 of 2 Kings 6, risen early, gone forth, behold, a
host compassed the city, both with horses and chariots, and
his servants said unto him, alas, my master, what shall we do? What shall we do? I'd be afraid. I mean, really. Look at what he says. The man
of God says, Fear not, for they that be with us are more than
they that be with them. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord,
I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. Now stop right there.
That phrase, If you don't know how to help anybody, you don't
know what to do, or if you're like me, you're not wise enough
to handle a situation, this is what I pray. Lord, open their
eyes that they may see. Believer or non-believer, what
a universal prayer for the saint of God. Open my eyes, open their
eyes that they may see. And he did, and he saw, and behold,
the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about
Elisha. He became strong, he didn't fear,
he saw God was on the throne, and he rested in the king's words. Now closing, Isaiah 46. The first time, I can't remember
the first time I came here. It's been, well, it was at the
old church. So, got more gray. Lost more hair, if that's possible. But look at this. Can I not rest
in this Word? Can you not rest in this Word?
Young or old, it doesn't matter, Isaiah 46 and verse four. And even to your old age, I am
he. And even to whore hairs will
I carry you. I have made, I will bear, even
I will carry and will deliver you. That sounds like a promise
to me. We're all going to get older
unless the Lord takes us first. We're not going to escape it.
We're not going to get away from it. Let me read you something here. Maybe. Mr. Spurgeon said, here is a
promise for our aged friends, yes, and for us all. As age creeps
over us, let us live long enough and we shall have all our whore
hairs. Therefore, we may as well enjoy
this promise by the foresight of faith. When we grow older,
our God will still be the I am, abiding evermore the same. Whorehairs
tell of our decay, but he decays not. When we cannot carry a burden
and can hardly carry ourselves, the Lord will carry us. Even
as in our younger days, he carried us like lambs in his bosom, so
he in our years of infirmity. He made us, he will care for
us. When we become a burden to our
friends and a burden to ourselves, the Lord will not shake us off.
but the rather he will take us up and carry and deliver us more
fully than ever. In many cases, the Lord gives
his servants a long and calm evening. They worked hard all
the day and wore themselves out in their master service. And
so he said to them, now rest in anticipation of that eternal
Sabbath, which I have prepared for you. Let us not dread old
age. Let us grow old graciously since
the Lord himself is with us in fullness of grace. The people rested themselves
upon the words of the king. May we do so to the glory of
his grace. Lord bless you. Thank you, Brother Drew. If you
would, for our closing hymn, let's take our songs of grace
and move again. Let's stand, please. Turn to
hymn number 114. Hymn number 114 for our closing
hymn, and we'll sing, I Have a Hope. I have a hope, hymn number 114.
I have a hope, oh strong and sure, a hope within the veil. Tis Christ the Lord my advocate,
he pleads and must prevail. My name is written on His breast,
inscribed by love and grace. In Him my heart finds peace and
rest, He does my soul embrace. Midst tribulation, pain, and
toll, He is my hope and stay. I trust His gracious providence
to guide me in His way. I have no hope within myself. Christ is my all and all. My care I cast upon my Lord,
and for His grace I call. And when my time on earth is
done, ? And all my care shall cease ? I'll see my savior as
he is ? My hope I shall embrace Thank you. Y'all stay for lunch
now. Chili, some ham sliders, whole
bunch of good foods. Everybody stick around, we got
plenty of it. Yeah.