Would you turn back to 2 Chronicles
chapter 29? Verse 36, and Hezekiah rejoiced,
and all the people that God had prepared the people, but the
thing was done suddenly. I've entitled this message, Sudden
Grace. I was glad you opened the service
with Jonah chapter two. Salvation is of the Lord, and
this is just going on with that theme, salvation is of the Lord.
Somebody once said, even a fish will spit out anyone who believes
salvation is of the Lord. And that's what happened at this
time. Now, 2 Chronicles chapter 29
is about a great revival that took place. Now when men talk about revivals,
I'm always utterly skeptical what they have to say. They'll
talk about this happening and that happening, and it's not
in the Bible. But here we have what happens in the Bible when
God does a sudden work of grace. is what God does. You hear that? Grace is not God's offer. Grace is what God does. He said, I will be gracious. That's who he is. He delights
in mercy. Grace is what God does. It's His nature. Now, He's absolutely
holy. Absolutely holy. He's absolutely
just. He's absolutely sovereign. Let me tell you exactly what
that means. Everything that's going through
your mind right now, He's in absolute control of. He's the cause. That's what sovereign
means. He's the cause of all things. Salvation is by His grace and
every aspect of salvation is what God does. Election is what God does, isn't
it? His choice of His people before
the foundation of the world. He did that. Redemption. The
payment of sins is what God does. To take somebody like me and
justify me, make me to stand before God without guilt, that's
what God does. Only He can do that. This thing of being born
from above, being given a new nature, being quickened when
I'm dead in sins, that's what God does. Being preserved. That's what God does. That's
the reason I continue being when I'm finally brought into heaven.
And this is true of every believer. That's what God does. Now, second Chronicles 29 is
about what God has done. And Hezekiah and the people rejoiced
because God was the one who prepared the people and it was done suddenly. And I pray that it's done suddenly
with each one of us this morning. There's no restraint with God.
There's nothing that would keep him from working suddenly. And I pray that that's what he
will be pleased to do this morning. Now look in verse one, 2 Chronicles
29, Hezekiah began to reign when he was 25 years old. You know,
that reminds me that God can greatly use a very young man. Hezekiah. was 25 years old and
really he was one of the greatest of the kings of Judah. But what
it says of him, he reigned nine and 20 years in Jerusalem and
his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. And
he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according
to all that David, his father had done. What a commendation.
Now, when God does something, here's what becomes paramount. What's right in his sight. You don't really care what is
right in man's sight. I don't care. Well, so-and-so
thinks this, I don't care. What's right in the sight of
the Lord. Is that what you're interested
in? What's right in the sight of the Lord. That's what Hezekiah
was interested in. Now his father Ahaz, you can
read about him in the previous chapter. He didn't care anything
about what was right in the sight of the Lord. As a matter of fact,
a great decline took place under Hezekiah's father Ahaz. Look in chapter 28 verse 1. Ahaz
was 20 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years
in Jerusalem, but he did not that which was right in the sight
of the Lord like David his father. For he walked in the ways of
the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Balaam. Moreover, he burnt incense in
the valley of the son of Himnon, and burnt his children in the
fire after the abomination to the heathen whom the Lord had
cast out before the children of Israel. He sacrificed also
and burnt incense in the high places on the hills and under
every green tree." Now this was Hezekiah's father, and what a
horrible man he was. Look in verse 21 of the same chapter, for Ahaz
took away a portion out of the house of the Lord and out of
the house of the king and of the princes and gave it unto
the king of Assyria, but he helped him not. In the time of his distress,
did he trespass yet more against the Lord? This is that King Ahaz,
for he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him.
And he said, because the gods of the kings of Assyria helped
him, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me.
But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. And Ahaz gathered
together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the
vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the
house of the Lord. He made him altars in every corner
of Jerusalem and in every several city of Judah. He made high places
to burn incense unto other gods and provoke to anger the Lord
God of his father. Now this is what was going on.
And I have no doubt that Hezekiah was sickened by all this. You
see the Lord's hand was on Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz. And as soon
as he began to reign, things began to change. The Lord's hand
was on him. He did that which was right in
the sight of the Lord. Verse two, chapter 29, according
to all that David his father had done, he, in the first year
of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house
of the Lord. and repaired them. Now, did you
notice that Ahaz closed the doors of the house of the Lord? Now,
we don't have to do any stretching to know what the doors represent. Christ said, I am the door. Now, here is where any work of
God begins with the door. It begins with Christ. He said,
I am the door. Now he is a shut door to anyone
who comes with anything to bring. And he is an open door to every
sinner. Now what's the door for? Christ
said, I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. That's the Lord's words. A door
is to let people in and it's to keep people out. And it's
to let people out and keep people out. The door, Christ's the door. He's a door without a doorknob. He's an open door. I'm not saying
you need to open this door. No, that puts something in your
hands. No, He's an open door to every sinner. And he's a closed door to everyone
that doesn't fit that description. No doorknobs on the, he's plumb
open. Nothing you need to do to get
the door open. If you're a sinner, he's an open
door. Walk in, go on through. If you
have anything other than him, he's a closed door to you. You
will not get in. I am the door. By me, if any
man enter in, he shall be saved and will go in and out and shall
find pasture. Oh, what a glorious door. Now,
when God does a work of grace, here's where it begins. The door
is opened. Oh, Ahaz had it closed. The gospel
wasn't preached under his regime. But now that God is gonna do
a great work of grace, the door is opened. Now listen to me. If you're a sinner, come and welcome. The door is
open. You don't have to get it open
either. Nothing you need to do to get it open. It's open for
you if you're a sinner. Now, if you're not a sinner,
the door's closed to you. But if you're a real sinner,
that means all you are is sin. That's what you are. More than
what you do, it's what you are. If you're a sinner, the door
is wide open for you. I love saying that. Let's go on reading. Verse four, and he brought in
the priests and the Levites and gathered them together into the
east street and said unto them, hear me ye Levites, sanctify
now yourselves and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your
fathers and carry forth the filthiness out of this holy place. Now whenever the doors open,
you know what's going to start happening? You're going to get
rid of everything contrary to the door. He said, get in the
temple. You set yourself apart for this.
You sanctify yourself for this. Kind of like Paul said, I'm separated
under the gospel of God. Here's what your job is now.
Get all the filthiness out of this place. All the salvation
by works, all the human merit. Get all the filthiness out because
that's what it is when you see the door. You see everything
else is filthiness. Let me tell you something. He
that doesn't hate the false doesn't love the true. And if you love
the true, you see how filthy and abhorrent human religion,
human work, salvation by works is. He said, get all the filthiness. And that's what it is, isn't
it? Doesn't scripture say our righteousnesses are as what?
Filthy rags. Get the filthiness. And this
goes on when God doesn't work. And it happens suddenly. Get
the filthiness out of the temple, out of the holy place. Verse
six, there's an understanding of sin. When the door is open
and the gospel is preached, all of a sudden there's an understanding
of sin. For our fathers have trespassed
and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God.
and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from
the habitation of the Lord, and turned their backs. Also they've
shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have
not burned incense, nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place,
unto the Lord God of Israel, wherefore the wrath of the Lord
was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to
trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as you see with your
eyes. For lo, our fathers have fallen
by the sword, our sons and our daughters, our wives are in captivity
for this, for this, because of this. Now, he says you put out,
our fathers, they put out the lamps. The gospel has not been
preached is what that means. They've not sanctified the temple. They've not seen that Christ
is the temple of God. They've seen no need to burn
incense, the intercession of Christ or the sacrifice, the
sacrifice of Christ. And all this has come because
they've turned their backs on God. That's why this has happened. Our sin is our fault. All of it. Now where God does
a sudden work of grace, there is an understanding of sin. Now look what Hezekiah says. Now it is in my heart to make
a covenant with the Lord God of Israel that his fierce wrath
may turn away from us. Now, why was it in Hezekiah's
heart? Because the Lord put it there. And here we have God doing
this great work of grace through this man, Hezekiah. The Lord
put it in his heart. Now look what he says in verse
11. My sons, be not now negligent. For the Lord hath chosen you
to stand before him, to serve him. And you should minister
unto him and burn incense. When the Lord does a sudden work
of grace, you know what happens? People quit being negligent.
Negligent. Negligent in the things of God.
You know, that's horrible that we would be negligent in the
things of God because what else matters? What else is even important? Nothing. When it comes right
down to it, nothing. And when the Lord does a work
of grace, quit being negligent. Don't be negligent. The Lord's
chosen you for this. Don't be negligent in the things
of God. In verses 12 through 14, there's
a bunch of names I don't know how to pronounce that were used
to, uh, Get the filthiness out. Verse 15, and they gathered their
brethren and sanctified themselves and came according to the commandment
of the King by the words of the Lord to cleanse the house of
the Lord. And the priests went into the
inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it and brought
out all the uncleanness that they'd found in the temple of
the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites
took it to carry it out abroad unto the book Chidron. Now they
began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and
on the eighth day of the month they came to do the porch of
the Lord. So they sanctified the house of the Lord in eight
days. In the 16th day of the first month, they made an end. They didn't stop. They persevered
in this work till they made an end. Now when God does a work
of grace, you know what there is? Perseverance all the way
to the end. What is the evidence that God
has done something? That person perseveres all the
way until the end. Now look in verse 21. Remember,
this is God's doing when God does a work. Look in verse 21.
And they brought seven bullocks and seven rams and seven lambs
and seven he goats for sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary
and for Judah. And he commanded the priests,
the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. So they killed the bullocks and
the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar.
Likewise, when they'd killed the ram, they sprinkled the blood
upon the altar and they killed also the lambs and they sprinkled
the blood upon the altar and they brought forth the he goat
for the sin offering before the king and the congregation and
they laid their hands upon them. And the priests killed them and
made reconciliation with blood upon the altar to make an atonement
for all Israel. For the king commanded that the
burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel."
Now, when God does work, the sacrifice of Christ is everything. Seven, you'll notice, seven,
completion, perfection, the perfect work of Christ. What can wash
away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing, nothing. But the blood of Jesus, oh, precious
is that flow, that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Now, you'll notice when I was
reading that in verse 23, and they brought forth the he-goats
for a sin offering before the king and the congregation, they
laid their hands upon them. Now what this signifies is what
happened with the scapegoat. This makes us understand what
was taking place in this sacrifice, the transference of sin. That's what the writer of the
Hebrews talked about in Hebrews chapter 6, verse 2, when he talked
about the laying on of hands. That's not talking about laying
on of hands to ordain a preacher, or it's not even talking about
the laying on of hands of the, what people do about the transfer
of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and so on. That's talking about
the priest laying his hands on the head of the scapegoat, sin
transferred. My sin transferred to the Lord
Jesus Christ so that he bore that sin. Now, let me tell you
something about the transference of sin. It cannot be two places
at once. Sin cannot be two places at once.
If it was taken off of me and Christ bore it, you know what
that means? I don't bear it. That means I have no sin before
God. None. Notice in verse 24, and
the priest killed them and they made reconciliation. with their blood upon the altar
to make an atonement for all Israel. Now there's two things
I wanna point out about that. The blood of Christ, listen to
me, it didn't make reconciliation possible. The blood of Christ
made reconciliation. Colossians chapter one, verse
20, having made peace. The next time you hear somebody
say, I made my peace with God. If you don't mind losing a friend,
say you're in trouble then. You didn't make your peace with
God. Christ made my peace with God. having made peace through
the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things to himself
by him I say whether they be things in earth or things in
heaven and you that were before time alienated and enemies in
your mind by wicked works yet now hath he in the body of his
flesh through death reconciled you to present you holy and unblameable
and unapprovable in his sight. Now this is what the blood of
Christ accomplished. Complete reconciliation. God doesn't have any reason to
be mad at me. You know why? He reconciled me. Now this work
of reconciliation is not a cooperative work. He by himself purged our
sins. If when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled
would be saved by his life. He made reconciliation. And notice this is pointed out
in verse 24. And the priests killed them and
they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar to
make an atonement for all Israel. Notice that's pointed out. This
atonement was made not for all the world, for all Israel. Now here is the point. The blood of Jesus Christ saves
everybody he died for. If Christ died for somebody and
they wind up in hell, his blood has no saving power. Salvation
is up to what you do. It's up to you to make what he
did work for you. My dear friends, that's nothing
more than salvation by works. He shed his blood for his people. I lay down my life for who? For the sheep. He didn't die
for goats. He died for the sheep. Now here,
let me, there's so many people that, you mean Christ didn't
die for everybody? No, he didn't die for everybody.
Let me be plain there. No, he didn't die for everybody.
And here's the point. If he died for you, he's reconciled
to you. Atonement has been made. You
have no guilt. Now that's the blessing of the
atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you, when God does
a sudden work of grace, the sacrifice is everything. Verse 25. And he set the Levites in the
house of the Lord with cymbals and with psalteries and with
harps according to the commandment of David, of Gad the king seer,
and Nathan the prophet. For so was the commandments of
the Lord by his prophets." Worship is once again scriptural. Now,
it had left that with Ahaz, but now everything is done according
to the prophets, according to the written word. Does that make
sense? I must be rubbing against my
tie, I'm sorry. Verse 26, and the Levites stood with the
instruments of David and the priests with the trumpets." Notice
the trumpet. This public worship begins with
the trumpet. That's such a scriptural instrument,
the trumpet. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14,
verses seven and eight, even things without life giving sound.
whether pipe or harp, except they give distinction in the
sound. How shall it be known what is
piped or harped? And if the trumpet give an uncertain
sound, who shall prepare himself to battle? So likewise ye, except
ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood. How shall it be known? What is
spoken? Let me give you some words easy
to be understood. The Bible is God's inspired word. It's our only rule of faith and
practice. Nothing else. Is there anything
hard to understand about that? You may not agree, but it's nothing
hard to understand about that. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. God is God, not in name only,
but indeed he rules. He is absolutely sovereign. He's sovereign in creation. He
spake the world into existence. He's sovereign in providence.
That means he's the first cause behind everything. And he's sovereign
in salvation. He saves whom he will. Nothing hard to understand about
that. You might not like it. You might not agree with it,
but you understand that God's the cause of everything. Men are evil. Is there anything hard to understand
about that? Men are evil, they're born evil, but as a result of
Adam's fall, I'm born into this world with an evil nature. Dead,
the scripture says, in trespasses and sins. Now, is there anything
hard to understand about that? It's what the Bible teaches. God, before time began, elected
a people to be saved. There's somebody says that's
deep. It's just so it's just so. Everybody Christ died for must
be saved. Now, you know what I mean by
that? If Christ died for you, you must be saved. He cannot
possibly fail. He's not going to intend to do
something and it not end up happening because of who he is. That's
easy to understand. God's grace saves, it's irresistible,
it's invincible. Anybody confused about that? God's grace saves. And everybody
that God elected, Christ died for them, God the Holy Spirit
gives life to will persevere all the way to the end. Now the trumpet is to give a
certain sound. And if it gives an uncertain
sound, nobody's going to prepare themselves to the battle, except
you utter by the tongue words, easy to be understood. And those
are words easy to be understood. No, if you don't do that, nobody
will know. Now let's go on reading verse
27. And Hezekiah commanded to offer
the burn offerings upon the altar. And when the burn offering began,
the song of the Lord began also with trumpets and with the instruments
ordained by David, king of Israel and all the congregation worshiped. Here's the result of God's sudden
work of grace and all the congregation worshiped. And the singer sang
and the trumpet sounded and all this continued into the burnt
offering was finished. Now, what took place? The doors opened. Christ, the door. What takes
place? The filth is removed. When the
truth is preached, error is seen for what it is, filthiness and
abhorrent. And it was removed from the temple. The sacrifice of Christ is all. The trumpet is sounded. And worship takes place. There
is no worship without all of this. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10,
four and five, for the weapons of our warfare, I want you to
listen to this. Please listen. You can turn there if you want.
2 Corinthians 10, four and five, for the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but mighty through God. for the pulling down of
strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts
itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ. Now here's the way
a natural man reads that. Every thought must be brought
into captivity to obedience to Christ. Is that what it says? It says, every thought is to
be brought into captivity unto the obedience of Christ. Any thought you have that is
contrary to the obedience of Christ himself, being your only
righteousness before God, is a high thing that exalts itself
against the knowledge of God. And that's what we're called
upon to pull down in the preaching of the gospel. Preaching of the atonement of
Christ, the door, the trumpet, the sound of the gospel, that's
when there's worship. Verse 30, moreover, Hezekiah
the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto
the Lord with the words of David and of Asa, the seer. And they
sang praises with gladness and they bowed their heads and worshiped. Now, some people have said, this
approach, you only ought to sing songs. Well, I don't know about
that, but it proves you only ought to sing what is in accordance
with the Psalms, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said,
don't sing anything, but that which David and Asaph and Gad
sang. And they sang there with gladness
and bowed their heads and worshiped. And Hezekiah answered and said,
now you've consecrated yourselves unto the Lord. And you know,
when the Lord does a work of grace, you'll consecrate yourself
to the Lord. You will. Who shall I send? Who will go
for us? Here am I, O Lord. Send me. When the Lord does a work of
grace in somebody's heart, when he does the work, you consecrate
yourself to the Lord. Every time, without exception. Verse 31, then Hezekiah answered
and said, now you've consecrated yourselves in the Lord, come
near and bring sacrifice and thank offerings into the house
of the Lord. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank
offerings and as many as were of a free heart, burnt offerings. Now notice that free heart. When
you consecrate yourself to the Lord, when the Lord does a work
of grace in somebody's heart, what they do, they do willingly. with a free heart, willingly. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. You're willing. You're doing
what you want to do. You know, somebody says, well, what you're saying makes people
robots. Well, it makes willing robots. I'm fine with being robot
of God, aren't you? I mean, I want Him to just cause
me to do His will. I'm fine with that. But I'm a
willing robot. I've been made willing. I'm like
old Bartimaeus when the Lord said, go thy way. He followed
Jesus in the way. That was his way. You see, when
God does a work of grace in your heart, you become willing. You even say, Lord, cause me
to be willing. Cause me to be willing. I want
to be a willing bond slave of Jesus Christ. And the number of the burnt offerings
which the congregation brought were three scored, 10 bullocks
and a hundred rams and 200 lambs. And all of these were burnt offering
for the Lord. And the consecrated things were
600 oxen and 300 sheep, but the priests were too few. so that
they could not flay all the burnt offerings. Wherefore, their brethren,
the Levites, did help them till the work was ended, until their
other priests had sanctified themselves. For the Levites were
more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests."
Now, when God does a work of grace, you have all the people
working together in this thing. There's a unity of mind, heart,
and purpose, the glory of Jesus Christ. That's there when God
does a work. Verse 35 and also the burn offerings
were in abundance. with the fat of the peace offerings
and the drink offerings for every burnt offering all about the
sacrifice. So the service of the house of
the Lord was set in order and Hezekiah rejoiced in all the
people that God had prepared the people. This is God's work. This is what he does. Let me
repeat, salvation is what he does. Don't you believe that?
Salvation. is of the Lord. It's what He
does. It's not what you do. It's not what you let Him do.
I despise that. Won't you let Jesus have His
way? Let me tell you something. He has His way. And it's not
because you let Him. He's God. He's sovereign. It's
His work. And I love this. The thing was
done suddenly. Just like that. You know why? Because He did it. You see, there's
no way that his will can be thwarted. Whatever he wills must take place. And it was done suddenly. Sudden grace. Sudden grace is saving grace. And I pray that every one of
us might be recipients right now this morning of His sudden
grace. If you right now, as I am speaking,
really believe that the person and work of Christ is all you
have, You have experienced God's sudden
grace. And if you don't look to Christ
alone, I pray that suddenly he'll cause you to do it. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for sudden grace. And Lord, we ask in Christ's
name that your sudden grace might grace each person here, man,
woman, old, young. We ask in Christ's name that
your sudden grace would grace, for Christ's sake, each individual
in this room. In Christ's name we pray, amen.