Good morning. Would you turn to 2 Kings 18. Now it came to pass in the third
year of Hoshea son of Elah the king of Israel that Hezekiah
The son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. Twenty and five
years old was he when he began to reign. And he reigned twenty
and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abbi, the
daughter of Zechariah. And he did that which was right
in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David, his father,
did. He removed the high places and
break the images and cut down the groves and break in pieces
the brazen serpent that Moses had made. For unto those days
the children of Israel did burn incense to it and he called it
Nehushtan, a piece of brass. He trusted in the Lord God of
Israel so that after him was none like him among all the kings
of Judah, nor any that were before him. For he claimed to the Lord
and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments,
which the Lord commanded Moses, And the Lord was with him, and
he prospered, whether so ever he went forth. And he rebelled
against the king of Assyria, and served him not. He smote
the Philistines even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from
the Tower of the Watchman to the fenced cities. Let's pray. Lord, how we Ask that we might
be allowed by your grace to hear from you, that you would speak
to each heart here from your word, according to your will. Lord, we confess our sins. We pray for forgiveness and cleansing
afresh in the blood of thy son, that we might have a true view
of looking to him and following him. Lord, we pray for. The coffee
family, we pray for your healing hand upon Bob, we pray for your
healing hand upon Tim, according to your will. Lord, give us grace
to love you more and love one another more. Give us grace to
always take the lowest seat in the house. Bless us for Christ's
sake, in his name we pray, amen. I just read about the introduction
of Hezekiah. Hezekiah is arguably the greatest
king Israel had ever known other than David. And as a matter of
fact, it says he followed the Lord just like David did. That's the highest recommendation
you can give somebody. He was like David. And he came
from arguably the worst king to ever live. His dad was Ahaz. His dad was an idolater. His
dad actually took away the altar, the brazen altar, and replaced
it with an altar from Assyria. And we considered this a couple
of weeks ago. His dad was pretty much a monster.
And he watched his father. He saw what his father did. And the Lord made a difference
between him and his father. Now in verses one through three,
and it came to pass in the third year of Hosea, son of Elah, the
king of Israel, that Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah,
began to reign. Twenty and five years old was
he when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years
in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abib, the
daughter of Zechariah, and he did that which was right. in
the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father
did." Now, if you would read the Chronicles account, and it's
not mentioned in 2 Kings, but in the Chronicles account, as
soon as he began to reign, he reinstituted the Passover. It
had fallen into disuse, and he reinstitutes the Passover. He
opens back up the doors of the temple, which his father had
closed. And he went into the temple and he removed all the
idols out of the temple. And he called upon the children
of Israel to give for the repair of the temple. And he was following
the Lord fully. He was reinstituting scriptural
worship. Now, he grew up without it. He
grew up under the influence of Ahaz, his father, and the Lord
gave him a zeal for his glory." Well, I want that, don't you?
A zeal for his glory. Look in verse four, and here's
what he did. This is why he was so highly
removed. Now, let me remind you, he said
he did what his father David did. David was utterly intolerant
of anything contrary to Christ. There was no bell worship under
David's reign. There might've been privately,
I don't know, but it's never spoken up publicly. There was
nothing like that under David. And he served the Lord like David
did. Look in verse four. He removed the high places and
break the images and cut down the groves. And listen to this. He break in pieces the brazen
serpent that Moses had made. Now that's remarkable. Hundreds
of years before this, Moses had made that brazen serpent. And
you know how the Lord used that to illustrate himself. He talked
about it in John chapter three, as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
And that brazen serpent, the children of Israel began to burn
incense to it. They began to worship that brazen
serpent, just made it into an idol. And I've tried to put myself
in his place. He took that brazen serpent,
he destroyed it in front of everybody. He broke it into pieces. Now,
would you have been a little bit afraid to do that? He wasn't. He demonstrated such wisdom in
breaking apart that brazen serpent, which was nothing more than a
piece of brass. Now, what we see in this man,
and I want to say this right, is an intoleration of that which
was contrary to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what's behind that? Love to Christ. That's what that
is. Love to Christ. He that does
not hate the false does not love the true. Now think about that. He that does not hate the false
does not love the true. And I admire so much the way
he got rid of all this idolatry. And look what it says about him
in verse five. He trusted in the Lord God of
Israel. So that after him was none like
him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him."
Now, he trusted. He had confidence in the Lord
God of Israel. That was the leading characteristic
of this man who the Lord commends so highly. He trusted. He trusted. The king of Assyria at that time
was giving everybody a hard time. They carried away Israel during
his reign, and they come back to confront Hezekiah about his
misguided trust, as they would have said. Hold your finger there
and turn to 2 Chronicles 32. Verse six, this is speaking of
Hezekiah. And he set captains of war over
the people and gathered them together to him in the street
of the gates of the city and spake comfortably to them saying,
be strong and courageous. Be not afraid nor dismayed for
the king of Syria, nor for all the multitude that's with him,
for there is more with us than with him. With him, is an arm
of the flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and
to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves
upon the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah." Now, I love that.
By way of what you could see, Assyria had a whole lot more
people. I mean, they didn't have a chance
against the Assyrians and we're going to consider that more about
what took place next time. But he didn't look to the flesh. He looked to the one who reigns
and rules. He really believed what he said
he did. He believed that God was in control of everything
and that the Assyrians were in his hand and he could do with
them whatever he was pleased to do. He trusted in the Lord. And I can't help but think of
the scripture in Romans 8, 31, if God be for us, who could be
against us? And that's what he said. I also
thought of Elisha, when his servant is moaning over the Syrians coming,
and he says, Lord, open his eyes. And he opened his eyes there
in 2 Kings 6, and there was chariots of fire round about them." There's
more with us, infinitely more with us because of the Lord.
That was his faith. He trusted in the Lord. Now,
turn back to 2 Kings 18, look in verse 19. And Rabshakeh said unto them,
Speak ye now to Hezekiah, thus saith the great, the great king,
the king of Assyria. What confidence is this wherein
thou trustest? Thou sayest, but they're but
vain words. I have counsel and strength for
the war. Now on whom dost thou trust that thou rebellest against
me? Now behold, thou trustest upon
the staff of the bruised reed, even upon Egypt, upon which a
man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it, so as Pharaoh,
the king of Egypt. But if you say unto me, we trust
in the Lord our God, is not that he whose high places and whose
altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and Jerusalem,
you shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem? In other
words, if you go on, you find out that he'd taken the gold
and given it to the king of Syria to keep him from attacking at
the time, and he said, Why are you saying you trust him when
you do things like that? Look in verse 29. Thus saith the king, Let not
Hezekiah deceive you. This is the king of Assyria.
For he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand. Neither
let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will
surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the
hand of the king of Assyria. Harken not to Hezekiah, for thus
saith the king of Assyria, make an agreement with me by present,
and come out to me, and then you're going to be well off.
You're going to eat every one of his own vine, and every one
of his fig tree, and drink ye every one of the waters of his
sister, until I come and take you away to a land like your
own. A land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyard,
a land of olive and honey, that ye may live and not die, and
hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuades you, saying, The
LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations
delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Syria?
Where are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad? Where are the gods
of Sephardim Hina and Iva, have they delivered Samaria out of
my hand? Who are they among all the gods of the countries that
have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the Lord
should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? But the people held
their peace and answered him not a word for the king's commandment
was saying, answer him not. Now you remember he told them,
there's more with us than there are with them. For all they have
is the arm of the flesh. We have the Lord. Oh, how he
trusted in the Lord, his God. Let's turn to Jeremiah 17. I wish the Lord would burn this
into our hearts. Verse five. Thus saith the Lord,
cursed be the man that trusteth in man. and maketh flesh his arm, and
whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the
heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, but
shall inhabit the parts places in the wilderness, and salt land
not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in the Lord. whose hope the Lord is. Now that would describe Hezekiah. He's someone who trusted in the
Lord. He relied on the Lord. He relied
on his righteousness as his personal righteousness before God. He
relied on his intercession to make him acceptable to the Father.
He relied on his shed blood as all that's needed to make him
clean before God. He relied on his power and his
providence to cause his will always to be done. He trusted
in the Lord. He had the same attitude Paul had. 2 Timothy
1.12, I know whom I believed, and I'm persuaded he is able
to keep that which I've committed to him. What'd you commit to
him, Paul? The entire salvation of my soul. I'm not looking anywhere else.
I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which I've committed to
him against that day. He trusted in the Lord. Now let's
look at verse six of our text. For he clave to the Lord. Now what does that mean, for
he clave to the Lord? Well, the first time the word
is used is with regard to Adam and Eve. For this cause shall
a man leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife, and
the two shall be one flesh. Now what this is talking about
more than anything else, this is exactly what it's talking
about, union with the Lord Jesus Christ. When it talks about him
cleaving, and it's the two shall be one flesh. Talking about marriage,
but it's giving the picture of the relationship between Christ
and his church. The two shall be one flesh. His hope was union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he trusted. His hope
was union with Christ. How many times did the Lord say,
abide in me? And John would say in 1 John,
abide in him. He that abideth in me, the Lord
said, bringeth forth much fruit. What is this thing of abiding
in Christ? If every blessing God had was
in this room, And there was nothing but wrath
outside of this room. If you believe that, you know
what? You wouldn't want to be anywhere else, would you? You just want to be here. You
wouldn't want to be outside of this room. Why would you? If
you believe that. Now, a believer believes that
all of God's blessing All of God's salvation, all of God's
mercy, all of God's favor, all of God's grace is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Outside of him, there is no safety. There is no security. The only
place of safety and security is in Christ. You know what?
Let me be found in him. I don't want to be anywhere else
but in the Lord Jesus Christ so that when God looks at me,
all he sees is Jesus Christ. I don't want him to see anything
else but the person and work of his son. Now, that's it. I don't want anything else. And
that's exactly what is meant by Hezekiah cleaving to the Lord. He didn't want to be found anywhere
else. How about you? How about you? When God looks in your heart,
does He see someone who doesn't want to be found anywhere but
Christ? You see no safety, no security,
no salvation anywhere but in Him. He claimed to the Lord. He wanted to be joined to Christ,
united to Christ. All God sees is Jesus Christ. And you know, when I think of
this, man, I don't want God to see my preaching or my praying
or my motives or any of those things. All I want Him to see
is Christ Jesus. That's it. That's all my salvation.
He's all I have. That's a good place to be. If God's brought you to that
place, He's brought you to a good place. He claimed Christ. That's
what it says next. For he claimed to the Lord and
departed not from following Him. He departed not from following
Him. How do you follow? You keep your eyes on somebody.
That's the only way you can follow. You keep your eyes on them. Now
I know I can't see Christ physically, neither can you, but I I look
to Him only. You keep your eyes on Him only. That's how you follow Christ.
You keep your eyes on Him only. Not on anybody else. Not on yourself. On Him only. If any man will
come after me, let him deny himself. Take up his cross and follow
me. Now he departed not in this thing
of following Christ only. What this is talking about really
is perseverance. Perseverance. He persevered in
looking to Christ only. He persevered in cleaving to
Christ. He persevered in not being tolerant
of that which is contrary to the gospel. Because he loved
Christ and he continued. He didn't depart from following
the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me for a moment to
Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews chapter three. You know,
the Lord said, if you continue, if you continue in my word, then
are you my disciples? Indeed, we're made partakers. Well, look here in Hebrews three,
verse six, but Christ as a son over his own house, whose house
are we? If We hold fast the confidence. What is your confidence? Christ. Christ only. I really do have
confidence that I don't need anything but Him. Do you? The
confidence and the rejoicing of the hope. What's your hope?
The only hope I have is that Christ died for my sins and that
he accomplished my salvation and that he is interceding for
me and you're not rejoicing in that hope. That's the only hope
that really makes me happy and rejoice and glory in. Whose house are we if we hold
fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end,
just like Hezekiah did. Look in verse 14, for we are made partakers of Christ
if we hold the beginning of our confidence. Now, don't miss that
word beginning. At the beginning of your confidence,
when you first heard with hearing ears the gospel, at the very
beginning, at that time you knew clearly that the Lord Jesus Christ
was your whole everything your entire ground to say. Everything
you knew at the beginning. This is when you first heard
the gospel. This is when you first believed, when you really
believed that he was all in salvation. He's all you had. You couldn't
at the beginning, you couldn't plead some experience you had
or some kind of growth or some kind of victory over sin. You didn't have anything like
that to plead. All you had was Christ. You hold that confidence
at the beginning. all the way to the end. You don't
graduate past that. You don't get better than that.
If you do, you've departed from Christ. Now, do you hear me? If you do, you've departed. You've
left. You look to Christ as all, all
the time. And that's what he did. He departed
not from following Christ, turn back to our text, 2 Kings 18. He claimed to the Lord. He departed
not from following him, but kept his commandments, but kept his
commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses. Now, does that
mean that he personally kept the law? Yes, because if Christ kept the
law, I did. Yes, every believer is justified
before God as a perfect law keeper. Now, have I kept one commandment
in and of myself one time? No, no, not once. But yes, I don't try to keep
the law, I've kept it. Because when Christ kept it,
I kept it. He also reinstituted the Passover
as Moses commanded. He also got rid of all the idols
as Moses commanded. But I think this is what this
is talking about more than anything else. Turn with me to 1 John
chapter 3. You remember when the Lord said,
if you love me, keep my commandments. If you love me, keep my commandments. He that keepeth my commandments,
he it is that loveth me. I mean, commandments that are
kept, not just admired, but kept. Look here in verse John three,
verse 23. And this is his commandment,
that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. Now here's God's commandment
to believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus, the Savior, Christ, God's
prophet, priest, and king. His name is His attributes. Every one of His attributes.
I'm trusting, I'm believing on, I'm relying on the attributes
of Christ to save me. Well, I'm relying on His person
and His person is made of His attributes. I'm relying on Him
to sovereignly command my salvation. I'm relying on Him to save me
in a way that honors the law of God, that honors the justice
of God. I'm relying on him to have the
power to actually make my sins to not be. I'm relying on him
to make me stand before God perfect, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
by who he is and what he did. I'm believing on his name. Right now while I'm talking to
you, I'm relying wholly on his name. And here's the next commandment,
and that we should love one another. as he gave us commandment. Now,
anybody that loves Christ, I love them. I love them because they
love him who is altogether lovely. And they love the one who, by
his grace, I love. And anybody who loves Christ,
I just, I love them. I love them, I highly esteem
them, I'm thankful for them. I want to love people who don't
love Christ enough to tell them how they can be accepted by God
through Christ. You know, the Lord said, go ye
into all of the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Don't wait for them to come to you. You bring them the gospel.
If you love men, bring them the gospel. But what he's talking
about specifically is loving those who love Christ. And anybody who loves Christ
as He's revealed in His word, you admire, you esteem, you consider
them to be the excellent of the earth. Anybody that loves Christ,
you're thankful for that. And that's what it is to keep
His commandments. And back to our text. And here is why he did all these
things. The Lord was with him. The Lord
was with him. Oh, listen, he said, I will never
leave thee nor forsake thee. The Lord was with him. Oh, that
wouldn't that be the best description of you or me that could actually
ever be said? The Lord was with him. That's
what that's who I need. The Lord was with him and he
prospered. Whithersoever he went forth, the Lord was with him
and he rebelled against the king of Assyria and served him not. And we're going to read Actually,
chapters 18 and 19 give the entire story of this rebellion against
the king of Syria. It's like four pages of reading.
It's also four pages worth in the Chronicles account, and Isaiah
actually speaks of this in Isaiah 36 and 37, and he gives the whole
story, so this must be very significant. as to how Hezekiah rebelled against
the king of Assyria. So this week, as the Lord enables
you, read that passage of scripture, and that's what we'll consider
next time. But don't you admire Hezekiah. I want to be Hezekiah,
don't you? May the Lord give us all grace
to be such.