Dedicated To The Men of God Who Preach the Word of God As It Is To Men As They Are

"Preach The Word"

New Year's Sermons

Text:Isa 38:1-9

1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.

2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD,

3 And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

4 Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying,

5 Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.

6 And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.

7 And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken;

8 Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.

9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness:

Introduction:

Hezekiah prayed a prayer that some of us may need to pray in this coming year. We do not what kind of illness or sickness may come our way in the year 1997. I am sure that Hezekiah did not know far before it happened that he would have to be faced with a sickness that same year that would bring him near death. There is something that make God immediately respond to Hezekiah and add fifteen years to his life.

God does not always heal people of their sickness. The apostle Paul had a thorn in the flesh ( a physical infirmity), which he asked God three times to remove and God never chose to do so. He said to His servant, my grace is sufficient for thee. Paul’s infirmity was not a deadly sickness. Some think that it was poor eyesight, because Paul spoke of writing with large letters. God chose to leave Paul with that little irritation, whatever it was, because He felt it would make Paul a better man and make him more God dependent.

Here in our scripture we see those years being added to the life of King Hezekiah, that he would not otherwise had, if he had not carried the situation and his need to the Lord.

Most of the people were saying to Hezekiah, "O King live forever," but through the message of the prophet Isaiah, God says to the King, "Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live." More days were added to the calendar of Hezekiah’s life. The King was a righteous man and ready for heaven but he wanted to live a while longer.

Illustration:

Have you heard about the little boy who would not raise his hand during the invitation, when the preacher asked who wanted to go to heaven? His mother looked down at him and said, "Son, why did you not raise you hand when the preacher asked who wanted to go to heaven?" He said, "Mother, I didn’t raise my hand because I thought he was getting up a load to go now." WE WANT TO GO BUT DO NOT WANT TO GO NOW.

If we could all go by the way of the rapture, we would want to go now but if it is by the way of death and the graveyard, none of us are very excited about going that way. We do not want to break earthly ties and acquaintances, though we would love to be in heaven, enjoying all that God has for us there.

Hezekiah reigned for 29 years on the throne of the kingdom of Judah. His history is given in Isa.36:1 through Isa.39:8. He is mentioned again in 2 Kings 18 and in 2 Chron.29. The nation of Judah was in good shape.

1. Militarily in good shape

2. Economically in good shape

3, Spiritually in good shape

The King had a part in leading a revival in the land. He sought to abolish idolatry from his kingdom and destroyed the brazen serpent of Numbers 21. It had become an object of worship. God had never intended it to become a worship object. There was somewhat of a national revival across the land. They were getting rid of idols right and left.

Hezekiah could touch God in his praying. Don’t you want to be that kind of person? If you love the Lord I am sure that you do.

I think of when the army of Sennacherib came in to invade Judah. Hezekiah prayed to God, and the night that he prayed, the angel of the Lord went out and smote 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. He could touch heaven! Aren’t you glad that someone touched heaven for you? Well, hallelujah!

We should all want to be the kind of person, with the kind of faith and life that it takes to move the heart and hand of God. In prayer we do not overcome God’s reluctance, we take hold of His willingness.

Stop and think for a minute, do you have the kind of life that would encourage the Lord to give an answer to your prayer? There is no doubt in my mind that if we have the right kind of life to back the request up that we make unto God, we are more likely to receive an answer to our petition and prayer.

I. THE POSSIBILITY OF MORE TIME

V.1-3 gives us that truth. I know that God has a time when we will leave this world, but he has the right to shorten that time or to lengthen that time. One thing is sure He is in control of all of that business. That is the reason that Hezekiah went to the Lord when he knew that death was coming for him in the near future, unless God did something about it.

If you would like to serve God for more years, after a life threatening sickness comes to you, there isn’t a thing wrong with asking Him for more time.

There are some people who are mere fatalists. They say that God has everything planned out so I should not ask him for more years to be added to my life in sickness or some take it so far as to say, there is no need for us to witness since God is going to get the sinner in to Himself.

Every day God gives to us is a priviledge and a blessing! We often take them for granted when we should not do so.

I have learned often to get things done you have to get to the top for it to happen.

I was talking with someone about a computer problem I was having on the phone recently. The person acted as though he did not know the answer to my question, or as though he didn’t really care whether he answered me or whether he didn’t. I found my answer when I said to the person to whom I was talking, "Let me speak with your supervisor for a few minutes."

I went higher and received the answer I needed. If the Lord is in charge of this business of life and death, then we might as well get to the top, if we are going to receive our request.

King Hezekiah often seems to go the the Lord first before he went to anyone else. God should not be a just a last resort all of the time.

Hezekiah was in the Messianic line. If that line was to be complete he had to have a son. There was no one that could succeed him to the throne. God prolonged the life of the King and gave him a son by the name of Manasseh, who succeeded him after his father died in about 686 B.C. His son had become co-regent, so when his father died, he was ready to step right in and take over. He was only 12 years old but reigned for 55 years after his father died. His rule was to be the longest in Judah’s history. Manesseh was born about 3 years after the Lord answered his Dad’s prayer.

Prayer helped to bring about the purpose of God. If praying will do that, then this New year should be filled with it!

I think of what Jesus said when he declared in Matt 7:7-8: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened unto you."

Prayer should be a priority for all of us in the New Year. Our prayers often lack in length and in effectiveness.

If you will count the words of the prayer of Hezekiah, beginning in verse 3, you should find about 20 words. What he does is to remind the Lord of his walk and his good works. It may often seem that God has forgotten them but he certainly hasn’t and never will. God cannot forget our works and labor of love. He would be unrighteous if He did that and God cannot be unrighteous.

Look briefly at the three things he reminds God of about his life.

If you were in Hezekiah’s shape and needed a special touch from the Lord, could you truthfully say the things about yourself that Hezekiah said about himself in verse 3? Lets look at the three things that Hezekiah brought before the Lord at the same time He was asking the Lord to add fifteen years to his life.

III. THE RELEVENCY OF HIS PRAYER

He says in verse 3: "I have walked before thee in truth."

What did he mean by the first part of what he said here in verse three? He means that he had sought to steadily, consistently, unendingly, sought to live his life according to the truth.

Ahaz could not say this truthfully.

Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, could not truthfully say this. He led in revolt against the reforms of his father, Hezekiah, andpromoted the growth of hethenism in the country. He led in the practice of pagan religious practices. He persecuted the prophets of his day. He filled Jerusalem with innocent blood.

We should be consistent about some important things in our life.

Most Christians do not study God’s Word on their own. They want someone else to digest it first and then let them bring it back up and give it to them.

Get some truth first hand from getting into the Word of God. "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the WORD OF TRUTH."

If you make a promise do your best to keep it. If you promise the Lord something, then follow through with it all of the way.

How many promises have you made the Lord that you have not kept, and yet you want Him to answer your prayers?

Note:

Some of you told God if He would bless you in some special regard, that you would honor him by giving more to His work, and now you have forgotten all about it. You told God if he would heal you from something that was going on with you, that you would be more faithful to His church.

Lost people need our witness. If we do not tell them about Jesus, who is going to? That responsibility is laid upon our shoulders for Jesus commissioned the church, to go into "All the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

We often grieve the Spirit of God by not talking to someone when he instructs us to do so.

Many of the verbs having to do with praying were inspired in the present tense. That means you are to make it a practice of calling upon the name of the Lord.

5. Consistent in coming to church.

Not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. We are to meet for worship of God and the edification of believers. Look for the salvation of souls.

Church not need morning glories but palm trees.

B. Remember the intensity of my life

"Walked with a perfect heart."

I have put my whole heart in serving and honoring you.

He did not piddle around and play with spiritual things.

Service should not be a cold mechanical thing.

Not wrapped up in self but in service.

C. Remember the integrity of my life.

It is in heart to do right when no one else is looking. When no one else knows but you. Need integrity. Need ethics and strict moral code.

Church not to go down if preacher or deacons backslide.

Family not to go under because one member goes bad.

School not to fall because of one bad teacher.

SERMON FROM DR. TOM WALKER
Pastor Zion Hill Baptist Church--Marion, NC--USA

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