12 oct 2014: "godliness under pressure"
TRANSCRIPT
2 Chronicles 29:3-4 “In the first month of the first year of his reign, he
[Hezekiah] opened the doors of the temple of the LORD and repaired them. He brought in the priests and the
Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side and said, “… consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the
temple of the LORD…:
The most important thing to do in a time of crisis is to renew our commitment to the Lord. Only after
we have done that are we free to seek His guidance on how to deal with the urgent problem we have.
2 Chronicles 30: 6 At the king’s command, couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the king and from his officials, which read: “People of Israel, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that He may return to you who are left, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. 7 Do not be like your parents and your fellow Israelites, who were unfaithful to the Lord, the God of their ancestors, so that He made them an object of horror, as you see. 8 Do not be stiff-‐necked, as your ancestors were; submit to the LORD Come to His sanctuary, which He has consecrated forever. Serve the LORD your God, so that His fierce anger will turn away from you. 9 If you return to the LORD, then your fellow Israelites and your children will be shown compassion by their captors and will return to this land, for the LORD your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn His face from you if you return to Him.”
• 2 Chron 31:21 “In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.”
• 2 Chron 32:1 “After all that Hezekiah had so
faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah..”
• 2 Tim 3:12 “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in
Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
• 2 Kings 18:14-15 So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria … : "I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me." The king of Assyria demanded three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace.
• Verse 17 Nevertheless, the king of Assyria sent his
commander in chief, his field commander, and his chief of staff from Lachish with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem.
2 Chron 32:4-5 They gathered a large group of people who blocked all
the springs and the stream that flowed through the land….. Then he worked hard repairing all the broken sections of the wall and building towers on it. He built
another wall outside that one and reinforced the terraces of the City of David. He also made large
numbers of weapons and shields.
2 Chronicles 32:16 “Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah”
• Joshua and Caleb told the people: “Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” (Numbers 14:9)
• Young David said to giant Goliath: . “You come against me with sword and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty whom you defiled. This day, the LORD will hand you over to me and I will strike you down and cut off your head. The battle is the LORD’s and He will give all of you into our hands.” (1 Sam 17: 45-47)
• 1 John 4:4 “You dear children are from God & have overcome them because the One who is in you is greater than the one in the world.
2 Kings 19:35 And that night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians.
And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
• Prov 18:10 “The name of the Lord is a strong tower – the righteous run to it & are safe.
• Eph 6: 13-18 “Therefore put on the full armour of God, so
that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
• 24 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. He prayed to the LORD, who answered him and gave him a miraculous sign.
• 25 But Hezekiah’s heart was proud and he did not respond to the kindness shown him; therefore the LORD’s wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.
2 Kings 20:12-21 Hezekiah showed off the riches of the kingdom
to the Babylonian ambassadors Romans 12:3 “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought,
But rather think of yourself with sober judgment ….” Like Hezekiah, we often are tempted to show off.