Amen, amen. All right, guys.
Well, hey, let's turn to 2 Kings chapter 20. And as you guys are turning to 2 Kings chapter 20, let me just sort of orient you to where we are. We have been in a series with the book of 2 Kings in the story of a guy's life named Hezekiah. We have seen faith, courage, big prayers, but we're rounding the bend on the last 15 years of Hezekiah's life. And here's the problem: it don't end well.
All right, it don't end well. You can start in faithfulness and wisdom. and you can end in pride and foolishness. Many of us have been around the game for a long time. Not everybody, all right?
We got people every week that are checking things out. We're glad that you're here. Man, we want you to find and discover a relationship with the Lord. I get that. But for a lot of us, we've been around for a long time.
Here's what happens: God gives us the blessing of a godly heritage, godly family, the blessing of being around the scripture, being around the Bible, a blessing of hearing a lot of preaching. And instead of ingratitude, having an appetite that grows more in those things, sometimes we begin to coast. And it's like, well, man, man, read the Bible. I know the Bible. I've been reading the Bible my whole life, and next thing you know, you ain't picked it up in two months.
Or it's like, man, I hey, the community group, man, I've done that. I've been a Christian since I can walk, man. I don't have to do the whole community group thing. That's a dangerous place to be. All right.
And sometimes it's the familiarity with the environment that creates the danger. That's what happens in Hezekiah's life. He becomes prideful as he begins to kind of live in his success and the things that he has accumulated. And it's pretty scary actually for us, I think. Here's the big idea today: pride really does come before the fall.
Pride really does come before the fall. I have wrestled this week. Is this sermon about pride or about foolishness? And the answer is yes.
Okay, because pride and foolishness, they go together so much. Vince Lombardi famously quoted General George Patton, okay? And he said, fatigue makes cowards of us all. And I think that's true in sports. It's true in war, apparently.
I would say it like this for the Christian life: pride makes fools of us all. If we forget our place and all of a sudden the blessings of God begin to obscure our vision around the dangers of pride, we will walk headlong into foolishness.
So I grew up in Northeast Florida, all right, and uh. In Northeast Florida, this is so funny. I had somebody come to me after the first service. They grew up in South Georgia. They're like, I know who you're talking about.
Okay. They would bring into the schools this guy named Okifenoki Joe. All right?
Now he wa he lived way out in the swamp, in the Oakie Fenoki swamp. And they would bring in, I mean, he would bring, I mean, you're just like right here, you know, stage elementary school, he would bring in sacks of poisonous snakes. I mean, just dump them right on the stage. They're rattlesnakes and all this. And they were doing it just to tell the kids, like, hey, you know, you gotta be careful because in Florida there's a lot of snakes, there's like alligators, all that kind of stuff.
Well, he would tell this story about he had a dog named Swampy.
Okay, he showed us a picture of his dog, Swampy. Swampy, if I remember right, was a little white bulldog or something. And Swampy had lived with him for a long time. They were living a fairy tale life out in the swamp, okay? Just having fun, catching alligators.
The dog would ride in the boat with him, all this stuff.
Well, he got so used to being out in that swamp, is the point. Right? Swampy got so used to being out in the swamp. And he got so used to kind of that he began to sort of test the limits. And he stopped being what Okie Funoki Joe called swamp-wise.
It was the familiarity with the dangers of the swamp that produced a little bit of pride that led to foolishness. And one day, Swampy jumped out of the boat into the swamp and got chomped and half and swallowed by an alligator.
Okay. To which we all cried, and now you know why every kid from the 80s and 90s is in counseling. All right, they do weird stuff. In the schools. But my point is.
The environment was so familiar with the environment that it produced a pride that ends up saying, I'm not in danger here. That's what happens to Hezekiah. Y'all, Hezekiah is so used to living with success and answered prayers and courage and a God fighting for him that all of a sudden, not only danger, but serious danger. comes to his doorstep and he just invites it in. Man, you come right on in.
You come on in, check out everything I have. Man, it was just such a foolish moment that I believe was born from pride. You know, the reality is, pride really does come before the fall.
Some of us right now are right in that spot, man. It's like, well, you know, we go to church. I've heard so much preaching. I don't know if we really need to go to church anymore. Or I don't know if I really need to be in a group.
Or do we really need to serve and all that? And it's from this place of familiarity, not realizing, dude, there's danger. In a posture like that. Let's begin to read in verse twelve, Second Kings twenty, verse twelve. At that time, Merodach, Baladon, the son of Baladon, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick.
And Hezekiah welcomed them in.
Now, just let this kind of, you tell me the wisdom of this, okay? From Babylon. These are murderous, idolater, violent. Don't believe in your God. That's who they are in Babylon.
Babylon, through the rest of the Bible, becomes ubiquitous with the kingdom of evil. If you just want to think about it like that, go read Revelation. You're talking about Babylon all the time, right? It just means this empire of evil, all right?
So, what does he do? Babylon comes to the gate. Hezekiah welcomed them in. And he showed them all his treasure house. The silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory.
All that was found in his storehouses, there was nothing in his house or in his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.
Now, you just tell me, how wise do you think that is? Right? I mean, just right on the face of it. We don't know you. You are evil.
You are not part of us. Come on in. Let me just show you everything in my realm. Doesn't talk a lot about God. Doesn't talk a lot about the temple.
Talks a lot about Hezekiah showing off his riches. His armory, his strength. His kingdom. Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, What did these men say, and where do they come from? And Hezekiah said, They have come from a far country, from Babylon.
He said, well, what have they seen in your house? And Hezekiah answered, They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them. That's very brazen, isn't it? It's almost like he's looking at Isaiah being like, man, I showed him everything.
What? Like what of it? What are you gonna make of it? There's so much pride that's leading into the foolishness that we're seeing. Isaiah says, Hear the word of the Lord.
Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and that which your fathers have stored up till this day shall be carried to Babylon, and nothing will be left, says the Lord.
Now, I don't want to slice and dice a story like this so much that we get so granular that we can't understand the big point, okay? The big point is this. At the end of his life, Hezekiah lost diligence, probably fueled by pride, and ends up making a very foolish decision. He gets full of himself and his kingdom rather than boasting in God and his kingdom. And he ends up making a very foolish decision and trying to impress a bunch of people that he had no business trying to impress or become aligned with.
Now historians will tell us this. It's probably that Babylon is coming to Hezekiah to form an alliance against Assyria. Remember Assyria, Sennacherib, and all that stuff? That's probably what's happening here.
Well, instead of Hezekiah being like, man, we're not doing the whole alliance thing. Like, we have a God, He fights for us. Remember, there was this one night where there was like a couple of an angel and he killed like hundreds of thousands of people. Like, we're going to trust in that. Instead of that, he says, oh, no, no, welcome in.
And this is, I think, where the first little hint of the foolishness that is brought on by pride begins in Hezekiah's life. He suddenly has this thought: okay, you guys are enemies with Assyria. We are enemies with Assyria. That must mean that we're friends. How foolish is that?
You can say it like this: y'all haven't a common enemy. Don't make us friends. And the people of God in the 21st century have got to remember that.
Okay, we are called to be a distinct people who lived distinct lives.
Now, I'm all about wanting to win people from Babylon into the kingdom. I get that. We're going to pray for them, and we're going to. Man, we're going to share the gospel with them, but what we're not that interested in doing is getting so closely aligned with them that there is partnership with people that we ain't got no business partnering with. Do you guys remember?
Okay, this is what happens. And it can happen in a bunch of different ways. A few years ago, organizations are rising up that are saying we're against racism. What do many churches do?
Well, we're against racism. We don't like racism either.
So that means we're going to jump in and we're going to be friends with you. Not realizing that some of those organizations, if you get behind the counter, they hate the family the way God has set it up. Man, they don't want men to be in a leadership position. They love to think about how they can deconstruct the family. Just because they say they're against racism and we say we're against racism, although we're probably using the same term with different definitions.
Okay? Either way, like, hey, man, we're not friends. We may have a common enemy, but we're not friends. You see it the same way in other issues. Think about issues of life.
There are people that are staunchly pro-life, which we say that's great. But you don't just take the church and attach it to them because you have no idea what also might come with an ideology where they say, oh, yeah, we're very against that, but we're also racist. We also hate Jews, you know, or whatever. It's like, no, no, no. The church is a distinct body.
that lives without those types of associations. We say, hey, man, there's things that we can partner with. We partner for missions. We partner in different things in the community. But we have got to be very careful that we don't attach the name of Christ or the name of God's people with something else that really is not our friend just because on the face of it, we have a common enemy.
Hezekiah, though, I don't know why, but some kind of way immediately says, okay, we can align because we have this common enemy and we need to be watchful for this. Look at verse 13. Hezekiah welcomed them. He showed them all of his treasure house, silver, gold, spices, precious oil, his armory. All that was found in his storehouses, there was nothing in his house that he didn't show.
I think about it like this: y'all, it seems to me that Hezekiah is seeking the approval of the world. Babylon, the kingdom of darkness.
Okay, I mean, you go all the way to Revelation. It is Babylon that will be overthrown. All right, and the idea that we are going to try to win the approval of Babylon, but many of us do it, man. We have something in our heart. It is a gospel issue.
If we are not firm in our identity, If we don't understand that in Christ, his blood is poured out that makes us as valuable as we can be before our God because of what Christ has done, we will seek the world's approval and we will do it to our own destruction. Y'all, seeking the approval of the world is foolish. Seeking the approval of the world, number one, is foolish because it will take us to some bad places. It'll take us to some serious compromise. Number two, at the end of the day, we will never gain the approval of the world.
We are living in two different kingdoms. Two different citizenships.
Okay? And so we're never going to gain the approval of a world that is at war with the God that we serve. I think about this, and I think, how foolish is it for Hezekiah to go, man, okay, godless, idolaters, violent. I want you to understand, a hundred years later. It was not Assyria that came and carried Judah into captivity, it was Babylon.
He's trying to become friends with the very people who eventually will come and carry him and all of his descendants away. Not him, he'll be dead, but all of his descendants away. You understand? And I just look at this and I say, man, where in our heart, I think this is a good question for us today. To look at this and say, okay, in Hezekiah's example, we have so much to be grateful for in Hezekiah's life.
Courage, faith, big prayers, you know. But at the end of his life, he takes this turn, and we've gotta ask ourselves the question.
Well in what ways might we be taking a turn like that? Are there ways in which I would seek the approval of the world? You know, I think maybe some of us in a work environment might want to tone down some of our beliefs. Maybe on a college campus, we don't want to say exactly what we think about God's intention for the family or exactly what we think about Jesus being the only way to heaven and the way, the truth, and the life. I'm not going to ask for a show of hands, but some of you guys in a working environment or in your college environment, many of our students are watching from home right now, you go to a university that it may not be the most popular thing to stand up and just boldly proclaim, there is only one name under heaven by which men might be saved.
That may not be the most popular thing. If we begin to back off on those things, it's a Hezekiah heart, man. What it is, is I don't want to offend, I want to impress. The world around me. I want to be someone who is impressing the world because I'm lacking something in my identity.
You know, I think about. I think about, you know, the sports stuff I already mentioned, but it's like, hey, you know, we got a tournament, but you know, tournament during Kids Week, and man, we've done it. My kids have played travel ball, we've done football, all this stuff. But it's like, okay, my kid can't go to student camp because they got this sports thing, or they can't go to Kids' Week because they got this sports thing. And we're like, hey, we don't want to be the parent that seems like we're not committed to the team.
Listen, you will never win the approval of the world.
Okay, if you're a believer, you're like, I don't wanna be the parent that's not committed to the team. If you're a believer, you are committed to the team. Team Jesus, okay? That is the team that you are committed to. And so, what's going to happen is at some point, trying to seek their approval is going to come to a break.
Man, we don't need to play that game. What we need to do is we need to say, hey, seeking the world's approval, that is foolishness. And what I'm gonna do is, I'm gonna seek the approval of God in Christ. I already have His approval in terms of Christ's blood covering my sin, being accepted in His family, but I want to live into that more and more and more. In other words, instead of seeking the approval of the world, there should be more of a distinction.
Between us and the world over the course of our life.
Now, here's what Isaiah says, and this is what I think really gets me. There's two things that get me in this passage. Number one is how quickly he answers Isaiah in seemingly a brazen manner. And the second one is what happens whenever he realizes, man, these people are gonna be carried away, but it's not gonna be in your lifetime, his response to that.
So, the first one is this. Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, What did these men say? And where did they come to you? From where do they come to you? And Hezekiah said, They have come from a far country, from Babylon.
And he said, What have they seen in your house? And Hezekiah answered, They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them. It seems to me. that there is a brazen attitude toward all of this from Hezekiah.
It's just a little bit like, hey, man, I'm the man. I have the kingdom. God's given me 15 more years of life. I have no fear of this stuff from the outside. And I just opened up the floodgates.
Maybe they'll partner with us and we can go to war against Assyria or whatever was in his mind. Instead of, I'm going to keep our people distinct. Man, I'm not gonna walk in this. I'm fine with us trying to win people over from Babylon. We are not gonna become friends with Babylon.
We're not going to become partners with Babylon. I mean, right on the face of it, something more than Hezekiah's stupidity has got to be going on. I just can't. I refuse to believe that a king who is led so well. could all of a sudden become so dumb.
It's got to be deeper than that. When I was listen, you probably had this speech too. Do you guys remember the first time your parents ever took you to an ATM and you got money out of an ATM? The first thing my dad said is when you get that money out of ATM, You don't just stand right there in the wide open and count the money. Right?
You don't do that. Why? Because somebody might be watching to see if you got a 20 or you got a 200. You know, they might wanna see. And it's like, man, all of us are aware enough after you're about 12 years old that you just don't stand out in the open and count your money and let everybody else see everything that you have because you become a pretty big target, right?
I can't believe that Hezekiah is just being this dumb. I I think there's more to it. And what's more to it is, I think, comes out a little bit in this brazen attitude toward Isaiah, and it's actually just this. And I think we're going to see it in the next part of this passage. I hope you don't think I'm being too hard on him.
I think it's a little bit of: I'm the man. This is my kingdom. You can come look at whatever you want. I'm fine with showing it off. I'd love to show it off.
I'd love for everybody to see my success. I'd love for everybody to see how awesome we are, my armory, how strong I am. I want y'all to see it. Maybe it'll lead to good things in my future, aligning with you guys against Assyria or whatever. But trust me when I say it's about him.
His kingdom reflecting his reign and it's about him. And one of the things I think we got to just say very clearly is, guys, especially the men in the room, not just men, but I will say this about men. As we get older and things that we are laboring toward are successful. We should be having more of a boast than God over those things, but man, our heart can get wrapped up in them. When we begin to see success, you're building that career, that business is going pretty well, man, your kids are getting older, and the family seems like it's moving in a healthy and wise direction.
Those should be things that we throw our hands up and praise God over. The wicked heart that we all have can end up being something that we grab onto and say, look what I did. Man, look at my success in these areas. I would say it like this: just from what I have seen, I'm 42 years old. I feel like I'm sitting smack in the middle of these two things right now.
Okay? Younger men. can be too ambitious over the thing they're trying to build. But older men can be too proud of the thing that they have built. Where it's a reflection of them.
Now, I gotta translate for some people here, okay? Because especially, you know, if you're new, maybe you're at our campuses today. Every week we have people that are brand new in our church. And sometimes people like me who've been around the church for a long time, we speak in Christianese. And here's what we mean.
I'll at one point say, I'm really proud of my kids. And then the next thing I'll talk about how pride is the biggest sin you ever committed. And it's like, for us, that makes sense because I've been around it, but for you, that might be a little bit confusing.
So let me get you to understand what I mean. When when Christians use the word pride and proud, It's a couple things that are going on in our language. I am proud of my kids. I am proud of my wife. I am proud of this church.
That is different than saying, my pride is bound in my kids' success. My pride is my wife. My pride is the growth of this church, or whatever. You see what I'm saying? Those are, it can sound like you're speaking out of both sides of your mouth.
It's not. You're using two definitions, even though you're using the same word. If I say, let me give you a picture. Actually, don't throw the picture up there yet. Let me tell you a story.
This is so cool. All right, so we did a healing service last week. We do this a couple times a year, sometimes once a year. People get healed, man. God heals emotional things and physical things.
All right, it's just crazy how the Lord works when we just put it out there and ask Him.
Okay? Last year at our healing service, a family came forward. that were struggling with infertility. They didn't want to come forward. It had been a hard road.
They were, you know, it was just, you can imagine all the emotions that go with that. But they came forward to be anointed and prayed over. That was almost exactly one year ago. This year they came forward. Here's a picture to have this child prayed over by an elder.
Did you believe that? Man, God does stuff. God does stuff when we ask. All right?
Here's the thing: you look at that dude's face. How proud is that dad right now? That's a that's a good thing. It's a godly thing, right? I mean, that's a deep thing.
He is proud of that child and proud of that family in this sense. God, I am proud of what you have done. I am boasting in the Lord. I am so proud of what you have done in my life that you would appoint me to steward. I am proud, but I'm boasting in you.
That's a totally different thing than, look what I did. Look what I have built. Look how awesome I am. And it feels to me like what you're finding in Hezekiah is a little bit more of that. You know, the brazenness attitude towards Isaiah, man, I'll show them anything in my kingdom.
I'll show them whatever. Why? I'm the man, got 15 more years, been very successful. It's sort of my thing. I'm going to show you why.
I think it's really about him in just a second. But that's kind of the heart of it. It's funny. I was, in the last few months, I've been in two different hunt camps environments, okay? One of them, I was invited by a friend and a really close friend of mine.
We go, don't know any of the guys there, and I'm going to tell you, it was a strange spirit. It was strange. It was a prideful and boastful spirit in that camp. Dyke I've never been around. It was entrenched.
It was, man, look what I have done. Look what I have. Look how awesome I am. Uh It was strange. I mean, it felt heavy, honestly.
A little bit fast forward, a little bit later, okay? Um I'm in another camp, kind of a hunting camp situation, and this is with about 15 mega church pastors. I want you to think of every stereotype you can think of, okay? Huge churches, all that stuff. And man, it's a hunting thing too, but we're there to learn.
And I'm going to tell you, it was also a strange spirit of humility. It was like hours of going around a fire pit. talking about what the Lord has done. Talking about, hey, I can't believe that our church is the one because there's nothing special about me. I mean, it was that kind of thing, right?
And I w uh it's b both of them is a boast. One of them is boasting in what the Lord has done. One of them is boasting in, man, I'm the man, look at me, you know? And I just want you to think about it like this. From what you're seeing and what you're about to see in Hezekiah's life, where's the boast?
Where's the pride? What's it wrapped up in? You could say it like this: who ultimately gets all the credit for all that God has done in our life? Guys, I want to ask you this question. If I say to you, man, what's your kingdom?
What I mean by that is just, I want you to think about what God has given you to steward. I want you to think about your house. I want you to think about your kids. I want you to think about your grandkids if you have them. I want you to think about sons and daughters in law.
I want you to think about the thing that you built, your business. I want you to think about your career. I want you to think about your retirement accounts, whatever it is, okay? All of that stuff, everything that is comprising the things that you're waking up to try to get done. Your family, your kids, your money, your house, all that stuff.
Okay. Who receives the boast? Who receives the proud? Who receives it for all of those things? Man, we are so blessed.
Hezekiah was so blessed to have the blessing of God. Courage. He's a king. Man, God has done so much in his life. Who gets the credit?
Now, if you're not going to be able to do that If you think I've been too hard on him, okay. If you're a little worried, man, I've gotten off the rails here, I'm a little too hard on Hezekiah. I want you to read this with me. And I want you to let this settle in, okay? Just try to really make sure we're paying attention to what happens here.
Isaiah starts the prophecy. Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house. And that which your fathers have stored up until this day shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. And some of your own sons, that actually means descendants, because Babylon doesn't come for another hundred years.
who will come from you Whom you will father shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs. in the palace of King Babylon.
Now watch the reaction. The same man who, when he was told you're going to die, turned his face to the wall and begged God. You remember that? Same man, okay? Same ma'am.
The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good, for he thought, why not if there will be peace and security in my day?
Now just let that sit for a minute.
Some people say, well, he's just quietly accepting the will of God. When God told him he was going to die, he turned his face to the wall and begged. This ain't that dude. What is happening here? Hey, he begged like that then because it was about him.
Now what we see is the heart revealed. Are you kidding me? You have just been told. All the things that you have built are going to be gone. Your very sons are going to be made into eunuchs.
to serve in another man's house? And what you react is by saying, I mean, look what he says. Why not? If there will be peace and security in my days. Who is this all about?
You can start in faithfulness. and wisdom and you can end in pride and foolishness. And that's what happened to Hezekiah's life. You know it's similar, uh a similar phrase here, because I'll use both of them. King Louis XV in France.
Unprecedented rise, you know, tons of economic growth, blah, blah, blah. But there was cracks all in the kingdom and eventually it was going to fall. He knew it was going to fall, didn't care. The phrase that was associated with him was. After me, the flood.
After me, the flood. What's the heart of that? The heart of that is, man, I don't care what happens in the next generation or the generation after that, as long as I have peace and security in my day. That's the heart of Hezekiah. This is not about legacy.
This is not about future. This is not about what God is going to do in the later generations. This is about me, mine, my day. If it's fine for me right now, then it's fine. Not thinking about what comes next.
Not thinking about how my life would be leveraged for that next chapter. And this is what I want to do, man. I feel like we need to really wrestle with this over the arc of our life. It is very normal, if we don't fight against it, for us to take the blessings and success and victories that God has given us, and those things begin to help us sort of coast. We don't need God as much anymore.
And that's sort of the Hezekiah ark, right? Is that as we sort of get towards the latter half, man, we end up just sort of settling down in the blessings rather than fighting for a spiritual fervency that is like, no, man, not, well, okay, if it's if it's peace in my day, like, I'm not just concerned about my day. Man, I'm concerned about the future generations of this movement. That's where a king's heart should have been. You know, our church, I praise God for this.
This was not always true, man. We are a multi-generational church now, truly. And I love that. It was not that way for a long time at Mercy Hill. We were so young.
But I love it because the church, the predominant metaphor in the Bible for church is family. And family's got grandparents. Family's got little kids. They've got cousins. Family's got aunts and uncles.
And I love that about our church. In fact, this two weeks ago, I'm walking in the lobby and I meet a 95-year-old World War II veteran in our lobby. How awesome is that? He comes to church here every week. I love it, man.
So praise God. My point is this: we have a lot of people that are heading into that fourth quarter, or maybe they're even rounding the corner going into overtime. God has blessed you in your life. You do not use that as an opportunity to coast. Instead, we gotta wrestle the heart of Hezekiah now.
Let me give you some examples of a Hezekiah heart that may not come to your mind immediately. All right, remember, what does he say? Why not? Peace and security in my day. All right, you want me to give you an example of that?
There's men in this church that God is calling into vocational ministry. He's calling you to step forward and to maybe think about planting a church or becoming a pastor. I can teach you how to do that. I can show you how to do it. There are things that we do here at Mercy Hill.
There are pathways for that man to step in. And there are some of you that God is calling you into that ministry and you refuse. You know why? Because you're not going to get paid as much money.
Now, let me tell you this: that's a Hezekiah heart. It's trending that way. You know why? You're not that concerned about the future generational impact of that decision of being used by God in that way. Instead, it's a little bit like saying, well, why not?
Peace and security in my day. After me the flood. I'm living for right now. Man, is God calling you? Let's repent of that, Hezekiah heart, as we close this.
Hey, I'll give you this. I'll give you this thought.
So you think about Mercy Hill, you think about our retreat center that we're continuing to move on and plan for. God, it's going to be a place where addictions are broken, marriages are restored. It's going to be a place where missionaries are trained, churches are trained to grow and go. Man, we have a vision to see this place used for ministry every single week of the year for generations to come. This will be a place, all right, that God is using long after every single one of us is gone.
All right, so giving is like a legacy thing sowing into the kingdom for generations. It's really unmatched in terms of things that we've had the opportunity to raise money for before in that way. But here's the thing. If we can't open our hands and give... If we're the type of people that say, man, let somebody else do it, I'm not going to give because of X, Y, Z, then what do we actually say?
What's the Hezekiah heart in that? I know that there's future generational impact there. But Amen. After me, the flood. Why not?
Peace and security in my day. I'm just going to lock down and hold on to what is mine right now.
Some of you guys are one step out the door in a divorce.
Some of you are thinking about it. They don't even know. Man, there's kids involved. There's a, you know, there's. And here's the thing.
You know what kind of generational impact that's going to have on those kids, but you're thinking you're willing to do it anyway. What's the heart behind that? After me, the flood. You know? Why not?
I'll have peace and security in my day. And I want to call us. to repent of that type of thinking. And to reorient around God.
So here's the big application point: more of a conclusion than anything else. Repent of pride and reorient life around God's kingdom. Pride makes fools of us all. It does for Hezekiah, it does for us as well. When we begin to settle in and hold on to The blessings that God has given us, the victories that God has given us, and it becomes about us that we want to show off.
We become the type of people that will say, after me the flood, why not? If there's peace and security in my day, who cares about God's kingdom and what happens later? And I want to call us to repent of that. And to reorient our life on, like, no, no, no, wait a minute. What do I need to do?
Maybe I need to open my hands. Maybe I need to say sorry to somebody. Maybe I need to give something over that I have been obsessing over: grades, a business, a marital issue. Man, I just need to realize like. That, God, everything in my life is about boasting in you, not in me.
I want to hand these things over to you.
Okay. How are we going to repent of the Hezekiah heart toward the end of his life? And how are we going to get in a heart posture that trusts God enough to say, everything about my life is for you and for your glory?
Well, it's only going to come. When we reap something very beneficial from the Hezekiah Ark. from the story, you know? Hezekiah looks like a savior. But he ain't.
He's not. Right? He looked like a king, looked like a savior, did a lot of good things. Man, he didn't save himself even. He can't save you.
But from Hezekiah's lineage, there would come one that can. And I want you to think about. Hezekias Great, great, great, whatever son. I want you to think about Jesus, the true and better king, the greater Hezekiah. Man, he sat in the garden, and the exact circumstance of Hezekiah.
But he flips it. What does Hezekiah think? Oh wait. I'm gonna be fine. All of my descendants and family are going into exile into Babylon.
What did Jesus say in the garden? What happened in the garden? Thy will be done. Jesus flips that. How about this?
How about I take that long road? How about I take the exile? How about I take Babylon and everything that it represents? How about I go to the cross? Jesus never said, why not peace and security in my day?
They can all have it on their own. What he says is, I'll trade the violence and death of the cross.
so that you guys won't have to experience the exile. It's the great reversal. Is Jesus standing in our place when we couldn't? He took what we deserved. And he gives us what he deserved.
That's the truer and better king. And I want to call you, number one, to trust him today with your life. Hey, you've been with us through Hezekiah. I want you to trust Christ, admit your sin, believe in what he has done. on the cross and in the resurrection.
And trust him as the Lord of your life. Confess him as Lord. God, you're the boss now. I want my life to reflect you and your glory. But secondly, Man, for those of us right now, I just want to ask you this.
In what areas of your life Is that Hezekiah heart beginning to show? You know? What areas of our life are we like, man, I'm trying to win the approval of the world in that area? Or, you know what? Like, man, the things that I have, I think I'm proud of them.
Meaning, like, I think it's about my pride. I think like I'm I think I'm I'm sort of I'm pushing these things on the world because it's really about my actual pride rather than a boast in what God has done. You tell me. Then where is God going to get in there? And sort of begin to draw some of those things out.
And can we repent of them? Guys, we're about to go into communion. May communion is the time where the church corporately comes together. We celebrate the blood and the body. Broken and given for the new covenant.
But we don't come to the table in an unworthy manner, the scripture tells us. All right?
So let's repent of our sin. Let's repent of that Hezekiah heart and then come to the table together. Let's pray. Father. We come to you right now.
And Lord Attar asks that you would, as David. said you would search us. And let us know if there be any wicked way in us. God, what are the areas that need a great repenting of? And Father, we come to the elements knowing that Jesus Christ has done everything necessary.
to give us the chance to repent and be saved. Father, I pray that you'll move with us in this moment. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
