Grace for Real People
Scripture Reading: Jer. 23:23-24
23 “Am I a God near at hand,” says the Lord, “And not a God afar off? 24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the Lord; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord.
I. Introduction
The world tells us that it is not fashionable to have or show weakness or imperfection. Consequentially, we see a steady rise in use of such things as plastic surgery, surgical body reshaping, and the wonder drug botox. The fact is that technology has just about reached the place where if you can imagine it, it can supply it for you.
· Do you need a manlier chin? We can fix that with an implant.
· Do you need to lose a few pounds? No problem, liposuction to the rescue.
· Are those wrinkles bothering you? We can stretch your face like a balloon and get rid of them.
· How’s your athletic prowess, a bit lacking? No problem, we have supplements that will turn you into the next Swarzenegger or Lance Armstrong.
· Are you intellectually challenged? Not to worry, DNA manipulation will fix you right up – at least that’s technology’s future promise!
Amazingly, people are willing to subject themselves to, and pay for, all kinds of surgery and treatments just so they can appear less flawed and without normal weaknesses.
The problem however, is that for all the effort, the best technology can offer is a temporary, external, illusion of health and well being without ever addressing the “real” person – the one on the inside.
Since worldly thinking is always at enmity with godly thinking, it should be no surprise to us that God’s Holy Word, the Bible, tells us something quite different. Instead of concealing our weaknesses, God’s Word tells us to – “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2) and to “comfort the fainthearted, [and] uphold the weak…” (1 Thess. 5:14)
Scripture also tells us, “Many are the afflictions of the righteousness” (Psalm 34:19) and “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” (2 Timothy 3:12).
If this is true, and it is, we cannot hide or cover up our weaknesses. Biblically, we are to acknowledge our “afflictions,” our weaknesses. By so doing, we have the opportunity to see the active, vital, ministry of the Holy Spirit, in our midst, in the local church.
One of the wonderful evidences for the supernatural origin of the Bible is the way in which it so honestly treats this issue of man’s weaknesses.
This morning I want us to consider three key figures in the Bible – Hezekiah, his son Manasseh, and the Apostle Peter.
II. Hezekiah (29 yrs) - 2 Kings 18 & 2 Chronicles 29
A. A Good King
1 Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.
2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.
3 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.
4 He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan.
5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him.
6 For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses.
(cont’d next page)
7 The Lord was with him; he prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.
2 Chronicles gives much more detail about the life of this king. Chapter 29 tells how Hezekiah restored Temple Worship. Chapter 30 tells how he reinstituted the celebration of the Passover and Chapter 31 tells about the religious reforms he introduced (cf. Isaiah 36-39). A summary statement about Hezekiah’s faithfulness to God is found in Chapter 31:21.
21 And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered.
B. Hezekiah & the King of Assyria
1. Hezekiah pays tribute to Sennacherib - 2 Kings 18:13-16
13 And in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
14 Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay.” And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house.
16 At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
2. Sennacherib Boasts Against the Lord - 2 Chronicles 32:15-19
15 Now therefore, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or persuade you like this, and do not believe him; for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people from my hand or the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you from my hand?’ ”
16 Furthermore, his servants spoke against the Lord God and against His servant Hezekiah. (cont’d next page)
17 He also wrote letters to revile the Lord God of Israel, and to speak against Him, saying, “As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver His people from my hand.”
18 Then they called out with a loud voice in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten them and trouble them, that they might take the city.
19 And they spoke against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth— the work of men’s hands.
3. God Delivers Judah - 2 Chronicles 32:20
20 Now because of this King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prayed and cried out to heaven.
21 Then the Lord sent an angel who cut down every mighty man of valor, leader, and captain in the camp of the king of Assyria. (2 Kings 19:35 says 185,000 men!) So he returned shamefaced to his own land. And when he had gone into the temple of his god, some of his own offspring struck him down with the sword there.
22 Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side.
23 And many brought gifts to the Lord at Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations thereafter.
C. Hezekiah’s Sickness, Healing, and Pride - 2 Kings 20
1. His Sickness, Healing, & Prayer - 2 Kings 20:1-11; 2 Chronicles 32:24-26; Isaiah 38
2 Chronicles 32:24-26
24 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death, and he prayed to the Lord; and He spoke to him and gave him a sign.
25 But Hezekiah did not repay according to the favor shown him, for his heart was lifted up; therefore wrath was looming over him and over Judah and Jerusalem. (cont’d next page)
26 Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.
Isaiah 38:19
19 The living, the living man, he shall praise You, As I do this day; The father shall make known Your truth to the children.
2. His Pride - 2 Kings 20:12-19; 2 Chronicles 32:31
2 Kings 20:12-19
12 At that time Berodach-Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick.
13 And Hezekiah was attentive to them, and showed them all the house of his treasures—the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.
14 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” So Hezekiah said, “They came from a far country, from Babylon.”
15 And he said, “What have they seen in your house?” So Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”
16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord:
17 ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord.’ ”
2 Chronicles 32:31
31 However, regarding the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, whom they sent to him to inquire about the wonder that was done in the land, God withdrew from him, in order to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart.
(cont’d next page)
“Pride is so subtle that if we aren’t careful we’ll be proud of our humility. We can easily become like the Sunday School teacher who, having told the story of the Pharisee and the publican, said, ‘Children, let’s bow our heads and thank God we are not like the Pharisee!
III. Manasseh (55 yrs – co-regent for 11 yrs) - 2 Kings 21 & 2 Chronicles 33
A. His wickedness
2 Chronicles 33:9
9 So Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.
2 Kings 21:10-13
10 And the Lord spoke by His servants the prophets, saying,
11 “Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations (he has acted more wickedly than all the Amorites who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols),
12 therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle.
13 And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab; I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.
B. His Exile, Repentance & Restoration – 2 Chronicles 33:10-16
2 Chronicles 33:10-16
10 And the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen.
11 Therefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon.
12 Now when he was in affliction, he implored the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
(cont’d next page)
13 and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.
14 After this he built a wall outside the City of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate; and it enclosed Ophel, and he raised it to a very great height. Then he put military captains in all the fortified cities of Judah.
15 He took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem; and he cast them out of the city.
16 He also repaired the altar of the Lord, sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.
IV. Peter - Matthew 26:31 & John 21:15-17
A. His Denial - Matthew 26:3; 69-75
Matthew 26:31-35
31 Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
32 But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.”
33 Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.”
34 Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”
35 Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And so said all the disciples.
Matthew 26:69-75
69 Now Peter sat outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came to him, saying, “You also were with Jesus of Galilee.”
70 But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you are saying.”
71 And when he had gone out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, “This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth.”
72 But again he denied with an oath, “I do not know the Man!”
73 And a little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter, “Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you.” (cont’d next page)
74 Then he began to curse and swear, saying, “I do not know the Man!” Immediately a rooster crowed.
75 And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So he went out and wept bitterly.
B. His Restoration –
John 21:15-17
15 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”
16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”
17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.
The Ninety & Nine
Words by Elizabeth C. Clephane
Music by Ira D. Sankey
There were ninety and nine that safely lay
In the shelter of the fold.
But one was out on the hills away,
Far off from the gates of gold.
Away on the mountains wild and bare.
Away from the tender Shepherd’s care.
Away from the tender Shepherd’s care.
“Lord, Thou hast here Thy ninety and nine;
Are they not enough for Thee?”
But the Shepherd made answer: “This of Mine
Has wandered away from Me;
And although the road be rough and steep,
I go to the desert to find My sheep,
I go to the desert to find My sheep.”
But none of the ransomed ever knew
How deep were the waters crossed;
Nor how dark was the night the Lord passed through
Ere He found His sheep that was lost.
Out in the desert He heard its cry,
Sick and helpless and ready to die;
Sick and helpless and ready to die.
“Lord, whence are those blood drops all the way
That mark out the mountain’s track?”
“They were shed for one who had gone astray
Ere the Shepherd could bring him back.”
“Lord, whence are Thy hands so rent and torn?”
“They are pierced tonight by many a thorn;
They are pierced tonight by many a thorn.”
And all through the mountains, thunder riven
And up from the rocky steep,
There arose a glad cry to the gate of Heaven,
“Rejoice! I have found My sheep!”
And the angels echoed around the throne,
“Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own!
Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own!”
V. What best describes your situation this morning?
A. Are you overcome with anxiety or is your heart overwhelmed because like Hezekiah, you have a loved one who has turned their back on God?
23 “Am I a God near at hand,” says the Lord, “And not a God afar off?
B. Are you burdened down and without hope like Manasseh, because you’re the one who turned from the God of your fathers?
24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the Lord; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord.
*C. Or are you a child of God, of whom it can be said, like Peter, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
No matter what category you identify with, the simple matter is that sin taking occasion in your flesh, has caused you to detour from the path God has for you. But I have great news, there’s abundant Grace and cleansing for Real People who will confess their sins and their weaknesses and allow Christ to live His life through them by the power of the Holy Spirit.