DON'T FORGET WHERE YOUR HELP COMES FROM

Scripture Reading

open your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 26:16-23

2 Chronicles 26:16–23 NASB95

But when he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to the Lord his God, for he entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. Then Azariah the priest entered after him and with him eighty priests of the Lord, valiant men. They opposed Uzziah the king and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful and will have no honor from the Lord God.” But Uzziah, with a censer in his hand for burning incense, was enraged; and while he was enraged with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the altar of incense. Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous on his forehead; and they hurried him out of there, and he himself also hastened to get out because the Lord had smitten him. King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death; and he lived in a separate house, being a leper, for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. And Jotham his son was over the king’s house judging the people of the land. Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first to last, the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, has written. So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the grave which belonged to the kings, for they said, “He is a leper.” And Jotham his son became king in his place.

Introduction

The London Times some years ago told the story of a petition that was being circulated for signatures. It was a time of great excitement, and this petition was intended to have great influence in the House of Lords; but there was one word left out. Instead of reading, “We humbly beseech thee,” it read, “We beseech thee.” So it was ruled out. My friends, if we want to make an appeal to the God in Heaven, we must humble ourselves before the Lord, we shall not be disappointed.

—D. L. Moody

Tan, P. L. (1996). Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (pp. 1099–1100). Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc.

Sermonic Claim

The text is tailored to teach the child of God that pride can cause them to destroy themselves.

Don’t Forget that You Were Helped

The text begins by reminding us that Uzziah had a become strong. That is to say that he was established with military and political power. it was then that he forgot that he had arrived at his current situation on his own but he was helped.

Unfortunately, many people suffer from this kind of “selective amnesia” and attempt to heap upon themselves the credit for their accomplishments. As if to say that they have come to the place where they are on their own.

For a reminder that no one can claim to be self sufficient See 1 Cor. 4:7

1 Corinthians 4:7 NASB95

For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

The first mistake that Uzziah made that we must avoid is to forget that we were helped.

Don’t Let Your Strength Fool You

So Uzziah became strong; but, when he did…the text says that his heart became so proud, that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to the Lord his God.

His heart: mind, soul, spirit, self, i.e., the source of life of the inner person in various aspects, with a focus on feelings, thoughts, volition, and other areas of the inner life. Became so proud: be proud, haughty, arrogant, i.e., exaltation of self, as a moral failure. He acted corruptly means: be marred, be ruined, i.e., pertaining to an object being in a ruined state, implying the object is now useless

Tony Evans Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More Than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking Pride

WHEN I think about the sin of pride, the greatest sin of all, it reminds me of the army colonel. He had just been promoted to colonel. He was sitting in his office when someone knocked at the door and said, “This is Private Johnson. May I see you sir?” He said, “Just a minute.” The colonel, wanting to look impressive, picked up his telephone and he said real loud, “Yes, Mr. President. I understand, Mr. President. We will take care of it right away, Mr. President.” He wasn’t talking to the president, but he wanted to make it seem like he was talking to the president. He wanted to appear bigger than he really was.

The colonel said, “Mr. President, just give me one second.” Then he said, “Come in, Private.” The private came in and the colonel asked him to talk quickly because he had the president on the other line. “What can I do for you?” “Well,” the private said, “I just came in to connect your telephone.” God has a way of making you look like a fool, because “pride cometh before the fall.”727

Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

When we consider the fact that being strong can create a foolish tendency toward thinking that we all above everything and everybody we should strive to avoid that type of behavior. Here’s one more thing:

Don’t Be Too Proud to Accept (Help) Correction

The text says that Uzziah acted corruptly, and was unfaithful to the Lord his God, “for he entered into the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.” Notice that he came into the temple with the intent to burn incense. However, Azariah the priest along with 80 others confronted him and told him that he was out of his lane. In a very real sense, they were trying to help him.

in the text we read “But Uzziah, with a censer in his hand for burning incense, was enraged”. The Theological Workbook of the Old Testament says The root of this verb, according to the Aramaic cognate zĕʿap “to storm, rage against,” means to storm, blow, or breathe hard. It is so used in Jon 1:15 of the raging sea. KB suggests “be embittered against.” “be dejected,” BDB adds “be enraged.” The Jewish historian Josephus shed additional light on the text and says that Uzziah was so anger at the protest of the priests that in his rage he threatened to kill them if they tried to stop him from doing what he wanted to do.

Tony Evans Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More Than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking Correction

IF YOU walk a dog on a leash and come to a post, and the dog goes to one side of the post and you go to the other side of the post, you will both be stuck. Although both of you are going in the same direction, you will not be able to move forward. So you will have to back up and pull the dog in the opposite direction in order to get him going the right way.

That’s how it is with life. God will pull us back sometimes to move us forward. He’ll jerk us back. He’s not trying to be mean. He just is the One who knows how to get us going forward in the right direction.175

Conclusion

The unfortunate reality in the case of this King turned Leper is that he didn’t have to go out like this. I that’s the message that the Lord would have me to leave with you all today. You don’t have to be eternally separated from God, from peace, from joy, from love as long as you don’t forget where your help comes from.

Invitation

Tony Evans Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More Than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking Help

ONE TIME I was trapped on an elevator. The immediate reaction of all of the people was panic. We were trapped, stuck, and couldn’t get out. Some people were crying, “Help! Help! Help!” Were we sincerely crying out? Yes! Were we begging for help? Yes! But it wasn’t working.

Other folks were banging on the door. Bam, bam, bam! No one was hearing all that noise, but those folks didn’t care. They kept right on banging. Desperate people do desperate things. They were crying out.

There was one calm man on the elevator. I simply walked to the other side, pulled out a latch, picked up the telephone, and waited.

A voice said, “Is there a problem?” I said, “We’re trapped on the elevator between this floor and this floor. Can we get some help?” They responded, “We’ll be right there.”

See, everybody forgot about the phone. We were so into being trapped that we forgot there was a phone link to the security department. Merely by picking up the phone, we were released from our hostage situation. All the human effort we put forth, banging and yelling, wouldn’t work, but picking up the phone and asking for help did. We had to seek help using the connection