The Bucket Part 3

2 Chronicles 26:21 So King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in isolation in a separate house, for he was excluded from the Temple of the LORD. His son Jotham was put in charge of the royal palace, and he governed the people of the land.

It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of His robe filled the Temple.

Attending Him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.

They were calling out to each other, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Heaven's Armies! The whole earth is filled with His glory!"

INTRODUCTION

Good morning Southpointe!!! We are in our last part on the Bucket!

Last week we talked about how God comes into our lives and He will filled us with His Spirit.

(Pour the water into the good bucket)

And we talked about how our God had blessed King Uzziah

How I know that Spirit of God at this time and place had not came down to live in man.

But God had put His stamp of approval on King Uzziah and God was blessing him.

Uzziah sought God during the days of Zechariah, who taught him to fear God. And as long as the king sought guidance from the LORD, God gave him success.

But we learned that as time passed, King Uzziah had got powerful and prideful.

But when he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall. He sinned against the LORD his God by entering the sanctuary of the LORD's Temple and personally burning incense on the incense altar.

And we talked about the punishment for disobeying and letting pride destroy.

Azariah the high priest went in after him with eighty other priests of the LORD, all brave men.

They confronted King Uzziah and said, "It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD. That is the work of the priests alone, the descendants of Aaron who are set apart for this work. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have sinned. The LORD God will not honor you for this!"

Now this is where I want to pick up at this morning.

Uzziah, who was holding an incense burner, became furious. But as he was standing there raging at the priests before the incense altar in the LORD's Temple, leprosy suddenly broke out on his forehead.

When Azariah the high priest and all the other priests saw the leprosy, they rushed him out. And the king himself was eager to get out because the LORD had struck him.

So King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in isolation in a separate house, for he was excluded from the Temple of the LORD. His son Jotham was put in charge of the royal palace, and he governed the people of the land.

If we can replay this morning back to last week, where I was talking about how pride and success was doing damage to Uzziah.

And we poured the water in this bucket that had a small crack in it.

(Pour water in the crack bucket)

King Uzziah had started leaking because of sin that was in his life.

Because of the lacking of listen to Zechariah’s teaching and guidance, now he was filled with pride which was destroying him.

So King Uzziah goes to do a job that he is not suppose to do and only the priests were allowed to do.

When the priests told him to stop and walk off then King Uzziah got mad and leprosy came upon him.

Leprosy is like sin the end result is death.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

King Uzziah had a death sentence put on him. King Uzziah was on a downward slope.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

When the enemy get a crack then the blessings start coming out of your life.

Just a simple crack is all that is needed.

And you will have a lifetime of regrets, just for a pleasure of the moment.

For example:

Adam and Eve, Cain, Abraham and Sarah, Esau and Jacob, Lot, King David and Bathsheba and the list goes on and on.

Many times we let flesh win out instead of listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit or that person God has put into our lives.

And the cracking starts and a create a line of many more to come.

Crack number 1: Relational Separation

So King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in isolation in a separate house, for he was excluded from the Temple of the LORD.

I want you to remember today, that leprosy represent sin, Once King Uzziah had sinned, he had it until the day that he died.

Oh please listen to me this morning, you may have done wrong and yes you have sinned but you don’t have to stay that way the rest of your life.

God can and will set you free.

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Don’t separate yourself from relationships that are so needed for you to win and not sin.

We know that sin does separate us from God.

Listen! The LORD's arm is not too weak to save you, nor is His ear too deaf to hear you call.

It's your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, He has turned away and will not listen anymore.

Go to God for forgiveness:

"Come now, let's settle this," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.

If you will only obey Me, you will have plenty to eat.

But if you turn away and refuse to listen, you will be devoured by the sword of your enemies. I, the LORD, have spoken!"

God will heal your hurt.

He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.

The greatest human tragedy is not a broken heart but a hard heart.

My biggest thought on this whole story, that I could not get away from was What if: let’s read this

Uzziah, who was holding an incense burner, became furious. But as he was standing there raging at the priests before the incense altar in the LORD's Temple, leprosy suddenly broke out on his forehead.

What if King Uzziah would have repented instead of getting mad and acting ugly to the priest.

Instead of letting his heart get hard, what if he would have just came clean and would have ask forgiveness.

Let’s look at one more relationship that you don’t need to get separated from:

So King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in isolation in a separate house, for he was excluded from the Temple of the LORD.

He was excluded from the Temple of the Lord.

Because of the leprosy King Uzziah was not able to come into the Temple of the Lord.

Leprosy was very contagious and they had no cure.

Leprosy represents sin, and man has no cure, only God. He alone is the cure for man’s sinful heart.

King Uzziah had no hope because we need each other, we are the temple of God.

Many people will mess up and sin. And their first response stay out of the house of God.

Run don’t walk, run to God’s people.

for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.