Faithfulness brings Favor
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· 132 viewsWhen we are faithful to God, He will show us favor.
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Then King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out in prayer to God in heaven. And the Lord sent an angel who destroyed the Assyrian army with all its commanders and officers. So Sennacherib was forced to return home in disgrace to his own land. And when he entered the temple of his god, some of his own sons killed him there with a sword.
From this passage of text I’d like to use the topic....
Faithfulness brings Favor
In order to set the stage for our text this morning.....
We have to get an understanding of what the nation of Judah was like......just before King Hezekiah and his administration took over.....
Hezekiah’s father....Ahaz was the King of Judah...
and King Ahaz ..did not do what was pleasing in the site of the Lord.....He worshipped idols .....and followed the detestable practices of the pagan nations......
King Ahaz even closed the temple....he nailed the doors shut.....and prevented th people from going into the church.....
He took the valuable items of the temple and gave them to the king of Assyria to try and befriend him......
King Ahaz made pagan shrines throughout Judah....offering sacrifices to other gods...... and this aroused the anger of the Lord.
And at the end of King Ahaz reign....when he died....Judah was in bad shape.....
When King Hezekiah took over......at the age of 25.....the nation was spiritually cold.....the people worshipped idols.....they were politically disorganized....and the nation’s military was weak....... and their enemy.....the Assyrians were ready to defeat them.....
But unlike King Ahaz........King Hezekiah..... did what was right in the eyes of the Lord....... King Hezekiah was faithful and did what pleased the Lord...
In the first month of his administration.....Hezekiah reopened the doors of the church......he repaired the temple ....and got things in order for proper worship....
And my brothers and sisters.......what I like about King Hezekiah .....is that he had his priorities in order.......
He knew what was most important.......
Even though he took over a nation that was in shambles.......the economy was bad........the people weren’t treating one another right…people were sacrificing their children.....and the nation was vulnerable to being attacked by their enemy......which means that their lives were in danger.
And if I can bring it up to a 21st century context.....
The unemployment rate was high.....it was hard to find a job..... and when you did find a job.... you ended up having to find a second job to make ends meet......the people faced being evicted.....and foreclosure......and there were many people who were unhoused....and faced being hungry.......
Things were not good in the nation of Judah when King Hezekiah took over the throne......
And although so many things were going wrong in the nation....so many problems that needed to be fixed......so many changes that needed to be made......what was the new King to do..
instead of training up the soldiers so that they could defend themselves from the looming threat of Assyriah......instead of trying to hire the right leadership and advisors to help get things organized and in order in the nation........instead of having a state of the union address to tell the people that the need to stop sacrificing their children and stop the detestable practices......... let me suggest that King Hezekiah got on knees and prayed.....and decided that the best thing to do ....is to reestablish worship to the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob......
So within the first 100 days of his administration.... King Hezekiah......reopens the temple.....
He reestablishes worship.....
His Priority is to Praise the Lord....
If we look at 2 Chr 29:3
In the very first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah reopened the doors of the Temple of the Lord and repaired them.
King Hezekiah knew that in order to get things right in the nation.....
In order to fix the ills of the society.....that he needed to return to the Lord.....
He needed to restore the nation by restoring a relationship with God....
There may be someone this morning....that knows that you haven’t been doing what is pleasing to the Lord.....
You know that you have put the Lord on hold for the other things that’s going on in your life......
You have returned to do the things that you knew weren’t good for you but you keep doing them anyway.....
And if that is you this morning..... I’m here to tell you....just like King Hezekiah.....knew that in order to get things back in order.....
He had to change the priority of some things.....
His Priority had to be on Praising the Lord.....
Just like Hezekiah....you can change your priorities too.....
No matter how much wrong you think you have done.....
No matter how much you feel you have backslide.....
You feel like your life is a mess....and you don’t know where to turn.....
No matter if you haven’t prayed in months......
Haven’t read your bible in years........
Haven’t given a tithe or an offering.....
The Lord God....wants you to turn back to Him......
Now is the time....to change ..... Now is the time to put your Priority on Praising God.....Worshipping God.....Spending time with God......
Make Praising the Lord your Priority......
Faithfulness brings Favor
Not only did King Hezekiah open up the doors to the church......
He made sure that the priest and the Levites.....were ready to lead the worship services....
Look at 2 Ch 29:4-5
He summoned the priests and Levites to meet him at the courtyard east of the Temple. He said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites! Purify yourselves, and purify the Temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all the defiled things from the sanctuary.
Now that the church was open again.... Hezekiah needed to make sure that the priest were right.....
He had to make sure that the spiritual leaders got themselves in order......
In other words, King Hezekiah was making sure that now that the doors of the church were open....that the people were ready for worship......
He had to make sure the Deacons and Trustees were ready for their duties....
He had to make sure the choirs were ready to sing.....
He had to make sure that the temple was in order before they could praise the Lord....
And that somewhat resembles were we are today.....
We haven’t worshipped inside the edifice in over a year.....because of the pandemic......
And before we are able to go back into the church my brothers and sisters.....
We need to make sure things are in order.....so that we can worship the Lord......and do it safely....because we are still in the midst of the pandemic....
I know many of us want to return to the church......
I know many of us are ready to go back in.......
And before we do that....
There are things that need to be put in place......and in order.....before we go back into the walls to worship....
Faithfulness brings Favor
King Hezekiah....not only had his priorities on praising the Lord...... made sure that the priest were purified so that they could worship the Lord.....
We see that Hezekiah made sure that the people participated in worshipping God....
Then Hezekiah declared, “Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord, bring your sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings to the Temple of the Lord.” So the people brought their sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings, and all whose hearts were willing brought burnt offerings, too. The people brought to the Lord 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 male lambs for burnt offerings. They also brought 600 cattle and 3,000 sheep and goats as sacred offerings.
Hezekiah had the people to participate in the worship service.......so The people came with their sacrifices.
if I can bring it to today’s context......they brought........their tithes and offerings.....and worshipped the Lord.
King Hezekiah made sure that worshipping the Lord was a priority while he was the King......and he did this by reopening the doors of the church......getting the leadership ready for worship.....and the getting the people ready to participate .....
And as the King was getting all these things in order......he knew that it was also important to celebrate the Passover festival that the Lord had commanded that they observe.......
The bible reminds us in Exodus 12
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: This is the ordinance for the passover: no foreigner shall eat of it,
The whole congregation of Israel shall celebrate it.
But King Hezekiah knew that the Northern Kingdom of Israel.... needed to participate in the Passover.....not just the Southern Kingdom of Judah.....
This is another thing I like about King Hezekiah.... He wanted to make sure that all of God’s children were involved in celebrating the Passover......
He was inclusive in his Praise......
King Hezekiah now sent word to all Israel and Judah, and he wrote letters of invitation to the people of Ephraim and Manasseh. He asked everyone to come to the Temple of the Lord at Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover of the Lord, the God of Israel.
The sad thing is that in King Hezekiah’s effort to return everyone to the Lord......
Not everyone was on board with worshipping the Lord....the hearts of many of the people in Israel and Judah were spiritually cold.....and they preferred to serve to their idol gods....but there were some who humbled themselves…
The runners went from town to town throughout Ephraim and Manasseh and as far as the territory of Zebulun. But most of the people just laughed at the runners and made fun of them. However, some people from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem.
My brothers and sisters..... understand that not everyone is going to be open to worship.
There are those who see going to church and pouring out your heart to God in prayer and song is just a waste of time.
There are those who are going to make fun of you if you come to church instead of doing what they want you to do.
And there are even those in church that if you get a little too serious about worshipping God will ridicule you.
Even during this pandemic....there were the faithful worshipper.....that made sure they participated in virtual worship, while others did not worship at all......there were the faithful ones that attended virtual Sunday school....and the faithful ones that dialed into the Power of Prayer call.......to have some sense of normalcy.....even though we couldn’t meet in person.......
Faithfulness brings Favor
So all of Israel and Judah came together to celebrate the Passover just like they did in days of old......they celebrated a little later than they would normally celebrate the Passover festival....
And because of King Hezekiah efforts to bring the people back to the Lord......the Lord God responded to the people.......
At the same time, God’s hand was on the people in the land of Judah, giving them all one heart to obey the orders of the king and his officials, who were following the word of the Lord. So a huge crowd assembled at Jerusalem in midspring to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread.
God’s hand was on them.....and......
The people had a singleness of heart....and they came in to celebrate and worship the Lord....
And since it had been awhile since the people had come together to celebrate the Passover and worship the Lord....
Many of the people had been worshipping idol gods and doing detestable things in the site of the Lord.....
they had to purify themselves....and repent of their sins....
Since many of the people had not purified themselves, the Levites had to slaughter their Passover lamb for them, to set them apart for the Lord. Most of those who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not purified themselves. But King Hezekiah prayed for them, and they were allowed to eat the Passover meal anyway, even though this was contrary to the requirements of the Law. For Hezekiah said, “May the Lord, who is good, pardon those who decide to follow the Lord, the God of their ancestors, even though they are not properly cleansed for the ceremony.”
King Hezekiah prayed for the people that the Lord God would pardon and cleanse the hearts of the people who had not purified themselves....
The people still had to purify themselves before they could really enter into Gods presence
My brothers and sisters.....the first thing that God looks for is that our heart is set on seeking God.
If we are seeking Him wholeheartedly then we can be assured of his forgiveness.
Faithfulness brings Favor
The people worshipped the Lord and celebrated the Festival.....and it was such a joyous time....that they decided to continue the festival for another week......
They were so filled with joy that they did not want to stop celebrating the goodness of God......
The author writes....
The entire assembly of Judah rejoiced, including the priests, the Levites, all who came from the land of Israel, the foreigners who came to the festival, and all those who lived in Judah. There was great joy in the city, for Jerusalem had not seen a celebration like this one since the days of Solomon, King David’s son. Then the priests and Levites stood and blessed the people, and God heard their prayer from his holy dwelling in heaven.
Faithfulness brings Favor
King Hezekiah.....opened the doors of the church.....reestablished the worship of the Lord God.....restored the Celebration of Passover....and brought joy back to the nations of Israel and Judah......... destroyed all the remaining idols and pagan shrines and altars
and after he had done all these things....
King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded Judah....
After Hezekiah had faithfully carried out this work, King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified towns, giving orders for his army to break through their walls.
The people had just finished having an extended revival.....and now the enemy is trying to attack them......
But how many of you all know.....that the Battle is the Lord!!
The enemy tried to break down the walls of Jerusalem......but the Lord was on their side.....
The people were frightened and afraid .....because King Sennacherib and his army were breaking down the walls of Jerusalem.....
That’s when King Hezekiah appointed his military officers and assembled them at the city gate.......
The bible tells us.....
He appointed military officers over the people and assembled them before him in the square at the city gate. Then Hezekiah encouraged them by saying: “Be strong and courageous! Don’t be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria or his mighty army, for there is a power far greater on our side! He may have a great army, but they are merely men. We have the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles for us!” Hezekiah’s words greatly encouraged the people.
King Hezekiah encouraged the hearts of the people and told them to not be afraid.....because God was on their side.....and would fight their battles for them....
and even though
The King of Assyria tried to put fear into the hearts of the people by sending a message to King Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem and Judah.....
by sending his officers to mock the Lord God....and shout out to the people in Jerusalem........trying to terrify them......
The bible says.....
The king also sent letters scorning the Lord, the God of Israel. He wrote, “Just as the gods of all the other nations failed to rescue their people from my power, so the God of Hezekiah will also fail.”
And this is my favorite part of the story my brothers and sisters.....
Even though Jerusalem is threatened to be defeated....... and it seems like it’s about to come to an end.......
We see that Faithfulness brings Favor.......
King Hezekiah does what he did when he first became King......
Look at the text in 2 Chronicles 32:20.........
Then King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out in prayer to God in heaven.
King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah he got on their knees and cried out to God......
He did what he could do then .....he chose to trust God to do what only God could do.
Faithfulness brings Favor......
And we see that when Hezekiah and Isaiah prayed to God....... that’s when things began to change in their favor.....
And the Lord sent an angel who destroyed the Assyrian army with all its commanders and officers. So Sennacherib was forced to return home in disgrace to his own land. And when he entered the temple of his god, some of his own sons killed him there with a sword.
Yes my brothers and sisters.......
They went to God in prayer......and the Lord delivered them from the hand of the enemy...
Faithfulness brings Favor....
You see King Hezekiah.....was faithful....and the Lord God showed His favor......
And I don’t know about you my brothers and sisters.....
But I know that when I’ve done all that I can do..... I’m going to do what Hezekiah and Isaiah did.....
I’m gonna go to the Lord in prayer.......and trust in Him to do what only He can do....
You see Hezekiah knew......that although He was in the valley of the shadow of death....He would fear no evil.....
Hezekiah knew that no weapon formed against him shall prosper.....
Hezekiah knew that many are the afflictions of the righteous.....but the Lord delivers him from them all.....
Hezekiah said....I sought the Lord, and He answered me; and delivered me from all my fears.....
Hezekiah knew that the Lord would rescue me from ever evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom......
Hezekiah knew that they that wait on the Lord.....Shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary.....they shall walk and not faint...
Faithfulness brings Favor........
Hezekiah did what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord......opened the doors of the church....reestablished worship....restored the Celebration of the Passover....and brought joy back to the nation.....He was Faithful....and the Lord showed him Favor...