Cry out to the Lord
Notes
Transcript
Intro:
Intro:
AG: Uncoerced
For a number of months I tried to be of comfort to a neighbor dying with cancer. His costly illness had stretched over ten years. Although our religious persuasions differed, we were close friends; and I endeavored to minister to him without usurping the prerogatives of his pastor. One day, as I stood to leave, I quoted the twenty-third Psalm. To my amazement, he followed along with me. On another occasion, at his invitation, I offered a prayer. When I concluded, he prayed for me. What a touching experience.
Deep, meaningful spiritual encounters frequently occur in unsuspected places and in uncoerced ways.
G. Curtis Jones, 1000 Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1986), 381–382.
TS: In Isaiah 38, we see God’s Awesome Power on full display. It begins with King Hezekiah stuck down by illness. Isaiah is sent to Hezekiah to deliver the news that his illness is fatal. As he is leaving, Hezekiah turns to the Lord and cries out for deliverance and God hears him and sends Isaiah back to his side.
RS: We all go through times of distress. Sickness, death, financial and emotional strains come in every life. Perhaps you are going through a season of distress this morning. If so, you are not alone. If not, praise the Lord and prepare for it.
I. The sickness of the king (38:1):
I. The sickness of the king (38:1):
In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.”
He is afflicted by a fatal illness.
We aren’t given the nature of the illness other than it was terminal
The best medicine of the day declared it so
everything in their expertise and experience said there would be no recovery
The prophet of the Lord declared it so
God sent the prophet Isaiah to declare that this was the end.
Not as a punishment, just a prophesy of fact.
God knows all even the future and at times he has revealed it to His prophets
AP: We will all receive bad news
The doctor will use the word we dread....
The phone will ring in the middle of the night with tragic news....
The TV/Radio/Social Media talking heads will announce the latest breaking news
We can see ourselves in the plight of Hezekiah.
II. The supplication by the king (38:2–3):
II. The supplication by the king (38:2–3):
Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord,
and said, “Please, O Lord, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
EX: In desperation he cries out to the Lord.
He prays and weeps bitterly
He takes his turmoil to God
Declares his devotion to the Lord
Notice there is no specific request
Many believe his weeping was due to:
His death would give Sennacherib a cause of boasting
His son Manasseh was too young to become king
Regardless of the cause....
He turned TO God in his turmoil
Though not directly stated, there is an implied plea for more time
This was based on a desire to continue serving the Lord
AP: We should go to God in our distress
The Psalmist said it this way:
and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
Turn to God and carry your burden there.
Walk uprightly (Like Hezekiah)
Boldly cry to Him for help
Trust His wisdom and love to do what is BEST.
III. The salvation of the king (38:4–6):
III. The salvation of the king (38:4–6):
Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah:
“Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.
I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city.
Isaiah tells Hezekiah that God will add fifteen more years to his life.
This is a great illustration that God hears and answers prayers.
Even in the face of decrees, God honors repentance and those who seek Him
This pattern is seen other places:
Jonah- sent to Nineveh to warn of impending judgment
NO recorded call to repent
They repented and God forgave
Nathan the prophet- 2 Sam 7:3
And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.”
But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan,
“Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in?
I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling.
GOD always has the power to interrupt human plans
His pattern from Genesis to Rev. indicates repentance is honored.
This is the first miracle done for King Hezekiah in the passage
AP: Trust God for the results
We need the attitude that God is in control (Because He is!)
Trust Him to know what is best
Matthew 7:7–11 (ESV)
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
God does what is best (NOT what we want)
He knows us better than we know ourselves.
He may deliver.... He may not
We can’t boss God around like a 3 year old throwing a tantrum
We CAN completely trust Him to know and do what is best
IV. The sign for the king (38:7–8):
IV. The sign for the king (38:7–8):
“This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he has promised:
Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.
God says the shadow on Hezekiah’s sundial will go backward ten degrees as a sign to assure him that he will be healed.
That is the second miracle done for Hezekiah.
At his request, the sign occured to confirm the word of Isaiah
And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?”
And Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?”
And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.”
And Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz.
Some see the steps of Ahaz as a constructed timekeeping device or architecture.
It is interesting to note that this is the first mention in the Bible of marking time beyond day and night.
Shadows creeping down the stairs would mark off time of day.
To go backwards, meant the earth’s rotation was reversed. Instead of fast forwarding time, God turned back the clock!
This is the original daylight savings time!
Some look to this passage and try to explain it away.
a miracle clearly happened
God can reverse the Earth’s rotation and/or make it stand still like He did for Joshua without the solar system being destroyed!
after all, he can bring the dead back to life!
AP: God sometimes uses signs to confirm His word.
He speaks to us today:
I like the way Henry Blackaby said it in Experiencing God
God speaks through:
Bible, prayer, circumstance and the church
99.9% is the BIble
It is clear and certain
What the word says to do, we are to do
says to not do we don’t!
believe, we believe
etc.
God uses prayer
The Holy Spirit guides us into truth
This is chiefly illuminating the word of God so we understand it.
God also uses circumstance
open and closed doors (CAUTION)
God doesn’t always send it into the path of least resistance
Church
Go uses our brothers and sisters to confirm and counsel.
He can and does perform signs, but that isn’t the point. Trusting His word is the point!
Caution!!!
Don’t seek and live for the signs!
And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.
He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’
And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.
Jesus’ resurrection is sign enough for all of us
V. The summary by the king (38:9–22)
V. The summary by the king (38:9–22)
This is Hezekiah’s account of what we have just studied. He begins by sharing His despair and moves to Praising God for His faithfulness.
1. Regarding his depression (38:9–16)
1. Regarding his depression (38:9–16)
a. He feels betrayed (38:9–12):
A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:
I said, In the middle of my days I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years.
I said, I shall not see the Lord, the Lord in the land of the living; I shall look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent; like a weaver I have rolled up my life; he cuts me off from the loom; from day to night you bring me to an end;
It seems unfair to be cut down while in the prime of life.
b. He feels broken (38:13–16):
Isa 38:13-16 “I calmed myself until morning; like a lion he breaks all my bones; from day to night you bring me to an end. Like a swallow or a crane I chirp; I moan like a dove. My eyes are weary with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my pledge of safety! What shall I say? For he has spoken to me, and he himself has done it. I walk slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul. O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these is the life of my spirit. Oh restore me to health and make me live!”
It is like being torn apart by lions.
2. Regarding his deliverance (38:17–22)
2. Regarding his deliverance (38:17–22)
a. What God has done (38:17–18):
Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
For Sheol does not thank you; death does not praise you; those who go down to the pit do not hope for your faithfulness.
God has healed Hezekiah’s body and has forgiven his sins.
b. What Hezekiah will do (38:19–20):
The living, the living, he thanks you, as I do this day; the father makes known to the children your faithfulness.
The Lord will save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives, at the house of the Lord.
He will write songs of God’s faithfulness and will sing them daily.
c. What Isaiah tells Hezekiah’s servants (38:21):
Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.”
Make an ointment of figs to spread over the king’s boils so that he will recover.
d. What Hezekiah asks (38:22):
Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord,
He asks for a sign assuring him that he will go to the Temple in three days
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
You may be in distress this morning. Like Hezekiah, you may have received the worst of news recently. Be encouraged! Follow His example and turn to God.