The Danger of Forgetting God

So we're going to finish up, Lord willing, we're going to finish up Hezekiah tonight.

And as we've been looking through, this will be the fourth lesson on that.

We're going to be looking at, in his days of Hezekiah here,

as we finish up here in 2 Chronicles chapter 32 here tonight.

2 Chronicles 32 · chapter mention

And we know that the days of Hezekiah were a time of revival,

but also reckoning with Samaria and Jerusalem,

and the return to worshiping the Lord correctly and properly

as the temple was reestablished and put back together.

And we see here that there's a refreshing in the relationship between God

and the children of Israel, and the blessing of the Lord we know was abundant in the kingdom.

And it was easy to say, I trust the Lord completely, you know.

But we're going to see here as God allows them to be tested here in this,

even at the latter part of his reign.

So we see here 2 Chronicles chapter 32.

2 Chronicles 32 · chapter mention

Let's look down at verse 24 is where we'll pick up here tonight.

It says,

In those days Hezekiah was sick and death and prayed unto the Lord,

and he spake unto him and gave him a sign.

But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him,

for his heart was lifted up, and there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

Notwithstanding, Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart,

both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Fathers, we just take a few moments here tonight to look into your word

and to look at Hezekiah, Lord, a man and a king who desired to serve you, Lord,

but struggled with the same things we can struggle with,

and we can learn also here tonight, Lord,

of the dynamics of even pride in our life,

you know, the dangers and the pride of one of rejecting you like the Assyrians,

and the other of not thinking properly about ourselves, Lord,

to not think in the right mind and the right perspective.

And Lord, I pray just help us to see the need and the necessity

to guard our own heart in regard to the things that how Hezekiah was also tested,

both personally and publicly, before others.

And Lord, we just ask your hand upon the things tonight, in Jesus' name.

Amen.

You know, as we've been looking here at Hezekiah,

we know that he was tested both personally and publicly in his life,

personally in regards to how it impacted his health.

You know, we know that he had experienced a sickness unto death.

If you remember that Isaiah the prophet had come and told him,

what, get your house in order, you know.

You're soon to check out, you know.

And we know that Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, and the Lord heard his prayer.

And he healed him and gave him another 15 years.

But also publicly, we see that he was tested with Sennacherib and the Assyrian army

that came down against him.

And, you know, we looked at his death and that sickness that was associated with it,

and what that was stayed when he humbled himself before the Lord.

But, you know, we see here that verses 25 and 26 that we read reveal something here that happens

kind of unseen in the heart of an individual.

You know, one of the things is pride is one of those things that can manifest so many ways

that we don't always see it on the outside.

Because people can have pride ruling their life and still do what everybody thinks is the right things.

But their heart is not right because the reason they're doing it is not the right reason.

And we're going to see some of that here tonight as we see those unseen things in the heart of Hezekiah.

And really, he began to think of himself more highly than he ought.

You know, look over to Romans chapter 12 for a moment tonight.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

So we look over here to Romans chapter 12, and you see here in verse 3,

Romans 12 · chapter mention

the Word of God reminds us of the dangers that we find here.

In Romans 3, it says this,

For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you,

knows us not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think,

but to think what? Soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.

You know, I want you to understand, not to think of yourself more highly.

You know, as people, it's very easy to begin to think of yourself more highly than you ought

because it comes in a lot of forms.

You know, false humility can be a form of pride.

You know, most people don't.

You know, some people, they try to downplay themselves so much it becomes a prideful thing in that.

So, I mean, pride is a vicious thing.

That takes a hold in our heart, but it has to do with our thinking.

You know, of how we think about ourselves, to think about God,

because throughout this last season, we're going to look at Hezekiah's life,

we find that pride was a driving influence all around him,

whether it was from the Assyrian enemy,

or a heart of a king who the Bible tells us sought to do right before God.

You know, you can have right intentions sometimes and still have pride issues.

Pride is something that builds up in our life, and we see that we allow it to go

because consider the dynamics of pride in this passage of Scripture.

You know, we see or consider Sennacherib, the Assyrian king.

I think if we looked last week at all the things he said about God,

you can see he had a pride, he had a heart lifted up,

that I am above God.

I'm above those things.

And, you know, he actually blasphemed the name of the Lord, the Bible tells us.

And we see here he's breaking something very simple,

because sometimes we need to connect what's going on.

You know, what did Sennacherib break?

What law of God did he break?

Well, he broke the second commandment where it tells us in Exodus chapter 20,

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,

for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

You know what?

He used the Lord's name in vain by saying, I'm above you.

You know, he used it in a way that was counter to glorifying God.

And we see that dynamic in his life.

And, you know, take a look over, turn to Psalms 10,

Psalms 10 tonight.

And, you know, we'll talk a little bit about this,

and we'll get into what's all going on here.

But we find here in the 10th chapter of the Psalm, we see here,

it says this in verse 4.

It tells us that the wicked, through the pride of his countenance,

will not seek after God.

So what did Sennacherib?

He didn't want to seek after God by the pride of what?

His countenance.

He thought he was greater than God.

For Sennacherib, that was what was happening there.

That's the counter.

And we understand that God is not at all in his thoughts,

it tells us there in verse 4.

You know, that's a sign of pride if people just forget God.

Because you know what you're saying?

I can do life without him.

I can put God away and do life without God.

That's pride saying, I can and I don't need God.

And we see that dynamic.

But notice in verse 5 it says,

His ways are always grievous,

thy judgments are far out of his sight.

For all his enemies he puffeth at them.

You know, and we see this dynamic in the life of Sennacherib

that's impacting Hezekiah.

But you know, we also see Hezekiah.

You know, look over to Proverbs chapter 16.

Proverbs 16 · chapter mention

Proverbs chapter 16, we see this dynamic of what it tells us about pride.

Proverbs 16 · chapter mention

It says this, chapter 16 and verse 18 says,

Pride goeth before what?

Destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Better it to be of a humble spirit with the lowly

than divide the spoil with the proud.

You know what?

Hezekiah got hung up on the spoil.

He got hung up on all that God had blessed him with.

You know, and today we can do the same thing.

We can get caught up on what we have

and what God's blessed us with

and lose sight of the one that blessed us.

You know, instead of being just thankful

for what God has given us,

we can be like grabbing a hold

and want to be proudful and prideful of what we have.

And we see the blasphemy here of Assyria.

You know, oftentimes we don't consider how prideful it was

because we remember just a few weeks ago

we talked about that

because God sent a prophet to a city

by the name of Nineveh

and they had repented and turned to the Lord

and now here they come.

They went from a king in Nineveh

that feared the Lord

because Jonah, remember, preached through the streets

and they repented

and turned to God

and you go back and look, you know,

the king of Assyria there in Nineveh

was like when the prophet told him

what was going to happen

because the prophet began to weep

and he's just like, we'll never do that.

But you know what?

When you get lifted up in pride,

you'll do things you said you'll never do.

When pride gets a hold of you,

you'll do all sorts of things

that you said you'd never do.

And in our life, that's very true

and we can learn from that.

The blasphemy of there,

the king of Assyria and his servants

spoke against the Lord,

railing upon him.

You know, we saw that.

Look over here in verse 16 of chapter 32

and it says,

And his servants spake yet more against the Lord God

and against his servant Hezekiah.

And he wrote also letters to rail

on the Lord God of Israel

and speak against him,

saying,

As the gods of the nations of other lands

have not delivered their people out of mine hands,

so shall not the God of Hezekiah

deliver his people out of their hand.

You know?

We see here,

what's the dynamic?

Sennacherib is telling his people

to go blaspheme the Lord.

But look down at verse 20 in chapter 32.

Notice this,

It is for this cause,

Hezekiah the king and the prophet Isaiah,

the son of Amos,

prayed and cried to heaven.

You know, we see here that Hezekiah and Isaiah

prayed to the Lord

and their prayer was heard,

their prayer was answered,

but we understand that it was not going to come

by a sword or a chariot.

It wasn't going to be come by Hezekiah

rising up a great men of valor

or battle-hardened soldiers to go out

or even a great battle plan.

You know, the Lord said,

Stand by because I'm going to take care of things.

You know?

Look down here in 2 Chronicles 32, verse 21.

2 Chronicles 32:21

Notice what it tells us here.

And the Lord sent an angel

which cut off all the mighty men of valor

and the leaders and the captains of the king

are in the camp of the king of Assyria.

So he returned with shame of face

to his own land.

And when he was coming to the house of his God,

they came forth of his own bowels,

slew him there with the sword.

You know?

So I want you to see what happens here.

God is going to intervene.

He answers the prayer of Hezekiah and Isaiah

and God sends.

It says,

The angel of the Lord went out.

And we're going to look a little bit at this tonight

because if you look over in 2 Kings chapter 19,

2 Kings 19 · chapter mention

that's that parallel passage.

You know, it kind of gives us

those two different perspectives

because in Chronicles,

you might say the more,

a spiritual God's view of what's happening.

God didn't make too big a deal about it,

but on the other side in 2 Kings,

you'll find physically there was a lot

of dynamic happening.

You know, we find here in 2 Kings chapter 19,

2 Kings 19 · chapter mention

it says this down in verse 35.

The Word of God tells us this,

And it came to pass that night

that the angel of the Lord went out

and smote in the camp of the Assyrians

a hundred fourscore and five thousand.

So who's our quick mathematicians?

How many is that?

185,000.

Including the captains and all those

that were a part of the army there,

of the Assyrians.

And we see here, it says,

And when they rose early in the morning,

behold, they were all dead corpses.

So Sennacherib, king of Assyria,

departed and went and returned

and dwelt at Nineveh.

You know, here we have one of those passages

a lot of people like.

They catch up on that thing.

They woke in all dead corpses.

You know, it's one of those terms

that catches people's attention.

You know, trying to figure out

what's going on.

And there's a lot of speculation

as to what happened.

You know, how did 185,000 die in the night?

You know, but if you turn over,

look over to Isaiah chapter 37 for a moment.

Isaiah 37 · chapter mention

Because I think Isaiah,

his report on this gives us

a little insight into this.

And I think it fits what could have happened here.

We find that chapter 37, verse 7,

it says,

Behold, I will send a what?

A what?

A blast upon him.

And he shall hear a rumor

and return to his own land.

And I will cause him to fall

by the sword in his own land.

That's Isaiah prophesying about Sennacherib.

But he talks about,

I'll send a blast.

Chronicles in Kings says

the angel of the Lord went out.

You know, there's an interesting phenomenon

in the Middle East.

That until I got to study this,

I didn't even realize what it was.

But there's actually a term over there

that they call,

they refer to it as a poison wind.

And what comes,

you know, you think about it,

Isaiah says he's going to put a blast upon them.

And one of the things that happens here,

it's a simun,

is what they call it,

and it's an extremely hot, dry local wind

that blows through

and the temperatures reach

about 130 degrees Fahrenheit.

And the humidity drops below 10%.

And what it actually causes,

it says,

because this is recorded,

they say that people will get caught in these

and their body will actually overheat

and they'll die from heat stroke.

They can be sitting still

and die of heat stroke

from this wind that comes through.

Now, whether God used that or not,

but I think we have a pretty good case

that it's a possibility

of what took place there that night

because it would make sense

why they were all just laying there dead

because what?

They just died where they slept.

You know?

Now, you can agree or disagree

or whatever,

it really doesn't matter,

but I think it's a good connection

where Isaiah says it was a blast

and we know historically

and even currently,

those things happen over there

and they said that they'd wipe out

entire caravans of merchants

even crossing the desert

when one of these would come across.

And so, depending on where they were sleeping,

it could very easily have taken place,

you know,

because I want you to understand

when it says the angel of the Lord went out

doesn't mean that there was a physical dynamic

that took place.

God uses weather all the time.

You know?

Days of Noah,

you'll see God stir up things in Egypt

and part of the plagues.

I mean, none of this is beyond that,

but I want you to just,

something to think about there to connect

because we ought to look for our answers

not someplace else.

We ought to look,

what does the Bible say about it?

You know?

And so, I think that connection there

makes a good connection

of what took place

and how 185,000

and those that happened to be

in the right spot,

including Sennacherib,

that weren't overheated during the night

got up and saw everybody dead.

You know?

And so, we see that.

That's just one of those little side things for tonight.

So, get your Bible trivia in,

you know, on that.

But I think it's important to realize

that God explains Himself

and gives us insight

into those things.

And we find here

that God accomplishes His word

concerning Sennacherib.

You know, He turned back to Assyria,

follows the devastating destruction

of His army.

You know, even in those days,

if you lost 185,000 troops

in one night,

you're in trouble.

You know?

He needed to turn back.

And we find also a rumor,

we find when He gets back,

His own sons kill Him.

Two of His own sons kill Him

in the house of His God,

the Bible tells us.

You know, exactly as

Isaiah foretold

was going to happen.

Isaiah laid out

all those things for us.

And so,

but,

take a look here

and then,

back over in 2 Chronicles chapter 32,

2 Chronicles 32 · chapter mention

look down at the

verse 22,

and it says this,

And 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.

And many brought gifts

unto the Lord

to Jerusalem

and present to Hezekiah,

king of Judah,

so that he was magnified

in the sight of the nations

from henceforth.

Now,

I want you to consider

something here

because we're talking

a little bit about

the pride taking place

in the latter days

of Hezekiah.

You think about that,

I guarantee you,

Hezekiah didn't have

a problem pointing out

Sennacherib's pride.

You know,

matter of fact,

that was part of his prayer.

Lord,

are you going to let him

talk about you like that?

You know,

are you going to let him

be prideful

and say he's more powerful

than you?

You know,

the interesting thing

about pride too,

it's always easier

to spot somebody else.

It's always easier

to analyze somebody else

and what might be prideful

than our own selves.

And I think it's easy

for us,

even as Hezekiah,

we're going to see here,

gets caught up in pride

because of God's blessing.

Because he lost sight

of where did he get

the blessing from?

You know,

he had all this

great dynamics.

Blessings came upon them

once again,

it tells us.

You know,

the Lord blessed him.

We see here

in chapter 32

down in verse 22,

it says very clearly

that God was with them

that came from the hand

of all others

and guided them

on every side of Moses

and many brought what?

Gifts unto the Lord

to Jerusalem

and presents to Hezekiah,

king of Judah.

And he was magnified

in the sight

of all the nations

from henceforth.

You know,

suddenly Hezekiah,

who was looked at

as a weak,

going to be wiped out

by the Assyrians,

suddenly Assyrians

are gone.

Everybody else is saying,

hey,

Hezekiah must be

somebody great.

The rest of the world,

what they saw

is what happened

and said Hezekiah

must be a great king

if he defeated Sennacherib.

You know,

if he overcame this,

he must be a great king

because nobody else

could stand against him.

You know,

pride,

one of the things

that gets us in trouble

when you start believing

in other people's reports.

You know,

when people build up

and try to make you

something that you're not,

you need to keep in mind

of keeping the right perspective

and the right thinking

about those things.

Because we're going to see here

because what goes along

with that pride

comes akin very quickly

to flattery.

You know what,

when you have pride

and somebody comes along

flattering,

you know what it does to pride?

Builds it up pretty fast,

doesn't it?

Builds it up very quickly

and we find

that the people

and the nations

and the kings

around about

brought gifts to Jerusalem

and to Hezekiah.

The fact that Jerusalem

had survived

this Assyrian attack

magnified Judah

and Hezekiah

in the sight of all others,

even into Babylon.

You know?

So we see here

that the blessing

of the Lord

was great upon them.

You know,

this blessing

that God gave

upon Hezekiah

and Judah

and the kingdom here

was great.

look over at verse 27

because I want you

to keep in context

for a moment

when we get ready

to read this

because consider

what had happened

before the Assyrians

came.

Remember when the Assyrians

came?

What did Hezekiah's

first response?

Do you remember?

Well,

no,

when the Assyrians

came

and he was afraid

of Sennacherib,

what did he do?

He took all the gold

out of the city

and he stripped

the gold off the doors

and he gave it

as a gift.

So I want you

to understand

before this,

the city

was basically broke.

They had nothing.

Why?

Because Hezekiah

had given it

to Sennacherib.

Now afterwards

we see that God

blesses him.

Now notice

what he does here.

It says,

notwithstanding,

or excuse me,

in verse 27,

Hezekiah had exceeding

much riches

and honor.

Where did he get that?

You know,

from everybody

bringing it in.

You know,

suddenly he was

the great conqueror.

Everybody was bringing

everything to Jerusalem.

People were providing

all those things.

He had much riches

and honor.

And made himself,

notice how much

he has now,

he made himself

treasuries for silver

and for gold

and for precious stones

and for spices

and for shields

and all manner

of pleasant jewels.

storehouses also

for the increase

of corn

and wine

and oil

and stalls

for all manners

of beasts

and coats

for flocks.

Moreover,

he provided him

cities and possessions

of flocks

and herds

in abundance

for God

had given him

substance

very much.

Now I want you

to see here,

God,

when Hezekiah

humbled himself

before God,

God answered

his prayer

and God

blessed them

in a mighty way.

But you know what,

it wasn't long

before Hezekiah

lost sight

of what God did.

You know,

I think it's a good

warning to us

how quickly

we can lose sight

of God's blessing

and get it

out of proportion.

Because I want you

to understand,

Hezekiah is still

noted as being

a good king.

He's a man

who sought

after God.

You might be

seeking after God,

but pride

is one of those

things the devil

uses as a tool

to leverage

everything in your

life,

doesn't he?

Pride is a very

dangerous thing

and we see

what takes place

here.

We see a situation

that we can easily

fall into

because Hezekiah

didn't render

the right response

towards the Lord.

He was not

thankful

but prideful.

Look up at

verse 25

for a moment.

Look at

what the scripture

tells us.

But Hezekiah

rendered not

again according

to the benefit

what?

Done unto him.

Let that sink

in for a moment.

In other words,

Hezekiah

did not

acknowledge

what God

had given him.

In other words,

for some reason

he began to

believe the reports

everybody was

saying.

Hezekiah,

you're so great.

You know,

people flattering him,

bringing him gifts.

God was blessing him

but yet

in his mind

and his heart

it was building up

a prideful

dynamic

towards the things

of God's blessing.

He rendered

not again.

Let's simply

put it this way.

He didn't recognize

where he got it from.

He began to think

it was of himself

instead of

what God had done.

You know,

it's easy to get

caught into that

and we see here,

look at the rest

of that verse.

It says,

for his heart

was what?

Lifted up.

His heart

was lifted up.

In other words,

when he started

getting past

the danger

and past

the dynamic

and the situation

in life

that had distressed

him and God

began to bless again,

what did he do?

He forgot about God.

He forgot about

what God had done.

And we're going

to see here

that God sends

a test

upon him

to reveal this.

And we're going

to see that

God does this

instead of walking

humbly with God

and giving the glory

entirely to him,

Hezekiah takes

honor to himself.

And so we're going

to look here

at the business

of pride.

Notice this next

section here.

It tells us

in verse 31,

notice this,

says,

how be it in the

business of the

ambassadors of the

princes of Babylon.

Babylon.

Now we're going

to look here

because what does

God do?

We're going

to find that

God allows

some princes

of Babylon

to come

and what happens

here is going

to expose

the heart

of the king.

Now notice this,

who sent unto him

to inquire

the wonder

that was done

in the land.

God left him

to try him

that he might

know all

that was what?

In his heart.

You know,

one of the things

that I think

God allows

things into

our life

to make sure

we recognize

when pride

is building up.

When we get

too much of a

focus upon

ourselves

and what we

have instead

of what God

has done.

God allows

things to come

into our life.

We notice here,

God allowed

these to come

and he used

it as a test,

as a dynamic

to see what

was truly

in Hezekiah's

heart.

what was

there,

what was

truly there

because,

you know,

we notice

and we've

talked about

this the last

few weeks,

you know what,

you don't really

know how you're

going to respond

until you're

in a situation,

until you're

actually in the

dynamic.

You know,

have you ever

noticed there's

a lot of

easy to,

you know,

couch quarterbacks,

you know,

they know exactly

what they would

have done.

You know,

if they'd only

done what I

would have done,

everything would

have been fine.

You know,

they sit there

and they analyze

and they sit

on the couch,

but you know,

it's a lot

different when

you're out

there in the

midst of it.

To see how

are you going

to actually

respond in

the circumstance.

Because,

you know,

oftentimes you

don't know

until you're

tested.

You know,

we're in

football season.

Here's a good

example of this.

You know,

think about

pre-season

polls.

Nobody's

played a game

yet.

And they're

already hyping

people up.

And you know,

they're going to

be great and

all this.

And you know

what?

They have a lot

of hype,

but guess what?

Sooner or later

they get on the

field and a test

comes.

And that's the

reason at the

end of the season

you don't usually

see a lot of the

same teams that

started out at the

beginning.

What happened is

the test,

they failed.

They had a lot

of hype.

They thought what

they were going to

do, but it

didn't materialize

in what they did

do.

You know,

in our own life

that's the same

dynamic.

Are we going to

do and accomplish

what God would

have for us to

do?

Are we going to

be faithful to

do those things,

this business of

pride?

And we see here

that the kings,

when they saw

the Assyrians

retreat, they all

came bearing

gifts and flattery

to Hezekiah.

And when these

particular ones come

from Babylon, and

to get a little

more information,

we need to go

back to 2 Kings.

You know, 2 Kings

2 Kings 19 · chapter mention

chapter 19, or

excuse me, chapter

20, gives us some

more insight into

what takes place

here.

Because Chronicles

just says, hey,

God used this to

see what was in

his heart.

And then you go

over to Kings, and

Kings describes what

actually took place.

How did this play

out?

What was the

dynamic?

And it tells us

here in 2 Kings

2 Kings 20 · chapter mention

chapter 20, look

down here in

verse 13.

It says, in

Hezekiah, or

excuse me, let's

go to verse 12.

And at that

time, Beradish

Balan, the son

of Baladin, the

king of Babylon,

sent letters and

a present to

Hezekiah.

For he had heard

that Hezekiah had

been sick.

In other words, he

heard that Hezekiah

was supposed to

die, and now he

lives, and the

Assyrians have

departed.

You know, he's

like, hey, we

need to butter this

guy up some, you

know.

And so notice

this, and

Hezekiah did

what?

What's that next

word there in

verse 13?

Hearkened.

What did Hezekiah

hearken unto?

That's the question.

Flattery.

Building him up.

Because I guarantee

you the representatives

from Babylon didn't

come and say,

Hezekiah, you're a

fool, you're an

idiot, you're all

sorts of things.

They didn't know,

Hezekiah, you're a

great guy, look what

you've got, look what

you've done, look what

you've accomplished, look

how great you are.

You must be a great

individual because he

hearkens unto them and

he gets caught up in the

flattery and he begins to

march them around and

shows them everything

that's there.

Look at the next thing

that happens here.

And he showed them all

the house of his

precious things, the

silver, the gold, and the

spices, and the precious

ointment, and all the

house of his armor, and

all that was found in

his treasures.

There was nothing in

his house nor in all

his dominion that

Hezekiah showed them

not.

Now, you read that

verse, think about what

actually took place.

What's that verse

describing?

Yeah.

Here's Hezekiah, the

king of Babylon sends

his messengers with all

this flattery, and

Hezekiah, well, yeah, I

am great, let me show

you how great I am.

Look at all this stuff

that I have.

Look at all the things

that I've gained.

Look at all the different

things that God has, you

know, that I have, and He

didn't give pride, or He

didn't give honor to the

Lord.

We see here this dynamic.

We'll look a little later

here in this passage in

verse 14, where Isaiah the

prophet comes and says,

hey, what'd you do?

But you know what?

I want you to understand,

pride comes in different

forms.

Or should I say it

manifests itself in

different forms.

Think about Uzziah, the

kings that we talked

about, Uzziah.

Uzziah, his great

grandfather, Hezekiah's

great grandfather had a

problem with pride.

Do you remember what

Uzziah did?

Remember, he was the

king that charged into

the house of God and

wanted to burn incense

before the Lord where

only the priests were

supposed to?

You know, here's Uzziah,

his great grandfather had

a spiritual pride, you

might say, of saying, I'm

great enough, I can just

do whatever I want and

don't have to worry about

what God said about it.

But here with Hezekiah, we

have it show up in a

different form, what we

might say is a worldly

pride.

The pride of life.

You know, look at me.

You know, when you see

this dynamic, a lot of

people want people to

look at them.

They want to be built up

in that, you know.

But look over to the New

Testament for a moment.

Go to 1 John.

1 John chapter 2.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

John's writing to

believers and he's

telling us some important

information.

He says, I have written

unto you fathers because

you have not, you have

known him that is from the

beginning.

I have written unto you

young men because you are

strong and the word of God

abideth in you and you

have overcome the wicked

one.

Now that sounds pretty good,

doesn't it?

But think about the next

verse here.

Love not the world, neither

the things that are in the

world.

If any man love the world,

the love of the Father is

not in him.

For all that is in the

world, the lust of the

flesh, the lust of the

eyes, and the pride of life

is not of the Father but is

of the world.

You know, Hezekiah stands as

a stark warning to us to

keep our eyes on the right

thing.

To keep our eyes on the

Lord because if we begin

looking to love the world,

you know what happens?

Those things become the

attachment.

You know?

And we understand in this

case of Hezekiah, he faced

a test and failed under

temptation that's common to

so many of us.

You know?

It's easy to get caught up

in pride.

To think more highly of

yourself than you ought to

think.

Pride is something that

causes a lot of problems.

You can look through the,

if you want a little Bible

study, just type in the word

pride in your little digital

thing there and look up

what the Bible has to say

about it.

You'll never find anything

positive associated with

pride.

Destruction, stumbling,

heartache, pain, agony.

I mean, the road it leads

you down is never good.

It either causes a direct

problem for you or others

around you.

Because what happens is

pride means we forget

about God.

Look back in the Old

Testament for a moment.

Go to Deuteronomy chapter

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

8.

Deuteronomy chapter 8.

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

You know, as you read the

Bible sometimes, it's good

to try to put things in

context and even order.

Because it's interesting as

you read through Deuteronomy

how many things that

happened to the kings, God

warns them about.

Before it's even happened,

God says, hey, you better

pay attention.

Look down here at

Deuteronomy chapter 8.

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

Look at verse 11.

Notice what God tells them.

They're not even in the

land yet.

He says,

Beware that thou forget

not the Lord thy God,

in not keeping his

commandments and his

judgments and his

statutes which I command

thee this day.

Now notice this.

Lest when thou hast eaten

and art full, and hast built

goodly houses and dwelt

therein, and when thy herds

and thy flocks multiply, and

thy silver and thy gold is

multiplied, and all that

thou hast is multiplied.

What's that next phrase?

Then thine heart be what?

What happened to Hezekiah?

When God multiplied everything,

what did he do?

He forgot about God and his

heart was what?

Lifted up.

You know, the great thing

about God is he gives us the

warning beforehand.

He gives us insight to the

dangers that lie ahead.

He said, you're going to face

a danger of pride in your

life if you don't keep your

eyes on the right things.

You're going to face a danger

of it, and Hezekiah revealed

all that he had to them

because of pride.

Instead of giving glory to God,

he presented himself and his

glory instead.

Now, I want you to consider,

if you remember Hezekiah's

prayer to God, in his prayer

to God, he said, God,

they're blaspheming your name.

You know, you need to be,

take care of them so your

name would be glorified in

the world.

And I'm summarizing there,

but that's the synopsis of

Hezekiah's prayer.

It's interesting that after it

was solved, what did Hezekiah

do?

He said, look at me.

Because he had an opportunity,

all the nations, all the

kingdoms, everybody was coming

to Jerusalem to recognize

Hezekiah, and Hezekiah had an

opportunity to say, no, it's not

me, it's God.

He had a chance to glorify God,

instead he allowed himself to

be glorified.

Pride.

Dangerous thing.

As we look at the life of

Hezekiah, and we see here,

turn back over to 2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 32 · chapter mention

chapter 32 here, as we get back

over here.

because notice what God allowed

this to happen.

It says this, and who sent unto

him to inquire the wonder that

was done in the land, God left

him to try that he might know all

that was in his heart.

Now think about that.

What did God want to know?

Hezekiah, are you really going to

keep, do you really going to glorify

me in the moment?

Are you got pride that needs to be

dealt with?

Are you going to deal with the

right thing?

And we find here, God allowed

this test to see what was in

his heart.

It's a test that revealed his

lack of gratitude toward the one

that redeemed him out of the hand

of the enemy and out of death.

And the problem is not

recognizing, the problem of not

recognizing the source of our

blessing can easily creep into our

life.

You know, when we forget that what

we have is because God has blessed

us.

Whether it's little or much, you

possess it because God has blessed

you.

But that's very easy to lose sight of

that, isn't it?

Very quickly to lose sight, just as

Hezekiah, because we find here the

prophet Isaiah reveals the judgment

upon his house and it's going to be

reserved for a different day.

Now, this is another dynamic.

Look over in 2 Kings chapter 20

2 Kings 20 · chapter mention

and verse 19.

Because Isaiah comes and says,

hey, you're going to face the

judgment of the Babylonians.

Matter of fact, the Babylonians are

going to come, not in the too

distant future, and conquer Jerusalem.

You know what they're going to do?

They're going to take all this that

Hezekiah showed them.

Basically, Hezekiah set up his own

destruction.

But we're going to see here, notice

here in verse 19 of chapter 20 of

2 Kings, then Hezekiah, then said

Hezekiah unto Isaiah, good is the

word of the Lord which thou hast

spoken.

And he said, is it not good if peace

and truth be in my days?

I'll let you think on that one for a

moment.

God tells him that your grandchildren

are going to be facing great

hardship.

And Hezekiah's response of, well, it's

good not my day.

Now, we can talk about that a lot for

America today.

Because you know what?

That's one of the problems we have.

We're a nation that's been blessed.

And we say, well, if judgment comes, as

long as it's not my day, that's fine.

Pretty short-sighted.

Things to be concerned about.

And we need to understand the

importance of what we're looking at.

You know, Proverbs chapter 4, here

Proverbs 4 · chapter mention

Solomon is instructing Rehoboam, you

might say directly here in verse 20, it

says, my son, attend to my words,

incline thine ear unto my sayings.

Let them not depart from thine eyes.

Keep them in the midst of where?

Thine heart.

For they are life unto those that find

them in health to all their flesh.

Keep thy heart with all diligent, for

out of it are the issues of life.

What was Hezekiah's problem?

He had a heart problem.

You know, we can easily get, we can

easily ourselves get a heart problem.

Not the ticking kind of heart either,

but a core issue in our life.

And we see here, as we finish up quick

with Hezekiah here, that the epitaph of

Hezekiah reveals that overall he was a

good king that loved God and desired to

serve Him.

You know, if you remember back in 2nd

Chronicles chapter 29 in verse 2, it

says, he did that which is right in the

sight of the Lord according to all that

David his father had done.

So in other words, I want you to see that

Hezekiah's, God's report on him said he was a

good man who sought after God.

But you know, you can have good intention of

seeking after God and have a desire and pride

can still become a problem.

You see that throughout.

That's the reason that people get in trouble in

life is because pride takes over.

Because let's look at the closing statement.

Look at verse 32 of chapter 32 of 2nd

Chronicles.

It says,

Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his

goodness, behold, they are written in the

vision of the Isaiah the prophet, the son of

Amoz, and in the book of the kings of Judah

and Israel.

And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they

buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchers of

the sons of David.

And all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem

did honor him in his death, and Manasseh his

son reigned in his stead.

You know, we're going to pick up here in a few

weeks talking about his son.

Because you go from a godly king to one of the

most wicked kings of Judah.

Big flip.

Makes you wonder, was that attached to Hezekiah's

pride?

and how his son seen some of these things

happen that impacted.

We'll take a look and see here in a few weeks

as we pick back up.

Let's close in prayer.

Thank you.