Were the people in the
Bible any different to us today
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or ordinary
people like you and me?
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What can we find out from
their lives that will help us?
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Find out with Pr. Geoff Youlden
and Rosemary Malkiewycz here on
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People Just Like Us.
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Life is full of ups and
downs, good times and the worst
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of times. So what do we do
when these changes come suddenly
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and what do when that happen?
During bad times we may turn to
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God for help, yet during the
good times we often forget all
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about Him. Is this the smart
way to behave? Let's look at the
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story of the best king in the
world and see what lessons we
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can learn from his life. Who
was this best king Pastor Geoff?
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Well let me ask this question
before I tell you. Oh okay.
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There are two chapters in
the Bible that are identical and
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when I say identical I mean word
for word, pretty well word for
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word. And I often ask folks
where are those chapters found?
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What books are they found in?
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I know one's in Isaiah.
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Yes, one's in Isaiah and
the other is in Kings and it
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concerns King Hezekiah. God said
he was the best King that Israel
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ever had. The very fact that
the story is recorded twice in
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the Bible would say to me that
God regards this as being very,
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very important.
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An important story.
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Very important. And we pick
out the story here in 2 Kings if
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you'd like to turn with
me 2 Kings 17:1. It says...
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The Bible says he did evil in
the sight of the Lord; That's a
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sort of recurring statement.
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Oh the same thing.
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but not as the kings of
Israel who were before him...
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And as you read on
there in verse 6 it says...
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... In other words this is the
attack against the 10 northern
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kingdoms because at this
time Israel was divided into two
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sections. There was Judah,
the southern kingdom, and Israel
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referring to the 10 northern
kingdoms and because of the
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apostasy of Israel, the 10
northern kingdoms, God allowed
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the Assyrians to come down and
to take them captive. And it's
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not because they didn't have
warning. Verse 13 of 2 Kings 17
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says...
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... and so forth. In other words
every prophet of God upheld
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the commandments and pled with
the people to come back to truth
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and to be obedient, but
unfortunately verse 16 says
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they left all the commandments
of the Lord their God, made to
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themselves a molten image
and two calves and so forth and
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served Baal and as a result the
Lord was very angry, verse 18...
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so this is the division. Then
it says in verse 19, a very sad
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verse also...
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and as a result of that
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God allowed the Assyrians
to come down now against
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Judah. And we pick up the story
because like a plague it spread
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because like a plague it spread
and the Assyrians came down and
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they said in
chapter 18 and verse 1...
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and the Bible says...
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and verse 4 says...
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The sacred pillars were the
symbol of sun worship and...
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Now they were
worshiping this bronze serpent
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And then verse 5
makes a statement...
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In other words, he was just a
wonderful, wonderful good man.
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You see the Assyrians at this
time were the mightiest nation
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on the earth. And very cruel.
Very cruel. They would skin
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their captives alive. Terrible.
I mean if you thought the
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Assyrians were coming down back
in those times the fear would
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shudder through you. And they
had already conquered at this
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stage Samaria. Now Samaria
was the capital of the Northern
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kingdom and there was a
conquered Megiddo which was the
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fortress to protect Samaria.
Now they were down at Lachish
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which was the fortress to
protect Jerusalem and King
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Sennacherib had already
conquered Lachish and he wrote
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Hezekiah a letter from Lachish
and he says you might as well
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throw open the gates because
we're coming down God or no God.
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In fact, his statement is made
in verse 35, this is chapter 18
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and verse 35, he says,...
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You can see what he's saying.
Don't you get any idea that your
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God is going to protect
you because no other God has
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protected them from me. So
you might as well throw open the
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gates.
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Each nation had their own God
in those days and it used to be
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when one nation went to war with
another nation it was basically
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their God fighting the other God
and they expected the same would
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happen here with Judah just
as it had with Israel. Israel
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apparently had the same God
as Judah and they had defeated
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Israel so their God hadn't
protected them. But Israel was
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not following God, so
He wasn't protecting them.
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Correct. And so Hezekiah in
chapter 19:14 it says received
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the letter from the hand of
the messengers and read it and
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Hezekiah went up to the house
of the Lord and spread it before
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the Lord. And you can just see
the fear of the Assyrians coming
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and Hezekiah takes the letter
and puts it in the church, in
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the temple and spreads it out
and asks God what am I going to
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do? And these two chapters that
are identical, 2 Kings 19 and
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Isaiah 37 record that incident
and the prayer of Hezekiah.
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See, Hezekiah when he took that
letter and laid it before God
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I find it very encouraging and
it gives me hope because when
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things happen in my life because
of what Hezekiah did I feel like
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I can go to God and place
it before Him and say, I can't
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handle this, it's too big for
me; you'll have to do it for me
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and I leave it with you. Then I
can walk away knowing I've given
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it to God and it's His business.
And that's basically what
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Hezekiah's doing here. I can't
handle this Lord. It's too much
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for me; I need you
to take care of it.
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Well verse 19 is his statement
when he says that. He says...
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...and you can hear him saying
it. And then he gives the reason
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In other words, he wasn't just
praying for his own skin. He was
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actually praying that God's name
would be honored and glorified
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among all the nations around as
they see this mighty deliverance
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This chapter is
such an amazing chapter.
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A very important thing for
us to learn here too is how
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prayer is so important, as
important for us as much as us
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just talking to God. It
strengthens us. But previous to
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this when Hezekiah when the king
of Assyria had taken Lachish,
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Hezekiah sent him gifts. He said
impose on me whatever you want
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me to pay. And he did. It says
in 2 Kings 18:14 that he gave
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him 300 talents of silver and 30
talents of gold. Now to get an
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idea of how much money was that
King Hezekiah had that he gave
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to the king of Assyria to sort
of basically say, here it is, go
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away. I'm giving you money,
just leave me alone. A talent is
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is equivalent to around 33
kilograms. Currently silver is
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worth, and I looked all this up,
silver is worth over $566 U.S.
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a kilo. Now remember in one
talent there are 33 kilograms.
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That's $18,700 U.S. per talent
and the 300 talents of silver
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would be 9,900 kilos which
is over five and a half million
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U.S. dollars currently and
the gold is $48,000/kilo U.S. at
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the moment and it would have
been worth over $45,000,000,
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equivalent today. That was a lot
of wealth that Hezekiah had that
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he gave away to try and get
peace, but he didn't. Assyria
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said right, if I got that much,
let's get the rest and they
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came down again.
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Well, it's interesting, Rosemary
that when you're reading chapter
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19:35, God answers Hezekiah's
prayer and he answers it in the
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most amazing way. Because
chapter 18:35 has the defiant
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attitude of Sennacherib,
who among the gods has delivered
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them, but God answers in exactly
one chapter later, chapter 19:35
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And it says...
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I always smile at that one. Have
you ever seen a live corpse?
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Well the King James says there
were all dead corpses. So yes I
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do smile at that too because
a corpse is a dead person or a
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dead body.
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I mean, think of it; one angel
comes down from glory and slays
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185,000 of the world's
toughest soldiers, wipes out
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Sennacherib's army. We ought
to talk a lot more about the
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angels, the power of the angels,
because the Bible says all of us
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have a guardian angel. The angel
of the Lord encamps about them
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that fear Him and he will
deliver them. Of course, when
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Sennacherib got back to Nineveh
he said to the priest, how come
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this happened? So when you read
in verses 36 and 37 of chapter
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19... Now what tradition tells
us, this is not in the Bible,
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but the story tells us that the
priest over in Nineveh said well
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it's very easy to explain
because Hezekiah's father
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Abraham was going to offer his
son as a sacrifice to his God
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and Sennacharib thought well
okay, I've got three sons. If I
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_and sacrifice them I'll
become invincible like Hezekiah.
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But the trouble is the boys
heard about it and they got rid
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of father before he got rid of
them. Just an interesting side
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light to the story of
Sennacherib and it's interesting
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that in the next chapter,
chapter 20, an amazing thing
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happened. After this amazing,
amazing deliverance of wiping
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all of that enemy, just amazing.
Then the very next news that
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comes to poor old Hezekiah is
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Now that's the pronouncement.
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Well it is. Thus
says the Lord: This is it.
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Set your house in order.
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And it's interesting, if
you look back and work out
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Hezekiah's age, he was 39 when
the happened. Entering the very
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best years of his life. Someone
wrote a book some years ago,
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Life Begins at 40. Do
you know whether that's true.
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I don't think so.
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I can't work out whether that's
true or not. But the facts are
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that his philosophy was that
you've learned a few things up
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until the age of 40, you still
got the youth of your years
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to be able to put it into
practice. Once you get after 40
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it's you know downhill all the
way. Whether you believe that
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I'm not pushing it, but I'm just
saying here that Hezekiah was
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39 years of age when this news,
get your house in order because
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you're going to die.
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He wasn't an old man.
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No. Hezekiah didn't want to
die and as we read the story he
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pled with the Lord and Isaiah
goes back and says all right
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We've heard your prayer Hezekiah
the Lord heard your prayer and
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will extend your life 15 years.
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See God hears prayers.
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Yes. But Hezekiah still was
finding it difficult to believe
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God so he said you've got to
give me a sign. And as you read
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here, the sign that he gave him
was that he would put the sun
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back 10 degrees, which of course
meant that the day would be
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longer and so when the Lord put
the sun back 10 degrees, that
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made a big impression on the
Assyrians and the Babylonians
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because they worshiped the sun.
Much of the mathematics that we
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have today comes to us from the
Babylonians and the Assyrians
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they worked out on the 60 system
we work out on the decimal
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system on 10 and 10 is divisible
by 5 and by 2, but 60 is
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divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, and
6. So they worked the system out
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that's where we get 60 seconds
to the minute, 60 minutes to the
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hour, 360 degrees in a circle.
All come from the ancient
00:16:34.22\00:16:38.03
Babylonians. And the imperial
measurement is 12 inches in a
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foot and 3 feet into a yard and
it all works with 6 into all of
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those things.
00:16:49.27\00:16:52.04
Yes, well the Babylonian system
worked on this principle and so
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they worshiped the sun and they
saw the sun go back, so they
00:17:00.88\00:17:04.89
sent over a big delegation
because they heard that it was
00:17:04.92\00:17:08.59
they heard that it was the
God of Hezekiah that actually
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shifted their God. I've often
thought too about this 15 years.
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If the Lord said to you, You've
got 15 years left, I'll extend
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your life another 15 years. I'm
not so sure that's good news.
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It may be good news while
there's 15, but what happens
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when it gets down to five, four,
three, two, and then you get
00:17:31.85\00:17:41.52
into the last year. I mean talk
about stress, I reckon you'd be
00:17:41.56\00:17:45.76
experiencing. So it's probably
a good thing that we don't know
00:17:46.80\00:17:48.90
when our demise will come, that
God has that kept secret from us
00:17:48.93\00:17:54.57
because I think we'd all stress.
00:17:54.60\00:17:56.24
Even doctors try to predict
sometimes how much people have
00:17:56.27\00:18:00.38
got left and it
doesn't necessarily work.
00:18:00.41\00:18:03.14
Well this delegation as we read
on in the story, this delegation
00:18:03.18\00:18:07.55
came over from Babylon, from
Assyria, and in chapter 20 and
00:18:07.58\00:18:13.49
verse 13... You can imagine.
These are the world's very best
00:18:13.52\00:18:18.33
mathematicians. They're the
best leaders and they all come
00:18:18.36\00:18:24.53
over to sit at Hezekiah's feet
to learn from him and he has a
00:18:24.57\00:18:28.80
rush of blood that goes to his
head. Instead of being humble
00:18:28.84\00:18:34.88
and being recognizing, it's
interesting to see what Hezekiah
00:18:34.91\00:18:38.18
does. Now remember this is the
king that God says is the best
00:18:38.21\00:18:40.78
man, none before him and
none after him in being good.
00:18:40.82\00:18:44.65
And he helped him with
the Assyrians and he gave him
00:18:44.69\00:18:49.19
another 15 years.
00:18:49.22\00:18:51.86
All right, and it says in verse
13...And Hezekiah was attentive
00:18:51.89\00:18:53.76
to them, this was the delegation
that comes from across the way.
00:18:53.80\00:18:57.90
You'd think he had nothing
left to show them after he gave
00:19:15.35\00:19:19.42
all that money to the Assyrians.
00:19:19.45\00:19:20.79
Well evidently he did. He showed
them everything. You know, often
00:19:20.82\00:19:23.32
I think about this story because
when someone comes to visit us
00:19:23.36\00:19:27.23
what's the impression that
we give them? You know, we might
00:19:27.26\00:19:31.87
have a nice home, we might
have a nice cow, nice this, nice
00:19:31.90\00:19:35.30
that, nice farm, a lot of
things nice business. What's the
00:19:35.34\00:19:41.84
impression that we give
to people. Is it like foolish
00:19:41.88\00:19:48.65
Nebuchadnezzar said, Is not this
great Babylon that I have built.
00:19:48.68\00:19:51.55
In other words, he took
the glory to himself. Is that
00:19:51.59\00:19:53.79
that exactly what Hezekiah was
doing? Because he said fellas
00:19:53.82\00:19:57.03
come here and I'll show you this
and he shows them this and he
00:19:57.06\00:19:59.56
shows them that and shows them
everything else. Well there's
00:19:59.59\00:20:03.83
not one statement there that you
read where he talked about God.
00:20:03.87\00:20:07.64
Well the record
says Hezekiah was...
00:20:07.67\00:20:25.22
In other words, it was all
about Hezekiah and he made a
00:20:25.25\00:20:30.49
dreadful mistake and the fellows
were very happy to chat with
00:20:30.53\00:20:36.46
Hezekiah. Then they went on
their way back. And God called
00:20:36.50\00:20:38.80
Hezekiah and said Hezekiah I've
got something to say to you.
00:20:38.83\00:20:41.90
Seeing that you haven't
told them anything about Me, I'm
00:20:41.94\00:20:44.94
going to allow them to come
down and they're going to take
00:20:44.97\00:20:48.44
everything that you showed them,
they're going to come down and
00:20:48.48\00:20:50.98
take the lot. And Hezekiah,
as you read the record; this is
00:20:51.01\00:20:54.95
part of the Bible I wouldn't
have written in if I'd been
00:20:54.98\00:20:56.89
writing the Bible because it
says Hezekiah says, Well may it
00:20:56.92\00:21:01.39
not happen in my day, may it
happen in my son's day. You know
00:21:01.42\00:21:08.00
here's the scoundrel. He makes
the big mistake and doesn't want
00:21:08.03\00:21:09.86
to take the consequences of the
mistake, and let his son do it.
00:21:09.90\00:21:14.74
Yeah be it in my son's day...
00:21:14.77\00:21:18.07
One of the things I learned
from this story is that Hezekiah
00:21:18.11\00:21:21.38
shows them all his stuff and not
his God. And so, he missed an
00:21:21.41\00:21:28.88
opportunity that God had given
him through this miracle to show
00:21:28.92\00:21:35.66
those from another country that
God who did this the God who
00:21:35.69\00:21:40.50
moved their God and so God had
to do it another way. Through
00:21:40.53\00:21:48.94
captivity with Nebuchadnezzar,
he finally who finally converted
00:21:48.97\00:21:54.81
to the truth of God. Through the
kings of the Medes and Persians
00:21:54.84\00:22:02.78
This is the problem which
is why the Bible is emphasizing
00:22:02.82\00:22:08.76
this point because
00:22:08.79\00:22:12.39
Hezekiah, he made two tragic
mistakes and they all happened
00:22:12.43\00:22:16.90
in the added 15 years of
his life. Up until the 15 years
00:22:16.93\00:22:21.70
there's nothing recorded against
Hezekiah. I'm not suggesting he
00:22:21.74\00:22:25.67
was perfect but there's nothing
in the Bible recorded against
00:22:25.71\00:22:30.38
Hezekiah. The big mistakes that
he made were all made in that
00:22:30.41\00:22:35.25
added 15 years. Now that says
something to me that God knows
00:22:35.28\00:22:39.45
best. You know we think that
we know what we should pray for.
00:22:39.49\00:22:44.76
Hezekiah was actually convinced
that he ought to have lived
00:22:44.79\00:22:48.53
longer. But God saw that it was
best that he die. And it would
00:22:48.56\00:22:53.47
have been better for
Hezekiah to die when he died
00:22:53.50\00:22:56.57
than to live on because he made
that mistake but he also made
00:22:56.60\00:23:01.24
another mistake and the other
mistake is recorded in chapter
00:23:01.28\00:23:05.31
21 and verse 1 where it says...
00:23:05.35\00:23:16.89
And verse 2 says he did evil in
the sight of the Lord according
00:23:16.93\00:23:20.00
to the abominations of the
nations that the Lord had cast
00:23:20.03\00:23:22.76
out before the children of
Israel. And if you read the next
00:23:22.80\00:23:25.27
few verses it goes on and on
and on about the terrible things
00:23:25.30\00:23:30.37
that Manasseh did. In
other words, the worst King that
00:23:30.41\00:23:34.04
Israel had had was king
Manasseh. Now he should have
00:23:34.08\00:23:36.91
never been born because how old
was he? 12. 12 which means that
00:23:36.95\00:23:42.18
he was conceived and born in
the added 15 years. So the world
00:23:42.22\00:23:49.29
would have been a better place
if Manasseh had never been born.
00:23:49.32\00:23:52.29
And Manasseh should never have
been born. And there are some
00:23:52.33\00:23:55.90
people that are born that should
never have been born and some
00:23:55.93\00:24:00.37
people live too long. For
example: Lot lived too long. In
00:24:00.40\00:24:06.84
other words, if Lot had died
before he did die then we would
00:24:06.88\00:24:12.21
never have had the Edomites
and the Moabites. They plagued
00:24:12.25\00:24:15.62
Israel all through their journey
because they came from Lot's
00:24:15.65\00:24:18.79
incestuous relationships with
his own two daughters. So one of
00:24:18.82\00:24:24.33
the big issues that I learn from
this lesson of Hezekiah is that
00:24:24.36\00:24:30.73
we must always learn to pray
God's will be done, because the
00:24:30.77\00:24:35.50
temptation is that we think we
know everything. We know what is
00:24:35.54\00:24:41.24
best. We know that someone ought
to be healed from their sickness
00:24:41.28\00:24:44.01
We know that we ought to be
healed or we know that we ought
00:24:44.05\00:24:45.38
to do this or do that or_
We think we know but in actual
00:24:45.41\00:24:52.19
fact we don't know. That's why
we must always pray thy will be
00:24:52.22\00:24:55.89
done. God knows
the future, we don't.
00:24:55.92\00:24:58.19
We don't and like this story
that has been recorded in the
00:24:59.16\00:25:03.20
Bible to show us that the best
of men are only men at best.
00:25:03.23\00:25:07.37
Even though Hezekiah did all
those wonderful things. You know
00:25:07.40\00:25:13.68
sometimes we look at individuals
and we think they're wonderful
00:25:13.71\00:25:16.68
It always reminds me of these
grandparents who went over to
00:25:16.71\00:25:19.61
China and bought this beautiful
Chinese vase and it was just
00:25:19.65\00:25:23.95
exquisite because it fitted into
their decor in their home and it
00:25:23.99\00:25:27.06
was beautiful. You could
almost see through it, it was so
00:25:27.09\00:25:29.79
beautiful. And they brought it
back and the grandson came over
00:25:29.82\00:25:32.19
one day to visit them and he
was hanging on the mantel piece,
00:25:32.23\00:25:35.96
swinging on the mantel piece,
he didn't mean it but he knocked
00:25:36.00\00:25:40.37
the vase down, it fell on the
carpet. But because it was so
00:25:40.40\00:25:44.27
fragile it did break into 100s
of pieces. And of course, what
00:25:44.31\00:25:49.04
can you say, it's the grandson.
But the grandfather spent hours
00:25:49.08\00:25:55.82
and hours and hours. He got some
superglue and he stuck it all
00:25:55.85\00:25:58.62
back together again and put
it back on the mantel piece.
00:25:58.65\00:26:01.59
But every time he came into...
and grandma goes into the lounge
00:26:01.62\00:26:06.70
room all they can see are these
terrible cracks. I don't know
00:26:06.73\00:26:09.80
why it took them so long but
one day they realized while they
00:26:09.83\00:26:11.80
were eating lunch together,
we remember they said that if we
00:26:11.83\00:26:15.54
ever wanted anything more we
could send there to China and
00:26:15.57\00:26:18.51
they'd send it back. So they
sent it back and they said we
00:26:18.54\00:26:21.78
want one exactly the same as
this one. And they addressed it
00:26:21.81\00:26:25.41
to the place that they had the
card from and some month or two
00:26:25.45\00:26:29.68
later the card came in the post
saying that there was a parcel
00:26:29.72\00:26:34.42
down at the post office, they
understood exactly what it was.
00:26:34.46\00:26:38.33
So when they opened it, there
it was with the cracks and all
00:26:38.36\00:26:45.23
because when you're a china man
over in China and you see you
00:26:45.27\00:26:49.30
want one exactly the same,
you look up in the dictionary,
00:26:49.34\00:26:52.94
it says exactly the same.
And that's what happens if we
00:26:52.97\00:26:55.44
pattern our life on anyone else
except the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:26:55.48\00:26:58.11
This story has been recorded
to teach us that the best of men
00:26:58.15\00:27:05.09
are only men at best. And if
we could only learn that lesson
00:27:05.12\00:27:09.96
that the only person, the only
superman that there is in this
00:27:09.99\00:27:13.56
world is Jesus.
00:27:13.60\00:27:14.93
Jesus is the best king. He's the
only king that we should follow.
00:27:14.96\00:27:18.87
So pattern your life on Jesus
and you will not make a mistake.
00:27:18.90\00:27:23.61
We'll see you next time.
00:27:23.64\00:27:24.97