God's Wake-Up Call

"God's Wake-up Call"

2 Kings 20:1-7

2 Kings 20:1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.

Introduction: Hezekiah would have to be considered one of the better monarchs to reign over Judah. Listen what the Scriptures have to say about this man's life:

2 Kings 18:1 Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.

2 Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.

3 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did.

4 He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.

5 He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.

Hezekiah was a good man but if life teaches anything it is that there are truths that should send a wake-up call to us. In his case the Lord through his prophet delivers a message that he is going to die and so the admonition to "set his house in order." This is good advice to all of us this morning.

I. THE SOVEREIGN MAY CALL

Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.

a. It is inevitable

Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

b. It is impartial

Ecclesiastes 9:1 For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.

2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

c. It is indeterminate

We know that we will die we just don't know the how of our death nor do we know when. That is uncertain and indeterminate. I remember hearing Bro. Calvin Evans tell a story about a revival meeting he was preaching and he told the story of a young man that the church had been praying for who came to the church just a few minutes before the service was to start and pulled up in front of the church on a motorcycle. He was greeted by several teenagers who invited him to come inside and attend the meeting. He declined and left the church. Just a little ways from the church a vehicle crossed the center line, hit him head-on and he was killed instantly. The time of our death is unpredictable so you had better "...set your house in order."

The second wake-up call is the second coming of Christ.

II. THE SAVIOR MAY COME

Revelation 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

a. It's surety

Notice that Jesus says, "...behold, I come..."

b. It's secrecy

1 Thessalonians 5:2 - For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night

2 Peter 3:10 - But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up

c. It's sobriety

"...my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be..."

ILL - Christian writer and commentator Warren Wiersbe, tells about a town where a horse bolted and ran away with a wagon carrying a little boy. Seeing the child in danger, a young man risked his life to catch the horse and stop the wagon. The child who was saved grew up to become a lawless man, and one day he stood before a judge to be sentenced for a serious crime. The prisoner recognized the judge as the man who, years before had saved his life; so he pled for mercy on the basis of that experience. But the words from the bench silenced his plea: "Young man, then I was your savior; today I am your judge, and I must sentence you to be hanged." One day Jesus Christ will say to rebellious sinners, "During that long day of grace, I was the Savior, and I would have forgiven you. But today I am your Judge."