How To Have Victory In Life

HEZEKIAH, "HOW TO HAVE VICTORY IN LIFE"

TEXT: II KINGS 18-20; 2 CHRONICLES 29-32

INTRODUCTION

Everyone wants victory in life, don’t they? Most people want to be successful in what they do. Athletes, train for years to be victorious on the field or in the arena. Lawyers, go to school for years and they spend hours on each case in hopes of winning a victory in the court room.

No one sets out to lose -- though some like the Tampa Bay Bucs leave you wondering...

But though most want to have victory -- the truth is many loss, for every team holding the winners trophy there are many more who do not.... And For every win in the court room, there is a corresponding loss.

And even though life is far from a game and it is not a courtroom, there are still winners and losers... Most people want to win in life, they want to be victorious, they want to be successful... But the truth of the matter is that for many the winner’s circle is a seldom visited place....

Today, I would like to introduce you to a man of which God says, "AND THE LORD WAS WITH HIM, HE WAS SUCCESSFUL IN WHATEVER HE UNDERTOOK..."

The man God is speaking of is King Hezekiah, the 12th King of Judah. How would you like that to be said of you, that God was with you and that you were successful in whatever you undertook...

How did Hezekiah do it? What was his secret to success? What did he do that brought him success after success?

Today, we want to look at the life of this godly man and see what we can learn from it; His life serves as an example for us:

The first thing we want to do today is to tell;

I. HEZEKIAH’S STORY

HIS CHILDHOOD

Hezekiah was born in Jerusalem in 753 BC, He lived in the palace, with his father King Ahaz. Even though he was the son of the King, his childhood like many of yours was from great.... The term used so frequently today, "dysfunctional" certainly applied to Hezekiah’s father.

Ahaz was supposed to be the King of God’s people -- he was supposed to be the spiritual leader of the nation.... But he was far from it... Ahaz made idols to the Baals and he worshipped these false gods, He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hill tops and under very spreading tree.. And he gathered together all the furnishing of the temple of God and took them away. He even shut the doors of the Lords temple so people could not worship God, and in turn he set up altars to other gods at every street corner in Jerusalem.

It must have been terrible for Hezekiah to walk the dusty streets of Jerusalem and smell the incense and see people worship false gods, knowing it was his own father who was the ring leader...

And as if this was not "dysfunctional" enough Ahaz even took his own sons, Hezekiah’s brothers and he burned them as sacrifices to these false gods...

It was only by God’s grace and through his hand of providence that Hezekiah survived...

But Hezekiah childhood was not completely dark. For in the midst of this darkness there was a light, a man of God -- He was a prophet, his name was Isaiah. He spoke powerful words of truth about life and about God, words that made Hezekiah’s heart race with joy, excitement and hope (IT DIDN’T ALWAYS HAVE TO BE THIS WAY).... He was Hezekiah’s friend - his mentor and he learned so much from him...

And with the help of this friend and the power of God, young Hezekiah determined to one day make things right in the nation. He determined to break the cycle his father had started.

HEZEKIAH BECOMES KING

When Hezekiah was 25 years old his father died and he became King... And the first thing he did (day one) was to open the doors to the temple and repair them. He brought the priests and the Levities, and He assembled them in the square on the east side of the temple... And He said to them...

2 CHRONICLES 29:5-11

These men worked for 16 straight days around the clock, cleaning the temple, repairing damage and carrying out all the unclean things Ahaz had brought into the temple. And they brought back in and consecrated all of the scared items that Hezekiah’s father had removed.

And then Hezekiah removed the high places, he smashed the sacred stones, he cut down the Aserah poles...

and he broke into pieces the bronze snake that Moses had lifted up in the desert, because people had also begun worshipping it. It seems they gave their lives to an worship just about everything but God -- therefore Hezekiah got rid of everything and anything that was taking worship from God.