Are You Paying Attention
II Chronicles 29:1-10
1Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. 2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. 3 He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them. 4 And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street, 5 And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. 6 For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs. 7 Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel. 8 Wherefore the wrath of the LORD was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes. 9 For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. 10 Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.
You’re driving a bus for Sunday school. At your first stop you pick up 7 kids. At the next stop you pick up 4 kids and at the next stop 6 kids. You drop them all off and go out for more. The next three stops you get 5 kids each and the last stop 2, and actually drop off 3. How old is the driver?
I’ve entitled this sermon Are You Paying Attention. Were you paying attention during the story? Well, I will answer the riddle later on – I probably made a mistake because now you are going to thinking about that riddle the whole time, but you better Pay Attention.
King Hezekiah.
He is described as having a close relationship with God
I. Hezekiah was paying attention
A. To Judah’s Past
He knew what the Lord had established (verse 4)
He gathered priests and Levites Numbers 1:50: but thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony, and over all the vessels there of, and over all the things that belong to it.”
He reminded them that the Lord had chosen them to minister
He knew the Temple was the house of the Lord God (verse5) and that it needed to be sanctified.
“carry forth the filthiness (or debris) out of the Holy Place”
He was constantly aware of God’s acts in the past
Was also aware of God’s interest in the events of every day.
He also paid attention…
B. To Judah’s Present – concern with present obedience
The sins of the past brought difficulty and judgment
Judah was filled with visual reminders of the people’s lack of trust in God.
Hezekiah boldly cleaned house, destroyed altars, idols, and pagan temples (chapter 31)
Reinstituted the Passover as a national holiday (Verse 30:1) “ And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah… that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to keep the Passover unto the Lord God of Israel.”
He developed a powerful prayer life (Isaiah 37:16-20)
Prayed for Israel’s deliverance from the Assyrians
God answered his prayer by destroying the Assyrian army
Isaiah 37:36 “Then the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.”
The answer to his prayer was already in motion because the Assyrian army was already poised to attack.
Hezekiah didn’t know, so he persisted in prayer and faith even though he could not see the answer coming.
Another Riddle: Now pay attention. Two pastors attending a conference take a cab to the Convention Center. Traffic was very bad and it took the driver an hour and a half to get there. On the way back, traffic was just as bad but it only took him 90 minutes. How can this be?
Hmm? Did you pay close enough attention?
Hezekiah paid attention to the past and to what God wanted in the present
But also applied what he learned
II. Hezekiah using application
A. God uses very flattering words to describe Hezekiah
II Kings 18:5 says “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” This is referring to Kings of Judah, after the division, so it does not include David.
ILLUSTRATION “I am the greatest” I like boxing. Not the biggest fan, but I enjoy it. I just read this past week that Jermain Taylor is going back to his original trainer, the one he became champion under. We should be proud of him as Arkansans, from what I hear he is an outstanding young man, not your typical boxer. Now I’ve seen some footage of Ali and have heard from several people, including my Father-in-law, talk about his fights. He was the greatest they say, the greatest of all time. Or how about the NBA? Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. But ask the kids today, and they’ll say no way. Why? Because all they know of him is his last few years playing after he had came back from retirement. But sorry kids, he is the greatest ever to play the game. But for someone to say you are the greatest of all time really means something, especially if it is true. Coming from God, means even more. The ULTIMATE compliment. He is the only one completely qualified to give that true honest assessment.
So God is saying in this verse that Hezekiah is the greatest.
WOW! God says you are the best, and writes it down for everyone to read! That’s big
What could make him so great? Maybe…
B. Hezekiah’s powerful prayer and faith
Sick unto death, death bed (2 Kings 20)
Isaiah told him to put his house in order; the Lord said you are going to die.
Hezekiah prayed wanting divine favor because he knew the Lord graciously favors those who earnestly served Him
Because of Hezekiah’s faith and prayer GOD HEALED HIM
Added 15 years to his life.
So Hezekiah paid attention and applied what he learned
He was the King of Judah who instigated civil and religious reforms
Had a personal, growing relationship with God
Developed a powerful prayer life
And referred to as the greatest King of Judah
So what does this all mean to us?
III. Our attention and application
A. We need to remember and read the past. God’s Word.
Psalm 119:11 “Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
Deuteronomy 6:6 “And these words, which I command thee, this day, shalt be in thine heart.”
I Chronicles 16:12 “Remember His marvelous works that He hath done, His wonders, and the judgment of His mouth.”
Just like Hezekiah remembered the Temple was the house of the Lord, so should we.
The Temple today is US.
I Corinthians 6:19 says “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”
If you live in a building owned by someone else, you try not to violate the building’s rules.
Because your body belongs to God, you must not violate his standards for living
ILLUSTRATION An elderly carpenter was planning to retire and told his employer of his plans to leave the construction business and live a leisurely life with his family.
The contractor was sorry to see his top, most loyal worker go and asked him if he would build just one more house as a personal favor
The carpenter agreed but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work
He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials
It was an unfortunate was to end his career
When he finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the keys to the carpenter
“This is your house, my gift to you”
What a shock! What a shame!
If he had only known he was building his own house he would have done it all so differently
Now he had to live in a house he had built none to well
So it is with us, we build our lives in a distracted way. Not truly following the Master’s plan
At important times we do no give the job our best effort
Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built
If we had realized, how important it was to follow Him
To do our very best for His temple
We would have done things differently
We need to “carry forth the filthiness out” like Hezekiah did in verse 5
We need to be concerned about our present obedience
Start by cleaning house.
Ask forgiveness and repent (turn and run away)
And then once you do repent
Get rid of the quilt – quit beating yourself up over it, its forgiven
Develop a powerful prayer life
God can and will answer your prayers according to His Will. And closeness to God makes His Will clearer.
Put your faith completely in God
Don’t put faith in yourself we call this Positive thinking
Positive thinking leads to discouragement
Going to be times when you’re trying to think positively but you’re not going to be able to.
ILLUSTRATION A little boy comes home and says “Dad I think I flunked my math test today.” Dad said, “That’s negative thinking. You’ve got to think positive, son. “ To which the little boy replied, “I’m positive I flunked it!”
Don’t put faith in faith
The Devil may say “how do you know your faith is strong enough?” or “is it the real thing?” Put your faith in Jesus
Adrian Rogers says in his book “What Every Christian Ought to Know” “ The least amount of faith in the right object is better than strong faith in the wrong object.”
To have strong faith = find out who God is!
Hezekiah’s strong faith was based on his knowledge of God.
The Experiencing God study calls this a “Crisis of Belief” which shows what you believe about God.
ILLUSTRATION Northern Mississippi River freezes. A man decided to walk across the ice instead of going down to the bridge. He didn’t see anyone else out there. It looked so crusty and thick, He said, “I believe I can walk across. I won’t have to take the journey down to the bridge” and he began to walk across. After some distance he thought maybe I ought not to be out here, maybe this ice won’t hold me up, if I fall through, they’ll never know what happened to me. I’m a fool, what am I doing out here? He turned to go back. He said “ I better walk softly, no it would be better if I go down on all fours to spread my weight. That’s not enough, I better lie down and squirm across. I may go through the ice, what a fool am I. My wife will never know what happened to me.” He began to whimper and cry and then he heard it, a roaring, cracking sound. Oh, the ice is breaking, I’m a goner, he thought. He put his face down on the ice and began to pray. “God save me; help me Lord” The noise got closer and closer, rumbling and roaring, but the ice didn’t seem to be breaking. He looked up and there was a man with a team of horses pulling a wagon loaded with logs driving across that river. That was the noise he heard. He jumped up and brushed off the ice and finished his stroll across the river. What was the difference with these two men? The second man knew the ice. THE REALITY OF FAITH IS BASED ON THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
We all know the word verily
Jesus said verily verily 79 times in the Gospels
It means “I tell you the Truth” kind of like us saying “amen” or “that’s right”
He was essentially saying “Pay Attention, pay attention, what I am about to say is important and truthful
Mark 4:28 “Verily I say unto you, all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men…”
Matthew 17:20 “…Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove: and nothing shall be impossible to you.”
Conclusion So what is the answer to the riddle?
You’re driving a bus for Sunday school…
So the answer for me would be 33.
Are you paying attention?
Now the second riddle
It took him 1 ½ hours the first trip
And only 90 minutes the trip back
1 ½ hours is 90 minutes
Were you paying close enough attention?
Are you paying attention?
To the promises and commandments He has given in His Word?
To the instructions Jesus gave while here on earth?
Are you paying attention to His call for your life?
What has He asked you to do?
Maybe it’s to teach, or witness, help an underprivileged family this time of year.
Maybe preach?
Are you paying attention?
This is the beginning of the Holiday season.
We all know this Thursday is Thanksgiving
My favorite holiday
We like to think about things that we are thankful for
Family health, friends
We also need to pay attention to what God has truly done
Just think about how blessed we are to live in a country that we can worship the way we do
That we can even own a Bible and not have to fear for our lives
We tend to take these type of things for granted
Especially living in a community like we do
But are we just thankful for these things this time of year?
We all need to make an strong effort to pay attention to what God does for us every day of the year.
And we need to apply what we have learned from reading His word
And also what we see Him doing in our daily lives
Do you have as strong a prayer life as Hezekiah did?
Do you think you could ask God to turn back the clock and heal you from a deadly disease?
Is the reality of your faith based on your knowledge of God?
What has God shown you that He can do?
Show Him that you ARE paying attention
That you do know what He has done in His word
And have faith in what He can do for you.
We must pay attention
