"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."
Jesus came the first time to save us but when He comes the second time He comes to judge us!
d. It's suddenness
1 Corinthians 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
The time of the second coming is unknowable so you had better "...set your house in order."
The third wake-up call is the cessation of the work of the Spirit.
III. THE SPIRIT MAY CEASE
Genesis 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
a. The Spirit
John 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
b. The striving
John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
c. The stoppage
Those who willfully resist and grieve that Spirit must be ultimately left to the hardness and blindness of their own hearts, if they do not repent and turn to God. God delights in mercy, and therefore a gracious warning is given. Even at this time the earth was ripe for destruction; but God promised them one hundred and twenty years' respite: if they repented in that interim, well; if not, they should be destroyed by a flood. Clarke's Commentary
Clenched Fist Toward God
A story I heard personally from Malcolm Muggeridge (that stirred me then and still does even yet) was his account of a conversation he had with Svetlana Stalin, the daughter of Josef Stalin. She spent some time with Muggeridge in his home in England while they were working together on their BBC production on the life of her father. According to Svetlana, as Stalin lay dying, plagued with terrifying hallucinations, he suddenly sat halfway up in bed, clenched his fist toward the heavens once more, fell back upon his pillow, and was dead. The incredible irony of his whole life is that at one time Josef Stalin had been a seminary student, preparing for the ministry. Coming of Nietzschean age, he made a decisive break from his belief in God. This dramatic and complete reversal of conviction that resulted in his hatred for all religion is why Lenin had earlier chosen Stalin and positioned him in authority--a choice Lenin too late regretted. (The name Stalin, which means "steel," was not his real name, but was given to him by his contemporaries who fell under the steel-like determination of his will.) And as Stalin lay dying, his one last gesture was a clenched fist toward God, his heart as cold and hard as steel.
Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God, (Word Publ., Dallas: 1994), p. 26.
Conclusion: Salvation may be needed to set your house in order. Confessing and repenting of some sin may be setting your house in order. Reconciliation with some friend or family member may be setting your house in order. Restitution may be setting your house in order.
WARNING SIGNS
At an intersection, the green light changes to yellow;
At the theater the house lights flash;
In the Battalion Tactical Operations Center a Warning Order comes down from Brigade;
At the airport terminal the boarding call comes over the intercom;
At a railroad crossing the lights begin to flash;
In a small Midwestern town the tornado siren screams;
On the football field the two minute warning sounds;
In the cargo bay of a C-140 a red-light comes on;
In the Desert of Judea, a voice of one calling in the wilderness is heard declaring, "Prepare the way of the Lord."
What do each of these have in common? They are signs or warnings that we need to prepare ourselves for what is about to happen, to set our house in order. For some of you it means that you need to call
