THE SUCCESS AND FAILURES OF KING HEZEKIAH
11 KINGS 18:1-7
Everyone likes to read success stories. We don’t like failures. One of the greatest success and failure stories is that of the Ford Motor Company..In 1908, Model T sales were 10,000. Eight years later they were 730,000, and from 1908-1927, it was 15 million. But in 1958 their car, the Edsel was proclaimed the car of the future. Yet it was a bust, a failure. Its future was just one year.
Now in the Bible, we read stories of People who were successful like Caleb, Elijah, Joshua, and Paul. But sad to say, we also read of stories of people who in parts of their lives were failures: Solomon, Noah, and Demas.
Today we are going to look at a man’s life according to verse five, was the greatest King Judah ever had, and he was a king who was not very good in his latter end.
Let us look at Hezekiah and learn some lessons both from his success and his failure.
I-NOTICE HEZEKIAH’S SUCCESSES:
A-HE WAS SUCCESSFUL BECAUSE OF HIS DECISION: 18:2
He was made King at the age of 25. At an early age he made a decision to be a follower of the Lord, and even at a young age, he became one of the best Kings to serve.
This teaches us that God can use us while we are young:
Joan of Arc-at the age of 19 did her greatest work.
Martin Luther-started the Protestant movement at age of 25
Patrick Henry-was 26 when he said, “give me liberty or give me death”
Billy Sunday-left baseball in his early 20’s to preach the Gospel.
Billy Graham-started in Evangelism in his early 20’s.
According to a Baptist Press release, 16 year old Jennifer Cody attended a youth camp in July 1987, sponsored by the Southern Baptists. She had missed the registration deadline at The Church on Mill in Tempe, Arizona, where she attended, but a boy canceled his and that made it possible for her to attend. She not only went to the camp, late one evening she asked Jesus Christ to come into her life as Lord and Savior. After returning home from camp, she went to Michigan to visit relatives. Then, with her mother, Susie, she boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 255 on the evening of August 16, bound for Phoenix and home. You know that story: the second worst airline accident in American history - with only one survivor, a little girl [not Jennifer]. [Plane lost power on takeoff, crashed into highway embankment.] Thank God, Jennifer had gotten saved barely a month before. And thank God for Christian camps.
B-HE WAS SUCCESSFUL BECAUSE OF HIS DOING: 18:3A - And he did
It says the King didn’t plan, he didn’t make a suggestion, but it say, “he did”.
One day a man came home from work to find total mayhem at home. The kids were outside still in their pajamas playing in the mud. There were empty food boxes and wrappers all around. Entering the house, he found an even bigger mess. Dishes on the counter, dog food spilled on the floor, a broken glass under the table, and a small pile of sand by the back door. The family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing, and a lamp had been knocked over. He headed up the stairs, stepping over toys, to look for his wife. He was becoming worried that she may be ill, or that something had happened to her. He found her in the bedroom, still in bed with her pajamas on, reading a book. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?"She again smiled and answered, "You know every day when you come home from work and ask me what I did today?" "Yes," he replied." She answered, "Well, today I didn’t do it!"
There are three kinds of workers. For example, when a piano is to be moved, the first kind gets behind and pushes, the second pulls and guides, and the third grabs the piano stool.
C-HE WAS SUCCESSFUL BECAUSE OF HIS DEEDS: 18:3
His deeds or what he did was right in the sight of the Lord, not in the sight of men.
What a different world you and I would live in if everyone would do what is right in the sight of the Lord.
I heard about a storeowner whose store windows were broken out by a young boy. The storeowner was very bitter and wanted to get back at him some way. The next Sunday, he went to Church and the preacher preached on “bitterness” and how we should overcome it by love. The next week, he found the boy and forgave him and paid his way to go a Christian camp where he was saved.
D-HE WAS SUCCESSFUL BECAUSE OF HIS DESTROYING: 18:4
The king took the idol out in the groves and destroyed them. In other words, he took a stand against sin.
Few college football coaches have made a point against drugs as effectively as Erk Russell of Georgia Southern College. He arranged for a couple of good ol’ country boys to burst into a routine team meeting and throw a writhing, hissing, six-foot-long rattlesnake onto a table in front of the squad. "Everyone screamed and scattered," Russell recalls. "I told them, ’When cocaine comes into a room, you’re not nearly as apt to leave as when that rattlesnake comes in. But they’ll both kill you!"
It is not enough to get "fired up for God" if we don’t deal with the sin in our lives or our land! Revival has to be much more than just an intense emotional experience, it must be a transforming experience! Real revival deals with the past in the present....and it begins to tear down the places dedicated to those things contrary to God!
Elisabeth Elliot, at Urbana 76, told of her brother Thomas Howard. Their mother let him play with paper bags she’d saved if he put them away afterwards. One day she walked into the kitchen to find them strewn all over the floor. Tom was out at the piano with his father singing hymns. When confronted, he protested, "But Mom, I want to sing." His father stated, "It’s no good singing God’s praise if you’re disobedient."
Someone once asked Paul Harvey, the journalist and radio commentator, to reveal the secret of his success. "I get up when I fall down," said Harvey.
E-HE WAS SUCCESSFUL BECAUSE OF HIS DESIRE: 18:5
Hezekiah decided early on that his choice was to trust in God! This is remarkable in light of the fact that his own father was an evil king who led Judah into sin! Hezekiah blames no one for what happens around him, because his trust is in God, not others. Hezekiah’s ultimate trust was in God, not man or machines, not armies or weapons, it was in God!
William Wallace former missionary to China said, “God is to wise to make a mistake and too good to do evil, thus I will trust Him
The Ladies Home Journal asked, "In whom do you trust?" Responses were:
Walter Cronkite 40% of the vote
Pope John Paul 26%
Billy Graham 6%
God 3%
There is an old story of a father who took his young son out and stood him on the railing of the back porch. He then went down, stood on the lawn, and encouraged the little fellow to jump into his arms. "I’ll catch you," the father said confidently. After a lot of coaxing, the little boy finally made the leap. When he did, the father stepped back and let the child fall to the ground. He then picked his son up, dusted him off, and dried his tears. "Let that be a lesson," he said sternly. "Don’t ever trust anyone."
I disagree with that teaching, we surely should teach our young to trust the Lord Jesus Christ.
F-HE WAS SUCCESSFUL BECAUSE OF HIS DEVOTION: 18:6
This word “clave” is a military term: the young soldiers were trained to never let go of their sword. They were told if they gave up their sword. The enemy would use it against them and their family. Thus they devolved a fierce grip; when they would die in battle, they would have to cut their fingers to free the sword.
Our attitude toward God should be like that, we should love Him above all others, and cling unto Him.
During the tenure of the great orator Henry Ward Beecher, a visiting minister (Beecher’s brother) once substituted for the popular pastor. A large audience had already assembled to hear Beecher, and when the substitute pastor stepped into the pulpit, several disappointed listeners began to move toward the exits. That’s when the minister stood and said loudly, "All who have come here today to worship Henry Ward Beecher may now withdraw from the church. All who have come to worship God keep your seats!"
G-HE WAS SUCCESSFUL BECAUSE OF HIS DETERNATION: 18:7
We have the idea sometimes that we won’t have any difficulties when we serve the Lord, just be prosperous. The king was prosperous, but he also had trouble with Assyria.
Two hunters came across a bear so big that they dropped their rifles and ran for cover. One man climbed a tree while the other hid in a nearby cave. The bear was in no hurry to eat, so he sat down between the tree and the cave to reflect upon his good fortune. Suddenly, and for no apparent reason, the hunter in the cave came rushing out, almost ran into the waiting bear, hesitated, and then dashed back in again. The same thing happened a second time. When he emerged for the third time, his companion in the tree frantically called out, "Woody, are you crazy? Stay in the cave till he leaves!" "Can’t," panted Woody, "there’s another bear in there."
Jesus told us in John that” in this world ye shall have tribulation”. It is a spiritual truth, but He also says, “be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. “
II-NOTICE HEZEKIAH’S STUMBLING:
A-NOTICE HIS WEAK FAITH: 20:8
At this time in his life instead of trusting the Lord and taking Him at His Word, he asked for a sign. In others words, he was walking by sight and not by faith.
In 1958, America’s first commercial jet air service began with the flight of the Boeing 707. A month after that first flight, a traveler on a piston-engine, propeller-driven DC-6 airliner struck up a conversation with a fellow passenger. The passenger happened to be a Boeing engineer. The traveler asked the engineer about the new jet aircraft. The engineer began speaking at length about the extensive testing Boeing had done on the jet engine before bringing it into commercial service. He recounted Boeing’s experience with engines, from the B-17 to the B-52. When his travelling companion asked him if he himself had yet flown on the new 707 jet airliner, the engineer replied, ’I think I’ll wait until it’s been in service awhile.’"
There’s talking faith, and real faith. Which do you have?
It was a stormy night in Birmingham, England, and Hudson Taylor was to speak at a meeting at the Severn Street schoolroom. His hostess assured him that nobody would attend on such a stormy night, but Taylor insisted on going. "I must go even if there is no one but the doorkeeper." Less than a dozen people showed up, but the meeting was marked with unusual spiritual power. Half of those present either became missionaries or gave their children as missionaries; and the rest were faithful supporters of the China Inland Mission for years to come.
B-NOTICE HIS WICKED FOLLY: 20:12-13
There was nothing in his house He showed them through a spirit of folly and exultation, all his treasures, and no doubt those in the house of the Lord. And it is said, 2 Chron. xxxii. 31, that in this business God left him to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart; and this trial proved that in his heart there was little else than pride and folly.
A young woman asked for an appointment with her pastor to talk with him about a besetting sin about which she was worried. When she saw him, she said, “Pastor, I have become aware of a sin in my life, which I cannot control. Every time I am at church I begin to look around at the other women, and I realize that I am the prettiest one in the whole congregation. None of the others can compare with my beauty. What can I do about this sin?” The pastor replied, “Mary, that’s not a sin, why that’s just a mistake!”
Paul W. Powell once observed: “Pride is so subtle that if we aren’t careful we’ll be proud of our humility. We can easily become like the Sunday School teacher who, having told the story of the Pharisee and the publican, said, ‘Children, let’s bow our heads and thank God we are not like the Pharisee!
C-NOTICE HIS WILFUL FORGETTING: 2 Chronicles 32:35
I believe this where he made his mistake and many people today also. When we are successful, we tend to forget God.
These are the things people most often forget:
1. names 83%
2. Where something is 60%
3. Telephone numbers 57%
4. Words 53%
5. What was said 49%
6. Faces 42%
After stopping for gas in Montgomery, Alabama, Sam drove more than 5 hours before noticing he had left someone behind—his wife. So at the next town he asked the police to help get him in touch with her. Then Sam called his wife to tell her he was on his way back. He admitted with great embarrassment that he just hadn’t noticed her absence.How Sam could forget his wife is beyond me. But wait! We’re not much different in our relationship to God. We actually fail to remember the One who created us and redeemed us.
D-NOTICE HIS WOEFUL FINISH: 20:17-19
Notice in verse 19, he called the judgement coming on his nation good? Then he was told in verse 18, that his sons would be taken away but he said, least in his lifetime there would be peace. He didn’t care what happen to his children. And so he died not a success but a failure.
Remember the end is important for people tend to forget the things in the past but remember your finish. Take the example of former president Richard Nixon. In some ways I think he did some good things for our country. But people will remember most about him is the time he was banished from office. A failed ending.
CONCLUSION-Ready for a baseball trivia question? Who is Clint Courtney? If you’re unsure, don’t bother requesting the answer from Cooperstown, N.Y. Clint never came close to making it into the Baseball Hall of Fame. In fact, it’s very doubtful that his picture appeared on any bubble gum cards. This guy wasn’t a legend in his own time -- not even in his own mind. He was only a memory maker for his family, and a few die-hard fans who were inspired by his tremendous fortitude. Clint played catcher for the Baltimore Orioles in the 1950s. During his career he earned the nickname of Scrap Iron, implying that he was hard, weathered, tough. Old Scrap broke no records -- only bones. He had little power or speed on the base paths. As for grace and style, he made the easiest play look rather difficult. But armed with mitt and mask, Scrap Iron never flinched from any challenge. Batters often missed the ball and caught his shin. Their foul tips nipped his elbow. Runners fiercely plowed into him, spikes first, as he defended home plate. Though often doubled over in agony, and flattened in a heap of dust, Clint Courtney never quit. Invariably, he’d slowly get up, shake off the dust, punch the pocket of his mitt once, twice, and nod to his pitcher to throw another one. The game would go on and Courtney with it -- scarred, bruised, clutching his arm in pain, but determined to continue. He resembled a POW with tape, splints, braces, and other kinds of paraphernalia that wounded people wear. Some made fun of him -- calling him a masochist. Insane. Others remember him as a true champion.
You might say he was scraper unto the last game of his career. May it be said also of you and I that we were a scraper, we were faithful to Jesus into the last day of our life.
