Don’t Be Negligent Now! (Pt.1)
“The temple worship remembered”
2Chronicles 29:1-11
1 Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah. 2And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father David had done. 3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them. 4Then he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them in the East Square, 5and said to them: "Hear me, Levites! Now sanctify yourselves, sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry out the rubbish from the holy place. 6For our fathers have trespassed and done evil in the eyes of the LORD our God; they have forsaken Him, have turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the LORD, and turned their backs on Him. 7They have also shut up the doors of the vestibule, put out the lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. 8Therefore the wrath of the LORD fell upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has given them up to trouble, to desolation, and to jeering, as you see with your eyes. 9For indeed, because of this our fathers have fallen by the sword; and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity.
10"Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that His fierce wrath may turn away from us. 11My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and that you should minister to Him and burn incense."
1) 1) Background:
Our focus this morning will be verse 11...
"Don’t be negligent now!"
To understand the magnitude of these words we must understand the magnitude of the man who spoke them --and the perilous time in which he lived.
we do not have time to read the whole story so please allow me to summarize it.
-Hezekiah was the son of Ahaz a very evil hearted king who turned the hearts of Judah away from the lord.
-Under Ahaz many of Judah’s treasures were given away as bribes to nations the Lord detested.
-Under Ahaz the Southern kingdom slipped deep into physical and spiritual poverty.
-By the time of Hezekiah’s reign as king of Judah, the northern kingdom of Israel had been conquered by the Assyrian army.
-His father Ahaz had left him a spoiled inheritance
-It seemed apparent to the world that Judah would be next to fall to Assyria.
- Judah was out of wealth - no more bribes could be given.
-Judah’s princes were out of wisdom they had no more wise counsel to give.
- Neither could the army of Judah be a real threat to Assyria.
What a time to inherit a kingdom!
-A nation in economic Crisis
-A nation with an unbeatable enemy force
pressing at its boarders
-A nation doomed to failure and placed in the
hands of a 25 year old leader named Hezekiah.
This must have been a fearful time for Hezekiah but it must have been a hopeless time for the people of Judah!
-It is a good thing Judah did not have a stock market because it would have fell through the bottom – a nation in a hopless situation with an inexperienced 25 year old as their king!
·It would have been okay if Hezekiah would have given up the kingdom and surrendered to Assyria.
·It would not have be a surprise if Hez. Would have thrown in the towel.
·Most people felt hopeless anyway
-History would not have blamed Hezekiah for his inherited circumstances.
But Hezekiah was not a quitter!
· He was an idealistic & over zealous 25yr old!
· He was young but he had a burning passion in
his heart!
His words ring out across the generations with a historic fluorish of Pious zeal...
"Don’t be negligent now!"- The Lord has chosen you!
*Hezekiah knew that it was not the time to quit – but the time to turn back to God!!!
2) Hezekiah recognized the real problem in Judah was
sin.
*Hezekiah recognized that Judah’s real problem was not...
-a political problem
-a economic problem
-a military problem
But rather, a sin problem - a loss of dedication, and consecration to God!
*Hezekiah was a prophetically visionary leader who could see beyond the felt need of his people to their real need.
-The people of Judah had separated themselves from God!
-They had Neglected the worship of the Holy One!
-They had forgotten the Holy Place of God!
-Now they were reaping the benefits of their decision!
Hezekiah’s call was a call to repentance and faithfulness.
*A call to be reconciled to God that wrath may be turned away.
3) Hezekiah’s generation desperately needed a leader to stand up and point them in the right direction because they had not been taught the ways of God.
Hezekiah’s forfathers had done many things but they had neglected to teach the people the ways of God.
a)Hezekiah’s grandfather Jotham was one of the most able administrators in Judah’s history, but he failed as a man of God.
-He did work on the temple facilities but 2 Chron. 27:3 tells us that “he did not enter the temple of the Lord.”
-nor did he stop the people from “continuing in their corrupt practices.”
b)Hezekiah’s father Ahaz was (as we mentioned) a very evil man.
-He took treasures from the temple to pay bribes to Assyria.
-He took furnishings from the temple and made altars to himself in every corner of Jerusalem.
-He locked the doors of the temple.
-He was an idolater - He even burned some of his own sons as sacrifices.
·Hezekiah’s generation received an inheritance of sin and folly... They were a generation had not been taken into the courts of the Lord.
·They had been taught pagan practices rather than the ways of God!
What had started as neglect for the temple in the administration of Hez granfather had become nation wide spiritual revolt against God by the time Hez assumed the throne.
·The payment for their sin – was fear and quickly coming destruction.
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Benjamin Frankin once coined a saying that could well describe the previous chaper of Judah ( and our own nation as well).
“A little neglect may breed great mischief…
· For want of a nail the shoe was lost…
· For want of a shoe the horse was lost…
· For want of a horse the rider was lost…
· For want of the rider the message was lost…
· For want of the message the war was lost!!!”
A little neglect can create great problems in the long run!!!!
oJotham – neglected the temple
oAhas – despised the temple
oJudah- ended up only inches from total annialation!
4)Do you see any similarities between the nation of Judah in Hezekiah’s
time and the United States in our time???
·We have left God Just a Judah did!
·It started subtile – Just a little neglect of the Lord!
a.Separation of Church and State.
b.Switching form Bibles to other text books in School
until the Bibles were completely out.
c.Removing prayer from school
d.SO SUBLTLE –JUST A LITTLE NEGLECT!
e.It grew to open disregard fror God!
f.Legalized Abortion
g.Teaching Homosexuality as a alternative lifestyls
h.Open sale of prongraphy in the streets
d.Lying, cheeting, steeling, imbezeling self-seeking politiciansAnd now We are backed into destruction…
-facing a war we cannot win!
-facing fear on every side!
6) As Hezekiah stands up to take leadership:
A)he doesn’t express concern about Assyria.
B)He doesn’t express concern about the empty treasuries
C) He Cries out in his inaugural speech…AGAINST THE SINS OF THEIR FATHERS-WHICH HAD BECOME THE SINS OF THE CHILDREN.
-Our fathers have trespassed and forsaken God.
-Our fathers have done evil.
-Our fathers have turned their face from the dwelling place of the Lord.
-Our fathers have turned their back on Him.
-Our fathers have shut up the doors to the temple.
-Our fathers have not given their offerings to God.
Because of our fathers sin God’s wrath has come upon them....
-because we have walked in their ways—God’s wrath is upon us!
-They have been given over to trouble
-To jeering
-To desolation
-They have fallen by the sword
-Our sons, daughters, and wives in captivity.
BECAUSE OF THEIR NEGLIGENCE AND SEPARATION FROM GOD ---- ALL OF THESE THINGS HAVE HAPPENED!
7) Hezekiah recognized that though they had received a spoiled inheritance it was His responsibility to turn back to God!
He says in 29:5
"Hear me, Levites! Now sanctify yourselves, sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry out the rubbish from the holy place”.
He says in 29:10
"Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that His fierce wrath may turn away from us.”
Our fathers have been negligent in their service to the Lord!
We have been negligent in our service to the Lord!
But things are about to change!
Because…
“THE BUCK STOPS HERE!”
-Whatever the consequences
-Whatever he circumstances
-Whatever the cause
-Whatever the cost…
We will turn back to the LORD!
Hez words cut through the blame game to the root of the problem….
29:11
“My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and that you should minister to Him and burn incense."
8) (Clincher) – Stop the excuses!
Perhaps – You are setting here this morning and you received a spoiled inheritance.
a) Maybe you were abused as a child.
b) Maybe you were abused as an adult.
c) Maybe someone took advantage of you.
d) Maybe you inherited a large financial debt
because of the sin of your fathers.
e) Maybe you’ve had a good life…but you just
never had anyoneto take you into the courts of
the Lord – no one to show you the ways of the
Lord.
f) Maybe you feel the struggles of life are too great
to conquer.
g) Maybe you feel surrounded by unbeatable
enemies…
h) MAYBE YOU’RE READY TO QUIT – in hopelessness.
· I Do not want to sound insensitive…
o Maybe you have gone through some horrible
things in you life…
o I have had some bad things happen too…
o BUT IF YOU WANT TO GET FREE…IF YOU WANT TO
ESCAPE THE PENDING DESTRUCTION OF YOUR LIFE --- YOU HAVE TO GET OVER IT!!!!!
Let the words of a 25yr. Old over zealous king -- cross 2500 years of history to strengthen your heart this morning…
“Don’t be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him!”
He did not choose you to fall – but to stand!
He did not choose you to fail – but to win!
He did not choose you to remain trapped under a generation curse – but to set a standard of holiness for a new generation!
It is time to turn back to the Lord and turn back to the Lord that He might remove His wrath from us.
9) Closing:
1)Hezekia inexperienced as he was recognized the root of the problem was not all of the external influences that threatened Judah….
IT WAS THE SIN PROBLEM.
i. SO IT IS WITH OUR NATION!
ii. SO IT IS WITH US!
2)OUR NATION WILL ONLY BE CALLED BACK TO GOD WHEN WE STOP PRUNING THE BRANCHES AND START CUTTING AWAY THE ROOT
-SIN
3) WE WILL ONLY BE DELIVERED FROM THE SINS OF OUR FATHERS
a. INDIVIDUALLY
b. AS A NATION
WHEN WE TAKE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR OWN SIN AND NEGLECT!
4) FINALLY, GOD IS LOOKING FOR SOME
a. ZEALOUS GODLY PEOPLE TO CALL FOR REPENTANCE AND LEAD THE WAY.
Next week:
You do not want to miss next week when we further examine Hezekiaha call to repentance…
In the words of Paul Harvey well look at … The rest of the Story!
