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2 Kings 18, beginning in verse 1.
In the third year of Hosea, son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.
He was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem.
His mother's name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.
And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that David, his father, had done.
He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah.
And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made.
For until those days, the people of Israel had made offerings to it.
It was called Nehushtan.
He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him,
nor among those who were before him.
For he held fast to the Lord.
He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses.
And the Lord was with him.
Wherever he went out, he prospered.
He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him.
He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory from watchtower to fortified city.
But in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hosea, son of Elah, king of Israel,
Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against Samaria and besieged it.
And at the end of three years, he took it.
In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hosea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in Hala.
And on the harbor, the river Gozon and in the cities of the Medes.
Because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed his covenant,
even all that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded, they neither listened nor obeyed.
Let's pray together as we approach this portion of God's word.
Oh, Father, we thank you for how you have worked in your people.
We thank you for just the gift of this history.
Because there we see you at work.
But we also get the promise of how you will work.
So, Father, as we study this part of Scripture that many of us have never read,
we pray that you would open our eyes to what is here,
but also open our hearts to how you might speak into us and give us hope.
So, Father, come and pour out your Spirit.
Lead us as we study.
And use my words, as weak as they are,
in such a way that we will know
that by your Spirit,
we have heard from you.
So, come and do your work.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
You know, I'm sure there's many of you in here
that are big fans of HGTV
and Chip and Joanna Gaines.
We like those rebuilding shows.
I got a nine-year-old grandson who loves that show.
Watches it a lot.
You know, and it's the same story.
You know, somebody goes and buys a house.
They want to buy a house.
And they want to refresh it.
And so, you know, you go through the story.
You look at all the things you can do.
We got to paint a wall here,
take a wall out over here.
But then when you get down into the nitty-gritty
of what's really there,
basically the whole thing has to come down.
Because there's a lot more going on
than what you can see on the surface.
Well, I think in a lot of ways,
we take, when it comes to spiritual renewal,
we take an HGTV approach.
But it's more of we want a refreshing.
We want a kind of redoing, you know,
paint this room, change this wall.
We're going to just kind of make it look better,
look nicer.
We want good curb appeal.
Because everybody else that drives by our home,
we want them to see how well we're doing.
But we want life to get better.
We want it to look better.
We want it to feel better.
But the problem is,
there might be a lot more at work
under the surface than you realize.
You see, we can do this as a church as well.
Maybe, you know, we just need to change our schedule.
Maybe we need to freshen up our preacher.
Maybe we need to...
I'm not suggesting anything since Will is not here.
Not at all.
But this is the kind of approach we take.
We just need to touch up here and fix this.
But under the surface,
there might be a dwelling
that needs to be gutted
and started over.
You see, this is really what happens
in the kingdom of Judah.
Judah at this point...
Well, let's go back
and get a little history lesson here.
Ever since the reign of Solomon,
when Solomon died,
the nation was split
because of just a lot of foolishness.
And so you had the northern tribes,
10 of the 12 tribes of Israel in the north
went off to themselves
and they were called Israel
and their capital was Samaria.
But the other tribes remained in the south.
They were called Judah
where the capital was Jerusalem.
And so they really fared
over these years,
many, many decades,
a whole lot better
than their northern cousins
because their northern cousins
were really led into a lot of
bad religion and idolatry
through the leadership of Jeroboam.
So much so that Jeroboam
became the standard of badness
for all of the kings
that would come after him.
So Judah fared a bit better
and they had some good kings
and some not so good kings.
kings.
But then comes Ahaz.
And Ahaz was one of the worst.
Ahaz built an altar
and put it in the temple
that was modeled after a pagan altar
that he had seen in Syria.
Ahaz took his sons
and put them on the altar
and burned them in the fire
to these pagan gods.
This is the king of God's people.
He was awful.
And towards the end,
when he was threatened
by the Syrians,
he sent to the empire of Assyria
who then was really kind of
coming into their own
and paid them
to get the Syrians' office back.
But in so doing,
he made Judah and Jerusalem
a slave to the Assyrians.
And they served Assyria for years.
And so he was as spiritually bankrupt
as all the kings of Israel.
And Israel now was finally
and totally defeated
at the hands of the Assyrians
as an act of judgment of God
and Judah and Jerusalem
were very quickly heading
in the same direction.
These were dark days.
Along comes a son,
fortunately, who didn't get burned.
His name was Hezekiah.
Hezekiah, at the age of 25,
the death of his father Ahaz
becomes king.
He is the product of this evil father
but also, I think,
a righteous mother.
And he makes a U-turn
for the nation.
He brings about
one of the most glorious times
of renewal and revival
in Jerusalem's history.
It is wonderful.
And there's much written
about this reign.
You'll find Hezekiah,
parts of his reign,
mentioned in three or four places
in the scriptures.
And I think we can learn a lot
about what renewal
actually looks like.
You know, we may pray for it.
We may want it in our lives,
personally.
We may want it corporately
as a church.
But what does it look like
when it comes?
We can get a good idea
here from Hezekiah.
So first,
there are four things
that I think I want to
call our attention to.
The first is that
spirit-led renewal
always,
always
begins
with repentance.
You know,
there's a parallel account
of Hezekiah's history.
If you go over to
2 Chronicles 29,
in there we see
a few more details.
It's almost like
on the very first day
of his reign,
he's got this new job.
Day one,
he begins
this cleansing process.
He goes straight
to the temple
and
throws open
the doors
and commands
everybody
to do a major
house cleaning.
All the altars,
all of the
trash,
all of the
filth
that Ahaz
had allowed
to come in there
was taken out.
Now,
all the pagan,
all the defilement,
it had to go
in right worship
of Yahweh,
the covenant
God
restored.
Now,
this had been
done,
you know,
in previous kings
have come
and done well
and they had done
similar
things,
but not
to the degree
that Hezekiah
did.
Because in the text
here in
2 Kings,
the writer
makes a point.
He says,
you know,
back in the other
accounts,
we see that
the high places
were not removed.
These kings
would do well,
this king would do well
and he would bring
reform,
but the high places
were not removed.
And it's interesting,
here in Kings,
Hezekiah
removes
the high places.
The high places
are places
of pagan worship.
They,
on top of
every hill,
they erected
these pillars,
they had altars,
and they worshiped,
those were for
the worship
of the local
fertility gods.
And these were
kind of leftovers,
carryovers,
from the pagan
Christians,
the Canaanites,
that Israel
was supposed
to have wiped
out when they
occupied the land.
But that didn't
go as planned,
and so a lot
of these remained.
And so even
from the time,
before the time
of the occupation,
these high places
were places
of worship
of these local
fertility gods.
And they had
become popular
for the Israelites
to do as well.
And so they
worshipped there,
they sacrificed
to the local
fertility gods,
and it was,
and it had been
going on
for hundreds
of years.
This is what
we would call
syncretism.
Syncretism
is a blending.
We saw this,
I saw this
very clearly
when I went
down to Peru
back in July,
where the
Inca
religion
of those areas
was blended
in with the
Catholicism
that the
Spaniards brought.
And so you see
signs of both
of these,
you know,
the local
religion and the
Catholicism of the
Spaniards,
it all just kind of
merged and blended.
And so they took
things of this
and took things
of this
and made
something
altogether
sort of
new.
But syncretism
does that.
It's kind of like
hedging your bets.
You don't want to
put all your
eggs in one
basket,
so you worship
here,
but you also
worship over here
just in case,
you know,
you're covered.
So the Israelites
had become
very syncretistic
in their religion
and that
syncretism
was leading
them
towards
death.
It's what
happened,
in fact,
really what
happened in the
north was not
syncretism at all.
It was an
abandonment
of their covenant
religion,
but not in Judah.
They held on to
temple worship
but added some
things to it
as well.
So on the
surface,
they still
claimed worship
to Yahweh,
but their hearts
were divided.
They were trying
to live with
one foot
in both worlds.
And God
had sent them
prophets
to warn them.
He had sent
circumstances
to really
kind of break
them so that
they would
understand where
they were headed.
But up
until now,
they didn't
get the
point.
But Hezekiah
did.
And he did
some.
So,
are we prone
to syncretism?
well,
yeah,
probably
far more
than we
realize.
Now,
when we buy
into our
culture's
values
and worship
at the
cultural
altars,
we claim
this
religion,
we claim
faithfulness
to this
God,
but at the
same time,
we're bowing
over here
and we
blend them
in so
that it
all looks
like one
neat
package,
we become
syncretistic.
Now,
I get a
chance
often,
and I
enjoy the
opportunity
when I
do,
is to do
premarital
counseling.
But when I
do premarital
counseling,
as soon as
a couple
walks in
my door,
I make
an assumption.
And I'm
rarely proven
wrong.
That couple
will come in
and claim
to be
Christians.
They'll claim
to believe in
God.
They'll claim,
you know,
whatever.
But I also,
I assume
when they walk
in that door
that they're
sleeping together.
It's just
a given.
And I'm
real happy
if I'm
proven wrong.
Don't
but I
rarely am.
Most,
you know,
just,
why would
we stay
chaste?
Why would
we stay
apart in
this culture
where we
live?
Where it's
expected?
Why would
I want to
be so
different?
One of the
cultural values
that tells me
is that I'm
supposed to
be happy.
And sex
is the way
there.
The problem
is that our
faith values
something very
different.
difference.
And we
can talk
why we
value
something
different
maybe another
day.
But too
many people
want to
claim that
they worship
Jesus
all the
while
bowing
at the
altars
of our
modern
culture.
love
and
it's not
just
sex.
It's also
our
affluence.
I was
thinking this
week,
I wonder
how I
would have
reacted
when the
rich young
ruler comes
to Jesus
and he
says,
you know,
what must
I do to
enter the
kingdom of
God?
He says,
hey,
Jesus,
I want to
be a good
Christian.
What do
I need
to do?
And so
he's
supposedly
asking the
right question.
Well,
Jesus gives
him the
wrong
answer.
According to
him,
he said,
go,
sell all
your
possessions,
give the
money to
the poor,
and you'll
have treasure
in heaven,
and then
come follow
me.
So how
would I
respond if
Jesus said
that to
me?
Would I
say,
run off,
or would I
run off in
despair like
that rich
young
ruler,
or would
I say
to him,
been there,
done that,
I'm with
you,
it's all
gone?
Sadly,
no.
See,
worship is
all about
what I
treasure.
And do
I find my
treasure in
Jesus,
or do I
find it
somewhere
else?
I read
this last
week,
there was
an interview
done by
this author,
her name
was Nancy
Jo Sales,
and she
did this
with some
teenage girls,
and I'm
talking about
teenage girls
here,
but just
realize that
this refers
to most of
us adults
as well,
particularly
talking about
their social
media habits,
and their
level of
social standing
with their
peers,
there was a
very elaborate
protocol on
social media
of how you
maintain your
position and
status.
In other words,
who you liked,
what you liked,
what you commented
on, who could
comment on this,
all of this
stuff.
And a young
girl simply
said,
social media is
destroying our
lives.
So the
interviewer asked,
so why don't
you get off
it?
And the
girl responded,
because then we
would have no
life.
I don't know
if she was a
believer or not.
I know a lot
of us that claim
faith in Jesus
would have a
very hard time
putting down
our phones
and social
media.
Because that's
where we're
trying to
build life.
If I have
no life
outside my
devices,
if I have
no life
outside my
retirement
account,
if I have
no life
outside of
pleasure,
I'm
syncretistic.
When I
throw off
the worship
of God,
in order to
offer my
kids on the
altar of
sports,
experiences,
or
entertainment,
I'm
syncretistic.
When I
think that my
highest value is
personal freedom
or individual
choice,
I might be
syncretistic.
Shall I
continue?
Notice I
haven't even
brought up
football.
It was a
very inconvenient
schedule,
preaching that
this week.
Though I will
say Marshall in
West Virginia
did very well.
we are too
often trying
to stand with
one foot in
both worlds.
One with
Jesus and
the other in
our high
places.
And we're
dying.
Too often we
want renewal
without disrupting
those worship
sites.
Too often we
want renewal
that just helps
us to feel
better, to
make life work
better, so
that I will
be more
affluent or
more popular
or you name
it, more
successful.
And we think
that's what Jesus
has come to
do.
And the
high places
remain.
But if real
renewal, if a
real restoration
with Jesus is
going to take
place, those
high places
must come
down.
To let them
remain is like
getting married
and then not
getting rid of
the pictures of
the old
girlfriends,
keeping their
phone numbers
and addresses
and even
going back and
visiting now
and then.
Because again,
you don't want
to, you got to
hedge your bets
here.
Ask your spouse
what she would
think of that.
Or he would
think of that.
It's the renewal
of a love
relationship is
what we're
after.
And it's a
relationship with
our first love,
our true love,
who will
tolerate no
rivals.
And that's
what renewal
is.
And like in a
marriage, when
you get married,
the scriptures
say in Genesis
1, it says
you are to
leave your
father and
mother and
then cleave.
And that
means to
kind of stick
like glue.
And it's
interesting, that's
the very word
that the writer
of Kings uses
here in this
text.
When it says
that Hezekiah
held fast,
it's the word
cleave.
Hezekiah was
leaving and
cleaving.
He was
leaving all
rivals behind
and He was
cleaving to
His true
love.
And that
is what
repentance
is.
It is
throwing off
false loves
and coming
home.
We belong
to only
one and
to only
one we
are to
cleave.
So renewal
begins with
repentance.
Always
begins with
repentance.
But secondly,
renewal,
spirit-led
renewal
pays the
price of
repentance.
The
cleansing
that Hezekiah
brought about
in this
nation was
incredible.
But it
was costly.
You know
what he
risked by
even tearing
down all
those high
places that
everybody else
in the
country was
very used
to using?
But even
more so,
there was
Assyria.
Because when
Ahaz turned
to Assyria
for his
security,
which was
something very
clearly taught
to him that
he was not
supposed to
do,
and the
prophets
warned him
that he was
not supposed
to do it,
he subjected
Jerusalem to
their
authority,
to their
reign,
and Israel,
Jerusalem,
not Israel,
Jerusalem,
Judah,
had to
pay a
very high
price to
them on a
regular basis
to keep that
security.
And for
Hezekiah,
if he was
going to
worship and
trust Yahweh
alone,
he had to
deal with
Assyria.
And so what
the text says,
he rebelled
against the
king of
Assyria.
But if you
notice in the
text, the
writer of
Kings very
importantly
puts verses
9 through
12 right
here.
It's like,
why is there
this little
section,
it jumps out
and talks about
Israel and
their downfall?
It's because
to show that
when Hezekiah
made this
choice,
he was
doing so
in this
context.
He's already
seen what
Assyria can
do and
will do.
And he
chose that.
So here
was Hezekiah's
choice.
He could
die,
just like
Israel.
They could
not do
anything.
They could
not go
through all
this cleansing.
He didn't
have to
repent.
And they
could just
hope that
they could
repel the
armies of
Assyria,
which no
one up to
this point
has done,
nor even
slowed them
down.
So He
could die
this same
death that
Israel has
died as
an act of
the judgment
of His
God,
death.
He could
die.
He could
die.
He could
die.
He could
die.
He could
die.
Throwing
himself on
the protection
of God,
but facing
this huge
army of
Assyria.
His choice
was not
whether he
wanted to
die or
not.
The choice
was how.
His choice
was death,
or death.
And that's
what
repentance
is.
Repentance
is choosing
death
one way
or the
other.
If we
choose not
to repent,
we choose
death.
Because our
sin will
kill us.
it will
suck the
life out
of us
eventually.
Maybe
slowly,
but eventually.
And it
hardens
us.
Or,
we can
choose
death.
To die
to those
high places.
To die
to the
grip those
idols have
in our
hearts.
some years
ago,
I had to
deal
with an
area of
sin in
my own
life
that was
slowly
but surely
crushing
me.
And my
life and
joy were
being sucked
away,
drawn away,
and living
under this
weight
of the
guilt and
the shame,
the slavery
that comes
with it,
I had a
choice.
I could
either
let it
continue
and let
it take
my life.
Or,
I could
choose to
die.
Die
to myself.
Die
to my
reputation.
Die
to my
shame
and guilt.
And tear
down the
high place.
Those
are the
choices.
The
question was
this.
It was not
whether I was
going to die,
it was whether
how.
But the
big question
was,
if I chose
death through
repentance,
would Christ
be enough?
Could
Christ be
sufficient in
his righteousness,
in his caring,
in his presence?
Would that
be enough
to make
do,
to make up
for everything
else?
Would
Christ be
sufficient
for me?
And I
came to
one
conclusion,
that he
would.
Our
high
places
must
come down.
They
offer
only
temporary
relief.
They
promise
only
temporary
rest
and hope.
But true
death
is coming.
And we
can either
die to
those high
places
or we'll
die on
them.
You can
sell your
possessions
and it
will feel
like death.
You can
get off
of your
computers,
put your
phones down
and it'll
feel like
death.
The
promise
we have
is that
if that's
the choice
we make,
there is
life on
the other
side.
Hezekiah
knew it.
do we
know that.
The warning
giving us
here by
kings is
that our
true love
will simply
not tolerate
these rivals
and we
need to
choose
to die
to those
idols
because there
is a
redeemer
who will
come
and save
us.
third
thing.
Now
you're
seeing that
I wasn't
lying about
the sermon.
Spirit-led
renewal
remembers
the
redeemer
always.
Spirit-led
renewal
always runs
to the
redeemer.
It's
interesting
if you
go back
to 2
Chronicles
and you
see more
of what
Hezekiah
did,
one of the
things that
he did
was he
reinstituted
the
Passover
a Passover
that had
not been
celebrated
for
decades
maybe
centuries
and so
the Passover
was critical.
Why the
Passover?
Well the
Passover
reminded
the people
of Jerusalem
a couple
of key
things.
One
it reminded
them that
they were
God's
people
and that
he bought
them
through the
blood of
the Lamb
that he
was their
God.
They were
his people
and that
lamb was
offered as
part of the
covenant that
he made
with them
so it
reminded them
of that
covenant
but it
also
reminded
them of
his power
to save
and preserve
because through
that Passover
the very first
one he took
down one of
the most
powerful nations
the world
had known
and that was
the nation
of Egypt
and so
that Passover
as they came
and celebrated
it was a
reminder
it was
remembering
who they
were
what was
their identity
who are we
and whose
are we
who do we
belong to
and what
will this
one do
that we
belong to
to work
for those
who wait
for him
and so
the Passover
was
wonderfully
significant
in fact
you ought to
go back
and read
this
they had
so much
fun
celebrating
the Passover
that they
extended it
for an extra
week
they were
supposed to
this feast
of unleavened
bread
they celebrated
for a week
and they got
through
and it says
we're not
done
and so
they
did it
for another
week
and it
also said
that the
Levites
who were
leading them
in worship
were singing
at the top
of their
lungs
they were
singing
with all
their
might
that's
something
happens
more in
football
stadiums
than in
our
churches
but they
were rejoicing
because
they remembered
and that's
why we
come to
worship
that's
why this
time
together
is so
critical
is that
we come
to remember
who we
belong to
who is
with us
and I love
the phrase
there in
2nd Kings
where it
says
and God
was with
him
because of
the work
of the cross
I am not
my own
I have been
bought
out of the
kingdom of
darkness
into the
kingdom
of light
I have
been paid
for by
the blood
of not
just a
lamb
but the
ultimate
lamb
and he
is now
mine
and I
am his
and he
wraps me
in his
care
and will
let
nothing
get to
me
outside
of his
love
and goodness
spirit
led
renewal
runs
back to
Jesus
and to
worship
and finds
him
sufficient
for
everything
fourthly
spirit
led
renewal
also
hopes
for a
greater
king
as great
a king
as Hezekiah
was
he was
simply
a pointer
he was
a marker
he was
yes
so much
better
than the
others
but he
pointed
Israel
Jerusalem
and Judah
to a
future
king
who would
come
and not
just tear
down
pagan
altars
but would
come and
transform
hearts
he would
come
and make
all
things
new
and he
would come
and reign
righteously
over
not just
Jerusalem
and Judea
but over
all of
the world
and this
king
is our
hope
when Jesus
comes to
our lives
he doesn't
just come
to make
it better
he doesn't
come to
refresh
he doesn't
come just
to patch
holes
he comes
to restore
to
deconstruct
so that
we can be
rebuilt
into the
temple
fitting
for him
to dwell
this
this is
what
Christ
comes
to do
will
we
trust
him
to do
that
how do
we know
we can
because he's
already paid
he's already
shown us
how far
he will
go
through his
death on
the cross
he is
worthy
of our
trust
he's
worthy
of our
dying
to these
piddly
little
idols
and altars
that we
would come
give our
lives
to the
true king
let's pray
father I
pray that you
would pour
out your
spirit on
us and
bring us
to this
place of
renewal
in many
ways
it may
be hard
we
acknowledge
that we
need
deconstruction
we
acknowledge
that we
need a
deeper
work
than what
just
appears
on the
surface
we
acknowledge
that we
cannot do
it
ourselves
we need
you
and your
spirit
to come
and do
this
work
would
you
would
you do
it in
us
individually
would
you do
it in
us
as a
church
do it
so deep
that our
joy will
raise
it will
rise up
and proclaim
to the
world
how great
you are
so come
we give
ourselves
to you
to do
as you
wish
in the
great
and strong
and good
name of
Jesus
Amen
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information
visit us
online
at
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for more
information
visit us
online
at
southwood.org
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