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Isaiah 39 - Hezekiah’s Pride and Generational Apathy · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Today we are in the last
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  chapter. I think this might be the last
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  narrative chapter in the book of Isaiah.
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  Let me take a quick peek. Also, we are well past now more
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  than halfway done with the book of Isaiah.
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  Isaiah has been called kind of like the Bible in miniature
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  because it has 66 books, just like in our Protestant numbering
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  of Scripture, we have 66 books, 39 books in the Old Testament
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  and 27 books in the New Testament.
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  And so today's episode, we are in Isaiah 39.
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  And so if you will, we only have 27 more chapters to go that we
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  are well past the halfway point. And so today is the last
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  narrative chapter that we have in Isaiah.
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  After this, it's going to be a lot of poetry.
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  So think a lot along the lines of Psalms is the, if you will,
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  the vibe that we get from most of the other chapters.
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  There will also be some chapters that involve some denunciations
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  and prophecies against various sins and sinful rulers.
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  There's a lot of chapters about the suffering servant of Isaiah,
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  and that is talking specifically prophesying about Jesus and what
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  he would go through on behalf of Israel and what he would do for
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  Israel. So the most famous chapter of
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  which is Isaiah 53, which talks in detail about the suffering
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  that Jesus would go through on the cross and in his beatings
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  and his death. And so this next portion of
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  Isaiah that we're going to go through in chapters 40 through
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  66 is super, super important and would have given Israel the
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  blueprint looking forward about 700 years or so to when Jesus
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  would come and what they should anticipate the role of the
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  Messiah being. Many of them, most of them did
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  not understand what Jesus had come to do.
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  But after Jesus's death and resurrection, the apostles
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  solidly understood what had taken place, even as Jesus
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  explained some of that to them. So that's all what's to come.
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  Today we're jumping back into the same general story that we
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  heard last episode. King Hezekiah of the southern
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  Kingdom of Judah had been told by God that he was going to die.
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  Hezekiah prayed. He asked the Lord like, hey,
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  could I have some more time? God said, all right, I will add
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  15 more years to your life now. That was wonderful.
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  He prayed. God answered.
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  God answered. The prayer in the way that
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  Hezekiah wanted doesn't always happen that way.
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  And so he was excited for that, but Hezekiah did something that
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  he should not have done. And we're going to read that in
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  today's chapter. This chapter is only 8 verses,
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  but it has some, I think, important lessons for us in our
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  day-to-day walk in life. Chapter 39 and verse #1 At that
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  time, after Hezekiah's healing, Meridoc Baladan, son of Baladan,
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  king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah since he
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  heard that he had been sick and had recovered.
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  So, you know, this is kind of nice.
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  Nearby king goes, hey, I'm I'm happy you're feeling better.
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  He sends letters and a gift. Verse #2 Hezekiah was pleased
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  with the letters, and he showed the envoys his treasure house,
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  the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil,
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  and all his Armory and everything that was found in his
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  treasuries. There was nothing in his palace
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  and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.
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  OK, that one's just stated. You might already have an idea
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  of what Hezekiah's blunder was. Let's continue reading.
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  Verse #3 Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked
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  him, what did these men say and where did they come to you from?
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  Hezekiah replied, they they came to me from a distant country,
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  from Babylon, which again, Assyria is just, if I'm
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  remembering correctly, my geography is just a little ways
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  away from Babylon, like there's not that much of a difference.
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  And so I wouldn't even, especially with everything that
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  had happened to the northern Kingdom of Israel, I would not
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  have been the one to say, oh, yeah, distant country.
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  Babylon, a distant country to me is, oh, you know, China, Japan,
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  you know, over on the other side of the world, Greece, like those
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  are distant countries. Babylon still feels a little too
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  close to home. Verse #4 Isaiah asked.
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  What have they seen in your palace?
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  Hezekiah answered, They've seen everything in my palace.
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  There isn't anything in my treasuries that I didn't show
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  them. Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah,
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  Hear the word of Yahweh of heaven's armies.
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  Look, the days are coming when everything in your palace and
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  all that your predecessors have stored up until today will be
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  carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says
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  Yahweh. Some of your descendants who
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  come from you, whom you father, will be taken away, and they
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  will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
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  Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, the word of Yahweh that you have
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  spoken is good, for he thought there will be peace and security
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  during my lifetime. He's thinking, all right, well,
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  there's going to be bad that is coming, but it's not in my
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  lifetime, so I don't have to deal with it.
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  So yeah, that's great. Isaiah here doesn't say that I
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  will become a eunuch in the palace of the king of Babylon.
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  He goes, I'm fine. It doesn't matter what happens
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  to future generations so long as I am good.
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  Can I challenge you? You and your generation are not
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  all that matters. What you say and do will make an
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  impact that will far outlive you, and you should have a
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  desire that the impact that you leave will be for the better,
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  for the good, and not for the worse.
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  On the national scale. This is something that people
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  have warned about for a long time, that even the consistent
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  hoarding of wealth in some of the upper age groups of our
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  society, that it's not being passed down generationally.
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  And so there's going to come a time of incredible financial
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  upheaval even in the next say 15 to 15 to 35 years.
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  And I'm certain that there's some people that might be
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  watching this that are like, it'll happen sooner than that.
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  And I, I don't doubt some of that as well that can happen
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  within even our, our debts that we're amassing as a nation.
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  And there's continued to be no cessation of consistent spending
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  without being accountable to what we're spending, a bad
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  budgeting, excessive spending that's not within, you know, the
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  the agreed upon budget that we even are supposed to have as a
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  country. And so we are saddling future
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  generations with incredible debt in ways that could really
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  destroy our nation in coming days.
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  None of you, I don't believe watching this, are individually
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  responsible for that. You are responsible for the way
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  that you talk to your kids and your grandkids, to those younger
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  than you at your church, the way that you care about those within
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  your church. Just because you might be
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  getting up older in years does not mean that you are exempt
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  from service in the church now. That service might not look like
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  you. You, you might be, you know, 93
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  years old. You might not be one that God
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  has serving in nursery during this time.
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  That's totally OK. But you better be praying for
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  your brothers and sisters in the Lord.
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  You better be an encouragement in whatever time that the Lord
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  gives you that when you are at church, you're building someone
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  else up with your words that you are caring for them.
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  Don't say well, I did my time and now you know everyone else
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  can just deal and so it it doesn't matter.
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  No you until your dying breath invest into the coming
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  generations. Now, that might be if you are
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  90, that someone in their 60s and 70s is some of the next
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  generation that you're pouring into and that you're caring for
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  as well as you can care for those that are, you know, in
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  their teens or those that are in their 20s like myself.
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  You can invest in the coming generations.
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  Have a love that you want other people to know, how to share the
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  gospel, how to live well in their marriages, how to be a
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  diligent and a hard worker, how to give to the Lord's work.
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  Wherever the Lord has placed you, you can invest in the next
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  generation and make their future better.
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  I'd even encourage you. I have no idea who all watches
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  Tabernacle talk, but if you are anywhere near kind of the end
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  years of your life, I'd encourage you to talk with a tax
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  professional and see if there's a way for you to give to the
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  Lord's work, whether here at Tabernacle or wherever your
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  local church is, that when you pass that God's work is
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  continuing to be blessed and taken care of even through your
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  financial generosity. You know, Uncle Sam can get a
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  bunch of it where you might be able to give it to the good Lord
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  and to His work. I am not a tax expert.
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  Don't talk to me anything that you would do in relation to
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  Tabernacle that is between you and God.
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  No, no assumptions or pushes from my end.
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  But I do want to encourage you be thinking about the future
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  here. Hezekiah goes, well, stuff is
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  going to be fine during my life. So it doesn't matter that I have
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  done these incredibly destructive things for my, you
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  know, kids or grandkids and the future of this Kingdom of Judah.
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  Like I really messed up the proper response for Hezekiah
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  here would be God, I am so sorry.
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  Like I was prideful. I was wrong and so would you
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  forgive me. You know, even praying he he
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  prayed the time before. Don't kill me.
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  I feel like he could also have prayed here.
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  God, don't bring onto my kids or my grandkids punishment for my
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  pride right now. Like punish me, don't punish
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  them for it. That's not what he prays here
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  and here. It's just very self-centered in
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  his reaction. Don't be that.
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  I also want to mention as well, the kind of source of this
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  trouble that he brings on the subsequent generation is because
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  of his pride that he wants to show off and showboat to the
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  messengers from Babylon to say, look how rich I am, look how
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  incredible my house is. And the many of us are not
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  rulers over a country that our pride can literally mean the end
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  of our country. All of us can be unduly proud
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  and pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit
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  before a fall is what Solomon would tell us in Proverbs.
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  And so I want to encourage you, don't have a proud heart.
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  Don't be boastful in your possessions in your in your
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  home. Don't be boastful of your
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  accomplishments and all the great things, quote UN quote you
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  have done. Recognize that everything you
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  have comes from God. So you can use your stuff, you
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  can use your home, you can use your wisdom or accomplishments
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  to bless other people and to help equip them for what God
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  would have. But don't live your life just
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  being a self-centered, braggadocious person here.
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  That led to it was one of many things that led to the downfall
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  of Judah, but God highlights it both here and in.
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  I forget if it's Second Kings or Second Chronicles, but God
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  highlights it multiple times as one of the reasons for the
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  downfall of Judah. It's one of the most human
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  aspects that Babylon knew. There are incredible riches to
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  be had here, and so I want to challenge you.
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  Don't be prideful, be generous. A proud person says.
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  Look at all of this stuff. Generosity says, how can I use
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  God's stuff that I currently manage to bless someone else?
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  If you have a nice home, wonderful.
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  Don't just have people over that can marvel at your greatness.
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  Have people over to be able to spend time with them, to
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  disciple them, to invest in them, to fellowship with them,
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  to pray with them. Do that if you have a nice home,
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  that is something that you should be doing.
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  If you have a lot of money, use your money to help those who
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  don't have many possessions. Help people out within your
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  church that need it. Give to the Lord's work so that
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  God's so that your local church, wherever it is, can be further
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  blessed. If you have a nice vehicle, use
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  it to give rides to maybe older individuals that need to get to
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  a doctor's appointment or need to get to the store or maybe
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  need to visit a family member. Those would all be good ways to
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  use your possessions. Don't just brag on what you
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  have. Use what you have in order to
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  bless others. And that would even fall in line
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  with what we read several months back in First Timothy 6 of
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  instruct those who are rich in this world to be rich in good
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  deeds and may we pursue that with our life.
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  This ends the narrative portion of Isaiah chapters 36 through
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  39. Some good that happens in
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  Hezekiah's life. He prays to the Lord, he lays it
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  out. He says God, you're the only one
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  that can help. God answers his prayers, but it
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  doesn't mean that Hezekiah was perfect.
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  And there were times where his pride and his self centeredness
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  led to the destruction of generations.
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  And so may we have a heart to be generous, to be wise, to be
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  humble, not to be prideful or braggadocious.
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  Thank you for tuning in today. Don't forget to like, comment,
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  Have a wonderful day.