Sermon
#96 Series: Isaiah
Title: Prayer and the Will of God
Text: Isaiah 38:1-8; 39:1-8
Scripture Reading: II Chron. 32:24-33
Subject: Hezekiah’s Prayer and It’s
Consequences
Date: Sunday Evening – December 8, 1991
Introduction:
The
title of my message tonight is Prayer and the will of
God. Our Lord taught us always to pray, “Thy will be
done.” No matter what our circumstances
are, no matter what we think needs to be done, no matter how much we think we
want something, wisdom and faith bows to the throne of God and says, “Thy will
be done” (Matt. 6:10). “And this is the
confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will,
he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that
we have the petitions that we desired of him” (I John 5:14-15).
If,
when I pray, I truly bow to and seek the will of God, I have what I desire of
him. God will do his will! Contrary to popular opinion, prayer is not a
mighty instrument for getting God to do our will, and the instrument by which
God performs his will in this world.
Author Pink said, “To ask in the name of
Christ is…to set aside our own will and bow to the perfect will of God.” To pray effectively, we must want what God
wants. That is what it means to pray in
the will of God.
“We are not at liberty,” Calvin wrote, “in
calling upon God to follow the suggestions of our own mind and will, but must
seek God only in so far as he has invited us to approach him.”
In
other words, prayer is not a blank check made out to us, waiting for us to fill
in the amount. Prayer is the cry of
the heart to God saying, “Thy will be done!”
Proposition: If in prayer we seek our will rather that God’s will,
it will be great grace if he does not give us what we desire (James 4:3) and it
will be a matter of great sorrow if he does.
Having
laid the foundation for what I want to say tonight, I want us to read together
Isaiah 38:1-8 and 39:1-8.
When
Hezekiah heard the sentence of death from the Lord, he did something that
really surprises me. It would not
surprise me were it done by most anyone else, even by most religious people. But Hezekiah was such a man of faith that
his action really surprises me. When
the Lord God plainly declared “Set thine house in order for thou shalt die, and
not live. Then Hezekiah turned his face
toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD.
In response to the prayer of this great man, God added fifteen years to
his life. At first, that may appear to
be a remarkable example of “the effectual prayer of a righteous man.” But when we reflect upon what happened in
the ensuing fifteen years, Hezekiah’s prayer appears to be instead the selfish,
self-centered desire of a man too much in love with this world.
Here
Hezekiah acted beneath himself, beneath his faith, and beneath his God. Instead of praying, “Thy will be done,” he
prayed that he might live.
I. Hezekiah’s prayer was in
direct contradiction to the revealed will of God.
I do
not want to make more of this than there is.
I do not want you to go away tonight with a bad opinion of Hezekiah. He really was a remarkable man of faith,
dedicated to God, his truth, his people and his glory. But he was a man. And here he was in grave error.
God revealed his will to Hezekiah, and Hezekiah refused to bow.
A.
The Lord God spared Hezekiah’s
life for fifteen years, but they were fifteen years of sadness, sorrow and
regret.
Let me remind you of what happened in these fifteen years. Before I have finished, you will see that Hezekiah probably wishes many times that the Lord had not answered his prayer.
I
read a statement somewhere along time ago by a man who said, “I have lived long
enough to thank God that he did not answer many of my prayers.” So have I!
1.
Three
years after Hezekiah prayed this prayer, Manasseh was born.
Manasseh was a wretched, wretched man. This wicked son of Hezekiah led the children of Judah into every imaginable form of idolatry. He built altars to all the gods of the heathen in the temple of the Lord. He caused his sons to pass through the fire, dedicating them to Molech. This man offered his own sons as a burning sacrifice upon the altar of an idol! Read about his wicked works:
·
II
Kings 21:9-11, 16.
·
II
Kings 24:1-4.
·
Jeremiah
15:1-4.
a. Because of Manasseh, Hezekiah’s wicked son, God destroyed Judah, made their land desolate, and sent the entire nation into slavery.
b.
Manasseh was the result of Hezekiah’s prayer!
Had
fifteen years not been added to Hezekiah’s life, Manasseh would never have been
born. Hezekiah’s selfish prayer gave
birth to this son of iniquity, who turned the hearts of the people away from
his father’s God and brought Jerusalem to ruin!
B. The second result of this fifteen years
added to Hezekiah was that “God left Hezekiah to try him,
that he might know all that was in his heart” (II Chron. 32:25, 31).
Hezekiah
became proud. God’s favors upon him,
rather than humbling his heart, caused his head to sevell. Dizzy with pride, he became easy prey to the
flattering prince of Babylon (Isa. 39:1-2).
Note: As a result of Hezekiahs’s prayer being answered,
1. His head was filled with pride!
2.
Judah
and Jerusalem were marked for destruction.
3.
His
own son Manasseh and his grandson Amman led the people to slaughter by turning
their hearts away from God.
Note: In all the circumstances of our lives, our prayer
ought to be, “Not my will, Thy will be done!”
In prayer seek God’s will, seek God’s will always, seek God’s will
exclusively, seek nothing for yourself.
And when God has made his will known to you, do not resist it. Bow to it, saying, “Thy will be done!”- If
God gives you your will and you miss his will, you will live long enough to
regret it.
Note: I know that God’s will of purpose, his eternal
decrees, cannot be frustrated. God will
do all his pleasure. Yet, it is our
responsibility to seek to walk in, and to obey God’s will in every aspect of
our lives. And it is possible for a
believer to miss God’s will! Hezekiah
did. God let him have his way, and he
reaped the consequences of it- (Pro. 3:5-6).
Note: But Hezekiah was a godly man! When God was done with him, he learned to
bow to God’s will (39:5-8).
II. Yet, “We know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his
purpose.” So, secondly, I want you to
notice that The Lord God graciously and
sovereignly used Hezekiah’s Selfish, Self-Centered, Self-Serving Prayer to
Accomplish His Eternal Purpose of Grace toward His Own Elect.
Hezekiah’s
prayer did not cause God to alter his purpose at all. Far from it. Hezekiah’s
prayer was the very means by which God accomplished his purpose of grace for
his elect.
A. Wicked as he was, Manasseh was
one of God’s elect (II Chron. 33:12-13).
He
would never have been born, much less saved, had Hezekiah not prayed and been
spared fifteen years.
B. Josiah, Manasseh’s grandson,
Hezekiah’s great grandson, was a direct ancestor of our Lord Jesus Christ- (Matt. 1:10-11.
Never
was there a king in Israel or in Judah more loyal, more godly, more thoroughly
consecrated to God than Josiah. He
destroyed the idols his father had built.
He established the worship of God alone in Judah. More importantly, it was through Josiah’s
descendants that the Lord Jesus Christ came as the Messiah and held rightful
title to the throne of Israel.
God
never makes a mistake. Providence never
makes a wrong term. God is always accomplishing
his purpose of grace toward his elect.
He gave Hezekiah the fifteen years he wanted, (or though he wanted),
because it was his purpose to save Manasseh, Josiah, and you and me through
Hezekiah’s distant, distant Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God!
III. There was no reason for
Hezekiah to fear death in the first place.
To
the natural, unregenerate, unbelieving man death is a fearful ghost, hiding
around the corner, a mighty enemy whom he knows he must meet some day, but one
he prefers never to think about. I
understand why lost men and women cringe and tremble in the prospect of death;
but believer’s have no cause for fear.
A. Christ has delivered us from
the fear of death (Heb. 2:15).
B. Our Lord has told us what to
expect in eternity (John 14:1-3).
There
is a better life than this! One of
these days, before too long, I am going to fall asleep in the arms of my
Lord. When I do…
1.
I
am going home (II Cor. 5:1-9).
2.
I
will enter into the presence of my God and Savior.
3.
I
will awake in his likeness.
4.
I
will cease from sin and cease from sorrow (Rev. 21:1-7).
5.
I
will be satisfied!
·
Among
the Church Triumphant – Perfect Fellowship!
·
Having
all my Prayers fully answered!
Illus: The Robin’s Eggs
The Shoe that is too tight.
The tool that
is no longer needed.
Application:
“Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.”
1.
Let
go of this world – Value nothing more now than you will in eternity.
2.
Love
every day as if it were your last.
·
Your
Relationships!
·
Your
Responsibilities!
3.
“Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ.”
·
Come
to Christ!
·
Confess
Christ!
·
Consecrate
Yourself to Christ!
#266 “Fade, Fade
Each Earthly Joy”