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Amen so if you want to keep something there in Philippians 2 we'll be back at the end of the sermon but I'm actually going to begin preaching a sermon series this week on the life of Hezekiah on the life of Hezekiah and we're going to look first of all this morning at his heredity or his heritage his lineage his fatherhood or his father's rather that came before him and to do that let's just quickly turn over to first chronicles chapter number three first chronicles chapter number three in verse 10 of course if you've been with us for a while now especially those of you that were with me as we preached through first and second kings you probably already know a lot of the backstory here so I'm not going to take the time to cover every aspect and every detail the background and the times surrounding Hezekiah and his life but if you remember when I was preaching through second kings we read verse 18 chapter 18 verse 5 I'll just read to you speaking of Hezekiah that he trusted in the Lord God of Israel so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah nor any that were before him and if you remember when I preached through that I said what a profound verse that was the bible describing Hezekiah in that manner saying that there was no other king among all the kings of Judah like him before him or any excuse me any that came after him or before him okay and I kind of threatened back then that I was going to preach a series on the life of Hezekiah so I'm making good on that threat okay I don't know how long it's going to go I don't know how many weeks or we'll see how it goes this morning first of all this might just be a very short series I don't know but let's look first of all at his heredity this morning so if you look there in first chronicles I believe I had you go there in chapter 3 verse 10 it says and Solomon's son was Rehoboam Abiah his son Asa his son Jehoshaphat his son Joram his son Ahaziah his son Joash his son Amaziah his son Azariah his son who is also known as Uzziah elsewhere Jotham his son Ahaz his son Hezekiah his son and Manasseh his son so you have you know lineage of the kings going all the way back to Solomon and of course we see here that Amaziah Azariah or Uzziah Jotham and Ahaz are this are the fathers that are leading up to this great king Hezekiah and if you know the story of Hezekiah you know he wasn't perfect by any means but the bible does say that he was a good and godly king and I believe some some of the the credit that he gets for being such a great king is the time in which he was king the culture which in which he was surrounded the problems that he was dealing with the society as it was in his time that's kind of the fact that he was able to make the stand that he he made and able to accomplish the things that he accomplished in light of the iniquity that was around him that's really what makes Hezekiah such a great example to us this morning but really when you think about it what is it that made Hezekiah the man that he was well in part obviously the lord is the the biggest factor in that but no doubt about it we know that fathers have an impact upon sons that's something that is just natural that's something that's going to take place and no doubt these fathers and grandfathers that came before Hezekiah they had an impact on Hezekiah and they you know obviously weren't influenced to make him into the man that he was so let's just very quickly consider some of these uh these men of course Hezekiah there is the great grandson of Azariah or Uzziah and I will again won't go into all the detail here but if you know the story of Azariah he was not necessarily a great king he did some good things and he did some evil things you'll see often when it's describing these kings that they you know they worship the lord but also they left the high places they continued to allow the Baal worship and they continued to allow you know the the sins of Jeroboam of the northern kingdom to continue and they weren't necessarily the greatest of men of course then we have the grants he was also the great great he was a great grandson of Uzziah but he was also the grandson of Jotham and Jotham's reign was a good reign you know we won't go over and go into all of it if you would go to second kings chapter number 16 second kings chapter number 16 and Jotham you know his reign was short he lived 16 years or he reigned 16 years rather but in all you know he was a good king and he being the grandfather of Hezekiah no doubt probably had an influence on him you know we don't often consider you know the impact that we're going to have not only on those immediately related to us our sons but also even our grandsons that are going to come after us whether we have that influence directly upon them our grandchildren you know the way we raise our raise our children is is going to have an impact on them we are going to have an impact on generations to come through the lives that we live you see this in the life of Hezekiah in his heredity of course he was the son of Ahaz and Ahaz was an evil king to say the least if you look there in second kings chapter number 16 in verse 1 it says in the 17th year of Pekah the son of Remilai Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign 20 years old was Ahaz when he began to reign and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem and did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord his God like David his father okay of course speaking the fact that David was his distant you know great great great grandfather whatever it may be but the point being is that he did not do that which was right okay in the eyes of the Lord in the sight of the Lord he might have done that which is right in the eyes of others the people around him the you know the the moral climate of his day the culture of his day might have said no everything you're doing is right and good and we approve of it but that's not our standard you know we want to do things that are right in the eyes of the Lord okay we want to make sure that we're lining up with God's word that we're pleasing him and not the world around us if we seek to please the world they're gonna have us all twisted up and turned around backwards and doing things contrary to the word of God that's the world that we're living in and this is why I think Hezekiah's life is applicable this morning because he it was in a similar situation where people have forsaken the Lord those around him even those that he's ruling over have forsaken God they're not seeking the Lord you know the northern kingdom kingdom has already just been wiped out okay because of their idolatry you know his he's seeing his people his civilization his countrymen basically crumble around him it's disintegrating before his very eyes and yet he manages to have this great testimony of God that there was no other kings like him okay and of course Ahaz here he was the father of Hezekiah and yet Hezekiah managed to still be the great man of God that he was I think that's notable what's interesting and I won't go into it deeply here but if if you if you notice is that Jotham lived 16 years and Ahaz also reigns 16 years so you have these two kings one that was good and didn't do everything perfect then you have one who was just flat out evil Ahaz but they both had 16 years to reign you know and a quick application we can make about that is you know we only have so much time to do good or evil in this life we only have so much time you know the wicked they have their time too they're going to be an influence they're going to have their 16 years you know and we're going to have our 16 years it's what we do with that what kind of an influence are we going to be on our sons on our daughters what kind of influence are we going to be on our grandchildren and yay even on our great-grandchildren we cannot underestimate the impact that we're going to have on generations to come and you will have an impact whether you intend to or not it's what kind of an impact are you going to make what kind of an impression are you going to make on the generations that come after you Hezekiah I believe had some good godly examples to look to he also had some evil examples to look to and his father Ahaz which who did that which is evil with his 16 years of reigning and yet he was able to turn out the way he did why because sometimes we as sons have to look to our fathers and learn what not to do let's not that be said of us as fathers that's not the impact I want to have on my son that's not the impression I want to make here son let me teach you what not to do let me show you how not to live that's not the impression I want to make now Hezekiah was able to have this great testimony in spite of his heredity and in spite of his heathen surroundings if you would go to second kings 18 second kings 18 looks and look there in verse one I'll begin to read it said now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshia son of Elah king of Israel that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign and I won't go into all of it but if you know the story of Hoshia here you know this is the last king of Israel this is the king who's going to be carried off into captivity Hezekiah is going to watch the northern kingdom basically just be wiped off the face of the earth essentially and be carried off Hoshia is a very wicked king and I'll just read to you from second kings 15 30 and Hoshia the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah who assassinated Pekaliah so if you remember we went through this there's just all these series of assassinations taking place in the northern kingdom that's just corrupt the son of Remaliah and smote him and slew him and reign in his said in the 20th year of Jotham Hezekiah's grandfather the son of Uzziah so he's seeing this northern kingdom just fall apart he's seeing his own people go into idolatry he's living among a wicked people and what we can learn from Hezekiah is that we can still live good godly lives despite perhaps a heredity that isn't necessarily that godly despite perhaps the fact that we're living among you know our own wicked contemporaries and make no mistake about it we are living in the midst of a wicked people today people that are chasing after money people that are chasing after adultery people that are covetous people that are promoting some of the most abominable things according to scripture and saying this is what's good this is what's right this is what you have to embrace he's reigning at the Anjuda at Israel's end if you would go to second kings chapter number 17 look at verse 1 and the 12th feature of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshia the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years and he did that which was evil in the sight of the lord so this is the northern kingdom but not as the kings of Israel which were that were before him against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria and Hoshia became his servant and gave him presence and king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshia for he had sent messengers to sow king of Egypt and brought no present to the king of Assyria as he had done year by year therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison then the king of Assyria came through all the land and went up to Samaria and besieged it three years in the ninth year of Hoshia the king of Assyria took took Samaria and carried away Israel into Assyria and placed them in halah and in habor by the river gozan and the cities of the meads so again as i mentioned earlier hezekiah is living in these heathen surroundings he's living among these ungodly contemporaries of his time and he's watching his countrymen be carried off into captivity that's you know we're living in a similar time where it's taking place spiritually we're seeing uh even christians even baptists today even those that have once stood on the word of god become more watered down more lukewarm more compromising backing away from things that the world would say hey you can't preach that hey you shouldn't say that you know we're seeing more and more of that take place where spiritually our countrymen our contemporaries are being led captive by the world they're being uh you know uh maybe not uh attacked by a literal king but you know the the woke leftist you know uh groups are coming at and these people and trying to shut them down you know that might sound like some far out you know nut conspiracy or something to you but you know i know men of god that have been protested by these people for four years sunday in sunday out week in week out followed to their homes had a lot you know had threats made on their wife because they preached the word of god to this day right now there there's people that are standing outside men uh churches of men of god who are actually taking a stand for the word of god and they're having to contend with a bunch of freaks standing out in their sidewalk blaring and blasting all kinds of music trying to disrupt the service in here and you know what the local police department's doing nothing they said oh we're not going to do anything about it it's been like that for four years you know we're living in a time where our our spiritual countrymen our fellow christians even they are under attack and yay some of them already been carried off into captivity through their compromise and they've left only a few of us to actually take a stand and to bear the brunt of this woke society that's running us down and that's why we look to hezekiah this morning because he's a great example of somebody who despite maybe an ungodly heritage perhaps not having a perfect upbringing perhaps somebody who is living you know in a wicked time and seeing his uh you know his country fall apart before his very eyes still manages to have such a great testimony before god you know we want to be that person we want to be somebody like hezekiah and not only that we want to make sure we're raising the next hezekiah we want to make sure we're raising the next spiritual hezekiahs in our lives we can be godly despite being in similar circumstances as hezekiah if you would go to first john chapter number five first john chapter number five you know we can be godly despite everything that's taking place in our country today we don't have to be drowned and overcome by the flood of iniquity that's swept across this nation you know and if and if that's something you do have no idea what i'm talking about you just think that's you know clueless this morning what's taking place you know it's probably because it's working that you know the programming has worked on you you know you're that frog in the pot that's slowly been boiled to where now people are just accepting everything and if anybody speaks out against it you know they're they're you know they're ostracized they're attacked you know even just by normal you know normal quote-unquote people but we still can be godly despite our surrounding culture jesus said in john chapter eight verse 12 i am the light of the world he that follow with me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life that's such a great verse isn't it i am the light of the world he said what do you mean jesus uh i thought every the whole world was lit up are you suggesting lord that the world's dark spiritually yes yes we live in a dark fallen world that is being ruled by the power of the prince of the air satan it's his dominion he's it's been given to him you know we wrestle against principalities and powers and high places we guess we wrestle against the rulers of the darkness of this world that's what the bible says is that just you know hyperbole it's just the bible being overly dramatic there to suggest that this world has fallen and that wicked you know uh workers are are doing their deeds out there no that's what the bible says it's literal and he's saying i am the light of the world he that follow with me shall not walk in darkness you know what that tells me is if you're not following jesus you're walking in darkness you know why do we want to read our bibles why do you want to be in church why do we be serving god so that we can walk in the light even as he is in the light and then we can have fellowship one with another you know that's why we want to have a relationship with god that's why we want to be saved and we want to you know have that communion with the lord we want to stay close to him because it's a dark world out there you know we've been given the word of god the bible says as a light that shineth in a dark place where into you do well that you take heed we do with some good to take key into the light that god has given us in his word let it illuminate us and guide us through this dark world because that's what the world is it's dark i know it's hard to believe living in you know the sunny state of arizona where you're lucky to see a cloud even but if you consider if you consider that and i look one lucky or lucky thing i don't know you know but spiritually if we were to look through it through a spiritual lens the world is in darkness that's what jesus said and we need to learn to follow him so that we can walk in the light and have the light of life he said in john chapter 17 verse 14 i have given them thy word and the world hath hated them because they are not of the world even as i am not of the world you know god has given us his word and because we have his word if we're faithful to it if we preach it mark it down you will be hated by this world they'll get you know the sanaq arabs are going to come the syrians are going to come they're going to be seen they're going to want to tear us down they're going to stop us they're going to shut us up we will be hated by the world but it's it's his word that causes it right he's given he's that's what he he's given that's what he said i've given them thy word and the world hath hated them i pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil the answer is not to just you know try to get out of the world let's go build a commune somewhere and all live together and just pretend nothing's taking place we have to be in this world we have to be kept from the evil we have to hold forth the word of life in this dark world you know that's the light that word has been given to us that light has been given unto us it's our job to shine that light in this dark world they are not of this world even as i am not of the world sanctify them through thy truth thy word is truth as thou hast sent me into the world even so have i also sent them into the world god has sent us into the world to be that light under the world by walking with him and holding forth the word of life as we read in philippians and we'll get back to in a minute look there first john chapter 5 verse 19 and we know that we are of god and the whole world lieth in wickedness and we know that the son of god has come and hath given to us an understanding that we may know him that is true and that we are in him that is true even in his son jesus christ this is the true god and eternal life i love how john says we know that we are of god and that the whole world lieth in wickedness and we know that the son of god has come so there's a couple things that we know isn't it we know that we are of god we know that you know if we're saved we know that we're god's child we know we are in him we know that we are of god we also know that the whole world lieth in wickedness hopefully hopefully we understand that and we've not become so naive to think that you know this what's taking place out there is normal we haven't become so brainwashed just to accept everything and just think oh this is the way it's supposed to be we ought to know that the world lies in wickedness that the world is dark look we know these things we know that we are of god we know that the world lies in wickedness we know that the son of god is come and have given us an understanding we know these things what we have to do today is we have to choose what are you going to focus on what's your what's your focal point this morning you know these things but you know what are you focusing on are you focusing on that the fact that the world lies in wickedness look some people do this all they can think about is all just everything that's going wrong in the world all the negativity all they can think about is everything that's just wrong and wicked and ungodly and look i'm not saying to be ignorant of it but that's not what we focus on we know that we are of god that's what we need to focus on that's the point i'm trying to make this morning that's what hezekiah did i believe he knows look i know what my father the god of my fathers i know the lord god of israel i know what is true i know that this world is wicked i see the results of it taking place i see you know my countrymen being carried off into captivity i see you know uh our religion being torn down i see all this idolatry i see everything that's taken place i see all these abominations i see the wickedness i know the world lies in wickedness but i also know that i am of god i know that and that's what we need to focus on what we know and not that we know that the world lies in wickedness but we know that we are of god and he had given us an understanding you know you might think by the preaching this morning that that's i just sit at home and just wring my hands over everything that's going wrong in the world and look there's times where i'm extremely vexed by the things that i see i just took a trip up to yakima and flew through seattle seattle yeah you guys know we got some people from washington they know exactly what i'm talking about i've taken trips to these big airports and so have you and sometimes you start to look around and you see some things that just if my children were there i would have covered their eyes say don't look at that person oh i can't believe you'd say that about somebody i can't you know i can't believe that people think some of the things that are walking around out there are normal you know that's what vexes me is that they're all the people that are standing around and they have some freak walk in some transvestite some tranny walk in walking around in public and people have their kids just like oh yeah just look they're not appalled by it or maybe they you know what the truth is a lot of people are disgusting appalled by it they just don't have the guts to say anything i mean i saw one going up there i saw a grown man in pink overalls with hearts all over it that came up to here tight big old belly with pink hair and his little pink headphones with little pink kitty ears and little pink sunglasses shaped with like hearts walking around the seattle airport like it was just another day in paradise and i'm instantly going through all the situations right because i'm like okay i'm in seattle i gotta get to yakima we're in the same terminal and i'm thinking what if you said sex i'm in a plane what am i going to do what if i end up having to sit next to this individual we'll consult later you know but i'm running through these scenarios like okay it's three hours drive from here i could rent a car because i'm not gonna six next this guy i'm not that that i knew it's not gonna happen it's just how much of a scene am i gonna make then i'm looking at you know the ticket agent and i'm thinking and i'm looking up united airlines you know dress code policy and i read well the the attendance the the ticket agents they have the final say in what's appropriate and what isn't and i'm thinking could i convince that person that this is completely inappropriate and you know what it's completely inappropriate it's disgusting i don't know maybe you don't feel that way i i'm disgusted by it look i know i'm not there's nothing i'm saying this morning there's nothing i'm going to do that's going to turn the tide against you know the the this kind of thing that's taken over it's it's far it's too far gone so hezekiah you know he he was just hanging on there was no coming back god gave him a little time god gave a few you know a few more kings after him some more time to just kind of spared them but it's too late it's too far gone judgments coming and i i but i'm just saying you know i know we're not going to change anything but that doesn't mean i'm just going to walk through my life blindingly just accepting of these things and not denying the fact that some of these things just vex me to the core and won't cease to do so you know why things like this bother me because i walk in the light oh it's because you're just his hate preacher no it's because i walk in the light i know that i'm of god i know that son of god has come and he has given me an understanding and i know that the whole world lies in wickedness that's why these things vex me that's why i sit there and run through these you know hypothetical situations of how i'm going to handle the situation you know thankfully when the boarding call came for portland that's where he went how ironic you know portland the the the just the the bastion of progressive liberal ideology how is it turning out for them they're being overrun on the flight back you know i talked to a guy that worked in downtown seattle he started just telling me the horror stories of you know the results of these these liberal policies that these cities are enacting you know and i told him what i do and he asked me he said you know what what do you think as a baptist minister what do you how do you what direction you think the country's going how do you think it's going to turn out and it's funny they asked me because i had you know already been thinking how would i articulate this to somebody i didn't wasn't planning on doing so and i thought well let me tell you and i told them i said you know i think that we're living our country basically as a people we are at the pinnacle of prosperity i mean there's been nothing like this in all of history this is what i told them the prosperity that we have in this country like to us it just seems normal to just have the internet in our pocket to have air-conditioned homes and air-conditioned vehicles air-conditioned flights and and we can just you know fly hundreds of miles you know safely comfortably enjoy a ginger ale in the way you know whatever whereas that same trip would have you know like cost people children you know and months of travel you know the pioneers and things like that i mean we just take all this stuff for granted look we have experienced such prosperity in this country it's the same story with israel i mean solomon in his day i mean there was that was the wealthiest wisest country that ever existed and yet they fell did they fall overnight no it took many generations you say where are we at we're on the free fall that's how i see it this is what i told them well i feel like we've been there we've been at that peak of prosperity and now we're at that free fall we've gone off the precipice morally we're and now we're free falling the problem today is if people they think they're flying that's what i told them i feel like we're flying everyone's going i'm flying we've reached such a high height as a people now we're flying look how progressive we were flying no you're free falling it's just that you're flying from such a high height you can't see the ground rushing up on you and what's going to happen is soon enough if people are going to we're going to fall far enough people are like oh and this isn't good and it's going to be too late too late to pull the chute it's too late you're already falling there is no chute and then it's just splat oh that's never happened that's happened to every empire that's ever existed they reach a pinnacle they go into some moral debauchery and just crash and burn and then another one comes up and says oh look at the relics you know even if we make it that far if christ doesn't return first and that's a whole other story you know that's what i told this guy on the plane and he agreed you know but that's kind of a you know you could if we just close the word you know close the sermon in prayer and go home you know enjoy thanks for coming you know that would be a kind of a despairing sermon wouldn't it we're doomed it's bad it's going to get worse let's close in order prayer beloved god bless you thank you for coming see you next week probably not my message this morning is that we can be like ezekiah look he lived in a wicked day he lived in a very wicked time we'll look at it more you know as we go along but we can be godly despite our our surrounding culture we can still live a godly life i've seen people do it you have to choose your focal point he says again we know that we are of god we know that the son of god has come we know that the world lieth and wickedness what are you going to focus on or are we going to be somebody that just pulls the blinders on and just says this isn't happening this is not happening to me this is not it's it looks silly doesn't it you know that's what a lot of people are doing spiritually they're just putting on the blindfold of media they're just putting the blindfold of entertainment they're just putting on the blindfold of all these things they're just plugging their ears and just pretending that none of this is happening and it's all coming down around us morally that's what's going on i just choose to acknowledge it we know that the world lieth and wickedness but we also know that if we follow christ we will have the light of life we will walk in the light you have to choose your focal point in the surrounding culture we can be godly despite the world around us we can be godly despite our father's failings because this is who's to blame how did we get here the men that came before us how did hezekiah end up in the situation that he's in a has jotham others ungodly men that came before him compromises watered down lukewarm christianity that's what's gotten us here it's not because there's too many people getting up and preaching things like this from the pulpit and saying it like it is it's because there's not enough of them there's not enough people trying to stem the tide it's our father's failings you know we might have fathers that you know have perhaps even failed us but you know we have a godly father if you would go over to deuteronomy chapter number 32 deuteronomy chapter number 32 i'm almost done this morning i'll begin reading in verse four it says he is the rock his work is perfect for all his ways are judgment oh don't judge don't judge the cry don't judge the cry of the liberal the cry of the compromised liberal christian judge not it should be not judged that's the bible verse you know most christians know it used to be john 3 16 for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believed him should not perish by everlasting life you know but now it's judge not it should be not judged you know then he goes on and says judge righteous judgment it's about judging with hypocrisy he's saying you know uh remove the beam out of your eye then you shall see more clearly the moat that is in your brother's eye to remove it okay all his ways are judgment that's god's you know god is judgment god is a righteous judge somebody's got to say it like it is somebody's got to say say what's right and what's wrong a god of truth and without iniquity just and right is he well let me get on his side if i believe that if he's perfect if his ways are judgment if it's truth without iniquity just and right well let me get on his side but notice verse five it says they have corrupted themselves their spot is not the spot of children they are perverse and crooked generation and in the context i believe he's referring to you know even god's own people okay but i want to make a distinction here between god and the people god you know is perfect and just god is a god of judgment god is a god of truth he's not doesn't have iniquity but they are a people of iniquity they have corrupted themselves their spot is not the spot of his children they are perverse and crooked generation do ye thus requite meaning repay the lord o foolish people and unwise is not he thy father that hath bought thee and look if you're saved this morning the answer to that question is yes no matter what the shortcomings of our fathers have been we have a heavenly father that has bought us through christ and he's just he's right and it's perfect and his ways are judgment and truth and there is no iniquity that's them it's them that have perverted their ways it's them that are a crooked nation today hath he not made thee and established thee and we have a godly father to look towards we have a godly example to follow even if our own fathers have failed us even if our spiritual forefathers have dropped the ball god hasn't changed god is still the same and we know that and we can walk in that light i want to close on this thought though speaking more to fathers is that you know we may be the fathers that are raising the next generation of who you know we looked at hezekiah's heredity this morning we looked at those that came before him we want to ask ourselves who are we raising are we raising the next ahas because that's possible there's plenty of ahas is being raised this morning wicked ungodly people who mock the things of god don't care for the things of god it's possible even for godly christians to do that it's possible for us to do it you know that would be a pretty serious disappointment wouldn't it and say what do you want for your kids oh i want them to go to a big university and make lots of money okay well then you're no different than the world i'm not saying that's a bad thing i'm just saying you know that's the only goal we have for our children you know we're kind of rolling the dice spiritually who knows how they're going to turn out there's a very good chance they're not going to turn out living for god and that's not my goal for my kids you know what's your goal for your children that they'll love god that they'll have a spiritual example to look to that they'll have somebody that can pattern their lives after as a christian so they can grow up and not be an ahas who's going to tear down you know the the the lord's worship and set up idols and work abomination and disregard the you know the god of the bible that's that would be my greatest disappointment you know my son my daughters grow up to just be simple plain people humble people content people maybe they don't have all the world's wealth and all the world's privileges but they love god and they know their bible and they're a light in this world i will say i have succeeded as a father if i raise a has a kaia and not an ahas you know that's what i'm working towards the bible says in second chronicles 27 verse 6 so jotham became mighty of course this is his grandfather jotham became mighty because he prepared his way before the lord his god what made jotham mighty he prepared his way before the lord you know that made jotham mighty it helped him it benefited him didn't it he prepared his way and he became mighty that's what it says jotham became mighty because he prepared his ways before the lord his god he got right with god he got his heart with god he did the things that god wanted him to do that's what he did and he became mighty became a powerful man of god did great things but you know it also had an effect on his grandson too it carried on the generations after him didn't it it had an effect you know i want to be like a jotham i want to prepare my way i want to become mighty i want to take a stand against the society i want to take a stand and as everything else is falling down around us as the world gets darker i just want to shine brighter for christ and we'll see here in a minute how we're going to do that very specifically but you know that's going to have a another uh you know there's going to be a side effect if you will if you want to call it that of me being an example to my son i mean how do you think hezekiah turned out the way he did was it because he was looking to ahas his evil wicked father or maybe it was because he's looking back to the generations beyond that behind him the ones that came even further in the past and fall in pattering his life after that you know i don't i don't have the godly father i wasn't raised an independent fundamental baptist far from it my friend i don't have that godly heritage to heritage to look to but i have a father in heaven to look to and i have a godly heritage spiritually of men of god that have come before me to look to that i can pattern myself after men who took a stand for the word of god and that hopefully will have an effect on my son as well you know this is we have to ask ourselves who are we raising what are we raising next what's the generation is going to come after us the ahas the jotham maybe in uzziah hopefully maybe we maybe that's the best we could hope for who is somebody who's just kind of compromised he did good he did good he did evil he loved the lord his god he worshiped god but you know the high places remained he let a lot of other things go on kind of a mix you want to just well we'll be sat on i'll be i'll be content if i just raise a watered down lukewarm you know loser who's just too afraid to really live the lord or preach god's word or take a stand for what really matters and just go along to get along or can or can we raise a hezekiah someone that's godly not perfect wasn't perfect we'll see that in his life he would i know i have you uh i don't know where i had you go but if you would go to proverbs chapter 13 i wanted to look at this real quick proverbs chapter number 13 and verse 22 proverbs 13 what are we leaving behind for our kids what is the example that we're setting because look they need one they need one it's just getting darker folks it's only getting worse and we need people to just be the example of living godly in christ jesus in a wicked world otherwise they're just going to get swept up and at best you know maybe we'll end up with an uzziah but can't we raise a hezekiah can we raise somebody who's willing to take that stand and have a great testimony i'm not saying perfect we're all flawed we're all gonna have shortcomings but at least somebody who's not just gonna you know not only you know i'm not satisfied well he didn't just embrace you know all of this filth that's being pushed on us you know that's a pretty low bar to set you know my you know my children go out and you know champion the rights of all you know this enigma just this evil agenda that's out there we were just having shoved in our face you know for the last 30 days that's not what the bar i'm trying to raise you know or try to set that's not the standard i'm setting you know but i don't want to just you know set the one that's say hey well you know he he got along to get along he wasn't for it but you know he didn't make any waves either i want the hezekiah i want somebody's going to do something he's going to stand in the midst of wicked people that's what i'm trying to raise that's what i'm trying to leave behind if you look at proverbs chapter 13 look at verse 22 it says a good man leaveth an inheritance for his children's children and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children that's his grandchildren and of course you know that you could say hey that applies to finances it's good to you know lay up with the nest egg and pass down a physical inheritance to your children okay then it says the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just the just you know god's people i've already got that inheritance i've already got the wealth of the sinner the meek shall inherit the earth it's just a matter of time you know it's your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom i've already got that mansion and glory i'm going to be walking on streets of gold i've already got you know the physical wealth of this world through my father i already have that inheritance you know a good man leaveth an inheritance for his children's children i want to leave a spiritual legacy behind i want to leave something that's not tangible something they can't just deposit an account somewhere i want something that's going to guide them through this dark world that's what i'm trying to leave behind for my kids that's the inheritance i want to give them because quite frankly there's no way i'm going to leave them any kind of physical inheritance you know they can have the van it's going to cost you money to fix it right that's about all i'm leaving you know maybe a few old suits that need to take me taking the dry cleaners that's about the that's about that's about the amount of physical inheritance they're going to get dad's desk big whoop you know but i can leave behind a spiritual inheritance i can leave behind something that's going to guide them through a dark world that's only you know only going to get darker this is why this is important you know hopefully i haven't lost you this is why this is important why preach this because it's going to get darker i mean i mean even in my short 40 years it's it's gotten dark it's gone from dark to darker in the time i've been here i've been around that long we've seen it progress you think that you think that ball's done rolling it's still gaining it's still gaining momentum it's getting bigger it's getting more powerful it's going to get darker you know that's why we need to be like a hezekiah so they can raise a hezekiah that's why we need to make sure we're focusing on the light that we have embracing it walking in it and not just chasing after the world chasing after the things this world and teaching our children to do the same because then who's going to hold the light go to philippians 2 go back to where you were the bible says in psalm 16 their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god you know this country you know i don't believe this country was just inhabited by the vast majority you know at one point by born again believers but it definitely had a very strong christian influence in its founding and the years that followed the the centuries that followed where people at the very least respected the word of god pattern their lives afterward even if they didn't understand the gospel there was things they understood that were taught in the bible that they embraced and said this is how you live a good moral life this is how you build you know a a moral country a prosperous country by adhering to the principles and the commandments that are taught in this book that's what they patterned after but you know what our our spiritual forefathers our physical forefathers have hastened after another god at this point it's been generation after generation after generation of people forsaking god and that number is increasing well what's the big deal their sorrows shall be multiplied you're always going to have sorrow life's never going to be perfect but you know what their sorrows shall be multiplied there's going to be more of it when we hasten after another god in your personal life and as a nation their drink offerings of blood will i not offer nor take up their names into my lips the lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup thou maintainest my lot the lines are falling onto me in pleasant places yea i have a goodly heritage you know i look around and see what the a lot of other people are inheriting in this world and i say it doesn't compare you can have it you know i'll take the lord that'll be my portion those lines are falling to me in pleasant places i have a goodly heritage than the god if you look at philippians chapter 2 i'll wrap it up here verse 12 he says wherefore my beloved as you've always obeyed not in my presence only but now in my absence work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is god which work within you both to do and to uh will and to do of his good pleasure and this is paul or paul yeah admonishing his spiritual heritage if you go on and raid there in verse 22 he talks about how timothy was his son in the faith right how he he was a he was a father to him in the faith right it's his spiritual son so he's admonishing his spiritual heritage and he says in verse 14 do all things without murmurings and disputings that you may be blameless and harmless the sons of god without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom you shine as lights in the world holding forth the word of life that i may rejoice in the day of christ i have not run in vain neither labored in vain he's saying do these things so that in the day of christ when we all stand before god i can rejoice over you knowing that you've held forth the word of life that you've done those things that i've taught you to do that i've had an impact on you that i've left a godly heritage behind me how will our sons remember us how will our children remember us will we be that jotham will we be in uzziah will we be an ahas or would be a hezekiah will we be somebody they can look back on and say i'm going to do it just like he did i'm going to do it just like them what is our example going to teach them chase after things chase after money wealth possessions he covetous adulterous lust sin idleness to disregard the things of god well you say i want i want it to be like paul i want to be able to rejoice in the day of christ over these people well there's a couple words in here in verse 14 it begins with these two little letters that sometimes we don't like do i wish so many things in christian life were just automatic i wish i could just you know just i didn't have to take any will or effort on my part it just happened there's some things you have to set out to do if you want to have that testimony if you want to be remembered fondly you know as somebody who was a good spiritual example there's some things you have to do it's not just going to happen and you have to do them and he's doing all things whatever it is you have to do without murmurings that's complaining without disputing without arguing just do it just get it done that you may be he's saying do that you may be that's what hezekiah had to do he couldn't just sit around and murmur and complain about the way everything was he had to do something we can't just sit around and murmur and complain and focus on just how wicked everything is and wring our hands about it we have to do something so what am i what is it that i have to do verse 16 holding forth the word of life well what are we supposed to do uh get into political office and get elected yeah good luck with that that you know that's how i'm gonna bring this nation back to god i'm gonna go i'm gonna get on you know something some committee somewhere i'm eventually i'm gonna get myself elected to high office preaching this book i mean really preaching it i mean really saying what it says no way go exactly nowhere that's not where it is i mean at best you know we can hope for it our leaders is that they'll you know they're they're more like the uh the uh the uzias they'll say you know these these uh transgender these transvestite you know uh uh what do they call them when they walk up and down the catwalk the uh the drag show right they don't say you know this is an abomination we need to get rid of it what they say is hey no one under the age of 18 okay i mean we're taking a real right to stand i mean that's what one of our representatives in this state that was the big bold stand that he took it's just hey just no one under 18 let's not go too far with it that's i mean it's something i'll take it but still compromise we have to hold forth the word of life you know the preacher has to get up and preach it the way it is and we have to go out there and shine the light through preaching the gospel you know get people saved get the holy spirit in them so maybe they won't turn into one of these freaks they won't turn into some reprobate they'll be able to hear the word of god and actually you know maybe struggle with it maybe tangle with it but eventually believe it that's what we have to do or you know what you know what we you know we could just say man whatever and just throw up our hands and say he doesn't know what he's talking about blah blah blah and just go back to the way it was and just let things carry on well you know what it's just going to keep going the way it's been going then isn't it that's exactly how it's going to go it's going to get darker and darker and darker and we'll have made no change no impact you know and and who knows what's going to come after us we'll just leave that to chance you know where we can hold forth the word of life we can do these things without murmuring and disputing quit complaining quit arguing and just do what the bible says get on god's program and maybe raise the next generation that's going to carry forth the word of life on our behalf and then you know what there's going to be that day of christ and then we can rejoice because we had some part in it that's what we looked at this morning hezekiah's heredity you know he didn't come from some noble line of the godliest people he had some straight up failures spiritually in his life that preceded him people who just cast off the things of god and went full just headlong into idolatry and yet he manages to have such a great testimony why because he trusted in the lord he trusted in his heavenly father that's what we need to do that's what we want to raise a godly hezekiah let's go ahead close the word of prayer