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The Home of the Brave (2 Kings 18:1-8)
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The last five words of our National Anthem say, “…the home of the brave.” The stanza actually asks a question if our nation is still “…the land of the free and the home of the brave?” The reason we are a free nation is because of so many Americans were courageous under various difficult circumstances throughout the 249 years of our history.
It is important to have positive role models who demonstrate character traits like courage. The Bible is full of men and women who displayed confidence even under tremendous pressure. I think of characters like Joshua, David, Ruth, Esther, Daniel, Mary, Jesus, Stephen, Paul and many, many others.
Today I would like to introduce you to a brave young leader named Hezekiah. His story can be found in different passages of the Bible, but the condensed version is located in 2 Kings 18:1-8. Let’s look at this passage as we reflect back upon our nation’s history and leaders, and may this in some way strengthen our resolve to remain a nation known as … “the home of the brave.”
Brave Leaders Accept Responsibility, 18:1-2
Brave Leaders Do What Is Right, 18:3
Brave Leaders Aren’t Afraid to Make Removals of Evil, 18:4
Brave Leaders Gladly Submit to the Lord’s Rule, 18:6
Brave Leaders Wait for God’s Reward, 18:7
Brave Leaders Know When to Resist, 18:7-8
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Growing in Grace Devotions and Inspirations
Hosted by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam Street
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
http://fbccolumbustx.org/
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Transcript
Welcome and Introduction
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Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message.
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If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, fbccolumbustx.org. And now, take your copy of God's timeless Word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
Understanding Courage through Hezekiah
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Welcome to Growing in Grace. Have you ever spent any time in 2 Kings? We're going to look today 2 Kings 18, verses 1 through 8. I want to share a few words with you today from this passage on the topic of the home of the brave.
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You know, the home of the brave are the last five words of the national anthem. The stanza actually asks a question if our nation is still the land of the free and the home of the brave. It's a question.
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And the reason we are a free nation is because of so many Americans who were courageous under various conditions difficult circumstances throughout the 249 years of our history as a nation.
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You know, it's important to have positive role models who demonstrate character traits like courage. The Bible is full of men and women who displayed confidence even under tremendous pressures.
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I think of characters like Joshua or David, Ruth, Esther, Daniel, Mary, Jesus, Stephen, Paul, and many, many others. Well, today, i want to introduce you to a brave young leader named Hezekiah.
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His story can be found in different passages of the Bible, not just where we're looking, but the condensed version is located 2 Kings 18, verses 1 through 8. chapter eighteen verses one through eight Let's look at this passage as we reflect back upon our nation's history and leaders, and may this in some way strengthen our resolve to remain a nation known as the home of the brave.
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Here's
Hezekiah's Leadership and Reforms
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what it says in 2 Kings 18, 1-8. In the third year Hosea, in the third year of hoseaea king of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.
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He was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abbe, the daughter of Zechariah.
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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.
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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,
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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.
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For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments in that the Lord commanded Moses and the Lord was with him.
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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.
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Quite an amazing guy, this fellow named Hezekiah. So want to share some principles from his life that I feel will bring out that courage that I think God wants all of us to have.
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All of us need courage at one time or another. So let's look at his life and see how what we can learn about courage. Well, first off, verses one and two remind me that brave leaders, brave leaders take responsibility.
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See, his name is Hezekiah. And that name actually in the Hebrew meant the Lord strengthens. He began his reign at 25 years of age, and he served for 29 years as the king.
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So maybe you would think, what can I learn from 25-year-old? Well, I think lots, actually. yeah I just want to remind you that there have been men like Isaac Newton who formulated the law of gravity at 24 years of age and made many discoveries before he was even 25 years of age.
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So I'm thinking, wow, if he understood gravity and put that into writing, then that's something. He was the 13th king, Hezekiah that is, was the 13th king on the throne after David.
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His father, King Ahaz, had been an irresponsible leader. But now it's his turn. Hezekiah has come up to bat.
Faith and Worship Practices
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And it states that Hezekiah, when he came to the throne, he began to reign. says it twice, once in verse one and again in verse two.
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You see, he took the drifting nation by the scruff of the neck, He's known for his reforms. His dad in 2 Chronicles 28, we're told that his dad emptied the temple and then locked the doors.
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They were a nation that was drifting without their commitment to God. I'll never forget my daughter coming back and telling me what happened. And then the deacon who helped her at this certain crisis on the trip, he told me the same story.
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But apparently the youth minister at that time took all of our youth down ah a rapid ah rapid river. And so they were shooting the rapids with whitewater rafting.
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And all of a sudden, they went sort of, as you can do on those kind of rivers, it went up and then it went down and then it came up and then went down, sort of like that. And apparently one of those times, my my daughter Elisa wasn't prepared and she went airborne and was going to fall out into the into the water, into the river, right there in the rapids.
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But thankfully, one of our deacons, a man named J.L. Obenhaus, who is now with the Lord in heaven, I'm sure he's going to be rewarded for this. But anyway, he reaches over and grabs my daughter by the back of her life vest and pulls her back into the boat.
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And he told me, he said, i don't think she would have been in the boat. He said, but I just saw her go and I had time in his reaction time. He reached over and pulled her back.
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Well, it seems to me that the nation of Israel under Hezekiah's father's reign, they were beginning to drift. They were going to fall out of the boat, and they were really going to be drifting as a nation without being anchored with their worship of the Lord.
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But whenever Hezekiah becomes a king, he takes responsibility. And he begins to initiate several reforms that we won't look at today, but I just wanted you to be aware that he did.
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So that's the first thing I think brave leaders are willing to step up and take responsibility. I believe, secondly, that brave leaders do what's right.
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Do what's right. You see, Hezekiah had courage to do what was right, not what was popular, not what was easy, not what was convenient.
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He wasn't interested in maintaining the status quo. This leader, Hezekiah, he was willing to say, you know what? I want us to do the right thing as a nation.
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But what did he mean by the right thing? Well, verse 3 tells us, "...and he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that David, his father, had done." You see, I think he was basing his decisions on the influence of his mother and the influence of his maternal grandfather and the influence of the prophet Isaiah.
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I believe that those three invested in Hezekiah. And that's why even at 25 years of age, there was wisdom in this young man. And it's amazing what he did.
00:09:09
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But I wanted you to know that he based his decisions on the right standard. What was that standard? Well, I think it was to please God. I believe that's what he he wanted to live for.
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What was right in the eyes of the Lord. Moses had warned the people in Deuteronomy 12, 8. that everyone was doing what is right in his own eyes, even during Moses' day.
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And he said, I want you guys to stop it. Can you imagine someone just stepping up there and saying, stop it? You know, the you guys need to do what's right in God's eyes, not what's right in your own eyes.
00:09:48
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But then in Judges 17, verse again, and again In Judges chapter 21, verse 25, two different times, the same statement is made about that era known as the Judges.
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Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Can you imagine the chaos? If not just Israel, but any nation, if everybody says, I'm going to do what's right but by my own eyes, I want to do what's right according to what I think is right.
00:10:19
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Well, Solomon said in Proverbs 12, verse 15, the way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.
00:10:31
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Yeah, I think when we go to God's word, we receive wise counsel and that keeps us from making foolish decisions. But we also see in verse 3 that Hezekiah not only based his decisions on the right standard, but he fixed his eye on a good pace setter, David.
00:10:51
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You know, it says here that he did everything according to all that David, his father, had done. And so I'm thinking, wow, I've read that before. Who else did ah all according to what David had done?
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Well, you won't believe it. There are four kings that were said to have brought great revival to the nation. One was King Asa, then King Jehoshaphat, then King Hezekiah that we're looking at now, then King Josiah.
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They all had one thing in common. The Bible says that they each did according to all that David, their father, had done. Wow. I believe that brave leaders say, you know what? I have confidence to lead in this direction because I know that I'm lined up properly with what God has said.
00:11:45
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And I know that my role models that are biblical role models that I'm basing my life on, they've done the same thing. And so those guys have courage to lead in the right direction.
00:11:58
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But let's move to a third thing as we go down to verse 4. I believe that also brave leaders aren't afraid of making removals when they need to.
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it says that he removed the high places. Do you realize that he was the first king to remove the high places? These were places of idolatry. These were places where, even though the Israelites at that time would have said, oh, we believe in Yahweh, we believe in the Lord, but at the same time in the high places, they were they were offering these sacrifices to Canaanite gods.
00:12:35
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And so what Whenever Hezekiah becomes king, he says, you know what? It's time for those things to go. He also, it says, broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah.
00:12:46
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That was a wicked statue, the Asherah. But then it says, he broke the bronze serpent that Moses had made. You would have to read Numbers 21, verses four through nine to understand this, but a plague had broken out.
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And so God showed Moses that he needed to put this serpent up on a pole. And everybody who looked at that would be made well. If I'm not mistaken, I know at least in the past, the medical community still has that kind of a ah an emblem that is on some of their logos and so forth.
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But can you imagine the fallout You know, can you imagine? He says, you know what? We need to destroy the bronze serpent that Moses had made.
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that they i mean, this is 700 years. So a long time has passed. But what he saw, he saw Israelites making offerings to the bronze serpent.
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And he knew this wasn't right. And so he didn't care if it rocked the boat. He said, it's simply not right. And it simply needs to go.
00:13:57
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And so he made it disappear. Wow. I guarantee you that didn't win him a lot of votes. You know, if they would have been taking a vote for him to be the king. But anyway, I just think, wow, brave leaders are are not afraid to take things out. Are you afraid to take something out of your life that God has put his finger on?
00:14:18
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God has shown you in scripture, this is evil, this is not right. And so anyway, I'm just encouraging to to grow in that kind of courage to say, if the Lord tells me I don't need that, I'm going to do without it.
00:14:32
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But I think brave leaders also have a fourth thing. They look to God. They look to God in reliance. You know, Ahaz, Hezekiah's father, like I said earlier, he had shut the temple, but he had also cluttered the whole land with all of these false idols.
00:14:50
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And so what does Hezekiah do when he becomes the king? Well, because he had a personal faith, I mean, he really had a genuine faith in the Lord and a desire to please him that guided him in his national leadership, guided him in his decisions.
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You know, one of the things that Hezekiah did, and this has been documented by ah modern archaeology,
Resistance and Historical Bravery
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but ah he built an underground tunnel, and the tunnel was 1,750 feet long, and no one could see it. It was underground, and that way, if Jerusalem was under attack, then the enemy wouldn't understand how he's still getting fresh water.
00:15:38
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And so he had this underground tunnel that brought fresh water into the capital. Well, I thought about how it says here in this verse five, when it says that he trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, it says, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.
00:16:02
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And how did he stand at such a stature there that there were none before him or after him? because I think he knelt before the king of kings.
00:16:14
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And sort of like that underground corridor that brought fresh water, this guy, Hezekiah, had an underground source that brought him grace, that brought him wisdom and guidance, direction.
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And so he was able to access all of these resources from God because he relied upon God. I believe that also sort of related to that one, brave leaders submit to the Lord's rule.
00:16:46
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Who really controls things in your life? Is it you? Is it the crowd? Would you say it's something else? Well, remember, Hezekiah, he was the king. Hezekiah,
00:16:57
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Now, back then, the king was supposed to have the last word about anything and everything. And yet what we see in verse 6 is this man was willing to say, you know what?
00:17:09
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There's someone above me, and it's the Lord. It says, "...for he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses." Wow.
00:17:23
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You know, when I read those verses, I thought I can see three things so easily that he was willing to be submissive to. For example, he was willing to be submissive to the worship of the Lord.
00:17:35
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I believe that's what it means whenever it says he held fast to the Lord. I believe he gave God honor. He gave God praise. He gave God thanks. And so he was submissive to say, I'm going to hold fast to the Lord.
00:17:51
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But the other thing is, it says he did not depart from following him. And so I believe he was also submissive not only to the worship of the Lord, but to the will of the Lord.
00:18:02
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He would ask God for guidance and direction, and God would guide him in showing what he needed to do. Are you asking God to give you that kind of wisdom, that kind of guidance?
00:18:13
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If you do, you'll have a lot more courage. You'll say, I know that God wants me to do this. But then I think thirdly, it says he was also kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses.
00:18:26
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So he was submissive to the word of the Lord, to the worship of the Lord and the will of the Lord and the word of the Lord. He simply said, I know that someone is above me.
00:18:38
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Do you realize that someone is above you? Wow. Do you know that even those early founding fathers of our nation, some of those guys had a deep faith.
00:18:50
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I read an account where on April the 8th, 1775, a British soldier ordered John Adams and John Hancock and a handful of other people to disperse.
00:19:02
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He said, you guys can't be talking around here. And so one of those guys, I think it was John Adams, responded and said, we recognize no sovereign but God and no king but Jesus.
00:19:15
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Would that be your response whenever the culture tells you that you don't need to pray? Like, you know, Daniel one time was told, you better stop praying unless you pray the king. But you know what? He said, I'm going to go ahead and open my windows and pray because I serve no other sovereign but God.
00:19:33
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And in the New Testament, we would say we have no king but Jesus. Let's also look at a sixth thing. I believe that brave leaders, they have courage because they know that one day they're going to be rewarded.
00:19:48
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And so they're willing to wait for the reward. Hezekiah said, you know what? I would rather suffer earthly losses than to later and and later receive heavenly gains.
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And so he doesn't care about all the earthly gains as much as those heavenly gains. I believe when I read verse seven, that he cherished the presence of the Lord.
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It says, and the Lord was with him. I believe God knows when we truly value his presence and when we could care less. But I believe also that Hezekiah was content in the Lord, regardless of the place where he was and what he was going through at the time.
00:20:31
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It says that the Lord was with him wherever he went out. And I thought, you know, could you say that whatever circumstances you were in, that you could be content in the Lord?
00:20:42
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There was a man named Paul who wrote those words in Philippians 4, verses 11 and 12 and We often love to quote Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
00:20:56
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But have you ever considered the context? In what context did Paul say, i can do all things through Christ who strengthens me? It was in the context of saying, even if I have little or I have much, I have learned to be content in all things, regardless of my circumstances.
00:21:16
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I think that's the way Hezekiah was living. I know he was prospering, like it says, but I believe that he counted with the Lord's way of counting, regardless of, quote, prosperity, end of quote.
00:21:30
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It says he prospered, and so I know that he did. But I believe that there was something he valued even higher, and that was his walk with the Lord. Do you realize that the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, they made a closing pledge at the end of the Declaration of Independence, and they wrote these words, and then they signed their names beneath it.
00:21:53
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For the support of this declaration, With firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
00:22:08
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You see, I believe that what they were saying was, Lord, this is worth it for us, and we're going to trust you to take care of us. And God did take care of them. But did it mean they did not suffer?
00:22:21
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No, it did not. Here's what happened after they wrote that down and after they signed their names there. Do you know that five of those original 56 men were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died?
00:22:36
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Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army. Another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought. fought and died from wounds or hardships resulting from the Revolutionary War.
00:22:52
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And so I'm just thinking, wow, you know, just because I trust in the Lord doesn't mean that I will have no suffering. But these men were saying, you know what? We're willing to trust God for the rewards.
00:23:05
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And I believe that's what Hezekiah was still trusting God, even though it says he prospered. And I'm sure that he did. But I want to close with one last thing. I believe that sometimes brave leaders know when to resist.
00:23:19
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Verses seven and eight. You know, brave leaders accept the reality of evil in our world. They're aware that they must sometimes confront and restrict evil.
00:23:31
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Romans 13 verses one through seven says that that's the reason we actually need governments and that governments have been entrusted by the Lord with the sword to avenge the wrong that is done.
00:23:46
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And so it says that the government carries out God's wrath. When I looked at verses seven and eight, I thought, well, that's an example of how Hezekiah knew if I don't push back on these evil men, what will happen next?
00:24:03
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What will happen to these families, to these innocent people? It says he rebelled against the king of Assyria. Do you realize that when the Assyrian empire became strong and they began to conquer, do you know what they did to the people they conquered?
00:24:19
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They filleted them. They took their skin off. And so I'm thinking, wow, he doesn't want that to happen to the men, women, children, boys and girls. And so he's willing to rebel against against evil, but he's also willing to resist evil.
00:24:36
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He's willing to resist serving evil. It says he rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. He knew what that that man, that leader of Assyria would lead them to do.
00:24:51
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And so he resisted serving evil and rebelled against the evil. And And sometimes governments even have to remove those who are evil. It says in verse eight, he struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory from watchtower to fortified city.
00:25:10
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Wow,
Reflections on Courage and Freedom
00:25:11
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you know, sometimes it's a sad thing when it has to happen, but some people give you no choice but to say, okay, we have to send in the military to do what has to be done.
00:25:23
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you remember a man that was a founding father named Patrick Henry? Here's sort of a quote of something that he said at one of the gatherings that they had back then, right before the the Revolutionary War.
00:25:38
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And it's ah written down in Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry by William Wirt. And the published date was 1834. Here's what it says. here's what it says Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power.
00:25:58
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Three millions of people armed in the holy cause of liberty and in such a country as that which we possess are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us.
00:26:11
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Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us.
00:26:24
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The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone. It is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Gentlemen may cry, peace, peace, but there is no peace.
00:26:36
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The war is actually begun. The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms. Our brethren are already in the field.
00:26:48
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Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?
00:27:04
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Forbid it, almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death. You see, that was a man who was convinced that liberty was worth defending. It was worth resisting evil and pushing back and saying, no, you will not come and take away homes and take away lives and mistreat those who are under When you travel around our world, you can certainly see some of that that's happening. It's terrible suffering.
00:27:36
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So I'm so grateful that in our nation's past, there were people who said, you know, we want the Lord to help us to be brave.
00:27:47
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I pray that this Independence Day, that you would value the freedoms that we have and that you would realize so many men made wise, intelligent decisions on how that peace, how that freedom could be maintained.
00:28:05
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And so I'm so grateful for them. I'm so grateful for our country and for the opportunity to be born here and raised here, to raise my girls now here and to to serve the Lord here.
00:28:17
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And I pray that we'll be a good steward with the freedoms that God has given to us. I'm grateful for those who have defended it through the years. Well, why don't we close in prayer and you can reflect back upon the example of Hezekiah.
00:28:31
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I think he's a great example of courage. Let's pray together. Lord, thank you so much for the courage of those who did found and protect America through the years.
00:28:42
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I thank you so much for all that we have here. Help us to be kind and generous. Help us to be holy. Help us to be just. Help us to be wise.
00:28:53
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Help us, O Lord, to to work together to see great things for God, not great things for self. I pray that, Lord, you would help us to have courage. Lord, there are people who have courage need courage because of cancer or people who need courage because of changes in their career or changes in their their life, circumstances.
00:29:15
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Maybe be a single mother that's trying to raise kids by herself. Lord, I pray that from Hezekiah's life, we would say, I want to do that which is right.
00:29:26
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And I want to base my decisions upon God, His will, His word, and to do it for His glory. So bless us, O Lord, as we go through the rest of this week.
00:29:36
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And as we move into that time when we celebrate the 4th of July. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Well, thank you so much for listening. I pray you have a good Independence Day.
00:29:48
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And remember, the greatest independence of all time is what we found in Jesus Christ. He who the sun sets free is free indeed. Have a blessed day.
00:30:02
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.