Episode Transcript
All right, it's 10 o'clock our tech team has given me the thumbs up so we're ready to roll second Kings Chapter 20 and verse 13 is our text again this morning second Kings 20 verse 13 We took a look at it the beginning of last week I was telling my wife and daughter this morning That I'd finished my Sunday school lesson the other day and I saved it on a thumb drive and I was going to print it off at the house and The second half of the lesson somehow didn't save and I couldn't find it anywhere on the computer I spent about 45 minutes trying to recover it at a word and Way exceeded my talent in that sort of thing I know the NSA knows what I typed already But I don't know if anybody else does so when I got home from work this morning I was gonna take a little nap before church and that didn't happen.
I got to sit down and redo half of my lesson So it really is fresh on my mind More so than I thought it might be Well when we took a look at this verse last week we read that Hezekiah hearkened to the letters and The presence sent by the king of Babylon whose name was Baradoc Baladon It's the same person if I say the king of Babylon, that's who I'm talking about And what's about to happen here is right in tune with what the pastor taught on Wednesday night in Proverbs When Nelda made the unreasonable demand that this place be heated on Sunday morning Just in case you don't know which Wednesday night I'm talking about and I'm glad it's warm in here for you That makes it a little better for you as far as your comfort goes and in that lesson Wednesday night we learned that the way of a fool is right in his own eyes and we further learned that the fool's heart is first crooked and then his feet follow the crooked path and In the case of Hezekiah He's not a fool in the spiritual sense.
He's a Christian but by hearkening to the letters and the present of this crooked King Hezekiah set himself up to do something that displeases the Lord And an example once a car salesman gets your head nodding up and down in agreement Then he's got you You've all if you've gone in to buy a car You've seen the four square hadn't you they pull a piece of paper out and draw a four square and first time I saw that I thought well, I didn't know we were gonna play tic-tac-toe To sell a car, but I learned real quickly what they're doing.
They're putting down that that trade in and that total price and the down payment and the monthly payment and Trying to get you nodding your head to one of those and then they'll fix the other three to make themselves a good bunch of money and it's a game and if he's a skilled salesman, he'll nod his head while he's talking to you and You'll start doing it.
And once you start doing it, you're You're hooked and that's a financial transaction.
You might later regret but while you're doing it, you think it sounds like a good idea Now we might say that Hezekiah was nodding the head to the Babylonian King to his letters into his present and in his own eyes Hezekiah thought it was all right to listen to what the letters said and to hearken to this present and Because of the way he now saw the letters in the present then the actions that follow will take him right down this foolish path as we read there in verse 13 look back in the text that he Showed them all the house of his precious things and so to these Ambassadors who brought the letters and present from the Babylonian King Hezekiah showed these things Now word house there it says showed them all the house of his precious things the word house simply describes a place where things are Where they're kept it doesn't necessarily mean house Like a dwelling that a person would live in although that's certainly a house this Might be a good example if you think about an electric motor The the motor itself has something around it that protects it.
That's called a housing and So it's just a place the housing is just a place where the motor is kept and protected from the elements Now the word precious in our text and you're going to hear that a lot today.
The word precious means treasured It means valuable and we don't see this Hebrew word for precious anywhere else except in Isaiah chapter 39 verse 2 which is just another writing of this passage.
In fact, it's word-for-word But we do see the word precious in other places in the Bible with whether it's in the Hebrew or the Greek Original language and this brings up a question What makes something valuable?
What makes something?
precious Now the most common answer might be well that depends on how much it's worth how much it would go for Or it may depend on how rare the thing is or even how beautiful it is And I'm sure there are other measures other standards a person may use to decide Whether something is precious Well, let me tell you what is precious or what is valuable to my two-year-old granddaughter She has a teddy bear and you know what the name of that teddy bear is Teddy that's it.
That's something Leah would have named the bear right Teddy And that little teddy bear is worn.
It's dirty and it's been through a lot It's been stuffed under the couch It's got dog hair on it and it's a sight and she spent the night at our house One of the nights one of the many nights she's done that and I was about to put her to bed and that's never Much of a tribulation.
She's okay with that And I had no idea where Teddy was and Teddy in her arms is one of the requirements for a successful Event of putting her down in bed and she was asking for Teddy.
So I thought well, I don't know where she hid Teddy But we've got a substitute in the other room a little stuffed rabbit It's pretty close to that teddy bear and my girls named that little rabbit cuppy So I turned the lights off where my granddaughter was sleeping so she couldn't see what I was doing and I took cuppy and I went in there I said here you go and As soon as she grabbed a hold of it.
She said no Teddy And I thought well That didn't work Cuppy was not valuable to her Now to me cuppy was just another stuffed animal that cost about the same as Teddy did and I thought well this ought to work And it did not work And so that little story reminds us that just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
So we're precious things and Showing all the house of his precious things was a terrible idea for his acai but him doing that was founded upon his acceptance of the letters and the present from the Babylonian King and Once he hearkened to those words in the letters and into those presents once he got his head nodding to all of that He just opened the door to Actions that would lead to Judah's downfall.
Now.
That's how serious this is in Genesis when Eve hearkened to the serpent I Kind of wonder if she wasn't doing this when he was talking to her Said you know that these this Tree here you eat from it.
You'll be like God's knowing good and evil Eve and I could see her going.
Yeah And she saw that that it was pleasant to the eyes It was good and it could make one wise and so whether she nodded her head in agreement or not She was doing so in her heart And so she opened the door to the action that would lead to her downfall Then the Adams downfall and our downfall as well As she did not see those circumstances as God saw them she saw something as precious and valuable that God saw as forbidden and Then if both she and Adam had said no To the words of the enemy if they had nodded their heads if they just said no I'm not doing that Then they wouldn't have taken the action that followed the hearkening of the words So if Satan can get you to listen first, then he's got you hooked Don't listen to him and these precious things in our text Were things that should have been shown only to the citizens of Hezekiah's kingdom and we're about to learn a powerful truth here in the case of Hezekiah We have a king We have a kingdom and we have precious things And we're going to look at each of those precious things later in the lesson or maybe beginning next week, too We'll look at those things and what makes them precious But first let's look at how worldly people like the Babylonians treat precious things In Jeremiah chapter 20 and verse 5 Jeremiah 20 in verse 5 God said Moreover, I will deliver all the strength of this city and all the labors thereof and all the precious things thereof and All the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies?
Which shall spoil them and take them and carry them to Babylon?
Now that tells us how worldly people deal with precious things these precious things were treasured by the king of the kings of Judah and The problem is they became more treasured than God's Word And so God delivered those things and their owners Into the hands of the Babylonians who were a worldly bunch of people And worldly people according to the passage.
I just read you worldly people spoil precious things They take them and they carry them away now spoiling isn't what we think of today Leaving something in your refrigerator past the expiration date and it grows mold and it spoils or you leave meat out for too long or something like that to spoil is to plunder like robbers do and Of course to take that means they receive them as their own and they carried them away Which is just as it sounds so to worldly people Precious things are for the taking the unlawful Possessing and the carrying away to their own homes.
That's all that's for and these people have no respect for the property or its value to the rightful owner and There you think about a somebody who's on dope and they're out of money.
They don't have a job They can't keep a job because they show up high to work all the time steal from their employer so somebody who's on dope sees a Window unit an air conditioner and a small house in the middle of the summer and they think boy I'll get that off that window right quick and I'll go down and sell it I'll pawn it and I'll get me enough money to go buy some more dope and what they don't realize is inside that little house is a little lady who's a widow and She depends on that air condition to keep herself cool during the hot summer here in Texas And that dope doesn't think anything about that.
He thinks well, I don't that doesn't matter to me I need that air conditioner so I can sell it and go get me some more dope and Then she can just do without see that's how the worldly person views things that are precious to other people And that's what Babylon did to these precious things that they that they stole well, they were delivered into their hands by the Lord as a punishment for Judah and But to them, they're not precious things are just things When I was a little boy My papa would take me fishing when I went to visit him during the summer There in Southwest, Oklahoma where he was a pastor until he retired and everyone loved him he was a From there he could go on to anybody's land and fish or hunt and let us do the same He grew up there And he farmed the land when he was a child along with his family and he knew how precious land was to the owners And so when we went fishing on someone's land, he taught us to close the gate behind us so their cattle wouldn't get out and He taught us to take our trash with us And if we drank a coke or something or had a candy bar Take that wrapper and put it in the car and a trash bag.
Don't leave it on the ground He taught us those things Now the landowners were never out there when we were fishing or hunting bullfrogs in their creek bottoms but The way we treated their land Showed how what we thought of the landowner and So when my papa taught us to treat the land right he was teaching us to treat the landowner, right?
He was teaching us to value the person To whom that land is precious The only reason it was precious to me is because I got to hunt and fish But it was a lot more important to that landowner that his cows not get out that trash not be all over the the side of the the pond where we were fishing and Babylon's treatment of the precious things in Judah in Jeremiah's day Showed what they really thought of Judah and it showed what they really thought of God Because it was God who gave Judah all of their precious things in the first place including their land Now this was this wrong attitude about other people's precious things explains how a worldly businessman can cheat you and lie to you without batting an eye and It explains how a thief has no problem Stealing the car that you worked hard to pay for these are worldly people and they don't see precious things the way God does and even Earthly precious things are not to be Taken without the in the effective consent of the owner.
That's what we call theft and if everyone viewed Precious things as God does we would need no laws against theft That would Eliminate that wouldn't it?
But and God beat us to it We have the simple commandment thou shalt not steal because God knew that it was in the heart of man to take things from other people to not look at those things as precious to those people and God and if you don't think of if I don't think of brother Doug's things is precious to him It shows what I think of brother Doug and it really shows what I think of God because God's the one who told me don't Steal from brother Doug.
I shouldn't do it anyway, but if God said don't do it that seals the deal and violation of any of those commandments in fact is refusing to see the Lord as Precious and to see his commandments as precious now, how does a Here's another question, how does a worldly priest or pastor?
treat precious things Kind of narrowed it down here Well in Ezekiel chapter 22 verses 25 through 26 You're gonna find that the answer is that they treat them the same way that worldly people do who aren't pastors and priests Ezekiel 22 verses 25 through 26 We wrote there is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof Like a roaring lion ravening the prey they have devoured souls They have taken the treasure and precious things They have made her many widows in the midst thereof her priests have violated by law and have profaned That means they made them common mine.
Holy things.
They have put no difference between the holy and profane Neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean and have hid their eyes from my Sabbath's and I am profaned Among them, you know what that means They took when they made things profane.
That means they made them common.
They made them every day and They lump the clean and the unclean in there together They lump the holy and the unholy in together.
They didn't separate and For something to be precious that something is separated from things that are not precious you Know a worldly person plunders things as we looked at earlier a worldly priest or pastor profanes precious things and The precious things are looking back in your text now the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious ointment and Each of these was precious because each one was rare Now dirt is common, isn't it?
But gold is rare You can go out here and dig up a bunch of dirt and never find any gold But gold is rare.
So to those who find it it is precious it brings them money For some it's a status symbol It might bring financial security to people when other negotiable instruments fail Which you know, that's one of the reasons people invest in gold But in the kingdom of God gold and silver and spices and precious ointment Represent things that are truly precious They're precious in an earthly sense But they represent things that are truly precious for example gold is used in the Bible to symbolize the deity of God that is the attributes of God he commanded the Ark of the Covenant to be made of pure beaten gold and that mercy seat too and that altar of incense and so forth but He drew the line in Exodus chapter 20 verse 23 Exodus 20 verse 23 God said ye shall not make with me gods of silver neither shall you make unto you gods of gold So he's he commanded this Ark of the Covenant Which is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ the mercy seat, which is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ to be made of gold But he said don't make gods of gold or silver don't turn these things in these precious Furnishings into things that you worship So comparatively speaking Gold is not precious When you compare it to God God is more precious than gold now that seems like a simple enough truth, doesn't it?
but there's a reason God had to say you shall not make unto me any graven images and There he said you shall not make with me gods of silver neither shall you make unto you gods of gold now silver is used to represent redemption and forgiveness and there other things Sanctification and there were some Old Testament commandments about paying silver a certain number of shekels for a certain type of Animal or for a man or a woman but here in Leviticus chapter 5 verses 15 through 16 Leviticus 5 15 through 16 you'll see that silver is associated with forgiveness and redemption If a soul commit a trespass and sin through ignorance in the holy things of the Lord Then he shall bring for his trespass unto the Lord a ram without blemish of the flocks with thy estimation by shekels of silver After the shekel of the sanctuary for a trespass offering and he shall make amends For the harm that he hath done in the holy thing and shall add the fifth part there to that's a 20% penalty and give it unto the priest and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering and it Shall be forgiven him But God drew the line with silver I read you one verse already about it Well, here's you another one first Peter chapter 1 verses 18 through 19 first Peter 1 verses 18 through 19 He said for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition of your father's but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot so There would be those who would take that Old Testament law about bringing the shekels of silver in the ram and so forth and Would begin to believe that they could be forgiven by bringing silver that silver was the key to forgiveness you have enough silver You can buy forgiveness now you look at the the Catholic Bible If you get you a copy of a Catholic Bible and you look at the very front they have a list of indulgences and how much it cost and the penances all these things to wash away your sins and See that's using silver for redemption rather than seeing silver as a type of the redemption and Peter said you are not redeemed by corruptible things You're redeemed by precious things not earthly gold and silver, but by the precious blood of Christ and he called it precious, didn't he?
That's what we're studying right now is the precious things Now did you Did you notice that?
precious things in the world's eyes are Corruptible things in God's eyes.
That's what the first Peter passage said He said you're not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold.
So silver and gold We call them precious metals, but they are corruptible things They sure are Judas Iscariot tried to redeem himself with silver a corruptible thing Something that was more precious to him than the Savior whom he betrayed It meant more for Judas Iscariot to get those 30 pieces of silver about fifty two dollars and eighty cents Maybe not even that In exchange for betraying the Son of God But that Silver that was most precious to him was corruptible to God there in Matthew 27 verses 3 through 5 Matthew 27 verses 3 through 5 it says then Judas which had betrayed him that is Jesus when he saw that he was condemned repented himself and Brought again the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders Saying I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood and they said what is that to us?
Seethe out of that and he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself That silver didn't do him any good did it?
Judas was trying to redeem himself to these priests by giving back that blood money by giving back that silver hoping that that would settle the account They paid him that silver to betray Jesus and he thought well I betrayed him But if I turn it back to him, then that can't be held against me But the silver could not redeem him from that sin and those wicked priests who conspired with him could not Forgive him of that sin either with or without the silver.
He needed to put his trust in the one Whom he had just betrayed But he did not And next in our text here in 2nd Kings 20 verse 13 We see the spices mentioned now.
These are among the precious things that were shown to the Babylonian ambassadors by his acai Spices in other places in the Old Testament the Hebrew word for spices is translated as sweet Odors or the word sweet or the words sweet smell so you get the picture that these spices here are referring to something that was sweet and Spices in the Old Testament were used to make the anointing oil and they were also given as treasured gifts Spices called sweet odors in this one passage were used to bury King Aza who was one of the finest Kings Judah ever had and Jesus body was wound in linen clothes with spices when he was buried But God draws the line with spices as well.
Now, you know, there are people who?
Think they've found the shroud of Turin and that they say oh, but you know Jesus is facial imprint is on that thing and man people hang that up and they want to worship that Can you imagine if they thought they found some spices that had been used to wrap his very body up?
They'd be wanting to worship that too Everything but just what the Bible says so these Spices God draws a line and we find it in Isaiah chapter 3 verse 16 Isaiah 3 verse 16 Moreover the Lord saith because the daughters of Zion are a haughty and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes Walking and mincing as they go and making a tinkling with their feet skipping down now to verse 24 in that same passage says and it shall come to pass that instead of sweet smell there shall be a stink and Instead of a girdle a rent a tear instead of well-set hair baldness and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth and burning instead of beauty so those That sweet smell those two words sweet smell.
That's the same word as spices in Our text in other words, there will be a time When a sweet smell That you daughters of Zion Treasure over me over the Lord God That will become a stink to me Every time God's people worship the creation rather than the Creator they get in big trouble, don't they?
and What smelled good to God in obedience?
Stinks in disobedience.
It's the same spices the same gold the same silver What was beautiful in obedience is now ugly and rebellion and what was precious is now defiled And then we see in our text back in second Kings 20 verse 13 the words precious ointment another of the precious things listed in our text as I read Matthew chapter 6 Excuse me, Matthew chapter 26 verses 6 through 13 Matthew 26 6 through 13.
I want you to listen to the difference in the way that Jesus disciples viewed this precious ointment and the way Jesus viewed it Now when Jesus was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment and Poured it on his head that is on Jesus head as he sat at meat But when his disciples saw it they had indignation saying to what purpose is this waste?
For this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor When Jesus understood it he said unto them why trouble you the woman For she hath wrought a good work upon me for you have the poor always with you, but me you have not always For in that she poured hath poured this ointment on my body.
She did it for my burial now.
Don't let don't let that slip For my burial verily I say unto you wheresoever this gospel shall be preached now.
What is the gospel?
It's a death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ wherever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world there shall also this that this woman hath done be told of for a memorial of her now to this woman Anointing Jesus Body for his burial was more precious to her Than the cost of that precious ointment.
No doubt.
She spent a lot of money on that ointment So much that the disciples recognized and said hey We could have sold that for a lot of money and given it to the poor That's how precious it was in the eyes of the world But to this woman what was more precious is that she take that which was precious to the world and dedicated to the Lord And that's this that's the key right there.
I would say that's the secret, but it's not a secret That's the key.
She didn't worship that ointment.
She worshipped the Lord And It was his death That would come before his burial And it was his burial that would come before his resurrection And that is the gospel right there and the woman had her eyes on the right things She treasured the things that pertain to salvation while the disciples Wrongly treasured those things in a worldly and pious sense They were religious hypocrites in that in that moment with what they said To Jesus disciples who were yielding to their flesh in the way they viewed this ointment What made the ointment precious to them was the money?
That could have been made by selling it and they added a self-righteous overtone by saying Why the money could have been given to the poor then?
but to Jesus This ointment was also precious because of the woman who poured it on his head Had these disciples remembered their Bible they would have recalled that Moses also poured anointing oil upon his brother Aaron the high priest and Jesus is our high priest and You can read Hebrews chapter 5 through chapter 9.
That's four chapters four or five chapters of good reading about How Jesus is our high priest how he fulfills what Aaron?
Did and was in the Old Testament?
This ointment that the lady put on him was more like oil Because it said she poured it rather than rubbed it and in that way It was like the anointing oil poured on Aaron's head there in the Old Testament But ointment even precious ointment even this precious ointment is still a corruptible thing and it is not to be esteemed or thought of above the truth that it represents So we've hopefully learned that the precious things About which we read the silver the gold the spices and the precious ointment were really only symbols Of what is truly precious and now we'll look at some things that are truly precious I'm going to read from first Peter chapter 2 If you'll write that down And I'm gonna read verses 6 through 8, but I'll separate them a little bit first in verse 6 first Peter 2 6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture behold.
I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone.
That's Jesus elect precious and He that believeth on him shall not be confounded So Peter tells us that the Lord Jesus is precious and Then verse 7 begins by saying unto you therefore which believe he is precious So that's the Christian Christian.
The Lord is precious to you if you're a Christian the Lord is precious to you If somebody says not that big a deal, you're not a Christian.
That's your Savior and Unto you therefore which believe he is precious But does the unbelieving world say that - no, they don't I mean is Jesus precious to them Well, let's read the rest of verse 7 and then all of verse 8 but unto them which be disobedient the stone which the builders disallowed the same as made the head of the corner and Here's what he is to them a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense Even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient Whereunto they also they were appointed Now when it says they stumble at the word that doesn't mean that they didn't understand what it meant They stumble at the word by being disobedient.
That's what the text tells us.
They're being disobedient, they don't believe it and because Jesus is precious to us who believe on him and Because he's a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to the unbelievers.
Don't be shocked at The terrible things that you hear people say about him when they take his name in vain or When they deny him Or they make fun of his people Maybe you've endured that or they describe Jesus as a hippie or a cool dude and so on That's just what unbelievers do when you try to share the truth of the gospel with them and They do these things or say these things just shake the dust off your feet and go to the next person I've had that conversation with some brothers in the Lord about and sisters to about What do I do this this fella every time I try to tell him about Jesus?
He just he'll you know bark at me or run me off or whatever.
I said, well, you know at some point You're gonna have shake the dust off your feet and go to the next person because there's someone else out there Who is going to listen to you?
God's elect are gonna come to him and you don't know who they are So you just keep on witnessing to people and his sheep will hear his voice.
They'll know him and they'll follow him And he'll give unto them eternal life from John chapter 10 but also precious is Jesus blood first Peter chapter 1 verses 18 through 19 First Peter 1 18 through 19 We've covered a minute ago a little bit for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold From your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers But with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot Now who would ever think that the blood of a man was precious.
I Have worked countless injury and fatal crashes And I've seen a lot of blood In my career and not once have I ever looked at a bleeding dying person and said that blood is so precious And never crossed my mind to say that in fact The blood shed by even an innocent victim of a crash Can't save them it does the opposite it leads to in many cases to their death and The shedding of that blood not only does not save them.
It doesn't save anybody else either Now that's looking at the shedding of blood from an earthly perspective And when we were when we view the shedding of Jesus blood We are beholding an act that was necessary for the forgiveness of sins for the granting of eternal life To all whose faith is in that finished work That is what is precious about Jesus blood.
I Don't think any of us if we had been there when Jesus was crucified when he was whipped and had the thorns on his head and was crucified all and had the the sword piercing his side Her spear piercing his side.
I don't think any of us would have said Well, isn't that precious?
No, we would have it had been a terrible sight to behold just like it was for his disciples But the truth of what the shedding of that blood accomplished is what's precious That's why his blood is precious Not because as a human being he just bled out and died on and everybody looked at that blood and said watch precious looking blood no, it was because of what that did for us what that did for mankind and Here is where the unbelieving world differs from us Especially the religious crowd who are unbelievers They want forgiveness of sins just like we do They believe God can forgive sin What they don't believe is that the shedding of blood Was not only necessary for the forgiveness of their sins, but it's the only way to be saved Even if they acknowledge the crucifixion the death of Jesus his burial his resurrection Because if his blood was truly precious to them They wouldn't go back here and baptize themselves in water so they can be saved to seal the deal They wouldn't say well, I still think you can lose it if you act wrong after you've been saved If they thought his blood was precious They wouldn't do all of these works to try to get themselves into heaven if Jesus blood was truly precious the Pharisees would not have told the Galatians that they needed to be Circumcised after the manner of Moses in order to be saved And not only is Jesus Precious and his blood precious, but his saints are as well and we'll look at that next week Lord willing Let's pray father.
Thank you for those who were able to come today and Lord We know we have so many who are sick or not feeling well And we ask you to have mercy upon them and heal them according to your will Encourage them and Lord we pray they were able to hear the lesson today or perhaps later on During the week and were fed by it just as we were here today And we ask for the same grace for our pastor during the next hour.
May our singing and praying our encouraging of one another and the preaching of your word be pleasing to you and be precious to you because of Who we're preaching?
Jesus and him crucified it's in his name.
We pray amen
