Episode Transcript
And we are ready to start our Bible study.
We're in 2 Kings chapter 20.
That's our text.
And we may be able to finish chapter 20 today.
We'll see.
We're not in a big hurry.
2 Kings chapter 20.
And when you get there, I'd like to re-read verses 16 through 18 to remind you of the severe sentence God imposed on King Hezekiah for showing the Babylonian ambassadors all the treasures and the precious things and everything else under his dominion.
So I'll begin reading now.
2 Kings 20.
I'll start in verse 16.
"And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, 'Hear the word of the Lord.
Behold, the days come that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon.
Nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.
And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'
And we studied all about that last week.
And this morning...
Now that's the judgment of God right there.
That's what Isaiah said was going to happen to Hezekiah and his household and all the things in Judah.
And it was directly because of what Hezekiah had done.
So this is the judgment of God on Judah.
And this morning, we're going to learn the proper way to respond to God's judgment, whether it's chastening or whether it's wrath.
And so let's read verse 19 now, the new part of our study.
"Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, 'Good is the word of the Lord.'"
Wow, let that sink in.
Hezekiah had just been told that everything precious to him, including his own sons, would be carried away into Babylon.
Well, that's terrible news from a human perspective.
But I want you to look at the word "good" in this verse.
"Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, 'Good is the word of the Lord.'"
And that is the Hebrew word "tob" that we've studied many a time.
And that's right, it's the same word used to describe God's creation in Genesis.
And I'll just give you one of those verses in Genesis 1, verse 4, in a little letter A, just giving you the first part of the verse.
"And God saw the light, that it was good," "tob."
Now, when God created the light, it was good in every sense of the word.
Who would argue against light being a good thing, especially in a dark world?
Because the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and God said, "Let there be light," and there was light, and God saw the light, it was good.
It was good.
Now, in Exodus chapter 18, verse 9, we see another translation of the word "tob" and its goodness.
Same idea.
That verse, Exodus 18, 9, says this, "And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel, whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians."
Of course, deliverance from Egypt was a good thing.
It showed God's goodness.
Well, do you realize that in the case of Hezekiah, God's word was also good?
In Hezekiah's punishment, God still showed his goodness, and that's a little harder to understand.
But Hezekiah testified good is the word of the Lord.
Hezekiah's answer to his punishment, to the judgment of God, was the only acceptable answer to God's word.
You can get a lot of "amen's" from people when you say, "God saw the light, that it was good."
Everybody say, "Amen."
But it would be a little harder, at least initially, before you learn what the scripture says, what it's teaching, to get an "amen" after you hear that God is going to wipe everything out of Judah and send all of the king's sons into captivity.
The first thing that comes to your mind would not be, "Good is the word of the Lord."
You might say, "Well, that's what they get."
Or, "Well, I hate to see it happen, but that's what happens when you disobey God as a nation."
But that's not how the world responds to the word of the Lord.
Jesus said, and you're going to have a lot of scriptures this morning, Jesus said in Mark chapter 8 verse 38, Mark 8, 38, "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with his holy angels."
And the word of shame is to feel shame.
It's pretty clear.
In the heart of an unbeliever, there is no regard for God's word.
There's only shame.
They feel shame.
And even though God is showing his goodness through his word, Hezekiah, on the other hand, did not feel shame for God's words.
They were good to him.
They were proof of God's goodness.
God alone is good.
Did you know that the good word of God is the prescription for man when his heart is heavy, when he needs comfort?
Here are two scriptures for that.
Proverbs 12, 25, which we'll get to in a few weeks in our Wednesday night study with the pastor.
Proverbs 12, 25.
"Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop, but a good word maketh it glad."
Now, what is that good word?
That's God's word, isn't it?
And then 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 16 through 17.
2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 16 through 17.
Where Paul wrote, "Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word and work."
What word is good?
It's God's word.
That's how we're established is through God's word.
Mankind, on the other hand, and this includes many Christians as well, has often made the mistake of seeking worldly counsel from a worldly problem that the world can't solve.
Many, not all, but many psychologists, influencers, counselors, financial advisors, have tried to give their clients an answer to their problems by using a humanistic perspective and totally leaving out what God's word says.
Here's an example.
Let's say a person was having--let's say a Christian was having financial problems.
A lost person having financial problems has a whole 'nother problem.
It's not their money.
It's their relationship with God.
But let's take a Christian who's having financial problems and says, "Well, I'm going to go see a financial advisor to try to get my feet back on the ground.
I don't like the way this feels."
Well, if that financial advisor is not a Christian, then there's no hope that he's going to start with the tithe.
And so a Christian financial advisor should start every person's budget with the tithe.
Without the tithe, the person's financial plan cannot please God.
I don't care how crafty it is, how it's timed with the stock market or beats the indexes or any of that.
It doesn't matter.
If it doesn't start with the tithe, it's not going to please God, and that includes our own personal finances.
Brother Doug handed me a check, and so when I get home, I'm going to deposit it.
And next week, my tithe from that will be in this plate right here.
That's not mine.
It's the Lord's.
The Bible says the tithe is the Lord's.
If I take it from him, it's theft.
In fact, he called it robbery, didn't he?
A Christian psychologist--let's say somebody goes to a psychologist and says, "I've been having anxiety," and you know, a lot of people have anxiety.
There are people in here who have anxiety about one thing or another.
And we don't know the depth of people's problems in here, much less out in the world.
There are people who are depressed, and they're having a hard time getting out of it.
And all of those things are--they're terrible.
It's horrible to go through those things.
But if a person in that situation goes to a worldly psychologist or counselor, they're going to get worldly advice.
They're going to be told, "Well, you need to look within yourself and all of that."
Well, that's--the problem is what's within ourselves.
"The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
Who can know it?"
That's what Jeremiah said.
Why would you turn inward to fix a problem that is inward that you can't fix?
A Christian psychologist should first find out whether his client is a Christian.
That's the most important thing.
And his professional advice after that point should be biblical.
It's biblical to find out whether your client is a Christian.
If he's not, that's the first thing a Christian psychologist ought to do.
And let me give you a hint.
You don't need to go to a Christian psychologist to hear the gospel.
You can hear it right here, straight from God's Word.
And yes, a Christian psychologist should be well-versed in the various mental and emotional disorders people have.
No question.
But God's Word should be right in the middle of that plan for their treatment.
It ought to be front and center of the counseling sessions they have.
Some people have severe emotional problems, and sometimes medicine is used to help them.
But medicine alone cannot heal a disorder of the inner man or of the psyche.
It can't.
Not by itself.
It can help with the symptoms.
It can diminish some of the feelings of sadness and maybe help with sleep and all of those things.
And I don't discount any of those.
But to heal the disorder, only God's Word can do that.
And that's not just a saying.
That's the truth.
That's what we--if we would stake, as pastors and teachers, if we would stake your eternal destiny on God's Word, why would we not stake your temporary living arrangements, your earthly life, also on God's Word?
If we would give you the Bible to solve the most serious problem man has, and that is the penalty of sin, why would we not give you God's Word to solve the second most serious problem people have, and that is the disorders of the mind, of the emotions?
So we do.
Now, we go back to the good Word of God, whether it be finances or counseling or any other part of our life, and when God's good Word condemns our bad decisions, we don't need to condemn the Scriptures for telling us the truth.
Now, nobody says that you're going to have a big smile on your face when God's Word tells you, "Hey, Andy, you're wrong, dead wrong on that.
You can't do that, and please God."
Nobody says that brings a smile on my face.
In fact, it brings shame.
It brings a feeling of guilt but a desire for repentance because I don't want to be wrong.
And we also don't need to condemn the messenger who brings us the good Word of God.
Look back in our text in verse 19.
It says, "Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah," who's he talking to?
He's talking to the messenger who brought the good Word of God.
"Unto Isaiah, good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken."
So if I were going to underline something in that part of the verse, I'd underline, "Unto Isaiah, which thou hast spoken."
So not only did Hezekiah say God's Word was good, but by strong implication, he did imply, in my estimation, that Isaiah did well by speaking those good words.
Hezekiah could have said, "Well, now listen, Isaiah.
I'm a Bible believer and all that.
I just don't like the way you put things.
I think you're kind of rough and blunt.
You know when a pastor or a teacher or some other witness tells you God's Word, you ought to thank them for it."
Now we're not looking for people to come up and pat us on the back and all that.
Not at all.
But if you have a certain thing you want to do, if they give you God's Word, you ought to thank them for it.
And I want to say here I am thankful to see people here and online from week to week who are thankful for Bible teaching.
And I'm thankful to see people online and here in the auditorium from week to week who are thankful for Bible teachers.
You all are so supportive, and I know sometimes there are some doctrines and verses that are hard to understand at first, and they make us scratch our head and wrinkle our brow.
Hey, I've been right there with you.
And I thank you for your patience with us as we try to teach God's Word.
You may walk away from here one Sunday or Wednesday and go, "I need to think about that one.
That one doesn't really--it's not clear to me at first."
And then with your patience as you hear the rest of it taught, you realize, "Oh, that's what it is.
I got it."
Like Sheila said that time, "Aha!"
That was her "aha" moment when she understood and believed the gospel.
And that may be the case in any of the doctrines that are taught here.
Looking back in the text, Hezekiah further says in verse 19, and he said, "Is it not good if peace and truth be in my days?"
Now, he had just said, "Good" is the word of the Lord that was spoken.
"Is it not good if peace and truth be in my days?"
If we read this same verse in Isaiah 39 verse 8, it's a little easier to understand, at least for me.
So I'm going to read this same verse out of Isaiah 39 verse 8.
"Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, 'Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken.'
He said, 'Moreover, for there shall be peace and truth in my days.'"
Now, here's a good place for a question that may be lingering in your mind.
Did Hezekiah get carried away to Babylon at some point?
Well, let's--I like doing this from time to time--let's study this together.
Let's look at some biblical evidence instead of just saying, "Oh, I think he was," or, "I don't think he was."
It doesn't really matter if we can't prove it in the scriptures.
I'll give you some biblical evidence here, three things that will help you to answer this question.
First of all, write down 2 Chronicles chapter 32 verse 33a.
2 Chronicles 32 verse 33a.
So this is a telling of this same set of events in the Chronicles.
"And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchers of the sons of David."
Now, where were those sepulchers or those grave dungeons or whatever you want to call them, grave plots?
If he was buried in those sepulchers of the sons of David, that means he was buried in Jerusalem, not in Babylon.
So we at least know that Hezekiah was buried in Jerusalem, not in the cities of Babylon.
So there's one piece of evidence that, no, he was not taken to Babylon.
Now, if you go back and read verses 17 through 18 in our own text where we are in 2 Kings 20, I'll read that again, and I want you to listen for something that is said and something that is not said about where Hezekiah is going.
"Behold, the days come that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon.
Nothing shall be left, saith the Lord."
So that verse tells us that all the stuff is going to be taken to Babylon.
It doesn't say anything about persons.
Verse 18, "And of thy sons that shall issue from thee which thou shalt beget, shall they take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."
So what does that verse not say?
It doesn't say Hezekiah, you and your sons will be taken to Babylon.
It says your sons will be.
So they leave out Hezekiah as being one of the people who will be transported into captivity in Babylon.
It doesn't say he won't, but it doesn't say he was.
So that's why we're having to put these several pieces of biblical evidence together to figure out the answer to that question.
And then the third thing, then the words we read from our text.
He said, "Is it not good?"
That means it is good.
That's just a different way of saying it.
If peace and truth be in my days, that is his days, the rest of the time on this earth that he lives.
And we know that would be 15 years past the point that God said you're going to live 15 more years.
He did not say there would be peace in his son's days.
He said, "But in my days."
Now that pretty strongly implies that he will live out his days in peace, not in captivity.
Because captivity is not peace.
You're not peaceful when you're captive.
And I believe the biblical evidence here that we've seen is pretty strong that Hezekiah was not taken captive by the Babylonians.
Now look back in verse 20.
"And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might, and how he made a pool and a conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?"
Now let's break that down.
It said, "And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah."
And normally in the Old Testament that Hebrew word for acts is translated as words.
Words.
So it tells us that acts are things that are spoken as well as things that are done.
If you ever--if you raise kids who are fairly close together in age and they had their little spats, and the older brother, that'd be me, learned how to torment the younger brother without touching him.
And so the little brother just has to come apart and mom says, "What is going on?"
And you know what the older brother says?
"I didn't do anything."
You seen that?
You gotta throw the hands up when you say it or it doesn't count.
It's not sincere.
Abigail just did it out of reflex.
"I didn't do anything."
So what I'm saying is I didn't touch, I didn't throw, I didn't impede his progress.
But boy, the words are what stirred him up.
Well guess what?
I didn't get away with it.
Because acts are words and words are acts.
Right here in the scriptures.
In fact, the Texas Penal Code defines--that's where all of your laws are against killing people and stealing and all that.
It defines an act the same way it's translated here in the Bible.
It says an act--I'm reading right out of the Penal Code--an act means a bodily movement, whether voluntary or involuntary, and includes speech.
That's why if you threaten to kill someone, you have committed a crime.
Even if you don't touch them.
Even if you don't carry out the act.
That's called a terroristic threat.
And Hezekiah has a long list of bodily acts and speech or words for which he would be known throughout history.
And those acts would be chronicled, be written down for others to read, both the good and the bad.
One of the things the cancel culture tried to do in this country during about the last four years, maybe a little longer than that, is to erase the names of famous people whose ideas they disagreed with.
To have flags torn down when those flags represented values they did not agree with.
And to have history blotted out when it contained acts that happened that they didn't like.
Now I'm glad God's Word doesn't do that.
It tells the truth about the good and the bad.
We don't go back and take out of the Bible where God tells the children of Israel, "Kill every single person in that wicked country."
We don't say, "Well, let's scrub that part and that part and we'll just leave this other."
No, we don't do that.
We can't do that.
God doesn't do it.
The Bible tells us about sin and holiness.
About salvation and wrath.
And there's no cancel culture in the Bible.
So Hezekiah, all of his acts are in view here, wherever they were written down.
And then it said, look back in the text, "all his might."
Now the word "might" is not too hard to understand.
It's strength.
It also means power.
And other similar words are used to translate the Hebrew word.
I'm going to read Psalm chapter 71, verse 16.
And I'd like you to listen for the word "strength" because it's the same as the word "might" in our text.
Psalm 71, verse 16.
And it'll tell you why Hezekiah was mighty.
Here's the Psalm.
"I will go in the strength of the Lord God.
I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only."
How did the psalmist go?
In his own might and power?
He said, "I will go in the strength of the Lord."
Or in the might of the Lord.
You could put either word in there and it tells us the same thing.
Now when Hezekiah received those letters from the Assyrian king, going back in our studies, he took those letters and spread them before the Lord in the house of the Lord.
He went in the might of the Lord to address the Assyrians.
Now had he gone in his own might, he would have lost.
We know that by knowing about the strength of the Assyrians.
But had he gone in his own might, he may have received those letters and gone, "Huh, put those on my desk.
I'll go deal with this king."
And summoned his army and marched out there and been slaughtered.
But he went in the strength of the Lord, which means he went to the house of the Lord and gave the matter to the Lord.
Now the world would see that as weak.
That former governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, said that Christians are weak.
We're weak people.
And you know what?
In the flesh we are.
But boy, in the spirit of the Lord, we are not.
And you'll come to understand that one day either through repentance or judgment.
And I'm not real concerned about what he says anyway about me.
I just want to know what God says about me.
Even the might of a wicked king is given by the Lord.
Now that's another one that's hard to soak in.
That does not mean the Lord is for wickedness.
But even the might of a wicked king is given by the Lord.
Listen as Daniel prophesies about a coming king.
This is a future event.
A coming king in Daniel chapter 8 verse 24.
Daniel 8 verse 24.
And he says this about this coming king.
Now this is an evil king.
This is not Jesus.
"And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power.
And he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper in practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people."
And to his people, to his people, God's people, he also gives strength.
Psalm chapter 68 verse 35.
Psalm 68 verse 35.
"O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places.
The God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people.
Blessed be God."
So if you wonder, how could it be that Hezekiah was mighty?
Remember that he, like any other ruler, was given power and strength and might from the Lord.
Now let's take this truth into the future.
Many people, even many Christians, are afraid of what's going to happen during the tribulation.
And for Christians, I attribute that to just not understanding it.
Because once you understand it, you'll say, "Oh, okay, I get it."
But when you don't, it causes fear.
And they're afraid of what will happen during the opening of the seals and the pouring out of God's wrath on the earth and so on.
And that fear, I believe, has led one group of theologians to teach that Christians won't be here during the tribulation.
And I used to hold that view many years ago.
But the reason I held it is I did not understand that whole set of events.
Do you know why?
Because we weren't taught it verse by verse.
That's all that was.
The pastor under who I served in those years was not a verse by verse teacher.
He was the typical independent fundamental Baptist, topic to topic to topic, and then come back to this one and call it by a different name.
And we just never got off into the hard stuff very often.
So I didn't understand how that pastor and many like him came to those views.
And as I began to read verse by verse, just in my daily Bible studies, I came across Matthew chapter 24 and 25 that said there will be Christians that are called the elect on the earth during the tribulation.
And that for their sake, God will cut that short.
And so rather than getting too far into the timing of those events today, that's a whole study in and of itself.
I want to show you why Christians should not fear the tribulation.
And this has to do with the might that was given to Hezekiah.
I want to show you that it won't be a time of chaos where God's out of control, but a time of precisely ordered and arranged events that God foretells in his word, not just in Revelation, but also through his prophets.
And during that time, he will be the one who gives power because all power comes from him in the first place.
When the fourth seal is opened there in Revelation chapter 6 verse 8, it says, and this is John the Apostle writing, "And I looked and behold a pale horse and his name that sat on him was Death and Hell followed with him.
And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth to kill with the sword and with hunger and with death and with the beasts of the earth."
God gave the power.
Even when Satan has power, the beast has power, it's God who gives the power for his will to be executed.
The opening of that seal will not happen without God giving power just like it says.
And you know much is said in the book of Revelation about power.
It was given to the two witnesses to prophesy.
It was given that they could shut up heaven and cause it not to rain.
The beast in Revelation 13 was the one who gave power to the image of the beast that it might speak, but even that power came from God.
Had God said, "No, you're not going to give power to the image of the beast to speak," then it wouldn't happen.
And one more example is in Revelation chapter 20 verse 6.
And this is such an encouragement to me.
Revelation 20 verse 6.
Where he wrote, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.
On such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years."
So by way of deduction, we can conclude that the second death has power.
It has power over those who have no part in the first resurrection.
Those are the unbelievers.
Absolutely it has power over them.
It used to have power over those who did-- who will take part in the first resurrection.
But that power was taken away.
And here's how.
Romans 1:16.
Romans 1:16.
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."
God has power over death, both the first and the second death.
Philippians chapter 3 verses 9 through 10.
Philippians 3 verses 9 through 10.
"And be found in him not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death."
What is it that God uses to take away the power of the second death over a believer?
It's the gospel.
He said it's the power of God unto salvation.
So whether it be the might and power of Hezekiah, the power of the beast, the power of God's two witnesses, or the power of the resurrection of Jesus, it's God who gives power and might and He is also the one who takes it away.
And it's God whose power and might are made known through His people.
If you've ever said this about somebody, "Boy, he is a powerful preacher."
Guess what?
He got that from God if he's powerful in the right way.
Now if you just mean, "Well, he's loud and he stomps around and he looks good in a suit and he can really shell the corn and all that," that's not powerful.
That's just loud.
And let me tell you what, that hurts my ears.
It always has.
My wife and I shared that sentiment before where a pastor will get right up here on this mic and he'll scream as loud as he can and we just shriek.
Now that didn't help us any when that happened.
And I'm a loud talker and that's why I have Brother Rick up there to tone me down.
You'll notice he'll have to turn it back up when Brother Fulton gets here because he's a little more soft-spoken.
But none of that has to do with power.
It's God who makes his power and his might known through his people.
He's the one who makes us mighty, not our own might.
Now let's look back in our text about the acts of Hezekiah.
There in verse 20 it said--and here's one of the things written about him-- "And how he made a pool and a conduit and brought water into the city.
Are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?"
So one of the things Hezekiah was known for was bringing water into the city.
Now that was a life-giving act, wasn't it, to bring water into the city.
You don't have water, you don't have life.
And remember we're reading about his acts, Hezekiah's acts.
Now in the Bible, water very often represents God's word.
So let's look at how that applies right here, see what we can learn from here.
Exodus chapter 30 verses 17 through 21.
Exodus 30 verses 17 through 21.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal.
And thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar."
Now that means the brazen altar that's on the outside.
"And thou shalt put water therein, for Aaron," that's the high priest, "and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat.
When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water that they die not.
Or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire unto the Lord, so they shall wash their hands and their feet that they die not.
And it shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations."
So to quickly review that, Aaron and his sons had to wash with water before they entered the tabernacle to minister.
And the penalty for not doing that was death.
The water must wash them.
Now look at how the Apostle Paul taught us what this represents in the book of Ephesians.
Chapter 5, verses 25 through 27.
Ephesians 5, verses 25 through 27.
Where he wrote, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish."
Now remember the selection of the high priest was very narrow.
The criteria were very narrow.
And for the priest to enter into the tabernacle, there were certain defects they could not have physically.
And that was not because God expects physical perfection from us because we certainly don't have that.
It was to teach the lesson that that which is holy must be without blemish and undefiled.
And the only thing that can make that happen for us is the word of God.
Now the water in the laver did this ceremonially, outwardly.
But it was not the water itself that made them clean.
It was the word of God which it represents.
So as Paul taught, Jesus washes his church not with H2O, but with his word.
And it's his word that sanctifies and cleanses.
It's his word that he brought.
As Hezekiah brought water into the city, Jesus brought the water of the word into his city.
Where his citizens live spiritually.
You and I who are Christians live in that city.
It's not a physical location.
It's a people, a called out people.
He brought water to his church.
Now without water, the people in Jerusalem would have been dirty and they would have died from thirst.
In John chapter 4, Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman by a well and they talked about water.
There was physical water in that well because Jesus said, "Give me drink of that water."
And Jesus used that physical water to teach a lesson.
And I want you to listen to verses 13 through 14.
That was in John 4, verses 13 through 14.
And she'd made an objection.
She said, "You know, we're not, you're not supposed to hang out with us Samaritans."
Jesus answered and said unto her, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, just like whoever washes in that laver of water at the tabernacle will be dirty again.
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.
But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."
The water Hezekiah brought into Jerusalem could not everlastingly quench the thirst of the Jews.
It could not keep them clean on the outside forever.
But God's word, which the water represents, does both of those to those who will drink it.
Drinking water is an act reserved for those who realize they're thirsty.
Washing in water is an act for those who realize they're dirty.
Are you dirty?
Are you thirsty?
Then go to the well of water, the one Jesus gives.
Thank God for Hezekiah's act of bringing water to his people.
And thank God for Jesus' act of bringing the water of the word to his people.
Let's pray.
Father, we're thankful for the truth that came from your word today.
We're thankful for your spirit who teaches us.
Help us now to meditate upon what we've learned.
And as we live out these days, that we would go forth in your might and your power.
And Lord, that we would not fear what the world does or says to us or about us.
But our trust would be in you and in your word, which truly sanctifies and cleanses.
In Jesus' name, amen.
