Calvary Road Baptist Church

“THOU SHALT DIE, AND NOT LIVE”

Second Kings 20.1

Please turn in your Bible to Second Kings 20.1. When you have located that verse, I invite you to stand for the reading of God’s Word: 

“In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.” 

Some one thousand years before Christ, the first king to rule over the twelve tribes of Israel, whose name was Saul, was succeeded by the shepherd-king named David. David’s son Solomon then, in turn, succeeded him when he died. Each of those three kings ruled for roughly forty years. Let it never be far from your mind that he consulted the witch of Endor on the last night of King Saul’s life[1] and that his daughter, Michal, was an idolater.[2] As well, Solomon was enticed by his assortment of pagan wives and concubines.[3]

Following the death of Solomon, civil war split the combined twelve tribe kingdom known as Israel into two countries, the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel to the North, with the kingdom of Judah in the South dominated by those of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin. It was ruled over by descendants of King David and King Solomon. The northern kingdom of Israel immediately turned away from the LORD their God to worship false gods, under the leadership of a succession of evil kings who were defiant in the face of God’s prophets who sought to turn the people back to God. Despite the efforts of such notable prophets as Elijah, Elisha and Hosea, and a multitude of unnamed prophets, the spiritual slide of Israel continued until God judged the kingdom of Israel utilizing the Assyrians, who destroyed their land, carried off the majority of men to foreign countries, and brought in foreign men who then intermarried with the Jewish women left behind.

Shortly after Israel was carried off into captivity in the North, the fearsome war machine of Assyria turned its attention to the kingdom of Judah to the South, ruled by godly King Hezekiah. These events occurred some 725 years before the birth of Christ. Marching virtually unopposed to the walls of Jerusalem, the Assyrians surrounded the city and laid siege. But during their siege of Jerusalem, the haughty Assyrians made a terrible mistake; they committed a terrible sin. They blasphemed the LORD. Listen to what the Assyrian negotiator yelled out to the Jews defending Jerusalem in Second Kings 18. I begin reading in verse 28: 

28 Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and spake, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria:

29 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand:

30 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

31 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern:

32 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, The LORD will deliver us.

33 Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

34 Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand?

35 Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?

36 But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not.

37 Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh. 

What do you think was the significant error of the Assyrians? I believe their error lies in comparing the LORD God of Israel to other gods, to gods who were no gods. And how could they make what would prove to be such a catastrophic blunder? Their dealings with other peoples and the false gods of other peoples led to conclusions that they thought were valid concerning the people of God and to the God of this people.

Could it be that the Assyrians exhibited the effects of what Paul wrote to Timothy about in First Timothy 4.1? 

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” 

I am not suggesting the Assyrians were spiritual apostates from the faith they had once embraced, and they had always been idolaters. I am pointing out that what Paul warned Timothy about concerning demonic attacks upon Christians and congregations was already evident among the idolatrous Gentiles and had been in evidence since the days of Nimrod.

Don’t ever draw conclusions about God based only on your own limited experiences. It’s not personal insights and conclusions drawn from your limited experiences that reveal the nature of the God with whom you have to do, but how God has revealed Himself in Scripture. Amen? The Assyrians blundered because they were victimized by the very demons behind the false gods they worshipped.

Listen to what godly king Hezekiah did with the Assyrian’s demand for surrender. Second Kings 19: 

1  And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.

2  And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

3  And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

4  It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.

5  So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

6  And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

7  Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. 

35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

37 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead. 

Does God know how to take care of business? God knows how to take care of business.

It turned out that the Assyrian king had based his opinion about the LORD God Almighty on his dealings with other people and their gods, and perhaps even on his dealings with the apostate Jewish people of Israel to the North (who he had just defeated), and their perverse and warped view of God. He paid for his blasphemy with his life during this lifetime and with his soul in the next lifetime.

It was close on the heels of this incredible and miraculous victory over the Assyrians, in answer to Hezekiah’s prayer, that God sent his choice servant, the prophet Isaiah, to good King Hezekiah with this message: 

“Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.” 

There are, I suppose, many things I could preach about in connection to this message from the LORD to Hezekiah, but what I believe to be appropriate for you folks is to point out to you that in this statement, God reveals to us some aspects of His essence and nature.

We will explore three facets of God’s nature: 

“Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.” 

These words were spoken to a godly man named Hezekiah, but they have the profoundest kind of application to you here today who are not saved and here today who are in open rebellion against God.

If God, the God of creation, the King of all glory, should say these words to His anointed and godly king over the people of Judah, how much more do these same words apply to you who do not fear the LORD, to you who have not humbled yourself before God, to you who have trodden under foot the precious blood of Jesus Christ by rejecting the Gospel and refusing to come to Jesus for salvation?

If the words “Prepare to meet thy God” were appropriate for the prophet Amos to say to God’s people,[4] and if the words “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” were appropriate to write to the Hebrews in the New Testament,[5] how much more do the words “Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live” apply to you whose house is certainly not in order, to you who are most certainly not prepared to die and not live?

Though many things come to mind to preach on from these words, I want to draw three implications from this text about the nature of God, this God Who the Assyrians blasphemed, this God Who Hezekiah worshipped and served and prayed to, this God Who is also your God: 

First, I WANT YOU TO CONSIDER THE JUDGMENT OF GOD 

In the chapters preceding our text, we have seen what we can see throughout the Bible, that God is a God of judgment, that He deals with sin and offenses against Him. Indeed, He used the Assyrians to judge the sins of Israel and then judged the blasphemy of those same Assyrians He had just used as His instruments of judgment against Israel. So, God does judge sin.

What is sin but that which is contrary to God’s personal will and wish, that which is personally offensive to Him, that which transgresses His laws? In short, be it attitude or action, belief or behavior, if it displeases God, it is sin. It may be a sin of omission or a sin of commission, doing something wrong or not doing something right. It may be a disposition that is not acted out in any way but which is inwardly set against God. It may also be the failure to have a positive attitude of love toward God. It is still sin.

God, Who is sovereign and Who does whatsoever pleases Him without consideration of your personal wishes or desires (He is God), judges sin. And in judging sin, He judges sin in all its forms and whatever its degrees to be a capital crime, worthy of death. Notice how this judgment upon sin is carried out:

First, there is physical death. I’ve already cited Hebrews 9.27 (“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”), but let me here point out that the death referred to by the writer of Hebrews in this verse is physical death. Because of sin, each member of the human race experiences physical death. Remember, from Genesis 3.22-23, we see that after Adam and Eve had sinned against God, they still had access to the tree of life in the Garden of Eden. That tree, whose fruit preserved human life, could have given Adam and Eve physical immortality. But God removed Adam and Eve from the garden so they would not have access to the tree of life, and He guarded the entrance to the Garden of Eden with cherubim and a flaming sword to prevent their return.[6] Eventually, both Adam and Eve grew old and died. Since that fateful day when Adam and Eve first sinned against God, there has been a judgment upon sin in the human family. As a result of God’s judgment upon your sin, you will someday die, your body will be burned or buried, and you will then face a more severe judgment from God.

Of course, after the physical death, there is spiritual death. There was the first death. Most people think that the first death is when you die physically. But I do not think so. When God refers to the first and the second deaths in Scripture, He is referring only to spiritual deaths. Stay with me for a moment, and I think you will agree. In Genesis 2.17, God warned Adam that if he disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit, he would die on the very day that he ate. But God’s Word shows us that Adam continued to live physically for many years following his fall into sin.

Was God wrong? No, God was not wrong. God’s reference was to Adam’s spiritual death, not his physical death that would occur years later. And both Adam and Eve did experience spiritual death the very day they ate the forbidden fruit when they were ejected from the Garden of Eden and when they were denied access to God’s spiritual life-giving presence. So, I am convinced that the first death took place when Adam and Eve, who then comprised the entire human race, were exiled from God’s presence. As a result of their experiences, you and I were born spiritually dead, Ephesians 2.1, because we came into existence exiled from God. Let us now consider the second death, which is also spiritual death.

When you die, you will go to Hell. You will be there for a long time, suffering, experiencing torment, and being punished for your sin. But Hell is not God’s final judgment of your sin. The lake of fire is God’s final and forever judgment. On Judgment Day, you will be brought up from Hell, your exile from God temporarily ended, to the Great White Throne, where you will be finally judged for your sins. The severity of your torment in the lake of fire will be fixed at that time by God’s judgment of your sinfulness during this physical lifetime and your rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. You will then be cast into the lake of fire, which will begin your second death. Revelation 20.11-15: 

11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and Hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

14 And death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. 

God is a God of judgment. He judges sin. He judges sin to be a capital crime worthy of death. And He condemns to death all sinners. The death He condemns you to is physical death and then spiritual death in the lake of fire, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.[7] 

Next, THERE IS IN OUR TEXT THE IMPLICATION OF THE JUSTICE OF GOD 

If God is a God of judgment, He is also a God of justice. We have seen in His Word that God does, indeed, judge sin. But on what basis does God judge sin? He judges sin righteously because God is a God of justice: 

From these verses and many more, we see that God is just. When I say that God is just, you must understand that this means God is not fair, and one is fair when one treats everyone the same way without regard for rightness or wrongness.

When the Bible points out that God is just, it establishes that He always and does the right thing in every case. What does that mean to you as a sinner, since there is not a just man on earth that does good and sins not?[8]

First, it means that God’s deeds are consistent with His nature. Anything that God does, and everything that God does, is right and proper and true. Realize that this means God will never just pretend that sinners are not sinners and that sinful deeds are not worthy of punishment. God will never look the other way when you sin to pretend you did not do what you did since that would be behavior that is different than what He really is. It also means that when God consigns a sinner to Hell and then the lake of fire for sin, He is doing nothing wrong, He is doing nothing improper, He is doing nothing unjust. God is only good and righteous and just, and the things that He does reflect His good and righteous and just nature. It additionally means you will never be saved from your sins so long as you think God is not right for being righteous, that He is not good for being just, or that there is anything wrong with God for judging an unrepentant sinner and casting him into Hellfire for all eternity. This is the essence of First John 1.9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just.” And to “confess” means to be in complete agreement with God against ourselves.

The next thing the justice of God means is that His deeds are consistent with your nature. It is one thing to understand that God is always right. It is another thing to understand that you are always wrong. You are always wrong, and you are never right. And this is because sin is not just something you do. It is what you actually are. So, when God moves in judgment against you or against anyone else, He is not only being consistent with His Own nature and doing what a just and holy God ought to do, He is also doing what you deserve. Recognize, for being the way you are, for being who you are; you deserve only to go to Hell, you deserve only eternal torment, you are worthy of nothing better than damnation and banishment from the sight of God. Agreement on this, too, is necessary for you to be saved.

Listen carefully to this phrase, lifted from Hebrews 2.2: “every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward.” This phrase means that every single thing you have ever done wrong, every act of disobedience, including your thoughts that are wrong toward God, will be punished in a just manner by God. Think about these things for a moment, people. We have seen that God is a God of judgment. That means He takes sin seriously and punishes it severely. But we have also seen that God is a God of justice. And that means that when God takes sin seriously and punishes it severely, He is doing the right thing. Let’s bring this home to where you live. Romans 1.32 declares, 

“Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” 

You are a sinner. You commit sins. You deserve death, and that means the second death of the lake of fire. For lying, you deserve to die and go to Hell. For fornicating, you deserve to die and go to Hell. For disobeying your parents, you deserve to die and go to Hell. For being deceitful, you deserve to die and go to Hell. For being without natural affection, for not being a nice and friendly person who likes people, you deserve to die and go to Hell. For not loving God, you deserve to die and go to Hell. And when God pours out His wrath on you, He will be right for doing so. These two things are implied in the phrase “Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.” But this is not all that is implied in our text. 

Finally, THERE IS ALSO IN OUR TEXT THE MERCY OF GOD 

It is the nature of sinful mankind that we twist and pervert spiritual truths. Some of you were once very twisted and perverse in your understanding of God. There was a time when you had no understanding of God’s judgment or God’s justice. You did not comprehend or perhaps even think about God’s judgment of your own sin, and you certainly didn’t think it right that God would judge you harshly and severely for your sinfulness. So, not only were you wrong, but you were wrong about God and about the rightness of God’s punishment for your sin.

Now, however, some of you have come to some appreciation of the judgment and justice of God, though you are not saved. But you have not yet grasped His mercy. The Bible says that “His mercies they fail not,” and the Psalms say again and again that God’s mercies endure forever.[9] So, God is merciful.

God was merciful in His warning to Hezekiah. He didn’t have to provide any warning to Hezekiah. God is under no obligation to inform or warn anyone of anything He is contemplating. That He warned Hezekiah is evidence that God is merciful. God is also merciful in His warnings to you that your house needs to be set in order, that your life will all too shortly end, and that you face judgment.

What are the evidences of God’s mercy toward you? Let me list only four:

First, God is merciful in giving to you His Word. You should ever be thankful to God for His Word, which is a lamp unto your feet, and a light unto your path, Psalm 119.105. Likewise, you should be ever thankful to God for His mercy in giving to you His Word, which testifies of His Son. The Scriptures “testify of me,” Jesus said in John 5.39. God did not have to give you His Word. But He did, and in so doing, He demonstrated that He is merciful.

Second, God is merciful in giving to you His warning. “Prepare to meet thy God.”[10] “Repent ye therefore, and be converted.”[11] “Seek the Lord while He may be found.”[12] “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”[13] “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment.”[14] “Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish.”[15] These are just a few of God’s warnings. God doesn’t have to warn anyone of impending judgment. He didn’t have to urge you to flee from the wrath to come. But He did. Why? Because He is merciful. He “is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”[16] And that includes you.

But because you will not otherwise heed His warning, He sends the Holy Spirit to do His wooing. You are dead in trespasses and sins.[17] You are guilty of heinous crimes against God.[18] But sometimes, even when you know yourself to be guilty in God’s sight and in danger of eternal punishment, you just don’t care. It just doesn’t bother you at all that you live in a state of rebellion toward God. You are dull and insensitive to the truth that your soul is in peril every moment.

So, God demonstrates His mercy yet again by sending the Holy Spirit of God to do a work on your heart. He is the One Who makes you feel as guilty as you really are when God’s Word is preached. He is the One Who makes you feel like the preacher is talking right to you, looking right at you, pointing his finger right toward you. That’s the precious Holy Spirit of God urging you, prompting you, pleading with you, tugging at your heartstrings to stop rebelling against God, to stop fighting against the One Who loves you. He is the One Who opens your eyes to the point that you become filled with terror as you see your soul’s danger, and Who illuminates your spiritual understanding so that you begin to fear the living God you have sinned so grievously against. Please do not resist the Holy Spirit’s ministry of making you feel bad for your sins and for your rebellion against God. To do so is to resist the mercy of God.

His Word, His warnings, His wooings by the Holy Spirit. Each are demonstrations of God’s mercy toward sinners that lead to His ultimate mercy toward you, which is His Son, Jesus Christ. God’s way of salvation is His Son Jesus Christ. In John 14.6 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Many sinners wrongly seek after the forgiveness of their sins and reconciliation with God. And they do so by neglecting the proper role of God’s Son Jesus in saving sinners and reconciling them to God.

Remember, God judges sin. And God is just. Because of God’s Own nature, a sinner cannot come directly to Him for forgiveness and cleansing. You cannot. Such an attempt would be disastrous, since “our God is a consuming fire.”[19] But in a perfect compliment to His justice, God mercifully sent His Own Son to die on the cross and to shed His blood for sinners, the Just for the unjust that He might bring us to God.[20] That He might bring you to God. And now, risen from the dead and seated at His Father’s right hand on high,[21] Jesus Christ bids you come to Him for forgiveness, come to Him for cleansing, come to Him for salvation, come to Him to obtain God’s mercy. My sinful friend, you will never feel as guilty of sin as you ought to feel. There will never be a convenient time to consider the salvation of your soul. You may never feel ready to be saved. What is needful is just this one thing: Come to Christ. 

I close with this final comment: Some of you need to be told to come to Christ right where you are, right this very moment. You harbor in your heart a fear and a dread of coming to Christ, supposing (I think) that what God requires of you is courage. Courage to talk to me, courage to step into a room to wait for me, courage to physically do something.

But God requires no courage for conversion, only faith. Lay hold of Jesus by faith where you sit. Lay hold of Jesus now.

Please bow your head and ponder for a moment this message from God’s Word.

__________

[1] 1 Samuel 28.8-25

[2] 1 Samuel 19.13

[3] 1 Kings 11.1-9; 2 Kings 23.13

[4] Amos 4.12

[5] Hebrews 9.27

[6] Genesis 3.24

[7] Mark 9.44, 46, 48

[8] Ecclesiastes 7.20

[9] Psalm 106.1; 107.1; 118.1-3, 29; 136.1-26; 138.8; Jeremiah 33.11; Lamentations 3.22

[10] Amos 4.12

[11] Acts 3.19

[12] Isaiah 55.6

[13] Hebrews 10.31

[14] Hebrews 9.27

[15] Luke 13.3, 5

[16] 2 Peter 3.9

[17] Ephesians 2.1

[18] Romans 3.19; James 2.10

[19] Deuteronomy 4.24; 9.3; Hebrews 12.29

[20] 1 Peter 3.18

[21] Psalm 16.11; 110.1; Matthew 26.64; Mark 12.36; 14.62; 16.19; Luke 20.42; 22.69; John 3.13; 13.1; 14.2-4; Acts 1.9-11; 2.33, 34-35; 7.56; Romans 8.34; Ephesians 1.20; 6.9; Colossians 3.1; Second Thessalonians 1.7; Hebrews 1.3, 13; 8.1; 9.24; 10.12-13; 12.2; 1 Peter 3.22; Revelation 19.11

Would you like to contact Dr. Waldrip about this sermon? Please contact him by clicking on the link below. Please do not change the subject within your email message. Thank you.

Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church