Lessons from Uzziah

Let's pray and ask for God's help. Father, we would desire to bow this evening in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We think of the first hymn that we sang, My Redeemer, and we do with desire to thank thee that redemption has been procured by the precious blood of thy well-beloved Son.

We're thankful for each one here tonight that can say of a truth, it is well, it is well with my soul. If anyone's here that does not know thy Son as Savior, we pray that thou would draw near as only thou canst the sovereign God, and thou would awaken and thou would save their souls. We thank thee for the truth of unto him shall the gathering of the people be, that in all things he might have the preeminence.

We're thankful for the local assembly here and the testimony to carry forth until he that shall come will come and will not tarry. We pray for thy richest blessing on each one that come, those who are unable to be out tonight, we pray Lord for thy helping guiding hand. Some perhaps are sick, some perhaps are working, some have other burdens, we thank thee thou canst draw near and each one can enjoy the shadows of the cross.

We do ask Lord as we have come to hear thy word that thou might shine on the holy scriptures, that we might hear thy voice, that there might little some nugget from thyself that we might be able to say, it's been good for us to be here. We acknowledge our weakness and so we do pray Lord that thou might bring a ready recollection of the truths of God, that might be a help to us the people of God. For the mercies of the day, we give thee thanks, a measure of health and strength, safety along the way, we say of a truth how good is the God we adore, our faithful and changeable friend.

So we cast the burden of the meeting upon thee, ask for thy leading and guiding hand, praying in the name of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Some of you would know me, some of you wouldn't know me, we live in the land of Phoenix, it's a little cooler than here and it will be not quite as wintry as here, but many people are fooled, the land of Arizona once you head up north is full of snow, in fact sometimes people freeze to death in their vehicles in the wintertime, caught in the snow storms up there. So if you go to Arizona in the winter, you won't need a coat much in Phoenix, but if you're going to travel a little bit north, you're definitely going to need some of your winter gear, maybe not the big muckalucks and the big snowmobile suit, but you'll definitely need winter clothing because it will get cold and you can get a dump of snow two or three feet in one day's time in the mountains.

So a privilege to have been invited to come here, as you know there were meetings scheduled and COVID came along and canceled those meetings and so the assembly kindly invited me to come along tonight and we appreciate that. Turn in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles please, chapter 26, and perhaps we can see a few little gleanings of the life of Uzziah that might help us and guide us and strengthen us in the right ways of the Lord. Chapter 26 of 2 Chronicles please, and it's nice to see each one out and thanks for bringing the children out, it's nice to see, nice to see the whole family come, we always try to do that and the Lord will honor you for your exercise that way.

First one of 2 Chronicles 26, Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was 16 years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah. He built Eluah and restored it to Judah. After that the king slept with his fathers.

16 years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehola of Jerusalem, and he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, a calling to all that his father Amaziah did. And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God, and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.

And he went forth and warred against the Philistines, and break down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabner, and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities about Ashdod and among the Philistines. And God helped him greatly against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Jeroboam, and the Nehems, and the Amorites gave gifts to Uzziah. And his name spread abroad even to the entering into Egypt, for he strengthened himself exceedingly.

Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, and he fortified them. And he built towers in the desert, and dig many wells, for he had much cattle, both in the low country, and in the plains, husbandmen also, and buying dressers in the mountains, and in Carmel, for he loved husbandry. Moreover, Uzziah had a host of fighting men, that went out to war by bands, according to the number of their account, by the hand of Jael the scribe, and Messiah the ruler under the hand of Haniel, one of the king's captains.

The whole number of the chief of the fathers of the mighty men of valor were 2,600, and under their hand was an army 300,000 and 7,500, that made more war with mighty power to help the king against his enemy. Uzziah prepared for them throughout all the host shields, and spears, and helmets, and habergons, and bows, and slings to cast stones. And he made in Jerusalem engines invented by cunning men, to be on the towers, and upon the bullocks, to shoot arrows, and great stones with all.

And his name spread far abroad, for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord as God, and went into the temple of God to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord, that were valiant men.

And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priests, the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense out of the sanctuary, for thou hast transgressed. Neither shall it be for thine honor from the Lord God. Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand, to burn incense.

And while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy rose even up in his forehead, before the priests in the house of the Lord, from beside the incense altar. And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests looked upon him. But behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from hence.

Yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the Lord had spitten him. And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper. For he was cut off from the house of the Lord.

Now that's all I read, and I know it's a long reading, but I thought it would be better to read the whole portion, rather than miss a few verses, and miss a little bit of the context, or a little bit of the account. I find this an exciting account, I find this a challenging account. It begins in the first five verses of a man of a sterling character, and then if you come to around verse 6 to around verse 15, you find that he's building.

But sadly and solemnly, when you come to verse 16, wiggling down or dropping your way down to verse 21, you're going to find that there was a downfall, and it was because of pride. And of course we know pride always comes before a downfall. And so we find here that this was one that was a unique man in many ways.

He was a man that had vision. He was a man in his youth, as we read in this account, that learned to have a deep relationship with God, and he learned to know God in his youth. I found it astounding as we read, and as we look at this little uh chapter here, he was 16 years old.

Now I don't know if there's anybody here 16 years old, or maybe you know what I mean, a few years older, but you know as a young person, you can know God very deeply, and very intimately, and there's no need, as the expression is at times, to come down fool's hill. You can walk with God from your youth, consistently with God, know God, and that all of us might grow in the knowledge and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. You would notice that he had a good character, you notice he did that which was right, and you would also notice that life's circumstances were coming upon him, that all of a sudden he found himself in a great place of privilege, and he found himself in a great place of responsibility.

He was given the place to reign. Verse two gives us a little insight on him. He built Eloah and restored it to Judah, and you might wonder what the significance of that is, but that was a port on the Red Sea, and he would have had a vision that if we are going to grow, we're going to have to have commerce, and so we'll build a port, and having the port, ships can come, ships can go, commerce can come, commerce can go, and so as I read about his life, I've come to the conclusion in my own mind that Uzziah, as a young man, had a vision, and as we weave in the accounts, we do not find that he lived his life for his own pleasure.

We find, as we'll look at some of the verses further on, he was one that was very concerned about his men, about his soldiers, about the people. He was one that loved husbandry, but I don't find in there that he was a man that was given to pleasures, and we want to remind ourselves that the Word of God teaches us that our lives, by his matchless grace, after we're saved, come to know him, whom to know as life eternal, are not for our pleasure, but for the pleasure of the one that loved us and gave himself for us. Oftentimes, it's been stated that we, the people of God, don't begin to live until we die, until we die to our own desires, until we desire die to the world, its wants and its wishes, and so Uzziah here, who had a vision for international trade, that it might be a blessing to the people.

He was only 16 years old. I've had the thrilling experience in visiting some assemblies from time to time with young ones that are very interested in the Word of God, have a very good grip and grasp of the assembly and the teachings, the principles, and the precepts, and have a sterling testimony in school or in the university. Testimony is making God look great in the eyes of the world.

Most don't read their Bible on the streets, but they in their mind know what a Christian should be like and how a Christian should conduct themselves, and so as we trod, whether at school, whether in the homeland, whether in the stores, or whether in our occupations, we have the opportunity to bear testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ, which is attempting by his grace to make God look great in the eyes of the world. We also find here that at 16 years of age, he made choices that were going to affect his path for a long time. 52 years he reigned, solemnly as his life came to a close of effectiveness, pride had come in.

But I want to make this statement that most choices in life are made in our youth, and the choices we make when we're younger oftentimes will affect the course of the path of our lives all our days in the journey of life, and so whether you be 16, or whether you be 36, or whether you be 72, or whatever it would be, every choice that we make day by day should be guided in light of the Word of God. It's very elementary, but we realize that the will of God always dovetails with the teaching of the Word of God. It will always mesh.

It's very elementary, but it doesn't hurt repeating that truth never changes. Sometimes I meet different ones, as we all do, and well, this is what we do where we go, and this is what we do where we go, and you know, I don't want to be offensive, beloved. What does the Word of God say? You see, it doesn't work to go by a pattern of what people do if it can't be based on what the Word of God says, and so we want to realize that in our individual movements and our collective movements in the assembly, the pattern should be molded by what the Word of God says, because truth never changes.

Compromised truth is never truth in any way, shape, or form, and so Uzziah here reigned 52 years, had a godly heritage, and he says he did that which was right, not in his own eyes, but he did that which was right in the sight of God. The Word of God tells us it's not in man's heart to direct his steps. Our steps must be directed by the Word of God.

We have the gracious Holy Spirit that indwells us, and we have the Word of God to guide us, and so we have a great responsibility to dig in the Word of God, to seek God's mind, not only to pattern, but also to the pathway in our own lives. You would remember Manoah. He said, how shall we order the child? You would come to Genesis, and we would find there with Moses, take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages.

There was physical care, there's spiritual care, and for children or for adults, there has to be a suitable diet of all kinds of vitamins in the foods, they tell me, so that we might be able to grow physically. Well, spiritually, we need a spiritual balanced diet that we might grow in the things of God in a pattern that will be pleasing to him. Does youth have to sow wild oats? Not at all.

Does youth have to come down Fool's Hill? Not at all. If you and I are walking with God, enjoying God, no need to come down Fool's Hill, as it were. Oftentimes, they say until a person gets 25, and it's not always the case, thankfully.

They don't think their parents are too smart, and all of a sudden, by the time the children get to about 25 or 30, they wonder how mom and dad got so smart so quickly, and of course, they realize, of course, they always were along that way. Numbers chapter 6 mentions the vow of the Nazarite. Uzziah didn't have a vow of a Nazarite that I know, but he had quite a separated life.

And you and I, as the people of God, our appetite is going to affect our associations. Our associations should be primarily with the people of God, but never isolationist that we're not reaching out to tell others the wonderful strains of the gospel message. I find here he did that which was sight in the eyes of the Lord.

He had a godly influence, but then I find a key to his pattern. He sought God in the days of Zachariah. You and I know that the Word of God tells us that we can boldly come before the throne of grace to find grace to help in time of need.

If any man lack wisdom, the Word of God teaches us that we can come and ask for wisdom of God, for he abradeth not. We remind ourselves, beloved, that it takes no gift to pray. What is totally essential in the Christian's life for communion, for preservation, for growth, for development, to find counsel from God.

We remember that Elias was a man of like passions just like you and I we find in James, and yet he prayed very earnestly. He sought God in the days of Zachariah. Uzziah was a man that learned to pray.

If you're learning to pray, you're learning to wait on God. You remember Hannah? She prayed for children, and God answered her prayer. You would remember Jezebel, Jabez.

He said, bless me, enlarge my coast. He prayed that the Lord's hand would be with him, and the Lord's hand would keep him from evil, and he would not be sorrowful. As I look at this chapter, and as I've mentioned, there's a man that had a vision.

I want to ask you a little question, beloved, and I'm not expecting you to be answering me or anything, but I'm wondering what would be your vision for the local assembly in the days ahead? I think it's all right to term it that way. I watch the farmers in the West, and they put in these little seedlings for a grape vineyard. I watch them put in the trees for the orchards, and they're beautifully straight.

I see all the furrows that have been cut in for flood irrigation, and then I see where they put in drip irrigation with tubes at each one, and then I see tubes around the trees so that the mice and the little rodents don't come and eat the trees, and I watch there, and I say, this individual has had a tremendous vision that in a number of years, this is going to be a flourishing orchard to bear fruit. Tremendous work went into it, tremendous cost, tremendous planning. I watch businesses being built, banners being put up, what it's going to be, and I realize there were people that had a vision that this is going to be a way to feed our family, this is going to be a way to help the community with work for people, and we're used to observing people that have a vision.

Now, when it comes to the local assembly, I want to suggest we should have a vision for the lost and the perishing. I know it's very difficult where I live to get people in to hear a gospel meeting, and yet I'm oftentimes able to meet people almost every day and give them a little word in the gospel on the streets or somewhere else, but I just want to suggest or ask, what is the vision of the assembly? I don't take me as challenging you in the wrong way. In the days to come, be the Lord Jesus Christ, not come.

I have found with the COVID epidemic that gospel meetings in the West have been very hindered. I've realized that's not any obstacle. A closed door allows another door to be opened.

I found that door-to-door work has been valuable, and in fact we've gone into a number of homes with cottage meetings, and can you get a few friends and family in, and we'll have a little meeting around the home, and people have thanked me for coming and asked me to come back, and we've had more in one week's time in several cottage meetings than we've had in the hall in many months. Now, I'm not eliminating the gospel meeting. It's one of the assembly meetings I see in the Word of God, but could I just suggest, beloved, and I've really never been here before and never talked to anybody from here on how things are done, but I find if you're not inviting people out, a lot of times there's not too many people coming, and if you're attempting to invite people out, why every now and then somebody comes out to hear the gospel, and so I want to encourage you, please don't get discouraged.

Stay encouraged in the Lord, because we reap in due time if we faint not, and sometimes discouragement is a tool the devil uses. I don't know if they use monkey wrenches anymore. It was a 90 degree thing with a little thingamajig you turn, and they got a lot more sophisticated stuff nowadays, but a monkey wrench and the gears, the gears don't work very well, and so God wants us to have a vision, and you know, Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, and the Lord gave him more days.

Jonah did some very serious praying when he was in the whale's belly. Does God answer prayer? You say, absolutely. Can God do above and beyond we ask and think? You say, absolutely, no question about it.

Zacharias in Luke 1 was told, fear not, thy prayer was heard, and his wife was going to bear a son. Psalm 55, it says, he calls upon the Lord in the evening, and he calls upon the Lord in the morning. If I could glimpse in my mind in the 24-hour day, seven days of the week, morning, noon, and night, the psalmist is communing with God.

Mr. John Frith, before he went to Venezuela to be a missionary, did building, and he told me he used to lead some crews up in Vancouver, and he said, I only worked five and a half days of the week. I wouldn't work a full six day, and I said, well, why not? He says, because my mind was so full of nuts and bolts and beams, I had difficulty remembering the Lord on the Lord's day morning, but he says, you know what I did? I took a little piece of paper, and I put it in my pocket during the day, and I take it out when I'm walking from one place to another, and he says, I'd get a little food from God, and a little guidance from God. You know what that told me? He enjoyed God, and he knew God, and he wanted to hear his voice day by day.

I wish he was still around to ask him some more questions. First Thessalonians encourage us to pray without ceasing. We're encouraged to pray for one another.

If we pray for one another in the assembly, it helps us to bear one another's burdens. It helps us to genuinely love one another with a pure heart, fervently. First Peter says, casting some of your care upon him.

No, it doesn't say that, my brethren are listening carefully. Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for thee. Isn't it thrilling? There's never a busy signal.

There's never a connection that doesn't work. You know, knee mail is always better than email. We have direct access with the God of heaven when we boldly come before the throne of grace, for grace to help in time of need.

We can cast our care upon him. As life moves on, and the different vicissitudes of life, we all need wisdom. We all need guidance.

We all need direction, and God's ear is not closed, and so he sought God in the days of Zechariah. He had understanding and visions from God. How did he learn what to do? How was he guided what to do? Well, he knew God, and he enjoyed God, and he listened to God.

You know, in Matthew chapter six, it says, enter thy closet in the shut door. Come to second Kings, and you're going to find four times in that book, the shut door, and the shut door is always a place of supply. The shut door when we're alone with him, whatsoever I ask in my name, if it be according to his will, we know that he will answer us.

A little talk with Jesus, how it smooths the rugged roads, how it cheers and helps me onward when I faint beneath my load. My heart is crushed with sorrow, and my eyes with tears are dim. There's not can yield me comfort like a little talk with him.

I've read a story about a guide and tourist, and the guide told the tourist, there's a tremendous windstorm. I want you all to get on your knees, and you know that's the real safe place for you and I, the people of God, and so Zachariah prayed. Now I want to take you to Matthew five.

I'm going to weave you back to the chapter, but I want to be practical, and I trust it might be helpful sometime down the road. Matthew chapter five and verse 23. Verse 22, and I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be in danger of judgment, and whosoever shall say to his brother shall be in danger of the council, but whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire.

Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gifts. You say what does that mean? There are requirements in prayer. Clean hands and clean hearts.

So suppose I came to the assembly here, and you told me there was a technical difficulty with one of the brethren. Now we wouldn't think that would ever happen, but wherever there's people there can be problems, and so suppose I came back a year later, and how's that problem working out brethren? Well we're still praying about it, and we're still praying about it. Well there's some things we don't just pray about, and Matthew chapter 5 says I've got to talk to you, one and none.

My dear brother here, he and I have ought, hypothetically, we trust it'll never happen, you know what I'm saying, but what are we going to do? We need to talk together. We don't just pray about it, and so yes we pray, but if there's something that needs to be made right, we need to humble ourselves and sit down, and maybe I need to learn to say I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that the way it was, and then God will hear. We can't function as the people of God properly with a grieved, hindered, or quenched Holy Spirit.

So I want to suggest if there's a technical difficulty between two, well yes we do pray, but the two are supposed to sit down together and work it out in the fear of God. That links with 1st Corinthians chapter 11, let a man examine himself before we come and partake of the breaking of bread. I also want to say that, and you don't have to agree with me, we don't just have to pray that God will heal.

He has given doctors with wisdom that can give help and guidance for certain issues or certain conditions, and if there's ever a sad case of a suicide or somebody thinking that way, well I want to suggest we don't just pray, but we do get help and counsel and stick with them to make sure things calm down. So in this day today, sadly the later one I mentioned is not a small one, it's a large one, and many youth up to the age of 23 and many over the age of 60 are contemplating it that we meet on the streets. And so we're not just going to say, well I'm going to pray that you make the right choices.

We're going to have to take action to help them and to stay with them and to get help that they might calm down. And so those are just a few thoughts you might say, and so as we move along in the chapter here, as long as he sought God, he had a prosperous path. Isn't that thrilling? Prosperity truly comes from the Lord.

True prosperity is not riches. It could be, but true prosperity, you can help me pronounce it is enjoying God and walking with God in a godly manner. Them that honor me is a divine principle I will honor.

And as long as he put the Lord first, the Lord honored him and the Lord blessed him. Whether we're in the valley, whether we're on the mountaintop, whether it's dark and stormy, or whether it's sunny, however you want to label it, he's in us and he's with us and he's for us. And so Uzziah here, with vision from God and understanding from God, was in war with the Philistines.

Well, you and I are not in war today, thankfully. I was the Vietnam generation, but the Lord preserved me with an occupational job from going overseas. I was very thankful as a civilian.

But I want to suggest we're to move out with the gospel and we're to put on the whole armor of God that we might be able to stand against the wiles of the enemies. And you might say, well, what enemies might I have today? I'm not thinking of a man on the streets that's got a harmful intention, but it could be doubt. It could be despair.

It could be dismay. It could be disappointment that becomes an enemy to us as the people of God. And we could even become cast down, like Psalm 41 and Psalm 42.

And he says there, why am I cast down? He was in such a discouraged state, he didn't really even want to eat. And a believer could get to a very discouraged state, sadly to say. But remember, David encouraged himself in the Lord.

And true encouragement is going to come from God. True encouragement is going to come from the Word of God. True encouragement is going to help us to put the enemies aside and to realize greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world.

And to realize as Naaman teaches us, Naaman 1 and 7, God is a stronghold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him. He will never leave us. He will never forsake us.

He's a guide. He's a heavenly father that wants the best for us in every aspect of our lives. And so no need to let the enemy come in.

No need to allow doubt and become cast down or so. If God is my helper, I need not fear what man can do unto me. And so Uzziah here is warring against the Philistines.

Verse 7 tells us thrillingly that God helped him. Success has to come from God. Salvation alone is of the Lord.

If I'm going to learn any truths or grow in the things of God and my rough edges slowly be removed, it's going to have to be God working in me by his gracious Holy Spirit. Sometimes we can make a mistake and you're going to give me a crash course. And this is how you need to do and this is how you need to be and that never really works.

We present the truth of God and the Spirit of God has to come along and to convict us of those truths and help us to be able to obey them and to follow them for his honor and for his glory. One translation of verse 5, rather than as long as he sought the Lord, was as long as he worshiped the Lord. Well, you can't worship the Lord and be a discouraged one.

You must be encouraged in the Lord. He took down the enemy's strongholds. Success came from the Lord and the Lord removed his enemies.

And you know, as we travel in life, sometimes there's burdens. Man is born into trouble as the sparks fly upward. So if you haven't had it happen, rest assured someday it's going to come to pass.

It's a given, but the Lord will sustain us through the storm. You remember the disciples in the ship when they were going to the other sea? They thought the Lord had forgotten about him. He was right in the ship with him and he's the only one that can calm the storm and he's the only one that can make the sea, when it's raging, come perfectly still.

Off the coast of Oregon, a lot of times there's tremendous storms around January when they're crabbing and you know when the storm is over the waves are going for days. But when God comes along he stills the storm completely instantaneously. And Uzziah had learned God.

God helped him against the Philistines and the Amorites, the enemy, gave him gifts. I find a principle here that a good name is better than riches. I made the statement the other night and I can still make it again tonight.

I've never come across anyone in the land of Wisconsin, I've only been here two times, but I was at hundreds and hundreds of homes in the Ontario area that anyone had anything ill to say about any of the saints gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel halls. That was a thrilling statement because I've learned through the years when I get to the door I tell them I'm John and I'd like to you to a gospel meeting but I don't tell them of who I know. And you might say why not? Because on a rare occasion the one I know had a conflict with the one that I'm at the door at and I find out I've got a technical difficulty I don't know how to handle.

So I try and come in on very neutral ground and tell them where I am and what I'm doing and what I'm inviting and it seems to work a lot better. But you know nobody came up to me and said you know this one owed me money or this one cheated me in business or you know how people are whether true or false. And so I am very thankful that I can honestly say before the God of heaven I have never met one in the land of Wisconsin that had any ill to say about any of the people of God in any place I've been.

That's thrilling because that's testimony making God look great in the eyes of the world. And so even the enemies were giving him gifts and of course the Apostle Paul could say in Philippians that the Lord Jesus Christ strengthened him. Uzziah strengthened his armies and notice here in verse nine he built towers in Jerusalem.

Now why would you do that? Well very simply towers are a strategic point for a landmark. Towers could be used to store water in. They could be used to store grain.

They could be used to watch for an enemy. And if towers were built along the corners of a wall it would have had a tremendous stiffening effect. Some of you have done building.

It would have had a tremendous stiffening effect on those walls. But in the land of Arizona they tell me, I haven't seen it, I'd like to see it, they tell me there's a lighthouse in the desert. It's not to keep the ships from bumping into the cactus plants.

But that lighthouse, they say, says there's water underneath. And if one is astray in the desert and they can get to the light, down at the bottom of the lighthouse there's water that they might live. Many ranchers put out big barrels of water with flags on them for migrants that are traveling so that they can live because of the extreme heat and the very dry conditions.

Well, Uzziah built towers and he built in the valley gate. You know, gates are for our protection. We lock our doors pretty heavily in Phoenix.

You'd laugh at us. We have chairs that have rollers on them. So we roll the three chairs against the back door at night.

Nobody's coming in. And then we've got a gate with a lock. And then we've got a metal door that's screened.

And then we've got a regular door. And so we're locked up pretty good. And of course, safety is of the Lord, but I think it's wise to kind of know your surroundings.

And so if I go to the gas station in Arizona and Linda's in the car, I lock the car. Because somebody else might jump in and think they need the car and want to take her for a joy ride that she wouldn't think is very joyous. And so we find here that Uzziah realized we need protection.

And strength doesn't always have to be used to show strength. Just as a military doesn't have to use all their armaments to show the strength and abilities they have. And so we find him here.

He built gates. We need gates in our lives. We need separation in our lives.

It's not isolation or anything, but it's to preserve us. And it's to enable us that we might honor the one who loved us and gave himself for us. But you say, why is that? We've been bought with a price.

Precious blood has been shed, and we're no longer our own. And so he built towers there. And he had much cattle.

If you're going to have cattle, you're going to have to have vegetation for feed. And you're going to have to have water. And so we find here, he dug many wells.

You know what an enemy does? They fill in the wells. If you can cut off the water supply, people are not going to be able to live. If you can cut off the water supply, crops aren't going to be able to be grown.

And you know, we have an enemy. And he wants to come along. He's not putting big stones in the well or something, but he wants to take away our joy.

And the joy of the Lord is our strength. So one of the most important things in the Christian life is for you and I to enjoy the Lord every day, and attempt to walk with him and commune with him and enjoy his presence every day, that the enemy, the old Satan, the old serpent doesn't fill in the wells, and an enemy doesn't come along and fill in the wells, that we can enjoy the springs of the everlasting water. So he built towers for landmarks, for observation, for vision.

And in the homeland, as I mentioned, he wasn't given to pleasure, wasn't given to sport. I don't find that here. But he grew vineyards, vine vineyards in the mountains.

And he loved husbandry. I don't think he just had a little garden. I think he had a really big area.

In fact, I can see that. It would have been for the people. And if he had commerce, it would have been to use the port that he built many years ago at Ilath, so that they would have commerce.

If people are going to live in a community, they have to have work. And if people are going to thrive, they've got to have food. And when there's a famine, people leave areas.

And so he had a tremendous vision here. Can I say he had a heavenly view? And he had a tremendous army. I don't know how many in our armies today.

But one thing I know about him, he really cared for his men. You know, there are some that are commanders and really don't care. And I won't get into the Vietnam War and what took place and all, but that's another story.

But I find when I read this account here, he had a lot of mighty men of valor. David's men within a hair's breadth, right and left hand, could sling a stone. Our sheriffs in Oregon, right and left hand, qualify every two months with the pistol.

One hand shot, they use the other hand. And so David had mighty men. I view them as powerful, athletic, dedicated men to protect the king, to protect the land and protect the people.

We need to put on the whole armor of God for our protection, for the protection of the assembly and the truths of God and the right ways of God and the old paths that they might be preserved. Why would you want to do that? It's for the honor and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. The assembly is not mine.

And don't take this wrong. It's not yours. It's the Lord's.

And we have the privilege to be a part of the assembly for the honor and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's in our very midst. And so we're really almost like guests invited by the Lord, if you want to put that way, to be where he is to carry on the principles and the precepts that are found in the word of God.

Whether on the first day of the week, they came together to break bread, whether the prayer meeting, whether the gospel meeting, from you sounded out the word of the Lord, you can develop it how you want. We have the privilege to have the word of God to guide us, not just to drift around. Well, I think we'll do this.

And another says, I think I'll do that. When I was in high school, I was filling out applications for college. And my mother, she says, it says on there what your religion is.

What are you going to put down anyway? See, mom and dad weren't saved and didn't understand. I says, I'm going to put down that I'm a Christian. Well, you should know by now that everybody that's not a Jew and everybody that's not an atheist is a Christian.

I says, no, no, no, you don't understand. A Christian is one that knows the Lord Jesus as their savior. They've been saved.

Well, they didn't understand, but I put down I was a Christian on it and I never got evicted or anything with my applications. What are we? We're Christians. And the hall is the name of the building.

It's where we preach the gospel. We're not any denomination and we don't have any head to guide us. Each local company is a pattern found in the word of God and to carry out what the word of God says.

And we don't have any pastor or anything like that. In fact, you're going to find in the there's two churches and the church is not the steeple, but it's made up of people. Everybody that's saved is in the church, which is his body.

And then there's a local church, a local assembly and where those that are in it are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Did you know it's the only name I find in the word of God and people say, what are you, John? Well, I say, you might think I'm a silly fellow, but that's different. But what I am is I'm a Christian.

Well, where do you go? Well, I go to a little place or it could be a larger place where we carry on the pattern of the word of God, like a New Testament church. And we gather to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what a lot of people tell me? I never heard anything like that before in my life.

Well, you know what we say, just like in John's gospel, come and see. So here we're moving down and mighty men. And what did he do for him in verse 14? The clock's going quicker than my tongue.

Uzziah prepared for them shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, his hammer guns and slings to cast stones. Now, I don't think the cartel in Mexico has read Second Chronicles 26, but they have taken pickup trucks with big catapults to put the drugs in and fly them over the wall. So if they read the Bible, they would have learned it even quicker how to send missiles in the air.

And he made engines. Now, this isn't anything like a Cummings engine or the John Deere tractors, but he had inventions. Men in the towers, notice we mentioned them, bullets to shoot arrows and great stones.

Notice what it says, his name spread far abroad. He was marvelously helped till he was strong. He lost the dependence on God and pride came in.

You would remember David and he saw that lady and there were checks that came in. Who's that woman? That's Uriah the Hittite's wife. And so oftentimes before sin comes in a believer's life, particularly of significant nature, God puts roadblocks to slow them down.

Not yours, David. That's another man's wife. Lot's wife was not to look the other way.

Abner died as a fool dieth, he need not have. Demuth hath forsaken me, having loved this now world. And so, dear Uzziah wanted to take the place of priest, but he wasn't priest.

And he became proud. Azariah came up to him, said, you're not supposed to do that. That was the warning.

If only he had listened. You know, there's a little statement in life sometimes, if only, if only, if only. And Uzziah fared so sumptuously.

He walked with God so much, he sought counsel from God, he had vision from God, and he became proud and forgot God. And so it's a solemn reminder to each one of us, the survival skill as the people of God is to stay humble and to listen to his voice, listen to counsel of others, listen to the word of God. Don't try to outthink God, just obey what the word of God says.

That we might run, that we might obtain a prize, that perhaps at the judgment seat of Christ in some little way, it might be well done, thou good and faithful servant. Uzziah had the Goliath of self-confidence and deadly pride came in, and it swallowed him up. The things are written of four are written for our learning.

That we might learn from the life of Uzziah, 16 years of age, when she began to walk with God. He had vision for the people in so many ways, he had care for the military men and women in so many ways, and as long as he sought God, the Lord caused him to prosper. None of us are home to heaven yet, and the things are written of four are written for our learning.

That God might help us to walk with him a little more, to seek him a little more, to take the humble place and be able to follow in the footsteps that he would desire. Let's pray. Father, we would desire to bow before thee in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We thank thee for the lessons of the life of Uzziah, the lessons how he walked with thee, sought counsel from thee, thy guiding hand to instruct him in the care of the nation. And Lord, we acknowledge we haven't traveled this far in the journey. We pray thy preserving hand, pray we might not make shipwreck, pray that we might not fall out by the way, help us to more intimately walk with thee day by day, to rest in thee and rely on thee, to know thou doest all things well, that doubt and discouragement might not creep in, but the great encouragement that thou gives us from the word of God might strengthen us and guide us in the right ways of the Lord.

So we ask thy care as we would part this evening. We bless thee for being able to gather together and we pray that thou would guide in the Lord's day as here and other places we would desire to come and to remember the holy spotless one that died in our room instead. We ask thy care now.

Thank thee for the privilege to come together and we pray in the precious name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.