We'll come now to 2 Chronicles chapter 30 in our study in the life of Hezekiah the Reformer. And the verse of Scripture that I would like to leave this morning before you as our text is verse 8. Now be ye not stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever. And serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you. I would like particularly for us to consider a little phrase in the centre of that verse, but yield yourselves unto the Lord. In Old Testament times, The people of Israel celebrated three great annual feasts or festivals. In the seventh month, they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles, which reminded them of God's goodness as they travelled through the wilderness. It was celebrated after the harvest had been gathered in. And so, therefore, was a harvest thanksgiving feast. That is, the Feast of Tabernacles. Then, in the third month, Israel celebrated the Feast of Weeks, or, better known, as the Feast of Pentecost. Pentecost commemorated the giving of the Law of Sinai and was celebrated at the beginning of the harvest. As the firstfruits were offered to God, it was also known as the Day of Firstfruits. But the greatest and most important of all, the feast that was celebrated by Israel, was held in the first month of the year. And that feast was called, of course, the Feast of the Passover, or the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It commemorated that night when Israel became a free nation. And that night God overcame Pharaoh's refusal to let the people go. And the Lord led Israel out of slavery, out of the house of bondage, and was leading them on to the land of promise, the land that flowed with milk and honey. And because of what happened that night, the children of Israel became a redeemed people of the Lord. The Lord had delivered them out of the house of bondage by the blood of the Lamb. The Lamb being slain, the blood taken and then daubed in the lintels and the doorposts of every home of every Israelite. And the Lord said then that night when He would come and judge Egypt, and judge Pharaoh, He said, When I see the blood, I will pass over you. Hence the name, the Passover Feast. Israel was not to forget that night. Israel was to hold that feast in commemoration of that night on a yearly basis. They were not to forget that feast. They were never to neglect that celebration. The Lord then explained to Moses after the night of the Passover, the significance of what he had done for the children of Israel. Would I get a turn, please, to Exodus 19? There in Exodus 19, in verses 4, 5, and 6, we read, Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians. and how I bear you on eagles' wings and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and unholy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel." And so after the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt by the blood of the Lamb, Israel was to go on from that point, and they were to serve the Lord. And they were to obey His voice and they were to keep His covenant. And so it wasn't a matter of Israel being delivered out of Egypt and then going on just to live as they pleased. But they were to obey the voice of God. They were to keep His commandments and His covenant. That Passover night marked a new beginning for Israel. For the Lord said in Exodus 12 and verse 1, that this shall be the beginning of months. So it was the beginning of a new life for the children of Israel. It is therefore most appropriate and indeed in the providence of God that Hezekiah's reformation began at the time of the Passover. The Passover feast was to be celebrated and that's what this 30th chapter of 2nd Chronicles is all about. And if the Passover feast marked a new beginning for Israel, then it would also mark a new beginning for Judah during the reign of Hezekiah. Remember, Judah had gone away back from following the Lord. Judah had disobeyed the commandment of God, broken the covenant, that they made with God. And they had not celebrated the Passover in years. And now Hezekiah calls upon the people to once again gather at Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover and remember again what God had done for their fathers. And in calling them to the Passover, he calls them to consecrate themselves to God. They hadn't heard language like this in years. They had gone out and served other gods. They had worshipped their idols. They had set up their high places. They had removed the altar of the Lord. And in every corner of Jerusalem they had built their own altars and sacrificed unto the gods of the heathen. Hezekiah was now calling upon them to return to the worship of Jehovah. And he was calling upon them to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover feast and also, in so doing, to consecrate themselves to God. Hence the words of our text. And be ye not stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into the sanctuary. They hadn't been in the sanctuary for years. Sanctuary would speak to as a fellowship communion. They hadn't had fellowship and communion as a nation with God in years. And Hezekiah was calling upon them to consecrate their lives to God. The Apostle Paul is said in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 7, Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened, for even Christ our Passover has sacrificed for us. And so the Passover would speak to us of the cross. Christ is the Passover Lamb. And here, Judah was to consecrate themselves to God at the time that they were celebrating the Passover. And dear child of God today, let us come to Christ, our Passover. And let us consecrate ourselves afresh unto the Lord. Let us notice here then, first of all, Hezekiah's plan. The house of the Lord had been opened. The doors of the Lord's house repaired. The meeting place cleansed of its filthiness. The priests and the Levites had thanked us by themselves and were once again carrying out the duties of their office. The holy vessels had been replaced that Ahaz had cast away. The sin offering, the burnt offering, the thank offering had been brought to the Lord. The altar was drenched again in blood. Hearts were filled with gladness as the songs of David and Asaph were being sung. There was a great change being brought about in Judah. God was at work. God was working through Hezekiah in a great religious Reformation and revival had begun. But as far as Hezekiah was concerned, it must continue. It must go on. There were more things to be done. There were more wrongs to be put right. There were many matters to be attended to. And so it is in the Christian life. We have been redeemed. We have been brought out of the house of bondage. We have been going on with the Lord. But there are not yet things to be attended to in our lives. We were dealing this morning in our prayer time with the catechism question, what is sanctification? And sanctification, we know, is the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man unto the image of God and enabled to die more and more unto sin and live unto righteousness. And dear child of God, are there not things yet to be dealt with in our lives? As Paul has said, we are to grow in grace. There's to be a spiritual growing. There's to be a going on. There's to be a making of spiritual progress with God. But instead, perhaps, of us going on, there are some things we have let slip. We have let our standards fall. There are some things we do not attend to as we used to, and things that need to be attended to again. And so the Word of the Lord would come to us today. Yield yourselves unto the Lord. It's a call for consecration. It was Hezekiah's plan. He wanted the nation to consecrate itself to God. Yield yourselves unto the Lord. Here was his desire. The King of Judah had accomplished a great deal in a very short space of time. We noted how the last chapter ended. Verse 35, at the end of the verse, So the service of the house of the Lord was set in order. Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people, for the thing was done suddenly. In sixteen days, you recall, The priests and the Levites had sanctified themselves and they had sanctified the house of God and it had been made ready for the worship of God. It was all done in a very short space of time. What's much more needed to be done? Hezekiah wanted this reformation to spread throughout the whole nation, including the northern tribes as well. Chapter 30 and verse 1. He wanted them all to come to the house of the Lord to keep the Passover unto the Lord God of Israel and yield themselves unto the Lord. Notice what he said. Come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to keep the Passover. For you see, that was the problem. They hadn't been keeping the Passover. It had been neglected. It had fallen by the wayside. This keeping of the Passover was actually a meeting with God. You turn, please, to Leviticus 23. Leviticus chapter 23. There we read in the opening couple of verses, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Now, there's something very interesting here. When the Lord here spoke to Moses about these feasts that are called, the Lord called, My feasts, He used a different word for feasts than what is found elsewhere in the Old Testament. When the Lord was speaking about His faith, He chose a word, a word that means to agree. It means an agreed meeting. And so when the children of Israel celebrated the Passover, They agreed to hold the Passover. They agreed to keep the Passover. They entered into an agreement with God that they would do that. But they had broken their agreement. The word refers to an agreed meeting. It refers to a meeting which was agreed upon by two parties. But Israel and Judah had not kept the Passover. They had broken their part of the agreement. They hadn't been keeping the Passover. They hadn't been meeting with God. And it is also interesting that the same word is found in Exodus 25. And there in Exodus 25, In verse 22 we read, and there regarding the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat, the Lord said, There will I meet, there it is, I will meet with thee in an agreed meeting. I will meet with thee at the Mercy Seat. So what do you have? You have the keeping of the Passover, which had been neglected. You had the meeting with God through the Passover, which had been neglected. And indeed, the same word is used with regard to seeking. When we talk about going to the mercy seat, we talk about seeking God. All these things had been neglected. And Hezekiah And this great Reformation calls upon the people to consecrate themselves to God. Yield yourselves unto the Lord. They have let these things slip. You and I know, dear Christian, that we can let things slip. You and I know that we can neglect certain matters as far as our Christian living is concerned. Things we used to do as young believers. Oh, we loved to begin the day with God around His Word. We loved to get into our daily reading. We loved to meditate upon the Word. We loved to to seek the face of God. But what have we done? We've allowed Ahaz to close the door of the closet. We've allowed Ahaz to raise his idols in our lives. We've allowed Ahaz to erect others in our lives. We've let things slip. Just as a reformation was needed in Judah, would we not agree that we also need a personal reformation? Notice there in verse 5 of chapter 30, So they established a decree to make proclamations throughout all Israel from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover unto the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem. For they had not done it for a long time. For a long time. They had not done it for a long time in such a sort as it was written They had disobeyed the Word of God. They had neglected to attend to these holy ceremonies. And in particular, the Passover. They hadn't done it in a long time. And maybe there are things in our Christian lives that we haven't attended to in a long time. We need a reformation. And Hezekiah said, yield yourselves unto the Lord. He was calling for them to consecrate themselves to God. It was his desire. Then you'll notice the delay. Chapter 30 again, verse 2. For the king had taken counsel and his princes and all the congregation in Jerusalem to keep the Passover in the second month. And they could not because at that time, they could not at that time because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves to gather to Jerusalem. So there was a delay. And the reason for the delay was the priests, the cleansing of the priests and the congregating of the people. They couldn't hold the Passover at the appointed time. You see, the Lord had given His command that the Passover was to be held on the 14th day of the first month. But it was now past that date. And so they were going to have to hold the Passover on the 14th day of the second month. There was that delay in the part of the priests and the people. They were slow to gather at Jerusalem and the priests were slow to sanctify themselves. They were slow to respond to the voice of the King. May we never be slow to respond to the voice of our King. When we hear His voice, may we know that it is the voice of our shepherd. And the Lord says, the sheep follow Him for they know His voice. And that's what brought about this delay. They weren't able to attend to the Passover feast because of this delay, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, and because the people were slow to turn up to Jerusalem for the Passover. So when we hear His voice, may we respond immediately. Let us not be slow to respond to the voice of the Lord. But rather, when the Passover feast was instituted, the children of Israel said, all that the Lord has said will we do, and be obedient. Notice also Hezekiah's delight. Because we're told in verse 4, and the thing pleased the king and all the congregation. What was it that had pleased the king? Yes! Hezekiah was pleased that they were going to celebrate the Passover, that which had not been done in a long time. Hezekiah was delighted that once again the children of Israel, the children of Judah, were going to meet in Jerusalem and go up to the house of God and celebrate the Passover. That delighted him. Things were being put in order. But there was something else that delighted Hezekiah. We have already said that Judah was late because of the delay caused by the priests and the people. It was past the 14th day of the first month I want you to turn to Numbers, and I believe this is what delighted Hezekiah. Numbers chapter 9. Numbers 9. In verse 9, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you all of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of the dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the Passover unto the Lord, verse 11, the fourteenth day of the second month, and even they shall keep it and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. In other words, the Lord had already made provision for those who perhaps were on a long journey or those who had become unclean by touching a dead body and Hezekiah used this law of the Lord to allow the children of Judah to celebrate the Passover on the second month, the fourteenth day of the second month. The Lord in mercy had made provision The Lord was merciful. The Lord was gracious. The Lord had made merciful provision. The nation was given extra time to make preparation for the Passover. And Hezekiah and the priests and the people rejoiced in the mercy and in the grace of Judah. We've let things slip. We've let our standard fall. But the Lord is waiting for our return. He's merciful. He's gracious. He gave time to Judah to prepare and make ready for the Passover feast. And the Lord has given us time Why has He given us years? He's merciful. As I've already said, if He were to regard iniquity, none of us could stand. But He's waiting for us to attend to those holy duties that we have neglected for so long and are so important and essential to a holy living. He's gracious. He has made provision for us to return to Him. And so we have Hezekiah's plan, then you have Hezekiah's preparation. If a nation was going to return to the Lord and to the Lord's house and celebrate the Passover, then there needed to be preparation. If the nation was once more to know the blessing of God, the people needed to prepare their hearts in the best preparation. For Judah was for them to yield themselves unto the Lord. Isn't that what he says? Be ye not stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary, which he has sanctified forever. And serve the Lord your God that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you. Yield yourselves unto the Lord. Here was Hezekiah's call. Hezekiah called for a change in the ways of the people. Look at verse 7. For he says, Be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren which trespassed against the Lord of your fathers, the Lord God of your fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation as ye see. Hezekiah was calling upon the children of Judah to make a break with the past. Don't be like your fathers and your brethren. Don't be like them. For they had gone away from the Lord. And Hezekiah says, Don't be like them. Turn your back on their ways. Turn your back on the ways of your fathers. And walk again in the ways of the Lord. That's what consecration is all about. A yielding on to the Lord. It is a turning our backs upon the Old West. Putting on the new man. Putting off the old man with the conversation thereof. What did the Old West do for Judah, nothing. Do you remember in our first study? They were left naked. Notice there, in that verse 7, what the Lord said, Be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespass against the Lord God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation. As a Christian, have you ever experienced that desolation of soul? Have you ever experienced that barrenness of soul? That fruitlessness of soul when prayer is difficult? When reading the Word brings no joy to the soul? When there is no pleasure in fellowship? And it's all caused by our trespasses, by our secret sins. And Hezekiah here is calling for a breaking off of the old ways and a yielding of themselves to the Lord. You know, believer, when we deal with the sacred sins, with the old ways, those things that belong to the old life, then we'll know the blessing of God. We'll be led out of that spiritual wilderness, delivered from that spiritual desolation of soul, and we'll be fruitful. even as Paul said in Romans 6, verse 13. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God. That's what Hezekiah was calling for. Yield yourselves unto God. As those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God, Again, verse 19 of Romans 6, I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity, unto iniquity even so now. We once yielded ourselves unto iniquity, Paul says, yield yourselves unto God. Yield your members servants to righteousness, unto holiness. Hezekiah's call. Then you have Hezekiah's word of caution. Look at verse 8. He said, Be ye not stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto God. You see, Hezekiah was aware of the old rebellious nature that was in man. Don't be stiff-necked. In other words, don't resist the Word. Don't resist the Word. The Lord has spoken to you. Don't resist His Word. And of course, it's interesting to note that Hezekiah said, Be ye not stiff-necked as your fathers He said that at the same time he was asking Judah to yield themselves to God. Because Hezekiah knew when it came to yielding, when it came to surrendering to the Lord, when it came to consecration and dedication, the flesh will always rise up and resist. The flesh will resist consecration. The flesh will resist dedication. The flesh will resist surrendering to the Lord. We all know it. We're called upon to surrender our all to the Lord. There is that resistance rising up in our hearts. We don't want to do it. We don't want to come to that place where we yield our all to God. We want to hold on. Hold on to something from the past. You recall, in the Gospels, Those who came to the Lord Jesus one day and said, Master, I will follow Thee, whethersoever Thou goest. And the Lord Jesus simply replied by saying, Foxes have holes, birds of the air have their nests, that the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." There wasn't another word from the man who said, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And then another to whom the Lord spoke. The Lord said, follow me. And the man responded by saying, I have to go home first. Say farewell to my friends." And to another who he said, who he said, follow me. The man said, I need to go home and bury my father. The Lord said, let the dead bury their dead. Take up thy cross and follow me. So they all had an excuse. the all-nature resisting that surrender. The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 16 verse 24 to his followers, he said, let a man deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Let a man deny himself. Let a man deny the flesh. It's interesting, that word deny. It's a very strong and forceful word. The word means to deny utterly, completely. The only other time that word is found in the Gospels, it is used to describe the denial of Peter of his master. In other words, at that time, Peter denied the Lord completely. And the Lord Jesus calls upon us to deny self, deny the old nature completely. That's what it means to yield ourselves unto God. Look at that word again in 2 Chronicles 20 or 30. Now, be ye not stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield. Once again, it's one of those very interesting words. Yield yourselves. If you have a margin there to centre, reference margin in your Bible, you'll see how it may be translated. It may be rendered to give the hand. To give the hand. What does that mean? Like if it turned to 1 Chronicles 29. 1 Chronicles 29. Verse 23, Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king, instead of David as father, and prospered. And all Israel obeyed him. And all the princes, and the mighty men, and all the sons likewise of King David submitted themselves. The word submitted is the same word as yield. Submitted themselves unto Solomon the king. And the Lord magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel." In other words, the princes and the mighty men and all the people of Israel came and they submitted themselves unto Solomon. They were saying, Solomon is our king. We yield to him. But where does the hand, the giving of the hand come in? Turn please to 2 Kings. 2 Kings chapter 10. And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, coming to meet him. And he saluted him and said to him, Is thine heart right as my heart? is with thy heart?" And Jehonadab answered, it is, if it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into the chariot. It's the same word, the giving of the hand, yielding. In other words, it was an extending of the hand A symbol of agreement. These two men were of the same heart, they were of the same mind, and they shook upon it. It's like reaching an agreement with another party and saying, well shake on it. It's entering into an agreement. And here Hezekiah calls upon Judah and he says, Yield unto the Lord. Remember what we said about the Passover, the feast? It had to do with an agreement between two parties. Israel or Judah had broken that agreement. They hadn't kept the Passover in a long time. Now Hezekiah says, Yield yourselves unto the Lord. Enter into that agreement again." It's as if he was saying, shake on it. The princes and the mighty men and the people yielded themselves to Solomon, their king. let us yield ourselves to Christ our King. For a greater than Solomon is here. In their consecration, they had to clear the city of idols Of course, there cannot be any true consecration to God while the idols remain. Verses 13 and 14. With this I'll close. Hezekiah is praying. Hezekiah prayed for those who had not fully cleansed themselves and been sanctified. And Hezekiah said he would pray for them But it is indeed an interesting thing when you look at verse 15. And they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the priests and the Levites were ashamed and sanctified themselves and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the Lord. And there were those who partook of the offering who were not fully cleansed. And we read in verse 18, But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good Lord pardon everyone. I pray that the Lord will prepare their hearts. But the thing that I want you to notice is this. That the people had answered the call of Hezekiah. Hezekiah said, yield yourselves. Consecrate yourselves unto the Lord. And in that verse 15, when the priests and the Levites saw They were ashamed. The word ashamed there means to blush. In other words, they saw how the people had indeed consecrated themselves to the Lord, had indeed yielded themselves to the Lord. So much so that the Levites and the priests How often have we read about those of God's people who've lived consecrated lives, who've yielded to God, surrendered their all, and when they've read their lives and what they did for God, have we not felt ashamed? What am I doing? We love to read that magazine that comes from our Romanian brethren. And we read that magazine and we think about those brethren out there and what they're doing and what they're sacrificing. And the price they're willing to pay to not make us blush. And our missionaries. And those who are persecuted. Let us take the words of Hezekiah to heart. Yield yourselves unto the Lord and enter into his sanctuary. Let us this day pull down the idols, raise the standard, let go of those old false and secret sins that belong to the old life and yield ourselves unto God. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Our dear Lord and Father, we rejoice in what we have read about Hezekiah and the people and how Hezekiah the king prayed for the people as they consecrated themselves to the Lord. Our Father, we rejoice that today we have a King in glory who is praying for us, praying for us as we would consecrate ourselves to Him. O gracious God, help us indeed to live that surrendered life, to let go of the old things that hinder us in our walk with God, hinder us in our progress. Help us, Lord, to pull down the idols, to cast them into the brick he'd drawn. Help us, Lord, to go again to the Lord's altar there at Calvary and say, Lord, I yield. I yield. May we live consecrated, surrendered lives. O Lord, we ask Thee to bless now the Word to our hearts. May we meditate upon it today. May we be pleased to return us to the house of God tonight once again to worship Thee. Now, may the grace of the Lord Jesus and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit Biden remain with us now and forevermore. Amen.