Turn in your Bibles tonight to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. We want to look at verse 32 and verse 33 and 34 in our study of faith. In our study of faith. And there's some tremendous things that have been done here by faith. And I think in particular in verse 32 down through verse 40, as we read through 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, we'll see all of these things happening, coming to pass, or what the Holy Spirit led Paul to refer to. But verse 32, he says, And what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Beric, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens or the strangers, the non-Israelites is what that is in reference to. We're going to look this evening at verse 34 where it says that through faith there was this phrase, out of weakness were made strong. And we want to look at that here tonight. Turn over, if you would, first to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1. And we want to reiterate, again, this was all done in, or rather, first of all, for the glory of the Lord. And then it was also done in the service of the Lord. All of these things in Hebrews 11 are in reference to those who were serving God. And they were in the thick of it. I mean, some of them, it was just everyday stuff that they were dealing with, but we also see the references that were made there, those were some very well-known Israelites. But in 1 Corinthians 1, notice if you would, verse 23, again out of weakness, we're made strong. It says in verse 23, But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught, or to bring to nothing, things that are. that no flesh should glory in His presence. And again, that's exactly what we said, that all this was done for the glory of God. None of those listed here in our Scripture or in Hebrews 11 or in any place, none of them could glory in anything. Everything had to be attributed to the Lord. It was of God that in weakness they were made strong. And you read here in these verses, in verse 27, and you go back into verse 23 of 1 Corinthians chapter 1, where it says, but we preach Christ crucified, or a crucified Christ. And the Jews, as it says here, the Jews, that was a stumbling block. That was something they couldn't understand. Because they would look at the Old Testament, and they would see a triumphant Christ, but they failed to see the crucified Christ. And then it says here as well under the Greeks, why this is just foolishness. Because the Greeks were all concerned with what wisdom was and all the things of philosophy and all of that. And they said, well this is just foolishness that God's Son would be sacrificed for the sins of sinful people. It was foolishness to them. And the Jews, they couldn't get over it. No, the Messiah is supposed to come, and He's supposed to set us free from this Roman yoke, and we're supposed to triumph in all of this. But the Bible says that we preach Christ crucified, or a crucified Christ. And unto those who are called, it is the power of God and the wisdom of God. You see, it's the Gospel, it is the salvation that comes through the preaching of a crucified Christ that makes those strong who were once weak. So we find a tremendous instance here. There are frequent references and instances throughout the Scriptures of things that are weak of this world, yet being enabled through faith to confound the strong, and the few to prevail against the many or the mighty." Was it not Gideon who did a great deal of things? I mean, he had 300 soldiers, didn't he? And at first he had more than that and I didn't look it up and reference it, but he had several and God said, you've got too many for me to give you the victory. And he whittled them down and he whittled them down all the way to 300. And I've never known an army or the captain of an army to say, we've got too many people. That's usually not the problem, isn't it? But here the Lord, the captain of our salvation, He said, there's too many. And we need to knock it down. We find that this scripture, as we look at it, that out of weakness we're made strong, that when you read through the Psalms, as we've observed David, he began a song in great weakness and in great distress. And when he concludes, he is filled with strength from the Lord, isn't he? I mean, just go back, if you would, and we can look at several of the Psalms that we've already gone through in the first 41 verses, but you find as you look at them and just reading through the Psalms, we find David, he originates many of them, and he's speaking about how sorrowful his condition is. Look at Psalm 20, if you would. Psalm 20. And we find how he just begins in such a terrible state. And it says here in verse 1, The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble. The name of the God of Jacob defend thee. So he starts out, and it's in trouble, isn't it? I mean, he begins many psalms in trouble, and then you get to the very end, and in verse 7, he says, Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They are brought down and fallen, but we are risen and stand upright. Save, Lord, the King hear us when we call. I mean, he went from being in trouble to being triumphant. From being in great weakness to being in victory. We find that even in the occasion of when he had sinned, in the murder of Uriah, and in the adultery with Bathsheba, that there was great sorrow. And there he was, and when the child was born, and the child was going to die, and he fasted, and he weeped, and the men wouldn't even go into him. Then when the child died, this is all, should we even tell him? Imagine how he's going to act. But the Lord strengthened him back up, didn't He? And they said, well, how come you're okay now? And he said, can't wait for him anymore. He said, he'll not come to me, but I'll go to him. And so, we find here that there were several instances, as one writer stated, the psalmist rises out of the depths of humiliation and weakness into confident reliance on divine aid. Isn't that something? out of weakness he rose to confidence in divine aid." We find here that this is, again, and let's just look here, and there are some folks who just poor mouth the Lord, don't they? I mean, they just poor mouth Him. There is no confident reliance that God will do what He says He will do. And the only thing that's going to change that is the Lord gets a hold of them and they take confidence in His Word. I mean, that's all there is to it. That we are going to say, this is what God's Word says, that's the end of it. And it stops. Look in Hebrews 11, in verse 34, and let's take a little bit closer look at our text. Again, the phrase, out of weakness were made strong. This original, it's here in verse 34 where it says, out of weakness. We have here two words. Out of literally means away or off. It denotes a separation or a departure, a cessation or a completion or a reversal. So here we find in the scriptures that it speaks of that there was a cessation of weakness and then they were made strong. It concluded. And as I've been reading in Job in preparation for Sunday morning's messages and going over the book and reading many things concerning it, just reading over that, there came a day when Job's issues, the things that are going on in his life, they ceased, didn't they? And he was made strong. In fact, the Bible says in Job chapter 42 that the latter end of Job was better than the first part or the beginning of Job. So even out of weakness, Job was mainstrong. There was a completion of it. There was a separation or a departure from weakness. The word weakness here does not, does not imply impotence or a lack of power. That's not what this word means. This word, rather, means to be diseased or impotent through sickness, or a disease or a sickness. This is not talking necessarily of just a physical strength, but as if an illness has come on. And I think everybody here was touched in one way or another in some capacity recently with an illness. And one of the things that surprised me in talking to other people at it was the extreme fatigue at one point. If you didn't have that, thank God. And I mean that literally. That's not a byword. Literally, thank Him. But the exhaustion or the lack of power through sickness. Paul being led of the Holy Spirit here records that these here were taken out of disease or impotence that was caused by sickness. They were separated or the weakness or the sickness or the impotence or sickness, it ceased from them. And this was all done by faith. And again, you can think about Job, and I'm sure many people are familiar with the first couple chapters of Job. There was a point when he had the physical ailment where he went out and he took a pot share, which is simply a broken pot, and he just scraped the boils off of his skin. There was a time when that ended. It ceased to be. In the New Testament, there were many who Christ came and by faith they were healed in issues of blood, impotent hands, lame legs, lame feet. They were all healed. Folks who were paralytic. Through faith, they remained strong. There were those who throughout the Scriptures were spiritually impotent because of the disease of unbelief. And by faith, they were made strong, and they did great exploits. I mean, you think about Moses, how that, when the Lord called him and said, I'm going to send you to my people, and he says, well, I can't speak. I don't have a tongue to do it. And God pretty much told him, he says, well, I made your tongue, and you can do it. And he again objected to it. He says, fine, Aaron will be your mouthpiece. You know, there's very few times in the Scriptures where you read that Aaron talked on behalf of Moses outside of Egypt. Moses did all the talking, didn't he? But we find here that it was out of weakness. Notice what it says next in Hebrews 11.34. Out of weakness were made strong. The word strong here or the phrase we're made strong means enabled or to increase in strength, to be made strong. Look over to 1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1. And notice here how the Holy Spirit uses in this, as I'm told, the same word translated here in 1 Timothy 1 and verse 12 is rendered enabled. So out of weakness, we're enabled, would be Hebrews 11.34. They were enabled. Well, what were they enabled to do? Well, it had to have been to serve the Lord or fulfill the purpose of what God gave them. That's what it was for. In 1 Timothy 1 and verse 12, and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me. Well, what did the Lord enable Paul to do? Well, he goes on, he says, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. He enabled him, he gave him power, or he strengthened him for the ministry. And you can read all the things that pertained unto the ministry in general, but in particular, unto Paul's ministry. Because from the very onset in Acts chapter 9, when Ananias said unto the Lord, After the Lord told Ananias that, here comes Saul of Tarsus and you're to baptize him, he says, oh no I'm not. He's one of those to persecute the church. And the Lord said unto Ananias, no, he's one of mine. He's a chosen vessel to bear my name unto the Gentiles and I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. Well, you're going to need strength to do that. You're going to need to be enabled to do that. Now, I've often wondered what these early Christian saints or some of those who went through the dark ages would think about present day Lord's churches. I've often wondered that. I mean, we get some spiritual hangnails and you know we're about done. And you think about the things that they went through. I mean, loss of life, loss of family life. You know, people were crucified, burned at stakes, beheaded, all the things that transpired to them. If those things were going on today, it makes you wonder if you'd really see if folks would persevere or if they would go by the wayside like old Pliable did in Pilgrim's Progress. Scriptures bear out. that there was an enablement. A complete removal of the weakness and strengthen inwardly. Because we are, as the Scripture says, we are renewed day by day inwardly, aren't we? Look over, if you would, in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. And I'd like you to notice here, just by way of comparison, And again, remember the word weakness or out of weakness, the phrase out of weakness means a cessation of it, a completion of it. It was finished. In the life of the Apostle Paul, we're very well familiar with this passage of Scripture in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, that Paul had what he termed a thorn in the flesh. Now, we don't really know what it was. Some imagine and some believe, well, he had this eye disease. of some sorts, and apparently it was grotesque. It's all circumspect. It's all supposition. We don't know. But what we do know is that the Bible says in verse 7, Paul said, "...and lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I have assault the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me." And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, and reproaches, and necessities, and persecutions, and distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong. Here in 2 Corinthians 12, God did not cease the weakness. It doesn't say that He was made strong out of weakness. He was made strong. It doesn't say that. What God told Him was, I'm going to give you grace and it will be sufficient for this thorn that you have in the flesh. It never ceased. There is no record of this thorn in his flesh ever coming to an end. And when you compare that with what Hebrews 11 says, and we look at the Scriptures, there was a time when Job's weakness ceased, where it was completed and it stopped. There was a time when Sarah's womb and Abraham's seed, when it ceased being weak and became strong. But there was never a time here for Paul where he was made strong out of weakness. He was made and given grace that was sufficient to be given strength in the weakness. We need to understand the difference between those two. God will do one or he will do the other. I am convinced of that. He will either give us grace for that infirmity that we can continue on and carry on in the service of the Lord, or by faith it will cease and we will be made strong out of it. It's one or the other. But we need to understand that there is a difference. There's many of God's people who serve the Lord with different issues or illnesses or infirmities. And you know, not to say that things don't slow down. Not to say that you're not able to do the same things that you once were. And there were many things. And Brother Gale and I reminisced while he was here just about his father. and years ago before I was ever there, he would be the first one involved in something and then years went by and pretty soon he had a supervisor role. And then he had a chair, a supervisor's chair. And I remember we was working over, and he'd come over to help and he was a big, he'd poured a lot of concrete in his day. And he came over and he sat, we were pouring, I mean you could just imagine pouring concrete right here, and he sat right here. and the words out of his mouth were, well if I was you, I'd do it this way. And then when he went into the nursing home, He went from used to going down to China Grove, San Antonio, Texas, where he was a member of a church, and they'd go down there and he'd go out with the pastor, Gene C., and they'd distribute literature throughout the community, to when he was in the nursing home, he had a buggy like Brother McDonald's, and he'd put his tracks on there, and he'd go around in the nursing home, room to room, handing out gospel tracks. Until one day, he couldn't even do that anymore. So you understand here that grace is given in the weakness and it's also given to get out of the weakness. And it's all of faith. Now I want you to look, if you would, and let's not forget, if you look in Hebrews chapter 11, and notice verse 33, what is it that bridges the out of weakness and remains strong? What causes from weakness to strength? What caused, even with Paul's life, that in infirmities, he had grace that was sufficient for him? Well, it's faith. It's faith. Because the writer says in verse 33, who through faith, and then he lists a number of things that were done so we could say, who through faith, after reading about Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah and David and Samuel and of the prophets, where it tells us here, who through faith were out of weakness were made strong. That a cessation of of lack of power due to disease, they were made strong. Look over if you would at the book of James. The book of James chapter 5. And notice if you would verse 14. In James 5 and verse 14, you remember we went over this in our Sunday night studies in the book of James. But James here, as well as Paul in Hebrews, and it makes sense because the Holy Spirit's the author of both books, but all glory is given unto the Lord. That's where the glory goes to. James says, is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church. and let them pray over Him, anointing Him with oil in the name of the Lord. I'm not going to re-go over that verse in an expositional fashion. But again, notice what they're doing. They're praying over them and they're anointing Him with oil in the name of the Lord. And as we said, and we say this, whether you go to the doctor, whether you don't, whether you take homeopathic medicine, or whether you take other medicine, prescribed medicine, whether it's surgery, whatever that it is, understand that all treatment, the glory belongs to the Lord. He's the one who does the healing. It's Him. It doesn't matter if the doctor knows what they're doing or they don't know what they're doing. It doesn't matter if they give this pill, that pill, or the other pill. It doesn't matter if they're a specialist or they aren't, or if they cure something. All glory belongs to the Lord. because He's the one that brought it to pass. He's the one that enables it. He's the one that gave the doctor the wisdom, or the nurse the wisdom, or the nurse practitioner the wisdom, or whoever it is who prescribed or didn't prescribe, or performed this surgery or that surgery, or procedure, or whatever it is. It all belongs to the Lord. And so whether you take pills, or you don't, or you go to the doctor, or you get shots, or whatever that you have, understand It's just like the gospel. I plant in, a pile is watered, but God had to give the increase. Now, the doctor may have prescribed some medicine, and you may have taken it, but it's God who made it work. I mean, that's really what it comes down to, isn't it? Because He's the one that's in charge of everything. And if this antibiotic works or it doesn't, then it's of the Lord. And we see here in Hebrews that there's an attributing, not to trusting the doctor or to trusting the medicine, but to trusting the Lord. That is by faith. And this isn't faith healers as they act today. This is a trusting of the Lord. This is that which bridges this gap. Faith. Taking God at His word. Trusting Him. Resting in Him. Regardless of our own imaginations. And boy, I tell you, our imaginations can run wild, can't they? You know, there's some folks, you know, they get a cough or something, and if you're one of these people, I'm not trying to pick on you, but some folks, you know, they get a cough and, you know, I think I've got a tumor in my lungs. I mean, it's worst case scenario. And they go there to come find out, no, you swallowed some water down the wrong pipe. And I'm not trying to make light of a tumor or anything, I understand that. But our imaginations go crazy, don't they? The fear of the unknown and we conjure up the worst possible scenario. And I have news for everyone here, including myself, God's in control of the worst possible scenarios too. He's in control of those. There is nothing outside His purview. Not one thing. as an individual, as a family, as a society, as a country, as a nation, as a state, as a world, as a church, whatever that it is, there is nothing outside His purview. Not one thing. We conjure up what-ifs and the sky is falling, but we reject the infallible Word of God. Shouldn't we do the opposite? Shouldn't we reject our own vain, sinful imaginations and take hold of the infallible, perfect Word of God? The Word of the only potentate. The Word of Him who cannot lie. the Word of Him who has all power in heaven and in earth, the Word of Him who doeth His will in the heaven and in the earth, and none can stay His hand." Well, I'll take hold of that. Through faith, great things were done and great things were endured. Listen, again in Hebrews 11, and just notice here, verse 33, And just listen to these words, and I'm not an English scholar, but listen to these words. Who through faith subdued, wrought, obtained, stopped, quenched, escaped, made strong, waxed valiant, turned to flight, received their dead, raised to life again, Others tortured, accepting deliverance. I mean, others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, bonds and imprisonments, stone, sawn asunder, tempted, slain, wandered about, sheepskins and goatskins, were destitute, were afflicted, were tormented. And they did it all through faith. Who through faith did these things. It's a hard thing to swallow, isn't it? But that's what was done with faith. I've not gone through most of these, if any of them. Either we're walking by faith, and we echo the words of Joshua and Caleb, let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it, or we're going to be like the ten spies who said the Lord won't give it to us. I mean, it's one or the other, isn't it? Turn over to 2 Kings chapter 20. 2 Kings chapter 20. And let's look at it. I would call this a case study, but let's take a look at an individual in the Old Testament who, out of weakness, was made strong by faith. And that's King Hezekiah. And King Hezekiah is one of the better of the kings of Judah. I mean, he was a tremendous individual by God's grace and through faith. He was not without his faults. He was not without his sin. But he was a tremendous individual. And in the course of his life, he had been serving God and leading Israel, or the southern two tribes of Judah, correctly. The Bible tells us that he was one who was after the heart of David, his father. He did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, or in the sight of the Lord. And in 2 Kings 20 in verse 1, it says, In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amos came to him and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live. Not everybody gets that kind of forewarning, do they? Not everybody does. And if you're here and you're without Christ, You need to set your house in order, and by that we mean you need to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus that you might be saved. That's the greatest thing you can do to set your house in order, is to be saved by God's grace. One individual, they were told, you know, are you prepared to meet the Lord? And the individual left that conversation, went down to the mortuary and bought their stuff for their funeral. but they never took care of their soul's needs. You see, that's the greatest thing that you can do. The greatest thing that can ever happen is that you might be saved by God's grace. And until that, you're not prepared. Your house is not set in order. And the very next thing we read here, "...set thine house in order, for thou shalt die." Again, reading those words, in those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. It was known of the Lord that he was going to die. This sickness was going to lead to death. In fact, it was so much so that God sent the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amos, to him to tell him, you need to get things ready. Hezekiah had a big ordeal. It wasn't just minor stuff. He's the king of Judah. There were things just set in order. And in verse 2 it says, Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed unto the Lord, saying, I beseech Thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in Thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. Here we see the faith of Hezekiah. I mean, I want you to understand, this was not him bragging to God. Listen, I've earned more time on this earth. That's what lost people do. That's what vainness does. Well, didn't I do a good job and I've lived a basically good life and I deserve this. What Hezekiah was doing was rehearsing to God that he had trusted the Lord all of these years. And he just pours out his heart unto the Lord. I don't think Hezekiah did this for himself. As to say, I just want to live more on this earth because there's really not a child of God who's like, I can go home and be with the Lord. Or I can stay here on this earth some more. I think he desired to serve the Lord some more. I think it was desires to give God more glory. I don't know. But this was not done in a braggart fashion. We find here that Hezekiah's faith is shown in that he prayed unto the Lord. And this wasn't like most people who, in a time of trouble, they cry unto God. And then when God takes care of it or things are worked out by the Lord, that then they forget God. No, He poured it out before Him. His faith is shown in that He was sick and the prophet of God, the minister of God, comes to Him with God's Word and says, Thou shalt die and not live. God's Word came to him and told him, you're going to die and not live. And Hezekiah believed it. Otherwise, he wouldn't have done verse 2 and verse 3. He believed God. And the Bible says here, he turned his face to the wall. Remember, my father said, that's exactly what most people do. They just turn their face to the wall. But Hezekiah prayed. He didn't just turn his face to the wall, he prayed. He prayed and he believed what the prophet said and he cried out unto the Lord. His faith was manifested, not only in that he believed what Isaiah said and he prayed to God, but his faith was manifested throughout his life. Hezekiah had a life of faith. The just shall live by faith and he prayed unto the Lord. And he rehearsed unto God the life of faith that God had enabled him to do. And he says in verse 3, I beseech Thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a perfect heart. And that's the same meaning as it was in Job. Sunday morning. Hezekiah didn't say, I was sinless in my heart. What he's saying here again is that I sought after the things that you sought after. I was desirous after the things that you were desirous of, God." Not only that, but he says, "...and have done that which is good in thy sight." And Hezekiah had that testimony of God. And then he states, "...and he wept sore." And I think that that might be just like it says in Romans 8 about there are groanings that cannot be uttered. The Spirit spoke. Here he was, praying in the Spirit. He just wept sore. And then notice verse 7, And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, Turn again. Notice, Hezekiah didn't waste any time debating Isaiah, debating the Lord, Isaiah came into the bedchamber, so to speak, or the throne room and said, get your house in order for you're going to die. You're not going to live. This sickness is unto death. And Isaiah turned and he went out. He came in, he declared his message, and he turned and he went out. And when he turned and went out, Hezekiah turned to the wall and prayed and rehearsed his prayer to God and he wept sore. And the Bible says that before Hezekiah even got out, God said, you need to go back in there. I mean, Hezekiah trusted what God had said to him through Isaiah. Do we have that kind of faith? Do we argue with God? Yeah, but... Or, you know, I'm not so sure about that. I know that's what your Word says, I just don't, you know, as we said before, whenever we say, yes, this is what God's Word says, but, we're basically saying, forget everything that God's Word says, this is what I'm doing. Forget it. I don't care what God's Word says. This is it. And usually this over here is contrary to what God's Word says. Not usually. It is contrary. Or else there wouldn't be that word but in between it. So in verse 4, And it came to pass, before Isaiah was gone out in the middle of the court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people. Thus saith the Lord, the God of David, thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears. Behold, I will heal thee on the third day. Thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years, and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. And I will defend this city for mine own sake and for my servant David's sake. And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day? And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he hath spoken. Shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? And Hezekiah answered, It is a like thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees, nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees. And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord, and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz. So here we find that God told him through the prophet, you're going to be healed. And we find that there was, as it tells us here in verse 7, there was some medicine put on him, wasn't there? I don't know what healing power a lump of figs have on boils, but that's what they did. Evidently, the Lord revealed that unto Isaiah. Otherwise, why else would He do it? But he did it, but it wasn't the lump of figs that healed him and added 15 years, it was the Lord. And it was all done from, he had an impotence of a sickness, and he was taken out of that, he was made strong. It was all done by faith. He recovered. He recovered fully. Verse 7, we can read down to that, but verse 7, the very last three words, and he recovered. And that word recovered doesn't mean, well, it's kind of people ask, how are you feeling? I say, well, I'm a little better. No, he was all the way back. He completely recovered. Hezekiah went from weakness, a weakness unto death, and he went from that by faith to being made strong. In closing, notice how the Holy Spirit exalts the way of the life of faith. I mean, this is what he speaks of here in Hebrews 11. He says, who through faith, who through faith, Now again, there's no discounting of ancient medicine, modern medicine, or any medicine. Even Hezekiah, there was a medicine of figs put upon him. But the trust was not in the fig, but in the God of the figs, the Lord. That's where the trust is. That's where the faith belongs in. And he went from being weak to being strong. He recovered from that illness. And again, as we said, we may know, God will give grace. Again, remember, Paul sought for grace. Sometimes people say, well, He hasn't given me grace to deal with this. Well, did you ask Him for grace? Didn't James say you have not because you asked not? Well, no, I guess I haven't. Well, there you go. And, did you ask God for grace to serve him or so you can carry on in your own sinful, pleasureful life? Because James also said, you have not because you ask not, and you have not because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts. See, I think Hezekiah was desirous that he would be raised up and healed so he could go on and serve the Lord. not so he could just have more years on this earth and sit as king and rule over Israel or Judah, but that he could serve the Lord. No doubt there are some who were weak. Think about Mordecai and Esther. They were weak, yet they remained strong, weren't they? Think about Ezra and Haggai, Nehemiah and Zerubbabel. God raised up these men in times of severe weakness. And they didn't have a physical sickness, but they were weak. God sent them back into Israel to build the temple and to build the wall, and they went back and they faced great opposition, and yet they cried unto the Lord. As I went over these thoughts, and one of the things that came to my mind is, you know, sin makes you weak, doesn't it? It makes you weak. It robs us of our power. Well, out of that weakness from sin, through faith, God makes us strong. to even overcome that besetting sin, as Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 1 says, Wherefore, seeing we also are compassionate about so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us. God can give us grace and loosen us who have been made weak by a particular sin, even that sin, we can be made strong over. That we can triumph and run the race. Because that's what he goes on to say. Not that we can be loosed from this sin so we can go take on another sin. but that we can run the race with patience, or let us run with patience the race that is set before us. That's in reference to the ordained works that God has given you. So by faith, this was a great endeavor or a great exploit of faith. So may we avail ourselves of such, of the great power of our God. There is, as the Scripture says, there is nothing impossible with God. Nothing. God has only confined Himself by His Word, hasn't He? That's it. So may the Lord help us is our prayer. Let's stand.