Fifteen More Years is a sermon teaching us about the importance of saying, “Whatever time I have left belongs to God.”

Key verses:
Isaiah 38:1-22

Tonight, we’re going to be in Isaiah chapter 38. I want you to look at the first verse of Isaiah 38. We’ll read that together, and then I want to give you a little background of the history, what’s going on in that time. The story that’s before us, Isaiah chapter 38 and verse 1 says:

Isaiah 38:1 “In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.”

In Those Days

That’s not the message you want the preacher to bring to you when you’re sick in bed. That’s the message that Isaiah brought to him, and he said, “Thus saith the LORD,” – now the verse begins, and the chapter begins with the words “In those days.” What was going on in those days? Well, what was going on in those days? We would get an idea going back to chapter 37.

There was the king of Assyria who had been attacking and conquering lands. One after another, one king after another, had fallen before his armies. His army was large, and he sent this message to King Hezekiah and said, “I’ve conquered kingdom after kingdom, and you are next on the schedule. I’m coming for you.” Chapter 37, verse 10, this is the king of Assyria speaking. He says:

Isaiah 37:10: “Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”

“’Let not thy God, in whom thou trusteth deceive thee,’” – you think you’re going to be okay; you think your God’s going to take care of you? Don’t let your God deceive you. He’s not as great as you think He is.

Let’s say, “You shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”

Isaiah 37:11: “Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?”

Do you think you’re going to be different than the others? We’ve conquered them all. Do you think you’re going to be better? Do you think they’re going to spare you when none of the others have been spared? Nobody’s been able to stand up to us and you won’t either.

Isaiah 37:12: “Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?”

Isaiah 37:13: “Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?”

And so, he said, “Listen, I’ve conquered all these kings. I’ve conquered their gods. Your God is not going to stand up for you, not going to be able to. I’ve conquered them. I’ll conquer you. I conquered their gods, and I’ll conquer your God.”

Now, that was a common game in the Old Testament times. In the Middle East, they played a game called My God Can Beat Your God. And you know what? They still play that game in that part of the world. They do. They play the same game: My God Can Beat Your God. Do you think you’re going to depend on your god? Do you think your god’s going to save you? I’m going to tell you my god’s greater than your god, and my god’s going to conquer your god. It’s like little boys fighting, saying, “My dad can beat up your dad.” Same idea, same idea. I’m glad my sons never played that game, at least not that I know of.

Hezekiah’s Prayer

But the truth of the matter is, what did Hezekiah do? What did he do when he got this news from the king of Assyria? Was he afraid? Yes, he was afraid. So, did he crawl in a corner and cry? No, he went to prayer. In chapter 37, he prayed. Verse 14:

Isaiah 37:14: “And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.”

Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord. Let me ask you something. Have you ever done that? I’m going to tell you I have. I don’t do it all the time, but I have done it. Do you ever take your problems and just spread them before the Lord and just pray over them? Yeah, that’s what Hezekiah did. Nothing wrong with that. Just take your problems and lay them before the Lord and pray over them.

And Hezekiah prayed. He prayed, and he said:

Isaiah 37:16: “O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.”

Isaiah 37:17: “Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God.”

Isaiah 37:18: “Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,”

Isaiah 37:19: “And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.”

Now, listen to what Hezekiah said, “They cast their gods,” – a series of casts, these other nations – “gods in the fire: for they were no gods,” – they weren’t gods, they were “the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.”

No wonder their gods couldn’t save them. Hezekiah says, and rightly so, they were no gods. Hezekiah prays on. He says:

Isaiah 37:20: “Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only.”

The Lord’s Response

We’re not going to read, I’m not going to read to you, all of the Lord’s response. This is part of the Lord’s response to the king of Assyria:

Isaiah 37:23: “Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.”

Do you know that the Lord took it personally? He said, “You’re not just insulting the king. You’ve insulted me. You’ve not just challenged the king. You’ve challenged me.”

In the 29th verse, He says:

Isaiah 37:29: “Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.”

In the 35th verse, the Lord says:

Isaiah 37:35: “For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.”

Now, what did he do? Did the Lord do something about it? He did:

Isaiah 37:36: “Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.”

Isaiah 37:37: “So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.”

Isaiah 37:38: “And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.”

Why? He challenged God. He said, “My god can beat you.” He died in the house of his god.

15 Years

Now, chapter 38, where our text is, begins with “in those days.” In those days, while all this is going on at the same time all this is happening, Isaiah comes to King Hezekiah. It says:

Isaiah 38:1: “In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.”

Time’s up for you, Hezekiah. It’s over. Your time has come. Hebrews chapter 9, verse 27, says:

Hebrews 9:27: “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”

We all have that appointment. We all have an appointment with death. I’ve been to a couple of funerals lately, and by lately, I mean the last week and two weeks, I’ve been to funerals. I was asked yesterday to do another funeral for a person I’ve never even met. “You do that?” Yeah, don’t often do funerals for people I don’t know at all. I haven’t met them, and I don’t know anything about them. The family comes and asks, “Would you, will you, do a service for my loved one who passed away?” Yes, any opportunity I have to minister to people in need, I want to do it if I can do it, if I’m able to, and it’s an opportunity to give the Gospel to those who need to hear it. It’s an opportunity to offer God’s comfort to those who need it, some wonderful opportunity to minister to people. But the time comes when it’s the end for all people.

I was thinking about some folks I’ve known over the years. Many of them did not live to be old. They died at relatively young ages. And I have done some of those funerals also.

But the Lord said to Hezekiah, “Your appointment has come. You will die and not live.” What did Hezekiah do when he was threatened by the king of Assyria when it looked like he, and all the city of Jerusalem, and all the territory of Judah, were going to be conquered, and he would surely have died then? What did he do? He went to prayer. When he gets this news, “Thou shalt die and not live,” thus saith the Lord, what did he do? He went to prayer. Take a look at his prayer in verse two:

Isaiah 38:2: “Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD,”

Isaiah 38:3: “And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, 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.”

Now, he comes, and he pleads his case before the Lord. He’s not prepared to die, doesn’t want to die, and when I say “not prepared,” I don’t mean the man wasn’t saved. He had a strong faith in the Lord. Now, he was not a perfect man. He had his faults. He had his failures. In the next chapter, we see where he made a terrible mistake and it cost dearly. But he was a man of faith and a man who loved the Lord. When he was in trouble, he called out to the Lord and God heard him. God heard him before and saved them from the Assyrians. God hears him this time because here’s the answer in verse four:

Isaiah 38:4: “Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying,”

Isaiah 38:5: “Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.”

God Hears Your Prayers

Notice that God says, “I’ve heard your prayer; I’ve also seen your tears.” Is God moved by our grief? He is. Does he care about when your heart is broken? Absolutely. Does He hear your prayers? Yes. Does He answer prayers? Yes.

“I don’t know, preacher. I prayed for something that was very important to me, and I didn’t get the answer that I prayed for.” That happens. “Well, why is that?” Well, it’s not always one reason. There can be a number of reasons why you didn’t receive what you asked for. It could be that that just wasn’t God’s will in the matter. It could be that the Lord was going to answer your prayer but at a later time. It could be that you asked for the wrong thing. James says:

James 4:3: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”

I see it happen all the time. People are praying greedy prayers. They’re praying for things that they want, not things they need, just things they want. And I’ve heard some preachers preach that. Not Independent Baptist preachers much, but I’ve heard other preachers preach it.

I’ve said this here before, but I attended a service years and years ago, a revival meeting. It was, and they called it that, and I suppose it was. There were some people saved in the meeting, and I’m thankful for that. But this preacher, and I don’t even recall his name now, but he preached his whole sermon on whatever you want something to be, you call it that, and it will be. I don’t know where you get that in the Bible, but that’s what he said. He said, “You got a car you want to have sold, you call it sold, and it’ll be sold. You got a house you want to sell, and you call it sold, it’ll be sold. Do you want a new Cadillac? Call it yours, and it’ll be in your carport.”

I don’t think God is interested in that kind of prayer. “You said God hears prayers.” Yes, but those are frivolous prayers. Those are not prayers of need. That is not a prayer of carrying out to God in faith. That’s prayers of consuming it upon your lust – just asking God for things that aren’t needs.

“But don’t you think sometimes the Lord gives you things that aren’t absolutely needs?” I know He does. I know He does. I can give testimony to that myself. But what I’m saying is He has promised to supply all your needs. He has promised to hear your prayers and answer them. But if you asked for greedy things just because you are greedy, I don’t think the Lord’s interested in that prayer.

“Well, don’t you think He might give me what I asked for?” Yeah, if your heart’s right, I do. I think he’ll give you what you asked for. I heard a preacher greatly criticized years ago because he mentioned a sermon. He was in a town, not his own, preaching. He had some time during the day and said he was hungry. He said he prayed to the Lord and said, “Lord, I just love a hot dog right now.” And sure enough, he turned the corner, and there was a hot dog stand right there. Do you think God put that hot dog stand there just because he prayed? I doubt it, but it was there, and his prayer was answered.

“Say well, that’s a silly prayer over hot dog.” Well, he was hungry and that’s why you want to eat. I know some of you think, well that’s not healthy to eat. Well, you can eat your own diet. No, I wasn’t the preacher who prayed for the hot dog. Actually, if it had been me, I’d have prayed for McDonald’s, but that’s beside the point.

Isaiah 38:6: “And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.”

Now, that’s a promise that God made to Hezekiah. He told him that. But in verse five, he says:

Isaiah 38:5: “Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.”

“I heard your prayer. It’s a prayer of need. I’m going to add to your days 15 years.”

A Sign from God

Isaiah 38:7: “And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken;”

Isaiah 38:8: “Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So, the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.”

You don’t think that’s a miracle? Do you realize what would have to happen, physically speaking, for that to occur? You talk about something of literally cosmic proportions. But could not the Creator and King of all the universe do that? Would it not be in His power if He spoke the universe into existence? Could He not perform this miracle?

We were talking about miracles in Sunday School this morning. The miracle is something that is not ordinary. A miracle is something that transcends the ordinary. A miracle is something that is not natural. It is supernatural. That’s what we’re talking about here. If these miracles that we read about in the Bible were everyday occurrences, you wouldn’t be reading about them. It’s not important that you know throughout all eternity exactly what Hezekiah had for lunch on the day he was sick. That wouldn’t be a miracle. A miracle is what God did to show him that He was going to answer his prayers.

Hezekiah’s Psalm

Now, verses 9 to 22, is a psalm Hezekiah wrote, a psalm after the Lord answered his prayer. I want us to go through it. We’re not going to break it down and say a great deal about it, but I want you to watch it and get the flow of thought here because I think it’s going to help you.

Isaiah 38:9: “The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness:”

He wrote down this psalm:

Isaiah 38:10: “I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.”

Isaiah 38:11: “I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.”

Isaiah 38:12: “Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd’s tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.”

Isaiah 38:13: “I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.”

Isaiah 38:14: “Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me.”

Isaiah 38:15: “What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.”

Isaiah 38:16: “O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live.”

In those first verses, verses 10 to 15, he’s resigned himself that he’s going to die. But then, in that 16th verse, he says, “Lord, I believe you’re going to heal me.” In verse 17 he says:

Isaiah 38:17: “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.”

Isaiah 38:18: “For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.”

Isaiah 38:19: “The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.”

Isaiah 38:20: “The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.”

Now, that’s Hezekiah’s psalm – how he was sick, he has accepted his death, and then he prayed to the Lord for healing, and God healing. It’s a wonderful prayer that this man gave. He was a man of faith. He was a man of prayer. He was one of the godly kings of Judah.

God’s Healing Power

How did this healing come about? Verse 21 tells us, pray:

Isaiah 38:21: “For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.”

Isn’t that something? Put a lump of figs where he’s sick. Do figs have that healing power? No, I think the Lord had that healing power.

“Well, don’t you think God can use things?” Of course, does it all the time. But I’m telling you it was an answer to Hezekiah’s prayer that healed him.

Isaiah 38:22: “Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?”

And the Lord gave him the sign of the sundial.

The Time You Have Left

Now, I want to wrap up here tonight, but I want you to think about some thoughts that come from this story. It’s an interesting story. It’s not a terribly long chapter, just 22 verses. I gave you part of chapter 37 because I want you to get the setting of what was going on with Hezekiah and the kingdom of Judah at that time. But Hezekiah prayed, and God promised him 15 more years. When Isaiah came in and told him, “You’re sick, and you’re going to die from this sickness. You’re not going to recover.” I think that came as a surprise to him. He thought he would have more time, and he came to realize his time was over.

As we’ve already said, that’s going to happen to you. It’s going to happen to me one day. It won’t be me doing the funeral. It’d be somebody else doing my funeral. The truth of the matter is, we all are going to come to that point and most of us do not know when that will be.

There are some people who know when they’re going to die. People are going to be executed and know when they’re going to die. Sometimes, the doctor tells you that you have a certain amount of time to live. I know of a case recently where the doctor told a fella he had probably six months to live, a year and a half at the most. Four or five years later, he died. You understand what I’m saying, don’t you? Yeah. So, the thing I’m saying is that none of us knows how long we’ve got. None of us knows how old we’re going to be, and none of us knows how long we’re going to live. But we know our time’s coming.

But Hezekiah did know after that day when he was told he was going to die. The Lord sent Isaiah to him and spoke to him and said you’ve got 15 more years. It doesn’t say this in the text, but I suspect He meant 15 more years to the day, so Hezekiah knew just how long he had to live. He’s got 15 more years.

Now, let me ask you something. If you knew how long you were going to live, if you knew you had 15 more years, five years, five months, five days, or five hours, what would you do differently? What would you do differently than what you’re doing now? How would you use that time that you knew you had left? Would you write some wrongs? Would you contact some people that you haven’t spoken to? Would you write some letters? Would you be more vocal as a witness for the Lord if you knew you had 15 more years? What would you do with that time?

Now, while I’m asking you that question, stop and think. How old will you be in 15 years? And think about that. If God told you that you had 15 more years, what would you do with it? You were guaranteed. Hezekiah was guaranteed 15 years. Will this church go on for 15 more years? I hope so.

“Preacher, you’re going to be here 15 years from now?” I doubt it. Why? Folks, I’m getting old, I don’t have a promise of 15 more years. But we don’t know what God’s going to do. He hasn’t told us. He told us we have a time. How would you live differently if you knew exactly how much time you had? I want you to think about that. I want you to pray about it. And because you don’t know how much time you have, why not stop and think and pray about what am I going to do with the time I’ve got left?

A Case in Point

Some of you are going to remember this. I remember where I was. I had come to class for a Bible doctrines class at the old McKenzie building at Pensacola Christian College. There’s the McKenzie building there now. It’s not the one that I was in. It’s a much larger, more beautiful building than the one the old building was. But sitting in there waiting for class to start, a student came running into the room. A nursing student was taking the class in those days. All the students there, regardless of major, took the New Testament survey, Old Testament survey, and Bible doctrines. Why? They want all the graduates to be grounded in the Word. This nursing student came in and announced to the whole class – he came running in the class and said, “Reagan’s been shot.” And that was a shock to all of us.

If you remember, a fellow named John Hinckley, Jr. walked up to Ronald Reagan and shot him just under the right arm. He also shot his secretary, Brady, and gave him permanent brain damage. The Secret Service agents pushed the president into the limousine. He didn’t realize he had been shot at first, and he said to one of the Secret Service agents, “You hurt me, and you pushed me into the limousine.” But that wasn’t what happened. They got him to the hospital, and they began to work on him. He recovered.

When he was able to, he made an announcement to the press. Many of you are too young to remember this. Some of you who are old enough may or may not remember it. The announcement he made to the press was this, he said, “God has spared my life. Whatever time I have left is His.” Can you imagine the President of the United States saying that today?

The truth of the matter is that’s exactly what he said. I think he meant it. And what I’m trying to tell you is Ronald Reagan wasn’t a perfect man. He was not, but he realized that God had given him more time, and he says, “I’m going to use that time for God.” Folks, what I’m saying is we all need to realize that we all have some time left. We don’t know how much. What we should say is, “Whatever time I have left belongs to God.”

Do you believe in Jesus? If you do, say, “Amen.” Have you trusted Him as your Savior? Say, “Amen.” As far as I can tell, that’s unanimous, but if it isn’t, somebody needs to trust the Lord. Now’s the time. Now’s the time. We are not promised another day. The Bible says, “Behold now is the accepted time,” today is the day of salvation. This is the time to get saved. For those people you’re praying for to be saved, pray for them daily. They need to be saved. Those people who need to hear a Gospel witness, let it come from you.

~~~~~~~

Father, thank you so much for blessing us. Thank you for the time we’ve had together this evening. Lord, we’ve celebrated 41 years together as a church on this day. Lord, if it’s your will that we have 15 more years, we thank you and praise you and ask you to use us in an even mightier way than you have in the past. Lord, only you know the future. We make our plans, but they are in your hands. Father, forgive us when our pride comes into play, and help us, Lord, that we might be able just to use the time that we have left committed to you. And not waste our time but commit it to you and be used by you. Be it 15 more years, five years, five days, or five minutes, let us use the time we have left for your service.

We’re going to sing a hymn of invitation. God’s spoken to your heart; you need to respond. This is a great time to do it, a wonderful opportunity. Don’t postpone what you know God wants you to do. Father, bless and move, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

---

Watch the prerecorded live version of the entire service and sermon, Fifteen More Years, on Facebook.

Fifteen More Years — Related Sermons

You may also want to listen to or view these sermons:

Finding a Faithful Man in a Sin-Cursed World

Whatever Happened to Sin?