Christian Lessons from King Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 12)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.360 --> 00:00:05.400 Well, let's return to second chronicles now and hear God's Word From Second Chronicles 2 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:14.269 Chapter Twelve. Second Chronicles Chapter Twelve. This concludes the council the life of 3 00:00:14.669 --> 00:00:21.230 Raya Boem, Solomon's son, the now fourth king in Israel, after Saul 4 00:00:21.500 --> 00:00:29.379 and David and then his father Solomon. Second Chronicles Chapter Twelve, let's give 5 00:00:29.420 --> 00:00:36.130 attention to God's word. When the rule of Raya Balm was established and he 6 00:00:36.369 --> 00:00:42.289 was strong, he abandoned the law of the Lord and all Israel with him. 7 00:00:43.570 --> 00:00:47.289 In the fifth year of King Raya Balm, because they had been unfaithful 8 00:00:47.450 --> 00:00:52.640 to the Lord. Shishak, King of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem with 9 00:00:52.759 --> 00:00:58.799 a thousand two hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen, and the people were without 10 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:04.310 number. Who came with with him from Egypt, Libyans, Sukikim and Ethiopians, 11 00:01:04.989 --> 00:01:10.030 and he took the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. 12 00:01:11.069 --> 00:01:15.629 Then Shemaiah, the Prophet, came to Rayabalm and to the princes of 13 00:01:15.670 --> 00:01:19.260 Judah, who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, 14 00:01:21.019 --> 00:01:26.700 thus says the Lord, you abandoned me, so I have abandoned you 15 00:01:26.219 --> 00:01:32.340 to the hand of Shishak. Then the prince of Israel, then the princes 16 00:01:32.379 --> 00:01:38.209 of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said the Lord is righteous. The 17 00:01:38.370 --> 00:01:42.689 Lord saw that they humbled themselves. The word of the Lord came to Shemaiah. 18 00:01:44.849 --> 00:01:49.040 They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will 19 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:53.920 grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem 20 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:59.519 by the hand of Shishak. Nevertheless, they shall be servants to him that 21 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:04.390 they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms, of the countries. 22 00:02:05.909 --> 00:02:08.830 So Shishak, King of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem. He took 23 00:02:08.830 --> 00:02:12.909 away the treasures of the House of the Lord and the Treasures of the king's 24 00:02:12.949 --> 00:02:16.300 house. He took away everything. He also took away the shields of gold 25 00:02:16.740 --> 00:02:22.819 that Solomon had made and King Raybalm made in their place shields of bronze, 26 00:02:23.460 --> 00:02:27.219 and committed them into the hands of the officers of the guard who kept the 27 00:02:27.379 --> 00:02:30.330 door of the king's house. And as often as the king went into the 28 00:02:30.370 --> 00:02:34.770 House of the Lord, the guard came and carried them and brought them back 29 00:02:35.129 --> 00:02:38.810 to the guard room. And when he'd humbled, and when he humbled himself, 30 00:02:38.930 --> 00:02:42.409 the wrath of the Lord turned from him so as not to make a 31 00:02:42.610 --> 00:02:49.639 complete destruction. Moreover, conditions were good in Judah, so king raybalm grew 32 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:53.599 strong in Jerusalem and reigned. Raubalm was forty one years old when he began 33 00:02:53.719 --> 00:02:59.189 to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the 34 00:02:59.310 --> 00:03:01.789 Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. 35 00:03:02.629 --> 00:03:07.310 His mother's name was not am the ammonite, and he did evil, 36 00:03:07.789 --> 00:03:13.340 for he did not set his heart to seek the Lord. Now the acts 37 00:03:13.340 --> 00:03:15.539 of Rayebalm, from first to last. Are They not written in the chronicles 38 00:03:15.620 --> 00:03:22.379 of Shemi Shemaiah, the Prophet, and of Edo? This year they work. 39 00:03:22.539 --> 00:03:27.650 There were continual wars between rayobalm and Jeobalm, and rayobalm slept with his 40 00:03:27.729 --> 00:03:30.810 father's and was buried in the city of David, and Abijah, his son 41 00:03:31.449 --> 00:03:37.409 reigned in his place. This is God's word. He bless it to us. 42 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:50.159 Well, here we have the end of King Rayobalm's reign and various summary 43 00:03:50.280 --> 00:03:53.879 statements to that end, especially at the end we hear of the length of 44 00:03:54.000 --> 00:04:00.909 Rayobalm's reigns. It's characterized by this sad comment that he did evil for he 45 00:04:00.030 --> 00:04:05.310 did not set his heart to seek the Lord. After several events that happen 46 00:04:05.430 --> 00:04:10.819 in the chapter, we also see something that's happening in Israel and will continue 47 00:04:10.939 --> 00:04:15.939 to happen, and that's that the glory that was once there and the plans 48 00:04:15.979 --> 00:04:19.660 of David and his rule and of the temple that Solomon made it's all beginning 49 00:04:20.259 --> 00:04:26.689 to slip a little bit. There are wars continually between Rayobalm and Jerobalm, 50 00:04:26.889 --> 00:04:30.329 between the north and the south. Israel is not united as it once was, 51 00:04:30.449 --> 00:04:35.329 and though there's not a lot of attention given to Jarobalm, the chronicler 52 00:04:35.410 --> 00:04:42.560 reminds us of the fact that he's still there and there's still problems within Israel 53 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:47.040 and from without. Enemies are starting to attack her and making progress in ways 54 00:04:47.399 --> 00:04:55.029 that they didn't under Solomon and under David. These this note about the the 55 00:04:55.670 --> 00:05:02.069 shields of gold being taken away and replaced by shields of bronze as another reminder 56 00:05:02.230 --> 00:05:10.060 of sort of glory slipping away, but not entirely and not completely yet, 57 00:05:10.100 --> 00:05:15.139 as God says to through his Prophet, to the King, I'm he won't 58 00:05:15.259 --> 00:05:21.170 can destroy a Jerusalem completely, that the king will continue to reign. And 59 00:05:21.370 --> 00:05:28.649 indeed there is success there as well, success that Rayo Balm has particularly because 60 00:05:28.810 --> 00:05:33.730 of an action he took in the midst of his disobedience, in the midst 61 00:05:33.769 --> 00:05:41.120 of his sin, an action that we can rightly call repentance. I want 62 00:05:41.160 --> 00:05:45.199 to think about that with you this evening. I want to think with you 63 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:51.069 particularly about how this king relates to the law of God and what that teaches 64 00:05:51.149 --> 00:05:56.470 us about Jesus, the king who has who has come and how he rules. 65 00:05:56.790 --> 00:06:01.430 For us today, to understand ray of Balm, the King of Israel, 66 00:06:01.709 --> 00:06:04.980 and how he relates to God's law and repentance and all the rest, 67 00:06:05.019 --> 00:06:12.019 it's helpful to understand and remember how God had arranged things in Israel. There's 68 00:06:12.019 --> 00:06:15.300 a lot of assumptions going on here that you may or may not remember. 69 00:06:16.420 --> 00:06:21.410 One of them is mentioned, that's that this is a chosen people. Israel 70 00:06:21.529 --> 00:06:26.209 is not just one of many nations in the world. In a sense, 71 00:06:26.290 --> 00:06:30.889 that's true. God rules over them all, but God's people, under ray 72 00:06:30.930 --> 00:06:35.720 of Balm and Jerobom as well, our special they are a chosen people. 73 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:41.240 God had promised Jerusalem is an example, as a place where he would set 74 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:48.029 his name. The reminders here of Egypt attacking them are well they these facts 75 00:06:48.149 --> 00:06:51.269 remind us of the fact that they were once brought out of Egypt by the 76 00:06:51.389 --> 00:06:57.069 hand of God himself. Why? Because he said his eye on them. 77 00:06:57.310 --> 00:07:02.899 He had made promises to Abraham, a covenant with their father, and he 78 00:07:02.980 --> 00:07:08.540 had promised that he would make Abraham a great nation, he would make a 79 00:07:08.620 --> 00:07:13.459 great people, and that's why they're here, because God has set his eye 80 00:07:13.540 --> 00:07:16.410 on them. God made a covenant with them through their father, Abraham. 81 00:07:17.889 --> 00:07:21.730 A second thing to remember about the context here is that God made a second 82 00:07:21.769 --> 00:07:28.529 covenant under Moses. And here God took this family of Abraham and organized them 83 00:07:28.569 --> 00:07:32.879 into a political body. He brought them out of Egypt and he declared himself 84 00:07:33.319 --> 00:07:39.920 king over them. They political king, a ruler, and he established a 85 00:07:40.040 --> 00:07:44.949 covenant with them with all kinds of various laws. We read it in the 86 00:07:45.029 --> 00:07:49.629 early chapters of the Bible, Deuteronomy and Exodus in particular, and under that 87 00:07:49.870 --> 00:07:55.470 covenant the God made Unwe with Moses, his mediator, and with his people. 88 00:07:56.310 --> 00:08:01.259 God established himself as a King, as a special king. They were 89 00:08:01.819 --> 00:08:09.980 to obey him and there were consequences for disobedience, curses that would come upon 90 00:08:09.420 --> 00:08:15.410 the nation and the people if they disobeyed, and there were blessings corresponding to 91 00:08:15.490 --> 00:08:22.209 it for obedience. These might be experienced individually, but largely they were felt 92 00:08:22.250 --> 00:08:28.319 and experienced corporately. Israel as a nation could have a king, but he 93 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:33.159 was a servant King. He was a king under God, a vassal king 94 00:08:33.320 --> 00:08:39.000 who was called to uphold the will of God and his ways. That meant 95 00:08:39.080 --> 00:08:43.950 the king was very important because he was not just a leader who had the 96 00:08:43.990 --> 00:08:50.950 ability to issue commands and do public works, project projects and other kinds of 97 00:08:50.070 --> 00:08:54.980 things that kings do, but he was under God to be a leader, 98 00:08:56.059 --> 00:09:01.620 to direct people in the will of the Lord. In various places in the 99 00:09:01.659 --> 00:09:07.340 Old Testament the Kings of God's kings are called shepherds. They are leaders in 100 00:09:07.460 --> 00:09:11.809 this way over their people. They are to shepherd their flock, protect them, 101 00:09:11.850 --> 00:09:16.889 oversee them, watch out for them, keep them, feed them. 102 00:09:18.370 --> 00:09:22.049 A Good Shepherd is one who directs them in the ways of his master, 103 00:09:22.370 --> 00:09:30.840 the Lord, who takes them to good fields and good paths into righteousness and 104 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:33.720 holiness. A king who is evil, though, is one who takes his 105 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:39.549 people into barren wastelands, who takes his sheet and puts them in hard places 106 00:09:39.750 --> 00:09:46.509 and puts them among wolves. There's a hint to the evils that ray of 107 00:09:46.549 --> 00:09:52.940 Balm commits and the wolves that he brought among them when we read at the 108 00:09:52.980 --> 00:09:58.500 end of that chapter his mother's name was not am the ammonite, and he 109 00:09:58.580 --> 00:10:01.620 did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the Lord. 110 00:10:01.659 --> 00:10:09.009 Obviously is mother is not his fault, that's Solomon's fault. But what we 111 00:10:09.129 --> 00:10:13.809 see here are there are these actions that are taken. Solomon goes against the 112 00:10:13.850 --> 00:10:18.129 will of the Lord and takes foreign wives, and he has this son who 113 00:10:18.850 --> 00:10:24.480 follows in the ways of his mother and not his father, ways of idolatry 114 00:10:24.519 --> 00:10:31.080 and disobedience, and in that the nation follows after him. Remember the beginning 115 00:10:31.080 --> 00:10:35.240 of this chapter, when the rule of ray of Balm was established and he 116 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:39.629 was strong, he abandoned the law of the Lord and all Israel with him. 117 00:10:41.950 --> 00:10:46.669 This teaches us that of what both the king should do and shouldn't do, 118 00:10:46.830 --> 00:10:52.059 and and it creates in us an anticipation, a waiting for a king 119 00:10:52.220 --> 00:10:54.220 to come. Because there was yet one more covenant that we need to mention. 120 00:10:54.340 --> 00:10:58.779 That's in the background here, not just with Abraham and Moses, but 121 00:10:58.899 --> 00:11:05.809 remember also with Rayobalm's grandfather, David, where we promised that one of David's 122 00:11:05.809 --> 00:11:11.169 sons would rule on his throne and would do so forever if he followed after 123 00:11:11.289 --> 00:11:15.250 his ways. And so with each of these kings were reading this going is 124 00:11:15.450 --> 00:11:18.600 this the king? Is this the one who is going to follow in God's 125 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:22.679 ways? Is this the one who is going to rule and reign over this 126 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:28.600 eternal Kingdom of God? And when we read at the beginning of Chapter Twelve 127 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:33.350 the rule of ray of Balm was established and he was strong, our hearts 128 00:11:33.830 --> 00:11:37.830 jump up a little bit. We Go Aha, is this the one? 129 00:11:37.029 --> 00:11:45.629 And then we read he abandoned the law of the Lord, Not Raya Balm. 130 00:11:48.539 --> 00:11:54.179 Rayobalm's life helps us to understand what it is the people were waiting for, 131 00:11:54.340 --> 00:11:58.460 what it is the world was waiting for, as God would exercise his 132 00:11:58.500 --> 00:12:03.090 kingship over Israel and, by extension, over the world through this king. 133 00:12:03.289 --> 00:12:07.129 It teaches us what we now have in Jesus, the kingdom or the king 134 00:12:07.169 --> 00:12:13.730 who has come. So that's the background. Not Think about some of the 135 00:12:13.850 --> 00:12:18.759 particulars of this story. The first thing I want you to notice is that 136 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:26.120 the whole story turns on the obedience of Raya Boem in relation to God's law. 137 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:28.559 Now this makes, of course, a lot of sense within the context 138 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:33.190 that I've given. That was Raya Balm's job was to uphold the Covenant, 139 00:12:33.230 --> 00:12:37.710 to enforce the Covenant, to make sure that people were following it in most 140 00:12:37.750 --> 00:12:43.940 particularly himself. But rayabalm did not follow the law of God. That's how 141 00:12:45.059 --> 00:12:52.779 his rule was is class, is categorizer characterized here. He abandoned the law 142 00:12:52.580 --> 00:12:56.980 the Lord, the law of Yahwe, the one who had ruled over them 143 00:12:56.059 --> 00:13:01.490 and brought them out of Egypt. Notice how are ray of Balm did not 144 00:13:01.769 --> 00:13:07.929 fail. Ray of Balm was not a weak leader. Ray Of Balm was 145 00:13:09.129 --> 00:13:13.919 a strong leader. He failed when he abandoned the law of the Lord, 146 00:13:13.960 --> 00:13:20.159 and that happened when he was established, when he was strong. He didn't 147 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:24.000 fail because he act had weakness in him. He failed because he had sin 148 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:28.309 in him. He was a powerful king, a strong king. He had 149 00:13:28.590 --> 00:13:35.070 withstood Jereboam, he had with stood coup, he had withstood people that had 150 00:13:35.830 --> 00:13:39.870 been upset with him because of the the rules that he was enforcing. All 151 00:13:41.029 --> 00:13:43.379 this he withstood he had established, as we read in a past chapter, 152 00:13:43.860 --> 00:13:50.500 fortress cities around his kingdom. The king was a strong king, and yet 153 00:13:50.580 --> 00:13:56.690 he failed. Why? Because he abandoned the law of the Lord. You 154 00:13:56.769 --> 00:14:00.169 see that in verse one and then again in verse fourteen. What do we 155 00:14:00.289 --> 00:14:05.929 read? He did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek 156 00:14:05.049 --> 00:14:11.840 the Lord David, that was his heart. When you read the Psalms, 157 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:16.799 what do you read? You read David's heart, the expressions how he felt, 158 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:20.240 what he wanted, and over and over again we see that David had 159 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:24.509 set his heart in a particular way. He tuned his heart to the law 160 00:14:24.590 --> 00:14:28.590 of God, to the grace of God, to seeking after him and his 161 00:14:28.750 --> 00:14:33.830 ways, not rea balm. And that's what happens when we two in our 162 00:14:33.909 --> 00:14:41.460 hearts to respond to another pattern, to follow after other ways. We don't 163 00:14:41.500 --> 00:14:46.899 follow after God, and that's what happened with Raya Balm. It's a good 164 00:14:46.899 --> 00:14:50.379 question, if you'd allow me to pause for a second and apply this to 165 00:14:50.460 --> 00:14:54.730 our own lives. Do you think of your own lives in terms of Selfficience, 166 00:14:54.850 --> 00:15:01.210 selfsufficiency and strength, or perhaps possessions? Do I have the things that 167 00:15:01.289 --> 00:15:05.330 I need to have? Am I in control? Am I do I have 168 00:15:05.409 --> 00:15:11.320 enough money? Or are my children obedient enough? or Am I getting enough 169 00:15:11.399 --> 00:15:15.080 rest? Or how is my health, or am I a strong person? 170 00:15:15.320 --> 00:15:20.240 Do we evaluate in those terms primarily, or do we evaluate ourselves in terms 171 00:15:20.279 --> 00:15:26.070 of obedience? Are we waiting for the day when we are and hoping for 172 00:15:26.110 --> 00:15:31.669 the day when we are only established and strong, or are we hoping for 173 00:15:31.830 --> 00:15:39.740 obedience and trust and faith in God? It's that second that's important. Health, 174 00:15:39.299 --> 00:15:43.899 finances, relationships, these things go up and down, they come and 175 00:15:45.019 --> 00:15:50.129 go. God, the Lord, stands forever and so he has to take 176 00:15:50.129 --> 00:15:54.169 priority in our lives. If he is king, of the greatest king in 177 00:15:54.409 --> 00:16:00.330 the world, surely he should be king of our own individual lives. When 178 00:16:00.370 --> 00:16:03.840 we think about our lives, are we thinking about our them in terms of 179 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:08.679 the Law of God? Are we thinking about law our lives in terms of 180 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:15.440 obedience and submission and faith, or just in terms of how strong we are, 181 00:16:15.720 --> 00:16:22.029 how wealthy we are or some other earthly thing? It's a good hush 182 00:16:22.110 --> 00:16:23.870 and to ask, because here we see what happens when you go wrong, 183 00:16:23.909 --> 00:16:30.230 when you establish yourself based on your strength and you abandon the law of the 184 00:16:30.350 --> 00:16:36.139 Lord. This is what happens. We read in verse two that in the 185 00:16:36.259 --> 00:16:40.299 Fifth Year of King Ray of Balm, because they had been unfaithful to the 186 00:16:40.460 --> 00:16:45.779 Lord, Shishak, King of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem. Now it 187 00:16:45.899 --> 00:16:49.769 doesn't say this, but my guess is that Shishak wasn't thinking in these terms. 188 00:16:51.649 --> 00:16:55.169 He probably didn't think, wow, Israel's being really disobedient. I better 189 00:16:55.730 --> 00:17:00.409 go and force the law of Yahway and and punish them for their sins. 190 00:17:00.330 --> 00:17:04.680 No, Egypt was making a move on e on Israel. Israel was in 191 00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:11.680 this has always been in this important place geographically, this land sort of in 192 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:17.829 between empires that various people have wanted to control. Trade routes that are important 193 00:17:18.069 --> 00:17:23.069 port cities, they are important lands, that are important, and Egypt wanted 194 00:17:23.150 --> 00:17:27.630 them, no doubt. So Shishak goes up. And yet, no matter 195 00:17:27.750 --> 00:17:33.180 what the motivations of Shishak were, we know that God was in control. 196 00:17:33.859 --> 00:17:38.460 That's why this happened, because they had been a unfaithful to the Lord. 197 00:17:40.099 --> 00:17:47.289 That's why this happened and it's also why things turned around the other way that 198 00:17:47.369 --> 00:17:51.930 we see that the kingship of Raya Balm is all turning on is obedience. 199 00:17:52.930 --> 00:17:57.130 Is What happens after he disobeys. So shishak comes in, he takes the 200 00:17:57.250 --> 00:18:03.799 fortified cities of Judah, comes right up to the doorsteps of Jerusalem. Scared, 201 00:18:04.279 --> 00:18:08.799 they gather together. The prophet comes to them and says, thus says 202 00:18:08.839 --> 00:18:14.150 the Lord, you abandoned me, so I have abandoned you. To Shishak. 203 00:18:15.990 --> 00:18:18.509 Here, Solomon and all the or sorry, Rahaboem and all the princes 204 00:18:18.630 --> 00:18:23.630 are reminded that their strength did not come because they had a lot of shields 205 00:18:23.670 --> 00:18:29.019 or a lot of soldiers or a lot of fortified cities. Their strength was 206 00:18:29.099 --> 00:18:33.740 from the Lord. They were protected because of him. So to abandon him 207 00:18:33.980 --> 00:18:37.940 was to abandon the very things that they were hoping in. They hoped in 208 00:18:38.059 --> 00:18:45.529 these secondary things, forgetting the primary thing, their Lord and King. And 209 00:18:45.690 --> 00:18:48.809 so God does a very just thing. Eye for an eye, tooth for 210 00:18:48.849 --> 00:18:53.769 a tooth. You abandon me, so I have abandoned you. But what 211 00:18:53.970 --> 00:19:03.279 happens? A wonderful, beautiful thing happens in verses six and seven. The 212 00:19:03.400 --> 00:19:08.759 princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, the Lord is righteous. 213 00:19:10.990 --> 00:19:14.230 And then in verse seven, when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, 214 00:19:14.269 --> 00:19:18.430 the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah said, they have humbled themselves. 215 00:19:18.549 --> 00:19:23.460 I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, 216 00:19:23.500 --> 00:19:29.660 and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. 217 00:19:30.579 --> 00:19:37.539 Now it's not an an absolute pardon, we might say. He says, 218 00:19:37.740 --> 00:19:41.289 nevertheless, they shall be servants to him. But notice that the the 219 00:19:41.490 --> 00:19:49.769 reason changes in verse eight. It's not a punishment, necessarily, but instruction 220 00:19:51.009 --> 00:19:55.119 and Training and discipline. Nevertheless, they shall be servants to him that they 221 00:19:55.200 --> 00:20:00.279 may know my service. He humbles them under Shishak. He requires a certain 222 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:07.750 obedience to this foreign king that they might know that ultimately, their obedience needs 223 00:20:07.789 --> 00:20:11.269 to be to the Lord. As we go back to our own personal lives, 224 00:20:11.390 --> 00:20:17.750 this is another truth to remember. God often times will bring us and 225 00:20:17.869 --> 00:20:22.019 deliver us out of things, I'm out of the consequences of our sin, 226 00:20:22.180 --> 00:20:27.259 but sometimes he leaves us in them, not because he is punishing us, 227 00:20:27.380 --> 00:20:33.539 but because he is teaching us. He wants us to grow not just in 228 00:20:33.740 --> 00:20:40.329 obeying but in knowing him, in serving him. He even has them served 229 00:20:40.410 --> 00:20:45.089 this king of Egypt, that they might know what it means to serve the 230 00:20:45.210 --> 00:20:52.920 living God who is over both Egypt and Israel. Another thing to mention about 231 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:59.160 the repentance that they offer. I want to ask you a question. I 232 00:20:59.240 --> 00:21:03.279 want you to have you think, you think about something. What is the 233 00:21:03.559 --> 00:21:07.869 basis for the repentance? Or, maybe better, why does repentance work? 234 00:21:07.910 --> 00:21:17.309 Why does repentance work? Why did it change what the Lord did? First 235 00:21:17.309 --> 00:21:21.059 of all, consider what repentance is. It's a humbling of oneself. That's 236 00:21:21.059 --> 00:21:26.299 what we read when the king and the princess of Israel humbled themselves. We 237 00:21:26.380 --> 00:21:30.500 also know from other portions of scripture that this humility and repentance isn't merely saying 238 00:21:30.539 --> 00:21:36.369 I'm sorry, but it's turning away from sin, it's taking a new path. 239 00:21:36.930 --> 00:21:41.009 But well again, why did that work? Why did that change they 240 00:21:41.250 --> 00:21:48.680 way that God was treating them? Because once a law is broken, it 241 00:21:48.839 --> 00:21:55.960 can't really be made up by being sorry or simply by, Oh, being 242 00:21:56.079 --> 00:22:00.039 obedient. Once a law is broken, it's broken. The Covenant Has Been 243 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:04.390 Broken, the contract has been broken. You can't just make it up. 244 00:22:06.230 --> 00:22:10.390 You've maybe experienced this personally. If, if someone steals some money from you, 245 00:22:11.589 --> 00:22:15.029 maybe if, even in the case where they give it back, it 246 00:22:15.230 --> 00:22:18.539 still doesn't feel very satisfying. Does it not totally. I mean, of 247 00:22:18.579 --> 00:22:22.180 course you appreciate that and you're glad for that, but it's not complete. 248 00:22:22.220 --> 00:22:27.900 There's something more that's required, something was still broken. What we see is 249 00:22:29.019 --> 00:22:33.690 that there is forgiveness that is required. You can't make up for your sins 250 00:22:33.769 --> 00:22:40.410 simply by doing other righteous things. God has to forgive our sins, and 251 00:22:41.130 --> 00:22:45.920 that's where repentance comes in. Repentance is coming in not merely by humbling yourself 252 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:51.519 and turning to a new path, but really trusting in the grace of God. 253 00:22:52.440 --> 00:23:00.269 Repentance, Evangelical Repentance, Gospel Repentance, godly repentance, makes a difference 254 00:23:00.309 --> 00:23:04.549 because it doesn't merely continue on in one's own works, though they may be 255 00:23:04.750 --> 00:23:10.069 good now, but it trusts in God's works, in His grace and in 256 00:23:10.150 --> 00:23:18.940 his goodness. Repentance works because God works. Repentance works because God is Gracious. 257 00:23:18.819 --> 00:23:26.650 Repentance works because God is good. He doesn't when he forgives our sins, 258 00:23:26.690 --> 00:23:30.009 he's not merely adding things on the scale and saying, well, you 259 00:23:30.089 --> 00:23:33.490 did this many good things in this many bad things, and so okay, 260 00:23:33.609 --> 00:23:41.519 we're even. That's not where repentance is. That's justice. But we can't 261 00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:45.440 have justice with God because we can never do enough good to make up for 262 00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:49.200 the things we lost. We can never sacrifice ourselves enough to atone for the 263 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:53.640 things that we've done, and so we don't go to God on the basis 264 00:23:53.680 --> 00:23:57.349 of our good works. We go to God on the basis of His grace. 265 00:24:00.109 --> 00:24:03.589 And that's what they do here. That's what this humbling themselves themselves is. 266 00:24:03.869 --> 00:24:12.539 They go to the Lord. Maybe rayabalm remembered the words of David and 267 00:24:12.819 --> 00:24:18.940 Psalm thirty two about how the forgiveness of the Lord Washes Away Iniquity and cleans 268 00:24:19.059 --> 00:24:26.490 transgressions. Maybe he heard the story about his grandfather's disobedience and how the Lord 269 00:24:26.569 --> 00:24:32.930 had forgiven him. Or maybe, with Rayabo or with Solomon, his father, 270 00:24:33.210 --> 00:24:37.329 he had heard Solomon's prayer at the temple or heard of it when the 271 00:24:37.410 --> 00:24:41.440 temple was constructed, and solemn prayed and said, when they're people repent, 272 00:24:42.519 --> 00:24:49.920 may you turn to them and forgive their sins, because God is gracious, 273 00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:56.309 because God works and fulfilling his promises to keep his people and to forgive their 274 00:24:56.470 --> 00:25:07.660 sins, repentance works. So what promised did Rayabalm have? What thing was 275 00:25:07.740 --> 00:25:11.940 he depending on and the other princes, when they humbled themselves before the Lord. 276 00:25:12.019 --> 00:25:15.779 They were depending on the Lord who is Gracious, the Lord who is 277 00:25:15.019 --> 00:25:21.259 made promises to keep his people, promises experienced by his own family, by 278 00:25:21.339 --> 00:25:26.210 his father and his grandfather, and our hope is the same. We can 279 00:25:26.250 --> 00:25:30.970 also look at the promises God made to Abraham and to Moses and to David 280 00:25:30.049 --> 00:25:36.160 and to Solomon and say the Lord is Faithful, the Lord is good, 281 00:25:36.359 --> 00:25:41.000 the Lord forgives the sins of those who repent and trust in him. His 282 00:25:41.240 --> 00:25:48.680 Wrath can be turned away when I go to him and ask it and trust 283 00:25:48.759 --> 00:25:55.950 in him by faith. What's more is that God has given us not only 284 00:25:56.109 --> 00:26:02.190 these promises that have been made to these various men and leaders of his people 285 00:26:03.390 --> 00:26:07.460 and to the people as a whole, but he's also given us the hope 286 00:26:07.500 --> 00:26:15.500 and promise of Jesus Christ himself. One day a king did come, not 287 00:26:15.660 --> 00:26:18.250 Yabalm, not Abijah, and May and we would have to wait a long 288 00:26:18.289 --> 00:26:25.809 time, but Jesus did come and he never had to repent because he never 289 00:26:25.890 --> 00:26:33.039 sinned. But, as our representative, his life also turned on his relationship 290 00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:37.480 to the law, just like ray of balms did on the basis of Jesus 291 00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:42.039 is obedience. He would be exalted on the bus eases of the disobedience, 292 00:26:42.200 --> 00:26:48.349 not that he committed, but on the disobedience that was placed on him, 293 00:26:48.069 --> 00:26:55.430 the sins for which he suffered. He was not exalted, but he was 294 00:26:55.470 --> 00:27:00.700 humbled. He was put to death, even death on a cross, even 295 00:27:02.339 --> 00:27:07.980 by the hand of God. How could Jesus be both obedient and disobedient? 296 00:27:10.019 --> 00:27:12.859 Well, because he did so in different ways. He was a different sort 297 00:27:12.900 --> 00:27:17.690 of king. He was no ray of Balm. He was the God man. 298 00:27:19.250 --> 00:27:30.359 Jesus was obedient according to his divinity and his perfect sinless humanity. Jesus 299 00:27:30.440 --> 00:27:33.039 obeyed every single thing. He did everything that he was called to do, 300 00:27:33.160 --> 00:27:37.799 and in that he was exalted. But it was as our mediator and as 301 00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:42.279 our substitute that he suffered for us, and he suffered for our sins. 302 00:27:45.950 --> 00:27:52.990 The people under Raeabalm rose and fell with him as king. We do the 303 00:27:52.069 --> 00:27:56.549 same under Jesus, but Jesus is a different sort of king. As I 304 00:27:56.710 --> 00:28:03.859 said, we don't have to worry about him being another Rayabalem or worse. 305 00:28:03.980 --> 00:28:08.259 There's never been a better king. We could not have a better king and 306 00:28:10.019 --> 00:28:14.849 will never have a worse one, because Jesus is the final king. Jesus 307 00:28:14.930 --> 00:28:18.930 comes sort of in the way of Raya Balm and in the Office of Raya 308 00:28:18.009 --> 00:28:25.490 Balm, but not as Raya Balm. He comes as God himself to rule 309 00:28:25.690 --> 00:28:30.839 us and to watch over US and to defend us and to be our substitute. 310 00:28:32.599 --> 00:28:36.960 Paul says that we go up and down with him, or, to 311 00:28:37.079 --> 00:28:41.430 put it more precisely, that we have died in him and, if brought 312 00:28:41.509 --> 00:28:48.990 to new life in him, we have been risen with him. When we 313 00:28:48.109 --> 00:28:52.150 think about these things, when we think about who Jesus is a is as 314 00:28:52.190 --> 00:28:56.539 a king, all the promises that have been made to God's people in the 315 00:28:56.579 --> 00:29:03.380 Old Testament are made even more sure and even fulfilled in these majestic and kingly 316 00:29:03.500 --> 00:29:08.380 ways in Jesus. That's means that every single one of you has not a 317 00:29:08.539 --> 00:29:15.730 single reason not to turn in repentance to God, no matter what your sins 318 00:29:15.769 --> 00:29:18.849 are, no matter how bad they are, no matter how deep they are, 319 00:29:18.009 --> 00:29:23.289 no matter how long they've been going on. We can go to Jesus, 320 00:29:23.289 --> 00:29:30.599 this great king, and have life in him. We can repent based 321 00:29:30.640 --> 00:29:34.480 on the promises of God fulfilled in Him, and know that as we live 322 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:38.670 as or as we die, and live in him, that we will have 323 00:29:38.990 --> 00:29:47.710 our sins forgiven. Rayobalm's life teaches us of the great necessity of obedience, 324 00:29:47.829 --> 00:29:52.980 both personally and for God's King. It also teaches us the need agree. 325 00:29:53.019 --> 00:29:57.779 Of Balm's life also teaches us of the need for repentance, because we sin 326 00:29:59.779 --> 00:30:04.900 because we need God in His grace. And finally, Rayobalm's life teaches us 327 00:30:04.940 --> 00:30:10.170 of the need, for Jesus, a king who would not fail in the 328 00:30:10.250 --> 00:30:15.130 way that Jay ray of Balm did, a king who would secure forever the 329 00:30:15.329 --> 00:30:22.119 favor of God and the forgiveness of our sins. So when your heart is 330 00:30:22.279 --> 00:30:27.799 pricked, when the word of God comes to you and says you have sinned, 331 00:30:27.839 --> 00:30:34.440 and your conscience twists within you and tells you that something needs to change, 332 00:30:36.910 --> 00:30:41.349 then remember the word of the Lord from his Prophet here Sham. I 333 00:30:41.470 --> 00:30:45.150 remember the word of the Lord as it came to Rayobalm, remember the word 334 00:30:45.190 --> 00:30:51.220 of the Lord as it comes to us in Jesus, and know that in 335 00:30:51.380 --> 00:30:56.740 Him we can have all the repentance we could ever or all the forgiveness we'd 336 00:30:56.779 --> 00:31:02.779 ever need, and a king who would give us God's favor forever. In 337 00:31:02.900 --> 00:31:10.609 Jesus we find salvation for our souls. Let's pray in his name and ask 338 00:31:10.690 --> 00:31:11.769 that he would forgive us of our sins.