Faithless Failure (2 Chronicles 28)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.920 --> 00:00:05.080 I'd like you to keep Matthew Fourteen, twenty two through thirty six there in 2 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:11.830 mind. The story thereabout Jesus walking on the water and and Peter Walking on 3 00:00:11.910 --> 00:00:15.230 the water, at least for a little bit, the worshiping of Jesus, 4 00:00:15.310 --> 00:00:19.949 and then also the healing, these miraculous healings that followed. Keep that in 5 00:00:20.070 --> 00:00:23.539 mind. Now, as we turned to second chronicles, Chapter Twenty eight. 6 00:00:29.539 --> 00:00:36.649 In Second Chronicles Twenty eight we read the account of an Evil King, and 7 00:00:37.689 --> 00:00:42.770 I want you to keep matthew fourteen in mind and perhaps met well not, 8 00:00:42.890 --> 00:00:48.609 perhaps in many, indeed other passages that speak of very explicitly of Jesus, 9 00:00:49.250 --> 00:00:58.039 that you might quickly and easily compare and contrast these two kings. I'm King 10 00:00:58.200 --> 00:01:07.950 Jesus to hear King A has second chronicles twenty eight. A has was twenty 11 00:01:07.989 --> 00:01:12.549 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, 12 00:01:14.709 --> 00:01:18.030 and he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, 13 00:01:18.069 --> 00:01:23.140 as his father David had done, but he walked in the ways of 14 00:01:23.260 --> 00:01:29.420 the kings of Israel. He even made metal images for the Bale and he 15 00:01:29.500 --> 00:01:34.730 made offerings in the Valley of the son of Hanam and burned his sons as 16 00:01:34.810 --> 00:01:41.450 an offering according to the abominations of the nations, whom the Lord drove out 17 00:01:41.609 --> 00:01:47.010 before the people of Israel and he sacrificed and he made offerings on the high 18 00:01:47.049 --> 00:01:53.920 places and on the hills and under every green tree. Therefore, the Lord, 19 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:57.480 his God gave him into the hand of the King of Syria, who 20 00:01:57.599 --> 00:02:01.430 defeated him and took captive a great number of his people and brought them to 21 00:02:01.549 --> 00:02:07.030 Damascus. He was also given into the hand of the King of Israel, 22 00:02:07.189 --> 00:02:12.229 who struck him with great force for Pecca, the son of Ramalaya. Ramalaya 23 00:02:12.550 --> 00:02:16.340 killed a hundred and twenty thousand from Judah in one day, all of them 24 00:02:16.580 --> 00:02:22.580 men of valor because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers, 25 00:02:23.620 --> 00:02:28.979 and Zikri, lighty man from Ephraim, killed massay Yas, Massaya, 26 00:02:29.139 --> 00:02:34.409 the king's son, and Azrakham, the commander of the palace, and Elkanah, 27 00:02:34.689 --> 00:02:39.210 the next in authority to the king. The men of Israel took captive 28 00:02:39.289 --> 00:02:46.479 two hundred thousand of their relatives, women, sons and daughters. They also 29 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:51.360 took much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria, but a prophet 30 00:02:51.400 --> 00:02:54.319 of the Lord was there, whose name was odd, and he went out 31 00:02:54.360 --> 00:03:00.110 to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them behold, because 32 00:03:00.229 --> 00:03:02.550 the Lord, the God of your father's, was angry with Judah, he 33 00:03:02.750 --> 00:03:07.949 gave them into your hand, but you have killed them in a rage that 34 00:03:07.110 --> 00:03:12.669 has reached up to heaven, and now you intend to subjugate the people of 35 00:03:12.750 --> 00:03:16.900 Judah and Jerusalem, Male and female, as your slaves. Have you not 36 00:03:17.180 --> 00:03:23.099 sins of your own against the Lord, your God? Now hear me and 37 00:03:23.419 --> 00:03:28.449 send back the captives from your relatives whom you have taken, for the fierce 38 00:03:28.650 --> 00:03:34.289 wrath of the Lord is upon you. Certain chiefs, also of the men 39 00:03:34.370 --> 00:03:38.849 of Ephraim as a Riah, the son of Johan, and on Barachiah, 40 00:03:39.129 --> 00:03:46.039 the son of Messhilamoth Jehezekiah, the son of Shalem and Amasa, the son 41 00:03:46.199 --> 00:03:52.280 of hadly stood up against those who were coming from the war and said to 42 00:03:52.360 --> 00:03:55.069 them you shall not bring the captives in here, for you propose to bring 43 00:03:55.110 --> 00:04:00.349 upon us guilt against the Lord, in addition to our presence, sins and 44 00:04:00.469 --> 00:04:04.389 guilt, for our guilt is already great, and there is fierce wrath against 45 00:04:04.469 --> 00:04:10.740 Israel. So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes 46 00:04:10.780 --> 00:04:15.659 and all the assembly, and the men who have been mentioned by name rose 47 00:04:15.139 --> 00:04:19.779 and took the captives and with the spoil they clothed all who were naked among 48 00:04:19.819 --> 00:04:25.930 them. They clothed them, gave them sandals, provided them with food and 49 00:04:26.250 --> 00:04:30.250 drink and anointed them and carrying all the feeble among them on donkeys, they 50 00:04:30.370 --> 00:04:35.050 brought them to their kinsfolk at Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then 51 00:04:35.089 --> 00:04:42.079 they returned to Samaria. At that time King Ahas sent to the King of 52 00:04:42.120 --> 00:04:46.079 Assyria for help, for the Edomites had again invaded and defeated Judah and carried 53 00:04:46.120 --> 00:04:50.920 away captives, and the Philistines made raids on the cities, cities in the 54 00:04:50.959 --> 00:04:59.470 Sheppela and the Negebb of Judah, and had taken Bethshemesh Eigilon ghetter off Soko 55 00:04:59.670 --> 00:05:03.910 with its villages, Tim Naw and with its villages, and Gim Gimzo with 56 00:05:04.069 --> 00:05:11.740 its villages, and they settled there. For the Lord Humble Judah, because 57 00:05:11.779 --> 00:05:15.939 of Ahas, King of Israel, for he had met he had made Judah 58 00:05:15.980 --> 00:05:21.810 acts sinfully and he had been very unfaithful to the Lord. So Tig Lath, 59 00:05:23.129 --> 00:05:28.689 plesser, King of Assyria, came against him and afflicted him instead of 60 00:05:28.769 --> 00:05:32.529 strengthening him. For A has took a portion from the house of the Lord 61 00:05:32.569 --> 00:05:36.959 and the House of the king and of the princes and gave tribute to the 62 00:05:38.040 --> 00:05:43.160 king of Assyria, but it did not help him. In the time of 63 00:05:43.240 --> 00:05:48.360 his distress, he became yet more faithless to the Lord. This same king 64 00:05:48.519 --> 00:05:55.230 a has, for he sacrificed to the Gods of Damascus that had defeatted him, 65 00:05:55.230 --> 00:05:59.189 and said, because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, 66 00:05:59.990 --> 00:06:03.420 I will sacrifice to them that they may help me. But they were the 67 00:06:03.620 --> 00:06:09.779 ruin of him and of all Israel. And a has gathered together the vessels 68 00:06:09.819 --> 00:06:13.660 of the House of God and cut in peaces the vessels of the House of 69 00:06:13.740 --> 00:06:15.939 God, and he shut up the doors on the House of the Lord and 70 00:06:16.459 --> 00:06:23.490 made himself alters. In every corner of Jerusalem, in every city of Judah, 71 00:06:23.490 --> 00:06:28.449 he made high places to make offerings to other gods, provoking to anger 72 00:06:28.689 --> 00:06:32.560 the Lord, the God of his father's now the rest of his acts and 73 00:06:32.600 --> 00:06:36.959 all his ways, from first to last, behold they are written in the 74 00:06:38.040 --> 00:06:42.519 book of the Kings of Judah in Israel, and a has slept with his 75 00:06:42.680 --> 00:06:46.430 father's and they buried him in the city in Jerusalem, for they did not 76 00:06:46.750 --> 00:06:50.829 bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel, and Hezekiah, his 77 00:06:50.990 --> 00:07:02.100 son, reigned in his place. So, as I say, an enormous 78 00:07:02.300 --> 00:07:09.500 contrast between Jesus as king and King A has. We could spend all evening 79 00:07:10.019 --> 00:07:17.490 making these contrasts between the two. A has doesn't even come close. A 80 00:07:17.689 --> 00:07:23.170 has his on the total other end of the spectrum in terms of righteousness. 81 00:07:23.930 --> 00:07:28.930 There's not a single thing that he does here it is worthy of mention, 82 00:07:29.410 --> 00:07:32.399 of saying. Well, at least there was that thing. At every single 83 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:41.160 point, he seems addicted to destruction, addicted to idolatry, clinging to the 84 00:07:41.399 --> 00:07:46.189 very things that are ruining him. And on top of that, a has 85 00:07:46.310 --> 00:07:53.389 his plunging into all kinds of death and sin and misery his own people, 86 00:07:54.110 --> 00:07:59.899 his country, everyone he he comes in contact with, those he is supposed 87 00:07:59.899 --> 00:08:03.459 to care for, lift up and serve in the name of the Lord. 88 00:08:03.939 --> 00:08:11.420 He is ruining, he is sending into battles that are lost, he is 89 00:08:11.779 --> 00:08:16.490 putting them in in terrible places and sadly, they're following him in all of 90 00:08:16.569 --> 00:08:20.569 this. They're following him in the idolatry, they're following him in the false 91 00:08:20.649 --> 00:08:28.079 worship, as people often do of their leaders, they follow them. This 92 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:33.519 is so different from Jesus. What happens to Peter There in Matthew Fourteen, 93 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:39.919 when he follows Jesus, when he comes after him, success, he walks 94 00:08:41.080 --> 00:08:46.070 on water. What happens when he doubts? He drowns in the water. 95 00:08:46.070 --> 00:08:50.309 It's the same thing here in second chronicles. It's emphasizing this point the one 96 00:08:50.429 --> 00:08:58.100 who was that to reign as king under God is to follow after the Lord. 97 00:09:00.299 --> 00:09:07.179 Success when doing so and failure when not. One of the reasons I 98 00:09:07.299 --> 00:09:13.610 believe God gives us these histories and tells us these stories and such a rich 99 00:09:13.850 --> 00:09:18.490 detail, instead of just making, you know, perhaps a couple theological points 100 00:09:18.610 --> 00:09:22.409 for us to reflect on, though that would be very valuable in itself. 101 00:09:22.690 --> 00:09:28.159 I believe that he gives us these stories to color in these truths, to 102 00:09:28.279 --> 00:09:33.879 impress them on our parts and to remind us how life works in full color, 103 00:09:35.960 --> 00:09:41.070 in high definition. On top of that, God tells us these things 104 00:09:41.190 --> 00:09:46.870 to remind us the very truthfulness of the things that he says, the things 105 00:09:46.909 --> 00:09:50.870 that he commands us to do, the ways that he expresses himself to us. 106 00:09:50.909 --> 00:09:56.539 These are not abstractions, they're not just big ideas and plans that God 107 00:09:56.700 --> 00:10:01.220 has. They are the wisdom in which the world has been made. They're 108 00:10:01.259 --> 00:10:05.740 the system in which we are working and living. It's the air we breathe, 109 00:10:05.779 --> 00:10:11.970 it's who we are as those who have been made in God's image, 110 00:10:11.370 --> 00:10:18.289 made to reflect his glory, to follow after him. When we don't do 111 00:10:18.610 --> 00:10:24.559 that, even as our parents failed to do that, we plunge ourselves into 112 00:10:24.600 --> 00:10:35.559 ruin. So let's consider the story. Let's call some of its details to 113 00:10:35.870 --> 00:10:41.549 our attention. I want you to see the extreme nature of a Hass idolatry, 114 00:10:43.870 --> 00:10:46.230 the way in which he he clings to it over and over again. 115 00:10:46.750 --> 00:10:52.179 You remember a Jotham, his father. It was quite the opposite. We 116 00:10:52.340 --> 00:10:58.299 read in the beginning of second chronicles twenty seven, that Jothan, verse two, 117 00:10:58.379 --> 00:11:00.659 did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. This was the 118 00:11:00.700 --> 00:11:07.090 great summary Verse of Jotham's rule and his brain a has not the case. 119 00:11:07.450 --> 00:11:13.809 We begin this account. The chronicler begins by saying he did not do what 120 00:11:15.009 --> 00:11:18.279 was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done. 121 00:11:20.279 --> 00:11:24.200 This is one of the uses of father here. That can doesn't mean 122 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:28.159 immediate father, because that, of course, is Jotham, but father meaning 123 00:11:28.279 --> 00:11:35.509 a several generations back, a grandfather, a great great great grandfather. Why 124 00:11:35.629 --> 00:11:39.950 does he mentioned David? Because you remember that all of these events in Israel 125 00:11:41.190 --> 00:11:45.909 and Judah are happening in the context of God's covenant with David. We are 126 00:11:45.950 --> 00:11:50.500 all waiting in this flow of the history for this sp promised son, this 127 00:11:50.659 --> 00:11:56.460 promised son who would come to David. So here, with each successive king, 128 00:11:56.700 --> 00:12:00.580 we are supposed to be asking, is this the one? Is this 129 00:12:00.779 --> 00:12:03.090 the one? Like children impatiently in the back of the car? Are we 130 00:12:03.169 --> 00:12:07.889 there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? We're clearly 131 00:12:07.009 --> 00:12:11.970 not there yet. With a has the son of David, he does not 132 00:12:13.330 --> 00:12:16.679 walking in the ways of his father. He's not trusting in the Lord, 133 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:20.320 he's not fearing in the Lord. In fact, he walks in the ways 134 00:12:20.440 --> 00:12:26.639 of the kings of Israel. Now, if you're coming into this new it's 135 00:12:26.679 --> 00:12:31.950 important to remember that at this point Israel and Judah are two countries in a 136 00:12:31.029 --> 00:12:35.909 sense, that have been split, a split in the family of God, 137 00:12:35.590 --> 00:12:41.149 Judah in the south, Israel in the north, David, under David and 138 00:12:41.190 --> 00:12:46.980 under solemn and they were one United Kingdom. However, when they split, 139 00:12:48.179 --> 00:12:54.340 bad things happened, especially in the north. We've been tracing by and large, 140 00:12:54.460 --> 00:12:58.889 the history of the southern kingdom, the history of the Kings of Judah, 141 00:12:58.929 --> 00:13:03.450 where God's promise is ongoing. In many ways. Israel in the north, 142 00:13:03.730 --> 00:13:09.809 though technically relatives, as we see in this chapter, are in many 143 00:13:09.809 --> 00:13:15.159 ways not following after the Lord Anymore. They are almost as another, just 144 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:20.799 a pagan country. Why? Because of the idolatry at the very beginning of 145 00:13:20.919 --> 00:13:26.990 the departure of Israel from God's people. It happened because they set up false 146 00:13:28.029 --> 00:13:33.149 idols, they set up false gods, they instituted false worship, and that 147 00:13:33.230 --> 00:13:35.629 has been, for the most part, care being, been carrying on all 148 00:13:35.710 --> 00:13:41.659 this time. So that's why the chronicler says he walked in the ways of 149 00:13:41.740 --> 00:13:46.580 the kings of Israel. He's sort of attaching him to this other country and 150 00:13:46.700 --> 00:13:52.620 this other people that are gone far astray and have already for many generations. 151 00:13:52.740 --> 00:14:01.169 Very interestingly, in verse nineteen it says for the Lord Humble Judah because of 152 00:14:01.250 --> 00:14:07.529 a has, King of Israel. He's not technically King of Israel, he's 153 00:14:07.529 --> 00:14:11.080 King of Judah. That's why God is humbling Judah, because of the actions 154 00:14:11.159 --> 00:14:16.200 of their king. But he's being characterized now here, in a second way, 155 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:20.960 as the king of this other country. Why? Because he's acting in 156 00:14:20.120 --> 00:14:22.559 that way. You know, we have this phrase. You know, if 157 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:26.269 it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's a duck. 158 00:14:28.230 --> 00:14:31.990 And that's what a has is doing. He's not walking like a son of 159 00:14:31.029 --> 00:14:37.779 David, he's walking like the son rebellious sons of David, like the Kings 160 00:14:39.580 --> 00:14:46.220 of Israel. So this is how the chronicler introduces this man to us, 161 00:14:46.379 --> 00:14:52.409 and then he tells us the extent of his idolatry. He begins in verse 162 00:14:52.570 --> 00:14:58.409 two. They're saying he even made metal images for the bales. One of 163 00:14:58.409 --> 00:15:03.929 the ways we see a has his idolatry is in the number of gods that 164 00:15:03.009 --> 00:15:07.480 he goes to serve. Not only is he failing to serve the one true 165 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:13.799 God and is giving worship to false images, to demons, he gives worship 166 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:20.320 to many of them. The number of his are the amount. In this 167 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:26.389 sense, the number of idols and idolatry and places of worship is repeated over 168 00:15:26.549 --> 00:15:30.149 and over again in this chapter. It's a way of showing the extent of 169 00:15:30.230 --> 00:15:33.549 his idolatry. Even here in the very first verse, the the introduction to 170 00:15:33.669 --> 00:15:39.419 this idea, he even made metal images for the bales. He goes on 171 00:15:39.580 --> 00:15:43.019 then in verse four and says he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places 172 00:15:43.100 --> 00:15:48.500 and on the hills and under every green tree. This is how the chapter 173 00:15:48.620 --> 00:15:52.049 begins, and then from there it sort of flows out and we see the 174 00:15:52.169 --> 00:15:58.009 consequences of that action. And then, amazingly, we see at the end 175 00:15:58.049 --> 00:16:03.289 of all of this, instead of him turning and repentance, instead of him 176 00:16:03.490 --> 00:16:07.519 learning from the sins and the punishment and the wrath of God on him, 177 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:15.200 he does the exact same thing again, remembered verse twenty two, in his 178 00:16:15.720 --> 00:16:21.830 I'm of distress, he became yet more faithless to the Lord this same king 179 00:16:21.909 --> 00:16:25.470 a has. Now we see him, in verse twenty three, sacrificing to 180 00:16:25.509 --> 00:16:29.190 the gods of Damascus, the ones that have defeated him. Then we see 181 00:16:29.190 --> 00:16:36.100 him not only worshiping these other Gods but even shutting down true worship in Israel. 182 00:16:36.779 --> 00:16:41.940 He's not just multiplying false worship, he's shutting down the possibility for true 183 00:16:41.980 --> 00:16:45.500 worship. A has, verse twenty four, gathers together the vessels of the 184 00:16:45.580 --> 00:16:49.769 House of God. That means he goes into the temple and takes the lamp 185 00:16:49.929 --> 00:16:55.250 stand and takes the bull. He's getting all of these things that had been 186 00:16:55.330 --> 00:17:02.279 made by Solomon that God had given specific instructions for, that were modeled after 187 00:17:02.360 --> 00:17:07.720 the tempt tabernacle that had also been specifically called for by God. He has 188 00:17:07.880 --> 00:17:11.640 goes into the House of God, cuts them to pieces of the House of 189 00:17:11.720 --> 00:17:17.910 God, shuts the doors, locks them up and then establishes altars all around 190 00:17:17.910 --> 00:17:22.349 Jerusalem. You see what he's doing here. And then it goes and saidace. 191 00:17:22.349 --> 00:17:27.230 From Verse Twenty Five, in every city of Judah, he made high 192 00:17:27.349 --> 00:17:36.779 places to the offer to make offerings to other gods. What territory has he 193 00:17:36.940 --> 00:17:45.130 not touched? What amount of corruption has not been established? Where has the 194 00:17:45.569 --> 00:17:55.690 poison not reached in Judah? A has seems focused intent on a stablishing worship 195 00:17:56.210 --> 00:18:06.599 over and against God. Where does this get him? Where does his direct 196 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:15.430 and immediate idolatry get him? Verse Five, therefore, the Lord, his 197 00:18:15.910 --> 00:18:21.710 God gave him into the hand of the King of Syria, who defeated him 198 00:18:21.710 --> 00:18:26.750 and took a great number of his people captive and brought them to Damascus. 199 00:18:29.380 --> 00:18:33.259 One of the great themes that we've been seeing and in chronicles is that as 200 00:18:33.299 --> 00:18:38.779 the kings do well, the land is secured, the borders are made strong, 201 00:18:40.140 --> 00:18:45.849 the people are safe. The opposite of that is what we see here. 202 00:18:47.089 --> 00:18:52.130 When the king fails to follow the Lord, the land starts breaking apart, 203 00:18:53.970 --> 00:19:02.559 the people start dying, foreign enemies begin to take over, the strength 204 00:19:02.599 --> 00:19:08.240 of Israel begins to die. And this is what happens. This Syrian king 205 00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:17.430 comes and takes them, defeats them, but more than that, he's also, 206 00:19:17.630 --> 00:19:19.509 we read in Verse Five, given into the hand of the King of 207 00:19:19.630 --> 00:19:26.180 Israel again, now in a sense of foreign army, of foreign force coming 208 00:19:26.220 --> 00:19:32.819 in and takes takes them. Indeed, not only do they kill many men 209 00:19:33.140 --> 00:19:37.619 of war, but then Israel, in their wickedness, desides to take it 210 00:19:37.700 --> 00:19:41.250 a step further. This is, of course, the great nature of wickedness, 211 00:19:42.009 --> 00:19:48.009 sinfulness. It always wants more, always wants more. That's why I 212 00:19:48.089 --> 00:19:52.279 described it to the beginnings as a kind of addiction to idolatry. That's what 213 00:19:52.519 --> 00:19:56.920 sin is, and when it's it's in your heart that way, it just 214 00:19:56.079 --> 00:20:00.319 pulls you further and further down. In Israel's the same way, they're not 215 00:20:00.359 --> 00:20:04.400 satisfied with the fact that the Lord has given them this great victory in battle. 216 00:20:04.440 --> 00:20:10.789 They want to take these people captive, not just the army, but 217 00:20:10.950 --> 00:20:15.789 we're at their relatives, and here we're reminded of that connection between Judah and 218 00:20:15.869 --> 00:20:19.990 Israel. That's why I made sure to give some historical background. There, 219 00:20:21.980 --> 00:20:27.099 women's sons and daughters, and they seek to bring it to Samaria. What 220 00:20:27.220 --> 00:20:30.900 happens next? The Lord Sends a Prophet, Ohdad, who goes out and 221 00:20:30.980 --> 00:20:38.289 says stop, stop, desist, you're doing a bad thing. First of 222 00:20:38.329 --> 00:20:44.490 all, remember that these are your relatives. We will have time to go 223 00:20:44.650 --> 00:20:48.089 into it, but throughout the Old Testament there are all kinds of laws dealing 224 00:20:48.210 --> 00:20:53.720 with how people ought to relate to one another in as children of Abraham, 225 00:20:53.799 --> 00:21:02.279 and there are rules concerning what you can and cannot do, even in terms 226 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:07.710 of slavery and debts and other things in war as well. Anyway, they're 227 00:21:07.710 --> 00:21:12.069 going against these principles here. They intended to subjugate these people, to make 228 00:21:12.150 --> 00:21:18.980 them their slaves like they might make slaves of a foreign power. But he 229 00:21:19.259 --> 00:21:25.420 tells them, he says don't do this, don't do this. He reminds 230 00:21:25.460 --> 00:21:30.339 them of their nature as relatives. But he also says this didn't happen because 231 00:21:30.700 --> 00:21:34.569 you're just greatly successful in battle. The reason you have this victory is because 232 00:21:34.569 --> 00:21:41.089 God is punishing them and giving them into your hand. But you have killed 233 00:21:41.130 --> 00:21:45.049 them in a rage that is reached up to heaven. He then goes on 234 00:21:45.250 --> 00:21:51.799 to say have not, have you not sins of your own against the Lord, 235 00:21:51.880 --> 00:21:56.319 your God? You see the kind of pastoral, prophetic logic there. 236 00:21:57.200 --> 00:22:03.349 He says to them. You are about. He says that these people here, 237 00:22:03.630 --> 00:22:07.990 these brothers and sisters of yours, have been judged for doing the same 238 00:22:08.230 --> 00:22:14.069 things you are doing and have done. What do you think you should do 239 00:22:14.190 --> 00:22:17.819 now? Right? Should you learn from the beating of a fool? The 240 00:22:17.859 --> 00:22:22.700 answer is yes, you should. God gives us these, these warnings and 241 00:22:22.819 --> 00:22:30.490 these and these these examples to wake us up. Pause. It's for us 242 00:22:30.569 --> 00:22:37.930 too. Right. We can't stand here and look at a has and Judah, 243 00:22:38.009 --> 00:22:42.650 like Israel tried to do. Now we have to ask the same questions. 244 00:22:42.809 --> 00:22:47.799 Have we committed these same sins. Are we to be held accountable for 245 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:53.359 the same kinds of idolatry? Now, perhaps some of us have fallen into 246 00:22:53.400 --> 00:22:59.309 this kind of direct and immediate idolatry, setting up the images, bowing to 247 00:22:59.470 --> 00:23:03.230 graven images and other things, but perhaps it's indirect as well, and a 248 00:23:03.390 --> 00:23:10.230 has is also guilty of this. We see this after all of this falls 249 00:23:10.309 --> 00:23:15.380 out. In Verse Sixteen. He A has decides to get help. He 250 00:23:15.299 --> 00:23:19.779 goes to the king of Assyria. Of course, where could his help come 251 00:23:19.859 --> 00:23:26.259 from? The Lord, the Lord God, his Lord God, the one 252 00:23:26.299 --> 00:23:30.250 who has been able to accomplish all these things. But instead he of course, 253 00:23:30.289 --> 00:23:33.930 doesn't have his eyes on the Lord. Instead, he trusts in a 254 00:23:33.970 --> 00:23:41.839 kind of indirect idolatry in this king of Assyria. The edymites it again attack, 255 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:47.000 the Philistines were making raids, everything was falling apart, and so what 256 00:23:47.039 --> 00:23:52.240 does he do? He goes into the House of the Lord, he goes 257 00:23:52.519 --> 00:23:56.190 into the things that belong in a very direct and immediate way to God. 258 00:23:56.549 --> 00:24:02.509 He goes to the Temple of God it we read in Verse Twenty One, 259 00:24:02.509 --> 00:24:06.269 and he takes a portion from it. He takes the wealth that belongs to 260 00:24:06.309 --> 00:24:08.910 them and he also takes wealth from the house of the king and of the 261 00:24:08.990 --> 00:24:14.460 princes and he gives it to the king of Assyria. Right. So now, 262 00:24:14.539 --> 00:24:18.660 instead of bowing down and giving tribute to the bails and the whatever else 263 00:24:18.700 --> 00:24:22.180 he did, he also now goes to the king of Assyria. He gives 264 00:24:22.220 --> 00:24:26.890 him this tribute as a vassal king, he, who is under the King 265 00:24:26.049 --> 00:24:33.210 of the universe, now places himself under this foreign power. But it did 266 00:24:33.609 --> 00:24:41.799 not help him, of course it didn't. So what happened? Assyria comes 267 00:24:41.880 --> 00:24:53.390 in and destroys them. This is this is a very clear warning against idolatry. 268 00:24:55.390 --> 00:25:00.390 This whole chapter is telling us in many, many ways the dangerous path 269 00:25:02.230 --> 00:25:06.589 which we get on when we do not trust in the Lord, but we 270 00:25:06.750 --> 00:25:11.220 trust in false god, odds and images of our own making, when we 271 00:25:11.420 --> 00:25:18.180 trust in men, in riches and horses and chariots, we trust in technology 272 00:25:18.339 --> 00:25:22.529 of any sort, be it old or new, when we trust in our 273 00:25:22.650 --> 00:25:29.210 power, when we trust in our status, when we trust in our rank, 274 00:25:32.329 --> 00:25:37.160 it doesn't. It doesn't. These things do not secure us. As 275 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:47.039 a has should have learned and never did so. I have just a simple 276 00:25:47.079 --> 00:25:53.390 question for you this evening. Do you evaluate yourself in your own heart before 277 00:25:53.470 --> 00:25:59.990 the Lord? Are you clinging to things? Are you trusting in things other 278 00:26:00.789 --> 00:26:07.740 than him? As I say, some idolatry is very direct, worshipping images, 279 00:26:07.940 --> 00:26:14.579 worshiping false gods, but other times it's indirect. We hide, I 280 00:26:14.859 --> 00:26:21.650 our idolatry, we don't make it quite so open and prominent. Are there 281 00:26:21.809 --> 00:26:26.609 things in your life that you keep coming back to, even to your own 282 00:26:26.650 --> 00:26:33.359 ruin, over and over and over again, despite the fact that it's ruining 283 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:37.240 you, despite the fact that it's hurt you and the people around you, 284 00:26:37.319 --> 00:26:47.789 you keep coming back again and again. Maybe it's sexual immorality, maybe it's 285 00:26:47.869 --> 00:26:55.349 anger, maybe it's discontentment, maybe it's pride. The basis of all of 286 00:26:55.509 --> 00:27:00.660 these things, though, is a sort of core idolatry, looking for things 287 00:27:00.859 --> 00:27:12.500 and hope and satisfaction and pleasure, justice, truth, outside of the God 288 00:27:12.619 --> 00:27:18.930 from whom all these things come. Are there things in your life that you 289 00:27:18.049 --> 00:27:23.970 keep coming back to, even to your ruin? As you name these things, 290 00:27:25.049 --> 00:27:36.240 let second chronicles twenty eight be a warning to you to see well, 291 00:27:36.279 --> 00:27:40.400 to use a phrase I heard someone else use recently, to play that tape 292 00:27:40.480 --> 00:27:45.190 to the end. That's what second chronicles twenty eight does. It shows you 293 00:27:45.390 --> 00:27:49.670 how these things lead, where they go the final result. They end in 294 00:27:49.829 --> 00:27:55.549 death, they end in ruin. Peter Experience this in a very visceral way. 295 00:27:55.869 --> 00:28:00.579 And he's walking on the water and he let's go. He takes his 296 00:28:00.740 --> 00:28:04.460 eyes off the Lord, he looks elsewhere, he becomes more afraid, aid 297 00:28:04.539 --> 00:28:10.779 of the wind and the water and of his weakness, then of the strength 298 00:28:10.819 --> 00:28:18.369 of Jesus. And what happens? Starts to sink. It goes down into 299 00:28:19.450 --> 00:28:30.119 death, chaos, tragedy. But passages of warning are also given to us 300 00:28:30.119 --> 00:28:34.200 to be a blessing, and they can be a blessing to us when we 301 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:38.759 lift our eyes up to Jesus, when we lift our eyes up to the 302 00:28:38.880 --> 00:28:45.630 king who has done all things well, who has established all good things, 303 00:28:45.309 --> 00:28:52.269 when we lift our eyes up away from our autonomy, from our wicked desires, 304 00:28:52.430 --> 00:28:55.779 are wanting to live in our own way and trust in our own things, 305 00:28:55.859 --> 00:29:03.980 but we lift them up to the God who is and who has come 306 00:29:03.099 --> 00:29:08.579 in Jesus Christ himself, and we lift them up not to an idol of 307 00:29:08.660 --> 00:29:15.650 our own making, but to Jesus, and by faith trust in him, 308 00:29:18.250 --> 00:29:26.440 we find salvation. We hear Jesus saying it is. I do not be 309 00:29:26.599 --> 00:29:36.359 afraid, because Jesus is capable. The disciples found that out on the boat 310 00:29:37.480 --> 00:29:41.869 when Peter's they're walking on the water and the winds are calmed and everything's quiet. 311 00:29:42.829 --> 00:29:49.309 It clicked and instead of worshiping anything else, the wind, the sea 312 00:29:49.670 --> 00:29:56.420 themselves, some false god, their boat, their business, they worshiped Jesus. 313 00:29:57.420 --> 00:30:02.579 I hope that in their story you can see how capable he is, 314 00:30:03.059 --> 00:30:07.809 that Jesus is able to take hold of US and protect us. He is 315 00:30:07.930 --> 00:30:11.730 the one who has been sent by the God who is controlling all these events 316 00:30:11.809 --> 00:30:18.609 and second chronicles twenty eight. These stories are not disconnected. Jesus is the 317 00:30:18.849 --> 00:30:22.400 Great Covenant, Lord of his people. He is the one to whom a 318 00:30:22.680 --> 00:30:27.759 has was called to bend the knee. He is the one that promised goodness 319 00:30:27.839 --> 00:30:36.230 and blessing to them, the one, the one that they refused. In 320 00:30:36.349 --> 00:30:41.230 the next separate several chapters of second chronicles, will read about a very great 321 00:30:41.269 --> 00:30:48.589 king, Hezekiah. What Hezekiah does is he tries to undo, and he 322 00:30:48.710 --> 00:30:55.700 does it very successfully, all that his father had done. One of the 323 00:30:55.819 --> 00:31:00.980 things Ahas, or Hezekiah, does is he calls to Israel he he calls 324 00:31:00.099 --> 00:31:06.809 them all and he says to them the Lord is Compassionate, The Lord Is 325 00:31:07.289 --> 00:31:12.450 Merciful. Do not be stiff necked like your father's. It's the same message 326 00:31:12.490 --> 00:31:17.690 that I want to give to you tonight. When you hear a passage like 327 00:31:17.849 --> 00:31:19.680 a has are, you think of people in your life or you see the 328 00:31:19.839 --> 00:31:26.279 UN stubbornness of your heart when it comes to sins. Here the message of 329 00:31:26.599 --> 00:31:32.240 God. Don't be stiff necked, don't cross your arms and his plum sink 330 00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:37.630 into the water. Instead, reach out to Jesus, tell him I'm afraid, 331 00:31:37.670 --> 00:31:44.829 I'm scared, but I am going to trust in you, because Jesus 332 00:31:44.869 --> 00:31:48.700 is able to take hold of us, Jesus is able to protect us, 333 00:31:48.940 --> 00:31:56.299 and so we ought to worship him and him alone. May God grant us 334 00:31:56.380 --> 00:32:02.450 that kind of faith and the kind of honesty that is required to say those 335 00:32:02.529 --> 00:32:07.930 kinds of things, to admit when we're scared, to admit when we're doubting, 336 00:32:08.650 --> 00:32:14.049 to admit when we're fearful or clinging to evil things, but to go 337 00:32:14.329 --> 00:32:19.640 to him and confess it and trust that is not only powerful, but he's 338 00:32:19.640 --> 00:32:24.559 also powerful in His grace and that he will hold us up and take care 339 00:32:24.599 --> 00:32:30.190 of us. Let's pray and ask the God would bless us with those very 340 00:32:30.269 --> things