And then so we're back in second Kings. It's been a minute since we've been there
and well, of course was out of the pulpit for a couple weeks there, but
We're in chapter 16 tonight. I won't take the time to really review everything
We kind of gone over in in second Kings 15, but if you remember where we're at
Kind of in the story with Israel
And Judah, we're kind of with Israel. We're right there at the end where they're about to just be kind of scattered amongst all nations
And of course Judah is kind of following closely behind them
Of course, we know they end up going into exile sometime later and then coming back
But we're kind of that's where we are in the story. We're kind of in the midst of all that
taking place
but there in chapter 16
The first thing I want to point out is really just just talking about Ahaz tonight this wicked king that comes into the throne
comes into the power
and just trying to make some application here with Ahaz just
You know
It's actually a very sad story when you kind of see especially towards the end
Where you see him kind of just chopping up the house of God selling it off to this heathen king to try and save his own
skin
It's really a very obviously an extremely low point
For Israel at this point in their story and what starts it all off here? What gets the the ball rolling?
Well, it's the Baal worship that really gets it going here in
verses one through three where it says
In the 17th year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign
20 years old was Ahaz when he began to reign and reigned 16 years in Jerusalem
And did not that which is right in the sight of the Lord his God like David his father
But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel
Yea, and made his son to pass through the fire
According to the abominations of the human whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel now
It says that he made his sons to pass through the fire
That's not talking about he's you know made them walk over coals or something like that
He's literally taking his infant or even young maybe a little older
I don't know exactly how old they were but he's taking his own offspring and
Sacrificing them on to Baal now, it doesn't say Baal here
But if you would go to second chronicles 28, which is a parallel passage
When you get there to second chronicles 28 keep something there because we're going to be kind of going back and forth
All night, you're getting a two for tonight and you're going to because there's a lot in second chronicles 28
We're going to just bookmark that there but i'll point out where you get the it's actually Baal worship this sac this child
sacrifice that's taking place as part of
Baal worship, of course verse one Ahaz was 20 years old and began to reign and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem
He did that which is right in the sight of the lord like David his father for he walked away as the kings of Israel
And he made molten images for Baal right for Balaam
So it's talking about you know, it's a parallel passage, you know in the back where we were
It's just talking about how he walked in the kings of Israel and he made his sons to pass through the fire
But here we see that he's doing us specifically to these molten images of Balaam. Okay, so this is Baal worship
It says in verse three moreover
He burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom and burnt his children in the fire after the abominations of the heathen
Whom the lord had cast out from before the children of Israel
So this king Ahaz is taking them all the way back
He's and this is something Israel's already been into for some time
But he's taking them all the way back to worship after the heathens and the pagans that were there
When moses brought or rather joshua brought the children of israel into the promised land
This is the kind of thing that was going on when they cast them out all the Canaanites
And the others they were getting cast out of the promised land. This is the kind of thing that they were doing
Amongst many other things that we won't go into tonight, but this is pretty wicked, you know when people are sacrificing
their own children
Uh, you know to this false god, you know, and thank god we live in a country where nothing like this ever happens anymore
I mean, thank god we're not living in a country where the the most you know, uh vulnerable among us are protected
And art sacrificed on an altar of selfishness
That they're not just butchered wholesale. They're not just slaughtered even in the womb. Thank god
We're not in a country like that. Of course i'm being very sarcastic if you haven't picked up on that
You know you say well how horrible is that and it is horrible but consider the fact you know that
That's the kind of thing that's going on this country all around the world
You know their people are uh, you know committing child sacrifice in the form of abortion, okay?
And I don't want to spend a lot of time on that
But that's something that's obviously worth pointing out, you know
We could sit here and say wow what a wicked king and truly a has was a wicked king
But you know what made him so wicked is some of the things that we see going on in our own country
You know, so maybe those of us, you know
Especially those in in power would do well to kind of take heed onto that
And recognize that this is something that god judges nations over, you know
That this is not something that god takes lightly this bail worship and that it's satanic at its very core
So this bail worship starts to take place
And then going back there to second chronicles 28
It well, of course just as I said god isn't just sitting idly by this leads to god's judgment coming in. Okay
It says in verse five
Wherefore the lord is god delivered him into the hand of the king of syria and they smote him
And carried away a great captive a great multitude of them captives and brought them to damascus
And he was able
Excuse me
He was also delivered into the hand of the king of israel who smote him with a great slaughter for pika
The son of remeliah slew and judah
120,000 in one day which were all valiant men because they had forsaken the lord god of their fathers
Now, why did all that happen because they had forsaken the lord god of their fathers
They'd gone after this bail worship and all of just the you know abomination that goes along with that type of worship
That's what a you know, that's why all this happened
You know, that's why the you know pika was able to come in and just
Slaughter, you know a hundred thousand or whatever it was. That's why they're being carried off captive into damascus
That's why they're being taken over because of the fact that god
Will punish this kind of behavior in a nation, okay
And what we can also learn from this is that god uses wicked people to punish other people
You know this obviously israel's very backslidden, you know, the king of syria is a very wicked king
You know and we'll see here in a syria is no friend either
And god actually uses these these nations and these wicked people that are surrounding them
to punish
You know judah, okay
And what we can get from that is that you know, that's the way it is in our own life
Sometimes people get back something good out of sorts with god and they think well, you know
The thunderbolt hasn't come down and clapped out on me, you know that I haven't been struck by lightning
You know, but what i've a lot of times what god does is he uses other things that come into our life very ordinary
Just run of the mill circumstances a lot of times can be the judgment of god
I'm, not saying every time you have an accident, you know, you stub your toe in the morning, you know
It's the judgment from god or maybe even something worse happens, you know that it's always the judgment of god
But you know if I were out of sorts with god if I were backslidden if I weren't following the lord
If I were out of the will of god and something bad happened to me
That'd probably be the first thing that came into my mind i'd go. Hmm. I wonder if this is god judging me
You know because again, this is how god works, you know, obviously sometimes we see in scripture where god does very dramatic things
Which is you know, like with egypt, you know with all the plagues that were sent upon egypt
I mean even even all the you know
Pharaohs, you know sorcerers or whatever like this is the finger of god. They know they hey, this is god is doing this
You know egypt is destroyed
You know, that's not always how god works and we don't see him doing it this way as far as his judgment goes
You know, it's the same way in our life
You know, sometimes the things that happen in our lives
They might be god trying to get our attention trying to get us to think about how what we're doing with our lives
We're not doing with our lives, okay
But again, I understand that not every time something bad happens. That's necessarily the judgment of god, you know
We live in a fallen world things happen, but we can also get out of this
Is that the world is not your friend. Okay, and this is a lesson a has is going to learn
You know, he's going to turn to the world to kind of get some help and he's going to find out is the world isn't his
Friend, you know and the world is not your friend
The bible says whoever you know shall be a friend of the world shall be the enemy of god that the world is at
Enmity with god that the whole world lieth and wickedness
You know the world out there today is not the friend of god
If you're going to be the friend of god, you're not going to be a friend of the world, okay
If you would, uh, we'll go back to second chronicles chapter 26
Again, we'll see more of that as we get into it of how the world is not your friend
That's what a has is going to learn second chronicles 28. Sorry
So we see this bail worship starts god's judgment starts to get be poured out
He's using the heathen to do it. The bible says in psalms that the wicked is his sword that he
David prayer that he delivered from men which are thy hand. Oh lord. Okay. So again that goes back to my point that god uses people
Nations to judge other nations. God will use
You know ordinary circumstances to just judge other people
Okay to judge his people to bring judgment upon the earth, you know, all the other nations are looking around saying oh, yeah
That's what the syrians do. They're not going. Oh, that must be god's judgment on that nation
That's I mean people are constantly conquering one another
Assaulting one another taking these cities over taking people cat. That's just how the world works
But you know we could see from this our perspective we can look at this with with the the aid of scripture and through
The lens of the bible we can see that this is god's hand. This is how god works. God judges using ordinary circumstances
Okay
And of course this results in great loss if you notice there for judah in second chronicles 28
Verse five it says wherefore the lord god delivered him in the hand of the king of syria
And they smote him and carried away a great multitude of captives and brought them to damascus
And he was also delivered in the hand of king of israel who smote him with a great slaughter
No, it says he was delivered in the king of and the king of israel
I just I think all it's saying there is not that he was literally taken captive. Although maybe he was maybe you could make that
Argument, but I think a has obviously he stayed in power
Okay, because of what we see later in the story when I when it says there that he was
Uh that he was delivered into the hand of the king of israel
It just means that you know, he was overcome of him like he was defeated in a way, okay
And it says uh verse six
Well, you know you could just if you wanted to read this you could see all these people that are close to the king
Just get slaughtered. We'll just move along for the sake of time
You know pika comes in he destroys all the valiant men
All these mighty men are killed the children of israel verse eight are carried away capped with their brethren
200 000 women sons and daughters and took away all so much of the spoil from them and brought them to the spoil to samaria
So 200 000 of judah are just being carried away the women the children the spoils being taken back to samaria
We take won't take the time to read it, but the prophet comes and rebukes them for doing it saying
Hey, you guys have your own sins here in israel to deal with it's not right for you to be taking your your brethren captive
So they end up taking them to jericho, okay and dropping them off there
But throughout this we see the ahas remains in power if you go back to second kings keep something there in second chronicles 28
Go back to second king 16 and you look at verse five
It says then
Reason the king of syria and pika the son of remaliah king of israel came up to jerusalem to war and they besieged ahas
But could not overcome him, okay
So he said oh he's he's okay. They could not overcome him. Well second chronicles 28, you know gives us fills in the details there
Yeah, they couldn't overcome him
Personally, you know, they didn't completely destroy him and they certainly besieged him, but there were some other things that happened
Okay, they were still it wasn't like judah just got off scot-free
Obviously there there's all these people being led away captive. It's a very hard time so much so
That ahas eventually reaches out to this other heathen king for deliverance
So ahas remains in power, but who suffers as a result?
You know, it's the people
You know ahas is still there still running the show
He's still the king, you know, but it's the people that are under his rule that are suffering the most
And let me say this the people that are suffering under his rule are suffering justly because they're all participating, you know in this
Bail worship, they're all kind of going along with it. They're not running ahas out of office
They're not trying to get a godly king in there. And so as a result god's judging them all. Okay, so they're all being
Judged and I believe justly and the bible says in proverbs when the righteous are in authority the people rejoice
When we have righteous government, we have a righteous people. This is something you have to understand about
Governments, they're always a reflection of the people that they rule over
It's really easy to sit there and point out all the people up in washington
And say what a bunch of wicked bunch of scoundrels they are and truly they are
A bunch of thieves and adulterers and sodomites and some of the worst
Elements of society are running this country, but you know what they really are is a reflection of the people that they're governing
Maybe you know not as a whole obviously
But at least to a you know, it's some indication of where we are as a nation morally
You know and it's not good where we're at
I mean just take a look at the people that are able are allowed to to run in in our offices
Run for office and and then hold office
And everyone's just like hey sounds good
You know, we want to get some transgender up there in the department of you know
The head of the department of health or whatever is that person isn't that still there that that freak still in that cabinet position?
Yeah, that's that's who you know talk about irony
You know some disease dispensing freak is overseeing the department of health in our country
You know and then you wonder why we have all these health problems in our country
I wonder why you know, but we're all just okay with like the worst
Abominations, you know being represented
You know in in our government, you know, we're this country is a joke around the world in some places
They don't even want american influence because that's just a bunch of sodomy that they're trying to just bring into all these other nations
You know a lot of these african leaders just like take your take your money and take your you know
Your ambassadors and take your social policies somewhere else. We don't want your filth
You know, that's what we're thought of around the world. That's what you know, the united states has come to stand for sodomy
You know, so
This is something we have. I know it's not the most popular message. It's maybe not what you want to hear
But that's where we're at
You know, that's where we're at as a nation
That's where israel was at this point in this in their story
They had you know, they didn't have the righteous in authority with people rejoicing
The bible goes on it says but when the wicked beareth rule the people mourn
When wicked people are allowed to just have free reign and to rule over a nation
There's going to be mourning because there's going to be judgment
And it's not going to be good people are going to be sorry for that
So that's what's going on in the story a has comes in institutes this bale worship and they just start to go down this downward spiral
Syria pika the summer remilaya, you know is coming in and they're just laying siege to the city
They're carrying away people off to damascus dropping them off of jericho
And you know and on top of all that a has you know instead of getting right with god instead of seeing what's taking place
And saying maybe I shouldn't be you know, committing child sacrifice
Maybe I shouldn't be leading the nation down into some heathen religion, you know and get right with god the god of our fathers
You know, there wasn't a you know, the lord wasn't some foreign concept to him
You know instead of doing that he actually goes and spoils the temple
He goes out instead of trying to find help from god
He turns to another heathen king and actually spoils the temple of god and uses the things that are therein
To hire his help from outside. He doesn't turn to god for help. He turns to man
Okay, and he learns the lesson is that and that is this that the world is not your friend. Okay?
He has spoils the temple if you look there in second kings verse uh, six chapter 16 verse seven
So a has sent messengers till tilgath pileser king of iseriah saying I am thy servant and thy son
Come up and save me out of thy hand of the king of syria
So he's he's writing this other king the king of iseriah and saying i'm i'm your servant. I'm your son
You know and the king of iseriah isn't some godly king
Okay, and he's already just being subservient to him because all he cares about is saving his own skin
He's not trying to get right with god
He just wants to remain in power
Even if it means he has to be paid tribute to some other king as long as he gets to hold on to the reins
Of power that's all he's interested in, you know, and that's the way it goes people that's how you know governments work
Wicked people get into places of power. They're just they're more interested in just hanging on to that power and not letting it go
Than they are actually doing what's best for the people that they rule over. Okay, this is human nature
He says I am thy son and he says come come and save me out of the hand of the king of syria and out of
The hand of the king of israel which rise up against me verse eight and ahas took the silver and the gold that was found
In the house of the lord and in the treasures of the king's house and sent it for a present to the king of iseria
So instead of you know dipping into his own coffers or taking up a levy or finding, you know, some other gold somewhere
He goes well, I know there's lots of gold and silver. It's in the house of the lord
Let me just go cut all that up. Let me just go break all that down
You know the place he should actually be turning to for help the one place where there actually is deliverance
You know, he actually decides to just loot that instead and in order to hire help hire the help out with this king of iseria
And he ends up looting the house of god in order to save himself
And notice here that the king of iseria it says that it harkens unto him verse nine and the king of iseria harkened unto him
For the king of iseria went up against damascus and took it and carried away the people
Of it captive to curt and slew reason now i'm not going to go into this
But if you take the time to pay the attention to the details at least as best that I can understand it and second chronicles
28 and in that detail there where he goes up to damascus if you know the story
It seems like the people that were carried away to damascus from juda narrowly escaped getting taken captive by the king of iseria
Because he goes up there and takes damascus
But if you read second chronicles 28, you know that they get rebuked by the prophet and they end up taking them to jericho
Okay, so it's anyway, that's kind of there's like probably a whole nother sermon right there. Maybe that'll get preached someday
But there that's kind of the timing here. So he goes up there
And the king of iseria he goes up to damascus and he takes it and it says that he harkens unto him
Right, he gets this present and he harkens. I know it sounds like oh he's on his side
That's not what it is
It's one thing to harken onto somebody what he's really saying is he gave him an ear gave him an audience
He said okay. Thanks for the silver and gold. Let me hear what you have to say
It doesn't mean that he's going to go along with what he's he's uh going to propose
Doesn't mean that he's going to be his friend now. And this is the point I want to make tonight
Is that the world isn't your friend?
You know the world to take whatever you have to offer them and still just treat you as poorly as anybody else
That and that's what we see here with the king of iseria
If you go back to second chronicles 28 look at verse 16
It says at that time did king a has sent unto the kings of iseria to help
Help him for the again the edmites edmites came and smitten had and smitten judah and carried away captives
the philistine also had invaded the city of the low country and out of the south of judah and had taken beth shimesh and
Angelon and gediroth and shoko with the villages thereof and timnath with the villages thereof
gimzo also and the villages thereof and they dwelt there
So, you know, they're just getting invaded from all sides. God's just bringing it down on them verse 19 the lord brought judah low
Because of ahas king of israel for he made judah naked and transgressed sore against the lord
It reminds me of when aaron, you know caused the people to worship the golden calf part of that was that they
Rose up and played them that they were naked right and remember that made god very upset this idol worship that goes and everything
That's associated with it
Verse 21 for ahas took away a portion out of the house of the lord and out of the house of the king
And other princes and gave it unto the king of iseria, but he helped him not
So he gives it to the king of iseria, but he helped him not now it says back there and where we were
And second kings that he hearkened unto him right he sends the silver and the gold
He goes up to damascus and he helps himself to everything in damascus and he claims everything back for
Assyria he takes things back, right, but it doesn't say that he helped
Uh, it doesn't say that he kept ahas says he helped him not
See the world isn't your friend folks
And when you get yourself in a pinch when you're out of sorts with god the last place you want to go to is the world
You need to get right with god
Because that's who ultimately is bringing all this judgment upon them and ahas is just bringing all this judgment upon them
Just digging in his heels
And he's just trying to do everything except turn to god. He's turning to the world. He's turning to other kings
He's not getting right with god, which is the one thing that could potentially save his sin or skin
Go over to second chronicles chapter number seven or excuse me. Second corinthians chapter number seven
You see when when when when you're out of sorts with god when there's sin in your life repentance is the only option
That's it
If you want to get right with god if you're not right with god
If there's something not right and look this is an appropriate sermon for all of us because none of us in this room is perfect
You know, and if we're not if there isn't some sin in our life right now, you know, maybe one day there will be
You know, or maybe we'll know somebody that gets out of sorts with the lord
Here's the thing if that's us, you know, if we're not right with god, there's only one solution to getting right with god. It's repentance
It's not go say, you know a bunch of hail marys or our fathers it's not put some money in the plate
It's not go do more good than bad
It's to get right with god and so many people don't want to do that
The same reason that a has doesn't want to do it because it requires humility
You have to actually admit i'm wrong. I'm not right with god. My heart isn't right with god
I've grown cold towards the things of god, you know my my I don't love the lord like I used to
You know, you have to be able to admit that if you're going to get right with god
A lot of people don't want to do that, but it's the only option. It's the only appropriate response
When it comes to getting right with god is repentance. That's the only appropriate response
Look at second corinthians where I had to go seven
Look at verse eight, of course
This is talking about the letter that paul wrote in first corinthians where he rebukes them in chapter five for there being fornication
Among them so much is not even named among the gentiles that one would have his father's wife
Okay, and if you know probably we're probably all very familiar with that. It's been preached a lot
But now he's referring back to that letter here in second corinthians chapter number seven
It says in verse eight for though. I made you sorry with the letter. I do not repent
Though I did repent so he's oh, this is kind of a tongue twister
You got to think about it. He's saying though. I made you sorry with the letter. I did not repent though
I did repent he's saying
I didn't say i'm sorry for what I wrote. I don't regret what I wrote. I don't repent
Although after I wrote it, it's like after you hit send on that text
You know this, you know, this is not going to be well received you hit send on that email button or that
You know, yeah the email button you hit send an email
And you know, what's in that text is not going to be
Well received it's probably going to hurt some feelings, but it needs to be said or whatever you sent put that letter in the mail
Kind of just telling how it is
You kind of go oh you wince right you're like you feel sorry, but it needs to be said
That's kind of what he's saying here, right? He's saying although I did repent
You know, I although I didn't repent I did I felt bad for writing it. But you know what? I don't i'm glad that I did
Why for I perceive the same epistle hath made you sorry though it were but for a season
You know, that's that's the thing about repentance and getting right with god. It's not like that's the rest of your life
But if you want to get right with god that has to be there
You have to let your joy be turned to sorrow
Sorrow you have to let your laughter be turned into mourning. You have to have heaviness, you know
That's what these are the things that come along with genuine repentance and getting right with god
It has to be a sorrow for your sin
He says in verse nine now rejoice not that you were made sorry
He's not like i'm not I don't get any joy out of making you feel bad
You know and I can relate to paul now that I preach, you know
And now that I get up and preach the word of god because sometimes you preach things, you know
It's this people aren't going to like this. It's going to hurt feelings
People are going to walk away and say I don't know that I like this church
They're going to meet sorry and people might think that somehow I get some kind of sick amusement out of that. I don't
It'd be nice to just get up and say hey, everyone's great all the time
Nobody has any sin in their life. Everybody's doing exactly what they should do. We're just going to preach about heaven
We're just going to preach about all the great things to come and the rewards and look there's a time and place for all that
But sometimes you just got to get up and preach what needs to be said
And it's going to make people. Sorry
It's going to make them, uh feel bad
And I don't rejoice about that paul saying now I rejoice not that you were made. Sorry
But that you sorrow to repentance
For you were made sorry after agave manner that you might receive damage by us and nothing he's saying, you know
You got you were made. Sorry and you got right so you didn't have to receive any other damage
I didn't have to say anything else. I didn't have to show up with a rod
I didn't have to show up with power right because he was kind of threatening that
In first corinthians some were saying hey, you know, he's
His speech is contemptible right and his person is he's a base person
They were kind of mocking paul. He's saying well, we'll see about it when I actually show up there what you have to say
That's kind of what he's doing
So he's saying look I didn't have to do that. I'm I rejoice because I wrote the letter you got right now
You received nothing no damage by us, right? There's nothing else I have to do
Verse 10 for godly sorrow work with repentance to salvation not to be repentant of with salvation
There's not talking about, you know getting saved. He's talking about the salvation of not being judged by god
They're getting this right in their church. Therefore the the church can remain they're not going to have to be
taking a task
But the sorrow of the work world worketh death. Okay. My point is this is that you know
There's a time and place for repentance, you know, we get accused all the time
By people, you know being easy believeism and believing is easy because for god so loved the world
You know the god loves us so much and he made it easy to be saved
We don't have to repent of our sins to be saved. The bible doesn't teach that we don't believe that
Then people turn around and say oh you guys don't believe in repentance. No, that's not true
And you know, it's ironic the people that preach, you know, the cheap grace or whatever they want to call it
Are you know the people that actually go out and preach the true gospel of salvation by grace through faith
Are some of the most godly christians I know
And yet then you get these other people who are just
All about getting all the sin out of their life and before they can get saved and repenting of all their sin
They turn out to be some of the most wicked people i've ever known
Hmm ironic
Because godly sorrow, you know is something that takes can take place after salvation, you know, and often that's when it needs to take place
What good is repenting of your sin going to do you if you don't aren't saved?
What good is it going to do to get the sin out of your life?
You know people do that every day at alcoholics anonymous at narcotics anonymous
People sober up and get right all the time doesn't get them to heaven
Okay, but you know sorrow that comes after you salvation when we're getting right with god, you know that work of sorrow not to be repented of
And a has you know, it's too bad. They didn't know that let's go back to our story
He's not taking that route
What's the solution here to god's job? Why is god judging them to get them right?
You know, that's why god judges us that's why god does things in our lives because he wants to straighten us out
The bible says in hebrews 12 that he chasteneth every son who receiveth
And he doesn't do it again like paul because he gets some kind of sick pleasure out of it
It's because that's what we need. That's what people need. They need to get the sin out of their life
They need to get god's blessing in their life. They have to get right with god
You know, that's the only appropriate response because there's really when you're out of sorts with god
You know if you're going to be judged by god, there's really only two options. It's either get right or get wrecked. That's it
And people want to think oh, you know, i'll just quit church and everything will be okay, you know
I'll just quit going to that church and I won't have to hear about it anymore
I won't have to deal with any of the sin in my life. I can just go back to the world. It's like
That's not that that's a third option that doesn't exist
It's either get right with god or get wrecked
You know quitting church solves nothing but that's what this is how people think this is how i've seen it time and time again
People come to church
Then the preaching gets a little gets a little heavy
You know the word of god starts to get preached and they start to go
You know, how do you know because i've been there?
I know exactly what that's like and how that feels and the and the option comes in your mind the thought comes
Well, you know if I wouldn't feel this way if I just didn't go and listen to that guy preach
You know if I could just go to some other church where they don't bring up that stuff
They're just going to tell me it's just 40 days of grace and they're just going to you know
It's going to be love and sweetness and light and look we preach all that too
But you know people get this idea that if they just quit that church that everything's going to be fine
It solves nothing. In fact, it makes things worse
Isn't that what's going on in the story?
Ahaz, you know is getting judged by god for his bail worship
And god starts bringing all the heathen hordes against him and instead of going into the house of the lord and saying god forgive me
What do I need to do get things right?
Because that's obviously an option we've seen that with other kings. They've done that and we'll see it again
They could have done that anytime he wanted. No instead
He goes in there takes all the silver and gold and turns to the world and says oh help me out
And finds out that you know, the king of asyria is no help at all
And people think oh if I just go running back to the world everything's going to be fine. It's going to solve nothing
In fact, it'll make things worse
God's not going to stop judging us just because we quit church
In fact, it's you know, it's going to get worse and now let me say this
Just coming into church and sitting down isn't enough to hold off the judgment of god in your life either
You know, you might get a little more grace
But you know let us you know, we can't just be hearers of the word only we have to be doers
We can't just be like the person who beholds their face in a natural glass and then you know
Walketh away in straight way forget what manner of man he is
You know when we see something in the word of god when something gets preached across the pulpit that hits us in the heart
And we need to deal with that. We need to actually do something with that
We can't just say well at least I heard it, you know, I went to church and I heard it
Isn't that good enough? No, you actually have to do something with that information and make that change you have to get right
or get wrecked
Quitting church will solve nothing
That's kind of what Ahaz is doing here in the story
He's just kind of quitting the church. He's closing the doors. He's tearing the place up
He's breaking everything down selling it off turning the world
And he thinks that's where the solution is. That's not where it is. It's in repentance
Okay, and him getting right with god and all this ends up going on in the world
All this ends up doing this quitting so to speak by Ahaz is just provoking the lord to anger. It just makes god angrier
And and that's you know
He that you know being often reproved harder than his neck shall be destroyed suddenly and that without remedy is what the bible says
Go back to second chronicles 28
You know, sometimes maybe in the christian life we do this I am not listening to this I am not listening to this
We're just going to go and just pretend like we didn't hear what the preacher said
We're just going to pretend that's not what the bible says
And think well if I if it's not there, it's not a problem out of sight out of mind
That's not how it works with god. That just makes god angrier
It just makes god say okay. Well, let me just crank up the heat a little bit more
Oh, I haven't gotten your attention yet. Well, let me just try this. Let me bring this in your life
Let me give you this problem. Let me you know, god isn't just going to leave us alone and praise god. He doesn't
I mean, that's the mercy of god. That's the that's the grace of god god's judgment
I mean, i'm so glad we don't have a god that just throws us to the wolves and says uh deal with it
You know god is always trying to bring us back to the fold always, you know
It's like jesus when he goes and he finds the disciples fishing after he told them to stay in
Jerusalem until the day of pentecost and then peter says I go fishing right, you know
They're out there fishing and he goes out there and he says hey got any meat and he calls them back to shore
And reminds them once more what it is they're supposed to be doing
And you know, he kind of rebukes peter a little bit but isn't that great about god that god doesn't just give up on us
When we go back to our old ways and when we quit on god
When we don't want to do what we're supposed to do that god just says well fine have it your way
You know god keeps working because god is a loving father
You know if my kids get out of sorts, i'm not just going to let them go do whatever
You know if one of my kids grabs the keys to the van and says, you know, i'm out of here
You know, he's going to back the car out through the through the garage door, you know, I said he i'm not trying to sing
Everybody out
You know
And they're just gonna he's like that's it. You know, he's gonna start trying i'm gonna i'm not just gonna go well have fun
Let me know how that turns out
You know, i'm gonna hold them down or her down whoever it is
You know, i'm gonna take the keys out of their hand
You know what i'm saying? Like hey, they grab a knife out of the drawer and say i'm gonna go slash all the tires on
The minivan dad. Oh, okay
I'm gonna pour some sugar in the gas tank while i'm at it. Oh, I guess there's nothing I can do
Well, I'd appreciate if you wouldn't do that
child
You know, no i'm gonna stop him i'm not gonna let him go do things that are detrimental
You know and i'm gonna correct him and god's the same way with us
God doesn't just let us wander off and just say well, I guess that that's the way you want to be
You know god brings us back
And really that's what he's doing here
With judah israel is just going to be scattered and peeled. They're just going to be
Scattered among the nations but god's for david's sake, you know, and for the father's sake is going to have a light, you know
He's going to preserve judah ultimately
We know they're going to go into captivity and come back and all of that
But you know that this is all god's working all this judgment is to bring eventually bring the nation back to god
Which he ends up happening in generations
But in the meantime a has rather than doing what he ought to do and repenting, you know
He just provokes god to anger again. If you look there in second chronicles 28
Verse uh 22 he says in the time of his distress. He he did he trespass yet more against the lord
This is that king a has I love how the bible just says says it like that. This is that king
Well, what did a has do? Well the time of his distress
Uh, did he trespass yet more against the lord?
This is that king a has oh that king a has
Instead of when he's supposed to get right with god didn't it trans just transgressed more and trespassed more
That's his reputation that's what it said of him for he sacrificed on the gods of damascus remember he starts out with dale worship
Now he's on to these other gods too. I mean, he's just reaching out everywhere he can for help
For he sacrificed on the gods of damascus which smote him and he and he said because the gods of the kings of syria helped them
Therefore I will sacrifice to them that they may help me but they were the ruin of him and of all israel
So he again is just you know reaching out
And trying to just find help everywhere, but the one place it can be found which is the lord
And then of course it goes on here look at the end in verse 25 and in several and in every several city of judah
He made high places to burn incense onto other gods and provoked and provoked to anger the lord god of his fathers
So his actions, you know not getting right with god not repenting not doing what he's supposed to doing
It's not god doesn't just throw his hands up and say well I tried no it just makes god angrier
you know and god and I mean
Does it seem like god's upset already in the story?
I know the impression I get is god's pretty upset already. I mean you've got these other foreign nations coming in
You got a syria coming in you got syria coming in you've got israel even is fighting against them
They're being besieged in the city
It seems like god's already pretty upset and then he goes and just doubles down and provokes him
even more onto
onto anger
And this is kind of the thing you see in human nature and it always puzzles me
Is that people, you know, they turn to sin for help for a solution when sin is the problem
Think about this is what people do
They certain they turn to sin, which is the source of the problem hoping for a solution
You know, this is like the vicious cycle of addiction
Right people get addicted to things and they feel bad about what they're addicted to and then they go to that same thing
And get more addicted to it
You see what i'm saying?
You know like alcohol, okay people become alcoholics
you know and they start to you know, they then they start to have all of the
You know side effects that come along with that all the the bad health the ruined relationships the finances
Everything that comes along with being an alcoholic they feel bad about it. So what do they do?
They go drown their sorrow sorrows in what more alcohol
Okay, and it's this vicious cycle and sometimes and this is what always boggles me is when you've seen this in a family
When you'll see people whose whose childhoods have just been wrecked by sin of their parents. Look this happens a lot
You know parents will get into sin. They'll get into drugs alcohol. They'll end up having you know, you know horrific separations
And just you know, it's just a tragedy lie, you know homes are destroyed because of these sins
Look alcohol and drugs will destroy your family
Okay
It's not it's not what the world paints out there
You know you you get married and start having kids and you want to keep partying you're going to destroy your family
Okay, but what boggles my mind is that the children that grow up in a home like that
Then they then they turn to those same things
And they they continue down that same path. It's like they can't make the connection
You know, what what is it that ruined my parents marriage? Let me go do that
You know, let me turn to that same sentence this vicious cycle
That people get into it's it's like what do you think destroyed your family? What do you think it was that destroyed?
You know your your upbringing what was it that you know robbed your childhood of having a family unit of having a happy healthy home
You know, what? What do you think it was? What could it be?
Could it be oh the fact they taught taught you about santa claus and his reindeer?
Was it the easter bunny? Was it these false teachings that ruined your family?
No, it was the drugs it was the alcohol
These are the things that destroyed your family and yet those same children will run to those things and embrace them
It's it's a very odd thing, but you see it all the time
That's what's going on with a has he gets into all this trouble
For not worshiping the lord right for all his bail worship and everything and then he just well
Let me go try the gods of damascus then
You know nuts to the house of god, let me just butcher that let me just spoil that
Let me just take all the gold and silver and sell that off and try to get help from the world
Let me go to some heathen king. Hey idiot. It's a heathen king. That's the source of the problem
Why are you going to turn to another one? But this is how sin works. It gets people in just these
These cycles and they stay in it
You know, what's the worst thing about this though?
If you look there in second chronicles 28 is that it brings wrath as it says there upon all israel
The end of verse 23, but they were the ruin of him these false gods and of all israel
Everybody gets judged as a result
And when I when it says israel, I believe because remember this is we're talking about a king of judah
I believe the israel there is referring back to you know
The original israel like all 12 tribes and we see this pictured here in a minute as well
There's there's a picture of this in the story that that all of israel is ultimately
Just uh ruined by this sin that a has gets into okay
You know, it leads others away from the lord
And it destroys the work of the lord
If you would go back to second kings, uh 16
Look at verse 10 and king a has went to damascus to mit tilgath pileser
King of isyria and saw an altar that was at damascus and king a has unto eurydia the priest
the fashion of the altar and the pattern of it according to all the workmanship thereof and eurydia the priest built an altar according to
All that king a has had sent from damascus. So eurydia the priest made it against king a has came to damascus
And when the king was come from damascus
The king saw the altar and the king approached the altar and offered thereon. So this is him worshipping those gods of damascus
And he burnt this offering
Excuse me
His burnt offering and his meat offering and poured his drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings upon the altar. So
He's religious, you know, he's spiritual
Quote-unquote, you know, he's got a form of godliness, you know, he's got a form of worship
But he's putting it in the wrong place
He's worshiping this false god
Well, why not worship the lord?
You know, why not why not, you know go to the prophets and the scribes
And others and find out what kings did in times past why not go to the god of your fathers who you know
Delivered them
You know, it's his pride, you know, he doesn't he doesn't want to admit it
He wants to just put on these airs
Look at verse 15 and king a has command he rides the priest saying upon
The great altar burned the morning burnt offering and the evening meat offering and the king's burnt
Sacrifice and his meat offering with the burnt offering of all the people of the land
All the people of land and their meat offering and their drink offerings and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offering
And the blood of sacrifice and the brazen altar shall be for me to inquire by so he's just doing his own thing now
And as a result, he's the ruin of all israel
And he's and he's just dragging everybody else along with him and this is what you need to understand about sin
Because this is what people tell themselves. I know I preach this i'll say it again though
Because here's another example of it is people get into sin and they think it's only going to affect me. No, it's not
They think oh no if I get into my sin, I'll just it's my secret. It's something I only only I know about
Nobody else knows about it's not going to affect anybody else. Yes, it will
If it doesn't affect them today, it's going to affect somebody if it's not somebody it's already in your immediate
Sphere of influence it'll affect somebody that comes into that sphere of influence later
You know, maybe you know, whatever it is, you know, that's how sin works
We but we sit there and tell ourselves. Oh, it's just me. I'm the only one that's going to suffer. No, you're not
I mean, you know, he's worshiping his god that this new god
He's he's moving the altar around and building this new altar after the fashion the one in damascus and thinking oh
This is what i'm into but everybody sacrifices are getting put on it now and now everybody's being judged now
It's the ruin of all israel
That's how sin works it destroys
It leads other ways from the other people lord, but it also it destroys the work of the lord
If you look there in verse 17, it says and king ahas cut off the borders of the bases
And removed the laver off from off them and took down the sea from the off the basin
Excuse me from off the brazen oxen that were under it and put it upon a pavement of stones
So if you remember this from first king seven
This is referring to that big
Laver that big that sea as it's called there
In first king seven that solomon built and he placed it upon the 12 oxen remember we went through first king seven
And there was the 12 oxen three facing north west south and east respectively
Remember we talked about how that was representative. I believe of the 12 tribes of israel
There's 12 of them and they're all bearing up that sea which contained like
I don't know like 10,000 baths or something. I don't know. I can't remember but it was this huge molten sea as thick as a hand
breath at the brim
I mean this huge brazen sea that they used in the worship of god and when I preached that I think I preached with
Something like you know that water kind of represents god's people bearing up, you know, the gospel the water of life
Right, which is I think, you know a good application
That we're talking about how it takes all of god's people, you know to to bear that up
Everyone has to kind of do their part but here what's it representing?
Well, he's the ruin of all israel, right and he's taking that laver down. I don't think he's doing this in you know, intentionally
He doesn't really he's like well, let me let me some you know, some bot, you know do this action so it'll be a
Symbolic to generations to come of what's happening in our nation. He's just doing it but we're looking at it and saying man
There's symbology here. He's taking this brazen or this this this
The sea this laver this brass laver down from the brazen oxen and setting it on a pavement of stones
And it doesn't say that he set it on other stones, right?
He says he put it upon a pavement of stones meaning. I think he's just setting it on the ground
and what we see is that you know that that that sea is being degraded and
What I think it represents is that the nation of israel is destroyed. It's it's no longer going to be 12 oxen
Bearing that up. It's a picture of that. That's what I see
And what we see is that it's destroying the work of the Lord. I mean now the worship of God is completely out of place
The the sea is not where it was supposed to be the altars where it's not supposed to be
God's not being worshiped his doors of the second chronicles 28. It's being shut up
He's chopping things up and selling it off
The work of God is being destroyed by this man
The work of God is being destroyed by this man and everybody's just going along with it
You know the bible says in proverbs that wisdom is better than weapons of war wisdom is better than weapons of war
You know this guy Ahaz is you know, he's getting into these wars with people
You know god's bringing these kings against him
And he's trying to find other weapons of war, isn't he? He's reaching out
To the king of Syria
You know, hey come fight for me. I'm your son. I'm your servant. Here's some gold and silver
You know, he's reaching out for
you know weapons
But what would have been better is for him to have been wise
And if he would just applied his heart to wisdom and sought the Lord and humbled himself that would have delivered him
But he doesn't do that and as a result, he destroys everybody around him and he destroys the work of God
That's why it says wisdom is better than the weapons of war
But one sinner destroyeth much good one sinner destroyeth much good
That's I mean, that's what i'm thinking about when i'm reading about Ahaz
One guy just gets into all this kind of bale worship gets into all these heathen practices and he destroys much good
I mean
Go back and read first king seven go back and read when solomon dedicated all that built that I mean that was a time of rejoicing
I mean the temple was beautiful. It was exceeding exceedingly
Magnifical right? That's how the bible puts it. It was glorious
And it's just being destroyed. It's being sold off shut up. Why because of one sinner
destroying much good
You know sin gets into our lives
It can destroy much good
There can be so many good and great things that God wants to do in our lives and bring in our lives
But if we just let sin
You know into our life and I I get it we're always going to have sin to some degree
But you know as david prayed keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins
you know, you know, he and he talks about how he wants him to uh,
You know show it, you know, keep him from secret faults, you know
The things that the sins that we don't even know that we do well
There's that's there but it's these presumptuous sins that get us into trouble a lot of times
You know the sins that we know it's sinful. I shouldn't do that. We go ahead and do it. Anyway
You know that could destroy much good not just in your life but in the lives of the people around you
I'll close with this, you know ahas obviously eventually dies here at the end of the chapter
It says now the rest of the acts verse 19 acts of ahas
Which he did
Are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of judah? Yes, they are
We are just reading about it
And ahas slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of david and hezekiah his son reigned in his stead
Now it's interesting here because a lot of times the bible read like that'll say he was buried with his fathers, right?
And usually that's something that was done, you know, if you were considered a good king, okay, which ahas was not again
We'll close in second chronicles 28 if you want to go back there
Where second chronicles again gives us a little bit more detail into this burial, right?
Ahas ends up dying i'll point out this too. It seems to me like ahas had a pretty short life
He's 20 years old and he reigns 16 years
It doesn't say exactly you know
When is you know it is ain't rain or end because of somebody else stepping in or is just because he died
I think the bible's showing us that he died at 36 years of age
That's pretty young to die
That if someone and you know, if anybody we knew died at 36 years old, we'd say it was a tragedy
We'd say their life was cut short
And that's what I believe happened to ahas and i'm not exactly sure how he died
But he died young at 36. It seems like to me that's that's what the impression I get
And you know whether or not whether he did or not the fact still remains that sin will cut your life short
You know sin either through the judgment of god or just through the consequences of sin itself
You get into some sinful habit, you know start taking drugs alcohol. I mean that'll cut your life short
I've known more than one person that's literally drank themselves to death
That's out there
And everyone's just saying the doctors saying stop
You're gonna die. You keep drinking. You're gonna die. They just keep on doing it and they die
You know 40 50. I mean 60 years old
even it's you know that those are those are
tragic ages to die at especially in the society we're living in now with all the knowledge that we have and all the
Everything that's available to us to you know to have live longer lives
But that's what sin does it cuts life short
but notice also because you know if you notice there and the end of
first king six or second king 16
It just kind of it's kind of like that
Typical burial that you read about you think oh he he was buried
But really when we get in what we see here in second chronicles is that
What what he got was actually kind of a half-hearted burial, you know, they kind of just did this
But it wasn't the full honors. Okay, because if you notice there
In verse 26 now the rest of the acts
And the rest of his acts and of all his ways first and last behold
They have written the book of the kings of judah and israel
And a has slept with his fathers and they buried him in the city even in jerusalem
So yeah, he was buried with his fathers in the city of jerusalem
But they brought him not under the set into the sepulchres of the kings of israel
And hezekiah his son reigned in his stead. So it's not like he's getting buried with david
Solomon he's not going into those sepulchres. Yeah, he's getting buried in jerusalem, but maybe that's just because that's where he died
It wasn't like he got killed in some battle off in some far-off land
And they brought him back and it made this great lament over him
There he just died. They're like, well, that's where he got buried. That's where he ended up dying
But there it's very bibles very careful to tell us hey, you know what though
He didn't get buried in the sepulchres of the kings of israel, you know back when it was one nation where those kings were buried
He didn't get that honor
You know, and that's that's you know, the kind of the closing lesson here is that you know
What's going to be said of us when we die?
You know, it's one thing, you know, I don't want my funeral to just be while he was saved
Praise god, he's in heaven
Hey, look if that's all and that look there's funerals that's that's what you're going to say about some people
I don't want to preach a funeral like that. Well, you know brother so-and-so sister so-and-so god bless them. They are saved and
It's great to know they're in heaven now
That's all just uh, let's go eat, you know, because that's what we're going to do when you die by the way
Your best meal is going to be served after you're gone
right
No, I wanted to I want to I want to have people go on about you know
The things I did not so that I can be lifted up
Because then i'll know that my life actually counted for something for christ
You know, I hope there's more that'll be said about me and my funeral then. Oh, you know, he was saved and uh
Yeah
No, I want to you know, he cared about souls. You read his bible, you know, he pastored he preached, you know
He served the lord. I mean that that's what I want to be said of all god's people
Every funeral if I ever preach anyone's funeral, I hope that's what i'll say at your funeral
And I hope i'm saying something at your funeral long before you're saying anything at my funeral
Although that's not gonna be the case, right?
There's gonna be a lot of people that probably will be at my funeral
But i'm not going to be there for theirs, obviously
right
Because that's how it works
But I don't want this half-hearted burial like well he was saved
You know, he's buried in jerusalem
No, I want to be buried in the sepulcher with the kings of israel
I want people to say man, you know, he did this and he did this again not so that I can be lifted up when i'm dead
And gone
You know, if any man glory let him glory in the lord
But then i'll know that my life actually counted for something
You know and hopefully that's what we want. Well, if that's what we want
Then you know a has is a lesson of what not to do
Sometimes we just need to look at characters in the bible and say well, let's just not be like that guy
We got sin in our life. Let's repent because that's the only option we want to get right with god
You know quitting isn't going to solve anything. It's just going to make things worse turning to the world. The world's not your friend
You know the the help that we need is at hand, you know, the house of the lord was right there
He could have gone in there anytime he wanted got down on his knees
And ask god to help him and to spare him and to show mercy and grace and he would have gotten it
Same thing for us and then maybe you know if we do that
And we serve the true and living god
You know and and then you know when we get to the end of our life
You know, there'll be more said there won't be just this half-hearted testimony
You know people will have lots of good things to say in terms of what we did for god. Let's go ahead and pray