Amen so second Kings chapter number 25 of course we're wrapping up the book tonight and
Really just an overview of this chapter. He probably caught it while I was being read, but basically had the king of Babylon coming and
He's taking down. You know he's taking Zedekiah captive, and then you have this other
You know kind of this proxy government being set up by him with Gedaliah
And then of course there's that insurrection at the end with Ishmael
And then we get a quick kind of picture at the very end of what's going on
With Jehoiachin over in Babylon, but really that just the one application
I'm gonna make tonight and really the theme here is just this kind of the same theme
That we've seen throughout the whole book and in much of the Bible and that is that
It's just the theme of judgment and punishment. You know nothing really new here at the end of the book
It's really just kind of reminding us again that
Judgment is not something that can be escaped
You kind of hope by the time you got to the end of book of second Kings that
Israel would have learned their lesson Judah would have learned their lesson
They would have straightened out and would have come to this, but you know we saw God just warning over and over again
He warned his people before even brought him into the Promised Land that God is a God of judgment that God is a God of
Chastisement and that God will punish rebellious people and here we finally see it come to the you know
Just the full fruition of that when Judah is literally led off into captivity
Of course there's been many instances leading up to this of just punishment Kings doing evil and then Kings doing good
But nothing's changed here at the end and and really it's just another warning to us today that there is no escaping
God's judgment. You know if we do wrong God will judge us severely
you know you know in proportion to you know our wrongdoing obviously and
This is kind of where God has finally gotten to you know his breaking point
This is God's fed up and is finally just dealing with the nation. That's what we see here
Of course it's taking place in
The reign of Zedekiah it says in verse 2 and the city was besieged on the 11th year of King Zedekiah
So there's this like two years of siege taking place. You won't get into all that the famine comes and
When the Babylonians come finally and it's all over
It's getting wrapped up we see the King Zedekiah fleeing and notice there
it says in verse 4 and the city was broken up and
All the men of war fled by night by the weight of the gate between two walls
Which is by the king's garden now the Chaldees were against the city roundabout
So they've surrounded it and the king went the way toward the plain
So he tries to get out of there with his men of war last minute
You know he's not gonna go down with the ship Zedekiah is trying to save his own skin, but again
It's just the same theme that there's no escaping God's judgment, right?
It says in verse 5 in the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king and overtook him
So he's thinking you know I can maybe I can get out of here and spare myself
Maybe go live somewhere else live out the rest of my life and not have to
Deal with the consequences of my sin of course we know Zedekiah was a wicked king, okay?
But again, it's just the same thing you cannot escape the judgment of God you know Zedekiah
He could flee you know it didn't matter what time of day
He fled he was gonna get caught notice. It says he fled by night
He thought well and obviously there was a real practical
You know reason for that it was a very tactical maneuver on his part to use the cover of night to escape
But even then you can't you know it just goes to show you that when God is determined to judge you
You can't hide from that you can't weasel your way out of that you can't find some trick
You can't find some loophole to get out of God's judgment once God decides
You're gonna get punished. It's gonna happen, right?
there is no escaping God's judgment, and this is something we understand as as
Born-again believers as children of God this is something we understand of God's people
But you know this is something even the unsaved need to understand
And this is something that they seem to think is like God is not going to judge them that there is no hell
Right they have their own ideas about what's gonna happen in the afterlife
They have their own ideas about who God is what God's like if there even is a God
And they can have all the ideas they want in the world, but the fact is is that at the end of the day?
They're going to get judged by God
Regardless of whether or not they believe in him you know God doesn't need them to believe in him for in order for him to
exist
Okay, and of course we know every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is God to the glory of Father
Eventually that they will profess that
But go over to Psalms verse excuse me Psalms 94 Psalms 94
You know the wicked of this world they flee the unsaved of this world they flee today in the darkness of their ignorance
Right we see that Zedekiah
He's fleeing in the darkness obviously he knew what he was doing
That was a very purposeful thing that he did he waited till the sunset to go out at night and hopes to better
His chances of escape right that was very deliberate, but in the same way you know the world though
It's not deliberate
They also hope to escape
The judgment of God through ignorance right and this is what it says in Ephesians. I'll just read to you it says
That we not he said I this I say therefore and testify in the Lord that you henceforth
Walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind. He's saying don't walk like the other Gentiles
You know you're saved. You're different. Don't walk in the vanity of your mind
Having the understanding darkened right that's what the other Gentiles are like you know Zedekiah is fleeing in the darkness
You know obviously very deliberately, but the unsaved the other Gentiles around us
They have their minds darkened right and that's not an excuse
They're still that that's not gonna help them escape the judgment of God just because they don't understand just because they don't have
You know the knowledge of God their understanding is darkened
They're still going to be judged to being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them
because of the blindness of their heart, and there's some you know interesting themes that kind of
Tie in here with 2nd Kings in Ephesians chapter before the blinding the darkness the ignorance
But notice in Psalm 94 verse 3 it says oh Lord. How long shall the wicked how long shall the wicked triumph?
How long shall they utter and speak hard things and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?
And obviously that's very descriptive we can apply that to
You know the many kings that we've seen throughout Israel and Judah that they have
Boasted you know their workers of iniquity that have boasted themselves against the Lord they have
They've triumphed right they've they've spoken hard things
We've seen just so many kings
You know through these books that have done so many wicked things and lifted themselves up foolishly and spoken hard things well
What we're seeing tonight is that there's no escaping the judgment right and the psalmist here is kind of asking you know
How long you know how long is are we gonna have to put up with this and sometimes we can relate to that
Sediment you know that he has there of like man is this ever going to end
But you know rest assured the wicked will be judged
You know that's why the Bible tells us to fret not thyself because of evil men because of the wicked who bring it
Wicked devices to pass you know we are to wait patiently on the Lord, okay?
God will judge ultimately you know we don't have to take that upon ourselves
That's something we can wait on God the wicked got it coming right verse 6
They slay the widow and the stranger and murder the fatherless
So these are wicked oppressive people yet. They say the Lord shall not see right. There's that ignorance
There's that darkness that they walk in where they say all God doesn't see
God the Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it now notice verse 8
I love this understand ye brutish among the people and he fools when will ye be wise so he's saying listen
Stupid you know me bring that into the modern vernacular
Listen stupid you know he that planted the ear of verse 9 shall he not hear and I know what I've quoted this
Chapter several times. I think going through 2nd Kings, but it's the theme of the book
It's just it's one of these themes that we see in it
Where people are boasting themselves and speaking hard things and wicked people seem to be getting away with it the psalmist here is reminding us
Hey, God does see and you know we are finally seeing it take place here in 2nd Kings 25
God is finally bringing that judgment that he's just been spending so much time warning about and sending prophets and preachers and
Trying to get them to correct their ways
And he's saying listen God he planted the ears shall he not hear he that formed the eyes shall he not see
You know all the wicked things that people are speaking all the wicked things that people are doing and seeming to be getting away with
God hears it God sees it and God will judge them for it
Verse 10 he that chastiseth the heathen shall he not correct so we you know we have to apply this to ourselves as well
Look if God chastises those that aren't even his children. You know he shall correct us as well, right?
He that teacheth man knowledge shall he not know my God knows we can't hide these things from them
The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanity right so
Again, this is just the same thing tonight. No new thing in the book of 2nd Kings tonight. It's ending on that same note of
Judgment and punishment, but we need to take away from it. Is that God you know sees that judgment there
There is no hiding or God sees the wickedness and God judges. There is no hiding from that
There's no escaping the judgment of God for the up for the unsafe
But there's also no escaping God's judgment for the saved as well now obviously we're not gonna face that same judgment
You know we're not gonna go and stand before God and be condemned to hell, right?
But we shall give it account for those things which are done in our body every one of us
Whether they be good or bad right we will
Give an account for the things that we have done in this life for Christ or have not done in this life for Christ, okay?
We see this also for the sage if you would go to Galatians 6 it keeps something in Galatians
We're gonna go to Galatians 5 at the end, but go to Galatians 6 right now
You know this the the the the wicked of this world they kind of they're kind of in that same darkness as Zedekiah
Right he's fleeing in the dark
The wicked of this world the sinful of this world they're in the darkness
They walk in the darkness of their ignorance their minds are
Our dark and their heart is darkened, right?
We shouldn't be like them. You know we shouldn't as God's people hide in the shadows of sin
You know we should walk in the light even as he is in the light, okay?
We shouldn't hide in
You know in darkness either
Because God will see us there
You know we can't go off into sin
And then just pretend that God doesn't see us that God doesn't know what we're doing okay
Or that we're gonna get a pass somehow the Bible says the eyes of the Lord are in every place
Beholding the evil and the good let that sink in you know I often quote that as well
The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good okay
We like it to think that oh God only sees me when I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing
God sees me when I'm reading my Bible and going to church and going soul-winding and doing the things that I'm supposed to be doing
But we also have to remember that God does see the evil right God does know when we're doing the wrong thing
Okay, and God knows when we're what kind of like Zedekiah in the shadow of sin like we're trying to you know
We're out there in the dark so to speak
And that the warning is the same you know it's the same warning for the unsaved as it is for the saved obviously
There's a different
Outcome, but it's the same warning that God is going to judge that there is no escaping God's judgment for either of us, okay?
Galatians 6 look at verse 7 be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap
You know God beholds the evil and the good whatever you sow you know that's what you're gonna reap
So this is kind of a benign law isn't it in and of itself. It's harmless
It's it's actually could work to your benefit this law of sowing and reaping
You know we often might think about that hey whatever you sow
You're gonna reap you might think about the evil, and we should you know that obviously that's something that could happen
You know if we go and sow wild oats
You know we're gonna have
you know we're gonna reap that if we go out there and sow iniquity and sow sin and go out there and
Live a wicked life. We're going to reap a wicked life
That's just the law, but you know this could also work for us as well
We sometimes we don't think about that you know if we start sowing to the spirit
You know we're going to reap of the spirit. That's what he says verse 8 for he that soweth through his flesh
Shall love his flesh reap corruption he that soweth through the spirit shall love the spirit reap life everlasting
All right, and that's why he gives you that admonishment in verse 9
Let us not be weary in well-doing for in due season
We shall reap if we faint not I mean that's he's ending out upon a positive note
He's not saying so don't sow anything. He's saying no
Because of the fact that we're going with God's judgment is inescapable
You know if we sow to the flesh will reap of it if we sow the spirit
We're gonna reap of it in the light of that knowledge. Don't be weary in well-doing
Right don't be weary in well-doing
Be ignorant concerning that which is evil, right?
But don't be weary and well-doing
Why because you shall reap that's the promise that we have that if we do right we shall reap now
Do we always reap in this life?
Often when we sow sin, you know, yes we do reap in this life sin has its own built-in consequences a lot of times
God doesn't even have to really do anything, you know sin when it is finished bringeth forth death in and of itself
I mean that doesn't mean God doesn't get involved. He can and does
but
You know, we might not reap the good that we do in this life immediately often we do
But you know, we're not gonna reap the full reward that is laid up for us in heaven until we die and go there
Obviously, that's why we're told to lay up treasures in heaven
That's why we're told, you know, where our heart is there will our treasure be also
So we have to keep this in mind through the years as we're serving God and so we're living for the Lord
To not be weary and well-doing we you know when things get tough when things get
Discouraging when things get maybe a little mundane, you know
We have to hang in there because that's a lot of times when people faint
Because if we hang in there and continue in the well-doing we shall reap, you know that works for us or against us
The point is this is that you cannot escape God's judgment. You cannot escape this law of reaping and sowing
You know Judah and Zedekiah and all the kings that came before him and Israel before them
They couldn't just continually sow all this wickedness all this abomination and not expect to eventually reap it
And the debts that's what we see taking place in second Kings 25 the bill coming due, right
Notice in this chapter also
I'm gonna kind of just focus in the first half here really not even gonna spend a lot of time on the latter half
But if you look there in verse 7, it says and they slew the sons of Zedekiah
Well, let's back it up to a verse 5 and the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king and overtook him in the plains
Of Jericho, so he thought he was gonna get away. But again, what's the theme?
What's the point here? You can't escape judgment
you know you will reap what you sow and
It says the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho and all his army were scattered
from him
So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah and they gave judgment upon him
Right, you can't escape the king's judgment. Okay
Obviously, you know the king of Babylon isn't a perfect picture of the Lord, right every
Analogy or picture falls short in some way, but you could kind of make that application, right?
You have a king who's sitting in judgment. You got a guy who's trying to escape, you know, God's child trying to escape in the dark
You know using his thinking he can get away with it
Using the strength of men bringing his men of war with him thinking the arm of flesh is going to save him
And God can just reach out and grab him the king just finds him and pulls him back
That's the same way with us the eyes of Lord in every place God can just reach out and get us wherever we go
So but notice here also it when God judges okay, because this is another thing that people think they think that well
I know I'm doing wrong and I know when I do wrong that
You know
I'm going to be punished and they stopped it
They don't what what they don't do is they don't think about the way it's gonna affect everybody else around them. Okay, your sin can have
You know
affect others
I mean think about Achan right when they're going into you know
The promised land and they're told when they first topple the walls of Jericho to not touch the accursed thing
And he takes it right hides in his tent his whole family and ends up getting killed and they called it the valley of a core
Right, they burn the bodies they burn him
They burn his family
They burn everything that he has and it says and then pile stones upon it as a memorial to be reminded that you know
Sin doesn't just affect you it affects everybody around you everybody in your sphere of influence
And if there's enough people that are sinful and it can affect the whole nation
I mean, we got a perfect example of that tonight in second Kings
Where a whole nation is just being wiped off the face of the earth
because of sin and
Sin has very severe consequences. I mean, you know, we kind of read through these verses
but when you really kind of park it on verse 7 and
Start to see what's taking place here, you know, this is a very harsh punishment
Obviously, this is a very cruel thing that has done to him. Okay, it says in verse 7
So they bring him to judgment in verse 6 it says and they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes
Right, so they got his sons there and they say now you're gonna watch us kill your sons
That's a horrific thing. I mean, that's probably every parent's worst nightmare is
You know that any harm let alone death would befall your children
You know while you were yet alive, you know, we we hope as parents to pass on before our children, you know
It's tragic when children die before their parents let alone when they're slain
Right when they're when they're killed in front of them
And it doesn't say how they were killed, but I'm sure it wasn't
You know
It wasn't anything delicate and it was it was probably a very violent death that they're dying and Zedekiah is beholding this
he's being made to watch this and
They bound him and then and then notice that after they slain him before his eyes and they put out the eyes of Zedekiah
Right. So what's the last thing that Zedekiah sees is his children being slain?
You know, he's gonna live out the rest of his days bound with fetters in Babylon
Blind and the only thing he's you know, what was the last thing I saw my son's being slain
It's a very severe consequence for sin, you know sin has severe consequences in your life
You know some sins obviously are you're gonna bring smaller consequences, but it's always going to be there
But here's again, here's the thing again the danger of thinking that way is that maybe oh if this little sins that can't lead to that
Much. Well, it could compound and it could affect other people, you know
I'm not sure that Zedekiah's sons were exactly the godliest guys either
But the point is this, you know, Zedekiah being a wicked person thinking you just get away with it
You can just sneak off in the dark that God's not gonna catch him that he can escape the king's judgment
you know, he drags his family into it too and then suffers a very, you know,
Difficult a very painful just track, you know, just traumatic debt or punishment. I
Mean, I don't know how they put the eyes out
But I mean think about in other stories with Samson was like a they poked him out. Was it like a red-hot poker?
Right, I don't want to be graphic but I mean this is there wasn't I don't think they got you know
The anesthesiologist in there got the you know, the eye surgeon, you know
And then he came to and he had a little pain. They just put him on meds
It was probably a very barbaric thing that they did. It's very cruel. I mean man is a very cruel
Being at times we can think up a lot of very cruel things to do to do to one another right and Zedekiah is
You know at their mercy he's suffering these
Intense physical scars, but also think about the mental scar, right the idea of
Having that being the last thing you saw is your children being slain dying violently in front of you. Why?
Because of sin because he didn't want to get right
Because he wanted to just keep doing what they were doing and God had to judge them
If you would well just just stay where you are, you know
The Bible says in the Ecclesiastes better is the sight of the eyes
Than the wandering of desire better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire
You know, I doubt when Zedekiah was sitting there blinded, you know, probably heartbroken that he was thinking worth it
That's probably not went through his mind. Well, that was worth it
All the idolatry all the abominations all the sinfulness all the just disregarding God all the lack of care for the Lord
No, this was worth it. You think that's went through it through his mind
No, he's probably thinking boy. I'd like to have my eyes back
Well, I really would have liked to still have my sons. It would have been nice to been able to you know
Stay in Jerusalem and worship the Lord, you know on the second thought maybe worshiping God isn't such a bad thing after well
You know what now it's too late though, but now it's too late. Once God judges. It's it. It's too late now. Okay
Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire
You know, why not just be content with what you do have right the sight of the eyes
Just be grateful for what's in front of you be thankful for what you do have instead of the wandering desire coveting
Envying wondering what else is out there, you know? Well, what what what what is the world doing?
You know, what kind of fun am I missing out on by living a godly Christian life?
You know, well, you might be missing out on fun
You're missing out on sin, but you know, you're also missing out on you know
the judgment of God, you know having the proverbial poker stuck in your eyeball and
living with lifelong scars
Emotionally and even a lot of times physically that's what you're missing out on
Right, and of course Zedekiah is saying I wish I could have missed out on this
Right, and and that's the thing when people when they through the wandering desire rather than just being content with such things as they have
And they start to go out in the world and chase after sinful things out of curiosity out of covetousness out of envy
Whatever it is
What you're gonna find out is it's not worth it and you're gonna end up
Scarred the things are gonna there's things that happen that are irreversible
Okay
The you know the disease that you contract irreversible, right the unwanted pregnancy
irreversible the drug addiction
Irreversible the you know the sentence being hand-down by the judge irreversible
There's you know, the consequences of sin when God finally judges when sin finally is punished. It's irreversible. It's too late
You know, it's too late. The eyes have been removed. The children have been slain. It's too late Zedekiah now
It's bondage for the rest of your life, right there. He's gonna be in these fetters of brass
For the remainder of his life, you know
You can go out there and get into things that are just gonna latch on to you for the rest of your life
And just be a drag to you for the for all of your life. That's what happens
Okay, because there's no escaping God's judgment, you know, and I know this is kind of a downer sermon. Okay?
But it's kind of a downer book. Okay, just being honest. It's a downer chapter in the Word of God
There's some ups in second Kings
There was some there was some high moments, but there's a lot of valleys too and we're ending on a down note
Okay, we're ending on a very sour note, right? So, you know, I'm just preaching the Bible tonight
Come back next week. Hopefully we'll have something a little more uplifting. All right
but anyway
So again, you know, he's having theaters these the unforeseen
effects on his family of sin, right
There's the unforeseen effects on himself, you know
What about how about this, you know when you get into sin as a child of God?
When you do
You know wicked sinful things you get backslidden. It's gonna affect you. Of course, you know, God's gonna judge you
Could even affect your family your friends those around you, but it'll affect your church, too
You know when people get backslidden and quit church
That has an effect on the church
In more ways than one. I mean look at verse 8
It says and in the fifth month on the seventh day of the month, which is the 19th year of King Nebuchadnezzar
King of Babylon came
Nebuchadnezzar Dan captain of the guard a servant of the king of Babylon unto Jerusalem
So now his you know, just a month later his servant is coming back
And what's he there for?
first nine and he burnt the house of the Lord and the
King's house and all the houses of Jerusalem and every great man's house burnt he with fire. So the
Servant of the king comes back and he burns the house of the Lord again
Why is this all happening? Because it's the judgment of God. Why is God judging them because they've gotten into sin as a nation, right?
So when people get into sin, you know, that's gonna affect church too
now I'm not saying that you know if you
You know get into sin and get backslidden get out of church that you know, this place is gonna catch on fire
You know the arson are gonna show up and throw them all tough cocktails through the the windows or something
But you know, it's gonna have an effect on the church, isn't it? How couldn't it?
Right because you know, we are given a job to do, you know, we have the Great Commission to fulfill
So if people God's people get lazy if God's people get backslidden they get out of church or they quit the soul-witting
You know, how could that not have an effect?
You know the jobs not gonna get done the works not gonna get done, you know, it's it's cause and effect
It's it's you know, I'm sure it's not that hard of a concept to grasp, right?
But what we don't think about is the fact that when we get into sin because people justify sin in their minds all the time
They think well I can get into sin. I can get back. So I'm only affecting myself
You know, they'll hear preaching will say no you're affecting others, but they don't really think through how that might actually happen
You know if you get into sin you get backslidden get taken out of church, whatever
You know, it's gonna have an effect on the church
And here's the thing all these things are unforeseen
Right. I don't think Zedekiah, you know got into the sins that he got into and you know hardened his heart stiffened
His neck towards the things the Lord
Knowing how things were gonna turn out if he knew how things were gonna turn out that his eyes were gonna be plucked out
Of his head and then his children be slain before him, you know moments before that. He probably wouldn't have said okay
Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and do this, you know that that might have changed, you know, his course of action
Right, but it's that's what's so that's what I'm saying. These are the unforeseen
Circum, you know consequences of sin, you know, that's that's what we have to be on the lookout for
Like we'll justify things. We'll say well if I do X Y & Z then obviously X Y & Z will happen
You know that there will be a result, but you know what? That's you know
Sin and God's judgment and God's mercy or lack thereof. It's not just some
Mathematical formula where if you just plug in the right components, you're gonna end up with a certain result
It's not like that, you know, it's not this logical thing
Where you can predict what's gonna happen? Like you don't know what's gonna happen if we get into sin
That's what's so scary about sin
When you get into sin when you do things you should be doing you don't know what the consequences would be
You mean you might be able to predict some things
You might be able to say hey if I you know start taking drugs. There's a good chance. I'm gonna get addicted to drugs
Yeah, but what about all the other things you didn't think about that could happen start mixing up with the wrong crowd
Start dealing maybe become a dealer. I don't I'm just saying I'm just trying to think of examples
But you know, you don't you don't count on, you know, when you go to the bar
Yeah, I'm gonna get drunk and I have a hangover tomorrow, but you don't really think about probably the thought doesn't go through your mind
Yeah
but I might also you know run my mouth and say perverse things and get drug out the back door and have my ribs and
My broken and my teeth kicked out and that happens
man that happens probably
Almost every night in this country people are getting, you know are going out thinking I'm just gonna go get drunk
You know, it'll deal with whatever, you know, the foreseeable consequences right of hangovers or you know
Fornication the things that they're almost hoping would happen, but it's the unforeseen things. You don't see happening
You don't know who else is gonna be in there. You don't know how the alcohol is gonna affect them
You know that kind of stuff happens all the time. That's just one example. I'm just using as an example, right?
Zedekiah did what he did, but I doubt he was thinking, you know if I do this
This means that my children will be slain in front of my eyes and then I'll have my eyes thrust out
By the king and then I'll be handed up then I'll be hauled off
Into into Babylon. I mean, no, he's trying to escape
He's trying to get away from this
but there is no escaping God's judgment and
It's those unforeseen things that I put the most fear into us. Okay
You know people get into sin and they think oh, it's just me
Well, it's gonna affect your family
It'll affect your church. You didn't think about that. Oh, I didn't think about that. Well, if
Enough people don't think about it. It can affect an entire nation, right?
Because notice verse 10 and all the armies of the Chaldees that were with the captain of the guard break down the walls of Jerusalem
So they're taking down their main
Defense, right? They're destroying the city and now Jerusalem the capital is laid waste
They've burned the buildings they've carried off everybody
Besides a few, you know of the people that could just work the agriculture and things like that
they've they've basically just decimated this entire nation and that's you know, enough people had this mentality of
You know, well does God see?
You know is God gonna you know, then God begins to judge and it's these unforeseen things that can affect an entire nation
In fact, that's where we are today as a nation
You know, that's the slippery slope that we're sliding down as a nation
Okay
But again, we'll just move along here in the story and it says so they break down the walls of Jerusalem in verse
verse 10
The and it says that verse 20 will just jump ahead here and Nebuchadnezzar
captain of the guard took these and brought them to the king of Babylon to
Ribla and the king of Babylon smote them and slew them at Ribla in the land of Hamath
So Judah was carried away out of their land just as God promised would happen
Warn them and warn them and warn them and warn them here. We are at the end of the book. It's finally happening
There's no escaping it
See where were we
Verse 22 and as for the people that remained in the land of Judah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left
Even other over them made he made Gadaliah the son of a Hicum the son of Shaphan ruler
So he sets up this this other guy in his in his stead now
I'm get I got ahead of myself here. I actually I want to I want to back up to verse 11
Okay, I got I missed a page in my notes, but we'll wrap it up quick. Okay. Sorry to tease you like that
But what do we saw was this was affecting the entire nation, right?
So you see the people being carried off being slain all that and you know
We shouldn't think that we as a nation are any different, you know, oh, yeah
I understand that would happen to other nations, but this America, right? It's America
You know we have in God we trust on our currency. We have the National Day of Prayer
You know many of our presidents have professed to believe in the Lord
You know sometimes, you know
We have a lot of biblical language and a lot of our governing documents and obviously this nation was built upon
You know biblical principles, right? There's a lot of that was involved there, but that doesn't make us immune
I mean the last I checked Israel was built on some pretty on some pretty biblical documents
In fact, they were built upon, you know the law, right?
They're using the law of Moses to govern at least they should have been they had you know, the Bible themselves
They had the preaching they had the system of judges they had all these things that God gave them
Did that prevent them from being judged by God? I mean if the nation of Israel couldn't even prevent it
Why should why should we just because we're America do we have the wrong colors on the flag?
I mean, is that was what was taking place here? Like they is that why God chose no because God will judge any nation
That defies him the judgment of God is inescapable
You say what was the book of second Kings about the judgment of God is inescapable. That's basically it
You know, if you could just put it on a postage stamp, what's it about?
It's about God's judgment being unavoidable when you get out of sorts with the Lord as an individual and as a nation
the Bible says in Psalm 9
I'll just read to you the wicked shall be turned into hell and all nations that forget God including Israel including the United States
Including any nation all nations that forget God shall be turned out and the wicked
Now I do want to point out one thing here in verse in this passage here in verse 11
Now the rest of the people that were left in the city and the fugitives that fell away to king of Babylon and which with
The remnant of the multitude did Nebuchadnezzar
Excuse me, Nebu Zardan
The captain of the guard carry away, but the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land
to be vine dressers and husbandmen
Now notice verse 13
That says in the pillars of the brass because you know kind of repeats itself to here at the end
It repeats this a couple times even in this chapter about the things that were carried away, right?
It says in verse 13 in the pillars of the brass that were in the house of Lord and the bases and the brazen sea
Right that was in the house of Lord did the Chaldees break into pieces and carried the the brass of them to Babylon
So they're looting the house of God
They're going in there and they're basically taking all the valuable things out of the temple carrying it off into Babylon
verse 14
And the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the spoons and all the vessels of brass
Wherewith the minister took they away and the firepans and the bowls and such things were as of gold in gold of silver and in
Silver the captain the guard took away now notice again the two pillars
One sea and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord
So it doesn't repeat everything here
But it's repeating here the bases and the brazen sea the bases and the brazen sea
It seems like God's kind of highlighting that to me. And if you remember when we were going through first Kings
What is he talking about here?
He's talking about that big molten sea that Solomon built and put upon those 12 oxen those golden oxen
Remember that and I'll just read to you that it's you know
This basin sea stood upon 12 oxen three looking toward the north and three looking toward the west and three looking toward the south
And three looking toward the east and the sea was set above the upon them and all their hinder parts were inwards
So they're all the hinder parts are looking in one toward another and then they're facing out
and if you remember when I preached to that we made the analogy of
That that sea being like the water of life, right?
It's that cleansing
Fount that is born by at that time the nation of Israel they were to be a light into the Gentiles
It's a picture that God's people each had to you know
Do their part and shoulder up under that burden of holding forth, you know, that that water of life, right?
So what's this picture here when it's being removed when the this wicked King is coming in and breaking in pieces and carrying it off
Well, it shows us that you know, one of the effects unforeseen effects of sin again is the work of God being neglected
It goes undone when people get backslid and they don't serve God that work fails to be done
Those oxen are no longer there to hold that up
you know sin has come in and robbed them of that and
You know
That's the same thing that can happen in in our church and in our lives as individuals and nations and cities and towns
Where if people don't care about the things of God, they don't care about the the work of God
That work will go undone and of course, you know, this is just some decorative things being hauled off into Babylon
In our case, it's a much more severe consequence, isn't it?
You know if our work goes undone people go to hell
Okay, we don't just have you know, some nice things get carried off
You know, we don't someone doesn't just come in and take our stuff. We don't just get robbed
Okay, the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians if our gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost
Right in whom the God of this world have blinded the minds of them
Which believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them
If our work doesn't get done if we let sin into our lives and
Quench, you know that that zeal and that fervor for the unsaved
People are going to go to hell that didn't need to
It's just a fact if you stop preaching the gospel, you know people that would have gotten saved aren't going to get saved
Okay, because we're not Calvinists, right? We don't believe this thing that's out there
We just say well if people are gonna get saved they'll get saved one way or another. No
The Bible says, you know, we are ambassadors for Christ
You know, he had committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation
It is our job our duty to go into all the world and preach the gospel out of a creature if we don't do that
That brazen sea isn't held up if those oxen aren't there if those bases are removed if those foundations are destroyed
What can the righteous do nothing is the answer?
Nothing gets done. Okay
So and this is obviously in this story very
You know
it pictures the nation's being destroyed the 12 oxen being carried off the 12 tribes being scattered and
Doing what as a result leaving that that base that brazen sea just demolished and carried off the work being undone
so then he kind of goes through here in verses 17 and onward and describes some of these things but
We'll just look at one other thing here towards the end
It says in verse 23 and all the captains and when all the captains of the armies they and their men heard the king of Babylon
Had made get a liar governor there came to get a liar to miss puff
even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and Johanan the son of Korea and
Saraiya the son of to whometh and the the Nito fait height and a jazz Anaya the son of the
May make a fit make a fight
They and their men so they hear about get a lie of being made governor and then all these other guys come to him
But they're not there to show their support. They're there to get the throne from themselves
Okay, again get a lie has been appointed by the king by Babylon
The king of Babylon these other men are coming to him
It says in verse 25
but it came to pass in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of
Nethaniah the son of Elisha of the seed royal came and ten men with him and smoked get a lie that he died and the
Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah, so you kind of see this insurrection in there at the end and
You know, we could make a lot of application
But I'm just gonna move on tonight sake of time
It says in verse 26 and all the people both small and great and the captains of their armies
Arose and came to Egypt for they were afraid of the Chaldees now
These people that were left their leader who was appointed of them has been slain by
By Ishmael now, they're all fleeing into Egypt, right and that's not what they were supposed to do either
It says in verse 27 it came to pass in the seventh and thirteenth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judas
I remember Jehoiachin
preceded Zedekiah, right
And he was taken captive into Babylon. He's been there
I think they if you do the math, it's like 37 or years or something like that 30 to 40 years somewhere in there
He's been there. Okay this whole time. He's been carried off. Remember verse 24, excuse me chapter 24
He was carried off in the eighth year of his reign. We looked at that briefly last week
But it's bringing us back there now where there's this other king
That evil it says and it came to pass in the seventh and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin
So we're kind of backing up right? We're shifting gears. It's kind of you know, it's a it's a jump cut
We're going from one scene to another to this other character Jehoiachin
We saw last week and it's saying that that evil Merodach king of Babylon in
The year that he began to raid did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison. Okay
So he's been in prison and he spake kindly to him and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him
in Babylon, so he's being
You know of all the kings that have been taken captive. He's being put at the head
And they changed his garments
And he didn't eat bread continually before him all the days of his life, so he's not just left in
Squalor, you know, he's not just left in this dungeon to rot. He's being brought out. He's being shown kindness
He's being allowed to eat bread continually before the king
And his allowance was a continual allowance given unto the him of the king a daily rate for every day all the days of his life
You say well, that's nice, you know
And obviously there's a picture here that even when we do get into sin
Even when we're in the depths of bondage, even when sin has is has just wrapped us up and has bound us
You know, the king will still grant us mercy. Okay
There's still there's always a chance to come back right now. You might be like a Zedekiah
You know, you're gonna have some consequences that have been doled out unto you and are unavoidable
His sons are always gonna be dead
He's always gonna be blind, right?
You'll still have the scars that you have you'll still have the consequences that came to you because of your sin
but that doesn't mean
That you can't still be lifted up and exalted and set before the king. All right, you can still
Accomplish things so you can still be used of God. Okay?
But again, you could still I mean obviously
Jehoiachin here still had to deal with a lot of things that he had to deal with
And obviously it's great that he's being shown mercy here, right?
He's being relieved of his bondage. If you would go back to Galatians chapter number five, we're gonna end there
Jehoiachin's been sitting in jail for decades. He's being lifted up at the end
It's great that that's happening, right?
I mean, it's so second Kings 25 isn't ending in a completely bad note. Maybe God kind of threw that in there like yeah
You know
You know, it wasn't entirely bad, you know
This one little nice thing happened at the very end for Jehoiachin
Right
But you know what's better than being relieved of bondage is to just never have gone into bondage to begin with
You know, what's better than being, you know, brought out of the dungeon is to just have stayed out of the dungeon completely
And obviously, you know sometimes, you know people do things and make mistakes. It's too late
That's unavoidable and they but they could still be used they could still be lifted up God could still use those
It's never over if you're still out there and you're still sucking air
You know, you still have the ability to be used by God
Okay, just no matter what has happened in your life
But the warning is especially to those that have not made certain mistakes in their lives to not make those mistakes
Don't look at other people and say well, they're still serving God and they made all these mistakes
They made all these bad decisions
I guess I can do that too look people that have made bad decisions and have suffered before
Because of it they wish more than anything they could go back and undo those things
That you know, they're not there, you know, Jehoiachin isn't going there. Well, you know, this isn't so bad you say man
I wish I had just gotten right with God. I wish I would have just followed the example of my forefathers
I wish I would just serve God, you know, maybe God would have shown me mercy in Jerusalem
Maybe God would have been done good unto me and I could have rained and lived out a long natural life
Doing a lot more for God than I could do here in bondage, you know, albeit
You know being taken care of to some degree by this King
Still in bondage. That's just not as bad a bondage as it was
right
you know Jehoiachin is probably wishing that he had done things differently and
Anybody that's made mistakes anybody that's done things
Regrets it and those of us that have not made those mistakes should not look at people and think well, it's not that bad
It's it's it's you know, what those people would trade places with you
And it's just a fact, okay
So
It's better better than getting lifted out of bondage. It's just to not go into bondage to begin with just stay away from it
Better than being shown mercy, you know because of your sin is better just to not even need it
Did I need an even need now? Obviously, we're all gonna sin
But not all sin is equal and not everybody's gonna make the same decisions that everybody else makes
You know and again, I'm not trying to pick on anybody that has made mistakes in their lives
We've all made mistakes to some degree or another
I'm just trying to warn the people that have not yet made those mistakes. It's not get this mentality of
What's the worst that could happen?
What could what could go wrong right more than you think?
More than you think, you know, this is something that a trap that especially young people can fall into
They don't really know how the world works completely
They don't know maybe how how the wicked operate. They really don't know what the unsaved are really like sometimes
They don't know the type of things that could happen in life and they kind of think well
What's the worst that could happen to me?
You know, I'm God's child. Well, you know more than you think could happen and that's what ought to scare us
Cause us to run in the other direction from sin
Not the things that we do know might happen the things that you don't know
That could in all likelihood it will happen the things you can't foresee
The red-hot poker in the eye the children being slain the house of God being torn down
The vessels being carried off
You know winding up in a dungeon in fetters
You know those things that you can't see those are things you should be avoiding
So better than being relieved of bondage is to have no need of relief look at Galatians chapter 5 verse 16 this I say then walk
In the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh say, how do I avoid it?
Walk in the spirit
You know, it's that simple I
Love Paul's counseling. I
Love Paul's just straight, you know, right to the point
Just kind of he doesn't really, you know, have all these subtle nuances
You know try to motivate just just walk in the spirit. You don't want to fulfill the lust, you know
You don't want to do these things don't fulfill the lust of the flesh
He that soweth it is that we read in the other chapter he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh read corruption
Well, what I do don't sow to the flesh it's that simple
You know if sowing to the flesh is what's going to cause me to reap corruption then don't sow to the flesh. It's that simple
For the flesh lusted against the spirit the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary one of another
So that you cannot do the things that you would
You can't have both you can't sow to the flesh and to the spirit. They're at odds with one another, okay?
So that's the message tonight. That's kind of the message of second kings, right?
God's judgment is real. God's judgment is unavoidable
The consequences of sin are worse than you think
So don't go there just stay away from it
Don't flirt with sin in your life. Don't sow to the flesh
You know and and don't you know better is the sight of the eyes than the you know, the the wandering of desire
It's better just be thankful for what you do have be grateful for what you what the blessings that god has given you
Instead of just wondering, you know, what sin is like and getting into all these other things that's sowing to the flesh
That's going to bring bondage. It's going to be corruption. Those are things we don't want in our lives. Okay, let's go ahead and pray