1 Kings 21, the part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on is there at the end, beginning
in verse 25.
Of course, we read the story about what Ahab had done.
It was really his wife that got him to do it, but it was a wicked thing that he did.
He basically killed an innocent man just for his own greed, just for his own lust of this
herb garden that he wanted to have.
But look what it says in verse 25.
But there was none like unto Ahab which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight
of the Lord whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.
And when it says there was none like him, if you get the context of studying the life
of Ahab, it's referring to the kings of Israel that came before him.
Before Ahab, there were many kings that did right in the sight of the Lord, and then there
were a lot of kings that did wickedness in the sight of the Lord.
But Ahab was the worst king up to this point.
He did the most wickedness.
And it says his wife Jezebel stirred him up.
But look at verse 26.
And he did very abominably in following idols according to all things as did the Amorites
whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.
And it came to pass when Ahab heard those words, and this is the preaching telling him
about his sins that he had committed, it says that he rent his clothes and put sackcloth
upon his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went softly.
And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth
himself before me?
Unless he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days, but in his
son's days will I bring the evil upon his house.
Now that's a pretty powerful story right there because here we see a man who the Bible had
just finished telling us was the most wicked king that had been over Israel and who did
very abominably, yet through humbling himself, he's able to get God to stay his hand of judgment
and God actually says, I'm not going to bring this evil upon him in his days, I'll bring
it in the days of his son.
Now this shows you the great power of humbling yourself before God.
I mean if a guy like Ahab that's that wicked can get God to turn away his wrath and turn
away his anger and judgment just by humbling himself, imagine the effect it would have
if we as God's people, when we do wrong, and we're not as bad as Ahab, at least I hope
nobody here is as bad as Ahab, doing all kinds of abominations and murder, you know,
if we were to humble ourselves, we could find great mercy from God.
If a guy like Ahab could, we certainly could.
Now go to the book of Proverbs if you would, start in chapter 6.
I want to show you a concept in the book of Proverbs that comes up over and over and over
again and I think this is a major theme in the book of Proverbs and that is the theme
of the fact that reproofs and rebukes are something that are good for us and something
that we should learn to respond well to.
You see, most people don't like being told that they're wrong.
And what is a reproof?
A reproof is when someone tells you that you're wrong.
That's what the word reproof means.
Somebody comes to you and says, hey, you're wrong or hey, you're doing something wrong
or you need to change something, okay?
Then the Bible also uses a much stronger word, rebuke.
And the word rebuke is the same as reproof except it's a much stronger, harsher form
of correction.
Now there are people like this on jobs.
You know, forget for a moment, forget preaching or the Bible or Christianity.
Just think about your job.
Aren't there people at work who just cannot ever stand to have anyone correct anything
about what they're doing?
I mean somebody just comes to them and says, oh, you're doing that wrong.
Let me show you the right way, and they just bristle.
And there are a lot of people who have this very bad character flaw of never wanting to
be corrected, never wanting to change, never accepting reproof.
And it is a very foolish person who will not accept correction and reproof.
Let's just look at some of the verses together from Proverbs.
Look at Proverbs 6 23.
The Bible reads, for the commandment is a lamp and the law is a light, watch this, and
reproofs of instruction are the way of life.
Go to Proverbs 9, it's a few pages to the right.
Verse 7, he that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame, and he that rebuketh a wicked
man getteth himself a blot.
So God's warning you there.
If you reprove or rebuke a scornful person or a wicked person, you know, all you're doing
is just shooting yourself in the foot because that person's going to turn again and rend
you.
That person is going to come back and bite you.
Look at verse 8, reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee, rebuke a wise man and he will
love thee.
And remember what I was saying earlier about how rebuke is the stronger of the two words.
Reprove is to tell somebody that they're wrong.
Rebuke is to very sternly or strongly tell someone that they're wrong.
Now think about this, the Bible is saying that if you just reprove a scorner, if you
just reprove a foolish person, just telling them that they're wrong in any way, no matter
how nicely you're going to cause that person to hate you because they are so averse to
being corrected.
But it says rebuke a wise man.
Even if you were more stern and harsh, he said rebuke a wise man and he'll love thee.
The Bible says a wise person will love you when you rebuke them.
And look, if we're going to be wise, that means we should get in the habit of when someone
corrects us or someone reproves us or rebukes us, not getting angry, not bristling, not
getting upset, but loving that person, being thankful to that person for being willing
to point out to us the error of our ways.
You say, well Pastor Anderson, every single time I get reproved or rebuked, the person
who's reproving me is always wrong and I'm always right.
And so therefore, how am I going to put this into practice in my life?
Well first of all, none of us is always right.
But I'll be honest with you, I get a lot of reproves and rebukes constantly that are not
right.
As a preacher of God's Word, when I'm preaching the Bible, and especially because my preaching
is out on the internet for a lot of people to hear, I get emails rebuking me.
I'm really good at getting rebuked because I get an email rebuking me like every 15 minutes
sometimes.
Or at least every day I get either a phone call or an email reproving and rebuking me.
Often those reproves and rebukes are not right because often they're contrary to God's Word.
Often it's people getting angry about preaching that they've heard.
And it was stuff that I preached from the Bible.
But I will say this, even though a lot of reproves and rebukes that come our way are
not founded in reality or not founded in the Bible, you know what, I just have tried to
be in the habit of whenever anyone rebukes me or reproves me, especially if it's someone
that's human, not in cyberspace, but if someone actually verbally rebukes me, I always try
to make the habit of just asking myself, wait a minute, is there something to this?
You know, I don't just automatically, oh, how dare you.
You know, I want to stop and say, wait a minute, is what they're saying biblical, is what they're
saying right?
You know, and being ready to receive correction.
And oftentimes it turns out I am wrong and I needed to be corrected and I can adjust
that.
Other times, you know, it turned out I was right.
But either way, I don't want to get mad or upset.
Even if somebody rebukes me and I'm right, I don't have to get mad at that person because
this is what I tell myself, you know what, they're trying to help me.
According to Proverbs, rebuking someone and reproving someone is helpful, so this person's
heart is in the right place, they're trying to help me, they're trying to do good by me,
I'm not going to turn around and get mad at somebody.
Now here's the thing, when it's an authority figure that's rebuking you, and when I say
authority figure, I mean one of the biblical legitimate authority figures, like for example,
let's say you're a child and your parent's rebuking you, or reproving you, or let's say
you're at work and your boss is reproving you or rebuking you, you know what, nine times
out of ten you're probably wrong.
And even if you're not wrong, because that person is in charge, you need to take their
correction.
You need to understand, hey, I don't own the company, I'm not the boss here, and I'll tell
you something, if you'll take correction on the job, you'll stand out from the other employees
because there are so many people who struggle with this.
And sometimes we bristle at correction or reproof because we just want to prove that
we weren't doing anything wrong, when in reality that's just going to make whoever's reproving
you or rebuking you upset.
You'd be smarter, even if you knew that you were not guilty of what you're being accused
of, you'd just be smarter of saying, you know what, I'm going to do it your way, I'm going
to do it that way.
That will make you go much further, believe me.
Now let's keep reading here, it says in chapter 10 verse 17, and again, a lot of scripture
on this in the book of Proverbs, and the book of Proverbs is a book that's here to give
us wisdom, and there's great wisdom in being a person who can be corrected.
Even Ahab and all of his wickedness was able to find mercy with God because he humbled
himself and took the rebuke.
And what is the opposite of humility?
Pride.
And why is it that we don't want anyone to ever correct us or reprove us or rebuke us
or tell us we're wrong?
Because we're too proud to admit that we've made a mistake.
And none of us is perfect, all of us are human, we all make mistakes, we all need to be ready
to take correction when it comes.
Look at chapter 10 verse 17, he is in the way of life that keepeth instruction, but
he that refuseth reproof eareth.
Look at chapter 12 verse 1, whoso loveth instruction, loveth knowledge, but he that hateth reproof
is brutish.
You know what brutish means?
Stupid.
That would be the modern equivalent of the word brutish.
Look at chapter 13 verse 8, poverty and shame, I'm sorry Proverbs 13, 18, poverty and shame
shall be to him that refuseth instruction, but he that regardeth reproof shall be honored.
Go to chapter 15.
Chapter 15, there are actually several references to this in chapter 15.
It says in verse 5, a fool despiseth his father's instruction, but he that regardeth reproof
is prudent.
Verse 10, correction is grievous to him that forsaketh the way, and he that hateth reproofs
shall die.
So look, if you're a person who thinks it's grievous or what does that mean, painful to
be corrected, it just hurts when someone corrects you, makes you sad when someone corrects you.
He said, you know what, if correction's grievous to you, you're the type of person that forsakes
the right way, and he's saying if you hate reproofs, you'll die.
Look at verse 12, a scorner loveth not one that reproveth him, neither will he go unto
the wise.
He doesn't want to go to the wise because he doesn't want to be corrected, and many
people, this is why they won't go to a Bible-believing church, because they don't want the correction.
They don't, I mean, they'll just go to a church that'll just bore their brains out and not
teach them anything, and not give them anything from the Bible, but at least it's not stepping
on their toes, because they don't want the rebuke, they don't want the reproof.
They won't go to the wise, they don't want to go somewhere where somebody's going to
tell them the truth, because they can't handle the conviction of the preaching, okay?
And the Bible warns us about that.
He says that a scorner loveth not one that reproveth him, but remember, rebuke a wise
man, he'll love you.
So the difference between whether or not you're wise or foolish is whether you love the people
who try to correct you, or whether you hate the people who try to correct you and reprove
you.
Look at verse 31, the ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise.
Verse 32, he that refuseth instruction despises his own soul, but he that heareth reproof
getteth understanding.
Look at chapter 17.
Do you think this is a pretty important subject?
I mean, it's in almost every chapter.
He keeps telling us over and over again, you must be willing to respond to reproofs and
correction and rebukes.
Look at chapter 17 verse 10, a reproof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes
into a fool.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Now remember, in the Old Testament law, do you remember what was the limit on how many
stripes could be given unto someone who broke the law?
Actually it was 40.
It was 40.
Now in the New Testament it talks about them giving 39 because they were just so afraid
of accidentally going over, you know how you lose count when you're swinging that rod.
So they didn't want to accidentally lose count because it was against the law to give someone
more than 40 stripes, so they would do 39, they would do 40 stripes save one.
But God's limit was actually 40, if you look it up in the Old Testament.
And I mean, that's a serious punishment.
Because when we're talking about this, this isn't a spanking.
This isn't just, alright bend over the judge's knee and we're going to spank you with a cooking
spoon.
This is basically a serious, I mean when you see the word stripes, what are we talking
about here?
We're talking about a bloody stripe that's left behind by the implement.
So we're talking about something that injures you.
We're not just talking about a spanking, which is just to inflict pain but it's not producing
injury, it's not producing stripes.
The Bible, when it talks about stripes, it's talking about adults receiving punishment.
You know in the Old Testament it talks about if someone breaks the law, then the judges
will have that person lay down on their stomach, and no we don't do this anymore in the United
States of America, instead we just lock people up in a cage like an animal for 10 years.
But anyway, they would lay them down on their stomach and the judge would be there to observe
and they would beat that person with many stripes to punish them for their crime.
And then it's over.
And then they don't carry around a criminal record or anything, they just pay the price
and they live their life.
Well 40 stripes was a very serious punishment because God said, look if you're going above
40 stripes, your brother is going to seem vile in your sight.
You know, do not go above 40.
And God is saying here that a reproof entereth more into a wise man than 100 stripes into
a fool, meaning that if I went to a wise person and just told them, look, this is what
you've done wrong and this is why it is wrong, they will take that to heart more.
That will make more of an impact on their life and how they live than if I were to take
a foolish person and beat them with stripes, not just a spanking, but beat them with stripes
100 times.
I mean basically two and a half times the legal limit of what God said you can even
do to somebody because you don't want to kill somebody, you know, you don't want to just
completely destroy someone.
Now that's a pretty strong verse, isn't it?
About how some people just will not listen, they will not accept correction.
If you're wise, you'll take a verbal correction.
And you know God's got a lot of verbal correction for you right here.
And if you don't listen to the verbal correction here in the verbally inspired Word of God,
God's going to lay affliction on your loins and God is going to lay stripes on you in
your life.
And a lot of people have to learn things the hard way where God is constantly bringing
chastening and chastisement and scourge into their life when they should just let the proofs
of the Bible teach them and get the verbal rebuke from reading the Bible or from hearing
God's Word preached.
Then they wouldn't have to, you know, basically get beaten and beaten down by life.
Look at chapter 19 verse 25, smite a scorner, okay?
Now what does smite mean?
Hit.
Okay, so again, similar context to what he said about the stripes.
Smite a scorner and the simple will beware and reprove one that hath understanding and
he will understand knowledge.
So here the Bible is teaching that, you know, words again, just hearing the Word can correct
a wise person even more than smiting someone who is unwise.
And so responding to correction is something that is a token of wisdom or it shows that
you're a wise person when you can be verbally corrected and you can respond to that.
Look at chapter 25 verse 12.
Chapter 25 verse 12, we're going to 29 next, but Proverbs 25, 12, as an earring of gold
and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.
He's saying, you know, it's a beautiful thing when someone can be verbally corrected and
they can take that to heart and they can change.
Look at chapter 29 verse 1, he that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly
be destroyed and that without remedy.
The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings his mother to shame,
it says in verse 15.
Go over to 2 Chronicles chapter 7, and while you're turning to 2 Chronicles 7, I'm going
to read for you more from the book of Proverbs, I already read for you all the mentions of
reproof and being reproved, now I'm going to read for you some verses about being rebuked.
Remember that's the stronger, more stern, or harsher correction.
You're turning to 2 Chronicles 7, but it says in Proverbs 13, 1, a wise son heareth his
father's instruction, but a scorner heareth not rebuke.
So again, the wise son, his dad's just teaching him, not even reproving or rebuking him, just
teaching him, just explaining to him, son, this is the right way to live your life, son.
This is what you ought to be doing.
And he listens to that.
But then the scorner, he won't even listen when dad is just harshly and sternly trying
to correct him.
Do you see the difference there?
He says in Proverbs 13, 8, the ransom of a man's life are his riches, but the poor heareth
not rebuke.
Basically it's talking about poor people who somebody tries to tell them, hey look, this
is why you're poor, but they don't want to hear that.
You know, they don't want to hear that it's because they're not going to work and showing
up on time.
They don't want to hear the fact that it's because they're not giving it 100% on their
job or they're not this, they're not.
And some people are legitimately poor, but often the Bible talks about people being poor
through laziness, through a lack of character, through a lack of getting up in the morning,
through a lack of working all day.
Proverbs 27, 5, open rebuke is better than secret love.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
You know, again, open rebuke is better than secret love.
If we rebuke a wise man, he'll love us because rebuking can be a loving act.
He said in Proverbs 28, 23, he that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favor than
he that flat earthed with his tongue.
Ecclesiastes 7, 5, it's better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear
the song of fools.
And I'm going to show you in 2 Chronicles many examples of this in the Bible, just like
we saw what they have, where when people humble themselves, they find mercy.
And when they don't humble themselves, they end up suffering.
Look at 2 Chronicles 7, 14, the famous verse.
If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face
and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their
sin and will heal their land.
Go to chapter 12.
All throughout 2 Chronicles, we see that principle that's found in verse 14 of chapter 7.
We're going to see that playing out throughout 2 Chronicles.
He gives us the principle in 7, 14, saying, look, if you'll just humble yourself, if you'll
just pray and seek my face and turn from your wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, I will
forgive your sin, I will heal your land.
And look, this is the whole crux of what repentance means.
You know what the word repent means?
To turn or to change, okay?
And as Christians, we need to constantly be repenting in our lives.
Why?
Because we're not perfect.
We haven't arrived, therefore we continually need to repent.
We continually need to be turning from sin and turning from bad things in our life.
Now, of course there's a false doctrine out there that says, you know, in order to be
saved, you have to turn from your sins.
Well, okay, well I guess none of us is saved because if any of us really turn from all
our sins, no, we sin every day.
And a lot of people, they mix up repentance when it comes to salvation, because when the
Bible talks about repentance in regard to salvation, it's repent and believe the Gospel.
You know, it's repent and believe, it's repent of, you know, dumb idols and false gods and
false religion and turn unto the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
But the Bible talks a lot about repentance for those that are already saved.
Those of us that have been saved for a long time, we're the ones who really need to do
the repenting in our lives.
God uses the word repent most toward believers.
Like for example, the seven churches in Asia, he's telling them to repent, repent, repent,
repent.
And what does that mean?
Change something, turn something, fix something.
None of us is perfect and what repentance is, is where we're committing a sin, somebody
reproves us, somebody rebukes us, and instead of getting mad at that person, or instead
of just bristling, or instead of just saying, well that's just the way I am, that's just
who I am.
Basically, we're willing to change that and repent of that and fix that, okay?
And look, it takes humility, doesn't it?
Because pride says, I don't need to change anything, I don't need to fix anything.
I'm fine, what do you know, leave me alone.
But humility says, you know what, maybe I do need to change, maybe I can improve in
that area, maybe there is something that I need to fix here.
Okay, and that's what repentance is.
You see, people often have a tendency when they commit a sin, they have a tendency to
think, well, too late, I already committed that sin, might as well just continue with
it now.
I mean, I've already done it anyway.
And you know, a perfect example of this is fornication.
You know, people will commit the sin of fornication and then here's what they'll think, well we've
already fornicated now, what's the difference if we do it a second time, a third time, a
fourth time, a fifth time, a sixth time, are you listening?
And look, obviously once you've fornicated, yeah, there is damage that's done, no question
about that.
But let me say this though, if you want to find mercy from God, because that is a serious
sin, because that is a major sin in the Bible, if you want God to be merciful to you, what
you're going to do is you're going to humble yourself, admit that it was wrong, and you're
going to pray and turn from your wicked ways there and say, you know what, okay, so I've
committed fornication, but you know what, I'm sorry.
It was wrong and I'm going to change and you humble yourself and pray and turn from your
wicked ways, God will be much more lenient on you than the person who says, well I already
fornicated with this person, you know, I've already blown it, I've already messed up,
might as well do it 50 more times.
No, because if you just keep on doing it, then God is going to look at that and say,
you know what, this person doesn't want to repent.
This person does not want to hear reproof.
This person is not willing to humble themselves before me and turn from their wicked ways
and therefore God's going to come down on you like a ton of bricks, when if you would
confess and forsake it, he'd back off on his wrath from you.
And look, I'm not saying there's going to be no punishment, Ahab was punished.
I'm not saying that you're not going to suffer, but you're going to suffer a lot more if you
harden your neck.
You're going to suffer a lot more if you refuse to change and refuse to repent.
Think about this with your children.
You know, what if you caught your children committing some kind of a sin, right?
And then you went to them and tried to correct them and said, hey, you've done wrong here.
You're going to get a spanking, you've done wrong, you broke the rules.
Okay, if you did that and they had a truly penitent attitude and they said, you know
what, I'm really sorry, it's my fault, I shouldn't have done that.
You're going to show them mercy.
You're still going to discipline them, obviously, because you don't want to teach your kids
that they can talk their way out of every situation.
You're still going to bring the discipline, but aren't you going to be a lot more merciful
than if you went to them and said, look, you've done wrong, you've broken the rules.
And they just said, well, it wasn't my fault and here's all the reasons why it wasn't a
big deal and I thought you were kidding when you made that rule, or I didn't hear you when
you said that, or it was actually my brother, he made me do it and tried to implicate everybody
else.
And when they don't want to change or when they show no intent of changing and they do
the same thing the next day and the same thing the day after that and the same thing the
day after that, you know what, you're not going to be very merciful because you're going
to look at that and say, you know what, this person is refusing to listen and I'm going
to have to get their attention, apparently the verbal rebukes aren't working, you know,
they're going to need a more serious punishment here.
And so what I'm saying is it stands to reason that when we are corrected by God or hear
a reproof from the Word of God, we should not say, oh well, no big deal, I've already
done it anyway, I might as well keep doing it.
No, we should say, you know what, if I change now, I mean, Ahab could have said, well what
do I do, Naboth's dead, what do I do about it?
It's too late anyway, might as well enjoy the vineyard.
I mean we've already murdered an innocent man here, we can't bring him back to life,
might as well enjoy the vineyard.
But instead he didn't enjoy the vineyard, instead he put on sackcloth, he prayed, he
fasted, he humbled himself, and God showed mercy.
God's a very merciful God.
He's very merciful and thank God he is.
And he's merciful, but he resisted the proud and giveth grace to the humble.
Did you hear me?
If you're proud though, and if you're too prideful to admit that you've done wrong and
confess and forsake it, you know what, he is going to chastise you much more severely
than if you'll just admit it, humble yourself, and walk before him in humility.
Now let's look at some examples of this from 2 Chronicles.
Look at chapter 12 verse 1, it came to pass when Rehoboam had established the kingdom
and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the Lord and all Israel with him.
So here's a guy who starts out following the laws of the Lord, but then as soon as things
start going good in his life, and he's established and strengthened, then he forsakes the law
of the Lord.
That's what we see so often, people turning to God when times are tough, and then as soon
as things are going good, we forget the Bible, forget church, forget prayer, and then God
has to punish us.
So it says in verse number, and by the way look at the end of that, he forsook the law
of the Lord and all Israel with him.
Do you see how much leadership can affect?
A king forsakes the law of the Lord, the whole nation does.
You know when dad forsakes the law of the Lord, the rest of the family will often forsake
the law of the Lord.
The children are often going to forsake the law of the Lord.
You know the pastor forsakes the law of the Lord, a lot of times the church will forsake
it too.
You know everything rises and falls on leadership.
It says in verse 2, it came to pass that in the 5th year of Rehoboam, Shishak, king of
Egypt, came up against Jerusalem because they had transgressed against the Lord.
So the punishment is that this king of Egypt is going to come and attack them.
And it says with 1200 chariots and three score thousand horsemen, and the people were without
number that came with them out of Egypt, the Lubims, the Succiums, and the Ethiopians.
And he took the fenced cities which pertained to Judah and came to Jerusalem.
Then came Shemaiah the prophet, so this is a preacher, then came Shemaiah the prophet
to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah that were gathered together to Jerusalem because
of Shishak and said to them, Thus saith the Lord, ye have forsaken me and therefore have
I also left you in the hand of Shishak.
Now look, there's not really a lot of hope in that message, is there?
Look at the message of Shemaiah the prophet.
Is there hope there?
Is he saying, hey, it's not too late to change, guys, hey, it's not too late to get right
with God.
No, he just comes up and says, hey, you know what, you've sinned, you've forsaken the law
of the Lord, and because of that, I'm giving you over into the hand of Shishak.
Egypt is going to defeat you, Shishak is going to defeat you.
Now, they could have had a few different reactions to this.
They could have just said, well, who do you think you are?
How dare you?
Don't you know how important we are?
We're the princes, we're the king.
Who do you think you are coming in here and talking to that?
You know, that would show that they were a fool, right?
Remember all that stuff in Proverbs about people who don't want to be rebuked or reproved?
Okay, or a second reaction they could have had is, well, you know what, we're doomed
anyway, so who cares?
Might as well just keep sinning.
God's not offering us any hope here.
God's just telling us we're pretty much sunk anyway.
What's the use?
And throw in the towel.
And that's what a lot of Christians do.
They start getting into a little bit of sin, and then they say, well, I blew it, now I'm
just going to quit church, I'm just going to give up, I'm going to just keep on living
in sin because it's too late for me, I've blown it.
Or the third option is what they actually did.
They could humble themselves and basically turn from their wicked ways.
Look what it says in verse 6, whereupon, meaning, whereupon means upon hearing that, when they
heard that preaching, whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves
and they said the Lord is righteous.
And when they're saying the Lord is righteous, they're saying the Lord is justified in what
He is doing.
They're saying, we deserve the punishment that God is bringing upon us, what they meant
by that.
Verse 7, and when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah
saying, they have humbled themselves, therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant
them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand
of Shishak.
Even when it seems hopeless, even when you seem doomed, and God is saying, look, you're
going to be destroyed.
If you humble yourself, often God will change everything and say, you know what, I love
the fact that you're humbling yourself and that you're sorry and that you're willing
to confess and forsake your sins, I will turn away my wrath.
Look at Nineveh.
I mean, Jonah came in preaching, yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
He didn't come in even telling them what they had to do to get right with God, but yet they
humbled themselves, they prayed, they fasted, they were sorry, they turned from their wicked
ways, and God showed mercy.
Let's look at another example.
Go to chapter 32.
Chapter number 32.
This is a bad example.
So we saw a good example with Rehoboam and the princes when they were rebuked by the
preaching of Shemaiah, even though it was a very negative sermon, even though it didn't
offer them a lot of hope, they still humbled themselves and God did not destroy Jerusalem.
Put yourself in their position.
They were already surrounded.
The Egyptian army had already surrounded them, and yet God allowed them to make it out of
that situation through humility.
Look at chapter 32 verse 25, but Hezekiah, this is about King Hezekiah, who had been
a good king in the past, but it says, Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit
done unto him, for his heart was lifted up, therefore was wrath upon him and upon Judah
and Jerusalem.
So what's the problem here?
Hezekiah is lifted up.
What would we call that?
Prideful, right?
He's arrogant.
So Hezekiah becomes very prideful and arrogant and haughty.
And it says in verse 25 that wrath is upon him because that God's angry with him for
being prideful.
Look at verse 26.
Notwithstanding, Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, because remember
pride and humility are opposites here, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that
the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.
So he's lifted up, wrath comes upon him.
He humbles himself, and the wrath is turned away.
Look at chapter 33 verse 1, Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned
50 and 5 years in Jerusalem, but did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, like
under the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children
of Israel.
Manasseh was a really wicked king.
It says for he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down,
and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves and worshipped all the hosts of heaven
and served them.
Also he built altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said in Jerusalem shall
my name be forever, and he built altars for all the hosts of heaven and the two courts
of the house of the Lord.
So this guy's worshipping all kinds of false gods, but it gets worse.
It says, and he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son
of Hinnom.
What does that mean?
That's a human sacrifice.
You say, oh man, thank God that doesn't go on anymore.
Thank God we're not living in the days when people used to sacrifice their infants to
these false gods.
What a weird...
Okay, it's still around today.
It's just called abortion.
I mean, we murder more babies than the children of Israel ever thought of murdering.
We just do it in a way that's a little bit, you know, we don't light them on fire or whatever.
We don't burn them.
But you know what?
It's just as wicked.
It's just as sinful.
It's just as bad.
And we're doing it more than they did.
But it says he caused his children to pass through the fire.
Basically his wife had an abortion.
And then it says he also observed times and used enchantments.
What are enchantments?
Basically magic spells.
And it says he used enchantments and used witchcraft and dealt with a familiar spirit
and with wizards.
He wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger.
Now, these are some pretty serious sins, aren't they?
I mean this guy, he's worshiping other gods.
He is killing his own children through human sacrifice unto false gods.
He's also into the occult and witchcraft and magic and all this kind of satanic stuff.
He set a carved image, verse 7, the idol which he had made in the house of God.
I mean he's taking his false, wicked, sinful idols, he's putting them in the house of God.
Which God had said to David and to Solomon and his son, in this house and in Jerusalem
which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever.
Neither will I anymore remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed
for your fathers so that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them according
to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.
It's funny, this has nothing to do with the sermon, but isn't it funny how God is always
telling them, yeah, I'll never take you out of this land as long as you obey.
But yet today Christians think, we need to let those Jews, we need to make sure those
Jews stay in their land in Israel over there.
Okay, are they doing what God says?
Did they not reject and kill his son?
But yet they say, oh man, we've got to support Israel no matter what because I mean, good
night, God gave them that land.
No, God did not give them that land.
God gave them that land if, if they would believe him and keep his commandments and
follow his laws.
And here's the thing, when they didn't believe him, he wouldn't let him in.
He wouldn't even let Moses in.
But I'm supposed to believe that these unbelievers today that follow the anti-Christ religion
that teaches that Jesus is not the Christ, I'm supposed to believe that they just have
it coming to be in that land, huh?
I don't believe it for one second, it's not biblical.
Because when they rejected the word of the Lord, they had to wander in the wilderness
for 40 years until that whole generation died.
Then there rose up a generation that believed God that Joshua led into the promised land.
Later they disobeyed God's commandments, they did not believe the Lord.
What happened?
He took them out of the promised land.
Then they got right with God, he brought them back in.
Then they rejected Jesus Christ, he took them out.
And then in 1948 they all believed on Jesus Christ and came back in.
Oh, do I have my history wrong?
Oh, okay.
Oh yeah, that's right, they still reject Christ.
Well, but they still worship the God of the Old Testament.
Wrong.
If you don't have the Son, you don't have the Father.
That's what it says in 1 John 2.
It says, he whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father.
But he that acknowledgeeth the Son hath the Father also.
He said that if you believe Moses, you'd believe in me, for he spake of me.
So that has nothing to do with the sermon though.
But anyway, I just wanted to point that out in verse 8, he's saying, you know, I gave
them that land if they would obey me, if they would follow my laws, okay.
And then it says in verse 9, so Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to
Ur, Ur means make an error, is what that means, and to do worse than the heathen whom the
Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.
And the Lord spake to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not hearken.
Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which
took Manasseh among the thorns and bound him with fetters, fetters are basically metal
shackles, and carried him to Babylon.
And watch this, when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself
greatly before the God of his fathers.
Now let me say this, if you're doing the kind of sins that Manasseh is doing, humbling yourself
a little bit is not going to cut it.
He humbled himself greatly, and that's the only way he found any mercy.
And it says, when he was in affliction he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself
greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed unto him, and he was entreated of him,
and heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.
Then Manasseh knew that the Lord, he was God.
Now after this he built a wall without the city of David on the west side of Gihon in
the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, encompassed about Ophel, and raised
it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fence cities of Judah, and
he took away the strange gods and the idol out of the house of the Lord, and all the
altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and cast them
out of the city, 2 Chronicles 33, 16, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed
there on peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God
of Israel.
Nevertheless, the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the Lord their
God only.
Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of
the seers that spake to him in the name of the Lord the God of Israel, that's the preachers
that were preaching unto him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel,
his prayer also, and how God was entreated of him, and all his sin, and his trespass,
and the places wherein he built high places and set up groves and granby images, watch
this, before he was humbled, behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers,
so Manasseh slept with his fathers and they buried him in his own house, and Ammon his
son Reimann said, go to chapter 36, so we see even a man that's so wicked as Manasseh,
at least was brought back out of captivity, and brought back to Jerusalem, why?
Because he humbled himself greatly, and as a result of that humility, what did he do?
He forsook his evil ways, he got rid of the idols, he got rid of all the garbage, and
you know what, God didn't even look at that and say, well who cares, look at all the bad
stuff you did in the past, no, he said, you know what, if you're going to humble yourself
this much, I'm going to show you mercy.
Now does that mean there were no repercussions for Manasseh's actions?
No, because first of all, he did have to go suffer in Assyria, he had to go through thorns,
he was tortured, he was put in metal fetters, he was locked in a cage, I mean he went through
horrible things, and then even after that, there were still repercussions, because you
know what, it was too late for his children, because he'd already raised them to be wicked,
he'd already raised them to be sinful, and so now all of a sudden he got right with God,
but his son Amon didn't, his son Amon was a wicked person, and so there are always going
to be consequences for our actions, but you know what, this story ended a lot better than
if Manasseh would have just, in that prison cell, he would have died in that prison cell,
he would have lived the rest of his miserable life shackled up and in a horrible situation.
Look at 2 Chronicles 36, it's just interesting how God, you know we see that famous verse
in 2 Chronicles 7.14, and then the rest of 2 Chronicles, there's so many examples where
God keeps his word, and people humble themselves and he shows mercy.
Look at 2 Chronicles 36.11, Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign,
and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, and he did that which was evil in the sight of
the Lord as God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet, speaking from the mouth
of the Lord.
And he also rebelled against the king Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear by God, but he stiffened
his neck and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel.
Moreover all the chief priests and the people transgressed very much after all the abominations
of the heathen and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.
And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers rising up at times
and sending because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.
Watch this, but they mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused
his prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy.
Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees who slew their young men with
the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion upon young men or maiden,
old men or him that stooped for age.
He gave them all into his hand.
So what do we see in 2 Chronicles?
He starts out by telling Solomon, the book starts out with Solomon being in power, and
he tells Solomon, look, if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves
and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven
and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
And then all throughout the book of Chronicles, even starting with Solomon's own son Rehoboam,
we see that happen again and again and again.
They do wrong, they humble themselves, God is merciful.
They do wrong, but they humble themselves, God is merciful.
But then in chapter 36, the final chapter, we see a man who will not humble himself.
Preachers come, prophets come and preach to him.
He mocks them, he rejects them, he doesn't want to hear it, he despises their words.
And I find it interesting, the choice of words here in 2 Chronicles 36 is exactly the
choice of words that we see in the famous verse in Proverbs, which one is that?
Proverbs, he that often, there we go, Proverbs 29, 1.
He that being often reproved, remember the verse in Proverbs?
He that being often reproved, hardened at the neck, shall suddenly be destroyed and
that without remedy.
Look at the wording in this chapter, look at verse 13.
It says halfway through the verse, but he stiffened his neck, isn't that what the Bible
said?
He that being often reproved, hardened at his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed and
that without remedy.
It says but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart, and then if you jump down to the
end of verse, or look at the whole verse 16, but they mocked the messengers of God and
despised his words.
They're being often reproved because God keeps sending them prophets, and it says until the
wrath of the Lord arose against his people, watch this, till there was no remedy.
So do you see how it's all there, the same elements?
Where they harden their neck and then they're destroyed without remedy, and he doesn't use
the word remedy there by accident.
He's showing us a pattern.
In 2 Chronicles, he starts out by telling us, look, this is what you're supposed to
do when you've sinned, humble yourself, be sorry, change, repent, do something different.
Then he gives us all these examples of people who successfully did that.
From a man as wicked as Ahab to a man as wicked as Manasseh, they found mercy.
Then he shows us the bad example, Zedekiah, a man who was often reproved by many prophets,
hardened his neck, and was destroyed without remedy.
This is something that God is trying to really drive in and show us.
Now I want to show you one more example of this in the Bible.
Go to Genesis 4.
I'm skipping over King Josiah.
Josiah is another one, a little different situation.
He didn't really go into any kind of a wicked sin, but the Bible talks about the fact that
because he humbled himself, God basically withholds his judgment on the whole nation
because of Josiah humbling himself.
But go to Cain, because I think Cain is a perfect example of this in the Bible.
While you're turning to Genesis 4, I'll read for you from James 4, humble yourselves in
the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up.
The Bible says, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt
you in due time.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same as the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven.
Humility is what I'm talking about.
And a big part of humbling yourself is admitting you're wrong.
A big part of humbling yourself is admitting you don't know everything.
See the proud person knows everything.
In fact, the proud person, everything they do in life is the right way.
That's why they don't need to change anything.
That's why they don't need to go to a church that's going to tell them to change.
That's why they don't need to read a Bible that's going to tell them to change.
That's why their marriage is perfect, their child rearing is perfect, their work ethic
is perfect, their Christian life is perfect, their thoughts are perfect, their eyes are
perfect, because they're so proud they just think everything they do is fine and they
never need to change.
And how dare anyone correct them?
But a big part of humbling yourself is when you hear reproof or rebuke saying, you know
what, that's something that I need to change.
That's something that I need to work on.
Cain is the perfect example of a person who could not take rebuke.
It says in Genesis 4, 4, and Abel, he also brought of the first things of his flock and
of the fat thereof, and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.
But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.
And Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell.
So why is Cain mad?
Wroth means very angry.
Cain was wroth because God didn't accept his offering.
God didn't respect his offering.
God wanted him to bring the blood.
God wanted him to bring the first things of the flock.
God wanted him to bring an animal sacrifice, and instead of an animal sacrifice, Cain brought
fruits and vegetables.
He brought his best.
God didn't accept it.
And so Cain got angry, but God is going to try to talk some sense into Cain here.
And it says, the Lord said unto Cain, verse 6, why art thou wroth?
And why is thy countenance fallen?
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?
So isn't God giving Cain another chance here?
He's saying, look Cain, don't get mad.
Don't let your countenance fall and get all sad and down in the mouth.
If you do well, you'll be accepted, Cain.
It's not too late to fix it.
Okay, you've done wrong, you've messed up, maybe you're a little embarrassed that you've
made this fancy fruit basket for me and I don't want it.
Okay, I know it's a little embarrassing.
But if you do well, you'll be accepted, Cain.
And if not, sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire and thou shalt rule
over him.
And Cain talked with Abel his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field
that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him.
And on the New Testament, we get a little more insight into this in the book of 1 John,
it says, not as Cain who was of that wicked one and slew his brother and wherefore slew
him because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous, marvel not my brother
and if the world hates you.
So we see here that Cain was the type of person that could not accept correction.
And you're the same way if that's how you are.
If somebody comes to you and says, you've done wrong, if your parents tell you children,
you know what, you've done wrong, you're going to be disciplined, and you get mad.
And look, there are children who when they're disciplined by their parents, they get mad.
Have you seen it?
Children who are disciplined by their parents, they become angry and enraged that their parents
are disciplining them.
You know, and that was Cain's reaction.
They get wroth.
Their countenance falls instead of just realizing, hey wait a minute, if I do well, I will be
accepted.
Now children often don't believe this, and look, when I was a teenager, you know, I felt
like sometimes that my parents were being unreasonable, right?
And probably every teenager feels that way.
And I felt like my parents were very unreasonable when I was a teenager, and I remember I made
a statement to my brother, and I was wrong when I said this, I shouldn't have said this,
but this is what I said.
I said to my brother one time, I said if Jesus lived in our house, he would get screamed
at every day.
Because I said if our brother were Jesus, like if Jesus were growing up in this home,
and Jesus were a teenager in this house, he would get screamed at every day.
Because that's what I thought.
I felt like my parents are so unreasonable.
Even if I was perfect, even if I was like Jesus, my parents would scream at me.
And I was really frustrated by that.
But you know what, later, when I turned 17, I got into a good church, Regency Baptist
Church, and started hearing a lot of good preaching, and made a lot of changes in my
life, and started being a better son, and started being nice to my parents, and trying
to help them out and be a good son.
You know what, they instantly responded to it.
And for years before that I felt like my parents are just really hard to get along with.
And it's impossible for me to get along with my parents.
And I said, you know what, when I turn 18, I'm out of here.
I mean, I was counting down.
When I turned 18, I was going to be gone.
I was going to get my own apartment and get out of there, because my parents are unreasonable.
But you know what, when I got in church, I started realizing, and I'd been in church,
but I was in these kind of churches that I talked about this morning, so I wasn't getting
any good preaching.
When I started getting under some good preaching and reading my Bible, I started realizing,
you know what, there's a lot of things that I'm doing wrong.
I'm the problem.
I'm making a lot of mistakes.
And as soon as I even just made the tiniest effort toward my parents.
I mean, I just took the smallest step toward them.
They were just so nice to me and treated me so well, it instantly showed me the error
of my ways.
You know what, I could have fixed this any time I wanted to.
Here I am thinking, if Jesus lived here, no he wouldn't have.
He wouldn't have at all.
Because as soon as I took just the smallest step toward my parents, they took huge steps
toward me.
And they started treating me very well and giving me all kinds of privileges and treating
me very well because of the fact that I just took the smallest, you know, I started helping
out with some housework without being asked and just, you know, just talking to them respectfully
and just, you know, and stuff.
If you would have asked me before that, I would have thought, well I'm doing everything
right.
But then once you actually start doing things right, you realize, wow, I wasn't doing things
right at all.
What's the difference?
You've got to be willing to humble yourself.
You know what I mean?
And look, part of humbling yourself is realizing, hey, I'm the problem.
You know, it's not my parents that are the problem.
You know, it's not my husband that's the problem.
You know, it's not the boss at work that's the problem.
It's not the pastor, it's not he's not the problem.
You know what, maybe I have a problem.
You know, maybe I'm the one who needs to make some changes here.
And that takes humility to even think that way.
But you know what, if you humble yourself, you're going to find mercy, both with God
and with human authority, okay?
Because when you say to human authority that you're going to be humble, you know, it's
like the Bible says, a soft answer turneth away wrath.
But grievous words stir up anger.
You know, you start talking back, and especially you start talking back to God, you've got
a serious problem.
And so take this to heart, my friend.
Humble yourself.
If it can save a guy like Ahab from getting destroyed and a guy like Manasseh from getting
destroyed, if it can get a guy like Manasseh out of prison, you know what, we ought to
realize this is a powerful tool in our lives.
And that we need to get on our knees, and that's part of being humble.
You know, getting on your knees is a humble position.
You know, getting on our knees and praying to the Lord and saying, God, there are a lot
of things about me that are not right.
There are a lot of things that I need to fix and I need to change.
And I'm not going to try to justify my sins to you, God.
I've done X, I've done Y, I've done Z, and I was wrong, it was my fault, there's no excuse
for it, and I want to change, you know, help me to do better, I'm sorry.
You know what, when God hears that, that is music to His ears.
I mean, that is a sweet smell in His nostrils.
And He looks at that and He sees the sackcloth and He sees you on your knees and He sees
you fasting and praying and sorry, that will get His attention.
And you know what, God will smile upon you if that's your attitude.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, please just help us to humble ourselves.
It's often easier said than done.
But God, when we hear the preaching of your word, or maybe we're just reading our Bibles
and we see something in the Bible that is there to correct us.
Help us not to harden our necks.
And help us to be the type of employee where when we get reproved, we take it with grace
and we do not get wroth and react like Cain.
Help us to be more like Ahab was at that moment or Manasseh or Hezekiah or Rehoboam, these
other examples of men who, yeah, they made some serious mistakes but at least they humbled
themselves and were able to really save themselves a lot of misery.
Help us to follow their example.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, let's sing one more song before we go.
Can anybody think of a song that ties in with the sermon tonight?
Something about which one?
315, Take My Life and Let It Be, 315.
All right, very good.
Song number 315, do you know it?
He doesn't know it.
All right, we'll do an acapella.
115, let's sing it out in the first verse.
Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love, at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.
Take my voice and let me sing, always only for my King, always only for my King.
Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold.
Take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise, let them flow in ceaseless
praise.
Take my will and make it thine, it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is thine own, it shall be Thy royal throne, it shall be Thy royal throne.
All right, we're dismissed.
Thank you for being here tonight.
Thank you.