Episode Transcript
All right, it's 10 o'clock and time to begin and just remind you if you have cell phone or something be sure you silence that and What a great truth we learned last week about the significance of Hezekiah bringing water into the city of Jerusalem and How that was a picture of Jesus bringing the water of life to his people who are his citizens and we'll pick up in 2nd Kings chapter 20 and verse 20 this morning and We'll finish verse 20 and move on into verse or chapter 21 We'll finish chapter 20 and move into chapter 21.
So 2nd Kings 20 20 And let's reread the whole verse and the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made a pool and a conduit and brought water into The city are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?
Now you may find that peculiar when you read That statement about each of the Kings asked in the form of a question.
That's just the way it was written It's the same way another way of saying it is They are written in the books of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah.
So it's just a rhetorical question It's God knows he's not saying well, aren't they written somewhere?
The prophet knows whoever wrote it that they are written and when something is written down The writer has the expectation That somebody else is going to read it.
That's why we write anything down.
Isn't it is if you have a grocery list you write that down and you hope to pull that list out you hope to remember to take it with you and then to pull the list out and To read it again.
That's why you wrote it or you send somebody to the store with that list And I've learned when I go to the store the grocery list That whatever I have on there is not all I'm going to get I'm gonna get a text or a call Be sure you pick up Now you have to hurry with me because man when I get in there I can get in and get out I already know where everything is and how much it's supposed to cost and I'm in and out of there and I don't dawdle and walk up and down every aisle and So Becky knows you got to get a hold of me quick to get that extra order in well anyway When something's written down it's expected that it'll be read now in our country Presidents write presidential memoirs and that's for people to read history records every word Indeed that it can when it comes to powerful or famous people And that's a sobering thought makes me glad I'm not famous or powerful you know the acts of Andy Shepherd Would have some good things in there as well as some bad things if they were to be chronicled like the acts of these Kings of Judah and that Being said no matter how much good was written in there the good could not wipe away the bad if a man committed murder Against a person one day and then the next day saved a person's life Well that second act doesn't wipe away the first act and None of those things done in my flesh none of the acts That were done in my flesh are good in God's sight even if you said boy he did good here and here and here None of those are inherently good in God's sight and my acts were all written down in a book too, and so were yours and One day I would be judged for every one of those acts That's a scary thought isn't it Revelation chapter 20 verse 12 Revelation 20 verse 12 John wrote and I saw the dead small and great.
That's every one of them Stand before God and the books were open Now what's in a book things that are written down and another book was open Which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works Now works are your deeds?
They're your acts whether Bodily actions or speech and I we went over that last week Now if I left it right there That would be an utterly hopeless situation that all of my acts would be written in a book and At the white throne judgment, which is Revelation chapter 20 that those books would be open and I'd be judged And I'd be a goner and so would you?
But when I placed my faith in Jesus for salvation, I no longer had to fear being judged for the acts of Andy Shepherd for the works of Andy Shepherd good or bad Titus chapter 3 verses 3 through 5 Titus chapter 3 verses 3 through 5 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving diverse lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared not by works of righteousness Which we have done but according to his mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost So at that time that my faith was in Jesus I Didn't have to worry about that book those books being opened up in the Revelation 20 and me being judged for those works That's the difference Rather than being judged and condemned for my own works I'm saved according to God's mercy which was a work he showed us through his son and I didn't stumble at Jesus.
I believed on him I traded his work of righteousness for my works of Unrighteousness the same works that were written down in that book the same kind of works that were written down about Manasseh Or excuse me a Hezekiah and all the other Kings in the Bible And even though Hezekiah's works Were written in the books of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah for all to read and judge his faith in The coming Messiah see he believed on a Jesus who would one day come He believed on the same Jesus we believe who has already come But even though his works were written down in the Chronicles good and bad his faith in the coming Messiah Removed those works from his account in favor of the finished work of Christ You're either going to stand before God With your own works written down trying to justify yourself as to why you should be accepted by him or You're going to stand there based on the finished work of Christ You won't be at the white throne judgment to be judged if you're a Christian your judgment already was take taking place on the cross I'm thankful for that.
Now.
Let's look back in verse 21 and Hezekiah slept with his fathers and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead and As you know, and if you're new to this Phrase slept with his fathers.
That means he died.
That's all that means he slept with his fathers or he died and Hezekiah slept with his fathers Now we can't emphasize this enough Every person whether they're a mighty king Like Hezekiah or an evil king like Jeroboam Will die They all die Solomon captured this truth in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verses 19 through 20 Ecclesiastes 3 19 through 20 just put ECC period if you're figuring out trying to figure out how to spell it For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts even one thing befalleth them as the one diet So diet the other Yay, they all have one breath So that a man hath no preeminence above a beast for all his vanity all go under one place All are of the dust and all turn to dust again so what he is saying is as far as The breath of life and we're not talking about the spiritual man here because an animal does not have a spirit They have a body and a soul.
They have a body you see it the soul that's the mind will and emotions the aim the emotions of fear and anger and Elation all of those animals have that they do not have the spirit.
That's where we differ from them but Anyway, I think you may be settled on that already if you've gone through the Genesis to Jesus class or the creation Of Christ class, I believe you probably come across that truth in there.
But what he's saying is Animal with breath is going to die person with breath is going to die.
So in that we don't have a leg up on animals We're the same in that regard So Solomon was reminding us that everything that has breath will one day die now this isn't meant to be depressing It's meant to remind us that we ought not make too much of ourselves in our own minds our lives shouldn't be spent trying to impress other people and I'll tell you a lot of it is and if you'll just Examine your own life.
You don't have to look around at anybody in your life or think way I know somebody like that.
I do too and it's me and you for you.
It's you Okay, and it may be more for some than it is for others, but in many ways we spend a significant portion of our time trying to impress others I was sharing with Allison before Sunday school how my motivation for Lifting weights has changed in my life.
I've since I've been a teenager I've worked out and lifted weights and done all those things to try to stay healthy I said when I was in my 20s it was so I could look good in front of that mirror and in front of the girls and Then when I got one and got my keeper here Then that part went away and I thought well I'll keep lifting weights because I've got three daughters and I won't be able to whip all their boyfriends if I have to and so now they're all either married or you know grown like Sarah and So now my motivations are to be able to pick myself up off the ground when I fall and to help my loved ones up When they fall so it's changed but I've tried and impress others has gone way down the list than it was when I was young and and my Brain wasn't fully developed and we don't know how long our days may be but God has an appointment book And when we die We don't have to answer to man We don't answer to man Now I read obituaries every day And I've read some really long ones That talk about all the works of the one Who's passed away?
and you know has a Kai's axe Would probably be talked about after his death But whatever men's judgment was about his axe the good and the bad Those judgments were useless they were vanity it didn't really matter None of us wants to think about Our passing as a time of celebration for others to say well good at least he's out of here.
He's gone He was a mean old codger anyway, but does it really?
with Eternity in mind does that really matter does it matter what God's judgment is that's what matters It's God's and hezekiah slept with his father's He died just as they did both the good and the evil And then it said at the end of verse 21 and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead Here's another truth There will always be someone to take your place I Remember leaving a particular part of my career a particular employment assignment thinking We'll see if they can replace me and the other fellow who left boy.
They did it without batting an eye and So it doesn't take you long to learn that you are not replaceable now That doesn't mean you're not loved or not valued or not special doesn't mean that at all It doesn't mean people won't miss us when we die or retire from a job or move to another city but when there's a vacancy like there was with the king of Judah There will be someone to fill it So with all that being said now, let's look at chapter 21 Hezekiah is off the scene.
I have to confess.
I really enjoyed the study of his reign and all the verses all the truths We really slowed down and kept it in first gear most of the time didn't we and that was beneficial So let's read chapter 21 verse 1 Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign now, let's look at that Knowing what we've learned about Hezekiah Manasseh would not have been born if Hezekiah had died when an Isaiah initially told him you were going to die and you're not going to live so if Manasseh were would learn anything about His life about his birth He should have learned that he was a product of the grace of God At some point in his life in his youth probably His mother his dad maybe his brothers or sisters or his tutors said, you know Your daddy was gonna die three years before you were born and If he had you wouldn't be here right now, but God extended your daddy's life He gave him 15 more years and now you're here now if Manasseh were A spiritually mature young man.
He would have said oh, thank you Lord But we're gonna read that it happened a different way here Remember about three years after God healed Hezekiah We didn't see it back then but we know it now my little Manasseh came into this world And now he's a boy King.
He's 12 years old and Just as God ordained that Hezekiah would be the king He also ordained that Manasseh would be the king Israel and Judah always got the Kings that they deserved every time and When they got a good one They didn't deserve it.
It was God's grace It says and he reigned 50 and five years in Jerusalem now, that's the longest reigning king of Judah and This is not a good thing It says and his mother's name was Hephzibah Now we see that name only one other time in the Old Testament And it's used to describe Zion the city of God when the Lord shall delight in her found in Isaiah 62 4 and that name Hephzibah means My delight is in her I Look in verse 2 and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord Because we've spent a significant time Studying Hezekiah.
It's been a while since we've studied an evil king in Judah So let's be reminded about the word evil here the first place The Hebrew word for evil is used in the Bible is Guess where?
Genesis, that's right chapter 2 verse 9 Genesis chapter 2 verse 9 and Out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food the tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil now evil is the opposite of good Not just because I say so but it's contrasted with good the tree of the knowledge of good and evil those are two contrasting truths and Evil means wicked it means mischief trouble and other words like that and Just as Hezekiah's works Were written down in the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah Manasseh's works are also Going to be written down in the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah and they were But we're studying it is though we were there watching this unfold in the scriptures and Just as the goodness of Hezekiah's works Were based on what God said was good The evil works of Manasseh were based on what God says is evil You know, there are people in This world who believe it's fine to kill an unborn baby even though God calls it evil and No matter how many politicians Vote for abortion Vote to fund clinics that kill little babies and call that women's health care No matter how many judges rule in favor of abortion clinics and their customers So-called rights to have those services the works of those people Will be judged like Manasseh's works were They're evil in the sight of the Lord.
It doesn't matter whether they're evil in anyone else's sight But whether they're evil in the sight of the Lord And he goes on to say He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord after the abominations of the heathen Now we see the word abomination fairly often in the Old Testament and That's simply something that's disgusting something that's abhorrent the worst thing you can think of and these abominations Were the pattern used to shape Manasseh's behavior And what a Swing of the pendulum we have here Between Hezekiah and Manasseh boy, we went from one good King better even than King David was and That's what the Bible said that there was none other like him and now we've gone all the way to the other end to Manasseh Let me read what was said about Hezekiah's behavior and this is found in chapter 18 verse 3 just a couple of chapters before where we are now and He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father David his father did Notice the phrase there According to all that his father David did so Hezekiah's pattern For behavior was the pattern of King David Manasseh's pattern was the abomination of the heathen The heathen were the Gentiles who were almost always unbelievers Now even though that was the case Manasseh had a choice, didn't he?
He could have chosen the way of David after all There were other kings who chose the way of David like his father Hezekiah did But Manasseh chose Strongly he chose the way that seemed good to him Rather than the way that seemed good in the sight of the Lord.
Now, that's where you go wrong right there How many don't raise your hand how many times have you told somebody Well, I just do what I think's right Or it seemed like It seemed fine to me.
I don't see anything wrong with that's what's one.
I've heard People say I don't see anything wrong with it.
Well If you don't see anything wrong with it, but God says it's wrong.
Then there's something wrong with your sight You need glasses, don't you need spiritual glasses?
You need to look at what you're doing or what you're saying or what you're allowing Through a different set of lenses.
You need to look at it the same way God looks at it.
If God says it's evil.
It's evil.
If he says it's good.
It's good and That just takes the argument out.
But here's Proverbs 16 25 Proverbs 16 25 There is a way that Seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death so every time Someone chooses something that seems right to them They're ignoring the standard of what seems right to God now if what seems right to God is what seems right to you, then you are Thinking correctly you are appraising that situation rightly God's Word tells us Not to be unequally yoked together with an unbeliever But a young man may say Well, I'll marry that unbelieving woman And I'll take her to church and then she'll become a Christian one day and what actually usually happens is the unbelieving woman does not go to church and instead she pulls her husband away from church and Out of the Word of God and away from what God says is right to what seems right to her and It happens with men too and what seems right to her Then begins to seem right to him Now before what seemed right to him was what seemed right to God, but now that his wife is drug him away from that which is right, he begins to see things through her perspective and This was the problem with Adam When he took the forbidden fruit from Eve now, what God told him God told him what seemed right to God In the day that eateth thereof thou shalt surely die Now she now from every tree of the garden now may freely eat But the tree that is in the midst of the garden that was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil now shalt not eat for in the day that he's there of thou shalt surely die and So all the time that Adam did not eat from that tree all the time that he left it alone And we don't know how long that was It seemed right what God said don't touch that tree that was an evil thing to do but When Eve said well, you know what this serpent said makes sense It sounds good to me.
I don't see anything wrong with it.
It looks good It can make me wise it can open my eyes He said I'll be as God's knowing good and evil and there she is.
She took and ate it well now She did what seemed right in her own eyes and what did the Proverbs say the end thereof is the way of death?
What's the wages of sin?
It's death And now Adam said you know what?
What seems right to me is now what seems right to her.
I agree with her not God He pulled himself out from under God's established order of government put subjected himself to his wife So what he did I'm gonna do what she said And that didn't work out.
Well, so they both fell And Here we are today Our flesh warring against our spiritual man every day and These heathen after whom Manasseh patterned his behavior Were look back in verse 2 Whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel?
So these weren't just some far-off heathen lands or people That Judah never heard of these were people whom God had cast out before the children of Israel so not only Did Manasseh do what was evil in?
in the sight of the Lord after the abominations of the heathen, but he did so in Spite of the fact that God had cast these very heathen out before the children of Israel Manasseh did not acknowledge that anyone who acted like the heathen would be treated like the heathen Why would he expect anything less Proverbs 16 18 Says pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall If we know this truth Why do we yield to pride It's because we're stubborn In our flesh were stiff-necked and we're not any different than the children of Israel Verse 3 For he built up again the high places Which Hezekiah his father had destroyed Boy, what folly he worked in Judah?
You know if you go back to Solomon from His reign all the way until the reign of Hezekiah You had good Kings and you had evil Kings But none of those good Kings Tore those high places down They let him stay they didn't go worship there, but they let them stay Those high places had been up from Solomon's reign all the way to Hezekiah's reign and Hezekiah Tore him down.
He said tear him down Clean out the house of the Lord sanctify the priests.
We're going back to the old paths around here and in that time from Solomon on to Hezekiah those high places were popular with the people and Now after 29 years of the reign of a king without high places Because that's how long Hezekiah was on the throne Manasseh Builds them up again Evil Kings put up the high places Weak Kings allowed the high places to stay up God Put these Moderate Kings on the throne.
There was a reason for that But those moderate Kings put up with the high places Hezekiah put the high places down He did what should have been done and now his son in an act of utter rebellion Against his father and against the God of his father Resurrects these high places You know Leaving high places alone is a lot easier than tearing them down, isn't it?
Perhaps Manasseh reason that good Kings such as Solomon and Asa and Azariah and Amaziah Left the high places alone.
Why can't I?
Why should my father have torn those down the people really threw a fit when he did that They were popular among the people and the Kings before dad didn't seem to have a problem with these high places Now today we don't go around knocking over Idols and tearing down religious places of worship that preach a false gospel or no gospel at all But we do try to tear those doctrines down to tear those institutions down By preaching the truth.
We can't leave them alone We can't say, you know, I think it's okay that this church over here next door has a Homosexual pastor or that this one down the street preaches that you got to be baptized in water We can't say to each his own every it's okay.
It's not okay if they're not preaching the truth and We have to preach the truth from God's Word because when we do that topples Every spiritual high place or it should for you for the people who hear if you had a high place You're like no God's Word said That's not good.
That's out of my life.
I'm done with that high place and it says in back in verse 3 and he reared up altars for Baal and Made a grove and Baal was the name given to the false God And if there was if there were more than one they were called Baleem He made a grove he reared up altars for Baal as opposed to maintaining the brazen altar the altar of incense and the ordinances of the temple instead He honored the priests of Baal rather than the priests of the Most High God and therefore God and In honoring Bale and rearing up those high places for Bale Manasseh dishonored God and the house of the Lord And it says as did Ahab king of Israel So isn't that something not only did?
Manasseh behave After the pattern after the abominations of the heathen the Gentile nations the unbelievers But he also behaved after the pattern of an unbelieving king of Israel Ahab and we see this mentioned back in first King 1633 first King 1633 and Ahab made a grove and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger Than all the kings of Israel that were before him So Ahab did more than all the kings before him in the way of provoking God he one-upped their evil ways and Now Manasseh of all the examples he's had to pattern himself after he could have said, you know I want to be like David Or he could have said, you know, David was a little extreme.
I'll be like Asa.
He was a good king He didn't tear the high places down.
He didn't go crazy Or I'll be like one of the Kings who didn't last very long No, he went he reached back and he found evil Ahab as his mentor He decided Ahab would be his hero he'd do after the wickedness of Ahab and says in verse 3 and Worshipped all the host of heaven and serve them Boy, this is just a laundry list of rebellion, isn't it?
To worship is to bow down when the Lord gave the Ten Commandments He said this about having other gods before him it's found in Exodus 20 verse 5 and input little letter a 20 Exodus 20 verse 5 little letter a Thou shalt not bow down myself to them nor serve them Now, what are the two things that were said here?
It said that he we worshiped the host of heaven and he served them What is Manasseh doing?
He's doing exactly what the Lord told the children of Israel not to do and he's bowing down and worshiping the graven images of false gods verse 4 and He built altars in the house of the Lord You know Satan Not only tries to counterfeit the religion of the one true God, but he also tries to confuse the religion of the one true God And he does that by mixing the world in the church together so if you went into the average worldly church and Let's say they sang a song and Jesus name was lifted lifted in there.
You'd think oh, that's good.
That's good song But then you hear a doctrine from the pulpit About well, we should just all accept everybody the way they are You know, let if people want to be this or be that just just let them be that it's you know Jesus loves everyone and you think wait a minute.
He doesn't love sin.
What are you talking about?
And then After the service, maybe somebody comes up and greet you and says hey, thanks for coming in you think well, that's good good good fellowship a welcoming committee and So that's what Satan does is he mixes the world in with the church Where there's enough things that you think are good and right?
That it's easy to begin thinking the other things are okay, too Like well, I don't see any any harm in that.
I mean at least they sang songs about Jesus Well, if they did some things right and some things wrong, is that acceptable to you?
Would you put up with that if you took your car to the mechanic?
One of our deputies went through one of those oil chains those drive-thru oil changes and She sat in her car and he they did their thing and she drove the office and man She started having all kind of problems So she opened up the hood and they clamped down one of the hoses with some vice grips and they never took them off Well now they changed her oil.
They really did drain the old oil and put new oil in there but They left a vice grip and had one of the hoses seal completely off and caused car trouble And we didn't accept that we sent it right back said oh, no No, y'all are gonna fix everything that went wrong because of that So we wouldn't even put up with that with a mechanic.
Why do people put up with that in churches?
Where you do some things?
Okay, and other things you don't do well at all You do them wrongly and they say well, it's okay.
It all works out.
It'll all come out in the wash No, it won't It doesn't please God.
And so when these Altars were built in the house of the Lord You see there were two altars In the house of the Lord if you go all the way back to the tabernacle You study them there and one is the brazen altar It's inside the courtyard and that's where the sacrifices were burnt and it was before the entrance into The holy place into the the covered area or the temple here in our text and then you had the altar of incense Which was inside the holy place Just before the veil that covered the entrance to the most holy place or the Holy of Holies One altar was for the sacrifice of animals one offer altar was for the sacrifice of prayer it represented the prayers of the Saints the burning of the incense there and God commanded other furniture to be built Like the laver in the the table of showbread and the golden lampstand The Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat and all of the instruments the snuffers and all those things that went with it But he commanded no other altar to be built none and What Manasseh has done is?
Add something to the work of God He put an altar he put altars in the house of the Lord he added something and it said looking back in our text in verse 4 and He built altars in the house of the Lord of which the Lord said in Jerusalem Will I put my name?
Now these words present a conflict with Manasseh's actions don't they the word name here is also translated as the word renown and the word fame and then some derivatives of the word fame like famous and so forth and the placement of the furnishings in the tabernacle and in a temple, but the placement of the furnishings that Were ordained by the Lord were designed to do one thing and that is to proclaim his name to the people to remind them every thing they saw every curtain every connection Every base the horns the materials that were made out of every one of those things pointed to God glorified God and they reminded the people of the name of their God Isaiah chapter 42 verse 8 Isaiah 42 8 tells us why there could be no other altar in the house of the Lord He said I am the Lord That is my name and my glory.
Will I not give to another neither my praise?
to graven images Praise that belongs to the Lord Glory that belongs to the Lord is not to be shared with a graven image and when we learn That only God's name will be put in Jerusalem and in his house Then we learn that only God's glory will be put in Jerusalem and in his house And we're out of time.
So we're going to come back next week and pick up with that truth Right there.
Let's pray farther.
Thank you so much for the good attention of the people who came Thank you for the ones who were faithful to tune in online and those who may see the lesson later Father we pray the Holy Spirit of God would teach our hearts what we just read and we'd meditate upon it and Lord, we'd be more faithful Because of what you've done in our midst today in Jesus name.
Amen
