Episode Transcript
Good morning.
It's 10 o'clock.
Let's go ahead and begin.
On our way through 2 Kings, we have stopped and gone to 2 Chronicles chapter 33.
So if you will turn to 2 Chronicles chapter 33, verse 12, that will be our text.
And if you haven't been with us or haven't tuned in in a while, we're still in 2 Kings, but we got to chapter 21 at the end of King Manasseh's life, and we needed some more information that was available to us in 2 Chronicles 33.
And it tells us about some things that happened in King Manasseh's life, and we're learning from those things.
And having been dethroned by the Assyrians and carried to Babylon Manasseh had a great awakening if you will.
So we're going to read verse 12 again because we left off in the middle of it 2nd Chronicles 33 and verse 12 says this about Manasseh "And when he was in affliction he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
It said he humbled himself.
That means he was subdued, he was brought low as the original word is sometimes translated.
So let's consider what that means in Manasseh's case.
And as I said last week in a political sense, Manasseh was not in a humble position.
Now it doesn't mean that someone in political power can't be humble.
But that position itself is not a humble position.
If you think about the President of the United States, there are certain things that he is able to do that no one else is allowed to do.
Now he can't just do what he wants.
But some have, but he can't just do what he wants.
But his signature on a law sets that law into motion after Congress and the Senate have done what they're supposed to do.
It's the same way in Texas with the governor.
The House of Representatives will have a bill and it'll go through all these committees and back and forth and then they'll give it to the Senate if it makes it out of the House committee and then the Senate will vote for or against it.
And it may have to go back to the House again for amendments, but eventually it goes to the governor and with his pen he signs it or he vetoes it.
And there's a lot more that can happen with it, but that position, whether it be a governor, a president, or in the case of King Manasseh is not a humble position in and of itself.
He was in authority over all of his kingdom and in fact he was not under anyone in the kingdom.
He was the chief.
And in his day there was no system of checks and balances in the government.
If the king said something was going to happen, it happened.
And Manasseh's checks and balance should have been the Word of God, as it should be with every king, in fact.
But in a spiritual position--now here is where Manasseh could have done better.
In a spiritual sense, Manasseh also was not in a humble position.
He should have been, but he placed himself as in the position of king spiritually and that was not his position.
He was not subdued or brought low before God.
In fact, he exalted himself just like Lucifer did in heaven.
And Manasseh, as we read in 2 Kings and part of 2 Chronicles, did not humble himself before God and for those 55 years or almost 55 years he remained in that self-exalted condition.
Now as a king he has been humbled.
He's not on his throne anymore.
He's not in charge of anything.
He's been taken captive and he is a prisoner of Babylon.
But now that he's been humbled, been brought low, that's still not enough to save him.
Our text tells us he humbled himself and look back it says he humbled himself greatly.
He went from the very top to the very bottom.
A Babylonian citizen had more rights than King Manasseh did at this time.
So he who was once self-exalted is now as low as the dirt."
He's a captive slave and God has his attention.
And yet even humbling himself greatly is not enough to save him.
He had to humble himself greatly, look back in the text, before the God of his fathers.
Once again, the name God here is Elohim the great three-in-one.
And you can humble yourself before men but man can't save you.
You have to humble yourself before God.
And you don't do this by assuming a cowardly weak position or lying down on the floor or pretending to be pious and all of that.
You humble yourself before God When you believe that God is who he says he is, the God of all creation, you're not in charge.
Manasseh wasn't in charge.
He'd been worshiping a God, alright, but the God he was worshiping was not the God of all creation.
And when you humble yourself before God, not only do you believe that he is who he says he is, but you also accept that you are who he says you are, a lost sinner.
And you humble yourself greatly before God by believing that he provided salvation for you through his Son.
Now if you don't believe he is who he says he is, then you won't be saved.
If you don't believe you are who he says you are, you won't be saved.
But when you believe both and that he has provided salvation for you, then you believe on his son.
And you believe his son is who God says he is.
And that he has done for you what God has said that he has done.
See, that all works together.
When a sinner exalts himself on the other hand, when a sinner lifts himself up, raises himself up in his own estimation, he'll come to God with a religious package of his own making, kind of like a care package.
It'll have all kinds of things in it.
And then he wants God to put his stamp of approval on it.
Say, "God, look what I've done for you.
Would you just bless this and that ought to be enough.
He thinks his religious package is sufficient because most pastors and church members say it is.
Most pastors and church members in the world, I don't mean of the Lord's true church, but so-called church members have some sort of religious package they give to God.
The Muslims have their own.
Praying five times a day and making their journey to Mecca and giving alms and doing all of these things.
That's their religious package.
They try to present to their God, which is a false God.
I'd be killed in a Muslim country for saying that I might get killed anyway for saying it, but that's true.
And not only has such a center, not humble himself before God, but he's also placed the word of heretics above God's word.
So if you take the Bible and you tell somebody, the Bible says, "There is none under the name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved," and that person says, "Oh yes there is," then they've taken the word of a heretic and put it above God's word.
It's said that he humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
Now let's look at that phrase, "of his fathers."
The God of his fathers.
This is crucial.
The God of Manasseh's fathers was the Lord God who brought the children of Israel out of bondage.
He was the Lord who created everything, including the man who later rebelled against him.
And yet it was this God, the God of his fathers unto whom Manasseh humble himself.
Now the God of this world is not the God of his fathers.
The God of this world is who he had been worshiping before that.
Second Corinthians chapter four verses three through four, second Corinthians four verses three through four.
Paul wrote, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this world, that's with a little G the God of this world has blinded the minds of them, which believe not less the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God should shine unto them.
So most religious people in this world think that they are humbling themselves to their God when reality, they are exalting themselves above the one true God.
Remember the religion of Cain.
If you've been through the, either the creation of Christ or Genesis to Jesus class, or maybe you've heard it taught elsewhere, all of the religions of the world really come down to two.
And there are different ways you can categorize it.
But one of the ways is going back to after the fall of man, when, uh, Abel and Cain brought offerings to the Lord and one of the religions of the world.
And the only one true religion is a religion of Abel.
Now Abel's not the founder of our faith.
He was just one who showed us that doing what God required, that is coming to God a certain way, was the only acceptable way.
And all of the other religions, it doesn't matter what you call them, and there are plenty that have the name Baptist on them by the way.
All of the other religions are called the religions of Cain.
They spring from what it was that Cain did to try to please God.
So any religion that we call the religion of Cain is a religion that does not come to God in the way that he commanded.
And the way he commanded is through the blood of an innocent sacrifice.
Let's look at what happened now when Cain brought his offering to God.
And it's found in Genesis chapter four, Genesis chapter four, and sin had already entered into the world.
So it was necessary for man to come to God with an offering.
It said, and in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, an offering unto the Lord.
Now in Cain's mind, he had humbled himself to God.
After all, I think we can presume that Cain knew that he had sinned against God and he needed to bring some type of offering to atone for it.
The religious world brings the offering that they think will satisfy God.
But how did God respond to Cain's offering?
Well, if you go down a couple of verses there in Genesis four, verse five, it says, but unto Cain and his offering, he had not respect.
God didn't accept it.
Now Cain thought in his own carnal mind.
Well, I'm, I'm humbling myself, but it was very obvious that God had commanded a blood sacrifice.
He showed it in a pattern when he killed those innocent animals and took their skins and put them on Adam and Eve after Adam and Eve sinned.
So God had already shown the pattern.
He accepted Abel's offering.
So the pattern was established there.
And yet Cain came a different way and thought he was humbling himself to God.
And it said that God had not respect.
In other words, he did not accept Cain's offering.
And it says, "And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell."
Now Cain's response to God, had he truly humbled himself before God, not according to what his own mind thought, but according to what God's Word says, if Cain had truly humbled himself before God, then his response should have been repentance. should have repented instead he responded in wrath.
The verse said he was very wroth.
It also said his countenance fell.
Now if you look at back in Genesis chapter 3 verse 8 you'll see another word used instead of the word countenance and those words are translated from the same Hebrew word and this was right after Adam and Eve sinned in the garden.
Genesis chapter 3 verse 8 says this about Adam and Eve after they had sinned, "And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden."
And the word presence there is the same as the word countenance in the Genesis 4 verse five and yes, verse five, where it said, "And his countenance fell."
So you could translate the last part of the verse I just read you from Genesis 3, 8 this way, "And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the countenance of the Lord God amongst the trees."
So when Cain's countenance fell, it doesn't just mean that he pouted.
When his countenance fell, it meant his presence fell.
He had exalted himself.
He had exalted his presence.
And he exalted the offering of his choosing above the one that God said to bring.
And God was displeased.
So because God was displeased, rather than repenting, Cain was angry.
Rather than repenting, Cain's countenance fell, or his presence fell.
In other words, he was no longer the high and lifted up one, but he'd been brought low.
Nevertheless, instead of being repentant, instead of being ashamed at what he'd done, when he was brought low he became angry.
Now how I know some of you talk to people at work or you've witnessed to maybe even family members, friends, strangers, and you've confronted them with God's Word.
I don't mean you were harsh and unloving.
I meant you just said this is what God's Word says.
Some of than got angry, didn't they, Brother Doug?
They got angry.
Now don't be surprised when that happens.
It happened with Cain.
It's been happening ever since.
When people are confronted with God's Word, sometimes they become angry.
That's because they're self-exalted.
Now if you go back to Manasseh in our text, unlike Cain, Manasseh humbled himself before of his fathers.
That's what's important here.
Cain claimed to be doing that with his offering but in reality Cain had exalted himself before the God of his fathers.
So being exalted it was necessary for his countenance to fall.
It was necessary for his offering to be rejected because you don't come to God with a proud heart and expect him to accept you.
And I hope you see the difference between Cain and Manasseh here.
Cain was wroth, Manasseh was humbled.
Being angry at God is not humility, it's hubris, which is a Latin word for pride.
And I would like for you to begin using the word hubris in your daily conversation, if you will.
Proverbs 29, 23.
Proverbs 29, 23.
"A man's pride shall bring him low, but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit."
Now if I say humble and someone says humble, I just don't like wasting the H, okay?
If you want to make it silent, that's fine.
It's the same thing.
We don't say humility, do we?
We say humility.
So I'm going to say humble if you don't mind. but it's the same word.
Psalm chapter 10 verse 17, "Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble, thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear."
And this is very important because look back in our text where it says Manasseh prayed unto him.
He was first humbled and then he prayed.
He was first humbled and then he prayed.
It says in verse 13, "And prayed unto him, and he was entreated of him."
Now let's look at that, he prayed unto him.
Manasseh prayed unto God in his humbled condition.
Now the first two times this Hebrew word for prayed is used in the Bible, It's used to signify intercession.
Now you've perhaps heard of intercession or intercessory prayer.
In Genesis chapter 20, Abraham journeyed into a place called Gerar.
And while he was there, he feared that he would be killed because of his beautiful wife Sarah.
That somebody would want her and would kill him so they could have her.
And so he lied.
This was one of two times he did this.
He lied and said she's my sister.
Well King Abimelech then decided to take her as his wife.
But God stepped him and said you're but a dead man.
And Abimelech didn't realize what he had done.
He didn't know that she was Abraham's wife.
And so God said, "You're but a dead man," because he had that desire to take another man's wife without knowing she was another man's wife.
And God granted mercy to King Abimelech in a way that you might not have imagined.
Genesis chapter 20 verse 7, Genesis 20 verse 7, "God said to Abimelech, 'Now therefore restore the man his wife."
That means restore Abraham his wife Sarah.
"For he is a prophet and he shall," here's our word, "pray for thee and thou shalt live.
And if thou restore her not, know that thou shalt surely die, thou and all that are thine."
So God used to turn around and pray for Abimelech that he would keep his life.
And then if you go down to Genesis 20 verses 17 through 18, 17 through 18, "So Abraham prayed," there's our word again, "unto God, and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants, and they bare children.
For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.
So in that story, it's important for us to see as we learn about the prayer that Manasseh made, it's important for us to see that intercessory prayer pleases God.
God could have just spared Abimelech without prayer.
He could have said, "Look, I was going to kill you, but I'm not because you didn't know.
And he could have left the prayer out, but he didn't.
He used prayer to teach us a lesson about intercession.
Now Jesus was the greatest intercessory prayer that we've ever known, that there's ever been, as you will see when you read all of John chapter 17, and then there are other places too in the Bible, but I'll read you a couple of verses from that chapter.
John 17 9, speaking of believers, Jesus said, "I pray for them."
Now that is so basic.
That is intercessory prayer.
I pray for them.
Now there are times we pray for us.
I pray for me.
Lord, help me to have wisdom and understanding.
Give me grace so that I may do whatever his will is concerning something, maybe a decision about a job or family or a habit or whatever it may be.
What should I do with my money?
Give me grace and wisdom.
Even if your word doesn't spell it out particularly, give me the principles.
Help me to remember the principles of your word that'll guide me.
And even sometimes those prayers for self turn into intercessory prayer.
But it's not a bad thing to pray for God to give you wisdom.
But sometimes people's prayers are limited to prayers for self and they forget about others.
Intercessory prayer is a wonderful thing.
If you ever, if somebody ever says, "Brother Endy, I want you to know I've been praying for you."
Man, that means more to me than you can imagine.
And I mean I'm sure there are people who pray for me who never tell me they do and that's okay too.
You don't have to tell me you're praying for me.
But whether you do or don't, if you are praying for me, thank you.
And I don't always tell others that I've prayed for them.
Sometimes I get the opportunity to do that and sometimes I just do it.
He said I pray for them, I pray not for the world.
So his intercessory prayer there was very specific.
It was for those who would believe.
"But for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine."
And then further down in John 17, in verse 17, Jesus prayed, "Sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth."
So every time we pray, whether it's a pastor or me or one of you, We pray, "Lord, we want you to take your word and put it in the hearts of the people and build them up in the faith and use the gospel to draw all sinners to you."
That's intercessory prayer.
Paul prayed on behalf of Israel.
He said that his heart's desire and prayer to God was that they might be saved.
On the cross, Jesus continued his work of intercessory prayer.
He didn't just die for sinners, he also prayed for sinners.
And that's important too.
Luke chapter 23 verses 33 through 34.
Luke 23 verses 33 through 34.
"And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him and the malefactors, one on one hand and the other on the left.
Then said Jesus, 'Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.' his raiment and cast lots.
Now he could have cried, "Father, save me.
Get me down from here."
But instead he prayed for the forgiveness of the very ones who crucified him and of the two on each side, both of whom had gone on insulting him right up until the point of death where one repented and said, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom."
And Jesus said, "This day shalt thou be with me in paradise."
Now Jesus had already prayed for him.
Did you know that?
He had already prayed for him back in John 17 and probably many other times.
And after he ascended to his father, and every moment since then, Jesus has also interceded for us.
Hebrews 7.25, Hebrews 7.25 says, "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us."
Wow that's wonderful.
Well he says for them but that would be us.
The them is the us.
Intercession.
Jesus prayed for us before we believed.
He prayed for us when we crucified him on the cross.
Yes mankind did that.
Although the Romans were the ones whose hands were used.
And he prayed for us after he ascended to the Father and heaven and without his prayer I would have never come to faith in him and neither would you.
Because of his prayer I surely came to faith in him and because his intercession continues for me I can never be lost again.
And if you apply this truth about intercessory prayer, learn what that really is, then what we're going to find out is that Manasseh wasn't selfishly praying for his own life to be spared.
He was praying for the nation of Judah and you'll see that soon.
Let's look back in our text.
When Manasseh prayed having already humbled himself it said this about God, "And he was entreated of him."
And he was entreated of him."
That means God heard Manasseh's prayer.
The word "entreated"--now this was a great part of my study, I enjoyed this--the word "entreated" is what happens at the other end of prayer.
It happens, and the idea here is of burning incense.
Now we know that incense So when incense was burned to the Lord, let's just talk about physical incense right now.
Man lights the incense, the Lord smells it.
Now that's the physical idea, but the physical incense wasn't what pleased God.
What pleased God was the prayer that was associated or typified by that burning incense.
I learned something really neat about this word thinking about the physical act of burning incense what's the purpose of burning incense from an earthly perspective it's to produce a pleasant smell.
Now let me just tell you all if you all ever if we ever have another disease that causes people to hoard candles we have plenty at our house.
We have two full cabinets that have candles in them of all sorts.
So you just let me know and for a fair price, Ms.
Beck, you'll offload some of those for you and you too can hoard candles.
But we have a wonderful smelling house.
All seasons of the year our house just smells wonderful because of the fragrances and I'm glad it does.
But if there's a candle lit or incense, let's just stick with incense, the purpose of lighting it is to produce a pleasant smell.
If in order for that pleasant smell to be enjoyed, someone has to smell it, don't they?
Now if I were to just light incense and then run out of the room and never come back, then and tell no one that the incense had been lit, then the cycle of lighting incense We could only have lighted the incense or lit the incense, but there would be no smelling of it.
There would be no enjoyment of it.
There would be no reciprocity.
And that's what happens when you are entreated.
I'm going to give you an example.
My daughter Lauren, when she was a little girl, she played soccer with her older cousin out in the backyard. and her older cousin was bigger and stronger and all of that and she was decidedly better at soccer than Lauren was.
So Lauren didn't enjoy that too much.
She is from the time she was about one and a half until now she does not like to lose a board game of any sort.
She's not a very good sport about that and I don't understand why.
She's a competitive person but I knew this that she didn't enjoy it because I asked her, did you have fun playing soccer with your cousin?
Her answer was, no, I play soccer better by myself.
Now she didn't understand that you can't have a soccer game without an opponent, right?
You can shoot baskets but you don't beat anybody if you score, you don't lose to anyone if you don't score.
So it's the same principle as burning incense without having anyone to smell it.
Now we're learning about the word "entreated" here.
And when Manasseh prayed, that was him lighting the incense.
When God was entreated of Manasseh, that was God smelling the incense.
You get that?
And before this Manasseh did not understand what it was to be entreated of God because he didn't worship the one true God.
His God was Baal and to worship his God Manasseh carved idols, he burned incense, he prayed, and did all sorts of abominable things to worship Baal.
And what made all these prayers useless is that Baal could not entreat Manasseh.
Manasseh was not entreated of Baal.
Baal couldn't smell incense.
He couldn't hear.
He couldn't speak because he is a dead God.
He never had any life.
Baal worshippers proud not humble.
Now I read to you earlier where the psalmist declared there in Psalm chapter 10 that God would hear the desire of the humble.
So Manasseh was entreated of God.
He humbled himself and God heard Manasseh's prayer.
God smelled the incense and let me tell you something, he enjoyed it.
He enjoyed that prayer because it said, looking back in your text there in verse 13, "and prayed unto him, and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication."
That is, God heard Manasseh's supplication.
And that supplication, just to remind you, that is a prayer for favor or grace.
In fact, it's translated as the word "favor" and the word "grace" in other places in the Old Testament.
Now we often pray for God to shed his grace upon those for whom we are interceding.
So if you have a particularly difficult circumstance in your life, whether it's a health circumstance, job, family, friend, salvation, whatever it may be, and I pray for you, I'm praying, I'm praying in supplication, I'm praying, "God, would you give brother so-and-so or this lady over here grace And sometimes that's what we need in the situations that don't seem to have an earthly answer.
If somebody's grieving and grieving and every one of us in here have grieved over the loss of people we love, and sometimes we wonder, "Is this ever going to be over?"
It is through grace.
I can't give you a timeline.
I can't tell you I can tell you about my mother She lost my brother in 1984 and she's never gotten over it never has oh, she's persevered She's gotten stronger She's lived her life in Obedience to the Lord.
She's a been a Christian for I don't know 60 65 years But for my mom, I just pray for grace God give her grace to help her not just with this but with all the other things that she has, and that's supplication.
And sometimes we pray that the ones for whom we are praying would find God's grace to be sufficient.
So when we pray for grace, if I pray for grace for Brother Larry, for something he's going through, then I also am praying that when God sheds His grace on Brother Larry, that Larry would turn around and find that to be sufficient.
Say, "Lord, if I don't get anything else, "if I have your grace, I know I can go through this, "and that's gonna be enough for me.
"Now, if you give me something else, that's gravy, "I'll take that.
"But if you don't, your grace will be fine "with or without the gravy."
I'm going through some really difficult things in my life.
Got some more news this morning that just added to the pile.
These things are, these come with caring for aging, sick parents, and all that.
And I don't know what the outcome will be, but I know that God's grace will be sufficient.
So much so that my chief prayer is for God's grace to reign in my life and in the lives of those who are affected by the outcome of these circumstances.
And my circumstances aren't any worse than some of yours.
Some of y'all have it worse. and we don't compare who's got it worse than the other.
Hey, we live in a sin-curse world and we are going to have tribulation in this world.
Now it said that God heard his supplication.
Look back in your text and said and it brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.
And brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.
Now without knowing the very words that Manasseh used, we didn't get a glimpse at that.
We didn't get to see the prayer of Manasseh.
You've read the prayer of Jabez, read the Lord's, the model prayer, we've read the Lord's prayer which is in John 17 and elsewhere.
We've gotten to see words that people prayed.
Paul has told us what he's prayed about certain churches.
We didn't get to see the words Manasseh prayed. we do know is that he did pray and that God heard him and in response to that prayer he brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.
Jerusalem being the capital city of Judah which was the southern kingdom at this time.
So we know that God entreated him, he heard his prayer for grace because that's what supplication was and returned him to his kingdom.
Now this time God returns a humble king, not a proud king, not a rebellious king.
He puts a humble king back on the throne of Judah.
And I mentioned earlier that the word prayed in verse 13 often signifies intercession and that I believed it was the case with Manasseh, that he did not pray just a selfish prayer but one that was also for others.
Now you consider what it means for God to bring Manasseh back to his kingdom.
What does a kingdom consist of?
It consists of a king and his people.
In fact, the kingdom is the people.
The kingdom would be everyone who is under the king.
And Manasseh is the king.
So for God to honor the newly humbled Manasseh's prayer in this way tells me that Manasseh wasn't just praying to escape with his own life.
God's answer to that prayer indicates to me that Manasseh prayed for the kingdom of Judah as well.
That the kingdom of Judah would have a king who's pleasing God, a king who is humble, one who feared the Lord.
Now that's a great prayer to pray for others.
It's a great prayer to pray for our country.
The office of the presidency, the offices of Congress and Senate and the Supreme Court positions and all of that don't tend to attract humble people, although there have been some who've served in those roles.
Thank God for them. people don't generally become humble or continue in humility when they're placed in such a position.
Well Manasseh humbled himself before the Lord and God said you're going back and he put him over the throne.
And look at the end of verse 13, "Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God."
Now for some people to come to this knowledge that the Lord is God, God's done great things, miraculous things, things that inspire awe and wonder.
And for others, God's done lesser things, but they still ought to inspire awe and wonder, but his purpose is that the people would know that the Lord is God.
This is what God has always desired for his creation.
Exodus chapter 10 verses 1 through 2.
Exodus 10 verses 1 through 2, where God's giving the marching orders to Moses, "And the Lord said unto Moses, "Go in unto Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might show these my signs before him, and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them, that ye may know how that I am the Lord."
Now Manasseh knows in his spirit that the Lord is God.
Verse 14, "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 fenced cities of Judah."
Said he built a wall and raised it up.
Now Manasseh's faith in God and his concern for the people has led him to do a couple of things and these are noteworthy.
First, he builds a wall to protect the city of David.
He now sees his kingdom as a great responsibility rather than as an opportunity to flex his authority.
Now we've watched our country just crumble militarily over the last, it's probably been over the last 10 to 15 years on and off, but it was in spades over the prior four years.
Seeing these men dressed in skirts, transgender generals sitting around gloating about their identity and meanwhile who wants to go join a military like that if you're any sort of a young man and now our military recruitment the numbers have gone up dramatically people are proud to join such a an army or a Navy or Air Force Marines or any of the others Coast Guard because we have somebody and I'm not comparing him to King Manasseh other than to say we have somebody in power who cares about the people in this country and the defense of our country.
And so when Manasseh returned, rather than seeing how he could please the false gods of Baal, he put a city up or a wall up to protect the city of David.
And then you'll also humble yourself before people.
Those go hand in hand.
A man who has a high view of himself will hold God and people in contempt because he puts himself up here and God and the people below him.
He sees them as beneath him to serve his needs.
And next week we'll talk about a man who has a right view of himself as we continue learning about this change made in Manasseh.
Let's pray.
Father we thank you for your word this morning.
Thank you for what you've taught us through these scriptures, how you've encouraged us, how you've admonished us.
And Lord sometimes we come in Sunday morning we just need a reset so that we'll remember what's important.
We'll remember that carnal things are carnal and spiritual things are spiritual and and that regardless of what happens on this earth, it's all finite, it's all got an expiration date and an ending, and that those things which are spiritual, which are eternal, are everlasting, and are because of your grace toward us through your son Jesus Christ, and it's in his name we pray, amen.
