Second Kings 17, verse 24. The dominant theme of this
section in Second Kings is not difficult to pinpoint.
Even a plain reading of the rest of this text will reveal a truth
that is not unfamiliar to us here at Maranatha Bible Church,
something that we hear quite often.
What you'll discover in these verses is the recurring phrase,
the fear of the Lord. You can't miss it, it's
everywhere. In fact, if you count the phrase
both on the positive and the negative, meaning to fear the
Lord or to not fear the Lord, it appears a total of eight times
in this portion of God's word. And so upon discovering this, I
was initially thinking to approach the study with you by
taking all the observations that we make and relating it back to
that theme, the what, who, when, how of fearing God.
But we're not going to limit our study to that narrow framework.
Instead, we're going to approach these verses with a wider lens
while still acknowledging the unavoidable insights regarding
this God word. Ah, but it's worth making a note
for yourself that if you ever want to learn more about the
fear of the Lord, or if you are teaching somebody about that
glorious truth, this is a wonderful passage to use.
There is great insight regarding that.
And this tax is rich for many reasons.
Beyond that, as we will discover now, we won't be reading a large
portion right away. Let's just look at verse 24 and
continue with that pace until we complete this chapter together.
Second king 1724 and the king of Assyria brought people from
Babylon, Katha, Ava, Hamas, and Safar Vayim and placed them in
the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel, and they
took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.
Hopefully you remember that the Assyrians have finally taken,
removed, displaced the northern Kingdom of Israel.
Does anybody remember the Last King of Israel named here in our
study? Well, if you just look down,
it's right there in the beginning of chapter 17, Hoshea,
he was the Last King of this Kingdom before Syria invaded and
removed the entire population, at least most of the population
from their homeland. And what we discovered in this
verse is a policy of the Assyrian Kingdom.
And one of the things that they would do when they would
conquest and when they would take over a place is that they
would repopulate that vacant land.
And so this is was this was an imperial strategy.
It was when a dominating nation would come remove a people and
take other subjects that they have dominated and replace those
that have left an area desolate. And there are many advantages to
this. One of them would be that it
would hinder any unified attempt to cause an uprising or
overthrow those that were conquering them.
Besides that, you also had the exploitation of goods and and
bringing these foreign groups this mixed people and forcing
them to labor to extract goods for again the dominant power.
And we can imagine how much psychological warfare is
included in this. But the one thing that we're
supposed to be gripped by is the fact that this land, this Holy
Land, the Bible calls it, this promised land, is now desolate.
I mean, you got to imagine this now, the very same land that was
promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the very same country
that God help Joshua and a particular generation of
Israelites conquer, is now empty.
This is staggering. This is almost surreal.
It's so difficult to imagine. But it happened.
And sadly, some erroneously believe and reference this
imperative moment in Israel's history to make wild claim about
the Israelites. So what do you mean?
Well, there are some who would claim that since the Assyrian
exile, 10 out of the 12 tribes virtually disappeared into
history. You probably heard this term the
the 10 lost Tribes of Israel. Maybe not.
But the implication of some assert is that the exile served
as a catalyst for these 10 tribes, a major portion of the
descendants of Abraham, to essentially be dispersed and
assimilate to the point of being irrelevant.
And there are others who are confident about strange
conspiracies, ideas and legends, including cults that attempt to
gain authority for the false teachings by claiming descent
from the scattered tribes of Israel.
Here's what they will argue that since the Jews were removed from
their land, many migrated to Europe, Africa, the Americas.
And since they are of those particular regions or
ethnicities, they also come from the same stock of Abraham and
the patriarchs and therefore claim the same covenantal
blessings. There are groups who base their
doctrine on that false assumption, and it's possible
that you might be at some point in your life faced with such
claims. So what do you do?
What do you do with movements that would even come to a text
like this, the one that we're studying, to try to defend a
certain system of belief that is clearly an error?
It's very simple. You know your Bible well.
And the way to silence those who
might come from cults and strange ideas is to remind them
that though these 10 tribes were displaced, they were never, ever
lost. They were never lost.
And a common argument as well. You never read in the Bible how
these 10 tribes returned to the land.
True to which I would respond. But you also read that not every
single member of these tribes were removed completely to begin
with. We have to remember that almost
immediately after Israel's schism, after it becoming 2
kingdoms, you had a righteous remnant, a righteous remnant who
really wanted to worship the true and living God in the
northern Kingdom of Israel that migrated to the southern Kingdom
where the temple was so that they can honor God the way he
prescribed. And one of the earliest accounts
of this is found in the book of Second Chronicles.
So let's turn to the Second Chronicles in Chapter 11, verse
16. You may not recognize the need
for this information now, but you never know.
So be equipped tonight. Second Chronicles 11, verse 16.
This is when Jeroboam was ruling in the northern parts and
Rehoboam was still in charge in the southern parts.
And what do we find in Second Chronicles 1116?
And those who had set their hearts to seek the Lord God of
Israel came after them, From which tribes, all the tribes of
Israel, to Jerusalem, to sacrifice to the Lord, the God
of their fathers. They strengthened the Kingdom of
Judah, and for three years they made Rehoboam the son of Solomon
secure, for they walked for three years in the way of David
and Solomon. That should settle the matter.
You have a remnant from all the tribes that made their way to
the southern Kingdom to worship the true and living God.
And if that doesn't settle the matter, let's consider what we
find after the Assyrian exile when Hezekiah becomes the king
in Judah, which we're going to study next week, and how he
invited and he sent a message to all the peoples of the land to
join him in his efforts to reinstate the Passover.
So we're still in Second Chronicles.
Go to chapter 30 and look at verse 6.
Second Chronicles 30, verse 6. So couriers went through all
Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his Princess,
as the king had commanded, saying, O people of Israel,
return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that
he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the
hand of the kings of Assyria. So not only is Hezekiah reaching
out to all of Israel, but he is addressing the remnant of
Israel. Remember, he's the king of the
southern Kingdom of Judah, and he's reaching out to the
northern parts. And he's specifically calling
for those who survived the conquest that we're studying
here in Second King 17. Which means what?
That even though most of the tribes were removed, you still
had those representing every tribe who were left behind who
have escaped. So you have tribes that early on
came to Jerusalem, and even after the exile in the northern
parts, you have people who remained.
And if there's any confusion of the confirmation of this
remnant, go to verse 10 of Second Chronicles 30.
So the couriers went from city to city through the country of
Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun, But they laughed
them to scorn and mock them. However, some men of Asher, of
Manasseh, and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to
Jerusalem. So they're lost.
How can you say they're lost? Yes, a majority of them were
removed, but not completely erased.
And even if this conversation were to continue, there is
evidence in the New Testament that confirms the preservation
of these tribes. Any ideas come to mind?
Any references? Any occurrence of the in the New
Testament that would help us make this case?
You can actually answer if you know.
Paul. Tribe of what?
Sure, tribe of Benjamin. But Benjamin was a part of the
Kingdom of the South with Judah. Correct?
But that's still a good answer. I'm talking more about the
northern tribes that were removed by the Assyrians.
Anything that we find in the New Testament, the Day of Pentecost,
that's a good answer as well. Any references to the tribe
specifically though? Let me ask you a question.
When the Lord Jesus as a child was brought into the temple by
his earthly parents, there was a prophetess by the name of where
was she from? Let's go to Luke chapter 2.
I think I've held you in suspense long enough.
Luke 2 verse 36 and we'll look at another answer in the book of
Luke, Luke 236 reads and there was a prophetess, Anna, the
daughter of Fanuel of the tribe of Asher, one of the tribes from
the northern Kingdom. She was advancing years, having
lived with her husband seven years from when she was a
virgin. Let's look at another answer and
Luke that we can go to other places.
Go to Luke 22. Let's consider the words of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You are those who have stayed
with me in my trials. He is speaking to the disciples,
and I assigned to you as my father assigned to me a Kingdom,
that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom, and sit on
Thrones. Judging who?
The 2 tribes of Israel. Which tribes?
The 12, The 12 tribes of Israel. Now, some try to spiritualize
this passage, but the way we should honor it is he is
speaking about a time when he will rule and reign, and he will
dispatch his apostles to also give judgment to specific
jurisdiction, and that is the 12 tribes of Israel.
This is about the millennial reign of Christ.
So again, there are people out there that really want to argue,
especially in the New Covenant, that the Jewish people have no
relevance anymore, and they would backtrack it even to the
Exiles that we see, namely the Assyrian one.
But I'm here to tell you that God hasn't lost any of them.
In fact, as we study Revelation on Sundays, we're going to
realize that many of those tribes will be there even in the
final days of history. Put that in your pocket for
another time. Let's come back to our main text
and let's continue reading. In verse 25, we read.
And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not
fear the Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions
among them, which killed some of them.
So you have this entire group of people known as the northern
Kingdom of Israel removed from their homes, removed from the
boundaries of Israel, and they are now replaced with Gentiles
who clearly worship different gods.
And though we have new settlers now in this area, they're
quickly going to learn who really owns this land.
God. Now, some here we try to explain
this simply as a natural overpopulation of animals
resulting from an unregulated region due to the absence of
humans present. That misses the point.
What do we read here? That it was the Lord.
It was the Lord who sent lions among them.
So this is how God welcomes these new people in a sense.
They arrive in this place and he wants to introduce these
newcomers to his awesome and terrifying power, His presence.
Now think about this. The Lord did not need any king,
any army, any walls, any Chariots to defend what was his.
He could recruit animals to do his bidding.
And there's so many things that we can say about this, but this
teaches us at least one main thing, that when darkness
spreads and evil invades, God is still in control.
That's the beauty of this verse. He is still in power.
Israel might have been conquered, but the promises and
the purposes of God we're not right at the beginning.
He is proving to us that things are still in operation.
His plans and His purposes are still in motion, and He's
letting these foreigners know the same.
And this serves as a wonderful reminder for you and I when we
look out into the world and we are witnessing A weakening
Christendom. And perhaps the temptation is to
be discouraged as we see professing Christians and
churches and ministries faltering and being overcome by
deception and evil. You can never afford to forget
this truth. Christ is never defeated.
Never. And we see here in the Old
Testament, and surely it is just as true in the New Testament.
It is true in this covenant as well.
And so we find here that the Lord introduces himself in a
particular way. Matthew Henry said something
wonderful about this passage. He said the Lord of hosts can
serve his own purposes by which he pleases small or great lice
or lions. I love that He doesn't need us.
He delights to use us, and we should be delighted to be used.
But he can call a lice or he can recruit lions.
He can do whatever he pleases. I'm meditating on this and I'm
thinking there's more to learn from that one verse.
I find it interesting that the Lord held these pagans
responsible to relate and to respond to God, the true God
appropriately. Look back again at the verse.
It says that they did not fear the Lord, therefore it wasn't
just because they moved in, it's because they didn't recognize
them the way they should have. Therefore the Lord sent lions
among them. So how do we make sense of this?
What's quite simple, the Scriptures tell us over and over
and over again that God has many ways of awakening man in his
sin, awakening man in his falsehood, in order for them to
be placed on the path of truth. And in this particular account,
we find that the Lord unleashes an unusual series of tragedies,
right? People died because of these
lions in order to alarm them. And the question that we should
have as we read this is how are these people going to respond?
How are they going to interpret these events?
And our answer comes in the next verse.
So let's read it together. So the king of Assyria was told,
The nations that you have carried away and placed in the
cities of Samaria do not know the law of the God of the land.
Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are
killing them, because they do not know the law of the God of
the land. Then the king of Assyria
commanded, Send there one of the priests whom you carried away
from there, and let him go and dwell there, and teach them the
law of the God of the land. So one of the priests whom they
had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and
taught them how they should fear the Lord.
There is both a positive aspect and a clear -1 in these verses.
The +1 is that these foreigners reacted to the warnings of God
much better than Israel did in the past.
Don't you think we we can applaud them?
Why? Because they responded to this
divinely orchestrated suffering by looking up, by looking for
answers, by inquiring. They didn't just dismiss it as
coincidence. They didn't try to manage their
own pain. They were on a quest now to look
for answers, to try to reconcile themselves to, in their limited
understanding, the God of this region.
And that's something that we can compare with these children of
Jacob and how stubborn they were even in their suffering.
That being said, there is a downside to this.
And the downside is that Israel, Israel had failed yet again to
fulfill the purposes of God in the particular area of shining
the light of the truth to their neighbors.
How can we make that claim from these verses?
Well, we just learned that even after the exile, there was a
remnant who remained in the land.
So here's my question. If there were people who
understood who the true God was, what he asked of them, then why
then they seized the moment and reach out to their bewildered,
confused neighbors and guide them to the truth.
That's a question, right? A worthy question to ask the the
plain answer is that they clearly were not in right
relationship with God for themselves, which is extremely
sad because God from the days of Exodus deliver this people from
Egypt for many reasons, including this wonderful truth
that they would be a holy nation, that they would be a
priesthood to mediate to some degree and to guide people,
namely their neighbors to understanding who the true God
is. And they failed.
They failed over and over even when these neighbors came to
their front step. And this is something for us to
consider because we can't just criticize these Israelites.
We got to examine our own hearts as followers of Jesus Christ.
We need to take heed to instructions like what we find
in Colossians 4-5 as an example, which says walk in wisdom toward
outsiders. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders.
And one of the ways that you and I walk in wisdom in the presence
of unbelievers is that we are continually mindful and alert of
their needs, of the opportunities for us to be able
to give them the hope of the gospel.
One of my favorite examples of this is with Joseph.
Joseph's story is a fascinating 1 And the script of his life
really changed when he was in prison because, as you know, he
interpreted the dreams of two individuals. 1 was the cup
bearer Pharaoh, the other the chief Baker.
And that would essentially be the means for him to be
delivered and promoted to be second command in Egypt.
But did it just start with him interpreting dreams
spontaneously? Now you have to read your Bibles
carefully one day because Joseph was promoted to be the
supervisor in that prison. He's walking through the halls.
He's making his rounds. He's checking off his To Do
List. And he notices something.
Why don't we turn there anyway? I was a planter.
But let's go there. Go to Genesis chapter 40.
Hopefully this will inspire us afresh to read our Bibles
carefully and to draw practical wisdom from stories like what we
find here. Genesis 40.
Let's look at verse 5. And one night they both dreamed,
that is, the chief Baker and the cupbearer.
They both dreamed the cupbearer and the Baker of the king of
Egypt, who were confined in the prison.
Each his own dream and each dream with its own
interpretation. When Joseph came to them in the
morning, he saw that they were troubled.
I have different colors underlining that specific part
of the verse. He saw that they were troubled.
He was aware of the distress on their faces, but he he didn't
just make a mental note about it.
Look what happens in verse 7. So he asked.
He asked Pharaoh's officers who are with him in custody in his
master's house. Why are your faces downcast
today? You know what I asked myself,
reading this many years ago when it first came to me?
What if he had just ignored it? What do you just went on with
his day because he had so many responsibilities?
What would he have missed if you fail to seize the opportunity
here to realize disillusionment, despair, and then to see it as a
way, not realizing the full potential at the moment, but at
least to be caring enough to inquire and that being the means
for him to knowing a greater testimony.
This is something for you and I to consider.
Because if you and I are not prepared to sacrifice, to step
in the lives of people who are hurting, who have questions, who
don't know how to make sense of life, their own lives, what
we're seeing in the world, if we neglect that, if we ignore that,
if we don't feel the responsibility to give clarity,
they will look to another source.
And in this case, instead of the remnant stepping in, they turn
to the king of Assyria. Now we might be excited because
we read there in verse 27 of Second Kings 17 that the ruler
of this Syrians decides to send back a priest that was carried
away in exile to teach these new dwellers of how to honor the God
of the land. But whatever excitement we might
have, even though we seem to be initially excited, He taught
them how they should fear the Lord. 1 Little detail will pop
the balloon of any excitement that you might have enjoyed
quite quickly. What do I mean by that Revisit?
28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from some
from Samaria, came and lived in where Bethel, and taught them
how they should fear the Lord. Should Bethel remind you of
anything in our study of the Book of Kings, both 1st and 2nd
Kings? What was special about the area
called Bethel? Any ideas?
It was a designated place of worship for the Golden calf
since the days of Jeroboam, so we should remember.
This should in a sense trigger us.
Oh, Bethel priest teaching trouble, How so?
Well, since the days of Jeroboam, when he instituted
golden calf worship in the land, there was no true priesthood,
only counterfeit priests. And so we have every right to
question the legitimacy of this priest who returned to Israel,
because he must be one of the false ones that was removed from
the land. And this is the one who's going
to come back now and teach these people how they should fear God.
So we should be concerned. We should be worried.
What is he going to tell them? And this got me thinking, What's
just as spiritually lethal? Someone ignoring an opportunity
to guide unbelievers is someone who misrepresents the truth in
the name of God. Be very careful where you seek
spiritual answers. Listen, be careful and
thankfully God has graciously given us His words so we have
the ability to examine everything that we hear because
this is the book by which He will hold every man accountable.
That's why I believe in Scripture alone, because over
and over in the Bible we're told that He's going to judge us by
the content of this book. So what excuse do people have,
especially here in the West, of being deceived when God has
given us His complete revelation?
And so on one side you have a remnant of Israelites who fail
to reach out to these darkened Gentiles, and on the other side
we have now a priest who's teaching them who knows what
because he comes from the questionable priest that
Jeroboam promoted. Unfortunately, we are about to
witness the fruit of this nameless priests distorted
compromise teaching and it's heartbreaking.
Let's read in verse 29. But every nation still made gods
of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that
the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which
they lived. Before we explain this further,
I want to highlight a word that appears for the first time in
the Old Testament and the only time in the Old Testament did
you see the word in the verse that we just read?
If you know it, say it out loud. Samaritans, right?
It appears only here in the Hebrew Scriptures, and we know
that it appears a handful of times in the Gospels.
And we should be persuaded that there's something about this
account that explains something of the history of the Samaritans
and the animosity that the they had towards the Jews and the
Jews had towards them during the days of the ministry of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And there are answers here.
Who are these Samaritans? Well, the best explanation is
that they originated from the Israelites of the Northern
Kingdom. But they developed a new
identity, especially after this moment, because these Samaritans
now intermarried with these pagans, and over time they
became a new breed. And this consistent
intermingling eventually caused the Hebrews of the Southern
Kingdom to deem these Samaritans as illegitimate Jews in regards
to their religion and their race.
And we see this hostility developing as we continue in our
study of redemptive history. And there's one place where it
becomes incredibly clear. It's in the book of Ezra, when
the southern Kingdom will eventually be removed from the
land. By who?
Not the Assyrians, but the Babylonians.
But later they're permitted to return to the land to restore
the temple and their homes. Something occurs when those Jews
of the southern Kingdom return and they are greeted by a people
who remained in the land. Let's turn to Ezra chapter 4,
beginning in verse one. Now when the adversaries of
Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were
building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, pause.
So right there in verse one, we have to ask yourself, who are
these adversaries? Well, one thing we know about
them is what we find in verse 2, They approached Zerubabel.
So whoever these adversaries were, they abided in the land,
in the promised land. They were there, They were
waiting in a sense. And so the people of Judah and
Benjamin, they returned. They represent the southern
Kingdom. They come back to their homeland
and they are approached by what the Scripture says, adversaries.
They approached verse 2, Zerubbel and the heads of
Father's houses, and said to them, let us build with you, for
we worship your God as you do. Again, we're thinking, who are
you? And we know what the remaining
part of this verse. And we have been sacrificing to
him ever since the days of senior Haddon, king of Assyria,
who brought us here. Do we know who they are now?
Yes, these are the Samaritans and they trace their roots back
to the time when the king of Assyria dropped off these pagans
in the northern parts of Israel. And over time they intermarried
and they developed their own people group and they're
claiming the right to be able to join them in this effort to re
establish the worship of the temple.
We worship your gods. We worship your God, namely.
And what's the response of the Jews who returned in verse 3?
But Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the rest of the heads of the
father's houses in Israel said to them, You have nothing to do
with us in building a house to our God, but we alone will build
to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of
Persia, has commanded us. Verse 4.
Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah
and made them afraid to build. And this tension only builds
over the years, over the centuries, and it peaks at the
time of Christ. But here's what's so
fascinating. The Lord Jesus Christ, the
Jewish Messiah, does not interact or reference these
Samaritans in the way that the average Jew did of his time.
In fact, when we consider the interaction that we just read,
you can say that there is a thematic reversal in this
exchange in one of the Gospel accounts.
Hopefully this makes sense. Let's turn to John chapter 4.
We know this chapter very well. It's when Jesus visits the woman
at the well, and she's from Samaria as we know.
But look at John 4 verse 7. A woman from Samaria came to
draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a
drink, for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy
food. The Samaritan woman said to him,
How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of
Samaria? For Jews have no dealings with
Samaritans. Now think back to what we just
read in Ezra chapter 4. In Ezra chapter 4, you had the
Samaritans who approached the Jews and asked to participate in
an effort for something good, right?
And what happens? The Jews, led by Zerubbabel
among other leaders, denied their request.
And the response of the people, the land then was to harass them
and to annoy them and to stifle and to try to hinder their
efforts. It just made them even more
embittered. But hundreds of years pass now
and we stumble upon a Jewish man and he approaches and makes a
request to who? A Samaritan.
And initially his appeal was denied as well.
What did she say? She said how?
How are you a Jew asking a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?
Now here's what this gets even more brilliant.
I don't want to overwhelm you with these references, so let me
try to speak slowly because when I get excited I tend to speak
fast. In Matthew 112 you can turn to
if you want, we learn that Jesus is a descendant of Zerubbabel
and that interesting the same Zerubbabel that we read of in
Ezra. So you have the descendant of
Zerubbabel now engaging with a Samaritan.
She rejects his appeal, but what does he do in response to her
stiff armed response? Does he insult her?
Does he rebuke her? Does he denounce her?
No, He patiently leads her to the truth and he grants her one
of the clearest confessions and all of the Gospels that he was
the Messiah. Who would have thought that?
You can make a connection with the Lord Jesus Christ in Ezra
chapter 4 and Second Kings chapter 17, and we see it here.
The Lord draws this woman not just to himself, but to the
truth, and she goes back to the Samaritans of her village and
preaches her testimony with the limited knowledge that she had
and it brought revival to her town.
That warmed my heart. I hope it did something to
yours. Let's come back to our main text
in verse 32nd, King 17. Forgive me if I mispronounce
these names. I will try my best.
The men of Babylon made Sukhoth Binoth, the men of Koth made
Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, and the Avites made
Nibaz and Tartak. And the Sephirvites burned their
children in the fire of Adra Malik and Anna Malik, the gods
of Sephirvan. They also fear the Lord, and
appointed from among all, among themselves all sorts of people,
as priests of the high places, who sacrifice for them in the
shrines of the high places. So they fear the Lord, but also
serve their own gods after the manner of the nations from among
whom they had been carried away. At first glance these verses
seem very troubling. How can you say that they fear
the Lord and in the same breath say that they serve their own
gods? Seems like a contradiction.
Well, it's clarified with context.
All you have to do is keep reading and it begins to make a
little bit more sense. So look briefly at verse 34.
To this day, they do. According to the former manner,
they do not fear the Lord and they do not follow the statutes
or the rules or the law or the commandment that the Lord
commanded the children of Jacob. So this helps us understand
what's really going on here, that whatever allegiance that
these people groups show to the Lord, it was not the way God
designed it to be. It was a measure of respect.
It was a partial recognition. It was a diluted devotion.
But in reality, they simply added Yahweh to their pantheon.
To them, he was just the God of this land, not the God of all
things. And so they thought what was
demanded of them was just to add Yahweh to their other list of
idols. And surely this inept priest
from Bethel didn't make things easier for them to decipher.
Did he know? If anything, he probably
encouraged them to worship all these false gods.
And here's what we can make of this for ourselves.
Like any truth that's found in the Word of God, our sinful
inclinations and tendencies can warp what God asks of us, all
the while thinking we're really honoring Him.
Let me give you an example. Are there people out there who
misinterpret and misapply the grace of God?
Absolutely. Other many who attempt to
justify even reference Scripture to defend their sin.
Yes, which means that there is a right and wrong understanding of
the grace of God. And that's a distinction that
the New Testament even makes. And where my mind went to when
meditating on this earlier today is how Peter ends his initial
epistle. What is he saying?
First, Peter 5, He says, it's in verse 12.
I have written briefly to you exhorting and declaring that
this is oh, I wish we had it on the screen.
It's in your Bibles, though, He says, let me say it again.
I have written briefly to you exhorting and declaring that
this is the true grace of God. Stand for a minute.
So as he's wrapping things up with his letter, he wants to
confirm that everything that he explained to them is the true
grace of God. Which implies what?
That there's a false grace of God.
In like manner, can we not say that there is a true fear of God
and there is a false form of fear of God?
What we're seeing here with this, this people group is the
embracing and the deception of a false fear of God, an
acknowledgement of him, but not the way God intended it to be.
And so the Holy Spirit wants to confirm in verse 34 that they
did not really fear the Lord. They added the Lord.
They had some concept of the Lord, they did things for the
Lord, but the true fear of the Lord is total devotion to the
Lord. And So what do we find?
Let's revisit verse 34. To this day.
They do according to the former manner.
They do not fear the Lord, and they do not follow the statutes,
or the rules, or the law, or the commandment that the Lord
commanded the children of Jacob, whom He named Israel.
The Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them.
You shall not fear other gods, or bow yourselves to them, or
serve them, or sacrifice to them, but you shall fear the
Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power
and with an outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him,
and to Him you shall sacrifice, and the statutes and the rules
and the law and the commandment that He wrote for you, you shall
always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods,
and you shall not forget the covenant that I've made with
you. You shall not fear other gods,
but you shall fear the Lord your God, and He will deliver you out
of the hand of all your enemies. However, they would not listen,
but they did according to their former manner.
So these nations fear the Lord and also serve their carved
images. Their children did likewise, and
their children's children as their fathers did so they do to
this day. You want to know how this
continued, how far it continued? Today's of the Samaritan woman.
This chapter closes with an important flashback of the
covenant of the Lord made with the children of Jacob.
Moreover, it highlights that this new synchronistic religion
that has permeated Samaria, something that violated the
expectations that God had with this covenant, with this people.
You know, you have some people who in our day are trying to
achieve what happened in Samaria.
Here they're fighting for the erasure of the exclusivity of
truth claims they praise, and they're trying to promote the
the merging of different religious paths.
Well, they're just different expressions, different ways to
the same God. But what man applauds, what man
exalts, God condemns and he sees as an abomination.
And that's what I want to try to convey by reading this to you in
one reading, to understand that as the Lord reviews this, he
wants to ensure that he does not want this.
It's a violation to what he expected from his people.
And just in case that there is anyone under the false
assumption who believed for some reason that God's passion for
the truth somehow evolves, and it evolves in the New Testament,
let me remind you what Jesus Christ said to somebody who
belonged to this group of people.
The very same woman that Christ had compassion toward is the
very same Jesus who said the following in John 422.
You worship what you do not know.
We worship what we know for what?
For salvation is from the Jews. I have read and I've even heard
preachers appeal to John chapter 4 to try to make a case for
racial justice, overcoming social barriers, the
reconciliation of our differences, how to achieve
harmony with different backgrounds.
And I believe they missed the point.
Yes, there is an element here of the Lord doing something outside
of the norms of his culture. But what's the goal?
To bring this woman to saving faith?
And he was willing to do what? To tell her in the process.
You don't know what worship is about.
You're in error. The way you think you relate to
God is wrong. So he was willing to this woman,
yes, who had a very shattered history with men, a very sinful
past, very ashamed, and yet he had to say you are not in the
right, but I'm here to tell you the truth.
And so the same heartbeat that we find here in 2nd 17, as the
Lord now gives commentary, what's taking place here among
the Samaritans continues in Christ.
He is still passionate about the truth.
He's still inviting people in air to come to the light.
You worship what you do not know.
We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
And He leads her step by step. All the patience of Christ, even
in His evangelism. She wasn't getting it right
away, but He was willing to bring her through this process
until she arrived at the knowledge that would change her
life forever. But there's another thing that
stands out from these verses. I mean, you heard it over and
over. Do not fear other gods.
You shall fear the Lord. It's everywhere.
It's just it's peppered all over these verses.
But something stood out to me and we'll close with this
observation in verse 40. After mentioning the fear of God
in different ways so many times, the author writes, however, they
would not listen those 4 words. They would not listen, but they
did according to their former manner.
One way we can be certain that we fear the Lord is that we
listen. We listen to God's Word not just
with our ears, but with our hearts.
We are eager to obey. In other words, the extent to
which this book has authority over your life is a key
indicator of the strength of your awe of God.
You fear God. I fear God.
OK, what does this book mean to you?
Does this book have the final say, no matter what it
challenges with your predispositions and what you
hold too dearly? What's rooted in you?
What's been passed down generationally, what you've
heard in your own church background?
What does the Bible have to say, and do you agree with it?
That tells you and I so much about a person's fear of God.
They would not listen. I love to make these claims
because they're biblical and then just compact it with more
Bible. And so as I'm reading 2nd 17,
earlier in this week, I'm revisiting the book of Exodus.
And what I found in Exodus, what I was reminded of in a
particular place, just makes the point that I'm ending with that
much more strong. So we come to a particular
plague in Exodus 9. Why don't we turn there and
we'll finish with it? In Exodus Chapter 9, Moses
confronts Pharaoh yet again with the 7th plague, which was the
threat of unusual hail crashing on everything.
And notice what he says here in verse 19.
Now therefore send get your livestock and all that you have
in the field and to safe shelter.
For every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought
home will die when the hail falls on them.
Notice what happens in the next verse.
Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of
Pharaoh, hurried. They hurried his slaves and his
livestock into the houses, but whoever did not pay attention to
the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the
field. Connect fearing the Lord with
paying attention to the word of the Lord, and connect not
fearing the Lord with not paying attention to the word of the
Lord. Does that not confirm what we
read in Second Kings 17? They would not listen and every
word matters here, right? Once they heard what Moses said
in verse 20, it says that the servants of Pharaoh, they
hurried, they didn't drag their feet.
I argue that they echoed what we find there in Genesis 22 when
the Lord visits Abraham and he says, Abraham, I want you to
give up your son. Yes, the son whom you love.
And read there in the introduction of that chapter
that he rose early. He didn't delay, he didn't toss
back and forth in bed. What was that a dream?
Was that really the Lord? He got up, he packed his bags,
he brought his son, he brought company, and they made their way
towards the mountains of Moriah. They hurried.
How does your heart respond when you hear something that confirms
or convicts you to the degree that the word of the Lord has?
That kind of force in your soul is the measure of the pulse of
your absolute reverence and awe towards God.
Isn't it wonderful? It's not necessarily a feeling,
though feeling is included. It's about response.
It's about conviction. It's about what's authoritative
in your life. And so let me end the way we
ended last week that everything went wrong for this people
because they fail to fear God. It's no different for people
today. You can trace everything back to
that. A refusal, denial, or a
weakening in this place of your heart, seeing God for who He
truly is. May the Lord inspire fresh fear
of Him. As we close this chapter, we
thank you, Lord, that you've led us through this wonderful text,
instrumental in our understanding of the history of
your works in this world. Help us be able to retain it,
not forget it. Help us walk away with ears that
are open and remaining open. Lord, we love you because even
in this we can see your Son, the Lord Jesus.
Even in this we can see principles that apply to us in
the New covenant. And for this, Lord, we want to
worship you. We want to rejoice, we want to
give you our awe. You are gracious to us.
O God and Lord, we pray that you would even give us a fresh seal
to reach out to those around us. Help us overcome fear and the
things that we try to convince ourselves with.
To not be bold and not be clear and not be caring enough to look
at people that we know, even strangers.
Be willing to step in so that they can be delivered.
Help us love the truth. Help us hold on to this word
with absolute delight and treasure.
And Lord, help us live for you. We ask these things in Jesus
name, Amen.