Father, we ask that if any of us have not been satisfied with
Your love, that you would use this Bible study to awaken
affection in each of our hearts toward Christ.
And Lord, we pray that we would be convinced of how sure Your
compassion is for each of us, especially as we come to this
chapter in this book. And Lord, lastly, we pray that
every truth that is explored and explained would not just merely
be filed in our minds. It would be adorned in our
conduct. That we would, as Titus tells
us, to adorn the doctrine of God so that the world may witness
how beautiful this gospel is, how precious your Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ truly is. So even now, Lord, we submit
every faculty of our being, we ask, Lord, that you would
protect the transmission of truth, that any scheme of Satan
that would try to interfere would be cancelled, that you
would help us overcome any sin, any unbelief, anything of the
flesh that would obstruct the promises of God flourishing in
our lives. And so, Lord, even in the
delivery of this message, in this time of expounding help,
may Christ alone be seen, may he alone be heard, and may he alone
be adored. We ask these things in his
living name, the matchless name of Jesus Christ.
Amen. As we are approaching the end of
the Book of Second Kings, I was curious to know how many kings
we have left to study. Well, in the final five chapters
of the Book of Second Kings, there are a total of 7 monarchs
to explore together in this book.
Now that may seem like quite a bit considering the pace of our
study on Friday nights, but not all of these rulers receive real
estate. Two out of the seven are given
significantly more attention than the others.
The first is Manessa, who is the son of Hezekiah.
The second is Josiah, one of the most prominent reformers in the
Kingdom of Judah. And as we come to 2nd Kings 21,
King Manasseh will be the focus of our study this evening.
And as we turn there, we might expect that this young man will
continue leading God's people on the path of faithfulness as he
receives the baton from his righteous father, Hezekiah.
Tragically, we are going to learn instead that one of the
greatest spiritual leaders in Judah's history fathered the
most wicked man in Judah's history, Manasa.
That claim is a conjecture. By the way, that is exactly what
the author inspired by the Holy Spirit says about this man
Manessa in the very chapter we are going to delve into
together. And as difficult as it may be to
learn about someone who went in the complete opposite direction
of such an inspirational man like Hezekiah, there is much to
glean from this man's life. He is infamous.
Yes, he is problematic, but he has been placed in our Bibles
for our up building, for our encouragement.
And as we come again to this chapter, realize that in verse
one alone there is a meal for our meditation.
Let's start by looking at three things from the introduction of
this chapter by looking at some details.
Are you there with me? Second Kings 21, verse one and
verse 2. Manessa was 12 years old when he
began to reign, and he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem.
His mother's name was Have Sepa, and he did what was evil in the
side of the Lord, according to the despicable practices of the
nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
Three things I want to point out.
Number one, let's consider Manessa's age, 12 years old, 12
years old, occupying the most powerful seat in Judah.
Now, we've studied enough of the Book of Kings to not be so
surprised that such a young man, a child really has been elevated
to such a position. But when we connect Manessa to
his father, this, this little instruction here, this little
detail should be a special interest to us.
Remember that Hezekiah was supposed to die in his 30s, but
he was granted how many more years to live?
1515 years to live? Vanessa was 12 years old.
Implying what? That he was born a few years
after Hezekiah was miraculously healed after he was delivered
from this deadly disease, which helps us understand a second
observation. The name of this new king
Manasseh. We've seen this name before in
our study of the Old Testament and it made me wonder if
Hezekiah named his son Manasseh for a similar reason.
Why Joseph named his first born Manasseh?
Because in Genesis 4151, Joseph said in calling his name
Manasseh, I will do so because God has made me forget all my
hardship and all my father's house.
The name Manessa means making to forget.
And I wonder again if Hezekiah did something similar because of
the joy that Manessa brought to his life, offering a similar
relief from his own pain that he had to endure.
And more than that, the reward, the sense of reward, that he
would not die without a direct descendant.
Could it be that that was one of the reasons why he lamented on
that bed as he turned his face to the wall, knowing that there
wouldn't be continuation from his line?
Some would say so. But oh, it made me think if
Hezekiah would have prayed differently if he had just got a
glimpse of the trouble and the harm that Manasseh would bring
to the people of God. We can't say for certain.
However, as dark as Manessa's story is, he will be a powerful
example of the New Testament truth that wherever sin abounds,
grace abounds. More Thirdly, another thing to
consider, this is all just from verse one, his administration,
more specifically the duration of it.
How long did he reign for 55? Years.
That is the longest reign in Judas history and it was a
record held by the most vile man.
Why? How can it be?
I mean, you compare with David, you compare with Hezekiah even,
and you wonder how is it that the Lord allowed such an
individual to remain in such a position of power and polluting
his people for this many years? We're not told, but it is a
strong reminder that life and a long life is not always a sign
of God's approval of how one lives.
Is it? Let me add this, It's not long.
It's not how long you live, but how you live that matters.
It's not the quantity, it's not the number of your years, but
how those years are lived. Hezekiah did mourn his 29 years
of governance. The Manessa would do in nearly
twice that time. And when it comes to Manessa,
the only details that we are granted about his reign are the.
Evil crimes that he committed. That's really a large portion of
this chapter. All the hideous things that this
man performed in that length of time.
And it would do us good to briefly look at some of these
things because it will help us. It will, it will really make an
impact on our study's conclusion.
So I, I believe that there are at least 5 categories, 5
indictments to Manessa's evil in the verses that we have not read
yet. And so let's do this.
Let's read these slowly and consider just how heinous and
deplorable and twisted Manessa was.
Look at verse 3. For he rebuilt the high places
that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars
for Baal and made an ashraz. Ahab, king of Israel had done
and worshipped all the hosts of heaven and served them.
Highlight the first part. He rebuilt the high places that
Hezekiah his father had destroyed.
Now remember up to this point. Hezekiah was the only king who
had the boldness, the courage, the love for God to dismantle
and remove these stations of sacrifice that took the people
away from the central place of worship where God's name was
supposed to be called alone and his son reintroduced them.
And there are those who I think through this, there's a
wonderful lesson. For those who would question the
legitimacy of reformation or a move of God like a revival by
pointing out the absence of lasting impact as supposed
evidence. And if you're one of those
skeptics who would rethink if something was genuine, if it was
really something of the Holy Spirit because long term it
doesn't seem to have produced righteousness and and fruit,
remember this. It would be unfair to discount
how God used Hezekiah to bring spiritual reform to the Kingdom.
It's possible for one generation to undo the work that the godly
have done in past years. That's entirely possible, and it
doesn't discredit what God has done before.
That could be true in a local church.
In an institution, In a city, In a denomination.
What we find here is that Manessa's first egregious crime
was that he reversed his father's reforms.
And more than that. He resurrects bail worship and
the adoration of Ashrae like the days of Ahab, and beyond that he
institute's astral. Worship.
What does it say here at the end of verse three that He
worshipped all the hosts of heaven and served them?
So He ascribes divine titles to stars and planets, and He
actually invites people also to sacrifice and Revere them.
And this is something that the Lord specifically prohibits in
Deuteronomy 17 verse 3, that the people of God were not to look
at the sun and the moon and all the other celestial things and
ascribe divinity to them and worship them.
So this is the first thing that he does.
He he reverses what Hezekiah reformed.
Secondly, look at verse 4. And he built altars in the House
of the Lord, of which the Lord had said in Jerusalem, will I
put my name? And he built altars for all the
hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house.
Of the Lord. The severity of this trespass is
not just in the fact that he builds these false altars, it's
the location of these altars where he placed them.
Where was it? In the House of the Lord, the
very place where God had consecrated to be about Him and
Him alone. And So what we see here with
Manessa is that he had total disregard for the sacredness of
the House of God. He could care less about how
holy it was. He could care.
Less about what God asked of those parameters and those
materials and what was to take place in terms of activity.
And the sense that you get already is that there is a
progression here going on of escalating defiance.
It starts here with the high places, these external areas
where the people of Israel could conveniently worship, not just
community worship the true God, but other gods.
And now we're moving into the very heart of worship.
The place that God said he would meet with his people is being
defamed. It's as though Manasseh has no
problem defying God to his face. And this evil is emphasized,
it's highlighted as it is repeated in verse 7.
Scroll down to verse 7. And the carved image of Asherah
that he had made. He sat in the House of which the
Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, in this house
and in Jerusalem, which I've chosen out of all the tribes of
Israel, I will put my name forever.
This is blasphemy. This is gross.
So not only does he place altars, he places an image.
Of a demonic God in the very courts of God.
There's an erasure here of God's presence and his exclusivity,
his beauty, his glory. At at best, if you can say that
he, he's, he's being placed with these gods.
Which is a horrible thing to even say.
At worst, it's Manesa here trying to remove God altogether
from the scene. So the second thing that he does
here is that he desecrates the temple of God.
Thirdly, this is going to be familiar to us, unfortunately.
Look at verse 6. And he burned his son as an
offering and used fortune telling and omens and dealt with
mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of
the Lord provoking him to anger. Manasseh sacrificed.
His children. And you get the impression that
this man is highly motivated to honor virtually everything
except the true and living God. He revives Bill and Asher
worship, he promotes the adoration of astrology, and now
he Stokes the fire of Molech worship.
In Second Chronicles 33, verse 6, a parallel account.
We're told here that he actually sacrificed his sons, plural.
So not just one son, but many of his sons.
And our hearts should absolutely shatter as we are witnessing a
descendant of David committing such bloodshed and having this
tampering, this defiling of the royal dynasty.
There's something special about the seed of David, as we know.
And here's Manessa, carelessly, murderously, in the deplorable
manner. Bringing this line to near
extinction, this wickedness is jaw-dropping.
There's there's a reason why we're feeling this build up in
our righteous indignation. That's what the author is
intending here. And there's still more #4 we
read in the same verse. He engaged heavily in
witchcraft. We've seen very little of this
in the history of Israel's kings and Judas kings.
The closest thing to this is, I believe, saw when he appealed to
a witch to give him some kind of consolation and direction as he
was at war with a foreign enemy. But that's not what we see with
Manessa. We find Manessa here instituting
satanic worship. Leviticus 1926 forbids this,
forbids the telling of fortune, that the interpretation of
omens, a law that Manessa freely disobeyed.
Let me just make a side note here because you'd be surprised
to know how many people who claim that the Bible is their
compass, like to check their horoscopes from time to time,
like to dabble with tarot cards, make a few phone calls to people
who claim to predict the future. You are dabbling in the demonic,
and this is something that not only the Old Testament condemns,
but it's found in the New Testament as well.
You don't need anything else except God, His Word, and His
precious Spirit in your life. Beware of what seems to be
harmless and widely accepted. I know of people who have opened
up torment in their lives because they thought that they
can innocently entertain things that are clearly satanic.
Just a side note #5 this is really a summary of Manasseh's
devilish habits, verse 7 and verse 8.
And the carved image of Ashra that he had made, he said in the
House of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, in
this house and in Jerusalem, which I've chosen out of all the
tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.
And I will not 'cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out
of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be
careful to do according to all that I've commanded them, and
according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.
Now highlight the first part of verse 9.
But they did not listen, and Manasseh LED them astray to do
more evil than the nations had done, whom the Lord destroyed
before the. People of Israel, but they did
not listen #5 The pinnacle really of the problem here is
that he had completely ignored God's Word.
It moves me here to discover that what the Lord said to David
and Solomon, that's what we read in verse 7 and verse 8, right?
That what he had said to David and to Solomon his son was
something meant for Manessa and the people of Israel in his day.
That's just another proof text to confirm that although the
Bible was not written to us, it was indeed written.
What for us, For us. That's how we should approach
the text. That's how we should approach
the. Oracles of God.
You know, many people find it very frustrating to enjoy
reading and studying the scriptures personally and
individually. And one of my first go to
instructions for any person is to firmly establish in your
thinking that I am coming to the Bible.
Yes, to study it as objective truth, but to receive it on a
personal level. What is God?
Saying to me, What is he saying to me?
Not so you can find some promise to fulfill your dream.
Not necessarily. So what is he saying to me about
himself? What is he saying to me about
man? What is he saying to me about
myself? If I'm in him, if I walk away
from him, what is he saying? You got to personalize it.
This is His voice for you. Though in his immediate context,
it was two others. The Lord spoke something to
David and Solomon and it was supposed to be received by
Manessa and his generation, and they totally disregarded.
It and it's really a wonderful comment to wrap up all that
Manessa did in terms of the evil that he committed.
They did not listen. Please don't forget this many
evils can be committed when a person no longer is moved by the
promises in God's Word and the warnings in God's Word.
That's what we find in verse 7 and verse 8, do we not?
Where's the promise? Look back at verse 7.
Reverse a more specifically, I will not cause the feet of
Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their
fathers. That's a promise.
You're permanently here. I will not let any outside
force. I will not let any kind of power
displace you. I will keep you here forever.
And the warning follows. If only they will be careful to
do all that I have commanded them.
They did not listen. There's even a greater danger
when we find ourselves unfazed by a messenger of God who
reminds us urgently and passionately about the Word of
God. So here we're told here that
they did not listen to the written word, right?
But in the parallel account there's an added detail.
So here, what it says in Second Chronicles 33 verse 10, the Lord
spoke to Manessa and to his people, but they paid no
attention. So in Second Kings, I believe
the emphasis is on the the word of God, the written word of God,
because there's a quotation. But in Second Chronicles, I
believe it's the prophetic voice of God that is ultimately meant
to point the people. Back to the Word of God, brother
and sister. If you consistently find
yourself unmoved when the Word of God is open and when it is
heralded and when it is explained in the Spirit, be on
alert. Be aware that you are in a
perilous position, that your soul is in danger.
Becoming dull of hearing is a symptom of a dull soul, and
that's precisely what we find here.
They had no personal engagement or reverence for the Word of
God, and even when it was presented through fiery lips.
They paid no attention dangerous and in case we're not convinced
of the monstrous and horrific sins that this man committed the
Lord provides a summary I guess you can say through his prophets
in the next part of second Kings 21 as they pronounce judgment on
Manasa and his people. Look at verse 10 of second Kings
21. If you haven't noticed, we're
we're going through this entire chapter.
Usually we're slower with our Bible study, but I believe it
will be more beneficial to zoom out and consider the whole story
to no greater impact. Look at verse 10.
And the Lord said by his servants the prophets, because
Manasseh king of Judah, has committed these abominations,
and has done things more evil than all the Amorites did who
were before him, and has made Judah also descend with his
idols. Therefore thus says the Lord the
God of Israel, behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and
Judah such disaster. That the ears of everyone who
fears of it, or hears of it rather, will tingle.
You have studied kings enough to know that whenever.
There is a wicked ruler who emerges.
He's usually compared to a previous wicked king, either in
recent or far distant memory. So it'll read something like and
he did evil in the sight of Lord.
As such and such. Remember this.
It's a pattern in the Book of Kings, both 1st and 2nd kings.
But when it comes to Manasseh, there is no comparison to a
previous king in Judah. There isn't even a comparison
with. A wicked, notorious king in
Israel. The northern Kingdom.
Who is he compared to the inhabitants of the land of
Canaan before the people of Israel came in to take over the
Amorites, one of the several nations that populated?
The Promised Land before they were expelled.
And not only is Manasseh compared to the Amorites, we're
told that he did worse than them.
Feel it. What was this man doing to
actually outshine the evil of those that God had to vomit out
of this piece of real estate? And this is intentional,
obviously led by the Spirit. But the careful student of the
Bible is supposed to follow this up with a question.
Well, if God expelled the Amorites among other Canaanites
from the land for their evil, what is he going to do with the
Kingdom of Judah exactly? That's the point we're supposed
to realize. Exile has to be on the way.
God must, if He is, just deal with this people accordingly.
And He will. He's about to do that.
And in the same way that the Lord waited for the iniquity of
the Amorites to reach its full measure, remember that the Lord
said that to Abraham in Genesis 15.
He's been doing the same with his own people, and we have now
reached the brim of his patients.
So he says, I'm going to do three things.
We read one of them in verse 12. Let's look at it again.
Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judas such a
disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will
tangle. In other words, the news of this
manifestation of my divine chastisement will be so severe
and so shocking that it will be like an alarm in people's ears.
What's interesting is that this picture of the ears tingling
appears in other places in the Bible, always connected to a
pronouncement of judgement. Jeremiah was called to preach a
message that will cause people's ears to tingle.
Samuel, when he was just starting on a ministry, would
also have that same responsibility.
And I believe there's a wonderful contrast between being
faithful with God's Word, even if it is a hard word to to give
and receive, with what Paul told Timothy about many false
teachers who will do what they will try to scratch itching
ears. A faithful messenger of God will
speak the Word of God even if it causes ears to tingle, and a
false teacher will seek to always scratch what people want
to hear. Manessa and his people can
expect to hear of something that will cause them to not even
believe what their ears are hearing.
That's the first thing. What's the second thing?
Look at verse 13 and I will stretch over Jerusalem, the
measuring line of Samaria and the Plumb line of the House of
Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it
and turning it upside down. There are two other things.
You're the first one is that he's going to stretch over
Jerusalem these measuring tapes and lines.
Now here's what's interesting. These tools are used to actually
build when you want to construct something and there's a reversal
here. I'm actually going to use this
to destroy. What are we supposed to make of
this? That God's judgements are
precise, They are faithful, They are reliable.
They're never exaggerated. They're never out of
uncalculated. Anger or frustration?
No, no. He knows exactly what to give to
those who have broken his law. I'm going to destroy precisely
on the basis of what you have done.
I will give to you the judgement that deserves, that it deserves.
And lastly, I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish,
wiping it and turning it upside to upside down.
Meaning what? This land here that signifies
the plate. I'm going to remove all the
citizens from it. All of you that have lived here
and have enjoyed this land, you will be cleansed from this
place. And that's clarified in the very
next verse. I will forsake the remnant of
MyHeritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and
they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies,
because they have done what is evil in my sight and have
provoked me to anchor anger since the days of their fathers
coming out of Egypt. Even to this day you see that
how the Lord has been waiting for the sins of His people to
reach a certain extent before He executes judgment.
So how does Vanessa respond? This is what the prophets are
saying now. Judgement is on its way.
You've been found wanting and here's what we read in verse 16.
Moreover, Manessa shed very much innocent blood.
And if you consider the context, I believe what this also means
is that he killed some of these prophets till he had filled
Jerusalem from one end to another.
Besides the sin that he made Judah to sin so that they did
what was evil in the sight of the Lord, This guy is hopeless
if you're honest, right? You read this, you think there's
no way the fact that he ruled and reigned for 55 years should
disturb us? And really I'm not going to read
it. But if you look at verse 17, it
just ends the way most kings end.
It just gives a summation of his rule.
It's just as obituary and we're told that he slept with his
father's and we move on to the next king.
It's one of the most disturbing portraits of any ruler in the
Bible. But that's not really how it
ends. So if you remember studying
Hezekiah last week, then you'll recall that he did not die in
his pride, but that the Holy Spirit gives us a different
vantage point in Second Chronicles where we realized
that he did eventually humble himself.
And in like manner, Second Chronicles tells us how Manessa
actually died. And I like to think that
although this man shut his eyes to the righteous example of his
father, he did remember how he ended his last 15 years of life.
And he also humbly repented. This is why in a way, I've been
speeding up in this chapter because I want us to really
focus on how this man turned around.
So let's go to Second Chronicles briefly, and I want you to see
what the Bible says about him. Second Chronicles, 33.
I find it a little ironic that Manessa's name means making to
forget because his actions suggest that he did not take one
thing to heart about his father's instruction and
example. Assuming that Hezekiah kept his
promise after he was healed, remember that there was a
chapter in Isaiah where we have we have a look into his journal
entry once he was restored to complete health.
One of the things that he said was in Isaiah 3819.
The living, the living. He says thank you as I do this
day. The Father makes known to the
children your faithfulness. So we have every reason to
believe that though Manessa was a young child when his father
died, he was old enough to understand what it means to
worship the true God, what God has done for his Father, for
God's people throughout history, in recent history.
So that makes you wonder, how is he so faithless?
My mind went straight to something that you see repeated
in the book of Proverbs where there's this appeal.
At the framework of the book of Proverbs is a father speaking to
his son. And right at the opening of
Proverbs, we read in Proverbs 18, My son, do not forsake your
father's instruction and forsake not your mother's teaching,
implying that it's possible for you to do so, to ignore what
you've heard, to despise what you have been instructed about.
You know Spurgeon, who said now it is a notorious fact that men
who do go wrong after a good training are the worst men in
the world. That may seem harsh, but there's
some truth to that. Men who have received good,
righteous, holy training and still live in a manner as
Manessa, live in complete defiance to the truths that
they've been granted for guidance in life are often times
the worst, and this is a reality that you and I are going to
revisit in this Sunday. Receiving illumination does not
guarantee transformation. Each of us is responsible for
the revelation that we receive in this life, and the level of
light that we are granted will determine the accountability we
will have for the truth that has been provided, often times
through our parents. And that's what we find here,
that this man, as Spurgeon said, demonstrated a behavior that is
unspeakable, and yet it was not in vain.
Something happens to this man, something so remarkable, and
it's found there in Second Chronicles 33.
Look at verse 10. Chronicles is not too far from
Second Kings. As you know, the Lord spoke to
Manessa and to his people, but they paid no attention.
Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army
of the king of Assyria, who captured Manessa with hooks and
bound them with chains of bronze, and brought him to
Babylon. And when he was in distress, he
entreated the favor of the Lord his God, and humbled himself
greatly before the God of his Father's.
He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty, and heard
his plea, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his Kingdom.
Then Manessa knew that the Lord was God.
Here's what's so fascinating about this.
I think there are at least three observations we can make, and I
don't want to make too many so that we lose track of the main
point of the study, but I want you to 1st consider the
sovereignty of God. Look again at verse 11.
Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army
of the king of Assyria. Look at that phrase brought upon
them. Who did the Lord?
And Scroll down to verse 13, the middle of it.
God was moved by his entreaty and hurt his plea and brought
him again to Jerusalem. Who's orchestrating all of this?
It's God. God is the one who removed the
protective layers for the people of Assyria to come in and to
ransack the place and to confiscate Manessa and others.
And God was the one at the right time that had Manessa returned
to his home. And we're supposed to be moved
by the absolute power and authority of our God, that
although he is shifting nations, he at the same time is using
that to give one particular man a final chance to repent before
it's too late. So understand that the ways of
God are not just all powerful, they're incredibly wise.
And God can accomplish. Many things at the same time
beyond your knowledge and mine. We are often fixated on one or
two dimensions and the Lord here is doing multiple things.
And consider that for your own life that you think one thing is
happening, one thing is being accomplished, and when in fact
there are thousands of assignments being fulfilled.
I wonder what the people of this time on the world scale we're
thinking as Assyria was moving in, as Babylon was now also
growing in their power. All these things are taking
place, and yet what's in view here is 1 particular man in the
state of his soul. This is remarkable, the
sovereignty of God in one person's life, even though he's
moving the world. To get his attention.
But as I mentioned, consider secondly the wisdom of God, the
wisdom of God in divinely ordained affliction.
Divinely ordained affliction has a way of awakening the
conscience even in the most calloused of men when sermons
bounce. Off of hearts, the sharpness of
suffering has a way of cutting through it.
When it came to the word of the Lord, didn't listen.
When it came to the prophets of the Lord, he paid no attention.
When it came to hooks in his flesh and the heavy shackles
around his shoulders and tying around his ankles and keeping
his wrist together, that's when he began to think seriously
about his sin. And about.
The grace of God. The wisdom of God.
That's what it took from Manessa to be dragged out of his home
and to be placed in a foreign dungeon before he even
considered the goodness of God, the power of God, the love of
God, the forgiveness of God. And don't miss this important
point. Look back at this year in verse
12. The middle of it, and humbled
himself greatly before the God of his father's.
That's so specific. The God of his father's, the God
that he heard, his dad Hezekiah talking about it.
It came to mind here. Not in Jerusalem, not when he
had unrestrained power, not when he was unhinged.
The final moments of his life, what he heard from his father
came to him. Don't be discouraged because of
the lack of fruit in your evangelism or the lack of fruit
in your discipleship. Even if it's your your children,
you're not seeing the maturity that you want to see.
You're not seeing the zeal you want to see.
I won't name the brother, but last Sunday we had a few
membership interviews. And with every membership
interview, we asked people to give a synopsis of their story.
And this precious brother had mentioned that another brother
from this church a few years ago.
I handed them a nice Bible when he was totally lost and he put
this Bible away and he didn't look at that Bible for three
years. And in that Bible was a
handwritten note, contact information if you ever had any
questions. And when he was at the lowest of
the low he fetched for that Bible, he wiped the dust off of
it. He opened it up, went through
the Gospel of Matthew. He found that contact card.
He came to this church and he got saved.
Yes, three years. That seed was dormant for three
years. You never know, Manessa.
What did he do? He humbled himself greatly
before the God of his fathers. Lastly, the mercy of God.
He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard
his plea. Now, if we read Manessa's story
and restoration and isolation, it's still moving.
But when you remember that we're witnessing Hezekiah's son
repenting, that is even more incredible.
Because the same God who heard the desperate faith of a man who
was encircled by a foreign enemy known as Assyria, and who saw
the tears of the same man who in his weakness turned to the wall
to get some privacy and whisper to prayer, is the very same God
who swiftly heard the prayer of a miserable man like Vanessa.
How many times in studying Hezekiah's life we've seen how
God saw him and heard him in that state of prayer.
And he is no different with someone like this.
How quick he is to respond to repentance, How eager he is to
restore the repentant. It says that he was moved by his
entreaty. What about all the things that
he did in Second Kings 21? So great and so fierce is the
mercy of God. He didn't keep Manessa in that
penalty box for a few more years.
He immediately responded the moment he humbled himself.
That's why we can freely tell sinners at a meeting like this
or when you're evangelizing on the streets, that if you were to
confess Christ now, in that moment, if it's in genuine
repentance and faith, you can be justified.
A lot of Christians who believe in the power of the gospel are
skeptical of that. And I understand we have to be
careful, we have to be slow and we have to examine fruit.
But don't ever for a moment think that God is not willing to
in a second erase someone's record of sin.
Such is the power, the depth, the royalty of that precious
blood that flowed so honorable in the sight of God that
whenever anybody appeals to it, God will honor it because of
that sacrifice. It's not so much the Sinner,
yes, although he loves sinners. It's the price that was paid for
sinners. If we consider the power of the
New Covenant, that makes forgiveness even more fierce
than what we see here. There's an interesting sentence
at the end of verse 13. Then Manessa knew that the Lord
was God. What do you mean he knew that
the Lord was God? I thought he called out to the
God of his father's. Didn't he know exactly who he
was speaking to? How was it that after he
returned to Jerusalem, oh, he realized, oh, OK, now I know
that you're God. The word no here is not some
intellectual ascent. It's not some knowledge,
understanding information that was deposited in his brain
necessarily. It's an experiential knowledge.
So the way to properly understand this is that after
Manessa had repented, after the Lord showered grace upon him,
there is this experience of God that he knew so much that can be
said. I mean, a whole sermon can be
preached on that verse alone, the end of that verse.
But I'll just say this, It is not accidental that Manessa knew
the Lord in a real and personal way after he truly repented.
There are many people who are frustrated in the reality of
God, of the reality of God in their lives.
And they almost approach. God making himself known to them
in an arrogant way, in a way that tests Him.
May I suggest to you that the what the Lord is waiting for you
before He manifests himself is for you to be sick and tired of
your sin and to truly repent wholeheartedly repent.
So I've said this before, I don't want to be redundant, but
hopefully it helps somebody who grew up in a Christian home like
myself. I responded to, I've been to
meetings where they had altar calls.
I probably responded to 18 of them.
Sometimes there were messages that were more inclined to be
encouraging. Other times they were more
inclined to be fearful. Then, no matter how it was
packaged, whenever an invitation went out.
I just want to make sure that you know if you're giving an
invitation. The more times I can say yes,
the better chances I believe I have of being accepted.
So yeah, assign me. If you want me to walk up front,
no problem. It means I go to heaven.
I'll walk up front as many times as you want me to walk up front.
Never born again, never truly transformed, never truly walking
in the way that Jesus says you're supposed to walk if you
are filled with the Holy Spirit, if you even have the Holy
Spirit, if you're sealed of the Holy Spirit.
There is not a trace of that in my life up to the age of 20.
And when I really was born again, at some point I thought
to myself, why did it take me calling out to God in a basement
apartment in the second year of my college education for me to
really know what it means to be born again?
And it came to me all those other times leading up to that
point. I really still wanted the world.
I wanted Christ. But down deep inside, I felt
like church and Christian upbringing held me back from
something that others were enjoying.
And so I I want that I'll take Christ if you if you're offering
him. But I also want to indulge.
I also want to explore. And as long as my repentance was
half hearted, I never really knew God.
You will never really know God. Even if you give him 99% of your
heart, you will not really know him.
So is there any more proof of this kind of a thing?
Yes. My mind went to a passage in
Acts 319 to 20 where Peter told those Jews after a miraculous
healing of a man who was lame for many years.
Repent therefore and turn back that your sins may be blotted
out and that times of refreshing may come from the presence of
the Lord in the ends of by saying and that he may send the
Christ appointed for you Jesus. There are three things that are
attached to three rewards if you will that are connected to
repentance to turn from your sin completely. 1 is that your sins
will be blotted out and the word they're so intense it actually
means for for a removal ink from parchment.
Like a deleting of record, as permanent as it may seem.
Secondly, that times are refreshing may come from the
presence of the Lord and more people would connect us with the
third one and speaking about the promise of the Messianic rule
and reign, especially because Peter speaking to a Jewish
audience as though to say Israel.
The sooner you repent and recognize your Messiah, the
sooner he will come and bring what he promised.
One that will greatly outshine all the things that you've known
in your history. That is dependent upon your
repentance, which I think is true largely.
But I believe there's a personal application with the second
point here, that there is a genuine satisfaction, cleansing
wholeness that is known only through the canal of repentance.
So when does the presence of the Lord manifest?
After you repent, After you truly repent.
Well, more can be said about that, but allow me to come to
the last portion of Second Kings 21 as we close together.
So Manessa, like his father, ended.
Well, that's glorious. But then we have this little
snippet about Manessa's son, and I'm going to read it in one
sitting here, and then just make a couple of brief observations
that are connected to this man. Manasseh Amon was 22 years old
when he began to reign, and he reigned 2 years in Jerusalem.
Two years, 55 years, two years. Wow.
His mother's name was Mushulameth, the daughter of
Heruz of Jatba. And he did what was evil in the
sight of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done.
He walked in all the way in which his father walked, and
served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them.
He abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and did not walk
in the way of the Lord. And the servants of Amon
conspired against him and put the king to death in his house.
But the people of the land struck down all those who had
conspired against King Amen. And the people of the land made
Josiah his son, king in his place.
Now the rest of the acts of Amen that he did, are they not
written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of
Judah? And he was buried in his tomb in
the garden of Ouza, And Josiah his son reigned in his place.
It's even more specific in its explanation in Second Chronicles
33. But we won't turn there.
All I want to, all I want to say is how is it that if Manessa had
such a radical repentance, and what's beautiful is on your own
time, look at the rest of Second Chronicles 33 and you realize
just how true Manessa's repentance was.
He goes back to Jerusalem and he brings reform because repentance
actually has fruit with it. It's it's amazing what he does
with the little time that he has left.
He did great damage, but he tried to undo his own wrongs.
But you know what he couldn't undo?
His son. His son having a real faith,
real walk with God, even after Manessa repents.
As hopeful as this Bible said I hope has been to you, we have to
be honest with how the Scripture presents this situation.
Repentance cancels guilt, but oftentimes it does not cancel
ripple effects, does not always reverse consequences, and that's
what we find here. Your compromise in mine,
especially if we are leaders in any capacity, can have lasting
consequences and so powerful our decisions to sin, especially in
prolonged seasons of sin, that even though we may recover,
those that we are affiliated with may not ever recover.
So Manessa is able to turn around, come to the Lord, and
die in faith. His son was so influenced by his
sin that he could never escape it for himself.
Why do I bring this point up to you?
Because as much as we want to enjoy and relish in the grace of
God, and it's always available to us, that should never, ever
for a moment encourage you to entertain sin with the hope that
I'm going to be forgiven and God is waiting to restore me.
Yeah, He may restore you, but you have no idea what kind of
impact you'll leave on other people.
I'll give you another example of this in case you're not
convinced so early in the story of Abraham.
There's a famine in the land and Abraham goes to a completely
different place, the land of Gerar.
In one instance. Before that, he actually goes to
Egypt. Now, when he goes to Egypt, he
lies and he gets into all this mess and all this compromise.
And that's in Genesis 12. But when you go to Genesis 13,
we read there that he goes back to the altar that he built at
first. So he he's restored to his
worship and his love for God and he's walking in the light again.
Who went down to Egypt with him? It wasn't just his wife, his
nephew Lot. Read the rest of Genesis 13.
What you'll find is Abraham is restored in his fellowship with
the Lord. Lot never recovers what he's
seen and experienced in Egypt. Read it carefully.
Their resources were so overwhelming both for Abraham
and Lot that they had to split ways.
And Abraham gives Lot the decision to make whatever
direction, his place of abode, his home, his new, his new
future. And he looks towards Sodom and
the Holy Spirit so specific and saying what it looked like to
Lot. And one of the descriptions is
it looked like the land of what, Egypt.
So Abraham, who led his family into Egypt to begin with, was
able to be restored, but Egypt never left Lot fathers, older
brothers, husbands, pastors, even mothers.
Be careful the decisions that you make, because there are
others who are watching you. There are others you may be
exposing your sin to. And yes, God got in a moment's
notice, change the direction of your life, but who's to say that
would be the same for those that you led in the wrong path?
So there should be at the same time this overwhelming sense of
joy and delight and rest, of knowing the grace of God, but
also a fear, a holy fear, not a legalistic fear, but a genuine
fear of the Lord. To say, I know I'm not perfect.
I know I'll never be perfect until the Lord glorifies his
body. But with a story like this, oh
Lord, give me the ability to shun all sin, to reject it, to
repel it, to deny it. Because sin is so cancerous, it
never stays with us, does it is able to contaminate people
around us. And Manessa's story, although a
gloriously hopeful 1, is a sobering 1 to remind us that we
may hate sin and love righteousness all the more.
Let's pray and ask God to help us.
Father, even if there be a manasa type listening to this
study today, we pray that you would breakthrough any walls,
any layers of iniquity that have made them insensitive to your
conviction. Lord, before suffering may be
their portion, we ask that you would use this Bible study to
soothe in them and to persuade them to see repentance as a gift
and something that you are willing to respond to
immediately. And Lord, we do pray also for
those who are walking in repentance, perhaps being
tempted to do something, thinking that it will be
contained to ourselves, that even if there are consequences,
it would just be for us and we can manage them.
Lord, destroy all deception and help us to live as faithfully as
possible so that we would inspire others to love you and
not deny you or be deceived the way we might have been deceived.
So that we pray that from now until the end the fragrance of
Jesus Christ would rest on us and that our lives would be salt
so that people would thirst and want living water.
But tonight we rejoice in you and we thank you that you've
placed this in our Bibles so that we can see just how
splendid and glorious you are. Thank you that you've allowed
grace to be the means to energize us to be godly.
Lord, we give you all praise and honor tonight.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen. The praise team will come in a
moment, but listen, don't rush. If you want to stand, you can
stand. If you want to remain seated and
just pour your heart out before the Lord, you can do that as
well. If you need to repent, repent at
times of refreshing may come into your life.
But let's just respond to this study and trust that the Lord
hears us. If he was willing to hear a man
like Vanessa, how much more us who are in Christ?