Let's go to 2nd Kings Chapter 15 please.
In our Bibles Second Kings Chapter 15.
Throughout the study, it has been a recurring pattern that
whenever we cover a chapter, usually it includes the obituary
of one or two kings. That being said, as we approach
chapter 15, a quick glance will reveal that there are several
kings mentioned in this section. In fact, there are 7 main kings
that are brought to our attention and this is between
both kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
Now obviously these are brief accounts, but it makes you and I
wonder, why is it that the Holy Spirit mentions these rulers in
such rapid succession? Why is He wanting to give us a
speedy montage of these administrations?
And I believe the answer is because he longs to communicate
the growing political and spiritual instability of this
time. It was increasing.
It was getting more dire, it was getting more dramatic.
And so the structure of this chapter, in essence, is meant to
convey that the insecurity of this time and of these kingdoms,
it's something that you and I will inherit on a personal and
societal level if we turn our backs on God.
So if you read the section and you feel overwhelmed by the end
of it, that's intentional. It's designed for you and I to
feel frustrated and disappointed as we go from one king to
another and realize they just keep failing and it's headed
towards a dangerous direction. And so really the main overview
of this is that the Spirit longs to drive in your heart and in
mind that there is no better way to build your life than to set
it on the foundation of the Lord.
And here we're going to get many insights of what happens when
you ignore Him and choose to walk independently from Him.
But this Bible study is going to be a little bit more unique than
our usual studies. I'm not sure if you noticed, but
we didn't complete chapter 14. And the reason for that is
because the majority of this chapter focused on a king by the
name of Amaziah. And we looked at his pride and
some of the truths related to pride.
Whereas the last few verses of that chapter introduces to us
Jeroboam the second, the king of Israel at this time.
And So what we're going to do is we're going to include Jeroboam
in this section of chapter 15, which will bring our total of
kings in our study to 8. And I'm going to try my best to
contain our insights, at least the main insights to 8 insights
from 8 Kings. That's really the title of this
Bible study, 8 Truths that We can Learn from 8 Kings.
And forgive me if I go beyond that, but let's begin here at
the end of chapter 14 and look at our first king and see what
the Spirit of God can teach us. Second Kings 14, verse 23, In
the 15th year of Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah,
Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in
Samaria, and he reigned 41 years.
And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of
Nabad, which He made Israel to sin.
He restored the border of Israel from libel habath as far as the
sea of the Araba, according to the word of the Lord, the God of
Israel, which he spoke by His servant Jonah the son of Amitai
the prophet, who was from Gath heifer.
For the Lord saw that the affliction of Israel was very
bitter, for there was none left bond or free, and there was none
to help Israel. But the Lord had not said that
He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven.
So we saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.
Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did,
and his might, how he fought, and how he restored Damascus and
Hamas to Judah and Israel, are they not written in the book of
the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
And Jeroboam slept with his father's, the kings of Israel,
and Zechariah, his son, reigned in his place.
You know you're destined for trouble when your parents give
you the name of the man who caused division in the nation of
Israel, split it into two kingdoms, and reintroduce golden
calf worship to the people of God.
This is Jeroboam the second and strangely he is the longest
ruling king in Israel. Look again here, 41 years at the
end of verse 2341 years. That seems strange concerning
all the trouble that he brought to the people of God.
In fact, you and I actually can know the very details of the
atrocities that was committed under this rule.
Do you know why? Because there are many notable
prophets who were raised up to minister during this time,
notably Hosea and Amos. And there was another one that
we read in here, didn't we? But let's look at the beginning
of Amos and Hosea. Let's turn to Amos 11.
Just to confirm what I'm saying here.
Amos 11, you have to comb through the latter portion of
the Old Testament. There where all the minor
prophets are, but you'll find it.
Amos 11. We read the words of Amos, who
was among the shepherds of Toccoa, which he saw concerning
Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days
of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before
the earthquake. So Amos was raised up, and he
preached prophetically during the reign of Jeroboam the
second. But not just Amos, we have
Hosea. Look at Hosea 11, not too far
from Amos. Hosea 11, the word of the Lord
that came to Hosea the son of Biri, and in the days of
Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, there it is again in
the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel.
And so if you just read Hosea and Amos, you will get a very
descriptive understanding, a widen understanding of the great
crimes that were committed against God and His law.
But if you want to summary what was taking place, it's in Hosea
chapter 4. Look at verse one.
Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord
has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or steadfast love and no knowledge
of God in the land. That's a summary.
No faithfulness, there is no steadfast love, and it's all
tied to this. There is no knowledge of God in
the land. And what's so interesting is you
see the outcome of a willful ignorance of a people when they
choose to turn their eyes away from God's Word and turn their
backs on His presence. Look at verse 2.
There is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing
adultery. They break all bounds.
In other words, there's no limit to their sin and bloodshed
follows bloodshed. So again, notice the connection
between no knowledge of God and the sins that thrive in that
kind of cultural climate. Limitless evil is possible when
there is willful ignorance of the Lord, and that was exactly
what was taking place under Jeroboam.
The second, whereas restraint and regeneration is made
possible when there is an acknowledgement of the truth of
the truth, that was not the case here.
Now, you would think with such evil that was happening, the
unbelievable mounting chaos because of people's sin, that
judgment was around the corner. And it's true, Hosanna Amos did
preach impending punishment from heaven.
But when you go back to the text that we read earlier, there's
something that is staggering that takes place under
Jeroboam's rule. Again, we have to go back again.
By the way, there's going to be a lot of bouncing between
scriptures. Just to give you a heads up, go
to 2nd Kings 14 and notice what the Lord does for Jeroboam the
second in verse 25. This seems out of place for
people who are persisting in spiritual adultery.
Says here in verse 25 he restored the border of Israel
from Libo Hamath as far as the sea of of the Arabia according
to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel which he spoke by his
servant Jonah the son of Amitai the prophet who was from Gath
Heifer. Hold on.
You are sinning, you are rebelling, you are persisting in
your stubbornness and God gives you more land.
The last time Libo Hamath is mentioned is back when King
Solomon was able to secure a very wide dimension for the
people of God concerning their real estate.
That's the last time it happened.
And over time was we saw especially the the borders of
Israel being taken over by foreign nations.
And at this time the Syrians were dominating these regions.
And so hold on, we read just a glimpse of what Hosea was saying
about this people. You would think that they would
have to give up more land because of the unfaithfulness,
but the exact opposite. The Lord is encouraging them to
actually advance and be blessed. How do we know that?
Because he sent a prophet by the name of Jonah.
This is the same Jonah that fled from the presence of the Lord
when God told him. Go and preach the Ninevites, by
the way. So think about a contemporary to
Amos and Hosea. You had an amazing roster of
prophets preaching at the same time.
And God spoke to Jonah at one point and said, go tell the king
that he should advance to Lebo Hamath and I will give it to
him. Even though there's no
faithfulness in that, even though there's no steadfast
love, even though there is no hunger for the knowledge of God.
How can this be? Well, here we have our first
lesson from the first king in our study, that our God is
profoundly encouraging and delights and drawing us back to
Himself with kindness. I don't think any of us would be
surprised if Israel lost more. But to gain more?
How can that be one simple answer?
Because the riches of God's grace are unbelievable, and yet
he calls us to believe in it. And there are times when the
Lord allows suffering in order to awaken a Sinner.
And at the same time, there are times when He alleviates
suffering with the same purpose in mind.
Suffering is not the only way that God gets the attention of a
wayward person. He also does so by providing
gifts and treating them in a way that they don't deserve and
preserving them and providing for them and protecting them.
So we have to broaden our understanding of how the Lord
works in people's lives. It's not one-dimensional and you
and I might think 1 strategy will work for somebody else, but
God knows best. That being said, there is a
danger for those who are in sin and are experiencing God's
grace. And it is this that you would
confuse His help for His approval.
So the Lord giving more land to Israel was not him saying, you
know it's OK you guys can continue sin.
I'm just winking at it. No, because he raised up Hosea
and he raised up Amos to call them to repentance, and I'm sure
Jonah as well. But he does want to communicate
at the same time. Do don't you see my kindness?
Doesn't this want you to surrender to me?
This is exactly what is happening here.
And that's the first lesson. That being said, I think there's
something worth noting here. Jeroboam the second, when he
died, it will be a major door shut for the people of Israel to
be able to reclaim the opportunity to be restored to
the Lord. It's going to get worse after he
dies. In fact, there's going to be a
powerhouse of a nation that's going to approach the people of
God, threatening them with invasion and exile.
So God's patience, though it is great, it is not infinite.
There is a limit to it, and that's what we're going to see
in the text to come. Now, I said one main lesson
already. I'm going to fail at that
attempt. All right.
Look back at Jonah's description here, verse 25.
Jonah, the son of Amitai the prophet who was from Gath
Heifer. Be honest.
How many of us would just overlook that insight?
You shouldn't. And if you were with us when we
studied Joshua, we touched on many places that are brought to
our attention in that book. When the people of Israel were
gaining the promised land to themselves, Gath Heifer,
according to Joshua 1913, you don't have to turn there, but
just a reference for you. Joshua 1913 tells us that Gath
Heifer was a place that was associated with the territory of
the tribe of Zebulun, Zebulun, the northern part of Israel.
And what's interesting to us is when we come to the New
Testament, we learn that this region called Galilee, where
Jesus spent most of his ministry, is associated with the
area called Zebulun. So gath have, we can say, was a
part of Galilee. Now, why is that important?
Do you remember when the Pharisees were trying to find a
way to arrest Jesus? And at one point they sent
officers and Jesus was preaching and when he preached, the
officers that were sent to apprehend them came back empty
handed. Why?
Well, they were asked, where is he?
And they said, you don't understand.
Nobody speaks like this man. They were spellbound.
They were disarmed. And so they came back empty
handed and they began to hurl accusations against them.
And, and there was one person there who said something to
defend Christ. Nicodemus says, hey, doesn't
this man deserve a fair trial? And then they say this in John
752. Search and see that no prophet
arises from Galilee. Now here's what really makes me
laugh. These are the supposed experts
of the law. They're supposed to know the
details of the scriptures. And in their attempt to
discredit the ministry of Jesus and him being a candidate for
the Messiah, they say there is no prophet that arises from
Galilee. Jonah did so they were wrong.
You know, some people attempt to sympathize with the Pharisees in
this way. Well, you know, they, they try
to study the Scriptures and some things were ambiguous or were in
code or were kind of veiled. And so when Jesus came, it was a
hard, it was a hard thing for them to try to reconcile the
truths that they studied and who Christ claimed to be.
I don't agree with that. I believe that the Pharisees 1
did not really know their Bibles because they have elevated the
traditions of men above the word of God.
And two, wherever the scriptures were clear, if it did not line
up with their desires or their notions, they were willing to
dismiss it. And even Nicodemus was accused
by the Lord when he was speaking about being born again.
Are you a teacher in Israel and you don't know these things?
So a lot of these pH DS were actually ill informed and we see
it even here. And it goes to show you just how
important it is to know our Bibles in detail as much as
possible because you have one detail here that only added to
the callousness of the hearts of the Pharisees in rejecting
Christ. That's why we're studying the
Old Testament because we want to know everything that the
Scripture has to say because ultimately it all points to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Well, that can be considered as
a second truth, but we come to the second king to learn the
second major insight from these kings.
Let's come now to chapter 15 and 2nd kings.
In the 27th year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Azariah, the son
of Amaziah, king of Judah, began to reign.
Don't be discouraged if you don't memorize all these names.
OK, verse two. He was 16 years old when he
began to reign, and he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem.
His mother's name was Jacoliah of Jerusalem.
And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to
all that his father and Messiah had done.
Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away.
The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high
places, and the Lord touched the king so that he was a leper to
the day of his death, and he lived in a separate house.
And Jotham, the King's son, was over the household governing the
people of the land. Now the rest of the acts of
Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the book of
the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
And Azariah slept with his father's, and they buried him
with his father's in the city of David.
And Jotham his son reigned in his place.
There's a unique element to Azariah's story, isn't there?
It's quite obvious. It's the staggering common in
verse 5 that the Lord touched Azariah and he received what?
Leprosy? This is strange because we read
here that he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.
Yet the language of verse 5 strongly implies that God struck
him with what could be considered one of the most
dreadful diseases to endure at this time.
How does that work? How do you have the rare
occurrence of a king walking rightly before the Lord and him
receiving one of the greatest, most painful ailments?
Does anybody know who Azariah is?
He has another name and if I mention him, I think all of you
would recognize him. Azariah is the same person as
Uziah. Uziah from Second Chronicles and
this is where Second Chronicles fills in the gaps, helping us
understand how it was that a man who was walking right with God
could receive this punishment. So some of you are already ahead
of me in Second Chronicles 26. I want you to see with your own
eyes. This will help explain what
happened here. Again, this king was raised up
at the age of 16. Can you imagine a 16 year old
ruling a nation? That's when many teenagers are
just starting to drive. This man was given a throne and
he was very successful. He was one of the most cherished
kings in all of Jerusalem's history because he was extremely
successful. And he was successful because he
walked in the fear of the Lord. But something happened.
It's here in verse 16. It happens to many people, even
those who initially start walking in an awe of God.
But when he was strong, he grew proud to his destruction, for he
was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and enter the temple of the
Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.
Why is that wrong? If you were a king, you were not
allowed to assume the role of a priest. 2 separate lanes, and
for great reasons. But here you have this man who
grew proud, and this pride led to him to act presumptuously.
He assumed that as a king he could function as a priest.
So he enters into the temple, which was already a bad thing to
do, and he begins to now offer a specific sacrifice that was
reserved just for the line of Aaron.
And what's interesting here is that pride convinces us that the
repercussions for certain sins do not apply to us, because
pride tells you that you're someone special even in God's
sight. That I can, I can do this
because the Lord will give me a pass because he needs me or he
understands me. So he'll allow me to dabble in
this for some kind of relief. Now, if you think that's a
stretch, I can tell you that I read with my own eyes accounts
of ministers who have fallen from the position of ministry.
And many of them came to a point where they persuaded their own
heart because of their pride, that they could sin and God
would allow it because they've served them for so long, because
they've devoted their lives to Him.
And so in order to know some kind of reprieve, some kind of
enjoyment, they have developed this false notion that the Lord
will overlook this and he'll let me enjoy this without any
problems. That's what happened to Isaiah.
He thought that he can just waltz into the temple.
He's the king. He brought reform to some
degree, some success to the Kingdom.
So surely the Lord will understand.
Pride is powerfully deceptive. We learned that last week, but
notice that it wasn't primarily Uzziah's pride here that led to
his destruction. It was something else when he
was confronted about his pride. Let's continue to read in verse
17. But Azariah the priest went in
after him with 80 priests of the Lord who were men of valor, and
they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, it is not for you,
Uziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priest, the
sons of Aaron who are consecrated to burn incense, go
out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will
bring you no honor from the Lord God.
I applaud these priests because all it would take is for the
king to snap his finger and they could all be slaughtered right
there. It's happened before in the
accounts of the kings. But they came collectively and
they would, they stood against them and they resisted him, and
they confronted him lovingly. Notice what happens in verse 19.
Then Uziah was angry, now he had a sensor in his hand to burn
incense. And when he became angry with
the priest, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of
the priest in the House of the Lord by the altar of incense.
So if you don't see this carefully, then you might
understand that Uzziah goes into the temple, he tries to perform
the sacrifice, and then the Lord allowed leprosy to break out on
his forehead and the priest escorted him out.
That's not what happened. The leprosy broke out after he
was confronted about his sin, and he responded wrongly.
It's observations like this that remind us the absolute treasure
it is of studying the Scriptures carefully, especially the Old
Testament, because it deepens our understanding of God's
character. And what we learned.
Here is our second lesson. While sin does offend God, what
deeply matters to Him is how we react when we are confronted
about it. This is the second thing that we
are granted by this King. You and I listen may say or do
something that is not in line with Christ likeness, but when
the Lord gives you an opportunity to acknowledge that
sin, to confess it privately or publicly, how you respond
greatly matters to him. He watches very carefully to
see. You must always remember that
because pride will keep you from confessing.
I just I'm moved by God's mercy here.
It was pride that led him to the temple to try to do this.
But what really crossed the line for the Lord was when it was
exposed and He doubled down. So you and I have to remember
this for ourselves. When conviction comes, when you
hear a Bible study, when a parent or when a friend
approaches you and bring something up, what you do with
that information that's brought to your attention will determine
so much. And God, who sees all things,
who's closer to you than your skin will take into account how
you respond and just give me, I'll just give you a word of
advice. Even if something is brought to
your attention that you may not see for yourself, humbly receive
it. And you can even admit I, I may
not see it for what it is at this point, but I will take it
into consideration. Bring it before the Lord.
Anything. Listen, what that person is
doesn't have the good intentions that you hope for or they come
off in a certain way. It never is a wrong thing for
you to say. Let me bring this before the
Lord. You'll protect yourself in that
way. Now, before we move on, did you
notice where the leprosy broke out on Isaiah's body?
Where was it? His forehead.
Do you think that's an accident? No, that's intentional.
Let me ask you another question now.
Are there any instructions that God gave specifically to the
priest relating to their foreheads when it comes to the
temple service? I'm curious to know if somebody
actually has an answer. People are whispering yes,
brother, yes, very good. And what was supposed to be
inscribed on that plate of gold? There was a phrase, holiness to
the Lord. Because some of you are staring
at me. So go to Exodus 28, Exodus 28,
verse 36. This is the chapter that defines
the garments of the priest and the high priest.
And notice this detail. I love the Bible.
Exodus 2836. You shall make a plate of pure
gold and engrave on it like the engraving of a signet holy to
the Lord, and you shall fasten it on the turban by a cord of
blue. It shall be on the front of the
turban. It shall be on errands where
forehead and Aaron shall bear any guilt from the holy things
that the people of Israel consecrate as their holy gifts.
It shall regularly be on his forehead.
They may be accepted before the Lord.
So for the Lord to strike Uzziah in that specific place conveys a
deeper meaning. Uzziah, this position is not for
you, because you were not consecrated unto me.
You are not set apart unto me like the priest are.
So instead of you having the seal of my approval, holiness to
the Lord, I'm going to give you a seal of my disapproval.
Here's leprosy, but it's more practical than that.
Where does pride begin? You can say the heart, but you
can also say the mind with lofty thoughts of self.
And you can be assured that pride is much more prevalent in
the person who does not have the preoccupation of holy thoughts
unto the Lord, but high thoughts of self.
Is there any wonder that the Scriptures command us in a New
Testament to set our minds on things above where Christ is
seated? For we are dead and now hidden
in Christ? That's Colossians chapter 3.
So even in our own thinking, we are to meditate and we are to
muse over the truths of who He is, the glory of who He is,
where any of our strength or goodness come from.
It's Him, it's Him, it's Him, Stay there, remain there.
Yes, this was a specific piece for the high priest, but we can
also apply to ourselves that we should think on the things that
God wants us to think about because it provides a shield
amongst many other rewards. And in News I, what we find is
that he did not have the right thoughts about God, which led to
the wrong thoughts about him and brought him to a place where he
would be exiled from the temple, and not just the temple, but the
Kingdom, and he'd be treated as a leper for the rest of his
days. And so the forehead here is
intentional. There's a message there, and
there's still many more to come from these kings.
Let's come to king #3 Second Kings 15, beginning in verse 8.
In the 38th year of Azariah, king of Judah, Zechariah, the
son of Jeroboam, reigned over Israel and Samaria six months.
And he did what was evil in the side of the Lord, as his
father's had done. He did not depart from the sins
of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, which he made Israel to sin.
Shalom the son of Jabesh, conspired against him and struck
him down at Iblium and put him to death, and reigned in his
place. Now the rest of the deeds of
Zechariah, behold, they are written in the book of the
Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
This was the promise of the Lord that he gave to Jehu.
Your son shall sit on the throne of Israel to the 4th generation.
And so it came to pass. Remember, Jehu was the one
called by God to eliminate the House of Ahab and to destroy
Bill worship. And because of his faithfulness
in that area, God visited Jehu and promised him you will have
four sons, 4 descendants who will occupy the throne.
And here we have Zechariah who is the fulfillment of that
promise. He is the last of the four.
This is where we see the faithfulness of God.
And you can imagine how painful it must have been to God's heart
to keep His word to Jehu, because every single one of
Jehu's sons were doing evil in the sight of the Lord.
Every single one of them, not one, acknowledged God's love,
His favor towards their Father. They kept walking in
disobedience, and generation after generation, king after
king, the Lord still kept His word.
To Jehu, the third lesson from the third king that He is a
promise keeping God, you and I should recognize our rest in His
promise keeping ability. If God keeps His word even for
those who are wicked, how much more for you and I who have
lovingly embraced the Lord Jesus Christ.
And yet here you and I are more willing to believe that He is
faithful to an evil dynasty, but when it comes to our lives, we
question Him. How can that be?
That is strange, is it not? We cannot doubt His willingness
to keep His word. And again, if He was willing to
do it for those who didn't deserve it, how much more for us
who in Christ are seen and are loved by the Father as He does
Christ? Do you know where we find
ourselves in great trouble? Do you know why we have anxiety
in different areas of our lives? It stems from one thing, not
believing God, not believe in God.
If you don't believe me, let me quote to you John 14.
One, let not your hearts be troubled. believe in God,
believe also in me. What is Jesus saying there?
That the reason why your heart is troubled is because you don't
believe God about it. The reason why you can't sleep,
the reason why you are visited with that flush of worry is
because in that specific area, with that specific person, in
that circumstance, you are not ultimately trusting in the Lord.
So what's the antidote for us, for our hearts not to be shaky?
Believe God, bring that thing in His presence, let the promise of
God shine its light upon it, and trust in Him, no matter how
frightening or threatening that thing may be.
And so again, you and I are supposed to be here confronted
and impressed and reminded that this God kept His promise to a
house that was wicked. And here I am part of the
household of God. Here I am, a child of God.
What did Jesus say? If those who are evil know how
to give good gifts, how much more your heavenly Father?
How much more? So when I come to this king,
here's what I take away from it. Lord, you keep your word.
You did it for Jehu and his sons.
Surely you'll do it for me. He'll do it for you.
This is the third lesson. He is a promise keeping God.
Let's come to the fourth king, King Shalom.
In verse 13 to verse 16, Shalom the son of Jabesh began to reign
in the 39th year of Uzziah, king of Judah, and he reigned one
month in Samaria. Then Menahem the son of Gadi
came up from Tirza and came to Samaria and he struck down
Shalom, the son of Jabesh in Samaria and put him to death and
reign in his place. Now the rest of the deeds of
Shalom and the conspiracy that he made, behold, they are
written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of
Israel at that time. And Nahim sacked Tifsha and all
who were in it and it's territory from tears on, because
they did not open it to him. Therefore he sacked it and he
ripped open all the woman in it who were pregnant.
If you're thinking this is getting more intense, that's the
point. Again, we're faced with the
sequence, these snapshots of these kingdoms, and it's almost
like this unfortunate highlight reel.
It's getting worse, it's getting worse, it's getting worse.
What did we learn from this though?
What stands out about Shalom is the conspiracy that is brought
forth and verse 15. Now the rest of the deeds of
Shalom and the conspiracy that he made.
What's that conspiracy? It's what we touched on earlier.
Look at verse 10, Second Kings 15.
Shalom the son of Jabish conspired against them and
struck him down at Iblium and put him to death and reigned in
his place. So the same Shalom who conspired
against Zechariah was later conspired against by a name by a
man named Menahem. Here lies the 4th truth from the
4th king in our study. Whatever a man sows, that he
will also what reap And shaloom is a sobering reminder that
sometimes the reversal of events can take place very quickly.
How long was he king? A month.
The Lord did not delay in bringing swift judgement to this
man. But we have to be careful
because he doesn't always act so speedily.
Many times there is delay before the fruit of our sin appears
with the receipt. And so you and I have to
remember that always that whatever we invest in will come
back to us. And there is a way that Proverbs
presents this that I want to bring to your attention.
Let's turn to Proverbs 26 in this chapter.
There is a specific kind of warning in verse 27.
Whoever digs a pit will fall into it and a stone will come
back on him who starts it rolling.
So there are two scenarios there.
You have one who digs a pit, which speaks of what?
When you dig a pit for something to fall into it, what is that
called? So it's with the letter T.
It's a trap right? Now, if I go up on a hill and I
know that there's somebody who's going to be taking this road at
a specific time and I push over a giant stone, what am I seeking
to do? Hurt somebody to ultimately
destroy them? And what we learned there is
that for a person whose schemes to try to trap somebody else,
they will fall victim to their own scheme.
And a person who musters up all this energy and planning an
effort to try to crush someone else will be crushed by their
own efforts. It really is a sobering warning.
And if if you want to stay very far away from this being a
possibility, here's the counsel. Be a man, be a woman of
integrity and all your actions and all your reactions and all
your interactions and with a temptation to do wrong visits.
You trust in the sovereignty of God.
Do not place it in your own hands because those who set
traps and those who try to cause harm to others will be
surprised. Don't we see it in the book of
Esther? Don't we see it in Daniel?
The very ones that tried to make Daniel get in trouble for
praying? We're launching the very same
pit with the lions and we're devoured by those lions that
were designed for Daniel I, I love to be on the other side of
that promise that God protects us if we do choose to walk in
holiness and in righteousness. But oh, what a warning it is for
those who do not take heed. So this is what we learn here.
Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
Shalom thought that he can get away with killing Zechariah, and
he himself was assassinated. Now we come to the fifth king,
Menahem in verse 17. Hopefully you're not overwhelmed
by this. In the 39th year of Azariah,
king of Judah, Menahem, the son of Gadi, began to reign over
Israel, and he reigned 10 years in Samaria.
And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
He did not depart all his days from all the sins of Jeroboam
the son of Nabad, which he made Israel to sin.
Pull, the king of Assyria, came against the land, and Menahem
gave Pull 1000 talents of silver that he might help him to
confirm his hold on to the royal power.
Menahem exacted the money from Israel, that is, from all the
wealthy men, 50 shekels of silver from every man to give to
the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned
back and did not stay there in the land.
Now the rest of the deeds of Menahem and all that he did, are
they not written in the books of the Chronicles of the kings of
Israel? And Menahem slept with his
fathers, and Picaya his son reigned in his place.
Let's take a deep breath, shall we?
It's a mouthful. So let me give you a little bit
of insight of how I approach this chapter.
I'm I'm looking here. Yes, there there's much
repetition, but is there anything that stands out with
each of these kings? And I encourage you to read the
Bible in that way, especially when you come to repetitive
text. Is there anything that stands
out? And when we come to this king,
we realize that there is indeed a very unique element to his
administration. It was the fact that the
superpower of a nation encroached upon the land and was
ready to invade it. This is very scary for the
people of God. This is very unique to their
history and you would think that Menahem would respond to this by
repenting and crying out to God for help.
Assyria is ready now to take over.
They are a threat. Instead of doing that, what does
he do? He imposes this heavy tax on the
wealthy men of his nation in order to pay off Assyria.
So instead of humbling himself and receiving God's help because
he's now reconciled to the Lord, he chooses to solve this his own
way. So with the 5th king we have our
fifth lesson. Men are often tempted to manage
the consequences of their sin with short term solutions
because what Manahan fails to realize is although he will have
temporary relief, Assyria is going to come back and take
over. There are many who want
salvation without surrender. They want restoration without
repentance. They want counseling without
Christ, and like Manahan, many want to fix their lives without
giving up their lives. And they even turn to Christians
to try to receive some kind of advice because from the outside
it looks like their lives are are put together and they have
order and there's some sort of blessing that's obvious.
So they come into the House of God or they approach people's
homes and they seek counsel with the hope of gaining some kind of
wisdom without actually living for the Lord.
I've had unbelievers over the years come in their desperation
because they are struggling or because they are suffering
because of sin. And they they hope to get some
kind of Intel or some kind of insight or some kind of
instruction without really embracing the Lordship of
Christ. And I have more than once
lovingly told such people, I have nothing to offer you except
for Christ. There is nothing that I can give
you because everything that I have to say is rooted in the
Word of God and it's tied to relationship with the Lord Jesus
Christ. So if you want help with your
wayward child, if you want help with the patterns of destruction
in your own life, then you have to be willing to embrace the
Word of God and the God of the Word.
And if not, then I'm sorry, I'm, I'm limited here because my life
has been given over to the author of life.
My soul is kept by the one who saved my soul.
And he's the one who also wants to save you.
He's the one who also made you. So why would you attempt
navigating through this life without his guidance?
And that's what you have here. You have men like Manahan who
who are willing to even pay a price as long as it's not total
devotion, as long as it's not total repentance.
And if they are willing to apply themselves in such a way, they
are going to be disappointed as we're going to discover it by
the end of this study. That's what Manaheim teaches us.
But let's come to the 6th king in verse 23.
In the 50th year of Azariah, king of Judah, Picaya the son of
Manaheim, began to reign over Israel and Samaria, and he
reigned 2 years. And he did what was evil in the
side of the Lord. He did not turn away from the
sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, which he made Israel to
sin. And Pika the son of Remalia his
captain, conspired against him with 50 men of the people of
Gilead, and struck him down in Samaria in the citadel of the
King's house. With our Gob and Ira.
He put them to death and reign in his place.
Now the rest of the deeds of Picaya and all that he did,
behold, they are written in the book of the Chronicles of the
Kings of Israel. If you're thinking to yourself,
this sounds like a copy paste of Zechariah and Shalom stories,
you're absolutely right. It is almost a copy paste.
And that would tempt you to say, OK, I've seen this before, don't
do that. The Holy Spirit, there's no
waste space in his word. So if there is something that's
so strikingly similar, especially in close context, ask
yourself, what does this say? What is the Lord trying to say?
Well, again, these reigns are short, are they not?
So here's my question. How is it that Picaya didn't
learn from his predecessors? How is it that you haven't
figured it out that when you walk in the ways of Jeroboam,
the son of Nabat, it doesn't end well for you?
It didn't register yet, did it? And and we're also seeing here
that there is a lot of assassination taking place.
So you're seeing this and it's like, yeah, this is just a
repetitive cycle. Yes, but people still don't
learn from it. People still don't take it at
heart. People still don't apply it to
themselves. Which brings us to our 6th
lesson from the 6th king in our study.
People often believe that they can sin and expect better
outcomes than others. May I say that one more time?
Many people indulge in sin thinking that they can escape
the consequences that have visited other people.
I believe that was the deception that haunted Pakaya.
And one thing that I love about the Bible is that it invites us
to examine the fruit of sin and sinners.
It does. It calls you to observe it.
It calls you to look at it as a catalyst for salvation and
sanctification. Can I show you one of my
favorite examples of that? I brought this up more than
once. This is worth highlighting in
Romans 621 where Paul tells the Romans, what fruit were you
getting from the things that you are now ashamed of?
In that context, he's talking about living a sanctified life,
a crucified life, a life that's been buried with Christ.
And then he just gets really practical.
He goes, hey Romans, I want you to really think about it.
Think about the outcomes of the things that you are now ashamed
of. Why would you even consider
going back to them? Why would you even linger with
temptation? Look at it.
And this shows me that Lord is so confident about His
description of the misery of living in sin that He actually
calls you to look at the outcomes for yourself and be
persuaded by them. Just look at it.
And for someone like Picaya to know the rotten fruit that comes
from willfully walking away from the Lord and still walk in that
direction, it's the epitome of foolishness.
It's crazy. And yet millions are doing it
today. You know, there's a lot of
people who believe in this notion of generational curses.
I don't adhere to that view, but I do understand that there are
generational patterns. And that's what we see here in a
sense where this king refuses to break free from the cycle that
plagued his predecessors. And many people are doing the
same today, unfortunately. So the lesson here is that
people often believe that they can sin and think that they can
have better outcomes. King #7 hold on tight, We're
almost there. Verse 27, in the 52nd year of
Azariah, king of Judah, Pika, the son of Remalia, began to
reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned 20 years.
And he did what was evil in the side of the Lord.
He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat,
which he made Israel to sin. In the days of Pika, king of
Israel, Tiglath Pilot, Sir king of Assyria, came and captured
Egon, Ababeth, Mecca, Genoa, Kadesh, Hazar, Gilead, and
Galilee, all the land of Naftali.
And he carried the people captive to Assyria.
Then Hoshea the son of Elah, made a conspiracy against Pika
the son of Remalia, and struck him down and put him to death
and reign in his place in the 20th year of Jonathan the son of
Uzziah. Now the rest of the acts of Pika
and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of
the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
Another deep breath. If you were to look at a map of
Israel during this time, you would learn that NAFTA Lee
occupies a northern part of it. And the Syria that we just read
about has now come again. But this time a check isn't
going to work. They take over very important
strategic cities, and they are essentially occupying the
northern part of this people. And this is so staggering
because who would have thought that this would have happened?
God promised long ago that one of the final acts of judgement
would be exile, because he didn't just take over cities.
What he took captive some of the people of God to Assyria.
This is a very pivotal moment in our study of the book of Second
Kings. People are now being taken from
the promised land and to live under a rule that is foreign,
that is evil, that essentially is God's punishment for those
who wanted evil. OK, live under evil.
Here's the 7th lesson from our study of these kings.
God is just as serious about His promises to punish as He is to
provide, to protect, and to prosper.
Because as I said, the Lord warned in Leviticus, in
Deuteronomy, that exile is your future if you persist in
rebellion. And we're seeing it come to
pass. And if you actually read the
prophets, one of the boast of the sinners was there's no way
that God will allow exile to happen.
You're telling me that he, he had all that happen with Abraham
and with our patriarchs and our forefathers.
He did all of that and brought us here just to take us out.
And so they were, they were willing to believe the grace of
God, but when it came to the judgement of God, they had all
these false ideas about it and it just solidified them in their
sin. But here's the 7th lesson.
He's just as serious and willing to perform his promises to
punish than any other good promise that we love and enjoy.
There's a hymn that's found in the New Testament.
Many hymns, actually, people debate if they're hymns or if
they're Christian sayings that were popular in the days of the
early church. And sometimes we're prepared to
know one of these sayings or these hymns with the statement
this saying is trustworthy. Have you read that in the New
Testament? This saying is trustworthy.
And there's one that Paul shares with and reminds Timothy of in
Second Timothy 2IN verse 11, he says this saying is trustworthy.
If we have died with him, we will what also live with him.
And he goes on to say, if we endure, we will also what reign
with Him. If we deny him, he will deny us.
If we are faithless, he is what He remains faithful.
Out of those four lines, those four conditions, which one do
you think is most quoted by people today?
I hear the last one all the time.
I rarely hear. If we have died with Him, we
will also live with Him. That if we endure that we will
also reign. I I usually hear, especially in
times of counseling or conversation, if we are
faithless, he remains faithful, right?
For good reason, I suppose, because this is usually
interpreted as well. Even if we veer off and we
disobey, that does not nullify the grace of God and the love of
God and the ability to be restored to God.
And I believe that's true, but I want you to consider another
possible interpretation that when you look at these
statements, you have two that are positive and two that are
negative. The 1st 2 is if we die with him,
we'll live with him. If we endure, we will reign.
And then we come to if we deny him, he'll deny us.
And could it be that when he says if we are faithless, he
remains faithful? He's connected to the statement
that just came. In other words, we can also
understand this to me, that for those who deny Christ and sever
their loyalty to Him, IE being faithless, God is faithful to
carry out His warnings. He promised to those who do so.
You may be faithless in your vows to the Lord or in your
empty profession, but God is faithful in everything that He
has said, including to what He will do and how He'll respond to
those who have denied him. God is serious about all of His
word, not just some of His word. And what we have here is that
the Assyrians in our main text have arrived because God said
something many, many years ago, and He hadn't forgotten about
it. Let's come to our final lesson,
the 8th lesson with the 8th king in verse 32 of Second Kings 15,
in the second year of Pika, the son of Remalia, king of Israel,
Jonathan, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign.
He was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned
16 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerusha,
the daughter of Zadok, and he did what was right in the eyes
of the Lord according to all that his father Uzziah had done.
Isn't that refreshing? Nevertheless, the high places
were not removed. The people still sacrifice and
made offerings on the high places.
He built the upper gate of the House of the Lord.
Pause. When's the last time we heard
about anything relate to the House of the Lord?
So obviously, this king had great respect for the House of
God, and he invested in its restoration.
But let's read on. Now the rest of the acts of
Jonathan and all that he did, are they not written in the book
of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
Now you would think it would end there and it would make sense.
Here we have a righteous king who did great things for the
Kingdom. But verse 37 comes in those
days. The Lord began to send Resin,
the king of Syria, and Pika, the son of Ramallah, against Judah.
Jotham slept with his father's and was buried with his father's
in the city of David. His father and Ahaz, his son,
reigned in his place. So he did what was right in the
eyes of the Lord. He invested in the House of God.
Everything is looking well. And then at the end of this
text, we read that two nations now come against Judah.
You might be thinking, is this another case of Azariah or Uziah
where he started out well and then he ended wrong?
No, Jotham actually ended well. So how is it that you have these
foreign entities, these enemies surrounding the people of God
with a righteous ruler? I think there are many ways to
answer that, and I want to give you one that is fairly new in
our understanding how things work in the days of the kings.
If you still have energy, we'll go to one more place in the
Bible. It's in Second Chronicles, and
here's what will end. Second Chronicles 27 is the
parallel account to this one, and I want us to look at the 1st
2 verses please. Jotham was 25 years old when he
began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem.
His mother's name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok, and he
did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all
that his father Uzziah had done, except he did not enter the
Temple of the Lord. Don't you love that?
So this man's father was Uziah, the one who entered into the
temple and assumed the position of a priest.
Now his son reigns and we're told he didn't enter the temple.
So he made a willful choice. I'm not going to imitate my
father in this way. You can make the same choice no
matter how you grew up. But it's the last part.
But the people still followed corrupt practices.
I believe that's one of the reasons why the Lord allowed for
Israel and Syria to come against Judah.
Here's the final lesson from the final king.
Godly influences do not guarantee godly imitation.
I love how this is brought to our attention because the Bible
is very realistic. You may have a godly pastor.
You may have godly pastors. You may have godly fathers,
mothers, older siblings, younger siblings, friends.
That doesn't mean that you'll walk in the same way they
walked. That should encourage those who
are hoped that their presence and their example would be
replicated. Because you have some people,
and I have spoken to them with tears in their eyes that have
wondered, was I not godly enough?
Did I not pray hard enough? Did I not teach my children the
Bible enough? How is it that they're walking
in this way while I've served the Lord all the days of my life
and I've brought Christ into our marriage and into our home?
How is this possible? Well, you have one of many
examples just like this, that you can have a godly leader and
a godless people under that leadership.
That is even true for a local church.
You can have a Bible preaching, Bible living teacher week in and
week out and people still leave unchanged, moved here and there,
but not truly transformed. So what does this really teach
us? We are each responsible for our
own sanctification, and we will each be held accountable by God
for what we have done with the influences in our lives,
including godly leadership. And so we see here that the Lord
is trying to get the attention of His people when they chose to
ignore a godly king. Things are getting bad for the
people of God, and as we come to chapter 16 next week, we're
going to discover that together. Let's pray and seek the Lord in
Thanksgiving. Well, we tried our best with
this chapter to mine it so that we can discover gold in it.
Or we could have easily have just scratched the surface, but
we didn't want to do that. But we also know that we are
finite and we are limited and things can be overwhelming.
So we ask that the things that we have clicked on would be
retained and remembered. So Lord, help us chain these
insights around our hearts. Help us remember these truths
when they matter the most. And help us, Lord, if there's
going to be anything that we take away from this, help us
believe that every part of your word is an ocean of truth.
Lord, we pray that if anything has resonated with us, we would
not ignore it, that we would take heed of Uzziah's example
and not shooing away or becoming even angry with conviction in
our hearts. Help us never become angry for
those who speak truths to us. Help us see them as a friend, as
a gift always. And so, Lord, if there's
anything that you have touched on even now we believe that, you
see how we will respond to this conviction, and we will respond
rightly by the grace of the Holy Spirit who helps us remain in
humility. Lord, thank you that you keep
your promises. Thank you, Lord, that we may
forget, but you don't. Thank you, Lord, that when we
are faithless, you are faithful. And that's a good thing.
And it can be a terrifying thing.
But Lord, we now as a church choose to sing to you in
Thanksgiving because you have brought us yet through another
text in Your word that will not be in vain in our lives.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen. Let's stand, let's sing to the
Lord. We have 8 reasons to sing to the
Lord tonight. I'm sure many more.