look to the one true king
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trust in the one true king
trust in the one true king
We will be in 2nd Kings ch 15
Pray --
I was asked to preach today during pastor Aarons vacation
So I asked him what passage of scripture I was going to do
I was told
2nd Kings Ch 15
As I started reading over the chapter I realized that
I could not pronounce over half of the names in the chapter..
All I could think was , no wonder Pastor chose this chapter to go on vacation for.
Nobody wants to walk into the gauntlet of pronouncing
over 15 ancient Israelite names
so please excersice grace in my attempt to do so..
tonight
We will be looking at a total of 8 kings in this chapter
2 were considered good kings from Judah
6 were wicked kings from Israel
now remember Israel had divided into 2 soveriegn nations
10 tribes had followed the rebellion of Jereboam
they would continue to be called Israel in the north
2 tribes, Judah and Benjamin stayed Loyal to king Solomons son,, Rehaboam
this was the southern nation called Judah
What I want to do today is examine these 8 kings
I want to look at their failures
as a warning for us
That we may look to the one perfect king
to find grace when we fall short of His glory
lets start in verse 1 as we get introduced to a good king
who made some bad choices
In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah the son of Amaziah, king of Judah, became king. He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done, except that the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. Then the Lord struck the king, so that he was a leper until the day of his death; so he dwelt in an isolated house. And Jotham the king’s son was over the royal house, judging 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? So Azariah rested with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the City of David. Then Jotham his son reigned in his place.
Here were introduced to Azariah King of Judah
He is also refered to as Uzziah
He was the son of Amaziah
Azariah was 16 when he started his kingship..
I dont know about you, but If I was king at 16,
I would have done some wild things
I probably would have put a macdonalds in my palace …
Azariah reigned 52 years
during the ministry of the prophet zecheriah
As we read in verse 3
He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord during his reign ..
and then we continue to read about how he failed..
When the scripture is saying, He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord
it means that he had genuine faith in YAHWAH
He served the God of Jacob ,
yet He still fell short..
sounds like us in some ways doesnt it
verse 4 tells us that he refused to remove the high places
—these were convinient places
to make sacrafices and worship the Lord
However God commanded that this be done at the temple
“But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go. There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.
Instead of bringing their offerings to the temple
the people would go to the more convinient high places
This was a direct choice of disobedience
that resulted from compromise
and King Uzziah did not see it fit to remove these high places
Furthermore We read in verse 5 that
The King was struck with leprosy and
He was isolated from all of the people until
his miserable and painful death
verse 6 tells us to look into the book of the chronicles of Judah to see the rest of the acts of Azariah.
So lets turn there to see another failure from this good king
But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.
Again we see Azariah compromise Gods command
as he wanted to take hold on the role of prophet, priest, and king...
yet God has reserved that role for His only son
As Uzziah went into the temple to burn the incense
80 priests went in after him
and tried to prevent him from doing this
for it was only for the priests to burn incesense
Uzziah became furious and went to burn the incense
In his pride He decided that He was going to call the shots
but what do we know about pride
Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.
Uzziah disobeyed Gods word
and
leprosy broke out on His head
God brought a judgment on this good king
as we see this good king still had moments of sin
These acts of disobedience came on him
because of pride and compromise to Gods word
This brings us to our first point
Be faithful to Gods word
Be faithful to Gods word
One of the most important things we can do as christians
is to submit ourselves under the authority of scripture...
This means that what God says
in His word is the standard
Compromise means to settle on less than desireable standards
God has set His standard by His command in scripture
when we lower these standards
and create our own standard
we are compromising..
This will generally be accomponied by an excuse
and by pride.... the idea that you know better than God
I want you to reflect on your spiritual life..
Q. Where are you compromising Gods word in your life?
When Gods word says to flee from sexual immorality.
Are you making up excuses to watch pornography
When you see your brother making excuses for sin
as if they were bringing an offering to a high place,
are you patting them on the back
or are you honoring Gods word in
Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.
When the bible says you are saved by grace through faith,
are you still trying to earn Gods favor
How are we loving are neighbors?
Are you gossiping behind eachothers backs.
blessing them in one sentance and cursing them the next?
We all compromise in different areas at different times in our lives.
It often catches us off guard
and thank God we have a savior whos mercies are new every morning.
we have a savior who is gentle and lowly
One who calls us to repentance by His love and grace
So that when we are convicted we can turn back to being faithful to His word.
One area of compromise in my life is with entertainment.
it is so hard to live in a netflix generation…
every night I have two options..
ice cream and netflix
or
alone time with the Lord..
one appeals to the flesh
the other to the spirit.
I remember when you had to wait
until a certain time to watch your favorite show..
and then you had to sit through commercials..
‘now we get enraged when we see the loading circle pop up..
Well my area of compromise that I have to repent from regularly is entertainment...
God has called us to live holy
Story:
I remember when game of thrones came out
it was my favorite show…
my family used to get together to watch every new episode..
I knew it was a sinful show
but I made up every excuse in the book to watch it..
and then you know how you can take verses out of context some times...
my brother and christians friends would be dogging me
and I would tell them, hey there is freedom in Christ...
but of course thats not what it means …
Finally one day I was convicted so hard that on the season finale
I repented…
and I havent watched another episode..
now that is just one story in a long list of stories
where I have failed to submit to Gods authority
I had compromised
and Gods grace was ever present with me
until I repented...
But let the story of King Azariah remind us
that if we do not repent from our compromise
there is consequence..
Although God may not strike you with leprosy of the body
There may be a leporosy of the heart
if the sin in your life is not dealt with
may we be faithful to Gods word
in all that we do
Picking back up in verse 8
we will read about some of the kings of Israel
In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria six months. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as his fathers had done; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. Then Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and struck and killed him in front of the people; and he reigned in his place. Now the rest of the acts of Zechariah, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. This was the word of the Lord which He spoke to Jehu, saying, “Your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” And so it was.
Here we read about Zechariah
this is not the prophet Zechariah
He was an evil king who reigned during the same time as Azariah
He had a short lived reign
As he was murdered by a guy named Shallum
This also fulfilled a prophecy that God made to Jehu
that his sons would sit on the throne of Israel up to 4 generations.
picking back up in verse 13
Shallum the son of Jabesh became king in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah; and he reigned a full month in Samaria. For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, came to Samaria, and struck Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria and killed him; and he reigned in his place. Now the rest of the acts of Shallum, and the conspiracy which he led, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. Then from Tirzah, Menahem attacked Tiphsah, all who were there, and its territory. Because they did not surrender, therefore he attacked it. All the women there who were with child he ripped open.
Shallums reign as king was so brief, that we barely get any info on him
other than that he was brutally murdered for his throne.
Menahem , who was most likely a military commander under king zechariah
menehem came from the city Tirzah
about 9 miles east of samaria
After taking the throne, We read how He brutally attacks a local town who would not surrender to him..
This marks the absolute brutality of this king
and the influence of the pagan nations around them..
for this was a scare tactic that was used by the assyrians and other
pagan nations.. as they would literally cut open the pregnant women and
leave them and their babies to die..
Continuing on in verse 17
In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi became king over Israel, and reigned ten years in Samaria. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. Pul king of Assyria came against the land; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to strengthen the kingdom under his control. And Menahem exacted the money from Israel, from all the very wealthy, from each man fifty shekels of silver, 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 acts of Menahem, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? So Menahem rested with his fathers. Then Pekahiah his son reigned in his place.
Azariaha is still reigning in Judah
and menahem is the king of Israel
His barbaric reign is 10 years
as he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord
as was the custom of Jeraboam and all of the previous kings over Israel..
Now we are introduced to Pul, the king of assyria…
finally a name I can pronounce..
This king of assyria comes against Israel , and as the coward he is
manahem takes money from his people
and gives it to his enemies.
HE has now led Israel to seek friendship and protection from this wicked nation
instead of seeking to friendship and protection from God..
I know we can find ourselves doing the same thing at times
its almost as if we say to ourselves ,
lets try and fix this here on our own
and if all else fails we will wrestle with God in prayer about it...
dear friends God is always your first and best option…
lets pick back up in verse 23 to read about king pekahiah
In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned two years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. Then Pekah the son of Remaliah, an officer of his, conspired against him and killed him in Samaria, in the citadel of the king’s house, along with Argob and Arieh; and with him were fifty men of Gilead. He killed him and reigned in his place. Now the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, and all that he did, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
still in the reign of azariah of Judah
pekahiah takes over in Israel in samaria
and He gets 2 years...
Do you think he did what was right in the eyes of the lord…
no..
all we get from this chapter is that one of his officers
who was meant to protect him
actually assasinated him...
now you only thought this stuff happened in movies..
no,, this is what the lust for power does to people..
pekah and his buddies killed pekahia and took his throne
now you could read about all of this in the chronicles of the kings of Israel
however the kings of Israel were so depraved and wicked
that God didnt see it fit to preserve that information..
the books of 1st and 2nd chronicles only have the kings of Judah in them..
moving on quickly because I have 8 kings to cover tonight
lets learn some more about pekah
In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maachah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria. Then Hoshea the son of Elah led a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and struck and killed him; so he reigned in his place in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. Now the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all that he did, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
Pekah reigns over Israel for 20 years
do you think he does what is right in the eyes of the Lord.... NOOO
During his reign the Assyrian kingdom quickly forgets about the silver given to them
and Assyria
which is directly north of Israel
comes and takes over some of the northern cities of Israel..
the conquest of Israel has begun
Because they did not see fit to worship God and honor Him
God gave them over to be conqured
and many of the people of Israel were taken captive as slaves to
assyria..
and wouldnt you believe it...
pekah is then assainated by hoshea
and hoshea begins to reign in what is left of Israel..
and here we have it folks
the complete depravity of a wicked kingdom
led by wicked kings
Now what can we learn from these wicked kings
They did not serve God
they did not honor God
and they did not love God
brings us to our second point…
remember your first love
remember your first love
at one time Israel was led by the man after Gods own heart
king David
before the division of the nation
Israel was a nation that feared God
and obeyed His commandments
They would be unified under the kingship of David
and then Solomon...
But along the way they forgot
they forgot about their first love
and they turned their back on God...
maybe your life is a reflection of a wicked kings...
maybe you have turned your back on the Lord
and you are living in a way that is far from Him…
we can get caught up in pursuing our own kingdom
and totally loose sight of our purpouse
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
if we seek after the benefit of Gods kingdom
and honor Him
He will richly provide all that we need
yet the temptation is to fall in love with this world
and when we do
we will start to forget about our true king
as did the wicked leaders in Israel..
1 John 4:19
We love Him because He first loved us.
Remember that He first loved you
and you will avoid the pitfall of rebellion...
lets finish the chapter in verse 32
In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord; he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. However the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. He built the Upper Gate of the house of the Lord. Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? In those days the Lord began to send Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah. So Jotham rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David his father. Then Ahaz his son reigned in his place.
we are now introduced to another king in Judah
Uzziahs son , Jotham
We see he did right in the eyes of the Lord..
He bult the upper gate connecting the palace to the temple
and out of all the previous kings
He is described this way in
So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God.
He was a king who aknowledged and worshiped the Lord
yet
He still failed to remove the high places
The end of the chapter foreshadows how God sent
rezin, king of syria and pekah king of Israel
with thier armies against the nation of Judah…
We will get into that in more detail next week
but I want to reflect on these kings as a whole
as we get into our last point...
faith in the perfect king will cover your failures
faith in the perfect king will cover your failures
the good kings were considered good
but they still did wicked things
Azariah disobeyed God and tried to take on the role of a priest
Azariah and Jotham both refused to remove the high places...
How were the two kings of Judah
still considered good in the eyes of the Lord
The other 6 Kings of Israel were exceedingly wicked
and they were considered wicked before the Lord...
Now if both groups did wicked things,
What was the difference between them?
What made the good kings good in the sight of the Lord?
They trusted in YHWH
Jotham and Azariah trusted in God
and the kings of Israel did not....
This is what seperates us as believers
and the rest of the world
And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
Abraham believed God
and trusted in His promise of descendants that would lead to a great nation
yet his story is marked with failure
Noah failed.. He got drunk
yet he trusted the Lord
David failed with bathsheba
yet he trusted the Lord
and repented from his sin
Peter denied Jesus 3 times
yet he trusted the Lord
this chapter is a reminder
that there really is no king that lives up to the standard
they all have fallen short
yet there is one king who has not fallen short
there is one king who has never failed
that king is Jesus
and He is the king of kings
and the Lord of lords
If you are here today
and you are thinking to yourself that you are a lot like these kings
maybe you have compromised your faith
maybe you are walking in disobedience
let me remind you that the way to obedience is by grace through faith
in the one who has never failed you...
this is the gospel
Jesus lived a perfect life in your place
and he died the death that you deserve
He went to the cross was crucified and buried
and 3 days later He rose from the grave
and He promises us that if we repent
and put our faith in Him
He will forgive us of every failure that we have ever come accross
every sin will be paid for at calvary…
so that when we are confronted with the times we fall short
we can be reminded that we serve a good king
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
This is our relationship to God as Christians
So if you find yourself straying away from God like one of these kings
make sure to be faithful to Gods word
remember your first love
and trust in the only perfect king
maybe you have never put your trust in Jesus
maybe you dont know this perfect king
well today
that can all change
and you too can learn how to
find grace in your failures
lets pray....