August 4, 2024 - Hearts Divided
Notes
Transcript
The Apostle Paul
What comes to mind when you hear that name?
Ok, same question - John MacArthur
Bill Cosby
What comes to mind when you hear that name?
A mix of memories?
O.J. Simpson
Same question...
The Olympics
What comes to mind… mixed memories?
Ravi Zacharias
What comes to mind when you hear that name?
Ok - how about - YOUR NAME
What comes to mind when you hear YOUR name?
I don’t know for certain - but I IMAGINE - that depending on the name I said - you had different reactions.
Remember this exercise - as we make our way through our text today.
TODAY - coming out of last week where we saw God’s PROMISE of the Davidic line rest on the actions of Jehosheba - and Jehoiada.
If you remember - Jehoiada (the chief priest) and his wife Jehosheba - decided to RESCUE Joash - the son of Jehosheba’s brother Ahaziah - who had been killed by JEHU.
If you remember - Athaliah - the MOTHER of Ahaziah, when she heard that her son was killed by JEHU…
She decides to kill the rest of the Royal family (INCLUDING her grandsons) - in order to gain control.
And so SHE DOES THAT - except for Joash - who was hidden away by Jehosheba and Jehoiada for 6 years - while Athaliah reigned.
AND THEN - when the boy turned 7 - Joash was made king.
That was LAST week...
This week - we’re going to pick up with the account in chapter 12.
And ODDLY (i would say it’s odd) - the name Joash - is referred to as Jehoash.
I don’t know why...
But it is.
And so we go to chapter 12…and we’ll walk thru it as we go...
1 In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba.
2 And Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him.
So from the age of 7 - until 47 - Joash reigned in Judah.
NOW - if you’ve been paying attention throughout this trek thru 1 & 2 Kings...
There’s a phrase that we keep hearing over and over again regarding the KINGS that come into reign...
“this king did what was evil in the sight of the Lord”
REPEAT
Well - FINALLY - v2 tells us - Joash - did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.
FINALLY = a king who could give some direction to the people.
NOW - this sermon is going to focus in on JOASH and his deeds...
And then AS WE GO - we’re going to see a SPIRITUAL REALITY come into FOCUS…
make sense?
SLIDE: The Heart of Joash: Pleased the Lord
The Heart of Joash
The Heart of Joash
We don’t have much to go by just yet - in the text - but we ARE told that Joash PLEASED the Lord.
He did what was right.
AND - it gives a REASON as to why...
2 And Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him.
A reason that Joash did what was right - was because Jehoiada INSTRUCTED him...
And right away - we see the IMPORTANCE of those AROUND us.
The people around you - have the ability - to INFLUENCE you.
*How many of you feel that since your time here at AFBC began - whenever that was - that you have GROWN in your faith?
Ok - for those of you that would say - YES - just look around.
The PEOPLE AROUND you have helped you GROW.
They have INFLUENCED you.
When we look through Scripture - we can see MANY examples of people having positive influences on others!
How about the 2 men we’ve recently seen in scripture...
Elijah and Elisha
19 So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him.
20 And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?”
Elisha was the student of Elijah...
And as we’ve seen in these books - Elisha carried on the mission passed on to him from Elijah.
Timothy was a student of Paul
Paul called him his - child in the faith
And Paul’s philosophy was - Imitate me as I imitate Christ.
Paul wanted others to see - CHRIST - in him.
Also - Paul and Barnabas
And OF COURSE… Christ and the disciples.
We can see the disciples GROWING in their faith - AS THEY lived life with Christ.
And in our text today - Jehoiada INFLUENCED Joash = to do what pleased the Lord.
Remember - Joash began to reign when he was 7...
He NEEDED guidance!
Could it have been easy for Jehoiada to take advantage of the situation?
Jehoiada didn’t TRAIN Joash to do things that PLEASED Jehoiada - or elevated Jehoiada...
But that which pleased the Lord.
Was JOASH perfect?
NO!
3 Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away; the people continued to sacrifice and make offerings on the high places.
So no - Joash wasn’t perfect - and neither was - - Jehoiada.
The high places were left in place...
What else do we see?
4 Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the holy things that is brought into the house of the Lord, the money for which each man is assessed—the money from the assessment of persons—and the money that a man’s heart prompts him to bring into the house of the Lord,
5 let the priests take, each from his donor, and let them repair the house wherever any need of repairs is discovered.”
So Joash here displayed something...
SLIDE: The Heart of Joash: Valued the House of the Lord
The Heart of Joash
The Heart of Joash
Joash- VALUED the things of God.
He saw value in them...
And when he realized that the House of the Lord NEEDED repairs… he sought a solution!
At first he asks the priests to do it and make the repairs...
THEN realizes that they aren’t doing it...
So he then takes it out of their hands...
And sets up a system of collecting funds from the public sector.
Those funds were then used to pay the carpenters and workers who did end up restoring the House of the Lord.
But again - why did all this happen?
Joash - VALUED the things of God.
he prioritized them!
And THINK about the way that Christ handled those who began to USE the temple as a way to make money - BY ANY MEANS...
12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.
13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
You can HEAR in Jesus’ voice - the disdain for those who DID NOT TREAT as SACRED - the House of the Lord.
And so it would SEEM - that if Joash was there that SAME DAY that Jesus turned over these tables....
Joash may have done the SAME THING...
Joash may have been just as upset as Christ - about how the people were handling the Temple.
And so Joash’s heart - VALUED the House of the Lord - the things of God.
But how did this plan to REPAIR the House play out?
5 let the priests take, each from his donor, and let them repair the house wherever any need of repairs is discovered.”
6 But by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests had made no repairs on the house.
By the 23rd year - NO repairs had been made!
WOW - this building by this point was over a Century old.
And so - kind of a head scratcher!...
And so Joash implements a system for the private sector to PAY for repairs.
Which is what happened!
Repairs were made...
And the workers who MADE the repairs - were PAID.
And so it seemed up to this point - JOASH had lived up to the early sentiment of the PEOPLE- when he had first become King.
If we go back to chapter 11 - the end of the chapter reads this...
19 And he took the captains, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of the Lord, marching through the gate of the guards to the king’s house. And he took his seat on the throne of the kings.
20 So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been put to death with the sword at the king’s house.
The people - REJOICED!
SLIDE: The Heart of Joash: Blessed the People of God
The Heart of Joash
The Heart of Joash
As we’ve seen so far -
JOASH - living out his kingship, under the guidance of Jehoiada...
Pleased the Lord
Valued the House of the Lord
AND...
Blessed the People of God
The people were now UNDER a king - who had pleased the Lord.
And as we know…and have heard before...
SLIDE:
Blessing resides on the other side of obedience
Jehoiada pursued obedience - and THEN - he helped Joash pursue obedience...
And so - blessings flowed - To Jehoiada - to Joash - and to the people of Judah.
6 Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.
11 By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown.
25 Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.
20 A faithful man will abound with blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.
And so - Joash - was an INSTRUMENT of blessing to the people...
NOW - we come to a fork in the road of this account.
And to see this - we’ll be heading over to 2 Chronicles...
15 But Jehoiada grew old and full of days, and died. He was 130 years old at his death.
16 And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his house.
17 Now after the death of Jehoiada the princes of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them.
Ok - so Jehoiada was getting old - well - real old - and he dies.
v17 says...
After Jehoiada died - the princes of Judah came to the king…and the KING - LISTENED to THEM.
What did he listen to?
2 Chronicles 24:18 (ESV)
18 And they abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols...
A . turn . of events - no?
DO you remember our first point for today?
The HEART of JOASH - PLEASED the LORD...
Well - now…we see this...
SLIDE: The Heart of Joash: Pleased Man (Idol Worship)
The Heart of Joash
The Heart of Joash
What does this mean?
It means - the same HEART - that pleased the Lord - will also please man.
The same heart that worships the Lord - will also worship idols.
Joash started out his reign - PLEASING the Lord...
His focus - with the help of Jehoiada - was to do what was right in the eyes of the Lord.
And so right away we see how important - THOSE AROUND US - are when it comes to OUR OWN impact in the world.
Jehoiada - INFLUENCED Joash for the good.
16 And Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king that they should be the Lord’s people.
17 Then all the people went to the house of Baal and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars.
With Jehoiada - Joash embarked on ridding Judah of the Baal worship that was prominent.
And so JEHOIADA - influenced Joash for the good - and the Lord was pleased.
The PRINCES of Judah however - influenced Joash for the bad.
AND YET - it was the HEART of Joash - which now PLEASES MAN - and turns from God.
And this is a pattern we see throughout scripture...
MEN who started well - but didn’t finish well!
And we can go straight to the beginning!
ADAM - began in the garden - everything around him GOOD...
But then choices made brought sin into the world.
And separation from God was the result.
SAUL - King Saul - started out WELL…really well.
But jealousy overtook him...
And choices made tore the kingdom from him.
DAVID - started out well - a WARRIOR on the battlefield...
Many victories came
YET - choices brought consequences for him
SOLOMON - started out - WELL...
YET - his fall was written of...
9 And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice
10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded.
11 Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.
12 Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
For each of these men - and MORE - their hearts - ONCE PLEASING to the Lord - find themselves - NOT PLEASING the Lord.
And yet - the account continues...
17 At that time Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath and took it. But when Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem,
18 Jehoash king of Judah took all the sacred gifts that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah his fathers, the kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred gifts, and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house, and sent these to Hazael king of Syria. Then Hazael went away from Jerusalem.
Here - we hear about Hazael - now KING of Syria...
And now attacking Jerusalem - and so JOASH - the man who at one point - VALUED the House of the Lord...
NOW - does what?
Reread v18
Joash - decides to APPEASE Hazael - with all the sacred gifts given to the House of the Lord.
He basically EMPTIES the House of the Lord...
To help protect the people.
And so here we see...
SLIDE: The Heart of Joash: Devalued the House of the Lord
The Heart of Joash
The Heart of Joash
WHICH MEANS -
The heart that once valued the House of the Lord...
Once VALUED the things of God - NOW DEVALUES the House of the Lord (the things of God).
Joash decides that the THINGS of God - are expendable...
These things - once viewed as sacred - NOW viewed as COLLATERAL...
We see something similar in Malachi...
11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.
12 But you profane it when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised.
13 But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord.
14 Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.
We can see here that God took sacrifices to Him - seriously.
He could see the hearts of these priests were more concerned with...
…maybe keeping the best behind for themselves - while they offer God the LEFTOVERS.
God here is saying - SEE, you don’t see that I’m WORTH IT...
You don’t VALUE Me...
And I see it in how you sacrifice...
In this case - in Malachi - we see that the priests DEVALUED God...
They felt that God would accept WHATEVER they offered....just as long as they offered something!
God says - NO - i won’t play that game.
JOASH - had gone from honoring the House of the Lord - to DIShonoring the House of the Lord...
and it was a HEART issue.
But that’s not all...
If we remember - when Joash took over as King - and Jehoiada was guiding him to do what was right...
The PEOPLE rejoiced!
20 So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been put to death with the sword at the king’s house.
The people were able to REST - under the guidance of God.
Did that last??
As we’ve seen IDOLATRY became the new normal under Joash - because he ended up listening to the princes of Judah...
AND SO - THAT led to this...
20 Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God, ‘Why do you break the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’ ”
21 But they conspired against him, and by command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord.
22 Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, had shown him, but killed his son. And when he was dying, he said, “May the Lord see and avenge!”
So Zechariah (son of Jehoiada) - comes along - AFTER Jehoiada had passed away - and he seeks to CONFRONT Joash and the people with their idolatry.
What does he tell them?
“Because you have forsaken the Lord, He has forsaken you”
What does Joash do?
He makes the decision to - KILL Zechariah!
NOW - what does this mean?
It means - the heart that once blessed the people by obeying the Lord...
NOW - kills one who is standing UP for Gods ways...
SLIDE: The Heart of Joash: Destroyed the People of God
The Heart of Joash
The Heart of Joash
The SAME HEART that received the BLESSING of God through Jehoiada - NOW KILLS Jehoiada’s son…!
And it’s as if Joash had FORGOTTEN all the good bestowed on him by JEHOIADA...
Think about it - who saved Joash? - -as an infant??
Jehoiada!
And now - the one SAVED (Joash) kills the son of his physical savior.
And so the Heart that once BLESSED the people - now brings the WRATH of God.
18 And they abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.
Wrath came upon the PEOPLE...
The wrath of God.
What a TURN of events...
SUMMARY
SLIDE:
The heart that once pleased the Lord, pleased man, dishonoring the Lord.
SLIDE:
The heart that once valued the House of the Lord, devalued the House of the Lord.
SLIDE:
The heart that once blessed the people of God, destroyed the people of God and brought God’s wrath upon them.
And so - BACK to that LIST of people that started off this sermon...
the Apostle Paul (what comes to your mind?)
Amazing man of faith
John MacArthur (What comes to your mind?)
Amazing man of faith
Ravi Zacharias
Amazing man of faith?
Not a man of faith?
Ok - let’s add JOASH to this list (what comes to your mind?)
Amazing man of faith?
Not a man of faith?
What did we see today...
The heart that once pleased the Lord, dishonored the Lord.
The heart that once valued the things of God, devalued the things of God
The heart that once blessed the people of God, destroyed the people of God
Is the apostle Paul DIFFERENT than Ravi Zacharias?
Different than Joash?
Well Paul wrote Romans 7 - What was the THORN in Paul’s flesh that he wrestled with?
We - don’t know.
So is he different than Joash?
Different than Ravi?
What I want us to see - ALL of us - is that EACH OF US...
has a HEART - DIVIDED
We all would love to THINK - that we all have a little bit of the Apostle Paul in us...
A little bit of John MacArthur in us...
THE reality is -
WE ALL - INCLUDING the apostle Paul and John MacArthur...
We all - if we believe - have God in us (His Spirit) - AND OURSELVES
- In other words - GOOD and EVIL
- The apostle Paul was no different than Joash.
- No different than Ravi Zacharias
No different than David
As believers - we all have HEARTS DIVIDED...
- And so as we seek to HELP OTHERS walk in the ways of God - may we ALWAYS do so - with a view to our own DIVIDED HEARTS within us.
We all could use a Jehoiada in our lives - but guess what - EVEN Jehoiada had a divided heart...
He was no different than any of these other men...
He was SIMPLY a MAN - a FALLEN MAN.
- May we pursue each other - in humility - for God’s glory - and our joy.
Let’s pray...