Out of His Sight
Notes
Transcript
Today we are going to see the culmination of SIN within the nation of Israel....
And we’ll see God respond.
Up to this point in these books of 1 and 2 Kings - we’ve seen COMPETENCE from Israel’s kings… in doing EVIL in the eyes of the Lord.
Last week - we saw the INFLUENCE of the Enemy (SIN) -
within man
within the priesthood…and then IMPACTING the people of God.
What has been the EXTENT of that impact?
Our text today...
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
7 And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods
8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced.
9 And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city.
10 They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree,
11 and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger,
12 and they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.”
13 Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”
14 But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God.
15 They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them.
16 And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal.
17 And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.
18 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only.
19 Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced.
20 And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
Today we see a LAUNDRY list of sins committed by the nation of Israel.
What I’d like to do today is look specifically at these SINS - see how WE COMPARE to Israel…TODAY
AND THEN see how FAITH itself responds to these sins.
WHY Faith?
Because - HOW ARE WE CALLED to walk in this world?
We’re called to walk by - FAITH - and not by - Sight.
Israel - often WALKED by - sight.
If you’ve noticed this last verse here on the screen - we see IN THIS VERSE - God’s RESPONSE to Israel...
How does it end?
SLIDE: Out of God’s Sight: Due to Sin
Out of God’s Sight
Out of God’s Sight
God CASTED them - - OUT OF HIS SIGHT
We should know that when we choose to WALK BY SIGHT - we’re at that point - Out of God’s Sight...
Let’s get into the details and see why...
7 And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods
SLIDE: Out of God’s Sight: Fearing Other gods
Out of God’s Sight
Out of God’s Sight
The people FEARED other gods.
**Let’s think about something - MEN and WOMEN (TODAY) - FEAR...
How about - the grave.
The WORLD - FEARS - the grave.
And BECAUSE the world FEARS the grave…what kind of RELATIONSHIP does the world HAVE with the GRAVE?
Would you AGREE - - that the GRAVE - controls the world?
Yes - the FEAR of the grave CAUSES people to live in a way in order to AVOID the grave.
NOW - the grave is a reality...
But the FALSE GODS that Israel feared - were NOT real...
And so - ultimately Israel FELL INTO obeying their own hearts.
So some people - Fear Money - in a sense that they let MONEY control them.
Some people fear status - and so they PURSUE it! It CONTROLS them.
But what about FAITH?
SLIDE:
Faith Fears the True God
Faith doesn’t fear OTHER gods...
Faith fears God.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Faith FEARS the one TRUE God...
BECAUSE - Faith obeys the one TRUE God.
But Israel wasn’t done...
2 Kings 17:8–9 (ESV)
8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced.
9 And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right...
What is this saying ...
SLIDE: Out of God’s Sight: Walking in the Ways of the World
Out of God’s Sight
Out of God’s Sight
Israel LIVED no different than the NATIONS...
Israel HAD the law of Moses - YET - they lived like THEY DIDN’T.
They treated the CUSTOMS of the nations as though they were - “commands of God.
How about US?
Do we have customs today - that we may follow…THINKING that we’re obeying God?
How about what we discussed a couple weeks ago?
SLIDE:
The Separation of Church and State
Our nation used this phrase to create an environment which SAYS - Keep the CHURCH out of the affairs of the STATE.
Well - that is NOT biblical.
it is a CUSTOM of man.
What else?
SLIDE:
Online Church
How about ONLINE CHURCH?
More prevalent after Covid was thrust upon us...
BUT - for sure has become a CUSTOM of man - where men/women and families will avoid coming to church and catch it online - as their approach to church.
What does God say though?
24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
And so we can even find ourselves FALLING into these customs as well...
But what about FAITH?
SLIDE:
Faith Walks in the Ways of God
How did Abraham LEAVE his homeland and head out - not knowing where he was going...
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
Faith WALKS in the ways of God… sometimes not even KNOWING where the next step should land.
But that’s what FAITH is...
The EVIDENCE of things NOT seen.
Do I walk by faith or by - sight?
But Israel wasn’t done.
2 Kings 17:9–11 (ESV)
9 And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city.
10 They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree,
11 and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them...
SLIDE: Out of God’s Sight: Self-Righteous Worship of False Gods
Out of God’s Sight
Out of God’s Sight
Says here that HIGH PLACES were built EVERYWHERE - in EVERY town...
And - There are a couple paths to look at here...
Some believe that these PILLARS and Asherim would have been SYMBOLS of the false gods that they served...
OTHERS believe that these pillars could have been their way of worshiping the TRUE GOD - yet - doing it in their OWN WAY…WAYS that were NEVER sanctioned by God.
And so - on the ONE side - {LET’S SAY - the pillars were to worship FALSE GODS… - well that’s IDOLATRY...
The people created these SHRINES to worship their idols.
Do we do the same today?
Football stadiums / Sports Arenas / Malls /
For MANY people - sports is an IDOL
MOST people in this world are in the process of creating their OWN little kingdoms on earth!
Bigger houses, more boats, MORE STUFF… Best Life Now.
Well How Does FAITH Respond?
SLIDE:
Faith Worships God Alone
4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
Faith doesn’t WORSHIP worthless idols...
Faith worships the TRUE and LIVING God!!
The ONE and ONLY...
This is what Saving Faith does!!
NOW - What if those Pillars in our text today were the people’s way of WORSHIPING the true God - and they were JUST DOING IT in their OWN way?
As we said - that’s SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS...
That’s the people - DECIDING for themselves - We’re going to WORSHIP God THIS WAY - and He’s GOING TO LIKE IT!!
Do WE DO THIS today?
Many in this world decide for themselves - that they are going to WORSHIP God -
By going to a Christmas Service…and an Easter Service - AND THAT’S IT!!!
AND God’s GONNA LIKE IT!
And it’s AS THOUGH - we have tried to HIJACK the Authority of God - FOR OURSELVES*
How does FAITH respond to that?
SLIDE:
Faith Submits to the Authority of God
Again - back to Abraham...
God said - DO THIS.
Soooo - BY FAITH - Abraham - DID WHAT GOD SAID!
JESUS - Himself - did the same thing...
38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
Even Jesus here - our great example - says - I SUBMIT to the Father’s WILL… and I do only what HE SAYS!
But Israel wasn’t done!
2 Kings 17:11 (ESV)
11 ... And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger,
SLIDE: Out of God’s Sight: Catering to the Flesh
Out of God’s Sight
Out of God’s Sight
Israel - was a WICKED (stiff-necked) people - DOING WICKED things...
They CATERED to their flesh!
They often gave in to their earthly desires...
Wicked thoughts - lived out
Wicked actions - lived out
AND YET - are we any different??
Of COURSE not… Honesty brings us to a place of ADMITTANCE..
We.Are.Wicked.
Wicked thoughts
Wicked actions
We FAIL God - DAILY
We TURN from Him…and embrace our flesh
We CHOOSE other gods/idols
We WORSHIP at other altars...
But what about FAITH?
SLIDE:
Faith Wars Against the Flesh
17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
Paul speaking here to the Galatian church...
AND Paul peeling back the layers of his soul in Romans 7...
22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
You can HEAR the battle!
THIS is the SOUND of - FAITH!
Faith goes to BATTLE against the flesh!
The Israelites lacked - Faith
But they weren’t done!
12 and they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.”
13 Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”
14 But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God.
SLIDE: Out of God’s Sight: Not Listening to God’s Word
Out of God’s Sight
Out of God’s Sight
God had spoken to the people THROUGHOUT the time of the KINGS...
14 But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God.
But they would NOT listen!
They IGNORED God.
Do we do the same?
Again - OF COURSE!
We ignore God’s call (TODAY) - for obedience
We ignore God’s call (TODAY) - for us to step out of the boat
We ignore God’s call (TODAY) - for us to get into God’s word
We ignore God’s call (TODAY) - for us to GIVE
to LOVE
to show MERCY
GRACE
We’re NO different...
AND YET - Faith is different!
SLIDE:
Faith Heed’s the Word of God
7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
By FAITH - Noah, ....HEEDED the Word of the Lord!
And obeyed! - - HE FOLLOWED THRU
That’s what FAITH does!
It - TRUSTS God.
But Israel CONTINUED!
2 Kings 17:15 (ESV)
15 They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them...
SLIDE: Out of God’s Sight: Hating God’s Law
Out of God’s Sight
Out of God’s Sight
The people - DESPISED (HATED) God’s APPROACH to them.
They HATED His law...
Is that what FAITH DOES?
Of course not!
SLIDE:
Faith Delights in the Law of God
What an amazing TEST for ourselves!!
4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
FAITH - LOVES - God’s law…God’s WAYS...
Faith MEDITATES on God’s law - day and night - contemplates these things…
that’s what FAITH does.
But ISRAEL continues!
15 They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them.
The people of ISRAEL - what?
SLIDE: Out of God’s Sight: Pursuing Falsehood
Out of God’s Sight
Out of God’s Sight
The people (Israel) - set up their lives in a way where they RELIED on Fairy-tales (Unicorns) to GUIDE them in their lives...
They relied on that which was FALSE...
And it says - THEY BECAME FALSE.
We BECOME what we PURSUE!
And WE are no different!
At times we’re more likely to BELIEVE..
Culture over Christ
Flesh over Faith
And in those times - LIVE out that ERROR!
But Faith?
SLIDE:
Faith Pursues Truth
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Faith IN Jesus - is FAITH IN truth!
And it’s the REALITY of the Spiritual Realm - UNSEEN - which is where FAITH is needed!
Where TRUST is needed!
And to CLOSE OUT this laundry list of SIN regarding Israel… we read...
16 And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal.
17 And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.
Israel - HERE - is on the path of destruction!
IDOLATRY - the worship of other gods.
And so - God - as we know - RESPONDED...
18 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only.
Out of His Sight...
God was gracious....merciful… longsuffering over the centuries...
And NOW - He responds.
God EXPELS the people of Israel...
They were SENT OUT from their own land...
And they became - SOJOURNERS in a foreign land…Assyria.
Their ENVIRONMENT was changed...
And because they now resided in a new geographical location… they became sojourners…PHYSICALLY.
NOW - What have we been comparing to Israel’s sin - ALL day long in this sermon...
Answer? - FAITH.
let’s close with this...
As we’ve seen in our text today - SIN - led to the people being MADE SOJOURNERS - cast out of the sight of God.
And we’ve seen this before...
it’s reflective of when Satan and the Angels fell...
CAST OUT of heaven due to SIN
it’s REFLECTIVE of the GARDEN - when Adam and Eve were CAST OUT of the garden - DUE to SIN.
But now back to the QUESTION we’ve been asking all along - today...
What about Faith?
SLIDE:
Through faith in Christ we become sojourners in this world, having received the inheritance of a new home, a new citizenship, a heavenly one.
And so - IN A SENSE - where… as we’ve seen all day....
SLIDE: Out of God’s Sight: Due to Sin
Out of God’s Sight
Out of God’s Sight
WE ALSO KNOW....
SLIDE: Out of the World’s Sight: Due to Faith in Christ
Out of the World’s Sight
Out of the World’s Sight
Before FAITH in Christ…
19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
This is BEFORE FAITH...
BUT AFTER FAITH....? next verse...
20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
And it’s all summed up in Heb...
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
See it?
IN FAITH - strangers and exiles on the earth!
Due to Sin: Cast out of the Sight of God...
And yet...
Due to FAITH: Brought BACK into God’s Sight...
Israel lacked FAITH - may we not! - and may we PURSUE it.
Let’s Pray....
Lord’s Table
This brings us to the Lord’s Table…a time for each of us to reflect on our lives, to examine ourselves spiritually, and to remember the cost of our faith. We were bought with a price, and these elements remind us of this.
We’ve seen today - we’re no different than the Israelites.
Wicked at heart...
We’ve all made mistakes - we’ve all messed up.
But can I - IN FAITH - take those mistakes to Him...
Confess those things - repent of those things...
AND be RENEWED today - in God’s strength?
Can I say as the SONG says...
I repent, i repent of trading truth for false unity
I repent, i repent of confusing peace and idolatry
By caring more of what they think than what i know of what we need
By domesticating You until You look just like me
I am wrong and of these things i repent
Can we take these things to the Lord...
When it comes to this time of examination - The Bible says not to take this lightly.
Scripture says – “ whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
So Go before Him now -
Confess your sins to Him…
Ask Him to fan the flames of your pursuit of FAITH - IN HIM!
Take time now and examine yourself before the Lord.
22 While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.” 23 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 And He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
“do this…in remembrance of me.”
PLEASE STAND - (Mark F announcement)
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Amen
