Israel Kings Good and Bad Pt 2
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Last week we talked about the wisdom of God and how having the wisdom from God is good and you should ask for it because God will give it to you
But having the wisdom from God is sort of pointless if we are not going to apply that wisdom
Solomon had that wisdom and used it and then stopped using it
Sort of like sunscreen from last week
I am sure you all own sunscreen but it does you and I no good if we are not applying it so as not to get sunburned
If last week was the uff, and then bad
This week is the ugly and the good
So the ugly
23 In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel and reigned twelve years; he reigned six years at Tirzah. 24 He bought the hill Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver; and he built on the hill, and named the city which he built Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill. 25 Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, and acted more wickedly than all who were before him. 26 For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and in his sins which he made Israel sin, provoking the Lord God of Israel with their idols.
King Omri is Athaliah’s grandfather
This is where she comes from
Please understand that you don’t have to turn into who your parents were
16 “The statutes of Omri And all the works of the house of Ahab are observed; And in their devices you walk. Therefore I will give you up for destruction And your inhabitants for derision, And you will bear the reproach of My people.”
But it doesn’t boad well for her
So Athaliah is the ugly this morning
It is not a dig on her appearance in fact I am not concerned at all about her appearance
She was an ugly queen
The only Queen of the Tribe of Judah
With being the only Queen lot of opportunity to turn things around
And yet she does not
This is the type of ugly she does
She continued to allow the nation of worship Baal
It says nothing about her tearing the high places down and instituting the laws from God again
No she continues on with what has been going on in the Nation of Judah for the last few kings
But was really makes her ugly
10 Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she rose and destroyed all the royal offspring of the house of Judah. 11 But Jehoshabeath the king’s daughter took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons who were being put to death, and placed him and his nurse in the bedroom. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest (for she was the sister of Ahaziah), hid him from Athaliah so that she would not put him to death. 12 He was hidden with them in the house of God six years while Athaliah reigned over the land.
Church if this aint ugly I don’t know what is
Her son the king has just died
She doesn’t morn she doesn’t look for the next king rather she steps into the role herself
To do that though she must kill the rest of the royal family
Which church is her own blood family
Her own grandchildren and children she has put to death
Let that settle in
she was so into attaining power that she stopped at nothing to take over
She starts by killing the kings sons and other royal family members
But her own daughter or at least step daughter the Kings own sister takes the Kings Son Joash and hides him
She is married to a priest of God Jehoiada
So Do you understand how important it is of a legacy you leave for your family
Her own grandfather was an evil man and her own son was not a very good king and sort of makes sense she would not be a good queen but what she does is just down right ugly
Praise the Lord through we get to end today with the good
We have talked about the ugg which was Solomon, the bad which was Jeroboam, the ugly which was Athaliah and now the Good
But we are going to highlight 3
A synopsis from Logos said this
According to the books of Kings, two monarchs stand out as potentially the "best" kings of Judah: Hezekiah and Josiah. Both are praised highly for their devotion to God and their religious reforms. Hezekiah is described as unparalleled among Judah's kings, trusting in God like no other before or after him1. Similarly, Josiah is lauded for his wholehearted devotion to God and obedience to Mosaic law, with the text stating there was never a king like him before or since1. Josiah's reforms were particularly significant, with his Passover celebration being described as unmatched since the time of Samuel
So King Hezekiah
1 Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. 2 He did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done. 3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. 4 He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them into the square on the east. 5 Then he said to them, “Listen to me, O Levites. Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out from the holy place. 6 “For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and have forsaken Him and turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord, and have turned their backs.
Hezekiah opens the doors to the House of the Lord
With what was probably sometime since the last time they were opened
Church He returns to the wisdom Solomon had and was obedient to the covenant with the Lord
To obey his status and commands
He opens the place back up to Worship the Lord
Literally smashes the other idols that had been set up
It took a while for the doors to be closed completely right
It first starts with we will dabble or add this or that to also worshipping God
All the Kings knew they were supposed to worship God
I mean they had recorded what the other kings did and what happened right
You and I know we are to be at church
I’m not talking about vacations but I am talking about us getting lazy in our walks and skipping church
When you skip it is easier next time to skip and before you know we have a generation who is not church raising another generation who does not know of God
So let me be clear moms and dads for a second
You have a responsibility to raise your children to as scripture says
6 Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.
We are to train them up in the way they should go even when they don’t want to go
We are to bring them to church and to show them the importance of church and worshipping God
Even when they don’t want to
I used to think well I don’t want to force my kids to think this or that I want them to come to their own understanding or thinking
I want them to have their own faith
Let me clear if we are not bringing them to church they won’t come to faith on their own because the world will drag them away
Our jobs as parents it to bring our kids to church where they like it or not
Our job is to show them the importance of worshiping God wether they like it or not
You might think well that will turn them off to Jesus
The word of God does not return void
It comes down to legacy
The legacy in Judah to that point was who is God
Hezekiah shows up and knows they should be worshiping God
So he opens the doors to the Temple and encourages the nation of Judah to return to worshiping the Lord
Which is exactly what the King was supposed to be doing
They were to be leading their people to follow after God Himself
But sadly he becomes prideful in his later days
Then we come into Josiah
1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. 2 He did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the way of his father David, nor did he turn aside to the right or to the left. 3 Now in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam the scribe, to the house of the Lord saying, 4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest that he may count the money brought in to the house of the Lord which the doorkeepers have gathered from the people.
Josiah becomes king when he is 8 years old
Says that he kept his eyes on God and did not turn to the right or to the left
He kept his focus on God Himself
Church that is what a good king is to be doing
Keeping their focus on God Himself and leading those around you to do the same
That is exactly what Josiah is going to do which is why he is a good king
8 Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan who read it. 9 Shaphan the scribe came to the king and brought back word to the king and said, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.” 10 Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it in the presence of the king. 11 When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. 12 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant saying, 13 “Go, inquire of the Lord for me and the people and all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found, for great is the wrath of the Lord that burns against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”
So while they are cleaning out the temple
They find what we would call the Bible
They find the written law of the Lord the Torah
Church it is so out there we sort of find this hard to believe except it is in the Bible so it is true
They had drifted so far from God they forgot the Word of the Lord
You and I think that is rough and hard to believe but we are living in a world that is biblically illiterate
We are living in a generation that doesn’t know the word of God
We are living in a generation that get their scripture interpretation from Facebook, Youtube or Tik Tok instead of Matthew Henry, Warren Wisbe, Charles Spurgeon, Adrian Rogers, Charles Stanely, W.C. Criswel, John McCarthur, or Billy Graham
So they find the lost book of the Law which details how you and I are supposed to live in relationship to God Himself
What makes Josiah such a great king is that
1 Then the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. 2 The king went up to the house of the Lord and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord. 3 The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.
He reads this to the entire nation
It doesn’t stop there
No he makes a covenant before God and the people for the nation of Judah to walk in the ways of the Lord
So he hears of the lost book
He hears it himself
Then he must tell others about the lost book and share that with an entire nation
And church he calls them to repentance and action because of the words of the Book of God
Church we don’t have to worry about people being turned off to God because they were forced to come to church
The power of the living God is at work and can and will draw people to Himself
Josiah lead the people to repent and run back to God
That is what makes Him such a great king
As believers in Jesus this what we are to be doing ourselves to read the Bible
Share that with other people and lead them to repent of their sin and follow after Jesus
I am sure I have heard that somewhere
We end this morning with our final King and invitation
The greatest King of all is King Jesus Himself
Who willingly went to the cross to pay for you sin and my sin
Something you and I could never do ourselves
King Jesus says you are never to far gone
King Jesus loved you and I enough to pay our debt of sin and if we owuld trust and believe we will be saved
So as we call the band up we want to give you that opportunity
The band will come up and we will sing a song
During that song this is your opportunity to respond how every you need to respond
Maybe you have question about a personal relationship with Jesus
Maybe you want to join the church
maybe you just want to spend sometime in prayer at the altar
The altar is open
The final King
6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.
The final King of King and Lord of Lords is Jesus Himself
What makes him the standard of King
That you and I are never to far go because church
Because Christ died for all of us to save us
Something you and I could not do ourselves
Christ died that you and I might be saved
Jesus willingly took your sin and my sin upon himself so that we might live
24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
This is something you and I could not do
Only Jesus who lived a perfect life offered himself up in our place
If only we would believe and trust Him
So church this morning as we come to a close
The band is going to come up
As they come up we have talked about kings
But the one King that is primary to us is King Jesus
Who offered Himself up in our place
If you would believe and trust Him you will be saved
If you have questions about that would come and speak with someone at the front
Or maybe you need to spend sometime in prayer at the alter
Or maybe you need to make another decision of church membership
The altar is open
Jesus
According to the books of Kings, two monarchs stand out as potentially the "best" kings of Judah: Hezekiah and Josiah. Both are praised highly for their devotion to God and their religious reforms. Hezekiah is described as unparalleled among Judah's kings, trusting in God like no other before or after him1. Similarly, Josiah is lauded for his wholehearted devotion to God and obedience to Mosaic law, with the text stating there was never a king like him before or since1. Josiah's reforms were particularly significant, with his Passover celebration being described as unmatched since the time of Samuel
