Does God Listen to Sinners?

As we’ve been journeying through the Old Testament we’ve seen all kinds of evil done. Israel, God’s chosen people, the nation that God led out of Egypt, protected in the wilderness, and for whom God conquered and led the people into the promised land - and still they turn their backs. We have constantly seen them going against God’s commands, worshipping idols, making sacrifices to foreign gods, and more. I think we often forget just how debauched they had become.

One might say there was nothing to distinguish them from the surrounding countries and still, they identified themselves as God’s chosen people, as children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Manasseh served as king over Israel from 686-642BC. He builds the high places that Hezekiah had destroyed, builds altars for Baal, and institutes worship of the goddess Asherah, just as King of Ahab of Israel had done. He also build idolatrous altars for the host of heaven - for the sun, moon, and stars and places them in the LORD’s temple in Jerusalem!

Manasseh even places the carved image of the goddess Asherah in the temple (2 Kgs. 21:3-7), the very place where God’s presence dwells (2 Kgs. 21:7; cf. Deut. 12:11).

Kaminski, Carol. CASKET EMPTY: God's Plan of Redemption through History. Old Testament Reader (p. 185). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. Kindle Edition.

This sort of disobedience put the entire life of the community in danger of God’s wrath. And still, Manasseh does not stop there, he goes on to even sacrifices his own children to these idolatrous gods, he practices witchcraft, uses divination, and consults mediums and spiritists.

Manasseh leads God’s people into doing even more evil than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed. So with that as the background listen to God’s pronouncement

2 Kings 21:10–15 ESV

And the Lord said by his servants the prophets, “Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols, therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.”

This is the word of the Lord,

Thanks be to God.

Does God Listen to Sinners?

The debauchery in all of Israel and Judah is out of control. And then, just when you think all is lost, Manasseh seems to have a change of heart. He prays to God and humbles himself. And even though he is easily one of the worst of the southern kings, God is moved by his entreaty and heard his plea.

Wait, what?

After all he’d done? He put idols int he temple, sacrificed his children to foreign gods, he did more abominations than the nations and still God is moved by his plea?

Yes, this tells us something very profound about God’s character. Our God, the biblical God is gracious and compassionate. What’s more this compassionate and gracious God will indeed listen to a sinner who genuinely repents. And though I, like you, would condemn these actions in anyone I’m reminded that I’m not in the place to judge.

This is a message of hope in the midst of the idolatrous history of Judah. Still, it is important to recognize that the consequences of such sin is not removed.

2 Kings 23:26–27 ESV

Still the Lord did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. And the Lord said, “I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”

AS we go forward we will see that the people of Judah and Israel will be sent into exile from the promised land. Still their is that glimmer of hope.

In 2 Chron 7:14 we read

2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV

if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

There are several things this means for Israel

They are God’s people.

They are called.

They must humble themselves from their prideful (we know better) ways

They must pray and seek God’s face

They must turn from their wicked ways (repent)

And God will hear!

And God will forgive their sin!

And God will heal their land!

This gives hope for all of us.

So often people talk about there not being grace nor mercy in the Old Testament that it all happens with Jesus, but in reality we see that this is part of the nature of God - which makes sense when we remember that Jesus is God as one person of the trinity.

What was Judah’s sin?

Judah’s sin was not unlike much of what many Christians do today they added to, and provided options to, what the LORD God had commanded. They had additional sacrifices, additional gods they could worship, and they did not take the commands of God as binding and yet they are.

What do we learn?

We learn a lot from this example in Israel’s history. Perhaps the most promising lesson is that no matter how far we may be gone, no matter how much debauchery we’ve participated in, no matter how rebellious we have been against God’s commands we still return to God by:

Humbling ourselves.

Seeking God’s face

Repenting and turning from our wickedness

It has been said that God is ever more ready to forgive than we are ready to repent.

So, lets return to our question that we began with:

Does God Listen to Sinners?

This is actually a question that I think holds a lot of judgment in it. What I mean is how can anyone of us think God would listen to us and not to another? Or, you may be thinking God would never listen to you because your sin is too great.

Yet, who is in a position to judge? Only God is in a place to judge. And as we have seen here and in the promise given to us in 2 Chronicles 7:14

2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV)

if my people ... humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin...

That’s it, that answers the question plain and simple. Throughout the Old Testament we see Israel - God’s People - proclaiming that they will follow God, and then just a few verses later we see them in the throws of rebellion. It seems to happen over and over again. And still the Gospel message is that God forgives, God redeems, God restores.

The answer to the question, “Does God Listen to Sinners?” is simply, yes. If God didn’t, God would never hear any one of us. Does God respond to our prayers? Yes.

Does the fact that God hears and responds take away the consequences of our sins? No. We may still experience the consequences of our sins in this life.

Yet, there is hope...

WE must always remember God has an eternal perspective and so must we.

Contrary to the prosperity Gospel preachers out there, the Gospel does not say we’ll have prosperity in this world, but gives us the promise of eternal life.

Jesus paid the price for the eternal consequences of our sins. Jesus invites us again to live the life we are created for in a full relationship with God.

As we go forward, let’s be very careful about setting up equal gods with our God. Your work, your reputation, even your family, and service, all of these can be gods to which we sacrifice.

Yet, it’s all about seeking God first. Not turning towards anything else, but always seeking to give him glory in all things.