(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Look at chapter 33 verse 1, Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem, but did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, like unto the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. So this Manasseh was a really wicked king. It says, For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. Also he built altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be forever, and he built altars for all the host of heaven and the two courts of the house of the Lord. So this guy is worshipping all kinds of false gods, but it gets worse. It says, And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. What does that mean? That's a human sacrifice. You say, oh man, thank God that doesn't go on anymore. Thank God we're not living in the days when people used to sacrifice their infants to these false gods. Okay, it's still around today, it's just called abortion. I mean, we murder more babies than the children of Israel ever thought of murdering. We just do it in a way that's a little bit, you know, we don't light them on fire or whatever, we don't burn them, but you know what? It's just as wicked, it's just as sinful, it's just as bad, and we're doing it more than they did. But it says, He caused his children to pass through the fire. Basically his wife had an abortion. And then it says, He also observed times and used enchantments. What are enchantments? Basically magic spells. And it says, He used enchantments and used witchcraft and dealt with a familiar spirit and with wizards. He wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. Now, these are some pretty serious sins, aren't they? I mean this guy, he's worshipping other gods. He is killing his own children through human sacrifice unto false gods. He's also into the occult and witchcraft and magic and all this kind of satanic stuff. He set a carved image, verse 7, the idol which he had made in the house of God. I mean, he's taking his false, wicked, sinful idols, he's putting them in the house of God. Which God had said to David and to Solomon and his son, in this house and in Jerusalem which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever. Neither will I anymore remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers so that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses. It's funny. This has nothing to do with the sermon. But isn't it funny how God is always telling them, yeah, I'll never take you out of this land as long as you obey. Yet today Christians think, we need to make sure those Jews stay in their land in Israel over there. Okay, are they doing what God says? Did they not reject and kill his son? But yet they say, oh man, we got to support Israel no matter what because I mean, good night, God gave them that land. No, God did not give them that land. God gave them that land if, if they would believe him and keep his commandments and follow his laws. And here's the thing, when they didn't believe him, he wouldn't let him in. He wouldn't even let Moses in. But I'm supposed to believe that these unbelievers today that follow the anti-Christ religion that teaches that Jesus is not the Christ, I'm supposed to believe that they just have it coming to be in that land, huh? I don't believe it for one second, it's not biblical. Because when they rejected the word of the Lord, they had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until that whole generation died. Then there rose up a generation that believed God that Joshua led into the Promised Land. Later they disobeyed God's commandments, they did not believe the Lord. What happened? He took them out of the Promised Land. Then they got right with God, he brought them back in. Then they rejected Jesus Christ, he took them out. And then in 1948 they all believed on Jesus Christ and came back in. Oh, do I have my history wrong? Oh, okay. Oh yeah, that's right, they still reject Christ. Well, but they still worship the God of the Old Testament. Wrong. If you don't have the Son, you don't have the Father. That's what it says in 1 John 2. It says, he whosoever denyeth the Son, the same hath not the Father. But he that acknowledgeeth the Son hath the Father also. He said that if you believe Moses, you'd believe in me, for he spake of me. So that has nothing to do with the sermon though. But anyway, I just wanted to point that out in verse 8. He's saying, you know, I gave them that land if they would obey me. If they would follow my laws, okay. And then it says in verse 9, so Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to Ur, Ur means make an error, is what that means, and to do worse than the heathen whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel. And the Lord spake to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not hearken. Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns and bound him with fetters, fetters are basically metal shackles, and carried him to Babylon. And watch this, when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. Now let me say this, if you're doing the kind of sins that Manasseh's doing, humbling yourself a little bit is not going to cut it. He humbled himself greatly, and that's the only way he found any mercy. And it says, when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed unto him, and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God. Now after this he built a wall without the city of David on the west side of Gihon in the valley, even to the entering inn at the fish gate encompassed about Ophiel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah. And he took away the strange gods and the idol out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city, 2 Chronicles 33 16, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed there on peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. Nevertheless, the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the Lord their God only. Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spake to him in the name of the Lord the God of Israel, that's the preachers that were preaching unto him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel, his prayer also, and how God was entreated of him, and all his sin, and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places and set up groves and granby images, watch this, before he was humbled. They are written among the sayings of the seers, so Manasseh slept with his fathers and they buried him in his own house, and Ammon his son reigned in his stead. Go to chapter 36. So we see even a man that's so wicked as Manasseh at least was brought back out of captivity and brought back to Jerusalem. Why? Because he humbled himself greatly. And as a result of that humility, what did he do? He forsook his evil ways. He got rid of the idols. He got rid of all the garbage. And you know what, God didn't even look at that and say, well who cares, look at all the bad stuff you did in the past. No, he said, you know what, if you're going to humble yourself this much, I'm going to show you mercy. Now does that mean there were no repercussions for Manasseh's actions? No, because first of all, he did have to go suffer in Assyria. He had to go through thorns. He was tortured. He was put in metal fetters. He was locked in a cage. I mean he went through horrible things, and then even after that, there were still repercussions because you know what, it was too late for his children. Because he'd already raised them to be wicked. He'd already raised them to be sinful. And so now all of a sudden he got right with God, but his son Amon didn't. His son Amon was a wicked person. And so, you know, there are always going to be consequences for our actions, but you know what, this story ended a lot better than if Manasseh would have just in that prison cell. He would have died in that prison cell. He would have lived the rest of his miserable life shackled up and in a horrible situation.