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It's going to be 2 Kings chapter number 12. 2 Kings chapter number 12, beginning in verse 1, the Bible reads, And the priest consented to receive no more money of the people, neither to repair the breaches of the house. But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bore a hole in the lid of it, and set it before them that did the work, that had the oversight of the house of the Lord. And they laid it out to the carpenters and the builders, and that wrought upon the house of the Lord. And to masons and hewers of stone, and to buy timber and huge stone to repair the breaches of the house of the Lord. And for all that was delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen, for they dealt faithfully. The trespass money and the sin money was not brought into the house of the Lord, it was the priests. Then Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath and took it, and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem. And Jehoash the king of Judah took all the hallowed things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his father's kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own hallowed things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the house of the Lord. And the king, Jozakar the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants smote him and he died, and they buried him with his father in the city of David, and Amaziah his son reigned in his stead. Let's go ahead and have a word of prayer. Dear Lord, again, thank you again for the time that we have to come together in your house. I pray that you would help me tonight. Lord, I know anything that I say that will help will be because, Lord, you have given it to me. Lord, I pray that your word would be a blessing tonight. The path of Athaliah. Athaliah came and she destroyed all the seed royal, and Jehoash was hidden away in the house of the Lord. And that's an important detail, and we'll see more about that a little bit later. Laodicea passes off the scene that Jehoash, actually, he gets given over to idolatry and ends up becoming a very wicked man at the end of his reign. But we'll get into that. I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit. But that's kind of a little bit of a foretelling there, you know, in verse 2. That he did right in the sight of the Lord all the days wherein Jehoiada the priest were to kind of hold his hand. It says in verse 3, but the high priests were not healed. But if you read that there, you would understand why there's breaches in the house of the Lord. It's because the wicked sons of Athaliah actually broke up the house of God. They actually vandalized it. They destroyed it. They damaged the house of the Lord. That's recorded in 2 Chronicles 24. That's not why I'm having you go there, but that is there. So, kind of, why is he making those repairs to begin with? Well, it's because of those that came before him, had let it fall into neglect, and even done damage to it. No one's taken the time to build it up. So, we're reading about him in the beginning, you know, Jehoash, obviously, his heart's in the right place. He wants to see God's house built back up. He wants to see it restored. He wants there to be worship. And, of course, that happens. So long as Jehoiada is around, nothing happens. And you kind of scratch your head and wonder exactly why it wasn't done. Was it that the priests were taking the money and keeping it themselves? Or was it that they were just not doing what they were told? I tend to think it was the latter. That they just weren't performing the work because they weren't going out and getting the money to perform the work. It says, then, King Jehoash, verse 7, I'm still in 2 Kings 12, called for Jehoiada the priests and the other priests and said to them, Why refrain out the breaches of the house? Now, therefore, receive no more money of your acquaintance, but deliver it for the breaches of the house. The priests consented to receive no more money of the people, neither to repair the breaches of the house. So when they're consenting, I think they're consenting one with another. They're just kind of agreeing among the priests like, Well, we won't receive any money and we won't make any repairs either. It says in verse 9, But Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bore a hole in the lid of it and set it beside the altar. On the right-hand side is one cometh into the house of the Lord. And the priests that kept the door put therein all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord. Now, I want to take a minute and just explain something here. And if you've been, you know, probably anyone that's kind of been in Baptist churches, especially old life, kind of probably knows where I'm going with this. In fact, I was talking to somebody about this yesterday and we were talking about 2 Kings 12 just briefly. And, you know, this was instantly kind of where this went, this idea of, you know, this doctrine that's kind of taught out there that, you know, it's more appropriate to have a chest to receive the offering than to take the offering. But some people out there do make an issue out of it. And they kind of wear it like some kind of badge that they don't have offering plates, that they don't have, like we do here, right? We take up the offering, you know, one of the men in the church grabs the plate and goes down and anybody that wants to give their tithe just puts it in the plate. Some people in Baptist churches would frown upon that. And they would say, no, that's not the way you're supposed to do it. You should have a box in the back with a hole in it for people to put their tithe in there. And the church that I went to previously before coming to Faithful Word, that's what they did. And that was the first church, let alone Baptist church, that I even bet a part of. Well, that's why we do it because that's what, you know, King Jehoash did in 2 Kings. But, you know, King Jehoash isn't really somebody we want to model ourselves after. You know, we'll see that here in 2 Chronicles 24. He's not exactly a guy who's in whose footsteps you want to follow. But people who kind of hold to this, here's the problem with that. Whether you're using a box or whether you're using a plate, it's still compulsory. You're still compelling people to tithe, right? Now what, you know, that compulsory, I really like that term, tithe. You know, we don't go over the roles and go, okay, who's been showing up? You know, look at, you know, we write down the name, we write down whatever they gave and then just promptly forget, oh, we're going to like revoke your membership here. You know, you're not going to have certain privileges. You know, your tithe, you know, it's compulsory because it's something that you do because God commands it. I mean, God's the one that's demanding you tithe, right? So what does the modality matter? How does that matter how you express that, whether you do it by putting it in a plate or putting it in a box? You know, and people, I know it's silly, but these are the type of things, silly things that people get hung up on sometimes. They get hung up on these silly things and they want to make a big deal out of nothing. You know, they want to make a big deal out of whether it's an offering plate or, you know, a box. And it's kind of foolish really because either way, you know, it's compulsory because of the fact that we're saying you should be tithing. Just how about the fact that the Bible says, you know, to bring your tithe into the storehouse? How about that God commands that we tithe? How about that we're supposed to give a tenth of all our increase, son of the Lord? I mean, that sounds like whether or not you put it in a plate or a box, it sounds like God is, you know, compelling you to tithe. So what does it matter how you take up the tithe? You know, and where is the new tithe? Go ahead and do that. You know, but people get really, you know, weird about tithing, like how they do it square. And they would like literally like hold it down below the chair. And I had to literally like stoop down so they could, so they could like secretly put it in there. You know, and then I had to explain like, look, there's nobody out here, you know, don't post it on YouTube and try to get a million hits when you go give some bum five grand or whatever. That's a whole other sermon, right? But that's not tithing. You know, tithing is something that is expected and something that's, you know, that God compels us to do. You know, so we don't have to be secretive about it. You know, I don't care if you stood up. It's not a cash machine. It's not a, you know, a cash register. You know, it's a tithe plate, right? But look, if people wanted to fold every bill into a paper airplane and sail it across the room and let everyone, just so everyone knew their tithing, you know, they would be poor. You know, it's probably not the best behavior, you know, probably say something, but it wouldn't because I wouldn't, you know, frown upon that because, you know, no one should know you're doing that. You know, no, I mean, someone knows you're tithing instead of them go out onto the cities of Judah and gather up Israel money to repair the house of God from year to year. So what's really going on, we get a little more detail here at Second Chronicles 24, is that he was actually sending the priest out into the country to go around and collect the tithes from the people, tithes from the people, okay? What rather should have happened is God had given their tithes there. The people were glad to do it. If you go on and read Second Chronicles 24, that they rejoiced to go into the house of God and put their tithes in there. So, you know, the application is this, it doesn't matter, you know, whether we put it in a plate or whether we put it in a box, as long as we're coming to church to give God what's his, you know, and it is his. Look, we don't preach and you say, oh great, the preacher's going off about money. Like, I think basic doctrine, anybody that's come within 10 feet of church, you're supposed to tithe. Anyone that's even, you know, skimmed over their Bible or knows anything about Christianity knows that. And just look at a few passages on it, because this is an issue that people like to use to excuse themselves from church. Obviously that preacher teaches that all he wants is my money. Look, we're not interested in your money. Are there preachers out there that want your money? Sure. You know, but typically the preacher that wants your money doesn't preach like we preach. It's kind of preaching that brings, have you noticed? It doesn't bring in a big crowd, it doesn't bring in a lot of money. You know, it's the, you know, obviously it is a warning. There's a warning given to preachers to not, you know, go after filthy lucre, to not be greedy of filthy lucre, to not preach lies for covetous, covetous sake, you know, that they should, you know, not get obsessed with money. And obviously guys do that. Let me just put your heart at rest here. This isn't that place. We're not interested in your money. But you know, it is, it's in the Bible and here we are in second Kings chapter number 12, and they're talking about the tithes, they're talking about the offerings, they're putting out this chest. So we're going to talk about it. It says there in first Corinthians chapter 16 verse one, Now concerning the collection of the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. And again, they'll talk, they'll people, the box people will turn to this and say, ha, see, no gatherings when I come. Yeah, no gatherings when I come, meaning that it's going to already have been gathered, right? That it's already, the offering is already there. He's not saying that you shouldn't have a gathering, that you shouldn't take up an offering. He's just saying, just make sure it's ready when I get there. Lay up in store week by week, so that when I get there, the offering for the other saints is ready to go, so that we don't have to wait on people to get it together. He's saying, prepare yourself, right? So there is really no specific New Testament example of by what means we are to take up the offering. And this is, you know, one of the great things about the local New Testament church, is that, you know, we have some guidelines, we have some principles, we have doctrines, we have things, obviously, that we have to hold to, that we have a line doctrinally that we have to tow. But as far as how we operate the church, you know, how we conduct a service, we have liberty in that area. You know, that's why you go to some churches, they might do something another church doesn't do. They might do their song service differently, they might conduct their service in a different order, they might even have different things that they do. You know, you're going to go from Baptist church to Baptist church, and you'll see differences in how people conduct services. Well, which one's right? Well, they all are. They all are, because the New Testament isn't like, you know, explicitly saying, okay, when you show up, sing two songs, then pray, and then have another song, and then have somebody read the scripture while the offering is being taken up, and then get into the pre- it doesn't say that, you say, why do you do that? Because that's how we like to do it. I like this method, that it's not, you know, 45 minutes of song singing. I mean, I love the hymns, you know, but I like to participate in them. You know, but after three or four songs, you're kind of, it's like, we're all getting a little hoarse. You know, I like that I don't sit there, have to sit there for 45 minutes of specials and choirs and everything else. Some people might like that. You know, and I've looked at other, I've watched other Baptist churches and how they conduct their services, and I've literally timed it, and it's like 45 minutes of a song service, and then another however long of preaching. I mean, that's, I like the way we do it, because we get in and we get it done, right? Because we all still have, you know, it's a weeknight, we got to go somewhere, we got to get up tomorrow and get to work, we got things to do. Let's get to church, let's get the preaching in, let's get the offering taken, let's worship God, and let's all worship God together, and let's move along. Why do you do it that way? Because we can, because that's how we like to do it. Because, you know, that's how we prefer to do it here. Is it right or wrong? It's just how we do it, right? Now, if some other church wants to do things that way, that's fine. They can go ahead and do it. I'm not saying they're wrong. I'm just saying that's not how I'd prefer to do it. I mean, after 45 minutes, I'd be just rolling. You know, I'd be just, my eyes would be going back in my head, sitting through a service like that. But you know what? That's just me. That's just how I am. So this is one of the great things about the New Testament church. God gives us liberty. You want to use a box? Go ahead. You want to use plates? Fine. You know, you want to wad it up in a ball, and you want to get one of those big fan machines that you blow the money around, and we can all, you know, have the guy collect the offering, like, you ever seen those, blow the money, and he's got to hold his shirt out and catch it and see how much he can get. You know, we can do that, you know. Obviously not. We're not going to turn into a circus in here. But it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how we take it up. As long as things are done what? Decently and in order. Okay? I'm just being a little silly up here tonight. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 9. 1 Corinthians chapter number 9. What we can learn from this story tonight about tithing, a positive thing, is that, you know, tithing is something that is supposed to take place in the house of God. You know, that's one of the reasons we should go to church once a week, is to pay the tithe, because, you know, we're supposed to lay that up week by week, right? We're supposed to give that tenth, you know, week by week. You know, that would probably, if we just obeyed that one commandment, we'd be in church. You know, we'd show up to church at least once a week to obey that commandment. You say, well, you know, preachers shouldn't get paid. Right? And again, as I started out on this little rant that I'm going off right now, that's what some people will do with tithing. They'll take a contrary, you know, position on tithing to excuse themselves from church. And they'll say, well, the preachers shouldn't be paid. You know, I can't go to that church because, you know, the preacher gets paid. Well, the preacher getting paid is biblical, folks. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, look at verse 1. He says, Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you, for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord. Mine answer to them that do examine me is this. Have we not power to eat and drink? He's saying, us the apostles. Paul, Barnabas, Cephas, he's saying, look, do we not have power to eat and drink? Don't we get to, you know, don't we get to take care of our basic necessities? Don't we get to, you know, put a roof over our heads? He said, have we not power to eat and drink? Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, a sister in the Lord? Obviously, he's referring to there. He's saying, don't we have the ability, you know, take that to the Catholic Church. You know, here's your apostle Paul talking about, you know, it goes on and says, have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as the other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas. That's Peter, right? Their first pope. Well, the Bible says right here that he had a wife, so there you go. So much for that doctrine. He's saying, don't we, guess what, a wife is expensive. You know, a wife, you know, a wife is a, is a, is a, it's an investment. Let me make sure I say that correctly. Okay, it's a very wise investment. All right. But, you know, having a family is your greatest expense. You know, you know, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the babies and the baby carriages, right? Potentially. And those little rugrats are expensive. You gotta clothe them, you gotta feed them, you gotta shelter them, you gotta educate them, all these things, right? That all takes money. That's what Paul's getting at here. He's saying, look, don't we have a right to get married and have wife, and have a wife and kids, as well as other apostles? Can't we do that just like the other apostles are doing right now? And as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas, just like Peter? We know Peter had a wife. Or I only in Barnabas have we not power to forbear working, okay? Now, what does he mean by that when he says in verse 6, have we not power to forbear working? Is he saying that the apostles had the right to just sit around all day in a hammock with their feet up, you know, sipping on a cool beverage in the shade while everybody else goes out and works hard? No, he's saying have we not power to forbear working in the sense that have we not power to forbear a, you know, a secular job to go out there and earn our income out in the world? We know that Paul was a tent maker, but he's saying, look, we have the power to forbear working and to use, what, the tithes that come into the church to support us. That's why it says there in verse 7, who go with the warfare at any time at his own charges? You know, when you sign up for the military, you know, they don't expect you to pay for the uniform and the ammunition and the gun and get yourself to the war, like they pay for all that, right? Who go with the warfare at any time at his own charges? You enlist, you know, they're going to pay you and take care of you to get the work out of you that they want. Who planted the vineyard needing out the fruit thereof? You know, if you planted a vineyard, of course you'd expect that to nourish you. You know, if a guy's going to build a church and labor in that church and preach that church and grow that church and minister to that church, you know, that's kind of his vineyard. Of course he's going to eat the fruit thereof. You know, he's going to partake of the tithes that come in. That's his reward. As it says in 1 Timothy 5, that the laborer is worthy of his reward, right? And that you shall not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, okay? As it says here again in verse 9, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn, doth God take care for oxen? Is that why God wrote that in the law, because he's just so concerned about wildlife and cattle? Or sayeth he all it together for our sakes? For our sakes no doubt this is written, that he that ploweth should ploweth in hope, and he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope, saying the guy that's putting in the work should be able to partake of the fruits of that labor. And then he kind of goes on, and he kind of makes this point here in verse 11 about how carnal it is to get hung up about tithing. And what you'll find about people who get hung up about tithing, or that get overly concerned about, you know, what the preacher's pulling down, or whatever, is that they tend to be carnal people. It's carnal people that get hung up on things like money, okay? He goes on in verse 11, If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? He's like, look, if we're preaching the word of God, if we're teaching you, instructing you the word of God, if we're giving you a place to worship God and to serve God, if we are, you know, investing of ourselves into that ministry, is it really that big a deal if we collect a paycheck so that we can feed our family? It's really not that big of a deal. And look, this doesn't mean that pastors have to be paid. It just means that they can be if they want to, if it's possible. If they want to be paid, it's perfectly biblical. There's nothing wrong with it. If others be part of this partake over you, or not we rather, you know, people have no problem just letting the government take, you know, 20, 30% right out of their paycheck without even asking, you know, and I don't, as far as I know, there is no law written anywhere in any book that says they have the right to do that. They just do it, right? You know, there's a whole documentary that Aaron Russo did about that many years ago. I suggest you look it up on your own time, right? But we have a book that actually tells us, hey, you should be tithing. You should be doing that. You know, but people, they won't bat an eye at somebody else taking a big chunk out of there, but oh, oh, oh, if God asks for 10% of what's already his, people get all, you know, they just get all hair-lipped and upset. Not everyone, but you know, people get so, and people that get hung up about it are carnal. And you know, this is how it's explained to me when it came to tithing. You know, I was, I don't think I said anything negative, but somebody was expressing something, somebody had said negative about, oh man, 10%. It's like, well, it's all God's. God's, how about this? God's letting you keep 90. Think about it that way. God could have said, give me 90%, and you keep 10, right? Then we would probably have maybe a little bit more of a reason to feel like this isn't fair, right? But God's asking for 10%, and it's great that it's a tithe, you know, it's a 10th, it's a percentage. It's not a flat rate. You say, I can't afford to tithe because I don't have very much income. Well, if you can't, if you don't have much income, then your tithe isn't that much either. I only make 10 bucks a week. Well, then you only gotta tithe a dollar. I only make 100 bucks a week. Well, then you only gotta tithe 10 bucks. You know, it's, you know, that's the wisdom of God right there. Look at verse 13, he says, do you not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? So he's referring back to the Levitical priesthood. And people, you know, these anti-tithers will make it, they'll say, oh, well, yeah, but the Levites, they just lived off of, you know, the meats and the vegetables. They just lived off the literal food that was brought in there. But what are we reading about in 2 Kings? Money, literal physical money that was being brought into the temple. And they'll sit there and say, oh, yeah, but they didn't bring money into the house of God. It's like, what are you talking about? And that's what they're going out and collecting is money. They're bringing in literal, you know, currency into the house of God and they're taking tithes of it. Look at verse 14. Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. You know, the people that are gonna give themselves to full-time ministry, to give themselves to full-time Christian service to go into the ministry as their occupation should be paid like any other job. I don't want to go on and on about it, although I already kind of did, but, you know, it's there. We're in that book. We're in that chapter. It's a point that's to be made is that, you know, God is instructing us in the New Testament to look to the Old Testament as an example of, you know, those that are ministering, eating of the fruit of their ministry, right? Just like the Levites back then, even so now they that preach the gospel should live of the gospel. That's what he's referring back to. It doesn't matter how the tithes come in. People get all hung up about, is it a plate? Is it a box? It doesn't matter. It's pointless. It needs to be done in the house of God. That's what we're getting at in this chapter tonight. There's some other things too. Let's move on here in the story. Let's go to verse 10 of 2 Kings, chapter number 12. So he makes this box. They put it on the right side of the altar. People are putting the money in. And then it says in verse 10, and it was so that when they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king's scribe and the high priest came up and they put it up in bags and told the money that was found in the house of the Lord. Now when it says that they told the money, it means that they told it like they counted it. Kind of told or tell, like a bank teller. What does a bank teller do? You know, they count, right? You tell it. It means you're counting it. That's another use of that word. So when it's saying that they told the money, it means they counted. Now notice that they had multiple people counting this money. They had the king's scribe, right, and the high priest, and they put it up in bags, and they told the money that was found in the house of the Lord. So they're keeping careful account of what's coming in. And that's a very important thing. You know, you got, that's, failing to do that is fraud. You know, that you're opening yourself up. And it's so funny to me because I've heard these same guys these same bozos that insist that you have to have a box and anything else is just, you know, is sinful, borderline sinful. And yet these same bozos, I've seen them, you know, team up with a guy who couldn't figure out that you should count the offering. You know, that you should, that you don't need to count the offering after it's been taken. I mean, wouldn't you guys get a little suspect if I just said, hey, we're not counting that. Just trust me. You know, I'm just gonna take the money home myself and count it later on my own. That's a little suspect, right? I mean, that's why we do it the way that we do it. That's why the money sits out here in the open in front of everybody the entire time until it gets counted up here in front of everybody. And look, if other churches want to have people go and count it during the service, that's great too. You know, if we had more people, I'd probably do that. You know, if we could rotate guys in and out from going, going and get it counted while the preaching's going on. Great. We just do it that way because that's what's working for us right now. You know, so why? Because we're all accountable. Okay? So there's another, it's just kind of ironic to me that the pro-chest only people, you know, are also teaming up with other people, Adam Fanon, who can't figure this out. That you're supposed to count the offering when it's taken up. Like, go back and read that chapter again and pay a little bit more attention to these other details. Where was I? Verse 11. And they gave the money, being told, meaning it was counted, into the hands of them that did the work and had the oversight of the house, and they laid it out to the carpenters and builders and wrought the house, wrought upon the house of the Lord, and to mason and hewers of stone to buy timber and hew to repair the breaches of the house of the Lord, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it. Howbeit, verse 13, there was not made for the house of the Lord bowls of silver, snuffers, basins, trumpets, any vessels of gold or silver of the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, but they gave that to the workmen and repaired therewith the house of the Lord. Now, verse 13, you might run into, if you get to 2 Chronicles 24 in your Bible reading, you might notice it seems like there might be a contradiction there because in 2 Chronicles 24, it does say that they actually did build, they did make these instruments. And it's saying this here that they, you notice there in verse 13, Howbeit, there was not made for the house of the Lord bowls of silver, snuffers, basins, trumpets, etc., of the money that was brought into the house of the Lord. But when you get to 2 Chronicles 24, hopefully you're still there, keep something there all night. Verse 11, it says, Now it came to pass that at what time the chest was brought in the king's office by the hands of the Levites. They emptied it out, they carried it to its place again. And it says in verse 12, And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the Lord, and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the Lord, and also as such as wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the Lord, so the workmen wrought, so it's just like it's describing it in 2 Kings 12. They're giving it to all these tradesmen to work their craft. They're giving this money. Verse 13, and it says, So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected, meaning completed by them, and they set the house of God in his state and strengthened it. Now look at verse 14, And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king, and Jehoiada, whereof were made vessels for the house of the Lord, even vessels to minister, to offer withal, spoons and vessels of gold and silver, and they offered burnt offerings to the house of the Lord. So when you get to 2 Chronicles 24, it says, actually, they did make it, okay? But what I think it's, what are you saying? Is that a contradiction? No, I don't think it is. I think what it's getting at is that it's, what it's saying is that the work of God for the house came first, that you had to have the temple first, right? And it's showing us that the emphasis is on the house of God first. And I believe that he does this this way because there's an application to be made, all right? So it's saying, hey, the work is done, right? When they finished it, when these craftsmen finished everything that they needed to do, you know, strengthening, setting the house of the Lord in its place, repairing the breaches, then they went and made these instruments of gold and silver for the, for the house of the Lord. Because you have to think about it just logically. What good are all these vessels if there isn't a safe place to keep them, if there's breaches in the house? What good is it if you can't go into the house of God to worship at all anyway, if it's unsafe or people don't want to go there or it's just not fit to have people in it? What's the point of putting these vessels in there then, right? You have to have the house of God first. Then you put the vessels in it, right? You know, an application is this, if you go to Hebrews chapter number 10, just like what good is the vessel without the temple, you know, what good is the Christian who is a vessel, right? We have this treasure and earthen vessel, the Bible says. You know, what good is, no, but the temple is broken down, right? It's useless. You'd probably melt that stuff down and give it to a guy to get that repair, those repairs made so that you could actually go there and worship God. It's the same with us. We're this beautiful, ornate, this new creature that's been made in Christ, but what good are we if we're not in church? We're no good. What are we good for in Christ? And this is important because people get this idea like, oh, I could serve God just as much without the local church. You know, maybe you can, but if I were a betting man, I'd put my money on you won't because that's what I've seen repeatedly. I haven't seen it to the context that doesn't serve God more. They serve God less, if at all. So why do you preach about going to church so much? Because it's that important. Because being in church is important. You know, and that's what I see here. They're saying, hey, before we make all these ornate things for the house of God, let's actually get the house of God in order first because a vessel without the house of God is useless. You can't serve, you can't take them to love and to good works. Now where is this provoking unto love and to good works going to take place? It's going to take place at home, you know, during the halftime show, right, on Sunday. That's probably when it's going to happen, right, on the commercial break. That's when someone's going to come on there and provoke me to love and to good works. You know, when I'm out there, you know, on the back nine, you know, working on my, I don't know what the golfing terms are. When I've got my nine wood, is that a thing? I don't know. I don't know golfing. But people do it, right? When they're out there golfing, you know, that's where their buddy's going to take out out of the golf bag. You know, the caddie's going to come alongside and bust open the Bible and begin to explain to them the things of God to them, right, and provoke them to love and good works. No, it's going to be on the lake, right? He's going to be fishing and his fishing buddy's going to reach in the cooler instead of pulling out a beer, he's going to pull out a King James Bible and start to expound to him the word of God to provoke him into loving. That's where it's going to happen. No, no. Where is it going to happen? Oh, it's going to happen out in the woods, in the deer stand, right? I don't know if they do that down here. It's going to happen out on the mountainside when you're hiking. It's going to happen on whatever extracurricular activity that people do. You know, what is it big here? The cycling, right? It's a big bike city here. That's when it's going to happen. You know, the guy's going to reach into, I don't know how they reach into anything wearing those skin-tight and all that spandex, you know. I mean, if you put a King James Bible in there, it'd probably mess with your aerodynamics right? But they're going to be cycling along and he's going to start preaching to him the things of Christ. And he's going to be provoked. You know, where does that happen? Where does that happen? The only place that happens is in the house of God, folks. I mean, obviously, we could come along a brother or sister throughout the week in our personal lives and we could provoke them to love and to good works. But is it a lot easier sometimes for the preacher just to say what needs to be said than for you to have to say it? Sometimes it's nice to be able to say what we call the provoking, right? To love and to good works. But this is where it happens, right? In the house of God. That's where the vessels need to be. They need to be in the house. That's what we see in the story. The priority was put upon the house itself because that's where the vessels need to be to begin with. If you have a vessel without the house of God, what good is it? If you have a Christian who's not in church, what good are they for Christ? There are very little worth of fear on Sundays. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, hmm, whatever that could be, as the manner of some is. So even in Paul's day, he's saying, look, some people have a manner. Some people are in the habit. Some people, that's just how they are. That's how they be. That's what they do is they just aren't in church. They just sit out, right? But he's saying here, let's not us be like that. And I know it's Thursday night and I'm kind of preaching to the choir here. But, you know, let's keep that in mind. Let's not be people who have a manner of skipping out on church, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. I mean, in Paul's day, some of these people were meeting literally every day of the week. I mean, they were getting together constantly. I'm not suggesting we do that, but I'm saying, look, they were doing that then and they're saying he should do it all the more as he saved the day approaching. You know, as Christ is coming, his coming is drawing closer every single day, you know, as we're getting older and maybe we're gonna, we're approaching Christ too, you know, as we get older, you know, that day's coming, you know, like this from both sides, you know, and as the world just gets more and more wicked, as the world just gets more and more backwards and ungodly, what do you think? Do we need more church or less? I vote less. That's how some people would vote though. If we took votes here and we don't, you know, some people said, hey, three or one service, they'd be like, how about half a service? How about once a month, preacher? Can we just bring it down to once a month? I mean, think about all the, you'd only have to write one sermon. Instead of three a week, you could just do one a month. And some people, that's their church attendance, once a month. And look, God bless you for being here once a month. You know, God bless people that come once a week. This is the space to go up to Jerusalem and this is where Jehoash starts to show his true colors. And look, I believe Jehoash started out as a good guy. Like, he meant well, okay? But after the death of Jehoiada, as we'll see in here in a minute, he just goes off the rails. And as soon as, you know, he has to actually put some skin in the game, you know, he flakes out. It says in verse 18, the Jehoash king of Judah took all the hallowed things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his father's king of Judah, had dedicated and his own hallowed things and all the gold that was found in the treasure of the house of the Lord and the king's house and he went away from Jerusalem. I mean, this guy starts out just adamant. He's on the priest. Go get the money. We've got to repair these breaches. We've got to get these vessels in here. Where is it? No, it's not getting done. Let's get a box. Let's drill a hole in it. Jehoiada, see over this. Let's get this money. Let's get this work done. Right? He's so adamant. You're like, yeah, let's do it. But then as soon as there's like a threat, he's just like, take all that stuff and just give it to this heathen king to save my own skin. He just does a complete 180 at the latter end of his life. You say, why does he do that? Why did that happen? Well, you know, it says in 2 Chronicles 24 in verse 14, it says, when they had finished it and the rest of the money before the kings of Jehoiada they made all the silver and so on and so forth. It says in verse 15 at the end of verse 14, they burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada. But Jehoiada waxed old and was full of days and when he died and 130 years old was he when he died. So God blessed him with a long life and they buried him in the city of David among the kings because he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house. You know, Joash doesn't get that same honor. He's buried in the city of David but he is not buried amongst the kings. He was a king. Okay. They buried him in the city of David and it says in verse 17, now after the death of Jehoiada, this is 2 Chronicles 24, came the princes of Judah and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them and they left the house of the Lord of God out of their fathers and served groves and idols and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this trespass. So God's judging them for this, right? And why does Jehoiada make this 180 here? Well, because Jehoiada died and Jehoash, you know, after Jehoiada is off the scene, he just goes he just listens to the prince of the kings of Judah or the princes of Judah and just does whatever they want. You know, because Jehoash isn't somebody that can stand his own two feet. You know, and this is something that we have to learn to do in the Christian life. We have to be people that are gonna serve God because we want to. We have to learn to stand on our own feet and have our own spiritual walk and have our own walk with God. We need to do that for ourselves. Otherwise, we're just gonna be As soon as mom and dad are out of the picture, as soon as the preacher isn't around, as soon as that, you know, that accountability isn't there, well, whatever the princes of Judah want to do, whatever the people of the world want to do, whatever they want, I'll just go along with that. If we're just people that are just trying to go along with whatever just to God, as soon as the Jehoiada in our lives are gone, you know, are we gonna continue in the faith or are we just gonna go along with this world? Well, if we just forsake God and forsake the things of God, the things wherein we've been instructed, what's the result? What happened in the story if you read 2 Chronicles 24? It says that God, He brought upon them, what, wrath. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for their trespass. God doesn't just go, okay, I guess I'm just missing out. Oh, you want to go serve them? Oh, okay, that's fine. Well, God's like, God gets his head and God gets angry, right? Because unto whom so much is given, much is given, of him shall much also be required. If we've received, I mean, think about Jehoash. His life, he's literally killed by his own servants. He's murdered. That's how he dies. He's not like Jehoiada who lives 130 years old and is buried among the kings. He gets murdered. He's diseased at the end of his life. He dies early in death and he gets slain. Why? Because God was displeased with him. Well, why was God displeased with him? Because he grew up literally in the house of God. Remember the story from chapters 11? He literally grew up and he's raised in the temple, literally, by the high priest. He's instructed all the days of Jehoiada that he's around. He's teaching him. He's instructing him. He's made king. He's appointed there by other people. And then he just wastes it all at the end. And God doesn't just go, oh, I guess that's too bad. Like God's the one that's going to miss out now. Aw, shucks. No, God's like wrath, judgment. God punishes him severely for it. And that's reiterated and that's what we just see over and over in Scripture is that we are going to be held accountable for our actions in this life. What we do. What we make a priority. You know, here's the thing is that some men, you know, are like this Jehoiada because they're, you know, they're just appointed to this position. You say, why was he so quick to just sell out? Right? And we read the chapter. I know I got to wrap this up. And if you read, go to 2 Chronicles 24. We'll end there. You know, why does he flake out? You know, it's because Jehoiada didn't really have to earn it, did he? He wasn't somebody who really, it kind of just came to him. Right? I mean, he's literally brought into the house of Lord. He's saved from the wrath of Athaliah in chapter 11 while he's too young to know any better. It's not like he decided that. That was something that just happened to him. He was just the only living child of the king at that time and just brought into the house of Lord and protected. And eventually at seven years old, he's made king. You know, and it's just, it's like a political move. Everybody's just sick and tired of Athaliah. They just want to get back to, you know, a godly king, so to speak. They want to get back to somebody who's going to worship the Lord. He just happens to be the guy that's there. Well, I managed to survive. You know, I just managed to not die. That's all I did. So he kind of, you can see how he just kind of came into it. It wasn't like something that he had to strive for. I mean, think about some of the greatest kings. You know, probably one of the greatest kings I think would be King David. I'm sure he made his mistakes, but think about all the great things that King David did and how highly the Scripture speaks of King David. You know, despite whatever faults he had, he was still just a man. I mean, but he, there's a lot of great things about David. You know, David, I mean, Jesus is called, you know, the son of David. It's through his lineage that Christ came, and he has this great honor in Scripture. We think of him as a great king. I mean, I doubt anyone, and I don't think anyone should think and I don't think anyone should, at least, when they think about King David, think about him in a disparaging way. Yeah, obviously, he made mistakes and we can learn from it, but what made him so great? What's the difference there? Well, look at how King David came into the throne, who didn't just get handed to him. I mean, he's out trying to save his life, you know, on his own. He doesn't have people protecting him and sheltering him and keeping him safe, you know, from birth. You know, he's out there literally running for his life from Saul for years. We all know the story, but he goes on, you know, he's somebody who earned it. And here's the thing, people who actually earn what they have, they value it. Things that just come to people, they don't value it the same as somebody else would. Things that just come to people easy, they tend to take it for granted. Those that have to labor and work and strive and struggle to get what they have, once they have it, they cherish it and they're not just going to let it go. And there's another great example of this here. In 2 Chronicles 24, it says, Now after the death of Jehoiada, verse 17, became the princes of Judah and made obeisance to the king, so they're flattering him. And the king hearkened unto them, and they louthed the house of God of their fathers and served groves and idols, and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this trespass. Yet he sent prophets to them to bring them again unto the Lord, and they testified against them that they would not give ear. And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, the priest, and saith God, Why transgress he the commandments of the Lord, that he cannot prosper, because he forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you. Didn't we just read another verse about forsaking back there in Hebrews 10? Oh, man, it seems like that's a pretty big deal. You know, you forsake God, he forsakes you. You know, you forsake the local church, you know, it's not, people are always, I know I'm going off on a rabbit trail here, but I'm going to hit it. People are constantly, not constantly, but people contact the church sometimes and they're just, they want to give us a sob story about, you know, because someone, some soul winner came to their house and now they got contact information and they're just like, oh, this and that and the other thing and it's like, well, where were you last Sunday? You know, and it's just, they just want to tell you their sob story, but it's like, and they want all this help, it's like, okay, but where have you been? Well, you know, I've just been sitting at home and I've just been doing my own thing and, you know, they want to, you know, hit you up for money out on the street, but they don't want to go to church. If you forsake the local church, you know, the local church isn't going to be there to support you either. That's one of the great things about the local church is you get a network of people that are going to help you. They're going to look out for one another because this is a spiritual family and that's the way it ought to be. It's not just something that you can, you know, just whenever you're down on your luck because you smoked all your, you know, you put all of your, whatever earnings you had that you panhandled on the side of the road, you all went up and smoked and now the, you know, the guy at the Cheat Motel, you know, the 24-hour motel is threatening to kick you out. Now you got to call every Baptist church in the area to see if you can get a little help. You know, that's what they do. That's not why we're here. We're not here to, you know, just be some charity case for every burned out drug addict. You know who we are? Who we are here for is that people that are here for this church, people that actually want to be a part of this local church, you know, they can find the help that they need. They can find blessings and things like that. I'm going off there, but, you know, they forsook the Lord, God forsook them. Okay, and, you know, if you forsake God, He'll do the same. Verse 21, And they conspired against Him, against who? Against Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, the priest. And stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king. Now Jesus actually referred to this in Matthew 23 when He was rebuking the Pharisees. You should all know Matthew 23. It's one of the best chapters where He's calling them hypocrites and serpents and vipers. And He says that, you know, upon you is going to come all the righteous blood from Abel even unto Zechariah, whom he slew between the altar. Right? And this is what He's referring to. And He said, And they conspired and they stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king and the court of the house of the Lord. Now think about what's going on here. This is Joash, or Joash, is killing Jehoiada's son in the house of the Lord. I mean, that's how far this guy's gone down the drain here. The guy that, he's killing the guy whose father protected him in his youth and put him in the position that he was in and guided him and instructed him and brought Judah and Jerusalem back into serving God, the blessing of God. I mean, he did all this great work for him. And then as soon as he's gone, he's just burning it all. And he's even killing the guy's son. I mean, this guy's wicked at the end. This is some serious, this is some serious, I mean, this is very, I mean, calling it disloyal doesn't even do it justice. This is a very wicked thing that he's doing here. It says in verse 22, Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, talking about Zechariah, but slew his son. And when he died, Zechariah, he said, The Lord looked upon it and required it. And it came to pass at the end of the year, and that Zechariah's prayer was answered. And it came to pass at the end of the year that the host of Syria came up against him and it came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people and sent all the spoil from them under the king of Damascus. For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men and the Lord delivered a very great host in their hand. When God's against you, it doesn't matter how big your army is. The Syrians come up with a very small host and the Lord just delivers everything into their hand. You know, when you forsake God and he forsakes you, it doesn't matter how well off you think you are. God could take all He has a very strong warning in the word of God. For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men and they delivered a very great host in their hand because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. Why did that happen? Why did they lose even though the odds were in their favor? Because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash. And when they were departed from him, for they left him in great diseases, his own servants conspired him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest and slew him on his bed and he died. And they buried him in the city of David. So, you know, this is the difference between a guy who could stand on his own and a guy who can't. A guy who has his own faith and a guy who doesn't. A guy who's in it for the right reasons and just wants to serve God, just wants to be faithful to the Lord, faithful to the word of God, and a guy who's just kind of there to go along with whatever's popular. You want to be like a Zechariah in her life, willing to just lay it all down for God's sake, willing to get up and tell it like it is, say it like it is, and just let people deal with it. And if they're going to stone you or persecute you, so be it. Right? And, you know, they're both people that were brought up by Jehoiada, aren't they? Zechariah's brought up by Jehoiada and, in a sense, Joash, you know, was kind of his son in the faith, so to speak. You know, they're both brought up and what's the difference is that one had his own walk with God and one just was just kind of, everything just kind of came to him and he took it for granted and at the end he just sold out and suffered greatly. He'd say, well, it didn't work out very great for Zechariah. I don't know when you have Jesus referring to you in Matthew 23 and using you as a shining example to condemn, you know, the bunch of wicked Jews. To me, that's a pretty good honor. When you have, when your prayer is Lord, look upon it and God's like, okay, I'll do that for your sake. I'm going to bring the Syrians and just destroy these people and I'll make sure that that guy, you know, is slain by his own servants in his bed. That's not a good death. I mean, getting stoned, you know, in front of, in the court of the Lord and between the altar, I mean, we were joking about, that's a cool death. We were joking about the other day with somebody about, you know, who's going to be the first person that dies soul winning. You're going to go down to, I don't know, a YouTube page or something. I don't know what. But you'd be, you'd have rewards in heaven, right? You know, everybody else would catch up with you later and you'd be kind of like, how did you go out? Well, I got shot, you know, soul winning, you know, whatever. I got persecuted for my faith. You know, Zechariah, he goes down like a legend, right? Why? Because he stood on his own two feet. Because after Daddy was gone, just this last Sunday, he didn't change. He held that, which was good. That's the difference. One could stand on his own, the other could not. One, when the princess came and said, hey, let's forsake God, he's like, okay, can I still be king? Yeah, all right, whatever you guys want. The other one preached his heart out to the point where they killed him for it. But he stood, he stood to the very end. And that's the difference. One can stand on their own, one cannot. So what's the moral of the story? What's the lesson tonight? Learn to stand on your own. You know, stand on your own two feet spiritually. You know, obviously receive the instruction. I'm not saying, you know, buck, you know, your authority or, you know, rebel or something like that. But when it, you know, learn that when that time comes, because that time is going to come in your life for all of us. You know, in some shape or form, we're gonna have to, whether we're grown, whether we're adults out of the house or not. You know, we're all gonna have seasons in our life, we're all gonna have points in our Christian life where we're gonna have to decide, am I gonna follow God or am I gonna sell out because, you know, something happened with some man. You know, that's why Paul prayed that our face should not stand in men. You know, that we, he reminds us that we serve the Lord Christ. Look, if you just make your life about serving Christ, if you just say, I'm just gonna be true to the Bible, I'm gonna be true to Christ, then it doesn't really matter what other people do. I'm not gonna, I'm not saying it's not gonna hurt, I'm not saying it's not gonna be a grief of mine to you or hurt you or, you know, even have negative effects in your life when maybe, you know, people that you looked up to that were supposed to be an example to you fail you, obviously there's gonna be effects that's gonna have negative effects in your life, but it shouldn't take you out of serving God. And people do this all the time. They, you know, the preacher messes up, the perceived flaw or whatever, and people quit on God. They, they don't like something, the way something was handled in the church and that's, all of a sudden that's their spiritual excuse to just throw in the towel. I've seen it, folks, time and time again. And look, I've had, I've been in positions more than once in my life, my Christian life, where I've thought to myself, this is my chance right here to have a spiritual out because, you know, the preacher did this or this happened in the church or the other thing, multiple times. And I'm saying just here, you know, at Faithful Word, you know, where, where people have their spiritual excuse, I'm saying like through my entire Christian life, before I even came here, there's been opportunities like that. But you know what kept me from doing that? It was knowing that if I forsook God, he would forsake me. And I said, well, I don't want that. So I'm just going to stay in church. I'm just going to ride this storm out and I'm just going to be faithful to God. I'm going to stand on my own two feet, you know, and I'm going to stand for God. Just stand for God, you know, and it doesn't matter what other people are going to do. Let's go ahead and pray. Dear Lord, again, thank you for, Lord, your faithfulness towards us, Lord, thank you that you've promised you'll never leave us or forsake us. I pray, Lord, you'd help us to do the same, Lord, that we would be faithful to you day in and day out of our lives, Lord, that we could look back on a life in our old age, that we could be like this in a long, full life of serving God. Lord, I pray you grant that to us, Lord, as we live for you day by day, faithfully. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. All right, we'll go ahead and have one more song for you. Amen. Let's turn our windows to song number 55. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55. When the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. 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Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55, when the road is called of the army. Song number 55,