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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] and then we've got the salvation's baptisms and offering totals for both the month and year got the homeschool field trip uh that's already coming on i think i have last week's bullets and this is how short we are in fact i do and i was panicking there for a minute so uh basically it's just business as usual folks around here not no major changes nothing major to announce just kind of going through the motions right now the formalities you know if i didn't do announcements you'd be concerned so here i am up here just kind of letting you know what's going on there's not a whole lot going on other than the christmas eve service coming up on the 24th which is christmas eve of all go figure at 7 p.m so make sure you get out here for that if you if you'd like we'd love to have you out uh don't be shy about inviting folks out and um get them out here don't forget we've got the christmas CDs back there there's a few more invites i think that's what's back there's what we got for invites right yeah so those are those are going like hot cakes but that's exactly what we want a couple other quick announcements regarding the tempe church up there uh there's the ladies christmas craft evening which is this friday so if you want ladies if you want to go up that uh you just remember it's strictly no children except nurselings and arms i don't know if that applies to anyone here but uh teen girls and ladies are invited you don't have to bring a snack to share um you know rsvp is kind of run out on that now that i'm actually reading the whole thing i don't know is any was any are you any ladies planning on going to that okay all right then that was just a total waste of my breath and your time uh what might not be and i don't think is a waste of your breath at all is the tempe christmas caroline even me now announcing it i think it's it's it's me not wasting my breath and i think if you were to go up there and sing at the christmas caroline it would also not be wasting your breath so who might go christmas caroling with us this year what a festive bunch you are what oh we got one all right great we got one i know brother fabian wants to go too so anyway i know it's a trip up there but uh if you can get it up get up there on december 20th at 5 30 they're gonna go out for one hour and have uh uh get back at the building for hot cocoa and cookies so that's always a good time well let's go ahead and count up the soul winning we're gonna go all the way back to friday so is there anything no we did that saturday got the countdown on sunday night right okay so we're gonna go back to monday still kind of getting over it so monday anything for monday and then tuesday thought did i see hand go up for monday or someone just adjusting their hair or something okay i remember i remember i i learned that the hard way my pastor asked a question at my old church and i went like this and it drove him nuts so anyway um and now i see why any subtle movement you're like is that an answer okay wednesday anything for wednesday anything for the group today no okay well you can't get them all all the time right so we're going to go ahead and sing one more song before we get the preaching tonight we got okay sure sure number 443 joy to the world is Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy. Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy. The Lord of sins and sorrows, Lord. The Lord did bless the crowd. He goes to make his blessings whole. For as the curse is found, for as the curse is found, for as, for as the curse is found. He pulls the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove. The glories of his righteousness, and wonders of his love, and wonders of his love, and wonders of his love. Hey, you had a great day, everyone. All right, this time we'll pass the offering quick. As it goes around, you can follow Father Gabriel as he reads from 2 Kings 14. Second Kings chapter number 14, and it's played with right tonight. Second Kings chapter 14, verse 1 of our reads. In the second year of Joash, son of Jehoah, as king of Israel, reigned Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah. He was 25 years old when he began to reign. He reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoah, Jerusalem. He did that which was right inside of the Lord, and not like David his father, even according to all things, as Joash his father did. Albeit the high places were not taken away, as if the people had sacrificed their incest in the high places. It became the past, as soon as the kingdom was confirmed in his hand, and he slew a service which had slain the king's father. But the children of the murderer he slew not, according to that which was written in the book of the law of Moses, when the Lord commanded, saying, the father shall now be put to death for the children. The children will be put to death for the fathers, but every man shall be put to death for his own sin. He slew of Eden in the valley of salt, 10,000, and took Seelah by war, and called the name of it Jachwiel unto this day. Then Amaziah sent messengers to Joash, the son of Jehoah, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, come, let us look one another in the face. And Jehoah asked king of Israel, sent to Amaziah, king of Judah, saying, the thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the seeder that was in Lebanon, saying, give thy daughter to my son's wife. And there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, who trode down the thistle. Thou was indeed Simeon, and at heart had lifted thee up. Glory of this, and tarry it home, for why shouldest thou meddle till thy hurt? That thou shouldst fall, even thou in Judah with me, but Amaziah would not hear. Therefore, Jehoah asked king of Israel, went up, and he and Amaziah, king of Judah, looked one another in the face, at that Shema, which belonged to Judah. And Judah was put to the worst before Israel, and he fled in the manger of the tents. And Jehoah asked king of Israel, took Amaziah, king of Judah, the son of Jehoah, the son of Ahaziah, at that Shema, and came to Jerusalem, and bring down the wall of Jerusalem by the day of Ephraim, unto the corner gate, four hundred units. And he took all the gold, and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the Lord, and then the treasures of the king's house, and hostages, and returned to Samaria. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash, which he did in his might, that he fought with Amaziah, king of Judah, but had not written the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. And Jehoash suffered his fathers, and was buried in Samaria, with the kings of Israel. And Jeroboam, the son, reigned instead. And Amaziah, the son, Joash, king of Judah, lived after the death of Jehoah, son of Jehoah, king of Israel, fifteen years. And the rest of the acts of Amaziah had not written the book of the chronicles of the king of Judah. Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they said after him, that Lachish was schooled there. And they brought him on horses. And he was buried in Jerusalem, with his fathers, in the city of David. And all the people of Judah took as a riot, which was 16 years old, and made him king, instead of his father, Amaziah. He built Elah, and restored it to Judah, after that king suffered his fathers, to the fifteenth year, that Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and reign forty and one years. And he did that with some evil in the sight of the Lord. He departed not from all the sins, but Jeroboam, the son of Nebah, who made Israel to sin. He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Amah into the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant, Jonah, the son, and then the teah, the prophet, which was a great effort. The Lord saw the affliction of Israel, and it was very bitter, for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any help with Israel. The Lord said not that he would brought out the name of Israel from under heaven, but he saved it, by the hand of Jeroboam, the son of Joash. Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, not like did, and his might, and how he warred. Now he recovered Damascus and Haman, which belonged to Judah, for Israel, and now written the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, with the kings of Israel, Zachariah's son, bringing his stead. Father Anthony, would you pray for us? Father God, thank you for this evening's service. We pray that you will speak in the fullness of your word, and that it identify us, and we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So in 2 Kings 14, not 13, as this bulletin said about giving me a heart attack during announcements. 2 Kings 14 tonight. We're kind of continuing on with this succession of kings, both in Israel and Judah. And we're just moving along here, and we're getting into the Jehoahaz and Amaziah, this story here. And some of this is probably pretty familiar. We'll jump in there at verse 2. It says, he was 25 years old, speak of Amaziah. When he began to reign, he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. So he reigns as 54 years. So he had a good reign. And his mother name was Jehoadan of Jerusalem. And he did that which is right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like David his father. He did according to all the things as Joash his father did, how be it the high places were not taken away as yet. The people did sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places. So it's the same old story. You have these kings that are kind of coming back, but not all the way back. They're getting some things right, but they're not getting completely right. And as a result, they continue to suffer the consequences for not just coming completely over to God. And that right there is a lesson in and of itself. If we're going to get right with God, if we are going to set out to do that, we need to go all the way and not just stop halfway. Otherwise, can we really say we're completely right with the Lord? That's something we want to follow through with all the way. And then it says there in verse 6, but the children of Israel, verse 5 rather, and it came to pass as soon as the kingdom was confirmed in his hand, that he slew his servants which had slain the king his father. So he takes vengeance on them, rightly so. But the children of the murderers he slew not, according unto that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein the Lord commanded, saying, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers, but every man shall be put to death for his own sin. And so we see here in 2 Kings that he's reiterating something that's already been rehearsed once in the word of God, at least back in the Old Testament. And whenever you're reading the Bible, and this is just a good principle in Bible reading, when the Bible is repeating something it has already stated, we need to pay attention to that. And it does that all throughout Scripture. Some things get repeated multiple times. Themes come up repeatedly throughout Scripture. And rather than just saying, Well, I've already heard this before, or this is nothing new to me, what we need to understand is that everything that's in the Bible is there for a reason. God wants us to understand something here, and he's repeating himself for a reason. And this is something that in particular tonight that really society at large would do well to take heed to, this idea of justice versus cruelty. Because again, let's read this here. It says halfway through there, it was written in the book of the law of Moses wherein the Lord commanded, so it's the Lord's commandment saying, The father shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers. So you couldn't punish a son for what his father had done. And that seems pretty common sense, and obviously that's not something we're really in the practice of these days, right? But it's still this idea today that would apply when it comes to justice versus cruelty. It would be a very cruel thing if we were to go and disregard this command as a society, wouldn't it? If there was somebody that committed murder and then we executed that murderer, which would be just, which would be right, but then turned around and also said, well, you know, the apple probably doesn't fall that far from the tree. Let's just take out the sun too, you know, just to be safe. That would not be justice. At that point, we have gone from justice to being cruel, okay? And again, we might not do this exact thing today, but you know, our justice system today still is cruel to a certain degree. Now we could have the debate about, you know, just how cruel they are. You know, really when we read the word of God, we don't see a prison system put in place. You might see like a debtor's prison, or you might see people being held temporarily until they're brought to trial and then either, you know, punished accordingly, but you don't see people being incarcerated, you know, for years, decades, yeah, even their entire life. That's not found in the word of God. So when we see a system like that, we kind of have to ask ourselves, is that really justice according to God's word? You know, and I've, it's my opinion. People can have different opinions on this, but I believe I'm correct on this when it comes to the word of God that that is not what we would consider justice today. It might give us a sense of satisfaction, and even people who maybe are victims of those individuals might feel some sense of satisfaction, but when it comes to the word of God, that's not really justice. And who we ultimately have to satisfy when it comes to doling out justice is God, regardless of how the victims feel. And usually, you know, that one follows the other. You know, if we do things justly according to the word of God, you know, the victims of crime would probably be very satisfied. You know, maybe a lesser crime than murder or rape or things or adultery, things that are punished by death. Think about, like, you know, if something is stolen. Depending on what is, how it's found out and, you know, the circumstances, a man that steals something would restore four or even five-fold what he took. Now, I don't know about you, if you've ever had anything stolen from you, that's, you know, that's probably, it's almost like, it's almost worth having it stolen to get four times the amount back or five times the amount back. You know, you might just start leaving the keys in the ignition. All right, you might just start rolling the window down and just being like, I didn't see anything, you know, because I'm going to get four or five times more back, right? So, obviously, if we follow God's commandments, you know, we are going to get some sense of satisfaction, okay? And we're living in a backwards world today, though, where people are confusing, you know, justice for something else. Now, if you would, keep something there. Let's go over to Ezekiel chapter number 18 real quick. This is, again, this is something that's written in the book of Moses. We're going to take the time to look at it because this is what the scripture is emphasizing and the story and all the things that could have come up tonight, you know, we're looking at, we're seeing again that this is being reiterated and it's reiterated, you know, originally in Deuteronomy 24 but also over Ezekiel chapter number 18, Ezekiel chapter number 18, where God says something very similar about, and I'm not going to read the whole passage, about how, you know, we shouldn't be punishing people unjustly. Not that we shouldn't punish people, but we need to be careful when it comes to this idea of justice and doling out proper judgment. Look at verse 3 of Ezekiel chapter 18. It says there, As I live, saith the Lord God, you shall not have occasions anymore to use this proverb in Israel. I'm not going to read the proverb, but it says in verse 4, Behold, all souls are mine, as the soul of the Father, so also the Son is mine. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. So what he's saying here is, look, whether it's the Father or the Son, the only soul that's going to die is the one that sins, the one that has committed the trespass worthy of death. That's the only one that is to be put to death. Now, again, applying this to our justice system today, they should read verses like this in the Word of God and begin to walk very carefully and conduct themselves in a very careful manner because, again, read verse 4. He said, what is God saying? Behold, all souls are mine. All souls are mine. Every single human being that comes into this earth is God's. God is the one that formed them in the womb. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. It just stands to reason that every single one of us are also His. We are His creation. Every man and woman is made in the image of God. So the justice system would do well to take heed of that, that when they're, whether the person's saved or unsaved, how they treat that individual is going to not, God is going to notice that. It's not going to go unnoticed because all souls are His. And he's saying, all souls are mine. Therefore, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. You're not going to punish the Father with the Son. And this is important because, again, tonight, this is something that's repeated throughout the Word of God. It's probably not something we're maybe struggling with so much, but the world at large would do well to take heed of this, wouldn't they? Now, we could apply it more personally to ourselves and saying, we shouldn't harbor resentment or bitterness. We should let things go. We shouldn't bring up things about people when restitution has been made. If people sin against us, if people do wrong things and it's been forgiven, we should do our best to just move on and not bring those things back up and put them in their face again. People get disciplined by the church. When they come back, you shouldn't try to bring up their old sins. It's forgiven. It's forgotten. I mean, that's what God does for us. He's removed our sins as far as the east is from the west. He's cast them behind His back. They're lost in the sea of God's forgetfulness. And our justice system doesn't operate that way, do they? Our justice system, somebody gets in trouble with the law, not only do they have that initial punishment, which we could all have the argument about whether or not that's the proper punishment. The Bible teaches corporal punishment or death or financial restitution. That's really it. Not locking people up in a steel cage. To me, that seems like the inhumane thing to do. I mean, we put animals in cages when we want to keep them in place. So we're going to do that to human beings? To me, we're so used to it growing up, maybe when we hear that the first time being preached or taught from the word of God, it might shock us a little bit. But again, show me the prison system in the Bible. You could go, oh, Joseph, yeah, that was Egypt. That wasn't God's people doing that. That was a bunch of heathen that were in the practice of throwing people in prison and things like that. So in our justice system, not only do they initially incarcerate people, which is not something you find in the word of God, but then even after that, they hang that crime over their head through things like probation and other things like that by putting them on some kind of court-ordered whatever. And this just irks me, and I'm kind of getting off my chest, because it just frustrates me every time I hear about somebody who's trying to do right and do the right thing and has been keeping their nose clean and playing by the rules, and then you hear about the justice system jerking their chain around. And I want to say, look, all souls are mine. I don't care how high up on some stand you are, how black your robe is or how many degrees or how many letters you got behind your name. You're messing with somebody's life. And that person, whoever they are, saved or unsaved, is somebody that God cares about. They might not be a child of God even, but there's still somebody that is made in the image of God, and we shouldn't be just taking liberties with people's lives in our justice system. But you know what? We do it ad nauseam. We do it all the time in our justice system today. You say, why? For money. The love of money is the root of all evil. Do you really think our justice system is set up to reform people? Or could it just be to turn human beings into a cash cow and just pump money out of them through lawyers and fees and fines? You go to jail, and then you get to pay for your stay when you're there. Then you get billed for everything you ate, even though the taxpayer paid for it. It's a huge scam, folks. It's a huge scam to make money. And you say, I don't know about that. Well, it would be interesting if we could actually go down to these prisons and find people that weren't worthy of something, hadn't committed a crime, worthy of death, and then offer them either the biblical punishment or another five years behind bars. They'll take the biblical punishment and probably do them more good. Because when they get a rod across the back or whatever punishment comes, the guy beating them isn't going to be telling them how to be a better criminal when he's in there with them. You see what I'm saying? They go in there, and as they all get together, it's like, I'm going to go out with a record anyway. Now I've got a felony hanging over my head. I can't vote. I can't own a gun. I can't get certain jobs. I can't work at certain places. I guess I should just go back to what I was doing because that's the easiest route. They don't make it easy for people. It's important that we understand this because God is interested only in true justice. What people call justice today, I question if it's really them acting in the best interests of society or just trying to line their own pocket. Go over to Psalm chapter 10. And then you say, where's God in all this? If God has other ideas, then why are things the way they are? And that's a question that people ask a lot in life, isn't it? They ask, why did God let this happen? Why does God allow that? And we ought to be really careful. And this is something I've been thinking about a lot more lately and I would like to preach more about in the future when I have maybe a deeper understanding of that. Of course, we have our run-of-the-mill generic answers, which are more than adequate to answer, to maybe reprove people that just want to throw things in God's face. But even God's people understand that God isn't some cruel, evil God who's just trying to punish us unnecessarily. Even us, we can still ask that question and not fully understand it. We'll say, oh, I know God isn't the one that's doing bad things, but we still struggle with that. At least I do. I don't know if you still do out there. That's something I still struggle with sometimes. I know God's not to blame, but I think there's a deeper answer there that has to be sought out and maybe thought about a little bit more. So you might be sitting there and saying, well, if that's not justice, why does God allow that to happen? Well, God could turn around that and ask us the same thing. Why do you allow that to happen? Why do we allow that to happen? Well, it's because we're sinners. And people get into power and people set up systems and people figure out how to exploit one another and end up oppressing one another. And I believe our justice system is a form of oppression in a lot of instances. When you've paid your dues and then you're being run through the ringer for years on end over something that you're sorry about and aren't going to do again, that's an oppression. And then you get treated poorly when you're trying to just do what's right. It drives me nuts if you haven't noticed. But I had you go to Psalm 10, Luke chapter verse 16. The Lord is king forever and ever. The heathen are perished out of His land. Again, the rulers out there in the world would do well. The Bible says that they should kiss the sun lest he be angry. When his wrath is kindled but a little. The Lord is king. Who's the ultimate ruler? Forever and ever. Well, he'll be king when he gets here. No, he's still king. He's just kind of letting us down here run the show for a little bit. And should it surprise us that it's turned into a bit of a circus? It's a three-ring act down here the way man conducts himself with one another. And then it goes on and says, The heathen are perished out of His hand. Look at verse 17, Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble. Thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear, to judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress. I mean, whatever time I read that, it's just such a powerful verse to me. You know, that God is going to judge the fatherless and the wicked. Meaning He's going to stand up for on their behalf. All the people that are powerless in this world. All the people who are just being taken advantage of by society. That are just, you know, are basically starting out in life. You know, with already having the legs just basically swept out from under them. And then just being tossed into a system that's going to just exploit them. And oppress them. You know, God's going to stand up for those people. Eventually, you know, and all these people in high places. All the rulers of the power of this world. They would do well to take heed to this tonight. Because, you know, they might get away with it for a little while down here. But they'll give an account for every person they incarcerated. Every person that they, you know, and I'm sure there's plenty of them within that system. That are trying to do the right thing as far as they know how. But they better think long and hard about, you know, what the difference between justice and cruelty. And then on the other extreme, you know, think about the not mistake mercy, you know, for justice. Saying, oh, we're not going to put anybody to death. That's not justice. And that's not mercy. There are things that the Bible prescribes the death penalty for. And not carrying it out does not make us more humane. So we're more humane than God now. We're more just than God because we don't follow God's word in our society. We don't put people to death that the Bible says are clearly put to death. We're worthy of being put to death. Rapists, murderers, sodomites, adulterers. You know, the Bible says that they are to be put to death. But we're more loving and more kind and more compassionate than even God today, apparently. And yet we have no problem just oppressing, you know, other people, you know, people within that system. Ironic, isn't it? Let's move on here. It goes on in verse 7 back there in 2 Kings chapter number 14. We'll pick it up there again in verse 7. And he says, He slew of Edom in the valley of assault ten thousand and took Selah by war and called the name of it Jochthiel unto this day. Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face. And let me just bring this into the modern vernacular. Basically this is, what's up? Okay, that's what he's saying here. What's up? You stepping? You know, he's calling him out, right? He's saying, what's up? Let us look one another in the face. You know, that's kind of what's going on here. And then you've got to kind of think about Jehoash's answer here. And Jehoash, the king of Israel, sent to Amaziah, king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon said to the seeder that was in Lebanon, Give thy daughter to my son to wife. And there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon and trod down the thistle. So he's basically saying, you ain't all that. You know, you don't want none of this. You don't want this smoke, son. That's what he's kind of saying. You know, you can't handle this. Right? So you might think, well, he's saying the right thing. But the way he's putting this, Jehoash, king of Israel, to Amaziah, he's saying it in a kind of a provoking way, isn't he? He's not saying, hey, man, I didn't come here for any trouble. Look, I'm just going to leave. He's just saying, oh, you think you're all that? Well, you know what? The thistle that was in Lebanon said unto the seeder that was in Lebanon, What's up? And then a beast came by and trampled down the thistle in Lebanon. What now? Right? That's kind of what's going on there. So it's not like he's trying to back out. He's not trying to de-escalate the situation here. He's just kind of saying, bring it on, buddy. You know, it's not like he's giving him a fair warning, right? But he's saying it in such a way to still kind of provoke him. Right? And this is a whole other lesson right here. And I know I've kind of already mentioned this recently. But, you know, we shouldn't just go around blowing our mouth off to people. And I know I already mentioned this. I'll just say it again real quickly. That was something I was told at a young age as a teenager. My stepfather, who got very fed up with my lip and my sass, just said to me one day, one day you're going to mess with the wrong redneck. And he didn't. He used a little bit more. He colored that statement with some other words. Okay? And he was said in a certain tone. But I remembered that. You know, I know I've already told that story. You know, and if you don't remember it, well, just see me after the service. And I found that out. You know, I'm going to tell the story. You know, the guy, I was pushing my skateboard down the street. And down the middle of the street with my friend. And some guy honked at us or something. And I said, what's up? You know, some 17-year-old, I was about as tall as I am now. And probably, let's just say I was really skinny. Okay? I'm not going to tell you how much lighter I was. I want to get myself away up here. But, I mean, I was a bean pole. Right? I know it's hard to believe. So this little just kid who's got to grab onto something every time the wind picks up. You know, is talking smack out there. And sure enough, it was the wrong redneck that day. Because that got that car. I remember the silent sound of those tires. Right in the middle of the road. And this jacked, like, Marine Army guy. I mean, full fatigues. Tucked in. Tucked into the boots. Just marching at me. I'm going to teach you some respect. And he would have. Like, thankfully I had a skateboard. Because I was gone. I didn't have anything to say. Right? And the words, those wise words of my stepfather just rang in my ears. You know, one day. One day, young man. You're going to say the wrong thing to the wrong guy. Right? In the Bible, you know, this is in Proverbs, other places. We shouldn't just go around blowing our mouth off to people. Because, look, there's people out there in this world that would love nothing more than to get into it with you. And if you, you know, if you're going to be the type of person that wants to go around and mess with people. There's people out there that don't mind being messed with and will mess with you right back. So, your mouth can cause you a whole lot of trouble. And that's what happens here with Amaziah. You know, he's kind of feeling his Wheaties here because he went down and he, you know, he dealt with the people down in Edom. He's kind of feeling like, all right, let's see what's up there in Israel now. Right? And he says here in verse 10, this is Jehoash responding, thou has indeed smitten Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up. He's like, you're full of yourself, man. You're thinking more of yourself than you ought to. Glory of this, and tarry it home, for why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou and Judah with thee? He's like, again, just stay at home. You know, just don't come out. Just shut your mouth, walk away. That's what he was saying. You know, and again, there's that quick, you know, application of not blowing off your mouth. But how about this idea of, you know, I hate to use. I think this is probably a term they use down at the casino. Don't confirm this if you know that. If you know it to be a fact, then just keep. And don't wonder about how I know it, OK? Because I've never. I think I was in a casino once before I was saved many years ago. This wasn't last week or anything. And I instantly saw how stupid it was to go in there and just basically hand people your money. I said I could have saved, you know, gas money. I could just stay at home and let my money on fire, you know. So I never went back. But, you know, so I know that we just pick up things. Right. So. But there's a saying, quit while your head. Right. Quit while your head. I think that's like a gambling thing. Right. Quit while your head. No one wants to nod. No one's like anyone's like, I don't know. Is that a thing they say on there? Right. You know, because the house always wins. Right. You're like, oh, yeah, I know that one. I know. Uh huh. Right. No. Quit while your head. You know, quit while things are still going good. But the human nature is such that, you know, when things start going well for us, that's when we start to feel a little maybe overconfident. And there was like, oh, you know, instead of just glorying in this that we've defeated Edom, now we're going to go mess with somebody else and see what else we can get out of it. And rather than just being content with such things as we have, you know, there's this saying, this one, I know you've heard probably, right. Stay humble. You know, go over to Romans chapter number 12, Romans chapter number 12. I know we know this, these verses, but we'll look at it again. You know, when things are going good for us, that's when we start, we start to lose our sense of humility, isn't it? You know, when we're down going through some hardship and we're having some difficulty in life, it's pretty easy to stay humble, isn't it? When we, you know, we're going through some trial in our life, we find, we find that it's a lot easier to stay in closer contact with God. We might find ourselves praying more, reading more, have it, you know, treating others better, being a little bit more, you know, just humble, right? Because things aren't going as well for us and we want some mercy. We want some kindness to be extended to us. But when things start going good, you know, sometimes our nature is just to kind of forget about all that. You know, when we've defeated Edom, you know, our heart is lifted up, right? We aren't just glad for that. We kind of, we want more. Look at verse three. It says in verse three of Romans 12, for I say through the grace, through the grace given me, excuse me, for the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly. To think soberly, meaning be clear minded, be serious, you know, see yourself in the right light is what he's saying here. Not to think more highly than he ought to think. You know, I'm not saying we should have this self, you know, deprecating attitude where we just always just thinking the worst of ourselves and only just assuming that, you know, we shouldn't be defeating ourselves and just telling ourselves that we're nothing and we're worthless, you know, but at the same time, we don't want to overdo it either and think that we're the greatest thing since sliced bread because we're not. We ought to think soberly. You know, what does it mean? So what would that look like to think soberly about yourself? To not think more highly than you ought to. I mean, we would say something like, well, I'm a child of God and look, that's a pretty high calling. Not everyone gets to say that. I mean, that's the highest calling. We'd say, well, I'm a child of God. I'm God's child and amen to that. That's true, but why are we the child of God? Because of the grace of God, because of the mercy of God, you know, and that's a humbling thought to think that, you know, we've been redeemed by the blood of Christ and not by our own works, so we shouldn't think more highly than we ought to. We ought to have, you know, think of ourselves in that light, you know, think soberly, you know, think, see that clearly that you are a child of God. You are an heir with Christ, right? But only by the grace of God are we that. So think soberly according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. Don't be like Amaziah in the story tonight and think more highly than you ought to and start to think, well, I've gotten a leg up here, maybe I can go get more and take on more. You know, don't let your eyes get bigger than your stomach, don't bite off more than you can chew in life as it says. We'll move along here, verse 11, it says, but Amaziah would not hear, therefore, Jehoash the king of Israel went up, again, right there, Amaziah would not hear. His pride is getting in the way. Pride just has a way of just causing us to be just blind and deaf to the obvious, where other people would even say, what are you doing? You're headed for destruction. You're going to make a mess of things. You're going to suffer if you keep going down this path, but pride, you know, stiffens his neck, you know, and he that you're being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall be destroyed suddenly at that without remedy. Okay. That's what's going to happen to Amaziah here. Verse 11, but Amaziah would not hear, therefore, Jehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face, so they're going to throw down at Beth Shemesh, which belongeth to Judah, and Judah was put to the worst before Israel and they fled every man to their tents and Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, the son of Ahaziah at Beth Shemesh and came to Jerusalem and break down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim, even unto the corner gate, 400 cubits. So it's not just that he defeated him in battle, then he's going back to Jerusalem and spoiling it and destroying it and laying waste to the gates and things like that. You know, when we get puffed up and we think more highly of ourselves, you know, we cause other people harm around us and that's going to come into play here in just a minute, right, in Amaziah's life because the people around us suffer, you know, the people around us are only going to put up with so much if we're an Amaziah in life. You know, if we go around, you know, blowing off our mouth, being full of ourselves, thinking more highly than we ought to, not being humble, you know, and bringing harm not only to our lives but in the lives of those around us, eventually those around us are going to get fed up, you know, and then it's going to be, you know, there's the door, you go figure it out. You know, that kind of thing happens all the time. You don't want to abide by the rules, you don't want to abide by mom and dad's rules, you're of age now and you want to just cause trouble in the home, you want to be of bad influence, you think you're your own man, your own woman, okay, there's the door, go show us. You know, and that's when things get real for people, young people, real quick. Well now it's the bill comes in and it's got your name on it. You know, when it's, you know, when you go to open the fridge and it's like, oh, I forgot to go shopping, you know, that's when it gets a little bit more real, right? But that's the kind of thing that happens. People can get fed up with people who are, you know, bucking the system and then just hand them over and just, you know, then they have to suffer that too, them retaliating. That's what happens here in the story. It says, now the rest of the Acts, verse 15, of Jehoash, which he did in his might and how he fought against Amaziah, the king of Judah. Are they not written in the book of the chronicles, the king of Judah, Israel, excuse me, and Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel and Jeroboam, his son reign in his stead. Verse 17, and Amaziah, the son of Jehoash, the king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash, son of Jehoiada, excuse me, Jehoaz, king of Israel, 15 years. So he continues on even after getting whooped. And the rest of the Acts of Amaziah, they're not written in the book of the chronicles of kings of Judah. Verse 19, so this is kind of backtracking a little bit in Amaziah's life and telling us another story. Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, against Amaziah, and he fled to Lakish. And he's talking about the people that, you know, the citizens, the people that were under his rule, they made a conspiracy against him. Why? Well, we just read it. Because he's out there picking fights he shouldn't be picking, you know, being full of himself, being full of pride, and then bringing harm back even into his own city. And now other people are having to suffer it. Other people are having to deal with, you know, his pride, his arrogance, and their suffering. And it goes back to what I was just saying. Eventually people are going to get fed up, and they're going to deal with you, okay? And that's what is going on here. They made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem. And he fled to Lakish, but they sent after him to Lakish and slew him there. So they said, we're going to kill this guy because it's better. So really what we see here, this is a mercy killing, you know, kind of what I see. And not for him, for them. They're like, we need to kill him and get rid of him and get his son in there because he's just going to burn it all to the ground. Because he's just a loose cannon, he's a bad leader, he's going to hurt us, let's just get him out of here and get the next guy in there and maybe things will go better, right? Because they're still godly people. They're still people that want to, you know, not suffer the consequences for disobeying the word of God. And that's kind of what's going on here. If you would, go to 2 Chronicles 25. And it talks, because this is a parallel passage, and we'll just look at it real quick. 2 Chronicles 25, I'll begin reading in verse 26, it gives us another detail about this conspiracy about why they did this, okay? It says in verse 26, now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, the first and last, behold, are they not written the book of the kings of Judah in Israel, excuse me? Now after the time that Amaziah did turn away from following the Lord, they made a conspiracy against him. So there's that little detail there that you don't see in 2 Kings, that Amaziah did turn away from following the Lord, that they made a conspiracy. So he gets away from God, things start going bad, and they're like, hmm, you know, we'd rather not have to deal with this. Let's conspire and slay him, okay? So they conspire, and again, it just recounts the story, he fled to Lakish, but they sent to Lakish after him and slew him there, and they brought him upon horses and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah, which is something that you would do, they at least honored him in death. That was something they would do if they weren't, it wasn't just some terrible person, like total reprobate a lot of times, some of the times they don't even, I mean think about kings like, you know, like, what's her name, Jezebel, right? She didn't get carried back on horses, she got trod under horses, right? We're not going to rehash that story. So it just goes to show it wasn't that they just had this seething animosity against him, and he was just this terrible person that just had to go, you know, he was still honored in his death, it's just that his actions that he started to do towards the end of his life, the way he started to conduct himself, was just harming everybody else around him. That's a lesson to us, that if we just go around harming everybody else, if our actions cause us to harm other people in our lives, don't be surprised if they retaliate. Now, I'm not going to say they're going to chase you to Lakish and slay you, but you know, there's going to be consequences. You know, people will put up boundaries, people will draw lines with relationships and sever things and say, until you fix this, we cannot have a relationship. I can't help you, you know, and that's actually a healthy thing to do. Where were we in the story? Verse 19, they made the conspiracy, going back to 2 Kings 14, verse 20, and they brought him on horses and buried him in Jerusalem with his father in the city of David, and all the people of Judah took Azariah, which was 16 years old and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. He built Elath and restored it to Judah after the king slept with his fathers. In the fifteenth year of Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria and reign forty and one years. He did that which was evil on the side of the Lord. He departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. So we're getting on to the next succession of kings here, both in Judah and Israel. He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah. Every kid in the room just woke up and said, what? Jonah. Yes, that Jonah, right? The son of Amittai, excuse me, Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gath-Hephir. The Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter, for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper of Israel. And again, it's just the same, and look, I'm just preaching the Bible and we're just going through the book, but have you noticed the theme? That it's just people getting away from God and suffering, you know, the consequences for having done so. And it's the same message, you know, we think, oh, I'm just going to get away from God and do my thing. God's going to look down and see your affliction and see that it's very bitter, you know, that God's going to have mercy. He's going to say, I feel so bad for these people because their affliction is very bitter. God is not passive. God does not just sit back idly and let us do whatever we want. God will reach out, as I said last week, and touch us, wherever we are, for better or worse. I mean, do we want the heavy hand of God's judgment in our life? Or do we want that comforting, guiding, leading hand of God's blessing in our life? Obviously we'd all say we want the blessing, you know, but our actions are what going to prove that, okay? So he says, the Lord saw the affliction of Israel that was very bitter, for there was not any shut up nor any left, meaning there was no security. And again, this is going back to what I was preaching about last week, one of the greatest blessings of having God in your life is the blessing of security. We sang that song right before the service, God will take care of you. That's one of my favorite songs, you know, I've loved that one for years. It's such a comforting thing to know that, you know, if things fall apart in my life, if I'm in some difficult circumstance, that God hasn't forgotten about me. And God will take care of me, no matter what, that God will be there for me. I might not understand everything that I'm going through in the moment, but ultimately God will work all things together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose. I believe that. That's a promise that we have in the word of God. And it's a very bitter thing when God looks down and he says, there's nothing shut up. And he's not talking about that kind of shut up. He's talking about there's nothing secure. There's no, there's no bars on the windows. There's no locks on the doors. Everyone's just vulnerable and open to attack. They're weak. There's no helper for Israel, okay? Look, whatever I go, we're all going to go through things in life. It's just, do you want to go through life without the helper, without the comforter? Or do you want to go through life and still have to go through trials and difficulties, but with the aid and comfort and security that comes with knowing that God is blessing you, okay, and sees you and cares about you. I prefer the latter. Verse 28, now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did and his might and how he warred and how he recovered and Hamath, which belonged to Judah for Israel, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel and Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel and Zechariah, his son, reign in his stead. So what's the lesson tonight is that we ought to be careful how we conduct ourselves before God and man, that God is an avenger, that God is somebody that can either be on our side or against us, no matter who we are, no matter what office we hold, no matter what position we have, no matter that God holds leadership accountable. This is something I think about often, being in a position of leadership. What about you out there that are fulfilling roles of leadership in your life? God still holds you accountable, and also, not only does God hold us accountable, but so do the people that we're leading. People that we're leading can get fed up. That's what happened to Amaziah. They said, enough, and they took actions. We should be careful to be leaders that are just, merciful, leaders that are like God, that are tender, full of mercy and compassion, yes, firm when we need to be, yes, just, but also understanding the difference between justice and cruelty, between mercy and a lack of justice. Let's go ahead and pray. Dear Lord, again, thank you for these great lessons that we have in the word of God. I pray that you would just bless us tonight as we go, and Lord, help us to be a merciful people, Lord, to one another, and Lord, help us to be people that are, Lord, not lifted up with pride and arrogance, but that we would be humble and of a tender heart, Lord, that we might have your blessing, your hand of protection in our lives. We ask these things in Christ's name, amen. All right, we'll sing one more song before we go. We'll sing our hymnals, it's a song of 431, 431, Saturday Night, Holy Night. All is warm, all is bright, round and round ye high and dry, Holy and merciful, tender and mild, Sleep in heavenly peace, Sleep in heavenly peace. Silent night, holy night, Shepherds waiting at the sight, Glory streams from heaven bright, Heavenly Lord, sing hallelujah, Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born. Silent night, holy night, Son of God, lost will I, Pray in me from thy holy place, With the dark redeeming rain, Jesus, Lord, and thy word, Jesus, Lord, and thy word, Silent night, holy night, Son of Christ, Lord, and thy word, Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born. Thank you, Mr. President, everyone. We are dismissed. . . . .