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

Amen, so 2nd Kings chapter number 21 is maybe one of the more familiar passages. Definitely the character of Manasseh is somebody you hear preached about a lot, just because of all the wickedness that we see him doing in this chapter. Of course, it gets really way out of hand, but it's kind of interesting because of the fact that he has such a long reign there in verse 1. It says that he reigned 50 and five years in Jerusalem, and then at the end, towards the end there, they say that he was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzzah and Ammon, his son reigned in a stead. So it seems like he has this extended reign, whereas you have his son Ammon, who goes on after him, and he is also very wicked, but his reign is obviously much shorter. He reigned two years in Jerusalem. He's cut off very soon. So, and I'll get into why that is, but mainly it's because of the fact that if you go to, you don't have to go there, but if you were to go to 2nd Chronicles 33, you'd see that Manasseh eventually gets right with God, and we'll look at that briefly, but I'm getting ahead of myself already. But what really stands out about the wickedness of Manasseh is probably in verse 1 where it says Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign, and reigned 50 and five years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Hefseba. So what we see is he's very wicked right out of the gate, okay? So it's not like he was an older man who had already been set in his ways or had learned the ways of the heathen. At 12 years old, he's already just giving himself over to worship all this idolatry, to worship all these false gods, to forsake the Lord, to forsake everything that his father had done, to turn everything backwards that Hezekiah had set up to just tear it all back down. And you say to yourself, wow, 12 years old. And that should be a lesson to us, you know, is that at 12 years old, a person can be very wicked, even at a young age. It doesn't take very long for a person to become wicked. The Bible says that even a child is known by his doings whether his works be right, whether they be pure. And people can become very corrupted at a very young age. And this is something that is going on, you know, obviously it's been going on, you know, throughout all of time, but in our day and age that we're living in, this is something that's taking place especially. This is something that we see happening a lot. Maybe obviously not to the degree that Manasseh has been corrupted. Obviously not a lot of 12 year olds are running around burning, you know, children in the fire, counseling their sons to pass through the fire, so on and so forth, doing all these things, but they are still, even today, children are getting corrupted at a young age. At 12 years old, Manasseh's already started down this wicked path and going after these false gods to the place where he's even eventually, you know, causing his sons to be passed through the fire. And we have to be very careful about the influences that we allow into our children's lives. And obviously, you know, maybe he didn't start out as wicked as he became at 12 years old, but he was already headed in that direction. He's already kind of making up his mind and the influences that come on in his life lead him down this dark path. We have to be very careful about the influences that we allow into our children's lives. They'll have more profound effect than sometimes I think we give them credit for. And the world today has so much pull and so much influence, there's so many different avenues that the world has to get into children's minds and corrupt them. I mean, through the movies, through the music, through the public education system, there's so many lies and so many just wicked things that are being taught through these mediums to get into children's minds and to turn their hearts from the Bible and from God, okay? And that's just a fact, you know? The things that are being taught in public schools are against God. They're, you know, and I understand not everybody's in a position where they can homeschool, but you know, that's obviously the ideal. That's what we promote here and for very good reason. One, you know, they'll probably get, you know, depending on the job that mom's doing, they'll get a better education than they will in the public school system. Public school system, if you're not doing it, they'll just keep moving you right along, right out the door and out into the world and, you know, people graduate from high school and all kinds of things and they don't know anything, okay? Hopefully the education you're getting at home is better, but what about the, just the look at it from the aspect of the influence that you're having on your children when you're keeping them in the home and you're keeping them out of a wicked ungodly system that's going to teach them that they're, you know, they all came from a primordial ooze, that they were monkeys at one point, you know, and sometimes we can kind of see where they're coming from the way children behave. We think maybe there's something to that, you know, but obviously that's a joke, but we have to be, here's the thing, kids even, maybe they might start to wonder why they're being homeschooled, right? Or parents will be criticized for homeschooling. They'll have, you know, other relatives and other people will say, you know, why are you homeschooling? Oh, you're sheltering your children. They're going to be so sheltered. And here's my response is that yes, I am sheltering my children. And here's why I'm sheltering my children, because there's spiritual bombs being dropped in this world today. I mean, what do you do when there's a bombing? What do you do when there's a tornado that comes tearing through town? You find shelter. When there's a hazard, when there's a danger, when there's something that's threatening you that you can get away from, you find that shelter. So absolutely, yes, I admit I am sheltering my children, you know, and what they want to make that, actually what they mean by that, sheltering, is what they mean is that, oh, they're going to be antisocial. They're not going to know how to get along. But here's the thing, you know, my children, and I've noticed among other homeschooled children, they have a better ability of speaking to people from all different ages than a lot of public school kids. A lot of public school kids, they don't know how to talk to adults, whereas I've noticed throughout the years, and I'm not saying all public school kids, but I'm just saying, by and large, the homeschool kids, and I know there's always exceptions, but homeschooling kids, they seem to me to be more well-adjusted people when it comes to social interactions. You know, they can talk to adults, they can talk to other people, you know, they're not afraid to be more expressive, whereas, you know, a lot of these public school kids, it's like they don't have the social skills. So I don't understand, like I don't get where people are coming from with that, because my experience, and I know my personal experience does not necessarily denote a general truth, obviously it's anecdotal, but from my experience, from what I've seen over the years, it's the homeschool kids that are more well-adjusted than the public school kids, and I understand that I'm kind of painting with a broad brush there, but that's my general experience. So, you know, that's what they mean when you say, oh, you're sheltering them, you're, they're saying you're making them anti-social, they're not going to have social skills. There's plenty other opportunities for homeschool kids to go out and socialize, you know, there's the homeschool groups, they can go out, you know, and all kinds of different things, there's all kinds of things you go out and get involved in throughout the week, and I don't want to turn this whole sermon into a pro-homeschool sermon, but I mean, come on, 12 years old, Manasseh is starting to reign, and very quickly he's just immediate, you know, just going down this dark path, it's because of the fact that he was not guarded from the influences that came into his life and corrupted him, you know, so, and here's the thing, all the homeschool kids need to not, you know, feel like they're, you know, missing out on something. You know, we live right down the road from an elementary school, like we go out to the park, like today we went out to the park and made a snowman, like in Tucson, what in the world? Yeah, and I drove, you are like, oh, it's snowing, yeah, I drove home through that last night, you know, that was a lot of fun, reminded me why I don't want to live back in the Midwest again, I was like, I don't know why I'm living here, and it was a nightmare, but anyway, you know, we went out and we made a snowman on the park, and the park borders, you know, the elementary school, the playground, and there's all the kids out there, and then they've got someone blowing a whistle and calling them back in and everything, and my kids, they're not going, oh, oh, you know, what are they doing in there? Well, they're being lied to, that's what I tell them, well, they're being, they're having a head filled with lies, obviously there's some things they're being taught, reading, writing, arithmetic, but they're also being taught a lot of wicked things today in public schools, aren't they? At a very young age, they're taught a lot of very wicked things, okay, and I'm not going to go into all that, but me and my kids now, it's like natural them, they just look at them, they think suckas, you know, that's their attitude, oh, those poor kids, you know, anyway, I'm kind of going off, but, so you homeschool kids, don't get this attitude that, you know, you're missing out on something, you're not missing out on anything, what you're missing out on are a lot of ungodly influences, what you're missing out on are a lot of corrupting influences that want to come in and turn your heart from God. Let's move on quickly here, so we see, first of all, that this corruption comes very quick, at 12 years old, he starts to reign, obviously his reign was much longer, but, you know, in his reign he's carried off into Babylon and comes back, so even though it's 55 years reign, you know, there's a season, that's where he's, you know, he's going back, or he's going to Babylon and being brought back, that's in 2 Chronicles 33, but also, so that tells us that, you know, he was probably corrupted very quickly, a lot of these things he did probably came very quickly, it says in verse 2, and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord after the abominations of the heathen, now keep something there, go with me to Leviticus chapter number 18 real quick, we'll just look at this, you say, oh, what's so bad about the heathens? I mean, are the things that they're doing really that bad? What are these, are the corrupting so-called influences, Deacon, are they really that bad out there? I mean, what's so bad that's being taught out there in the world today? I mean, the world gets into some pretty wicked stuff, I'm not going to take the time to read all of Leviticus 18, you know, versus basically 6 through 20, just deal with the myriad of forms of incest and adultery, you know, he's saying don't do this, verse 6, he says, none of you shall approach any that is near of kin to you, kin to him to uncover their nakedness, I am the Lord, so he's saying, you know, he doesn't go into that particular relationship, you know, as far as like immediate family members, but it's just kind of assumed, right? He doesn't explicitly say that here in the following, he goes in, it's like, you know, your daughter-in-law, your son-in-law, your aunt, you know, all these different other relationships that are also considered near of kin, he's saying don't approach unto any that is near of kin to him to uncover their nakedness, right? So he's talking about all these, you know, and it just goes through, you can read it on your own, all these different forms of basically just adultery and incest, he's saying, don't do this, okay? You know, we would read that and go, of course not, like who would even think that, right? But remember, these are the sins that the Ammonites, the Canaanites were doing when Israel first came into the land, these are the things that they're guilty of. Verse 20, moreover, thou shalt not like carnally with thy neighbor's wife to defile thyself with her, so that's adultery, thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God, I am the Lord. So, you know, there's your abortion, right, there's your, you know, basically just blaspheming God, you know, profaning the name of thy God. Verse 22, thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, it is abomination. You know, that's something here in Leviticus 18 that is being taught in our public schools. You know, that's something that's gotten into the curriculum. You know, now you've got these freaks coming out, these teachers that are just so proud about how they came out to their class, and they're, you know, they're making their own little social medias and, oh, I came out to my class today and I was so glad I was accepted. You know, the Bible says, thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, it is abomination. These are the corrupting influences that are in our public schools and our institutions of higher learning. These are the things that you're missing out on, homeschooled kids. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith, neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto. It is confusion, so bestiality. Defile not yourselves in any of these things, for in all these things, excuse me, for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you. So we read that back there in 2 Kings 21 that he did after the abominations of the heathen which the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. Leviticus 18 is the description of those abominations. Incest, you know, faggotry, bestiality, adultery, and, you know, he goes on and says, defile not yourself, right, verse 25, and the land is defiled, therefore I do visit the iniquity of it there upon it, and the land itself vomited out her inhabitants. And he goes on and says, ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments. You shall not commit any of these abominations, neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you, for all these abominations have the men of the land done which were before you, and the land is defiled. And there's this warning that the land spew not you out also when ye defile it, as it spewed out the nations that were before you. So they were warned all the way back in Leviticus, because we're reading about how, you know, the northern and southern kingdom were being taken out of the land. They were warned all the way back here with Moses that if they did these things, the land would vomit them out, that it would spew them out, that they would be just as harshly judged as the heathen nations that they destroyed, okay? Yet here we are in 2 Kings 21 with Manasseh all these years later, and what's he doing? He is doing, he's doing after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. It says in verse 3, for he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed. So one of the first things that he does is he disregards man. He disregards his father. He disregards, because remember Hezekiah was a godly king. He wasn't perfect. He had his faults, but he did that which is right in the side of the Lord, and he leads a great revival. However, when his son comes on the scene, he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed. He says, I'm going to rebuild those things, and he reared up the altars for Baal and made a grove, as did Ahab the king of Israel, and worshiped all the hosts of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, which the Lord said in Jerusalem, will I put my name? So he's first of all disrespecting man. He's disregarding man. He's disregarding the things that he was taught by Hezekiah his father. He's casting off those things, and then the next step is he's disregarding God himself in verse 4, and he built altars in the house of the Lord. I mean that's pretty brazen. It's one thing to go out and build the high place. It's one thing to go out onto some hillside, make some grove, and put an altar there, and worship your heathen God out in some, you know, out in the sticks somewhere, or rear up some temple somewhere else, but it's a pretty brazen thing to go into the temple of the Lord and set up an idol. That's basically what he's doing. He built altars in the house of the Lord, verse 4, of which the Lord said in Jerusalem, will I put my name? And he built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord, and he made his son pass through the fire and observed times and used enchantments and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards, and he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. So he's doing all these things, and it says it provoked God to anger, okay? So what we can learn from this is that, you know, when we disregard the things that we have been taught, just like when Manasseh disregarded his father and the things that he did, and then went on to begin to disregard the things of God, you know, that is taking us down a dark path. That takes us down a dark road. Then it will actually end up, you know, causing the Lord to be provoked to anger. Now I want to point out in verse 6, notice here it says that he made his son to pass through the fire, right? So he's committing child sacrifice. You know, it's one, obviously sacrificing any child is horrific, okay? But when it's your own child, like, I can't, I mean, I know when I sit here and say one's worse than the other, but it just seems to me like that's like a whole other level of just brutality. That's just a whole other just, I can't even put in that words, like, obviously it's not any less because if it's somebody else's child, but when it's your own children. And here's what I want the application to make out of this is that, you see, how did Manasseh end up like this? And really what do we see here is that not only does he disregard man, not only has he begun to disregard God, but he's also disregarding the future, right? He's disregarding future generations in a sense, right, when he's burning these children in the fire. And this is what happens when we cast off, when we're casting off the things of God. See, when we think that, oh, I'm just going to do things my way, I'm just going to forget what mom and dad taught me, I'm not going to regard the Lord, and it's, I'll be the one to bear it. But what's really going on is you're actually doing damage to even future generations, those that would come after you. You're doing damage to your own children, okay? And I'm speaking figuratively, obviously I'm not saying that any of us are going to perform child sacrifice. But when we in our own lives begin to say, hey, you know what, I'm not really interested in the religion that dad had, I'm not really interested in worshiping the Lord, I'm not really interested in following the things of God, I'm just going to do my own thing, and just kind of, you know, forget church, forget the Bible, forget living for the Lord, drop all these standards, not have any rules, just go out there and live like the world and be like the heathen. Yeah, obviously you're going to anger the Lord, you're going to provoke him to anger, and he's going to judge you, but what you're also doing is you're sacrificing the future generation, those that will come after you. And you say, where did he get this? Well, this is something, this is a flaw, I think, that we see in Hezekiah as well. This is something he kind of picked up from his dad. Because if you look at chapter 20, if you remember this, at the end of chapter 20, won't take time to read it all, he receives these emissaries from Babylon into his home and he shows them all of his goods, and then Isaiah comes to him and says, you know, what did you do? He said, I show them everything that I have, and he ends up getting rebuked for by the Lord. And it says, it says in verse 17 of chapter 20, behold the days come, that all that is in thine house and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day shall be carried into Babylon, and nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Isn't that a pretty bad punishment? You know, we as men, you know, part of what we kind of, you know, something we derive a sense of meaning or value is the fact that our progeny will go on, that will, our name will be carried on in our sons, and that will be remembered for a few generations, hopefully at the most, maybe. But that, you know, our line, our lineage will carry on past our own lives, okay? So when you're being told, you know, that, hey, your sons are going to be made eunuchs, which means they're not going to be able to reproduce, meaning I'm going to bring an end to your line, your bloodline is going to end, that's some pretty hard, harsh news. And it wasn't, oh, you're not going to have any sons, it's that the sons that you have, that you've already had this hope of, they're not going to have children. It's not even going to be physically possible, they're going to be made eunuchs, okay? That's a pretty harsh thing, judgment, that they're going to be taken captive, you know, they were, you know, princes, they were royalty, and they're going to be servants as eunuchs in another man's kingdom, right? In a heathen kingdom. You would think that Hezekiah would have fallen to his knees and just, you know, lamented this, but then he has this reaction, then it said, Hezekiah, verse 19, unto Isaiah, good is the word which the Lord, thou has spoken. Good is the, good is the word of the Lord which thou has spoken. It's like, what? Did you not just hear what he said? He said, your sons are going to be made eunuchs, and he's like, oh, well, that's good. You say, well, what is, does he really think that's what's good? It's not that he thinks it's good they're going to be eunuchs, he thinks it's good because nothing's going to happen to him. That's what he goes on and says, and he said, is it not good if peace and truth be in my days? He says, as long as I'm okay, as long as nothing's going to happen to me, I really don't care what happens to my sons. This is his attitude. He's not, he's not concerned with the next generation. And look, this is a flaw that we cannot have as husbands and fathers. You cannot sit there and just be dismissive of the impression you're making on your children. You know, men need to understand that your children are going to do what you do, not what you say. This goes for moms and dads, obviously. But obviously I'm implying it here because we're talking about Hezekiah, okay? So he has this kind of flippant attitude of, well, you know, I really don't care what happens to the next generation. I don't care what kind of example I'm setting for my sons. I don't really care what kind of example I'm setting for my children. As long as I'm okay, it doesn't really matter to me. So it's this, it's this flaw, this character flaw that gets passed down, and it becomes a little bit more than just a flaw, obviously, with Manasseh because he's, he's so dismissive of the future generation that he's literally burning his children in the fire. He's sacrificing them unto a false god. So this is this downward spiral of Manasseh. He disregards man. He disregards his father and all that his father had done. He begins to disregard the Lord, and then he disregards the future generation, all because he has the same attitude like his father. As long as it's peace in my days, I really don't care what happens. As long as I'm fat and sassy, as long as I get what I want, I don't care about what happens to my children. And it kind of makes you wonder, you know, how Manasseh turned out the way that he did, and you kind of see that flaw there with Hezekiah. So he sets up these false, these altars of these, to these false gods, and even in the house of the Lord, not just in the high places, in the sight of the Lord, and it provokes him to anger. Look at verse 7, and it says, and he sent a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, and this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever. Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, only if they will observe to do according to all that which I have commanded them, and according to the law that my servant Moses commanded them. So he's saying, I'm not going to remove them out of the land as long as they do everything that has been commanded them, okay. Now notice verse 9, but they, meaning Israel, hearkened not, right, they hearkened not, they did not listen, they did not, you know, give heed to the Lord and to, you know, the preaching, the prophets that were sent unto them, they turned their ear from the hearing of the law, and what I want to point out here in verse 9, notice it says, they hearkened not, and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel. So remember we just read that back in Leviticus? We read about all the things that they were doing, and that was a pretty ghastly list of sins that they were doing. I mean, those were horrific things that we were reading about. Well, it says here that Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations. Maybe it was, you know, I don't know how much you could get, how much worse you could get, you know, obviously they're doing a lot of the same things, but what I think more, you know, he's saying it as terms of as an abundance, like, because it goes on and says that he filled, shed much innocent blood, verse 16, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other, and of course he's speaking kind of figuratively there as well, but it's a sense of he's going way beyond anything that even the Amorites, the heathen nations that were there before them had done in terms of quantity. So he's just wholly given over to this and he's committing all of these wicked sins. I want to point out this principle though in verse 9. They hearken not, so they did not listen, they did not hearken unto the commandment, the promise that if they would remain, their feet would no more be removed out of Israel if they obeyed and did all according to all that I have commanded them. They did not hearken unto that warning. God was saying, look, if you can keep the law as Moses commanded, if you do everything that I command you, you will stay in this land, I will bless your land, you will be fruitful, you will multiply, you will be a light unto all the nations. Okay, but they did not hearken unto that. They turned their ear. And this is what we have to understand is that Satan speaks in the silence. Okay, that's when Satan speaks. When you turn your ear and when you stop listening to the Word of God and you stop listening to the Lord, if you're not just going to be in this vacuum, that's when Satan's going to move in and seduce you. Okay, this is why it's important to be in church. This is why it's important to be reading your Bible, to be filling your mind with the things of God and not leaving this void in your life spiritually for a manasseh, so to speak, to creep in and seduce you to do evil. Because that's how it happens. And again, I know I'm kind of repeating myself, but people kind of say, no thanks to the Bible. You know, they kind of say, that's not my thing. You know, I'm going to pass. And then they think, you know, that nothing bad is going to happen. But what's going to happen is you've just created a void in your life. If you just take, you know, you kind of put God on the shelf, well, now there's this space. Something's going to fill that. And when you have silenced God, when you hearken not, when you turn your ear to him, when you turn a deaf ear towards God, and it's silent, that's when Satan begins to speak. That's when the menacies of this world move in and begin to seduce you. Because now you can't really remember what the Bible says about that sin. You know, you're flipping through the channel. You're clicking on the website. You know, you're listening to that song. You're hanging out with that person. You're doing whatever it is. And you know, there's something wrong about this. I shouldn't do this. I know, but I can't quite remember what the Bible said about this sin or why this is wrong. There's the Holy Spirit can't bring any scripture to mind because you have hearkened not. You have shoved the word of God in your life. And now the world has just more pull. They can just wear you down and seduce you. So then you're doing things that you shouldn't be doing. That's how it happens. He hearken not and Manasseh seduced them. One followed the other. Okay, Satan speaks in the silence. And they did more than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel. And the Lord spake by his servants the prophet saying, because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations and have done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. And that's, you know, obviously kind of a euphemism or a saying from back then, you know, today we might say something like it'll send shivers down your spine. Like when you see and hear about what God has done to this nation and this city, you're going to be like, it's going to take you back. You're going to, you know, it's going to send chills through you. We've probably all experienced that, right? We've heard, gotten some news or read some horrific story in the newspaper or something like that. And it's just like, wow. And it just, you're just taken aback, right? That's basically what he's saying. He says in verse 13, and I will stretch over Jerusalem, the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab. He's talking about how, what I think he's saying here is basically he's going to, he's going to judge them the same way he judged Samaria and the house of Ahab. The plummet is like a, it's talking about like a, like a plumb bob, like the, you know, cause plummet is to fall straight down right away. It's like to fall straight quickly. That's what a plumb bob is. It's a line with a weight on the end of it. So he's talking about how he's basically, he's going to take the same, you're thinking about that, that plumb bob that almost took, was it me out or you? You, that's right. We used to have one up there and we were setting all this up in this plumb bob with a sharp pointy end. And it, they call it a plummet for a reason, cause that thing plummeted. Good thing you got fast reactions, right? Or you'd be wearing a patch right now. I'm probably, your mom's going to have a couple of words for me after the service or maybe you, I don't know. It wasn't his fault. Anyway, it was my fault. But what he's saying here is that, you know, they're going to stretch out the line. He's going to say, I'm going to judge them in the same way that I've judged Samaria and the house of Ahab. I'm going to stretch that same line upon them, right? That basically, that I think is what he's saying. Anyway, he goes on and says, I will stretch on over Jerusalem, the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab. And notice this, and I wipe Jerusalem as a man, wipe it a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. I just love how God makes his judgment sound so easy. He's talking about overthrowing. He's already done it to, he's already done it to Samaria. He's already done it to Israel. He's already just, you know, annihilated them. And now he's going to do it to Judah and Jerusalem. And he's saying, and remember what he's doing here. He's bringing another nation in and laying siege to the city and carrying off all the people and, you know, killing people, starving them out, carrying them off into a foreign nation as captives. I mean, from our end, humanly speaking, that's quite the endeavor. I mean, it's a military campaign, isn't it? There'd be a lot of resources, a lot of manpower, take a lot of time, but to God, it's like wiping a dish. It'd be like just cleaning things up and that, you know, it's kind of the picture there too. You know, you're like this dirty dish that I'm just going to clean. But it's like, God's saying me judging you is like you doing the dishes. Now, some of you think, well, doing the dishes is really hard, right? And you have a dishwasher. You know, my mom had three dishwashers growing up. It was me and my sisters, right? So anyway, but I mean, dishes aren't that hard, right, in the scheme of things, despite what some of you might think. But he's saying like, it's like wiping a dish to me. God pouring out his judgment, even a whole nation, even a whole group of people and even millions of people, for him to judge them, it's like, it's just another day in the office. You know, God holds the breath of the heathen in his hand. You know, God could take out any one of us like that at any moment. This is what makes me just so dumbfounded sometimes when I see people who are just so dismissive of God, you know, saved and unsaved alike. They're just, they just act like God is powerless. Like God is just some, you know, dumb old man with a long beard in heaven who doesn't know, doesn't, you know, doesn't know any better. Like he can't, he's like, he's powerless. Like he's impotent or something like God judging an entire nation is like him just wiping a dish out and setting it on the counter to dry. It's simple to him. It's easy. I mean, we believe the Bible. He believed that he created everything that there is. And when you begin to understand that, you know, all of the, you know, intricacies of creation and just the amazing, you know, just details, all the small things, just how profound, you know, creation is, then you think about the fact, yeah, but God, God designed that. You start to understand more about how the body works and all these amazing systems that our minds have and how they work so closely together and they work so quickly. You know, God made all that and we go, amen to that. But then it's like, but yeah, but God can't, God can't judge anybody. It's like, that's, that's even easier to God. I don't know if there's anything hard for God, but you know, if for God to judge, it's him wiping a dish. So think about that. You know, think about that when you think about, you know, I wonder if I can get away with this or, you know, I could probably, you know, God can't get me. It's like, God can get you. No problem. Also verse 14, which is probably even scarier than the fact that God can just judge you himself is the fact that God can, will forsake you. Okay. He says in verse 14, and I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies. And they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies. So obviously the, he, the nations are the instrument that God is using to judge them. But notice he's saying, I will forsake and deliver. You know, that's one of the scariest things to think about is that God would forsake us, that he would just say, you know what, have it your way then, you know, we become obstinate and hard-headed and just stubborn and just set in our ways that we don't want to change. We don't want to give up our sin. We don't want to get right. We don't want to change things. You know, one of the scariest things is God would just be like, okay, have it your way then. And I'll just go ahead and deliver you over to that sin and let that sin just carry you off into captivity and just be in bondage to sin the rest of your life. And this is something that we even practice in the local New Testament church. If you would go to first Corinthians chapter number five. You know, we are also told at times in certain instances to forsake people that they might be destroyed. God commands that, you know, this is obviously something that is not practiced by and large in any churches really outside of, you know, maybe some baptist churches that I know of, but you know, this is something that's not really exercised today. Of course, we all know first Corinthians five, there was one that had, you know, committed fornication so much it was not even named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife. Okay, so he's committing fornication. And it was something that even the Gentiles, even the Gentiles were like, what? We're taken aback by it. But notice how what God says to do to this, such a one, he says in verse five, deliver such in one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. He's saying this guy that's committing fornication, deliver him unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. That's what Paul commanded the Corinthian church. That's church discipline. Okay. And there's obviously it's more than just, you know, fornication that would this would, you know, verse 11, I have written unto you not to keep company if any man is called a brother be a, so it's somebody that's saved, right? A church, fellow church member, a brother, if they'd be a fornicator, a drunkard or extortioner with such a one not to eat. So if you're guilty of these sins, the Bible says it's the church's duty to put you out to kick you out and not just so that it, cause people just, and then people think, oh, it's so that, you know, uh, other people don't follow my bad example. Obviously that's part of it. It's the public shaming, right? But in first Corinthians is making it really clear. It's not just forsaking them or delivering them, uh, kicking them out of the church, but it's delivering them unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh being given over to that sin that they don't want to give up. Okay. And that's what God does. You know, he will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies. You know, God, you know, that's the, the built-in punishment of sin. Sometimes how does God judge? Sometimes he just lets you go on your merry way. He just lets you continue down that path of sin and the, the, the consequences of sin, you know, because when sin, when it's finished, bring it forth death, there's pleasure and sin for a season, right? But eventually there comes death. You know, sin has its consequences. God can just say, all right, well, I'm just going to let you go on. You know, you've grieved the spirit. You've quenched the spirit long enough where it's like, I'm not even going to try anymore. Just go ahead and have your sin and bear the, and deal with the consequences. Okay. God will forsake and deliver his own people. Let's move along. He says in verse 15, because they have done that, which is evil in my sight and provoked me to anger since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day. Moreover, Manasseh shed innocent blood very much till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other, beside his sin where he made Judah to sin and doing that, which is evil in the sight of the Lord. So he's shedding innocent blood, and this could take on many different forms. Obviously the child sacrifice we read about would be one such form, you know, but it could also be that he's executing innocent people, that he's not, you know, being just in judgment, right? That maybe he's taking bribes. It could be all kinds of different things. This, you know, shedding innocent blood could show up in a lot of different ways. In fact, let's go back to Deuteronomy chapter number 19 and look at an example of this. And I'll point out too is that, you know, to me it seems like obviously God has provoked anger by a lot of these things that are going on that Manasseh is guilty of, but it's this innocent blood that seems to be particularly, you know, aggravating, just to put it mildly, with the Lord. This is something he takes particular issue with, and this is something you see throughout scripture. I mean, even going back to Cain and Abel, when Cain slew Abel, what did he say to him? You know, when he came and confronted him, he said, your brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground, you know, because he hid his body. He said, you know, where's your brother? Am I my brother's keeper? He's like, well, I know what you did, and his blood cries unto me from the ground, right? And thou art cursed, he said it. And then of course we get into Genesis 9, you know, where he said, whosoever shedeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, right? When Noah came off the ark, that's when he said, hey, from going forward, it's the death penalty. You know, whosoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, okay? So God is very particular, or he's very, you know, he emphasizes, I guess is what I'm trying to say, this idea of not allowing innocent blood to go unpunished, okay? Whether it's in the form of child sacrifice, or just through injustice, okay, in general. And in Deuteronomy 18, 19, you get this whole principle, this teaching about the cities of refuge, how in ancient Israel they were to have these particular cities where if a man killed a man, you know, basically manslaughter, it wasn't murder, okay? It was like an accident or something, that he was to flee into that city and remain there until the death of the high priest, okay? But, he says in verse 11, but if any man hate his neighbor, and lie and wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him, that him, him mortally that he die, and flee into one of those cities, so he, he hates his neighbor, right? To find out that this wasn't just an accident, it was either, you know, first or second degree murder, where it's either premeditated, or it's done, and you know, like a crime of passion, it was just in the heat of the moment, he decided to kill this person, it was not accidental, right? He says, if he does that, if he hate his neighbor, and lie and wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he die, and flee into one of those cities, then the elders of that city, so the guy's running to one of these cities of refuge, and saying, ah, he can't get me, they're saying, no, the elders of the city shall send and fetch him, fence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, right? The person that would want to take vengeance on behalf of whoever was killed, they will deliver him under the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die, right? Because you know, the back, you know, people sometimes they'll take vengeance, right? If someone kills another person, you know, a lot of times there's the possibility that a family member, right, will lash out and take vengeance, right? That's something that even goes on today, you know, I'm not going to go on and on about that, we probably all understand that, but if it was an accident, you know, it wouldn't have been right to kill that person, the avenger of blood, you know, he, if he caught him, it would have been understood, but he was, the person was to go to the city of refuge where the avenger could not get him, you know, at that point it was, you know, there was nothing he could do about it. Obviously the guy who committed the crime is still having to live under basically like a house arrest, right? He's not living amongst his own relatives, he's not around that which is familiar, he's living in a strange city, he has to stay there until the death of the high priest, but if a guy kills somebody intentionally and he flees into one of his cities, he's saying, look, don't pity that guy, there's no mercy there, and you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee, right? Again, I'm just pointing out that God, I mean, God spends the whole chapter here, and there's several chapters where God deals with this, and God brings up innocent blood all of the time throughout scripture, it's something that, it's a thread through the Bible about avenging innocent blood, that it may go well with thee, right? It's not just that God wants to know for himself that things have been made right, that justice has been done, but it's that if it's not done, if it's not taken care of, it's not going to go well with you. The nation that doesn't execute this, that doesn't carry this out, that doesn't avenge innocent blood, it's not going to go well with them. That's what he's saying here, right? Put away the guilt of innocent blood, verse 13, from Israel, that it may go well with thee. And that's exactly what we see going on in Manasseh's day. He's shedding all this innocent blood, he's filling Jerusalem from one end to the other, and it's not being avenged. And it's something, this is something that's been going on throughout Israel's history at this point, it's all built up, and God is going to take vengeance, right? And look, the innocent blood has to be atoned for, it has to be atoned for. God's not just going to let that pass, okay? People got all excited recently, I think, what was it, last fall, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade, right? And hey, I'm glad for that, great, wonderful. We got all excited in Arizona because they've outlawed abortion, as far as I understand, I mean, the last time when I was paying attention to it, I know things have changed, it's been a while since I've really looked at the news. But you know, we're one of those states now where you can't, I believe it's completely illegal, is that right, to not be, you can't get an abortion here anymore? Now you have to go to another state, right? So it's not like it's nationwide, it's just we, our state, decided to enact it, amen to that. But you know what, what about all the innocent blood that's already been shed? What about all the millions of innocent lives that have been ripped out of the womb since that wicked bill was passed? You know, that blood, according to God, it still has to be avenged. And here's the thing, when a nation doesn't do that, God takes it out of their hide as a whole, as everybody. If the specific individuals who are guilty are not executed, and that would be the proper punishment, death, according to scripture, you know, I already quoted Genesis 9 for you, right? If that doesn't happen, then God just says, okay, then I'll just take it out of the whole nation, okay? And you know, it reminds me of that verse that the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all nations that forget God. And you say, well, no, we don't forget God, it's on the back, it says on our currency, and God we trust. We got the Ten Commandments out in some courthouse somewhere. We go to Washington, there's references to God. But you know what, that's, you know, they draw nigh to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. That's our nation. You know, we could sit there and say God bless America all day long, but when we're not actually, you know, following the Bible the way God wants us to, as a nation, we're no different as a nation. You can't sit there and say, oh no, we're a godly nation. Well, what's with all the innocent blood? And look, God's gonna take it out of our hide as a nation, just like he did them. Let's move along. Now the rest of the Acts of Manasseh, it says in verse 17, and all that he did, and the sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzzah, and Ammon his son, his son reigned in his stead. And Ammon was 22 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Meshulameth, the daughter of Haraz of Jatba, and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh did. So again, it goes back to what I was saying in the beginning, like father, like son. You know, that's, this is what happens. Children follow the example that we set, okay? And he walked in the way that his father walked in, and served idols, and his father, that his father served, and worshiped them, and he forsook the Lord God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the Lord, and the servants of Ammon conspired against him, and slew him in the king of his own house, and the people of the land slew all them that conspired against the king, against King Ammon, and the people of the land made Josiah son of his son, king in his stead, and now the rest of the acts of Ammon, and so on and so forth, okay? They're written in the books of the chronicles of the king as well. Now here's the thing, Ammon, you know, he also does like his father did at the beginning of his reign, and forsakes the Lord, okay? But if you would, very quickly go with me to second chronicles chapter number 33, because I want to point this out, because remember, let's kind of get the timeline, the chronology here, right? Hezekiah, towards the end of his reign, you know, when he's given that 15 years, allows the Babylonians in, he just opens the door to the world, and he's, and is told, hey, your sons are going to be eunuchs in Babylon, and he says, good, you know, good which is the word which thou has spoken, you know, as long as it's peace in my days, it's good, right? It's his very dismissive attitude about the future. You see that same trait passed on to Manasseh, right? Manasseh, you know, takes that to the next extreme and says, well, you know, not only am I going to just be dismissive of future generations, but I'm going to set up idols in the house of God, I'm going to forsake the religion of my father, I'm going to set up the high places, and I'm going to burn my sons, right? But notice in Manasseh's life, he has this, you know, God, you know, brings him to his senses because he is carried away into Babylon, if you read verse 11, and it says, verse 12, and he was, when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord as God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. So when he's finally being, just being judged in Babylon, he's literally taken captive, and he's being held in Babylon, he decides, you know, I think I'll get right with God now. You know, maybe there's something to what my dad was saying, okay? Maybe there's something that, you know, the old man has a kayah, you know, maybe there's something to that whole thing about the Lord, okay? And he humbles himself, and amen for that, verse 13, and he prayed unto him, and he was entreated of him, and he heard a supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord, he was God. I mean, this is such an amazing testament of God's mercy. This is the same Manasseh, right, who is shedding, you know, has filled Jerusalem with innocent blood from one end to the other, who's setting up idols in the house of the Lord, in the courtyard, and in the temple, and he's worshiping false gods, and he's seducing the children of Judah to follow false gods, right? But even after all of that, when he's being punished severely, when he's lost everything, and he gets, and he humbles himself, God says, okay, and he restores into his kingdom. I mean, it's such an amazing picture of God's mercy. You know, God, when the Bible says that God is long suffering, I mean, that's not, that's not an exaggeration, that he's full of, you know, full of mercy, you know, that he's, you know, the mercies of God are new every morning, okay? That's the great news, isn't it? That's great news for you and me. You know, if we get out of sorts with God, if we find ourselves, you know, taken captive by some sin, we find ourselves in some hard situation in life, it's, at any time we want, we can just fall to our knees and ask God to forgive us, confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, praise God for that. That's, that's the mercy of God, and thank God for that, but that's always the case. But here's the lesson I want to close with, is that doesn't mean that everything's going to go good after that. I mean, yeah, you'll have mercy, yeah, he got, he gets to come back to Jerusalem, but how does it turn out with his son? How does it turn out with Ammon? How does it, how does it go? You know, Ammon, does he continue on in that godly line? You know, his dad comes back and says, hey, turns out the Lord is God, you know, we need to get rid of these, we need to serve God, we need to get rid of these idols and things like that, we need to serve the true and living God. Here's the lesson, it's too late, because Ammon already has already seen, you know, he's just looking at that saying, we were a hypocrite, oh sure, oh you're gonna get right with God when everything goes bad? How convenient, dad. Oh, when your back's up against the wall, now it's time to pray? And look, when your back is up against the wall, it's time to pray. You know, and that, that, that, you know, it's not an excuse to sit there and say, well, you know, if you perceive some kind of hypocrisy there as a child, you know, that's not gonna give you a pass with God. Say, well yeah, but my, you know, my parents were this way for so long, and now all of a sudden they're saved, whatever, you're still gonna, you're still gonna be suffering from the punishment, for some forsaking the Lord. God's not gonna go, oh yeah, you're right, your parents were a little inconsistent, I can see where, where you're coming from. God's gonna say, I'm still God, I'm still the Lord, my word is still true, you still had a light, you still had a testimony, you know, there's no excuse, right? God will still judge, because that's what happens with Ammon, he reigns two years, and his servants slam, okay? Because he did that which is evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh did, right? So he's following the example that was set. Here's the lesson, is that we want to set a consistent, early example to our children, okay? That's the, that's the lesson to parents, and the lesson to children is, if that's not the case, if that has not been the case in your home, you know, the best thing you could do is just forgive your parents for that, and get on board with the, with the Lord, and get on board with the Lord God, and not try to use that as some kind of excuse to dismiss God, and say, well, you know, my parents weren't always this way, I remember when it used to be different. That's not a pass, well it's okay for me to do evil in the sight of the Lord, because I remember when Manasseh, my dad, used to be a wicked heathen, when he used to be just as bad as the Ammonites and all these other people, but oh yeah, he gets carried to Babylon, he gets religion, and now he comes back, and all of a sudden it's, it's the Lord this, and Lord that, you know, I'm not buying it. That's not an excuse, that's not a pass for you, children, that's, that's the wrong attitude to have, you know, what, what you should do is say, praise God, that dad and mom got right with the Lord, and started following the Lord, no matter how far down whatever path they were, at least they got off that and got on the right one, you know, it's better late than never, as they say. So that's, you know, that's kind of the lesson here tonight, you know, is we, the overarching theme is that we need to be consistent, you know, what we do affects the next generation, and, and if there's inconsistent, inconsistent things, if there's things that the previous generation has done that maybe could be perceived as, you know, hypocrisy in some way, or wasn't right, you know, that, that's not an excuse for any of us. Ultimately, we are all accountable to God for our own walk. We can never go and blame somebody else, you know, and people do this in churches, too. Obviously, the pastor and the preachers, they are to have set to be an example to the flock, but you know what, they're just men, you know, and they make mistakes. Obviously, there's certain things that would completely disqualify a pastor, okay, obviously those things are there, but a lot of times what people do is they'll realize, oh, he's not perfect, and they'll see some mistake, they'll begin to hone in on things that they see little inconsistencies in, and then that becomes an excuse to them for their own misbehavior. Look, we're all accountable. We can't blame the pastor. We can't blame our parents. We can't blame anybody else for, you know, use them as an excuse for why we don't want to serve God. There is no excuse. We're all accountable. Just understand that, you know, that's a possibility. That's really the lesson to parents is that that is a possibility. If you are inconsistent, you know, human nature is, is that they will cling to that and say, oh, yeah, well, that's my excuse to not serve God. It's not legitimate, but that's what people do, isn't it? That's what Ammon did here at the end, but notice it didn't spare him. He didn't get a pass, okay, so let's just serve God, you know. Let's all just get on board with God. Let's all just seek the Lord for ourselves and our own lives. Let's not, you know, let's not harken onto the menacies of this world. Let's not turn a deaf ear towards God. Let's give God our ear. Let's find out what God wants from us. Let's serve Him. Let's follow Him. Let's, you know, not leave that dead open space in our lives to allow the world to come in and seduce us and carry us off. Let's go ahead and pray.