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Alright 2nd Kings chapter 12, let's just dive right in here verse number one the Bible reads in the seventh year of Jehu Jehoash began to rain and 40 years rained he in Jerusalem and his mother's name was Zebaah of Beersheba and Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all his days were in Jehoiada the priest instructed him now if you remember from last week Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah When Ahaziah was killed She killed all the seed royal all the children that would have been king in Ahaziah's place but she missed one and that was Jehoash so we're reading about here in this chapter and He was an infant when she did all that he was hid Jehoiada Ended up raising him and when he was seven years old That's when they put the crown on his head and they made him king and they killed Athaliah Right and they made a covenant with God and saying that you know We're gonna be God's people and you know, he's gonna be a king for the Lord and all this other stuff So that was all established in the previous chapter now we're gonna get into the reign of Jehoash just in his one chapter because he dies at the end and Right right off the bat. I want you to put a place in 2nd Chronicles 24 Just keep a marker there because we're going to be going back and forth. There's more information you get the full picture of everything that happens when we go back and forth between the two and Some of the things that happen like him being killed here at the end of the chapter We have no idea why that happens just from 2nd Kings chapter 12 But we read we get a lot more details on that and that other in the other chapter But we're gonna be you know, kind of going back and forth to get the full picture of everything that happens here in the sermon tonight So just keep a bookmark or there. I will be flipping back and forth now He started being raised when he you know, sorry became king when he was seven and but basically Jehoiada has been the one who's been the leader now He was the priest right? So he was raising him up but the captain of the guard listened to Jehoiada the people were listening to Jehoiada because He's a child Right. I mean even though he's the king. Yeah, it was monumentous and They were gonna honor him as a king He's still not route like literally ruling the people because he's seven years old I mean, it's just not the way they do Jehoiada is the one that would be his Co-regent the one who would be helping him make the decisions and things like that until he got a little bit older to be able To handle himself. That's what happened. But we see a lot of things happen in the life of Jehoash and It's important to know we're gonna get into this later in the sermon But in verse number two, it says he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all his days. We're in Jehoiada the priest Instructed him. So as long as he had Jehoiada there as long as he was there to kind of instruct him and guide him And give him direction He did everything that was right in the side of the Lord but we're gonna see later after Jehoiada is gone that that he starts making really foolish choices and he's listening to bad counsel and He's just led astray But I'm gonna get into all that a little bit later in the sermon. Let's keep reading here verse number three The Bible reads but the high places were not taken away the people still sacrifice and burnt incense in the high place So basically saying he did right in the sight of the Lord But the high places still existed and you're gonna find that with many people in the Bible That do great things their hearts right with God, but they still just don't get rid of the high places They still just lack the ability to break down the idols to break down these places of worship that people esteem so much these high places Were God commanded not to be done For whatever reason they allow that to happen whether it's just because they want to still have some level of popularity. I don't know Whatever the reason is you find that with many of the Kings. It's not just your whole ashes many of them This is like a common thread that's just like this cancer that sticks with The children of Israel like almost all throughout their existence that you know what there's still these stinking high places here Yo, they're getting so many things right and God bless them for it. And God does bless them for it, but he's still just like They left the high places But that's a whole sermon in and of itself I don't want to go down that path because he's one of many that did that Let's keep reading here verse number four and Jehoash said to the priests All the money of the dedicated things that is brought into the house of the Lord Even the money of everyone that passeth the account The money that every man is set at and all the money that cometh into any man's heart To bring into the house of the Lord let the priests take it to them Every man of his acquaintance and let them repair the breaches of the house Wheresoever any breach shall be found So what he's saying here is that when people come in and bring in their dedicated things and they bring in basically these free will Offerings and they're bringing money in to church. They're bringing money into the house of God They're saying okay priests you're gonna take that money and I want you to repair Anything that needs to be fixed and he breaches any old holes. Oh, we got plumbing problems here We got you know, what? You know, obviously I'm talking about in terms of whatever's going on in the house of God that needs to be fixed The roof is caving in let's get that repaired. Let's you know, let's build this place back up Because remember it's been dormant You know, I mean we've just came from Athaliah who's a Baal worshiper and Ahaziah is another wicked man You know these people who didn't worship the Lord Now they've hey, let's do things right. Jehoash wants to do the right thing here He's saying that's you know, you take this money. This is how we're gonna fund it Take this money and use it to repair the breaches now Turn if you would to 2nd Chronicles 24, we're gonna see again a little bit more detail on this because we see in 2nd Kings 12 Essentially, he's he's telling them You know all the money of the dedicated things brought into the house of Lord and the stuff that people bring under free will But we see a little bit more detail and in another way to get the money is added in 2nd Chronicles 24 because he also Tells them to go and collect the money from the people 2nd Chronicles 24 verse number 5 The Bible reads and he gathered together all the priests and the Levites and said unto them go out unto the cities of Judah and Gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year and see that ye hasten the matter Howbeit the Levites hastened it not and the king called for Jehoiada the chief and said unto him Why is thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the collection? according to the commandment of Moses the servant of the Lord and of the congregation of Israel for the tabernacle of witness and then Jumped on verse number 9 there it says and they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem to bring into the Lord the Collection that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness now The reason why I'm bringing this up and making a point of this It's one thing to use the money that people are bringing in of their own free will to do this up I think that's legitimate and righteous. Everything's fine with that. But then he's going out It's almost like he's taxing them by going out and kind of compelling them so yeah, you know you go out to them and collect for the the The house of the Lord and he brings up. Oh like Moses did in the wilderness But you know what? That's not what Moses did in the wilderness now the reference that it's talking about I'll read it for you is in Exodus 25. There's a couple of places where you can find this out Exodus 25 verse 2 says Speak unto the children of Israel. This is God telling Moses Speak on the children of Israel that they bring me an offering of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart You shall take my offering and then when you jump down later It says and the congregation went out and they came back and brought things To Moses so they're bringing it to Moses they came they brought it into the house of God They weren't Moses wasn't sending people out into the congregation going out to like to get people to you know Say hey, where's your money? You know, bring it here But that's what Jehoash was saying the people out and he was using this example of Moses building the tabernacle to do that now using the funds and asking people to give freely for the cause of You know repairing the house of the Lord was there's nothing wrong with that That's perfectly fine. Amen and amen. I mean and that that is what Moses was doing God said hey anyone who's willingly anyone who's hard is just desires to help and they want to give However, each man wants to give let him so give and that's how they built the tabernacle Because they just whatever people brought everyone worked together people provided resources. They provided their talents They provided whatever it is that they had and they built the tabernacle for the Lord good model and That's what he was starting to do here But then he's like we'll go out and take it from people see we take an offering here We take a collection and part of that goes to pay for you know If we have any repairs within this meeting place that we have to pay for our rent to pay for you till you know Whatever things we need to pay for Yeah, and that comes in based off of the offerings that people give but we're not going Out in like writing you letters and sending you like hey, you got to give and you know what some churches do that Some churches have the attitude that Jehoash had of like hey go out into all Israel into the cities And get the money from them. Look that's not the way things are supposed to operate Just because someone does that in the Bible does not make it Biblically accurate to do that Jehoash did that but I think he was wrong in doing that because he was quoting Moses and what happened in the wilderness And that's not the way it went down. They brought it in so The way that we do things here though. Well, let's get into that. I'm gonna read a few more verses because I'm not quite there yet. There's there's another way of doing collection. I'll explain how and why we do the collections here I don't think it's a very big deal in general about how the way we collect money and things like that But it's a necessity. It's something that needs to be done, you know, there was a necessity here Hey the house of the Lord needs to be repaired Right. Let's fix this. Let's do this Now Jehoash didn't you know, I mean he he had a good intent and a good heart news And he gave all these right things to do except there's that one thing like no you don't need to do that But you know what? God doesn't make a real big deal about that in the Bible I'm just pointing that out that even though he did that That's not the way that things ought to be done. I believe now Let's keep reading in 2nd Kings 12 Verse number 6 the Bible says but it was so That in the 3 and 20th year of King Jehoash the priests had not repaired the breeches of the house Then King Jehoash called for Jehoi to the priests and the other priests and said unto them Why repair ye not the breeches of the house? Now therefore receive no more money of your acquaintance But deliver it for the breeches of the house and the priests consented to receive no more money of the people Neither to repair the breeches of the house. So Understand what happened here the king tells the priests. He says look The house of the Lord needs to be repaired and You're gonna do it and the end in order to do it. You're gonna receive this money from the people in order to Buy the resources Repair do the repairs and do everything I've done for your labor everything else You want you to do it and what happened was the priests were collecting the money and not doing any of the work Now there's a lot of problems with that Okay, first and foremost a lot of things going on here and Then we calls them out on it. They say okay. Well, we won't take any more money, but we're still not going to do the work What kind of lousy attitude is that? But but for one you can see right off the bat the priests didn't have respect under the king's commandment Who was in charge there? And the king was supposed to be in charge, right? And was he telling them to do anything that was like against God's laws by repairing the the house of the Lord. No The only thing he did tell him to do that that probably they shouldn't have done was to go out and collect the money But they had no problem with that part of it, yeah, okay, we'll go collect some money The problem they had was with the working aspect of it And we have too many priests these days That like to collect the paycheck. I was just talking about this during the announcements We're taking up our collection for our missionary that we support too many people want to collect the paycheck they're willing to go out and Collect money write these missions. I want to go out and collect money from all these churches in order for them to go and do no work and Sit on the rear end and complain about how hard it is. And oh, I got to learn the language Oh, I've got to do this. Oh, I've got it. You don't understand the culture These people just don't want to talk to you about the gospel and all the excuses in the world When the real reason is it is don't want to do the work They don't care that the house of God is in shambles spiritually in these countries They just care about getting paid And I think a lot of them if you're to say well, you know what? We're not gonna pay you if you're not going to do the work. They're gonna say, okay, don't pass But we're still not going to do the work a rotten attitude to have That's wicked now look Jehoiada and the priests were doing a good thing in general is when they brought up Jehoash and you know Trying to get people right with God, but when it came down to it, I mean repairing the house of the Lord Look, why would you not do that? The priests didn't seem to care that much about doing that and they actually seemed kind of lazy just not willing to do the work Another lesson to be learned from this though as well is that Jehoash was probably hiring the wrong people to get things done if you want to get things done You Know these priests apparently they weren't handymen they might not even know how to do the repairs on the house and They should have they should have been able to do it. Okay. I'm not giving it is a just a you know a free card to the priests But when you want to get things done you got to get the right people for the job right the priests are going to be the best at Hopefully, you know reaching the people you know prefer in this case performing the sacrifices doing all the things in the service of the Lord and If you have to hire some carpenter some Mason to get the the other jobs done and then do that Don't give these guys some other busy work to do. I mean, hey, what if the what if the priests were busy? Just doing the business of God's work and they didn't have time to go and and get up on a ladder and Spackle the you know the house or whatever That would be acceptable then I would say, you know what these guys aren't lazy they've got their priorities, right? They're not quite as focused on the building as they're about doing the work of the Lord And that's why the disciples you see in the New Testament When this does not meet for us to go and serve tables When there was a legitimate job to be done, but they're like we're too busy for that We're going out and preaching the gospel. We've got this other work to be done in the word You know, we need to hire more people to get this other job done because the job is important Hey repairing the house of the Lord was important But get the right people for the right job I mean the priests don't necessarily need to be going up and getting on ladders doing that when they could be doing Other things that would be more important but hire people to get that done Again, it's wrong for the priests to just be collecting money and sitting on it not doing the work that you're supposed to be doing for that money Obviously really wicked But if you want to get these things done hey get these people's priorities right and and manage the people I think the king had a heart had a lot of problems here with leading with delegating He was he was used to taking his orders from Jehoiada from a child and that didn't seem to stop going up into adulthood because if he was able to make the orders and be a good leader the people would have listened when he told him to do something instead of just It's like they didn't hear him It's ignoring the work that they told him to do and it seemed like there was no consequence for it either verse number nine Bible says but Jehoiada the priest took a chest and Bored a hole in the lid of it and set it beside the altar on The right side is one cometh into the house of the Lord and the priests that kept the door put there in all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord and It was so when they saw that there was much money in the chest that the king's scribe and the high priest came up and they put up in bags and told the money that was found in the house of the Lord that means they counted it and They gave the money being told into the hands of them that did the work that had the oversight of the house of the Lord and They laid it out to the carpenters and builders that wrought upon the house of the Lord So now they finally came up with a new plan. They say okay Well, here's what we're gonna do the money that's gonna be used for this We're just gonna make this box right a lockbox and we'll just as the money comes in We just keep on putting in this lockbox when it fills up. We'll have enough money then to divvy out to say, okay Let's hire some carpenters. Let's hire some builders attire these people and get it done. That's what they did now I'm gonna use this time to kind of point out why we collect the money we do it It seems like a silly thing, you know, some people make a real big issue about this and make a real big point out of doing things different and there's churches that will follow this model of having like a box and another room or a Box somewhere in the back where you could you know, anonymously put your money in and stuff And you know what if they want to do that fine But don't do that thinking that you're doing that like more scripturally than passing a plate around because These people had problems with money and that's why they even did things the way they did here because the priests were taking the money And not doing anything with it. So it's like, okay, we're gonna solve this problem by locking up the money So you can't just go and use it and spend it for anything else. And this is this fund for this purpose That's not the way that they normally would handle receiving Anything from people this was a different measure to do for it to solve a particular problem Okay, so this isn't like the way that God intended money to be collected within the church Now and like I said, hey if people want to do that Go ahead. I don't think it's wrong to do that But the problem is that people will want to do things certain, you know These ways are gonna say what you're doing it wrong because you pass a plate around You know and people get hung up on these issues that honestly the Bible really doesn't say much about at all How is the collection, you know? How was a lot of things done within the church? God's given us freedom to operate in a way that we see fit without putting every single Micro-managed detail on how things ought to be done Now obviously we shouldn't be Making a production about the money that we give and sounding the trumpet So that you get all this glory and honor by giving so much money But I'll tell you what when we pass our plate to collect an offering from people No one's sounding a trumpet in fact we have little envelopes that you can be very discreet about anything that you put in there if at all and You know, obviously no one should just be looking at my you know, like I'm not I don't care You know whoever you know gives or doesn't give that's none of my business Honestly, that's between you and God now I believe that tithing in the New Testament is still scriptural and biblical and accurate But again, I'm gonna teach that I've taught that before and at the end of the day that's between you and God what you do with that and I'm not going to treat anybody any different regardless of any amount of money they do or do not put in there. It doesn't matter Every way of collecting money you're gonna have some Problem that you can find with it But I'll tell you what not collecting money in any way is going to be in my opinion causing people to sin because if you're not Giving away a means to collect the tithe and I believe the tithe is scriptural Then I'm gonna be causing people to sin So I mean we got to do this somehow and that's I mean the way that you do it Like I said, we could have a box back there and I don't think there's anything wrong with that But I'm not gonna look down on people for passing a plate or however, they decide to do some form of collection. That's Relatively anonymous, right? I mean, we're not just standing up and saying I'm gonna give this and I'm gonna you know You give or you don't give it's up to you But it's all done willingly and I'm not mailing off a remit statement a bill statement like to your house and saying okay Here's what you owe to church, you know, fill it out Give it back to us kind of like what Jehoash was trying to do to get the you know Hey, we've got these repairs to do Here's your part of the bill, you know, you're cut you're all coming to church here So, you know you get 120th of this we're gonna we're gonna split it up evenly I'm gonna send you a bill and that's not how it works So, you know, like I said, it's it's not even it's not even really an issue to me how it's done But I don't want people getting screwed because there's all kinds of nonsense, you know, especially you spend a lot of time on the Internet there's all kinds of nonsense out there and people want to make mountains out of molehills and Especially on things that the Bible really doesn't talk a lot about But this is one of those passages that they'll say. Well, this is why you should do it this way That's why I bring it up because it's not that big of a deal So we're going to continue to do things the way that we do thing and I'm sure that God has no problems with that So if you have any further questions about that, you could talk to me after service But you're probably not gonna get any anywhere changing my mind on this subject. Let's keep reading here verse number 12 and to Masons and hearers of stone So again, he's giving this money now. It's we stopped a mid sentence He's giving the money to those that are working in the house of the Lord to Masons hearers of stones to buy timber and huge Stone to repair the breaches of the house of the Lord and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it How be it there were not made for the house of the Lord bowls of silver snuffers basins truck. Excuse me Trump It's any vessels of gold or vessels of silver of the money that was brought into the house of the Lord now Well, let's keep reading here verse number 14 But they gave that to the workmen and repaired there with the house of the Lord Moreover they reckoned not with the men into whose hand they delivered the money to be bestowed on the workmen for they dealt faithfully Now in 2nd Chronicles 24, I'm going to bring up another supposed contradiction here But it's not what this is saying in 2nd Kings 12 is that he said all the money that was collected was given to the People who were working on fixing the breaches of the house and he repairs that needed to be done And they're saying the money that came in they didn't use it to spend for the utensils in the service of the Lord Which is the the bowls the trumpets this you know, all these other things that they would use as instruments in the service of God Okay. Now we're going to see that they did end up getting those instruments in 2nd Chronicles 24 But I just want to help you to see the difference here of what it's saying Because it said that they didn't use that money they gave all of that money to the workers in 2nd Kings chapter 12 now look at verse 24 of 2nd Chronicles or excuse me verse 12 of 2nd Chronicles 24 The Bible says and the king in Jehoiada Gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the Lord and hired Masons and carpenters to repair the house of the Lord and Also such as wrought iron and brass to mend the house of Lord. No contradiction there. It's exactly the same thing, right? They gave the money to the workers to work for the house Lord so the workmen wrought and the work was perfected by them and they set the house of God in his state and strengthened it and When they had finished it They brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada Whereof were made vessels for the house of the Lord even vessels to minister and offer with all and spoons and vessels of gold and silver and they offered burnt offerings in the house of Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada So basically what happens is the workmen because they dealt faithfully the Bible says faithfully means they said you know what? Here's all of this money Get the job done and use whatever you need to use to get this work done So they did they used all the materials resources they fixed the house I got everything repaired and when they were done They said hey the workmen were being honest and said, okay, you know what we didn't actually need all of this So here's your remainder. Here's here's what's left Right because we actually didn't need all of this you gave us too much and then from whatever was left over They made the the spoons and vessels of gold and silver and what you know Whatever else than they had left over to do that for but that wasn't the original intent That's not what they paid him for they ended up creating that after the fact after they knew that they had some money left over So it's not a contradiction. You know when you see in second Kings 12 that says and they didn't Use that money to do all these other things It's because they did give all of it for the repair of the house and not for the extra stuff They ended up being able to make the extra stuff because there was some money then left over now I Do want to point out when it says that they just bestowed all this money on the workmen. It says for they did dealt faithfully It seemed to have worked out for them, but I don't recommend doing this either There's nothing wrong With accounting For what you give somebody to do this seems to have been a problem with them, right? I mean Jehoash was having a problem getting these priests to do the work and holding them accountable. Hey, I gave you money Why aren't you doing this? Well now we've got the priests giving this money to the workers and just say I had just get that done You got to hold people accountable or else you're just gonna you know you don't want to just be wasting the money that's brought into the house of the Lord and And this is important especially people who are managing finances like I'm managing the money that's brought into this church This is not my money in any sense of the word whatsoever the money that comes into this church It belongs to God. It's given by you and by me To God that's why you give the money That's why I give my money My earnings goes into this church it does not come for in any sense the word to me and Because it's God's money. I need to make sure that I am Appropriating these and making sure that hey, whatever money is coming in. It's going to be used completely To get jobs done to get the in, you know, and I'm not just gonna go and waste a bunch of money You know, I look I shop around when we get things like those USBs or whatever I'm shopping around because why does blow and waste a bunch of money when we could use these resources to get more out of it They could have planned to get these extra vessels and stuff had they been diligent saying hey, you know, we're gonna do this I'm giving you this money get this job done and Count the cost and know how much it's going to be Instead of just coming as well. We've got this money in this barrel. Let's just give that to them and just see if that's good enough They ought to be more diligent and taking care of the things of the house of God now look, I'm all for giving people the benefit of the doubt and Allowing people to get work done and dealing with them faithful in that regard But you need to be following up with people and making sure the jobs getting done and I Never just overpay someone just give me back. Whatever is left over Like that is a foolish way to deal with it because now you're just just offering up a temptation to steal or to come up with some reasons to rip you off and Why do that? There's no purpose to it Like you're not being any more godly that way When you hire someone to earn, you know to do work then you agree with suit You make it you make the contract and that's it. You know, you're obliged to it on each end. So Anyhow, I just want to point that out. I mean again There's a lot of statements in the Bible But it doesn't mean that they're always right and the things that they do I'm not right to just go out and just collect all this money from people and bring it in They're not right to just say well, whatever just it's gonna deal faithfully with you If you look at as a virtue, but I don't see how it is at all. I Think it's being lazy. I think that's something that was indicative from this chapter that we're seeing of these people Let's keep reading here in 2nd Kings chapter 16 verse 16 The trespass money and sin of money was not brought into the house of the Lord. It was the priests then his ale King of Syria went up and fought against Gath and took it and his ale set his face to go up to Jerusalem and Jehoash king of Judah took all the hallowed things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Azziah's fathers kings of Judah had dedicated And his own hallowed things and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the house of the Lord and in the king's house and Sent it to his ale king of Syria and he went away from Jerusalem And the rest of the acts of Jehoash and all that he did Are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah and his servants arose and made a conspiracy and slew Jehoash in the house of Millo which goeth down to Silla for Josachar the son of Shimeath and Jehoshaphat the son of Shomer his servants smote him and he died and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David And Amaziah's son reigned in his stead. That's the end of chapter now we're going to look at the closer look at the demise of Joash and What his major downfall was his major problems was we see a lot of it right here at the end Now the first half of the chapter he's trying to do what's right. He's building up the house of the Lord Right. He's say hey, let's repair the house of God Let's do this and get it right and then what happens he feel he faces a conflict his ale comes up and Threatens them and he gets scared now the very thing. Hey, let's put all this money into the house of God Hey Let's take all this money from the house of God and just give it to this wicked person to save us to save our own Skin instead of relying on the God that we're trying to build up his house for Why are you putting all the money and resources to a God that you're not you don't even have faith in or? At least enough faith to resist the devil that's coming up and attacking you Because he didn't have nearly the spine to stand up or the I mean more importantly not just a spine the faith That God would protect. I mean, hey, they were starting to do what's right. Why wouldn't you rely on God? Because he had a very shallow faith, that's why extremely shallow It's almost like I mean he was worried about the surface the outside appearance How does the house of the Lord look and not worried about what's going on inside the house of the Lord? Are we doing things right? Because that's what matters more than a crack in the wall Let's make the house of the Lord, you know Spiritually strong. Let's let's get the inside workings working great and doing right by God and having that faith in God and yeah, let's fix the outside too, but It puts out all that investment into the house of the Lord first sign of threat What do you do? He took the money from the treasures of the house Lord the dedicated thing the things that you know because as kings they're wealthy so like the Jehoshaphat and Joash and Asaiah, you know these or I mean to be Joram and Asaiah and these people that had this money They dedicated things to the house of God They had given this is you know what I'm gonna take all of that now I'm gonna steal from you now God just to pay off this wicked person who's threatening me and to get him to run away For me because I don't want to deal with this battle right now. I just want to have peace a Lot of problems with that he had a very shallow, you know He tried to do good, but I think like he seemed to never really get it He was raised by Jehoiada, but he didn't ever really get it the important things. It just it just it didn't sink in with him He Was concerned with the structure of the house of God, but not what was inside He had a good counselor that he listened to and that's why you know, I made note of that in verse number two That he did right in sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada he had a good counselor and he listened to that counselor But he didn't he heard him but he didn't really learn from him because it didn't stick with him He would hear it and do What he was told Which ended up being right? He had a good counselor, but when that counselor was gone When that leader that he was following was gone Then he didn't know what to do He was not a good leader himself and he relied too much on Jehoiada to give him direction that he needed and Following a good leader is important. So I'm going to read this for you turn if you would to You Should go to James chapter 1 Keep a place. Actually. Yeah, keep your place in 2nd Chronicles 24 because we're still going back to that There's still more that I want to cover that was not brought up in 1st King and 2nd Kings 12 But See Jehoiash could have learned like he had a great leader to learn from when Jehoiada Because Jehoiada was bold. He stood up to Athaliah He did the right thing and he helped out Jehoiash so that he could do the right thing too. He was a good counselor and Following a good leader I believe is important There's many places throughout the Bible and many examples throughout the Bible Where you have a good leader and a good follower and then that follower becomes a good leader right The Apostle Paul said in 1st Corinthians 11 verse 1 he said be ye followers of me Even as I also am of Christ, there's nothing wrong with following a man if that man is following Christ a Lot of people want to talk down. Oh you follow this man. You follow that man Well, you know what? That's fine because the Apostle Paul said hey follow me as I follow Christ So as long as your is the man that you look up to as a good leader as a solid leader as someone who's following Christ is following Christ as long as they're doing that Then follow that man. Yeah, because they provide good examples. They're showing you wisdom. They're showing you how to do things and they're leading You can't have every single person be a leader within a group because if all our leaders then there's no followers and Everyone's gonna be leading a different direction. You know, we have churches that have leaders, but it's also important to be a father you have followers too and It doesn't mean that the follower is less knowledgeable or is stupid or you know Like can't think for themselves It doesn't mean any of those things It just means that you're falling into a position into a role That's gonna make the whole body stronger You could be a good leader and still when it's time to follow you follow You Could be a good soldier and the strongest Baddest soldier, you know, but like you need to stay within your rank in order for the whole You know the whole operation that's that's being taken place to go smooth and go right and to not have any problems You can't just take over, you know Like and have these dual leaderships and split your platoon or whatever into different factions Because then all of a sudden your force is depleted right if that makes sense So we all need to be able to come in to a point where we could follow But also lead and the person that you're following As long as they're following Christ and they're as soon as they stop following Christ. Yeah, don't follow them anymore But having a leader is good nothing wrong with that nothing to be ashamed of to say yeah, I follow this person There's people that I follow Now within this church I'm leading And I'm gonna follow anyone there's a multiple people that follow That are following Christ Because I don't know everything And I like to learn too but when it comes to this place in this church, I'm a leader here and That's the way that this church runs. So as long as I'm following Christ then you have someone within this church to follow now Obviously, you need to have your own faith in your own beliefs. We're not a cult. I Don't believe in cults. We don't want you just worshiping a man and just doing whatever the man says Because our beliefs come from this book and you have to be able to understand what you believe and be Able to show why you believe what you do believe from the scripture because this should be the authority and this is the ultimate authority Otherwise, how are you gonna even know if a leader is following Christ? Well, you have to know about Christ you have to know about you know, God's Word and You have established for yourself your faith in your belief and be grounded and founded in that truth And that way if a leader is gone for any reason because lots of reasons why leaders are gone They die For any reason they could just die right just be gone all of a sudden. There's no more leader They can Backslide get into sin right and no longer be qualified to lead and that could be even more dangerous because if all you're doing is relying on a leader and That leader fails you That could overthrow your faith because you put too much investment into a man But If you're grounded in your faith and you understand what you believe and you're firm in your in your beliefs based on God's Word whether the leader dies Fails you you're gonna say well he failed but God doesn't fail So I'm not gonna follow him anymore I'll find someone else who's following Christ or I'll leave you. I mean, you know, whatever just This is the way though, you can't let any of that shake you so when Jehoiada died see Joash He didn't have that firm foundation. He didn't have that firm faith Jehoiada made the covenant with God and between the king and the people and in God and the king and stuff like that But Joash didn't really know Where to stand He didn't really know what to believe Look at James chapter 1 Verse number 22 And look because the responsibility is on you You cannot use the excuse in God that you cannot use the excuse of well Pastor said to do this and it was wrong But I did it anyways and God will not grant you an excuse for you sinning because you followed a wicked leader It's the same argument that you know, the popular argument of like well the Nazis Saying that oh, well we were commanded to do this Yeah, but if you're doing something that's wicked and vile and something you should not be doing Then that's not an excuse just saying someone told me to do it You know if I tell you to go out and murder You know a hundred people and go out on a jihad or something and you listen to me and do it You can't just use it. Well, he told me to do it. Well, no you you have to decide for yourself what you're gonna do Okay now I Am going to be held responsible, you know, if I were to do something like that or the leader that leads you astray Yeah, and God's gonna hold them to even a higher standard The leader the pastor whoever is trying to lead you in a certain direction There is culpability there, but it doesn't absolve the other person. I mean Adam and Eve were the perfect example of this You have Eve blaming the serpent, right? Well, it's not my fault You know the serpent something and then Adam saying well, I mean, it's not my fault She did it right and they're all pointing the fingers somewhere else and they all got cursed God held them all responsible So you all you need to be responsible for what you believe Yes, you could follow leader. Yes, come to church. Yes, listen to teaching and preaching But ultimately you have to decide you have to discern You have to compare and say is what I'm hearing found in Scripture. Is it true? The responsibility lies on you and James Chapter 1 verse number 22 this is going to be a way for you to retain your knowledge and to make sure you're grounded and founded and Rooted in your beliefs Bible says in verse 22, but be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves for if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer he is like unto a man beholding his Natural face in a glass for he beholdeth himself and goeth his way and straightway forgetteth what manner of man He was but who so looketh into the perfect law of Liberty and continue it there in he being not a forgetful hearer But a doer of the work This man shall be blessed in his deed when you start putting into action and putting into use the things that you hear the things That you learn that's gonna stick with you That's what's gonna stay with you over the course Like you could read things in the Bible and then if you don't put it in the action, you're just you're gonna forget it it's just gonna be like you never even heard it to begin with and If and if that's the way that you live your life You are not going to be grounded and rooted in God's Word to be able to withstand when The leader fails you when the man of God fails you or gets in the center something then you're just going to be toppled over Because you haven't been putting the the good words of the Lord into into practice in your life and Continuing to grow and you know because when you grow you don't just grow upward you take root downward and that route downward is what's going to maintain and help you to last and You cannot get that growth without putting into practice the things that you hear and continuing to learn and to grow and Apply it and not just not just have rely on someone else to make all of your decisions for you Making decisions requires with if you're gonna make right decisions it requires wisdom and knowledge and You get that through God's Word, right? Joe ash Didn't have much wisdom or knowledge Because he wasn't able to make the right choices and was always relying on someone else to make those choices for him now Johita was a good person as far as rely on someone to make choices for you, right? The problem is Johita didn't live forever. It's physically speaking He lived a long time. He lived 130 years We're gonna see that in second chronicles 24 which turned if you would to second chronicles 24 He lived a really long time But as soon as he was gone Joe ash made mistakes and Joe has screwed up and he got the wrong people around him second chronicles 24 like a verse number 13 The Bible says so the workmen wrought and the work was perfected by them and they set the house of God in his state and Strengthened it and when they had finished it they brought the rest of the money Before the king and Johita wherever made vessels for the house of the Lord even vessels a minister and offer withal and spoons and vessels Of gold and silver and they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Johita So while Johita was there. Hey, they're making the burnt offerings. Everything's going great Continually, right things are still being done, right? You got the man of God he's still leading the right way to but in verse 15, but Johita waxed old and was full of days when he died and 130 years old was he when he died. There's a long time to live and they buried him in the city of David among the Kings Because he had done good in Israel both toward God and toward his house. He was looked up to and respected they even buried him with the Kings and The reason being is because he was acting as king and he did a good job at it When Joash was young and he was leading the people in the right direction, so they gave him the reverence and honor Burying him with the kings of the house of David But he died look at verse 16 and they in over 17 now after the death of Johita that came the princes of Judah and made obeisance to the king Then the king hearkened unto them Now as soon as your Hoyt is out of the picture what happens the wolves come in Which it says the princes of Judah come in Now, I believe when it says the princes I mean Prince means the first the people who are kind of in charge It could be like lower rulers like just under the king or whatever the princes of Judah But I still think this is talking about more like spiritually You know, we fight again. We fight not against flesh and blood but against principalities Against powers against the rules of the darkness of this world, you know spiritual weakness in high places We that is the fight we go against and for a while Jehoi does able to stave that off because he's a righteous man We're leading a righteous way but as soon as he's out of the picture now, you've got these princes these principalities these wicked people that are coming in and Trying to influence the king and they made obeisance to him Right, they played the part they flattered with their tongue and say oh king you're so great and then and then okay That's enough for me to listen to you then You couldn't spot the wicked man Because he was easily deceived Because he didn't know how to make decisions because he didn't have knowledge because he was relying on a man his whole life So now other people come in influential people Oh, we'll make obeisance to the king and he'll listen to us and now they're running the kingdom Whereas Jehoi was running it before? Because everyone was able to apparently to walk all over Joash because he wasn't able to learn for himself and be a good leader it says in verse 18 because that's what it says when it says the king harken and it means he listened unto them whatever they said then that's what He was doing which ended up being the exact opposite of what Jehoiada was doing verse 18 and they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers and served groves and idols and Wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass The same guy that's saying hey, let's build the house of the Lord is now saying Let's forsake the house of the Lord and go serve idols The double-minded man is unstable in all his ways he was not grounded and founded in the truth and You need to watch out for this so that you are grounded and founded in the truth So you don't get swayed and just easily manipulated about every you know Every wind of doctrine that comes along that you're just going after them, but you get grounded and settled in the truth And not just relying on a man to lead you through everything and just whatever he says You know, I'm just gonna believe it and know it for yourself Be careful who your friends are be careful who you listen to and watch out for the flattery The people you you surround yourself with they will influence you No doubt about that Joe ash picked the wrong people to have as his counselors and people influence them and let them astray let them the wrong way Psalm 5 verse 9 You don't have to turn there say if you wouldn't second chronicles 24 says for there is no faithfulness in their mouth Their inward part is very wickedness. Their throat is an open sepulchre. They flatter with their tongue So the wicked people, you know, they're inward parts wickedness their throats like an open sepulchre In open sepulchre, it's a great like a tomb where there's just a dead body inside like the stench and you know the Yeah Coming out of that it says that's what their throat is like these wicked people but then it says they flatter with their tongue That's how they get they want to sweeten you up and butter you up in order to deceive you and to Influence you Psalm 12 to says they speak vanity everyone this neighbor with flattering lips with a double heart Do they speak this is how they got to Joash? They made obeisance to them. They flattered them and then they you know Influenced them to do wickedly and their throat was like an open sepulchre because they're leading them into serving Idols and going to the groves and everything else Look at verse number 19 there in second chronicles 24 the Bible says Yet he sent prophets to them to bring them again unto the Lord and they testified against them, but they would not give ear so now God still given him another chance. He's sending the prophets to him But what happened he didn't retain what he was taught by Jehoiada at all because he was just relying on a man If he would have learned he could have at least heard the word of the Lord from another prophet Saying look you're going the wrong way. You're wicked Get right with God and something could have resonated with them If he was actually receiving what he had been taught this whole time instead of just relying on blindly on someone else He could have been turned away, but he didn't he didn't give ear verse number 20 It says in the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest Which stood above the people and said unto them thus saith God? Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord he hath also forsaken you Now we're gonna see why People conspire his own servants conspired against him to kill him Joash We didn't learn that in second chronic or second Kings chapter 12 But now we see here the son of Jehoiada. I mean Jehoiada this important figure in Joash's life All the way until he died at 130 years old. Joash is listening to Jehoiada He's building up the house of Lord they're performing the daily sacrifices and everything else that needs to be done everything's going right He dies now. He's getting steered the wrong way So then is the very son saying look? And he cries out against him. This is wicked get right with God you forsaken God and he's forsaken you But basically saying, you know turn back to God so he could turn back to you verse number 21 and They conspired against him and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord Joash had Jehoiada's son killed at the commandment of the king He ordered the death of the son of the man that he was listening to that preached this same exact thing They believed the same way he was preaching the word of the Lord to him here But now he's rejecting it because he's allowed himself to be influenced by wicked people because he was not a strong leader himself He was not rooted down in the truth He just relied on other people all his days and now it just it just got him down this this horrible downward spiral to the point to where He's just gonna be killed and in a fashion. That's that's completely dishonorable Verse number 22 there says thus Joash the king Remembered not the kindness Which Jehoiada his father had done to him but slew his son and when he died He said the Lord look upon it and require it That's what Zechariah said He says God you you look at this and deal with this. I Mean the thing about how raw how how horribly wicked that is Because it says his father Jehoiada, why is it his father because he raised him from an infant He was like his son. This Zechariah is like his brother And his brothers called him out and tell him hey, you know get right with God you forsaken God because now you're serving idols And he has him killed He says God's gonna deal with you verse number 23 and it came to pass at the end of the year that the host of Syria came up against him and They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people and sent all the spoil of them under the king of Damascus for the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men and The Lord delivered a very great host into their hand because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers So they executed judgment against Joash. That's also very interesting So when Zechariah said hey you forsaken the Lord so the Lord forsaken you it doesn't matter now if you remember we've been reading about The Syrians and how much trouble they were causing for for Jerusalem and and for Israel and how they had come and they've been under you know They've been decimated and then and then finally they had this great victory over the Syrians Right and Hazeel was was cast out and now they're kind of getting back in the swing of things and everything seems to be going right Hazeel still has a very small company and they have a small army Yet when they come in and attack it doesn't matter how big Judah's army is it doesn't matter because God wasn't with them He's forsaken them and he delivered them just as much as Israel is able to defeat, you know multitudes as the sand by the seashore For multitude with a small number of people when they're doing right and he could deliver the whole great host into their hand Well, he did the exact same thing just with the roles reversed because now they're doing wickedly And it's the same, you know, you read the the blessings and the cursings in the book of Deuteronomy and he says, you know Hey one of you will will chase ten and ten of you will chase a thousand When God's with you, but when God's not with you when you're being cursed basically say it's gonna be the other way around ten of them is gonna chase a thousand of you and That's what happened here and God's Word just rings true over and over and over again because they're not relying on On God and it says Verse number 25 there and when they were departed from him for they left him in great diseases his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest and Slew him on his bed and he died and they buried him in a city of David But they buried him not in the sepulchres of the Kings and these are they that conspired against them J is a bad the son of Shimea and Ammon itis in Jehozah bad the son of Shimrith a Moab itis and Of course these people I can swear against them were wicked people anyway, I mean that's why they bring up It's it's an Ammonite and a Moabite that kill him just just to add more insult to his death He was conspired against and he was killed by an Ammonite and a Moabite And he wasn't even buried in with the Kings Because they had no respect for him Jehoiada was he wasn't even technically the king but Joash was not and he was not remembered and what what a shame because he had every opportunity and Kids listen up because this is important Joash grew up in a Christian home He grew up being raised by a man that was a man of God By a priest by someone who had the Word of God and was doing great things for God He was trying to set the people right with God but he didn't really listen and Didn't let it sink down and didn't receive what he was being taught for years and years and years and Because he didn't really receive it and he didn't grow and didn't have his own faith and just relied on someone else to do everything For him He was led astray and Led to do very wicked things and his life ended miserably it's important to stay with it for you to have your own faith in God and To stand firm on that faith and not to be shaken or moved. Let's bow our heads have a word of prayer Dear Heavenly Father Lord. We thank you so much for these stories that we're reading in in the book of 2nd Kings God I pray that you would please help us to make the applications necessary in our own lives Lord help us not to just take anything for granted that we hear but it Lord help us to follow good leaders and to To that you would help those leaders to lead by example and to and by doing dear Lord that that we can provide a a good example for others to follow as we try to follow you and I pray that you would please just help us all to not ever just follow anyone blindly but that we would Compare everything with Scripture and that we would only do the things that are right and pleasing in your sight in Jesus name we pray Amen