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2 Kings 16 Bible Study (Ahaz Reigns in Judah) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  If you have your Bibles, please meet me in Second Kings chapter
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  16. And as you turn there, I want to
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  testify that I feel a little bit more inspired this Friday
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  evening. And I'll tell you why because
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  there have been different things I was reading in the Scriptures
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  this week, but one particular passage has been my focus of
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  meditation. And they are the words of Jesus
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  Christ, specifically in the Gospel of Luke when He was
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  helping those two destitute disciples on the road to Emmaus.
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  And he said something there in Luke 2425 to 27.
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  And I so wanted to meditate on these truths that I had to
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  memorize it and take it with me wherever I was going throughout
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  this week. In that passage he finally looks
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  at those two disciples of his, and he says, O foolish ones, and
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  slow of hard to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
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  Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these
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  things and enter into His glory? And beginning with Moses and all
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  the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures
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  concerning Himself, two things stood out to me.
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  Number one, it was the Word all. It appears three times, all,
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  all, all. And what moved me was that the
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  Lord Jesus Christ handled all of the word of God, saw prophet in
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  all of the word of God, interpreted and applied from all
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  of the word of God. Second to that, the Holy Spirit
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  was very specific in saying how he handled the word of God in
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  that he interpreted it to them. And that word interpret is very
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  plain. What Jesus did is he came to the
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  Scriptures and he brought up the meaning of the Word of God.
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  So Christ didn't just simply reference a few verses.
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  He was in general in how he pointed to a certain passage.
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  He would take a text and he would break it down and
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  translate it in a way that was understandable.
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  And why that moved me was the outcome of it.
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  Because when you Scroll down to verse 32, those two same
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  disciples reflected on their encounter with this man who is
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  mysterious at first, but then later revealed that he was
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  indeed the resurrected Christ. And they admitted, did not our
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  hearts burn within us when He talked with us, not just when he
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  talked with us, when he opened to us what the Scriptures?
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  It was the interpretation of the Scriptures that caused a flame
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  to grow in their hearts that burned away all the cobwebs of
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  apathy and weariness of unbelief.
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  And that's what we endeavor to do here in this church, to
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  interpret the Word of God with the hope that our hearts would
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  burn within us every single time we encountered the Word of God.
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  And so just meditating on that, I couldn't wait any longer for
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  this Bible study, hoping that even in an obscure passage like
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  this, we would experience something supernatural, that the
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  presence of God would be more real to us because of the word
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  of God. Explain to us, Amen.
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  Well, can we ask him for that? Lord, we thank you for this time
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  together. And we, Lord, believe in the
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  power of the Scriptures. But Lord, we are also aware that
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  we need the power of the Holy Spirit.
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  So we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that you would
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  save this meeting from becoming a flat, stale lesson.
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  Instead, we pray for life changing truth.
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  We want to see Christ. We want to know his wisdom, his
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  character, his heart. And Lord, we trust that you will
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  guide a step by step in the study in his name.
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  We pray these things. Amen.
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  Well, last week we briefly examined the biographies of
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  several kings in rapid succession, all within a single
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  chapter. But as we approach Second King
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  16, the brisk pace that we experience will come to a sudden
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  halt. The reason for that is because
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  this entire section is designated to a single king.
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  It's as though the author of this book, back in chapter 15,
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  put the pedal to the metal, and as we come to the beginning of
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  chapter 16, he slams on the brakes.
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  Evidently, there's something that he wants us to see here.
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  Carefully, he slows things down so that we can observe certain
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  traits and truths connected to this one ruler by the name of A
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  Has. And this is significant because
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  A Has is recognized as one of the most shameless and infamous
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  kings in Judah's history. If you were hoping for a more
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  spiritual, scenic, and encouraging route, I'm afraid to
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  tell you that's not going to happen.
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  We are going to see something very discouraging.
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  And I know last week we were trying to digest this horrible
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  montage of one failing king following another.
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  But we have to trust in the wisdom of the Holy Spirit that
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  though this will be a heavy chapter, it is for our good.
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  There's something here for us, and that's what we have to do.
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  We have to honor this text for what it says.
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  And they're going to be familiar things that we see with a has.
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  But there's something that stands out about Him, and it's
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  in the last 10 verses of this chapter.
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  We're going to try to fulfill all of this text, and it's in
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  the later part of it that we see something unique about Him.
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  But we can't rush there just yet.
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  So let's now begin the first 3 verses.
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  A second King. 16 In the 17th year of Pika, the son of
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  Ramallah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to
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  reign. Ahaz was 20 years old when he
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  began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem.
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  And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God,
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  as his father David had done, but he walked in the way of the
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  kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an
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  offering according to the despicable practices of the
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  nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
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  There's a massively important truth found in these first 3
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  verses. There are many things that we
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  can say, but I just want to drive home one thought.
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  Good fathers don't always produce good sons, and bad
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  fathers don't always produce bad sons.
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  We're reminded right out of the gate who A has father was
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  Jonathan. We looked at him again last
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  week, but let's be reminded what kind of king he was back in
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  chapter 15, verse 34. Jonathan did what was right in
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  the eyes of the Lord according to all that his father Uzziah
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  had done. That's a rare occurrence.
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  You would expect then, that his son A Has would follow in the
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  steps of his pious and righteous father.
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  But we don't see that. Do we know?
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  Quite the opposite, he did what was evil in the sight of the
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  Lord. And remember, this is a king of
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  Judah and he's imitating the kings of Israel.
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  And one of the things that we mentioned last week that's worth
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  repeating is that godly influence does not always
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  promise godly imitation. Parents need to know that
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  parents who love Christ and honor his word and live for his
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  glory, they need to be comforted because I can tell you've had
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  conversations with those who are thinking I must have done
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  something wrong. I, I must have not prayed enough
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  or, or set a good enough example or have amazed my children
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  enough with God and what it's like to walk and worship God.
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  That's not always the case. You have many instances where
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  people make their own choices despite what's before them.
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  The flesh is that persuasive. The environment that we are in,
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  in this generation is that powerful.
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  Satan is that tricky. So it's not only a truth for
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  parents, it's a truth for pastors and leaders in the
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  church as well, those who make disciples.
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  Even though you may not be an elder in a church, as much as
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  you hope that your example and that the fragrance of Christ
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  that rests on you would inspire absolutely everybody under your
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  influence, that's not always the case.
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  If people sat through the best preaching in the person of Jesus
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  Christ and walked away wanting to kill him, Don't be so
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  overwhelmed when people do not respond to your passionate
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  presentation of the truth or how you walk in that truth by the
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  grace of the Holy Spirit. Good fathers, good leaders,
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  don't always produce good sons. That's not to say that there is
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  no impact or potential opportunity in the presence of
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  the righteous, but it doesn't guarantee it.
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  On a more encouraging note, 1 is not bound to continue the legacy
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  of ungodly influences as well. Where do I get that from?
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  Well, when you consider who A as his son is.
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  So Scroll down to chapter 18 and look at this familiar name in
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  second Kings 18 verse one in the third year of Hoshiya, son of
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  Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah, the son of a Has king of Judah
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  began to reign. Look at verse three that
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  chapter. And he did what was right in the
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  eyes of the Lord according to all that David his father had
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  done. Now when was the last time we're
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  getting ahead of ourselves here? But when was the last time you
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  and I read about a king, even a good king, who did what David
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  had done? Hezekiah will prove to be one of
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  the greatest kings in Jerusalem's history, one of the
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  great reformers of the southern Kingdom.
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  Ahaz was his dad. How does that work?
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  Well, it just reminds us that you should never believe the lie
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  that the lack of guidance or Christ like example, growing up
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  as a justifiable reason to remain defeated in your
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  spiritual growth or in your ineffectiveness.
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  And I've heard this from people. If only I had a godly father.
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  If only I had a believing mom. If only I had a better crowd in
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  my life, especially in the formation of my early years.
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  If only, if only, if only. What would I be now?
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  What would I look like now? Would I have to deal with this
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  trauma or these habits or this frame of mind?
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  And if you're not careful, if you think about what was lacking
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  in your life, you will always remain immature.
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  And you allow unbelief to callous your heart and never
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  trust that God is able to bypass all of that lack and work
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  directly in your heart and do miracles in you.
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  Hezekiah destroys any excuses. And I'm not here to condemn you.
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  I'm here to encourage you don't look back and say, what if?
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  Look up and say, please do a work in my heart.
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  If you did it in this man who had every right and excuse, so
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  to speak, of walking in evil, oh surely you can do it in me.
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  Sure, you can help me walk righteously and make an impact
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  for the glory of God. Now let's move on, shall we?
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  In chapter 16, verse 3, he did these despicable things, and
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  we've seen in many occasions that these kings in the Book of
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  Kings have similar accounts in the Book of Chronicles, namely
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  Second Chronicles, and it's no different for this man.
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  What you find in Kings here is quite jarring, but it gets even
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  worse when you consider Second Chronicles 28.
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  We don't have time to turn there, but here's what you'll
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  find about Ahaz in Second Chronicles 28, that he also
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  resurrected Bale worship. And here we read that he burned
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  his son as an offering. But in the mirroring account, we
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  learned that he burned his sons, plural.
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  So he sought to essentially exterminate his descendants as
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  an act of worship. You'll find that in chapter 28
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  verse three of Second Chronicles.
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  Which made me wonder if A has had this evil ambition, how did
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  Hezekiah come about? Have you ever wondered that
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  where did Hezekiah come from? If according to Second
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  Chronicles he burned his sons, Well you have to come to 2nd
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  Kings 18. When we study it, we'll consider
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  it further I'm sure. As if this wasn't twisted
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  enough, A has surpasses the preceding kings and yet another
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  way with his evil deeds. It's found in verse four.
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  And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and
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  on the hills and under every green tree.
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  We've seen this picture of these high places, the mention of
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  these high places on so many occasions.
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  But here's where it's different, with many of the kings,
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  including the good kings, these high places, which were really
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  convenient stations of worship that distracted people from
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  going to the one place that got designated for worship, namely
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  the temple. They were just tolerated.
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  They were ignored. They weren't adequately dealt
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  with or addressed. So many kings would just let
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  them be. They didn't really deal with
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  them. It has takes it a step further.
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  He doesn't just ignore them, he participates in them.
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  He himself sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.
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  This man is vile. This man is wicked.
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  Sam is between a good father and even a godlier son.
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  And when I came to this point in my personal reading, I thought
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  to myself, how much longer can this go on before there is
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  divine intervention? When will God step in and stop
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  the madness? Look at verse 5.
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  Then Resin, king of Syria and Pika, the son of Ramallah king
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  of Israel came up to wage war on Jerusalem and they besiege Ahaz
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  but could not conquer him. It's not surprising that an
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  invasion was on the horizon, or maybe shocking is that this is
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  Jerusalem. But still, God already warned
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  his people that if you continue in rebellion, the final stage of
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  judgement is that I will have 4 nations come and ransack, take
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  over everything, and even pull you out of the promised land.
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  But here's what's more surprising is the last part of
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  verse 5. You have a coalition, You have
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  Israel that's so wicked now that they're partnering with Syria to
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  actually come against Jerusalem. But notice what it says here.
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  They could not conquer him. Why is that?
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  Is this another instance of the Lord allowing things to get so
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  bad so that A has would realize the trajectory of his ways and
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  then repent and give himself over to the Lord?
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  Perhaps, but I think there's something deeper going on here,
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  and you're going to find the answer in another book of the
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  Old Testament. Can you guess what book that is?
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  Good guess, but I'm thinking of another book.
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  What book speaks about A has in great detail apart from Second
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  Chronicles? Isaiah, Isaiah Chapter 7.
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  Did you know Isaiah was a prophet during this time?
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  And God sent Isaiah to Ahaz to give him a word.
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  A word of what? You ready for this
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  encouragement? Isaiah 7 verse one.
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  Let's read. We're going to read 6 verses on
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  a row here, so pay attention. Don't allow yourself to get
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  distracted. It's going to be worth it.
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  Isaiah 7 verse one In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son
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  of Uzziah king of Judah, Resin the king of Syria, Pika the son
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  of Remalia the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war
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  against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it.
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  When the House of David was told Syria is in league with Ephraim,
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  the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees
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  of the forest shake before the wind.
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  And the Lord said to Isaiah, go out to meet Ahaz, you and Sheer
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  Jaisha your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on
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  the highway to the washer's field.
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  Pause. God knows exactly where you are.
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  See how specific that is? Just a thought.
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  First four and say to him, Be careful, be quiet, do not fear
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  you, do not let your heart be faint because of these two
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  smoldering stumps of firebrands at the fierce anger of resin and
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  Syria and the son of Romalia. Because Syria with Ephraim and
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  the son of Romalia has devised evil against you, saying, let us
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  go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for
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  ourselves and set up the son of Tabil as king in the midst of
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  it. I have a lot of questions, don't
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  you? Let's try to answer the main
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  one. Why is the Lord God comforting
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  and reassuring A man, a king who gave every reason not to expect
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  it, who didn't deserve it. We're not talking about Hezekiah
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  receiving a promise of deliverance.
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  A has a man who burned his children alive, a man who was
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  worshipping false gods. And God sends a great prophetic
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  voice to him and says, don't be afraid, they're not going to
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  succeed, be at rest. Simple answer, I guess, the
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  grace of God. But I think we're given enough
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  detail to know that it's more complex than that.
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  It's not just the grace of God. I believe the reason why the
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  Lord is ready to step in in this way is because of the
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  presumptuous ambition of these kings.
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  Look back at verse 6, especially the last part says here that the
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  king said, let us go up against Judah and terrify and let us
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  conquer it for ourselves and set up the son of Tabulus king in
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  the midst of it. It's that part that makes
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  everything clear. Because you see, the goal of
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  Syria and Israel was not just to destroy Judah, it was to
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  overthrow the Davidic dynasty and to put a king of their own
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  choice on that throne that has been promised to David and his
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  sons. So what you have here is 2 kings
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  not just threatening Ahaz, but challenging the promise God made
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  to the House of David. Whether they realize it or not,
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  they were not just coming up against a city, they were waging
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  war against the character of the Lord Almighty.
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  God made a promise to this house, and we have to look at
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  the spiritual element of this. This is Satan with yet another
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  attempt to try to delete what God said and prove to the world
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  that He can't keep His word. Do you see the deeper meaning to
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  this? Do you see now why God is
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  stepping in? There's something great at stake
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  here. You have a very real threat
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  attempting to sever the messianic line, and God is not
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  going to allow that to happen. And so he's going to step in.
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  And we see here that these two nations are, again, not trying
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  to just complete a military feat.
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  They're trying to undermine the redemptive purposes of the Lord.
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  That's what's happening, and it's in this very passage where
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  you and I find one of the most quoted Messianic prophecies
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  concerning the birth of the Savior, right?
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  Look at verse 13. And I hope understanding the
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  context makes this passage so much sweeter to your soul.
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  Isaiah 713 And he said here then, O House of David, is it
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  too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?
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  Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.
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  Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and
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  shall call his name Emmanuel. So you pluck that out and you
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  quote it around Christmas time. And people are warned by the
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  thought that this was a prophecy given 700 years before the time
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  of Christ. But leave it in its context and
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  see how profound this prophecy is that the Lord is not just
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  approaching a has to promise Him deliverance.
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  Look very carefully because there's a lot of debate about
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  what this prophecy really entails.
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  Here's a clue, verse 13 and he said here then, O House of
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  David, he's not just speaking to a has because you have a lot of
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  people attempting to say that this prophecy deals with what
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  was going on merely 700 years ago under a has his
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  administration. No more than that.
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  There's nothing to do with the Messiah, supposedly, but here's
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  my first clue. Isaiah is speaking to the House
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  of David, to the dynasty of David, to the seed of David, so
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  to speak. And what does he want to say?
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  He wants to reassure the House of David that in this
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  frightening time and in any time, God's promise will be kept
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  and it will be known through the birth of a supernatural child.
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  In other words, this child he will secure and he will fulfill
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  God's promise to David. Because later on in Isaiah 96,
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  with that same theme in mind, he adds to who this child will be.
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  Doesn't he not in verse six that a child will be born and his son
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  will be given and he will what? Increase the government and of
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  peace. There will be no end.
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  And this child, out of all these amazing titles given to him, the
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  one that stands out I believe the most is the fact that he
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  will be mighty God. He'll be mighty God.
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  So how this fits with the story is that House of David, you have
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  nothing to fear now, and you never have any reason to fear
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  because there's a child coming who will fulfill my promise, and
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  that's our Christ. So there's a deeper war going on
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  here. There's something beyond the
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  surface that we are supposed to grasp.
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  That's why God steps in for His name's sake.
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  Ultimately. Let's come back to 2nd Kings 16,
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  shall we? How is Ahaz going to respond to
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  this prophetic word, to the kindness of God, the mercy of
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  God? Well, it's here in verse 6 at
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  that time resident, the king of Syria recovered Elath for Syria
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  and drove the men of Judah from Elath and the Edomites came to
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  Elath where they dwell to this day.
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  So pause. It's not as though a has was not
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  going to be chastised at all. You go to this and you see
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  expounded in Second Chronicles 28.
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  They suffered a lot. They lost a lot of their
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  citizens. They lost some land.
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  So the Lord isn't just winking at this man's sin.
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  He promises and he protects the Davidic dynasty, but he allows A
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  has to be punished. It gets worse.
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  Verse 7 So A has sent messengers to Tig Tiglath, thy Lizer king
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  of Assyria, saying I am your servant and your son come up and
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  rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria, from the hand of
• 24:40
  the king of Israel who are attacking me instead of melting
• 24:46
  at the mercy of God. Instead of hearing this word
• 24:49
  from Isaiah and saying so foolish, look at my lineage,
• 24:55
  look at my ancestry. Look, I'm I'm a son of David and
• 25:02
  crying out to God to receive his help.
• 25:05
  He turns to a wicked nation and look at the desperate language
• 25:10
  he applies. I am your servant and your son.
• 25:17
  This is what he says to the king of Assyria.
• 25:20
  If only I'd say that to the king of the heavens.
• 25:25
  And so many thoughts ran through my mind at this juncture, and
• 25:28
  the main one that came to me is this.
• 25:30
  No man is truly autonomous. We all serve someone.
• 25:36
  We all serve something. And the choice is yours, who
• 25:40
  your master will be. And I'm aware that there might
• 25:43
  be some here, more likely people who will watch us later that
• 25:48
  would object. What nonsense.
• 25:51
  I'm a servant to no man. I'm the master of my faith.
• 25:56
  I'm the captain of my soul. I call the shots and I respond
• 26:03
  to that on the basis of the authority of God's Word, that
• 26:07
  one of the things that sin does to deceive us is make you think
• 26:12
  that you have boundless freedom when in fact you're a slave.
• 26:16
  You think you're free. You're actually a prisoner to
• 26:21
  your corrupt nature. The Bible speaks about us being
• 26:27
  a servant of one or two things. You're either a servant to sin
• 26:32
  or you're a servant to God. Those are your options.
• 26:36
  And even if you think you're serving self, you're serving
• 26:40
  sin. That's exactly what's happening.
• 26:43
  And here's what you have to do. Please listen carefully.
• 26:46
  If you believe that there is relief or help outside of
• 26:50
  surrendering to the Lord Jesus Christ, you can expect the same
• 26:54
  outcomes that we see here with Ahaz when he throws himself at
• 26:58
  the feet of a wicked master. What happens next?
• 27:02
  Look at verse 8. It has also took the silver and
• 27:06
  gold that was found in the House of the Lord and the treasures of
• 27:09
  the King's house and sent the present to the king of Assyria.
• 27:14
  So this man, in order to persuade Assyria to come to
• 27:19
  their defense, depletes his own resources and strips the
• 27:23
  treasures out of the House of God.
• 27:27
  Because there is always a cost to having a master over your
• 27:31
  life apart from Christ. Always.
• 27:34
  And it's a heavy price. It always is.
• 27:37
  And here's what blows my mind about a has.
• 27:40
  If he had just looked to the Lord and said, I am your servant
• 27:43
  and I am your son, he could have saved all those resources.
• 27:48
  And more than just save them, God would have gladly added to
• 27:52
  them. This is the difference between
• 27:55
  Christ as our master and any other master.
• 27:59
  We're going to expound to that in a moment, but I want to let
• 28:00
  you know that this is a promise that the New Testament makes for
• 28:03
  those who choose Christ. Can I remind you of Romans 622?
• 28:08
  It's worth highlighting, but it has this language in it
• 28:11
  concerning slavery, namely slavery to God.
• 28:15
  But now that you have been set free from sin and have become
• 28:18
  slaves of God, Paul says, what's the outcome of that?
• 28:23
  The fruit you get leads to sanctification and it's end
• 28:27
  eternal life. Now when you hear slave, what
• 28:32
  things come to mind? Somebody's a slave to someone
• 28:35
  else. You think of loss, the loss of
• 28:38
  freedom, the loss of integrity, the loss of joy.
• 28:42
  But Paul clarifies, when you're a slave of God, you gain, you
• 28:47
  win, you receive the fruit. Is what?
• 28:52
  Sanctification, a spirit, empowered work and
• 28:55
  transformation in your life. You inherit that power, you
• 29:00
  inherit that promise, and here is the end of it, eternal life.
• 29:04
  How can you lose? You can't lose.
• 29:07
  So we see here that to be a slave of God, you win.
• 29:10
  And that's why those apostles in the beginning of their letters,
• 29:14
  they unashamedly say we're bond servants of Jesus Christ.
• 29:17
  We're bond servants of Jesus Christ.
• 29:19
  We're bond servants of Jesus Christ because they want to say
• 29:22
  one of two things. One, they want to say this is my
• 29:26
  loyalty to him. I'm a slave.
• 29:28
  I'm forever owned by my God. And two, He is a worthy master.
• 29:33
  He gives you the choice. Take my yoke upon you.
• 29:39
  Take it. You can refuse it.
• 29:42
  Take it. And when you put it on, you
• 29:44
  realize this is light. This is light.
• 29:48
  This isn't heavy. And so we see here that this man
• 29:53
  chooses otherwise, and it's so sad to witness because it only
• 29:57
  gets worse. That's not the only outcome of
• 29:59
  choosing another master. Verse 9.
• 30:03
  And the king of Assyria listened to him.
• 30:07
  The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it,
• 30:11
  carrying its people captive to cur, and he killed resin.
• 30:17
  Here's what you can expect if you so choose to submit yourself
• 30:21
  to someone apart from the Savior.
• 30:23
  You can expect deceptively profitable results.
• 30:31
  Not just profitable results, Deceptively profitable results.
• 30:36
  What happens here? He pays the price.
• 30:40
  He bribes Assyria. Assyria, stepson on his behalf,
• 30:44
  goes to war with Syria, defeats the king of Syria.
• 30:49
  What can be more permanent in a victory than that?
• 30:54
  So you wonder if he has thought to himself, it worked, it
• 30:59
  worked. I didn't have to give up my sin.
• 31:02
  I didn't have to repent. I didn't have to confess that
• 31:06
  I'm this or that. I just turned to a powerful
• 31:09
  nation. I paid them and they're able to
• 31:12
  do this. Who needs God?
• 31:17
  Well, what we're going to be reminded of is this, that sin
• 31:21
  often times when it is indulged, when it is pursued, is sweet,
• 31:28
  but it will eventually turn sour.
• 31:31
  Always, always. And it's not until you go to
• 31:36
  Second Chronicles 28 where you see that take place.
• 31:40
  Now let's turn to the parallel account.
• 31:43
  I want you to see the playbook of sin because when A has said
• 31:49
  to Assyria, I am your servant and your son, what he was
• 31:52
  essentially saying was we as a Kingdom want to become a vassal
• 31:57
  state. We are subjugating our Kingdom
• 32:00
  to the partial ownership of your Kingdom, Assyria.
• 32:04
  So essentially what he does is he allows Assyria to put a leash
• 32:07
  on his neck and notice what happens in Second Chronicles 28
• 32:12
  verse 20, the added commentary of this outcome.
• 32:17
  So Tiglath pilots are king of Assyria came against him, him
• 32:21
  being a has by the way and afflicted him instead of
• 32:25
  strengthening him for a has took a portion from the House of the
• 32:29
  Lord and the House of the king and of the Princess and gave
• 32:32
  tribute to the king of Assyria, but it did not help him.
• 32:37
  It didn't it was temporary reprieve.
• 32:42
  It was short lived. I've yet to have anybody show
• 32:47
  me. Point to me somebody who has
• 32:50
  walked away from the Lord Jesus Christ and we're better off.
• 32:54
  Do you know somebody? Prove it, Show me.
• 33:00
  I've never seen it in these 12 years of walking with Christ.
• 33:06
  Oh, don't be fooled by the social media post.
• 33:10
  They don't come to church anymore.
• 33:11
  They're not serving the Lord anymore, but they're all smiley
• 33:14
  with their filters in a place that you know no Christians has
• 33:18
  no business being at, with people that no Christian has any
• 33:22
  right according to the Word of God associating with.
• 33:24
  And they look all dandy and they look all comfortable and they
• 33:27
  look like they're having a grand time.
• 33:29
  You can't yoke yourself to another master.
• 33:32
  And no true joy and no true strength and no true help.
• 33:37
  You'll never see it. And it's in Second King 16 where
• 33:43
  we're reminded of that, how Syria will weaken a HAS and it
• 33:48
  will bring Judah to a new law. And this is where I believe A
• 33:54
  HAS stands out. Verse 10 of Second King 16.
• 34:02
  When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pilasur, king of
• 34:06
  Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus.
• 34:11
  And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest, a model of the altar and
• 34:16
  its pattern exact and all its details.
• 34:21
  And Uriah the priest built the altar in accordance with all
• 34:25
  that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus.
• 34:27
  So Uriah the priest made it before King Ahaz arrived from
• 34:32
  Damascus. This is shocking.
• 34:39
  So now Ahaz makes his way to meet with the king of Assyria.
• 34:42
  I'm sure to thank him. And when he comes into that
• 34:47
  region, Damascus, something catches his eye.
• 34:50
  An altar obviously dedicated to a false deity.
• 34:55
  And there's debate here. Was this an Assyrian altar,
• 35:00
  presumably because Assyria invaded and took over, and
• 35:03
  perhaps to pay homage to their God, they set up this altar and
• 35:06
  worshipped on it in this land. Or is this plainly an altar that
• 35:12
  was belonging to the Syrians? And why that's up for debate is
• 35:16
  because when you go to Second Chronicles 28 and you don't have
• 35:18
  to turn there, you read explicitly that it was an altar
• 35:22
  dedicated to the gods of the kings of Syria, not us Syria.
• 35:28
  If it's us Syria, then you have King A has deceived and
• 35:31
  thinking, oh, it's it's the the gods of the Assyrians.
• 35:35
  I brought about this victory. If it's an altar dedicated to
• 35:38
  the Syrians, then you just have another case of a darkened mind.
• 35:44
  What happens when a man long enough turns his back on the
• 35:47
  Lord? It skews his judgement.
• 35:51
  Imagine I'm going to replicate this altar that the Syrians had
• 35:56
  in worship to their God when their God clearly could not
• 35:59
  deliver them. We underestimate how sin can
• 36:05
  make people stupid. And we look out in the world.
• 36:10
  We say, how are they doing that? How are they believing like
• 36:13
  that? How are they acting like that?
• 36:16
  Such is the consequence of sin. It it's scars and it Mars and it
• 36:20
  muddies and it blurs and so you look at it like it just doesn't
• 36:25
  make sense. And that's why some people think
• 36:27
  it's more Assyria because I just they can't fathom how you would
• 36:30
  take the Syrian altar to his home.
• 36:34
  Well, we can believe it because that's what sin does and empires
• 36:37
  you. Either way, we see that this man
• 36:40
  is wanting to copy paste this altar and bring it to the House
• 36:45
  of worship in Jerusalem. This is staggering, and I don't
• 36:52
  know what's more shocking and disappointing, the king who made
• 36:55
  this request or the priest who complied with it.
• 36:59
  Gone are the days when temple ministers in Jerusalem would
• 37:03
  stand up to tyrannical requests of kings to meddle the affairs
• 37:08
  of Israel's center of worship. We've seen in our study how in
• 37:11
  different occasions, priests would stand up to kings who try
• 37:16
  to interfere and tamper with the temple, risking their lives in
• 37:20
  doing so. And you would hope that this
• 37:23
  would be another case of it. And what do we find?
• 37:26
  You are the priest bending over, giving over to this man's
• 37:31
  disgusting request. And this morning I was
• 37:35
  meditating on this text, and my mind went to another passage of
• 37:38
  Scripture, not anywhere near here, back in Exodus.
• 37:41
  And you know this. You don't have to turn there in
• 37:43
  Exodus 32, when the leader of the people of Israel is on a
• 37:45
  mountaintop communing with God, receiving instructions for this
• 37:49
  covenant nation. And in the impatience and the
• 37:53
  feverish lust of the nation of Israel, they turn to Aaron, who
• 37:59
  was the high priest up and make for us Gods.
• 38:09
  What did Aaron do? He complied.
• 38:15
  If you aspire to be a leader in the church, listen very
• 38:19
  carefully. You have to be continually on
• 38:22
  guard, and you have to be continually filled with the Holy
• 38:26
  Spirit because pressures will come from all sides to amend how
• 38:30
  God ought to be worshipped. And that pressure may come from
• 38:35
  governmental leaders like Ahaz or may come from the very people
• 38:39
  that you're trying to lead into pure devotion, like in the
• 38:43
  Exodus with Aaron. Whether you are a parent or a
• 38:49
  pastor, stand your ground and honor God's word no matter what
• 38:55
  it costs you, because one compromise will always lead to
• 39:00
  more. That's we're going to find out.
• 39:03
  How do we see it in this story? Well, he requests that this
• 39:07
  altar would be built. Now let's look at verse 12 of
• 39:10
  Second King 16 And when the king came from Damascus, the king
• 39:15
  viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the
• 39:19
  altar and went up on it. Hold on, hold on, what are you
• 39:22
  doing? He went up on it.
• 39:27
  Look at verse 13 and burnt his burnt offering and his grain
• 39:31
  offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of
• 39:34
  his peace offerings on the altar.
• 39:38
  Apart from this being a foreign altar, you have now a has
• 39:43
  believing he can operate as what?
• 39:45
  A priest? Have we seen any king try to act
• 39:49
  like a priest before Uzziah? Did it go well for him?
• 39:52
  This is dangerous play here. You're flirting with death.
• 40:02
  Oh, there's so many things that we can say about this passage,
• 40:03
  but let me just make one observation.
• 40:07
  Here you have a man who is anti God, anti repentance, anti true
• 40:11
  worship. But he seems very, very
• 40:14
  interested in spiritual matters. Do you see that for a man who
• 40:21
  doesn't want God, doesn't want the word of God, doesn't honor
• 40:23
  the prophetic word, he's heavily invested in religious affairs.
• 40:29
  Don't you see this elaborate description?
• 40:31
  He gave this offering and that offering he wanted out of all
• 40:33
  the things that he took out of Damascus, he wanted an altar
• 40:35
  built. What's the lesson here?
• 40:39
  You have many people today who claim to be spiritual and
• 40:41
  religious. That doesn't mean that they know
• 40:42
  God. That language is being thrown
• 40:45
  around all the time now means very little these days.
• 40:52
  And here's where it hits closer to home.
• 40:55
  It's a sobering lesson for us that you can be so preoccupied
• 40:58
  with religious activity and be so far from God at the same
• 41:02
  time. Isn't that right?
• 41:05
  What about Herod? We're told her that Herod heard
• 41:08
  John the Baptist. Gladly preacher, I love when you
• 41:14
  preach the sermons man, you get me thinking you, you inspire me.
• 41:20
  Or you can think and you can inspire on your way to hell.
• 41:25
  If you have not repented and put your trust in the Lord Jesus
• 41:30
  Christ. You can be in front of an altar
• 41:33
  every weekend. You can lift your hand and put
• 41:37
  it in the bucket and raise. You can do all of that.
• 41:40
  Still not know God? Here's Ahaz.
• 41:44
  If you don't know who this man really was and saw him at it,
• 41:45
  this is, you would think, wow, look at all those offerings.
• 41:49
  Wow, look at all the investment. Surely he's a spiritual man.
• 41:54
  No, he was a wicked man. He was a wicked man.
• 42:00
  And so we have to understand what it truly means to be born
• 42:02
  again, transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and giving to
• 42:06
  the Lord what He truly asks of us.
• 42:10
  Faith and from that place of faith regeneration and the Holy
• 42:16
  Spirit working in us to offer true and pleasing sacrifices to
• 42:20
  him. So we see this man preoccupied
• 42:23
  with these things, but it gets worse.
• 42:26
  Let's come back to our main text in verse 15.
• 42:30
  And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest saying on the great
• 42:34
  altar, burn the morning offering and the evening green offering
• 42:39
  and the King's burnt offering and his grain offering with the
• 42:41
  burnt offering of all the people, the land and their green
• 42:43
  offering and their drink offering and throw on it all the
• 42:46
  blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice.
• 42:49
  But the bronze altar shall be made for me to inquire by.
• 42:53
  Now here's what's amazing. He asked of this after something
• 42:57
  he said in verse 14, because we we assume here that this altar
• 43:00
  was made. We don't know exactly where was
• 43:03
  built, but verse 14 clarifies its new location And the bronze
• 43:08
  altar that was before the Lord, He removed from the front of the
• 43:12
  house, from the place between his altar and the House of the
• 43:15
  Lord, and put it on the north side of his altar.
• 43:21
  What do we make of this? We remember the Tabernacle that
• 43:25
  was later the temple. When you walk through that
• 43:28
  Eastgate into the temple courtyard, the first thing you
• 43:31
  would see is this bronze altar, and on that bronze altars where
• 43:36
  all the main animal sacrifices took place.
• 43:40
  And that's why it's so important to read through Exodus,
• 43:42
  especially where God gives specific instructions about not
• 43:46
  just what's to be built, but where was to be built, where was
• 43:50
  supposed to be stationed, what materials it was to be made of.
• 43:53
  And that's what we see here, that it was supposed to be the
• 43:55
  first thing that somebody would witness.
• 43:57
  Why? Because God wanted to be the
• 43:59
  first message that you would know when you walked into His
• 44:02
  presence. I'm a Sinner and I need
• 44:06
  atonement. I need something, someone to
• 44:10
  stand in my place to receive judgement on my behalf.
• 44:14
  That's the first message that you're to get.
• 44:16
  And what does this man do? He removes the altar, tucks it
• 44:22
  away in the corner and replaces it with this brand new altar.
• 44:29
  This is a madman. He's thinking to himself, I
• 44:32
  think that the temple needs a fresh change, a touch up, if you
• 44:36
  will, an update. And he feels liberty to maneuver
• 44:41
  and remodel the House of God. And here's the warning for us.
• 44:47
  Please listen very carefully. Innovation and syncretism are
• 44:52
  always at the front door of the church, waiting to rearrange the
• 45:00
  household of God. And often times they make subtle
• 45:07
  advancements. Notice that A has didn't destroy
• 45:10
  the bronze altar. He just moved it.
• 45:14
  Right, He just moved it. And I argue that churches and
• 45:18
  ministries do the same today, meaning they don't outright
• 45:23
  cancel core tenets of our faith. Clear doctrines in the Word of
• 45:28
  God, they just make false ones more central.
• 45:34
  And so the emphasis of their message and their efforts is no
• 45:36
  longer what God designates for his church.
• 45:38
  It's what is the latest fad. Let's make that the thing that
• 45:43
  people see. That's what we're known for.
• 45:45
  And let's just push aside what God wanted from the beginning.
• 45:52
  And if anyone protests or expresses concern of what's
• 45:55
  being presented, what's preeminent, here's the strategy.
• 46:01
  Oh, no, no, no, no. Just like A has.
• 46:03
  If anybody came up to A has and said A has, where's the bronze?
• 46:06
  Although it's over there. I don't know.
• 46:08
  It's over there. Don't we believe those things?
• 46:10
  Did you see the statement of faith on our website?
• 46:14
  Oh, yeah. Yeah.
• 46:15
  You believe in the gospel. But why are you all about social
• 46:17
  justice then? Oh, yeah.
• 46:21
  You believe in regeneration. Then why are you proposing, more
• 46:23
  than anything else, race? I can give you example after
• 46:29
  example after example. Let's just push it aside and
• 46:33
  let's bring this now. I think that's actually going to
• 46:37
  be something God blesses. Another way of seeing this is
• 46:43
  how destruction to our faith begins by simply removing or
• 46:49
  replacing things in the Bible that we don't like.
• 46:55
  I don't mind the Ark of the Covenant.
• 46:56
  I don't mind the curtains. It's just the bronze altar.
• 47:05
  Let's just move that. Let's just deal with that.
• 47:09
  And every generation has known a different assault on different
• 47:13
  truths, and sometimes there are more than one.
• 47:16
  Can I see? Can I tell you what I see today?
• 47:20
  What's becoming more and more prominent?
• 47:27
  Elders aren't just men. Women can be elders as well.
• 47:36
  And that's becoming more and more popular.
• 47:39
  And you think, well, what's the big deal?
• 47:41
  You're just moving it aside. You're just changing it a little
• 47:46
  bit. You can never do that and think
• 47:50
  that a little leaven won't affect the whole lump.
• 47:53
  Wherever the Bible is clear on an issue, you stand your ground
• 47:59
  and you defend it, and you preach it and you counsel it.
• 48:05
  And yes, we're charitable and we're gracious when things are
• 48:10
  maybe a little bit more ambiguous.
• 48:14
  But I want you to see how this strategy is an ancient 1, little
• 48:21
  by little now, outright bloating things, just moving them,
• 48:27
  replacing them, covering them, coloring them.
• 48:34
  What happens we see here that after they move it, he gets
• 48:40
  specific instructions to your eye.
• 48:42
  The priest, right? He says this is the altar that
• 48:43
  we're going to be performing sacrifices on now.
• 48:46
  But notice the last part of verse 15 and all the blood of
• 48:50
  the sacrifice. But the bronze altar shall be
• 48:53
  for me to inquire by. So hold on, what's this man
• 49:01
  thinking? I'm trying to figure it out.
• 49:04
  I think I'm on to something though.
• 49:05
  He has enough awareness that it would not be good for his image
• 49:11
  if he destroys this altar or completely ignores it.
• 49:16
  Perhaps. Or maybe he's just convinced
• 49:18
  that, you know, yes, we're going to have this altar.
• 49:22
  But as long as I keep this intact, surely I can inquire of
• 49:26
  the God of Israel and receive some kind of benefit from him
• 49:31
  while I have this altar here as well.
• 49:36
  And here's the lesson that people who outright challenge,
• 49:41
  change, delete, replace, clear, choosing the Word of God, many
• 49:46
  of them believe that they can still access God and believe
• 49:52
  that he will shower them with favor and understanding.
• 49:56
  What I mean by that is they're deceived as though they have the
• 50:00
  right to remodel God's blueprint for his church or maybe maybe
• 50:04
  even for your own life as the temple of the Holy Spirit, and
• 50:08
  that you can have total access, total blessing, total, whatever
• 50:15
  you want to call it. And yet the psalmist says, if I
• 50:19
  cherish iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have heard
• 50:22
  me. You can't explicitly, you can't
• 50:28
  directly disobey and expect God to give you his ear.
• 50:34
  Yes, that's all. And there are many people who
• 50:37
  think the same. We can live in sin.
• 50:41
  I think that everything's OK as long as I pray in the name of
• 50:45
  Jesus. He's not a genie, he's not a
• 50:48
  good luck charm, He's a person, he's a king, he's a God.
• 50:54
  Well, he has unfortunately didn't see it that way.
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  And we see here something quite interesting.
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  The last part of the study. Look at verse 17.
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  And King A has cut off the frames of the stands and remove
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  the basin from them. And he took down the sea from
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  off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone
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  pedestal. And he covered way for the
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  Sabbath that was that had been built inside the house.
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  And the outer entrance for the king he caused to go around the
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  House of the Lord because of the king of Assyria.
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  So what happens here? Let's just look at it.
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  Slowly. The king went from replacing the
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  bronze altar with his own innovative altar.
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  And then from there he begins to now mess around with other
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  articles in the House of God. Verse 17, he cuts off the frames
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  of the stands, remove the basin from them.
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  He took down the sea from the bronze ox and that were under
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  it, and he put on a stone pedestal.
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  A little leaven effects a whole lump. 11 is the whole thing.
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  It started with one thing to replace.
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  It started with one thing to change.
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  And now all these other things are being eaten away at.
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  Erosion now is coming to the entire place.
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  And though that is, I'm sure one thing that we can take from
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  this, I think there's another angle to it, that when you and I
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  accept and establish something that God disapproves of,
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  something that's clearly against His will, it will begin to ruin
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  other things in your life. No matter what that sin in sin
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  is, if you hold on to it, if you refuse to acknowledge it for
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  what it is and turn away from it, give it a little bit of time
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  and it will begin to now bleed into other matters.
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  It will affect your marriage. Sin will take a toll on your
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  finances. Even sin will impact your
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  health. It will it will destroy
• 52:46
  relationships. It will weaken your ministry.
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  It will dull your sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.
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  It will rob from you the experiential presence of God.
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  What I see here is that it began with one choice, but then it
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  began to affect so many other things, such as the way of sin.
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  It's rarely localized. It can really be contained.
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  It's like cancer. It devours and it wants to
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  destroy everything. It wants to shut down every
• 53:13
  vital organ. It wants to kill you.
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  If only we would see sin that way, like cancer, like a lethal
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  disease, like poison, a drop of poison in a cup.
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  You wouldn't drink that cup. Even if it looked like water,
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  even though it looked clear, you would have put it in your mouth
• 53:32
  because you know just how dangerous it is.
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  He has thought that he can just replace an altar, put the real
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  one aside. And what began to happen?
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  Corruption in the courtyard with other things.
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  When you read Second Chronicles 28, you know what it came down
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  to. The doors of the temple were
• 53:51
  shut, and it would take Hezekiah to open those doors again and
• 53:57
  bring life to the temple. Here's ramaning.
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  Notice the last part of verse 18.
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  Why did he do all this? Because of the king of Assyria.
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  Because he had a new master. And in case we didn't get it,
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  the author ends this account by reinforcing why A HAS was doing
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  what he was doing. He was a slave.
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  And in order to appease his new master, he made all these
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  changes. He went to great lengths of
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  disregard the one who was sovereign over Assyria and all
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  nations for that matter. And here's where I personally
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  landed at the end of this chapter.
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  It's so mind boggling to me that this man who said to Assyria, I
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  am your servant, I am your son, was in fact a son of David.
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  David who did what? He gave up of his personal
• 54:51
  fortune to invest in the temple, even though he wouldn't be able
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  to see with his own eyes, to beautify the temple, the exact
• 54:59
  opposite of this man. And did you know that David
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  himself expressed to God that he was his slave?
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  Oh, yeah, he had a throne. Oh, yeah, he had a mighty army.
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  But he even expressed to the Lord, I am your slave in a way
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  perhaps that you might have missed.
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  Here's our final passage of Scripture, Psalm 40.
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  Let's go to verse 6. This is a Psalm of David.
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  Notice what he says. In sacrifice and offering you
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  have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear.
• 55:45
  Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
• 55:48
  This is a messianic Psalm, yes, but I believe there is an
• 55:51
  element of it that is personal to David.
• 55:53
  He's telling God what he really wants and notice this
• 55:58
  interesting phrase. You have given me an open ear.
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  Now face value, that just may seem like him saying you've
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  given me an ear that is attentive, that is willing to
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  listen, that is ready to obey. Whatever you give as a command,
• 56:12
  I will comply. But I believe there's something
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  else too. There's an illusion.
• 56:18
  There's an allusion to a custom of the Old Testament relating to
• 56:23
  Hebrew slaves. Write this down for another
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  time. It's an Exodus 21 where you have
• 56:30
  instructions given by God about Hebrew slaves, Hebrew owners who
• 56:35
  had Hebrew slaves, and they were to work for someone for six
• 56:38
  years, but on the 7th year they were to be set free.
• 56:41
  But there was a choice that could be made from the one that
• 56:44
  was set free. The slave, if he loved his
• 56:47
  master, if he loved his wife and his children whom he had under
• 56:51
  his master, he could go back, look at his master in the face
• 56:56
  and say I want to be your slave forever.
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  And the ritual was this, that his ear would be placed at the
• 57:04
  door and an awl would Pierce that earlobe, and that would be
• 57:09
  the mark of his permanent servitude to that master.
• 57:14
  Goes to show what slavery must have been like for somebody to
• 57:16
  even have that option, at least in the context of Israel.
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  And I think that what David is saying here to God is just that
• 57:30
  you've given me an open ear. And do you know why some people
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  don't believe that's what David is saying?
• 57:36
  Because when you look at in the Hebrew, the word ear is plural.
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  So how that would translate literally is ears.
• 57:45
  You have dugout for me. So how can that be connected to
• 57:50
  Exodus 21 when it was one ear that was highlighted?
• 57:55
  So this, this, this just must mean that he is speaking about
• 57:57
  his willingness to obey. He's in tune with the will of
• 58:00
  God and he wants to be in tune with the will of God always.
• 58:05
  Or could it be that David is saying something special and
• 58:09
  knowing what the law of God was, he looks to the Lord in this
• 58:13
  Psalm and he says, Lord, I know that in Exodus 21 that if a
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  slave loved his master, he would OfferUp one year.
• 58:19
  I want to give you both of mine. I don't want to just give you 1.
• 58:23
  I want to give you both my ears. Take them.
• 58:28
  Do whatever you need to do in me for me to be completely devoted
• 58:30
  to you. I won't just give you 1 to
• 58:33
  Pierce. I'll give you both.
• 58:35
  Have all of me take control. I surrender and I submit myself
• 58:40
  to you. Ultimately, that's Jesus,
• 58:45
  because the same passage is referenced in the book of
• 58:48
  Hebrews concerning Christ and His perfect obedience to the
• 58:51
  will of the Father. Here's my question for you at
• 58:54
  the end of this study. How much of you wants to be
• 58:58
  completely for Him? How much is there any part of
• 59:05
  you that you have reserved to yourself?
• 59:07
  Is there any area in your life where you know God's Word is so
• 59:10
  clear on it, but you refuse to let it go?
• 59:14
  Or maybe you've grown up hearing something.
• 59:17
  You've grown up worshiping at an altar that is not really the
• 59:20
  altar of God. You've been trained to worship
• 59:24
  at something that has replaced the truth.
• 59:30
  Are you willing to obey everything that God reveals
• 59:33
  about himself? Are there some things that you
• 59:37
  feel liberty to change? I want to tell you today that
• 59:42
  what the Lord deserves, because He is worthy, is you
• 59:47
  surrendering everything to him, a slave of God, a slave of Jesus
• 59:52
  Christ. I want to encourage you tonight
• 59:59
  that at this Bible study you would make that decision, if you
• 1:00:02
  haven't yet, that you would echo the psalmist cry.
• 1:00:09
  Lord, you're not after ritual. You're not after my attendance.
• 1:00:12
  You're not after my money. You're not after my ministry
• 1:00:16
  service. You want me.
• 1:00:22
  So take my ears, take my heart, take my life and seal it for the
• 1:00:31
  rest of my days to your ownership.
• 1:00:34
  And I will do so gladly. His yoke is easy.
• 1:00:39
  His burden is light. There is no master like Jesus.
• 1:00:43
  Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, that Your Word
• 1:01:12
  is ferociously powerful. We ask that our hearts would
• 1:01:21
  burn within us, if they haven't already.
• 1:01:29
  Help this ministry and every ministry represented here to
• 1:01:33
  honor Your blueprint for the House of God and for us as
• 1:01:39
  individual temples of the Holy Spirit, from top to bottom, side
• 1:01:45
  to side. May every component, every
• 1:01:47
  element, be aligned with your desires.
• 1:01:52
  Renew in awe of you and us, Lord.
• 1:01:57
  May we never give in like Uriah the priest in this story.
• 1:02:01
  No matter who makes the request. In this day and age, help us
• 1:02:06
  stand our ground. And Lord, we tell you gladly
• 1:02:12
  that we do not rely on innovation, human ingenuity,
• 1:02:16
  ideas, what's new, what sparkles, what's popular?
• 1:02:20
  Lord, keep us in the ancient paths and help us trust that
• 1:02:26
  Your word is sufficient. So Lord, give us eyes to see
• 1:02:30
  what Your will is in your word. Give us hearts that adore it.
• 1:02:34
  Help us love you Lord, and if there any, anything that we do
• 1:02:39
  do for you, Lord, anything that we do say on your behalf, may it
• 1:02:42
  come from a heart that belongs to you completely.
• 1:02:48
  And so, Lord, at this time, we just want to sing to you and
• 1:02:51
  worship you and honor you. In Christ's name we pray, Amen,
• 1:02:56
  Amen, Amen. Why don't we stand and worship
• 1:02:58
  the Lord? I failed to mention how a has
• 1:03:25
  goes to Syria to get the pattern of a false altar to bring it
• 1:03:30
  back to Jerusalem. Do you remember what Naman the
• 1:03:34
  Syrian did after he was healed by God?
• 1:03:38
  He asked for the dirt of the land of Israel so that he can
• 1:03:41
  bring it back to Syria and make an altar to the true and living
• 1:03:45
  God. And it's really a foreshadowing
• 1:03:47
  of how the Gentiles are going to respond to true worship.
• 1:03:53
  And the Jews, most of them, really would miss it when Christ
• 1:03:57
  would come. The Word of God is amazing, and
• 1:04:02
  I never failed to be amazed at the Providence of God.
• 1:04:05
  Here we are talking about the House of God and the Old
• 1:04:08
  covenant. And this Sunday we're going to
• 1:04:10
  come together, if the Lord wills, to look at what Jesus
• 1:04:14
  wants out of his church in Revelation 2 and three.
• 1:04:18
  What does he want? What does Jesus think about our
• 1:04:21
  church? That's what matters the most.
• 1:04:24
  I can't wait to do it with you. Let's pray.
• 1:04:33
  Help us, Lord, to not forget these things.
• 1:04:39
  Chain them around our hearts. I'll keep them close.
• 1:04:43
  Lord, we pray that we would not forget and that you would bring
• 1:04:46
  them to mind and times where we need the most.
• 1:04:49
  Lord bless this time of brief fellowship.
• 1:04:52
  May we be a company of people always who have burning hearts
• 1:04:55
  because of the Word being open to us.
• 1:04:57
  We thank you for this time. We don't take it for granted and
• 1:05:00
  we look forward to it again. Should you tarry, we pray these
• 1:05:03
  things in the living name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 1:05:06
  Amen and Amen and Amen. The Lord be with you if you call
• 1:05:10
  this place home or if you're visiting this Sunday.
• 1:05:11
  We're glad to be able to see you if the Lord wills.
• 1:05:14
  Take Care now. Have a wonderful night.
• 1:05:16
  God bless you.