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Ahaz · Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

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  Speaker 1: And in the time of his distress did he trespass
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  Speaker 1: yet more against the Lord. This is that King Ahaz.
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  Speaker 1: 2 Chronicles 28.22 Heavenly Father, I thank you that your
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  Speaker 1: story is a story of redemption through brokenness. I thank
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  Speaker 1: you that through Judah's kings, you reveal that you can
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  Speaker 1: still use me through imperfection and shortcomings. I thank you
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  Speaker 1: that through the book of Kings you've shown me that,
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  Speaker 1: if I'm willing, you will work in me and through me.
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  Speaker 1: In the same breath, I praise you for revealing corrupt
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  Speaker 1: kings and their corrupted mindsets so that I can avoid
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  Speaker 1: the traps of the enemy, unlike Ahaz. I decree and
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  Speaker 1: declare that no false idol will get my attention and devotion.
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  Speaker 1: I decree and declare that I will be a tool
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  Speaker 1: in the hand of the Lord rather than a stumbling
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  Speaker 1: block to God's children. I declare that the anointing of
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  Speaker 1: the power of the Holy Spirit is moving through me
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  Speaker 1: so that I am a strong representation of what God
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  Speaker 1: can do through the heart of a willing vessel. In Jesus' name.
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  Speaker 2: Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for praying with us today. Continue your time
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  Speaker 1: with God by listening to today's Bible story. Brought to
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  Speaker 1: you by BibleInAYear.com.
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  Speaker 3: Ahaz. In our last story, we learned about the faithful
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  Speaker 3: reign of King Uzziah. Although he did not finish well,
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  Speaker 3: the majority of his life was spent under the wisdom
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  Speaker 3: and guidance of God. He fortified Judah and protected them
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  Speaker 3: from harm. Then his son Jotham followed by restoring Israel
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  Speaker 3: back to a loving relationship with God. He was a
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  Speaker 3: mighty warrior and a loving king. He finished his time
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  Speaker 3: as king faithfully. Now we learn about one of the
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  Speaker 3: darkest kings Judah has ever known. His evil ran as
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  Speaker 3: deep as the ocean. His idolatry was taken to the
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  Speaker 3: highest of heights in an act against his children. God,
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  Speaker 3: as a result, would not allow for such evil to
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  Speaker 3: go unpunished. Inspired by the book of 2 Chronicles.
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  Speaker 2: I'm so glad you joined us on the Bible in
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  Speaker 2: a Year podcast today. But before we get to today's episode,
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  Speaker 2: I want you to know that I would absolutely love
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  Speaker 2: to send you my daily devotional that will give you
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  Speaker 2: fresh encouragement every single morning and day. From the moment
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  Speaker 2: we wake up to the moment our head finally hits
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  Speaker 2: the pillow, There are thousands of things demanding our attention.
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  Speaker 2: But it's in the midst of all this crush and
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  Speaker 2: hustle and bustle that you and I need peace and
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  Speaker 2: truth in God's Word. That's why I want to help
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  Speaker 2: you spend time each day growing in God's life-giving, life-changing
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  Speaker 2: Word by sending you my free daily email devotional, PowerPoint Today.
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  Speaker 2: So visit jackgram.org to sign up for your PowerPoint Today devotional.
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  Speaker 2: That's jackram.org. In the last episode, we learned about King Uzziah, who,
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  Speaker 2: despite his faithfulness to God in his younger days, became
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  Speaker 2: proud and disobeyed God's commandments regarding the temple. As a result,
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  Speaker 2: he died alone and in shame, kept away from the
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  Speaker 2: house of the Lord because leprosy had consumed him. But
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  Speaker 2: we also heard about his son, Jotham, who followed the
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  Speaker 2: Lord and led with honor and justice all of his days.
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  Speaker 2: He was perhaps the greatest king in Judah since the
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  Speaker 2: days of David and Solomon. Today we'll hear how his
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  Speaker 2: son Ahaz sadly did not share his father's love for
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  Speaker 2: the Lord. He would become one of the most wicked
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  Speaker 2: kings in Judah's history and would commit sins so evil
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  Speaker 2: that God simply could not hold back his hand of
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  Speaker 2: judgment any longer. Let's listen to God's word today.
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  Speaker 3: The story of God is a story of redemption through brokenness.
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  Speaker 3: Judah's kings revealed that God could work through imperfection. Some
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  Speaker 3: kings allowed for God to work in them and through them.
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  Speaker 3: Other kings kicked against the will of God only to
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  Speaker 3: be humbled later on. The story of King Jotham was
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  Speaker 3: a story of faithfulness from beginning to end. However, his
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  Speaker 3: son had an entirely different story. Jotham died after 16
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  Speaker 3: years of being king. He ruled well and continued to
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  Speaker 3: be faithful to the very end. Eventually, The sun set
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  Speaker 3: on his successful rule, and it was time for Ahaz
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  Speaker 3: to take the throne. Ahaz did not share the humble
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  Speaker 3: heart of his father, nor did he have the wits
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  Speaker 3: or bravery of his grandfather Uzziah. Ahaz was a pathetic
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  Speaker 3: and evil man, whose heart was consumed with a great
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  Speaker 3: depth of wickedness. Influenced by the kings of Israel, Ahaz
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  Speaker 3: dabbled in the dark worship of exotic gods. He reveled
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  Speaker 3: in the mystic powers of evil. He tempted God by
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  Speaker 3: destroying life itself. One night in the forest beyond the hills,
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  Speaker 3: he lured his sons in for a sacrifice. They came
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  Speaker 3: under the impression that they were worshipping alongside their father.
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  Speaker 3: The children wandered through the forest without torches to light
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  Speaker 3: their way. The darkness covered the forest, and all they
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  Speaker 3: could hear was the wicked laughter of their twisted and
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  Speaker 3: demented father. Ahaz brought his sons in close and slit
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  Speaker 3: the children's throats as tribute to his pagan lords. Blood
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  Speaker 3: dripped over every tree in the forest that night. Innocent
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  Speaker 3: children were torn apart by their wicked father. This was
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  Speaker 3: the evil God desired to shield his people from. He
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  Speaker 3: would not allow Ahaz to corrupt or kill more of
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  Speaker 3: his children. The Lord rose up an army from the east.
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  Speaker 3: The king of Syria was stirred up to go into
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  Speaker 3: battle with Judah for land and wealth. God bolstered the
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  Speaker 3: armies of Syria and used them as a gavel of
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  Speaker 3: justice upon Ahaz. He also rose up Israel to mount
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  Speaker 3: another attack and claim more of Judah's land. In a
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  Speaker 3: matter of days, Ahaz managed to lose every man of
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  Speaker 3: valor his father had trained. Israel took over 200,000 Judeans captive.
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  Speaker 3: Women and children were claimed as slaves, and the entire
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  Speaker 3: storehouse of the king was raided. Yet God's quarrel was
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  Speaker 3: not with women and children.
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  Speaker 2: It was with the king.
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  Speaker 3: He would not allow Israel to take slaves, so he
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  Speaker 3: sent a prophet to speak out against the commanders of Israel.
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  Speaker 3: He stopped them on their way back home and proclaimed liberty.
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  Speaker 3: It is because the Lord is angry against Judah that
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  Speaker 3: he allowed you to have victory, the prophet shouted. But
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  Speaker 3: that does not mean you are without sin yourselves. God
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  Speaker 3: will not tolerate you taking women and children captive. Turn
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  Speaker 3: back and return them, lest the fierce wrath of God
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  Speaker 3: come upon you. The commanders of Israel's armies responded with humility,
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  Speaker 3: in unexpected yet welcomed reaction. They clothed the captives, fed them,
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  Speaker 3: and led them safely back to Judah. Meanwhile, Ahaz panicked
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  Speaker 3: in his palace. He was not stable. He was irate
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  Speaker 3: and irrational. The Philistines attacked from the east. Ahaz desired
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  Speaker 3: to save his own skin, and therefore reached out to
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  Speaker 3: gain aid. He reached out to Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria.
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  Speaker 3: He pleaded for aid. He wanted soldiers, money, and resources
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  Speaker 3: to restore his nation to stability. Yet he had nothing
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  Speaker 3: to offer Assyria. King Tiglath-Pileser saw Judah as weak and
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  Speaker 3: ripe for raiding. He led his armies to Judah under
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  Speaker 3: the ruse of aid, and then plundered Jerusalem for all
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  Speaker 3: its wealth. This defeat should have caused Ahaz to repent. Instead,
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  Speaker 3: it caused him to press deeper into darkness. He made
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  Speaker 3: sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, the very gods his
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  Speaker 3: enemies worshipped. In Ahaz's warped and twisted logic, he thought
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  Speaker 3: that since they helped his enemies, they would help him.
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  Speaker 3: He was painfully unaware that it was God who strengthened
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  Speaker 3: his enemies to capture his attention. Instead of providing comfort,
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  Speaker 3: they sent Ahaz into a deeper pit of despair. Ahaz
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  Speaker 3: tore up vessels from the house of God and shut
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  Speaker 3: up its doors. He made altars to false gods all
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  Speaker 3: throughout the streets of Jerusalem. He taught them how to
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  Speaker 3: bow to other gods. He led them astray. Yet God
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  Speaker 3: would not allow his people to suffer much longer under Ahaz.
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  Speaker 3: Every king must meet his end. And God would guide
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  Speaker 3: and love his people back into a relationship with him
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  Speaker 3: soon enough.
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  Speaker 2: As we begin today's passage, a new king sits on
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  Speaker 2: the throne in Judah. Jotham had ruled righteously, never turning
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  Speaker 2: from God in his 16 years as king. When he died,
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  Speaker 2: his son Ahaz became king. But rather than follow in
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  Speaker 2: his father's righteous footsteps, Ahaz turned down a very dark
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  Speaker 2: and evil path. His heart was filled with evil, and
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  Speaker 2: he turned to foreign gods, just as the kings in Israel,
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  Speaker 2: Judah's neighbor to the north, were doing in those days.
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  Speaker 2: How sad it is when a person overlooks or even
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  Speaker 2: rejects the godly example of a parent and follows the
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  Speaker 2: pattern of others who seek their own glory rather than
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  Speaker 2: the glory of God. And as Ahaz worshipped other gods,
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  Speaker 2: false gods, the darkness in his soul grew deeper and
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  Speaker 2: deeper and more wicked and immoral. This was not a
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  Speaker 2: man with a divided heart. He was a man fully
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  Speaker 2: given over to rebellion and sin. His wickedness reached its
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  Speaker 2: peak when he murdered his own children and burned them
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  Speaker 2: as an offering to pagan gods. It was a sin
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  Speaker 2: so egregious that God could not allow Ahaz to go
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  Speaker 2: unpunished any longer. We know God is a patient God
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  Speaker 2: and He is full of mercy. But we also know
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  Speaker 2: that he is a holy God and will judge sin
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  Speaker 2: and send consequences to all sin and rebellion against him.
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  Speaker 2: So God caused the Syrian king to go to war
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  Speaker 2: against Judah. He gave Ahaz and his army over into
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  Speaker 2: the hands of the enemy as a judgment for the
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  Speaker 2: evils Ahaz had done. This was not a case of
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  Speaker 2: God blessing the Syrians who themselves were wicked and did
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  Speaker 2: not worship God. This was God in his supremacy and
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  Speaker 2: sovereignty using an outside nation to break his people and
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  Speaker 2: their king. God also stirred up the army of Israel
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  Speaker 2: to attack and claim more of Judah's land. They decimated
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  Speaker 2: Ahaz's army and killed all the brave men who had
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  Speaker 2: served under King Jotham. They also took 200,000 captives, including
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  Speaker 2: women and children. But this was not God's plan, so
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  Speaker 2: the Lord sent a prophet to tell the commanders to
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  Speaker 2: release all of the captives. God reminded the Israelites that
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  Speaker 2: they too were living in sin and would only make
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  Speaker 2: matters worse by taking those innocent lives. Surprisingly, despite their
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  Speaker 2: wicked and wayward ways, the leaders of Israel responded with honor,
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  Speaker 2: saying in 2 Chronicles 28 verse 13, You shall not
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  Speaker 2: bring the captives in here, for you propose to bring
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  Speaker 2: upon us guilt against the Lord in addition to our
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  Speaker 2: present sins and guilt. For our guilt is already great,
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  Speaker 2: and there is fierce wrath against Israel. So they treated
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  Speaker 2: the captives kindly, clothing and feeding them before returning them
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  Speaker 2: home to freedom. It was an act of honor and humility,
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  Speaker 2: demonstrating that there were still some in Israel who feared
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  Speaker 2: the Lord and wanted to please Him. All of this
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  Speaker 2: should have humbled Ahaz, but instead it filled him with fear, desperation,
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  Speaker 2: and even more rebellion. When God disciplines or corrects us,
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  Speaker 2: Or when situations seem desperate, do we turn to Him
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  Speaker 2: in faith and humility, knowing that He can rescue us
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  Speaker 2: and save us from our own sins? Or do we
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  Speaker 2: seek security from the world for those who have no
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  Speaker 2: real power to help us and who may actually wish
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  Speaker 2: us harm? It is an important spiritual truth to learn,
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  Speaker 2: that we always believe and trust in the only God
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  Speaker 2: who can save us and never listen to the world
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  Speaker 2: who does not know Him. Ahaz turned to a foreign nation,
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  Speaker 2: the Assyrians. He wanted their help, but the king of
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  Speaker 2: Assyria saw a weakened nation and foolish king and attacked,
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  Speaker 2: plundering Jerusalem and leaving Ahaz even worse off than before. Still,
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  Speaker 2: Ahaz refused to turn to God. He worshiped the idols
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  Speaker 2: of Damascus, hoping to find favor and success from these
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  Speaker 2: foreign gods. But all he found was more defeat and
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  Speaker 2: despair until he finally died. away from God, and never
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  Speaker 2: tasting the goodness of fellowship with the Lord his God.
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  Speaker 2: He was not the only king that was evil, however,
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  Speaker 2: and the next time we'll hear of God's judgment of
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  Speaker 2: Judah's northern neighbors, Israel. Remind us always, Lord, that you
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  Speaker 2: are the source of our strength and the only source
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  Speaker 2: of our hope. We thank you for your love and
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  Speaker 2: your grace that seeks us and calls us to yourself,
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  Speaker 2: even when we are far away from you. May we
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  Speaker 2: always Believe in you through your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to today's Bible in a Year podcast.
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  Speaker 2: I'm Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas. And before we go,
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  Speaker 2: I want you to know that I would love to
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: send you my daily devotional to give you fresh encouragement
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: every single day. So visit jackgraham.org to sign up for
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: your PowerPoint Today devotional. That's jackgraham.org.