The End of a Kingdom

Good evening. How are you all doing? Good to see you. Y'all want to just stand with me and I will open us up with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, I just thank you, Lord, for just bringing us together, bringing your body together in one place, Lord, to worship you with music, to worship you in word. Lord, I just pray that you would just be here with us in this place. Lord, you tell us

that where two or three are gathered in your name, Lord, that you are here with us. And we just claim that promise this evening, Lord. I just pray that you would just draw us into your presence and speak to us through your word. In Jesus' name. Lord, as we just continue in our relationship with you, just continue to reveal us your grace in new ways. Thank you for every good thing,

Lord. We would have nothing to praise you with if it weren't for you, God.

Lord, for being so great and so reliable, I just pray that, Lord, as Ryan brings your word this evening, God, that you would just speak through him and that your spirit would just help us to understand and apply your word to us. Good evening. If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of 2 Kings chapter 17. 2 Kings chapter 17. The title of the message this evening is The End of a Kingdom. Because tonight we will see the end of

the northern kingdom of Israel. And so we pick up in chapter 17, verse 1, and it says this. In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, Hosea, the son of Elah, became king over the Israel in Samaria. And he reigned nine years. He did evil in the sight of the Lord, only not as the kings of Israel who were before him. Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against him, and Hosea

became his servant and paid him tribute. The king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hosea, who had sent messengers to the king to sow king of Egypt. And he had offered no tribute to the king of Assyria as he had done year by year. So the king of Assyria shut him up, and the king of Assyria invaded the whole land. And he went up to Samaria, and he besieged it three years. And in the

ninth year of Hosea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and settled them in Hala and Habor on the river Gozan in the cities of the Medes. If you remember from chapter 15, this Hosea, remember I told you you needed to kind of keep his name in your mind, because he would be the last one to come. He would be the last one to come. He would be the last of the kings of the northern kingdom. He actually conspired against the current

king at the time, whose name was Pekah. And he put him to death. He had him assassinated, and he began to rule and reign in his place. And we're given an interesting commentary on Hosea. We're told that he did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like some of the other kings of Israel. And it's kind of interesting to think that perhaps this was not the depth of the nation of Israel. And yet,

even though he was not as bad of a king as some of the others, God's patience with the nation of Israel, especially the northern ten tribes, had come to a close. And so, through a series of events, Hosea found himself, first of all, in a place where he had to pay tribute, or in other words, he was taxed by the king of Assyria. He paid him off to keep him from taking over the land. And as he was paying him off to take over the land, eventually he had this idea.

The idea was, perhaps he could get out from underneath of the thumb of the king of Assyria, who had already taken three of the tribes of Israel that were on the east side of the Jordan River. He'd already taken over three of the tribes of Israel, but he thought, maybe I can find an ally that can ultimately bring victory. And so, what he did is he sent to this so-king of Egypt, and he tried to make an alliance with him. Only, it was sensed by the king of Assyria that this conspiracy had begun to take place. And actually, you might just write Hosea chapter 10 in the

margin of your Bible, because in Hosea chapter 10, you might just write Hosea chapter 10. Hosea chapter 10 is actually where some of this is prophesied and where some of this is dealt with. We won't turn there, but just something for you to kind of keep in mind some of the things that were taking place in the prophetic world at this point in time. And so, this conspiracy was noticed by the king because he'd stopped paying his tribute. Now, it's interesting who Hosea went

to for help, because Hosea went to the king of Egypt. Now, in biblical typology, Egypt always is the world. So, essentially, Hosea, king of Israel, when he found himself in trouble, rather than running to God like he was supposed to, instead ran to the world for the help that the world could potentially bring him. And what we find is that when you run to the world for help, the world has nothing to offer. It has no way to help you, because the only way that you can

truly seek help is if you find it in the Lord. And so, the king of Assyria, only takes Hosea captive, but he besieges the land of Samaria. And he besieges it for three years. Now, we're not given a lot of detail here as to what that would have looked like, but that would have been a pretty ugly situation, because the Assyrians were a very cruel people. And so,

they besieged the land for three years. And at the end of the three years, they were able to take captive all of the nation of Israel. Again, not given a lot of details here, but according to history, we know a little bit about the way the Assyrians treated their enemies. And when it says they were taken captive by the Assyrians, it was a pretty ugly process, because the Assyrians, when they led people captive, they would lead them in a long string of individuals, and they would actually use fish hooks and line to run through the jaw of their enemies in order to lead them captive. You see, this is what happens when a nation finds themselves turned away from the

things of God and pursuing the things of idolatry, that if you pursue the idolatry, eventually you have to pay the consequences that go along with that idolatry. This is exactly what happens with the nation of Israel. And so, as we see them taken captive, we're now given a little bit of a commentary on what led them to this place. If you will, it's a little bit of a legal edict by God. It's his list of complaints against the nation of

Israel that brought them to this place. And this is where we'll actually spend the most of our time this evening. The title in my Bible is Why Israel Fell, but the title that I've given it to you today is Why Israel Fell, and I'm going to read it to you today. It says in verse 7,

It says in verse 7, It says in verse 7, Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. They set for themselves sacred pillars and asherim on every high hill and under every green tree. And there they burned incense in all the high places, as the nations did which the Lord had carried away to exile before them. And they did evil things, provoking the Lord. They served

idols concerning which the Lord had said to them, You shall not do this thing. Now, as I read through this and did some studying, I just kind of took note of something that as the writer of the book of 2 Kings was laying these things out, did you take note of the verbs? I know this isn't grammar class, but let's think about it this way for just a minute. Did you take note of some of the verbs that were used in here? Because that's what I took note of in God's indictment

against the nation of Israel. So, I made a list of a handful of them, not all of them. So, if you're a grammar teacher, please don't give me an F on this. It's not all of the verbs, but it's the ones that I paid attention to. The first one that I noticed is it says that they sinned against the Lord in verse 7. They sinned against the Lord. That word sin literally in the Hebrew there means

to miss the mark. They had missed the mark that God had set for them. And as they sinned against the Lord, I want you to notice how the Lord is described here. It is the Lord God who had brought them up from the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. They sinned against him. They missed the mark. Why did they miss the mark when it came to the way that they served the Lord? Well, remember, he had

told them to serve me and me only, that you can't have any other gods before me, that you can't make for yourselves any graven images. And yet, what had the children of Israel done? Well, that brings us to the second verb. It says that they feared other gods. They feared other gods. Again, that word fear is kind of an interesting word. The word fear means to reverence or to be in awe of.

We could substitute a word there. And the word that we could substitute there is we could substitute the word worship. They worshiped other gods. And it was interesting as I was reading Chuck Smith on this today, he really spent a great deal of time talking about this. And I thought it was kind of interesting because he said the same thing that we talked about Sunday, that everyone worships

something. We are by nature spiritual people. Therefore, we are by nature people who worship, and we will all worship something. You will either worship God, or you will worship the things which he has created, the things which God had intended for good, but when perverted and turned into something evil, it becomes that which draws us away from the God who created them. We're told in the book of Romans, which we're just finishing up in our daily

reading, we're told that they worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. It says that they feared these gods. And as they feared these gods, they reverenced them. And so, we're told that they worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Now, I want to ask you, what is the question for you tonight? And I realize that most of us sitting in here are believers in Jesus Christ, but I do have a question for you. What do you worship in your life?

What holds the throne room of your heart? I know the answer that we would all want to say. We would all want to say that God sits on the throne of our heart, that God is the one that we ultimately worship, that God is the one that we reverence, that God is the one that we are in awe of, that God is the one that we fear. But I also know that we're all humans by nature.

And while we have a brand new nature in Christ, we still bear the marks of the old sin nature in the flesh that we wear. And as we wear this flesh, we all have a tendency to still desire to put idols on the throne of our heart where only God belongs. Now, this is a question that you can only answer between you and the Lord. This is a question that can only be answered in your own personal prayer closet, in your own personal time with Jesus as he points out areas of your life where something else has taken the throne of your heart where only God belongs.

There's a fascinating story in the book of Genesis that sort of goes very similar to this. And it's towards the end of the life of Abraham. It's really the last great test that Abraham faces, right? The last great test that Abraham faces is that Abraham is confronted by God or instructed by God to take your son, your only son Isaac, and offer him on the altar as a burnt offering.

Now, I believe that this was absolutely a test of Abraham's faith. It was a great show of the faith that he had. And it was also a great typology of the Savior that was to come. But I think at the very base nature of what God was asking Abraham to do is God was asking Abraham to take the one thing that could potentially sit on the throne of his heart and offer it to God.

To make sure that the thing that sits on the throne of your heart is not your son, your only son, Isaac, but that the thing that truly sits on the throne room of your heart is me. That's what God was asking him to do. And so again, my question for you is this. What sits on the throne of your heart? Because I would say that Abraham, who's the father of faith,

would have said that God sat on the throne of his heart. But I bet you in those three days that it took for him to walk from where he was encamped to the mountain where he was supposed to sacrifice his son, he had to do serious business between him and the God that he served as to what truly sat on the throne of his heart. What was the problem with the nation of Israel? They sinned against the Lord who had delivered them from Egypt and they feared the other gods.

The next thing I noticed is that they, verse eight, they walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the sons of Israel. And in the customs of the kings of Israel, which they had introduced. I tried to find some sweet meaning behind the word walked and you know what it means? It means they walked. I just think it means that's how they live their lives.

They live their lives according to the customs of the nations that God had driven out before them. And do you know what the one thing that they were told when they came into the land? Don't walk in the customs of the nations that I will drive out before you because if you walk in the customs of the nations that I'm driving out before you, I will do the same thing to you. That I am doing to them.

But they had walked in the customs of the nations that God had driven out before them. And it reminds me of that great Psalm. Psalm one, blessed is the man who does not walk in the council of the ungodly nor stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the seat of the scornful. It's interesting that that same verbiage is used, that's used right here in 2 Kings chapter 17.

The next thing that I noticed is that they built high places and sacred pillars. There's a few things that led up to that. It says in verse nine, they did things secretly which were not right in the sight of the Lord their God. And can we all just remind ourselves that nothing is done in secret? Oh, you may not know about it. Your friend may not know about it.

I may not know about it. But God knows everything. And that, and that, which is secret in our hearts, as J. Vernon McGee used to always say, is open scandal in heaven. They did these things secretly which were not right against the Lord and they built for themselves high places in all of their towns and they set for themselves sacred pillars on every high hill and under every green tree

and there they burned incense on all of the high places. And I want you to take note of what it says. In all of these things provoked the Lord, to anger. All of these things provoked the Lord to anger. The last thing that I noticed is that they served idols. That's the last verb that I noticed. They served idols concerning which the Lord has said, you shall not do this thing.

This is God's list of sins that they had committed. But I want you to notice what God did because God was gracious even in his judgment. God was patient even in his judgment. Notice what it says in verse 13. Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah through all of his prophets and every seer saying, turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments, my statutes according to all the law

which I commanded your fathers, in which I sent to you through my servants, the prophets. God warned them. Do you know when the warnings actually began for the nation of Israel? The warnings actually began for the nation of Israel before they ever crossed the Jordan River. Do you remember that? In the book of Deuteronomy, before they ever crossed the Jordan River,

before Joshua ever took over for the children of Israel, before they ever entered the promised land, God warned them. He said, if you do according to the customs of the land, if you abandon me and go after other idols, there were three main things that I will do to you. Number one, I lost my place here. Number one, you will be defeated in war. Number two, you will face oppression and slavery.

And then number three, you will be taken captive. Those were the warnings that were given in the book of Deuteronomy. By the way, the book that every king was supposed to write down. When he came into power, according to the law. And so the warnings began, but they didn't just end with a warning in the book of Deuteronomy. God was faithful to send godly men

who would deliver a message, an unpopular message that would land them on hot water, an unpopular message that would make them have to follow a very narrow path in the things that they did. God was faithful to send prophets and to send seers, those who would preach the message and say, repent. Because God is gonna bring this judgment if you don't repent. Matter of fact, do you know how long God was patient with the nation of Israel?

Through the process of 19 kings and 200 years. That's how long God was warning the nation of Israel. That if you don't repent, there's going to be judgment. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure that anybody that gives me 200 years to repent, I would call that pretty patient, right? And that's how long he gave them. And that's what God did for the nation of Israel.

And you think anybody that could see that kind of patience and saw those kinds of warnings and all of the things that were taking place, you would think that they would turn from their sin. And yet what we saw was more rebellion. Notice what it says in verse 14. That's never good in the Bible. However, they did not listen, but they stiffened their neck like their fathers

who did not believe. And the Lord, their God, and they rejected his statutes and his covenants, which he made with their fathers. Just the reading of that statement, they stiffened their neck. I remember as a young man in Bible college, I didn't think too much about that statement, that phrase. But now that I've had kids, I know exactly what that means, right?

If you ever tried to pick up a kid that does not want to be picked up and they like stiffen their neck and they stiffen their body, they fight you with everything in them. I had a wonderful time going to lunch with Shiloh and his family. He's got a little three-year-old girl and I remember having three-year-olds and she was fun. I loved her to death, but she's a three-year-old, right?

And I thought it was great. They didn't always like the way that she acted at the restaurant. And sometimes there was a stiffening of the neck, just like happened with my girls when they were that age. And that's what the nation of Israel did. And it's one thing when you see a three-year-old do it. It's another thing when you see a 53-year-old do it, right?

When you see somebody who knows better stiffen their neck, not a three-year-old. Not at some individual, but at the things of God. And I'm here to tell you right now, I've watched it happen and it's a really, really scary thing to see. They stiffen their neck and they rejected his statutes and his covenants, which he made with their fathers and his warnings, which he had warned them.

And they followed vanity and became vain and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the Lord had commanded them not to do like them. If you're an underliner, maybe that's a great line to underline. And they followed vanity and became vain. The Christian Standard Bible and the NIV both translate it this way, and I think it's the preferred translation.

It says, they followed worthless idols and became themselves worthless. That word vain means empty or worthless. And so they followed worthless things. And in turn, they became worthless themselves. Can we all just realize something? We become like that which we worship. I asked you just a few minutes ago, what sits on the throne of your heart? I will tell you, whatever sits on the throne of your heart

is what you will become like. Because we become like the things that we are the closest to. We become like the things that sit on the throne of our heart. And if what sits on the throne of our heart is the Lord, then His love and His grace and His patience and His truth, that will flow through us. But if what sits on the throne of our heart is anything, anything of this world, it's worthless.

And we in turn will ultimately become worthless. We just need to know that. You can't get away from those consequences. You can't get past those consequences. Because you will ultimately become like the thing that you spend the most time serving, that occupies the most of your mental processes. They followed vanity and they became vain. Verse 16. And they forsook all the comforts of the world.

Verse 16. And they forsook all the comforts of the world. Verse 16. And they forsook all the comforts of the world. And they followed two commandments of the Lord their God. And they made for themselves molten images, two calves. And they made an Asherah and worshiped all the hosts of heaven and served Baal. And they made their sons and their daughters pass

through the fire. And they practiced divination and enchantments and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him. There's that word again. They provoked him to anger. Essentially they followed sorcery. They followed witchcraft. And you know what it all started with? It all started with two golden calves. David Guzik in his commentary pointed

this out, and that was a fantastic point. They started off with a false worship of God, and it ended with them worshiping false gods. That's why your theology matters. That's why your understanding of God's Word matters, because if you have a false understanding of God, it will ultimately lead you to false gods. I've watched this happen over and over again. I've shared with you about my friend

that I used to do ministry with who started to have a false understanding of God, and now he is following a false god, because that's where it started, and that's where it always ends. That's why our theology is really important. It's because we have to make sure that we're lining up with God's Word, because if we don't line up with God's Word, then we start to veer off. It's like the ridgeline, right? I'm watching a lot of roofers right now. Everywhere I go, there's

roofers. I'm still getting lots of calls from roofers that a lot of people would still really like for me to hire them. I have chosen a roofer for myself. I didn't put it on ESPN, although I felt like I should have. It felt like a draft pick, but in the first round, I did choose one, but I'm watching lots of roofers right now, and if you watch them, they get

real careful when it comes to that ridgeline, right? Because in this much space, you don't notice if you get off 16th or an eighth of an inch, but if you go about 30 foot, and you're off 16th of an inch on every single shingle, pretty soon you're down at the bottom of the roof, because if you don't start right, you can't finish right. If you don't keep it right, you won't finish right. You have to make sure that you keep the baseline, and that's what God's Word is for, is to constantly bring us back to the baseline, to make sure that we are lined up with where we need to be. Like I said, sometimes God's Word makes me angry. You know why

God's Word sometimes makes me angry? Because it tells me I'm wrong. It's like, this is where you're wrong in your thinking, and I have to remember it's okay for me to be a little bit angry, because let God be true, and let me be a liar. Let God be true, and let every man be a liar. That's what it says in Scripture. And so, they started off with golden calf worship, which was just a false worship of the true God,

and it led them into the worship of false gods. And notice what it says, God's reaction. So the Lord was very, verse 18, the Lord was very angry with Israel, and he removed them from his sight. None was left except the tribe of Judah, and Judah didn't keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but they walked in the customs which Israel had introduced. And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, and afflicted them, and gave them into the

hand of the plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight. And when he had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the Lord, and he made them commit great sin. The sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam, which he did, and they didn't depart, until the Lord removed Israel from his sight. As he

spoke through all his servants, he said, I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to take away your whole life. I was purchased by God and can never leave you." I'm not talking about what I'm asking you, so I'm giving you a scripture, a gospel scripture that will tell the story when people were driven out to this country inоль. Re Maxwell was part of Jehovah's Witnesses. Of course the Jewish Sepulchre

into idolatry because this is what's going to happen it would be the nation of Judah but by the time we're done with the book of 2nd Kings we will find that they land themselves in the exact same spot because sometimes a negative influence is still not good enough to keep us from the things of the flesh the only thing they can do that is a personal daily commitment to following the Lord well we see now the relocation of the of the nation of Israel says in verse 24 the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from that place and from all the and from Hamath and from Sephirvah and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons of Israel so they possessed Samaria and

lived in its cities this was the custom of the Assyrian people at this point in time they would take especially the nobles from the land and they would relocate them to other places throughout the kingdom many of the children of of Israel found themselves in both Babylon and the cities of the Medes and the Persians, which would have been the area of Iran. They were basically relocated to Iraq and Iran in modern day terms. They were relocated to those places, and they would take people from Assyria and other lands that they had conquered, and they would move them into the land. And this was for a couple of reasons. Number one, to show that Assyria really is in control of these things, and they have no

control over what's going to happen in their lives. But number two, it strips them of their sense of nationalistic pride to prevent the uprising of a nation. You see, if you spread the people out, if they don't have the community, then they don't gather together to rise up against them. And that's what the nation of Assyria did. That was how they overcame their people.

And so the nation of Israel finds that they are spread out throughout the land, throughout the Middle East there, and other people are moved in. So you have some Jewish people that are left there, and you have many from other countries that are left there. And so this is what takes place. At the beginning of their living there, they did not fear the Lord, which makes sense.

Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations whom you have carried away into exile in the cities of Samaria do not know the customs of the God of the land. So he sent lions among them, and behold, they kill them because they do not know the custom of the gods of the land. So the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Take there one of the priests whom you carried away into exile, and let him go and live there, and let him teach them the custom of the God of the land. So one of the priests whom they had

carried away into exile from Samaria, and lived at Bethel, taught them how they should fear the Lord. But every nation still made gods of its own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made, every nation in their cities to which they lived. Now I'm just going to be really honest with you. There's certain sections of the Bible that there's just a great big question mark on for me. This is one of those sections, and I'm going to tell you

why I have a great big question mark on it. I have no problem believing that God sent lions throughout the land, because at that point in time, the nation of Israel was in so much decay, and anybody that came in brought in the false worship of God, and that is God's chosen land. It was supposed to honor God and everything that was to take place there, and now there's all of this idol worship that's going on to an even greater degree. So God just sends a bunch of lions in there to bring even more judgment upon the land.

I have no problem believing that, although can you imagine what that must have been like? Can you imagine what it must have been like to be like, oh shoot, there's a lion. Oh great, there goes that. And so everybody's going, man, we got a problem here. Like there's just lions all up in this mix, right? There's just lions all over the place. I think it's because we're not doing

what the God of their land wants us to do. Because remember, the Assyrians are idolatrous people, they thought that gods were locational at that point in time. So the God of the land of Israel was angry that he wasn't being worshiped properly. So they're like, we have a great idea. Let's go get one of the priests, and we'll bring him back. And he can teach how they're supposed to worship the

God of the land, and maybe everything will be good. So they go and get one of the priests that they had relocated. Here's the problem. Were the priests that they relocated good? No. They were the priests of the false gods that Jeroboam had set up. They were the priests of the false gods that Jeroboam had set up. And so they go back to the location of the false worship, and they teach them

how to fear the Lord. Probably some blending of the worship of the golden calves and a little bit of the law. So here's where I have a question mark. Why didn't the lions just stick around? Right? They're still not doing what they're supposed to do, because this priest teaches them the worship of God. But did you notice what it said? Let me read it to you again. Verse 29.

But every nation still made gods of its own, and put them in the houses of the high places, people of samaria had made every nation in their cities in which they lived do you know what zero commentators uh made any sort of comment about why the lions left because what we're going to see take place within the nation of israel right now is what we call it's a really big fancy word it's called syncretism syncretism is where you combine the worship of god with the worship of other gods because they worshiped and served the lord the way that the priests taught them to do it but they're also worshiping these gods which they've created notice what it says it says so

the men of babylon verse 30 made sukoth banoff the men of kuth whatever you call that made nargal the men of hamath made ashima the avites made nibhaz and tartak and the sepharvites burned their children in the fire too dramalek and namalek the gods of sepharvaim they also feared the lord and appointed from among them priests of the high places who acted for them in the house of the high places they feared the lord and they served their own gods according to the custom of the nations from among whom they had been carried away into exile and to this day they do according to the earlier customs they do not fear the lord nor do they follow their statutes or ordinances

or the rules of their religion and so forth being composed by the gods of the nations of the gods You see, they learned the worship of God, but they continued to worship their own gods. They combined the two together. And we sit and listen to that, and we go, what sort of a perverted religion is this? What sort of perverted religion combines the holiness of God with the unholiness of all of these other idols that they're supposed to follow?

You know what? I have an answer for you. Western culture Christianity. See, this is the danger in Western culture Christianity today, is that we get enough of God to feel good about ourselves, but not enough of God to change our lives. We get enough of God to feel good. Maybe you show up to church on a Sunday, and you say, yeah, but I go to this church, and I worship God.

Well, what do you do the rest of the week? Well, I worship my flesh. See, that's what all those other gods are. They're just the worship of the flesh. They're just the worship of the things of the flesh. They have a name, and they have ordinances, and they have incense that you burn, and all that kind of stuff. But can we just strip all of that ritualism away

and just realize that it is just the worship of the flesh? And before we say, that's every other person out there, yes, all of those other Christians are so bad, should we not maybe take a look at ourselves?

Should we not maybe take a look inside of our own hearts and say, where do I have this syncretistic way inside of me? Where do I have this, we'll use a term used today, cultural Christianity inside of me, where I believe in God, but not so much that it changes my life? Where I believe in the Bible, but not so much that it affects my lifestyle? Where I worship God, but not so much that it cramps my style and makes me make any sacrifices in my life?

You see, we can condemn these people all we want to, but if the same is true of us, who are we to condemn? I think we should always start here first. And I think that every believer, myself included, has to do this. I think we have to take points in time in our lives, just like where we ask what sits on the throne of my heart, we have to ask, where do I combine the things of the world with the things of God?

Where do I combine the worship of my flesh with the worship of God? Because God is calling a people to himself that are holy. God is calling a people to himself that are set apart. I've referenced it before, but there's a fantastic book. If you ever have a chance, you should read it. It's by R. Kent Hughes. It's called, Set Apart, Calling a Worldly Church to a Godly Life.

Now, I don't agree with 100% of everything that he says in there, but I agree with about 98% of it. Because it's a fantastic book that will really rock your world and make you think about some things. But we have to be careful when we look at this and say, how evil these people were, to not also take a minute to look inside of ourselves. So we find that to this day, this is what was going on in the nation of Israel.

And they were doing the very thing that God said not to do. But I'm gonna read verse 36 and 37 again. But the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt, maybe I never got to that far. I don't know, I got confused. But the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power, with an outstretched arm, him you shall fear, him you shall bow yourselves down,

and to him you shall sacrifice. The statutes and the ordinances, the law and the commandment you shall not forget, nor shall you fear these other gods. But the Lord your God you shall fear, and he will deliver you from the hand of your enemies. He said, that's what they should have paid attention to. That's what they should have listened to. However, there it is again, they did not listen.

But they did according to their earlier customs. So while these nations feared the Lord, they also served their idols, their children likewise, and their grandchildren, as their fathers did, so they did to this day. It's a pretty tragic chapter. It's a sad chapter in the book. It's a sad chapter in the Bible, right? You all have sullen looks on your faces right now.

I have a sullen look in my heart right now. So I want to end with one thing that may hopefully bring just a little bit of joy to you. I think I had them put it up there. I highlighted it. God was still not done with Israel. I think we need to remember that. Do you realize that this nation that is about to be cast off, there's a remnant that remains? Do you know what we're going to learn in the next few chapters?

And then we learn it again in 2 Chronicles. What we learn is that when Hezekiah became king, which is during this time, when the Assyrians are besieging Israel, when the Assyrians are beginning to mount up and attack against Israel, he called for a Passover feast. And do you realize that many from the northern tribes of Israel came down to the southern portion of Israel and began to worship the Lord there in Jerusalem? I'm about to tell you a story.

I believe that there was a remnant, even within those 10 tribes, that were scattered at this point in time that will end up coming back after the Babylonian captivity. That after the Babylonian captivity, when the southern two tribes of Judah and Benjamin come back, we know that the other 10 tribes come back as well, at least a portion of them. And God was not done with the nation of Israel because God would still bring the Messiah through the nation of Israel, even though they were absolutely apostate at this point in time. And then, and it's still in this day, it's not done with the nation of Israel.

Again, we just read this in Romans 9, 10, and 11. I have no idea what replacement theology people do with Romans chapter 10 when it says, is God done with the nation of Israel? Perish the thought, I am of the tribe of Benjamin. I don't know what you do with that. And do you know why I point that out to you? Because if you have found yourself in a place where idolatry has taken over your heart,

if you have found yourself in a place where you go, you know what, I am kind of mixing the things of God with the things of the world. I'm worshiping God on Sunday and Wednesday with every other part of the week. I'm worshiping my flesh. I want you to know that God's not done with you. The only reason you hear warnings like this, the only reason I hear warnings like this

is because there's still an opportunity. There's still an opportunity to repent. Because as long as you live on this side of eternity, there's still an opportunity for you to turn away from those things. And God's not done with you yet. See, that's the beautiful thing about grace. Is that grace doesn't care how far you've gone. Grace only cares that you come back.

Grace only cares that you return and that God will shower grace upon you. I don't know why I've seen this all over my Instagram feed this week. And it's the Prodigal Son thing. It says, the story of the Prodigal Son tells us this. It doesn't matter how far you've gone. All that matters is that you come home. And I don't know who needs to hear that tonight. I don't know who needs to hear that the most important thing

that you're gonna hear tonight is God. I don't know who needs to hear that the most important thing that you can do is come home. But somebody needed to hear that when you come home, God doesn't hold all those things against you. Do you remember how the father in the story of the prodigal son reacted, right? The prodigal son memorizes the speech the whole way home. Like, dad, okay,

here's the thing. I've done too much. I'm not worthy to be your son. But man, if I can just be one of your hired servants, that's all I really want to do. I just want to be one of your servants, a bond slave, if you will. I want to be one of your servants. So let me just come back and be one of your servants. And he rehearses it over and over again in his mind until he hits the road

and he finally hits the driveway, right? Dad was rich. It was a long driveway. That's the way I see it in my own mind. So he finally hits the driveway, the long gravel-covered driveway. And as he's walking, he's continuing to rehearse that statement in his mind. And what he realizes is he sees his dad. Okay, here it is. Only he sees his dad drop everything.

And he sees his dad start to run to him. And before he can get that memorized speech out of his mouth, it says his dad ran to him and he hugged him. And he said, my son has come home. That which is lost has been found. And that's such a beautiful thing about God's grace. And that's what I want to remind us of at the end of this. Is sin ugly? Absolutely. Do we need to abandon it with every fiber of our being? You bet.

But God's not done with you. Yet. Amen. Father, we come to you now. And Lord, I thank you for, as always, warnings like this in Scripture. Lord, they're so hard to read. It's been a painful week to study through this. But Lord, I know that you only give us these warnings because you want to see us walk strong with you. And so, Lord, whoever needs to hear it, may you do your work in their heart.

And Lord, may they come running home. And Lord, for those who feel like they have gone. Too far, done too much. And Lord, just have a hard time resting in the grace that you have showered on them. Lord, may they begin to grasp every little bit of the grace that you have shown them, that they may know that you are not done with them, but that you want to use them in a powerful way.

And so, Father, we thank you for who you are in Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.