Wednesday Night Service 7PM - II Chronicles 24-25 - Pastor Ryan Nichols

Good evening. If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of 2 Chronicles chapter 24. 2 Chronicles chapter 24. We didn't quite get finished with as far as I wanted to make it last week. So tonight we will conclude the life of this young king named Joash. Just to bring us all back up to speed to remind us. the kings of Judah had taken a really bad turn because one of them had married the daughter of King Ahab.

Her name was Athaliah. And so after Jehoiada, or excuse me, after Athaliah ultimately took over the throne, there was a man named Jehoiada who was a priest. And Jehoiada the priest protected this young boy named Joash. Joash was a year old when he was preserved ultimately from the hand of Athaliah. And so he kept him in hiding until he was seven years old. And when he turned seven years old,

he brings Joash out and says, this is the rightful king. This is the rightful heir to the throne. And so they crowned him king and they put Athaliah to death. And the whole kingdom celebrates because the reign of this Athaliah was put down. And so reforms began to be carried out within the kingdom. And now we come to the conclusion of his life in chapter 24 with the,

the reign of Joash. Notice what it says in verse one. It says, Joash was seven years old when he became king and he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah from Beersheba. And Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. Jehoiada took wives for him and he became the father of sons and daughters. And it came about after this

that Joash decided to restore the house of the Lord. And he gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, go out to the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel to repair the house of your God annually. You shall do the matter quickly. But the Levites did not act quickly. So the king summoned Jehoiada the priest and said, why have you not required the Levites

to bring in from Judah and from Jerusalem the levy fixed by Moses, the servant of the Lord on the congregation of Israel for the tent of the testimony for the sons of the wicked Athaliah had broken into the house of God and had eaten the levy. And he said, we even use the holy things of the house of the Lord for the bales. So this young man becomes king and he starts off really, really well. Starts off great in his kingdom.

And we're given a little hint into what his reign is going to be like because it says all the days of Jehoiada the priest, he followed the Lord. So he's going to start off really well. And the first thing he wants to do is he wants to restore the house of the Lord. He wants to restore the temple, which is kind of interesting because that's where he spent really the first seven years of his life.

Seven years of his life was being hidden there in the temple. And so he probably had a great heart for the house of the Lord. And so he sends out the Levites to collect what's known as the temple tax. Only they don't do it very quickly. That temple tax was to be used originally for the upkeep of the temple. And it was a way of knowing how many citizens were in the land every year.

But of course, during the reign of Athaliah, they were not collecting this tax the way that they were supposed to. So he sends these Levites out. Only he realizes that they're not really doing what they've been told to do. And so he calls Jehoiada in. He says, what's going on? Why are you not collecting this tax? And so it says in verse eight, so the king commanded and they made a chest

and they set it outside by the gate of the house of the Lord. And they made a proclamation in Judah and Jerusalem to bring to the Lord the levy fixed by Moses, the servant of God in the wilderness. And all the officers and all the people rejoiced and brought in their levies and they dropped them into the chest until they had finished. They came about whenever the chest was brought into the king's officer by the Levites.

When they saw that there was much money, the king's scribe and the chief priest and officer would come to him, empty the chest, take it and return it to his place. Thus they did daily and they collected much money. And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the house of the Lord. They hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of the Lord and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of the Lord.

So the workmen labored and the repair work progressed in their hands and they restored the house of God according to its specifications and they strengthened it. When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada and it was made into utensils for the house of the Lord, utensils for service and burnt offerings, pans and utensils of gold and silver. They offered the Lord burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada. So they came up with a remedy.

If they're having a hard time getting out to collect the tax, they put a box, an agape box, if you will, out in front, they drilled a hole in it so that there was a way to deposit money and they sent out word. They said, we want to restore the house of the Lord. This is the vision that we have and of course, once the people got the vision for what Joash the king wanted to do, he had no problem getting them to fill the box with all of the money so that they can make all of the repairs to the temple. As a sidebar, once a vision is laid out and people catch the vision, it's amazing how they tend to run with it.

Exactly what happened with the children of Israel. And so they filled up the box, they brought in the money, they made the repairs and all the days of Jehoiada the priest, everything was going great. Verse 15, and when Jehoiada reached a ripe old age, he died. He was 130 years old at his death. Boy, the stories he could have told after 130 years of serving the Lord.

You just don't hear about that very often. Even at this time in the nation of Israel, people were not living that long. But God blessed him with a good long life. I believe the reason why God blessed him with a good long life is because of the bold stand that he made for godliness and for the line of David. But he had served God faithfully all that time and he was given a faithful man's burial.

Verse 16, they buried him in the city of David among the kings because he had done well in Israel and to God and to his house. And it would be great if the story of Jehoiada, the story of Jehoash just ended right there. And we just said, and they all lived happily ever after. But unfortunately, the story of Jehoash does not end there. It continues in a tragic way.

It says, but after the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and they bowed down to the king. And the king listened to them. They abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and they served the Asherim and the idols so that wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for their guilt. God sent prophets to them to bring them back to the Lord. They testified against them,

but they would not listen. I always wonder how this scene went down. Jehoiada dies. And I bet for a while, Jehoash continued to do what God called for him to do. I bet for a while, he continued to follow after the things of the Lord. After all, it was his idea to restore the worship in the temple and to restore the way that the temple was to be run. But you can imagine,

a few months down the road, some of the other advisors come to him and they say, listen, Jehoash, let's talk. When Jehoiada was here, listen, he was a great guy, but he was a little extreme in his belief, don't you think? He was a little extreme in the way that he approached things. He wasn't nearly as open-minded as he should have been. And listen, we're not saying

what he did was bad. We're saying you could be more popular if you will just bend on some of the things that Jehoiada was... He really wasn't willing to bend on. He really wasn't willing to come and consider what everybody wanted. He was pretty narrow-minded in the way that he thought. All we're saying is, open up some opportunity for some other opinions. And as soon as they did that,

all hell broke loose, literally. Because pretty soon, when he listened to them, and I think that that's an important thing to pay attention to, is that these other advisors came in and he listened to them. And when he listened to them, he gave in to them, and then he followed them, and then ultimately he led them. And this is what you find, is once you allow the voice of the enemy a voice in your head, once you allow what the enemy wants to tell you an opportunity, then the game is over.

A wise man once said, once sin becomes an option, you've already lost the battle. And this is what happened with Joash, is it became an option to become a little bit more open-minded. Well, you know that once you become open-minded, anything goes. And this is what happened here. It says, they abandoned the house of the God of their fathers, and they served the Asherah and the idols.

And of course, God responded. And he brought wrath upon them. He sent prophets to warn them, but they wouldn't listen to the prophets. He'd listen to the advisors, but he wouldn't listen to the prophets. Matter of fact, it goes even farther than that. It says, the spirit of God, verse 20, came on Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest. Remember Jehoiada, the guy that raised him.

Jehoiada, the guy that protected him. Jehoiada, the guy that crowned him as king and mentored him all of those years. Jehoiada's son, Zechariah, comes to Joash, and it says, and he stood above the people, and he said to them, thus God has said, why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord and do not prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord. He has forsaken you.

And so they conspired against him. And at the command of the king, they stoned him to death. In the court of the house of the Lord. Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness which his father Jehoiada had shown him, but he murdered his son. And as he died, he said, may the Lord see and may the Lord avenge. It's interesting how we will probably all say,

well, that would never happen to me. Well, I bet there was a stage in Joash's life where he would have said, that would never happen to me. But it's amazing how once you give sin, and an inch in your life, once you give the flesh an opportunity in your life, it will not be content until it consumes you and destroys the people around you. And so they ultimately put to death this prophet of the, this prophet that was the son of the man that raised him.

It says, now it happened, verse 23, at the turn of the year that the army of the Arameans came against him. And they came to Judah and Jerusalem. They destroyed all the officials of the people, from among the people, and they sent all the spoil to the king of Damascus. Indeed, the army of the Arameans came with a small number of men, yet the Lord delivered a great army into their hands because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers.

Thus they executed judgment on Joash. And when they had departed from him, for they had left him very sick, his own servants conspired against him because of the blood of Jehoiada the priest, and they murdered him on his bed. And so he died, and they buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings. Now these are those who conspired against him, Zavod, the son of Shimeath, Ammonitus, and Jehozabad, the son of Shemreth, the Moabitess.

As to his sons and the many oracles against him, and the rebuilding of the house of God, behold, they are written in the treatise of the book of the kings, and Amaziah, his son, became king in his place. An unfortunate end to what started off as such a great life. Well, let's see how Amaziah does. It says, Amaziah, chapter 25, verse 1, was 25 years old when he became king.

And he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jehoadan of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, comma, yet not with a whole heart. Now it came about as soon as the kingdom was firmly in his grasp that he killed his servants who had slain his father, the king. However, he did not put their children to death because, but did as it is written

in the law of the book of Moses, which the Lord commanded, saying, fathers shall not be put to death for the sons, nor sons be put to death for the fathers, but each shall be put to death for his own sin. Again, we're starting off pretty well. I know in our minds we go, oh my gosh, he started off putting people to death. Yes, but what he did is he executed justice in the moment.

We need to understand that. These men had put his father to death and he executes justice. Matter of fact, he executed justice according to the law. Because custom at that point in time would be that not only would you kill the ones that put your father to death, but you would also kill the ones that put your father to death. So he executed justice according to the law.

He didn't kill his father to death, but you'd kill their kids and their mama and their daddy and everybody else, right? You'd kill the whole dang family. And that's not what he did. He followed the law of Moses, which said you will be held accountable for your own sins. Fathers will not be held accountable for the sins of their sons, and sons will not be held accountable

for the sins of their fathers. Everybody has to pay the price for their own sin. So he's starting off really well. Again, we're given this sort of summary of his life that he did right in the sight of the Lord, yet not with a whole heart. Moreover, verse five, Amaziah assembled Judah and appointed them according to their father's households under the commanders of thousands

and commanders of hundreds throughout Judah and Benjamin. And he took a census of those from 20 years old and upward, and he found them to be 300,000 choice men able to go to war and handle spear and shield. He hired also 100,000 valiant warriors out of Israel for 100 talents of silver. But a man of God came to him saying, O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel nor with any of the sons of Ephraim.

But if you do go, be strong for the battle. Yet God will bring you down before the enemy, for God has power to help and power to bring down. Again, remember, he followed the Lord, yet not wholeheartedly. He built up his army, which is a good thing. And he was getting ready to go, but a battle, not a bad thing. But he hired some soldiers from Israel. That means two things.

Number one, he didn't trust God to really bring the victory. Number two, it meant that he was willing to do anything to win, whether it went along with what God wanted him to do or not. Again, followed the Lord, not wholeheartedly. And so he hires them for a certain amount of money, but again, a nameless prophet. I want to meet some of these nameless prophets in heaven.

Can we all agree with that? Like these guys had the stones to be able to go and say, hey, king, you're not doing what God wants you to do. But God didn't even name them in scripture. That means that these guys are famous in God's eyes, whether they are in ours or not. And so he goes to them and says, what are you doing? God can deliver. Why would you go hire a bunch of heathens to fight God's battle?

Well, of course he responds and says, verse nine, Amaziah said to the man, what shall we do for the hundred talents, which I have given to the troops of Israel? The man said, what shall we do for the hundred talents, of God answered, the Lord has much more to give you than this. I love this because, again, a king who's accounting well, right? He's got a number cruncher in the back going, that's great to obey God, but do you know how much money it's going to cost you to obey God? Do you know how much money

this is going to cost you if you're going to obey? You have already spent all this money. You're not getting any of that money back. And he says, but isn't God able to give you more? Isn't money a pretty trite thing in the eyes of God? Isn't obeying God better than having a little bit of cash in your pocket? God's able to restore that to you. So he makes the decision. He's going to obey

God. I'll tell you a little story from my own life. When we got ready to move down here, we had to sell a house in Johnson County. Now, we did everything exactly wrong in the purchase of that first house. We bought it at the absolute height of the market. We bought it at the absolute height of the market. We bought it at the absolute height of the market. We bought it at the absolute

market. And we sold it at literally the absolute bottom of the market. We lost almost everything we had in savings to sell that house to move down here. Now, kids, I don't know if you know this or not. You're not supposed to lose money when you sell a house. You're supposed to make money off the sale of a house. And I remember thinking in that moment, Lord, if you're in this, why is it

costing me money? And I will never forget what I did in that moment. And I remember thinking, I felt like the Lord ministered to me. Sometimes you have to trust God even when it doesn't make sense. Sometimes you have to trust God even when it doesn't make sense. Matter of fact, I wrote an entire sermon about it. Because honestly, when you look at the people that God

uses and when you see what God does in their lives, they had to trust God when it doesn't make any sense. And that's what Amaziah has to do right here. He has to trust God even though it does not make any sense. And so that's what he does. So he sends all those guys home. Amaziah dismissed them, the troops, verse 10, which came to him from Ephraim to go home. Their

anger burned against Judah and they returned home in fierce anger. Okay, we're going to find out that there's unintended consequences in just a minute. Now Amaziah strengthened himself. He led his people forth and he went to the Valley of Salt, struck down 10,000 of the sons of Seir. The sons of Judah also captured 10,000 alive and brought them to a top of a cliff, threw them down. So they were all

dashed to pieces. So yay, they won the battle. But, verse 13, the troops whom Amaziah sent back from going with him to battle raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth Horon and struck down 3,000 of them and plundered much soil. God gave him the victory, but there were unintended consequences to the actions that he took. Well, Amaziah has followed the Lord, yet not wholeheartedly. And so far it's, for the

most part, worked out. Until we get here. Verse 14. Now after Amaziah came home from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought the gods of the sons of Seir and he set them up as his gods. He bowed down before them. He burned incense to them. The anger of the Lord burned against Amaziah and he sent him a prophet who said, why have you sought the gods of the people who have not delivered their own people

from your hand? As he was talking with them, the king said to him, have we appointed you a royal counselor? Stop. Why should you be struck down? The prophet stopped and said, I know that God has planned to destroy you because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel. This is probably one of the most foolish things a guy can do. You go to war against another country. You defeat that other

country soundly. And then you take the gods from that other country and you bring them back. And you say, the gods that could not deliver them are going to now be destroyed. And you say, the gods instead of the God that actually delivered me. Friends, sin never makes sense. Have you ever watched somebody that's so caught up in their sin and you're like, everybody in the world can see

you're destroying your life with sin and they do not see it. And you're like, why would you keep running back to the thing that keeps destroying your life? Matter of fact, maybe that's you sometimes. Maybe you are the person who just keeps running back to the things that keep destroying your life. And you're like, why would you keep running back to the thing that keeps destroying

your life? And it's like, why would you do that? The whole world can see what's happening. This prophet comes to him and says, let me get this straight. So you brought back the gods that could not deliver their own people from your God. And you have set them up as your gods. And Amaziah looks at him and says, I wouldn't talk anymore if I were you, unless you want to die. And he says,

fair enough. I see that God's chosen to destroy you. And this is what he does. Why? Because he followed the Lord, but not holding back. And he says, I wouldn't talk anymore if I were you, unless you want to die. And he says, I wouldn't talk anymore if I were you, unless you want to die. And he says, but not wholeheartedly. So here's what we have to understand, is that if you don't have a whole

heart to follow the Lord, then you will have a whole heart in rebellion. Half-hearted obedience always leads to wholehearted rebellion. And this is exactly what happens in the life of Amaziah. His heart was always divided between the things of God and the things of the flesh. His heart was always divided between God and sin. And brothers and sisters, unless you choose for God to win, we will always go with a natural bent towards sin, and sin will

win in our lives. Because we will either put it to death, or that's what it will do to us. And so, this is what happens with him. And so he ends up giving into the idolatry. He says, I know God has planned to destroy you because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel. Well, let's go on with the story. So Amaziah, king of Judah, took counsel and sent to Joash, the son of Jehoahaz,

son of Jehu, the king of Israel. Not the same Joash from the last chapter, but the Joash that's in Israel. And said, come and let us face each other. And Joash, the king of Israel, sent to Amaziah saying, the thorn bush, which was in Lebanon, sent to the cedar, which was in Lebanon, saying, give your daughter to my son in marriage. But there passed by a wild beast that was in

Lebanon and trampled the thorn bush. The more I read that, the funnier that statement is. It's like, listen, you have no idea what you're getting yourself into. You're about to get trampled because you're not in my league any longer. This is what happened. You see, Amaziah got kind of lifted up because he won this battle. Matter of fact, he won it without the hundred thousand soldiers from

Israel, right? He's going, I don't even need those guys to win the battle. His heart's already turned away from God because he's turned towards idolatry. And no longer does he have a heart just to defeat God's enemies. His heart is to prove his name. And so he goes to Israel and says, hey, let's have a fight, you and I. And of course, Joash from Israel starts talking some trash. And he's not going to hear that. So notice what happens.

Verse 19, he says, You said, behold, you have defeated Edom, and your heart has become proud and boasting. Stay home. Why should you provoke trouble so that you would fall and Judah with you? But I want you to pay really close attention to verse 20. But Amaziah would not listen, for it was from God that he might deliver them into the hand of Joash because they had sought

the gods of Edom. If you're an underliner, that might be a good one to underline because it says Amaziah wouldn't listen. Why? Why would Amaziah no longer listen to good counsel in his life? Because he had already turned away from God. And this is now from God that destruction would come into his life. There's a point in time when we stop listening to good counsel that God eventually says,

fine, I'm going to turn you over to foolish counsel because God will not force us into doing anything. And sometimes the worst thing that can happen to us is for God to give us exactly what we want. And this is what he does with Amaziah. He goes, okay, you want to go your own way? Fine, go your own way. You're not even going to listen to good counsel any longer. And so this is what

happens. Oh, verse 21, Joash, the king of Israel, went up and he and Amaziah, king of Judah, faced each other at Beth Shemesh, which belonged to Judah. And Judah was defeated by Israel and they fled each to his tent. And Joash, king of Israel, captured Amaziah, king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz at Beth Shemesh. He brought him to Jerusalem and he tore down the wall of Jerusalem.

From the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, 400 cubits. And he took all the gold and all the silver and all the utensils which were found in the house of God with Obed-Edom and the treasures of the king's house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria. And Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived 15 years after the death of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. Now, not only did he defeat their army, he went and he tore down a portion of the wall of Jerusalem. And then he went in and took all of the treasures out of the house of God. And he took

captive some of the people of Jerusalem. And he took Joash captive, according to 2 Kings. Matter of fact, Amaziah would remain a captive of Joash until Joash dies. And then at that point in time, Amaziah is set free and returns to Jerusalem. This is what happens when you stop following the Lord with all of your heart. It says,

Well, let's see how his son does. Chapter 26, And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was 16 years old, and they made him king in the place of his father, Amaziah. He built Eloth, and he restored it to Judah after the king slept with his fathers. And Uzziah was 16 years old when he became king, and he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jechaliah of Jerusalem. He did right in the sight of the Lord, according

to all that his father Amaziah had done. And he continued to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding through the vision of God. And as long as he sought the Lord, God prospered him. We do have a good king here. He's going to have an issue at the end of his life, but we do have a good king. Matter of fact, he's given a very long reign, 52 years. That's a particularly long reign. Matter of fact, one of the more

prosperous reigns of the kings of the southern tribes. You'll find that this king, he's given a king, Uzziah, is spoken of by Isaiah, the prophet. Matter of fact, Uzziah was such a fantastic king that he almost became an idol-like figure within the nation of Israel. It was not until the year that king Uzziah died that Isaiah really had a true vision of God. You can go read Isaiah chapter

six on that. It's a fascinating read to see how God used the death of Uzziah in the life of Isaiah. But this king was great. The first thing that we see about him is that as long as he sought the Lord, he prospered. He knew the real secret. The real secret to success for a king in Judah is the same secret to success for a person living in Ark City, Kansas. Success comes when you seek

the Lord. That's how you prosper in your life. It doesn't mean you'll have all the riches and wealth in the world, but it means you'll have real riches and wealth that come through the knowledge of God. And so we find that he's a builder, and that he was a warrior, and he was a He went out and he warred against the Philistines. He broke down the wall of Gath and the wall of

Jabna, the wall of Ashdod, and he built cities in the area of Ashdod and among the Philistines. And God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabians who lived in Gerbaal and the Ammonites. The Ammonites also gave tribute to Uzziah, and his fame extended to the border of Egypt, and he became very strong. I love this about Uzziah. He said, Because Uzziah was zealous for the Lord, and he took out after God's enemies. He was a man who was

not content to sit back and protect what he had. He wanted to extend the kingdom. He was a man who had a kingdom mentality, and he was willing to go out and do what it took to take ground for the Lord. He took the fight to the enemies of God. And again, I'm going to speak especially to us as men in here, that one of the great things that we need to do is we need to learn to take the fight to the

enemy. Too often, we're content to sit back and wait for the fight to come to us. And what God is calling us to do is to take the fight to the enemy. That means that if you have the truth, that you need to be bold and stand on the truth and be willing to move with the truth of God. Because what you'll find is that while Uzziah was a great warrior as far as extending the kingdom of Judah, we have an

even greater weapon in our hands, and that is the Word of God. The Word of God is powerful. And the Word of God is able to change the lives of people. One of my favorite things is when we have those Gideons come and they share. And they share what God's Word does in the lives of people. Because you'll find that a Bible placed inside of a hotel room or inside of a hospital or in a prison

will be more powerful than any drug. It can be more powerful than any weapon. It can be more powerful than anything that there is, because God's Word will change the lives of people. The life of a man or a woman who is lost in their sin, make them alive in Christ, and turn them into not only a believer in Jesus Christ, but someone who is able to advance the kingdom of God. That's

what the truth is able to do in the lives of people. They told me about a young lady that's going to give her testimony this weekend, and I can't wait to hear her share because I watched a video that she posted on Instagram that sort of shared her story and the fact that she was a she prepared it specifically for her testimony, but it shows her life before she came to know Jesus. And it's filled with a lot of alcohol and partying and a whole lot of lost. And then it shows the moment that she was baptized. And now her life completely changed after that.

And after that is her carrying her Bible, going to church, worshiping God with her friends, and she's a completely different person because of it. And I cannot wait to hear her story. This young lady share her testimony because I've seen the video, but I'm ready to read the book. And I'm so excited because that's what the power of God's word is. And this is why I don't

understand why we as Christians are so scared to share the truth. Why we sit back and we go, well, I don't, they might not agree with it. They probably won't agree with it because God's word changes minds. They'll probably hate it at first, but don't be scared to advance with the truth. Listen, you can, you can either sit back and wait for a lost world to come find you, or you can go out and take it.

That's the choice we have as believers in Jesus Christ. I've made my decision. Somebody asked me, they said, why, and I think I've shared this before. They said, why on earth did you choose a time in your life when you're busier than you've ever been to decide to take on a role with Fellowship of Christian Athletes? I said, because when I talked to a good friend of mine,

his name's Gary Larson. He's also a pastor and an FCA leader over in Eastern Kansas. He said, I realized something. He said, I realized that the harvest is ripe. And I thought I can either sit back and wait for the harvest to show up in my church, or I can go to the harvest. And I've chosen to go to the harvest. And brothers and sisters, I don't know what that means for you, but that's what we need to do as the church,

because we have this treasure hidden in an earthen vessel, and God wants to break the vessel and let the treasure flow. This is exactly what Uzziah does. When he's walking with God, he is advancing the kingdom. It says, And then he built towers in the wilderness and hewed many cisterns, for he had much livestock, both in the lowland and in the plain. He also had plowmen and vine dressers in the hill country

and fertile fields. I just love this about him, for he loved the soil. He was a man of the earth. Listen, I don't know anything about farming, but I do know about turf, and I love the soil. And I just love this about this guy. He was a king, but he was a man who was real. It says, And the total number of the heads of the household of valiant warriors was 2,600.

Under their direction was an elite army of 307,500 who could wage war with power to help the king against the enemy. Uzziah prepared for all the army shields, spears, helmets, body armor, bows, and slings, and stones. In Jerusalem, he made engines of war invented by skillful men to be on towers and on the corners for the purpose of shooting arrows and great stones. If this really is catapults, which is what it appears to be, historically, this would mean that this was some of the earliest inventions of the catapult in all of history. So kind of a fascinating thing to pay attention to

there. It says, Hence, his fame spread far. For he was marvelously helped until he was strong. Again, could we just end the chapter there? Could it just stop right there? And we're all like, yay! He was a great king. He did great things. He was marvelously strong. But we can't. It says, But when he became strong, his heart was proud, and he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful

to his God. I want you to notice those three phrases. It says, It says, He was proud, he acted corruptly, and then he was unfaithful. But where did the corruption and the unfaithfulness to God begin? It began with his pride. Where did his pride begin? When he was strong. Listen, God bless the times of struggle in our lives, because the times of struggle in our lives

keep us on our knees and humble, and we don't like the times of struggle, but they're the safest you ever are. As far as the kingdom of God is concerned. Because in the times of struggle, all you do is go, Lord, I just need you right now. The most dangerous times that we have in our life are times of success. Because in times of success is when we are tempted to forget the Lord.

We become strong, and we become proud, and then we become corrupt, and then we become unfaithful. And this is what he did. He said, And Azariah the priest, or excuse me, verse 16, middle of verse 16, For he entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest entered after him with 80 priests of the Lord, valiant men, and they opposed Uzziah the king and said to him, It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense.

Get out of the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful and will have no honor from the Lord. But Uzziah, with a censer in his hand for burning incense, was enraged. And while he was enraged with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the altar of incense. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous on his forehead.

And they hurried him out of there. And he himself also hastened to get out, because the Lord had smitten him. I don't know about you, but I can think of a whole lot worse things someone could do to be corrupt and unfaithful to the Lord, right? At least in our human minds. We go, he didn't have an affair. He didn't kill somebody. You know, none of those things.

He wasn't worshiping idols. He just went into burned incense when it wasn't really his job. What was the problem? Again, the problem was in his heart. Because in his heart there was pride. See, there was always supposed to be a division between the king and the priest. Because anybody that had both the political and the religious power could ultimately be corrupted, because it would make them more powerful than they should be.

Only one who is perfect could have both political power and religious power. And he was corrupt. And his name is Jesus. Other than that, there was always supposed to be a separation. You see, in the heart of Uzziah there was pride. And that pride made him say, I don't need a mediator. I can be my own. And it led him into the temple to offer sacrifice. And even when he was warned, what are you doing?

Eighty priests. And they're going, dude, this is a bad idea. You should not be doing this right now. And he did it anyway. And in that moment, leprosy broke out all over him. Why? Because leprosy is a picture of the corruption of sin. See, the corruption that was inside of him now showed all over the outside of him. And the pride that was eating him alive from the inside

turned into leprosy that would eat him alive on the outside. It says this, in King Uzziah, verse 21, was a leper to the day of his death. He lived in a separate house being a leper, for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. And Jotham, his son, was with the king's house, judging the people of the land. Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first to last,

the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, has written. So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the grave which belonged to the kings. Excuse me. Yeah, they said, he is a leper. And Jotham, his son, became king in his place. Well, as I got to thinking about these three chapters, I thought, surely we can bring a little personal application

out of three very sad chapters. Can we all agree with that? So, what we just saw is we saw three men who started off well, but they did not finish well. Because each of them had an issue. And I think that each one's issue is something that we should pay attention to because these are all issues we could potentially have in our lives. So, how do we not become like Joash and Amaziah and Uzziah?

How do we not become like Amaziah and Uzziah? How do we overcome that? Well, I wrote down three things, one from each of their lives, that I think that we need to pay attention to. Number one, from the life of Joash, we need to have authentic faith. We need to have authentic faith. Did you notice what happened with Joash? It started off really well, because when he started off,

as long as Jehoiada was alive, he followed the Lord. When Jehoiada died, he stopped following the Lord. Why? Because he did not have authentic faith. He did not have a faith that was his own. He had a faith that belonged to Jehoiada. What about you? I've actually challenged every single one of my FCA groups with this this week. What about you? Is your faith in a pastor?

Is your faith in your family? Is your faith in your parents? You name it. Or is it your faith? Your faith. I had a young man come to me one time. He's a very good friend. A young man. He's not that much younger than me now. Felt like it at the time, but he's not really. And I remember him coming to me and saying, I need you to stay strong, because you're who keeps me strong.

And I had to look at him and say, you better find someone else, because I'm going to let you down, buddy. You see, your faith can't be in me. Your faith can't be in the favorite podcast that you listen to. Your faith needs to be in Jesus. Because here's what happens. If your faith is in a pastor, if your faith is in a person, and something happens in that person's life,

either they pass away or they fail in some sort of a way, what's going to happen to your faith? Well, it's going to pass away or fail with them, right? That's why we have to have authentic faith that's built on my own relationship with the Lord. A.W. Tozer in his book, Pursuit of God, presents this perfectly. When he says, too many Christians are content with a Sunday prayer,

they hand me down, instead of hearing directly from the Lord themselves. Don't get me wrong. I want you to show up on a Sunday morning, and let me teach you, but let that be the beginning of your pursuit for the rest of the week, not the end of it. When you show up here on the first day of the week, or on a Wednesday night, and you hear me give the word, let that be a springboard for the rest of your week for you to pursue God for yourself.

Because my regurgitated knowledge is not enough for you. You need it for yourself. And my favorite thing that I ever hear from anybody is when they say, hey, guess what? I just bought a new Bible, and a whole new set of pens, and a journal, and I can't wait to get into what God's word has to say. I become giddy when people tell me things like that. I first of all ask them what kind of Bible it is,

because I geek Bibles. But then I'm like, I'm really excited that they're going to get into it for themselves. Because I just want to know that your faith is authentic, not based on me. Number two, from the life of Amaziah, we need wholehearted faith. We need wholehearted faith. This seems to be a theme all the way through Scripture. And I'm going to say it again.

Half-hearted faith will ultimately lead to wholehearted rebellion. Because that's just the way that it is in our lives. Because we are so naturally bent towards sin, that if we are not wholeheartedly following Jesus, we will always give in to our natural bent. So there has to be a wholehearted commitment to the Lord. And listen, that means every day there is a renewal of the commitment.

Every day there is a renewal of my heart being committed to the Lord. Because you know how backsliding happens? Backsliding happens when you go two or three weeks without a wholehearted commitment to the Lord. You had that moment where it was wholeheartedly committed, but then life starts happening, and it's got to be an every day, moment by moment, commitment to the Lord.

Because otherwise you'll get pulled away by the world. The weight of the world is strong. And the only way to be set free from the weight of the world is to release it with a wholehearted commitment to the Lord. So, number two, you need a wholehearted faith. You need an authentic faith. You need a wholehearted faith. But then number three, from the life of Uzziah,

you need humble faith. You need humble faith. If there's nothing in your life that is keeping you on your knees before the Lord because everything is going great in your life right now, then you have to decide to remain on your knees before the Lord. Then you have to humble yourself before the Lord. I praise God for the times in my life where I have been forced to my knees

because there was nothing else I could do. But I also praise God for the times in my life where I have to do that for myself. Where I have to say, Lord, everything's going really great right now, which is the scariest moment in my life. So, Lord, keep me on my knees before you. Luckily, God's really good at not allowing that to happen too often. But we have to maintain that humble faith before the Lord.

A friend of mine sent me this little picture yesterday, and it said something along the lines of, when God gave you your calling, he knew that it was too big for you so that you would remain humble before him. And I remember thinking, that's a true story. Matter of fact, that's what that person said to me. They said, this is so true. And I just sent back, amen.

Because that's the way life is. God wants us to remain humble before him. So keep that humble faith before the Lord. I don't want to hear about any of you, and I don't want you to ever hear about me. He started off so well. She started off so well. But somewhere along the line, something happened. So let's keep our faith authentic. Let's keep our faith wholehearted.

And let's keep our faith humble. Amen. Father, we come before you, and Lord, heavy things sometimes in your word, and we need to hear them. And so Lord, I pray that today would be a renewal of our commitment to you, a renewal of our pursuit of you. And Lord, that we would know the grace that you have for us. But Lord, that we would also respond by wholeheartedly following.

And so Father, we praise you for who you are. And Lord, just ask you to draw us near to you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.