2 Kings 16 Bible Study (Ahaz Reigns in Judah) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

If you have your Bibles, please meet me in second Kings chapter 16. And as you turn there, I want to testify that I feel a little bit more inspired this Friday evening. And I'll tell you why. Because there have been, different things I was reading in the scriptures this week, but one particular passage has been my focus of meditation. And they are the words of Jesus Christ, specifically in the gospel of Luke when he was helping those two destitute disciples on the road to Emmaus.

And he said something there in Luke twenty four twenty five to 27. And I so wanted to, meditate on these truths that I had to memorize it and take it with me wherever I was going throughout this week. In that passage, he finally looks at those two disciples of his and he says, oh, foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures concerning himself.

Two things stood out to me. Number one, it was the word all. It appears three times. All, all, all. And what moved me was that the Lord Jesus Christ handled all of the Word of God.

Saw profit in all of the Word of God. Interpreted and applied from all of the Word of God. Second to that, the Holy Spirit was very specific in saying how he handled the Word of God. In that, he interpreted it to them. And that word interpret is very plain.

What Jesus did is he came to the scriptures and he brought up the meaning of the word of God. So Christ didn't, just simply reference a few verses. He wasn't general in how he pointed to a certain passage. He would take a text and he would break it down and translate it in a way that was understandable. And why that moved me was the outcome of it.

Because when you scroll down to verse 32, those two same disciples reflected on their encounter with this man, who was mysterious at first, but then later revealed that he was indeed the resurrected Christ. And they admitted, did not our hearts burn within us? When he talked with us, not just when he talked with us, when he opened to us, what? The scriptures. It was the interpretation of the scriptures that caused a flame to grow in their hearts.

That burned away all the cobwebs of apathy and weariness, of unbelief. And that's what we endeavor to do here in this church, to interpret the Word of God with the hope that our hearts would burn within us every single time we encountered the Word of God. And so just meditating on that, I couldn't wait any longer for this Bible study. Hoping that even in an obscure passage like this, we would experience something supernatural. That the presence of God would be more real to us because of the Word of God explained to us.

Amen? Well, can we ask him for that? Lord, we thank you for this time together, and we, Lord, believe in the power of the scriptures. But, Lord, we are also aware that we need the power of the Holy Spirit. So we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that you would save this meeting from becoming a flat, stale lesson.

Instead, we pray for life changing truth. We want to see Christ. We want to know his wisdom, his character, his heart. And Lord, we trust that you will guide us step by step in this study. In his name, we pray these things.

Amen. Well, last week, we briefly examined the biographies of several kings in rapid succession all within a single chapter. But as we approach second king 16, the brisk pace that we experience will come to a sudden halt. The reason for that is because this entire section is designated to a single king. It's as though the author of this book, back in chapter 15, put the pedal to the metal.

And as we come to the beginning of chapter 16, he slams on the brakes. Evidently, there's something that he wants us to see here carefully. He slows things down, so that we can observe certain traits and truths connected to this one ruler by the name of Ahaz. And this is significant because Ahaz is recognized as one of the most shameless and infamous kings in Judah's history. If you're hoping for a more spiritual scenic and encouraging route, I'm afraid to tell you that's not gonna happen.

We are going to see something very discouraging. And I know last week we were trying to digest this horrible montage of one failing king following another. But we have to trust in the wisdom of the Holy Spirit that though this will be a heavy chapter, it is for our good. There is something here for us. And that's what we have to do.

We have to honor this text for what it says. And there are gonna be familiar things that we see with Ahaz, but there's something that stands out about him. And it's in the last 10 verses of this chapter. We're gonna try to fulfill all of this text, and it's in the later part of it that we see something unique about him. But we can't rush there just yet.

So let's now begin the first three verses of second Kings 16. In the seventeenth year of Pekah, the son of Ramaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah began to reign. Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done, but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.

There's a massively important truth found in these first three verses. There are many things that we can say, but I just wanna drive home one thought. Good fathers don't always produce good sons, And bad fathers don't always produce bad sons. We're reminded right out of the gate who Ahab's father was. Jonathan.

We looked at him again last week, but let's be reminded what kind of king he was back in chapter 15 verse 34. Jonathan did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that his father Uzziah had done. That's a rare occurrence. You would expect then that his son Ahaz would follow in the steps of his pious and righteous father, But we don't see that, do we? No.

Quite the opposite. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. And remember, this is a king of Judah and he's imitating the kings of Israel. And one of the things that we mentioned last week that's worth repeating is that godly influence does not always promise godly imitation. Parents need to know that.

Parents who love Christ and honor his word and live for his glory, they need to be comforted because I can tell you've had conversations with those who are thinking I must have done something wrong. I must not prayed enough or or set a good enough example or have amazed my children enough with God and what it's like to walk and worship God. That's not always the case. You have many instances where people make their own choices. Despite what's before them, the flesh is that persuasive.

The environment that we are in in this generation is that powerful. Satan is that tricky. So it's not only a truth for parents, it's a truth for pastors and leaders in the church as well. Those who make disciples, even though you may not be an elder in a church. As much as you hope that your example and that the fragrance of Christ that rests on you would inspire absolutely everybody under your influence, that's not always the case.

If people sat through the best preaching in the person of Jesus Christ and walked away wanting to kill him, don't be so overwhelmed when people do not respond to your passionate presentation of truth or how you walk in that truth by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Good fathers, good leaders don't always produce good sons. That's not to say that there is no impact or potential opportunity in the presence of the righteous, but it doesn't guarantee it. On a more encouraging note, one is not bound to continue the legacy of ungodly influences as well. Where do I get that from?

Well, when you consider who Ahaz's son is. So scroll down to chapter 18 and look at this familiar name in second Kings 18 verse one. In the third year of Hoshaiah, son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah began to reign. Look at verse three of that chapter. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that David, his father, had done.

Now when was the last time? We're getting ahead of ourselves here, but when was the last time you and I read about a king, even a good king, who did what David had done. Hezekiah will prove to be one of the greatest kings in Jerusalem's history. One of the great reformers of the Southern Kingdom. Ahaz was his dad.

How does that work? Well, it just reminds us that you should never believe a lie that the lack of guidance or Christ like example growing up is a justifiable reason to remain defeated in your spiritual growth or in your ineffectiveness. And I've heard this from people. If only I had a godly father. If only I had a believing mom.

If only I had a better crowd in my life, especially in the formation of my early years. If only, if only, if only, what would I be now? What would I look like now? Would I have to deal with this trauma or these habits or this frame of mind? And And if you're not careful, if you think about what was lacking in your life, you will always remain immature.

And you allow unbelief to callus your heart and never trust that God is able to bypass all of that lack and work directly in your heart, and do miracles in you. Hezekiah destroys any excuses. And I'm not here to condemn you. I'm here to encourage you. Don't look back and say, what if?

Look up and say, please do a work in my heart if you did it in this man, who had every right and excuse, so to speak, of walking in evil. Oh, surely you can do it in me. Surely you can help me walk righteously and make an impact for the glory of God. Now let's move on, shall we, in chapter 16 verse three. He did these despicable things.

And we've seen in many occasions that these kings in the book of kings have similar accounts in the book of Chronicles, namely second Chronicles, and it's no different for this man. What you find in Kings here is quite jarring, but it gets even worse when you consider second Chronicles 28. We don't have time to turn there, but here's what you'll find about Ahaz in second Chronicles 28. That he also resurrected Baal worship. And here we read that he burned his son as an offering.

But in the mirroring account, we learned that he burned his sons, plural. So he sought to essentially exterminate his descendants as an act of worship. You'll find that in chapter 28 verse three of second Chronicles, which made me wonder. If Ahaz had this evil ambition, how did Hezekiah come about? Have you ever wondered that?

Where did Hezekiah come from if according to second Chronicles, he burned his sons up? Well, you have to come to second Kings 18 when we study it. We'll consider it further, I'm sure. As if this wasn't twisted enough, Ahaz surpasses the preceding kings in yet another way with his evil deeds. It's found in verse four.

And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. We've seen this picture of these high places, the mention of these high places on so many occasions. But here's where it's different. With many of the kings, including the good kings, these high places, which were really convenient stations of worship that distracted people from going to the one place that God designated for worship, namely the temple, they were just tolerated. They were ignored.

They weren't adequately dealt with or addressed. So many kings would just let them be. They didn't really deal with them. Ahaz takes it a step further. He doesn't just ignore them.

He participates in them. He himself sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. This man is vile. This man is wicked. Same is between a good father and even a godlier son.

And when I came to this point in my personal reading, I thought to myself, how much longer can this go on before there is divine intervention? When will God step in and stop the madness? Look at verse five. Then Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Ramallia king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. It's not surprising that an invasion was on the horizon.

What may be shocking is that this is Jerusalem. But still, God already warned his people that if you continue in rebellion, the final stage of judgment is that I will have four nations come and ransack, take over everything, and even pull you out of the promised land. But here's what's more surprising, is the last part of verse five. You have a coalition. You have Israel that's so wicked now that they're partnering with Syria to actually come against Jerusalem.

But notice what it says here. They could not conquer him. Why is that? Is this another instance of the Lord allowing things to get so bad so that Ahaz would realize the trajectory of his ways and then repent and give himself over to the Lord? Perhaps, but I think there's something deeper going on here.

And you're gonna find the answer in another book of the Old Testament. Can you guess what book that is? Good guess. But I'm thinking of another book. What book speaks about Ahaz in great detail apart from second Chronicles?

Isaiah. Isaiah chapter seven. Did you know Isaiah was a prophet during this time? And God sent Isaiah to Ahaz to give him a word. A word of what?

You ready for this? Encouragement. Isaiah seven verse one. Let's read. We're gonna read six verses in a row here, so pay attention.

Don't allow yourself to get distracted. It's going to be worth it. Isaiah seven verse one. In the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Ramaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. When the house of David was told, Syria is in league with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

And the Lord said to Isaiah, go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear sha Jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the washer's field. Pause. God knows exactly where you are. See how specific that is? Just a thought.

Verse four. And say to him, be careful, be quiet, do not fear, do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Ramallia, because Syria with Ephraim and the son of Ramallia has devised evil against you saying, let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves and set up the son of Tabiel as king in the midst of it. I have a lot of questions. Don't you? Let's try to answer the main one.

Why is the Lord God comforting and reassuring a man, a king who gave every reason not to expect it, who didn't deserve it. We're not talking about Hezekiah receiving a promise of deliverance. Ahaz, A man who burned his children alive. A man who was worshiping false gods and God sends a great prophetic voice to him and says, don't be afraid. They're not gonna succeed.

Be at rest. Simple answer, I guess, the grace of God. But I think we're given enough detail to know that it's more complex than that. It's It's not just the grace of God. I believe the reason why the Lord is ready to step in in this way is because of the presumptuous ambition of these kings.

Look back at verse six, especially the last part. Says here that the king said, let us go up against Judah and terrify and let us conquer it for ourselves and set up the son of Tabula's king in the midst of it. It's that part that makes everything clear. Because you see, the goal of Syria and Israel was not just to destroy Judah. It was to overthrow the Davidic dynasty and to put a king of their own choice on that throne that has been promised to David and his sons.

So what you have here is two kings, not just threatening Ahaz, but challenging the promise God made to the house of David. Whether they realize it or not, they were not just coming up against a city. They were waging war against the character of the Lord Almighty. God made a promise to this house. And we have to look at the spiritual element of this.

This is Satan with yet another attempt to try to delete what God said and prove to the world that he can't keep his word. Do you see the deeper meaning to this? Do you see now why God is stepping in? There's something greater at stake here. You have a very real threat attempting to sever the Messianic line.

And God is not going to allow that to happen, and so he's going to step in. And we see here that these two nations are, again, not trying to just complete a military feat. They're trying to undermine the redemptive purposes of the Lord. That's what's happening. And it's in this very passage where you and I find one of the most quoted messianic prophecies concerning the birth of the savior.

Right? Look at verse 13. And I hope understanding the context makes this passage so much sweeter to your soul. Isaiah seven thirteen, and he said, hear then, oh house of David, is it too little for you to weary men that you weary my God also? Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign.

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. So you pluck that out and you quote it around Christmas time and people are warned by the thought that this was a prophecy given seven hundred years before the time of Christ. But leave it in its context and see how profound this prophecy is. That the Lord is not just approaching Ahaz to promise him deliverance. Look very carefully because there's a lot of debate about what this prophecy really entails.

Here's a clue in verse 13, and he said, here then, oh house of David. He's not just speaking to Ahaz because you have a lot of people attempting to say that this prophecy deals with what was going on merely seven hundred years ago under Ahaz's administration. No more than that. It's nothing to do with the Messiah, supposedly. But here's my first clue.

Isaiah is speaking to the house of David. To the dynasty of David. To the seed of David, so to speak. And what does he want to say? He wants to reassure the house of David that in this frightening time and in any time, God's promise will be kept and it will be known through the birth of a supernatural child.

In other words, this child, he will secure and he will fulfill God's promise to David, because later on in Isaiah nine six with that same theme in mind, he adds to who this child will be. Doesn't he not in verse six? That a child will be born and a son will be given and he will what? Increase the government and of peace there will be no end? And this child, out of all these amazing titles given to him, the one that stands out, I believe, the most is the fact that he will be mighty God.

He'll be mighty God. So how this fits with the story is that, House of David, you have nothing to fear now and you never have any reason to fear because there's a child coming who will fulfill my promise. And that's our Christ. So there's a deeper war going on here. There's something beyond the surface that we are supposed to grasp.

That's why God steps in for his name's sake ultimately. Let's come back to second king 16. Shall we? How is Ahaz going to respond to this prophetic word? To the kindness of God, the mercy of God?

Well, it's here in verse six. At that time Rezin the king of Syria recovered Elath for Syria and drove the men of Judah from Elath and the Edomites came to Elath where they dwell to this day. So pause. It's not as though, Ahaz was not gonna be chastised at all. You go to this and you see expounded in second Chronicles 28, they suffered a lot.

They lost a lot of their citizens. They lost some land. So the Lord isn't just winking at this man's sin. He promises and he protects the Davidic dynasty, but he allows Ahaz to be punished. It gets worse.

Verse seven. So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath pileser, king of Assyria saying, I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria, from the hand of the king of Israel who are attacking me. Instead of melting at the mercy of God, instead of hearing this word from Isaiah and saying, I'm so foolish. Look at my lineage.

Look at my ancestry. Look I'm I'm a son of David. And crying out to God to receive his help, he turns to a wicked nation. And look at the desperate language he applies. I am your servant and your son.

This is what he says to the king of Assyria. If only he had said that to the king of the heavens. And so many thoughts ran through my mind at this juncture and the main one that came to me is this, no man is truly autonomous. We all serve someone. We all serve something.

And the choice is yours, who your master will be. And I'm aware that there might be some here, more likely people who will watch us later that would object. What nonsense. I am a servant to no man. I'm the master of my faith.

I am the captain of my soul. I call the shots. And I respond to that on the basis of the authority of God's word, that one of the things that sin does to deceive us is make you think that you have boundless freedom, when in fact you're a slave. You think you're free. You're actually a prisoner to your corrupt nature.

The Bible speaks about us being a servant of one or two things. You're either a servant to sin or you're a servant to God. Those are your options. And even if you think you're serving self, you're serving sin. That's exactly what's happening.

And here's what you have to do. Please listen carefully. If you believe that there is relief or help outside of surrendering to the Lord Jesus Christ, you can expect the same outcomes that we see here with Ahaz when he throws himself at the feet of a wicked master. What happens next? Look at verse eight.

Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. So this man, in order to persuade Assyria to come to their defense, depletes his own resources and strips the treasures out of the house of God. Because there is always a cost to having a master over your life apart from Christ. Always. And it's a heavy price.

There always is. And here's what blows my mind about Ahaz. If he had just looked to the Lord and said, I am your servant and I am your son. He could have saved all those resources. And more than just save them, God would have gladly added to them.

This is the difference between Christ as our master and any other master. We're gonna expound on that in a moment, but I wanna let you know that this is a promise that the New Testament makes for those who choose Christ. Can I remind you of Romans six twenty two? It's worth highlighting, but it has this language in it concerning slavery, namely slavery to God. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, Paul says, what's the outcome of that?

The fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. Now when you hear slave, what things come to mind? Somebody's a slave to someone else. You think of loss. The loss of freedom.

The loss of integrity. The loss of joy. But Paul clarifies when you're a slave of God, you gain. You win. You receive.

The fruit is what? Sanctification. A spirit empowered work and transformation in your life. You inherit that power. You inherit that promise and here is the end of it, eternal life.

How can you lose? You can't lose. And so we see here that to be a slave of God, you win. And that's why those apostles in the beginning of their letters, they unashamedly said, we're bond servants of Jesus Christ. We're bondservants of Jesus Christ.

We're bondservants of Jesus Christ. Because they wanna say one of two things. One, they wanna say, this is my loyalty to him. I'm a slave. I'm I'm forever owned by my God.

And two, he is a worthy master. He gives you the choice. Take my yoke upon you. Take it. You can refuse it.

Take it. And when you put it on, you realize this is light. This is light. This isn't heavy. And so we see here that this man chooses otherwise, and it's so sad to witness because it only gets worse.

That's not the only outcome of choosing another master. Verse nine. And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir, and he killed Rezin. Here's what you can expect if you so choose to submit yourself to someone apart from the savior.

You can expect deceptively profitable results. Not just profitable results, deceptively profitable results. What happens here? He pays the price. He bribes Assyria.

Assyria steps on on his behalf, goes to war with Syria, defeats the king of Syria. What can be more permanent in a victory than that? So you wonder if Ahaz thought to himself, it worked. It worked. I didn't have to give up my sin.

I didn't have to repent. I didn't have to confess that I'm this or that. I I just turned to a powerful nation. I paid them and they're able to do this. Who needs God?

Well, what we're gonna be reminded of is this, that sin oftentimes, when it is indulged, when it is pursued, is sweet, but it will eventually turn sour. Always. Always. And it's not until you go to second Chronicles 28 where you see that take place. Now let's turn to the parallel account.

I want you to see the playbook of sin. Because when Ahaz said to Assyria, I am your servant and your son, what he was essentially saying was, we as a kingdom wanna become a vassal state. We are subjugating our kingdom to the partial ownership of your kingdom, Assyria. So essentially, what he does is he allows Assyria to put a leash on his neck. And notice what happens in second Chronicles 28 verse 20.

The added commentary of this outcome. So Tiglath pileser king of Assyria came against him, him being Ahaz by the way, and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. For Ahaz took a portion from the house of the Lord and the house of the king and of the princes and gave tribute to the king of Assyria, but it did not help him. It didn't. It was temporary reprieve.

It was short lived. I've yet to have anybody show me, point to me, somebody who has walked away from the Lord Jesus Christ and we're better off. Do you know somebody? Prove it. Show me.

I've never seen it in these twelve years of walking with Christ. Oh, don't be fooled by the social media post. They don't come to church anymore. They're not serving the Lord anymore, but they're all smiley with their filters in a place that you know no Christians has no business being at. With people that no Christian has any right according to the word of God associating with.

And they look all dandy and they look all comfortable and they look like they're having a grand time. You can't yoke yourself to another master and know true joy and know true strength and know true help. You'll never see it. And it's in second Kings 16 where we're reminded of that. How Assyria will weaken Ahaz and will bring Judah to a new law.

And this is where I believe Ahaz stands out. Verse 10 of second king 16. When king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And king Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar and its pattern, exact in all its details. And Uriah the priest built the altar in accordance with all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus.

So Uriah the priest made it before king Ahaz arrived from Damascus. This is shocking. So now Ahaz makes his way to meet with the king of Assyria, I'm sure to thank him. And when he comes into that region, Damascus, something catches his eye. An altar, obviously dedicated to a false deity.

And there's debate here. Was this an Assyrian altar? Presumably because Assyria invaded and took over and perhaps to pay homage to their God, they set up this altar and worshiped on it in this land? Or is this plainly an altar that was belonging to the Syrians? And why that's up for debate is because when you go to second Chronicles 28 and you don't have to turn there, you read explicitly that it was an altar dedicated to the gods of the kings of Syria, not us Syria.

If it's us Syria, then you have King Ahaz deceived and thinking, oh, it's it's the the gods of the Assyrians that brought about this victory. If it's an altar dedicated to the Syrians, then you just have another case of a darkened mind. What happens when a man long enough turns his back on the Lord? It skews his judgment. Imagine, I'm going to replicate this altar that the Syrians had in worship to their God, when their God clearly could not deliver them.

We underestimate how sin can make people stupid. And we look out in the world, we say, how are they doing that? How are they believing like that? How are they acting like that? Such is the consequence of sin.

It it scars and it mars and it muddies and it blurs. And so you look at it, you're like, it just doesn't make sense. And that's why some people think it's more Assyria because they just, they can't fathom how he would take the Syrian altar to his home. Well, we can believe it because that's what sin does. It impairs you.

Either way, we see that this man is wanting to copy paste this altar and bring it to the house of worship in Jerusalem. This is staggering. And I don't know what's more shocking and disappointing, the king who made this request or the priest who complied with it. Gone are the days when temple ministers in Jerusalem would stand up to tyrannical requests of kings to meddle the affairs of Israel's center of worship. We've seen in our study how in different occasions, priests would stand up to kings who try to interfere and tamper with the temple, risking their lives in doing so.

And you would hope that this would be another case of it. And what do we find? Uriah the priest bending over. Giving over to this man's disgusting request. And this morning, I was meditating on this text and my mind went to another passage of scripture, not anywhere near here, back in Exodus.

And you know this. You don't have to turn there. In Exodus 32, when the leader of the people of Israel is on a mountaintop communing with God, receiving instructions for this covenant nation. And in the impatience and the feverish lust of the nation of Israel, they turned to Aaron, who was the high priest. Up and make for us gods.

What did Aaron do? He complied. If you aspire to be a leader in the church, listen very carefully. You have to be continually on guard and you have to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit because pressures will come from all sides to amend how God ought to be worshiped. And that pressure may come from governmental leaders like Ahaz or may come from the very people that you're trying to lead into pure devotion, like in the Exodus with Aaron.

Whether you are a parent or a pastor, stand your ground and honor God's word no matter what it cost you. Because one compromise will always lead to more. That's what we're gonna find out. How do we see it in the story? While he requests that this altar would be built, now let's look at verse 12 of second King 16.

And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it. Hold on. Hold on. What are you doing?

He went up on it, look at verse 13, and burnt his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. Apart from this being a foreign altar, you have now Ahaz believing he can operate as what? A priest. Have we seen any king try to act like a priest before? Uzziah.

Did it go well for him? This is dangerous play here. You're flirting with death. Oh, there's so many things that we can say about this passage, but let me just make one observation. Here you have a man who is anti God, anti repentance, anti true worship, but he seems very very interested in spiritual matters.

Do you see that? For a man who doesn't want God, doesn't want the word of God, doesn't honor the prophetic word, he's heavily invested in religious affairs. Don't you see this elaborate description? He gave this offering and that offering. He wanted, out of all the things that he took out of Damascus, he wanted an altar built.

What's the lesson here? You have many people today who claim to be spiritual and religious. That doesn't mean that they know God. That language is being thrown around all the time now. Means very little these days.

And here's where it hits closer to home. It's a sobering lesson for us that you can be so preoccupied with religious activity and be so far from God at the same time. Isn't that right? What about Herod? We're told that Herod heard John the Baptist gladly.

Preacher, I love when you preach your sermons, man. You get me thinking. You you inspire me. Oh, you can think and you can inspire on your way to hell. If you have not repented Yes, Lord.

And put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. You can be in front of an altar every weekend. Yes. You can lift your hand and put it in the bucket and raise you can do all of that and still don't know God. Here's Ahaz.

If If you didn't know who this man really was in psalm adidas, you would think, wow. Look at all those offerings. Wow. Look at all the investment. Surely, he's a spiritual man.

No. He was a wicked man. He was a wicked man. And so we have to understand what it truly means to be born again, transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and giving to the Lord what he truly asks of us, faith. And from that place of faith, regeneration and the Holy Spirit working in us to offer true and pleasing sacrifices to him.

So we see this man preoccupied with these things, but it gets worse. Let's come back to our main text in verse 15. And king Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest saying, on the great altar, burn the morning offering and the evening grain offering and the king's burnt offering, and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering, and their drink offering, and throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be made for me to inquire by. Now here's what's amazing. He asked of this after something he said in verse 14.

Because we we assume here that this altar was made. We don't know exactly where it was built, but verse 14 clarifies its new location. And the bronze altar that was before the Lord, he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of his altar. What do we make of this? We remember the tabernacle that was laid at the temple.

When you walk through that east gate into the temple courtyard, the first thing you would see is this bronze altar. And on that bronze altar is where all the main animal sacrifices took place. And that's why it's so important to read through Exodus, especially where God gives specific instructions about not just what's to be built, but where it was to be built. Where it was supposed to be stationed. What materials it was to be made of.

And that's what we see here, that it was supposed to be the first thing that somebody would witness. Why? Because God wanted it to be the first message that you would know when you walked into his presence. I'm a sinner and I need atonement. I need something, someone to stand in my place to receive judgment on my behalf.

That's the first message that you're to get. And what does this man do? He removes the altar, tucks it away in the corner, and replaces it with this brand new altar. This is a madman. He's thinking to himself, I think that the temple needs a fresh change, a touch up if you will, an update.

And he feels liberty to maneuver and remodel the house of God. And here's the warning for us. Please listen very carefully. Innovation and syncretism are always at the front door of the church waiting to rearrange the household of God. And oftentimes, they make subtle advancements.

Notice that Ahaz didn't destroy the bronze altar. He just moved it. Right? He just moved it. And I argue that churches and ministries do the same today.

Meaning, they don't outright cancel core tenants of our faith, clear doctrines in the word of God. They just make false ones more central. And so the emphasis of their message and their efforts is no longer what God designates for his church, it's what is the latest fad. Let's make that the thing that people see. That's what we're known for and let's just push aside what God wanted from the beginning.

And if anyone protests or expresses concern of what's being presented, what's preeminent, here's the strategy. Oh, no. No. No. No.

Just like Ahaz. If anybody came up to Ahaz and said, Ahaz, where's the bronze altar? Oh, it's over there. No. No.

No. It's over there. Don't we believe those things? Did you see the statement of faith on our website? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. You believe in the gospel, but why are you all about social justice then? Oh, yeah. You believe in regeneration, then why are you proposing more than anything else, race? I can give you example after example after example.

Let's just push it aside and let's bring this now. Thinking that's actually gonna be something God blesses. Another way of seeing this is how destruction to our faith begins by simply removing or replacing things in the Bible that we don't like. I don't mind the Ark of the Covenant. I don't mind the curtains.

It's just the bronze altar. Let's just move that. Let let's just deal with that. And every generation has known a different assault on different truths and sometimes there are more than one. Can I see can I tell you what I see today?

What's becoming more and more prominent? Elders aren't just men. Women can be elders as well. And that's becoming more and more popular. And you think, well what's the big deal?

You're just moving it aside. You're just changing it a little bit. You can never do that and think that a little leaven won't affect the whole lump. Wherever the Bible's clear on an issue, you stand your ground. Yes.

Amen. And you defend it, and you preach it, and you counsel it. And yes, we're charitable and we're gracious when things are maybe a little bit more ambiguous. But I want you to see how this strategy is an ancient one, little by little. Now outright exploding things, just moving them, replacing them, covering them, coloring them.

What happens? We see here that after they move it, he gives specific instructions to Uriah the priest. Right? He says, this is the altar that we're gonna be performing sacrifices on now. But notice the last part of verse 15.

And all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by. So hold on. What's this man thinking? I'm trying to figure it out. I think I'm on to something though.

He has enough awareness that it would not be good for his image if he destroys this altar or completely ignores it, perhaps. Or maybe he's just convinced that, you know, yes, we're gonna have this altar, but as long as I keep this intact, surely I can inquire of the God of Israel and receive some kind of benefit from him, while I have this altar here as well. And here's the lesson that people who outright challenge, change, delete, replace, clear choosing the Word of God, many of them believe that they can still access God and believe that he will shower them with favor and understanding. What I mean by that is, they're deceived. As though they have the right to remodel God's blueprint for his church or maybe maybe even for your own life as the temple of the Holy Spirit and that you can have total access, total blessing, total whatever you wanna call it.

And yet the psalmist says, if I cherish iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have heard me. You can't explicitly you can't directly disobey and expect God to give you his ear. Yes. Thought so. And there are many people who think the same.

We can live in sin. I think that everything's okay. As long as I pray in the name of Jesus. Well, he's not a genie. He's not a good luck charm.

He's a person. He's a king. He's a god. Well, Ahaz, unfortunately, didn't see it that way. And we see here something quite interesting in the last part of the study.

Look at verse 17. And king Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal, and he covered way for the Sabbath that was that had been built inside the house and the outer entrance for the king. He caused to go around the house of the Lord because of the king of Assyria. So what happens here? Let's just look at it slowly.

The king went from replacing the bronze altar with his own innovative altar, and then from there he begins to now mess around with other articles in the house of God. Verse 17, he cuts off the frames of the stands, removed the basin from them. He took down the seed from the bronze oxen that were under it, and he put it on a stone pedestal. A little leaven affects the whole lump. It leavens the whole thing.

It started with one thing to replace. It started with one thing to change. Now all these other things are being eaten away at. Erosion now is coming to the entire place. And though that is, I'm sure one thing that we can take from this, I think there's another angle to it.

That when you and I accept and establish something that God disapproves of, something that's clearly against his will, it will begin to ruin other things in your life. No matter what that sin in sin is, if you hold on to it, if you refuse to acknowledge it for what it is and turn away from it, give it a little bit of time and it will begin to now bleed into other matters. It will affect your marriage. Sin will take a toll on your finances even. Sin will impact your health.

It will it will destroy relationships. It will weaken your ministry. It will dull your sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. It will rob from you the experiential presence of God. What I see here is that it began with one choice but then it began to affect so many other things, such as the way of sin.

It's rarely localized. It can rarely be contained. It's like cancer. It devours and it wants to destroy everything. It wants to shut down every vital organ.

It wants to kill you. If only we would see sin that way, like cancer, like a lethal disease, like poison, a drop of poison in a cup. You wouldn't drink that cup. Even if it looked like water, even though it looked clear, you wouldn't put it in your mouth. Yes.

Because you know just how dangerous it is. Oh, he has thought that he can just replace an altar, put the real one aside, and what began to happen? Corruption in the courtyard with other things. And when you read second Chronicles 28, you know what it came down to? The doors of the temple were shut.

And it would take Hezekiah to open those doors again and bring life to the temple. Here's where I'm ending. Notice the last part of verse 18. Why did he do all this? Because of the king of Assyria.

Because he had a new master. And in case we didn't get it, the author ends this account by reinforcing why Ahaz was doing what he was doing. He was a slave. And in order to appease his new master, he made all these changes. He went to great lengths to disregard the one who is sovereign over Assyria and all nations for that matter.

And here's where I personally landed at the end of this chapter. It's so mind boggling to me that this man who said to Assyria, I am your servant, I am your son, was in fact a son of David. David who did what? He gave up of his personal fortune to invest in the temple, even though he wouldn't be able to see with his own eyes, to beautify the temple. The exact opposite of this man.

And did you know that David himself expressed to God that he was his slave? Oh yeah, he had a throne. Oh yeah, he had a mighty army. But he even expressed to the Lord, I am your slave. In a way, perhaps, that you might have missed.

Here's our final passage of scripture, Psalm 40. Let's go to verse six. This is a Psalm of David. Notice what he says. In sacrifice and offering, you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear.

Burnt offering and sin offering, you have not required. This is a messianic Psalm, yes, but I believe there is an element of it that is personal to David. He's telling God what he really wants. And notice this interesting phrase, you have given me an open ear. Now at face value that just may seem like him saying, you've given me an ear that is attentive, that is willing to listen, that is ready to obey.

Whatever you give as a command, I will comply. But I believe there's something else here. There's an illusion. There's an illusion to a custom of the Old Testament relating to Hebrew slaves. Write this down for another time.

It's in Exodus 21, where you have instructions given by God about Hebrew slaves. Hebrew owners who had Hebrew slaves and they were to work for someone for six years, but on the seventh year, they were to be set free. But there was a choice that could be made from the one that was set free, the slave. If he loved his master, if he loved his wife and his children, whom he had under his master, he could go back, look at his master in the face and say, I wanna be your slave forever. And the ritual was this, that his ear would be placed at the door and an awl would pierce that earlobe and that would be the mark of his permanent servitude to that master.

Goes to show what slavery must have been like for somebody to even have that option. At least in the context of Israel. And I think that what David is saying here to God is just that. You have given me an open ear. And do you know why some people don't believe that's what David is saying?

Because when you look at it in the Hebrew, the word ear is plural. So how that would translate literally is ears you have dug out for me. So how can that be connected to Exodus 21 when it was one ear that was highlighted? So this this this just must mean that he's speaking about his willingness to obey. He's in tune with the will of God and he wants to be in tune with the will of God always.

Or could it be that David is saying something special? And knowing what the law of God was, he looks to the Lord in this psalm and he says, Lord, I know that in Exodus 21 that if a slave loved his master, he would offer up one ear. I wanna give you both of mine. I don't wanna just give you one. I wanna give you both my ears.

Take them. Do whatever you need to do in me for me to be completely devoted to you. I won't just give you one to pierce through. I'll give you both. Have all of me take control.

I surrender and I submit myself to you. Ultimately, that's Jesus because the same passage is referenced in the book of Hebrews concerning Christ and his perfect obedience to the will of the father. Here's my question for you at the end of the study. How much of you wants to be completely for him? How much?

Is there any part of you that you have reserved to yourself? Is there any area in your life where you know God's word is so clear on it, but you refuse to let it go? Or maybe you've grown up hearing something. You you've grown up worshiping at an altar that is not really the altar of God. You you've been trained to worship at something that has replaced the truth.

Are you willing to obey everything that God reveals about himself? Or are there some things that you feel liberty to change? I wanna tell you today that what the Lord deserves, because he is worthy, is you surrendering everything to him. A slave of God, a slave of Jesus Christ. I wanna encourage you tonight that at this Bible study, you would make that decision if you haven't yet, that you would echo the psalmist cry.

Lord, you're not after ritual. You're not after my attendance. You're not after my money. You're not after my ministry service. You want me.

So take my ears. Take my heart. Take my life, and seal it for the rest of my days to your ownership, and I will do so gladly. His yoke is easy. His burden is light.

There is no master like Jesus. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, that your word is ferociously powerful. We ask that our hearts would burn within us if they haven't already. Help this ministry and every ministry represented here to honor your blueprint for the house of God and for us as individual temples of the Holy Spirit.

From top to bottom, side to side, may every component, every element be aligned with your desires. Renew in awe of you and us, Lord. May we never give in like Uriah the priest in this story, no matter who makes the request. In this day and age, help us stand our ground. And Lord, we tell you gladly that we do not rely on innovation, human ingenuity, ideas, what's new, what sparkles, what's popular.

Lord, keep us in the ancient paths and help us trust that your word is sufficient. So Lord, give us eyes to see what your will is in your word. Give us hearts that adore it. Help us love you, Lord. And if there any anything that we do do for you, Lord, anything that we do say on your behalf, may it come from a heart that belongs to you completely.

And so, Lord, at this time, we just wanna sing to you and worship you and honor you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Why don't we stand and worship the Lord? I failed to mention how Ahaz goes to Syria to get the pattern of a false altar to bring it back to Jerusalem. Do you remember what Naaman the Syrian did after he was healed by God? He asked for the dirt of the land of Israel so that he can bring it back to Syria and make an altar to the true and living God. And it's really a foreshadowing of how how the Gentiles are gonna respond to true worship.

And the Jews, most of them really, would miss it when Christ would come. The word of God is amazing. And I never failed to be amazed at the providence of God. Here we are talking about the house of God and the old covenant, and this Sunday, we're gonna come together, if the Lord wills, to look at what Jesus wants out of his church in Revelation two and three. What does he want?

What does Jesus think about our church? That's what matters the most. I can't wait to do it with you. Let's pray. Help us, Lord, to not forget these things.

Chain them around our hearts. Oh, keep them close, Lord. We pray that we would not forget and that you would bring them to mind in times where we need them most. Lord, bless this time of brief fellowship. May we be a company of people always who have burning hearts because of the word being open to us.

We thank you for this time. We don't take it for granted and we look forward to it again should you tarry. We pray these things in the living name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen and amen and amen. The Lord be with you.

If you call this place home or if you're visiting this Sunday, we're glad to be able to see you if the Lord wills. Take care now. Have a wonderful night. God bless you.