Guaranteed Ruin: 2 Kings #20
“Guaranteed Ruin” is an exposition of 2 Kings 16:1-20. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, November 20, 2016.
Intro:
It is true what they say, “The grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence.” In 2 Kings 15 the Northern kingdom of Israel is spiraling into political Hades while Judah seems relatively stable. Remember there were only 2 kings in Judah during that 35 year period and there were 5 kings in Israel, 4 of whom were assassinated! Israel is nearing her end. The nation is characterized by chaos and ruin. One might be tempted to flee Israel and seek peace in Judah but not so fast my friend. The biblical writer switches back to Judah in 2 Kings 16 and lets us know all is not well in Judah. 2 Kings 16 tells the story of Ahaz, son of Jotham. We will cover the entire chapter.
Text: 2 Kings 16:1-20
Ahaz’s story is told here and in 2 Chronicles 28.
He was a vile, wicked, morally bankrupt king whose life defiled the nation.
From his example we can learn some valuable principles.
As we work our way through these 20 verses we discover that…
Thesis: To abandon biblical faith and embrace your own desires guarantees godlessness and spiritual ruin.
I want to note three things briefly.
- To depart from biblical faith is to set your feet on the path to spiritual ruin. (16:1-4)
- Failure to trust God leads to further compromise and eventually to embrace a life of pragmatism. (16:5-9)
- A pragmatic approach to life coupled with a spiritual instinct leads to a godless religious system of your own making. (16:10-20)
Conclusion:
- To abandon the way of biblical faith is to put your feet on the path to spiritual ruin.
- That path will lead to further compromise and the embrace of pragmatism over promise.
- Such pragmatism coupled with a religious instinct leads to a godless religious system of your own making.
There is one positive not in this chapter – Ahaz dies!
Judah is finally spared.
It is a blessing because of what we read in 2 Chronicles 18:1-6 : In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. 3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. 4 He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). 5 He trusted in the LORD the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. 6 For he held fast to the LORD. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses.