Start Well, Finish Well

It's always good to see people smiling and laughing

and loving each other. For those watching online,

if you wonder why I'm just standing here, I'm

just watching people just smiling and loving

and still visiting with each other this morning.

It's good. Praise the Lord. That's a good thing.

It's now time for Children's Church. If we have

any children six and under that would like to

go to Children's Church, we should have somebody.

We've got a couple back there coming up front.

Just hang tight. For the rest of us, we will

be in second. 2 Chronicles 24. That's going to

be in the Old Testament, not to be confused with

2 Corinthians in the New Testament. 2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 24 · chapter mention

chapter 24. We're going to start in verse 24.

2 Chronicles. Chapter 24, verse 24 and 25. These

2 Chronicles 24:24

verses are not going to make a whole lot of sense

without the whole context, but the whole context

is a little too long to read through. I mean,

I'd be glad to. I would be glad if we just set

up camp and we could stay till three or four

today. But I'm guessing that most of the rest

of you probably don't want to do that. So we'll

just look at kind of the end of the story, and

then I'll tell you the rest of the story. And

I encourage you to go back and read this story.

Always, always go back and read God's Word. Don't

take anybody's word for it, not mine or anybody

else's. You always go back and read the Scriptures

and see what God's Word says for yourself. And

you pray about it and you read through it and

you read these words and you see these stories.

All of these stories, they have a point. Even

these Old Testament stories, they point us to

Jesus Christ. little nuggets of beauty in these

passages. And we see this story in 2 Corinthians,

or excuse me, 2 Chronicles 24. You also see the

same story recounted in 2 Kings chapter 11. You

2 Kings 11 · chapter mention

see, it's a few different details, but Kings

and Chronicles, they both kind of cover the same

period in history. And so a lot of the things

repeat as you read through those books. And this

story is one of those. So we're going to read

these couple of verses, 2 Chronicles 24, verses

2 Chronicles 24:24

24 and 25, and then we're going to pray and we'll

get started. Although the Aramean army came with

only a few men, the Lord handed over a vast army

to them because the people of Judah had abandoned

Yahweh. the God of their ancestors. So they executed

judgment on Joash. When the Arameans saw that

Joash had many wounds, they left him. His servants

conspired against him and killed him on his bed

because he had shed the blood of the sons of

Jehoiada, the priest. So he died, and they buried

him in the city of David. But they did not bury

him in the tombs of the kings. Let's pray. God,

we come to you today. And I thank you that we

can come into your house and that we can look

at your word. And I pray that your Holy Spirit

would be in this place, dear Lord. We want you

to speak to us through your word. And I pray

that you free us of all the worries and the thoughts

and the distractions that are in our mind. God,

I pray that you take away any pride or any fear

that's within me today, dear Lord, that the words

I speak will be words that come from you, that

God, when I open my mouth, that your Holy Spirit

would speak through me and to me and to each

one of us here, dear Lord. I pray that as we

look at this scripture and think about this story,

that you help us to see ways in which it applies

to our life and how you make and speak to us

today. God, we come and we want to hear from

you, and I pray, God, that you would... Move

in our lives today. In Jesus' name I pray it.

Amen. Now here in these couple of verses that

we looked at, we see the end of the life of King

Joash. Now I'm sure that we're all familiar with

all of the kings in Israel and Judah, and we

know all about the stories. Well, probably not.

Even if we've read through the stories. There's

a lot of kings of Israel and a lot of kings of

Judah. And it's hard for us to really kind of

understand what's going on in this story. But

I've always been fascinated with this story.

I think it's a beautiful story that just speaks

to the goodness of God in the big picture. And

here we see the death of Joash. But we need to

go back in time a little bit. Now, when you begin

to read in the chapters before this and 2 Kings

and in Chronicles, we earlier on are introduced

to a couple of pretty bad folks. One is a king

of Israel, and his name is Ahab, and he has a

wife by the name of Jezebel. You may have heard

of Jezebel before. She was pretty evil. And ultimately,

Jezebel was killed by Jehu. And God had pronounced

judgment on the descendants of Ahab that Jehu

was going to kill those descendants and that

Jehu's family was going to sit on the throne

in Israel. And Jehu was also going to kill Jezebel.

And it was a pretty gruesome thing. She was evil

and God brought judgment on her. And when Jehu

approached her, it says she was sitting up in

the window and some of her servants was there.

And he said, chunk her down, boys. And they did.

They threw her down onto the ground and she was

splattered on the ground and said the dogs came

and ate her. And it was pretty gruesome. She

didn't even have a proper burial. And that's

an important theme for us to look at as we look

at. This story and the story of the kings before

this. Now, you may have noticed at the end of

the verse we read that it says that when Joash

died in verse 25, they buried him in the city

of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs

of the kings. Now, this is important because

how you were buried or where you were buried

was significant because it implied... what kind

of life you lived, whether you lived a life that

was worthy of an honorable burial or not. And

so we see in the story of Jezebel that she didn't

even get a burial. The dogs ate her. And here

we see in this story that Joash was buried in

the city of David, but not in the tomb of the

kings. Now, the good kings were buried in the

tomb of the kings, but there were some bad kings

that were wicked. And it specifically points

out that they were not buried in the tomb of

the kings. And we'll talk about why that is here

in a moment. And you say, why are we talking

about Jezebel? Well, we have to kind of start.

This whole story to me is kind of like a soap

opera. It is a lot of families interconnected

with each other. And it's a lot that goes on.

And it's hard to keep track of all the names.

And I'll try to keep it as simple as I can and

try to not mess up with who's related to who.

But Ahab, the scripture says, had a daughter

named Athaliah. Now, it doesn't specifically

say in the scripture that Jezebel was her mother,

but I believe the only wife we ever see of Ahab

in the scripture is Jezebel. And I think it's

fair to assume that Jezebel was, in fact, the

mother of Athaliah. Now, Ahab was the king of

Israel, but Athaliah ended up marrying the king

of Judah. God had already split the two kingdoms

apart. There was a whole story behind that. But

God had split the two kingdoms, and eventually

Israel was going to fall, and it happened not

long after all of these things with Ahab and

Jehu, the one who God used to bring the judgment

on Ahab and his family. His family became kings

and didn't last for long until eventually the

people of Israel were overtaken. the people of

Judah, God spared them because they did have

some good kings. Now, Israel never had a good

king. All of their kings were bad, every single

one of them. Judah had a few good kings, and

Judah was important because it was going to be

through Judah that the Messiah was going to come,

through the family line of David. Now, David

was a king, and his ancestors were going to follow

after him, and at some point, the scripture tells

us that that this son of David, this descendant

of David, was going to be the Messiah. And he

was going to come from Judah. And this story

shows us that that almost didn't happen. Almost.

Now, Athaliah married one of the kings of Judah

and had a son named Ahaziah. And he was an evil

son, just like... The rest of his family that

he'd come from was evil. And he also was killed.

And when Ahaziah was killed, his mother, Athaliah,

daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, did something that

was pretty horrible. She wanted to be the queen.

And so what she did was she had all of the sons

of Ahaziah killed. Their own grandmother sentenced

them to death. Now, she was the only queen that

Israel ever had, and she was not a good lady.

And she had all of her grandsons killed and put

to death so that she could become queen, except

for one. And Joash was spared by his aunt. His

aunt saw what was going on, and she took Joash,

and she hid him away, and she spared him. Isn't

that beautiful how God works? That Joash is that

link, that if Joash would have been killed, that

family line would have been killed off, but God

is so good and he kept that line of David. He

kept it alive, even through all the evil kings

that were around at the time. God was so faithful

that he spared Joash until Joash became a little

older. He was still a child. I believe he was

seven years old, the text says, when he becomes

king. Well, Athaliah is irate about this, that

Joash has somehow been spared. And Joash does

become king, and Athaliah dies, and her portion

of the story is done. And Joash's portion of

the story begins. And his story begins well.

He starts from a young age. And the husband of

the very aunt that had saved his life, Joiada,

he is a priest. And he begins to kind of pour

into Joash and begin to teach him the ways of

God. And Joiada is a good man. He is a righteous

man. He is a godly man. And he teaches Joash

good and right things that are of the Lord. And

Joash starts off very well. He starts off very

well, and he begins to see to it that the temple

is going to be rebuilt. And there are some people

that are supposed to be in charge of the work,

and they're not doing a good job. But Joash wants

to see to it that God's temple is rebuilt, that

God's people begin to get back to focusing on

God. This is a big problem we see throughout

the Old Testament with Israel and Judah is they

kind of ebb and flow, and they're close to God

for a while, and they're disobedient for a while.

And we can relate to that. Because we do the

same thing. Like there are seasons where we really

do good and there are seasons where we're disobedient.

And sometimes God got their attention and sometimes

God has to get our attention. But Joash was doing

good. He was excited about the Lord. He had been

taught right about the Lord. He was living for

the Lord. He started out as a good king for the

people of Judah. But then something happened

in his life. the one who had been taking care

of him and leading him in the right way, he died.

Now listen to what the scripture says about his

death. In 2 Chronicles 24, verse 16, it says,

2 Chronicles 24:16

Jehoiada died when he was old and full of days.

He was 130 years old at his death. He was buried

in the city of David. With the kings. Because

he had done what was good in Israel with respect

to God and his temple. Anybody catch where he

was buried? He was buried in the city of David

with the kings. Now this is an honorable burial.

I mean, to be buried with, he was not a king.

And so far as I know. I don't know that there

was anybody else who was buried with the king.

So maybe you can find somebody. I'm not saying

there isn't, but I'm not aware of anybody else.

And if you find somebody else, please tell me.

There possibly could be others. But whether he

was the only one or whether there were others,

we see here with this man of God that he was

honored in the way that he was buried because

he honored God throughout his life. And Joash

had done well as long as he was... mentoring

him and alongside of him. But when Jehoiada died,

the scripture tells us that Joash began to take

advice from others, and they didn't advise him

well. And pretty soon, Joash did not follow the

ways of God. And then we get to the end of Joash's

life, where he had totally gone... The wrong

way. And he's handed over to his enemies and

he doesn't even have an honorable burial. The

man who had mentored him and took care of him,

Jehoiada, he was buried with the kings. But Joash's

life, it's reflected to us that it took a turn

for the worst because of where he was buried.

At the end of his life, where did he end up?

Did he end up in a place of honor? Or did he

end up in a place of dishonor? And the scripture

says that he ended up in a place of dishonor.

Now, Joash's story, I believe, is a good warning

for us. Joash started well, but he did not finish

well. And because he didn't finish well, where

he went at his death was... Not a good place.

And so it is for us. How have we started? How

are we doing? How will we finish? It's a lot

of people in the world that start good, that

hear the word of God and know the word of God.

And maybe they have people in their life that

pour into them. And teach them in the ways of

God and in the word of God. And they do well.

And sometimes we end up getting off track. And

we end up taking advice and following people

that don't have God's interest in mind. And we

start making some bad decisions. And we find

ourselves in a bad spot. It's a miracle that

Joash survived. Of all the things that came before

Joash, of all the events that occurred when he

was a small child, just the fact that God had

took care of him and got him to this place was

a miracle. And maybe that's true for you and

I. That our lives are full of all kinds of details.

Some are good, some are bad, some are really

difficult. And yet here we are. Somehow today

we've... We're here and we're looking at the

Word of God. And I don't believe there's a coincidence

in that. I believe God works in every aspect

of our life. God knows everything that's going

to happen to us. God allows things to happen

to us. Now, we make decisions. And God, being

a gracious God, He doesn't force us to do what

He says. He gives us the option. He gives us

the choice. But sometimes we make the wrong choice.

Sometimes we choose poorly. Sometimes we choose

sin. Sometimes we choose disobedience. And even

though we may have started well, we may not be

running well. Galatians chapter 5 verse 7 says,

Galatians 5:7

You were running well. Who prevented you from

obeying the truth? Maybe we're not so unlike

Joash. Maybe there's some people in our life

that we begin to associate with and they don't

care anything about the truth of God or about

living in obedience to God's Word. It's a good

chance that whoever we associate with, we're

going to be like them, for better or for worse.

If we associate with people who seek God and

love God and want to follow His commands, then

that's going to impact our life in a positive

way. If we seek people who are going to live

for the world and live for themselves and don't

care about right and wrong, then that's going

to impact us too. Because we're going to begin

to act like those that we associate with. If

we read the words of God and we read the words

of Jesus and we see the life of Jesus, then in

some way we should begin to act a little bit

like Jesus. There should be some love and compassion

and grace and mercy in our life. If we don't

read the words of God, then how can we live by

them? If we're not reading the instructions of

God, then whose instructions are we living by?

The instructions of the world? The instructions

of the devil? The instructions of wickedness?

And so Joash, he started well, but he did not

finish well. It's about how we finish. Some of

you may have watched Super Bowl 51 back in 2017,

I believe it was. Fantastic Super Bowl, if you

were a Patriots fan. The Super Bowl started off

for the Atlanta Falcons, who they were playing

against, started off as good as you could possibly

hope. With three minutes left in the third quarter,

the Atlanta Falcons were up 28 -3. All they had

to do was let the clock run out and have the

parade because they started so well. And in the

last 15 minutes of that ball game, their lead

went from 28 -3 to 28 -9 to 28 -12 to 28 -20

to 28 -28 until eventually they lost 34 -28.

They started well. But they didn't finish well.

They took their foot off the gas. They began

to get a little lax. What about you and I? Have

you started well? Sometimes we get a little lazy.

Sometimes we kind of know God's Word, but we

just become lazy in carrying God's Word out.

Maybe we become lazy in reading God's Word or

pay attention to God's Word. Well, for those

of us who have started running the race, then

let us be those today who shift our focus and

get in gear and point ourselves in the right

direction that we would finish well, that we

would not run the race in vain, but that we would

start following God and that we would finish

our life following God. So that when all is said

and done and the end of our life comes, that

we will be those who have an honorable death

in the presence of God, in the presence of Jesus

Christ. Maybe some of you today haven't started

running the race. Maybe you've never walked in

the way of God. Maybe you've been walking in

your own way. And maybe you know today that that

ain't worked out too good. We're pretty hard

-headed as humans. We like to do the same thing

over and over. And man, our lives can be falling

apart. And we say, I just don't know what's wrong.

And we just keep doing the same things over and

over. And we keep getting the same results. And

maybe in your life today, maybe you've never

followed the words of God. Maybe you've never

followed Jesus Christ. Because the very one that

God said was going to come. was his son, Jesus

Christ. He was going to be the Messiah that was

going to forgive our sins and save our souls.

And that was all part of God's plan. And man,

it was on the fringes of not being able to happen.

If Joash would have only been killed. But Joash

wasn't killed. He was spared. Because God's plans

were not going to be thwarted. And the Messiah

did come. And it's through Jesus Christ today

that he calls us to a better way, to a narrow

path, a hard path to walk, but a path that's

full of joy. Because the burdens that we have

lived under trying to do it our way, they are

so heavy. Man, they are heavy. But Jesus said,

if you're weary and burdened, you come to me

and I will give you rest. What a beautiful...

Beautiful scripture. I mean, that is one of my

favorite scriptures, as you would know, because

I say it all the time. But man, it is so good.

And I need to hear a lot. Maybe you don't. But

maybe you do, because maybe life is stressful

for you. And maybe the burden of life is stressful.

And things are just hard, and it wears you out

physically and emotionally. We get wore out.

And that's why Jesus' call to us is so beautiful.

He says, whatever your struggles are, whatever

your sins are, I just want you to come to me

and go and sin no more. And maybe some of you

today, you've never trusted in Jesus Christ.

Maybe today you just feel like you're missing

something and you feel the shame, you feel the

heartache of your sin. Would you just go to Jesus

today and just pray and ask the Lord to forgive

you? And just accept Jesus as your Savior. It

ain't no certain words you got to say. It ain't

no hoops you got to jump through. It's just you

got to give your heart to the Lord. Say, God,

with my heart, I love you. And I know you love

me. And I know I'm a sinner. And I know I need

to be forgiven. And I know that Jesus came to

do that for me. That's all it takes to follow

Jesus. That's it. That God wants our heart. And

when we follow Jesus, we've started the race.

And Lord willing, we start well. But I hope that

we finish well. And maybe for some of us today,

we have started the race. We've trusted in Jesus

Christ. We know who he is. But maybe we're not

running too well. Maybe we're not so unlike Joash.

Maybe things started good for us. Maybe we can

look back at our life and see that, man, it's

amazing that God got me through this point, through

all the things that should have got me. There's

no reason that some of us should be here, that

God has been gracious to us. He spared us from

our foolish decisions, and he saved us physically,

and he saved us through so much and provided

for us, and it's nothing but God that has brought

us here where we are. But maybe where we are

today, We're here, praise the Lord, but maybe

we're not where we need to be. Maybe there are

times people in our life that really poured into

us the word of God and taught us the things of

God and we lived according to those things and

we know the joy of that, but maybe we've lost

some of that joy because maybe we've gotten on

the wrong track. Joe Ash, he got on the wrong

track. He started off so good and so on fire

for the Lord. If you're on the wrong track today,

I've got good news for you. You can get on the

right track. You don't have to end your life

on the wrong track. You don't have to end your

life in sin. You don't have to live your life

in disobedience to God. God knows that we are

so weak. He knows that we are so weak. And yet

he loves us anyway, and there's forgiveness there

for you today. I want you to know that, that

God loves you, that Jesus loves you. He loved

you enough to forgive you of your sins the last

time you asked, and he still loves you that much

today, that he would forgive you of your sins

today if you would only seek him. Maybe today

you realize you are on the wrong path. What's

going to be said of you when you die? Will people

say nice things about you and mean it? I say

and mean it because at a funeral, everybody's

got to say something nice. But people know who

we are to some degree. People know what our life's

like. Will we be one who is like Jehoiada who

had an honorable burial? Or will we be one who's

like Joash that was buried but... not with those

of honor, not with those men of God, but with

the rest. The choices we make, the way we live,

will determine where we spend our life after

death, whether we spend it in the presence of

God or whether we spend it apart from God. I

don't know what hell's going to look like. I

don't know what hell's going to be like. But

I know it ain't going to be good. Where will

we be after death? That depends on the choices

we make. I hope today that we would choose Jesus.

And today, if you are one who has chose Jesus,

praise the Lord. If you're walking with him,

then you keep walking. If you've strayed off

the narrow path into that road that leads to

destruction, then praise the Lord. It's not too

late today. You're here. Man, God has brought

us here. Here he gives us his word. He gives

us this beautiful story. He gave Joash a chance.

He didn't make the most of it. What about you

and I? Let's pray. God, we come to you. We thank

you for this beautiful story. We thank you for

your word. We thank you for your example. And

I pray, dear Lord, that we would learn, God,

that we would not just be those who start good

and do pretty good for a while, but that we would

run the race with endurance, dear Lord, that

we would trust you and seek you. We thank you

for Jesus Christ for just showing us the power

of your love and your mercy and your grace that

even through this, dear Lord, you allowed King

Jesus to come through this bloodline. And it's

because of that we have reason to rejoice today.

If there's any that don't know Jesus, I pray

today that in this moment, they're repenting

of their sins, they're trusting Him. And for

those of us who do, God, I pray that we would

make sure we're running well. And I ask these

things in Jesus' name. Amen.