2 Kings 21 Bible Study (Manasseh & Amon Reign in Judah/Manasseh's Idolatry) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Father, we ask that if any of us have not been satisfied with

Your love, that you would use this Bible study to awaken

affection in each of our hearts toward Christ.

And Lord, we pray that we would be convinced of how sure Your

compassion is for each of us, especially as we come to this

chapter in this book. And Lord, lastly, we pray that

every truth that is explored and explained would not just merely

be filed in our minds. It would be adorned in our

conduct. That we would, as Titus tells

us, to adorn the doctrine of God so that the world may witness

how beautiful this gospel is, how precious your Son, the Lord

Jesus Christ truly is. So even now, Lord, we submit

every faculty of our being, we ask, Lord, that you would

protect the transmission of truth, that any scheme of Satan

that would try to interfere would be cancelled, that you

would help us overcome any sin, any unbelief, anything of the

flesh that would obstruct the promises of God flourishing in

our lives. And so, Lord, even in the

delivery of this message, in this time of expounding help,

may Christ alone be seen, may he alone be heard, and may he alone

be adored. We ask these things in his

living name, the matchless name of Jesus Christ.

Amen. As we are approaching the end of

the Book of Second Kings, I was curious to know how many kings

we have left to study. Well, in the final five chapters

of the Book of Second Kings, there are a total of 7 monarchs

to explore together in this book.

Now that may seem like quite a bit considering the pace of our

study on Friday nights, but not all of these rulers receive real

estate. Two out of the seven are given

significantly more attention than the others.

The first is Manessa, who is the son of Hezekiah.

The second is Josiah, one of the most prominent reformers in the

Kingdom of Judah. And as we come to 2nd Kings 21,

King Manasseh will be the focus of our study this evening.

And as we turn there, we might expect that this young man will

continue leading God's people on the path of faithfulness as he

receives the baton from his righteous father, Hezekiah.

Tragically, we are going to learn instead that one of the

greatest spiritual leaders in Judah's history fathered the

most wicked man in Judah's history, Manasa.

That claim is a conjecture. By the way, that is exactly what

the author inspired by the Holy Spirit says about this man

Manessa in the very chapter we are going to delve into

together. And as difficult as it may be to

learn about someone who went in the complete opposite direction

of such an inspirational man like Hezekiah, there is much to

glean from this man's life. He is infamous.

Yes, he is problematic, but he has been placed in our Bibles

for our up building, for our encouragement.

And as we come again to this chapter, realize that in verse

one alone there is a meal for our meditation.

Let's start by looking at three things from the introduction of

this chapter by looking at some details.

Are you there with me? Second Kings 21, verse one and

verse 2. Manessa was 12 years old when he

began to reign, and he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem.

His mother's name was Have Sepa, and he did what was evil in the

side of the Lord, according to the despicable practices of the

nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.

Three things I want to point out.

Number one, let's consider Manessa's age, 12 years old, 12

years old, occupying the most powerful seat in Judah.

Now, we've studied enough of the Book of Kings to not be so

surprised that such a young man, a child really has been elevated

to such a position. But when we connect Manessa to

his father, this, this little instruction here, this little

detail should be a special interest to us.

Remember that Hezekiah was supposed to die in his 30s, but

he was granted how many more years to live?

1515 years to live? Vanessa was 12 years old.

Implying what? That he was born a few years

after Hezekiah was miraculously healed after he was delivered

from this deadly disease, which helps us understand a second

observation. The name of this new king

Manasseh. We've seen this name before in

our study of the Old Testament and it made me wonder if

Hezekiah named his son Manasseh for a similar reason.

Why Joseph named his first born Manasseh?

Because in Genesis 4151, Joseph said in calling his name

Manasseh, I will do so because God has made me forget all my

hardship and all my father's house.

The name Manessa means making to forget.

And I wonder again if Hezekiah did something similar because of

the joy that Manessa brought to his life, offering a similar

relief from his own pain that he had to endure.

And more than that, the reward, the sense of reward, that he

would not die without a direct descendant.

Could it be that that was one of the reasons why he lamented on

that bed as he turned his face to the wall, knowing that there

wouldn't be continuation from his line?

Some would say so. But oh, it made me think if

Hezekiah would have prayed differently if he had just got a

glimpse of the trouble and the harm that Manasseh would bring

to the people of God. We can't say for certain.

However, as dark as Manessa's story is, he will be a powerful

example of the New Testament truth that wherever sin abounds,

grace abounds. More Thirdly, another thing to

consider, this is all just from verse one, his administration,

more specifically the duration of it.

How long did he reign for 55? Years.

That is the longest reign in Judas history and it was a

record held by the most vile man.

Why? How can it be?

I mean, you compare with David, you compare with Hezekiah even,

and you wonder how is it that the Lord allowed such an

individual to remain in such a position of power and polluting

his people for this many years? We're not told, but it is a

strong reminder that life and a long life is not always a sign

of God's approval of how one lives.

Is it? Let me add this, It's not long.

It's not how long you live, but how you live that matters.

It's not the quantity, it's not the number of your years, but

how those years are lived. Hezekiah did mourn his 29 years

of governance. The Manessa would do in nearly

twice that time. And when it comes to Manessa,

the only details that we are granted about his reign are the.

Evil crimes that he committed. That's really a large portion of

this chapter. All the hideous things that this

man performed in that length of time.

And it would do us good to briefly look at some of these

things because it will help us. It will, it will really make an

impact on our study's conclusion.

So I, I believe that there are at least 5 categories, 5

indictments to Manessa's evil in the verses that we have not read

yet. And so let's do this.

Let's read these slowly and consider just how heinous and

deplorable and twisted Manessa was.

Look at verse 3. For he rebuilt the high places

that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars

for Baal and made an ashraz. Ahab, king of Israel had done

and worshipped all the hosts of heaven and served them.

Highlight the first part. He rebuilt the high places that

Hezekiah his father had destroyed.

Now remember up to this point. Hezekiah was the only king who

had the boldness, the courage, the love for God to dismantle

and remove these stations of sacrifice that took the people

away from the central place of worship where God's name was

supposed to be called alone and his son reintroduced them.

And there are those who I think through this, there's a

wonderful lesson. For those who would question the

legitimacy of reformation or a move of God like a revival by

pointing out the absence of lasting impact as supposed

evidence. And if you're one of those

skeptics who would rethink if something was genuine, if it was

really something of the Holy Spirit because long term it

doesn't seem to have produced righteousness and and fruit,

remember this. It would be unfair to discount

how God used Hezekiah to bring spiritual reform to the Kingdom.

It's possible for one generation to undo the work that the godly

have done in past years. That's entirely possible, and it

doesn't discredit what God has done before.

That could be true in a local church.

In an institution, In a city, In a denomination.

What we find here is that Manessa's first egregious crime

was that he reversed his father's reforms.

And more than that. He resurrects bail worship and

the adoration of Ashrae like the days of Ahab, and beyond that he

institute's astral. Worship.

What does it say here at the end of verse three that He

worshipped all the hosts of heaven and served them?

So He ascribes divine titles to stars and planets, and He

actually invites people also to sacrifice and Revere them.

And this is something that the Lord specifically prohibits in

Deuteronomy 17 verse 3, that the people of God were not to look

Deuteronomy 17:3

at the sun and the moon and all the other celestial things and

ascribe divinity to them and worship them.

So this is the first thing that he does.

He he reverses what Hezekiah reformed.

Secondly, look at verse 4. And he built altars in the House

of the Lord, of which the Lord had said in Jerusalem, will I

put my name? And he built altars for all the

hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house.

Of the Lord. The severity of this trespass is

not just in the fact that he builds these false altars, it's

the location of these altars where he placed them.

Where was it? In the House of the Lord, the

very place where God had consecrated to be about Him and

Him alone. And So what we see here with

Manessa is that he had total disregard for the sacredness of

the House of God. He could care less about how

holy it was. He could care.

Less about what God asked of those parameters and those

materials and what was to take place in terms of activity.

And the sense that you get already is that there is a

progression here going on of escalating defiance.

It starts here with the high places, these external areas

where the people of Israel could conveniently worship, not just

community worship the true God, but other gods.

And now we're moving into the very heart of worship.

The place that God said he would meet with his people is being

defamed. It's as though Manasseh has no

problem defying God to his face. And this evil is emphasized,

it's highlighted as it is repeated in verse 7.

Scroll down to verse 7. And the carved image of Asherah

that he had made. He sat in the House of which the

Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, in this house

and in Jerusalem, which I've chosen out of all the tribes of

Israel, I will put my name forever.

This is blasphemy. This is gross.

So not only does he place altars, he places an image.

Of a demonic God in the very courts of God.

There's an erasure here of God's presence and his exclusivity,

his beauty, his glory. At at best, if you can say that

he, he's, he's being placed with these gods.

Which is a horrible thing to even say.

At worst, it's Manesa here trying to remove God altogether

from the scene. So the second thing that he does

here is that he desecrates the temple of God.

Thirdly, this is going to be familiar to us, unfortunately.

Look at verse 6. And he burned his son as an

offering and used fortune telling and omens and dealt with

mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of

the Lord provoking him to anger. Manasseh sacrificed.

His children. And you get the impression that

this man is highly motivated to honor virtually everything

except the true and living God. He revives Bill and Asher

worship, he promotes the adoration of astrology, and now

he Stokes the fire of Molech worship.

In Second Chronicles 33, verse 6, a parallel account.

2 Chronicles 33:6

We're told here that he actually sacrificed his sons, plural.

So not just one son, but many of his sons.

And our hearts should absolutely shatter as we are witnessing a

descendant of David committing such bloodshed and having this

tampering, this defiling of the royal dynasty.

There's something special about the seed of David, as we know.

And here's Manessa, carelessly, murderously, in the deplorable

manner. Bringing this line to near

extinction, this wickedness is jaw-dropping.

There's there's a reason why we're feeling this build up in

our righteous indignation. That's what the author is

intending here. And there's still more #4 we

read in the same verse. He engaged heavily in

witchcraft. We've seen very little of this

in the history of Israel's kings and Judas kings.

The closest thing to this is, I believe, saw when he appealed to

a witch to give him some kind of consolation and direction as he

was at war with a foreign enemy. But that's not what we see with

Manessa. We find Manessa here instituting

satanic worship. Leviticus 1926 forbids this,

forbids the telling of fortune, that the interpretation of

omens, a law that Manessa freely disobeyed.

Let me just make a side note here because you'd be surprised

to know how many people who claim that the Bible is their

compass, like to check their horoscopes from time to time,

like to dabble with tarot cards, make a few phone calls to people

who claim to predict the future. You are dabbling in the demonic,

and this is something that not only the Old Testament condemns,

but it's found in the New Testament as well.

You don't need anything else except God, His Word, and His

precious Spirit in your life. Beware of what seems to be

harmless and widely accepted. I know of people who have opened

up torment in their lives because they thought that they

can innocently entertain things that are clearly satanic.

Just a side note #5 this is really a summary of Manasseh's

devilish habits, verse 7 and verse 8.

And the carved image of Ashra that he had made, he said in the

House of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, in

this house and in Jerusalem, which I've chosen out of all the

tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.

And I will not 'cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out

of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be

careful to do according to all that I've commanded them, and

according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.

Now highlight the first part of verse 9.

But they did not listen, and Manasseh LED them astray to do

more evil than the nations had done, whom the Lord destroyed

before the. People of Israel, but they did

not listen #5 The pinnacle really of the problem here is

that he had completely ignored God's Word.

It moves me here to discover that what the Lord said to David

and Solomon, that's what we read in verse 7 and verse 8, right?

That what he had said to David and to Solomon his son was

something meant for Manessa and the people of Israel in his day.

That's just another proof text to confirm that although the

Bible was not written to us, it was indeed written.

What for us, For us. That's how we should approach

the text. That's how we should approach

the. Oracles of God.

You know, many people find it very frustrating to enjoy

reading and studying the scriptures personally and

individually. And one of my first go to

instructions for any person is to firmly establish in your

thinking that I am coming to the Bible.

Yes, to study it as objective truth, but to receive it on a

personal level. What is God?

Saying to me, What is he saying to me?

Not so you can find some promise to fulfill your dream.

Not necessarily. So what is he saying to me about

himself? What is he saying to me about

man? What is he saying to me about

myself? If I'm in him, if I walk away

from him, what is he saying? You got to personalize it.

This is His voice for you. Though in his immediate context,

it was two others. The Lord spoke something to

David and Solomon and it was supposed to be received by

Manessa and his generation, and they totally disregarded.

It and it's really a wonderful comment to wrap up all that

Manessa did in terms of the evil that he committed.

They did not listen. Please don't forget this many

evils can be committed when a person no longer is moved by the

promises in God's Word and the warnings in God's Word.

That's what we find in verse 7 and verse 8, do we not?

Where's the promise? Look back at verse 7.

Reverse a more specifically, I will not cause the feet of

Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their

fathers. That's a promise.

You're permanently here. I will not let any outside

force. I will not let any kind of power

displace you. I will keep you here forever.

And the warning follows. If only they will be careful to

do all that I have commanded them.

They did not listen. There's even a greater danger

when we find ourselves unfazed by a messenger of God who

reminds us urgently and passionately about the Word of

God. So here we're told here that

they did not listen to the written word, right?

But in the parallel account there's an added detail.

So here, what it says in Second Chronicles 33 verse 10, the Lord

2 Chronicles 33:10

spoke to Manessa and to his people, but they paid no

attention. So in Second Kings, I believe

the emphasis is on the the word of God, the written word of God,

because there's a quotation. But in Second Chronicles, I

believe it's the prophetic voice of God that is ultimately meant

to point the people. Back to the Word of God, brother

and sister. If you consistently find

yourself unmoved when the Word of God is open and when it is

heralded and when it is explained in the Spirit, be on

alert. Be aware that you are in a

perilous position, that your soul is in danger.

Becoming dull of hearing is a symptom of a dull soul, and

that's precisely what we find here.

They had no personal engagement or reverence for the Word of

God, and even when it was presented through fiery lips.

They paid no attention dangerous and in case we're not convinced

of the monstrous and horrific sins that this man committed the

Lord provides a summary I guess you can say through his prophets

in the next part of second Kings 21 as they pronounce judgment on

Manasa and his people. Look at verse 10 of second Kings

21. If you haven't noticed, we're

we're going through this entire chapter.

Usually we're slower with our Bible study, but I believe it

will be more beneficial to zoom out and consider the whole story

to no greater impact. Look at verse 10.

And the Lord said by his servants the prophets, because

Manasseh king of Judah, has committed these abominations,

and has done things more evil than all the Amorites did who

were before him, and has made Judah also descend with his

idols. Therefore thus says the Lord the

God of Israel, behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and

Judah such disaster. That the ears of everyone who

fears of it, or hears of it rather, will tingle.

You have studied kings enough to know that whenever.

There is a wicked ruler who emerges.

He's usually compared to a previous wicked king, either in

recent or far distant memory. So it'll read something like and

he did evil in the sight of Lord.

As such and such. Remember this.

It's a pattern in the Book of Kings, both 1st and 2nd kings.

But when it comes to Manasseh, there is no comparison to a

previous king in Judah. There isn't even a comparison

with. A wicked, notorious king in

Israel. The northern Kingdom.

Who is he compared to the inhabitants of the land of

Canaan before the people of Israel came in to take over the

Amorites, one of the several nations that populated?

The Promised Land before they were expelled.

And not only is Manasseh compared to the Amorites, we're

told that he did worse than them.

Feel it. What was this man doing to

actually outshine the evil of those that God had to vomit out

of this piece of real estate? And this is intentional,

obviously led by the Spirit. But the careful student of the

Bible is supposed to follow this up with a question.

Well, if God expelled the Amorites among other Canaanites

from the land for their evil, what is he going to do with the

Kingdom of Judah exactly? That's the point we're supposed

to realize. Exile has to be on the way.

God must, if He is, just deal with this people accordingly.

And He will. He's about to do that.

And in the same way that the Lord waited for the iniquity of

the Amorites to reach its full measure, remember that the Lord

said that to Abraham in Genesis 15.

He's been doing the same with his own people, and we have now

reached the brim of his patients.

So he says, I'm going to do three things.

We read one of them in verse 12. Let's look at it again.

Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judas such a

disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will

tangle. In other words, the news of this

manifestation of my divine chastisement will be so severe

and so shocking that it will be like an alarm in people's ears.

What's interesting is that this picture of the ears tingling

appears in other places in the Bible, always connected to a

pronouncement of judgement. Jeremiah was called to preach a

message that will cause people's ears to tingle.

Samuel, when he was just starting on a ministry, would

also have that same responsibility.

And I believe there's a wonderful contrast between being

faithful with God's Word, even if it is a hard word to to give

and receive, with what Paul told Timothy about many false

teachers who will do what they will try to scratch itching

ears. A faithful messenger of God will

speak the Word of God even if it causes ears to tingle, and a

false teacher will seek to always scratch what people want

to hear. Manessa and his people can

expect to hear of something that will cause them to not even

believe what their ears are hearing.

That's the first thing. What's the second thing?

Look at verse 13 and I will stretch over Jerusalem, the

measuring line of Samaria and the Plumb line of the House of

Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it

and turning it upside down. There are two other things.

You're the first one is that he's going to stretch over

Jerusalem these measuring tapes and lines.

Now here's what's interesting. These tools are used to actually

build when you want to construct something and there's a reversal

here. I'm actually going to use this

to destroy. What are we supposed to make of

this? That God's judgements are

precise, They are faithful, They are reliable.

They're never exaggerated. They're never out of

uncalculated. Anger or frustration?

No, no. He knows exactly what to give to

those who have broken his law. I'm going to destroy precisely

on the basis of what you have done.

I will give to you the judgement that deserves, that it deserves.

And lastly, I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish,

wiping it and turning it upside to upside down.

Meaning what? This land here that signifies

the plate. I'm going to remove all the

citizens from it. All of you that have lived here

and have enjoyed this land, you will be cleansed from this

place. And that's clarified in the very

next verse. I will forsake the remnant of

MyHeritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and

they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies,

because they have done what is evil in my sight and have

provoked me to anchor anger since the days of their fathers

coming out of Egypt. Even to this day you see that

how the Lord has been waiting for the sins of His people to

reach a certain extent before He executes judgment.

So how does Vanessa respond? This is what the prophets are

saying now. Judgement is on its way.

You've been found wanting and here's what we read in verse 16.

Moreover, Manessa shed very much innocent blood.

And if you consider the context, I believe what this also means

is that he killed some of these prophets till he had filled

Jerusalem from one end to another.

Besides the sin that he made Judah to sin so that they did

what was evil in the sight of the Lord, This guy is hopeless

if you're honest, right? You read this, you think there's

no way the fact that he ruled and reigned for 55 years should

disturb us? And really I'm not going to read

it. But if you look at verse 17, it

just ends the way most kings end.

It just gives a summation of his rule.

It's just as obituary and we're told that he slept with his

father's and we move on to the next king.

It's one of the most disturbing portraits of any ruler in the

Bible. But that's not really how it

ends. So if you remember studying

Hezekiah last week, then you'll recall that he did not die in

his pride, but that the Holy Spirit gives us a different

vantage point in Second Chronicles where we realized

that he did eventually humble himself.

And in like manner, Second Chronicles tells us how Manessa

actually died. And I like to think that

although this man shut his eyes to the righteous example of his

father, he did remember how he ended his last 15 years of life.

And he also humbly repented. This is why in a way, I've been

speeding up in this chapter because I want us to really

focus on how this man turned around.

So let's go to Second Chronicles briefly, and I want you to see

what the Bible says about him. Second Chronicles, 33.

I find it a little ironic that Manessa's name means making to

forget because his actions suggest that he did not take one

thing to heart about his father's instruction and

example. Assuming that Hezekiah kept his

promise after he was healed, remember that there was a

chapter in Isaiah where we have we have a look into his journal

entry once he was restored to complete health.

One of the things that he said was in Isaiah 3819.

The living, the living. He says thank you as I do this

day. The Father makes known to the

children your faithfulness. So we have every reason to

believe that though Manessa was a young child when his father

died, he was old enough to understand what it means to

worship the true God, what God has done for his Father, for

God's people throughout history, in recent history.

So that makes you wonder, how is he so faithless?

My mind went straight to something that you see repeated

in the book of Proverbs where there's this appeal.

At the framework of the book of Proverbs is a father speaking to

his son. And right at the opening of

Proverbs, we read in Proverbs 18, My son, do not forsake your

father's instruction and forsake not your mother's teaching,

implying that it's possible for you to do so, to ignore what

you've heard, to despise what you have been instructed about.

You know Spurgeon, who said now it is a notorious fact that men

who do go wrong after a good training are the worst men in

the world. That may seem harsh, but there's

some truth to that. Men who have received good,

righteous, holy training and still live in a manner as

Manessa, live in complete defiance to the truths that

they've been granted for guidance in life are often times

the worst, and this is a reality that you and I are going to

revisit in this Sunday. Receiving illumination does not

guarantee transformation. Each of us is responsible for

the revelation that we receive in this life, and the level of

light that we are granted will determine the accountability we

will have for the truth that has been provided, often times

through our parents. And that's what we find here,

that this man, as Spurgeon said, demonstrated a behavior that is

unspeakable, and yet it was not in vain.

Something happens to this man, something so remarkable, and

it's found there in Second Chronicles 33.

Look at verse 10. Chronicles is not too far from

Second Kings. As you know, the Lord spoke to

Manessa and to his people, but they paid no attention.

Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army

of the king of Assyria, who captured Manessa with hooks and

bound them with chains of bronze, and brought him to

Babylon. And when he was in distress, he

entreated the favor of the Lord his God, and humbled himself

greatly before the God of his Father's.

He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty, and heard

his plea, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his Kingdom.

Then Manessa knew that the Lord was God.

Here's what's so fascinating about this.

I think there are at least three observations we can make, and I

don't want to make too many so that we lose track of the main

point of the study, but I want you to 1st consider the

sovereignty of God. Look again at verse 11.

Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army

of the king of Assyria. Look at that phrase brought upon

them. Who did the Lord?

And Scroll down to verse 13, the middle of it.

God was moved by his entreaty and hurt his plea and brought

him again to Jerusalem. Who's orchestrating all of this?

It's God. God is the one who removed the

protective layers for the people of Assyria to come in and to

ransack the place and to confiscate Manessa and others.

And God was the one at the right time that had Manessa returned

to his home. And we're supposed to be moved

by the absolute power and authority of our God, that

although he is shifting nations, he at the same time is using

that to give one particular man a final chance to repent before

it's too late. So understand that the ways of

God are not just all powerful, they're incredibly wise.

And God can accomplish. Many things at the same time

beyond your knowledge and mine. We are often fixated on one or

two dimensions and the Lord here is doing multiple things.

And consider that for your own life that you think one thing is

happening, one thing is being accomplished, and when in fact

there are thousands of assignments being fulfilled.

I wonder what the people of this time on the world scale we're

thinking as Assyria was moving in, as Babylon was now also

growing in their power. All these things are taking

place, and yet what's in view here is 1 particular man in the

state of his soul. This is remarkable, the

sovereignty of God in one person's life, even though he's

moving the world. To get his attention.

But as I mentioned, consider secondly the wisdom of God, the

wisdom of God in divinely ordained affliction.

Divinely ordained affliction has a way of awakening the

conscience even in the most calloused of men when sermons

bounce. Off of hearts, the sharpness of

suffering has a way of cutting through it.

When it came to the word of the Lord, didn't listen.

When it came to the prophets of the Lord, he paid no attention.

When it came to hooks in his flesh and the heavy shackles

around his shoulders and tying around his ankles and keeping

his wrist together, that's when he began to think seriously

about his sin. And about.

The grace of God. The wisdom of God.

That's what it took from Manessa to be dragged out of his home

and to be placed in a foreign dungeon before he even

considered the goodness of God, the power of God, the love of

God, the forgiveness of God. And don't miss this important

point. Look back at this year in verse

12. The middle of it, and humbled

himself greatly before the God of his father's.

That's so specific. The God of his father's, the God

that he heard, his dad Hezekiah talking about it.

It came to mind here. Not in Jerusalem, not when he

had unrestrained power, not when he was unhinged.

The final moments of his life, what he heard from his father

came to him. Don't be discouraged because of

the lack of fruit in your evangelism or the lack of fruit

in your discipleship. Even if it's your your children,

you're not seeing the maturity that you want to see.

You're not seeing the zeal you want to see.

I won't name the brother, but last Sunday we had a few

membership interviews. And with every membership

interview, we asked people to give a synopsis of their story.

And this precious brother had mentioned that another brother

from this church a few years ago.

I handed them a nice Bible when he was totally lost and he put

this Bible away and he didn't look at that Bible for three

years. And in that Bible was a

handwritten note, contact information if you ever had any

questions. And when he was at the lowest of

the low he fetched for that Bible, he wiped the dust off of

it. He opened it up, went through

the Gospel of Matthew. He found that contact card.

He came to this church and he got saved.

Yes, three years. That seed was dormant for three

years. You never know, Manessa.

What did he do? He humbled himself greatly

before the God of his fathers. Lastly, the mercy of God.

He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard

his plea. Now, if we read Manessa's story

and restoration and isolation, it's still moving.

But when you remember that we're witnessing Hezekiah's son

repenting, that is even more incredible.

Because the same God who heard the desperate faith of a man who

was encircled by a foreign enemy known as Assyria, and who saw

the tears of the same man who in his weakness turned to the wall

to get some privacy and whisper to prayer, is the very same God

who swiftly heard the prayer of a miserable man like Vanessa.

How many times in studying Hezekiah's life we've seen how

God saw him and heard him in that state of prayer.

And he is no different with someone like this.

How quick he is to respond to repentance, How eager he is to

restore the repentant. It says that he was moved by his

entreaty. What about all the things that

he did in Second Kings 21? So great and so fierce is the

mercy of God. He didn't keep Manessa in that

penalty box for a few more years.

He immediately responded the moment he humbled himself.

That's why we can freely tell sinners at a meeting like this

or when you're evangelizing on the streets, that if you were to

confess Christ now, in that moment, if it's in genuine

repentance and faith, you can be justified.

A lot of Christians who believe in the power of the gospel are

skeptical of that. And I understand we have to be

careful, we have to be slow and we have to examine fruit.

But don't ever for a moment think that God is not willing to

in a second erase someone's record of sin.

Such is the power, the depth, the royalty of that precious

blood that flowed so honorable in the sight of God that

whenever anybody appeals to it, God will honor it because of

that sacrifice. It's not so much the Sinner,

yes, although he loves sinners. It's the price that was paid for

sinners. If we consider the power of the

New Covenant, that makes forgiveness even more fierce

than what we see here. There's an interesting sentence

at the end of verse 13. Then Manessa knew that the Lord

was God. What do you mean he knew that

the Lord was God? I thought he called out to the

God of his father's. Didn't he know exactly who he

was speaking to? How was it that after he

returned to Jerusalem, oh, he realized, oh, OK, now I know

that you're God. The word no here is not some

intellectual ascent. It's not some knowledge,

understanding information that was deposited in his brain

necessarily. It's an experiential knowledge.

So the way to properly understand this is that after

Manessa had repented, after the Lord showered grace upon him,

there is this experience of God that he knew so much that can be

said. I mean, a whole sermon can be

preached on that verse alone, the end of that verse.

But I'll just say this, It is not accidental that Manessa knew

the Lord in a real and personal way after he truly repented.

There are many people who are frustrated in the reality of

God, of the reality of God in their lives.

And they almost approach. God making himself known to them

in an arrogant way, in a way that tests Him.

May I suggest to you that the what the Lord is waiting for you

before He manifests himself is for you to be sick and tired of

your sin and to truly repent wholeheartedly repent.

So I've said this before, I don't want to be redundant, but

hopefully it helps somebody who grew up in a Christian home like

myself. I responded to, I've been to

meetings where they had altar calls.

I probably responded to 18 of them.

Sometimes there were messages that were more inclined to be

encouraging. Other times they were more

inclined to be fearful. Then, no matter how it was

packaged, whenever an invitation went out.

I just want to make sure that you know if you're giving an

invitation. The more times I can say yes,

the better chances I believe I have of being accepted.

So yeah, assign me. If you want me to walk up front,

no problem. It means I go to heaven.

I'll walk up front as many times as you want me to walk up front.

Never born again, never truly transformed, never truly walking

in the way that Jesus says you're supposed to walk if you

are filled with the Holy Spirit, if you even have the Holy

Spirit, if you're sealed of the Holy Spirit.

There is not a trace of that in my life up to the age of 20.

And when I really was born again, at some point I thought

to myself, why did it take me calling out to God in a basement

apartment in the second year of my college education for me to

really know what it means to be born again?

And it came to me all those other times leading up to that

point. I really still wanted the world.

I wanted Christ. But down deep inside, I felt

like church and Christian upbringing held me back from

something that others were enjoying.

And so I I want that I'll take Christ if you if you're offering

him. But I also want to indulge.

I also want to explore. And as long as my repentance was

half hearted, I never really knew God.

You will never really know God. Even if you give him 99% of your

heart, you will not really know him.

So is there any more proof of this kind of a thing?

Yes. My mind went to a passage in

Acts 319 to 20 where Peter told those Jews after a miraculous

healing of a man who was lame for many years.

Repent therefore and turn back that your sins may be blotted

out and that times of refreshing may come from the presence of

the Lord in the ends of by saying and that he may send the

Christ appointed for you Jesus. There are three things that are

attached to three rewards if you will that are connected to

repentance to turn from your sin completely. 1 is that your sins

will be blotted out and the word they're so intense it actually

means for for a removal ink from parchment.

Like a deleting of record, as permanent as it may seem.

Secondly, that times are refreshing may come from the

presence of the Lord and more people would connect us with the

third one and speaking about the promise of the Messianic rule

and reign, especially because Peter speaking to a Jewish

audience as though to say Israel.

The sooner you repent and recognize your Messiah, the

sooner he will come and bring what he promised.

One that will greatly outshine all the things that you've known

in your history. That is dependent upon your

repentance, which I think is true largely.

But I believe there's a personal application with the second

point here, that there is a genuine satisfaction, cleansing

wholeness that is known only through the canal of repentance.

So when does the presence of the Lord manifest?

After you repent, After you truly repent.

Well, more can be said about that, but allow me to come to

the last portion of Second Kings 21 as we close together.

So Manessa, like his father, ended.

Well, that's glorious. But then we have this little

snippet about Manessa's son, and I'm going to read it in one

sitting here, and then just make a couple of brief observations

that are connected to this man. Manasseh Amon was 22 years old

when he began to reign, and he reigned 2 years in Jerusalem.

Two years, 55 years, two years. Wow.

His mother's name was Mushulameth, the daughter of

Heruz of Jatba. And he did what was evil in the

sight of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done.

He walked in all the way in which his father walked, and

served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them.

He abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and did not walk

in the way of the Lord. And the servants of Amon

conspired against him and put the king to death in his house.

But the people of the land struck down all those who had

conspired against King Amen. And the people of the land made

Josiah his son, king in his place.

Now the rest of the acts of Amen that he did, are they not

written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of

Judah? And he was buried in his tomb in

the garden of Ouza, And Josiah his son reigned in his place.

It's even more specific in its explanation in Second Chronicles

33. But we won't turn there.

All I want to, all I want to say is how is it that if Manessa had

such a radical repentance, and what's beautiful is on your own

time, look at the rest of Second Chronicles 33 and you realize

just how true Manessa's repentance was.

He goes back to Jerusalem and he brings reform because repentance

actually has fruit with it. It's it's amazing what he does

with the little time that he has left.

He did great damage, but he tried to undo his own wrongs.

But you know what he couldn't undo?

His son. His son having a real faith,

real walk with God, even after Manessa repents.

As hopeful as this Bible said I hope has been to you, we have to

be honest with how the Scripture presents this situation.

Repentance cancels guilt, but oftentimes it does not cancel

ripple effects, does not always reverse consequences, and that's

what we find here. Your compromise in mine,

especially if we are leaders in any capacity, can have lasting

consequences and so powerful our decisions to sin, especially in

prolonged seasons of sin, that even though we may recover,

those that we are affiliated with may not ever recover.

So Manessa is able to turn around, come to the Lord, and

die in faith. His son was so influenced by his

sin that he could never escape it for himself.

Why do I bring this point up to you?

Because as much as we want to enjoy and relish in the grace of

God, and it's always available to us, that should never, ever

for a moment encourage you to entertain sin with the hope that

I'm going to be forgiven and God is waiting to restore me.

Yeah, He may restore you, but you have no idea what kind of

impact you'll leave on other people.

I'll give you another example of this in case you're not

convinced so early in the story of Abraham.

There's a famine in the land and Abraham goes to a completely

different place, the land of Gerar.

In one instance. Before that, he actually goes to

Egypt. Now, when he goes to Egypt, he

lies and he gets into all this mess and all this compromise.

And that's in Genesis 12. But when you go to Genesis 13,

we read there that he goes back to the altar that he built at

first. So he he's restored to his

worship and his love for God and he's walking in the light again.

Who went down to Egypt with him? It wasn't just his wife, his

nephew Lot. Read the rest of Genesis 13.

What you'll find is Abraham is restored in his fellowship with

the Lord. Lot never recovers what he's

seen and experienced in Egypt. Read it carefully.

Their resources were so overwhelming both for Abraham

and Lot that they had to split ways.

And Abraham gives Lot the decision to make whatever

direction, his place of abode, his home, his new, his new

future. And he looks towards Sodom and

the Holy Spirit so specific and saying what it looked like to

Lot. And one of the descriptions is

it looked like the land of what, Egypt.

So Abraham, who led his family into Egypt to begin with, was

able to be restored, but Egypt never left Lot fathers, older

brothers, husbands, pastors, even mothers.

Be careful the decisions that you make, because there are

others who are watching you. There are others you may be

exposing your sin to. And yes, God got in a moment's

notice, change the direction of your life, but who's to say that

would be the same for those that you led in the wrong path?

So there should be at the same time this overwhelming sense of

joy and delight and rest, of knowing the grace of God, but

also a fear, a holy fear, not a legalistic fear, but a genuine

fear of the Lord. To say, I know I'm not perfect.

I know I'll never be perfect until the Lord glorifies his

body. But with a story like this, oh

Lord, give me the ability to shun all sin, to reject it, to

repel it, to deny it. Because sin is so cancerous, it

never stays with us, does it is able to contaminate people

around us. And Manessa's story, although a

gloriously hopeful 1, is a sobering 1 to remind us that we

may hate sin and love righteousness all the more.

Let's pray and ask God to help us.

Father, even if there be a manasa type listening to this

study today, we pray that you would breakthrough any walls,

any layers of iniquity that have made them insensitive to your

conviction. Lord, before suffering may be

their portion, we ask that you would use this Bible study to

soothe in them and to persuade them to see repentance as a gift

and something that you are willing to respond to

immediately. And Lord, we do pray also for

those who are walking in repentance, perhaps being

tempted to do something, thinking that it will be

contained to ourselves, that even if there are consequences,

it would just be for us and we can manage them.

Lord, destroy all deception and help us to live as faithfully as

possible so that we would inspire others to love you and

not deny you or be deceived the way we might have been deceived.

So that we pray that from now until the end the fragrance of

Jesus Christ would rest on us and that our lives would be salt

so that people would thirst and want living water.

But tonight we rejoice in you and we thank you that you've

placed this in our Bibles so that we can see just how

splendid and glorious you are. Thank you that you've allowed

grace to be the means to energize us to be godly.

Lord, we give you all praise and honor tonight.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen. The praise team will come in a

moment, but listen, don't rush. If you want to stand, you can

stand. If you want to remain seated and

just pour your heart out before the Lord, you can do that as

well. If you need to repent, repent at

times of refreshing may come into your life.

But let's just respond to this study and trust that the Lord

hears us. If he was willing to hear a man

like Vanessa, how much more us who are in Christ?