A Tale of Two Kings - Jay Loyd

Welcome to the official podcast of the Church

of Christ Wheeler area. We're so glad that you've

tuned in for today's message. Whether you're

on your morning commute or if you're relaxing

at home, we're here to share the strength and

truth of God's Word with our community. If you're

in the neighborhood, we'd love to meet you in

person. Come see us at 1500 South Allen L. Bean

Boulevard right here in Wheeler, Texas. We gather

every Sunday morning at 1030 a .m. and in the

afternoon at 230 p .m. We meet again on Wednesdays

at 7 p .m. Right now, let's open our Bibles together

and dive into today's sermon. This afternoon

for a little while I want us to study the title

we have on the board a tale of two kings We're

gonna go back to the Old Testament I like reading

about the kings in the Old Testament because

there's a lot of good lessons that we can learn

Learn from the history of Israel and Judah and

learn from the kings of that day and we might

look at ourselves and think Well, what do we

have in common with kings? Well, what we have

in common with kings is that we're all human

and whether you are great and mighty and authority

or you live out in the West Texas community of

Wheeler or in the Arkansas community of Greenwood

we are all human and we all have tendencies whether

those you know regardless of whatever position

we are in in life we're all susceptible to the

same types of faults and weaknesses and deceptions

and so this evening we're going to talk about

two kings that the Bible speaks to us about and

we want to contrast these two kings. We're going

to look at an evil king and we're going to look

at a good king and try to arrive at some lessons

from looking at these two kings in order to gain

some insight for our life and how we are to live

today. The first king that we want to look at

is in 2 Kings chapter 21 verses 1 through 18

2 Kings 21:1–18

I'm going to take time to read that entire text

but what I've done is bulleted some points up

here about this evil king and whenever we look

at the history and we look at the rule of this

evil king one of the things we want to know is

stored the high places for idol worship that

his father had destroyed. His father before him

was a good king and led reform among the people

of Judah, but then this king comes in right behind

him and all of the good things that the father

had built up, he starts to tear down. He built

altars to the Canaanite god Baal and made a sacred

Asherah pole. Those have reference to do with

Baal worship, following after the gods of the

land of that day and not after the Lord God Jehovah.

He worshiped all the hosts of heaven, planets,

stars, built altars for them inside the temple

courtyard. The temple, which was the place only

for the worship of the Lord God Jehovah, this

king brings into the courtyard of the temple

idols that worship the host of heaven. He placed

a carved idol directly inside the Holy Temple,

the one place dedicated exclusively to the Lord.

Can you imagine? the Gaul of such a man, to bring

into the Holy Temple of God idols that the pagan

nations, that Judah and Israel were supposed

to be different than, bringing those in to the

Temple of God. He burned his own sons alive as

offerings to the pagan god Molech. Burned his

sons, literally burnt his sons. The pagan god

Molech, which they would offer child sacrifices

and maybe you've seen pictures of what the idol

looked like. It was this great big image that

held out its hands and people would bring their

children and lay upon that altar and their children

would be burned as a sacrifice to this god in

order to bring satisfaction to this god. And

while this was all taking place, that there would

be drummers who would be drumming and beating

on drums just as loud as they could in order

to drown out the crying and the shrieking of

these burning children. He engaged in black magic,

witchcraft, divination, and fortune telling.

He officially appointed and consulted spiritists,

mediums, and those who conjured the dead. So

here is a king over a group of people whose God

was the Lord God of heaven and rather than looking

to the Lord God of heaven for all truth and for

all understanding he would consult spiritists

and mediums and those who conjured the dead and

then lastly he slaughtered innocent citizens,

prophets and political rivals until Jerusalem

was filled from one end to the other with the

blood of these people. Can you think of anyone

any worse than that? I can't think of anyone

any worse. Whenever we look at the Good King,

we want to go to 2 Chronicles chapter 33 verses

2 Chronicles 33:1–20

1 to 20 and read about a Good King. And whenever

we look at the good king, again, bulleting the

points of this good king, we find that he threw

out the foreign idols and carved image placed

inside the temple of the Lord. So the evil king

put these carved images in the temple and then

this good king comes along and throws all of

those out, begins to purge the idolatry that

was in the temple area and the temple court.

He tore down all the occult altars built on the

temple hill and throughout Jerusalem, casting

them out side of the city. He rebuilt and repaired

the broken altar of the Lord inside the temple

court. He sacrificed peace offerings and thank

offerings to the Lord God on the restored altar.

Because of neglect and because of abuse, the

altar of the Lord had become and disrepair. And

so this good king comes and repairs it and then

begins to offer the sacrifices that were good

and thank worthy to the Lord. He used his royal

authority to order the people of Judah to serve

the Lord, the God of Israel, exclusively. He

was so convinced in the might and in the power

of the Lord God Jehovah that he begins to speak

with his royal authority to all the people of

Judah, you need to serve. the Lord. He built

a massive outer wall for the city of David extending

it west into the Gihon spring and around the

fish gate. Usually kings, the rotten kings will

say rotten for a moment. In order to protect

Jerusalem and the surrounding area they would

make alliances with pagan nations with Babylon

with Assyria with Egypt but this one realized

God is our God and we're only going to trust

in him and we're not going to rely on these pagan

countries for our safety so he goes and he begins

to build all of these walls around the city of

David to fortify the city of David because it

was the place where God's name dwelt and then

he made the city walls exceptionally high to

protect Jerusalem from foreign invasions and

he placed experienced army officers in all the

fortified breakout cities throughout Judah. So

all throughout Judah, he fortifies the cities

against the enemies of God. So we've got an evil

king and a good king. Well, who are these kings?

Well, whenever we look at... 2 Kings 21 verse

number 9 taking this verse here which gives us

a little synopsis of this king, this king that

seduced them, Judah, to do more evil than the

nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the

children of Israel. This was evil King Manasseh.

who ruled Judah from 687 to 642 BC. And notice

what it says about him in verse number 9, that

he seduced them to do more evil than the nations

whom the Lord had destroyed before the children

of Israel. In the land of Canaan, all of those

nations that were dwelling in the land of Canaan

before the children of Israel entered in, God

had given them space to repent. In fact, you

find in Genesis where it talks about the iniquity

of the Amorites being fulfilled. And so all of

those nations had reached a point of iniquity

where God said, no more. And then He begins to

destroy them and drive them out and then bring

in His people into the land. Well, this verse

tells us here that this King Manasseh seduced

Judah in doing just as bad. But we're going to

notice here in just a moment, but even worse

than the ones that were before him. So whenever

we look at King Manasseh, whenever we think of,

okay, man, he's the worst. We'll really know

he was worse than the worst. Well, what about

this good king? In 2 Chronicles 33 verses 12

2 Chronicles 33:12–13

to 13, this king humbled himself greatly before

the Lord God of his fathers and prayed to him

and he knew that the Lord was God. Who was this

king? This king was repentant, King Manasseh.

You see in both instances we're talking about

the same guy. But two different kings in the

sense that at one time he ruled evil So evil

that his name is attached to the sin that brought

about the Babylonian captivity of the children

of Judah But then on the other hand we see a

king Who was good who humbled himself before

the Lord? and knew that the Lord was God. You

mean this guy that brought that idolatry into

the temple court and into the temple? This guy

that offered up children of sacrifices? This

guy that shed the innocent blood of people? This

guy that rather than consulting God consulted

spiritualists and and all of these other people

who would divinate and to speak um you know of

things that have pagan origin? This guy is the

same guy that knew that the Lord was God. This

is an amazing story, an amazing account, and

I want us to look at Manasseh and see where he

was and where he went to and what are the lessons

for us to learn. First thing we want to notice

is that Manasseh was the son of King Hezekiah.

If you were to ask anyone that studies Judah's

history, who was the worst king, they're probably

going to tell you it was Manasseh. And he was.

And then if you were to ask them, well who was

the best king, you're probably going to be told,

well Hezekiah and Josiah. And so what we have

here is Hezekiah, King Hezekiah, who was the

best king, his son is considered the worst king.

And we look at that and think, wow, that just

kind of blows the mind. But the Bible tells us

concerning Hezekiah, he did what was right in

the sight of the Lord according to all that his

father David had done. Now if you were a king

in Judah, the highest commendation that you could

be given was to have it said about you, you did

all according to your father David. And I think

there's only two kings in Judah that that's said

about. Hezekiah Josiah. So here you have a king

that is given the highest commendation that a

king in Judah could have. He goes on to say that

he removed the high places, he broke the sacred

pillars, he cut down the wooden images, he broke

in pieces the bronze servant that Moses had made

for until those days the children of Israel burned

incense to it and called it Nehoshetan. He trusted

in the Lord God of Israel so that after him was

none like him among all the kings of Judah nor

who were before him for he held fast to the Lord.

He did not depart from following the Lord but

kept his commandments which the Lord commanded

Moses and the Lord was with him and prospered

wherever he went. In 2nd Chronicles 31 20 to

21 it says concerning Hezekiah he did what was

good and right before the Lord his God and in

every work that he began in the service of the

house of God in the law and in the commandments

to seek his God he did it with all his heart.

This was a king that was all about excellence.

He did it with all his heart. And we look at

this and say, that's the dad of this guy? Well

he had a son and his son's name was Manasseh.

Now let's notice some things about Manasseh.

I'm going to say that Manasseh had a very rough

childhood. Notice that he became king whenever

he was 12 years old. He can't rule a nation.

He can't rule a nation. Hezekiah before this

was ill and he prayed to the Lord that his life

might be extended and the Lord gave him 15 more

years. And notice here that Hezekiah takes the

throne at 12 years old. So that tells us that

Manasseh, or Manasseh took the throne at 12 years

old, so that tells us that Manasseh was born

towards the latter end of Hezekiah's life. And

quite possibly Hezekiah, and again this is my

speculation, maybe did not give Manasseh the

attention that he needed. As good as Manasseh

was. And that happens. That happens. You know

if you're the king over a country you got a lot

of stuff to take care of and sometimes it's easier

just to take your child and push them over here

to some tutors and guardians and let them take

care of him while you tend to the kingly business.

Well after Hezekiah's gone and Manasseh takes

the throne he's 12 years old. Do you really think

a 12 year old was ruling Judah at that time?

No. The people that were ruling Judah were all

of the people that Hezekiah left behind. And

as is generally the case, whenever you have a

king that is working for one thing, generally

in his circle, there are people that are working

against him, especially in this time. And we

have it today. I think you've heard of the deep

state. Deep state's not a new thing. Judah had

a deep state. That while Hezekiah was trying

to lead the children of Judah in a good way,

there were people in his circle that didn't like

those reforms. And so then whenever Hezekiah

is gone, here's this 12 year old boy and now

there are all of these people over here that

had their personal secret agendas and they're

wringing their hands thinking, alright, we're

in control now. And so whenever we look at Manasseh,

Manasseh he was young and he probably fell under

some very bad influences to begin with. He was

12 years old and he did evil in the sight of

the Lord. And whenever we think about Manasseh,

a lot of the evil that he perpetrated, there

were political considerations in that. A lot

of times whenever these pagan gods were brought

into a country they were brought into a country

in order to form alliances with other countries

that were surrounding them. Whenever you look

at idolatry, idolatry we think of it as a religious

issue and it is a religious issue but in this

day there were political and economic consequences

also. And that in idolatry there was, from what

I understand, you know, they had kind of their

own banking system in that and they had their

own subculture that if I'm in this country serving

this God and then there's another country over

there that's serving that God where we can go

back and forth serving our gods and we can do

business with each other. You know people didn't

just worship stars because they wanted to worship.

People worship what they can get the most from.

And if you can gain power politically and you

can do well economically whatever will bring

that about people will worship. And that's what

was happening in the days of Manasseh. So there

was an economic advantage and he catered to the

people because we see that Manasseh, he had led

them in evil for so long and then there was and

so then there was that time towards the end of

his life that the people found evil convenient

rather than going all the way to Jerusalem to

the temple to worship. I can just go out here

on this high hill underneath the tree and I can

offer a sacrifice to an idol. That's a lot more

convenient than having to go all the way to Jerusalem.

to worship and so he catered to the people. You

know and these are just some ideas for whatever

reason but what I want us to notice is that Manasseh

as a young boy had some challenges. You know

we might even could look at Manasseh and you

say well you know I can see why Manasseh would

do evil with all of that going on around him.

But we need to understand that just because that

may be a reason for why it happened that doesn't

excuse that it happened. Because we see this

man as evil and as wicked as he was, he turned

to the Lord. And we see people today living in

situations that are difficult, they're trying,

they're tragic. and we just look at them and

maybe they even look at themselves and think

well you know my circumstances are so bad you

know there's no hope for me or you know the Lord

will understand no we're accountable regardless

of what our circumstances are to the Lord and

so because of the evil during Manasseh's day

God determined judgment on Judah he says because

King Manasseh or Manasseh King of Judah has done

these abominations He has acted more wickedly

than all the Amorites, which were before him,

and he also made Judah sin with idols." So imagine

that. In the land of Canaan, there was an evil,

wicked group of people. God drives them out,

brings His people in, and then His people do

worse than the people that He drove out. You

see, they were worse than the worst. And so he

determined, I'm going to bring a calamity on

Jerusalem and Judah, and whoever hears it, their

ears will tingle. I'll stretch forth over Jerusalem.

measuring line of Samaria and the plummet of

the house of Ahab. That's having reference to

the northern kingdom Israel who had already been

carried off into Assyrian captivity because of

their idolatry and he's saying okay the same

measure that I used against them I'm going to

bring it to Judah and I'm going to use it against

them also that they're going to go into captivity.

So he says in verse number 15, because they've

done evil in my sight and have provoked me to

anger since the day their fathers came out of

Egypt, even so to this day. But not only did

God determine judgment on Judah, he determined

judgment on Manasseh. In 2 Chronicles 33 verses

2 Chronicles 33:10

10 and 11 the Bible says that the Lord spoke

to Manasseh and his people but they would not

listen therefore the Lord brought upon them the

captains of the army of the king of Assyria who

took Manasseh with hooks bound him with bronze

fetters and carried him off to Babylon. The Assyrians

were very brutal people. And whenever it says

that they took Manasseh with hooks, that's what

they literally did. They took him with hooks.

One of the things that the Assyrians would do

when they were going to lead someone away as

a prisoner, they would run a hook through their

nose and then walk them and lead them with a

chain. Are you going to try to make a run for

it if you got a hook in your nose? You're not.

So he's got a hook in his nose being led about

with a chain and he's in bronze fetters and he's

being carried off to Babylon. Now we might say,

well if Assyria is doing it why are they taking

him to Babylon? Well that's because Babylon at

this time was under, was subordinate to Assyria.

And so they were taking him off and they led

him away in humiliation, in defeat, before all

of his country. because of his evil that he had

done. But in 2 Chronicles 33 verses 12 to 13

2 Chronicles 33:12–13

It says Manasseh's affliction and repentance

in verse 12, now when he was in affliction he

implored the Lord his God and humbled himself

greatly before the God of his fathers and prayed

to him and he received his entreaty heard his

supplication brought him back to Jerusalem into

his kingdom then Manasseh knew that the Lord

was God. So here's this king who was the worst

than the worst that we would all look at and

say there's just no hope for him. And then the

Bible narrative tells us that he came to a point

in his life where he knew that the Lord was God.

What happened? You know what? Whenever you're

sitting in a lonely dungeon with a hook in your

nose and chains dangling from you attached to

the wall, that's gonna make you think a little

bit. That's gonna make you think a little bit.

You know, we always hear, you know, some people

have to hit rock bottom. This was Manasseh's

rock bottom. That for all of the evil that he

had perpetrated all of those years, he finally

arrived at a point to where he had to do some

soul searching. And he humbled himself before

the Lord. He prayed to the Lord and noticed that

the Lord received his entreaty and heard his

supplication and brought him back. You know,

I would think if, you know, if I got Manasseh

away from the throne of Judah, I would not want

to let him anywhere near that anymore. But you

know what God did? God brought him back. God

brought him back. Now, if you'll notice, we get

all of our good news from 2 Chronicles and all

the bad news we're getting from 2 Kings. Why

is that? Well, there's a reason why. Second Kings

was written to explain why Judah was exiled into

Babylon. Second Kings goes through all of the

evil that these kings did leading up to their

captivity in Babylon because whenever Judah went

into Babylon, God wanted them to know why that

was so. Second Kings was written at about 687

BC. And so they went into Babylon, or rather

Manasseh's talked about at about 687 BC. And

they went into Babylon at about 605 BC was the

first deportation and there were three deportations.

And the book of 2 Kings was written for them

to understand this is why this is happening.

And if you look at 2 Kings, it closes out with

them going into Babylon. Well, why do we get

all the good news from Chronicles? Chronicles

was written after the return from Babylon. Its

focus is on hope, mercy, and the restoration

of the temple. The chronicler highlights Manasseh's

humbling and repentance to demonstrate that God's

grace is available to any sinner who truly humbles

themselves. Chronicles was written at about 450

BC, after the deportation. And it's written in

order to show the mercy of God to the worst of

sinners. And that's what we see in Manasseh.

In Manasseh we see the power and the influence

of Manasseh, his personal evil in bringing about

God's judgment. And then in Chronicles afterwards,

after they had gone back to Judah, they had rebuilt

the city, they had rebuilt the temple, and the

Lord wanted them to understand his mercies towards

them. and one of the stories that he uses to

help them to understand his mercies towards them

is King Manasseh. Okay, so we've gone through

a lot. What are some lessons that we can learn

from this? Well, obviously, lesson number one.

There's hope in a seemingly hopeless and impossible

situation. You ever looked at a person and thought,

there ain't no way. You ever thought that about

another person? Maybe you look at yourself. And

you think, there ain't no way. There's no way

God would take me. You know, I've talked to people

and I'm sure you've talked to people and if you've

talked to people very much, you're going to run

into people that say, I'm just too bad. That

people live under so much shame and guilt for

their past, they just cannot fathom God ever

accepting them. Well, the Apostle Paul is the

New Testament lesson about that, and in the Old

Testament, Manasseh is the lesson about that.

That a person who was worse than the worst, when

he fell broken and contrite before the Lord with

a hole in his nose, crying out to God, God heard

him, and God restored him. Again, he acted more

wickedly. But yet we find in his repentance,

God restored him. So if you're sitting here today

and you think, well there's no way, well you

don't know the things that I've done. Well, I

know the things that Manasseh's done, and I know

you're not that bad. Have you ever laid a baby

on an altar to be burned up to a pagan god? Have

you ever killed people because you thought that

they were a threat to your power and your economy?

No, you haven't done that because you wouldn't

be sitting here if you did. You'd be in jail.

But God heard this man and restored him. God

can restore you. He can restore me wherever we

are in life. Don't ever discount the mercy of

God. Here we see the utility of affliction. In

affliction he implored, in affliction he humbled,

in affliction he prayed, in affliction God received

his entreaty, in affliction God heard his supplication

and brought him back to Jerusalem in his kingdom.

Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. Sometimes

it takes affliction to bring us to where we need

to be to seek the Lord. And that's what happened

with Manasseh. You see, the psalmist talks about

this in Psalm 119, 1067. Before I was afflicted,

I went astray. But now I keep your word. It's

good for me that I've been afflicted, that I

may learn your statutes. I know, O Lord, that

your judgments are right and that in faithfulness

you have afflicted me. We need to understand

the importance and the power of affliction. I

want to notice this statement right here. In

faithfulness, God afflicted Manasseh. That Manasseh's

affliction was a work of faithfulness of God

towards him. You know, a lot of times whenever

we see loved ones in sin, We want to minimize

their consequences and we want to rescue them

from all of the actions of their bad decisions.

And I'm not saying that in some instances we

shouldn't do that, but I think we need to have

wisdom and discretion in knowing that there comes

a time when you're being unfaithful when you

do that. And that sometimes we have to turn loose

of our loved ones and let them suffer. and let

them suffer. And sometimes our loved ones have

to turn loose of us and let us suffer in order

that affliction might teach us the things that

they couldn't teach us. It's hard. It's hard.

It's hard when you've got a child and you've

got to make a decision. You go. We don't do that.

And if that's the path that you're going to choose,

you're not going to live here and you're not

going to do it here. And that child walks out

the door and you don't know if they're coming

back or not. But sometimes that's necessary.

Just think about that prodigal son who sat there

on the porch and let his son go until he was

afflicted. That was a faithful father. And so

I say that to emphasize because again I see so

many times that you know well you know well I

want to be there for them and you know and I

want to love them and that's true but sometimes

our love and our faithfulness to them means that

we have to let them suffer their consequences.

As I used to say whenever I was teaching school,

if nice works I'll do nice but if nice doesn't

work we've got to do something else. And it's

the same way with God. God will entreat you with

His mercy and grace, but if we're not going to

hear Him because of His mercy and grace, He'll

turn us over to live out the consequences of

our sin until one day we've got a hook in our

nose crying out to God. And so Manasseh, again,

that hook that he had in his nose, He could look

at that hook and that hole in his nose. He could

look at that scar and be reminded of all of the

evil that he had committed. Or he could look

at the hole in that nose and be reminded of the

mercies of God, the day God heard me. And if

you're sitting here with scars today, we want

you to be able to look at those scars and be

reminded of the day God heard you. instead of

all of the turmoil and all of the evil that maybe

you've experienced in the past. See the beauty

of repentance. He did evil in the sight of the

Lord. He seduced Judah. Manasseh then came to

the Lord and he knew that he was Lord and he

commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.

We all love a good repentance story, don't we?

I know whenever I obeyed the gospel there wasn't

a whole lot of hoopla about it because, you know,

That was what was expected. But whenever you

take somebody that's been in prison you take

somebody that's lived a life of drugs and alcohol

and promiscuity and has totally wrecked their

life and then come to God and the Lord restores

them. That's a picture of beauty. Now I'm not

saying that a person who's raised in the church

that their conversion and restoration to God

through Jesus Christ is any less glorious or

any less important But you know, we like a good

repentance story, don't we? And that's what Manasseh

is. He shows the beauty of repentance. He showed

how far a man can fall and how far God can bring

a man. Let's notice the intensity of repentance.

This is an important lesson that I want us to

learn about repentance. You know, repentance

is not just saying, well, I'm sorry. and then

we expect everything to go back to normal. Whenever

we sin, whenever we're living away from the Lord,

we're doing damage not only to ourselves, but

we're doing damage to the people that we love

and love us. And that was the case with Manasseh.

You know a lot of times as parents maybe that

are not following the Lord, and then we raise

our children that way and we raise our family

that way and then later on in life we come to

this awareness, okay I need to serve the Lord

and then I repent expecting well whenever I repent

my entire family is going to come with me. That

doesn't happen. That doesn't happen. Because

when Manasseh repented the entire country did

not come with him. But notice that whenever he

repented He repented with an intensity. He knew

damage had been done and repair has to take place.

He began to build a wall. He began to raise a

wall to a great height. He put military captains

in. He took away the foreign gods. He cast them

out. He repaired. He sacrificed. He commanded.

He knew the evil or the influence of his evil.

And in his repentance, it wasn't just enough

to say, I'm sorry. He knew he had to go back

and to do a lot. of repair work. And we need

to understand that whenever we repent of sin,

sin maybe that is grievous and sin that has hurt

a lot of people and had bad influences on the

people that we love, don't expect everything

to be okay by just simply saying okay I'm sorry.

Your repentance, my repentance will restore us

to the Lord. But it doesn't take away years and

years of evil influence You see this a lot in

marriages whenever you know Husbands go awry

sometimes and then we come back and we tell our

wives We're sorry and then we expect everything

just to be okay. No, it's not okay You can be

restored in the relationship But trust has been

damaged Emotional scars have been left by betrayal

And don't think that coming back and just saying

two words, I'm sorry, is going to make things

better. You put in the work of repentance. When

you make a choice to repent, you make a choice

to go to work. And that's what Manasseh did.

He repented and he went to work. 2 Corinthians

7 talks about the repentance of the Corinthians,

what diligence it produced. We saw that diligent

word this morning and here it is again. In all

things you've approved yourselves to be clear

in this matter. You know a lot of times when

people will repent you'll hear other people say

well I wonder if they really repented. When a

person truly repents you don't have to wonder.

You don't have to wonder. It becomes very clear.

They begin to go to work. They begin to go to

work to bring about repair and bring about healing

in their lives. And again, as we said, years

of influence of evil cannot be overcome with

a season of repentance. Notice verse 17 or verse

16. He prepared the altar of the Lord, sacrificed

peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and

commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.

Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed on

the high places only to the Lord their God. Now

we may look at that and think, well they went

out to the high places where they used to sacrifice

to idols, so at least now they're sacrificing

to the Lord their God. That's a good thing, isn't

it? No, it's not. And the Bible doesn't present

it as a good thing. Nevertheless, Nevertheless

means, okay, this is happening, but nevertheless.

They weren't complete in their following of the

Lord. And so for all of Manasseh's intensity,

for all of his fervor, for all of his work in

repairing and restoring the damage that he did,

not everyone fully came back. God is not honored

by going to pagan altars and offering sacrifices

to His name. You know, sometimes we think today

we can take things that are bad and just slap

Jesus's name on it and all of a sudden it becomes

good. No, Jesus is offended by that. Jesus is

offended by that. Jesus doesn't want you to adapt

Him to some evil to the world to make it more

consumable to you or me. He wants us to worship

him in the purity and the simplicity of the truth

and spirit that he's given to us. So we're sitting

here today and maybe you relate to Manasseh.

Maybe you're in a situation where you have repented

of sins in the past. Maybe you haven't lived

faithful and you know and your influence has

hindered those around you that you love. You

know, again, you talk with people and I talk

with parents that throughout the course of their

life while their children were growing up, they

made bad decisions. They left the Lord. But then

later on in life, they repented and they came

back to the Lord. But you know what? Their children

haven't followed them. Their children are still

where their children were when they repented

and it grieves them tremendously. And you may

be, some of you, I don't know, you may be in

a situation like that and a lot of crying, a

lot of tears, a lot of prayer. What can you do?

That's why it's so important that where you are

right now today, if you're at a point of decision

about overcoming sin about coming to the Lord,

you need to understand that the longer you put

off that decision to do what you know you're

supposed to do, you're leaving an evil influence

for those that you love, and an influence that's

going to affect them as they move on and grow

up. And so it's important that, first of all,

you get right today. today. You cannot rewrite

the past, but you can be a living testimony of

God's grace in the present. And again, I know

people that are going through this and these

adults are faithful members of the congregation.

They've engaged themselves in the work of the

Lord. They're involved and they're seeking to

carry on the work of the Lord all the while with

a broken heart because of their children who

will not Don't let that be you. Your changed

life may become one of the strongest tools God

uses to draw loved ones from under the influence

of your sins. What can I do? You know, again,

we get desperate and we want everybody to talk

to our children or our loved ones and we want

everybody to do all of these special things and

sometimes it can reach a heart, sometimes it

can't. But what you can do is to live a changed

life. that those that love you will see it and

choose to come with you and be faithful to allow

for affliction when necessary. Take that stand

and say, this is where I am. I know I've made

mistakes in the past and I've disappointed you

and I've let you down and I haven't set the example,

the godly example that I should be, but this

is where I am today. Watch what God is doing

in me and allow him to do that in you. Please.

So I hope as we look at these two kings, evil

Manasseh and repentant Manasseh, that we can

learn some lessons that will help us in our walk

with the Lord. If you're here this evening and

maybe you're at a point of decision, again maybe

you're At a place where you're struggling with

sin, can't overcome sin, and sin is leading you

away and leaving an evil influence for your family,

maybe you know you should be baptized and obey

the gospel, but you just keep putting it off.

Here's the thing, while you do that, all of those

that you love and care for, they're watching

you every day put that off. What does that say

about the importance of that decision? Don't

we want our loved ones and the ones that we care

for to make the best decisions? Why don't you

make the best decision? Why don't I make the

best decision today? Thank you for listening

to today's sermon from the Church of Christ Wheeler

area. We hope this message encouraged you and

strengthened you in your faith this week. Don't

forget the doors always open at 1500 South Allen

L. Bean Boulevard. at 10 30 a .m on sundays 2

30 p .m on sunday afternoons and recharge with

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