What Made a King Good or Bad? - DJ Dickerson - 3/22/26

This morning's topic and study is a

result of a recent request about the

kings in the Old Testament. Uh and as I

was dwelling on this uh as there's

certainly a lot to cover in the books of

first and second kings,

uh I finally landed on this on the study

uh being formed from a question in

relation to how the kings were described

as good or bad.

Uh and the question that we're going to

consider in our study and make

applications for ourselves this morning

is really what made a king good or bad?

Pretty valid question, right? Uh now I

know the kids actually in their Bible

classes next quarter are going to be

talking much about the kings. And so

there'll be some lessons later on that

I'll have as I do that on Sunday nights

a lot of times on uh following what

they're what they're learning to

reinforce that. but also for us um being

reminded also of those lessons. But let

me start out with this even if you could

reduce your life down to one sentence

and you're like huh

one sentence. What would it say? I'm not

saying it's not a paragraph. All right,

we're not doing that. We're not doing a

a biography. I'm just saying one

sentence. One sentence to summarize your

life.

because that's exactly what God does in

the book of Kings.

King after king, you'll notice how they

basically they walk across the pages of

scripture. Now, some are powerful, uh

some are weak, some wealthy, some poor,

and yet when God gives his final

evaluation, it always comes down to one

statement. It was either he did what was

right in the sight of the Lord or he did

evil in the sight of the Lord and that's

it.

God does not mention how much land that

they gained, how or highlight their

economic success uh or even go on to

list all the political victories and all

of that stuff. But really he asked one

question and summarizes it in those

types of ways where they did right in

the sight of God or they did evil in the

sight of God. And what that means is

basically answering the question well

did they actually follow me is really

the question that God is posing here.

And friends the same will be true of us

as the Bible says and I believe

Ecclesiastes 12 13 and 14 spells that

out quite clearly. There's other

passages that we could certainly look at

for that matter, but I believe it says

it very well when a summarization of our

lives and the whole duty of man. Look

what it says. Let us hear the conclusion

of the whole matter. Fear God and keep

his commandments. For this is man's all.

For God will bring every work into

judgment, including every secret thing,

whether good or evil.

We're going to ask a sobering question

this morning for us to evaluate in our

lives

based off the application that we find

from what I'm going to do in this brief

study about a couple of kings to make

the point and that is what made a king

good or bad

because the answer to that question is

the answer to what makes a life right or

wrong in in the sight of God. So, let's

begin with the first point. I think you

can probably already gauge this one,

right? A king was judged by his heart

toward God. Number one, right out the

gate that when you read through Kings,

you quickly realize that God is not

impressed with outward success. All

right?

uh he is looking at something deeper

because even long before the kings

God had already established

the truth of 1st Samuel 16 and verse 7

but the Lord said to Samuel do not look

at his appearance or at his physical

stature because I have refused him for

the Lord does not see as man sees for

man looks at the outward appearance but

the Lord looks at the hard.

You see,

two kings can sit on the same throne.

They can wear the same crown. They can

command the same armies for that matter.

But God sees something entirely

different.

And when we say that God judges the the

heart, we are not speaking in

generalities. Uh you know, we're seeing

a principle that's actually proven over

and over again in the lives of the

kings.

Now due to time constraints we will not

be able to consider all of the kings

from first and 2 kings but through each

point we're going to make some contrast

as in this point where we find two men

we have two kings we have two rulers. We

have two men who held authority. They

were very powerful and yet their lives

could not have ended more differently.

The one I want to share with you first

is that of Josiah. And I want you to go

to 2 Kings chapter 22. 2 Kings chapter

2 Kings 22 · chapter mention 2 Kings 22 · chapter mention

22.

And I'll be bouncing around between 2

Kings and First Kings and such. So just

uh kind of be kind of in that general

area if you will in your Bibles. But 2

2 Kings 22 · chapter mention

Kings chapter 22, we find that of King

Josiah. Uh, I will tell you right off

that King Josiah is one of the most

remarkable kings uh in all of scripture.

He's he's he's pretty remarkable.

And second Kings chapter 22, we have an

2 Kings 22 · chapter mention

introduction to this uh King Josiah. Uh

what's interesting about him is his age.

I'll go ahead and mention that real

quickly because that's what verse one

says. Josiah was 8 years old when he

became king. Now, could you imagine

that?

I'm like, "Huh, must have been

different."

And he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem.

Uh, it talks about his mother's name,

Jediah, the daughter Ada, of of Bos. And

he did what was right in the sight of

the Lord and walked in all the ways of

his father David. He did not turn aside

to the right hand or to the left. Now

when you consider this again, he became

king 8 years old.

And as you go to 2 Chronicles 34 because

Chronicles of the Kings, you know, will

refer back to obviously kings and talks

about in the eth year of his reign while

he was still young, he began to seek the

God of his father David. Y'all see that?

Look at that. And in the 12th year, he

began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of

the high places, the wooden images, the

carved images, and the molded images.

That to me is quite impressive because

again it says why he was still young.

Think about how the young shall secure

their hearts. See a lot of these

passages that just flow in my mind.

But one of the things I think about King

Josiah is that in studying him, he set

his heart toward God early early. And I

I believe there's some strong points I

want to quickly make here. Uh and and

that simply Josiah didn't wait until

later in life. He didn't say, you know,

I'll get serious about God someday. He

sought God while he was still young.

And what that shows you is that's a

heart that is intentional, not

accidental.

And something else we'll notice here as

well is that he responded deeply to

God's work. And what do we see in Second

Kings already? That really one of the

highlights of Josiah's heart is found in

2 Kings 22. And I want you to go down to

verse 11. Verse 11. Look at that.

Now it happened when the king heard the

words of the book of the law that he

tore his clothes. Now what happened

before that? Y'all remember what

happened before that? Why why is it that

that here when the book of the law was

found and read this powerful something

powerful happened where he tore his

clothes? Why did he do that?

Because he realized we're not living

right.

He didn't ignore it. He didn't excuse

it. He didn't delay. He humbled himself.

And God took notice.

God took notice. Now, I'll mention this

a little bit later on as well in the

lesson. If you back up, it's because the

book of the law

was lost.

Where was it lost at?

In the temple.

That's just crazy, isn't it?

It was lost.

Again, more on that in a moment. But

here's what God says in second kings.

What's what's mentioned of Josiah in

God's evaluation of him in 2 Kings 22:1

2 Kings 22:1

19. because your heart was tender

and you humbled yourself before the Lord

when you heard what I spoke against this

place and against his inhabitants that

they would become a desolation and a

curse and you tore your clothes and wept

before me. I also have heard you says

the Lord.

Josiah took this very seriously

as I taken the Bible right here and we

find things that says, you know what,

you need to tear that whatever attitude

or we can make a list of certain things,

right? We need to tear that down. We

don't we don't need to have that no more

in our lives because God says that that

is sinful

and then we just toss it aside and don't

do nothing. No, that's not what Josiah

did. Josiah saw it. He was upset so much

so that he tore his clothes. He was

absolutely distraught and he removed

what dishonored God completely.

Josiah, he didn't make just well I'm

going to make a small adjustment here

and a small adjustment there. He led one

of the greatest reforms in history.

He destroyed idols. He tore down high

places. He restored true worship. He

didn't manage sin. He eliminated it.

and the evaluation that God gives him

because of his heart. You go on to

second Kings 23 and verse 25. Now before

him there was no king like him. No king

like him who turned to the Lord with ALL

HIS HEART, WITH ALL his soul, with all

his might, according to all the law of

Moses, nor after him did any arise like

him.

That's a powerful summary of his life. I

would say even one of the greatest

statements ever made about a man.

I'll mention a few other details here.

Another point.

But I also want to make a contrast real

quickly with one of the shortest and

darkest reigns in history. Really when I

say shortest in sense, but King Ahab. He

a heart that was hard and compromised.

Ahab was certainly a king of influence.

He was a king of power. He was a king of

notoriety. He's he's one that we're well

known. If I said, "Who was Ahab's wife?"

Everybody's going to be able to say who

that is, right? Jezebel.

All right. I can go and say, "Be careful

who you marry." Okay, let's

list for another time. Anyways, all

right.

But here's God's evaluation. First Kings

16 and verse 30. Now Ahab, the son of

Omry, did evil in the sight of the Lord

more than all who were before him. Um,

Jezebel and Ahab both had issues. Uh, he

embraced sin instead of resisting it.

You go to verse 31. Just follow along.

First Kings 16:31. Notice what it says.

1 Kings 16:31

And it came to pass as though it had

been a trivial thing. Look at that. for

him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the

son of Nebat that he took as w he took

his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethil

king of Estonians and he went and served

B and worshiped him. Oh again bad

choice.

He married Jezebel. What did he do from

there? He promoted bell worship.

He built altars to false gods.

So now you have the very opposite end of

the spectrum here with that of Ahab

versus that of Josiah. Ahab, he didn't

just simply allow sin. He

institutionalized

it.

He surrounded himself with ungodly

influence instead of listening to God's

prophets. Who's he listening to? His

wife Jezebel.

She had his ear and he listened to false

prophets. And when confronted with

truth, go on to chapter 21 and verse 20.

A lot goes on in this. First Kings 21

and verse 20. So Ahab said to Elijah,

"Have you found me, oh my enemy?" And he

answered, "I have found you because you

have sold yourself

to do evil in the sight of the Lord."

Well, that's powerful words there. You

have sold yourself to do evil in the

sight of the Lord.

And what Ahab does is he resisted God

until it was too late. Even when warned

again and again, Ahab delayed true

repentance. Now, I'll give him this

verse 27, you'll find where there were a

there were moments of temporary

humility,

but not lasting transformation. That

speaks to us today because you know we

can have temporary moments of humility

but what good is that if it doesn't

result in lasting transformation.

You see

see his heart was not surrendered it was

conflicted and it was resistant.

And you know when you go and you again

read all the way into first kings 22

even his life ended in judgment. It's a

very terrible uh what happened to both

he and Jezebel. But first kings 22 and

verse 37 and 38 says so the king died

and was brought to Samaria and they

buried the king of Samaria. Then someone

washed the chariot at a pool in Samaria

and the dogs licked up his blood while

the harlots bathed according to the word

of the Lord which he had spoken. I know

that's pretty graphic.

The Bible has a lot of that.

Ahab dies in battle

just as God had foretold. He was warned

this is going to happen.

Ahab just rocked right along with what

he was doing. A powerful king brought

down by an unfaithful heart. So here's a

very powerful truth in this first point.

God is not impressed with power. He's

not impressed with that. But you know

what? He is moved by humility. That's

why we find in the scriptures, humble

yourselves in the sight of the Lord and

he will lift you up. James talks about

that. God is not looking for influence

either. He's looking for surrender. So

Josiah had a tender heart. Ahab had a

hardened heart. And you know what? That

made all the difference.

You make application of this. I I think

this is where it becomes real for us.

This is where it becomes personal. Uh

because we we may never sit on a throne

to rule an entire nation.

But the fact is that we are all ruling

something. Y'all ready for this? Let's

talk about that for just a second before

we move on to our next point. We are all

ruling something.

How about our homes?

We are ruling our homes.

God designed the home,

husband, wife,

children.

And there's design in all of that. That

he wants us to rule accordingly.

That goes to ruling our decisions,

ruling our priorities. And God is not

asking how much power do you have. He's

asking who has your heart.

Will we respond like Josiah

or will we resist like Ahab?

When God's word confronts us, do we rend

our hearts? That's some language you see

in the Old Testament. Rend our hearts or

do we harden them?

Do we remove sin or justify it? Do we

surrender or do we delay?

Because once the heart becomes hardened,

friends, it will begin to tolerate what

God condemns.

Friends, God is not evaluating

appearance.

He is examining hearts.

And this leads me to the next point.

What made a king good or bad?

What made a king good or bad? Well, a

king became bad when he compromised

worship,

which lends right off into the heart

that we're talking about.

One of the most repeated phrases in the

book of Kings is this, and I highlighted

it there. This, you'll see this in First

Kings 22 and:es 42 and 43. But, but

notice what's stated here.

Nevertheless, the high places were not

taken away. Now, there's something that

that's pretty interesting here. Uh,

right before that, what does it say?

He walked in all the ways of his father

Asa, and he did not turn aside from

them, doing what was right in the eyes

of the Lord. Nevertheless,

so we call that but

but the high places were not taken away.

for the people offered sacrifices and

burnt incense on the high places.

This is what's interesting because a lot

of times we categorize kings in such a

way. That's a good one. That's a bad

one. That's a good one. You know, and

when we do that, we also forget

something. When we do that, when we look

at their lives, there are some things

here says, hey, there's a problem.

Even with some of the good kings, they

did much right, but they didn't go far

enough. Now when you start talking about

the high places, the high places were

unauthorized places of worship. Uh

places where people what they would do

is they would mix truth with error and

convenience with command.

Dangerous. Very dangerous. And even when

kings served God, many of them tolerated

those compromises. They didn't tear them

down. They let them remain. And that was

enough for God to do what? enough for us

to even today in 2026 when we're reading

First Kings 22. It says, "Nevertheless,

God took notice and we're still reading

about it

because partial obedience is still

disobedience,

friends. We may not have literal high

places today, you know, altars and that

sort that we see here uh in the Old

Testament, but we have their equivalent.

We have their equivalent. uh you know we

have areas in our lives where we say

well God can have this but not that

you know what we just did we fell into

the nevertheless portion of that verse

that's what we just did

because what we do is we

compartmentalize God

you know he can have this he can't have

that and we use it in such a way where

where we obey where it's comfortable uh

we compromise where it's difficult

and we hold on to sins we know that we

should remove.

Now that could be a habit that we have.

It could be a relationship. It could be

a mindset. Fill in the blank there. But

the point that I want to emphasize is we

leave it standing. And that has become

our high place.

And God is saying, why is that still

there?

Why is that still there?

Because I'll submit this to you. Do you

know that compromise rarely looks like

rebellion? Rarely it looks like

rebellion.

It looks like just enough obedience to

feel okay.

That's the problem with feelings. We

start relying on emotions and all those

things. That's dangerous

because God never asked for partial

surrender. He said he wanted all. And so

the question is not am I doing some

things right? The question boils down to

this even

what am I refusing to remove?

What have I not removed? What is the

nevertheless part in my life?

The high places that I've got to tear

down just like Josiah did. Josiah saw

the high places. He was reminded from

God's word that was wrong. And what did

he do?

He tore it down.

we're not going to do this. He didn't

want to nevertheless.

Because here's a truth that we find

quite evident in the lives of these

kings and certainly true for us in 2026

is what we tolerate

today

will shape who we become tomorrow.

That's fact. And you can see them

through example after example after

example in the Bible.

What made a king good or bad? How about

this one?

Influence

matters more than intention.

When the Bible describes the wicked

kings, it often tells well says

something very telling and that I would

submit to you from first Kings 16 and

verse 13. First Kings 16 and verse 13.

For all the sins of Bash and the sins of

Eli his son by which they had sinned and

by which they had made Israel sin and

provoking the Lord God of Israel to

anger with their idols.

Look at 2 Kings 10:31.

2 Kings 10:31

There's a lot of examples and again I'm

trying to I'm trying to uh reduce it

down to a little bit here to condense I

guess would be the word because of all

the examples that I could go through but

second Kings 10:31 look at this one as

2 Kings 10:31

well. But Jah took no heed to walk in

the law of the Lord God of Israel with

all his heart for he did not depart from

the sins of Jeroboam who made who had

made Israel sin. Y'all see that?

So that's said about Jeroboam. It's said

about Ahab. It's said about many others.

Friends, they didn't just make bad

choices. They led others into those

choices.

Jeroboam, he he's he's one. Uh he set up

golden calves. U you know, and again, it

goes back, well, we're not just

rejecting God outright. Now, there was

some competition going on between

Jerobone and Riabon. That's probably

another lesson another time because

there's a lot there. But what did he

want to do by setting up those those

golden cabs in Danville? Well, it was

because he wanted to make worship more

convenient.

He had some plans, didn't he? He

thought, well, this is going to help the

people. It's going to be more

convenient. Uh but what he did was lead

a nation into sin. And that's why over

and over again, you know what you see

associated with Jeroboam? You'll find it

a lot when you go search for it.

Jeroboam,

who made all Israel to sin.

Well, that's one. We don't want it. We

We don't want that one inscribed on our

tombstone, right? Who made all Israel

sin? And the Bible repeatedly says he

walked in the sins of Jeroboam, which he

made is he had made Israel sin. And

friends, that's a sobering truth.

Influence multiplies consequences.

Do you know that we are never living our

lives in isolation?

We may think we are, but we're not.

Parents, again, I'm speaking to myself

first and foremost before I speak to any

other parent here.

Do you know that we're influencing our

children?

We're influencing our children.

That's a big one because the last thing

that I would want to be known for is

that I influence my children to sin

because we didn't choose God first.

That's pretty powerful, isn't it?

those who lead the congregation, you

know what influence the congregation

think about elders and deacons and

preachers.

And the point that I'm making from this

is

people are watching us, learning from

us. And again, I've said this before. If

my kids say, "Well, dad doesn't see that

that worship is important, he doesn't

see that studying the Bible is

important, he doesn't believe that

prayer is important, then what are they

naturally going to do?" What's the

answer to that? They're not going to see

it important either.

Now, who who falls some responsibility

on that one? A lot of it goes right to

me because I'm not doing what we find in

Deuteronomy. What Deuteronomy says is

that we are to teach our children, our

grandchildren.

These are big things and we can't just

chalk it off and say, "Ah, you know,

what does it matter?" Obviously, it

matters

and it still matters

because the question is, well, what what

do I intend? But here's the question.

What direction is my life pointing

others to?

Let me ask some questions.

Would you be comfortable if your

children lived exactly like you,

thought exactly like you,

did whatever you do, would would you be

comfortable with that?

If new converts, new Christians,

they come out of that watery grave of

baptism to to walk in newness of light,

would you want them to follow your

example of what it means to follow

Jesus?

Would

you be comfortable if your influence

became the standard?

Because when we're summarizing some

things here this morning, one day God

may say of a life, he was faithful

or

he caused others

astray

to stumble.

These are very sad words when you read

these

of those who took no heed to walk in the

law of the Lord God with all their heart

did not depart from the sins of

Jeroboam. Boy, there's a big study on

that who had made Israel sin. The

influence, the ripple effect is there

and that should cause every one of us to

pause

about priorities and what is important

in leading.

There's more I could say to that, but

I'm going to move on.

This goes to what I was mentioning

earlier a little bit. I want to kind of

circle back around to it and that's good

kings were marked by the response to

God's word. Now, one of the most

beautiful moments in the books of Kings

is found as I mentioned life with Josiah

briefly a moment ago in the first point

in second Kings chapter 22 the verses I

2 Kings 22 · chapter mention

want us to look at verses 8 through13

this is what happened as I alluded to

that Hilkiah the high priest said to Sha

the scribe I have found the book of the

law in the house of the Lord

and Hilkaya gave the book to Shaen and

he read it so Shapan the scribe went to

the king bringing the king word saying

your servants have gathered the money

that was found in the house and have

delivered it to the hand of those who do

the work who oversee the house of the

lord and shapan the scribe showed the

king saying heaya the priest has given

me a book and shapan read it before the

king now it happened when the king heard

the words of the book of the law that he

tore his clothes now you stop there

what's recorded the book of The law was

found in the house of the Lord. Verse 8,

it was brought to the king Josiah's

attention, read to him the words of the

book of the law. Verse 11 says, he tore

his clothes. Why was that? Because he

realized how far they had drifted from

God and immediately without delay, as

the passage continues, he began to

reform the nation. He's not arguing.

He's not justifying. He's not, "Well, we

didn't have it. We well, we just didn't

know." No, he's not justifying a single

thing. He gets on top of it, right?

Go inquire of the Lord for me, he says

in verse 13, for the people and for all

Judah concerning the words of this book

that has been found. For great is the

wrath of the Lord that is aroused

against us because our fathers have not

obeyed the words of this book to do

according to all that is written

concerning us generational issues. Even

y'all see that how it connects. Look at

verse look look at the next chapter

verses 1 through three. Look what

happens.

Now the king sent them to gather all the

elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him.

The king went up to the house of THE

LORD WITH ALL the men of Judah and with

him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

the priests and THE PROPHETS AND ALL THE

PEOPLE, both small and great. This is a

big crowd is what I'm trying to

emphasize here. And he read in their

hearing all the words of the book of the

covenant which had been found in the

house of the Lord. You're going to be

there a while is what I was thinking.

But here in verse three, then the king

stood by a pillar and made a covenant

before the Lord to follow the Lord and

to keep his commandments and his

testimonies and his statutes with all

his heart and all his soul to perform

the words of this covenant that were

written in this book. And all the people

took a stand for the covenant.

He didn't just sit there, well, you

know,

what can we do? He moved.

He moved.

He responded.

And we admire that kind of attitude,

that kind of action.

That's the difference, friend. It's

response.

Because even good people make mistakes.

Even faithful people will fall short.

We're human. Yes, we we can we can

certainly but but we don't use that as a

crutch.

as psychological crutches. We we know

we're not going to use that

because what separates the faithful from

the unfaithful is this. What do you do

when God's word confronts you and says,

"Hey, this is wrong."

Do we resist it? Do we explain it away?

Do we delay obedience? Or do we humble

ourselves and say, "Lord, I need to

change. I need to change.

I'm not doing what's right. I'm not

leading the way I should lead in my

home. I'm not leading the way I should.

You know, again, influence all that we

talked about before.

Because what we had in our scripture

reading this morning that brother Daniel

read for us, James 1 vers22 said, "But

be doers of the word and not hearers

only deceiving yourselves." I can hear

the word all day long and it can go in

one ear out the other.

He says, "Apply it. Do it."

Because hearing truth is not enough.

Feeling convicted is not enough. I can

feel convicted, but that don't mean

anything.

We have to respond. And so, I'm going to

ask you, when scripture exposes

something in your life, what do you do?

Because your response

reveals your heart.

Before we close, I have one other thing

I want to share with you.

The sad truth that even good kings could

finish poorly.

I would say one of the most sobering

realities in studying first and second

kings

is that even good kings didn't always

finish well.

Asa,

he once trusted God, but later relied on

a foreign alliance.

Josiah was blessed by God,

became prideful and was struck with

leprosy.

Hezekiah, who led reform, later allowed

pride to influence his decisions.

And it reminds us of a powerful truth.

It's not how you start, it's how you

finish.

Because friends, a strong beginning

does not guarantee a faithful end.

The Christian life, how many times we've

heard that it's not a sprint, it's a

lifelong journey of endurance.

Matthew 24:13, but he who endures to the

Matthew 24:13

end shall be saved.

This right here, when we're added to the

body of Christ through baptism,

this ain't a oneandone thing.

The disciplehip journey has just began

because it's possible to start strong

and grow weak. It's possible to be

faithful and become complacent. It's

possible to walk closely with God and

slowly drift away. I know it sounds

weird when you say it like that.

But that's why we're told, "Be sober. Be

vigilant for your adversary. The devil

walketh about as a roaring lion seeking

whom he may devour." 1 Peter 5 and verse

8. We have to remain vigilant. We got to

guard ourselves against pride. We must

stay rooted in God's word. We must keep

growing. And

a lot of times that's what stands in our

ways. pride. Well, I haven't done all

these years and I, you know, and I

should have done this and I should have

done that. All that in the past, we

can't change a single thing. But you

know what? We can do today is the day of

salvation. You can do something right

now and change just right now.

And you can lead your home in a

completely different area,

a 180.

You can turn it around.

our lives, we can turn around because

God is faithful and God is just.

The questions we ask ourselves, am I

still pursuing God with the same passion

or have I just started coasting?

Because finishing faithfully requires

intentional effort.

bringing the lesson to a close. I know

I've shared a lot and and there's so

many more kings and I know again the

kids are going to learn a lot about that

and I know it's exciting uh when you

think about the lessons we even learned

when we were kids but how this again

follows us as we grow older and think

about these applications that we make in

our lives. They're very deep. I hope

that you've seen the significant meaning

in what we've noted from God's word just

briefly this morning because the books

of the kings contain really a lot of

lessons. There's so much and and

although I'm not able to give a

comprehensive study uh on all of them

this morning uh it is my hope that this

lesson has been beneficial and has

stimulated thoughts and a

selfexamination

in making these applications this

morning. Now we're going to take a step

back and consider the kings. You know

what? You're going to see a clear

pattern. Clear pattern.

You're going to find that kings,

some had opportunity

but failed.

Some had flaws

but repented.

And some were mostly faithful but

compromised. That's the pattern you see

through first and second Kings.

But you know what they all had in common

is that every single one of them was

evaluated by God himself.

And one day so will we. I started there

with that of Ecclesiastes chapter 12 and

Ecclesiastes 12 · chapter mention

may it ring true in our ears and our

hearts today.

The whole duty of man is to fear God and

keep his commandments. We will stand

before God and we will give an account

of what we've done in this body whether

good or evil. Every secret thing, here's

the beautiful truth. All of these kings,

good and bad, point us to one ultimate

reality. You know what that is? We

needed a perfect king

because every earthly king failed in

some way. But the king of all kings,

Jesus Christ himself did not. He never

compromised. He never sinned. He never

failed. Even Jesus himself in John 8

John 8:29

verse 29. And he who sent me is with me.

The father has not left me alone. For I

always do those things that please him.

He is the king of kings. And this

morning the question is not just what

kind of king were they,

but what kind of life am I living under

Christ rule? That's the question that

we're asking and I'm going to end the

way that I started introduction and

that's that's question I asked. If you

could reduce your life down to one

sentence, what would it say? With all

that we considered this morning, not a

paragraph, not a biography, just one

line.

Because as we've noticed briefly in this

lesson, that's exactly what God did in

the books of Kings. As those kings again

walked across the pages of scripture,

all sorts of differing circumstances and

backgrounds that they had, yet when God

gave his final evaluation, it came down

to one statement. What was it? It was

either he did what was right in the

sight of the Lord or he did evil in the

sight of the Lord. That was that was it.

So one day our life will be summarized.

It's not going to be summarized by the

career that we had, by our achievements,

not by what others thought about us, not

but it's going to be by our faithfulness

to God, our creator.

So what will it say?

Did what was right or did what was evil?

Will there be a nevertheless in ours?

Think about that. So I submit to you in

this invitation that we're about to

have. If there's something that's in

your life that needs to change, change

it. Change it. If there are high places

that need to come down, tear them down.

If your heart is not right, give it back

to God.

If you've never submitted to the King of

Kings in obedience to the gospel,

putting him on in baptism, why wait? All

stands ready. Repent of your sins.

confess Jesus to be the son of living

God and be baptized to rise and walk in

newness of life as Romans 6 3 and 4

says. Because friends, one day when your

sentence is written,

let's make sure it's one that honors

God.