II Kings 18:1-12 "Deconstruction and Reconstruction"

You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.

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2 Kings 18, beginning in verse 1.

In the third year of Hosea, son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.

He was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem.

His mother's name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.

And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that David, his father, had done.

He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah.

And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made.

For until those days, the people of Israel had made offerings to it.

It was called Nehushtan.

He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him,

nor among those who were before him.

For he held fast to the Lord.

He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses.

And the Lord was with him.

Wherever he went out, he prospered.

He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him.

He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory from watchtower to fortified city.

But in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hosea, son of Elah, king of Israel,

Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against Samaria and besieged it.

And at the end of three years, he took it.

In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hosea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken.

The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in Hala.

And on the harbor, the river Gozon and in the cities of the Medes.

Because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed his covenant,

even all that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded, they neither listened nor obeyed.

Let's pray together as we approach this portion of God's word.

Oh, Father, we thank you for how you have worked in your people.

We thank you for just the gift of this history.

Because there we see you at work.

But we also get the promise of how you will work.

So, Father, as we study this part of Scripture that many of us have never read,

we pray that you would open our eyes to what is here,

but also open our hearts to how you might speak into us and give us hope.

So, Father, come and pour out your Spirit.

Lead us as we study.

And use my words, as weak as they are,

in such a way that we will know

that by your Spirit,

we have heard from you.

So, come and do your work.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

You know, I'm sure there's many of you in here

that are big fans of HGTV

and Chip and Joanna Gaines.

We like those rebuilding shows.

I got a nine-year-old grandson who loves that show.

Watches it a lot.

You know, and it's the same story.

You know, somebody goes and buys a house.

They want to buy a house.

And they want to refresh it.

And so, you know, you go through the story.

You look at all the things you can do.

We got to paint a wall here,

take a wall out over here.

But then when you get down into the nitty-gritty

of what's really there,

basically the whole thing has to come down.

Because there's a lot more going on

than what you can see on the surface.

Well, I think in a lot of ways,

we take, when it comes to spiritual renewal,

we take an HGTV approach.

But it's more of we want a refreshing.

We want a kind of redoing, you know,

paint this room, change this wall.

We're going to just kind of make it look better,

look nicer.

We want good curb appeal.

Because everybody else that drives by our home,

we want them to see how well we're doing.

But we want life to get better.

We want it to look better.

We want it to feel better.

But the problem is,

there might be a lot more at work

under the surface than you realize.

You see, we can do this as a church as well.

Maybe, you know, we just need to change our schedule.

Maybe we need to freshen up our preacher.

Maybe we need to...

I'm not suggesting anything since Will is not here.

Not at all.

But this is the kind of approach we take.

We just need to touch up here and fix this.

But under the surface,

there might be a dwelling

that needs to be gutted

and started over.

You see, this is really what happens

in the kingdom of Judah.

Judah at this point...

Well, let's go back

and get a little history lesson here.

Ever since the reign of Solomon,

when Solomon died,

the nation was split

because of just a lot of foolishness.

And so you had the northern tribes,

10 of the 12 tribes of Israel in the north

went off to themselves

and they were called Israel

and their capital was Samaria.

But the other tribes remained in the south.

They were called Judah

where the capital was Jerusalem.

And so they really fared

over these years,

many, many decades,

a whole lot better

than their northern cousins

because their northern cousins

were really led into a lot of

bad religion and idolatry

through the leadership of Jeroboam.

So much so that Jeroboam

became the standard of badness

for all of the kings

that would come after him.

So Judah fared a bit better

and they had some good kings

and some not so good kings.

kings.

But then comes Ahaz.

And Ahaz was one of the worst.

Ahaz built an altar

and put it in the temple

that was modeled after a pagan altar

that he had seen in Syria.

Ahaz took his sons

and put them on the altar

and burned them in the fire

to these pagan gods.

This is the king of God's people.

He was awful.

And towards the end,

when he was threatened

by the Syrians,

he sent to the empire of Assyria

who then was really kind of

coming into their own

and paid them

to get the Syrians' office back.

But in so doing,

he made Judah and Jerusalem

a slave to the Assyrians.

And they served Assyria for years.

And so he was as spiritually bankrupt

as all the kings of Israel.

And Israel now was finally

and totally defeated

at the hands of the Assyrians

as an act of judgment of God

and Judah and Jerusalem

were very quickly heading

in the same direction.

These were dark days.

Along comes a son,

fortunately, who didn't get burned.

His name was Hezekiah.

Hezekiah, at the age of 25,

the death of his father Ahaz

becomes king.

He is the product of this evil father

but also, I think,

a righteous mother.

And he makes a U-turn

for the nation.

He brings about

one of the most glorious times

of renewal and revival

in Jerusalem's history.

It is wonderful.

And there's much written

about this reign.

You'll find Hezekiah,

parts of his reign,

mentioned in three or four places

in the scriptures.

And I think we can learn a lot

about what renewal

actually looks like.

You know, we may pray for it.

We may want it in our lives,

personally.

We may want it corporately

as a church.

But what does it look like

when it comes?

We can get a good idea

here from Hezekiah.

So first,

there are four things

that I think I want to

call our attention to.

The first is that

spirit-led renewal

always,

always

begins

with repentance.

You know,

there's a parallel account

of Hezekiah's history.

If you go over to

2 Chronicles 29,

in there we see

a few more details.

It's almost like

on the very first day

of his reign,

he's got this new job.

Day one,

he begins

this cleansing process.

He goes straight

to the temple

and

throws open

the doors

and commands

everybody

to do a major

house cleaning.

All the altars,

all of the

trash,

all of the

filth

that Ahaz

had allowed

to come in there

was taken out.

Now,

all the pagan,

all the defilement,

it had to go

in right worship

of Yahweh,

the covenant

God

restored.

Now,

this had been

done,

you know,

in previous kings

have come

and done well

and they had done

similar

things,

but not

to the degree

that Hezekiah

did.

Because in the text

here in

2 Kings,

the writer

makes a point.

He says,

you know,

back in the other

accounts,

we see that

the high places

were not removed.

These kings

would do well,

this king would do well

and he would bring

reform,

but the high places

were not removed.

And it's interesting,

here in Kings,

Hezekiah

removes

the high places.

The high places

are places

of pagan worship.

They,

on top of

every hill,

they erected

these pillars,

they had altars,

and they worshiped,

those were for

the worship

of the local

fertility gods.

And these were

kind of leftovers,

carryovers,

from the pagan

Christians,

the Canaanites,

that Israel

was supposed

to have wiped

out when they

occupied the land.

But that didn't

go as planned,

and so a lot

of these remained.

And so even

from the time,

before the time

of the occupation,

these high places

were places

of worship

of these local

fertility gods.

And they had

become popular

for the Israelites

to do as well.

And so they

worshipped there,

they sacrificed

to the local

fertility gods,

and it was,

and it had been

going on

for hundreds

of years.

This is what

we would call

syncretism.

Syncretism

is a blending.

We saw this,

I saw this

very clearly

when I went

down to Peru

back in July,

where the

Inca

religion

of those areas

was blended

in with the

Catholicism

that the

Spaniards brought.

And so you see

signs of both

of these,

you know,

the local

religion and the

Catholicism of the

Spaniards,

it all just kind of

merged and blended.

And so they took

things of this

and took things

of this

and made

something

altogether

sort of

new.

But syncretism

does that.

It's kind of like

hedging your bets.

You don't want to

put all your

eggs in one

basket,

so you worship

here,

but you also

worship over here

just in case,

you know,

you're covered.

So the Israelites

had become

very syncretistic

in their religion

and that

syncretism

was leading

them

towards

death.

It's what

happened,

in fact,

really what

happened in the

north was not

syncretism at all.

It was an

abandonment

of their covenant

religion,

but not in Judah.

They held on to

temple worship

but added some

things to it

as well.

So on the

surface,

they still

claimed worship

to Yahweh,

but their hearts

were divided.

They were trying

to live with

one foot

in both worlds.

And God

had sent them

prophets

to warn them.

He had sent

circumstances

to really

kind of break

them so that

they would

understand where

they were headed.

But up

until now,

they didn't

get the

point.

But Hezekiah

did.

And he did

some.

So,

are we prone

to syncretism?

well,

yeah,

probably

far more

than we

realize.

Now,

when we buy

into our

culture's

values

and worship

at the

cultural

altars,

we claim

this

religion,

we claim

faithfulness

to this

God,

but at the

same time,

we're bowing

over here

and we

blend them

in so

that it

all looks

like one

neat

package,

we become

syncretistic.

Now,

I get a

chance

often,

and I

enjoy the

opportunity

when I

do,

is to do

premarital

counseling.

But when I

do premarital

counseling,

as soon as

a couple

walks in

my door,

I make

an assumption.

And I'm

rarely proven

wrong.

That couple

will come in

and claim

to be

Christians.

They'll claim

to believe in

God.

They'll claim,

you know,

whatever.

But I also,

I assume

when they walk

in that door

that they're

sleeping together.

It's just

a given.

And I'm

real happy

if I'm

proven wrong.

Don't

but I

rarely am.

Most,

you know,

just,

why would

we stay

chaste?

Why would

we stay

apart in

this culture

where we

live?

Where it's

expected?

Why would

I want to

be so

different?

One of the

cultural values

that tells me

is that I'm

supposed to

be happy.

And sex

is the way

there.

The problem

is that our

faith values

something very

different.

difference.

And we

can talk

why we

value

something

different

maybe another

day.

But too

many people

want to

claim that

they worship

Jesus

all the

while

bowing

at the

altars

of our

modern

culture.

love

and

it's not

just

sex.

It's also

our

affluence.

I was

thinking this

week,

I wonder

how I

would have

reacted

when the

rich young

ruler comes

to Jesus

and he

says,

you know,

what must

I do to

enter the

kingdom of

God?

He says,

hey,

Jesus,

I want to

be a good

Christian.

What do

I need

to do?

And so

he's

supposedly

asking the

right question.

Well,

Jesus gives

him the

wrong

answer.

According to

him,

he said,

go,

sell all

your

possessions,

give the

money to

the poor,

and you'll

have treasure

in heaven,

and then

come follow

me.

So how

would I

respond if

Jesus said

that to

me?

Would I

say,

run off,

or would I

run off in

despair like

that rich

young

ruler,

or would

I say

to him,

been there,

done that,

I'm with

you,

it's all

gone?

Sadly,

no.

See,

worship is

all about

what I

treasure.

And do

I find my

treasure in

Jesus,

or do I

find it

somewhere

else?

I read

this last

week,

there was

an interview

done by

this author,

her name

was Nancy

Jo Sales,

and she

did this

with some

teenage girls,

and I'm

talking about

teenage girls

here,

but just

realize that

this refers

to most of

us adults

as well,

particularly

talking about

their social

media habits,

and their

level of

social standing

with their

peers,

there was a

very elaborate

protocol on

social media

of how you

maintain your

position and

status.

In other words,

who you liked,

what you liked,

what you commented

on, who could

comment on this,

all of this

stuff.

And a young

girl simply

said,

social media is

destroying our

lives.

So the

interviewer asked,

so why don't

you get off

it?

And the

girl responded,

because then we

would have no

life.

I don't know

if she was a

believer or not.

I know a lot

of us that claim

faith in Jesus

would have a

very hard time

putting down

our phones

and social

media.

Because that's

where we're

trying to

build life.

If I have

no life

outside my

devices,

if I have

no life

outside my

retirement

account,

if I have

no life

outside of

pleasure,

I'm

syncretistic.

When I

throw off

the worship

of God,

in order to

offer my

kids on the

altar of

sports,

experiences,

or

entertainment,

I'm

syncretistic.

When I

think that my

highest value is

personal freedom

or individual

choice,

I might be

syncretistic.

Shall I

continue?

Notice I

haven't even

brought up

football.

It was a

very inconvenient

schedule,

preaching that

this week.

Though I will

say Marshall in

West Virginia

did very well.

we are too

often trying

to stand with

one foot in

both worlds.

One with

Jesus and

the other in

our high

places.

And we're

dying.

Too often we

want renewal

without disrupting

those worship

sites.

Too often we

want renewal

that just helps

us to feel

better, to

make life work

better, so

that I will

be more

affluent or

more popular

or you name

it, more

successful.

And we think

that's what Jesus

has come to

do.

And the

high places

remain.

But if real

renewal, if a

real restoration

with Jesus is

going to take

place, those

high places

must come

down.

To let them

remain is like

getting married

and then not

getting rid of

the pictures of

the old

girlfriends,

keeping their

phone numbers

and addresses

and even

going back and

visiting now

and then.

Because again,

you don't want

to, you got to

hedge your bets

here.

Ask your spouse

what she would

think of that.

Or he would

think of that.

It's the renewal

of a love

relationship is

what we're

after.

And it's a

relationship with

our first love,

our true love,

who will

tolerate no

rivals.

And that's

what renewal

is.

And like in a

marriage, when

you get married,

the scriptures

say in Genesis

1, it says

you are to

leave your

father and

mother and

then cleave.

And that

means to

kind of stick

like glue.

And it's

interesting, that's

the very word

that the writer

of Kings uses

here in this

text.

When it says

that Hezekiah

held fast,

it's the word

cleave.

Hezekiah was

leaving and

cleaving.

He was

leaving all

rivals behind

and He was

cleaving to

His true

love.

And that

is what

repentance

is.

It is

throwing off

false loves

and coming

home.

We belong

to only

one and

to only

one we

are to

cleave.

So renewal

begins with

repentance.

Always

begins with

repentance.

But secondly,

renewal,

spirit-led

renewal

pays the

price of

repentance.

The

cleansing

that Hezekiah

brought about

in this

nation was

incredible.

But it

was costly.

You know

what he

risked by

even tearing

down all

those high

places that

everybody else

in the

country was

very used

to using?

But even

more so,

there was

Assyria.

Because when

Ahaz turned

to Assyria

for his

security,

which was

something very

clearly taught

to him that

he was not

supposed to

do,

and the

prophets

warned him

that he was

not supposed

to do it,

he subjected

Jerusalem to

their

authority,

to their

reign,

and Israel,

Jerusalem,

not Israel,

Jerusalem,

Judah,

had to

pay a

very high

price to

them on a

regular basis

to keep that

security.

And for

Hezekiah,

if he was

going to

worship and

trust Yahweh

alone,

he had to

deal with

Assyria.

And so what

the text says,

he rebelled

against the

king of

Assyria.

But if you

notice in the

text, the

writer of

Kings very

importantly

puts verses

9 through

12 right

here.

It's like,

why is there

this little

section,

it jumps out

and talks about

Israel and

their downfall?

It's because

to show that

when Hezekiah

made this

choice,

he was

doing so

in this

context.

He's already

seen what

Assyria can

do and

will do.

And he

chose that.

So here

was Hezekiah's

choice.

He could

die,

just like

Israel.

They could

not do

anything.

They could

not go

through all

this cleansing.

He didn't

have to

repent.

And they

could just

hope that

they could

repel the

armies of

Assyria,

which no

one up to

this point

has done,

nor even

slowed them

down.

So He

could die

this same

death that

Israel has

died as

an act of

the judgment

of His

God,

death.

He could

die.

He could

die.

He could

die.

He could

die.

He could

die.

Throwing

himself on

the protection

of God,

but facing

this huge

army of

Assyria.

His choice

was not

whether he

wanted to

die or

not.

The choice

was how.

His choice

was death,

or death.

And that's

what

repentance

is.

Repentance

is choosing

death

one way

or the

other.

If we

choose not

to repent,

we choose

death.

Because our

sin will

kill us.

it will

suck the

life out

of us

eventually.

Maybe

slowly,

but eventually.

And it

hardens

us.

Or,

we can

choose

death.

To die

to those

high places.

To die

to the

grip those

idols have

in our

hearts.

some years

ago,

I had to

deal

with an

area of

sin in

my own

life

that was

slowly

but surely

crushing

me.

And my

life and

joy were

being sucked

away,

drawn away,

and living

under this

weight

of the

guilt and

the shame,

the slavery

that comes

with it,

I had a

choice.

I could

either

let it

continue

and let

it take

my life.

Or,

I could

choose to

die.

Die

to myself.

Die

to my

reputation.

Die

to my

shame

and guilt.

And tear

down the

high place.

Those

are the

choices.

The

question was

this.

It was not

whether I was

going to die,

it was whether

how.

But the

big question

was,

if I chose

death through

repentance,

would Christ

be enough?

Could

Christ be

sufficient in

his righteousness,

in his caring,

in his presence?

Would that

be enough

to make

do,

to make up

for everything

else?

Would

Christ be

sufficient

for me?

And I

came to

one

conclusion,

that he

would.

Our

high

places

must

come down.

They

offer

only

temporary

relief.

They

promise

only

temporary

rest

and hope.

But true

death

is coming.

And we

can either

die to

those high

places

or we'll

die on

them.

You can

sell your

possessions

and it

will feel

like death.

You can

get off

of your

computers,

put your

phones down

and it'll

feel like

death.

The

promise

we have

is that

if that's

the choice

we make,

there is

life on

the other

side.

Hezekiah

knew it.

do we

know that.

The warning

giving us

here by

kings is

that our

true love

will simply

not tolerate

these rivals

and we

need to

choose

to die

to those

idols

because there

is a

redeemer

who will

come

and save

us.

third

thing.

Now

you're

seeing that

I wasn't

lying about

the sermon.

Spirit-led

renewal

remembers

the

redeemer

always.

Spirit-led

renewal

always runs

to the

redeemer.

It's

interesting

if you

go back

to 2

Chronicles

and you

see more

of what

Hezekiah

did,

one of the

things that

he did

was he

reinstituted

the

Passover

a Passover

that had

not been

celebrated

for

decades

maybe

centuries

and so

the Passover

was critical.

Why the

Passover?

Well the

Passover

reminded

the people

of Jerusalem

a couple

of key

things.

One

it reminded

them that

they were

God's

people

and that

he bought

them

through the

blood of

the Lamb

that he

was their

God.

They were

his people

and that

lamb was

offered as

part of the

covenant that

he made

with them

so it

reminded them

of that

covenant

but it

also

reminded

them of

his power

to save

and preserve

because through

that Passover

the very first

one he took

down one of

the most

powerful nations

the world

had known

and that was

the nation

of Egypt

and so

that Passover

as they came

and celebrated

it was a

reminder

it was

remembering

who they

were

what was

their identity

who are we

and whose

are we

who do we

belong to

and what

will this

one do

that we

belong to

to work

for those

who wait

for him

and so

the Passover

was

wonderfully

significant

in fact

you ought to

go back

and read

this

they had

so much

fun

celebrating

the Passover

that they

extended it

for an extra

week

they were

supposed to

this feast

of unleavened

bread

they celebrated

for a week

and they got

through

and it says

we're not

done

and so

they

did it

for another

week

and it

also said

that the

Levites

who were

leading them

in worship

were singing

at the top

of their

lungs

they were

singing

with all

their

might

that's

something

happens

more in

football

stadiums

than in

our

churches

but they

were rejoicing

because

they remembered

they remembered

and that's

why we

come to

worship

that's

why this

time

together

is so

critical

is that

we come

to remember

who we

belong to

who is

with us

and I love

the phrase

there in

2nd Kings

where it

says

and God

was with

him

because of

the work

of the cross

I am not

my own

I have been

bought

out of the

kingdom of

darkness

into the

kingdom

of light

I have

been paid

for by

the blood

of not

just a

lamb

but the

ultimate

lamb

and he

is now

mine

and I

am his

and he

wraps me

in his

care

and will

let

nothing

nothing

get to

me

outside

of his

love

and goodness

spirit

led

renewal

runs

back to

Jesus

and to

worship

and finds

him

sufficient

for

everything

fourthly

spirit

led

renewal

also

hopes

for a

greater

king

as great

a king

as Hezekiah

was

he was

simply

a pointer

he was

a marker

he was

yes

so much

better

than the

others

but he

pointed

Israel

Jerusalem

and Judah

to a

future

king

who would

come

and not

just tear

down

pagan

altars

but would

come and

transform

hearts

he would

come

and make

all

things

new

and he

would come

and reign

righteously

over

not just

Jerusalem

and Judea

but over

all of

the world

and this

king

is our

hope

when Jesus

comes to

our lives

he doesn't

just come

to make

it better

he doesn't

come to

refresh

he doesn't

come just

to patch

holes

he comes

to restore

to

deconstruct

so that

we can be

rebuilt

into the

temple

fitting

for him

to dwell

this

this is

what

Christ

comes

to do

will

we

trust

him

to do

that

how do

we know

we can

because he's

already paid

he's already

shown us

how far

he will

go

through his

death on

the cross

he is

worthy

of our

trust

he's

worthy

of our

dying

to these

piddly

little

idols

and altars

that we

would come

give our

lives

to the

true king

let's pray

father I

pray that you

would pour

out your

spirit on

us and

bring us

to this

place of

renewal

in many

ways

it may

be hard

we

acknowledge

that we

need

deconstruction

we

acknowledge

that we

need a

deeper

work

than what

just

appears

on the

surface

we

acknowledge

that we

cannot do

it

ourselves

we need

you

and your

spirit

to come

and do

this

work

would

you

would

you do

it in

us

individually

would

you do

it in

us

as a

church

do it

so deep

that our

joy will

raise

it will

rise up

and proclaim

to the

world

how great

you are

so come

we give

ourselves

to you

to do

as you

wish

in the

great

and strong

and good

name of

Jesus

Amen

for more

information

visit us

online

at

southwood.org

for more

information

visit us

online

at

southwood.org

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