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Evening, glad to be able to bring this word to you that has been much on my heart and mind as I have been allowed the opportunity, especially in my writings and communications with some of the prayer groups, on this certain passage of scripture. And I'm going to ask you to go ahead and open your Bibles while we're getting ready here in 2 Chronicles chapter 28. Now what we have in the Chronicles is the passages of scripture that are in 1st 2nd Kings, 1st 2nd Chronicles, all are identifying of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. Now I can't assume that everybody is under an understanding about this, but it has been for me because of all these years of reading through the Bible, I love to come through the 1st and 2nd Kings, 1st 2nd Chronicles. Now the difference between these is, is that we know that the first king of all Israel was Saul. We know Saul did evil in the sight of the Lord, so God cut him off. And he raised up and he said, I found a man after my own heart. And we know that was to be David, King David. David did that which was right in the sight of the Lord with all of his heart. And that's the key here that we're going to look at in these passages of scripture. Then we have a son, Solomon. And we know that the first part of Solomon's life is that he did fairly well. We know that God approached him. We know that God gave him a blessing and said, ask anything of me. Solomon asked for wisdom. And because of that, he was given wealth. He was given a long life. He was given victory over his enemies and wisdom. That he was one of the wisest men in all the earth. But then we know that towards the end of his life, the last 20 years, we have that cutoff is that after he built the temple, after he built his own household, in the last half of his life was that all these strange women that he married, the ites that he married, that he was not supposed to have married, it says is that they drew his heart away from the Lord. And so that he, what we could say by scripture, he did not finish well. I don't know that there's anything worse than that. It's one thing if you start bad, but it's another thing if you finish bad. Let us do well unto the very end of everything that we do for God's glory. So Solomon faded away and because of that, God brought the kingdom away from him and his line from David and just gave them Judah and what was underneath Judah's care. Benjamin and Simeon was a part of that. But he gave 10 tribes of the children of Israel to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. And in first and second Kings, we read about that line of Jeroboam and the kings of Israel, and they have that one statement about all of them. It is a very sad epitaph. It's a sad pronouncement. And they did evil in the sight of the Lord, as did Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. How would you like to get down in history as the man that made a nation to provoke the Lord God, to sit against the Lord God and lead to their destruction? That was Jeroboam. So first and second Kings covers all the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah that followed from David, Solomon, Rehoboam, right on down until we get to Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Ammon, and then Josiah. So in 2 Chronicles, the story of the kings of Israel are cut out, and this is all focused from David and the kings of Judah, from Solomon on down. And you know by scripture, 37 chapters in 2 Chronicles, 36 chapters. Chapter 28, where we're at here, we're at the end. There's not a whole lot of time left. It's not like there is another couple hundred years in the empire of Judah. And at the end of 2 Chronicles, we know that the children of Judah are carried off into captivity by the Babylonians, and that was all that there was for what they had been used to as a king ruling and reigning over them. Now, how'd they get there? Well, it's because they have people like Ahaz. And when I come through Bible readings, I read the scriptures and portions, and I'm thankful that sometimes the Holy Spirit is speaking in a way from His Word that says, do you see this in your life? Do you see this in your family? Do you see this in the church? Do you see this in your nation? And my eyes were open, and I said, yes Lord, we're doing the same thing. We're traveling the same course. Now, we ought to know and understand is that scripture is given for review. It's given for correction. It's given for us that we can have a knowledge about good and evil, right and wrong. Leave from that which is evil, claim to that which is good. Kings should have had instructors, priests, prophets around them that taught them these things, but they didn't. And so we read about Ahaz here, and it's not good. And I want to lift these verses out to you tonight and share with you what God's sure and put on my heart about how crucial this hour is, how meaningful it is that we glean from the Word of God. There's 27 verses in this chapter, and it's speaking to us today about the condition and predicament that we're in. And if we don't learn these lessons, we are doomed to repeat them and face the same results. You cannot offend a holy just God and not expect for him to answer. And the church, we the church who ought to know better, we're not doing that. And so I pray tonight that as I give this word to you out of the scriptures, out of 2 Chronicles 28, may the Holy Spirit give us what we need to overcome. Blessed is the one that overcomes revelation in the blood of the Lamb. Blessed that God would open our eyes. Blessed that he would open our ears and our minds and our hearts and learn and glean from these truths. So let's begin reading 2 Chronicles chapter 28. I just want to read through the opening verses here to set up what we're going to be looking at. And then as we get into this, I'll be pulling out more specific things in the verses. And you can write down these things, mark them, but definitely above all things, may the Holy Spirit put them on our hearts and minds that we got to chew and meditate on these things for his glory. Begin reading in verse 1. Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign. He reigned 16 years in Jerusalem, but he did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord like David his father. He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, made also molten images for Balaam. Moreover he burned incense in the valley of the son of Anam, burned his children in the fire after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. He sacrificed also burnt incense in the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. Wherefore the Lord his God. Now isn't that a note to mark there? The Lord his God. Yet we just got done reading about all his rebellions and disobedience. Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him personally into the hand of the king of Syria. They smote him. They carried away a great multitude of them captives. They brought them to Damascus and he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel. Bad enough when you're delivered into one king's hand, but how much more when you're delivered into another king's hand too. Who smote him with a great sword. For Pekah the son of Ramaliah slew in Judah 120,000 in one day which were all valiant men because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. Let's pray. Blessed father I thank you now upon reading your word Lord the lessons that are needed to be learned, gleaned, applied and submitted to, surrendered to. Lord let thy Holy Spirit do as exactly as you have promised to do that it will not return unto you for. Accomplish in each of us. Accomplish in the hearts, the minds, the ears all father that brings glory and honor unto you. Glorify thy name Lord in the midst of your people. Lord let us not let us not be so foolish, so rebellious, so sinful, so loud that we think that we can read and be guilty of the same things without reaping the same same results. Lord grant to us wisdom tonight by thy Holy Spirit and glorify your presence in the midst of your people. In Jesus name we pray and we ask amen. Now I want to begin to devour through these verses mainly verses 1 through 25. I want to pull out and show you some of these things that leads me to my prayer times, my prayer mindset about what I see out in the United States, what I see in the church today and how we're identifying in the same characteristics, same responses and correct these things before it's too late. Now Ahaz, the first thing we read about in verse 1 is a statement about where his heart was. I told you in opening is that the ultimate key that you want to read about any king of Israel or any king of Judah is that they did it like David with all their heart. We know throughout the scripture is that we are commanded as Christians. We are not given any any way shape or form an excuse not to serve the Lord with whatever heart we see fit. We come to the Lord to do it with your whole heart. True hearted, whole hearted, faithful and true. God will not honor, God will not respect, God will not bless half-heartedness. Never has, never will and yet we see in a lot of Christians lives the guilt that is already pronounced. They did not, they do not serve God with a whole heart. They serve him with their mouth, they profess him with their mouth, confess him with their mouth but their hearts are far from him. There is a breakdown right then and there as we see in Ahaz that his testimony is, is that he did not serve the Lord which was right in the sight of the Lord like David. That tells us right off the bat he's less than where he's supposed to be. Now one of the things we read about in the kings is, is his father Joseph and Uzziah, his father, his grandfather is that they served the Lord and did that which was right as their fathers did. Now the danger of that is, is that David is up here serving the Lord with his whole heart and then you get other kings throughout the kings of Judah that did it as their father had done. In other words they are simply maintaining a right way but not a wholeheartedness unto the Lord and most of those when you read that they did it as their father did is that then the next verse pronounces some sin that they did. That some of them allowed the sodomites to remain in the land, some of them allowed for the high places where they burned incense where they weren't supposed to be burning it. There's always a sin that follows. Now you may think that in this mindset of the church today with our compromising with sin that that's okay. Now but if you know scripture and you know God there is no tolerance for sin in any area of our life. It's not in our church or nation or family or in our own hearts. If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord won't hear me. If I have sin in my life, any of those sins that you read of in the book of Revelation you can't get into the kingdom of heaven in that way. God does not compromise with sin and nor should the church. And yet in the church today what do we say? Compromise. We allow for sin to remain, we allow for sin to go unconfessed, unrepented of and we think that God's going to bless us. Our nation has continually now legalized sin, promoted sin and we think that we can still say God bless America. That we are delusional in our approach to this. Ahaz did not do as his father David did and do that which was right to decide to the Lord. That tells us he had a rebellious spirit. That tells us that he had an evil heart and he did that which he wanted to do. I know many many people that are like that. Doesn't matter what the Lord said. I don't care what that book says, the Bible. I don't care what the church says. I don't care what you say preacher. I want to do what I want to do. Again I just kind of say okay you're going to do that but let me tell you what's waiting at the end. There's going to be an angry God. God is angry with the wicked every day. Psalm 7 11 and I'm telling you is that God judges sin and God judges the sinner. Oh love the sin, hate the sinner. God doesn't judge sin. God judge sinners. Sinners are the ones that are condemned to hell, not sin. We do wrong by telling people these half-truths. We do wrong by allowing people that are our loved ones never to hear from us truth. God is going to judge your sin and your heart and your life because you're not doing that which was right with all your whole heart. One of the most blessed Psalms, Psalm 119, 176 verses over and over. I believe David wrote that even though a lot of people want to argue about that. I believe that throughout that you read that with my whole heart. My whole heart. Does God have your whole heart tonight? You know there are four chambers in your heart. Does God have all four chambers? Because I know that there are some people who sit in church. Lord you can have you can have one chamber but I need the other three. Lord you can have two but I want the other two. Let's just split 50-50. And others are saying Lord I have given you three chambers. Surely I can just keep this one. The blessing of the Holy Spirit will never come upon those that hold back from a whole heart to God. And Ahaz is going to teach us that tonight. What it is when men know better but they do not do better with a whole heart. And so this is our first lesson here. He did not do that which David did by serving the Lord with his whole heart. We automatically get a clearer picture about what kind of man we're dealing with. Now verse 2, 3, and 4 is a listing here of sins that he practiced. So we read verse 1. He did not do that which was right. The Bible now tells us. Well what did he do? So let's let's glean this. Let's look at his sins. He walked in the ways of king of Israel. Now as I told you in opening back to first and second kings. What do we know about Jeroboam? He set up two false gods and he said these are the gods that brought you out of Egypt. These are the gods that Israel shall serve. We read about his line. Got cut off. Jehu, Baasha came forward. Destroyed all the line of Jeroboam. Baasha is raised up. He's given opportunity. He did that which was evil to side. Lord all his family was removed from the earth. We come down to Ambrot during the days of Elijah the prophet. Ambrot who was the king and he did more evil than all that was before him and then he had a son whose name was Ahab and Ahab about wasn't bad enough that he did more wicked than his father did. He married Jezebel and he caused bail worship to be set up and established in the land of Israel in the promised land and provoked the Lord God to anger and that clash between Elijah and Ahab and how God was glorified by Elijah the prophet's prevailing. But we read about all the kings of Israel. All they did was practice evil in the sight of the Lord. Our nation, whole families now, many churches are falling into this place where all they're doing is practicing evil in the sight of the Lord. Now they say our nation is one nation under God and in God we trust and all these other platitudes that we kind of put out there. Even the church today because we're of mainline denominations or established churches and things like that but we don't understand. Ichabod is a law upon many of the churches today where the spirit of God has departed because of this one thing. We are doing as our fathers did and our fathers didn't do it right either. Be careful of that. And so Ahab did as the kings of Israel who did evil in the sight of the Lord. I'm telling you it is a clear evidence between men today of whether they're for God or against God. Whether they're in the word or out of the word. Whether they're in his spirit and his presence or they're walking contrary to his spirit and presence. It is as clear as night and day. So it is in this passage of scripture, this first description of him. He's walking in the ways of the kings of Israel who did sin and evil in the sight of the Lord. Second one, he made molten images for Baal. First two commandments out of the ten commandments. Many of the churches, all I believe in the ten commandments. Churches went through this debate a long time ago where they were not allowed to post the ten commandments. So they put it in their front yard. They got it in the churches. But if you'd ask most Christians today, please take a piece of paper and a pen and sit down and write out the ten commandments for me. They can't do it. I think it could be one of the saddest things of what we say we believe but we can't even state it. What are the ten commandments? Well the first commandment. A lot of times people get it confused between the two commandments that Jesus gave to us when they said what is the greatest of all commandments? And he said thou shalt love the Lord thy God with half a heart. No, back to that with all your heart, mind, soul, body, and strength. And the second one is like unto it, love your neighbor as yourself. That's the two commandments that Christ gave. The ten commandments that Moses gave, not once but twice when God wrote them and gave them to Moses. The first one is thou shalt have no other gods before me. What's the sin he did as the kings of Israel? What else did he do? He made Baal molten images for them to offer in the sins. He broke the first commandment. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. And the second, thou shalt not make unto me any graven image. We read it again in the verse two. Molten images for Baal. So right off the bat he's walking in evilness as the kings of Israel. And the second one, he's already broke the first two commandments. And actually you could say he did it to the third one because he did not keep, he profaned the name of the Lord, did not make it holy, did not keep it holy by falling down and worshiping false gods. Now verse three, his evil actions are continued to be described. He burned incense in the valley of the son of Anon and he burned his children in the fire. Now there are references in scripture of the Old Testament, the sin of Moloch, where they would offer their children in the fire to this false god. How wicked is it when men take innocent, naive children and make them to be a part of their evil, wicked deeds in their practices against God. He continues on after the abomination of the heathen. Now isn't that something that you want to be known for? I'm just like the abomination in the heathen that the Lord removed from the earth. What does God do with everything that's an abomination to him? He destroys it. What does God do to the heathen at the end of time when everything is set and judged and made? They're cast into the lake of fire. There is nothing good that comes from being a servant to abomination and being labeled as a heathen. The truth shall set you free and Ahaz is practicing the exact opposite. He is serving the abomination of the heathen whom the Lord cast out. God got rid of all those things so that the children of Israel might be clean, they might be holy, they might be pure, and they might glorify his name in all the earth. What's the church supposed to be? Clean and holy and pure and glorifying his name in all the earth. What are we doing? Defiling ourselves with entertainment, defiling ourselves with money, defiling ourselves with methods, defiling ourselves with humanism, defiling ourselves with entertainment, and we are bringing the heathenism of the world into the church and justifying it by putting a stamp of saying this is done for the cause in the name of the Lord. And I remind you of what A.W. Tozer used to say, you better be careful what you're winning them with because that's what they become and that's what they serve. In other words, if you win them with the things of the world, they're not going to serve the Lord God with a whole heart. They're going to serve the Lord God with half a heart in the ways of the world and that's the damage that the church is doing today against the kingdom of God. Be careful of these things. A.W. has practiced dead evil in the sight of the Lord and all we see here is that he is ratcheting up the prolonging of the Lord, the anger of the Lord against the children of Judah. Verse four, we come to the next verse that gives a description about his antics and his behavior. He sacrificed also burnt incense in the high places. I made reference to them on the hills and under every green tree. All those things were supposed to be removed. None of those things were supposed. Thou shalt come and worship the Lord God at this altar. Thou shalt come at this temple where his presence was that he had come down in the glory of Shekinah when Solomon offered those sacrifices and it says and the priest ran out of the temple because the glory of God had filled it. That's where they were supposed to be worshiping, not under the trees, not on the high hills, doing it any way that you wanted to do it and how many churches are there today doing it any way they want to do it because they think it's okay. You cannot do it men's way. You have to do it God's way. This is the danger that we're in today because the church has departed from the work of God by the spirit of God for the word of God for the glory of God and these are the claims that we are reaping today because we are guilty of the same actions of Ahaz. Now where's this taken Ahaz? Now see now this is the thing we have verse one who tells us is that he did not serve the Lord like David so we know he didn't do it with his whole heart. We know that he was evil in the sight of the Lord. I can put to you many names, many faces, many families, many locations in this nation that are just like that. They have provoked the Lord. They're doing evil in the sight of the Lord and they really don't care. I can go through verse two three and four and list the sins here that are being committed and I can show you the actions and the responses of people in the church and out of the church that are as guilty as the same things. You know we are we're so prone in the church to point our fingers at the world and condemn them but I want to tell you is that if we had the spirit of God today if we had a spirit of revival today confession would go on for for 48 72 hours non-stop because we have so much to confess because we're so filthy. We are as guilty as Ahaz was of polluting and giving occasion against the name of the Lord but you see it ought to bother us it didn't bother Ahaz. Now verse five we come to this particular every time that sin raises its ugly head in a nation you know we got to get this you you've got to get this some of you are living in misery in your homes some of you are broken hearted because your children and grandchildren your spouses your siblings they are lost and on their way to hell we are living in the last times we are running out of time and God comes and says this is why these are why these things are happening and we come to verse five and it tells us God's response to the men's actions of sin we know by Romans chapter three the wages of sin is death now I don't care who you are I don't care where you're at if you are engrossed in sin you are living for sin you love sin you are a part of sin I want to tell you is that you are heading steamrolling to a place of death Satan has no greater desire than to hook sin into the lives of people dominate them and then destroy them our adversary the devil has a roaring line walking about seeking whom he may devour that's where we're at and it is a nation that has sold their soul to entertainment and indulgences by the boatloads we have sold our soul by spending all of our time in our selfish interests in the church who are the ones that are supposed to be made clean set apart come out from among them be separate we're not supposed to live like them act like them be like them again we are the ones that have the very same sins in the in the pews and in the pulpits today and I want to tell you is that where sin raises its ugly head God responds to it he responded to Calvary the same way that Jesus who knew no sin took the sins of the world and what did he do to it he crucified his own son because of the sins of the world on him you can't show to me a nation an empire a continent a kingdom you can't show to me a family an individual that loves sin practices sin sells their soul to sin that God doesn't respond to that sin he sucks himself against it and as satan comes to destroy the lives of people God comes to destroy sin that's always been the plan satan raised his ugly head in before time when men was on the face of the planet and he raised himself up that he wouldn't be bringing sin into his proud heart and he set himself against the father and the son and the holy spirit and God responded to that act of pride and sin and cast him out and his angels out of heaven garden of eden adam and eve sin and God comes and he curses all three of them that are involved with it and the land he cursed the land as well he cursed adam he cursed eve he cursed the serpent and he cursed the land and in the days we see all throughout the bible every instance where sin becomes predominant in people's lives God responds verse five God responds to the verse two three and four of the sins of ahaz let's look at wherefore the lord is God delivered him into the hand of the king of syria God takes the heathens and brings them as a instrument a weapon upon those that should know better and do better we come into this place here is that we would think well that's not too bad and as i read in opening i gave this to you it wasn't just him the king of syria he also gave him into the king pika the son uh the king of israel and what do we know about the kings of israel as i already told you they did evil in the sight of the lord so God allows for evil agents of this world to be employed to respond to the sins of those of his own people who fall underneath the umbrella of the church christianity God does not tolerate sin in the world God does not tolerate sin in his church God does not tolerate sin in my heart and he doesn't tolerate it in you are you clean are you holy are you living the life that you're supposed to be living in your family and those that are so proud about you that they can look at you and say and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus wherefore the lord God delivered him into the hands of his enemies who's your enemy is it that one at work that one of your neighbors one of your family members is that some sin knocking at your heart's door and God says i'm not going to deliver you i'm not going to protect you you see that's the two standards that we need to learn real close God can either deliver us from our enemies or God can deliver us to our enemies and by all responses in verse two three and four if we choose sin over the same then he's going to deliver us to our enemies how is it that the united states the mighty army the mighty military that we was in the late 60s nobody parallel to us other than russia and the cold war that was going on and we allowed for a little nation like vietnam to make us at a standstill how is it that north korea where where we was at with south korea how is it that we was beaten down by that how is all these things possible if God does not deliver you from them then God will deliver you to them and i know that there are many christians religious people sitting in the pews today that at every invitation God deliver me from drugs God deliver me from pornography God deliver me from anger God deliver me from lust God deliver me from the things of this world and it is is that because you still had sin in your heart unconfessed unrepentant of God will not deliver you from those things but he delivers you to them and there are many that testify is to say i pray during the invitation that God would keep me from that sin but before the sun sets today you're already practicing it and you'll say you'll blame God and you'll say God didn't deliver me from it that's right you didn't because you didn't do it his way you did it your way you compromised and you didn't confess it you didn't hate it you didn't lay it on the altar and not pick it back up you didn't serve God with your whole heart you did it with a half heart and now you reap the benefits of that you are delivered not from your sin but you're delivered in your sin he puts you there so it is is that the king of syria the king of israel came and i deal with this so often and somebody's sitting in the church they'll come and say well it's just my sin somebody watches pornography somebody that has an anger issue so somebody that is greedy and they love money and i think that's just my sin and i'm not bothering anybody else with that i'm not influencing the other people i'm not practicing this with other people that is such a deception and a lie of of satan our sins one person comes into a group like this and one person in sin comes and sits in this is that the holy spirit is quenched and grieved one person sitting here with a rebellious spirit says i will not confess i will not repent and the holy spirit is quenched what can you do then it is is that we do not know the magnitude of our choices we do not know the magnitude of our actions and reactions by choosing sin and compromising with it so it is is that it is not just our sin it affects other people one person in a home has sin in their life it affects that entire home one area one region in this nation chooses and practices sins whether that be hollywood whether that be las vegas whether that be new york city whether that be atlantic city or what was atlantic city because it got wiped off uh by their actions and reactions to god and god responded god's going to do that to all sin god's response and reaction there is that he seeks it out and it affects all those in that you go back to the story of joshua joshua and the rest of the go into the city of jericho they you know the story there they blew the trumpets the walls came down rehab and all her household was delivered and it was was that they was not to touch or take anything that was in the city but one man one man did and when they got ready to go to the next city of ai and have a victory there by smaller uh military force a smaller city they was defeated soundly why because god did not deliver them from their enemies he delivered them to because aimac had sinned against god but when they corrected that sin what happened victory was returned you want to know why revival prayers you want to know why revival and power of god's holy spirit is not on the church today it's because of this very same message and motto here we have not given up our sin and now those are so hard-hearted and so christened in the sitting of the pew say i'm not giving up i'm not quitting and god says therefore i'm going to remove all blessing from you and our families and our generations and our nation are suffering because of that kind of thinking by these people that are serving loving sin verse five verse six does not doesn't cost anybody else anything because of a has a sin 120 000 people in judah died 120 000 people you want to talk about ezekiel of the watchman sitting on the tower and the watchman sees the enemy coming and does not sound the trumpet then all that city is blood is on his hand ahaz now has 120 000 people blood on his hand you and i in this generation have 55 million lives blood on our hands because of abortion that's our generation that's not we can't blame that on grandparents and we can't blame our children and grandchildren and our children and grandchildren are going to look back at us and say you spineless yellow-bellied jellyfish chickens you did not stand up against sin and now we're reaping because of your sin our sins do affect other people 120 000 were killed in verse six it gets worse than that verse seven now it gets personal it might be is that you look at people uh here we are in west virginia you might look at people out nevada oregon washington or let's say oregon and colorado because they legalized marijuana well that doesn't have anything to do with us here on these codes those crazy people out there that's their sin their sin is affecting us here in west virginia just the same as our sin is affecting them on the other side of the continent but it gets personal it might be one thing when you don't know or recognize 120 000 people out there and say well they're complete strangers to me and i don't really have any compassion for them jesus looked at the multitudes and he had compassion one of the sins of the church today is we can look at the multitude but we don't have compassion now you want to talk about family members you want to talk about precious friends now we've got compassion it isn't amazing how compartmentalized we are about having compassion and jesus beheld the city and he wept over when was the last time you wept over your city and in verse seven it gets a little bit more personal you don't want to have compassion for 120 000 people that died because of one man's sin how about verse seven i'll make this personal to you and so uh it says zitride wayne man of april swoo macy i the king's king the governor of the house and elkanah that was next to the king the king's friend elkanah his son now that's getting personal isn't it their death was because of ahaz i look back in the stories in the bible and i go back to king saul and he had a he had a son his oldest son by jonathan what a man he was a man of god a man a friend of david and yet jonathan died because of his father's sins he's not the first and he's not the last i do not want my sons to die because of my sin i don't want my grandchildren to die because of my sin i i see these truths in the scripture and it pricks my heart it bothers me and it causes me to examine my life is there any sin in my life are my hands clean is my heart pure is my tongue pure because my sins have repercussions on the church has repercussions on the community has repercussions on my family it's going to have repercussions on the nation it's going to have repercussions on generations that follow me so verse five six hundred twenty thousand died verse seven his son and and the man was a friend of his died by verse eight it doesn't end there two hundred thousand men women and children are carried away into captivity hundred twenty thousand was bad enough personal family friends die first verse eight that's bad enough but now it's not over two hundred thousand people carried away into captivity because of one man's sin i want to tell you is that the president of the united states and judicial uh judges that sit on the courts and governors and mayors and people that are in authority have power but they also have a responsibility and where much is given much is required ahaz had not learned that ahaz was learning a very painful lesson and i warn you again as i did an opening if we don't learn the lessons of the past we are due to repeat them as we are this very night so we come to this god's response and god punished these people and those that may have been innocent and those that may have been naive to what was going on maybe they didn't lift their hands up to these false worships in the ways that they had but they're still reaping the byproduct of it you and i are reaping a byproduct of our parents and grandparents sins of this last hundred this last century it was introduced into this nation about the advancement that we had and we didn't learn the lesson that where much is given much is required and we spoiled ourselves and we are at ease with ourselves and we are compromising with ourselves we're not getting better we're getting worse we better turn this thing around before we cross that plane of no return ahaz didn't learn that lesson all his life and there was great crisis to pay for what he had done how it is is that as i said sin raises itself up we just got done seeing that verse one through four the sin by ahaz we see verses five through eight we see god's response in that now we come in verse nine but a prophet of the lord was there whose name was odette he went out before the host that came to samaria and he said unto them behold because now i i'm a word study one of the things that god began to do many years ago in my bible readings is that i began to see the consistency of words in the bible and so i started that just about every verb that is in the bible i've got more every question that's in the bible i've got mark and one of the last ones phrases that i love to do uh of god saying i will i just i love those and one of the last ones that i'm doing right now is this because you know that that's a that's a catch of a cause effect i'm sinning and because i'm sitting here's god's response but it's the same thing in response reverse i'm doing good in the sight of the lord i'm serving him with my whole heart and because of that i received the blessing of the lord it's a it's a cause effect and i like these words that are like that that stops me there and i see now here comes the problem god always has his man i told you about ahab and jezebel and god raised up elijah comes out of nowhere and gives him the word of the lord time and time again we see that that where jesus is getting ready to come on to the scene and god sends his messenger before him elijah the prophet which we know to be john the baptist and we get this where god sends his man before he's getting ready because he gives the people an opportunity the phrase my mercy endures forever the mercy of the lord endures forever and so therefore god's mercy is always going out now it is is that when god cannot find a man that stands up to be a man that says thus sayeth the lord then because of their sin god meets him with his wrath and his judgment what about what about this here's here's the king of israel and it's not even mentioned as the king of israel it says the king of samaria he's wicked in the sight of the lord he doesn't have his whole heart serving god he's just as evil but they captured the children of judah and was bringing them into captivity and god sent his man to stop them and says because there is sin in your life you cannot do this so let's read this first time because the lord god of your fathers was wroth with judah angry at judah because of ahaz he delivered him into your hand but you have slain them in a range that reaches up unto heaven so not only did israel do wicked in the sight of the lord but now they did such evil in the sight of the lord that god says you have your your murders have now reached to the very pinnacles of the holy throne of god in heaven what do you think he says about our nation with abortion about the same-sex marriage about pornography about self-indulgence and lover lovers of self and those that are practicing every evil abomination under the sight of heaven what do you think god is saying you're stinking your nostrils in my nostrils from all your activities and all of your programs and all of your ways is just making me sick because god was angry i destroyed you that's where this because centers in for us is to say because of our choices as a nation because of our choices as a church because of our choices as families because of our choices as individuals god says because you did this this is what i'm going to do what it is is that we better be very careful to our choices no matter what the capacity of them may be now there's two times in this this chapter that the cause is used this was the first one verse nine and the other one is found out in verse 19 for the lord brought judah low because of ahab here's a wicked king and all these things that are happening against judah 120,000 were killed the king's family's being killed friends are being killed 200,000 are being carried away into captivity and god's not done because ahab was not done god is god is merciful god is slow to anger and god is long-suffering he said if i can just find one i can just find 10 as he said in sodom and gomorrah if i can just find 10 i'll turn my wrath away if i'm destroyed this city but god can't find anybody is when complete destruction takes over so god brings judah low because of ahab you don't think that the president's decisions affect us you don't think that because of ministers and the pulpit preaching half truths and lies that it doesn't affect the people you don't think fathers and husbands that your choices doesn't affect your your relationship with your wives and your children it affects everything because of you because after that because of you the blessings were received because of you revival came because of you god's mercy was given or is it the opposite because of you god's judgment fell because of you his wrath was poured out because of you death and the sickness came we're all left with choices here tonight you better learn the wrong choices or the life and the testimony of ahab and we better not walk out of here with that same mindset is to say i choose sin because if you choose sin i'm telling you what you're going to have by the end of the night i'm going to tell you what you're going to face before the end of the week the end of the month or the end of the year because you chose you met god's wrath can you stand that could you live with that nobody in the right mind can but you see we're not in our right mind because god has allowed forsaken come in indulge our senses close our eyes and close our ears and harden our hearts we're not moved by the things of god anymore and because of that god's spirit is withdrawn from the nation revival church is saying i'm crying out for revival give us revival give us revival because you said you would abide with us you said you would draw near god says yes when you do it i will draw nine to you because you draw nine to me i will draw i will abide in you because you abide in me and you see we just want it one way let's look at the scriptures and let's be obedient to what god has said in this so verse 9 and verse 19 tells us the because he brought judah low because of a head for he made judah naked and transgressed sword against the lord there's repercussions cause and effect for these things that are going on now just to point out to you real quick there are some statements here that could becomes because of this cause and effect because we're choosing sin we we meet god's response his effects our choices are causing the effects that we're living in today almost all of us can sit here tonight and we know the medical profession has declared is that for those that use tobacco smoke those kind of things it's no mystery to somebody that has smoked cigarettes for 20 30 years to go into the doctor and the doctor says i'm sorry i have bad news for you but you have lung cancer you literally you can't act shocked by that you can't look at somebody that has drank hard liquor and booze all their life for 20 30 years they drank heavily like a fish and then go into the doctor and look at them and say you've got sclerosis of the liver you can't look into these that are living promiscuous lifestyle sleeping with anybody and everything that that moves out there and then be shocked or dumbfounded when you go to the doctor and he's and he says i'm sorry to tell you but you got aids you you've got these sexually transmitted diseases because we chose sin we're now reaping the benefits of it our generation that we're seeing today so vile so violent so unmoved unaffected we are reaping the benefits of those things that have gone on before look at these statements here in these verses that remind us of this we look at verse 10 there and now you propose to keep under the children of judah and jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you but are there not with you even with you sins against the lord your god i as i mentioned studies in the bible great questions right there is one of the questions that you and i need to answer tonight we're easily able to say as i have done condemning hollywood condemning president condemning judicial orders governors things like that that legalize sin promote sin practice sin love sin and indulge in sin it's easy to pronounce judgment against them but god says well what about you now man when he makes personal judgment heart you judge your family you judge your neighbors you judge your co-workers your schoolmates you judge other people in the church but you got a moot in your own eye but is there not sins among you and god's spirit sets down and says let's start where the real heart of the problem is so i have your whole heart let's start let's look in there are you worshiping other things besides me balance of things in your life are you spending more time in the word than you do on television you spend more time in prayer than you do the internet do you spend more time talking to god than you do to other people it's easy for us to judge and condemn other people's sins around the world and the nations and those kind of things but god says but are there not sins among you and we have to answer yes lord yes there's sin in my heart yes there's sin in my family yes my church and lord i'm confessing it tonight and i'm repenting of it because if i don't i know the cause of that i know what's coming those who harden themselves against that verse 11 they did not answer the question is there not sins among you and they wouldn't answer that say well it's just a little sin well it's not that big of a sin well it's not affecting anybody and we've gotten the lessons of sin sin costs deeply and dearly and because sin is left to me remain an impact he says now hear me verse 11 therefore deliver the captives again which you have taken captive of your own brother for the fierce wrath of the lord is appointed to you now i want to tell you just as plain and as clear as i could possibly do tonight by the lessons learned in scripture and lessons learned by ahaz is that we have wicked leadership in government we have wicked leadership in our businesses we have wicked leadership in our education system we have wicked leadership in the pulpits of the church today and because of that leadership defilement we have infiltrated into the people the sin and evil and iniquity and because of that the wrath of god is upon us there is no mystery to that in the united states today we are not blessed by god but we are cursed by god it is is that i could see whole families being destroyed right now tonight i could take you to homes where there are divided homes and you know this one is indulging in drugs and just every vice that's out there and here sits a mother crying out for her family or here's a husband praying for his family and his loved ones but all his loved ones that he's praying for hate him and reject him and they are indulging in sin there is a division in the homes tonight because the wrath of god is abiding upon you now i'm going to give john 336 real quick because we so often love to quit talking about john 316 but we forget john 336 it is the epitome of salvation about what we're facing today now john 316 for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son our jesus christ praise his name that jesus came and bore it all died for us that if we would believe receive in him trust in him surrender to him follow him he says i give you everlasting life now john 336 the first part of that is just to say he that believes in the son in the saint in jesus jesus i shall call his name jesus and he shall do what he shall save his people from their sins you've been saved from your sins it's not because you've been baptized you've been saved from your sins it's not because you're here tonight you've been saved from your sins it's not because you joined the church you are saved from your sins because you receive jesus christ and he says to him that receives him believes in him gives his life to him if any man come after me let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me he shall have everlasting life with the father in me man we are looking forward to that day in which we shall see him face to face and be able to hear from him those words well done thou good and faithful servant thou has been mine forever a few things enter now into the joys of the lord praise god because he that believeth in me receives me serves me loves me follows me receives everlasting life but now the second half of john 336 but he that will not receive me he that will not love me he that will not surrender to me he that will not love me and follow after me and do the things of obedience that i have required the wrath of god abides upon him can we read that again uh in second chronicles 28 verse 11 the fierce wrath of the lord is upon you john 336 and if you do not believe in him the fierce wrath of the lord what do we say about a nation that has removed god from everything what do we say about families that have stopped serving god altogether and forgotten the lord god almighty what do we say about churches that are now worshiping self and entertainment more than the savior and the lord god almighty what do we say the wrath of god abides upon you we are in a desperate desperate place how in the world did we ever get here and we look at this verse 23 and verse 25 i want to wrap this up as we come down to the end of these verses here verse 23 sin of ahaz he sacrificed in the gods damascus which smote him and he said because the gods the kings of syria helped them therefore will i sacrifice to them that they may help me but there's that cause and effect the cause is one word but is another word but they were the ruin of him and of all israel i want to tell you is that if we continue in the same way of ahaz trying every nifty little thing that comes down the path it is going to be the ruin of us if we continue every little method that comes out to say hey we built a church on this program that it's going of us when we get away from the word of god when we get away from the prayers of god when we get away from the presence of god then we are just going to commit the ruin of all of us and i want to tell you is that what we're experiencing today in the nation experiencing in the church in families is that is the beginning of the ruin of all of us because we're not doing it god's way verse 25 this is another little thing that he says here and in every several city of judah he made high places to burn incense which we saw in the opening verses was one of the sins and what does this do cause effect because ahaz burnt incense in the high places it provoked the lord god to anger every legislation judicial edict every action taken by men in the church out of church in our home in our lives in our hearts in our minds by our tongues by our hands every action that is anti-god provokes him to anger there are verse after verse that is teaching us you cannot offend a holy god a holy just god and get by with it it just doesn't affect us it affects other people around us it affects our children and grandchildren it is affecting our nation oh that the church may learn the lessons of the word of god i want to tell you real quick in closing how all this came about we just didn't wake up one morning with all these sins in our nation we just didn't wake up one morning and said ah i think i'm going to do it my way we didn't we didn't get up this morning and just choose to say there is a progression of sin and we better learn how this materialized and how this happened so i want to take you back a couple chapters you have your bibles open our second chronicles i i just want you to go back and i want you to look at a few of these things the first one is found in chapter 26 ahaz's father is joseph ahaz's grandfather is uzziah now we read as you remember me saying it's an opening what kind of man was uzziah did that which was right in the sight of the lord as his father so there was some sin still there wasn't with his whole heart there was some sin in there but the lord blessed uzziah took care of him and it says that when uzziah became wealthy had some deliverance from his enemies and protection round about and again god can deliver us from our enemies or god can deliver our enemies it says uzziah got a little bit big-headed he got the sin of pride just because things are going well for you you got a nice home a nice bank account nice cars nice this nice that and you're you're it you think you're it don't let pride get the best of you because learn the lesson of uzziah because i've been trying to get you to learn the lessons of ahaz that every king teaches us something about our own nature so uzziah thought i'm the king i can do whatever i want to do don't have to think about it so uzziah marched into the temple priests were the only ones allowed in the temple grabbed a golden censer and he was going to offer incense unto the lord well god wouldn't receive it because the priests were the levites were the only ones that were supposed to do that but i'm the king there have been many people in authority and power and said i'm rich enough i'm smart enough i'm famous enough and i can do whatever i want to do it was their downfall the priest withstood king uzziah grandfather to ahaz and said you are not permitted to do this get out of the house of the lord it says that uzziah became angry two sins our lady would have mentioned there he became angry angry doest thou well to be angry god ask thine own now a whole lot of hotheads in the church tonight that god's got to ask us that is it really worth getting upset about oh i just flew off the handle of it he gave an occasion against the lord well i i just lose my temper every now and then you sinned against the lord and quenched the holy spirit uzziah became angry holding that censer because of his proud heart thinking i'm the king i can do anything his second sin pride and anger never a good combination and it says in that god smote him right there on the spot didn't kill him could have killed him he was merciful his mercy endures forever he smote him right there with leprosy that started in his forehead and spread and the priest drove him out because once you get leprosy surely you know this by leviticus once you get leprosy you are unclean every sinner that we meet tonight in this week they are unclean with leprosy and there is none that can wash his way with snow but the name above all names the name jesus and his blood which cleanses us from all sin there is no other way to be rid of leprosy and so king uzziah who had a proud heart who god was blessing now is low it was the ruin of him because he did not do it god's way but he did it his way oh the danger of that frank sinatra elvis presley song i did it my way i'm telling you my way is the wrong way only god's way i am the way the truth and the light jesus said in john 14 it is not my way it's not your way it's god's way and that's the only right way now uzziah driven out and it says in chapter 26 verse 21 because uzziah that he sinned and he was smoked with leprosy that we have our first action now here's satan's tactics he doesn't have to do everything overnight he can plot and plan so he causes uzziah to be proud he causes uzziah to be angry and he gets cut off from the house of lord now isn't that the first thing that happens we used to have a system in a way in this country nothing was done on sunday house of the lord church was it if you want to go lay out in the field somewhere and take a nap and be self-indulgent well you did that but it wasn't that there was businesses and entertainment and ball games and all this other stuff happened it was church or nothing but you see with all the revolution that we've seen in our country people have been cut off from the house of the lord they got mad so they left the church they start working now where we got to work 24 hours seven days a week and chips and things like that and make a living and we never used to have to do that and now we're doing it and people get cut off from the house of the and so satan once we get cut off from the house of the lord satan is able to infiltrate uzziah chapter 26 verse 21 is cut off from the house of the lord now see the the repercussions from that because in chapter 27 his son joseph is now made king and in verse 2 here's his statement and it says how that he entered not into the temple of the lord because of his father's experience perhaps maybe it is is that he says i'm not even going to go into the house of the lord now what do you do when you have a king a leader who does not go to the house of the lord what do you do when there's a father who won't go to the house of the lord what do you do when people forsake the house of god in the verse chapter 27 verse 2 and the people did yet corruptly explanation of why there's so much evil out here is because out of 300 million population in the united states 330 million in north america united states and canada 10 are in the house of the lord only 10 on sunday morning or in any kind of organized worship of the lord god of christianity i'm not talking about uh cults and and false religions and that kind of thing i'm talking about christian evangelical churches that pronounce that jesus christ is their lord and savior 10 30 million are in church what are the other 90 percent out and they did yet corruptly you see that there is there is a cause effect when people forsake the house of god now i know that some people uh listen to me and i've talked with in years gone by why can't find a church in my area that preaches the gospel well i can't uh i can't get along with those people in that church well you know we make all excuses we want just let's understand is that the house of the lord has been forsaken we are as guilty as shiloh we are as dead as shiloh and you don't understand that reference to go back and read your old testament when god pronounces ichabod upon his house where do the people give to have the spirit of god the presence of god and the word of god when the pulpits stop having men of god that are anointed filled with the unction of god where do people come to hear the truth whose eye sinned against the lord and was cut off from the house of the lord his son comes along because of what happened his experience he uses that as a means and a reference and he says i'm not even going to go into the house of lord and i can tell you that there are many children and grandchildren who said to me their own testimonies why does this younger generation not come to church and they said well if you knew how my dad acted and how my mom chewed you up and spit you out when when we got home from church why do i need to come listen to a bunch of hypocrites that's this younger generation they have seen the hypocrisy in the church and so therefore they have been cut off from the church and left the church and they won't even come to church and they do yet more corruptly because now you see the word of god is not being sown the prayers of god are not being offered the house of the lord is being forsaken and here's where we're at today and you think that this was bad let's get back to ahead because his eye was cut off from the house lord because joseph would not go into the house of lord and the people did yet corruptly now to come to the works which is where we're headed chapter 28 verse 24 and because of this ahab gathered together the vessels of the house of god cut in pieces the vessels of the house of god and he shut the doors of the house of the lord and he made altars in every corner of jerusalem whose eye was cut off joseph refused to go and ahab shut the door so that nobody else could go you see any kind of similarity in our history in the united states i see a huge parallel of where we're going that i have been in church all my life from two weeks old my parents have had me in church i have been born again in the house of the lord i have sat hours after hours in sunday school classes wednesday night bible study choir practices sunday worship evening worship i have sat in discipleship classes i have sat in conferences i have been in prayer meetings i have been all night prayer meetings i have been revival services you name it i've been there in the church but i am fearing the day now that is vast approaching that my children and grandchildren will have the doors of the house of god shut because of men like ahab who did not do that which was right as david their father our nation is in peril the church is in peril our families are in serious jeopardy and the very own souls of men women and children like you and me tonight are in trouble the wrath of god is being provoked against us because of all these things that i've given to you tonight and you say what's the answer what are you talking about and what are we supposed to do it is is that we better respond because and i don't want to leave you here tonight to say oh that was an awful awful sermon that was an awful word that we've got there because at the end of chapter 28 starting in chapter 29 can i give you a word of revival can i give you a word of restoration can i give you a word of hope ahaz's son is hezekiah and what do we know about hezekiah just like we learned about judah let's learn real quick about hezekiah hezekiah did that which was right to decide the lord as david his father with his whole heart that's what you want to read and in verse three and in the first year in the first month ahab shut the doors of the house of lord hezekiah opened the doors of the house of the lord god raises up kings and god brings kings down you and i better be in prayer for hezekiah to be raised up for such a time as this we better be praying for those that fear god love god serve god obey god and follow after god we better be looking to men women and children that have the fear of the lord in their hearts and their lives and they do it with their whole heart with all their mind soul body and strength because of anything less is compromised anything less we read about the repercussions and ahaz i want to ask you tonight where are you sitting you've heard these words you've examined your life by the questions i've asked and the verses that i've given what's in your family what's in your heart what's in our church where are we at time to come time to respond oh god they're in my hands i'm filthy i'm defiled lord i've compromised in my heart lord i'm not right with you lord i want to make these wrongs right tonight i'm coming to the cross at the cross at the cross it is there where we got to come there's where we died to self there's where the blood was shed there's where christ offered his sacrifice in god's wrath on us christ took our wrath christ blood was shed so that we could have remission of sins christ died for us so that we could live for him have you received believe surrender giving your life wholeheartedly to christ in this place tonight we see the sins that we're facing tonight and without confession without repentance without an examination of our lives and ways of thinking we are doomed to repeat the sins of ahab's so as we have this time now it is for god's holy spirit to move and work let us let us take moments now to be still in the presence of god let him speak that you and i listen and process and internalize what he's saying to us he that has ears to hear with the spirit of saying god give us ears to know and leave us hearts whole hearts to follow after you for your