A Perfect Heart Part 1 Series

1. Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.

2. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.

Now, please make a note of this, verse 2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.

3. Now it came to pass, when the kingdom was established to him, that he slew his servants that had killed the king his father.

Now, it goes on to say that he did not kill the children but he killed only the ones who he was supposed to have killed. So, just as God says in His word, the children shall not bare the iniquity of the fathers (Ezekiel 18:20). It says over here that Amaziah spared the children. But, in what way he actually missed? We are going to see from verse 5 onwards.

5. Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together and made them captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, according to the houses of their fathers, throughout all Judah and Benjamin: and he numbered them from twenty years old and above, and found them three hundred thousand choice men, able to go forth to war, that could handle spear and shield.

6. He hired also an hundred thousand mighty men of valour out of Israel for an hundred talents of silver.

7. But there came a man of God to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the Lord is not with Israel, to wit, with all the children of Ephraim.

8. But if thou wilt go, do it; be strong for the battle: God shall make thee fall before the enemy: for God hath power to help, and to cast down.

9. And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The Lord is able to give thee much more than this.

Now, we need to make a note of verse 9 that if we make league with the enemies of God, we are bound to fail. Verse 10:

10. Then Amaziah separated them, to wit, the army that was come to him out of Ephraim, to go home again: wherefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in great anger.

Now verse 11 onwards says what happened. Because he obeyed the Lord, God gave him victory and he came with much spoil and he defeated his enemy and he is coming back home. Let’s see verse 14.

14. Now it came to pass, after that Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense unto them.

15. Wherefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent unto him a prophet, which said unto him, Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people out of thine hand?

16. And it came to pass, as he talked with him, that the king said unto him, Art thou made of the king's counsel? forbear; why shouldest thou be smitten? Then the prophet forbare, and said, I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto my counsel.

So we also see, when this king he did what he was not supposed to do, means when he sinned against the living God; what happens here is, his heart gets hardened against the prophet. The prophet that God has in his life, to come and warn him, his heart hardens, and he is not listening actually which is actually becoming a snare to him. And we see in verse 16 very clearly, because God has determined to destroy him, he is not listening to the counsel, the good counsel that would have saved him and given him his life. Rather he chose to rebel.

No. 17 onwards says that Amaziah king of Judah took advice, that is ungodly advice. The advice that came from the prophet was, that you have sought after the other gods, so God is going to deliver you into the hands of the enemy. But he is not listening to that, he is not repenting. So what’s happening is, he is getting another counsel which is not of the Lord and what he is doing is; he is listening to that because his heart is hardened. And what is happening here is, Joash king of Israel, now he is going to war. Amaziah is going to the king of Israel and he is starting a fight. He is not just sitting by himself where he should be, just sitting being thankful that, “Ok, I am spared. I did something wrong. God gave me victory, but I gave the glory to the idols of that land, heathen land.” And he should have been in sackcloth and ashes before the Lord and repented. But, instead what he did was, he actually went against the prophet that the Lord sent to warn him. So, that didn’t help. So, on top of that, because God was determined to destroy him. What happened here was, he went to the battle where he should not have gone and he ends up getting defeated.