Miraculous Mercy For Manasseh

MIRACULOUS MERCY FOR MANASSEH

2 Kgs. 21:1-16

INTRODUCTION

A. ILLUS: Conversion of ISIS Fighters

1. It sounds unbelievable. Like something out of a movie. But it’s true.

2. In recent years, organizations working in the Middle East have shared testimonies of former ISIS fighters—men who were once filled with hate and committed acts of terror—encountering Jesus Christ and becoming followers of Him.

3. One such story is of a man who had been deeply involved in violence. He had blood on his hands. He was feared, even by his own people. But something started to happen—he had dreams. Night after night, he kept seeing a man in white. A man who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

4. Eventually, he met a Christian who dared to share the gospel with him, at great risk. And instead of responding with rage, he broke down. He had been haunted by guilt. By faces. By the weight of everything he had done.

5. And when he heard about Jesus—about a Savior who not only forgives sinners, but loves enemies—it shattered him.

6. He gave his life to Christ. He now lives in hiding—not from Christians, but from his former brothers in arms. (Source: persecution.org)

B. TEXT

“Manasseh...2 did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole...He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. 4 He built altars in the temple of the Lord....6 He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. 9 Manasseh led [Judah] astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites. 12” Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle...14 They will be looted and plundered by all their enemies.’” 16 Moreover, Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end—besides the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, so that they did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” 2 Kgs. 21:1-16, abbreviated.

C. THESIS

1. Today we’re going to look at the extravagant grace of God demonstrated to one of the most infamous sinners in the Bible.

2. The title of this message is “Miraculous Mercy to Manasseh.”

I.THE ATROCITIES OF MANASSEH

A. 7 SERIOUS SINS OF MANASSEH

1. ABANDONED HIS GODLY HERITAGE. Manasseh was the son of a good father, Hezekiah, whom God miraculously healed and sent angels to drive away his enemies. He was a man specially honored by the Lord.

2. HE DESTROYED HIS FATHER’S GOOD. Manasseh undid all his father’s actions; he threw down the altars his father had built up and tore down the faith Hezekiah had enthusiastically supported!

3. HE SERVED FALSE GODS. Manasseh desecrated the Lord’s courts by setting up altars & an Asherah pole to worship false gods. He made altars to worship the heavenly bodies and set up horses and chariots dedicated to the sun. – in God’s own house! The devil always wants to desecrate what is pure.

4. GAVE HIS CHILDREN TO THE DEVIL. He dedicated his children to the devil by burning them in a fire before his idol, Moloch. The Lord Jesus said that if someone hurts a child “it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea” Mt. 18:6.

5. ENTERED THE DEMONIC REALM. Not content with normal godlessness, Manasseh pursued satanism and demonism, witchcraft and necromancy. Everything that was forbidden perfectly suited his depraved taste; the more evil it was, the better he liked it!

6. HE LED MILLIONS ASTRAY. Not only did he choose evil himself, Manasseh actively led others astray. He reigned over Judah for 55 years. Over this long period the godly remnant was beaten down and went into hiding.

7. SHED INNOCENT BLOOD. Then Manasseh persecuted the remainder of God’s people. “Manasseh shed innocent blood...till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another.” It was the fiercest persecution recorded in the Bible (2 Kgs. 21 & 24). Manasseh probably ordered the death of the prophet Isaiah by being sawed-in-two (Heb. 11:37).

B. HE DID WORSE THAN ALL BEFORE HIM

1. So overwhelming were the sins of Manasseh that they became a byword, “Manasseh king of Judah has committed...detestable sins....more evil than the Amorites who preceded him” 2 Kgs 21:11.

2. No one here has ever committed as horrible of crimes as Manasseh. No matter how guilty and condemned you feel, what happened next in Manasseh’s life should offer you a light of hope in the darkness!