Destroying the High Places
(This message has been heavily adapted from a excellent sermon by Don Currin on High Places)
We are in a study on the Kings of Israel, and today we are going to talk about one key area in their lives by which God assessed the overall quality of their lives.
It is exam time for a lot of students kids who usually don't pay attention, but they will really key in the week before finals. This morning I want to share with you from the lives of the kings of Israel something that is on the final exam from God.
One key criteria that God used to judge the overall quality of a kings reign was what they did in regard to something called high places. The inspired record follows a similar pattern in describing the life of many of the kings of Israel, age they became king, mothers name, overall quality of their life/reign and what a comment on them and high places.
Let me give you some examples:
2Ki 21:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Hephzibah.
2Ki 21:2 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD dispossessed before the sons of Israel.
2Ki 21:3 For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.
2Ki 12:2 And Jehoash did right in the sight of the LORD all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.
2Ki 12:3 Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
2Ki 14:1 In the second year of Joash son of Joahaz king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah became king.
2Ki 14:2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem.
2Ki 14:3 And he did right in the sight of the LORD, yet not like David his father; he did according to all that Joash his father had done.
2Ki 14:4 Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
So there are three examples (actually 4 Hezekiah is mentioned in passing as a King who destroyed high places)
1 rebuilt them.
2 served God but did not remove them.
High places are similar in some ways to the fact that the children of Israel when they conquered Israel did not remove all the "ites," out of the land. Spiritually speaking we could say they symbolized pockets of remaining sin.
So what are high places and how do that relate to us?
There were two type of high places in Israel, one of which I will only discuss briefly.
High places were places where the true God of Israel was worshipped but they epitomized a special type of sin that God abhorred: Serving God on my own terms.
God said to worship in Jerusalem. That was not convenient for some so they didn't do it. Listen we are not to subject the bible to our views, we are to subject our views to the bible.
Ro 8:7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able [to do so];
Jesus said everyone who comes to Him will be broken. Broken of self-will, self-rule. A horse to be useful has to be broken, we are no different, we have to learn to accept and be ruled by the reigns (the word of God) that the Master puts on us.
God has rules about forgiveness and turning the other cheek. When we subject those rules to our opinion and say things like "I won't forgive them unless they apologize." We are serving God on our terms. In the OT the phrase that describes this is, "every man did what was right in his own eyes." We need to do what is right in God's eyes. Worshipping God was correct, doing it on high places instead of in Jerusalem was wrong. What if you lived far away? I think one of the reasons God made this requirement was to teach that salvation is by God's rules not ours. For example what if someone believes in God but not Jesus? No man comes to the Father but through Me. God's rules are not subject to our feelings about them, we are to change our feelings to line up with God's rules!
The second and most common type of high place was a place of worship on a high hill or precipice that was very simply a place in Israel dedicated to serving a God other than the one true God.
A sinful high place is any area, thought, person, or relationship that I allow to remain in my life as a provision for the flesh, to satisfy the sinful desires of my heart.
Let me give some examples:
For example contact with someone you should run from. Some relationships are spiritual poison. But the flesh may want to continue it, even though the Spirit says no. A high place is where you keep a line of communication open with someone you shouldn't.
A fb friend who has caused you to stumble that you keep the door open on, just to see what is going on in their life. Recently we had a missionary in whose wife left him because she contacted an old high school sweetheart on FB. We need to be very careful to remove from our life doorways to satisfying the desires of the flesh.
Sports Illustrated. Some guys subscribe to keep up on sports. What does the swimsuit edition have to do with sports? My wife calls it the pornography edition. A high place is something we allow to remain in our life as a provision for the flesh. Cancel that subscription.
Some people daydream of affairs and secret loves, where the flesh is given what it wants. This is a high place that needs to be torn down.
Consequences and dangers of high places in our lives
1. It provides an easy place of opportunity to yield to the flesh.
A high place is usually an area of weakness in your spiritual life you recognize the need to avoid, but that you haven't completely destroyed. Joash and Jehoash listed above did not personally frequent the evil high places, but they didn't destroy them either and it is recorded as a black mark on their otherwise good record. The reason God wants them destroyed is because He doesn't want us to provide easy access for the flesh to be gratified. He wants barriers, obstacles, and obstructions to keep us away from danger zones.
The devil is always trying to use a mechanical device like a lever against us.
High places were visual reminders of fleshly indulgence. You could walk near one and see it, and it could bring back images and thoughts and actions that are sinful in nature.
The eye is one of the three main areas of temptation according to the bible. The eyes - what we see, the flesh - what our bodies want, and pride - our human nature wanting us to be first.
The eye gate is one of the most common mechanical levers the enemy uses against us.
In a similar way in the computer world they have something called a back door program. Also called a trapdoor. An undocumented way of gaining access to a program.
Television, movies, facebook, and the internet can be a place that provides backdoor access to your soul.
When the devil knocks at our front door we tell him to get lost. We put up our spiritual defenses. So he comes around to the back door and flashes a picture of the evils done on high places and in a moment of weakness you might either entertain that thought and invite them in for a while. The back door is your mind, or your computer screen.
2. It can produce a divided heart which God detests.
1Ki 11:6 And Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow the LORD fully, as David his father [had done.]
1Ki 11:7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon.
1Ki 11:8 Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
He had a divided heart - he went not fully after the Lord.
God detests it for two reason the first is that you are unreliable:
James 1:8 says a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. Double minded means you are trying to please God and the flesh at the same time. You can't do that. Unstable = not reliable.
Employers want people who show up on time, and are prepared to work. Dependable people. God is no different someone who is on God's side half part time and the devils part time is not very reliable, wouldn't you say? Would you want someone like that working for you? You wouldn't trust them with a very important job would you?
The second reason God detests it, because it means that you are still clinging to the things He had to die to free you from. It would be like a French town electing a Nazi mayor after W.W.II.
3. It will ruin what God wanted to do through you in the life of others.
Especially to your children.
Children were sacrificed on high places.
Listen to what the high places did to the inheritance that Solomon's children lost:
1Ki 11:11 So the LORD said to Solomon, "Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.
1Ki 11:12 "Nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, [but] I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
1Ki 11:13 "However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, [but] I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen."
Having a high place can result in your children only getting 1/6th of what God had originally for them.
4. It will cause God to raise up adversaries against you.
1Ki 11:14 Then the LORD raised up an adversary to Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the royal line in Edom.
1Ki 11:23 God also raised up [another] adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah.
1Ki 11:26 Then Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, Solomon's servant, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow, also rebelled against the king.
5. It may cause you to become apostate.
1Ki 13:33 After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became [one] of the priests of the high places.
From Jeroboam we can learn a principle about the progression of sin. First you TOLERATE, that you PARTICIPATE, and finally you PROPAGATE. Did you notice in the text where is says Jereboam became one of the priests of the high places? Sin will always try to increase its hold on you, and its expression through you.
How to remove High Places
1. Deal with them ruthlessly
Dig them up by the roots
The bible says to crucify the flesh with the lusts thereof.
Crucify, there is no nice way to pretty that idea up. Sin is to be destroyed, the golden calf is to be so demolished that it can not rise from the ashes.
2. Deal with them thoroughly
Ro 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to [its] lusts.
If you spare Agag today, he will come back to kill you tomorrow. (Saul spared Agag, and in the book of Esther the man who was trying to destroy the Jews and have them all robbed and wiped out is Haman and
3. Deal with them finally
Don't put off for another moment the removal of your high places.
When Josiah read in the book these things were an abomination to God, he made a covenant with the Lord and destroyed them.
As we close this service make the commitment that by God's grace:
No more dobulemindedness Lord
No more letting Agag hang around
No more ruining what you God wants to do through me in the life of others.
