INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• The whole premise of The Story has been that since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden that God has been in pursuit of man. God has been pursuing us with His love!
• Part of God’s pursuit of us was that He established a nation, a notion like no other.
• The nation from a lower story perspective has been a huge disappointment, but in God’s Upper Story, the constant rebellion of His choose people served as an opportunity of us to see the depth of the love that God has for us.
• The rebellious nation showed the depths of which God will go to keep the door open for you to be with Him.
• When the nation began, God was the king, but as we have seen that was not good enough for the people, they wanted a king so they would be like the other nations.
• God told them what would happen if they chose a king over Him, and over time it happened.
• After David, came Solomon, then after Solomon, because of his sin against God, the nation was divided into two weaker nation.
• SLIDE #2
• This division took place in 931 BC. The Northern Kingdom consisted of 10 tribes while the Southern Kingdom was comprised of 2, Judah and Benjamin.
• The split was foretold by God to Solomon as punishment for Solomon drifting away from God.
• His Son Rehoboam facilitated the divide by not listening to the counsel of the older advisors.
• Both Northern and Southern kingdoms had their issues, both were a mess. The Northern Kingdom was in particularly bad shape spiritually while the South would have a mixture of good and bad kings.
• As we look at the harsh story of the fall of Israel, we always need to keep an eye on God’s upper story of faith and love.
• These nations were as they were by choice, God sent several Prophets in to try to warn the people of what would happen if they continued on their respective paths.
• Here is the thing to remember, GOD still LOVED them.
• I pray that we NEVER lose sight of the fact that no matter how far we have drifted, God has not turned His back on you.
• Let’s begin our journey into chapter 16 of The Story by first examining…
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. The fall of the Northern Kingdom.
• The nation of Israel split in 931 BC. During that time the Northern Kingdom had 19 kings, none of which were any good.
• All 19 were evil in the sight of God. As we get close to the fall of the North it is 721 BC. Hoshea would be the last of a long line of terrible Kings.
• Throughout the time of the Divided Nation, they were surrounded by very powerful massive nations.
• To the Southwest was Egypt, to the Southwest, Babylon was on the rise and to the northeast was the biggest meanie on the block, the Assyrians!
• In order for some of the smaller nations not to get overtaken by the big bullies on the block, they would form an alliance with the more powerful nations and they would pay tribute to them.
• Well the Assyrian king found out that Hoshea had decided to no longer pay tribute to Assyria and instead Hoshea was aligning himself with Egypt.
• Shalmaneser, (SHALL A ME SER) the king of Assyria attacked, took Hoshea and laid siege to Samaria for three years before finally dropping the hammer on them in 722 and deporting many of the Northern Kingdom people to Assyria.
• They did this in order to help curtail the chance of rebellion, to dilute the population.
• The reason God allowed this to take place is found in verses 7-9 in 2 Kings 17.
• SLIDE #4
• 2 Kings 17:7–9 (NIV) All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods and followed the practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced. The Israelites secretly did things against the LORD their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns.
• What happened was not a result of Assyria being stronger, it was a result of the evil the nation had participated in, and the kings was the ringmasters.
• God shows a lot of patience, the Northern kingdom lasted about 202 years, 202 years, 19 kings and none could get it right.
• God had warned them and the Southern Kingdom time and time again.,
• SLIDE #5
• 2 Kings 17:13 (NIV) The LORD warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: “Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.”
• The people continually rejected the warning from the prophets, they continued into their evil and false idol worship.
• We have to be careful to think that today our nation stands by its own strength, it stands by the power of God.
• God is patient, but as a nation we need to realize before it is too late that we cannot keep ignoring God. We cannot keep pushing Him out of the public arena and expect to prosper.
• As patient as God is, He finally had enough of the Northern Kingdoms antics. They became what was known as the “LOST TRIBES OF ISRAEL.”
• Now I need you to hang with me, this seems really bad, but later we will see something beautiful!
• SLIDE #6
• 2 Kings 17:18–20 (NIV) So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left, and even Judah did not keep the commands of the LORD their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced. Therefore the LORD rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until he thrust them from his presence.
• And then there was one! But did they get the message?
• SLIDE #7
II. The failure of the Southern Kingdom.
• The Southern Kingdom during its’ time also had 19 kings, the Southern kingdom lasted longer also, about 345 years to be exact.
• The Southern kingdom was a mixed bag of good and bad kings.
• While Hoshea was doing his evil in the North, Hezekiah was the King of the South. Hezekiah was one of the good kings.
• God was with Hezekiah and helped Hezekiah prosper, He even rebelled against Assyria and did not serve them! (2 Kings 18:7)
• A few years after the fall of Israel, Assyria came a calling to Judah.
• In about 701 BC Sennacherib turned his toward Judah. He attacked all the fortified cites of Judah and captured them, then Hezekiah said they did nothing wrong. He told Sennacherib that he would give him anything he wanted.
• Sennacherib demanded a lot of gold and silver and Hezekiah acquiesced. He even took the door posts from the sanctuary which were gold overlay.
• This was not enough, Sennacherib sent his army to Jerusalem to try to get the city to give up.
• The Assyrian spokesman told them to all give up and they would live. He told Hezekiah that NO ones god had stopped Assyria and that Hezekiah’s God did not stop the Assyrians up to this point.
• Whereas Hoshea turned to Egypt as an ally, Hezekiah turns to God. He put his trust in God.
• SLIDE #8
• 2 Kings 19:14–19 (NIV) 14 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: “LORD, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 Give ear, LORD, and hear; open your eyes, LORD, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.
• 17 “It is true, LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. 18 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. 19 Now, LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, LORD, are God.”
• Against all odds, the Assyrians leave because God answers the prayers, Isaiah the prophet told Hezekiah that God would defend the city and that the Assyrians would not enter the city or even shoot an arrow into the city!
• God defeats the Assyrians!
• SLIDE #9
• 2 Kings 19:35–36 (NIV) 35 That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
• Later Sennacherib’s sons kill him. By the way Sennacherib wrote about this event himself, but he spun it a bit differently as one would expect.
• Well once Hezekiah dies in 699 BC, his son Manasseh takes the throne, but he is evil.
• Why would that happen?
• God will send Isaiah to him (Isaiah 3) to tell him that God is going to use the Babylonians as his tool for judgment against Judah. I guess they did not heed the warnings.
• This did not happen for a few years, it would happen in 586, Isaiah spent his whole prophetic ministry trying to warn the people of what was going to happen, while all the false prophets said nothing would happen.
• Who do you think the people listened to?
• It sure looks bad, it looks like God’s plan had failed. In 586 Judah was carried off to Babylon!
• Fear not! Let’s see what happens now!
• SLIDE #10
III. The faithfulness of God shines through.
• Even though the nation is divided, the North no longer in existence, and the South now in captivity, it looks like God will not be able to keep His promise of the Messiah coming through Judah.
• In Isaiah 14 even though the nation is warned of exile, they are promised that they will return to their homeland as a purified nation!
• God will keep His promise to bring the Messiah through Judah!
• Judah will not be disappointed!
• SLIDE #11
• Isaiah 49:23 (NIV) Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”
• Judah will be a blessing to the whole world! This will be fulfilled through Jesus!
• Why is God going to return them home, is it because of their goodness? NO, it is God’s faithfulness to His word!
• God can use you no matter how damaged you are or think you are! PLEASE never forget that!
• God was going to use this rebellious nation for His purpose! God loves you so much that He will eventually deliver the nation so He can keep His promises concerning the Messiah!
• Look at what Isaiah said about Jesus over 700 years before Jesus was born!
• SLIDE #12
• Isaiah 53:1–11 (NIV) Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
• WOW, Pretty good description of Jesus!
CONCLUSION
• WE need to do all we can to put Jesus first. Israel fell because they could not and would not put God first.
• We need to be a community of believers who encourage one another to walk with Jesus.
• We need to make sure we are community of grace! We want to make sure that people know that when they are struggling they can come to FCC.
• We want to deliver the message that God loves you no matter where you are, but He loves you too much to leave you in the mess.
• The failure of the nation was an opportunity for God to show that no matte what, He is faithful!
• We need to be like Hezekiah, we need to depend of God, because through Him we have victory!
