ENGAGE
What changes have you made in your life over the past month based on what you’ve learned from the last four messages that I’ve preached? Just in case you’re having a hard time remembering some of the possible actions that I’ve suggested in each of those messages, let’s review briefly:
• In the sermon on the Feast of Trumpets on September 17, I suggested two implications for our lives – 1) we need to be preparing our hearts for the return of Jesus, and 2) we need to be encouraging and building each other up as we await His return. What concrete steps have you taken in the last month to do either of those things?
• In the sermon on the Day of Atonement on September 24, one of the things we focused on was the need for repentance. Over the last three weeks, have you asked God to reveal sin in your life and then taken practical steps to repent of that sin.
• In the sermon on the Feast of Tabernacles two weeks ago, I challenged all of us to participate in a Seven Day Remember and Rejoice Challenge. I’m not going to embarrass anyone by asking for a show of hands, but how many of you actually followed through and did that. I did see some posts from 3 or 4 people and possibly there were some others I didn’t see, but my sense is that not many of us followed through and actually did that.
• Last week in the sermon on Jeremiah’s call, I urged all of us to write down a list of excuses that we make and confess those to God and to throw the list away and to work on developing a personal life purpose statement. Again, I don’t want a show of hands, but how many of you even started the process this week?
Let make take this one step further. What specific actions have you taken in the last month based on what you’ve learned from your own personal Bible reading or from a Bible study you’ve been involved in?
TENSION
I know that many of you here this morning could easily identify changes that you have made in your life recently based on what you’re learning from the Bible. But I am also pretty sure that the questions I’m asking are also making some of you a bit uncomfortable this morning because you’re having a real hard time remembering the last time you actually applied God’s Word in your life in some practical way. Either way, my prayer for all of us this morning is that we will understand just how important it is that we allow God’s Word to transform our lives on a daily basis.
TRUTH
So here is the big idea that I’d like all of us to take away from the message this morning:
When it comes to God’s Word…
information without application leads to judgment
That is the main idea that we’ll take away from 2 Chronicles chapter 36. In this chapter, we find an overview of the reigns of the final four kings of Judah. This is the same period during which the prophet Jeremiah is ministering in the midst of God’s people. But as we hinted at last week, the people would fail to heed His warnings and the result would be that they would experience God’s judgment.
[Read 2 Chronicles 36:1-4]
Judah was located geographically between the two great powers of this period - Egypt and Babylon – and it becomes the main battleground as those two powers fight for superiority in the region. [Show map]
After Josiah is killed by Pharaoh Necho of Egypt in the Battle of Megiddo in 609 BC, Judah essentially fell under the control of Egypt. The people choose Jejoahaz as their new king, preferring him over his older brother Eliakim. But only three months later, Pharaoh Necho decided to install his own king, one he thought he could control better, and Eliakim, whose name was change to Jehoiakim, became king. Necho also imposed a huge tribute on the Jews.
[Read 2 Chronicles 36:5-8]
Unlike his father, Josiah, Jehoiakim does evil in the sight of the Lord. In Jeremiah 36, we learn that he even has the audacity to burn the scroll that contained all the words God had spoken through Jeremiah against Judah. As a result, God reveals that He is going to bring the king of Babylon against his people and that the kingdom is going to be ripped away from Jehoiakim’s descendants. And that is exactly what occurs here in the last chapter of 2 Chronicles.
Nebuchadnezzar had defeated the Egyptians in the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BC and pursued their fleeing army all the way down to the Sinai. He then subdued the Jews, because of their loyalty to the Pharaoh of Egypt. This would be the first of three major campaigns against Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Not surprisingly Jehoiakim changes his allegiance and continues to reign another three years as a vassal of Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar’s siege was cut short by the news that his father had died. So he rushed back to Babylon to secure his succession to the throne, travelling 500 miles in only two weeks, which was quite remarkable in that day. He had time only to bring back with him some vessels from the Temple and a few choice captives, including a young man named Daniel.
When a Babylonian invasion of Egypt failed in 601 BC and undermined the Babylonian control of Judah, Jehoiakim switches his allegiance back to Egypt and stopped paying tribute to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar responded by making his second siege on Jerusalem beginning in late 598 BC, During that attack, Jehoiakim was killed and his body thrown over the city wall in fulfillment of the prior prophecy of Jeremiah.
[Read 2 Chronicles 36:9-10]
Jehoiakim’s son, Jehoiachin, becomes the new king. He was also known as Jeconiah or Coniah. He reigns for only three months until he is deposed by Nebuchadnezzar and taken back to Babylon, where he lives in captivity for the next 37 years.
His brother, Zedekiah, is installed as king over Judah by Nebuchadnezzar.
[Read 2 Chronicles 36:11-16]
We’re going to come back and take a closer look at this section in a minute, because I think it will help us to learn some really practical things about the importance not just knowing, but applying God’s Word. For now, we can just note that Zedekiah was an evil king, who not only did evil in the sight of the Lord, but also violated the oath he had made to God to be loyal to Nebuchadnezzar.
God has been very patient and compassionate with His people up to this point. He has persistently sent prophets to warn them and urge them to turn back to God. But now, as we read in verse 16, there is “no remedy”. The people of Judah have had plenty of information, but they have consistently failed to make application and they are about to face God’s judgment.
[Read 2 Chronicles 36:17-21]
This section records Nebuchadnezzar’s third and final siege of Jerusalem that begins in 587 BC. This time he is ruthless in his attack. He has no compassion even on women, children or the aged. He takes the remaining vessels from the Temple and then burns it down. He breaks down the walls around the city and burns the palaces. And then he takes captives back to Babylon where they served as slaves for the remainder of the 70 year captivity that Jeremiah had prophesied earlier.
This chapter clearly demonstrates that for Judah, it was true that…
When it comes to God’s Word…
information without application leads to judgment
APPLICATION
It’s easy to sit here in Tucson, Arizona over 2,500 years later and see how that was true for the people of Judah. But what we really need to make sure we understand this morning is how that is a relevant idea for us, too.
Let’s begin by discussing…
Two types of God’s judgment:
1. Temporal
This is the type of judgment that we see here in 2 Chronicles 36. Temporal judgment is judgment upon a particular person or group at a particular time in history. Because it is not eternal, it can be lifted, and that is exactly what happens in this case. At the end of the 70-year exile, at least some of the people return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple and the walls and dwell there again.
The people of Judah wrongly assumed that because they were God’s chosen people that they could live their lives any way they wanted and ignore God’s repeated warnings and still avoid God’s judgment.
I think that is the same mindset that most people here in the United States operate under today and unfortunately, even some Christians have become caught up in that kind of thinking. They think that God is somehow obligated to continue to bless our country because we are a “Christian nation” that was founded by people of faith. And as a result they assume that God will continue to withhold His judgment regardless of whether we heed His Word or not. They believe that in spite of the evidence that we see in this passage that reveals that no one is immune to God’s judgment when they refuse to heed and apply His Word.
As we see here, when God’s temporal judgment falls on a nation, it is a frightening thing because the godly suffer right along with the ungodly. No doubt there were some people left in Judah who were faithful to God, but they ended up suffering along with everyone else. While God had compassion on his people before judgment came, as evidenced by the numerous prophets He had sent to warn the people, the instrument of His judgment, the Babylonians, had no compassion whatsoever.
That means that we must not be complacent about the sins of our nation. While it is true that God has often postponed or stayed His judgment because of a small remnant of faithful people, we know from biblical accounts like the one we’re studying this morning and from history, that at some point - one known only to God - there comes a time when there is “no remedy” and it becomes too late to postpone God’s judgment any longer.
2. Eternal
There are a lot of people, including some who claim to be Christians, who want to deny or at least minimize the idea of God’s eternal judgment – judgment that is fixed, final and forever. So it is common to hear people say something like this:
• I just can’t believe a loving God would sentence a “good” person to a place of eternal torment just because he or she didn’t believe in Jesus.
But God’s character demands that all sin be judged. For God to be God He must be holy and righteous and just. And if He allowed even one sin to go unpunished that would not be just. God’s grace and mercy do not negate his holiness, righteousness, and justice. And while God’s patience is great, He will not indefinitely postpone His eternal judgment.
But when it comes to this eternal judgment, there is some really good news. Jesus took on that judgment on our behalf by dying on the cross and coming back to life. He bore the punishment that every single one of us deserve. Therefore, those who place their faith in Him will never have to experience that eternal judgment.
Faith in Jesus makes it possible for us to avoid the second kind of judgment – eternal judgment. But it does not always spare us from the temporal judgment that is the result of not applying God’s Word in our lives. So let’s spend some time seeing what we can learn from this passage about four things that might keep us from making proper application of God’s Word. Earlier I mentioned that we would come back to verses 12-16 and we’ll do that now.
Four reasons people fail to apply God’s Word:
1. Pride (v. 12)
Zedekiah failed to humble himself before Jeremiah, who was speaking the Word of the Lord to him. At 21 years of age, he just figured that he knew better than God how to live his life and lead God’s people.
This is really nothing new. Beginning in the Garden, every single time that man decides to disobey God and not apply His Word in their lives, it stems from pride. Every sin is essentially a matter of telling God that we know better than Him how to live our lives.
And it’s so easy for us to fail to apply God’s Word because of our pride. Here are just a few ways that we can do that:
• Have you ever read a passage or listened to a sermon and thought, “I know someone else who really needs to hear this”? I know that happens because I’ve watched some of you elbow your spouse during a sermon.
• Have you ever said about some particular sin “That will never happen to me.”?
• Do you tend to rank sins and excuse your own sins as being less harmful than the sins of others?
• Have you ever disobeyed some clear command of God because you thought God didn’t really understand your unique situation and that therefore that command didn’t apply to you?
2. Hard hearts (v. 13)
When I read verse 14 it sounds to me like Zedekiah needed a massage – he had a stiff neck and a hard heart. But there is no kind of spiritual massage that can relieve the pain that comes from those conditions. Even at the tender age of 21, it is clear here that Zedekiah had developed a habit of consistently refusing to obey God. Perhaps at first that only happened occasionally but as he disobeyed God more and more, it became easier and easier to do until his heart was so hardened that he completely ignored God’s Word in his life.
That is why the Bible is full of warnings about listening to the voice of God and obeying it so that our hearts don’t become hard. Twice in Hebrews chapter 3 we find this warning:
As it is said,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
(Hebrews 3:15 ESV)
How do I know if I’m starting to develop a hard heart? Here are a few questions that might help you see if that is happening in your life?
• When I read the Bible do I just ignore or pass over passages that speak to some sin in my life?
• When I do sin, do I no longer mourn over that sin?
• Do I rationalize, make excuses for or try to justify my sin?
3. Worldly influence (v. 14)
Zedekiah was not the only one who failed to apply God’s Word. The religious leaders and the people were unfaithful to God as well. There is certainly much we could learn here about the importance of godly leadership, but what I want to focus on is the influence of the surrounding nations that led to their rebellion against God.
As we saw a few months ago, that began to a large degree during the reign of Solomon when his numerous marriages and political alliances led to the pollution of Israel’s worship. At first, the people kept worshipping YHWH, but they began to just add in a few of the pagan practices of the surrounding nations. But over several centuries, their worship was now a complete abomination to God.
We need to recognize that we are not immune to those outside influences either. The best way to minimize those influences is to avoid them where possible. We all have the ability to control to a large degree things like the movies and TV shows we watch, the music that we listen to and the things that we read. But obviously, unless we completely isolate ourselves from the world, which would completely undermine God’s purpose for leaving us here on earth after we put our faith in Jesus, we can’t avoid all the bad influences that surround us in our culture. So what do we do with those influences? Paul gives us some help here:
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
(2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV)
We could easily spend an entire message just on this verse, but let me give you the Reader’s Digest version. Paul says that whenever we’re faced with ideas that run counter to the nature of God, as revealed to us in His Word, we are to take those ideas captive and then evaluate them by comparing them to the standard of God’s Word. That’s how we make our thoughts “obey Christ”.
So when the culture bombards us with their ideas about marriage, or raising our kids, or our finances, or our jobs or any other aspect of our lives, we have to compare those ideas to what Scripture says and choose to obey the Bible.
I’m sure that many of you do that on a regular basis, but I’d like to share a real life example of someone right here in our church who did just this several years ago. The value of their house had gone down to the point where it was worth less that the remaining balance on their mortgage. Several people urged them to just let the bank take it back. While that might damage their credit for a short period of time, it would get that debt off their back and relieve them of the monthly mortgage payments. But when they searched the Bible for direction they came across Psalm 37:21, which reads “The wicked borrow and do not repay.” So they chose to obey God rather than the culture even though that made things much more difficult for them financially.
4. They don’t take God’s Word seriously (v. 16)
Because of His compassion for the people and the Temple, God had been persistent in sending His messengers to warn the people about the serious consequences of not obeying and applying His words. But the people never took their words seriously. They mocked the messengers, scoffed at the prophets and despised God’s words. As we talked about last week, Jeremiah certainly was treated in that way for the entire 40+ years of his ministry.
This morning if you’re one of those people who look back over the last month and can’t think of even one concrete change you’ve made in your life in order to apply God’s Word, then it seems to me that one of two things must be true. Either your life already matches up perfectly with God’s Word and you don’t need to make any changes or, despite what you might say, you really aren’t taking God’s Word seriously.
Jesus weighed in on this idea as He spoke to His disciples shortly before His crucifixion:
Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me…
(John 14:21 ESV)
We can say that we love Jesus all that we want, but the real test is whether or not we are serious enough about His words that we actually carry them out.
When it comes to God’s Word…
information without application leads to judgment
ACTION
As we’ve seen this morning, that is true for us both as individuals and as a nation. So as we close, once again the question we must answer is this:
What should I do in response to what I’ve learned today?
There are almost limitless ways to do that, but let me suggest just three that are all pretty simple and that all of us can do immediately.
1. If I haven’t already done so, put my trust in Jesus alone in order to avoid eternal judgment.
It is my fervent prayer that no one here this morning will ever have to experience the eternal judgment that we all deserve as a result of our rebellion towards God. And the good news is that Jesus, by His sacrificial death on the cross and His resurrection, has made it possible for everyone to avoid that judgment. But the only way we can receive that gift is by placing our trust in Jesus alone. If you’re trusting in anyone or anything else to spare you from that horrible fate, then one day when it’s too late, you will find out that your faith has been misplaced and that you’ve been trusting in something or someone who can’t save you from that judgment.
As we saw earlier in the passage that we looked at in the book of Hebrews, if God is calling you to make that decision today, please don’t harden your heart, because if you do, one day it is going to be too late for you to do so.
2. Commit to personally apply what God is revealing to me in His Word
Will you make a commitment to God right now to apply His Word in your life even before you know fully what that might mean? Will you make a commitment to do that even when the culture tries to influence you not to do that? Will you make a commitment to take God’s Word seriously?
3. Pray for my country
Next week, we’re going to look at the prayer of Daniel that is a great model for how we can be praying for our country, so we’ll go into much more detail on this application then. But in the meantime, the familiar passage is also a great guide:
if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
(2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV)
What is really interesting about this verse is that it contains the antidote for all four of the reasons that we fail to apply God’s Word in our lives, and it also provides a model for seeking forgiveness and repenting when we do those things.
INSPIRATION
When I first became a pastor, I got really frustrated when I observed how few people actually applied my messages in a practical way, because I mistakenly thought that reflected my lack of ability as a preacher. Without a doubt, there were times when that was indeed the case. And no doubt it is still true from time to time.
I still get frustrated when I see the same thing today, but for an entirely different reason. Can you imagine the impact our little church could have on our community if we did nothing more than take God’s Word seriously and do our very best to put it into practice in our lives on a daily basis? That would completely transform our families, our jobs, our neighborhoods and make a tremendous impact for the kingdom of God. Isn’t that worth the effort?
Questions for the Bible Roundtable
1. How would you respond to someone who said, “I don’t understand how a loving God could sentence anyone to a place of eternal torment.”?
2. How would you respond to someone who says that it is unfair that “good” people suffer right along with the wicked as a result of God’s temporal judgment?
3. What are some signs that might indicate that I am letting pride get in the way of applying God’s Word in my life?
4. Explain in your own words what it means to “take every thought captive to obey Christ”. Give some examples of what that would look like in real life.
5. How does the United States in 2017 compare to Judah in 600 BC?
• What is there in this passage that gives us cause for hope?
• What is there in this passage that gives us cause for concern?
• What are some steps we can take to avoid the same fate that Judah suffered?
