HE DIED … NO ONE CARED
2 CHRONICLES 21:4-20
INTRODUCTION: Should the Lord tarry His return, every one of us will keep an appointment with death. From the very moment we are born we begin traveling the road to that appointed time. As we travel that road we write across the pages of our lives the epitaphs that one day will summarize our character and the legacy by which we will be remembered. It is rare for a person not to want to be fondly remembered by those that are left behind. Memorializing his wife one man placed the following epitaph on her tombstone: "Here Lies Janie Smith, wife of Thomas Smith, marble cutter. This monument was erected as a tribute to her memory and as a specimen of his work. Monuments of the same style 350 dollars." (- copied) 2 Chronicles 21 relates to us the death of King Jehoram, who when he died …no one cared.
I. A Sorrowful Epitaph - "He …departed without being wanted" – ("Amplified")
A. When a Christian dies usually there are mixed emotions. We rejoice that the individual had a relationship with Christ and is with the Lord. But we are saddened by the gaps that have been created in the home, in family, in the church, and in the community.
B. Proverbs 10:7a "The memory of the just is blessed…."
C. When a good person dies who does not know Christ, we are saddened. We are saddened by the fact that he or she has gone into a Christless eternity. We are saddened by the gap that the individual has left in our lives. And even in most circumstances, when a wicked person dies we tend to be merciful in our mind-set, overlooking any offences he or she may have committed and exaggerate their service and virtue. We accentuate their positive attributes and minimize their negative qualities.
D. But when Jehoram died no one cared.
E. 2 Chronicles 21:18-20 (CEV) "… The LORD struck Jehoram with an incurable stomach disease. About two years later, Jehoram died in terrible pain. No bonfire was built to honor him, even though the people had done this for his ancestors. Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he ruled eight years from Jerusalem. He died, and NO ONE EVEN FELT SAD. He was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the royal tombs."
F. The King James says he "departed without being desired." Literally, "He departed without any feeling of loss".
G. Howard Hughes: Worth 2.5 billion dollars at his death, he was the richest man in the United States. He owned a private fleet of jets, hotels and casinos. When asked to claim his body, his nearest relative, a distant cousin, exclaimed, "Is this Mr. Hughes?" He had spent the last 15 years of his life a drug addict, too weak in the end to even administer the shots to himself. His 6’4" frame had shrunk to 6’1" and he weighed only 90 lbs. Not a single acquaintance or relative mourned his death. The only honor he received was a moment of silence in his Las Vegas casinos. Time magazine put it this way: "Howard Hughes’ death was commemorated in Las Vegas by a minute of silence. Casinos fell silent. Housewives stood uncomfortable clutching their paper cups full of coins at the slot machines, the blackjack games paused, and at the crap tables the stickmen cradled the dice in the crook of their wooden wands. Then a pit boss looked at his watch, leaned forward and whispered, "O.K., roll the dice. He’s had his minute." – Time, December 13, 1976.
H. To die unlamented and unregretted by anyone speaks of deplorable failure and a senseless existence.
I. Napoleon Bonaparte: Responsible for the death of 500,000 French men in battle, approximately 1/6 of the population. Was exiled by the British for the last 6 years of his life on the Island of St. Helena. His wife Marie Louise never wrote him and married another man while he was still living. He never heard from his son again. He was confined to the house and grounds, needing the escort of a British soldier whenever he ventured anywhere on the island. The tombstone on his grave read simply, "here lies." – Source Unknown.
TRANSITION: What caused such a sorrowful epitaph?
II. A Senseless Existence –
A. He lived a wicked life.
1. 2 Chronicles 21:4 – He slew all his brothers with the sword.
2. 2 Chronicles 21:6 – He married an ungodly woman – Athaliah, Ahab’s daughter
3. 2 Chronicles 21:10 – He forsook the God of his fathers, Asa and Jehoshaphat
4. 2 Chronicles 21:11 – He caused Jerusalem’s and Judah’s people to commit fornication
B. Galatians 6:7 "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap."
C. Sow a thought and you reap an act; Sow an act and you reap a habit; Sow a habit and you reap a character; Sow a character and you reap a destiny. – Samuel Smiles (1812-1904)
D. He lived for self and He died alone.
1. Luke 12:19-20 "And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?"
2. If we build to please ourselves, we are building on the sand; if we build for the love of God, we are building on the rock. – Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
3. Despite those titles, power, and pelf, The wretch, concentrated all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonored, and unsung. The Lay of the Last Minstrel, Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)
E. He lived without God and He died without God.
1. There is no room for God in the man who is full of himself. Jewish Proverb.
2. Proverbs 13:9 "The light of the righteous rejoices: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out."
TRANSITION: What can we do with the pages that we have been and that will be written?
III. A Solemn Entreaty
A. 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
B. Galatians 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
C. Romans 14:7-8 "For none of us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s."
D. Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry. - Mark Twain
E. The poet, James Whitcomb Riley, has a poem in which he tells of the death of a worker in a shop. He pictures his fellow workmen standing around on the day of his funeral talking about him. One man, tears in his eyes after saying some complimentary things, added, "When God made him, I bet He didn’t do anything else that day just set around and feel good." - Morning Glory, January 8, 1994.
F. Philippians 1:20 "According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death."
G. C.H. Spurgeon poignantly stated it this way: "A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you, and were helped by you, will remember you. So carve you name on hearts, and not on marble." - Steve Farrar, Family Survival in the American Jungle, Multnomah Press, 1991, p. 48.
H. Whoso lives the holiest life is fittest far to die. – Margaret Preston (1820-1897)
I. Philippians 1:21 "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
Scriptures marked as "(CEV)" are taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by permission.
Scripture marked as "(MSG)" are taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
Scripture quotations marked "Amplified" are taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
