The Man Who Would Not Listen
2 Kings 14:11…Amaziah, however, would not listen
Palm Sunday Jesus Shows Up
It was Palm Sunday and Sue’s five year old son had to stay home from church, with a neighbor, because of strep throat.
When the family returned home carrying palm branches, he asked what they were for.
His mother explained, "People placed them on the ground as Jesus walked by."
"Wouldn’t you know it," the boy said, "The one Sunday I don’t go, Jesus shows up!"
Opening:
The idea of listing and hearing is of extreme importance throughout the Bible. We all make mistakes, and fail the do God’s will perfectly, but when we refuse to listen to His correction or direction than we will find ourselves in a real mess. The real problem is, God is speaking but few people are listing.
Ill… Basketball
Over the years, I coached various church basketball teams and always had the same challenge, players who just would not listen to any coach. They where extremely talented and often the better players on the team but I could not use them much because they would not listen.
Jay was one of these types of boys. He would press instead of setting up the defense, shoot instead of pass and often run his own play instead of the team play. I liked Jay but I often had him on the bench beside me instead on the court.
Every instructor knows the heartbreak of a gifted student who would not yield to advice. Every parent knows the pain of having a prodigal who must have his or her own way.
I.) Good Start:
First Example of listing to instruction: 2 Chronicles 25:1-4… Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years… 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not wholeheartedly. 3 After the kingdom was firmly in his control, he executed the officials who had murdered his father the king. 4 Yet he did not put their sons to death, but acted in accordance with what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the LORD commanded: (Deuteronomy 24:16) "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sins."
2nd Example of listing to instruction: Amaziah recruited an army and also hired some mercenaries from Israel.
2 Chron 25:7-10... A man of God came to him and said, "O king, these troops from Israel must not march with you, for the LORD is not with Israel-not with any of the people of Ephraim. 8 Even if you go and fight courageously in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow."
Amaziah asked the man of God, "But what about the hundred talents I paid for these Israelite troops?"
The man of God replied, "The LORD can give you much more than that."
So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home. They were furious with Judah and left for home in a great rage
2 Kings 14:7 tells us what happened: … He was the one who defeated ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt …
The joy of the troops celebrated the victory. The king taught a beautiful lesson of obeying the word of God and listing to the prophetic voice of the spirit. The king listened and obeyed, God was faithful to fulfill his promise.
II) Listing Directives: … Jesus said… Matt 7:24-27 …"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." (from New International Version)
Did you catch the key statement here? One house survives the storm and one does not. One listens and one does not.
Wisdom instructs us to listen carefully and then obey. Personal righteousness does not happen because somebody requires and commands it of us. People do not live pure lives due to warnings and threats.
Personal right standing with God must come from the choices we make. We hear God speaking and choose to listen to Him.
Three essential points: When the freedom to choose presents itself to us, we need to remember:
1. Fear the lord… Choose to hold dear to your heart all the you understand and know of God. Never the culture we live in or the atmosphere of society. Have a awesome respect for the Lord, to rover Him, allowing Him to be the standard of your life.
2. Serve the Lord… After you listen then act by serving. One can hear the lord and not act on His instruction but when one listens they then follow through with activity of obedience.
3. Choose to Obey His Voice… Deliberately announce your decision to obey the Lord.
III) Bad Decisions: 2 Chron 25:14-15…When Amaziah returned from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people of Seir. He set them up as his own gods, bowed down to them and burned sacrifices to them.
The anger of the LORD burned against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him, who said, "Why do you consult this people’s gods, which could not save their own people from your hand?"
While he was still speaking, the king said to him, "Have we appointed you an adviser to the king?
Bad decisions will always cause difficulty
ILL Eastern Airlines flight 401 from New York to Miami. The seasoned and trained pilots had been instructed to fly the plane. They had done so many times. As they approached the Miami airport for landing the indicator light for the landing gear did not come on. The plane flew in a large circle pattern while the crew checked out the light failure. The question was, Did the landing gear engage or not?
The flight engineer fiddled with the bulb trying to remove it from the socket but it would not budge. Soon another of the cockpit crew began to assist. Before long the entire cock pit crew was eyeballing the light problem. All the eyes where on the .79 light bulb problem. No one noticed that the plane was loosing altitude.
Not remembering and listing to the instructions the pilots knew so well, “Above all else, fly the plane.”
The plane and many people were lost in the crash of flight 401.
Above all else, we need to listen to the Lord instructions for our life. We can be so busy correcting a small minor problem that we do not notice we are losing spiritual altitude. All of our attention can be so focused on the issue facing us right now that we will miss the more important instruction from God.
We do not know why but for some reason the King no longer measured his decisions and actions according to the precepts of God’s word. The life of the King and of his country went from bad to worse.
2 Chron 25:16… So the prophet stopped but said, "I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel."
IV) Continued Decline
2 Chron 25:13… Meanwhile the troops that Amaziah had sent back and had not allowed to take part in the war raided Judean towns from Samaria to Beth Horon. They killed three thousand people and carried off great quantities of plunder.
2 Chron 25:17… After consulting with his advisers, King Amaziah of Judah sent this challenge to Israel’s king Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz and grandson of Jehu: "Come and meet me in battle!" NLT
2 Chron 25:19…You may be very proud of your conquest of Edom, but my advice is to stay home. Why stir up trouble that will bring disaster on you and the people of Judah?"
2 Kings 14:11…Amaziah, however, would not listen, so Jehoash king of Israel attacked. He and Amaziah king of Judah faced each other at Beth Shemesh in Judah (from New International Version)
V) End Results:
Destruction of the capitol: 2 Kings 14:12-14.. Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah… Then Jehoash went to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate-a section about six hundred feet long. 14 He took all the gold and silver and all the articles found in the temple of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace. He also took hostages and returned to Samaria. (from New International Version)
Today we see much hardness of heart and fewer blessings of God. God is communicating with us but someone has to listing at our end.
Discouragement, frustration, apathetic attitudes all come from a weak foundation of the sand. The spin of continual decline will only stop when we choose to listen to God.
Death of the King: 2 Kings 14:19-20…They conspired against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish, but they sent men after him to Lachish and killed him there. 20 He was brought back by horse and was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers, in the City of David.
VI) Our Lesson is… Develop a listing heart
Isaiah 55:2-3… Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me that your soul may live.
Matt 13:15…For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’
Maybe it is time to ask some hard questions.?
Are you one who hears and then acts on what God says?
Or do you hear and then keep all opinions open?
Are we so busy dealing with the $.79 light bulb that we are forgetting to deal with what is important, listing to God?
Rom 2:13… For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.
Is your house on the rock or on the sand? Depending on your answer, you will then know your future.
It is a matter of choice:
When God convicts us of our lifestyles, we choose to listen or not.
The choice to listen will bring great blessing and rewards into your personal life, your family and your area of influence.
Whatever position you find yourself in today Jesus is ready to take over your life, remove the sand from your foundation and replace it with solid rock.
All you have to do is listen!
