← Back to sermon library

So they feared the Lord, and 
from every class they appointed for themselves priests of the 
high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high 
places. They feared the Lord, yet served 
their own gods, according to the rituals of the nations from 
among whom they were carried away. To this day, they continue 
practicing the former rituals. They do not fear the Lord, nor 
do they follow their statutes, or their ordinances, or the law 
and commandments which the Lord had commanded the children of 
Jacob, whom he named Israel, with whom the Lord had made a 
covenant and charged them, saying, you shall not fear other gods, 
nor bow down to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them. 
But, excuse me, but serve them, I got a problem with my eye here, 
serve them nor sacrifice to them. But the Lord who brought you 
up from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched 
arm, him you shall fear. Him you shall worship and to 
him you shall offer sacrifice. And the statutes, the ordinances, 
the law and the commandment which He wrote for you, you shall be 
careful to observe forever. You shall not fear other gods. 
And the covenant that I have made with you, you shall not 
forget, nor shall you fear other gods. But the Lord your God you 
shall fear, and He will deliver you from the hand of all your 
enemies. However, they did not obey, but 
they followed their former rituals. So these nations feared the Lord, 
yet served their carved images. Also, their children and their 
children's children have continued doing as their fathers did even 
to this day. Amen. So we see the fall of the 
Northern Kingdom in the first half of the chapter, and then 
as was the custom with Assyria, their policy in conquering was 
to take captive peoples back to their land, and then to take 
captive peoples from other provinces and territories and put them 
in the lands that had been recently conquered. In doing so, they 
kept them off kilter, they kept them from being able to sort 
of band together and revolt against the Assyrian Empire. Now, no 
doubt, they didn't take every single one from the Northern 
Kingdom. There were still those within the land of Israel. that 
had lived there before. So they didn't take every single 
Israelite back to Assyria, but for the most part, and then settled 
these other nations or these other people groups in the land. And I think there's a couple 
of valuable lessons that this chapter brings out for us. And 
I want to look at first the pragmatic need for religion. Now, pragmatism 
is simply doing that which works or that which serves a particular 
person. And I think that's illustrated 
in this first section. They don't want God for God's 
sake, they want God to keep them from these lion attacks. That's 
pragmatism. And then secondly, the syncretic 
manufacture of religion. I'm defining all the terms that 
I'm using that are not normal. Syncretism means when we take 
two and combine them together in order to worship. And so what 
we find here in the second section is that they made their own gods 
and coupled that with Yahweh and attempted to worship in that 
particular vein. So, they engaged in a manufacture 
of religion that was ultimately syncretic. And then, finally, 
the last section of the chapter highlights the exclusivity of 
true religion. In other words, God does not 
say, it's okay to worship me whatever way that you want. The 
Lord God of heaven and earth does not say to people, well, 
you just come to me when you have particular needs and I will 
scratch your itch and I will make everything go well. He doesn't 
say you can come to me along with your idols, along with your 
sort of cultural gods. That's absolutely contrary to 
the God of heaven and earth. So let's look first at the pragmatic 
need for religion. The resettlement of Samaria is 
given to us in verse 24. The various peoples, the various 
provinces, the various territories that Assyria conquered, they 
now settled in the land of Israel. And Matthew Henry says, it is 
common for lands to change their owners, but sad that the Holy 
Land should become a heathen land again. See what work sin 
makes. And I think that's a good observation. 
They are at this particular point because of their rebellion against 
God. The land was given to them as a gift based on the promise 
given to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. God stipulated this is the 
way you are to conduct yourself when you go into the land. You're 
to drive out the Canaanites, because God knew that if the 
Canaanites remained in the land, the Canaanites would have an 
effect upon the Israelites. And that is precisely what takes 
place. Over the course of history, with 
reference to the Northern Kingdom, they became increasingly more 
like the Canaanites, and now God has used a pagan empire to 
drive them out of the land. They are reaping the consequences 
of their unfaithfulness to the living and true God. This is 
the outworking of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. Of course, 
the lesson for us is that when God commands us, we're supposed 
to obey Him. Now I realize that we revel in 
the gospel and we should rejoice in the gospel. We ought to also 
appreciate that in Revelation 2 and 3 there are some similarities 
in the way that Jesus deals with the churches there in Asia Minor 
to the way that God dealt with Old Covenant Israel. Again, it's 
not strict 100% equal sign between the two, but you do see that 
Jesus demands faithfulness on the part of his churches. And 
it is intriguing because an old covenant concept is that the 
land would vomit out the inhabitants. When the land, or when the persons 
living in the land continue to sin and rebel against God, the 
language, and I'm sure you've seen it oftentimes, the land 
would vomit out its inhabitants. Well, remember that Jesus says, 
Because you're neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out. So 
in the Old Covenant, it's the land that's spitting out the 
inhabitants of the land that are violating the covenant of 
God. In the New Covenant, the Lord 
Jesus, with reference to the corporate church, says those 
churches that are not serving Him, those who are not glorifying 
Him, those who are not faithful, He will spit out in the manner 
in which the land vomited out its inhabitants in the Old Covenant. 
Now note, secondly, with reference to this pragmatic need, their 
specific absence of fear. Notice in verse 25. And it was 
so at the beginning of their dwelling there that they did 
not fear the Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions 
among them, which killed some of them. So we see the absence 
of the fear of God and then the presence of the judgment of God. And I suspect that Gil is on 
the right path. He says specifically, this the 
Lord did to assert His sovereignty. In other words, He sent these 
lions to assert His sovereignty, authority, and mighty power, 
and to let them know that He could as easily clear the land 
of them as they, by His permission, had cleared the land of the Israelites. In other words, it was a good 
lesson for these new inhabitants of the land that the God of heaven 
and earth was not to be trifled with. They did not fear him, 
so God sends lions to bring judgment upon them. reminiscent of curses 
made to Israel. I will also send wild beasts 
among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your 
livestock, and make you few in number, and your highways shall 
be desolate." Leviticus 26, 22. So we see their particular issue. 
They've got lions among them. I can understand the desire to 
rid oneself of lions. I get that. I think that's a 
normal, natural expression of our humanity. We like them in 
cages or in wildernesses where they're not killing us. So, I 
understand the sentiment of what's going on, but the way they approach 
this shows how they view the function of religion. And I think 
in many respects these peoples that have resettled the land 
of Israel demonstrate for us something that is very common 
today. People only want God when they have a particular problem. 
People only want God when they're drowning and they make deals 
with God that if you let me out of this calamity, well then I'll 
go to church. We look at God as a genie in 
a bottle. We look at God as a holy horseshoe 
a four-leaf clover. We look at God as a means to 
an end, and that is precisely what the persons in the land 
do at this particular time. Notice verse 26, So they spoke 
to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations whom you have removed 
and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the rituals of the 
God of the land. Therefore, He has sent lions 
among them, and indeed, they are killing them because they 
do not know the rituals of the God of the land." You see, there 
is, again, the genuine desire to be rid of lions. We ought not to discount that. 
but it shows their approach to religion. As far as they are 
concerned, the deity exists simply and solely and only to alleviate 
me from my burdens, my concerns, and my lions. Davis says some 
religion can be pragmatic. We must do something to get rid 
of these lions. So some crave a protective faith 
that charms away troubles, that deals with threats to one's security. The big question is not, is it 
true, but will it work to avoid discomfort? I suspect that this 
is something that plagues even the churches, evangelical and 
reformed. It's not so much a matter of, 
is it true, but will it provide results? I mean, you see this 
in a lot of church growth sort of orientation. This is certain 
to garner results. You have a kickoff or a launch 
Sunday in September, and you have bouncy castles for kids, 
and you give everybody hot dogs. We've turned religion into a 
means to try and get people in the church, and when they're 
in the church, we cater the message to serve them, to tailor it to 
them, to cater it to them. That's not the purpose of religion. What is the chief end of man 
according to the Westminster Shorter Catechism? It's not to 
be happy with all the creature comforts that this world has 
to offer. It's not to have all of our cares and problems alleviated. It is to enjoy God, or to glorify 
God, and to enjoy Him forever. Now, that glorifying God and 
enjoying Him forever means a focus on Him. And you see, if we look 
at what He gives us, when He stops giving us those things, 
we're no longer going to glorify Him. We're no longer going to 
enjoy Him. We will be fair-weather fans. I would imagine that people like 
the Canucks a whole lot better when they're winning games. When 
they're not winning games, it's probably easier to turn to a 
different hockey team. The same is true with the people 
of God. If we have it in our mind that religion's function 
is to benefit me in the here and the now, then we've missed 
the point. Davis goes on to say, the big 
question is not, is it true, but will it work to avoid discomfort, 
to ward off disaster? In the wake of catastrophes like 
9-11 comes the question, where is or where was God? Nothing 
wrong with asking that question, but sometimes there's a fallacious 
assumption behind it. Namely, that God is supposed 
always to make life safe. You don't have that promise in 
the scripture. Where is God? He's as much there 
in the calamities and in the catastrophes as he is when the 
sun is shining. I mean, look at today. God's 
still God. I mean, it might be more appreciable 
if it was sunny and warm and people weren't being shot to 
death on the street on Broadway. But God hasn't stopped being 
God. And we need to understand that. 
He goes on to say, he says, that God is supposed always to make 
life safe, that God is my existential pacifier, and if He does not 
guarantee my security, of what use is He? Religion, you know, 
should get rid of the lions for you. Now, again, this is an obscure 
passage, one that probably a lot of people don't focus on or think 
through or probably preach sermons on, but it's a very appropriate 
application. The people in the land are plagued 
with lions and they want to appease the god of the land so that the 
lions will go away. They don't have a heart for worship. 
They don't want to know this God. They don't want to love 
this God. They don't want to commune with 
this God. They want to use this God or appease this God with 
the ritual so that this God will stop sending lions. And I suspect 
at times that's our approach to religion. Again, we can look 
at the Benny Hins and we can look at the, you know, the wacko 
charismatics and Pentecostals, but I think this sentiment is 
as much true in the Reformed world as it is everywhere else. 
You know, we tried this, but it didn't work. You know, I tried 
to read my Bible, but it didn't really make me feel any better. 
Well, brethren, that's not the way you're supposed to function, 
operate, or live. You don't do what you're supposed 
to do only if it makes you feel better. You don't get the immediate 
benefits of broccoli. a hunk of broccoli and then leap 
over tall buildings or resist bullets with your bare chest. It takes a while for those nutrients 
to find their way into your body and produce the health and the 
nutrition that you need. But yet the Christian church 
today has basically been taught that if we don't get what we 
want, we're just going to start another church, or we'll leave 
this church, we'll go do this, we want this, we want that. It's 
a me-centered situation, and it parallels very much so this 
particular situation. We don't like lions. Tell us 
what we need to do to get rid of the lions. You see the significant 
difference between that approach and we want to know the God of 
Israel, we want to worship Him, we want to commune with Him, 
we want to love Him, we want to adore Him. It's two fundamentally 
different approaches. Now note what the king does. 
The king in verse 27. says, send there one of the priests 
whom you brought from there. Let him go and dwell there, and 
let him teach them the rituals of the god of the land. Now, 
I don't suspect that the king of Assyria probably had malicious 
or malevolent motives. I think the king of Assyria is 
demonstrating in all of his king of Assyrian-ness a decency They 
got a problem with lions in that part of my dominion and empire? I know. Let's send a priest from 
that particular part of the world, and he can teach them the rituals 
of the god of that part of the world. But for all of us who 
have been reading this book or studying this book, the priesthood 
in the North wasn't very good, was it? I mean, this is one of 
the reasons why they're no longer in Assyria. It wasn't just the 
people that went a-whoring from God. It was the priesthood as 
well. And when you look specifically 
at verse 28, then one of the priests whom they had carried 
away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel. Again, if you have 
been here since our study in 1 Kings, you'll know that Bethel 
was one of the places that calf worship was preeminent. It was one of the two places 
that Jeroboam instituted as a shrine for calf worship. So one of the 
priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt 
in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the Lord. Again, 
this does not bode well. The king of Assyria probably 
thinks he's doing a fine job sending a priest from that land 
to teach the new inhabitants about the God of that land. But 
we, the careful reader, know that the priesthood in the North 
was messed up. It was corrupt. The fact that 
this priest, when he goes back to the North, goes to Bethel, 
this does not bode well. In fact, Proven says, the kind 
of worship of the Lord that is taught by the exiled priest is 
evidently and predictably just as flawed as the worship that 
led to the Israelites' exile in the first place. And then 
Davis says, any priest from the former northern kingdom would 
likely propagate more syncretism than orthodoxy. So this, again, 
not on the, you know, the Assyrian king isn't thinking, hey, I'm 
really going to get them. He probably legitimately wants 
somebody in the know to go there, you know, pacify them enough 
to stop the lion. and stop lions. That doesn't 
bode well for the king of Assyria when you have a territory or 
province that's overrun with lions that happen to be eating 
your subjects. That's probably not a good poster 
for, you know, come to Assyria, come holiday in the former northern 
kingdom of Israel. That just doesn't sell tickets. 
So he has a vested interest, but we know that he sends this 
priest, and this priest in the north has mastered, no doubt, 
syncretism. This is the problem in the north 
from the beginning. As soon as Jeroboam breaks away, 
he institutes calf worship. We get to Ahab, and what does 
he institute? He institutes a bale worship. So you've got Baal plus Yahweh, 
you've got Caph plus Yahweh. This is syncretism. Again, we've 
argued over the course of our study in 1st and 2nd Kings, it's 
probably not the case that the Israelites utterly repudiated 
Yahweh. They probably didn't utterly 
abandon Yahweh and reject him and said, oh, there's no such 
being as Yahweh. No, they looked around at the 
pagans around them and said Baal seems to work for them, the calves 
seem to work for them, we're going to use them along with 
Yahweh to secure the blessings that we want. See, it's all about 
me, it's all about what I want, it's all about my needs, my desires 
my benefit. So that is their pragmatic need 
for religion. Now note the syncretic manufacture 
of religion. Verses 29 to 31 show us what 
idolatry looks like. They're making gods. Look at 
how many times the verb is used. Six times. However, every nation 
continued to make gods of its own. They did it in the places 
which the Samaritans had made. The men of Babylon made Sukkoth-Benoth. The men of Kuth made Nergal. 
The men of Hamath made Ashuma. And the Abites made Nibhaz and 
Tartak. Aren't you glad your god made 
you and you didn't make your god? What a terrible thing to 
be a God-maker. I mean, there is no way that 
you and I can produce the sort of God that is able to deliver 
in the day of trouble. This is absolutely dismal. This is depressing. The thought 
that man has the capability to make a God is the folly of idolatry. This is why the prophet Isaiah 
mocked the Babylonians, because they had to pick their gods up 
and put them back on the cart. This is why that scene with reference 
to Dagon in the temple, or the Ark of the Covenant rather, in 
the temple with Dagon, and they go in and they see Dagon falling 
over, and they have to pick him up and put him back up. They 
go the next day, they see his hand broken off, and they see 
him in pieces. This is absolute travesty that 
men would rather worship and serve the creature rather than 
the creator who is God overall. This is idolatry, this is sin, 
this is wickedness, and the verb is employed several times with 
reference to Jeroboam in 1 Kings 12, 31-33. He made, he made, 
he made, he made. If you and your religion are 
making your gods, you are in the wrong religion. Davis says, 
so pagan religion creates what it likes. Biblical faith receives 
what is revealed. Pagans worship based on what 
they prefer. Believers must worship based 
on what God declares. The biblical worshiper must submit. The pagan worshiper may concoct. And that's precisely what verses 
29 to 31 evidence. Now, you need to notice something 
here, specifically in verses 32 and 33. When it says in verse 
32, So they feared the Lord, and from every class they appointed 
for themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for 
them in the shrines of the high places. They feared the Lord. 
Now notice, verse 32, verse 33, this is Yahweh. So they feared 
Yahweh, yet served their own gods, according to the rituals 
of the nations from among whom they were carried away. The wrong 
way to read this passage is to say, oh yeah, well, you know, 
they feared Yahweh. Certainly, they had all these 
idols they had manufactured, but, you know, they were doing 
their best with the information that they had available. That's 
the wrong way to read the passage. The author is being ironic. He's going to tell us as much 
in verse 34. They did not fear Yahweh. We 
know fundamentally, and it's going to be reiterated over and 
over again, in this very chapter, that you shall have no other 
gods before Me. Do you think the God who spoke 
that on Sinai, and repeated it in the plains of Moab, would 
have truck with this kind of worship? That He would actually 
say, well, you know, I know they're bringing their idols along with 
them, but they're doing their bestest, and therefore I can 
acknowledge that they fear Me. No. Christianity, the religion 
of the Bible, is exclusive. And as I said, that's going to 
become more apparent as we move on in the chapter. But notice, 
specifically, the priest, according to verse 28, taught them how 
they should fear Yahweh. Verses 32 and 33, they feared 
Yahweh. But this is irony. The fear of the Lord indicated 
here is not true. The contrast is set forth in 
verse 34. To this day, they continue practicing 
the former rituals. They do not fear the Lord. If 
you don't understand irony, you're not going to understand some 
of scripture. These are literary techniques 
that authors use to show the folly of something they're attacking. In fact, I think Proven explains 
it well. We must reckon then with the 
presence of irony in 2 Kings 17, 25 to 33. It is not a passage 
meant to be taken at face value. Please never read this section 
in verses 29 to 33 and conclude, well, you know, they did their 
best and therefore they could be seen as having feared Yahweh. No, they did not. Get it in your 
head. You cannot bring an idol with 
you to the altar of God, bow before Yahweh, and think that 
somehow you are fearing Him. You're not supposed to be idolaters, 
you're not supposed to be syncretic, you're not supposed to sort of 
marry Yahweh and Baal, Yahweh and Asherah, Yahweh and the host 
of gods that were manufactured here. He says the author is simply 
setting up a particular point of view in order to demolish 
it. rather in the manner of a participant 
in a debating competition. The tone of the passage is best 
caught, in fact, if the reader mentally supplies quotation marks 
to the words worship and worship in the NIV translation of verses 
28 and 32 to 33. We won't hold it against him 
that he uses the NIV there. It would be supplying quotation 
marks in the word fear. This isn't genuine. It's not 
legit. It's not real. For we are certainly 
not to regard the worship or the fear described in these verses 
as true worship as verses 34 to 39 make clear. So if you ever 
have read this section and said, wow, that's interesting. They 
actually feared Yahweh. Please take the encouragement. 
Don't read it that way because that's not the way it's supposed 
to be read. They were not fearing Yahweh. 
The author is mocking this position. The author is showing how ludicrous 
this position is, and he's going to reinforce that now in verses 
34 to 41 with reference to the exclusivity of true religion. Notice, in the first place, he 
repudiates this pagan syncretism. He says in verse 34, or the law and commandment which 
the Lord had commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel." 
So this is a repudiation of everything that these inhabitants who have 
been resettled in the land of Israel are doing. So if you had 
the thought that somehow they were genuinely fearing the Lord, 
you get to verse 34 and the author shatters that supposition. There 
is no way that what they were doing is any way honoring to 
the Lord God Most High. So he repudiates this paganism. But notice he then enters in 
to remind of Israel's history. And I think there's a particular 
purpose for which he does this. But notice in verses 34 to 39, 
he reminds of Israel's history. In the first place, the covenant 
made with Israel in verse 35. As he refers to the nation, the 
children of Jacob, whom he named Israel, now he launches into 
this reminder, verse 35, with whom the Lord had made a covenant 
and charged them, saying, You shall not fear other gods, nor 
bow down to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them. So the 
covenant of Sinai is the foundation upon which, or the basis, or 
the context in which there is this prohibition against other 
gods. In other words, this God has 
entered into covenant with you, and he has commanded you in the 
very first place, you shall have no other gods before me. So the 
pagans haven't learned the lesson, but the interesting thing is 
that the Israelites themselves haven't learned the lesson. He 
then highlights the fact that God had redeemed Israel. This is similar in some respects 
to the first half of the chapter where we see the reasons for 
their fall to Assyria. But notice the redemption of 
Israel in verse 36, the reference to the Exodus, and it's the basis 
upon which he demands their fear, worship, and sacrifice, verse 
36. And then he repeats the law. 
So, again, I'm not saying that you have. Probably you always 
read it as ironically that they really didn't fear the Lord, 
verses 32 and 33. But let's just suppose for a 
moment, somebody actually took that thought out of verse 33. 
By the time they get to verses 34 to 41, they're being hammered. They're being told. This in no 
way was the worship of God. This was in no way the fear of 
the Lord. Notice in verses 37 to 39, and 
the statutes, the ordinances, the law and the commandment which 
he wrote for you. You shall be careful to observe forever. You 
shall not fear other gods. The fact that they manufacture 
them and put them under their arm as they go to Yahweh's altar 
is showing a deference to, or a fear of, those other gods. And then he goes on in verse 
38, in the covenant that I have made with you, you shall not 
forget, nor shall you fear other gods. But the Lord your God you 
shall fear, and he will deliver you from the hand of all your 
enemies. Again, I think Davis gets it 
when he speaks of the exclusivity of covenant religion. Covenant 
religion, he means here the Old Testament, Yahweh-ism, the worship 
of the true and living God. He says covenant religion carries 
a fundamental intolerance at its center. I love this because 
we live in such a tolerant age. We're being, you know, browbeaten 
into tolerating everybody. The only ones you're allowed 
to not tolerate are Christians. That's, you know, they're intolerable. 
You just, you know, you can be bigoted against them, you can 
be prejudicial against them. Christians are public enemy number 
one. But for everybody else, we gotta tolerate them. We gotta 
tolerate them no matter what they do. We just have to tolerate. 
Well, the religion of God is intolerant to the core. It's 
not just it's Old Testament manifestation or Old Covenant manifestation, 
but it's Jesus who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 
No one comes to the Father except through me. That's intolerance. That is exclusive. That is gentle Jesus, meek and 
mild, telling a whole host of people they are absolutely wrong 
subscribing to the religion of Allah, subscribing to the religion 
of Latter-day Saints, or Jehovah's Witnesses, or Buddhism, or Shintoism, 
or whatever it is. Jesus is telling all those people, 
you are absolutely, positively, 100% wrong. And yet everybody says, but, 
you know, Jesus is so nice. That's only if you haven't read 
his words. Now, I believe Jesus is kind 
and good and gracious and wonderful. But brethren, there is an offense 
to the cross. And if that cross is not offending, 
it's probably because we're not preaching it the way that we're 
supposed to. That is something that we need 
to come to grips with. But back to Davis. Covenant religion 
carries a fundamental intolerance at its center. Yahweh or other 
gods. If Jesus is Lord, all competitors 
must be excluded. Pagan religions were not like 
this. No pagan deity worth his or her 
salt ever got its divine bowels in an uproar if one of its devotees 
worshipped or prayed or sacrificed to another god or goddess. Only 
biblical covenant religion carries this virulent animosity toward 
all would-be competitors. One suspects this unique religion 
is also the true religion. I think he's absolutely bang 
on with that statement. The other nations, the other 
gods, or the other, you know, there was no problem. I mean, 
you use whatever God would, you know, help you at that particular 
time. It's intriguing. When Paul is 
at the Areopagus, what do the Athenians have? They have an 
altar to an unknown God. Just in case we've offended a 
deity out there that we don't happen to know his or her name, 
we're going to have this altar there to try and appease and 
try and make sure that we can avert their particular wrath. 
You see, the Christians in the early church were the atheists. 
Do you know that? Christians were being accused 
of being atheists because they worshiped one God. Everybody 
else had a pantheon. Everybody else had, you know, 
a multiplicity of gods. That was perfectly acceptable, 
perfectly legit. Remember in Thessalonica? What 
was the crime of the early church? They preach another king, even 
Jesus. You see, this is Christianity's 
assault on the first century Roman Empire. It was Caesar who 
was referred to as Lord and Savior. Why do you think so often in 
the New Testament documents Jesus is referred to as Lord and Savior? 
Yes, there is a religious overtone to be sure. Yes, it is consistent 
with the description of Yahweh in the Old Covenant. But it's 
also a frontal attack upon the sitting Caesar at that particular 
time. In many respects, that's what 
incensed the authorities against the Christian. You could have 
whatever God you wanted, but if you said there was one true 
and living God and everything else was a fake, you were the 
atheist in that context. You see, Christianity is to be 
intolerant. When I say that, I don't mean 
against blacks or against Asians. No, intolerant of any other approach 
to God except through Jesus Christ the Lord. That is what we preach. Now, notice, he goes on, and 
the author concludes this chapter with verses 40 and 41. Now, in 
verse 40, some suggest that this refers to the pagans. However, 
they did not obey, but they followed their former rituals. Notice 
in verse 34. To this day, they continue practicing 
the former rituals. I think that's the pagans in 
verse 34, and then he highlights the history of Israel in verses 
35 to 39, and then concludes that in verse 40. However, they, 
Israel, did not obey, but they followed their former rituals. 
It connects better. Verse 40 caps off, verses 35 
to 39. As well, some would suggest, 
well, they didn't have former rituals. Oh, they most certainly 
did. When they were in Egypt, they 
had rituals. And even when they lived in the 
land of Canaan, they had rituals. They were called calves. They 
were called bales. They were called asherah. They 
were called molech. They threw their children into 
the fire. They had rituals. The author is showing us that 
Israel has fallen as a result of this kind of syncretism, this 
kind of an approach to God. And then he finalizes the chapter 
with reference to the pagans. Verse 41 now shifts to the pagans, 
those who had resettled the land of Israel. So these nations feared 
the Lord. Again, it's ironic. You cannot 
conclude after the exposition of verses 35 to 39, oh yeah, 
they did fear the Lord. No, they didn't. He is picking 
on them. He is mocking them. So these 
nations feared the Lord, yet served their carved images. Also, their children and their 
children's children have continued doing as their fathers did even 
to this day. Now, one man said this. Now, 
remember, who was the original audience of the Books of Kings? 
It was the exiles. the people in Babylon, the people 
that were expunged from the land after the Babylonian captivity. 
And so Kings explains why you're in the mess you're in. Basically, 
Kings answers the question for anybody sitting there in Babylon 
saying, what happened? Why are we here? Well, just read, 
and it'll explain everything for you. This man says, these 
foreigners, the pagans, the newly settled inhabitants in this land, 
these foreigners parody Israel, trying to fear the Lord in their 
syncretistic way. They really do not fear God at 
all, for they do not follow the law of Deuteronomy. If you want 
to see what Israel was like, the narrator suggests to exilic 
readers, go look at these contemporary foreigners who are doing according 
to their former manner, even to this day, just as Israel used 
to do. When you're in exile, and you 
look at how people are conducting themselves in the land, that's 
exactly how Israel functioned, and that's the reason why you're 
in the mess that you're in. This is the author's thrust to 
show us what happens with reference to those who now inhabit this 
particular parcel of land. They listen to bad teaching from 
a bad priest, and they engage in bad religion to try and get 
the lions off their backs. and by so doing they enter into 
what's called syncretism where they take a little Yahweh and 
a little God that they had made, combine it all together and hopefully 
the gods will be pleased with us and stop the lions from killing 
us and our children. It's a pretty grim view of man 
in sin. And I want to end with just a 
couple of thoughts. First, the danger of pragmatism, 
the danger of it. We ought not to conclude that 
it ended in the 8th century BC. In other words, we ought not 
to look at this and say, well, they certainly have had to learn 
their lesson. Israel must have learned their lesson. Remember, 
we're on top of that building. We watched last week as the Northern 
Kingdom crashed its car into a semi. We're still on top of 
that building, and we're watching the nation of Judah drive into 
that intersection as well, and it's going to be destroyed. They 
didn't learn their lessons. They didn't learn the lessons 
that the North did. The South duplicates it. They 
end up crashing. And the church continues, at 
least at times, to continue to crash the car on this idea of 
pragmatism. It is folly to assume it is a 
pagan mindset in our culture. I think it is. you know, these 
big interfaith unity services where you have, you know, the 
Hindu and the Buddhist and the Christian and the Catholic and 
they're, you know, all just praying to God. I mean, come on, that's 
just as bad as what we see, you know, all these people bringing 
their gods to the altar of Yahweh, so-called. This is pragmatism 
and it's wrong. But it's also a reality in professing 
believers in churches. And I can't do any better than 
quote Jay Gresson Machen. I think you probably all heard 
me quote this. I think it's a quote that everybody 
should internalize because I think it hits the nail on the head. 
He says, we value God solely for the things he can do. Now, we should praise God for 
the things he can do. I think as a matter of sort of 
habit, we ought to praise God for creation and for providence 
and for redemption. I like to call that the spiritual 
CPR. Creation, providence, redemption. 
Those are three good heads upon which we bring glory to God for 
his activity, his doing, his work. But I think you get what 
Machen is saying. We value God solely for the things 
He can do. We make of Him a mere means to 
an ulterior end. And God refuses to be treated 
so. Such a religion always fails 
in the hour of need. If we have regarded religion 
merely as a means of getting things, even lofty and unselfish 
things, then when the things that have been gotten are destroyed, 
our faith will fail. When loved ones are taken away, 
when disappointment comes and failure, when noble ambitions 
are set at naught, then we turn away from God. We have tried 
religion, we say. We have tried prayer, and it 
has failed. Of course it has failed. God 
is not content to be an instrument in our hand or a servant at our 
beck and call. He is not content to minister 
to the worldly needs of those who care not a bit for Him. Has it ever dawned on us that 
God is valuable for His own sake? That just as personal communion 
is the highest thing that we know on earth, so personal communion 
with God is the sublimest height of all? If we value God for His 
own sake, then the loss of other things will draw us closer to 
Him. We shall then have recourse to 
Him in time of trouble as to the shadow of a great rock in 
a weary land. Man, that just is beautiful, 
and I think it connects us with this particular passage. And 
I'm sure you've heard that in your experience. I tried to pray, 
but it didn't work. What's driving that prayer? I tried to pray but it didn't 
work. So you're only going to pray 
if blessings pop up. You're only going to pray if 
good things come your way. Do you not see that you are using 
God? Do you not see that He has become 
the instrument to fulfill your needs? How is that any different 
from the worst form of paganism? How is that any different from 
a rabbit's foot? Or how is it any different from 
a horseshoe? You know, they say, put the horseshoe 
that way so the luck doesn't run out. I mean, this approach 
to God is as bad as that. You know, the four-leaf clover, 
the whatever-it-is, the worst form of superstition. This is 
similar. When we use God for what God 
gives us. I think that Machen needs to 
be heard, and I think all of us need to examine ourselves. 
I tried to pray, but it didn't work. Well, then I would be very 
curious what your prayer was all about. I don't read any. Have you ever read in the Bible, 
pray and it will work? It's just trying to put this 
man-centeredness upon a thing that God has ordained for His 
glory, and ultimately for our good, but not in the way that 
we measure good. You know, God, please alleviate 
me from this suffering. You know, let me find a bag of 
money. We don't find the bag of money, 
and somehow, you know, I tried to pray, and God just doesn't 
work for me, or God just doesn't bless me. That's just using God, 
and that's a bad, bad thing. Secondly, we ought to appreciate 
from this passage the wickedness of syncretism. The first two 
commandments are binding upon the people of God. We are not 
to ape the methodology of those in the world. The church is to 
be distinct. She's to be different. She's 
not to take everything from the world and bring it to the front 
of the church in order to appear hip or cool or whatever the kids 
are saying today. The Church of the Living God 
is His house. It is the pillar and ground of 
the truth. And the first two commandments 
are as applicable to us today as it was to the old covenant 
Israelites. We are to have no other gods 
before Him, and we are certainly not to co-opt the worship that 
the world approves and baptize it and use it for Jesus. No, we're to preach the Word, 
we're to pray the Word, we're to sing the Word, we're to see 
the Word in the sacraments, and we're to read the Word. It's 
all about the Word. It's not about entertainment, 
it's not about your personal fulfillment, it's not about your 
felt needs. If we get rid of these ideas 
quick, I think all the churches will be a whole lot healthier. 
You know what happens when we bring our perceived needs to 
the church? I'm not suggesting the church 
doesn't meet the needs of the worshiper. It certainly does. 
I think that you'll all agree that the Word of God and the 
singing of 599 and the fellowship of the saints, that speaks to 
man in his most basic needs. Communion with God, communion 
with one another. But when we need this for our 
kids, and we need this for us, and we need this ministry, and 
we need this, and we need that, man, it just becomes exhausting. Let's just keep it simple. Let's 
just do what God says. I mean, could we ever just think, 
wow, you know, maybe if we just did what the Bible said, but 
not us. We got to co-opt everything from 
the world, bring it into the church, baptize it in the name 
of Jesus, and somehow call it holy. That's not what we're supposed 
to do. And then finally, the safeguard 
of the principle, I'm sorry, the safeguard of the regulative 
principle of worship. In other words, if we take what's 
going on here as an application, a misapplication, a gross misapplication 
of the first and second commandments, we should learn to see the utility 
and the value of those first and second commandments. And 
I think they're summarized well in our confession. Our confession 
says the acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by 
himself and so limited by his own revealed will that he may 
not be worshiped according to the imaginations and devices 
of men nor the suggestions of Satan under any visible representations 
or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture. The first 
commandment defines for us who we are to worship. You shall 
have no other gods before me, vis-à-vis Baal, Allah, Asherah, 
the pantheon that is mentioned here in what was once the northern 
kingdom. You're not to have other gods 
before me. The first commandment demands 
the worship of the true and the living God. The second commandment 
deals with the how we are supposed to worship that God. We're not 
to bring false worship to the true God. That's bad too. We're not supposed to be innovative 
or creative. The second commandment forbids 
making an idol to represent the true God. This happened in Israel. This calf brought you out of 
the land of Egypt. This calf is Yahweh. No, it's 
not. And the second commandment forbids 
that kind of a representation. So the first tells us who, the 
second tells us how. We're as sinful to worship the 
true God in a false way. You see, if we bow to Baal, yeah, 
everybody's going to call foul. But if we bow to Yahweh as if 
He's Baal, or we bow to Yahweh while sacrificing our children 
into the flames, that's bad too. We're supposed to worship the 
true and living God in the true and correct manner that He has 
specified and mandated for us. I said that was it. I didn't 
lie. I neglected one final point. Real quick. I think this passage 
should, if you're thinking through it, explain the animosity towards 
Samaritans in the New Testament. Samaritans. This is where they 
came from. It's a mongrel sort of Heinz 
57. You got all these different peoples 
conquered by the Assyrians, plopped down into the Northern Kingdom, 
or what was the Northern Kingdom, and a priest of Yahweh bumbling 
tells them how they're supposed to serve Yahweh. So they know 
who Yahweh is. They also have all these other 
gods. So Samaritans are not looked at favorably in the New Testament, 
are they? I mean, remember Jesus teaching 
on the good Samaritan. That doesn't shock us because 
we don't live, move, and have our being with this sort of mongrel 
group of people that really is offensive to us. But for Jesus 
to speak of a Samaritan who did the will of God, wow. That would 
have just blown people away because Samaritans, you know, they were 
at the bottom of the food chain living in the first century context. But doesn't this passage and 
this understanding of who the Samaritans are or were at the 
time of the Lord Jesus demonstrate and underscore his great mercy 
in John 4? When Jesus comes to that woman at the well, she's 
a Samaritan, and she's an adulteress, and Jesus has saving dealings 
with her. In fact, in John 4, it's interesting, 
when he calls her on her improprieties as it were. Go, call your husband 
and come here. John 4, 16. The woman answered 
and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, you have well 
said I have no husband, for you have had five husbands and the 
one whom you now have is not your husband in that you spoke 
truly. Now, I love The honesty of this 
woman. I mean, she's not, you know, 
morally upright and pure like, you know, we all are. But look 
at what she does. The woman said to him, sir, I 
perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this 
mountain and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where 
one ought to worship. Do you see what she does there? 
She completely changes the subject. Just completely. I want to have 
a Bible study on worship, Lord. Go call your husband. I'm not 
married. You're right. You've had five 
and the one you're now with is not your husband. I perceive 
you're a prophet. Let's talk about worship. Isn't 
that great? I mean, that's just great. What's 
even greater is that Jesus talks about worship. Notice the graciousness 
of our Lord. Woman, believe me, the hour is 
coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem 
worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. 
We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. What's he talking 
about? Jew Samaritan. You don't know what you're doing. 
You owe your sort of religious heritage to that time when your 
forefathers didn't like the lions. You owe your religious origin 
to that time when that terrible priest from the north stumbled 
in and taught them that it was okay to fear Yahweh and bring 
your idols too. You don't know. You worship what 
you do not know. For we know what we worship, 
for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now 
is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit 
and truth. For the Father is seeking such 
to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who 
worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. And then the woman 
said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming who is called Christ. 
When He comes, He will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, 
I who speak to you am He. It's an ego and me. He says, 
I And then, just to cut this short, after the woman goes and 
tells the villagers, the villagers come out and they have dealings 
with Jesus. And notice specifically in John 
4.39, and many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him 
because of the word of the woman who testified, he told me all 
that I ever did. So when the Samaritans had gone 
to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed there 
two days, and many more believed because of his own word. Then 
they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of what 
you said, for we ourselves have heard him, and we know that this 
is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. Praise God Almighty 
for the glorious gospel of free grace that avails even for Samaritans. Well, let us pray. Our Father, 
we thank you for your word and I pray that you'd help us to 
learn the lessons of 2 Kings 17. Help us not to engage in 
religion for pragmatic effect, and help us not to be syncretists, 
marrying the worship of the true and living God with idolatry 
and false things. Help us to respect Your Word, 
help us to respect the law, help us by the Holy Spirit to keep 
that law and to approach You with fear and trembling and great 
joy. to worship you in spirit and 
in truth, the way our Lord prescribes here in John 4. Go with us now, 
watch over us, grant us safety as we drive home. We just pray 
that you would be glorified in our church, and we ask through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.