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mean I'm gonna last time we looked at chapter 15 it was several several weeks ago now and that that chapter recorded two kings from Judah at the beginning and at the end but several kings in the middle from Israel the northern kingdom and we're gonna see next time in chapter 17 the collapse or the fall of the Northern Kingdom I made the observation or an analogy if you were on top of a building and you saw two cars that were driving along and you saw that they were gonna eventually crash while we're up on that building and we're seeing the Northern Kingdom and they're about to crash they're gonna crash next week in second Kings chapter 17 Judah is not far behind them and in fact as we study a has tonight we will see that he is very much like a northern King he's a very idolatrous and a very wicked man so while Judah is further behind nevertheless Judah will be judged also toward the end of second Kings but I do want to read beginning in verse 1 of chapter 16 in the 17th year of Piku the son of ram Alaia a has the son of Jotham king of judah began to reign a house was 20 years old when he became king and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem and he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God as his father David had done but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel indeed he made his son pass through the fire according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel and he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places on the hills and under every green tree then retsyn king of syria and pika the son of ram Alaia king of israel came up to jerusalem to make war and they besieged a has but could not overcome him at that time retsyn king of syria captured aileth for syria and drove the men of judah from a lath then the went to a lath and dwelt and dwell there to this day so a has sent messengers to tiglath-pileser king of Assyria saying I am your servant and your son come up and save me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel who rise up against me and a has took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the Treasuries of the King's house and sent it as a present to the king of Assyria so the king of Assyria heeded him for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it carried its people captive to cure and killed retsyn now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet tilt tiglath-pileser king of Assyria and saw an altar that was at Damascus and King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest the design of the altar and it's pattern according to all its workmanship then Uriah the priest built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus so Uriah the priest made it before king a.s came back from Damascus and when the king came back from Damascus the King saw the altar and the King approached the altar and made offerings on it so he burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and he poured his drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offering on the altar he also brought the bronze altar which was before the Lord from the front of the temple from between the new altar and the house of the Lord and put it on the north side of the new altar then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priests saying on the great new altar burned the mourning burnt offering the evening grain offering the Kings burnt sacrifice and his grain offering with the burnt offering of all the people of the land their grain offering and their drink offerings and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice and the bronze altar shall be for me to enquire bye thus did you ride you the priest according to all that King Ahaz commanded and king ahaz cut off the panel's of the carts and removed the Lavers from them and he took down the sea from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on the pit on a pavement of stones also here in moved the Sabbath pavilion which they had built in the temple and he removed the Kings outer entrance from the house of the Lord on account of the king of Assyria now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did are they not written in the book of The Chronicles of the kings of Judah so a has rested with his father's and was buried with his father's in the City of David then Hezekiah his son reigned in his place amen well as we have considered throughout this book of 2nd Kings it's a history obviously the kings of the north and the kings of the south with reference to Israel and Judah we have seen by and large that they are wicked men by and large they are our bad influences upon the people and they bring down upon them and the people the judgment of God we certainly see in a passage like this I know what Solomon speaks of in the Proverbs that righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people excuse me in the parallel passage in second chronicles 28 it tells us that he caused the a moral decline in all of Israel because of his idolatry and because of his wickedness again there's been other wicked kings in Judah there's only been wicked kings in the north and Israel but this man a has stands out he is certainly a benchmark in terms of wickedness up to this point in the narrative concerning the Judean kings I want to look at three things tonight with reference to this chapter first the idolatry of Ahaz in verses 1 to 4 secondly the submission of Ahaz verses 5 to 9 his submission to tiglath-pileser the king of Assyria and then thirdly the innovations of Ahaz you see that a has comes back from Damascus with Damascus religion he comes back with Syrian religion in the Institute in Jerusalem so he innovates what he is suggesting or what he is doing here is telling us that God's Orthodox way of worship is deficient you see a US thinks he has a better way to go about the worship of the Living God so he coops the worship of Syria and brings that into Selam so that is never a good thing so we see his idolatry his submission and his innovations but note first is idolatry again we have seen these kinds of formulas over and over this one's a little bit different in that it strengthens or heightens or shows just how much more wicked a has was now the timing involved is probably he did a bit of co-regency with his father Jotham that would account for any disparity in terms of the numbers the timeframe is 735 to 750 BC that is when a has reigned in Judah and then notice in verse 2 it says he reigned 16 years of in Jerusalem and he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God as his father David had done David is the standard David is that the benchmark in terms of godliness and faithfulness in terms of King kingship in Judah in Israel as a whole David sets the standard and all other Kings are measured by that remember David was not a perfect man David sinned grievously against God but David was a man after God's own heart he loved God he never departed from God he never went into idolatry or anything like that so David is the one that that men are measured by and then notice he imitated the kings of Israel verse 3a says he walked in the way of the kings of Israel this is also mentioned of Jehovah and a Hazara in chapter 8 verses 18 and 27 now Joe Horeb and Ahaziah were linked to the house or family of Ahab by marriage so it's not sort of outlandish that they would have walked in the way of the kings of Israel but this man is not joined to the house of Ahab or the house of Israel by marriage he's just a wicked man he walked in the way of the kings of Israel notice then thirdly he made his son passed through the fire in verse 3 be indeed he made his son passed through the fire according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel you can turn back to Leviticus chapter 18 for just a moment Leviticus chapter 18 where this prohibition is found in terms of children passing through the fire in 1821 it says you shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Molech nor shall you profane the name of your God I am the Lord now this is a form of child sacrifice this was a mean but means by which Molech was worshiped it was through the sacrifice of one's child or children into the fire that surrounded this particular Idol obviously Israel would be prohibited against such things and intriguingly in our text it says this was the practice that was done by those whom the Lord had driven out of the land of the land that had done these things before Israel if you keep on if you look down further in in Leviticus chapter 18 you see that very same thing verse 24 says do not defile yourselves with any of these things for by all these the nations are defiled which I am casting out before you for the land is defiled therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it and the land vomits out its inhabitants you shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments and shall not commit any of these abominations either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you for all these abominations the men of the land have done who were before you and thus the land is defiled lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it as it vomited out the nation's that were before you for whoever commits any of these abominations the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people now going back to 2nd Kings chapter 16 it is absolutely an abomination that a has would engage in this sort of worship unto Malak where any would offer up his child passing him through the fire in this particular manner but also we need to appreciate that God's judgment is not arbitrary and it's not capricious God didn't tell Israel to go in and dispossessed the and of the Canaanites because God had a particular axe to grind against the Canaanites they were sinners that stood under his judgment so God uses Israel to be the means by which those wretches are driven from the land but when Israel engages in the same sort of conduct that the Canaanites did then God raises up Assyria and God will raise up Babylon to drive them out of the land so God's judgment is not arbitrary it's not just at whim but it is based on his standard it is based on his law when the people of Israel imbibe the conduct of the Canaanites then God will deal with them severely you'll see that next week in 2nd Kings 17 when Assyria comes and destroys the Northern Kingdom we'll see it later in second Kings 25 when Babylon comes and destroys the southern kingdom and you see this already back in the book of Judges one of the things that Judges treats is how the people of Israel became like the Canaanites they were supposed to dispossessed they didn't dis possess the land completely of the Canaanites so what happens that Canaanite influence pervasively influences the people of Israel such that they engage in the same sort of wickedness and we get to this place of ripening and the Lord will deal with them the way that he dealt with the Canaanites so it is an abomination that a has engages in this particular activity it will happen later in Israel's history as well Jeremiah speaks to it Ezekiel speaks to it it's something that they engaged in this sacrifice of their children to Moloch and then finally in verse 4 sort of rounding out this who's who of idolatry with reference to a has notice verse 4 he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places on the hills and under every green tree now for most of the kings of Judah I don't have time to go and look at every single statement but for the most part the kings of Judah under their reign the high places were not removed the high places still stood in tact but the kings themselves did not participate in that the Kings knew that they were going on but they did not participate in them he has however engaged in it he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places on the hills and under every Green Tree John Gill says which none of the kings of Judah before him ever did for though they connived at this practice and the people they never encouraged it by their own example even good Kings during the reign say of Jehoshaphat the the high places were still there but nevertheless Jehoshaphat did what was right the sight of the Lord the Hacha fat was a godly King though that high place stood and shows some inconsistency Jehoshaphat wasn't there with them worshiping those idols and engaging in that act of idolatry so he has is similar to the other bad Kings in Judah but he's worse even he engages in things that other Judaic Kings did not do now note the submission of Ahaz in verses 5 to 9 we need to know a little history about what's happening in verses 5 and 6 we've already seen something of this coalition between Israel the Northern Kingdom and Syria this was called the Cyro Ephraim might Alliance or the Cyro Ephraim might coalition Ephraim might means Israel sometimes the Northern Kingdom is called 'iframe based on the tribe of the son of Joseph and so this sciro Ephraim might coalition or alliance these two nations got together the Northern Kingdom and Syria and their purpose was to withstand Assyria Assyria is a growing power it's going to become a world empire and it is gobbling up country or gobbling up people groups nations provinces and territories so the Syrians and the Israel and Israel make this alliance to try and withstand the Assyrians you see it back in chapter 15 notice in verse 29 in the days of peacock king of Israel tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and two guys on abel beth maachah genoa k - hey sore Gilead and galilee all the land of Naphtali and he carried them captive to assyria and then notice under the reign of Jotham the king of the south verse 37 in chapter 15 in those days the Lord began to send retsyn king of Syria and pika the son of Rama liya against Judah so you see you have these this alliance of these kings and then we see this again in verse 5 in chapter 16 then retsyn king of syria and pika the son of ram Alaia king of israel came up to jerusalem to make war and they besieged a house but could not overcome him another place that deals with this is the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 7 Isaiah ministered at this particular time in fact Isaiah told a house not to worry about it that Israel and Syria would not be successful in capturing rusev that's even here notice in verse 5 they besieged a.s but could not overcome him now the parallel in second chronicles 28 tells us that are invading Judah that Philistines are invading Judah and that Israel and Syria are invading Judah and nevertheless Jerusalem does not get captured God the Lord is protecting the city Isaiah told us that God the Lord would protect the city it's in that context that the sign of the Virgin is given its approved to a us that God will protect Jerusalem from invading a Syria or from Israel and Syria so that's what the historic background is now in Isaiah 7 and I think at least by implication here it fills in for us what's going on here Israel and Syria this Alliance wanted a has to join with that we're stronger together the king of Judah steps in with the king of Israel and the king Syria then we have even more strength to withstand a Syria but a has didn't want to he rejected that so they then attempt to seize control of Jerusalem and they want to install a new king in Jerusalem yeah this is Isaiah seven six we were reading Isaiah seven you're wondering what's happening it's the cyril a ephraim i alliance that has come against Jerusalem very specifically and a has to try to get him to join along now the Alliance was thwarted but they did inflict heavy casualties on the southern kingdom second chronicles 28 records that for us and then notice in verse six in chapter sixteen at that time retsyn king of syria captured a laugh for syria and drove the men of judah from a laugh then the went to a lath and dwell there to this day they had just recovered a laugh it was a very significant place in terms of trade and in terms of strategy in position it was a big thing to lose in this particular instance but nevertheless jerusalem is protected God the Lord does make good on his promises so at this time not only you have this sorrow ephraim i alliance that is plaguing Ahaz but he's got and he's got philistines and he's got a whole bunch of problems that's gonna set the stage for what follows in this sakshat to whom does he turn when he has all these problems it's not to god it's to TIG laughs policer it's to the king of Assyria see this is what the writer wants you to appreciate when there is political turmoil when there is military threat when there is invading enemies the answer is not go to the pagan king the answer is trust in your way the living and true God house summarizes he says as has been mentioned a has inherits Gotham's problems with Israel and Syria during a time when tiglath-pileser the third poses the greatest external threat to the small nations in the region Syria has always fought a Syria and now pika changes Israel's policy from a pro Assyrian stance remember back well probably you don't but in in chapter 15 men are ham paid tribute to Assyria Menahem wanted assyrian protection well pika comes after men ham and says no more Assyria I'm going to support or we're going to support Syria he says pika changes Israel's policy from a pro Assyrian stance to one of hostility against the invaders Judah is left as the sole appeaser of Assyria and endures a siege instituted by pica and retsyn in 733 732 BC their purpose is to seize control of Judah and install a new ruler although Judah suffers heavy casualties their enemies overall purpose is thwarted retsyn does drive Judah out of aileth and captures the city Judah is in desperate straits straits to whom will a has turn so just that little bit there in verses five and six that historical sort of aside sets the stage to answer the question to whom will a as turn now some have suggested that the author in chapter v 16 doesn't really theologically comment on a has--is conduct he most certainly does through-and-through the author doesn't have to say and what he did here was a bad thing because Deuteronomy 20 says not to do that I mean he expects us to pick up certain clues he expects us to understand that any violation of God's law is obviously condemned by God but so that sets the stage now notice is submission to the king of Assyria in in doing this he rejects the prophet Isaiah know you've got to have some raw you gotta have rocks for brains to reject the Prophet you know rocks for brains to reject any jot until of the Word of God period but when Isaiah tells you everything's me okay God's gonna cover you God's going to protect Jerusalem then you really should listen but he didn't he didn't listen to that he submits to TIG laughs policer and he does so in a way that is just absolutely contrary to everything we've come to expect in Judean kings notice in verse seven so he has sent messengers to TIG laughs Belize or king of Assyria saying I am your servant in your son remember the debate at covenant in 2nd Samuel 7:14 what does God say about the Davidic King that sits upon his throne he will be my son and here a has calls himself the son of a pagan King he calls himself the son of TIG laughs policer the third he then goes on to cry out to TIG laughs policer to be his Savior notice as Davis says he wants him has his personal Savior come up and save me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel who rise up against me he then goes on to bribe the king notice in verse a a has took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord it's a general rule when once you sin all other sins become you know not that big of a deal if you reject the living and true God you reject the prophetic words spoken by Isaiah the prophet and you turn to dig let's pile easer and you submit to him as servant and son and you trust in him as your personal Savior it's not a stretch to think that you're going to just take things that don't belong to you like the silver and gold that belong in the temple the silver and gold that are in the palace based on taxpayers hard work and then you're going to send that as a present to the king of Assyria we ought not to misinterpret this is not a good translation he doesn't send it as a present it is a bribe ASA did as well in first Kings chapter 15 in second Kings chapter 15 we see that Menahem bribes or sends tribute to the king of Assyria as well and notice in verse 9 the king of Assyria heeded him for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it carried its people alive to cure and killed retsyn now just to sort of summarize this I think Davis nails it he says a house is in deep trouble and appeals for help to Assyria he acts not as a covenant believer but as a shrewd politician a has sells his birthright at the very first I am your servant and your son a has repudiates the Davidic covenant as he licks TIG laughs polices boots he wants to accept the Assyrians as his personal Savior and as usual in politics a handsome bribe by salvation it may have been blatant unbelief but it was successful policy he may repudiate the Davidic covenant but he saved his own skin shut to the bone the choice is between pragmatism or promise it's very important now it may take us a bit to sort of make the application to our own situation but hopefully it may not how often do we rely on the promise of God or the pragmatic approach to solving problems you know pragmatism is pragmatism is doing what works it's being practical it's it's figuring out the best course not always wrong to be pragmatic I mean if you're digging a ditch it's good to be pragmatic and use the proper tools you don't dig ditches with spoons you you get shovels or better yet you get tractors and and best yet you have somebody else do it I don't know your pragmatic pragmatism isn't necessarily bad in every contact but when it comes to a believers life before God are we living by pragmatism or by promise you see this is where the rubber meets the road for us we're often like a house when troubles come when distress hits when trials beset us instead of relying on the promise of God we run the other way and we seek help from tiglath-pileser we seek help from whatever it is that may offer that form of help to us and that is precisely what a has is doing here so we see as idolatry verses 1 to 4 we see the submission to TIG laughs bellezza verses 5 to 9 now notice his innovations with reference to worship in verses 10 to 20 notice in verse 10 by the way 16:9 Amos had prophesied that such would take place in Amos 1:5 you need to know that just because 2nd Kings is here and Amos is here it doesn't mean that this happened before Amos Amos was an earlier prophet than this particular instance and Amos 1:5 he tells specifically that this is going to take place again Isaiah chapter 7 this is the specific historical situation that Isaiah is dealing with with a house but notice with reference to verse 10 a house went to Damascus to meet two glass policer king of Assyria and saw an altar that was at Damascus he probably went there to congratulate him on his victory over Damascus he's there to you know make sure that everything's going well in terms of their agreement and their arrangement did you did you get the bribe that I sent are you are you happy with the gold are you happy with the silver I hope it's enhanced your your life and I'm looking forward to a great you know a great help from you in terms of resisting my particular enemies but while he's there in Damascus he sees an altar and King Ahaz verse 10 sent to Uriah the priest the design of the altar and it's pattern according to all its workmanship now there is a particular view of this passage that everything he does here he was forced to do in other words as a vassal now or as a subject to the king of Assyria he would have to toe the line in order to please the king of Assyria I don't think the tax reads that way I think that everything that a house is doing he is doing here voluntarily he's not forced into idolatry he is just acting consistently with his idolatry we already see his character in verses 1 to 4 when we get to this innovation and worship this is just the liturgical application of a heart that is far from God now Assyria did not make religious impositions on its semi-independent vassal states like Judah as they might have done on provinces that simply means that Assyria didn't force their religion up down the throats of every state that they had data gobbled up didn't mean that they necessarily approved or they would participate in it but they didn't stop you from worshiping Yahweh if you happen to be a Jew so that idea that he was forced into it and that this was an Assyrian altar is probably incorrect it was a Syrian altar it was at Damascus and King Ahaz liked it he sends to your age of the priests the design of the altar and it's pattern according to all its workmanship notice as well for a second chronicles chapter 28 tells us very specifically there of where his religious alliances were at this time second chronicles 28 specifically in verse 23 we'll notice chapter 28 a little bit later when we conclude our study tonight but notice in verse 23 for he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus so this was a Syrian altar this was a guy the gods of the the Syrians sort of a thing now you might say what's a big difference between us area and Syria in this way well if it was a Syria then the case might be made that he was forced by tiglath-pileser to do this but only that's it Syrian gods and he is a willing worshipper and idolaters of those gods it's not forced in it he's not you know toeing the line to please tig of assyria he is doing this most happily and most joyfully now know the religion of Damascus in verses 1118 it is brought to imported to Jerusalem note the complicity of Uriah verse 11 then you ride to the priests built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus so you ride to the priests made it before King Ahaz came back from Damascus should Uriah have done that we must obey God rather than men you talk about a proof text against state Church moonship or state churches you talk about attacks that ought to be studied by every student of church and state and you do incidentally should see throughout Old Covenant Israel a genuine separation of church and state it may not be as distinct as we would like it there's certainly interplay and there's overlap to some degree but there was a distinct stately office and a church Lee office and in this regard the the priest Uriah should never have taken his orders with reference to the worship of the Living God from a has the idolaters now this demonstrates for us that weakness and spinelessness can advance wickedness or evil just as much as blatant wickedness can a house is just a wicked idolaters so he's going to advance evil you're righteous a spineless wimp so he's going to advance evil he doesn't stand up to the king but rather he submits instead of a we must obey God rather than men he says I must obey this man rather than God he has his marching it's to the law and the prophets he must go but rather than that he fears man he demonstrates that he's a jellyfish and he complies and even has the altar constructed before the king came back from Damascus now know when the King arrives in Jerusalem in verses 12 and 13 he offers sacrifice now the way that he's described here is very similar to the way that Jeroboam the son of Nebat is described in first kings and it's probably the case that the author is saying that what Jeroboam the son of Nebat was to the north this is what a has is to the south and what is the results of Jeroboam the son of me bats religion well chapter 17 is going to tell us it's ordered destruction with reference to the northern kingdom and so what our author is doing is foreshadowing for us that what's going to happen to Israel in chapter 17 isn't going to take long to happen in Judah because a has is functioning as a Jeroboam the son of Nebat he's making or he's preparing the offerings he's preparing the sacrifices he's going to the altar and he is offering these things up to the Syrian gods the king then notice in verses 14 and 15 for a time you've got two altars you've got the new great altar and you have the altar of the Lord but slowly but surely what happens to the altar of the Lord it gets displaced it gets further removed matthew henry says his super statius invention at first this is his altar is Syrian alter his superstitious invention at first jostled with God's sacred institution but at length jostled it out you see this is always the calamity involved well we're gonna do this to enhance the worship of God we're gonna do this to help us worship God before long you got up you know a Metallica stage up there and the pulpit is nowhere to be found well we're gonna get these guitar with these drums or any of these things and they're going to assist us in our worship to the Living God and then instead of you know faithful proclamation of the Word of God taking the bulk of the service you've got you know faithful riffing by some you know guitarists that shredding this is not good brethren it jostles with and then ultimately jostles it out and then matthew henry makes this application note those will soon come to make nothing of God that will not be content to make him there all you see puts this altar up moves God's back and eventually God says you know off in the corner somewhere and what has center stage this great altar that he has innovatively put in its place the priest again verse 16 Oh basil and then notice in verses 16 I'm sorry verses 17 and 18 some of this is a bit difficult but he removes the labors and the Bulls and this was most likely preferential he didn't need money some again say he did this because he had to pay TIG laughs policer he had to pay him off this stuff was bronze he already paid off TIG laughs by laser with gold and silver he's not going to come up now with with bronze to pay his debt he does this out of preference he is remodeling the temple he doesn't like what God instituted he doesn't like what Solomon built he doesn't want things the way that they are he wants to move these things out now in verse 18 it says that he does this on account of the king of Assyria and again some interpret this and say well he only did all this in order to appease to glass bellezza not on think so I think probin is right on province says it has been sometimes suggested that it was a matter of financial necessity this verse 17 18 that's cutting off the panels of the cart the removing of the laborers from them the taking down the see from the bronze oxen that were under it put in a pavement of stones he some say this was for financial it's necessity roben says no there's certainly no evidence for this in the tax the gift described and verses 7 and 8 includes no bronze and it's giving obviously proceeds in narrative time the actions of verse 17 he says it is simply that travel has broadened a has his mind a house had become a man of the world now he had gone to the Mascis he had seen the way that they worshiped and he met in Jerusalem now I don't think the text is forbidding us trips to Mexico it is forbidding us however co-opting the religion of pagans and bringing it into the house of God it's not wrong to go to Damascus necessarily but it is wrong to bring their altar back and put it in the temple of Yahweh it is wrong to go to Damascus and then come back and say you know I don't like what God instituted here I don't like how God designed this I don't like the way Solomon constructed this let's do some rearranging ours is not to rearrange the house of God ours is simply to obey God a has is in very dangerous waters at this point he says this is proven again he has gained some new ideas right the the pastor the worship leader goes to this conference he comes back and he says you know brethren we've been doing this all wrong we should move the pulpit to the side or you know better yeah just get rid of it put an easy-chair up lot our pastors sit there with his hands in his pocket and speak to us for 10 minutes and tell us nice stories and we'll fill the rest of the time with with worship music and bands and singing and and and praise I mean on the one hand there's nothing wrong with pray is obviously we should praise it don't it never ceases to amaze me that we can't praise God during preaching I like to think that when people hear a good word they're praising God their hearts are beating saying thank you God for the fact that Jesus died for my sins how is it that we can only praise with a tambourine in our hand can't we praise when it comes into the air duct and goes into the heart and we silently say thank you God for saving a miserable sinner like me why isn't that praise why doesn't that qualify I have to lose my mind and bounce up and down for it to be legitimate for jiae's he goes on to say only in the K only in the case of the last two innovations is it said that the motive was deference to our fear of the king of Assyria again there is no hint here of Requirement he doesn't do it because tiglath-pileser forced him only of a desire to remove a possible source of offense a has is presented as a king who is open to foreign influence in his religious policy he is not presented as one who is under foreign control so do not read this chapter and say well because of this sort of relationship he enters into with two gospel isa the third of assyria well he had to do these sorts of things no what does Hezekiah do he resists Assyria he says no to Assyria he just said no in verse 7 of chapter 18 I mean the high point of this chapter is that he has dies that's the beauty of this chapters praise God Almighty the guy dies and that from his loins a decent human being is born Hezekiah wasn't perfect Hezekiah wasn't Jesus but Hezekiah instituted reform and Hezekiah resisted Assyria so it's not the case that a has here is forced he's a man who's traveled he's a man who's been enamored with the religion of Syria he has co-opted that he's brought that back to Jerusalem and he has innovated with reference to the worship of the living and true God well in conclusion I think we learned a couple of lessons and then we'll close the first is the apostasy of Ahaz and there are several things that we ought to review and a few we ought to consider from chapter 28 in second chronicles first the idolatry of verses 1 to 4 demonstrates a heart that is far from God so by the time we get to his innovations with reference to worship in Jerusalem we don't have to think that the king of Assyria forced him into this here's a man who caused his children to pass through the fire to Molech in terms of child sacrifice I mean it's chump change for a guy like that to bring an altar from Syria and put it in the temple of the Lord his idolatry in verses 1 to 4 demonstrates already a heart that is far from God secondly his submission to take life policer shows a heart that does not believe God God promised to the kings of Judah his protection God promised specifically through Isaiah the prophet his protection and this man rejects that which demonstrates that he does not believe God he's got a fundamental problem with unbelief when you look at the sin of apostasy these sorts of things are present a heart far from God and a heart that does not believe God thirdly the innovation and worship indicates a heart that knows better than God you see this is where we need to tread very carefully when it comes to worship this is why the Reformed churches subscribe to what is called the regulative principle of worship we do what God commands we don't add to it and we certainly don't take away from it we don't get creative we don't get innovative we don't get stylistic or stylish but rather we hopefully become obedient this is what God's looking for in worship he's not looking for the best flags and you know in that an interpretive dance he's not looking for the best drum solo on a Sunday morning he's not looking for the guy that that can shred on his Gibson he is looking for obedient people that worship Him in spirit and what truth it's the truth that dictates mandates demands and commands how we are to approach our God and so all of the innovations that we want to introduce into worship are things that God has not commanded now fourthly the conduct of a has encouraged moral decline in Judah second chronicles 28:19 tells us that the Lord brought Judah Loew because of a has king of Israel for he had encouraged moral decline in Judah and had been continually unfaithful to the Lord you see what happens when a man rules a nation and he's a godless man he's an idolatrous man he's a wretched man it causes this climate of moral decline in the entirety of the nation no doubt the people follow his example no doubt the people that open themselves up to the very judgment and wrath and fury of God now notice fifthly the presence of distress trial difficulty furthered his unfaithfulness notice in second chronicles 28 22 now in the time of his distress King Ahaz became increasingly unfaithful to the Lord this is that King Ahaz now this I think underscores a particular principle that we ought to pay attention to what do trials and sorrows and difficulties and hardships in the Christian life do for us they're supposed to further conform that's under the Lord Jesus Christ they're not supposed to drive us further from the Lord Jesus Christ you see our approach to trials our approach to afflictions our approach to distress says will be either we draw nigh unto God or we depart from God we complain about him we get angry at him we say why in the world would you do such a thing in the time of his distress King Ahaz became increasingly unfaithful to the Lord now you read or you compare that you can trust that will say 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 when the Apostle Paul went through a whole host of de-stresses a whole host of trials a whole host of Sorrows what did it do for him it didn't cause increasing on faith full Nats but rather increasing faithfulness on the on the part of the Apostle our response to trials will they will either be a vehicle to draw us closer to God or to send us further from God and then notice paradoxically the paradoxically the statement the paradoxically the verse my statement is this the practice of idolatry brings ruin not restoration notice verse 23 for he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him saying because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them I will sacrifice to them that they may help me but they were the ruin of him and of all Israel so the practice of idolatry brings ruin not restoration that that should be self-evident you know psalm 115 says those who make idols become like them this is why Israel is upbraided because they have ears that can't hear and eyes that can't see well they even by the very characteristics of their idols the adult had the idols according to psalm 115 they have Isaac can see they have ears but they can't hear all those who make them or all those who worship them will become like them but notice intriguingly he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him saying because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them go back to 28 5 this is the paradox the paradoxical thing that I mentioned therefore the Lord has God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria in that interesting he thought the gods of the Syrians defeated him it was Yahweh who had defeated him by means of judgment and here he is describing this defeat that he suffers to the prowess of the gods of Syria so he offers up sacrifices to them the under verse 23 says but they were the ruin of him and of all Israel so the apostasy of a as I think has a lot of similarities to the sorts of things that you and I might encounter in our daily lives and then secondly we ought to at least appreciate not like in a good way but consider the weakness of yoga the weakness of Araya the church doesn't need spineless men the church needs men with backbone that are gonna stand up for what was right the priest was responsible to obey God not men and this conduct here demonstrates that evil is advanced by weakness as much as by wickedness that's what Davis says and I heartily agree now perhaps Uriah was the kind of guy that didn't want to make waves you know a house wants an altar a house gets an altar I don't want to I don't want to ruffle his feathers I don't wanna make him mad I mean he's had a rough time he's been in distress the Syrians the Israelites Phyllis I don't want to add to his burdens I I'll just do what he wants me to do and you know keep the peace Davis shares an interesting historical sort of story that story like it's false but historical illustration of Benjamin BB Warfield you've probably heard a BB Warfield he wrote many many good things and was a seminary professor well Davis relates the story he says benjamin warfield once happened to meet mrs. Stevenson wife of the President of Princeton seminary on a Princeton Street mrs. Stevenson was worried about the fireworks that might erupt at the upcoming Presbyterian General Assembly dr. Warfield she plaid I hear there is going to be trouble at the General Assembly do let us pray for peace - which Warfield replied I am praying that if they do not do what is right there may be a mighty battle and then Davis says that must be our attitude not because we crave conflict but because we fear spinelessness that shares in other men's sins Uriah is a wonderful example of the kind of whimper II and and and spinelessness that goes on all over the place today well well the state said we have to marry these sodomites the governments as they'll take away our our tax-exempt status and we can you know infringe on on the the rights of others if it is in a viola if it's a violation of the word of God we need to stand firm we don't need your ideas we need Benjamin Warfield's we need men that say I am praying that if they do not do what is right there may be a mighty battle praise God Almighty for war fields and men like him and then finally I think as we leave this chapter we ought to see something that I'm not sure is always so apparent to us there is something appealing about idolatry I mean why do people engage in idolatry because it feels good why do people engage in sin because they want to and because they get something from it idolatry is a real temptation because it typically offers something that we want right a has once relief from his present distress so what does he do he runs to his idols what does he do he submits himself to a pagan king he thinks now it's satanic rationale I mean idols aren't real to begin with and the thought that they can bless us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places is an absolute lie but because man is what man is we have a tendency or a propensity or a desire to follow that which does at least promise good things to us in this instance why wait for Yahweh when take life policer when offered silver and gold will deliver the goods right away we need to remember that this is in fact a reality this is why John tells us at the end of his epistle it's first epistle my little children keep yourselves from idols why do you think there's so many prohibitions against idolatry in the Bible because there's something in us that wants the idol there's something in us that would much rather walk by sight and not by faith it's difficult to live based on the promises of an unseen God it takes faith faithlessness craves immediate gratification faithlessness craves the comfort that is promised to them short-term faithlessness craves the the easiest way possible the faithful however rest upon their God the faithful rest upon the living and true God and they realize that he is for them that he is working all things for their good and they trust in him and they wait upon him we unfortunately I don't mean we you you guys are all just idolatries but there is that tendency in our arts to bend toward Bale to bend toward Moloch to bend it toward man men and we need to resist that and keep ourselves from idols well let us close in a word of prayer our Father we thank you for your word we thank you for these descriptions of these godless men in the Old Testament and we see them in the New Testament as well and forgive us if we miss the lessons if we miss the teachings of passages like these help us to take heed help us to guard our own hearts help us to walk faithfully before you trusting in your promises receiving and and embracing your word and not resisting and rejecting it we ask that you would go with us we pray that you bring us together on the Lord's Day we pray that you would help us as a church to be obedient to you and we pray through Christ Jesus our Lord amen