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our fights burned their children in fire to a dremmel AK and an M elect the gods of safar vain 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 serve their own gods according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away to this day they continued 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 so these nations feared the Lord yet serve 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 people's 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 concur 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 the Land of Israel that were that that had lived there before so I 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 manufacturer 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 this second section is that they made their own gods and coupled that with Yahweh and attempted to worship in that particular vain 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 Sumeria is given to us in verse 24 the various people's the various Evans's 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 works in 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 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 - the way that God dealt with Old Covenant Israel again it's not strict 100 percent 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 god or when the PERT the persons living in the land continued to sin and rebel against God the language and I'm sure you've seen it often times 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 violated 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 Gill 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 a number and your highway shall be desolate Leviticus 26 22 so we see their particular issue they've got Lions among them now I can understand a desire to rid oneself of lions I get that I think that's a normal natural expression of our humanity we like them you know 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 real 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 we look at God as a genie in a bottle we look at God as a as a holy horseshoe or 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 church's 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 you know a kickoff for a launch Sunday in September and you you have bouncy castles for kids and and you you you know give everybody hot it 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 to them to cater 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 gonna glorify us we're no longer gonna enjoy him we will be Fairweather fans I would imagine that people like the Canucks a 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 religions 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 damn 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 Hinn's and we can look at the you know the wacko charismatic sand 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 and 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 you don't eat you know a hunk of broccoli and then leap over tall buildings or resist bullets with your your bare chest it it takes a while for those nutrients to find their way into your body and 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 gonna 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 know what the King does the king in verse 27 says send there one of the priests whom you brought a block 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 Syria Syria is demonstrating you know in all of his king of Assyria nests a decency they got a problem with lions and that part of the you know Barnum I my Dominion and Empire I know let's send a priest from that particular part of the of the world and and he can teach them the rituals of the god of that part of the world but you know 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 who may had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt and Bethel again if you have been here since our study in first Kings you'll know that Bethel was one of the places that calf worship was preeminent those were it was one of the two places that 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 fact Provins says the kind of worship of the Lord that is taught by the Exile 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 priests 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 gonna 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 and your subjects that's probably not a good poster for you know come come to Assyria come holiday in the in the former Northern Kingdom of Israel that just 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 Institute's calf worship we get to Ahab and what is he institute he Institute's a bear worship so you've got bail plus Yahweh you've got a calf plus Yahweh this is syncretism again we've argued over the course of our study in first and second Kings it's probably not the case that the Israelites utterly repudiated Yahweh they probably didn't orderly abandon Yahweh and reject him and said although there's no such being as Yahweh no they looked around at the pagans around and said bail seems to work for them the calves seem to work for them we're gonna 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 Ben so that is their pragmatic need for religion now note the secret syncretic manufacturer of religion verses 29 to 31 show us what idolatry looks like they're making God's look at how many times the verb is used six times however every nation continue to make gods of its own they did it in the places which the Samaritans had made the men of Babylon made zhukov beneth the men of couthe made Nergal the men of a mask made Ashima and the a bites made kneepads and tar tag chu clawed 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 mocks the Babylonians because they have 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 or the Ark of the Covenant rather in the temple with Dagon and they go in and they see Dagon fallen 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 then 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 first Kings 1231 233 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 did where's 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 sacrifice 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 serve their own gods according to the rituals of the nations from among though from among whom they were carried away the wrong way to read this passage is to say oh yeah well you know they 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 and 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 and 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 best 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 DePriest according to verse 28 taught them how they should fear Yahweh verses 32 and 33 they feared your way 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 continued practicing the former Jools 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 fact I think probin explains it well we must reckon then with the presence of irony in 2nd 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 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 your you're not supposed to be idolaters you're not supposed to be syncretic you're not supposed to sort of marry Yahweh and Bale and Yahweh and Astra Yahweh in the you know the 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 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 of the fear described in these verses as true worship as verses 34 to 39 made clear so if you ever have read this section and said well 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 wet they were not fearing Yahweh the author is walking 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 to this day they continue practicing the former rituals they do not fear the Lord nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances probably his statutes or his ordinances so here's the deal they come into the land of Israel this priest tells them how they should fear the Lord he must have told them something concerning Yahweh but it says they do not fear the Lord nor do they follow his statutes or his ordinances 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 weren't 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 anyway 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 bowed 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 God's Lords this God has entered into 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 that Israelites themselves hadn't learned the lesson he then highlights the fact that he had redeemed 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 in 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 yet you have probably you always read it as an ironical or 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 but they timed they get two 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 manufactured 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 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 again I think Davis gets it when he speaks of the the exclusivity of covenant religion and covenant religion he means here the Old Testament Yahweh is up 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 allowed to not tolerate our Christians that's you know they're intolerable you just you know you can you can be bigoted against them you can be prejudicial against them Christians are public enemy number one but for everybody else we don't tolerate that we got to tolerate them no matter what they do we just have to tolerate well the religion of God is intolerant to the core there's not just its 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 me 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 you know 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 it's divine bowels in an uproar if one of its devotees worship or prayed or sacrificed to another god or goddess only biblical covenant religion carries this virulence 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 that there was no problem I mean you use whatever God would you know help you at that particular time it's intriguing when Paul's at the Areopagus what are the Athenians out 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 gonna have this altar there to try and appease and try and make sure that that we can avert their particular wrath you see the the Christians in the early church were the atheists did you know that Christians were being accused of being atheists because they worship 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 preached another king even Jesus you see this is Christianity's assault on the 1st century Roman Empire it was Caesar who was referred to his Lord and Savior why do you think so often 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 that the sitting Caesar at that particular time many respects that was most or 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 in tolerant when I say that I don't mean against blacks or against Asians or you know intolerant of any other approach to God except through Jesus Christ the Lord that is what we preach now notice he goes on 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 what 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 astra 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 Benny finalizes the chapter with reference to the pagans verse 41 now shifts to the bagans that those who had had resettled the Land of Israel so these nations feared the Lord again it's ironic cannot conclude after the 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 what what is the who is 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 heard the measure it basically you know Ping's answers the question for anybody sitting there and you know it's 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 the newly settled inhabitants in this land these foreigners parody Israel trying to fear the Lord in their synchronistic 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 well it's when you're in exile and you look at how people are conducting themselves in the land that's exactly how Israel function 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 eighth century BC Lords 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 lot watched last week as the northern kingdom crashed its car into a semi we're still on top of that building or watching the nation of Judah drive into that intersection as well and it's going to be destroyed that didn't learn their lessons they didn't learn the lessons that that the North dead 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 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 I'll just pray into God I mean come on that's just that that's as bad as what we see you know all these people bringing their gods to so cut to the altar of your way 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 J Gresham 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 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 is doing is his his work but I think you'd get what machen 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 sublime astride 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 and that just is beautiful and I think it connects us with this particular passage and and I'm sure you've heard that in your expect 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 gonna pray if if blessings pop out you're you're only gonna 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 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 matron needs to be heard and I think all of us need to examine ourselves I try I'd to pray but it didn't work well then I would be very curious what your prayer was all about is I don't read anything have you ever read in the Bible pray and it will work it's just it's just trying to put this this man centeredness upon a thing that God has ordained for his glory and ultimately for our good but not the way that we measure good you know God please alleviate me from this this suffering you know let me find a bag of money we don't find the bag of money and somehow well you know I tried to pray and God just doesn't work for me or God just doesn't bless me that 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 is we are to have no other gods before him and we are certainly not to co-op the worship that the world approves and baptize it and use it for Jesus no or to preach the word we're to pray the word we're to sing the word were to see the word in the sacraments and were 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 our perceived needs to the church I'm not suggesting the church doesn't meet the needs of the worshiper it certainly does I I think that you'll all agree that the Word of God they're singing of $5.99 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 and 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 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 worshipped 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 visa vie bail 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 - 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 your way 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 are as sinful to worship the true God in a false way you see if we bowed a bail yeah everybody's gonna call foul but if we bow to Yahweh as if he's bailed or we bow to your way while sacrificing our children into the flames that's bad - we're supposed to worship the true and living God in the true and correct manner that he is 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 this is Samaritans this is where they came from it's a mongrel sort of Heinz 57 she 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 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 that would just blown people away cuz Samaritans you know they were at the bottom of the food chain living in the first century context but 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 four when John or Jesus comes to that woman at the well she's a she's a Samaritan and she's an adulteress and Jesus has saving dealings with her in fact in John four 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 out door you have said you have all said I have no husband for you have had five husbands and the one you 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 perceived 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 she us completely I want to have a Bible study on worship Lord go go call your husband oh I'm not married you're right you've had five and the one you're now with is not your husband so I perceive you're a prophet let's talk about worship connect great damn 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 and 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 you oh you're sort of religious heritage to that time when your forefathers didn't like the Lions you you owe your religious origin to that time when that haribol priests from the north stumbled in and taught them that it was ok to fear Yahweh and and bring your idols to you you don't know are 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 worshipers 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 a.m. he it's an eggo and me he says I am 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 Saviour of the world praise God Almighty for the glorious gospel a 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 2nd Kings 17 help us not to engage in religion for pragmatic effect and help us not to be synchronist marrying the worship of the true Living God with with idolatry and false 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 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 to safety as we drive home we just pray that you would be glory fight in our church and we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord amen