WEBVTT 00:00:17.490 --> 00:00:20.449 It's always good to see people smiling and laughing 00:00:20.449 --> 00:00:22.530 and loving each other. For those watching online, 00:00:22.850 --> 00:00:24.510 if you wonder why I'm just standing here, I'm 00:00:24.510 --> 00:00:26.609 just watching people just smiling and loving 00:00:26.609 --> 00:00:28.690 and still visiting with each other this morning. 00:00:28.730 --> 00:00:31.390 It's good. Praise the Lord. That's a good thing. 00:00:31.690 --> 00:00:34.729 It's now time for Children's Church. If we have 00:00:34.729 --> 00:00:37.210 any children six and under that would like to 00:00:37.210 --> 00:00:40.210 go to Children's Church, we should have somebody. 00:00:40.329 --> 00:00:42.250 We've got a couple back there coming up front. 00:00:42.369 --> 00:00:45.710 Just hang tight. For the rest of us, we will 00:00:45.710 --> 00:00:52.280 be in second. 2 Chronicles 24. That's going to 00:00:52.280 --> 00:00:54.880 be in the Old Testament, not to be confused with 00:00:54.880 --> 00:01:00.460 2 Corinthians in the New Testament. 2 Chronicles 00:01:00.460 --> 00:01:05.640 chapter 24. We're going to start in verse 24. 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:20.540 2 Chronicles. Chapter 24, verse 24 and 25. These 00:01:20.540 --> 00:01:23.019 verses are not going to make a whole lot of sense 00:01:23.019 --> 00:01:26.200 without the whole context, but the whole context 00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:28.400 is a little too long to read through. I mean, 00:01:28.420 --> 00:01:30.980 I'd be glad to. I would be glad if we just set 00:01:30.980 --> 00:01:32.560 up camp and we could stay till three or four 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:36.019 today. But I'm guessing that most of the rest 00:01:36.019 --> 00:01:39.000 of you probably don't want to do that. So we'll 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:42.099 just look at kind of the end of the story, and 00:01:42.099 --> 00:01:44.159 then I'll tell you the rest of the story. And 00:01:44.159 --> 00:01:46.719 I encourage you to go back and read this story. 00:01:46.859 --> 00:01:51.159 Always, always go back and read God's Word. Don't 00:01:51.159 --> 00:01:53.799 take anybody's word for it, not mine or anybody 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:57.079 else's. You always go back and read the Scriptures 00:01:57.079 --> 00:02:00.799 and see what God's Word says for yourself. And 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:02.420 you pray about it and you read through it and 00:02:02.420 --> 00:02:05.120 you read these words and you see these stories. 00:02:05.219 --> 00:02:08.280 All of these stories, they have a point. Even 00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:11.120 these Old Testament stories, they point us to 00:02:11.120 --> 00:02:14.930 Jesus Christ. little nuggets of beauty in these 00:02:14.930 --> 00:02:19.189 passages. And we see this story in 2 Corinthians, 00:02:19.509 --> 00:02:23.650 or excuse me, 2 Chronicles 24. You also see the 00:02:23.650 --> 00:02:28.930 same story recounted in 2 Kings chapter 11. You 00:02:28.930 --> 00:02:31.969 see, it's a few different details, but Kings 00:02:31.969 --> 00:02:34.050 and Chronicles, they both kind of cover the same 00:02:34.050 --> 00:02:36.509 period in history. And so a lot of the things 00:02:36.509 --> 00:02:39.780 repeat as you read through those books. And this 00:02:39.780 --> 00:02:42.020 story is one of those. So we're going to read 00:02:42.020 --> 00:02:46.400 these couple of verses, 2 Chronicles 24, verses 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:50.580 24 and 25, and then we're going to pray and we'll 00:02:50.580 --> 00:02:59.300 get started. Although the Aramean army came with 00:02:59.300 --> 00:03:03.780 only a few men, the Lord handed over a vast army 00:03:03.780 --> 00:03:07.520 to them because the people of Judah had abandoned 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:12.300 Yahweh. the God of their ancestors. So they executed 00:03:12.300 --> 00:03:17.719 judgment on Joash. When the Arameans saw that 00:03:17.719 --> 00:03:22.219 Joash had many wounds, they left him. His servants 00:03:22.219 --> 00:03:25.400 conspired against him and killed him on his bed 00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:28.900 because he had shed the blood of the sons of 00:03:28.900 --> 00:03:33.620 Jehoiada, the priest. So he died, and they buried 00:03:33.620 --> 00:03:37.060 him in the city of David. But they did not bury 00:03:37.060 --> 00:03:42.539 him in the tombs of the kings. Let's pray. God, 00:03:42.599 --> 00:03:45.860 we come to you today. And I thank you that we 00:03:45.860 --> 00:03:47.699 can come into your house and that we can look 00:03:47.699 --> 00:03:50.500 at your word. And I pray that your Holy Spirit 00:03:50.500 --> 00:03:53.120 would be in this place, dear Lord. We want you 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:56.240 to speak to us through your word. And I pray 00:03:56.240 --> 00:03:58.919 that you free us of all the worries and the thoughts 00:03:58.919 --> 00:04:02.729 and the distractions that are in our mind. God, 00:04:02.789 --> 00:04:05.129 I pray that you take away any pride or any fear 00:04:05.129 --> 00:04:07.330 that's within me today, dear Lord, that the words 00:04:07.330 --> 00:04:10.090 I speak will be words that come from you, that 00:04:10.090 --> 00:04:12.509 God, when I open my mouth, that your Holy Spirit 00:04:12.509 --> 00:04:15.169 would speak through me and to me and to each 00:04:15.169 --> 00:04:17.490 one of us here, dear Lord. I pray that as we 00:04:17.490 --> 00:04:20.290 look at this scripture and think about this story, 00:04:20.370 --> 00:04:23.350 that you help us to see ways in which it applies 00:04:23.350 --> 00:04:26.050 to our life and how you make and speak to us 00:04:26.050 --> 00:04:28.889 today. God, we come and we want to hear from 00:04:28.889 --> 00:04:31.730 you, and I pray, God, that you would... Move 00:04:31.730 --> 00:04:35.250 in our lives today. In Jesus' name I pray it. 00:04:35.750 --> 00:04:40.110 Amen. Now here in these couple of verses that 00:04:40.110 --> 00:04:45.250 we looked at, we see the end of the life of King 00:04:45.250 --> 00:04:49.050 Joash. Now I'm sure that we're all familiar with 00:04:49.050 --> 00:04:51.329 all of the kings in Israel and Judah, and we 00:04:51.329 --> 00:04:54.410 know all about the stories. Well, probably not. 00:04:54.569 --> 00:04:57.220 Even if we've read through the stories. There's 00:04:57.220 --> 00:04:59.980 a lot of kings of Israel and a lot of kings of 00:04:59.980 --> 00:05:03.500 Judah. And it's hard for us to really kind of 00:05:03.500 --> 00:05:06.420 understand what's going on in this story. But 00:05:06.420 --> 00:05:09.660 I've always been fascinated with this story. 00:05:09.779 --> 00:05:12.980 I think it's a beautiful story that just speaks 00:05:12.980 --> 00:05:17.040 to the goodness of God in the big picture. And 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:21.980 here we see the death of Joash. But we need to 00:05:21.980 --> 00:05:25.329 go back in time a little bit. Now, when you begin 00:05:25.329 --> 00:05:28.649 to read in the chapters before this and 2 Kings 00:05:28.649 --> 00:05:33.449 and in Chronicles, we earlier on are introduced 00:05:33.449 --> 00:05:36.970 to a couple of pretty bad folks. One is a king 00:05:36.970 --> 00:05:40.310 of Israel, and his name is Ahab, and he has a 00:05:40.310 --> 00:05:42.949 wife by the name of Jezebel. You may have heard 00:05:42.949 --> 00:05:47.269 of Jezebel before. She was pretty evil. And ultimately, 00:05:47.610 --> 00:05:52.430 Jezebel was killed by Jehu. And God had pronounced 00:05:52.430 --> 00:05:55.610 judgment on the descendants of Ahab that Jehu 00:05:55.610 --> 00:05:57.810 was going to kill those descendants and that 00:05:57.810 --> 00:06:00.310 Jehu's family was going to sit on the throne 00:06:00.310 --> 00:06:04.170 in Israel. And Jehu was also going to kill Jezebel. 00:06:04.189 --> 00:06:07.110 And it was a pretty gruesome thing. She was evil 00:06:07.110 --> 00:06:09.670 and God brought judgment on her. And when Jehu 00:06:09.670 --> 00:06:11.430 approached her, it says she was sitting up in 00:06:11.430 --> 00:06:13.310 the window and some of her servants was there. 00:06:13.410 --> 00:06:15.629 And he said, chunk her down, boys. And they did. 00:06:15.810 --> 00:06:18.689 They threw her down onto the ground and she was 00:06:18.689 --> 00:06:20.910 splattered on the ground and said the dogs came 00:06:20.910 --> 00:06:23.649 and ate her. And it was pretty gruesome. She 00:06:23.649 --> 00:06:26.949 didn't even have a proper burial. And that's 00:06:26.949 --> 00:06:29.310 an important theme for us to look at as we look 00:06:29.310 --> 00:06:32.569 at. This story and the story of the kings before 00:06:32.569 --> 00:06:35.629 this. Now, you may have noticed at the end of 00:06:35.629 --> 00:06:39.009 the verse we read that it says that when Joash 00:06:39.009 --> 00:06:42.569 died in verse 25, they buried him in the city 00:06:42.569 --> 00:06:46.970 of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs 00:06:46.970 --> 00:06:51.170 of the kings. Now, this is important because 00:06:51.170 --> 00:06:54.329 how you were buried or where you were buried 00:06:54.329 --> 00:06:59.089 was significant because it implied... what kind 00:06:59.089 --> 00:07:01.970 of life you lived, whether you lived a life that 00:07:01.970 --> 00:07:05.930 was worthy of an honorable burial or not. And 00:07:05.930 --> 00:07:09.110 so we see in the story of Jezebel that she didn't 00:07:09.110 --> 00:07:12.189 even get a burial. The dogs ate her. And here 00:07:12.189 --> 00:07:16.230 we see in this story that Joash was buried in 00:07:16.230 --> 00:07:19.610 the city of David, but not in the tomb of the 00:07:19.610 --> 00:07:23.170 kings. Now, the good kings were buried in the 00:07:23.170 --> 00:07:26.230 tomb of the kings, but there were some bad kings 00:07:26.230 --> 00:07:28.889 that were wicked. And it specifically points 00:07:28.889 --> 00:07:32.689 out that they were not buried in the tomb of 00:07:32.689 --> 00:07:35.389 the kings. And we'll talk about why that is here 00:07:35.389 --> 00:07:38.290 in a moment. And you say, why are we talking 00:07:38.290 --> 00:07:40.850 about Jezebel? Well, we have to kind of start. 00:07:40.910 --> 00:07:43.350 This whole story to me is kind of like a soap 00:07:43.350 --> 00:07:45.970 opera. It is a lot of families interconnected 00:07:45.970 --> 00:07:49.069 with each other. And it's a lot that goes on. 00:07:49.149 --> 00:07:51.089 And it's hard to keep track of all the names. 00:07:51.189 --> 00:07:53.750 And I'll try to keep it as simple as I can and 00:07:53.750 --> 00:07:56.430 try to not mess up with who's related to who. 00:07:57.279 --> 00:07:59.800 But Ahab, the scripture says, had a daughter 00:07:59.800 --> 00:08:03.079 named Athaliah. Now, it doesn't specifically 00:08:03.079 --> 00:08:05.399 say in the scripture that Jezebel was her mother, 00:08:05.480 --> 00:08:08.439 but I believe the only wife we ever see of Ahab 00:08:08.439 --> 00:08:10.779 in the scripture is Jezebel. And I think it's 00:08:10.779 --> 00:08:13.839 fair to assume that Jezebel was, in fact, the 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:17.660 mother of Athaliah. Now, Ahab was the king of 00:08:17.660 --> 00:08:22.779 Israel, but Athaliah ended up marrying the king 00:08:22.779 --> 00:08:27.680 of Judah. God had already split the two kingdoms 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:31.759 apart. There was a whole story behind that. But 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:33.940 God had split the two kingdoms, and eventually 00:08:33.940 --> 00:08:37.740 Israel was going to fall, and it happened not 00:08:37.740 --> 00:08:40.620 long after all of these things with Ahab and 00:08:40.620 --> 00:08:44.139 Jehu, the one who God used to bring the judgment 00:08:44.139 --> 00:08:47.100 on Ahab and his family. His family became kings 00:08:47.100 --> 00:08:50.720 and didn't last for long until eventually the 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:55.490 people of Israel were overtaken. the people of 00:08:55.490 --> 00:08:58.610 Judah, God spared them because they did have 00:08:58.610 --> 00:09:01.330 some good kings. Now, Israel never had a good 00:09:01.330 --> 00:09:03.649 king. All of their kings were bad, every single 00:09:03.649 --> 00:09:07.129 one of them. Judah had a few good kings, and 00:09:07.129 --> 00:09:10.070 Judah was important because it was going to be 00:09:10.070 --> 00:09:14.830 through Judah that the Messiah was going to come, 00:09:14.970 --> 00:09:17.429 through the family line of David. Now, David 00:09:17.429 --> 00:09:19.690 was a king, and his ancestors were going to follow 00:09:19.690 --> 00:09:22.610 after him, and at some point, the scripture tells 00:09:22.610 --> 00:09:25.919 us that that this son of David, this descendant 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:29.960 of David, was going to be the Messiah. And he 00:09:29.960 --> 00:09:34.259 was going to come from Judah. And this story 00:09:34.259 --> 00:09:39.679 shows us that that almost didn't happen. Almost. 00:09:40.620 --> 00:09:44.019 Now, Athaliah married one of the kings of Judah 00:09:44.019 --> 00:09:49.220 and had a son named Ahaziah. And he was an evil 00:09:49.220 --> 00:09:52.269 son, just like... The rest of his family that 00:09:52.269 --> 00:09:55.970 he'd come from was evil. And he also was killed. 00:09:56.649 --> 00:10:01.409 And when Ahaziah was killed, his mother, Athaliah, 00:10:01.429 --> 00:10:05.009 daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, did something that 00:10:05.009 --> 00:10:08.370 was pretty horrible. She wanted to be the queen. 00:10:09.070 --> 00:10:12.509 And so what she did was she had all of the sons 00:10:12.509 --> 00:10:16.870 of Ahaziah killed. Their own grandmother sentenced 00:10:16.870 --> 00:10:19.659 them to death. Now, she was the only queen that 00:10:19.659 --> 00:10:22.820 Israel ever had, and she was not a good lady. 00:10:23.240 --> 00:10:26.580 And she had all of her grandsons killed and put 00:10:26.580 --> 00:10:31.820 to death so that she could become queen, except 00:10:31.820 --> 00:10:39.419 for one. And Joash was spared by his aunt. His 00:10:39.419 --> 00:10:42.179 aunt saw what was going on, and she took Joash, 00:10:42.279 --> 00:10:46.610 and she hid him away, and she spared him. Isn't 00:10:46.610 --> 00:10:50.350 that beautiful how God works? That Joash is that 00:10:50.350 --> 00:10:53.750 link, that if Joash would have been killed, that 00:10:53.750 --> 00:10:55.970 family line would have been killed off, but God 00:10:55.970 --> 00:11:00.509 is so good and he kept that line of David. He 00:11:00.509 --> 00:11:02.830 kept it alive, even through all the evil kings 00:11:02.830 --> 00:11:06.669 that were around at the time. God was so faithful 00:11:06.669 --> 00:11:11.509 that he spared Joash until Joash became a little 00:11:11.509 --> 00:11:14.500 older. He was still a child. I believe he was 00:11:14.500 --> 00:11:17.080 seven years old, the text says, when he becomes 00:11:17.080 --> 00:11:22.179 king. Well, Athaliah is irate about this, that 00:11:22.179 --> 00:11:26.700 Joash has somehow been spared. And Joash does 00:11:26.700 --> 00:11:31.059 become king, and Athaliah dies, and her portion 00:11:31.059 --> 00:11:34.080 of the story is done. And Joash's portion of 00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:40.080 the story begins. And his story begins well. 00:11:40.919 --> 00:11:44.629 He starts from a young age. And the husband of 00:11:44.629 --> 00:11:47.909 the very aunt that had saved his life, Joiada, 00:11:48.029 --> 00:11:53.090 he is a priest. And he begins to kind of pour 00:11:53.090 --> 00:11:55.929 into Joash and begin to teach him the ways of 00:11:55.929 --> 00:12:00.029 God. And Joiada is a good man. He is a righteous 00:12:00.029 --> 00:12:04.190 man. He is a godly man. And he teaches Joash 00:12:04.190 --> 00:12:08.929 good and right things that are of the Lord. And 00:12:08.929 --> 00:12:13.529 Joash starts off very well. He starts off very 00:12:13.529 --> 00:12:16.809 well, and he begins to see to it that the temple 00:12:16.809 --> 00:12:18.830 is going to be rebuilt. And there are some people 00:12:18.830 --> 00:12:21.090 that are supposed to be in charge of the work, 00:12:21.110 --> 00:12:24.049 and they're not doing a good job. But Joash wants 00:12:24.049 --> 00:12:27.250 to see to it that God's temple is rebuilt, that 00:12:27.250 --> 00:12:30.409 God's people begin to get back to focusing on 00:12:30.409 --> 00:12:33.289 God. This is a big problem we see throughout 00:12:33.289 --> 00:12:35.490 the Old Testament with Israel and Judah is they 00:12:35.490 --> 00:12:38.190 kind of ebb and flow, and they're close to God 00:12:38.190 --> 00:12:40.470 for a while, and they're disobedient for a while. 00:12:40.669 --> 00:12:43.220 And we can relate to that. Because we do the 00:12:43.220 --> 00:12:45.159 same thing. Like there are seasons where we really 00:12:45.159 --> 00:12:47.340 do good and there are seasons where we're disobedient. 00:12:47.539 --> 00:12:50.080 And sometimes God got their attention and sometimes 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:54.259 God has to get our attention. But Joash was doing 00:12:54.259 --> 00:12:57.419 good. He was excited about the Lord. He had been 00:12:57.419 --> 00:12:59.940 taught right about the Lord. He was living for 00:12:59.940 --> 00:13:03.320 the Lord. He started out as a good king for the 00:13:03.320 --> 00:13:07.899 people of Judah. But then something happened 00:13:07.899 --> 00:13:13.340 in his life. the one who had been taking care 00:13:13.340 --> 00:13:16.960 of him and leading him in the right way, he died. 00:13:17.559 --> 00:13:20.679 Now listen to what the scripture says about his 00:13:20.679 --> 00:13:26.480 death. In 2 Chronicles 24, verse 16, it says, 00:13:26.620 --> 00:13:30.279 Jehoiada died when he was old and full of days. 00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:36.179 He was 130 years old at his death. He was buried 00:13:36.179 --> 00:13:40.129 in the city of David. With the kings. Because 00:13:40.129 --> 00:13:43.870 he had done what was good in Israel with respect 00:13:43.870 --> 00:13:48.409 to God and his temple. Anybody catch where he 00:13:48.409 --> 00:13:52.269 was buried? He was buried in the city of David 00:13:52.269 --> 00:13:57.870 with the kings. Now this is an honorable burial. 00:13:58.129 --> 00:14:00.529 I mean, to be buried with, he was not a king. 00:14:00.649 --> 00:14:03.940 And so far as I know. I don't know that there 00:14:03.940 --> 00:14:05.740 was anybody else who was buried with the king. 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:07.419 So maybe you can find somebody. I'm not saying 00:14:07.419 --> 00:14:09.580 there isn't, but I'm not aware of anybody else. 00:14:09.659 --> 00:14:11.559 And if you find somebody else, please tell me. 00:14:11.779 --> 00:14:15.259 There possibly could be others. But whether he 00:14:15.259 --> 00:14:17.000 was the only one or whether there were others, 00:14:17.039 --> 00:14:21.539 we see here with this man of God that he was 00:14:21.539 --> 00:14:24.000 honored in the way that he was buried because 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:27.679 he honored God throughout his life. And Joash 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:30.840 had done well as long as he was... mentoring 00:14:30.840 --> 00:14:34.159 him and alongside of him. But when Jehoiada died, 00:14:34.740 --> 00:14:40.799 the scripture tells us that Joash began to take 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:44.860 advice from others, and they didn't advise him 00:14:44.860 --> 00:14:49.419 well. And pretty soon, Joash did not follow the 00:14:49.419 --> 00:14:54.440 ways of God. And then we get to the end of Joash's 00:14:54.440 --> 00:14:59.539 life, where he had totally gone... The wrong 00:14:59.539 --> 00:15:03.279 way. And he's handed over to his enemies and 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:08.000 he doesn't even have an honorable burial. The 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:10.019 man who had mentored him and took care of him, 00:15:10.419 --> 00:15:15.259 Jehoiada, he was buried with the kings. But Joash's 00:15:15.259 --> 00:15:17.799 life, it's reflected to us that it took a turn 00:15:17.799 --> 00:15:21.860 for the worst because of where he was buried. 00:15:22.759 --> 00:15:25.139 At the end of his life, where did he end up? 00:15:25.159 --> 00:15:28.980 Did he end up in a place of honor? Or did he 00:15:28.980 --> 00:15:31.980 end up in a place of dishonor? And the scripture 00:15:31.980 --> 00:15:35.679 says that he ended up in a place of dishonor. 00:15:36.740 --> 00:15:39.879 Now, Joash's story, I believe, is a good warning 00:15:39.879 --> 00:15:46.860 for us. Joash started well, but he did not finish 00:15:46.860 --> 00:15:52.740 well. And because he didn't finish well, where 00:15:52.740 --> 00:15:57.649 he went at his death was... Not a good place. 00:15:59.730 --> 00:16:05.210 And so it is for us. How have we started? How 00:16:05.210 --> 00:16:10.850 are we doing? How will we finish? It's a lot 00:16:10.850 --> 00:16:14.750 of people in the world that start good, that 00:16:14.750 --> 00:16:17.250 hear the word of God and know the word of God. 00:16:18.549 --> 00:16:20.549 And maybe they have people in their life that 00:16:20.549 --> 00:16:23.220 pour into them. And teach them in the ways of 00:16:23.220 --> 00:16:25.659 God and in the word of God. And they do well. 00:16:25.820 --> 00:16:30.080 And sometimes we end up getting off track. And 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:32.299 we end up taking advice and following people 00:16:32.299 --> 00:16:37.120 that don't have God's interest in mind. And we 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:42.379 start making some bad decisions. And we find 00:16:42.379 --> 00:16:47.200 ourselves in a bad spot. It's a miracle that 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:51.389 Joash survived. Of all the things that came before 00:16:51.389 --> 00:16:54.470 Joash, of all the events that occurred when he 00:16:54.470 --> 00:16:57.210 was a small child, just the fact that God had 00:16:57.210 --> 00:17:00.029 took care of him and got him to this place was 00:17:00.029 --> 00:17:04.049 a miracle. And maybe that's true for you and 00:17:04.049 --> 00:17:08.910 I. That our lives are full of all kinds of details. 00:17:09.670 --> 00:17:12.289 Some are good, some are bad, some are really 00:17:12.289 --> 00:17:16.170 difficult. And yet here we are. Somehow today 00:17:16.170 --> 00:17:18.559 we've... We're here and we're looking at the 00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:22.880 Word of God. And I don't believe there's a coincidence 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:25.299 in that. I believe God works in every aspect 00:17:25.299 --> 00:17:28.039 of our life. God knows everything that's going 00:17:28.039 --> 00:17:30.339 to happen to us. God allows things to happen 00:17:30.339 --> 00:17:34.940 to us. Now, we make decisions. And God, being 00:17:34.940 --> 00:17:37.819 a gracious God, He doesn't force us to do what 00:17:37.819 --> 00:17:41.119 He says. He gives us the option. He gives us 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:44.240 the choice. But sometimes we make the wrong choice. 00:17:45.490 --> 00:17:48.829 Sometimes we choose poorly. Sometimes we choose 00:17:48.829 --> 00:17:54.470 sin. Sometimes we choose disobedience. And even 00:17:54.470 --> 00:17:58.130 though we may have started well, we may not be 00:17:58.130 --> 00:18:02.009 running well. Galatians chapter 5 verse 7 says, 00:18:02.089 --> 00:18:05.089 You were running well. Who prevented you from 00:18:05.089 --> 00:18:09.289 obeying the truth? Maybe we're not so unlike 00:18:09.289 --> 00:18:13.319 Joash. Maybe there's some people in our life 00:18:13.319 --> 00:18:16.420 that we begin to associate with and they don't 00:18:16.420 --> 00:18:18.279 care anything about the truth of God or about 00:18:18.279 --> 00:18:22.960 living in obedience to God's Word. It's a good 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:26.359 chance that whoever we associate with, we're 00:18:26.359 --> 00:18:28.079 going to be like them, for better or for worse. 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:31.759 If we associate with people who seek God and 00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:34.960 love God and want to follow His commands, then 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:36.700 that's going to impact our life in a positive 00:18:36.700 --> 00:18:40.109 way. If we seek people who are going to live 00:18:40.109 --> 00:18:43.170 for the world and live for themselves and don't 00:18:43.170 --> 00:18:44.829 care about right and wrong, then that's going 00:18:44.829 --> 00:18:49.089 to impact us too. Because we're going to begin 00:18:49.089 --> 00:18:53.609 to act like those that we associate with. If 00:18:53.609 --> 00:18:55.930 we read the words of God and we read the words 00:18:55.930 --> 00:18:59.390 of Jesus and we see the life of Jesus, then in 00:18:59.390 --> 00:19:02.029 some way we should begin to act a little bit 00:19:02.029 --> 00:19:05.230 like Jesus. There should be some love and compassion 00:19:05.230 --> 00:19:09.599 and grace and mercy in our life. If we don't 00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:13.259 read the words of God, then how can we live by 00:19:13.259 --> 00:19:16.599 them? If we're not reading the instructions of 00:19:16.599 --> 00:19:19.279 God, then whose instructions are we living by? 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:21.980 The instructions of the world? The instructions 00:19:21.980 --> 00:19:24.660 of the devil? The instructions of wickedness? 00:19:27.160 --> 00:19:30.319 And so Joash, he started well, but he did not 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:38.240 finish well. It's about how we finish. Some of 00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:41.759 you may have watched Super Bowl 51 back in 2017, 00:19:42.339 --> 00:19:46.019 I believe it was. Fantastic Super Bowl, if you 00:19:46.019 --> 00:19:49.940 were a Patriots fan. The Super Bowl started off 00:19:49.940 --> 00:19:52.000 for the Atlanta Falcons, who they were playing 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:54.779 against, started off as good as you could possibly 00:19:54.779 --> 00:19:59.039 hope. With three minutes left in the third quarter, 00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:05.119 the Atlanta Falcons were up 28 -3. All they had 00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:07.420 to do was let the clock run out and have the 00:20:07.420 --> 00:20:12.700 parade because they started so well. And in the 00:20:12.700 --> 00:20:16.380 last 15 minutes of that ball game, their lead 00:20:16.380 --> 00:20:22.339 went from 28 -3 to 28 -9 to 28 -12 to 28 -20 00:20:22.339 --> 00:20:30.039 to 28 -28 until eventually they lost 34 -28. 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:35.509 They started well. But they didn't finish well. 00:20:36.309 --> 00:20:39.890 They took their foot off the gas. They began 00:20:39.890 --> 00:20:47.650 to get a little lax. What about you and I? Have 00:20:47.650 --> 00:20:51.289 you started well? Sometimes we get a little lazy. 00:20:52.430 --> 00:20:54.950 Sometimes we kind of know God's Word, but we 00:20:54.950 --> 00:20:57.289 just become lazy in carrying God's Word out. 00:20:57.970 --> 00:21:01.509 Maybe we become lazy in reading God's Word or 00:21:01.509 --> 00:21:05.630 pay attention to God's Word. Well, for those 00:21:05.630 --> 00:21:09.930 of us who have started running the race, then 00:21:09.930 --> 00:21:12.329 let us be those today who shift our focus and 00:21:12.329 --> 00:21:15.210 get in gear and point ourselves in the right 00:21:15.210 --> 00:21:18.289 direction that we would finish well, that we 00:21:18.289 --> 00:21:21.569 would not run the race in vain, but that we would 00:21:21.569 --> 00:21:23.970 start following God and that we would finish 00:21:23.970 --> 00:21:28.309 our life following God. So that when all is said 00:21:28.309 --> 00:21:32.250 and done and the end of our life comes, that 00:21:32.250 --> 00:21:35.220 we will be those who have an honorable death 00:21:35.220 --> 00:21:41.180 in the presence of God, in the presence of Jesus 00:21:41.180 --> 00:21:46.460 Christ. Maybe some of you today haven't started 00:21:46.460 --> 00:21:50.319 running the race. Maybe you've never walked in 00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:52.819 the way of God. Maybe you've been walking in 00:21:52.819 --> 00:21:56.279 your own way. And maybe you know today that that 00:21:56.279 --> 00:21:59.079 ain't worked out too good. We're pretty hard 00:21:59.079 --> 00:22:01.789 -headed as humans. We like to do the same thing 00:22:01.789 --> 00:22:04.369 over and over. And man, our lives can be falling 00:22:04.369 --> 00:22:06.150 apart. And we say, I just don't know what's wrong. 00:22:06.289 --> 00:22:08.430 And we just keep doing the same things over and 00:22:08.430 --> 00:22:12.190 over. And we keep getting the same results. And 00:22:12.190 --> 00:22:14.210 maybe in your life today, maybe you've never 00:22:14.210 --> 00:22:19.390 followed the words of God. Maybe you've never 00:22:19.390 --> 00:22:23.089 followed Jesus Christ. Because the very one that 00:22:23.089 --> 00:22:26.279 God said was going to come. was his son, Jesus 00:22:26.279 --> 00:22:28.799 Christ. He was going to be the Messiah that was 00:22:28.799 --> 00:22:31.640 going to forgive our sins and save our souls. 00:22:32.539 --> 00:22:35.240 And that was all part of God's plan. And man, 00:22:35.319 --> 00:22:38.440 it was on the fringes of not being able to happen. 00:22:38.859 --> 00:22:43.440 If Joash would have only been killed. But Joash 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:48.339 wasn't killed. He was spared. Because God's plans 00:22:48.339 --> 00:22:51.759 were not going to be thwarted. And the Messiah 00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:55.559 did come. And it's through Jesus Christ today 00:22:55.559 --> 00:22:59.240 that he calls us to a better way, to a narrow 00:22:59.240 --> 00:23:02.640 path, a hard path to walk, but a path that's 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:05.799 full of joy. Because the burdens that we have 00:23:05.799 --> 00:23:08.720 lived under trying to do it our way, they are 00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:12.920 so heavy. Man, they are heavy. But Jesus said, 00:23:13.059 --> 00:23:15.359 if you're weary and burdened, you come to me 00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:18.980 and I will give you rest. What a beautiful... 00:23:19.509 --> 00:23:21.690 Beautiful scripture. I mean, that is one of my 00:23:21.690 --> 00:23:23.450 favorite scriptures, as you would know, because 00:23:23.450 --> 00:23:26.029 I say it all the time. But man, it is so good. 00:23:26.809 --> 00:23:30.130 And I need to hear a lot. Maybe you don't. But 00:23:30.130 --> 00:23:31.950 maybe you do, because maybe life is stressful 00:23:31.950 --> 00:23:34.930 for you. And maybe the burden of life is stressful. 00:23:35.289 --> 00:23:38.849 And things are just hard, and it wears you out 00:23:38.849 --> 00:23:41.750 physically and emotionally. We get wore out. 00:23:43.049 --> 00:23:45.609 And that's why Jesus' call to us is so beautiful. 00:23:46.920 --> 00:23:48.880 He says, whatever your struggles are, whatever 00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:52.220 your sins are, I just want you to come to me 00:23:52.220 --> 00:23:56.539 and go and sin no more. And maybe some of you 00:23:56.539 --> 00:23:59.420 today, you've never trusted in Jesus Christ. 00:23:59.740 --> 00:24:01.539 Maybe today you just feel like you're missing 00:24:01.539 --> 00:24:04.420 something and you feel the shame, you feel the 00:24:04.420 --> 00:24:08.160 heartache of your sin. Would you just go to Jesus 00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:10.440 today and just pray and ask the Lord to forgive 00:24:10.440 --> 00:24:13.579 you? And just accept Jesus as your Savior. It 00:24:13.579 --> 00:24:16.799 ain't no certain words you got to say. It ain't 00:24:16.799 --> 00:24:19.880 no hoops you got to jump through. It's just you 00:24:19.880 --> 00:24:22.000 got to give your heart to the Lord. Say, God, 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:24.319 with my heart, I love you. And I know you love 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:27.039 me. And I know I'm a sinner. And I know I need 00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:30.660 to be forgiven. And I know that Jesus came to 00:24:30.660 --> 00:24:34.420 do that for me. That's all it takes to follow 00:24:34.420 --> 00:24:40.190 Jesus. That's it. That God wants our heart. And 00:24:40.190 --> 00:24:43.109 when we follow Jesus, we've started the race. 00:24:45.309 --> 00:24:49.849 And Lord willing, we start well. But I hope that 00:24:49.849 --> 00:24:53.309 we finish well. And maybe for some of us today, 00:24:53.490 --> 00:24:57.490 we have started the race. We've trusted in Jesus 00:24:57.490 --> 00:25:00.910 Christ. We know who he is. But maybe we're not 00:25:00.910 --> 00:25:05.589 running too well. Maybe we're not so unlike Joash. 00:25:06.950 --> 00:25:09.430 Maybe things started good for us. Maybe we can 00:25:09.430 --> 00:25:12.369 look back at our life and see that, man, it's 00:25:12.369 --> 00:25:14.390 amazing that God got me through this point, through 00:25:14.390 --> 00:25:16.930 all the things that should have got me. There's 00:25:16.930 --> 00:25:20.089 no reason that some of us should be here, that 00:25:20.089 --> 00:25:22.509 God has been gracious to us. He spared us from 00:25:22.509 --> 00:25:25.869 our foolish decisions, and he saved us physically, 00:25:25.990 --> 00:25:27.930 and he saved us through so much and provided 00:25:27.930 --> 00:25:31.930 for us, and it's nothing but God that has brought 00:25:31.930 --> 00:25:35.890 us here where we are. But maybe where we are 00:25:35.890 --> 00:25:39.460 today, We're here, praise the Lord, but maybe 00:25:39.460 --> 00:25:43.460 we're not where we need to be. Maybe there are 00:25:43.460 --> 00:25:45.819 times people in our life that really poured into 00:25:45.819 --> 00:25:49.319 us the word of God and taught us the things of 00:25:49.319 --> 00:25:52.799 God and we lived according to those things and 00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:57.099 we know the joy of that, but maybe we've lost 00:25:57.099 --> 00:26:00.720 some of that joy because maybe we've gotten on 00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:05.259 the wrong track. Joe Ash, he got on the wrong 00:26:05.259 --> 00:26:09.240 track. He started off so good and so on fire 00:26:09.240 --> 00:26:13.480 for the Lord. If you're on the wrong track today, 00:26:13.539 --> 00:26:15.200 I've got good news for you. You can get on the 00:26:15.200 --> 00:26:18.559 right track. You don't have to end your life 00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:22.019 on the wrong track. You don't have to end your 00:26:22.019 --> 00:26:24.680 life in sin. You don't have to live your life 00:26:24.680 --> 00:26:28.220 in disobedience to God. God knows that we are 00:26:28.220 --> 00:26:34.490 so weak. He knows that we are so weak. And yet 00:26:34.490 --> 00:26:36.549 he loves us anyway, and there's forgiveness there 00:26:36.549 --> 00:26:39.450 for you today. I want you to know that, that 00:26:39.450 --> 00:26:43.349 God loves you, that Jesus loves you. He loved 00:26:43.349 --> 00:26:45.250 you enough to forgive you of your sins the last 00:26:45.250 --> 00:26:47.109 time you asked, and he still loves you that much 00:26:47.109 --> 00:26:49.470 today, that he would forgive you of your sins 00:26:49.470 --> 00:26:53.670 today if you would only seek him. Maybe today 00:26:53.670 --> 00:26:59.490 you realize you are on the wrong path. What's 00:26:59.490 --> 00:27:05.519 going to be said of you when you die? Will people 00:27:05.519 --> 00:27:07.460 say nice things about you and mean it? I say 00:27:07.460 --> 00:27:09.460 and mean it because at a funeral, everybody's 00:27:09.460 --> 00:27:14.039 got to say something nice. But people know who 00:27:14.039 --> 00:27:18.119 we are to some degree. People know what our life's 00:27:18.119 --> 00:27:23.859 like. Will we be one who is like Jehoiada who 00:27:23.859 --> 00:27:28.799 had an honorable burial? Or will we be one who's 00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:34.420 like Joash that was buried but... not with those 00:27:34.420 --> 00:27:38.779 of honor, not with those men of God, but with 00:27:38.779 --> 00:27:44.180 the rest. The choices we make, the way we live, 00:27:44.180 --> 00:27:49.299 will determine where we spend our life after 00:27:49.299 --> 00:27:53.700 death, whether we spend it in the presence of 00:27:53.700 --> 00:28:00.059 God or whether we spend it apart from God. I 00:28:00.059 --> 00:28:01.579 don't know what hell's going to look like. I 00:28:01.579 --> 00:28:04.759 don't know what hell's going to be like. But 00:28:04.759 --> 00:28:11.579 I know it ain't going to be good. Where will 00:28:11.579 --> 00:28:16.700 we be after death? That depends on the choices 00:28:16.700 --> 00:28:20.619 we make. I hope today that we would choose Jesus. 00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:24.500 And today, if you are one who has chose Jesus, 00:28:24.599 --> 00:28:26.220 praise the Lord. If you're walking with him, 00:28:26.259 --> 00:28:29.000 then you keep walking. If you've strayed off 00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:31.339 the narrow path into that road that leads to 00:28:31.339 --> 00:28:33.160 destruction, then praise the Lord. It's not too 00:28:33.160 --> 00:28:36.240 late today. You're here. Man, God has brought 00:28:36.240 --> 00:28:38.759 us here. Here he gives us his word. He gives 00:28:38.759 --> 00:28:43.359 us this beautiful story. He gave Joash a chance. 00:28:44.619 --> 00:28:47.819 He didn't make the most of it. What about you 00:28:47.819 --> 00:28:52.319 and I? Let's pray. God, we come to you. We thank 00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:55.019 you for this beautiful story. We thank you for 00:28:55.019 --> 00:28:57.619 your word. We thank you for your example. And 00:28:57.619 --> 00:28:59.640 I pray, dear Lord, that we would learn, God, 00:28:59.740 --> 00:29:01.680 that we would not just be those who start good 00:29:01.680 --> 00:29:03.660 and do pretty good for a while, but that we would 00:29:03.660 --> 00:29:06.099 run the race with endurance, dear Lord, that 00:29:06.099 --> 00:29:08.660 we would trust you and seek you. We thank you 00:29:08.660 --> 00:29:10.859 for Jesus Christ for just showing us the power 00:29:10.859 --> 00:29:16.579 of your love and your mercy and your grace that 00:29:16.579 --> 00:29:18.559 even through this, dear Lord, you allowed King 00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:21.440 Jesus to come through this bloodline. And it's 00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:23.480 because of that we have reason to rejoice today. 00:29:24.750 --> 00:29:26.690 If there's any that don't know Jesus, I pray 00:29:26.690 --> 00:29:29.230 today that in this moment, they're repenting 00:29:29.230 --> 00:29:31.670 of their sins, they're trusting Him. And for 00:29:31.670 --> 00:29:33.529 those of us who do, God, I pray that we would 00:29:33.529 --> 00:29:38.230 make sure we're running well. And I ask these 00:29:38.230 --> 00:29:40.170 things in Jesus' name. Amen.