Amaziah: The Half-hearted King (2 Kings 14:1-22)
Amaziah: The Half-Hearted King
2 Kings 14:1-22 (1-7)
I know it’s been a couple of weeks,
But we are returning to our study of Kings.
And this morning we return to the line of kings in Judah.
You are familiar with Jehoash.
• He was the baby who was rescued by Jehoiada the priest when Athaliah tried to kill all the royal offspring.
• He is also the king we called the apostate.
He made a claim to follow God, but at the end of his life fell away.
In fact, he fell away as soon as Jehoiada the priest died.
Jehoash eventually had Jehoiada’s son stoned to death for rebuking him.
This morning we study his son, and it is apparent
That the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree.
Amaziah could easily be called an apostate as well,
For he is also one who eventually falls away from the Lord.
And the reason Amaziah eventually falls away
Is because he was never fully committed.
We read to get started that “He did right in the sight of the LORD, yet not like David his father…”
2 Chronicles 25:2 “He did right in the sight of the LORD, yet not with a whole heart.”
And thus we come to the conclusion
That he was a half-hearted follower of God.
And you are familiar with the problems with that.
Luke 8:11-15 “Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God. “Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved. “Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away. “The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. “But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.”
As you know Jesus described four types of hearts.
(Each illustrated by a different type of soil)
Each represents one of four ways that people respond to the gospel.
Some are HARD HEARTED (path)
The gospel finds no penetration, they don’t understand it, Satan has blinded their unbelieving eyes, and there is no response.
Some are FAINT HEARTED (rocky soil)
The gospel lands, and sprouts up quickly with a highly emotional response, but there is no depth of root (no perseverance) and when the going gets tough, the plant withers and dies. It produces no fruit and is therefore not legitimate.
Some are PURE HEARTED (fertile soil)
They receive the seed, the roots go down, the plant shoots up and they produce the fruit of repentance, and faith. They evidence a changed life and the righteousness that God desires.
Of the four, they are the only true convert.
But it is the other soil that best represents Amaziah.
It is the weedy soil
They are the HALF HEARTED
They can’t devote themselves fully to the Lord, because they already have a crop growing in their heart.
Jesus called it, “worries and riches and pleasures of this life”.
Their allegiance is shallow.
They do not follow the command to love God with all their heart,
Because part of their heart is given to the world.
Some who are half-hearted never respond to the gospel at all,
The rest eventually fall away as apostates
And about all it can be said that they “bring no fruit to maturity.”
And here is where we find Amaziah.
He was a half-hearted king.
And this morning we study his life as a strong reminder that
God does not desire to simply be first in your life.
God does not desire to simply be a priority in your life.
God desires to have sole ownership of your life.
Colossians 3:4 “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”
• Christ isn’t just number 1
• Christ isn’t just a priority
• Christ isn’t some spiritual benefit
• Christ isn’t just important
For a true believer, Christ IS our life.
Paul said:
Philippians 1:21 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
He told the Galatians
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
Galatians 6:14 “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
That is the mindset of a true Christian.
Wholly devoted, fully committed, totally in love with God
Serving no other, following only Him, and producing the fruit of that relationship.
It is a detestable thing to be a half-hearted follower,
This morning’s Scripture provides us with an illustration of one.
3 things about a half-hearted follower
#1 HE DID RIGHT, BUT NOT FULLY
2 Kings 14:1-4
(3) “He did right in the sight of the LORD, yet not like David his father; he did according to all that Joash his father had done.”
You may remember that Joash
Had a similar statement given about him.
2 Kings 12:2 “Jehoash did right in the sight of the LORD all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.”
Jehoash only did right while Jehoiada was there to guide him
He got commended, but it came with an asterisk.
And the same can be said for his son Amaziah.
“He did right in the sight of the LORD, yet not like David his father; he did according to all that Joash his father had done.”
It is hard to get a grasp on just exactly who Amaziah was.
(Indeed half-hearted followers are a confusing bunch to look at)
Some of what he did was right as you will see in a moment,
Just as some of what his father did was right.
But to make sure you and I don’t get the wrong idea,
It wasn’t that he was totally pleasing to God,
For we quickly see that he didn’t do right like David did right.
David never worshiped a foreign god
Before we end today, Amaziah will
David wanted God more than anything as evidenced by the Psalms
Before we end today, you will see that Amaziah wanted power
David repented when rebuked by God’s prophet
Before we end today, you will see that Amaziah would not tolerate such a rebuke
Amaziah was more like his apostate father
Than the pure hearted David.
VERSE 4 CLARIFIES THAT
(4) “Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.”
And as I studied for this week, it donned on me that
I might not have made it clear to you why this was such a big problem.
Deuteronomy 12:1-7 “These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully observe in the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the earth.”You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. “You shall tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and burn their Asherim with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place. “You shall not act like this toward the LORD your God. “But you shall seek the LORD at the place which the LORD your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come. “There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. “There also you and your households shall eat before the LORD your God, and rejoice in all your undertakings in which the LORD your God has blessed you.”
Worshiping on the high places under every green tree
Was what the inhabitants of Canaan did.
Those were cultic practices.
God continually called for His people to be set apart and different.
And one such difference was in the way they worshiped.
(Today we fall into similar sin when we pattern our worship
After the frills and fancies of the world)
Worship of God is supposed to look different than other worldly practices.
• Worship of God is not supposed to mimic a pep rally…
• Worship of God is not supposed to mimic a theatrical performance…
• Worship of God is not supposed to mimic a Vegas show…
• Worship of God is not supposed to mimic a bar room concert…
We are set apart, we are different,
And our worship should look foreign to a lost and dying world.
We are not to transform worship of the living God
Into something that is attractive to the world,
Yet that is what Israel was doing by worshiping on the high places.
They were committing a sin specifically forbidden by God
Because it made them more acceptable to the world.
And Amaziah, like his father before him would not depart from such sin.
And so it is easy to see that Amaziah did right, but not fully.
It would have been great if he had been wholly committed
To worshiping God the way God desires to be worshiped, but he was not.
Such is the worship of a half-hearted follower of God.
He did right, but not fully
#2 HE OBEYED, BUT NOT CONSISTANTLY
2 Kings 14:5-16
First allow me to show you some of the good he did.
The first instance came regarding revenge.
(5-6) “Now it came about, as soon as the kingdom was firmly in his hand, that he killed his servants who had slain the king his father. But the sons of the slayers he did not put to death, according to what is written in the book of the Law of Moses, as the LORD commanded, saying, “The fathers shall not be put to death for the sons, nor the sons be put to death for the fathers; but each shall be put to death for his own sin.”
You will remember that his father Jehoash was killed
Because he murdered Zechariah the prophet.
Here Amaziah avenges his father’s death.
But the interesting thing is that he did not do the customary thing.
Customarily in his day you not only killed the enemy, but all of their offspring as well. This was to keep from having to continually watch over your shoulder from those who would avenge their deaths.
But Amaziah refused to be so blood-thirsty.
WHY?
Because Scripture forbid it.
“The fathers shall not be put to death for the sons, nor the sons be put to death for the fathers; but each shall be put to death for his own sin.”
And most likely against the counsel of his colleagues,
Amaziah obeyed Scripture.
And that is a glorious attribute.
There is a SECOND event in which Amaziah obeyed wonderfully.
It is only alluded to here.
(7) “He killed of Edom in the Valley of Salt 10,000 and took Sela by war, and named it Joktheel to this day.”
What we see there is not his obedience,
But rather the result of his obedience.
Edom had formerly been in subjection to Judah, but had revolted under the reign of Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram.
Amaziah wanted them back in subjection (most likely to secure trade routes) and he HAD A PLAN for how to bring them back in to subjection.
2 Chronicles 25:5-10 “Moreover, Amaziah assembled Judah and appointed them according to their fathers’ households under commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds throughout Judah and Benjamin; and he took a census of those from twenty years old and upward and found them to be 300,000 choice men, able to go to war and handle spear and shield. He hired also 100,000 valiant warriors out of Israel for one hundred talents of silver. But a man of God came to him saying, “O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the LORD is not with Israel nor with any of the sons of Ephraim. “But if you do go, do it, be strong for the battle; yet God will bring you down before the enemy, for God has power to help and to bring down.” Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the troops of Israel?” And the man of God answered, “The LORD has much more to give you than this.” Then Amaziah dismissed them, the troops which came to him from Ephraim, to go home; so their anger burned against Judah and they returned home in fierce anger.”
Amaziah’s plan to bring Edom back into subjection was not only to send his army, but also 100,000 hired mercenaries from Israel.
But as the prophet revealed, God was no longer for Israel,
And using them in his battle would most certainly bring defeat.
And once again Amaziah obeyed God.
“He killed of Edom in the Valley of Salt 10,000 and took Sela by war, and named it Joktheel to this day.”
If only it had stopped there.
His obedience would be recorded and we would be commending him.
But you see, he was not consistent in his obedience.
For if you continue reading the account in Chronicles,
We find a most discouraging fact.
2 Chronicles 25:14-16 “Now after Amaziah came from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought the gods of the sons of Seir, set them up as his gods, bowed down before them and burned incense to them. Then the anger of the LORD burned against Amaziah, and He sent him a prophet who said to him, “Why have you sought the gods of the people who have not delivered their own people from your hand?” As he was talking with him, the king said to him, “Have we appointed you a royal counselor? Stop! Why should you be struck down?” Then the prophet stopped and said, “I know that God has planned to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.”
He was doing so good to obey
WHY DID HE HAVE TO GO AND ENTER IDOLATRY?
He obeyed, but not consistently.
And this act of disobedience is an abomination to God.
Deuteronomy 17:2-7 “If there is found in your midst, in any of your towns, which the LORD your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, by transgressing His covenant, and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly host, which I have not commanded, and if it is told you and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire thoroughly. Behold, if it is true and the thing certain that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil deed to your gates, that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them to death. “On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. “The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.”
And that is precisely what Amaziah did.
He committed the sin of apostasy.
God planned to destroy him.
And that is precisely what happened.
(8) “Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come let us face each other.”
Apparently Amaziah was now puffed up and not only did he not need Israel’s soldiers, but he now thought he could defeat them.
And as we studied a couple of weeks ago,
Jehoash tried to discourage him by pointing out that
Amaziah was not as big as he supposed himself to be.
(11) “But Amaziah would not listen.”
What I want you to know is that this is far from coincidence.
2 Chronicles 25:20 “But Amaziah would not listen, for it was from God, that He might deliver them into the hand of Joash because they had sought the gods of Edom.”
God was judging Amaziah for his half-hearted obedience.
And because we studied it a couple of weeks ago,
You know how the story goes.
Jehoash defeated Amaziah and carried him in subjection to Israel and then went and tore down part of the wall in Jerusalem and robbed the temple.
All because Amaziah was inconsistent in obedience to God.
AND WE HAVE TO LEARN FROM THAT.
The command is to love God with all your heart.
Not to obey part of the time and then to fall away.
Partial obedience is not acceptable to God.
Jeremiah 4:1-4 “If you will return, O Israel,” declares the LORD, “Then you should return to Me. And if you will put away your detested things from My presence, And will not waver, And you will swear, ‘As the LORD lives,’ In truth, in justice and in righteousness; Then the nations will bless themselves in Him, And in Him they will glory.” For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, And do not sow among thorns. “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD And remove the foreskins of your heart, Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Or else My wrath will go forth like fire And burn with none to quench it, Because of the evil of your deeds.”
We have to be fully committed to God.
You cannot love anyone or anything more.
Matthew 10:37-39 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”
Luke 14:25-27 “Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”
Over and over we are reminded that we
Must be totally committed to God.
Amaziah was not.
He was half-hearted in his commitment.
He did right, but not fully
He obeyed, but not consistently
And because of that:
#3 HE FLED, BUT NOT SUCCESSFULLY
2 Kings 14:17-22
Eventually the king that took him captive to Israel died.
And so Amaziah returned home.
But there was no welcome home parade for him.
What he found was a lynching mob.
(19) “They conspired against him in Jerusalem”
Chronicles says why they did.
2 Chronicles 25:27 “From the time that Amaziah turned away from following the LORD they conspired against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there.”
God promised to destroy him, not just defeat him in battle.
Apostates have an inevitable fate of judgment,
And it was time for Amaziah to meet his fate.
Upon hearing of this conspiracy he fled to Lachish,
“but they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there.”
When one turns from God to another god, the Law commanded them to be killed, and that is precisely what happened to Amaziah.
He was chased, caught, and killed.
You see, Amaziah was half-hearted, he was weedy soil.
And Scripture is clear what happens to soil
That is fruitless and produces only weeds.
Hebrews 6:7-8 “For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.”
God demands the fruit of righteousness from our lives,
And that fruit only comes from being sold out to Him.
If we are not, we are fruitless and we are rejected.
Remember what Jesus taught?
John 15:1-6 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.”
I mean it is clear throughout the Scriptures.
Jeremiah 5:10 “Go up through her vine rows and destroy, But do not execute a complete destruction; Strip away her branches, For they are not the LORD’S.”
Jeremiah 11:16 “The LORD called your name, “A green olive tree, beautiful in fruit and form”; With the noise of a great tumult He has kindled fire on it, And its branches are worthless.”
Perhaps the most vivid illustration comes from Isaiah’s parable.
TURN TO: Isaiah 5
God demands fruit from our lives.
Particularly the fruit of righteousness,
But that only comes from abiding in Him.
A half-hearted follower is too concerned about the other crop.
Jesus called them “worries and riches and pleasures of this life”.
But they are all weeds.
And as long as those crops remain, a heart cannot be fully devoted to God
And cannot bear fruit.
It doesn’t matter if you do some right – Amaziah did.
It doesn’t matter if you have some obedience – Amaziah did.
GOD SETTLES FOR NOTHING LESS THAT TOTAL DEVOTION.
• He does not accept the hard hearted
• He does not accept the faint hearted
• He does not accept the half hearted
God only accepts the pure hearted
Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
Deuteronomy 6:5 “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
That is where Amaziah fell short.
This morning that is where I want you to succeed.
I want you to determine to remove all the weeds
That could be growing in your life
And devote yourself fully to the Lord.
Can God have you?
Can God have all of you?
Will you desire Him above all else?
Will you be a pure hearted follower of Christ?
Psalms 73:25-28 “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.”
