The Result of Tolerance (2 Kings 16)
2 Kings 16 (1-4)
This morning we are returning to our study of the kings
And we see again a king in the south.
Last week we saw Jotham, a man who was a good king.
• He loved God
• He loved God’s house
• He loved God’s city
He even tried to set an example of faithfulness and obedience
That the people could follow.
However, Jotham was the INEFFECTIVE king.
They paid no attention to his righteous example.
Instead they continued in their sin by worshiping on the high places.
What that means for Jotham is that
While he was a personally devoted king,
He was also a tolerant king. (As were the kings before him)
Instead of taking an active stance against the high places
He tolerated their existence and allowed the pagan worship to continue.
BUT IT WASN’T JUST HIM
The writer of kings began pointing to this dangerous trend
4 generations ago with Jotham’s great-great-grandfather.
Joash, Amaziah, Azariah (Uzziah), and Jotham
All received the same appraisal.
They did right in the sight of the Lord,
However the high places were not removed.
There was a growing epidemic of tolerance in the land of Judah.
And before we talk about the consequences of tolerance,
Let me first remind you that tolerance is itself a consequence.
Romans 1:28-32 “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”
There we find that one of the problems with the wicked
Is that they are tolerant.
That is clearly spelled out in verse 32
“although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”
We also see that God is not judging them for their tolerance,
But rather that their tolerance is a result of God’s judgment.
For in verse 28 Paul says, “God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,”
The very fact that the wicked tolerate sin
Is a consequence of God upon a life that has embraced it.
The same will be seen on an even greater scale during the END TIMES.
2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 “For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.”
There we see that God will give them a blinding spirit
That will just accept everything as though it is ok.
WHY?
2 Thessalonians 2:10b “because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.”
Because people did not love the truth enough to accept it;
God will make it so that they can no longer recognize it
And will give them a mind that accepts everything.
So we understand that tolerance isn’t just a sin that will be judged,
Tolerance is itself a consequence for not loving truth enough.
AND WE HAVE SEEN THAT IN JUDAH
Judah is slowly losing her sensitivity to sin.
SHE HAD BECOME TOLERANT
Tolerance is heavily promoted in our culture today.
Many suppose that it is the means to universal peace.
(Some tolerance is good and necessary)
BUT TOLERANCE OF SIN AND ERROR IS DESTRUCTIVE
You and I know that sin is never satisfied.
James 1:14-15 “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”
Sin won’t stop until it kills you.
BUT IN JUDAH WE HAVE 4 KINGS WHO HAVE TOLERATED IT
I WANT YOU TO SEE THE RESULT OF THEIR TOLERANCE
I introduce to you King Ahaz.
Let me show you three things about his life and reign as king.
#1 AHAZ’S DESCRIPTION
2 Kings 16:1-4
And you can already tell from just reading those first 4 verses
That Ahaz was a rough character.
We see his APPRAISAL in verse 2
“Ahaz…did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD his God, as his father David had done.”
And so regardless of what we think of him on a personal level;
God weighed him and found him wanting.
Let me show you some of his wickedness.
(3) “he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his sons pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had driven out before the sons of Israel.”
That verse indicates that when looking for a standard or guide
For how to worship, Ahaz did not turn to the Law of God.
Instead Ahaz turned to the example of the world.
• He looked to the north to see how Israel worshiped and he did the same.
• He looked to the east and saw how Moab sacrificed their sons in the fire and did the same.
• He remembered all the pagan practices of the Canaanites and did the same.
He did everything in direct violation
Of what God had commanded in regard to worship.
But that is not all.
(4) “He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.”
The previous kings tolerated the high places, Ahaz actually used them.
He was a pagan worshiping king.
And there is a good time to introduce to you the cycle of tolerance
PERMISSION LEADS TO PRACTICE
PRACTICE LEADS TO PROMOTION
What you permit, your children will practice
What you practice, your children will promote
And it seen here with Ahaz.
What was formerly permitted is now being practiced and even promoted.
But that is not all about Ahaz.
2 Chronicles 28:1-3 “Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do right in the sight of the LORD as David his father had done. But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel; he also made molten images for the Baals. Moreover, he burned incense in the valley of Ben-hinnom and burned his sons in fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had driven out before the sons of Israel.”
He actually resurrected Baal worship.
Much could be said about “the valley of Ben-hinnom”
Just know that it was a place of idolatry that God would severely judge.
By New Testament times, it was the local dump
And it was the sight Jesus referred to when describing hell (Gahinna),
Were the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.
And it was Ahaz that got all that started.
He was a wicked king.
What his father’s permitted has now become his common practice.
But that isn’t all to Ahaz.
Ahaz’s description
#2 AHAZ’S DECISION
2 Kings 16:5-9
When you look at the first two verses we find an obvious reality.
And that is that hardship came upon Ahaz.
Certainly we would expect anyone who turns that far away from the LORD
To have their fair share of difficulty.
Ahaz’s came in the form of military attack from Israel and Aram (Samaria)
The writer of kings doesn’t mention this,
But thanks to the prophet Isaiah, we know the purpose of this attack.
It is meant to get Ahaz to start trusting God.
TURN TO: ISAIAH 7:1-13
And so there we see that Ahaz actually refuses to trust God,
But that doesn’t stop God from honoring His word to protect.
(5) “they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him.”
They did however inflict some suffering on him.
(6) “At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram, and cleared the Judeans out of Elath entirely; and the Arameans came to Elath and have lived there to this day.”
So they did inflict some suffering on Ahaz,
But even in that God was merciful.
2 Chronicles 28:6-11 “For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah 120,000 in one day, all valiant men, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers.And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the king’s son and Azrikam the ruler of the house and Elkanah the second to the king. The sons of Israel carried away captive of their brethren 200,000 women, sons and daughters; and they took also a great deal of spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria. But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out to meet the army which came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because the LORD, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, He has delivered them into your hand, and you have slain them in a rage which has even reached heaven. “Now you are proposing to subjugate for yourselves the people of Judah and Jerusalem for male and female slaves. Surely, do you not have transgressions of your own against the LORD your God? “Now therefore, listen to me and return the captives whom you captured from your brothers, for the burning anger of the LORD is against you.”
Even though God allowed a defeat, He did not allow continued judgment. He forced Israel to give back all the refugees.
The point is that hardship did come,
But God was merciful to Ahaz to not allow him to be destroyed.
The purpose was to get Ahaz to start seeking God.
BUT AHAZ IGNORED GOD’S MERCY
(7-8) “So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son; come up and deliver me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.” Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent a present to the king of Assyria.”
• Instead of seeking God, Ahaz sought Assyria
• Instead of submitting to God, Ahaz submitted to Assyria
• Instead of giving supplication to God, Ahaz gave supplication to Assyria
• Instead of sacrificing to God, Ahaz sacrificed to Assyria
Ahaz wouldn’t seek God, for he had already determined to seek Assyria
And initially the plan worked.
(9) “So the king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and captured it, and carred the people of it away into exile to Kir, and put Rezin to death.”
That was the end of Aram (Samariah).
They were officially conquered and carried away into exile.
And so it looked like Ahaz’s plan worked.
However it would eventually backfire.
For all he had done is succeeded in luring the Assyrians further south.
Now the only barrier between him and Assyria would be Israel.
And now, the Assyrian king knows he is more powerful than you,
Because you had to hire him to defeat those you could not defeat.
Ahaz would now become a whipping boy to the king of Assyria.
God promised this:
Isaiah 7:17 “The LORD will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house such days as have never come since the day that Ephraim separated from Judah, the king of Assyria.”
And it happened.
2 Kings 28:20-21 “So Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. Although Ahaz took a portion out of the house of the LORD and out of the palace of the king and of the princes, and gave it to the king of Assyria, it did not help him.”
But the main point of the text in kings
Is that instead of seeking God, Ahaz sought Assyria.
He is a wicked king that refused to turn to God for help
Even when turning to God was in his best interest.
2 Chronicles 28:19 “For the LORD humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had brought about a lack of restraint in Judah and was very unfaithful to the LORD.”
So we again ask:
HOW’S THAT TOLERANCE THING WORKING FOR YOU?
But that’s not all:
Ahaz’s description
Ahaz’s decision
#3 AHAZ’S DEFIANCE
2 Kings 16:10-20
Just when you thought Ahaz couldn’t do any worse,
Now look at what he does.
Tolerance leads from PERMISSION TO PRACTICE
Then it leads from PRACTICE TO _____________? (promotion)
1) HE REPLACED GOD’S ALTAR (10-13)
And you can follow Ahaz’s logic.
In his estimation his god didn’t deliver from Aram, but Assyria did.
Therefore Assyria’s god must be more powerful than his god.
(That is true, for Ahaz did not worship the true God)
And this was the way Ahaz commonly operated.
2 Chronicles 28:22-23 “Now in the time of his distress this same King Ahaz became yet more unfaithful to the LORD. For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him, and said, “Because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But they became the downfall of him and all Israel.”
Ahaz commonly followed the god who gave him what he wanted,
Or at times the god who thwarted him, supposing him to be more powerful.
And so Ahaz travels to Assyria to find the god he wants,
And when he finds him he sends back the specifications of his altar.
And Urijah the priest (that great man of God) builds the altar for him.
Now Jerusalem has a new altar upon which to offer sacrifice.
2) HE RELOCATED GOD’S ALTAR (14)
Certainly God’s altar could not remain in the prominent position,
So it is relocated to get it out of the way of the new altar.
3) HE REJECTED GOD’S ALTAR (15-16)
Now the universal command is that
We will no longer sacrifice to the God of Moses,
But now we will sacrifice to the god of Tiglath Pilneser.
Ahaz would only use God’s altar for divination.
4) HE REMOVED GOD’S SEA (17)
This was the basin for washing.
It rested upon 12 oxen, symbolizing the 12 tribes.
The implication was that Israel and God were linked.
Ahaz desired to sever that tie.
He made a public display that Israel
Had no link to their former god.
5) HE REFUSED GOD’S HOUSE (18)
The King had his own entrance into the temple
And leading up to it was a covered walk way.
But Ahaz refused it.
WHY?
“because of the king of Assyria”
He didn’t want Tiglath Pilneser to think he was still devoted to God at all.
So he refused entrance to God’s temple.
The writer of Chronicles goes a little further:
2 Chronicles 28:24-25 “Moreover, when Ahaz gathered together the utensils of the house of God, he cut the utensils of the house of God in pieces; and he closed the doors of the house of the LORD and made altars for himself in every corner of Jerusalem. In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked the LORD, the God of his fathers, to anger.”
And then Ahaz died.
Now certainly we could talk about all his sin
And how God judged him for it.
And we could make the conclusion that God judges such sin.
And that would be true and accurate.
Yet that is not the reason the writer of kings wrote.
Please notice that the writer of kings did not mention anywhere
That God judged Ahaz.
Nor does the writer of kings mention
That God is displeased with Ahaz.
We know God was from Isaiah and 2 Chronicles,
But the writer of kings doesn’t mention it.
Sure he mention that Aram and Israel attacked (vs. 5)
But he doesn’t even say that it was because of Ahaz.
He only mentions that God helped him.
And even when Ahaz died, 2 Chronicles mentioned that he wasn’t buried with the kings, but the writer of kings doesn’t mention that.
And so we quickly deduce that the point of 2 Kings 16
Is not to reveal that God judges the sin of idolatry.
(For nothing of that judgment is mentioned here)
THEN WHY DID THE WRITER OF KINGS WRITE THIS CHAPTER?
To reveal the result of tolerance.
This chapter is a slap in the face to the four kings before Ahaz.
This chapter is a rebuke of Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, and Jotham.
If only one of them would have had the gumption to remove the high places perhaps this cycle would have been stopped.
But now,
• Here is Judah with high places everywhere…
• Here is Judah with a closed temple…
• Here is Judah with a new altar to an Assyrian god…
• Here is Judah with a rejuvenated worship of Baal…
• Here is Judah now a slave and servant to Assyria…
I doubt any of the previous kings thought it would lead to this,
But such is the nature and appetite of sin.
It never says enough.
And what is permitted today is practiced and promoted tomorrow.
Is it any wonder that we are continually called to guard against tolerating sin and slipping away from the truth of God?
Paul told the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 11:2 “Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you.”
He told the Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians 2:13-15 “But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.”
2 Thessalonians 3:6 “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us.”
It was a call to not grab a hold of every new fad
And so reject the God we have always known.
It is a call to learn the revealed word of God and cling to it
With absolutely no tolerance for error.
Because 4 faithful kings had failed to stand against error…
Because 4 faithful kings had tolerated the high places…
Now Judah has been given over to tolerance and reality is horrific.
BUT THERE IS A SOLUTION
TURN TO: ISAIAH 58
Isaiah prophesied during the reign of Uzziah and Jotham,
And Ahaz, and Hezekiah.
And in this chapter he spoke of that glorious day
When Israel would return to God
And God would return them to their previous state.
(1-7) – RETURN TO ME
(8-14) – I WILL RETURN YOU
Notice what God said would happen when His people
Stopped tolerating sin and truly returned to Him:
(12) “Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will raise up the age-old foundations; and you will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets in which to dwell.”
God wasn’t telling them to do that.
God was telling them that when they return to Him,
He will cause that to happen.
THINK ABOUT IT IN OUR DAY
• Certainly we would all love to have prayer back in school…
• Certainly we would love to have the filth removed from Hollywood…
But on an even more personal note.
• We are talking about the sanctification of the church…
• We are talking about the sanctification of the family…
What is permitted today will be practiced and promoted tomorrow.
Tolerance of sin and error will kill us.
It may not seem to be all that dangerous,
But trust me, Jotham never dreamed what Ahaz would do.
Let me encourage you to hold to the traditions of the faith
And be unwavering in your support of the truth.
Stop tolerating evil and return to the ancient paths
So that God may restore them to you.
Isaiah 58:13-14 “If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot From doing your own pleasure on My holy day, And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, And honor it, desisting from yourown ways, From seeking your own pleasure
And speaking your own word, Then you will take delight in the LORD, And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
