[0:00] It's good to see you this evening and great to be gathered back together with you and trust that you've had a good day.! 2 Chronicles chapter 23, 2 Chronicles chapter 23, as we just continue to make our way through scripture with one another.
[0:21] 2 Chronicles chapter 23, let's go to the Lord in prayer and then we'll get into our text. Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the opportunities we have of being together, for the fellowship to be enjoyed, and the study of the word of God that we can walk through with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
[0:49] So Father, we ask that as we open up scripture that we would see you lifted up. We would see the picture that is painted that points to the Savior that we're longing and looking for.
[1:02] I pray that we would see with clarity the truths that are proclaimed and that we would be willing to apply them to our lives. Lord, we ask that you just be glorified and honored through our time together and we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen.
[1:18] 2 Chronicles 23, a parallel passage is found to this one. I'd like to tell you, just like when we were in the Gospel of Mark this morning, I'd like to tell you where the parallel passages are found. So this one is found in 2 Kings.
[1:29] I believe you find parallels in this in chapter 13, 2 Kings 13. But as is most often the case with the writings of Chronicles, is there are new things introduced for us into this account that we've already read, and we'll kind of highlight those there.
[1:52] Our perspective is different. Again, we're just continuing to answer why do we have the repetition? Why do we have 1 and 2 Chronicles even though we have the same things recorded for us in 1 and 2 Kings?
[2:07] Why a repetition of it? And it's much like the Gospel accounts, at least the synoptic Gospels, is we don't so much as have a different repetition, but we have a new perspective or we have, as the Lord is leading and guiding the man of God to write the Word of God.
[2:26] We know they're written in different historical settings. It's always mindful of that. 1 and 2 Kings is written pre-Babylonian captivity.
[2:37] 1 and 2 Chronicles, post-Babylonian captivity. So this is, in Jewish scripture, one of the last two books, only followed by Malachi in Hebrew scripture.
[2:48] So historically we see them recorded for us as the nation is rebuilding. Now, because of that, there's greater emphasis on three things in 1 and 2 Chronicles.
[3:00] And we've talked about that, and we'll see it tonight. There's emphasis on the lineage of David, as we're not focusing on the northern kingdom much. There's emphasis on the role and responsibilities of the Levites, and there's emphasis on the temple worship.
[3:14] Those are the great highlights of the Chronicler. He's trailing that theme. And if you think about it, let's just stop for just a moment, understanding scripture of how important that must have been to the nation of Israel.
[3:30] Putting it in its proper context, this is one of the last words of God they get. And only, as we said, followed through the prophecy of Malachi, who declares that a forerunner is coming.
[3:45] But right prior to that, chronologically in time, they received this revelation from the word of God. And we know that God goes silent for 400 plus years.
[3:57] We miss that when we turn from Malachi and we go to Matthew. Matthew, but there's that intertestament period that a lot happens historically with the nation of Israel. And we ask ourselves, but how did they preserve?
[4:10] I mean, the nation was passed from different empire and different people ruled over them. They had a little bit of independence during the Maccabean Revolt. Well, where did all these things happen? Well, the ground for that was they could go back and look in 1 and 2 Chronicles, and they knew who they were as the people of God.
[4:28] And they knew what they were supposed to be doing. And so they understood that God declared these things to them, knowing that for over 400 years there would be no prophet.
[4:40] For over 400 years there would be no new word from God. And they would be in a waiting period. And yet what we find when we open up Matthew and we get into the New Testament, there's still the priest, there's still the Levites, there's still the temple, and we're still looking for the king from the lineage of David.
[4:59] Right? There's this consistency of what God is doing. And so we're just reminded when we read this of just, man, the faithfulness of God to mankind and to his people so that when God does come on to scene as Emmanuel, we know who he is.
[5:17] Right? We know who we're looking at. We understand it. So anyway, background information. Now let's get into 2 Chronicles 23. Again, we are still in that really time of warfare where the enemy is trying to wipe out the seed of David.
[5:37] So the house of Ahab, because of Jehoshaphat's sin and uniting with the house of Ahab by marrying his son to Ahab's daughter, Athelia, the enemy has now crept into the lineage of David and done much harm.
[5:53] And it seems as if the enemy is going to win the battle. But if you remember at the end of the 22nd chapter, we saw how God always has his person. And there was a young lady who hid the child into the temple of the Lord.
[6:05] And Jehoadiah, her husband who was the priest, was there. And so now we go to the 23rd chapter and we say, Now in the seventh year of Jehoadiah, Now in the seventh year, Jehoadiah strengthened himself and took captains of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jerohom, Ishmael the son of Johanan, Azariah the son of Obed, Masiah the son of Adiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri.
[6:31] And they entered into a covenant with him. They went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the heads of the fathers, households of Israel.
[6:42] And they came to Jerusalem. And then all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And Jehoadiah said to them, Behold, the king's son shall reign, as the Lord has spoken concerning the sons of David.
[6:56] This is the thing which you shall do. One third of you of the priests and Levites who come in on the Sabbath shall be gatekeepers. And one third shall be at the king's house and a third at the gate of the foundation.
[7:08] And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the Lord. But let no one enter the house of the Lord except the priests and the ministering Levites. They may enter for they are holy. And let all the people keep the charge of the Lord.
[7:20] The Levites will surround the king, each man with his weapon in his hand, and whoever enters the house, let him be killed. Thus be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out. So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoadiah the priest commanded.
[7:34] And each one of them took his men who were to come in on the Sabbath with those who were to go out on the Sabbath. For Jehoadiah the priest did not dismiss any of the divisions. Then Jehoadiah the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and the small shields which had been King David's, which were in the house of God.
[7:51] He stationed all the people, each man with his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, by the altar and by the house around the king. And they brought out the king's son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony and made him king.
[8:08] And Jehoadiah and his sons anointed him and said, Long live the king. When Othelia heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came into the house of the Lord to the people.
[8:21] She looked and behold, the king was standing by his pillar at the entrance and the captains and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land rejoiced and blew the trumpets and the singers and their musical instruments leading the praise.
[8:34] And Othelia tore her clothes and said, Treason, treason. Jehoadiah the priest brought out the captains of the hundreds who were appointed over the army and said to them, Bring her out between the ranks and whoever follows her put to death with the sword.
[8:48] For the priest said, Let her not be put to death in the house of the Lord. So they seized her and when she arrived at the entrance of the horse gate of the king's house, they put her to death there. Then Jehoadiah made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king that they would be the Lord's people.
[9:06] And all the people went to the house of Baal and tore it down and they broke in pieces his altars and his images and killed Matan, the priest of Baal, before the altars. Moreover, Jehoadiah placed the officers of the house of the Lord under the authority of the Levitical priest whom David had assigned over the house of the Lord to offer the burnt offerings of the Lord as it is written in the law of Moses with rejoicing and singing according to the order of David.
[9:32] He stationed the gatekeepers of the house of the Lord so that no one would enter who was in any way unclean. He took the captains of hundreds, the nobles, the rulers of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the Lord and came through the upper gate to the king's house and they placed the king upon the royal throne.
[9:52] So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet for they had put Athaliah to death with the sword. I want you to see this evening restoring the nation.
[10:03] What it looks like to restore the nation. This is the only time during the kingdom of Judah or the southern kingdom in which a non-descendant of David sits upon the throne.
[10:21] For six years, Athaliah who would have been the queen mother of the last king that had served she killed all the royal offspring save Joash who was spared and hidden in the temple of the Lord when he was a very young child.
[10:38] And for six years, Athaliah reigned over the kingdom of Judah. Now that's instrumental because that is a descendant, direct descendant of the wicked king of Omri.
[10:48] That's his granddaughter. It is the daughter of Ahab and she has led the people of Judah to do what is wicked in the sight of the Lord. And she has even instigated her husband who was king and her son who was king to build houses of worship to Baal and to do wickedly as the house of Ahab has done.
[11:06] We have seen that this is the consequence really of Jehoshaphat's decision to enter into that covenant and to make that connection. It is because of the book of 2 Chronicles that we understand really how deeply those consequences run.
[11:21] That we see with clarity that the enemy took opportunity of Jehoshaphat, the righteous king's decision as he stumbled at one point and the enemy found an opportunity there to wage war with the house of David because it is directly connected to the house of David that the promise of God will come about.
[11:43] It is the Davidic covenant which is an unconditional covenant that is God tied himself to that covenant in spite of who the descendants of David would be.
[11:54] that God would establish the house of David and that a seed of David would set upon the throne eternally. He does not say a condition upon it rather it is an unconditional covenant.
[12:06] So therefore the enemy is waging war not just with the inhabitants of Judah not just with the house of David but rather it is that battle that happens as Paul would tell us in the spiritual places that is going on for the sake of the redemption of man.
[12:22] For if there is no seed of David who sets upon the throne eternally then the word of God is wrong. And this is one grand effort of the enemy of our soul to try to thwart the planned purposes of God.
[12:40] Now we have seen in reality that God's plans cannot fail. That they are certain. That the word of God does prevail. That it does come about just as he promised.
[12:53] But what we stand amazed at is how he ensures with steadfast loving kind devotion that his word will be preserved.
[13:05] He doesn't supernaturally intervene. At any moment he could. Right? He casts Satan out of heaven. At any moment he could say be still and be not.
[13:15] But yet he moves through his people wrestling and fighting and moving. And so now we see the restoration of the nation of Judah and even and I love the reality that in the book of Chronicles they really don't deviate between the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.
[13:35] It is always the people of Israel because coming out of captivity we're not a divided nation. Right? They are a united nation and they're one people. They're the people of the Lord. And it is the chronicler that reminds us that people from every tribe had went down to the southern kingdom and gathered there because they were devoted to God.
[13:55] So God was preserving his people. And yet we see how the nation is restored in its darkest moment. How the rightful king is put upon the throne because according to the wisdom of man there is but one that can sit upon that throne and he is an infant.
[14:12] And God moves in his people. So how is the nation restored and how does God even move today to restore not only nations but homes and communities and even churches.
[14:25] First we notice that this restoration starts and I know I threw you off this morning because I didn't alliterate this evening. I did. So there you go. I can give you some alliteration so that you can remember it.
[14:36] And I do it from all some people say oh you're tied to that. No. It is a pastor thing. It helps me remember it. Okay. So the first thing you notice is there is a determined person. Start with a person.
[14:48] It tells us in the first verse of chapter 23 then after seven years now in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself.
[15:03] Now we don't know anything else about Jehoiada Jehoiada until we have this little child brought into his care and he's hidden in the temple because his wife is a relative of this child.
[15:19] Up until this time until Joash is welcomed into the family so to say we know very little about him. And we should be surprised by that because for the last two kings there's been no emphasis on temple worship.
[15:35] Matter of fact there's been a de-emphasis on temple worship. The temple has been ransacked. It's been looted. The doors have been shut. Jehoshaphat restored it but after that temple worship was not a thing.
[15:46] And so we have the priest who is here in waiting and he's actually we don't know how old he is at this point. We know that he has a magnificent impact upon Joash because we know that Joash walks faithfully before the Lord as long as Jehoiada is alive and then when Jehoiada dies Joash really makes some poor decisions but we're getting ahead of ourselves.
[16:07] But what we notice here is this individual who is relatively unknown to us up to this point has been waiting. Evidently he is not one of those who is worshiping Baal.
[16:20] That's clear from scripture. He is not those who are doing as the house of Ahab even though he is married one who is connected to the house of Ahab. He has had a greater impact upon her life than the descendants of Ahab had upon her life because she is choosing to do what is right.
[16:38] He is not one who is concerned about what is popular. He is not following the masses of the crowd or even at this point following the dictates of the throne because temple worship has been shut down.
[16:53] Yet he is an individual who has been waiting for a moment like this and God always has his people. We have said that before and what we find now is we have Jehoiadaiah and it says that he strengthens himself.
[17:09] Why? Because great moments of restoration and renewal often start with the impact of an individual. It starts with a person.
[17:22] That God moves through that person who has been waiting quite often in the shadows or in the background unnoticed unseen unrecognized by anyone until that moment comes where God had them available at that time to do exactly what it is he needed them to do.
[17:44] Jehoiadaiah is that person. He is there and he is the one that after seven years strengthens himself and he has to do it because he knows that something needs to be done. but yet we also understand that Joash is seven years old probably at this moment and he can't do anything about it.
[18:02] He has no strength nor ability nor knowledge as how to do this. This is but a child. There are no other counselors or wise men or anything because most of those have been destroyed.
[18:14] There are no other seeds of royal descent. So in reality there is this one person who is determined to do what must be done.
[18:27] And this restoration starts with the determination of that person who says now is the time. Often we feel like we can't do much and we can't give a grand amount but history tells us repeatedly of the impact of a single person.
[18:48] Someone recorded and I read it so many years ago and I can't remember who recorded it but that every great awakening or every great movement of God can be traced to a kneeling figure to one person who was praying for it.
[19:03] The great Welsh revival started because one man was praying and that one man asked another man to pray. The great awakening in America both of them and the second awakening started with one man.
[19:15] You can trace many of them back to one man or one woman whose heart was broken. When Dwight Lyman Moody decided to go international for the first time and he landed upon the coast of the European lands and he thought he would be welcomed because here's a man that had had America opened up to him and he gets there and every door is closed.
[19:34] I don't know if you know the history of D.L. Moody, the great evangelist. He goes there with the anticipation of preaching at the YMCA's. Somebody had extended an invitation to Moody in passing when they were in Chicago and maybe you don't know this about Moody but Moody always took people at their word and so if you said things kind of in passing and didn't really mean it don't say it to D.L.
[19:53] Moody. So they said if you ever come to England and we'll let you preach. Well a couple years later he shows up in England knocks on the door and say hey I'm here to preach and they said well we didn't really mean it.
[20:03] So the doors were shut and it looked like as soon as he had got there that there's no opportunity. History tells us though that there was a lady who was physically unable to get out of bed whose sister was going to church and attending and this lady was bed written and she was a young lady but she was bed written and she had heard about the ministry of D.L.
[20:23] Moody that happened in America. She had heard about Chicago Tabernacle which later became Moody Church and so for about five years she had been praying that God would send D.L. Moody to her church.
[20:35] So when Moody shows up and the YMCA doors are closed and everything's closed when he finally goes into a church and wouldn't you know it it happens to be the church where that lady was a member of and her sister was there and Moody is just there and attending the service not doing anything and she's praying and she's praying and the next thing you know he starts preaching and the history books are written because of the great movement that happened during the days of D.L.
[21:02] Moody across that. Some of the best selling books across the continent of Europe at that time were the writings of all the hymns that were sung at the Moody revivals during those days and it simply goes back to one woman praying.
[21:18] History tells us that there are determined individuals who say this is the season that God has given me that I'm going to act in and when we find this restoration we see this determined person and that is Jehodiah strengthened himself because there was nobody else to strengthen him and I know I've been in this boat before too often we're like well I wish that somebody else would do that or somebody else maybe we just need to strengthen ourselves and say okay I'm determined enough that I'm going to do it but it doesn't stop right there because the work of God is never isolated to an individual God operates in the corporate right which leads us to the second thing you have a determined person and a united people as soon as he strengthened himself he did something else he began to draw people to himself we go back even to David when David was running from Saul and he was in those wilderness wanderings there's this great writing when David is in his lowest moment it says that he strengthened himself and really that moment is when David comes back to when you remember when he went away to go to battle with that foreign king and the king said you can't fight with us so they go back and they find all their wives and children have been carried away and all of his men are mad at him and all of his people are upset at him and they're like man we were following you David and our wives and our children they're all gone our city is ransacked at Ziklag's the city and it says so David strengthened himself because everybody was mad at him so David went before the Lord and strengthened himself and then as soon as
[22:51] David strengthened himself he looked at his men and said all right let's go fight and it's the same thing here right Jehodiah strengthens himself and took captains of hundreds and he lists the five captains for us now this is where we have some deviation of the record recorded for us in second kings second kings tells us the same thing that when Jehodiah strengthened himself he gathered the military force around him that is the warriors and the soldiers and it looks as if if we're reading just the second kings account of it that this revolt if you want to call it that was simply a revolt of military force the chronicler tells us otherwise because it's not just one group of people it says that he took the captains of hundreds so he got the military involved because if you're going to overthrow the kingdom and you're going to restore the nation you need to have some force behind you but it also says that when he took the captains of hundreds that they in verse 2 went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites second kings tells us nothing about the Levites but one of the themes of first and second chronicles is what the Levites which tells us more than likely the chronicler was a
[24:01] Levite because he understands their position so they also took the Levites now that's important you'll see why in just a moment so now he has the military force he has the Levites those who serve and it says that they also not only gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the heads of the father's households so that's the elders so now what we see is Jehoiada is determined he is a determined person but that determined person unites a group of people he's got the military he's got the Levites and he's got the heads of the households and he unites them together this is not a one vain revolt this is not and this is why we need to read all of scripture this is not as second kings would tell us just not that second kings is wrong but this is why you need a fullness of scripture it is not just a revolt that included the military it was the military and the Levites and the elders which is even more astounding because it's not like the military was upset at their commander in chief right this is uniting the people of Judah and he's gathered together and he really equips them and he calls them to stand shoulder to shoulder one of the greatest phrases in this whole passage to me is that when Jehodiah gave them the spears and the large shields and the small shields of King
[25:40] David he stationed all the people it says in verse 10 each man with his weapon in his hand each man with his weapon in his hand much like Nehemiah right I love the book of Nehemiah and one of my favorite passages in the book of Nehemiah is that chapter that seems so redundant because everybody's building on the wall and you just keep reading of who's building on the wall this person's building here this person's building here this person's building here and this person's building here and you're like man that's strange but when you read it what you do is you find that there are perfumers and there are Levites and there are elders and there are common folk and every person is side by side building on the wall together they're stationed next to one another there's every demographic is represented there are ladies building there are men building everybody's there why because Nehemiah did exactly what Jehodiah did they unite the people restoration never comes in the midst of division because it is the enemy's desire to divide but it is
[26:49] God's people to unite I mean it's God's desire to unite his people and to bring them together what did Christ pray in the true Lord's prayer right John chapter 17 father I pray that my people may be one as you and I are one right that they would be together that each man each woman each person would stand side by side with their weapon in their hands Jehodiah does that he stations each person together he unites them we have military we have Levites we have elders we have them all gathered together united so there's one person uniting multitude of people how does he do it number three there's a common purpose he does it around a common purpose right he's not just saying hey we're gonna go ahead let's do something together no they're focused on a purpose the writings of Paul kind of bring this to our forefront when we read the writings of Paul Paul says this I am intent on one purpose right he said I have one goal in mind and when Paul writes to the churches and he is encouraging the churches to live in unity with one another he is reminding them of their common purpose because that purpose matters it is the the vision that directs the people and it says here that he brought them together and it says in verse 3 then all the assembly made a covenant with the king and the house of God so now they're making this covenant together they're they're coming in agreement with one another and here it is this is their common purpose and Jehoiadai said behold the king's son shall reign as the Lord has spoken concerning the sons of David he said our purpose is not just to make Joash king right it's not that hey we're gonna put a new king we're gonna be faithful to what God has said that's the purpose the grand purpose is it should be as the Lord has said if all we want to do is set up a new king I'm sure that they could find a better qualified individual than a seven year old young man who grew up in the temple in obscurity it was not just to put new king down but rather it was to unite around the common purpose of we want to be obedient to what God has declared and they make a covenant with one another that we're going to ensure that as far as it is dependent upon us we will see the word of God coming about the theme is as the Lord has spoken that's what unites them that's what brings them together no one looked at the seven year old Joash and said now that's who I want running my army or that's who I want making all my political decisions what they did is they looked at him and they said that's who God says should be king it's a big difference they weren't looking at him in a popularity contest they weren't looking at him in a fitness contest really they were looking at him saying that's what God says that's what we should do and the word of
[30:09] God really is the final be all and it is the thing that they unite around and they are committed to this common purpose it tells us again we'll get to what happens in between in verse 16 that Jehoiadaia made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king so he's leading here this is the second covenant they make they make a covenant when they come together first time and they make this covenant again and what is that covenant that they would be the Lord's people their purpose was to be the Lord's people and if the Lord said that is to be our king then he's going to be our king if the Lord said this is what we should do then that's what we're going to do and this person Jehoiadaia has now taken these people and he's given them a purpose right let's be the Lord's people we've had enough of being the descendants of Ahab's people it's time for us to be the Lord's people and therefore there are things that we must do there are things things that have to take place we have to make this young man king so we see that restoration of the nation starts with a common purpose a desire to walk in faithful obedience to what God has called them to do number four so we have a determined person who unites people around a common purpose there has to be because this is the one we skip over there is an addressed problem so we say oh that's great look at all these people working together and these people want to be the people of the Lord they're going to make this man king and there's young boy king that's great they're going to be in faithful obedience but we can't stop there it would be just like saying I'm going to turn my life over to Christ the moment we turn our life over to Christ he calls us to address the problems in our life right we can't leave those unaddressed some of them we lay at the foot of the cross and he's and we we surrender them to him and he covers a multitude of sins sure and he cleanses us immediately some of them he causes us to fight against I don't know if that's true in your own life but the moment you come to Christ every temptation and every sin didn't just fall away right some of them did there's some things I could say boom gone some you got to slay and you got to fight and you got to address them and that's exactly what goes on here because they do all this they're faithful they bring the young boy out they have everybody stationed they have large shields small shields spears they have everybody there they're all standing shoulder to shoulder they're they're across the temple they're outside the temple they're covering the gates nobody can come in but it's holy but you're not going to be a secret believer right this morning Carrie and I had the opportunity to sit down with Miss Kimberly and she shared she wanted to follow in baptism I said that's great she said I don't know what that looks like the first thing I said is this public profession she said how public we're talking I said about as public as you can get she said well I'm not a very public person I said I understand I'm not telling you you have to talk I said but I'll share with the church but and and I said it this way I don't know if you notice I said I will share whenever you feel led to walk down and Carrie said I said but I won't stare at you I said I'm not gonna make you uncomfortable but Carrie said and I'll be praying that the Lord walks you down the aisle and I looked over this morning and Carrie was sitting right in front of her so I was like a pastor's wife is like throwing prayers behind her right I don't know what's going on so I was like I don't know if she's coming or not but I had it in my mind but I've done it before and it's not it's not a mean thing I said I will share whenever the Lord moves you to walk down why because we're not secret believers
[34:12] now for some people I've waited years but that's okay because I'm not trying to stack trophies we're trying to lead people to be obedient and it makes us uncomfortable I'm never comfortable standing up in front of a crowd so pastor you look very comfortable well after 19 years I've gotten pretty good at hiding the uncomfortableness of it right but I'm never comfortable none of us really are but we know he calls us to do it and there's no judgment in that I said when the Lord I know the Lord can move you do it why because we see here they made all this preparation they didn't want anybody to come in but did you notice Athelia went in and why did she go in because she saw the people running second Kings doesn't tell us the second King says that she saw that she heard some commotion but what it doesn't tell us is that it doesn't tell us that she saw people running and she saw them rejoicing and she saw them praising and she heard the trumpets being played and she heard hail to the king of Israel and she heard all this celebration this is a celebration why because now the rightful king is on the throne it's worth rejoicing over and she hears it and she runs into the temple wait a minute if we're looking at this accurately she's not supposed to be able to get in there because nobody unholy or unclean is supposed to get in there and friends Athelia is definitely unclean but she comes in and I'm thankful she comes in because now the problem has to be addressed we have a new king but there's a problem that has to be taken care of and the problem is is that the descendants of Ahab still have impact in the people of God and so now we're forced to address the problem because it's front and center crying out treason treason and too often in our lives when Christ redeems us we saw it this morning when the strong man who is stronger than the one who holds us captive that is Satan who holds us captive when the stronger man comes in and binds him and loots him and carries his prize possession which is us away and makes us the king of kings prize possession Satan shows up goes wait a minute that's mine and he does it in your life in my life in different ways sometimes he wants us to do it in pride and anger and outbursts and all these different things that are the deeds of the flesh and it is Satan showing up in your life saying you are mine you need to let the new king be on the throne and say I'm going to address the problem now when he shows up deal with him
[36:41] Athelia says treason treason the only treason was her trying to sit upon the throne so they dealt with it and they dealt with it the same way we should deal with every sin they lead it out and take it down with the sword he said wow that's that's extreme the problem must extreme problems must be dealt with in extreme ways Jesus says if your right hand calls you to sin cut it off if your eye calls you to sin pluck it out my mentor in the faith ended up being dean of admissions at Clear Creek Baptist Bible College for a while and I remember he told me after being there for just a little while he said we had a believer come here from overseas training to be a pastor and he showed up with one hand and I asked him what happened he said my hand caused me a sin so I cut it off he said now we in America go wow that's extreme how does that mean some people will try to tell you that's not what the Bible really means that guy took it literally cut it off and then he went to Bible school and trained to be a pastor I don't know which one's more extreme justifying that we don't have to be so extreme or actually doing it I don't know but I know that when they addressed the problem of Athelia they let her out of the temple and they killed her with sword because you don't let the problem hang around and then they went a little further it says they came together they made another covenant with one another the covenant we just read and then they went to the temple of Baal and they tore it down and it demolished all the idolatrous things of the temple of Baal there and then they took the priest from the temple of
[38:33] Baal and they killed him too you say wow that is unmerciful right God said have no mercy on the idolater they were being the people of the Lord and they dealt with it in an extreme way because they addressed the problem so I've got one more so now we have a determined person who unites people around a common purpose and they address the problem but the nation's not really restored yet until we get to the fifth and final one that is the reinstated positions Jehoiada addresses the problems and he leads others to address the problems but then he does something a little bit further something the chronicler records for us and he does it intentionally so that we understand exactly how the nation got to this point because the whole theme by the way for the chapter is that verse 21 so all the people of the land rejoiced in the city was quiet how do we get to the part where all the people of the land can rejoice in the city is quiet because it's been a long time since the city was quiet and the people rejoicing how do we restore the nation there well it tells us that after all this in verse 18 moreover Jehoiada placed the offices of the house of the Lord under the authority of the Levitical priest that is he called the Levites back to work and he gave them their authority it says whom David had assigned over the house of the Lord to offer the burnt offerings of the Lord as it is written in the law of Moses with rejoicing and singing according to the order of David he called the Levites back to work he stationed the gatekeepers of the house of the Lord so that no one would enter who was in in any unclean way so he brought the gatekeepers and put them back to work he was calling people back to the positions that they were supposed to do read your scripture when the people of God get in trouble is when the people begin to leave their positions theme of the book of Judges in those days there's no king in Israel every man did what was right in his own eyes do you remember where that starts it's a good question it's been some time since we read the book of Judges the first time that's mentioned is when a Levite goes to find work because the people of the city he was in quit supporting him so the Levite went to go find work somewhere else he left his position he becomes the priest of an individual who later becomes the priest of the tribe of Dan the idolatrous tribe by the way he left his rightful position and what Jehoiada does when he restores the nation is he reinstates these people back to where they're supposed to be the Levites belong to the Lord God and they are now employed doing what they are supposed to be doing God has called them and equipped them he's even used
[41:44] David to appoint them and to order them and what Jehoiada does is he brings them back and the gatekeepers are watching the gates the the Levites are maintaining the temple those who sing are singing those who play instruments play instruments what everybody is fulfilling their purpose and all the city was rejoicing and all the people rejoicing and the city was quiet why because now everybody's doing what God called and equipped them to do they're doing what God had called them to it's the whole thing that we've seen through the book of Ephesians we see it in first and second Corinthians what that that God builds his church because he has things for people to do and he unites people together and when each one of us are doing our part then we're rejoicing and we're quiet it's when we're idle and when we're still and when we're well you know we're kind of not doing anything and then all of a sudden we begin to squeak a little bit and we begin to kind of get out of place and things aren't as peaceful as they ought to be but here we see how the nation's restored it started with a person an individual united the people around the common purpose they addressed the problem and then they put everybody back in the right position and all the people then rejoiced the people of Judah the people of Judah the enemy will attack a different way but it's not through that way anymore the sins of Jehoshaphat are addressed
[43:31] Phileas dead the problem is taken care of because God had a man that he called to live in obscurity for a season until the time was right to be the instrument he would use to restore the nation let's pray father we thank you for this day we thank you for your word we stand amazed at the way you work realizing that this is no story that man could write but it is the very word of God with consistency and clarity you move according to your purposes and your power and for that we praise you not just because you did some things throughout history with your people but because through these people you brought Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior of us all that your faithfulness to your people Israel led to Emmanuel who would call the world to himself that we may fall before him and declare him to be
[44:32] Lord and Savior of our lives for that we rejoice and for that we celebrate and we say Lord continue to bring your word about and may we be the people who are restorers of those around us seeking to walk faithfully and obediently as these people covenanted to be the people of the Lord in the time you've placed us in and may it be for your glory and honor and yours alone and we ask it in Jesus name Amen thank you guys really appreciate your time