2 Kings chapter 21. I read a portion of this scripture
to you this past Lord's Day morning about a man who was ungodly, born in sin, but
born again by grace. His name was Manasseh. It's interesting
that the history of this man recorded here in 2 Kings only
tells us about his great depravity. Whereas in 2 Chronicles, where
we studied this past Lord's Day morning, we find not only was
he a fallen son of Adam, but he was a redeemed heir of grace. He was a sinner rescued from
perishing, God found him in a dungeon in Babylon where God had arranged
for him to be. After this man had reversed everything
that his godly father had put into place, Hezekiah honored God. He opened
back the temple. He resumed the practice of the
Passover. He led the people in worship.
He destroyed altars and idols to the false gods that so many
people worshiped. And then along came Manasseh,
and he took it upon himself to undo all the good that his father
had done. And here in 2 Kings chapter 21,
we only read of his great depravity. And I'm thankful that this was
not the end of the story. Because as we studied this past
Lord's Day, God saved him by his grace. And he found out who
God is. He found out who the Lord was. He found out how important it
was to worship God by means of a bloody sacrifice. And when
God released him from Babylonian captivity, he went back to Jerusalem,
Jerusalem where he had established so many idols and so many false
gods. And he got rid of them. And he
led the people in the worship of God, picturing the worship
of God by means of the blood and righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. But as a result of the idolatries
of King Manasseh, God promised to bring evil upon the kingdom
of Judah and upon the city of Jerusalem specifically. Let me read a few verses to you. here in 2 Kings chapter 21. And
I want to begin at verse 8. 2 Kings 21 8, Neither will I make
the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave
their fathers, only if they will observe to do according to all
that I commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant
Moses commanded them." God gave them laws when he instructed
Moses from Mount Sinai concerning not only the Ten Commandments
but also all the ceremonial laws and rituals and rites that God
gave them pertaining to how they were to worship God. They were
only to worship God at one place and then only by means of the
blood of innocent victims. Because we know in the Bible
that God instituted this principle all the way back in Genesis chapter
3, that the only way that the guilty will live is for a suitable,
appointed, innocent victim to die in their stead. And that
point, that principle, which was begun by the Son of God Himself
at the end of Genesis chapter 3, is carried through all the
way to the end of the Bible. And of course, it pictured the
substitutionary sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, who died
the just for the unjust to bring us to God. Well, God, when He
gave the law, He gave the laws pertaining to the various offerings
and sacrifices that Israel was to offer up to the Lord. But
notice verse 9, they hearken not. Isaiah the prophet who ministered
to the kingdom of Judah, who as we said Sunday morning was
father-in-law to Manasseh most likely. He taught them how to
worship God. And we just read from Isaiah
chapter 52, and had we read further into chapter 53, which is the
gospel in the Old Testament, Isaiah told us about Christ who'd
be wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.
And Isaiah chapter 53 reads as though that had already happened.
So Isaiah, he goes into Jerusalem and he would often visit the
house of King Manasseh and talk to him and preach to him. But verse 9 sums up the attitude
not only of the King Manasseh but the people of Judah in general. They hearken not. They hearkened
not. And through the years, God has
had voices that set forth the truth of the gospel of His grace. And if the Spirit of God doesn't
give us ears to hear and a heart to receive and eyes to see, nobody
will hearken to the gospel. Nobody will believe the word
of the Lord. They hearkened not, so continue
reading. And Manasseh seduced them to
do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before
the children of Israel. He did worse than them. And he
led them into idolatry. He did worse than them because
his sins were against light. He had knowledge that they didn't
have. He had had instruction that they
didn't have. He knew something about the Word
of God that the heathen knew nothing of. And yet he closed
his eyes against the light. He refused to see the truth. He refused because he could not
see because he's spiritually blinded. And he seduced them
into idolatry. And He did more evil than did
the nations that God destroyed when Israel entered into the
Promised Land. Now look at verse 10. And the
LORD spake by His servants the prophets, saying, Because Manasseh
king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly
above all that the Amorites did which were before him, and hath
made Judah also to sin with his idols. Therefore thus saith the
Lord God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing much evil upon Jerusalem
and Judah, that whoso heareth it, both his ears shall tingle."
People are going to be shocked They're going to be startled.
They'll be horrified the way that God is going to pour out
His judgment upon Jerusalem and Judah. And then He says in verse
13, And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet
of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth
a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. Here's the title
of my message, Jerusalem Shall Be Wiped. God says He will wipe
Jerusalem. Now we know Jerusalem was where
the temple had been built and established. And God said, that's
where I'll meet with you, at the temple, at the brazen altar,
at the very entrance into the temple. That's where I'll meet
you. That's where you'll meet me.
Right there at the temple where the presence of God was manifested
by His great glory. And that's where the sacrifices
were offered unto the Lord. Hezekiah had opened back up the
gates of the temple that his own father had closed. And now Jerusalem is filled with
idols. And God is greatly displeased. And he says he's going to punish
Jerusalem. You know, those prophets, especially
Isaiah, had a two-fold message to people. They talked about
the judgment of God that would surely come upon sin. But we
need to know this, preaching of judgment, what people today
used to call fire, hellfire and brimstone preaching, will never
will never turn a soul to Christ. You can scare people, preachers
can scare people, and do it to such an extent that they'll make
some kind of profession of faith, but all the preaching of the
judgment of God alone will never change a heart, will never quicken
a soul, will never give spiritual eyesight or spiritual hearing. Preaching of judgment didn't
affect Manasseh. It didn't affect Judah. But Isaiah
also preached glad tidings of the coming of Messiah, of grace
found in the Son of God who would come and put away the sins of
his people. Isaiah preached the good news
that God's going to save His people, and He'll do so by sending
the perfect sacrifice into this world, who by His death would
put away the sins of His people and justify His people forever
and ever. But though the gospel Isaiah
proclaimed and the other prophets proclaimed was true, it was good
news, the gospel in and of itself, unaccompanied by the power of
the Holy Spirit, that doesn't change anybody either. Neither the preaching of judgment
nor the glad tidings of grace unaccompanied by the power of
the Holy Spirit is going to change anybody. And we keep preaching, we keep
telling the truth that the wages of sin is death, but the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. But I'm
not trying to scare anybody into a religious decision. And I'm
not trying to talk anybody into a religious decision due to the
goodness and the grace and the mercy and the loving kindness
of God. I'm preaching the truth of the
Word of God, knowing this, that which is absolutely necessary
is the power of our omnipotent God to work in the hearts of
sinners. And then people will believe.
You see, Manasseh, He didn't believe. He heard the preaching
of Isaiah. He said, boy, I tell you, if
people hear the preaching of the prophet Isaiah, he wrote
the gospel of the Old Testament. Surely people hearing his preaching,
they'd repent and believe and follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
No, they didn't. And I told you Sunday morning
that for all of his preaching of the truth. Isaiah, at the
orders of Manasseh, was sown asunder, cut him in half with
a saw. It takes the grace of God. It
takes the grace of God. Now, I want to draw your attention
to Jerusalem. What he has to say here in this
passage about Jerusalem You know that Jerusalem is spoken of in
the Word of God as being the city of God. And it pictures,
it typifies the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. The very first
mention of Salem, which is short for Jerusalem, is back in the
book of Genesis. We won't go there, but Abraham
had come back from the victory over the kings. And he rescued
Lot and his family and all of the possessions that had been
taken from them. And a man by the name of Methuselah
met Abraham as he came back after the conquering of the kings.
And Methuselah is said to be the king of Salem, which is the
very first mention of Jerusalem in the Bible. the city of peace. It later became known as Jerusalem,
the city of God. And throughout the Old Testament,
especially in the Psalms, we frequently read of Jerusalem. And we get into the New Testament,
and the first time Jerusalem is mentioned is back there with
with Melchizedek and him blessing Abraham. And the last time it's
mentioned is in Revelation chapter 21. And John sees the new Jerusalem
coming down from heaven because Jerusalem pictures the city of
God. And we dwell in Jerusalem. We dwell in God's city. We dwell with Him and He dwells
with us. And like Melchizedek, Christ
is King of this city. He's the Lord of this city. As I said, Jerusalem is quite
often a picture of the chosen, redeemed, and called of the Lord.
He dwells in us. In Hebrews chapter 12, we don't
have time to look at it, but it says, year come to Mount Zion
and under the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. The heavenly Jerusalem. We are
the holy city. We are Jerusalem. Now here's
what the Lord says here in this passage of scripture. Number
one, the Lord said he would punish Jerusalem. God punished Jerusalem for our
sins. He said, well, if we're the city
of God, God's not gonna punish us for our sins. We were punished,
but we were in Christ. And the punishment for our guilt,
the punishment for our sins, fell upon Him. Spiritual Jerusalem
is the city of God. God punished His people in the
person of His Son. We were in Him. We've always
been one with Christ from before the foundation of the world. You see, salvation cannot be
shown except upon the basis of justice satisfied. And the justice
of God was satisfied in the death of Christ, we were in Him. Our sins were repulsive to God. And just as surely as God punished
Israel, so God would punish Jerusalem. But God punishes His spiritual
Jerusalem. He punished us in Christ. The wrath of God was so horrible
that it was poured into the soul of our Lord Jesus Christ. As
it says here in the end of verse 12, when somebody hears about
the awfulness of the wrath of God, their ears will tingle. And as we think about our Lord
Jesus in whom we were when He hung upon the cross of Calvary,
when we think about Him enduring the fury of God's wrath, all
of the vengeance of God toward our sins, our ears tingle. We're shocked. We're amazed.
We cannot even begin to commence to get started to understanding
how much He was punished for our sins. The fullness of the
very fury of God was punished in the Lord Jesus Christ and
on him. Isaiah says he was wounded for
our transgressions. Do not your ears kind of tingle
when you hear that? As you think of all the vengeance
of God being poured into his soul, And it was because of us. It was because of our sins. Be
startled, be amazed at how much he suffered. Why, even in anticipating
the wrath of God that would fall upon him because of our sins,
he wept in the garden and he sweat in the garden great drops
of blood. It says here in verse Number
11, or verse 12, God says, I will stretch over Jerusalem the line
of Samaria. He said, I'm going to bring Jerusalem
low. And I promise you this, before
he lifts up Jerusalem, he's going to bring her down. Before he
clothes Jerusalem in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, he's
going to strip us of our self-righteousness. before he makes us alive, alive
in Christ. Before he does that, he's going
to have to kill us. He's going to have to kill our
self-righteousness and our arrogance. And then he says, I will wipe
Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish. Jerusalem is likened unto a dish
or a bowl. Our Lord is said to be the great
potter. And His spiritual Jerusalem is
likened unto a dish or a bowl. Or as it says in Romans chapter
9, vessels of mercy. That's what we are. Vessels of
mercy. But when God comes to deal with
us vessels of mercy, He finds us full of filth. So what does the Lord do? He
wipes out the dish. The dish has got to be washed.
But first of all, it's got to be emptied. Because a full dish
can't hold anything. The dish or the bowl or the vessel
has got to be emptied of self and emptied of sin. And God,
as it were, turns us upside down and pours out the filth that
is in us. And then he pours in the riches
of his grace through our Lord Jesus Christ. He washes us. In just a little bit, we're gonna
talk about and sing about, rather, the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what washes us and makes
us clean. The Lord has emptied the filth
out. Actually, the filth was emptied upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And He bore our filthiness. He
bore our rottenness. He bore the very stench of our
iniquities. He bore them all the way to the
cross. Then He comes to us in saving
mercy. And He washes us like a man washes
a dish or a cup or a vessel. He cleanses us and fills us with
His mercy, fills us with forgiveness, fills us with righteousness.
You see, we are dishes or bowls or vessels fashioned by our gracious
God. and he has cleansed us. Oh, I
know in ourselves we still are sinful and we shall remain sinners
throughout this life, but in the sight of God, and his sight
is the only sight that matters, we're absolutely clean. We're
vessels fit for the master's use. We've been emptied of sin
and filled with righteousness. Can you imagine that? Filled
with righteousness, filled with grace, filled with forgiveness. All of our sins having been emptied
into the very heart of the Son of God who bore them in His own
body on the tree. And then he bore them away into
a land of forgetfulness. The scripture says in Hebrews
1, 3, he purged our sins. And after purging us of our sins,
he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Children
of God, believers, whoever you are, wherever you are, you constitute
Jerusalem. and our sins have already been
punished and we have already been washed and we've been cleansed
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So much so that we read
in Jeremiah 50 verse 20, in those days in the judgment at that
time saith the Lord the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for,
and there shall be none in the sins of Judah, and they shall
not be found." God's not going to find any sins in us. We're
His Jerusalem. He's turned us upside down. He's
emptied out all the filth, and He's filled us full of Christ. And God still savors the sacrifice
of the Son of God. And I'll tell you, we'll never
be defiled or filthy ever again. And someday we shall be perfect
in body and soul when we stand before
Him. Corinthians 5 says, For he hath
made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. What did it take to wash
us? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. That's how God cleanses filthy
vessels. Let's turn to 2 Shall we? Let's sing this song. Nothing
but the blood, you know it, probably know it by heart. We'll sing
nothing