Now in our study through 2 Kings,
and we come to chapter 12, but I'm not going to use in the study
this evening 2 Kings 12, there is a parallel history that's
given in 2 Chronicles 24. So if you want to find that, portion of scripture, and then
go back and reference to 2 Kings chapter 12. That's what we're
going to try to study this evening. I'm entitling the message from
this chapter, I'm entitling the message in this chapter from
these three men that we read about. Joash, Jehoiada, and Zacharias. That's the name of the message. Two of these men were faithful
men to the Lord until their death. Jehoiada the priest and his son
Zacharias, they were faithful unto death. Even in the face
of great opposition, they stood their ground and did not compromise. While the king, Joash, soon after
the death of Jehoiada went completely wrong. He was pressured to forsake
the way of worship of the Lord and he willingly, he was pressured,
but he willingly turned to idols and sadly and quickly, tragically,
he did. And he did with great consequence.
The Lord killed him over it for committing what we call apostasy. That is, forsaking the way of
worshiping the Lord in spirit and in truth, and going about,
it says in verse 18, they left the house of the Lord, God of
their fathers, and served groves and idols, and the wrath of God
fell upon them. Joash here, the king, had a very
similar end like to that of Jehu. You remember we studied about
him in 2 Kings 10 verse 31. Jehu took no heed to walk in
the law of the Lord. He did some great things there
in Samaria for Israel in the northern kingdom, but he did
not take heed. He did not listen to the law
of God the Lord our God. Now last week we saw the marvelous
beginning of this new king. His name is Joash. He had a special
beginning. Remember? He was hidden in the
temple from the wrath of his own grandmother, Athaliah. Athaliah,
she's called a wicked woman. He's hidden in that temple of
the Lord for six years And then anointed king at the age of just
seven years old. You remember Jehoiada brought
him forth. They blew the trumpet and they
announced he was king. And Jehoiada anointed him as
king, and they rejoiced. How he was blessed under the
ministry of the faithful priest of God, Jehoiada. Jehoiada made
a covenant between the Lord and the people, remember, to serve
the Lord, and they did with zeal for a while. You remember in
2 Kings 11, verse 17, Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord
and the king and the people that they should be the Lord's people.
Between the king also and the people, there was a covenant
made. And they all rejoiced and everything seemed to be going
along very well. Until. That word there in verse
15 of 2 Chronicles 24, but Jehoiada waxed old and was full of day
at 130 years old, he died. After Jehoiada died, the princes
of Judah put pressure upon Joash to forsake the Lord and quickly
he did so. Now, what can we learn from the
example of these three men? That of Joash, Jehoiada, and
Zechariah. I want to take the yoke of the
Lord, the yoke of his word, and I want to learn the ways of salvation
in Christ. I know you do too. In Romans
15, we've read this verse so many times, whatsoever things
were written aforetime were written for our learning. This is written
for our learning, that we might learn the lesson being taught,
that we through patience and comfort of the scripture might
have hope. Any hope that's based upon something
other than the scripture is not a good hope. A lot of people,
they have a hope because of this experience or that feeling. That's
not a good hope. We only have a good hope through
grace based upon the word of the Lord, a good hope in Christ. He is our hope. He is our salvation. Now, two things. The first one
is this. What can we learn from the history
of Joash? Now here's a lesson for us. The
dangers of apostasy. Joash in the beginning had much
zeal. Much zeal. Seemingly he had a
very good start. Seven years old, anointed king,
Jehoiada taught him well, raised him well, took him under his
arm, took him under his wing, schooled him, taught him, instructed
him in a way of salvation. He had such a good start, but
he had such a terrible end. Now there are many warnings in
scripture about Persevering in the faith, about enduring to
the end. It's not how we start, it's how
we end. Persevering to the end and dying
in faith. I want to die in faith. I don't
want to die like Joe Ash. I want to die in faith. Joe Ash
was just seven years old when it began to rain. He rained 40
years, and he did well until the death of his mentor, his
advisor, his counselor, and the priest of God, Jehoiada. And
after that, things went wrong, didn't they? Look at verse two
of 2 Chronicles 24. And Joash did
that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada
the priest. But when he died, Joash soon
departed from the faith. In his zeal, it says there in
verse 4, he was minded to repair the house of the Lord and he
went about it with great zeal. He was interested and very zealous
about repairing the breaches that his grandmother, that wicked
woman, verse seven, had broken down the house of the Lord. He
encouraged the people to give to the worthy cause of repairing
the temple. And when it was not completed,
after 23 years, he wanted to know why this was not done. Now, if you have 2 Kings chapter
12, notice verse six, But it was so that in the 3 and 20th
year, the King Jehoash, that's the same as Joash, the priest
had not repaired the breaches of the house. This went on for
23 years. They kept collecting money, collecting
money, but the work never got done. And then he stepped in. He stepped in. They went out
to repair Solomon's temple because it was broken down and broken
up by the seven-year reign of Athaliah who worshipped Baal.
When the Levites did not follow through on raising funds for
the temple, Joash put a box by the gate of the temple and everybody
that came in to worship were instructed to put a gift. in
the box and they gathered the money in an abundant way. When they raised funds to support,
when the funds were raised to support the workers, the craftsmen,
it was given to them, they hired stonemasons, they hired carpenters,
they hired iron workers and they went to work on this building
and it says there in the last part of verse 11, thus they did
day by day and gathered money in abundance. And the king and
Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the
house of the Lord, and hired masons and carpenters to repair
the house of the Lord, and also such as wrought iron, iron workers,
and brass to mend the house of the Lord. So the workmen wrought,
and the work was perfected by them. And they set the house
of God in a state and strengthened it. I mean it was, they got busy,
raised money, went to work, hired those craftsmen, and they repaired
the house of the Lord. When the work was completely
done and completed, it says in the last part of verse 14, when
they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before
the king and Jehoiada the priest where they made vessels for the
house of the Lord even vessels to minister to offer with all
spoons and vessels of gold and silver and they offer burnt offerings
in the house of the Lord continually on that brazen altar you remember
that huge brazen altar all the days of Jehoiada every morning
Every evening, a burnt offering, sacrifice unto the Lord. All
those offerings, the sin offering, the meal offering, the burnt
offering, all these offerings, all point to the blood sacrifice. They were all blood sacrifice
offerings. They were a blood sacrifice all
pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. Morning and evening they offered
sacrifices and we know that the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ never ceases. His blood ever, He ever lives
to intercede for us and His blood continually cleanses us from
all our sin. Christ is our temple. Christ
is our priest. Christ is our atonement. And
his sacrifice is a perpetual atonement for our sin. Joash had much zeal in restoring
worship, but evidently he never truly worshipped the Lord. He
was going through the motions. And he did so until the death
of Jehoiada. And after that, things went downhill
quickly. God had done great things for
him. Forty years he reigned, and he did some things for the
Lord, but now proved unfaithful to the Lord. He proved ungrateful
to the Lord, and he proved false to the Lord. He was not a genuine
believer, and in the end, he died in shame, and died in unbelief
at the hand of his own servants. When the wind of doctrine turned,
He turned. When the tide was changed, He
changed with it. He lost His good counselor and
was influenced by the bad ones and He quickly turned and departed
from the Lord. Did He ever know the Lord? No,
He didn't. Look at verse 17. After the death
of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah. These were the leaders
of Judah. And they made Obeisance, that
is, they bowed to the king. It was a big show. And the king
hearkened unto them. Why would he listen to these
people? Why would he listen to them? And they left the house
of the Lord. And we know that Joash is right
with these princes. They left the house of the Lord,
God of their fathers, and served groves and idols. That's just shocking, isn't it?
And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this trespass,
sinned against God. Remember Psalm chapter 1, Psalm
1 rather, verse 1. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, Boy, Joash didn't do that. He walked in the council of the
ungodly. Blessed is man that walketh not
in the council of the ungodly. He shouldn't have given them
a hearing, but they buttered him up, they flattered him, they
did obeisance. Joash not only gave permission
to do it, he joined with them. How sad, how tragic, how weak
and how sinful is our flesh. Now, you're thinking, I'd never
do that. Wait a minute now. Never is a
pretty big word. We sang a moment ago, prone to,
here's my heart, oh, take and seal it. Prone to wonder, Lord,
I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.
Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it for thy courts above. Notice, too, the aggravation
of his apostasy. In addition to the guilt of it,
the Lord took notice of it in the last part of verse 18, where
it says the wrath of God came upon not only Judah and Jerusalem,
but it also came upon Joash. The wages of sin, death, the
soul that sinneth, It shall die. But notice how long-suffering
our great God is. Look at verse 19. Yet He sent
prophets to them. He didn't destroy them immediately.
God sent them prophets. Prophets to declare the gospel. to bring them again unto the
Lord. And that's what preaching does.
One's blessed of God, it brings his people to him. And they testified
against them, against their idolatry. But they would not hear. They would not give ear. How
sad! God in mercy sent prophets to
them, but they would not listen. The Lord will not leave Himself
without a witness. He did in that day, did He? And
He won't in our day either. Few heard them, even fewer took
heed to them, and none believed the message of these prophets. Verse 20, The Lord did this in
long suffering too, didn't he? And the Spirit of God came upon
Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, the priest, which stood above
the people and said unto them, Thus saith God. Why are you doing
this? Why are you transgressing the
commandments of the Lord? You cannot prosper. You cannot
do this in idolatry and continue in idolatry and prosper. And
because you've forsaken the Lord, He's going to forsake you. He's going to forsake you. The
Lord even sent Jehoiada, the son of Jehoiada, Zechariah, to
them, filled with the Spirit, filled with the message of God,
saying, you cannot disregard the word of the Lord. and get
by with it. This too is the work of the ministry
of the Lord to us today, to warn his people of their sin and to
point them to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 21. At the commandment of the king,
they conspired against him, that is Zacharias, and they stoned
him with stones. at the commandment of the king.
Now how sad is this? How sad is this? In the court,
the house, they did it in the house of the Lord. They didn't
take him outside the court. Thus Joash the king remembered
not the kindness which Jehoiada, his father, had done for him.
All those years Jehoiada looked over him and taught him and anointed
him king, but slew his son. And when he died, that is when
Zechariah died, he said this, the Lord knows what you're doing.
You see that in verse 22? The Lord look upon it. He's going
to require. Payday's coming. Payday's coming. At the commandment of Joash,
they stoned to death. The priest of God, Zacharias. Now don't tell me
we're not wicked. The last words of Zacharias,
the Lord will require it at your hands. Remember what Moses said
to Achan, be sure your sin will find you out. We know from reading
verse 23 down to verse 26, I won't re-read this. Judgment fell on
Judah, Jerusalem, and Joash at the hand of a small Syrian army. God brought judgment against
them. Joash gives us a strong warning
about remaining faithful to the Lord. Persevering in the faith. Now here's a lesson I want to
take away from this. Let us never presume that we
shall never fail or fall. Let us always look to the Lord. Let us always pray unto the Lord. Lord, keep me by your grace. Show me the way. Now, I thought
of two scriptures here. I'm going to read some others,
but two that I'll quote to you. Wherefore, let him that Thinketh
he stand, take heed, lest he fall. Say, well, I never, now
wait a minute, never, it's a pretty big word. And I thought about
this too, when the Apostle Paul, right before he was executed,
writing back in that second epistle to Timothy, he said, deemeth
hath forsaking me, Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this
present world. Demas walked with Paul. Demas
listened to the ministry of Paul's preaching, and yet he walked
right away from it. Now I want you to find Matthew
10, and let's read some scripture about persevering unto the end. And that's a lesson I want us
to take away from this story this evening. Matthew chapter
10, Matthew chapter 10, verse 16. Now the Lord is sending out
his 12 disciples, apostles, to preach the gospel. Matthew 10,
16. Behold, I send you forth as sheep
in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents
and harmless as doves. Beware of men, for they will
deliver you up into councils. They will scourge you in their
synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors and
kings for my sake and for testimony against them and the Gentiles.
But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you
shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what
you shall speak. For it is not ye that speak,
but the spirit of your father which speaketh in you. And brother
shall deliver up brother to death, and father The child and the
child shall raise up against their parents and cause them
to be put to death. And you shall be hated of all
men for my name's sake. But he that endureth to the end,
the same shall be saved." Now, the Lord had 12 apostles. You
know who heard those instructions? Judas. What did he do? Committed apostasy, didn't he? He sold the Lord and betrayed
the Lord. Now, there's many warnings in
Scripture. Matthew 24, Many false prophets
shall arise and deceive many, and because iniquity shall abound,
the love of many shall wax cold. But he that endureth to the end,
the same shall be saved. I want to, by God's grace, persevere
in the faith. I want you to find some other
scriptures here. Find Colossians chapter 1. The warnings about apostasy,
forsaking the Lord. Colossians chapter 1, we know
verse 19, for it pleased the Father that in Him should all
fullness dwell, having made peace through the blood of His cross
by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself. By Him, I say,
whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you
that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, Yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through
death to present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable in His sight." One more verse. If you continue
in the faith, grounded and settled, be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel which you have heard, which was preached to
every creature, which is under heaven, wherefore I, Paul, am
made a minister. Now, turn to the book of Hebrews.
The book of Hebrews gives us warnings about persevering in
the faith. Hebrews chapter 3, verse 12. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief. See that? Verse
12. An evil heart of unbelief. Now,
how is that demonstrated? In departing from the living
God. But exhort one another daily
what is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the
deceitfulness of sin, for we are made partakers of Christ
if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the
end. Now look at Hebrews 11. Hebrews
11. When the Lord talks about those
believers, verse 13, these all died in faith, not having received the promises,
But having seen them afar off by faith, were persuaded of them,
embraced them, and confessed they were pilgrims and strangers
on this earth." Now, if you want to turn and read this with me,
you can. 1 John chapter 2, we had this
not too long ago in our Bible study. Verse 19, 1 John 2, 19,
they went out from us, but they were not of us. If they had been
of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went
out that they might be made manifest. They were not all of us. So that's the first part of this
message, but I want to leave you on that sour note. I want
to leave you with some hope. some hope. The second thing,
the second lesson to be learned here is the blessing of persevering
in the faith. Now warning against apostasy
and then the blessing about persevering in the faith. We see that in
the example of Jehoiada. and his son, Zechariah. Jehoiada
lived 130 years and he faithfully served the Lord. Now you think
about it. The time in which he lived, there
was great turmoil. There was great persecution.
There weren't many in Israel that worshiped God at all. But
this man remained faithful. And when Athaliah went about
to wipe out the whole house of Azariah, Remember, they took
the young son Jehoshaphat and hit him, hit him. We see the
blessing of persevering in the faith in Jehoiada and his son
Zechariah. They show us the blessedness
of remaining faithful in the time of persecution and dying
in the faith. They did contend for the faith
once delivered unto the saints. You remember our Lord said, Precious
in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. And I heard
a voice from heaven saying, Right blessed are they which die in
the Lord from henceforth. Jehoiada lived ten years longer
than faithful Moses. The Lord gave him many years
to serve Him, and he did so faithfully. And when his ministry was over,
the Lord took him home to be absent from his body, to be present
with the Lord. They buried him, it says in verse
16 of 2 Chronicles 24, they buried
him in the city of David among the kings. They gave him a kingly
funeral. because he had done good in Israel
both toward God and toward his house. They buried him among
the kings because of his faithful service to the people of the
Lord and toward our great God. The apostle Paul said, it is
God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good
pleasure. Remember, he saved the house
of David from extinction by hiding Joash in the temple for six years.
The Lord Jesus Christ was raised up through that young son, Joash,
the son of God, the son of David. The other example of perseverance
in the face of opposition is that of Zechariah. He stands
before us as a true example of what true faith does. What true faith does. Verse 20,
2 Chronicles 20, And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the
son of Jehoiada, the priest, which stood above the people.
And said unto them, Thus saith God, Why do ye transgress ye
the Lord, the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper?
Because ye have forsaken the Lord, he will also forsake you. And they conspired against him,
and stoned him with stone, that the commandment of the king in
the court of the house of the Lord. Thus Jehoash the king remembered
not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done unto him,
but slew his son. And his other sons, as it says
over there in verse 25, his own servants conspired against him
for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada which he slew. And he said, Zechariah, his dying
word, the Lord look upon it and the Lord will require it. The Lord says of him, the Lord
Jesus Christ, in Matthew 23, 35, that's why we started there, that upon you may come all the
righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous
Abel. Now we know the story of Abel,
don't we? Abel believed God and brought that blood sacrifice
and the Lord had respect under that sacrifice. That upon you may come all the
righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous
Abel unto the blood of Zacharias. whom you slew between the altar
and the temple." The Lord says of Abel and Zechariah, they were
righteous men. Now how were they righteous?
They were righteous only in Christ. They were justified only by the
blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord says of Abel
and Zechariah, They were righteous men. Now, turn back to the book
of Hebrews, and look at Hebrews chapter 11, verse 4. God says
this of Abel, and he says this of Zechariah as well, verse 4.
Hebrews 11, verse 4. By faith, Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous. He was righteous. God testifying
of his gifts and he being yet dead and he being dead yet speaketh. Both Abel and Zechariah were
righteous men in Christ. Both men gave their life contending
for the gospel of God's grace in Christ and would rather die
than compromise like Stephen of old. Remember in Acts chapter
7 when he preached that glorious sermon that God gives us in Acts
chapter 7. And they picked up stones and
they ran upon him like a pack of wild dogs and gnashed on him
with their teeth and then they picked up stone and stoned him. And Stephen called upon the Lord
and said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. He died in faith. Jehoiada died in faith. Zechariah
died in faith. Stephen died in faith. Even Balaam
said, let me die the death of the righteous. Isn't that the
death you desire? To die in the Lord. Let me die the death of the righteous. Let my last end be like his to
die in faith may the Lord give us grace to persevere in the
faith and to die believing God believing God now I want you
to turn back to the book of Hebrews again Hebrews chapter 12 We are surrounded here, it says,
with a great cloud of witnesses. And he's talking about those
that are mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews 12 verse
one, wherefore seeing we are all so compassed about with so
great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and
the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with
patience the race set before us. Let us run with patience
the race the race of faith, the walk of faith, the just shall
live by faith, looking, looking Unto our Savior, the Lord Jesus,
who is the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and he sat down on the right hand of the throne of the majesty
on high. Turn to one other scripture,
a couple pages over, 2 Timothy chapter 4, when the Apostle Paul
was winding up Sitting on death row in Rome, when he knows and
he hears the executioner is coming in a day or two, he said in verse 6, 2 Timothy
4 verse 6, I'm ready to be offered. Time of my departure is at hand.
I've fought a good fight. I've run the race. I've finished
my course. I've kept the faith. Henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." That's a gift
of righteousness. It's a gift of salvation. "...which
the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, not
to me only, but to all them also, that love his appearing." The
Apostle closed Ephesians, that letter in chapter 6, verse 10.
He said, "...finally, brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in
the power of His might. Don't trust yourselves. You'll
mess up. Trust Him. Looking unto Him,
the only way we can persevere. Don't look in here. Don't trust
yourself. You'll make a shipwreck of the
faith, but trust Him. Look to Him and Him alone.