Thank you. That's a beautiful
song. I want to talk to you this morning
about two men whose beginnings were very much similar. That is, both of them born in
sin. Both of them idolaters by nature. Neither of these men, of course,
knew anything about God when they came into the world. They
were exposed to the truth, but being born in sin, they walked
in sin and greatly transgressed God's law. Their beginning was
very similar, but their ending was tremendously different. One of the men was saved by the
grace of God. Manasseh. God in his purpose had that man
go on in his sin for many years and then God stopped him. God took him into captivity using
the Assyrians to do that. And there in the dungeon of his
imprisonment, God did a work of grace in his heart. He found
out who God is. And God gave him faith. God gave him repentance. And the rest of the days of his
life were spent in worshiping God and trying to undo much of
the awful things that he had done in Judah. Manasseh. And then his son took
the reigns of Judah. He only reigned two years. But
that which was brief in his service to Judah, he pacted full of ungodliness. And as he lived, so he died. Unlike his father Manasseh, he
wasn't humbled before God. He did not seek the mercy of
God, and he was assassinated in his own house by his own servants,
but that wasn't the worst of it. The worst of it is that he perished
in his sins. He died without God, without
Christ, and without hope. These two men, their beginning
was quite similar. Their ending was very different. And as I go through this message,
I want you to consider who made the difference. That's what I
want you to consider. Who made the difference? Let's
talk about Manasseh. His name means to forget. He
forgot the truths that his father Hezekiah had taught him. Hezekiah and his wife Hephzibah,
you know, they took him to the temple to worship. And they said,
now Manasseh, you just watch what we do. And I want you to
understand that the only way we can draw near to God is by
means of a blood sacrifice. And when he got old enough, when
Manasseh got old enough to kind of understand what's going on,
I'm sure his father, Hezekiah, said, now you're watching Manasseh? You see us bring this animal?
This animal has no infirmities, it has no imperfections, and
I'm offering this sacrifice unto our God because you see, Manasseh,
myself and your mother, we're all sinners. And the only way
sin can be atoned for is by an innocent victim to die in our
stead. Now, Manasseh, I want you to
understand something. When I bring this bullock, and
I suspect that that's what he brought because he's the king,
he could afford the most expensive offering that he could possibly
bring. When I offer this bullock to
God, understand this, Manasseh. Now, Manasseh, are you listening? I want you to understand, this
doesn't put our sins away. Because, you see, the blood of
bulls and goats, they can't ever put any sins away. But this is
a picture, young man. Oh, my son, I love you, and I
want to teach you how the God of glory shows mercy and grace
to guilty sinners like your mother and myself, and hopefully to
you. He shows mercy on the basis of
someone dying that God has appointed or something dying that God has
appointed to take your place. Sin's got to be paid for. You
see, sin's wages are death. You understand that, Manasseh?
I can just hear him talking to him. You understand that? Sin's wages are death. And therefore,
this animal that I'm bringing right here to the brazen altar,
it's going to die. And it pictures one who's coming
way off in the future. Now, we know it's another 700
years before our Lord Jesus Christ would come into the world, and
He would lay down His life. But Hezekiah said, now listen,
Manasseh, the Son of God is going to come into this world, And
way back during the days of Adam and Eve, we've talked to you
about Adam and Eve. You remember that Manasseh? Yes,
sir. Well, you see, Adam and Eve lived over 3,000 years ago. In fact, to be a little more
precise, 3,300 years ago. And the Son of God illustrated
to them the right way to come to God. And it's the same way
we're coming to God now. You listening, Manasseh? You
know, you have to tell your kids to listen every once in a while,
don't you? He said, yes, sir. I'm listening. Now, here's what
we need to remember. Back in those days, under the
old covenant, The way people came to God to
worship involved lots of ritualism and lots of ceremonies. There
were many kinds of different offerings. The burnt offering,
the grain offering, the peace offering, the trespass offering,
there's the Passover, there's the Day of First Fruits, After
Passover, there's Pentecost, and then the Feast of Tabernacles. You see, they worshipped God,
but they worshipped God through the observance of things that
God had taught them and instructed them. Theirs was very much a
ritualistic religion that also consisted of heart faith in the
Lord. But they did all of these things. They had all kind of washings
and ceremonies that they participated in. I mean, it would have been
difficult to have kept up with all the things that the law of
God demanded that they do. But they did them all, if they're
thinking right, if they were thinking right, they did them
all for the glory of God. But you can understand how easy
it would be to slip into idolatry, which also consists of a lot
of ritualism and ceremonies and offerings. And that's exactly
what happened. Now, Hezekiah and Hephzibah raised
Manasseh right. But after Hezekiah died, Manasseh
took the throne. And I'm sure his father, Hezekiah
said, now son, when you take office, lead these people in
the worship of God, will you? Don't forget the things your
mom and I have taught you. That's what we say to our children,
isn't it? Don't forget the things we've
taught you. But you see, Manasseh's name
means to forget. And he forgot. And I'll tell
you, when he no longer had the restraint of his father, he just
went, as we would say, hog wild. He put idols and altars everywhere,
even in the house of God. He had some kind of curved altars
where he worshipped at. He was just an ungodly man. Everything that Hezekiah did, to reinforce the true teaching
of God, to bring back true worship to Israel by means of the blood
sacrifice that pointed to the Son of God who would come in
the future. Everything that Hezekiah did
that was good, this man Manasseh sought to undo it all. And he
pretty much did. And then God said, In essence,
you've gone far enough. And the Lord raised up the Assyrians
who came in and they attacked the city and they took this man
Manasseh into captivity. And in doing that, usually the
Assyrians, here's what they did. They bored holes in the jaw. and they put a ring there and
then a bridle attached to the ring, especially with conquerors,
especially with kings. And they would have led Manasseh
by the bridle into Babylon, into a dungeon where it was absolutely
impossible for him to escape. You see, understand this. All
of you and those of you who are watching, we're all sinners and
we're imprisoned by Satan and sin and we can't get out. And furthermore, understand this,
the Lord has, as it were, a ring through our jaw and He turns
us withersoever He will. In fact, Proverbs 21.1 says that's
exactly the way it is with the kings. The heart of the king
is in the Lord's hand. He turneth it whithersoever he
will. And here is Manasseh. He's being
taken off to Babylon. And the captains of the Assyrian
army, they got him by the bridle. They turn him this way, he's
got to go this way. They turn him that way, he's
got to go that way. But understand this. God has all of us by bridal. He can turn us whithersoever
He will. He's sovereign over everybody. I don't care who you are. I don't
care where you are. Wherever it is you're listening
or watching this message, our God's sovereign over everybody. You're not in charge. You may
think you are, but you're not in charge. Those men who crucified
our Lord Jesus Christ, you know what? The Lord had put a ring
in their jaw and a bridle to that, and they did exactly what
He purposed to be done. God's will of purpose is always
accomplished. So Manasseh is led down into
Babylon. And he's in the dungeon. And then he began to remember
what his mom and dad taught him. And I expect his thoughts probably
went something like this. I'm such a fool, like the prodigal
son. What have I done? I have made
such a mess of my life. And the thing of it is, I've
not only affected me and my family, but I've affected all of Judah.
I've led them in the way of idolatry. I should have been leading them
to the God of peace. The God of grace, the God of
glory. I should have been teaching them
about the seed of the woman who's coming in the future to do in
reality what all the sacrifices that we offered are unable to
do. I should have been teaching them about Christ. Oh, what a
failure I am. Oh God, forgive me. God brought
him down. And I want to tell you something.
If God's going to lift you up, he'll bring you down too. He
won't be in a prison in Babylon, that I'm sure, but he gonna bring
you down before he lifts you up. And in his sorrow and in his
humiliation, he sought the Lord. And the Lord, by his providence,
arranged for his release. And he went back to Jerusalem. And he said, now I know God is
God indeed. He found out who the Lord is.
It's a blessed day when you find out who the Lord is. He's not
who you think He is. He is who He says He is. Father,
Son, and Spirit. God of grace, the Son who redeemed,
the Spirit of God who calls. He found out who God is and he
became a worshiper. And he went back to Jerusalem.
And then he tried to untie all the knots that he had tied. Get
rid of all them altars, get rid of all those idols that he had
put in the temple of God. He put the brazen altar back
and reinstituted the worship of God by means of a blood sacrifice
pouring down the road to Christ. who in 700 years would come and
do what those animals that died at the brazen altar only pictured. He would put away sin. He would
reconcile sinners to God. He would save His people by His
bloody sacrifice. Boy, what a change. What a change. Well, after reigning
about 55 years, He died. And he said to Ammon, now son,
I wasted a lot of years. Don't you do that. I was a horrible example to you
for many years, but I want you to listen to me. God has taught
me that he is the Lord and he's to be worshiped. He's to be reverenced. Don't do what I did for years
and years, you understand, Ammon?" Yes, Daddy. And then my master died. And Ammon took over. His name means a skilled workman. And I'll tell you what, he was
a skilled workman in getting those idols right back up again. He was skilled in wickedness.
He was skilled in idolatry. What a vile man he was. He only
reigned two years. He never humbled himself. You know, what God did to Manasseh,
have him arrested and put in a horrible situation where he
came to his self like the prodigal son did, said, I'm in a mess.
God never put Ammon in that position. He just went his way. It's like
the Lord just give him enough rope to hang himself. And then one day after he had
been king only two years, a bunch of his servants said, I hate
that guy. They got together and said, let's
kill him. And they assassinated him. And he went out into eternity
to meet the God who didn't know. He went out to meet the God that
he didn't know without a Savior, without the blood, without a
mediator. I don't want you to meet God
without Christ. Oh, may the Spirit of God invade
your heart like He did Hezekiah and then Manasseh. I pray God
doesn't leave you alone. He left Ammon alone. That's the
worst thing that ever happened to you. Oh, he had prosperity,
he had money, he had fortune, he had fame, but he didn't have
God. And as he lived, so he died. And he's been in hell, what, 2700 years now. Came to a sad end. Now here's the question. Who
made the difference between these two men? Who made the difference? Go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter
4. 1 Corinthians chapter 4. Who made the difference between
Manasseh and Ammon? Now, if you listen to those who
believe it's the sinner who makes the difference, and if you embrace
that, then you'll come to this conclusion. Well, Manasseh made
the difference. He was saved because of his will,
and Ammon, he wasn't different, but that was according to his
own will. Well, look at this verse of Scripture in 1 Corinthians
4, 7. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? Who made you different? You see, this is not a needless question,
if you made the difference. It's a needless question. Think about it, you who know
God, you who believe the gospel of God's grace to send us through
the Lord Jesus Christ, who maketh thee to differ from another?
Who made the difference between Manasseh? You see, God in His
sweet providence had the Assyrians arrest Him. put a ring in his
jaw with a bridle, lead him down to a dungeon in Babylon. God put him down there to think
a while and to experience what it meant to be utterly humiliated. And he repented of his ungodliness. The Lord saved him by His grace.
Ammon just left to himself. So who made the difference? It's
a simple question. And it's a simple answer, isn't
it? It's a simple answer. Who made the difference? I think
about passage in Exodus chapter 11 and verse 7. The Lord hath
put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. And the Lord made the difference
between these two men. Grace makes the difference and
it still does. It still does. It's the difference
of divine election, chosen in grace unto salvation. It's the
difference of our Lord Jesus and His substitutionary sacrifice
upon the cross of Calvary. It's the difference of God's
special, special providence. in leading you to a situation
where you are brought to your wit's end and leads you to call
upon the Lord and He's there to hear you. It's the difference of the effectual
grace of God. Grace brought him down. Grace
didn't even deal with Ammon. Not at all. Grace didn't deal
with him. He enjoyed mercies, daily mercies
from God, but the grace of God is salvation. The grace of God
is eternal life. It's the difference of coming
to God the right way. And before I close this message,
let me say something to the dads and the granddads and the mothers
and the grandmothers. Talk to your children and grandchildren
about the things of God. That's what Hezekiah did. He set them down. Now listen
to me, son. Listen to me, Manasseh. And understand
this. They may go hog wild. They may
go crazy when you're not on the scene anymore and seem to forget
everything that you taught them. But you better teach them right.
Because I promise you this, there are a lot of voices out there
that are willing and ready to teach them wrong. Isn't that
right? You know that's correct. And set a good example before
them. Show your children and your grandchildren,
listen, Christ, Christ is my Savior. That's why we go to hear
Him preached about. We go to sing about Him. And
son, grandson, daughter, granddaughter, I want you to know this gospel
too. I want you to believe the truth.
And I pray that God will reveal Christ to your heart, but He'll
do that under the sound of the preaching of the gospel. Hezekiah and his wife were faithful. There's something about training
up a child in the things of God, and in the end, he won't depart
from them. And Manasseh, all those things
came surging back into his mind. I remember what my daddy said.
I remember what my mama told me. I remember how Mama prayed
with me and prayed for me. Who makes a difference? I know
and you know, don't you? Oh, may God intervene. Let's
sing a closing song, 449.