Turn with me, if you will, to
Second Chronicles, Chapter 33, and let me talk to you for a
little while about the grace of our God. What mercy, oh, what
boundless mercy there is in our great God, of whom the prophet
declared, he delighteth in mercy. What goodness, grace, mercy,
and love flows from the throne of God to poor, needy sinners
like us on Earth in Christ Jesus, our Lord. What merit, what efficacy,
what power there is in the blood and righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ for sinners redeemed by his blood and saved by his
grace. What efficacy. what almighty
efficacy there is in God's Holy Spirit to perform the operations
of His grace in His people for the glory of His grace. Never
are these facts more clearly revealed than in the salvation
of Judah's most wicked king, Manasseh. Truly the fact that
Manasseh is saved by God, is intended to teach us where sin
abounds, grace does much more abound. This man Manasseh was
a monstrously ungodly wicked man, the son of a very godly
man, the son of Hezekiah. We're told, however, that Manasseh
made Judah to sin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err and to do
worse than the heathen whom the Lord destroyed before the children
of Israel. Never was there a king more wretched,
more vile than Manasseh, yet he obtained mercy. He set before
us in the book of God as an instructive picture and illustration of the
grace of God. Today, the title of my message
is Manasseh, a Trophy of Grace. Let's read beginning at verse
9, 2 Chronicles chapter 33, verse 9. So Manasseh made Judah and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err and to do worse than the
heathen whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.
And the Lord spake to Manasseh and to his people, but they would
not hearken. Wherefore, the Lord brought upon
them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which
took Manasseh among the thorns and bound him with fetters and
carried him to Babylon. And when he was in affliction,
He besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before
the God of his fathers and prayed unto him. And he was entreated
of him and heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem
into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord,
he was God. Manasseh's father, was Hezekiah,
one of Israel's greatest kings, the greatest of Judah's kings.
He began to reign in Jerusalem when he was 25 years old and
reigned for 29 years, doing that which was right in the sight
of the Lord. Hezekiah was not a perfect man,
but Manasseh's father Hezekiah was a faithful Godly man a king
who served God on his throne Just imagine what that'd be like
to live under the constant influence of a national ruler a king Who
loved God? Oh Just imagine what that'd be
like to live under the influence of a man who sitting on the throne
of the nation for 29 years, serving God, worshiping God, promoting
the cause of God. You remember that Hezekiah was
stricken with a fatal disease in the midst of his reign. He
was about to die, and God sent Isaiah the prophet to him to
declare, thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order, for
thou shalt die and not live. When Hezekiah heard those words,
he turned his face to the wall and prayed. He prayed to the
Lord God, and God added 15 years to his life. Before Isaiah got
out of the court, he said, go back and tell Hezekiah, I've
heard your prayer, and I'll add 15 years to your life. But they
were 15 years of grief. Three years after God raised
Hezekiah up off his deathbed, his wife gave birth to a child
they named Manasseh. I suspect that Hezekiah, after
Manasseh began to grow and mature to a young man, then a teenager,
then a man, had a broken heart repeatedly before God, lamenting
the day he asked God to spare him. and he was added 15 years
to his life. I'm sure he wished he had been
content to die rather than to bear such a son. How often we
pray for things we want, not knowing what we pray for. We
may be covetous of some great thing or some personal desire,
that if it were brought to pass would prove a great curse if
we had it. We would be wise rather than praying for God to fulfill our
own lust. We would be wise to submit to
God's will, leaving everything to his will, seeking grace never
to resist his will, and insist upon having our short-sighted
desires. Manasseh or Hezekiah learned
this. The next time we read of God speaking to Hezekiah and
told him that he would destroy the kingdom and tear it from
his sons and carry his sons away into captivity, he would wipe
Jerusalem and Judah clean like a man wipes a plate, turning
it upside down and cast them off. You'd think Hezekiah would
turn against, oh God, don't do this. But instead he said, good
is the word of the Lord. He learned to bow his will to
God's will. Oh God, teach me that. God, teach me that. With the
big things and the little things. With the great trying adversities
and afflictions. and with the small trials and
temptations we meet with every day. Manasseh's mother was Hephzibah. Her name means my delight is
in her. The Jews tell us that Hephzibah,
Hezekiah's wife, Manasseh's mother was the daughter of Isaiah the
prophet. I don't know whether their tradition is true or not.
But it's not unlikely. I'm sure of this. Before Manasseh's
mother was very old, she would cry, call me not Hathzimba. Her delight,
his delight is in her, but rather call me Myra, for the Lord hath
dealt bitterly with me. The child at whose birth she
so greatly rejoiced gave her nothing but pain, and sorrow
to the day of her death. Manasseh's name means forgetfulness. He was well named. He forgot
the example of his father, Hezekiah. He forgot the word of God's prophet,
his grandfather, Isaiah. He forgot the counsel of his
mother. And he forgot the Lord God. But God never forgot Manasseh. God never forgot Manasseh. His
eye, his heart was always on Manasseh. Manasseh had been loved
of God from eternity, chosen and ordained to be a miracle
and monument of mercy, a trophy of his grace. I hold Manasseh
before you this morning. as an example of what God does
for sinners like you and me when he saves them by his free grace
in Christ. As the Lord will enable me, I
want to show you five things from our text about Manasseh
and God's grace. First, in order for us to appreciate
what God did for Manasseh, I want us to see this man's horrible
wickedness, his guilt, and his sin. Look at the opening verses
of chapter 33. As we read about Manasseh's sin,
I hope you and I will draw a proper parallel between him and ourselves. Manasseh was 12 years old when
he began to reign, and he reigned 50 and 5 years in Jerusalem,
but did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, like unto
the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord cast out before
the children of Israel. For he built again the high places
which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up
altars for Balaam, and made groves, and worshipped all the hosts
of heaven, and served them. Also he built altars in the house
of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall
my name be forever. And he built altars for all the
host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And
he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley
of Hinnom. Also he observed times and used
enchantments and used witchcraft and dealt with a familiar spirit
and with wizards He sought much evil in the sight of the Lord,
or he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke
him to anger. Verse 7, And he set a carved
image, the idol which he had made in the house of God, of
which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house
and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen for all tribes of Israel,
will I put my name forever. Manasseh made it his business
to undo all the good that his father Hezekiah had done. He
seemed determined to tear down everything Hezekiah had built,
oppose everything Hezekiah had taught, and to overturn everything
Hezekiah had established. That which Hezekiah built for
God, Manasseh destroyed. That which Hezekiah destroyed
in the name of God, Manasseh rebuilt. Over the years, I've known a
good many sons like Manasseh. Some of you here perhaps are
determined to cast aside everything Your parents have taught you
from your youth up. You trust not your father's God,
but treat him with contempt. You treat his word, his grace,
with utter contempt. When you sin in such an extraordinary
manner, you incur extraordinary guilt. Now, you hear me. You who have been raised in this
place, raised under the sound of the gospel all your lives
and yet believe not God. You who have been taught from
your mother's knee and from your father's knee the ways of our
God in truth and yet you hold these things in contempt. Unlike
the heathen in New Guinea or the heathen that you set beside
in your classroom or you work beside in the shop. Unlike the
heathen you sin against extraordinary light Extraordinary light While Gospels
hit the gospel of the grace of God is hidden from most God has
plainly set before your eyes Jesus Christ crucified You've
been the object of much prayer You've been faithfully instructed
You've been raised in the house of God. Manasseh's sin was aggravated
by the fact that he chose to follow the worst of examples.
He was raised in the house of Hezekiah, a devoted man. As I said, we don't know whether
the Jews tradition is true or not, whether Isaiah was his grandfather
or not. But even if that is not the case,
there's no question that Isaiah was a frequent, regular household
guest. But when he looked for a man
after whom he would pattern his life, we all do, you know. Children growing up, young men,
young adults look for somebody to pattern their lives after.
They choose someone, I want to be like him. If you look at 2
Kings 21 and verse 3, you'll find out that Manasseh Couldn't
have chosen a worse example turn back a couple of pages 2nd Kings
21 verse 3 He built up again the high places
which Hezekiah his father had destroyed and he reared up altars
for Baal and made a grove and as did Ahab the king of Israel
and Worshipped all the host of heaven and served them Manasseh
had Hezekiah for father-in-law, or for father, and he chose to
follow the example of Ahab. Manasseh had Isaiah for a prophet. He chose to follow the prophets
of Baal. Manasseh devised schemes of wickedness
more outlandish than any who had gone before him. His wickedness
was not drunkenness, theft, adultery or murder. No, no. His wickedness may have included
those moral evils, but those are not mentioned in the Word
of God. Something far greater, far more evil, far with greater
evil consequences is spoken of. Manasseh's wickedness was godless
religion, idolatry. But worse still, it was idolatry
performed in the temple of God, in the name of God. Bad as Ahab
was, Ahab never dreamed of the things Manasseh did. This man
didn't worship another god. He worshipped every other god.
He worshipped all the hosts of heaven. He set up the images
and altars of pagan gods in the house of God, insulting God to
his face. Manasseh made his children pass
through the fire. What's that mean? What's that
mean? Moloch, one of the pagan gods of his day, was an idol whose arms were extended from
him. And during their high holy services, in their deep, dark
madness, Moloch's arms would be heated red hot. And a man would bring his sons
and his daughters and lay them in the arms of that red hot dung
god so that he'd be branded as Moloch's forever. He'd belong to Moloch forever.
You say, well, nobody'd do that. Let's see. Multitudes take their
sons and daughters and cause them to pass through the arms
of the gods of this world and teach them to be devoted to Molech
forever. They take their children and ingrain within them a love
of materialism, greed, ambition. Take our children. And from their
infancy, teach them to follow the fashion of the world and
pursue the things the world has and the world wants and the world
does. To crave popularity and applause. And we teach them this is a good
thing, this is a good thing. You young people, hear me, hear
me. You older folks too. It's always,
always to the harm of your soul to follow
the ways of men. Always. It's always to the harm
of your soul to seek the applause and approval of men. Always. It is always to the harm of your
soul to set your heart on earthly things. Set your heart on things
above. You live to try to please men
and keep up with men and get what men have. And you live with
constant consternation and vexation and vanity. You can do that and
go to your grave and consternation, vexation and vanity. or you can
worship God and follow Christ and seek his glory and live with
peace and contentment and satisfaction. What fool would choose the former
when he could have the latter? What fools men are. While he forsook the worship
of God, Manasseh became an ardent follower of demonic religious
superstition. He caused his children to pass
through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. He observed
times and used enchantments and used witchcraft and dealt with
a familiar spirit and with wizards. And he wrought much evil in the
sight of the Lord. As in our day, Manasseh had those
in his day who claimed to have contact with the dead. We kind of smile and laugh at
that. Do you realize most people in this world think that's a
real possibility? And most of the folks who influence
people in this world think that's a real possibility? One of the
best presidents we ever had, Mr. Reagan's wife, whether she
still does or not, I don't know whether she has the good sense
not to or the lack of sense to do it, consulted with the same
thing. Well, she just went to a palm
reader. That's what you're talking about. She just read the astrological
charts. That's what Madison did. She just consulted with a witch. That's all. Well, nothing to
those things. That's just all superstition.
That's demonic ungodliness. Rather than following the counsel
of God's prophet, Manasseh followed the counsel of a wizard. Rather
than seeking to follow the ways of God, Manasseh sought to follow
the ways of the wicked. Rather than choosing to heed
the good counsel of his mother and father, Manasseh decided
he would go down to some demonic palm reader and find out what
God's will was. Rather than seek the living God,
Manasseh Thought it was wise to seek counsel from the dead. Oh, when men are engrossed in
darkness, how dark is the bondage in which they live. This man
Manasseh led the whole nation in idolatry. As it is with men
in wickedness generally, he wasn't content to perform his evil alone,
this man Manasseh must have others to join him in his rival rebellion
and ungodliness. He led the whole nation to hell. Oh, my soul, what will it be
like? in hell for men and women to
meet those in hell they personally led down the road to destruction. And Manasseh persecuted and murdered
God's saints. We're told back in 2 Kings 21
again, if you look there one more time, 2 Kings 21 verse 16, Manasseh shed innocent blood
very much till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another.
Beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin in doing that which
was evil in the sight of the Lord. He takes both hands in
rebellion against God. He sent, the Lord God sent messengers
to reprove him. And Manasseh became enraged.
Again, the Jews tell us that Manasseh had his father-in-law,
I'm sorry, his grandfather, Isaiah, sewn in two. And you just, you try to get
that. You try to get that. You, that'd be like Lexus laying
you down, commanding somebody, Rex, to take a saw. and saw you
into. Well, I can't imagine that. It's because you can't imagine
what wickedness resides in the heart of man. As we'll see in
just a little bit, Manasseh was forgiven. Though he was saved by God's
free grace, washed in the blood, justified and sanctified, his
wickedness and the consequences of his wickedness were visited
upon his children and his children's children unto the third and fourth
generation. When I read Second Kings a couple
of weeks ago and again several times in the last few days, I
got to chapter 24 and I just couldn't hardly grasp It's now
four generations. Hezekiah is dead. Manasseh is
dead. Ammon, his wicked son, is dead. Josiah, the young godly king,
is dead. And Jehoiakim is on the throne
in Judah. And God sent Nebuchadnezzar,
the king of Babylon, to destroy Jerusalem and Judah. and carried the king Manasseh's
great, great grandson off his throne into captivity and carried
the nation into captivity for 70 years. And this is the reason
why. For the innocent blood that Manasseh
shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the
Lord would not Manasseh was pardoned. Manasseh
was forgiven, but those he led in ungodliness continued in their
ungodliness, and God in justice destroyed them. Now, Manasseh
was a monstrous man. No man in history that I know
of did so much evil in so short a time. But Manasseh was marked
out from eternity, chosen as an object of God's grace, predestined
to eternal life with Christ Jesus. Manasseh was a hell-bent rebel,
but God swore from eternity, I will be his God and he shall
be my son. And the purpose of God must stand. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad? The purpose of God must stand. So the second thing I want you
to see is this. God's gracious, marvelous, sovereign
intervention to save this monstrously wicked man. How I thank God for
intervening grace. God wouldn't leave Manasseh alone. He would not leave Manasseh alone. He would not let his chosen one
have his own way and be left to his own devices. He would
not allow this chosen redeemed sinner to be damned by his own
free will, but rather he steps in. and saves the sinner. Look how he did it. First, the
Lord sent him his word. We're told in verse 10, the Lord
spake to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not hearken. Now you can mark it down. When
God is determined to save a sinner, he'll cause that sinner to hear
his word. We're not told who Manasseh heard.
He heard Many prophets were told later on, but we're not told
who they are. Certain it is that he heard Isaiah, especially if
Isaiah was indeed his grandfather. This man, Manasseh, heard Isaiah
rebuke him for his wicked deeds. He heard Isaiah while he's in
the courts of God, worshiping his pagan idols. Isaiah comes
and says, you see this altar here? This is God's altar. This altar represents God's sacrifice. Here is blood spilt that represents
the blood of God's Lamb coming to redeem his people. You see
the mercy seat there you have defiled? That mercy seat represents
atonement by Christ the Redeemer. He called upon Manasseh to repent,
to turn to God, to believe. He said, He will abundantly pardon. He said, he will give you the
sure mercies of David. He said, look unto me and be
you saved. He said, come to me, come to
me. Believe me, assemble yourselves,
you that pray to a God who cannot save. Behold me, a just God and
a savior. And for that, Manasseh was enraged. He was enraged. How dare you
speak to me like that? How dare you say my religion
is no good? How dare you say that my God
is no God? Let's see what your God can do.
Take this man. Bind him here in front of me.
Get a dull saw and rip him in two. That was Manasseh's response.
But God said by his prophet, so shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth. It shall not return to me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I send it. But Manasseh wouldn't hear. He
wouldn't hear. You won't either. You won't either. I preach to
folks knowing full well that lost men will never hear what
I have to say. You'll not hear it. You'll stick your fingers
in your ear and you'll try to think about the movie you saw
last night or the ballgame you're going to today or what's going
on in the world. And I don't want to hear that.
I don't want to hear that. You won't hear it. You won't
hear it. Unless God's pleased to make
you hear it. and God was determined for Manasseh
to hear. So next, the Lord graciously
brought Manasseh down to the gates of death by the hand of
prophets. Verse 11, wherever the Lord brought
upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria,
which took Manasseh among the thorns and bound him with fetters
and carried him to Babylon. Determined to make Manasseh a
trophy of his grace, God stirred up the king of Assyria against
him, who brought Manasseh down into a horrible pit, bound him
among thorns, and cast him into the pit. I recognize that affliction
alone will never bring repentance. Judgment will never bring repentance.
It'll never change a man's heart. But read the 107th Psalm again
and understand that God uses the afflictions of a man's life,
the heartaches, the troubles, the things that empty a man,
the things that bring a man down to utter despair, the things
that cause a man to realize his utter nothingness. Those things
accompanied by the word preached and by the mighty operations
of his grace in the heart. work repentance and by these
things God brings his chosen to himself. Children of God, don't despise
God's hand in affliction. If you're God's, it's good for
you and it'll be good for God's kingdom. Manasseh had great reason
to adore God for the loss of his empire. for the cruel bondage and the
torment he experienced in Babylon, for the galling fetters and the
loathsome dungeon. He had great reason to give praise
and adoration and thanksgiving to God for all the humiliation
and pain and suffering that he experienced while he was in Babylon. For had it not been for those
things, Bill, he'd be in hell today. You see, before God lifts, he
humbles. Before God exalts, he abases. Before God clothes, he strips.
Before he sets your feet upon the rock, he brings you down
to the pit. And God knows just the way to
do it. See the proud prodigal? Oh, how arrogantly, how proudly
he leaves his father's house. He's not quite the same when
he comes home, is he? You see, Gomer, that beautiful young bride
taken by Hosea the prophet, how proudly she painted her face
and left her husband. See the old woman hanging on
the prophet's arms? When he buys her and brings her
home again, not quite so high-minded issue. See, Onesimus, that trusted
servant, that trusted slave, he's the head slave in the house
of the rich man Philemon. Can you imagine how he thought
about his other companion slaves? You fellas. Y'all take care of the chamber
pots. I'll serve the kings, serve the
master's table. He takes his master's goods in
pride, arrogance, and runs away. And when God finds him, he's
in jail in Rome. And the pride's been broken.
While Manasseh was in the dungeon in Babylon, God brought his word
home to his soul. And I can enter into that. I can enter into that. Not until I had utterly ruined
my life with these hands, not until I
had utterly destroyed any possibility of any kind of a meaningful existence
in this world, would I hear what God had spoken to me? But we read in verse 12, when
he was in affliction. He besought the Lord, his God,
and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers and prayed
unto him, and he was entreated of him and heard his supplications
and brought him again to Jerusalem, into his kingdom. Then Manasseh
knew that the Lord, he was God. Now here's the third thing. Manasseh repented with broken
heart. You see this again in those 12th
and 13th verses. Here is a miracle of grace, a
trophy of grace. Proud Manasseh is broken. The heart of stone is melted
before the throne of grace. The persecutor is praying. When
he was in affliction, he besought the Lord. He confessed his sin.
He justified God and God's judgment upon him. And he poured out his
soul to God in fervent prayer. And then fourthly, as soon as
Manasseh turned to the Lord God in repentance, God turned to
Manasseh in mercy. Now, I know, Frank, just as soon
as some folks will hear that statement, say, oh, Brother Dodd,
he got that wrong. God turned to Manasseh first,
and then Manasseh turned to the Lord. That's right. I know that'll
surprise some folks. I know that. I'm aware of that. But Manasseh didn't. He didn't. He knew nothing about it until
he turned to the Lord. And as soon as he sought God's
grace, God came to him in the revelation of his grace. As soon
as he lifted his eyes to heaven, he saw the Redeemer. As soon
as he trusted, he had peace. Manasseh was restored. God brought
him up out of the pits. He was set free. God brought
him back to Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the place where God
said, I'll set my name there. He brought him back to the place
of sacrifice, where the temple and the altar of God were. He
brought him back to the mercy seat. He brought him back to
the place of atonement. He brought Manasseh to Christ
the Redeemer. And the Lord God set him again
on his throne. And Adam, we were kings in the
earth. And we took the crown and threw
it off our heads. And now in Christ we're made kings and priests
unto God again. God made himself known to Manasseh
in the mighty working of his grace. Now fifthly, let me show
you how God used this man. Here's this man, Manasseh. Of all men in the world, of all men, nobody Nobody in
the world was more suited for hell than Manasseh. Nobody in the world more used
of hell to lead men to hell than Manasseh. But God chose Manasseh. God called
Manasseh. God redeemed Manasseh. God saved
Manasseh. And God used him. Oh, how God
used him. He destroyed his idols. He tore
down their altars. He cast them out of the city.
We're told in verse 15 that he did so. This man Manasseh repaired
the altar of the Lord, restored the worship of God, and made
sacrifices at God's altar. We're told in verse 16. Again
in verse 16, Manasseh commanded all of Judah to serve God. Manasseh
Now he's he's been set on his throne and he's taken his dung
gods and thrown him away Destroyed them tore down their altars and
he he says to all Judah under his dominion he says from this
day old as My father Hezekiah taught you to worship God. So
I command that we worship Jehovah alone And he told everybody what
God had done for him. Look at verse 18. Now the rest
of the acts of Manasseh and his prayer unto his God and the words
of the seers that speak to him in the name of the Lord God of
Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel.
How do you reckon they found out? Manasseh told them. His
prayer also and how God was entreated of him. and all his sin, and
his trespasses, and the places wherein he built high places,
and set up groves, and graven images, before he was humbled.
Behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers." How
did they know? Manasseh told them. So Manasseh
slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house,
and Ammon his son reigned in his stead. We won't turn there and look,
but if you want to read at your leisure this afternoon, Matthew
chapter 1 and Luke chapter 3, you'll discover this. This man
Manasseh was the man through whom Christ the Redeemer came
into this world. He's one of the men, one of the
few men, who's named in the genealogy both of Joseph and of Mary. He was the great, great grandfather
of Joseph, Mary's husband, we're told in Matthew 1. And he was
the great grandfather of Zerubbabel, who was the great grandfather
of Mary, the mother of our Lord. Now that'll shed a little light
on something. You remember back in chapter 21 of 2 Kings, Manasseh
was told that he was going to die and not live. Manasseh turned
his face to the wall and humbled himself and cried out to God.
And God sent Isaiah back and said, OK, you've got 15 years.
You're going to live another 15 years. One of the few men
who knew just exactly how long he was going to live, 15 more
years and it's over for you in this world. Well, that just goes
to prove that you can twist God's arm and you can get God to change
his mind. Prayer changes things. Prayer
doesn't change anything but you. Do you reckon God didn't ordain
Manasseh to live those 15 years? You reckon that wasn't purposed
from eternity? You reckon that wasn't included in those all
things that God ordained before the world began? Of course it
was. Had Manasseh not lived those other 15 years, Hezekiah, or
if Hezekiah had not lived those other 15 years, Manasseh wouldn't
have been born. And Josiah wouldn't have been
born. and Zerubbabel wouldn't have been born, and Christ wouldn't
have been born. There wasn't left a chance. You
see, prayer is put in the heart by God. And no man can pray except
God the Holy Spirit teach him to pray. And when a man is taught
of God to pray, he prays according to the will of God and by the
prayers of God's saints. God's will is brought to pass
so that it is written, the effectual prayers of a righteous man avail
much. Providence makes no mistakes.
God's grace is always triumphant. And God, our God, our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, is able to save to the uttermost all
who come to God by him. And blessed be his name, he's
willing. And when he's done it, the sinner he saves is a wonder
to the world. It was battered and scarred,
and the auctioneer thought it scarcely worth his while waste
much time with the old violin, but he held it up with a smile.
What am I bid, good folks? Who will start the bidding for
me? $1, $1. Do I hear $2? $2, who will make
you $3? $3 once, $3 twice, going and
going for $3. But no, from the room far back,
a gray-haired man came forward and picked up the bow wiping
the dust from the old violin and tightening the loosened strings,
he played a melody pure and sweet, sweet as the caroling angel sings.
The music ceased and the auctioneer with a voice that was quiet and
low said, now, what am I bid, good folks? And he held it up
with the bow. A thousand dollars? One thousand,
who'll make it two? Two thousand, who'll make it
three? Three thousand once, three thousand twice. Going and gone,
cried he. The audience cheered, but some
of them cried, we don't understand. What changed the worth of the
old violin? Swift came the reply, the touch of the master's hand. And many a man with life out
of tune, battered and scarred by sin, is auctioned cheap to
a thoughtless crowd, much like the old violin. A mess of pottage,
a glass of wine, a game, and he travels on. He's going once,
he's going twice, he's going, he's almost gone. But the master
comes, and the foolish crowd can never quite understand the
worth of a soul or the change that's wrought. by the touch
of the Master's hand. Oh God, reach down now by your
grace and again touch us with the hand of your mercy. Reach
down by your grace, touch the heart of the dead, and cause
Manassas sinners to live for Christ's sake. Amen.