Would you turn to 2 Chronicles
25? I want to read one verse and then go to 2 Kings chapter
14. It's the same story. Verse 27. Now, after the time that Amaziah
did turn away from following the Lord. Now go to second Kings 14. That's
the end of the story. Second Kings 14, beginning in
verse one. In the second year of Joash,
son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, reigned Amaziah, the son of Joash,
king of Judah. He was twenty and five years
old when he began to reign and reigned twenty and nine years
in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jehoadan
of Jerusalem. And he did that which was right
in the sight of the Lord. He appeared to be following the
Lord. Yet, not like David his father,
he did according to all the things of Joash his father did, albeit
the high places were not taken away, as yet the people did sacrifice
and burn incense on the high places. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name and how we thank you for him and the salvation
that's in him. Lord, we earnestly desire that
you would speak to us from your word, that you deliver us from
merely hearing from a man, but that we might hear from thee,
the living God. We pray that Christ Jesus might be exalted,
that you teach us to glory only in the cross. Lord, we confess
our sins. We pray for forgiveness. We pray
for cleansing. We pray for grace to love you
more and love one another more. We pray that wherever your word
is preached, you'd bless it for your glory. Bless us for Christ's
sake, in his name we pray, amen. Now this is the story of a man
who followed the Lord with a divided heart. It's concerning to read that
he turned from following the Lord. He seemed to be following
the Lord, but he was like his dad only when he was properly
influenced. He didn't have any true heart
conviction about what he said he believed. And this is seen
in this spirit of toleration. Look at chapter 14 once again,
verse three. He did that which was right in
the sight of the Lord, yet not like David his father." Now,
the scripture points out that David followed the Lord with
a perfect heart, with a complete heart. He wasn't half-hearted,
and we're going to consider what it means to be half-hearted in
looking at this passage of scripture. But he did that which was right
in the sight of the Lord, yet not like David his father. He
did according to all the things that Joash his father did. Let
the high places and groves go by, how be it, verse four, how
be it the high places were not taken away as yet the people
did sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places. Now, what's
the point? What is so wrong with those high
places? There's one place of salvation,
Christ. There's only one place you could
offer sacrifices, the temple that represented the Lord Jesus
Christ in Jerusalem. No other place was permitted.
Only one priest could offer up those sacrifices. Now, all Amaziah
saw this was, was as a religious rule. He couldn't see it any
other way. All he saw was a religious rule.
And he was tolerant of breaking that rule. He was thinking, it's
okay, it's not that big a deal. And he let the sacrifices in
the high places, he let people burn incense and go to these
high places and these groves for their, I guess you'd call
it worship. Now, if I can tolerate that which
is contrary to the glory of Christ, there's only one real reason,
because I don't love him. And I don't really believe what
I say I do. I don't really believe Christ
is all in salvation. He couldn't get that. He tolerated
these high places because he didn't really see that much wrong
with it. He didn't really believe what
he said he did, and he looked at it as nothing but a rule.
He didn't see the gospel in this, and that's why he was okay with
these high places. 2 Chronicles 25 gives more detail
about this man, so would you turn back there to 2 Chronicles
25? You know where it points out
that he didn't serve the Lord like David, his father, or his
great-great-great-great-grandfather did? You know something I think
is very interesting? When David reigned, you didn't
even read about high places or groves or anything like that. I mean, it was utterly, they
found no place in Israel under his reign. And he's the man who
was called the man after God's own heart, who served God with
a perfect heart. Now look in chapter 25, verse
one. Amaziah was 20 and 5 years old
when it began to rain, and he rained 20 and 9 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoiadan
of Jerusalem. And he did that which was right
in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart. He was not wholehearted. He was
divided in his interests. He was one of these men that
James calls a double-minded man who's unstable in all his ways. He didn't have a concept of looking
to the word of God alone. He didn't have any kind of concept
of Christ only in salvation. He was divided. He was complex. He was convoluted. He didn't
know anything about the simplicity, the onlyness of Christ. He didn't
know anything about what it meant to actually believe that salvation
was by grace alone. He didn't understand. He was
divided in his heart. He didn't understand what it
meant to look to Christ only and to glory in nothing but the
cross. He was a divided man. He served the Lord, but not with
a perfect heart, a complete heart, the way David did. And this is
seen, first of all, in that spirit of toleration. The high places
were not taken away. It didn't bother him. Now let's go on reading verse
three. Now it came to pass when the kingdom was established to
him, that he slew his servants that had killed the king, his
father. They had murdered him and he
murdered them, but he slew not their children. But he did as
it was written in the law of Moses, where the Lord commanded,
saying, the father shall not die for the children, neither
shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall
die for his own sin. Now he obeyed the scriptures when it was convenient
to him, when it would serve his best interest somehow. Moreover,
verse five, Amaziah gathered Judah together and made them
captains over thousands and captains over hundreds and according to
the houses of their fathers throughout all Judah and Benjamin. And he
numbered them from 20 years old and above and found them 300,000
choice men able to go forth to war that could handle spear and
shield. He had 300,000 men he was going
to be able to fight with. Verse six, he hired also 100,000
mighty men of valor out of Israel for 100 talents of silver. He
got him some mercenaries. Now what he was doing at this
time, because the prophet forbids him to do this, he wasn't looking
to what the Lord provided him. He hired something else. He's
looking to the arm of the flesh to help him. That's what he's
doing. He's not looking to the Lord
only. He's looking to the arm of the flesh and he hires a hundred
thousand mercenaries to help him out in this battle. Verse
seven, but there came a man of God to him saying, O king, Let
not the army of Israel go with thee, for the Lord is not with
Israel, to wit with all the children of Ephraim. But if thou wilt
go, do it, be strong for the battle. God shall make thee fall
before thine enemy, for God hath power to help and to cast down."
Now, if you go with these 100,000, you will lose. Now that was the word of God's
prophet to Amaziah. And Amaziah said to the man of
God, but what shall we do with the hundred towns which I've
given to the army of Israel? We're going to lose a bunch of money
out of that. I love the prophet's answer. And the man of God answered,
the Lord is able to give you much more than this. I love the
way much more is used in the scripture. Much more. Read Romans
chapter five. It's in there five or six times.
Much more. much more grace abounds and so on. God's able to give
you much more than this. Don't look to the flesh, look
to the Lord. May the Lord enable us to do
that, to not look to the flesh in any way. And that's what he
was doing at this time. He was trusting the arm of the
flesh. Let's go on reading. Then Amaziah
separated them to with the army that was come to him out of Ephraim
to go home again. He said, y'all go home. We're
not going to use you. Wherefore, their anger was greatly kindled
against Judah, and they returned home in great anger." They were
upset. And Amaziah strengthened himself
and led forth his people, that 300,000, and went to the Valley
of Salt and smote the children of Seir, 10,000. Another 10,000
left alive to the children of Judah, carried away captive and
brought them up onto the top of the rock and cast them down.
from the top of the rock that they were all broken in pieces.
That seems kind of cruel, doesn't it? But that's what they did.
But he won this victory in obeying what God's prophet said to do.
Don't look to the flesh. And he won this victory and he
ends up becoming very proud of it. You could call Amaziah the
proud king. Look in verse 19. This is after he had He had wanted
to confront the King of Israel. Verse 19, and this is the King
of Israel speaking to him. Thou sayest, lo, thou hast smitten
the Edomites, that's who he had destroyed with that 300,000,
and thine heart lifteth thee up to boast. Now, what was he
doing? He was boasting. He wasn't looking
to the Lord winning this victory for him. All of a sudden, he
was taking credit for it. And that's a divided heart. Not
only will it tolerate idolatry and wrong, not only will it look
to the flesh, it always finds something to glory and boast
in. That's what he was doing at this time. He was boasting
in this victory that the Lord had given him. He got proud,
and he thought, I can defeat Israel. Look at this mighty victory
I've been given. And he started boasting. And
you can just write this down. A divided heart will always find
something in the flesh to glory in. Paul said, God forbid that
I should glory. saving the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. But here, here Amaziah is, he's
finding something to boast in. Now let's go back to verse 13. But the soldiers of the army,
which Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to
battle, fell upon the cities of Judah from Samaria even into
Bethhorin and smote 3000 of them and took much spoil. They were
wanting vengeance. Now it came to pass, verse 14,
after that Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites,
that he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them
up to be his gods, and bowed down himself unto them, and burned
incense to them." Now, you think of this. He defeats these people. Their gods obviously couldn't
help them, but he says, I'm going to make their gods my gods. And
he actually bowed, talking about, and I want to use this phrase
the right way, but talking about stupid. Stupid. They couldn't do anything for
their people. Why would he have adopted these gods and all of
a sudden bowed down himself to them? This was the King of Judah.
And yet he's doing this. This is, now understand, faith
doesn't have anything to do with your intellect. Faith is the
gift of God. But how stupid is idolatry? These people, these gods couldn't
deliver their own people. Why is he doing this? Now let's
go on reading verse 15. Wherefore, the anger of the Lord
was kindled against Amaziah and sent him to a prophet, which
said unto him, why hast thou sought after the gods of the
people, which could not deliver their own people out of your
hand? What are you doing? What are you doing? And it came
to pass as he talked with him, that the king said unto him,
art thou made of the king's council? Forbear, why shouldst thou be
smitten? In other words, he's threatening him. If you keep
this up, you're gonna be smitten. Now, here is another act of a
divided heart. A divided heart just won't bow
to what God says. We believe something. because
it's what the word of God actually teaches. Now when he has God's
prophet come, why are you doing this? He says, you're going to
be smitten. He would not bow to what God
says. Verse 16, look what the prophet
says. Then the prophet forbear and
said, I know that God is determined to destroy you because you've
done this and it's not hearkening to my counsel. Then verse 17, Then Amaziah king of Judah took
advice, not from the prophet, but from the world. Somebody
else gave him this advice. He took advice from somebody.
Oh, watch out who you take advice from. Watch out. And this is
what's going on. He's taking advice from somebody
and somebody was reasoning, look, you have 300,000 men. You won
this mighty victory. You're able to do it again. He
thought, I think I can. So look what he does. Verse 17,
then Amaziah, King of Judah took advice and sent to Joash, the
son of Jehoash, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, come,
let us see one another in the face. What he's saying is let's
fight face to face. He's coming to Israel and he
says, I want to battle you. He's picking this, and it's because
somebody gave him advice to do this. They said, if you beat
Israel, you can take all their gold. You can take all their
silver. You can enrich yourself. You can make your kingdom better.
And he took that advice. And Joash, king of Israel, sent
to Amaziah, king of Judah, saying, the thistle, the little bush
that was in Lebanon, sent to the cedar, the mighty great tree
that was in Lebanon, saying, give thy daughter to my son,
the wife. And there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon
and throwed down the thistle. Now that's what's going on here.
You're a little thistle and you're telling this big cedar what to
do. Well, you're so weak that a wild animal, a beast is going
to come by and just step on you and it's going to be over for
you. Verse 19, thou sayest lo, thou hast smitten the Edomites,
and thine heart lifteth thee up to boast. There's that boasting
again. Abide now at home. Why shouldst
thou meddle to thine own hurt, that thou shouldst fall, even
thou and Judah with thee? Why do you want to bring everybody
to defeat? But Amaziah would not hear, for it come of God. I love that passage of scripture.
The reason he wouldn't hear, God had determined his destruction.
Now, understand this, me and you are responsible for our own
sin. We can't blame God. Well, God
determined for that to take place. And everything that takes place,
God determines. He is in complete, absolute,
sovereign control over everything. And we love it to be that way. I'm so thankful for that insertion.
Everything that's going on, it's God doing His will. You see,
the Lord had determined that Amaziah was going down. And so
Amaziah is not going to listen because he's this proud, stubborn,
ignorant person, but it was all a part of God's purpose. Now
let's go on reading. And verse 20, but Amaziah would
not hear for it came from God that he might deliver them into
the hand of their enemies because they sought after the gods of
Eden. So Joash, the king of Israel, went up and they saw one another
in the face, both he and Amaziah, king of Judah, at Beshemesh,
which belongeth to Judah. And Judah was put to the worst. They were soundly defeated before
Israel. And if you read in the king's
account, they were this 300,000 man army was defeated by a very
small army. Israel had been left with a very
small army and not very many chariots, and you can read that
in the king's account, but they thoroughly defeated this vast
army of 300,000 people. Now, in Job, verse 23, And Judah was put to the worst
before Israel, and they fled every man to his tent. And Joash
the king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash,
the son of Jehoahaz at Beshemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem
and break down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the
corner gate, 400 cubits. And he took all the gold." This
is what it cost him to do this. He took all the gold and all
the silver and all the vessels that were found in the house
of God with Obededim and the treasures. of the king's house,
the hostages also, and returned to Samaria." He took everything.
In Amaziah, verse 25, the son of Joash, the king of Judah,
lived after the death of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel,
15 years. He lived 15 years after this
in shame. Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah,
first and last, behold, they're not written in the book of the
kings of Judah and Israel. Now, after the time that Amaziah
did turn away, this is what he did. There was a time when he
seemed to follow the Lord and he turned away. Now, what's that
do to me? Lord, keep me, deliver me from
turning away like this man did, who did not follow the Lord with
a perfect heart. He was half-hearted. Now, after
the time that Amaziah had to turn away from following the
Lord, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem. Now,
can you imagine how resentful the people of Jerusalem would
have been toward this man? He wants to attack Israel and look
what it cost him. It cost him everything. And the
place is in poverty now, and they're upset with him. Now,
after the time that Amaziah did turn away from following the
Lord, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem. And
he fled to Lachish, but they sent to Lachish after him and
slew him there. And they brought him upon horses
and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah. Now, a divided heart. Amaziah was a man of a divided
heart. He was not perfect-hearted like
David. David, in and of himself, you
know he had issues. He had problems. But he was wholehearted. He was wholehearted. He looked
to Christ only. He believed only the gospel. He was intolerant of that which
is contrary to the glory of God. He served the Lord with a perfect
heart, and God called him a man after my own heart, a man whose
heart beats with mine. What is a man after God's own
heart? Somebody who has the same interest God does, the glory
of Christ, the honor of Christ. Now, Amaziah, he was half-hearted,
and it's seen in these five things. Number one, He could tolerate
the high places and the groves. That which is contrary to the
Lord Jesus Christ, that which is contrary to the salvation
that is in Christ Jesus. He was okay with it. He was okay
with it. Now, I've said this several times
in the last month. That which is contrary to the
glory of Christ, I care about the glory of Christ. I do. He's
my Lord. But not only that, if he doesn't
get all the glory, that means there's some kind of work that
I need to do. And that just scares me to death.
And that's why I hate anything that doesn't give him all the
glory, because that puts the burden of salvation on me in some respect. That's a burden I don't want
to carry. You see, he didn't, Amaziah didn't really see the
necessity of Christ alone and the necessity of the sacrifice
only being offered at the temple. He saw no glory in the gospel. He said he did, but all he saw
was a rule. That's it. He didn't see the
gospel. All he saw was a rule. So he tolerated that, which was
contrary to the gospel. Secondly, he looked at the flesh
for help. He wanted to hire that mercenary
army. Now, remember what Paul said
in Philippians 3, 3, we are the circumcision, which worship God
in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence
in the flesh. You know, I really don't have
any confidence in the flesh. Don't have any confidence in
my flesh, that's for sure. Don't have any confidence in yours either. Oh, our confidence
is in Christ. We glory only in Christ. And this man was a boaster. He boasted about his accomplishments. He was proud of his victory over
the Edomites and he boasted in the flesh. He gloried in the
flesh. He wouldn't listen to God's word.
And he took advice from the world. I don't want to take any advice
from the world, do you? I want to look to God's word
only, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now may the Lord deliver us,
because we will, apart from his grace. That's a sobering thought. May the Lord deliver us from
being these people who are divided in heart. Amen.