SPEAKER_00: You guys get a double portion of me today.
SPEAKER_00: Not only on the video, but live and in person.
SPEAKER_00: Praise God.
SPEAKER_00: Come on now.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know the Bible has kings in it?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: I wish I could tell you that I could I did that in one take, uh, but it took me it took me a few chances, but it was a great, great time.
SPEAKER_00: Some people have asked me, Will, where did you where did you guys shoot the video?
SPEAKER_00: Uh I guess our green screen is that good uh that they thought we found a cave somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: It really is not.
SPEAKER_00: Uh it was at 191, so there you go.
SPEAKER_00: Uh well, thank you guys so much for being here today.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, fathers, thank you for being here today.
SPEAKER_00: I know you could be at the lake.
SPEAKER_00: I know you might have uh brisket on the Traeger right now getting ready for this afternoon.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but thank you for joining us today as we are gonna dive in to the story of King Manasseh.
SPEAKER_00: King Manasseh.
SPEAKER_00: If you've been keeping up in the devotionals uh that we've had, uh, you will see that King Manasseh holds both so much beauty, but also so much brokenness.
SPEAKER_00: So much brokenness, and we're gonna dive into all of that today.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're gonna be in two places in the Bible this morning.
SPEAKER_00: First is gonna be 2 Chronicles chapter 33 verses 1 through 9, and then the second place is 2 Kings chapter 21 verses 10 through 16, 2 Chronicles 33, verses 1 through 9, 2 Kings 21, verses 10 through 16.
SPEAKER_00: Now I know you have already stood up several times, but I am gonna ask you to stand as we honor the reading of God's Word together.
SPEAKER_00: Uh you can see this on the screen as well, but we're gonna start off in Second Chronicles 33, starting in verse one.
SPEAKER_00: Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem, and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals and the Asherath, and worshipped all the hosts of heaven, and served them.
SPEAKER_00: And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.
SPEAKER_00: And he built altars for all the hosts of heaven, in the two courts of the house of the Lord, and he burned his sons as an offering in the valley of the Son of Hinom, and he used fortune telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers.
SPEAKER_00: He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger, and the carved image of the idol that he had made, he said in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, in this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever, and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land that I appointed to your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, and the law and the statutes and the rules given through Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Now 2 Kings 21 through 16.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord said by his servants the prophets, Because Manasseh, king of Judah, had committed these abominations, and had done things more evil than all the Amorites did who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, thus says the Lord the God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judea such disaster that the ears of every one who hears of it will tingle.
SPEAKER_00: And I will stretch over Jerusalem a measuring line of Samaria and a plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down, and I will forsake the remnant of my heritage, and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, because they have done what is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.
SPEAKER_00: Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he had made Judah to sin, so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You may be seated this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we love you.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we thank you so much for your word.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, would you help us to understand?
SPEAKER_00: God, what we know not, teach us, what we have not, give us, what we are not, would you make us for Christ's sake and your glory.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name we all said.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: How about some good news this morning, huh?
SPEAKER_00: What a king.
SPEAKER_00: You may be surprised to know, but the title of this message today is actually Manasseh the King Who Found Mercy.
SPEAKER_00: And you may already be wondering, how on earth could this king possibly find mercy?
SPEAKER_00: How on earth could someone who offered their sons to the idols receive mercy?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we're going to jump into that today.
SPEAKER_00: And as usual, whenever I preach, I try to give you guys a sermon in a sentence.
SPEAKER_00: If you check out right now and stop paying attention, here's one thing that you should know for the rest of your week.
SPEAKER_00: No sinner is beyond the reach of God's mercy.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: No sinner is beyond the reach of God's mercy.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're a note taker, you can take this note, you can stop listening.
SPEAKER_00: But I promise you're going to want to listen because this is a very interesting text that we're diving into.
SPEAKER_00: I love any chance that I have to talk about a little bit of history.
SPEAKER_00: But here's one thing that I know happens.
SPEAKER_00: In the year 2026, when we read a passage like this, when we read words like consulting omens and sorcery and uh necromancers, like trying to speak to the dead and sacrificing our children, it's impossible to not commit what C.S.
SPEAKER_00: Lewis called chronological snobbery.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you have heard that before?
SPEAKER_00: Chronological snobbery, right?
SPEAKER_00: Uh this is whenever we we look, I guess his exact uh definition is the uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate of our own age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that account discredited.
SPEAKER_00: In simpler terms, we inadvertently view the past as a result of poor intellect, foolishness, and we think they were just simple.
SPEAKER_00: The reason that Manasseh gave his sons to the idols and burned them was because he was just simple.
SPEAKER_00: We read the Old Testament, especially judges and kings, uh, we read that they practiced uh some really terrible things, and we especially as we see this in Manasseh, and we kind of hope.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but when I read this for the first time, I kind of hoped.
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, Manasseh was just foolish, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like hopefully he didn't really make this choice.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but here's something that I want to uh propose to us today.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, in the age of scientism, that's the belief that science will answer every question that we have.
SPEAKER_00: In the age of postmodern thought, with 24-hour news cycles, with artificial intelligence, uh, all of these different things, with with all the information that we can possibly get, uh, it's really hard to not commit chronological snobbery.
SPEAKER_00: However, I think that apart from God's intervening grace and mercy, we are Manasseh.
SPEAKER_00: We really are.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to your neighbor and say, You are Manasseh.
SPEAKER_00: Now you already may be asking, okay, please tell me how am I Manasseh?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm glad you asked, because that's exactly what we're gonna do for the first part of our message today.
SPEAKER_00: Here's my first point.
SPEAKER_00: Manasseh worshiped what promised security and significance, and so do we.
SPEAKER_00: You see, as we read the Old Testament, one thing is very clear.
SPEAKER_00: Humans have an unbelievably predictable capacity for encountering the presence of God and then immediately breaking the first and second commandment to have a God before the God that we really serve, and to erect idols or to serve other gods other than God.
SPEAKER_00: We have this unique capacity to continue to do this.
SPEAKER_00: We see this repeatedly whenever you read Exodus.
SPEAKER_00: It happens immediately, if you remember, that Moses comes down with the Ten Commandments, and what does he find?
SPEAKER_00: An idol.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, guys, so much so that he breaks the tablets and has to go back and ask God for a second set.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, can you imagine?
SPEAKER_00: We see this throughout the Kings and Chronicles and our passage today, and King Manasseh did the very same thing.
SPEAKER_00: And Pastor Mike, he did a great job last week helping us understand something about us specifically.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we are all worshipers.
SPEAKER_00: We will worship something.
SPEAKER_00: Our hearts are made to worship.
SPEAKER_00: We'll find something to satisfy our souls.
SPEAKER_00: I said this maybe two months ago when I preached last.
SPEAKER_00: It says, My heart must lay hold of something.
SPEAKER_00: In the same way that my stomach hungers for food, my soul thirsts and hungers to worship something.
SPEAKER_00: You may not notice this about yourself, but this really is true.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that uh that I want to do today, I want to humanize Manasseh for us.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and one thing that Pastor Mike said last week that I think is important, that'll guide some of our talk the rest of this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Uh he said, Whatever you tolerate is what you become.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever you tolerate is what you become.
SPEAKER_00: What you tolerate, you excuse.
SPEAKER_00: What you excuse, you begin to treasure, and what you treasure shapes the direction of your life.
SPEAKER_00: I heard it another way this last week.
SPEAKER_00: I was listening to a sermon from one of my favorite preachers, and he said, Sow a thought, reap an action.
SPEAKER_00: Sow an action, reap a habit.
SPEAKER_00: Sow a habit, reap a character, sow a character, reap a destiny.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know that's true?
SPEAKER_00: So, what would make Manasseh not just tolerate and excuse this type of idol worship, but participate?
SPEAKER_00: What would make him reap a destiny of destruction?
SPEAKER_00: Well, if you go back to the first verse, you see that King Manasseh began his reign of Judah when he was 12 years old.
SPEAKER_00: Now, being 12 years old does not excuse the abominations that he did.
SPEAKER_00: However, uh, I don't know about you, but in 2026, with all of the kids that I have, I'm not usually letting a 12-year-old babysit my children.
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, I know my wife, she started babysitting very young, but I'm not letting them babysit my children, let alone babysit an entire nation.
SPEAKER_00: I know when I was 12 years old, I was more concerned about the bully in my school or the guy who said he was going to jump me in the bathroom at some point after lunch.
SPEAKER_00: I was more concerned about this.
SPEAKER_00: But King Manasseh, he comes into power and he's worried about a huge kingdom to the west, Egypt, and another kingdom to the east, even more importantly, Assyria.
SPEAKER_00: Really concerned.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of pressure for Manasseh at 12 years old.
SPEAKER_00: External and internal pressure that he's felt.
SPEAKER_00: And you see, for Manasseh, this was known as the time of Pax Assyrica.
SPEAKER_00: Pax Assyrica.
SPEAKER_00: So Assyria, they governed the political and economic priorities across the entire Eastern Mediterranean.
SPEAKER_00: With Assyria's power hovering over the region, Manasseh recognized the best chance for stability and peace and security was to prioritize Assyria's rule.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know we live in Pax Americana?
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know that there are probably many nations that feel pressure to prioritize what we want?
SPEAKER_00: It feels different, maybe when you're not the powerhouse of the region, and you have to think Manasseh's ruling in a kingdom that's already shown a willingness to separate.
SPEAKER_00: There's already been a civil war, there's already been an uprising.
SPEAKER_00: He feels pressure internally, not just to make sure that his people don't revolt against him, but also to secure some form of peace.
SPEAKER_00: But then he has this huge destructive power to the east that if you stand up too much against, they will come knocking on your door.
SPEAKER_00: The pressure that Manasseh felt must have been great.
SPEAKER_00: Not just at 12 years old, maybe 21, 22.
SPEAKER_00: He ruled for 55 years.
SPEAKER_00: But how many of you also know this is true?
SPEAKER_00: I've had moments of intense pressure in my life.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm a good Christian, and I'm gonna read my Bible, I'm gonna pray, I'm gonna worship, I'm gonna come to church.
SPEAKER_00: But don't we serve a God who sometimes is difficult for us to engage with with our five senses?
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever had a moment where you were crying out to God and God felt distant to you?
SPEAKER_00: Have you had a moment where you were under intense pressure and you thought, God, I need to hear from you, but you were met with silence?
SPEAKER_00: I don't I can't imagine that Manasseh experienced anything different.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe faithfully going to the temple, doing all the things that he was supposed to do, yet God is difficult sometimes to perceive with our five senses.
SPEAKER_00: And so my question is, when God seems distant, what else are you willing to turn to?
SPEAKER_00: When God seems distant, what are you willing to turn to?
SPEAKER_00: Because for Manasseh, this is what he did.
SPEAKER_00: He made an economic and political decision.
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't dumb and he wasn't ignorant.
SPEAKER_00: See, he knew that if he served the idols of Assyria, that he would have relative peace.
SPEAKER_00: He wanted to honor Pax Assyrica.
SPEAKER_00: And so he served Baal and Asherah, the gods.
SPEAKER_00: Uh they were known as uh Baal.
SPEAKER_00: You may ask yourself when you read the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, what are the Baals?
SPEAKER_00: Uh what is Baal?
SPEAKER_00: What is Molech?
SPEAKER_00: All of these different um gods in the Old Testament, Asherah, Ashraath poles, you look at all these different things.
SPEAKER_00: Um, Baal was known as a storm god.
SPEAKER_00: Baal, they they said he was uh riding on the clouds.
SPEAKER_00: And so people would typically worship Baal because they needed rain.
SPEAKER_00: Have we ever needed rain in West Texas, somebody?
SPEAKER_00: I grew up in a farming family, I'm sure that there have been times that you really need rain, and sometimes you do not need rain, right?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you need rain at the right time.
SPEAKER_00: And so you worship Baal hoping for rain because it's going to bring fit fertility to the land.
SPEAKER_00: And then you also provide sacrifice and worship to Asherah because this is the fertility goddess of the Babylonian Assyrian Empire.
SPEAKER_00: And you worship the Ashurath not only for fertility for yourself, for your bloodline and your legacy, but also for your crops, for the land.
SPEAKER_00: Because how many of you know if the storehouses are full, if the bank account is full, if the 401k is full, if your 403B, if your 529 for your kids is full, if all of the if you have enough money in the bank, if you have enough resources stored up, you have some peace, right?
SPEAKER_00: This is the temptation that Manasseh is overwhelmed with.
SPEAKER_00: And so he didn't make a foolish decision because he was ignorant.
SPEAKER_00: Worshiping these deities was intensely practical.
SPEAKER_00: Extremely practical for their survival.
SPEAKER_00: Manasseh didn't worship false gods out of spite and ignorance, he did this out of necessity.
SPEAKER_00: What are you willing to worship out of necessity?
SPEAKER_00: Your heart that longs for something.
SPEAKER_00: Where does it turn?
SPEAKER_00: When God seems silent and not answering, but that person does when you call them, but the plate never says no, but the drink never says no.
SPEAKER_00: Like where are we willing to turn, right?
SPEAKER_00: Out of necessity.
SPEAKER_00: What are you willing to compromise in order to satisfy the need you have for security and significance in your own life?
SPEAKER_00: We do this all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, we do we forget and we stop looking for God.
SPEAKER_00: Yahweh is our provider, but instead we serve Pax Americana.
SPEAKER_00: We we believe it is true.
SPEAKER_00: If I want to, I need a good job, a good education, a good house, and a good wife and a good dog, and all things will be good, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's that's what we need.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we believe in the American dream, and we should, right?
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of great things about our nation.
SPEAKER_00: But do you think that our nation's priorities always line up with God's priorities?
SPEAKER_00: Probably not.
SPEAKER_00: Do you think that sometimes because we live in this nation, because we live in a world of Pax Americana, that maybe we can be tempted to continue to allow things to happen for our relative comfort, maybe for our relative security.
SPEAKER_00: See, Manasseh worshipped what promised security and significance, and so do we.
SPEAKER_00: The problem is not that our heart longs to be satisfied, it's that it's too easily satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: It's too easily satisfied by temporary things.
SPEAKER_00: Our heart longs to worship.
SPEAKER_00: I told you months ago, those who were here, that I long for a Diet Coke.
SPEAKER_00: Like I gotta have a Diet Coke.
SPEAKER_00: I want one, I need one.
SPEAKER_00: It's way too easy right now at Quick Trip for 89 cents to go get a Diet Coke.
SPEAKER_00: My heart wants to lay hold.
SPEAKER_00: But how many of you know, even more specifically, that it's way too easy to find satisfaction in other things.
SPEAKER_00: You see, I've heard people actually say this.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I am I am a pure red-blooded American with my flag flying in the front yard.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a chaplain of the United States Army, so don't hear me wrong.
SPEAKER_00: But I love this nation and I want this nation to honor and serve God.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing the God of our nation really is comfort.
SPEAKER_00: I've heard people say it all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Pastors, I've heard people who are not pastors, that we will fight for our comfort.
SPEAKER_00: As long as my life is uninterrupted, I'm willing for other people to experience discomfort so I can have mine.
SPEAKER_00: As long as you don't touch my bank account, it's gonna be just fine.
SPEAKER_00: As long as you follow as long as we keep the status quo, I'll turn a blind eye.
SPEAKER_00: Like Manasseh, we're willing to worship what promises security and significance.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the problem to keep this comfort, how many of you know Manasseh was willing to sacrifice what was precious, and so are we.
SPEAKER_00: Not only would he worship what promises security, so do we, but also Manasseh sacrificed what was precious, and so do we.
SPEAKER_00: And so in our passage, we see this in verse 6 in 2 Chronicles.
SPEAKER_00: It says, and he burned his sons as an offering in the valley of the sun of Henam.
SPEAKER_00: And it goes on in verse 7, it says that he uh the carved images of the idol that were made, he set in the house of God.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine that.
SPEAKER_00: Idols in the house of God.
SPEAKER_00: A place that God said to David and Solomon, in this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes, I will put my name.
SPEAKER_00: And he put something else in the house.
SPEAKER_00: You see, in order to serve Baal and Asherah, to protect his current comfort, the security of his kingdom, to keep his people from revolting, and to keep Assyria and Egypt from attacking, Manasseh was willing to sacrifice not only his legacy.
SPEAKER_00: But also his future.
SPEAKER_00: His legacy in that this is my people.
SPEAKER_00: This is my place.
SPEAKER_00: My land where I've chosen to place my name.
SPEAKER_00: And he's willing to sacrifice it.
SPEAKER_00: Well, we're going to put another idol in the house.
SPEAKER_00: As long as I'm comfortable today, one or two sons can go before Moloch.
SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
SPEAKER_00: Preferring himself.
SPEAKER_00: You see, in the depth of Manasseh's sin, he stripped away from Jerusalem the very thing that God established them to be.
SPEAKER_00: This was complete syncretism.
SPEAKER_00: Say syncretism.
SPEAKER_00: That means that he looked just like the nations around him.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, this is what we do in our faith, right?
SPEAKER_00: We commit syncretism in the workplace.
SPEAKER_00: There's really no difference in who I am versus the person sitting next to me.
SPEAKER_00: There's no difference on my athletic team versus the other person on my team.
SPEAKER_00: There's no difference between me and any other person that I encounter any other day.
SPEAKER_00: I'm committing syncretism.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not being set apart.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not looking different.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not set apart for a plan and a purpose.
SPEAKER_00: I'm taking on the gods of everything around me because it's more comfortable for me.
SPEAKER_00: Have you done this before?
SPEAKER_00: Man, I've done this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm tempted to do this all the time.
SPEAKER_00: To take on the priorities, the concerns, and the comfort of everyone else, and to stop looking different.
SPEAKER_00: See, God planned for Israel to be set apart, to be different, but in order to hold on to security for their generation, they sacrifice legacy and their future.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know that idols require sacrifice?
SPEAKER_00: Even those idols we serve today require sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to be sensitive as I bring this up because I understand it is Father's Day.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody wants to get, as Mike says, kick in the teeth or put on Front Street, right?
SPEAKER_00: But we're in church.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, somebody.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm trying to humanize Manasseh for us today, that we really are like him.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure that Manasseh did not wake up one day randomly and say, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Those first two sons, I think I'm going to sacrifice them.
SPEAKER_00: It probably wasn't a random day that he woke up and chose to do this.
SPEAKER_00: But he recognizes that idols require sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: And culturally, though we don't offer our children to Moloch, though we don't offer our babies that we just dedicated to Baal and Ashrath in a literal sense, where we pass them before the fire.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know that really as we chase Pax Americana, as we chase the American dream, sometimes there are careers for both men and women that begin to require you to sacrifice relationship in order to achieve the comfort that you want.
SPEAKER_00: Real spiritual darkness.
SPEAKER_00: But every sin is an inside job.
SPEAKER_00: Let's think about it.
SPEAKER_00: There is real power, real spiritual darkness that we face every day.
SPEAKER_00: But every sin that we commit starts here.
SPEAKER_00: It starts on the inside.
SPEAKER_00: I said it just a second ago.
SPEAKER_00: Sow a thought, reap an action.
SPEAKER_00: Sow an action, reap a habit.
SPEAKER_00: Sow a habit, reap a character, and sow a character, reap a destiny.
SPEAKER_00: Manasseh and Judah sacrificed collectively, but the implications of our idolatry is experienced far deeper.
SPEAKER_00: Way deeper in our heart.
SPEAKER_00: Manasseh didn't wake up wanting to sacrifice his sons randomly.
SPEAKER_00: It started as a thought.
SPEAKER_00: We haven't had a whole lot of rain.
SPEAKER_00: Assyria is getting a little closer to our border.
SPEAKER_00: They have a lot of technology and a lot of power.
SPEAKER_00: They have more chariots than I have.
SPEAKER_00: We're low on resources too.
SPEAKER_00: I think we, you know, our animals, they've been starved out.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have enough food for the animals.
SPEAKER_00: And they're not producing how they should.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have enough resources.
SPEAKER_00: But you know, Baal and Ashraf, they promise if I sacrifice a son, the rains would come.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I wonder if I sacrifice two of them or more.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe the animals will have a they'll they'll have a good year.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Manasseh wasn't simple.
SPEAKER_00: And neither are you.
SPEAKER_00: He was very practical.
SPEAKER_00: How many of us have sat at the dinner table making the same conversations?
SPEAKER_00: You know, I know if I take this job.
SPEAKER_00: It said 50 hours, but I know really what they want is 60.
SPEAKER_00: I know that they're not gonna have me travel that much, but sometimes travel turns into three weekends a month, right?
SPEAKER_00: Really tough.
SPEAKER_00: And at some point we kind of look at our family and we think, you know, God, it's really it's really hard, but you know, the economy and all the different things, and I'm gonna have to make this decision.
SPEAKER_00: And somehow uh we think about bedtime at night, and we're like, you know, if I miss bedtime every once in a while, like it's really not gonna be, it's not gonna be that big of an issue because my kids are gonna understand in the future, they're gonna know that I needed to provide, you know?
SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to heap a bunch of shame, but this is the process we go through, right?
SPEAKER_00: This is the we're really every sin that we commit is an inside job.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm not saying it's sinful to work hard.
SPEAKER_00: You need to work hard.
SPEAKER_00: But how much are you willing to sacrifice?
SPEAKER_00: And what are you really worshiping?
SPEAKER_00: Because your heart wants to lay hold of something.
SPEAKER_00: Is God your provider or are you?
SPEAKER_00: You see, this happens all the time.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just work.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to just hit work.
SPEAKER_00: But I've seen this in youth ministry and college ministry and adult ministry alike.
SPEAKER_00: I've counseled men in their 80s, and people will give over the best and most precious parts of them in order for momentary security, momentary comfort, momentary intimacy.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we will give ourselves from one website to another.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we will go from one relationship to another, we will go from one marriage to the next.
SPEAKER_00: We're willing to sacrifice the most precious parts of us for something.
SPEAKER_00: See, Manasseh sacrificed what was precious, and really so do we.
SPEAKER_00: Do you feel that a little bit right now?
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm a little more, I didn't think today when I read Manasseh that I would think, you know what, maybe this guy wasn't so bad.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: You there it feels a little different when you can begin to empathize with this plight, right?
SPEAKER_00: When you begin to realize that the same thing that was brewing inside of Manasseh, I was also born with.
SPEAKER_00: I also have a desire for security.
SPEAKER_00: I also I have a desire for significance.
SPEAKER_00: I want peace in my home.
SPEAKER_00: I want peace in my nation.
SPEAKER_00: I'm willing to give something up to get it, right?
SPEAKER_00: Man, I'm just like Manasseh.
SPEAKER_00: And don't let me pick on the oil field and everything here.
SPEAKER_00: This happens in ministry all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Pastors all the time.
SPEAKER_00: We think I'm gonna miss bedtime.
SPEAKER_00: I gotta counsel this person.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go to this conference because they want me to preach, living for the affirmation and approval of other people rather than living to see my kids follow Jesus the rest of their life.
SPEAKER_00: This happens in every career.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just what we do here.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Manasseh made an economic and a political decision to serve the same gods of his enemies.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what we see.
SPEAKER_00: If you continue to read in the passage past verse 10, if you read the entire thing, here's what you see happens.
SPEAKER_00: That God rises up against Manasseh.
SPEAKER_00: That he said in 2 Kings, I mean, I can't imagine God saying this about me.
SPEAKER_00: Uh what I'm going to do to you will make the ears of everyone who hears tingle.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you want to hear that from the Lord, right?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thus saith the Lord, right?
SPEAKER_00: You don't you don't want that in your life.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want that.
SPEAKER_00: And Assyria came, and it says that he was bound in chains.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't know what image you have in your head right now about what it looked like to be bound in chains and exiled.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but Manasseh was willing to worship and sacrifice for security, but now he's chained in a bondage, and he's been exiled from his land.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, whenever you look this up, the image that actually comes to mind is like a like a metal dog collar or uh like a hook in your nose.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Assyria would do.
SPEAKER_00: They would place a hook in your nose, uh, and they would attach chains to it and chains to your neck, and they would parade you around like animals.
SPEAKER_00: It was one of the most degrading things that could happen to any person.
SPEAKER_00: F losing all of their autonomy, getting pulled to and fro by a chain attached to you.
SPEAKER_00: And what's crazy is Manasseh was worshiping these things because he wanted freedom.
SPEAKER_00: He wanted security, he wanted comfort, but now he's got chains.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know that the same things that we sacrifice to at some point puts a hook in our nose?
SPEAKER_00: At some point it puts something around our neck.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know when it happens because I know for me in my life, when I've been worshiping other things, when I've been finding temporary satisfaction, I always had control.
SPEAKER_00: Didn't everybody have control?
SPEAKER_00: The thing that you keep doing, like the thing you keep running to that's temporary, you all have control of it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but at some point you wake up and you don't anymore, and now it pulls you wherever it takes you.
SPEAKER_00: It pulls you uh to go do foolish things.
SPEAKER_00: This is pressing for us today, amen.
SPEAKER_00: No one wakes up and decides to just do this out of nowhere.
SPEAKER_00: But at some point we've served and we've sacrificed so much that we've lost all of our autonomy.
SPEAKER_00: Every idol promises life, but it delivers bondage.
SPEAKER_00: It promises life.
SPEAKER_00: That website you go back to, it promises you life and comfort, but it's gonna deliver you bondage.
SPEAKER_00: The drink that you say that you can quit, it promises you life, it promises you ease, but it will never deliver.
SPEAKER_00: It will keep you in bondage.
SPEAKER_00: That job that you really want to keep, uh, that promises you the lifestyle that you really want, it's I promise you, it is a good place, but at some point it will hold you in bondage.
SPEAKER_00: All the false gods that we serve are really bad gods.
SPEAKER_00: See, we our enemy uses the same process.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, whenever I was um training my dog, I have a really good dog, Jack.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I think he's at the end of his life right now, which is a little sad.
SPEAKER_00: But when I was training him, how many of you know dogs do not typically want to go into a crate?
SPEAKER_00: They don't usually want to go into a kennel.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, neither do we, let's be honest.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but for me to get this dog into a kennel, I had to begin to feed him and water him in his kennel with the door open.
SPEAKER_00: And at some point, I was able to shut the door and he was fine staying there because he had food and water, right?
SPEAKER_00: This is the same thing that happens to us with whatever that sin is, that inside job, the thing that we run to, the thing that we turn to, uh, it offers us this comfort and this peace until one day the door's closed.
SPEAKER_00: We're in chains, we're in bondage to this sin.
SPEAKER_00: This is the story of all humanity.
SPEAKER_00: Like Manasseh, we're willing to worship the things that give us security, we're willing to sacrifice the things that are precious to us.
SPEAKER_00: But we're bound and subjected.
SPEAKER_00: But how many of you know, if we keep reading, I told you this is the story of a king who found mercy.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 12, it says that when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord, and he humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
SPEAKER_00: And he prayed, and God moved by his entreaty.
SPEAKER_00: He heard his plea, and he brought him again to Jerusalem in his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.
SPEAKER_00: You see, no sinner is beyond the reach of God's mercy, not even Manasseh, not even Manasseh and what he's done.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Manasseh found mercy, and so can we.
SPEAKER_00: Manasseh found mercy, and so can we.
SPEAKER_00: And can I tell you that seven hundred years after Manasseh, there was another king.
SPEAKER_00: There was another king who also had chains.
SPEAKER_00: Seven hundred years after Manasseh, there was a king that walked into Jerusalem, promising a new way.
SPEAKER_00: Putting the chains that you deserve on himself.
SPEAKER_00: But this is what happened when this king cried out for mercy, he was actually met with justice.
SPEAKER_00: Manasseh was allowed to go back to Jerusalem by Assyria, but when we continue to study the kings, you'll see that this happens over and over and over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: We really do.
SPEAKER_00: And this king who shows up in chains, crying out for mercy, but receiving justice instead, beaten, broken, pulled like an animal to a hill outside of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And nailed to a cross.
SPEAKER_00: God knew that we are all like Manasseh.
SPEAKER_00: The thing that's broken inside of each and every one of us.
SPEAKER_00: The thing that traps us and pulls us in, and so he knew I must give myself.
SPEAKER_00: I'll willingly put on the chains and I will take the punishment.
SPEAKER_00: I'll receive the justice that they deserve.
SPEAKER_00: It was right for Manasseh and Israel, Judea, Samaria to all be cast out of the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: But can I tell you that through Jesus' sacrifice, that there's a promised land for us?
SPEAKER_00: That there's a promised land for us that we will go to one day.
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus said that he's preparing a kingdom for us, amen?
SPEAKER_00: That he's promised if we humble ourselves like Manasseh, if we turn to him, if we repent in humility, say, I have committed these sins.
SPEAKER_00: I've put the chains on myself, but Lord, I can't take them off.
SPEAKER_00: Can you take them off for me?
SPEAKER_00: Can you please take them off?
SPEAKER_00: That he's promised a land for us that's far better than some place in the Middle East, a new kingdom, a new heaven, a new earth where there will be no sin, there will be no bondage, there will be no pain, that you will not be paraded around and ruled like an animal, but you will worship freely.
SPEAKER_00: This is the promise of a true and greater king, amen.
SPEAKER_00: And so here's my question for you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to lose the chains?
SPEAKER_00: Men and women.
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to take them off?
SPEAKER_00: Have you found yourself finally at the bottom?
SPEAKER_00: You're tired of trying to work yourself out of it, and you're ready to humble yourself and repent to receive Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I want to ask you to stand with me this morning as we close and ask our prayer team to go ahead and make their way forward.
SPEAKER_00: Our ministry team, if you can make your way.
SPEAKER_00: Because I know uh right now there are many of us who we are tempted to continue to worship what promises us security and comfort and significance.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that worship looks like ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: We worship our own uh image and our own dignity.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want these people who are in this room to think anything about me.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so I'm gonna prefer my own comfort for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: That's not everybody in the room, but I know that some of you you're ready to break the chains.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You're ready to receive mercy.
SPEAKER_00: King Manasseh received mercy, and so can you.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to pray for us this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And if this is you, I want you to come to the front.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to walk to the front, to pray with someone, and to take the chains off.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we thank you for the word being preached.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we thank you for the joy that comes in the morning.
SPEAKER_00: God, we thank you that you did not leave us in chains.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we thank you that you put on the chains so that we could be set free.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, I thank you for whoever the Son sets free is free indeed.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I thank you that we can experience life through you, that through your death and resurrection, the sacrifice that you made for us, that we can walk free today, that we can live a new life, that we can glorify you, that we can go into our workplace different, changed, more like you, bringing about this new kingdom that you promised.
SPEAKER_00: So, Father, for those that feel the tug on their heart, for those that no longer want to be paraded around and controlled by that thing, Lord, would they would you give them grace?
SPEAKER_00: Father, would you not give them justice right now?
SPEAKER_00: Would you give them mercy?
SPEAKER_00: Would you speak to their hearts, Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Would you give them strength, Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, would you strengthen their soul?
SPEAKER_00: God, help them to come forward to humbly repent and receive you.
SPEAKER_00: God, thank you that no sinner is too far from your mercy.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we love you and we thank you.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name, amen.