[0:00] Well, we're going to finish up the book of 2 Chronicles, Lord willing. Tonight, we have now gone from Genesis to 2 Chronicles. If we were to continue in the history, we would skip 70 years, basically, between the last chapter of 2 Chronicles and the first chapter of Ezra, and that's why they will be in captivity.
[0:20] This book ends in a very horrific way. The kingdom is in bad shape. Things are horrible. The title of the message is No Remedy for Such Rebellion. No Remedy for Such Rebellion.
[0:31] Now, when I was a boy, there was an old preacher, a Southern Baptist preacher, evangelist, very well known at the time. His name was J. Harold Smith, and he used to preach a sermon called God's Three Deadlines.
[0:43] And I heard him preach it in person, and he was pretty well known, had a newspaper. And he talked about how there comes a point in your life when you sin so far, you've gone too far, and whatever's going to happen is going to happen.
[0:53] If you choose to reject Jesus Christ and you do it long enough, you're going to die and go to hell. If you live in sin as a Christian long enough, sooner or later, God's going to do something about it. And I forget what the other deadline was.
[1:04] So that's how important that other one was, whatever it was. So I got two of them, and I still remember that from maybe 40 years ago. But tonight, the nation of Israel, Josiah, has died. He was the last king.
[1:16] He was a good king. He dies at the age of 39 when he gets his nose in somebody else's business, and the people choose another king to come and take his place. But after Josiah went out against the king of Egypt, the king of Egypt starts really having power over Judah, and he starts telling them who can be their king and who can't be their king, and they become puppets, and he starts charging them money and making the nation of Judah pay tribute and send that to him.
[1:43] And the people are so wicked that God is going to kill them. It's going to be bad. Look, if you would, at 2 Chronicles 36, 16, you'll know where I got the title and everything.
[1:54] Look at it. They mocked the messengers of God, despised his word, misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, until there was no remedy.
[2:09] That's a pretty horrific verse, isn't it? God loved them after all that rebellion, and he kept sending preachers to see them. He's going to send messengers in the chapter. You're going to read that here in just a minute.
[2:20] He's going to send messengers to them to say, guys, you've got to get right with God. You've got to stop doing this. If you don't do it, something bad is going to happen. But they refused to repent. Their leaders are corrupt.
[2:31] Their spiritual leaders are corrupt. The whole country has gone bad. So God eventually brings the consequences of their sin on them. In other words, it's God who's going to do something.
[2:43] And they will be sent into Babylonian captivity. You might want to mark that somewhere in the margin of your Bible. That's a big deal. If you remember Daniel and the three princes, they're in Babylonian captivity.
[2:55] So things are happening in your Bible, and these prophets would be interspersed in these chapters right here. And so they're in Babylonian captivity. And at the end of the chapter, you're going to get kind of like the end of this chapter is going to start us up with the book of Ezra, because God's going to raise up a king, Cyrus.
[3:11] He's going to touch Cyrus' heart and say, time to build my kingdom back. Time to send somebody to build my temple back. And that's when he's going to send, over the course of time, it'll be both Ezra and Nehemiah going in to rebuild the walls and to rebuild the temple.
[3:24] The book of Ezra will be what it's referred to in this passage of Scripture. So go with me, if you would, to the first thing. Open your Bible to 2 Chronicles 36, 17. And this is what we ought to write down.
[3:35] Sin and rebellion bring horrible consequences. Sin and rebellion bring horrible consequences. Sin does not leave you.
[3:46] You know, there are certain drinks you drink. When I was young, I drank regular Coke all the time, and our oldest son got diabetes. And the doctor told him he could no longer drink any sugar drinks.
[3:59] And so I said, I'll get you Diet Coke. And that's all you could get in the whole country in Pruitt at that time. And so I bought my first Diet Coke and drank it. And I said, man, this stuff is horrific. It has a terrible aftertaste and all that stuff.
[4:11] But I told him, this is great, man. I love it, buddy. This is what we're going to drink, me and you from here on out. But, you know, sins like that, it leaves a bitter taste afterwards.
[4:22] It leaves a bitter taste afterwards. Look at 2 Chronicles 36, 17. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man or him that stooped for age.
[4:38] He gave them all into his hand. Do you have your Bible open there? I want you to notice the he in verse 17. That's God. That will be very clear to you before the night's over. God said, you have done wrong so long.
[4:50] And notice this. God brought the nation of the, or the king of the Chaldees. You know, you think that they make their own decisions and you think that the Chaldeans decided they would attack Jerusalem and Judah.
[5:03] You think that's what happens. Holy Scripture says actually God did it. God brought them on and brought them to kill the people. And that's terrible, but that's what it says.
[5:14] And then it says he slew their young men. Did you notice that? In the sanctuary. He came right into the temple. He came right into the holy place. He came right into where they worshiped God and he just started mowing people down.
[5:27] He had no compassion. He didn't care if they were young men or young girls. He didn't care if they were old men or just stooped with age and couldn't do anything. He killed them. Then it says he gave them all into his hand.
[5:40] Second Chronicles has been the story of almost one bad king after another bad king. One king that goes out to worship false gods, another king that goes out to worship false gods. Most of them even start decently and end up bad.
[5:54] And by the end of the book, God's like, all right, that's it. I've had it. Now the consequences are coming on you. God's people no longer have real kings. Foreign governments control them.
[6:05] It's going to be Egypt and Babylon that control them. They no longer know what the power of God on their country is. They are finding that sin costs them and they begin to lose everything of value to them as a country.
[6:16] Because sin charges a great price. Sin charges a great price every time. Second Chronicles 36, 19. If we had a movie theater here, if I could make a movie of this, you'd see it.
[6:29] You need to see this. They burned the house of God. This beautiful house with wood covered with gold on both sides of it. All the finest furnishings in the world.
[6:41] Millions of dollars have been invested. They burned it. Then they broke down the wall of Jerusalem. Then they went into the city and they broke down, burned down every palace.
[6:52] Burned all the palaces with fire. And they destroyed every pretty thing they had. They're in Washington, D.C. They have torn down the monuments. They have burned the White House to the ground.
[7:03] They have destroyed our country. That's where they are. And it is a direct result of sin. I know. We're not Israel. Your first thought could easily be, well, that's Israel and the Judah and Jerusalem and bad kings.
[7:18] And that's not us. Thank the Lord. I just really believe history repeats itself. And I do really believe you ought to consider that sin gets you in major trouble. Go with me to 2 Chronicles 36, 12.
[7:28] Leadership's evil spreads to the priest and the people until the country is consumed, eaten up with sin. Verse 12. He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God.
[7:40] The king did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. And he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet, speaking from the mouth of the Lord. This king says, I will do what I want to do.
[7:51] I will make my decisions. I'll decide what's right. I'll decide what's wrong. I'll decide what I want to do. I really don't care what God has to say. All of my life, I've liked to make excuses for you lay people.
[8:03] I really have. I don't know how many times somebody said, those people, they go to a good church, but they do these things are so wrong. And I say, well, maybe they didn't have a preacher. Maybe no one explained to them salvation by grace.
[8:15] No one explained to them their identity in Christ. Maybe the preacher's at fault. But this king, he's got Jeremiah. I mean, he has no excuse. He has a great preacher talking to him.
[8:27] And as long as you have a great preacher, he is speaking from the mouth of the Lord. And this guy's like, I don't really care what God thinks. So by the end of the chapter, you'll see what happens. Is that Chronicles 36, 14?
[8:39] Moreover, all the chief of the priest and the people transgress very much. Everybody in the country. Now, when you go down to the priest and the men of God in town and all the people supposed to be serving God, everybody's doing wrong.
[8:52] Everybody's breaking everything God told them to do. And they do it. Notice what their real crime is. You want to hear a wild one? It's not adultery. It's not fornication. It's not pornography.
[9:03] It's not stealing. And it's not killing. You know what they're doing? They're worshiping other gods. Look at it. After the abominations of the heathen. We get in the book of Isaiah.
[9:16] It's already getting good. They're making idols and building idols and talking to idols. And that's what's going on. Isaiah was a prophet back in old Hezekiah's day and time.
[9:27] Two kings back. Three kings back. They transgressed after the abomination of the heathen. They chose to do what the world did. And we use the word world. What do we mean? We don't mean the solar system.
[9:38] We don't mean nature. There is a system on this earth that says, I will not submit myself to God. I will not let God tell me what to do. I will make my own decisions. There's no reason that I should submit myself to God.
[9:50] And that's what heathens think. Heathens say, you can't tell us what to do. We'll make our own gods. And God says, I made you. And they said, we don't care if you made us. We're going to do what we want to do. Back off and get in your corner. And God does that for a while.
[10:02] It gives them a chance. By the way, they polluted the house of the Lord, which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. They started putting their idols back in there. We've seen that time and time again. But we're in chapter 36 now.
[10:14] And God's had enough. Their worship's polluted. Before I go on to the next point, can we just agree on this for all of us? Sin has horrible consequences.
[10:24] And it always has. When you do what you want to do and the way you want to think and the way you want to act in the Bible, it always brings horrible consequences. How many people right now would say, I am religious, but I serve, I'm an Islamic person.
[10:39] How many would people say, I am religious, but I'm Jewish. I am religious, but I'm Catholic. I am religious, but I got this or that. And they don't say the name of Jesus who died for them on the cross of Calvary. That's the abomination of the heathen taking place right there in their life.
[10:53] We think we can play with and tolerate sin, but sin grows and takes more and more control. And sin is never as fun as we imagined. Now the Bible never denied that there's some pleasure in sin.
[11:05] The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 25 that Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. There can be pleasure in sin for a season.
[11:16] You can rebel against God and you can build a fancy altar. You can put up a false God and you can enjoy things for a while, but in the end, it will leave a bad aftertaste. And in the end, there will come a time when the rebellion and the sin will bring a punishment on you and there's no hope for you and no remedy.
[11:31] Could I just say, because I'm talking to some young people and I love you, you know, right now that porn might be interesting or messing around with your girlfriend or whatever it is you're doing or lying or cheating, whatever it is you're doing might be okay right now and you might be enjoying it and you might be saying, everybody says it's sin, but I'm liking it.
[11:49] Just hang on, kiddo. It has horrible consequences. I don't know when God will do it. We've gone through all the book of Chronicles. We've gone through 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles till we get to this chapter.
[12:00] There have actually been kings when God was ready to bring the punishment on them and when they cried out and humbled themselves before God, God said, I'll back it off and wait a while because of you, humbling yourself and crying before me.
[12:11] The second thing, go with me to 15, verse 15. God still loved his people and showed mercy by giving them an option to repent. In this passage of Scripture, it's basically there's no remedy.
[12:24] There's no solution. There's no solving this problem. You have gone too far. And if you read the chapter and you don't pay attention, you could almost miss this. But look at what it says in verse 15.
[12:35] And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers B times, many times, over and over again. Circle B times, right? Over and over. B times, many times.
[12:45] Sending because he had compassion. Can I explain to you that God is not trying to keep you from sin because he doesn't want you to have fun? He's trying to keep you from sin because he knows it hurts us in the long run.
[12:58] Can I explain to you that God is not trying to keep you from worshiping some false god because he's against you enjoying the worship of a false god or you think it is more beautiful? He knows that there's no salvation there.
[13:08] There's no answer there. He knows that. And he's warning them. I love that part of this chapter where God says, they've gone too far. But while we're at it, send some preachers. Go down there and tell them there's a chance.
[13:18] Go down there and tell them to get their lives right with God. Go warn them and tell them they can steal. I have compassion. God loved them even in their sin. He did not want to see them harmed.
[13:29] Listen to what it says in Ezekiel 33, 11. And you might write that in the margin of your Bible right there. It says, Say unto them, as I live, God's talking, as I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
[13:42] I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. But that the wicked turn from his way and live. He said, I don't like it to see you hurt. I don't like it to see you die.
[13:53] I don't like it to see you bear the consequences of your sin. What I want is you to hear the truth and turn so you don't have to suffer. Turn. He says, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.
[14:07] Listen to him. Turn you, turn you from your evil ways. Why will you die? Why will you keep doing what I don't want you to do? Why will you keep doing wrong?
[14:18] Please don't do that. I think it's so beautiful. God has compassion. Right now, if somebody's not where they ought to be, not living where they ought to live, not doing what they ought to do, hasn't trusted Christ, is still trusting their own selves, still trusting some religion, he's got compassion.
[14:32] He's talking to you right now. Holy Spirit's dealing with your heart right now. If you're in sin and you're doing something you know is wrong, and by the way, right here in our very church, we've actually had some stuff happen. They're not here anymore, but we've had some stuff happen, and I would have thought and you would have thought that they were great Christians and it was going on.
[14:48] But it's left some bad hurt in many places. You can't do it. He loves you. He does not want to see you hurt. He wants you to turn and not get hurt.
[14:59] He sent messengers to warn them. Just like he sent Jonah to Nineveh. You realize that even when God preaches the harshest message, you realize that when God says the harshest things, it's almost like he's saying, this is what I'm going to do, and then if you apologize, he goes, okay, I'll give you some more time.
[15:14] When he sent them to Nineveh, he said, in 40 days, Nineveh will be overthrown. In 40 days, basically, you guys are in trouble. You're going to get hurt. It's going to be bad news.
[15:25] And they repented, and God said, okay, I'm not going to do it. That's what made Jonah so mad. That's what happened with old Joseph, Manasseh. That's what happened with old Manasseh. He was wicked.
[15:35] God sent preachers. He got right with God. God's been good. He's told preachers that. Just like he sends the truth of the gospel to your lost friends and your family, when Josiah realized the sin, God postponed the punishment.
[15:49] No matter how far gone they are, God keeps giving warnings. A preacher said when I was a kid, an old preacher who's in heaven now said, don't give up. Not until they've been dead four days.
[16:01] After four days, you can go ahead and give up. He said, but one guy died, and four days later, Jesus brought him back. He said, so that's when you give up. Because we already got a picture of that. Don't give up. Keep praying. God's still sending messengers.
[16:12] Some of you, when your family does something really bad wrong that you don't like, you close the door and turn them away and won't love them. But God would have loved them. He wouldn't have condoned what they were doing. He would have sent the message to them, but he would have kept loving them. What is your sin that you keep holding on to?
[16:26] What is the sin you keep holding on to? Is God dealing with you? Does he repeatedly talk to you about that sin? Do you understand that he is loving you and trying to save you from a world of hurt? Third thing I see in the chapter, go to verse 16.
[16:39] The lost people mocked, the messengers of God. Verse 16. They mocked the messengers of God. They made fun of the messengers of God. They just made jokes and it's kind of like what TV comedians like to do now about any preacher.
[16:55] I mean, the last thing you want to tell anybody you are as a preacher because they're going to really have fun with that one. They mocked them. Not only did they mock them, they despised the word of God. They didn't care what the Bible said.
[17:06] They made fun of the Bible and that's happening. They misused his prophets. That's another way of saying they mocked him and made jokes about him and mistreated him until the wrath of the Lord arose. They had a chance.
[17:18] The preachers came. The preachers talked to them and they refused to listen. They refused to believe. They showed no respect. They didn't pay attention. They ignored it.
[17:29] They slept through the services. They simply listened and never heeded. They never put it in practice until finally God said, I'm tired of your disrespect. I'm tired of your disrespect. And he was ready to send punishment.
[17:41] Don't sin until there's no hope but the spanking. You ever watch a parent? Thank the Lord I'm past this stage. Would you ever watch a parent? If you don't stop it I'm going to spank you.
[17:52] If you don't stop it I mean it. I said if you don't stop it I'm going to spank you. The 20th time stop it. I'm like then you must be like God because you sure are patient. I'd have killed him on a second time.
[18:03] Amen. That's how God does it with us. That's how God does it with us. Are you showing respect for the word of God in your life? Do you take the time each day to get in his word?
[18:14] Do you listen to every sermon? You know as I tell and this is a concern for a guy like me I'm taking you through the Bible and I'm not preaching sugar stick messages that means the good ones where you can laugh all the time. I mean we're really studying the Bible.
[18:25] We've gone through so many books of the Bible you might not have ever been through this many books in this short of time in all of your life and when I'm preaching do you just sit there and think to yourself well that has nothing to do with me. This is just a history lesson.
[18:37] Well God didn't put it in the Bible for it to be a history lesson. He's not that worried about you knowing the geography of Jerusalem. He's not that worried about you knowing the list of the kings. He tells a story to be an example to show you that he's working in your life.
[18:49] Now total disaster arrives. Look at verse 17. Therefore God brought on them and he's killing all those people. It was God who brings the Chaldean king on the people.
[19:00] It was God and notice that when those Chaldeans came there was no compassion. There was just hatred and slaughter. God had been showing compassion and compassion and compassion and no matter how many times he sent preachers they laughed at their preachers they mocked their preachers they mocked their messages and they kept doing it and finally one day God said all right you pushed it far enough here they come.
[19:21] In verse 19 they have burned the house they have broken down the wall they've destroyed all the vessels. In verse 21 look why? To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah.
[19:34] Jeremiah the prophet had told them until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. For as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbaths to fulfill the 70 years. I really need to throw that in so you know what's happening.
[19:44] Here was a deal that God told his people. I mean the Jewish people were unlike any other people in history in my opinion. First of all they had God to be in charge.
[19:55] That's pretty good. And they had God write their constitution and God write their laws. And one of their laws was that they were to work their land six years and long before anybody knew that if you overworked land you'd ruin it and kill it God did.
[20:06] And so he said you can work land six years but in the seventh year you're not to plant anything you're not to harvest anything you don't plow it you just don't touch it. Leave the land alone. You can he said I'll make sure in the sixth year you get a really good harvest.
[20:18] I'll make sure in the sixth year you get a great harvest that you can live on in the seventh year but you do not work that field in the seventh. I'll even give you enough food in the sixth year to get you through the eighth year the first of the next seven to get you through the harvest.
[20:30] I'll give you a great harvest. Leave my land alone. And the nation of Israel they worked their land for six years and on the seventh year when God said let it lay by they said man we had a good harvest in the sixth year it was great.
[20:40] If we had that good harvest in the sixth year it ought to be really good in the seventh year and they did that for 490 years. They kept saying we don't care what God said. See God had given Jewish people rules and explanations of things that no other nation ever did.
[20:54] When they harvested their fields they had to leave food for the poor. When they shook their fruit trees they could only shake them one time so poor people have something to eat later. He had all kind of special things for the Jewish people to do and they didn't do it.
[21:06] And Jeremiah said God says you hadn't given him his year and he's fixing to charge it. And so he took him to Babylon and left the land setting out for 70 years and he took back his years.
[21:17] I think there's a lot of lessons there. Number one I'm sure they thought to themselves that's kind of a dumb rule. Why did God make such a dumb rule? Don't like that rule. Isn't that how we do? Don't like that rule. I don't know why he has to make marriage mean one man one woman don't get that deal.
[21:30] Don't know why he makes it blah blah blah blah everybody's doing that. I don't think I agree with that. That's what we're saying. And then God is extremely patient. Maybe they thought after that first year they were supposed to leave it maybe some of the preachers are saying you know what God said about the seventh year but God didn't do anything.
[21:46] And maybe the next seventh year on the 14th year when it rolled around some preacher said you know we got to give God his year but nobody did. 490 years go by. Granddaddy did it and great granddaddy did it and granddaddy did it and daddy did it we've all been doing it for years and God's never done anything about it.
[22:04] Isn't it amazing how God lets you get away with sin until he says there's no remedy. I think that's a big lesson to learn. God says there's no remedy. I am certain that everybody would have thought I don't know why he gets all upset this year.
[22:17] He hasn't done anything for 490 years. It's kind of like the kid who's been jumping on the sofa and you've told him 490 times to sit down and finally you had enough and you reached up and just gave him a good old swat. And the kid looks at you like what in the world what'd you hit me for?
[22:30] You say because I told you 490 times to stop. And the kid's like you ain't never hit me before. It's kind of what's going on in the story. Do you realize that if you persist in your sin you're only hurting you and those you love?
[22:45] Last lesson in the chapter before we go home. Go down to verse 22. God's going to use a pagan king. I love this. When God's people won't do what's right God raises up a pagan king.
[22:57] In verse 22 the first year of Cyrus king of Persia the word of the Lord spoke by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished. The Lord look at this stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia and he makes a proclamation.
[23:10] Verse 23 the king of Persia Cyrus said man God's given me everything I got. What in the world is this lost pagan king doing recognizing that God gave him everything he has? He said and God look at verse 23 God has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem which is in Judah.
[23:29] Now I wish you all want to go up there and build it your God will be with you. Now I don't know if you've got to say I mean I really have a hard time understanding this part. But the king recognized first that everything he had came from God.
[23:43] Do you recognize that? You should outline in that verse all the kingdoms of the earth the Bible says has the Lord God of heaven given me. How many kings are going to recognize that they didn't win it in battle? And how many businessmen aren't going to think it's because you're super smart?
[23:58] You're super smart you're super talented you're super good at your job and that's why you're so successful. Then a king calls for volunteers in the passage of scripture he says God wants his house built. It was his country that knocked down the house it was his country that burned the house down it was his country that pulled down the walls and now he says but God wants the walls he doesn't say that about the walls God wants the house built back and he raises up people that's where Ezra was going to come in in just a little bit.
[24:23] Do you know God's still calling people out to do his work? I love what he says in this passage of scripture the Lord had charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem which of y'all who is there among you of all God's people the Lord has God be with him let him go up.
[24:37] God's calling us to go out and take the word of God and share the gospel and tell people about Jesus. I think 2 Chronicles chapter 36 sums up more where we are than you'd like to admit. I think our country's in trouble I think our churches are in trouble and I think we may be in trouble because we have done what we want to do we've ignored the law of the Sabbath not the law of the Sabbath for us but we have ignored things he said we live the way we want we tell God to mind his own business if he'll mind his business I'll mind my business and we think we can get away with that but there comes a time when the price will be paid I think as a country we're probably going to pay that price I think as individuals and as churches we can pay that price I think churches in most places in the world have forgotten why they're there and so God will end up having to raise up a pagan king I don't want him to do that at vision I want him to raise up a godly church that would keep sending missionaries a godly church that would keep caring about souls a godly church that would get the gospel message around the world I have a couple questions for you and I'm done are you playing with sin?
[25:34] are you thinking God doesn't know? God doesn't care? you flirting with that lady at work? not your wife? building a relationship a friendship with this other woman that's not yours?
[25:46] worship and money more than you worship God? your business is more important than Jesus is? and you think God doesn't notice? you have time for the memo from work but not time for the memo from God somewhere along the way sooner or later God's going to say I've warned you I wrote a whole Bible for you you went to a church called Vision where I had Sunday school teacher after Sunday school teacher teach you straight Bible they weren't even that good at making up stories they just told you what the Bible said you had discipleship programs they just told you what the Bible said and he's going to say I'm the one that told you all that what are you going to do?
[26:25] that you