[0:01] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Well, take your Bibles or you would and turn to 2 Kings chapter 12 and verse 2.
[0:12] Thank you so very much. I love you. I just sitting here thinking about what a great group of people you are and how much I like working with you and enjoy it. I like your spirit, I like the way you love people, I like the way you love Jesus.
[0:24] And thank you. That's all I know how to say to you. 2 Kings chapter 12, verse 2, I have about 23 minutes that I have left on the timer for myself. And so I want you to go with me and look about external versus internal training.
[0:41] So we are parents, we are pastors, we are disciplers, we are Sunday school teachers. And every time I look and I say, Lord, what is it, what's the lesson that you have out of this passage of Scripture?
[0:58] And I promise you, I have been through 2 Kings 11 and 12 25 times in the last two weeks. And I don't know, it was like the 24th time before I noticed this verse.
[1:10] That's how dumb I am. But look at this verse, if you would. 2 Kings 12, 2. And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. All his days wherein Jehoiada, the priest, instructed him.
[1:28] I never noticed on Jehoiada. I haven't paid attention to that old boy. But notice what happens here. Jehoash did right all the days that Jehoiada was instructing him.
[1:41] When Jehoiada quits instructing him, the boy's going to go bad. That's the story. You can almost go home now. That is really the story.
[1:52] And so somewhere in here, there's a lesson to be learned about how we teach people. Now as a pastor, I've been more guilty of external training than anybody in this room. So nobody in this room could have made as many mistakes or been as harsh as I've been or has been as external as I've been as a legalistic Baptist preacher.
[2:12] But I would like you to take some lessons from here. The first lesson we're going to look at as we go through are three lessons. But the first lesson is to take a bold stand for Christ and truth. And you'll see that in a minute.
[2:23] The next one is we've got to work on internals more than we work on externals. That means Bible teaching, love, prayer, more prayer and love and Bible teaching than rules and scolding.
[2:36] We're working on the B level of a person, working on the B level. And you recall it used to hang on the wall. If I ever get my way around here, it'll hang on the wall again. But on the very bottom of a triangle is the word B because that's who I am.
[2:51] That's what's happened to me. I am, therefore I do. I don't do to be. I don't do stuff so God will like me. He saved me. He changed me.
[3:01] He made me a new creature. That's why I do new stuff. I don't do it to get his love. I do it because I am love. So it's be. Then it's do. So your doing is based on who you are. And then above that is serving.
[3:14] And above that is training other people to do that. That's kind of the philosophy I like to take in the ministry. So I need to work on who I am more than I work on what I do.
[3:26] It ought not be a list of don't, don't, don't, don't. Or do, do, and do. Which is what people get really tired of that. Just to be blunt and honest with you. When all the church ever says is no, then obviously everybody's going to get upset with that.
[3:39] And when all the church says is do stuff, everybody, the church is going to be upset with that. If you got married and went into your marriage and your husband sat down with you at the table the first day of the marriage, like Miss Mize over here, brand new Miss Mize, he sat down and said, Now, here are the ten do's at my new house.
[3:56] And here are the ten don'ts. And if you rate my ten don'ts, they're going to kill you. If you're going to do my ten don'ts, ten do's are going to kill you. And he laid all that out. It'd take a lot of joy out of marriage.
[4:07] Amen? But if she got married and fell in love with her husband, she'd probably not do that stuff without ever even being told. And if she was in love with her husband, she'd probably do all that stuff without even being told.
[4:19] So that's where we're headed today before it's over in this message. Go with me to 2 Kings 11 now. And here's the first part of the story. Boldness and bravery to do right no matter the rest. This is a story, I'm not sure how much you're up on this story.
[4:31] And I don't have time to read all the scripture. But Ataliah, Ataliah is the queen. She has a child. The child dies. And these are all David's children from the lineage of David, who's the king.
[4:46] And she goes and kills all the kids. Every one of the kids, she kills them except for one. And go with me if you would to verse 2. 2 Kings 11 and verse 2, there's a lady there, Jehoshiba.
[4:58] And she finds one of the babies, Joash or Jehoash, and she hides him for six years. It says in verse 2, she stole him and she hid him and he wasn't killed.
[5:10] And she hid him in her house and go down to verse 3 for six years. Now that is a crazy story. So the whole army is on a rampage. Find all the children.
[5:22] Get rid of all the children. Kill them so I can be the king. And this grave lady stands up and does right. She's bold to stand for God.
[5:33] Now the queen is bold on the other side. This is a wicked queen. Killing all the children. Bringing in the worship of Baal, the demon god. Influencing her husband and her son to do wrong.
[5:44] This is a wicked, wicked woman. But there's a great lady in the story whose name I hope you underline. Jehoshiba. She saves the baby.
[5:54] Here's what's really interesting. In just a minute, Jehoiada, he's going to be the priest. And he's going to be the guy that helps Joash do a good job with his life. And this girl is his wife. This girl is his wife.
[6:06] Look in your Bible with me. If you look at 2 Chronicles chapter 22 and verse 11. In 2 Chronicles 3 to 11, Jehoshibaoth. Just another way of spelling the same lady's name. The daughter of the king took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from the king's sons that were slain.
[6:22] And put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshiba, the daughter of Jehoram, the wife of Jehoitha, the priest. She was the sister of Ahaziah.
[6:33] And hid him from all that detail. Just to tell you this. This woman is in the palace. They're killing the children of the king. She finds him. I don't know. Can you imagine the conversation between the priest and the lady that's working there in the palace helping them as they discuss what's going on?
[6:50] They're going to risk their life. Can you imagine the conversation happening in the house when she says, Honey, they're going to kill all the kids and the two of them talk it over. And she risks her life and she grabs the baby and she runs and hides the baby.
[7:02] And that baby will be raised for the next six years. After six years, Jehoitha, the husband, he makes a move. Look at 2 Kings 11 and verse 4. In 2 Kings 11 and verse 4, I don't have time to really go through this, but it's setting all the story up for you to get it.
[7:19] So Jehoash is a young kid. He's been hidden for six years. And all of a sudden, Jehoitha, he's the priest. He comes and his wife's had the baby, helping take care of the baby.
[7:29] They've been raising this kid, hiding this kid. Nobody knows this kid's alive. He gets with all the guys that run out. There are five companies of 100 that work in the temple to take care of stuff.
[7:40] They shift work, who's taken care of and who's guarding. And he meets with them and he says, We've got to get this king back on his throne like he's supposed to be. And so here's what we're going to do. And here's the plan.
[7:51] And so they work the plan. And they bring out this seven-year-old kid and they put him on the throne and they stand him by the pillar and they call, God say, the king. And then all of a sudden, Ataliyah, the bad, wicked queen mother, she steps out and starts going, Treason! Treason!
[8:07] You can't let him be that. And Jehoash says, Kill her. But don't kill her in here. Take her out through the horse gate. Don't even take her out where people go out. Take her out through the animal gate and take her out. She's the one that's wicked.
[8:18] She's brought in demon worship. She's killed all these people. Take her out. And they lead her out and get her out of the house. Go with me to 2 Kings 11 and verse 17.
[8:29] Next thing that happens, he's taking a bold stand. The wife takes a bold stand, saving the baby. The man takes a bold stand and putting him on the throne. And then in 2 Kings 11, 17, he makes a covenant.
[8:40] And he says, Let's get everybody together and say we're going to love the God of heaven. You've got to understand what's going on. For six years, it has now become popular to be involved in demon worship.
[8:51] For six years, the temple's pretty well been left alone. For six years, people have been worshiping a false god. And Jehoiada says it's time to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of heaven. And he gets the people together to do that.
[9:03] In 2 Kings 11 and verse 18, they tear down the temple and they get rid of the priest, the matan or matan, the priest of Baal.
[9:14] Bold steps. We've got to stand for God when that's right. Risking your life. The lady does that. The man does that. And now we've got Joash on the throne.
[9:25] So watch with me real quickly how he has superficial obedience. That's all he ever really gives. Look at 2 Kings 11 and verse 21. He's seven years old.
[9:38] He's not old enough to be a king. He's not old enough to have that to do what he's supposed to do. But he does good in 2 Kings 12 and verse 2.
[9:49] Because the Bible says, Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all his days, where Jehoiada the priest instructed him.
[9:59] So, somehow, this boy does a good job being a king, does a good job leading the nation, lives a good and reasonable life the whole time Jehoiada is alive and working with him.
[10:14] He does mostly right. 2 Kings 12, verse 3, they don't get rid of the high places. Joash did right, but he wasn't right. So here's the story before we go on.
[10:26] He's doing right, but he's not right. He's doing right, but he's not right. He's doing what Jehoiada, the old man, tells him to do.
[10:38] He's seven years old, and before the story's over, he's going to be 30 years old, and it won't be long after that Jehoiada's going to die. But he's doing right when he's told to do right. He says, well, if you tell me to do it, and that's what I ought to do, I'll do that.
[10:52] Here's the Independent Baptist preaching. Here's mom and daddy raising. We tell them what to do. You will dress this way. You will talk this way. You will walk this way.
[11:03] That's how we preach. That's how we act. We show them all the externals. They get old enough. They rebel. They run, and they don't do what we taught them to do. In the story, Joash, Jehoiada will die.
[11:19] I'll get to that in just a second. You ain't got long to go, 13 minutes. But Jehoiada will die. And when he dies, the other people in the kingdom will come, and they'll say, we'd like to go back to worship in Baal if it's all right.
[11:32] And Joash will say, sure, let's do it. So there wasn't any real covenant with the Lord. There wasn't any real change. It was an external change.
[11:44] Somewhere along the way, as a young preacher, trying to do what every other preacher told me to do, I was real busy into telling everybody all the externals they ought to fix and all the externals they ought to do, and yelling at them and fussing at them and cursing.
[11:57] I'm not telling you you don't discipline your kids, and that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about this rulemaking without heart changing. Rulemaking without heart changing. We're talking about focusing on what they do and not who they are and why.
[12:13] It's supposed to be who I am will affect what I do. No matter how many times you tell a pig to act like a sheep, a pig is going to act like a pig.
[12:24] And we're not pigs. We're sheep. Sheep do not eat the same food. They do not go to the same places.
[12:36] They don't act the same way. And so often what we've done is we've brought in lost people and got them to conform to church, and we've got even our children and taught them all the rules, but we've never got down into the heart.
[12:50] He did right, but it wasn't what was really right. I'll finish that up in just a second. I want to tell you some stuff without rushing through the message. I'll just summarize the rest. How do I change my kid?
[13:03] I raised four kids. My oldest kid's 42 in just a few days, and the youngest kid will be 32 in November, and my wife is, you know, how old she is. And so, you know, we want our children to do right.
[13:18] We want our children to learn to love Jesus. But yet we fail to have family devotions where we sit down and just say, let me teach you about Jesus. We fail to take advantage of opportunities to have a conversation when we would say to our children, they bring up something.
[13:35] Somebody just said in my office just a few minutes ago, somebody just said, every now and then, my daughter will tell me the gospel plan. Well, that's a very good little conversation they have, isn't it? When a daughter would bring that up and a dad could talk about that.
[13:47] And so many times, instead of daddy's going to spank you, you've got to do this and you can't do that, maybe we ought to have a little more sharing about how good Jesus is and sharing about what salvation is and sharing what the Bible says and try to fill them up.
[14:00] That's why we do so much Bible teaching because nobody changes from the outside in. People change from the inside out. And what happens is we pour enough Bible in, it's the washing of the water of the word that cleanses and changes a person.
[14:17] 2 Kings 12, verse 4. Jehoash shows some concern for the temple. It's been neglected for over six years. We're not sure how old he is when he does this. But in 2 Kings 12, verse 4, he says, we need to get money together and we need to fix the church, the temple building.
[14:34] You've got to imagine the temple building, if they've been off worshiping demons and the priests haven't really been doing their job and the people aren't that interested and the people aren't bringing the tithes and the offerings and all the things they had to do as a Jewish person, that the temple has fallen into disrepair.
[14:47] Jehoash is like, we've got to get this fixed. So the intent seems to be real good. And he tells them we're going to pay for it, but that never happened. When he told them that, the priests never did it.
[14:58] I don't know why they didn't do it. The Bible doesn't tell us why. Maybe it was because he took all the money that the priests were used to living on because they weren't getting that much anyway because everybody's off for worshiping Baal. And he took all that money and said, fix the temple.
[15:09] And the priests were like, we ain't going to take that money. We'll tell you we are, but we need to eat. So we're not going to, I don't know. But then later on in 2 Kings 12, verse 6, he is now 30 years old.
[15:20] The 23rd year of his reign. He started when he was 70. He's 30 years old and he scolds his mentor. All of a sudden he comes into his own and he's like, you've been telling me what to do all along.
[15:30] I've been doing good because you've been telling me what to do, but I'm about tired of you telling me what to do. That tends to happen sometimes with our kids. They tend to be real docile and easy to manage.
[15:42] And it's amazing. People say, I can't handle my four-year-old until they're 14. And if you can't handle a 14-year-old, they're 18. And probably you have some experience with that. So in chapter 12, in verse 6, he calls in Jehoiada.
[15:53] In verse 7, he says, why haven't y'all fixed it? Why have you done what I told you to do? Why didn't you get the job done? Maybe Jehoiada held too tight a rein on him.
[16:06] Maybe Jehoiada was saying, Joash, you can't do this. And Joash, you've got to do this. And maybe, I don't know what's going on. We don't have it there. But at 30 years of age, Jehoiada says, Jehoiada, I don't like it.
[16:19] You haven't been doing right. And publicly, he seems to call him out. And so they get the temple fixed by getting that chest and boring a hole in it and taking up the offering. That looks really good.
[16:31] I'm pretty happy with old Jehoash. He's been doing real good under Jehoiada's leadership. He's done real good getting the temple fixed. And it would appear that he's a really good guy until we get to point three.
[16:45] Look at this last one. If you would go with me to 2 Chronicles 24 and verse 17 and see what happened. Parallel passage. That's what it's called. We read the story here. Read the story here.
[16:56] Get the facts so we can put them together. 2 Chronicles 24 and verse 17. And after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah and made obeisance to the king.
[17:06] And the king listened to him, hearkened to him. In verse 18. They left the house of the Lord God of their fathers and served groves and idols.
[17:19] And God got upset. Isn't that amazing? Jehoiada dies. Jehoash is in there. Jehoash, he's in there in the room.
[17:31] The princes and the leaders of the people whose hearts obviously never really changed. Their hearts never really went back to God. They just made an external commitment. Kind of like I'm afraid that happens in the southeast part of the United States where everybody's saved.
[17:45] And everybody's going to heaven. But they don't really love Jesus. And so the princes come in. They say, can we go back to serving the other gods? And he's hearkened to them. And they're right back to where they were.
[17:59] He'd done well while he had good influence in his life. But when the good influence was gone, he was gone. You know, you're raising your children and they're doing right because they love you.
[18:11] But you're going to die soon. I don't mean to don't get all shook up and scared. The other day, Abby, our granddaughter came upstairs and she said, I don't want to die.
[18:22] I said, what are you talking about? And she said, well, my daddy's going to die. So Betty's like, let me go find out what's going on. But when they were coming in the house, there was a snake wrapped around the doorknob of the basement.
[18:36] And they got rid of the snake. And anyway, I don't know how it come about dying. And he said, well, everybody's going to die, baby. You know, you just got to be ready to die. And he's giving that a little story. And then he comes and said, Granny, I don't want to die.
[18:47] And so her daddy had said, well, honey, everybody's going to die sooner or later. And then she was talking about her great grandmother who died. And she didn't like it that she died. And she watches that video of her great grandmother. And she's like, I don't want to die.
[18:59] Well, she's three. And, you know, she's already figured that out. But you're going to die. And that influence of you telling them what to do ain't going to work. As a pastor, I tried to get all my people to obey and do all these rules that I thought were biblical.
[19:15] And everybody said, and I'm not saying I even disagree with the rules. It was just the way we think externals make people do right. But it's not externals.
[19:29] Somehow they got to get from the tablets of stone to fleshly tablets of heart. Somehow it's not what's written on an outside tablet, but it's what's written on a heart.
[19:44] And so his failing faith. Maybe he was saved. Maybe he was right. But before it's over, things aren't going good. And they've turned back to serving idols.
[19:58] The first real threat happens in 2 Kings 12, verse 17. Hazel, king of Syria, went up and fought against Gath. And he took it.
[20:08] And then he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And Jehoash is like, I don't want to fight. I don't want to call on God. I just want to pay him off. And he took all the stuff that was dedicated to God and given to God out of the temple.
[20:20] And he sent that to the guy so he wouldn't get him. That's found in 2 Kings 12, verse 17. So let me just ask you this. What are your kids going to do when the first threat comes? What are your kids going to do when the first threat comes?
[20:34] What are they going to do when they get to college and somebody tells them something that's not true? Are we grounding them in the word? Internal, not external.
[20:44] In 2 Kings 12, verse 20, his servants make a conspiracy and they kill him. And it's over.
[20:54] So here's the last question. How is your child training and discipline going? Is it external focused? Do they just do right because of you?
[21:05] Or is something taking place way down deep inside? So I will confess to you that I spent a lot of time being a pretty hard, fussy preacher. In my first church, I have preached about, I'm not even going to name them, but I preached about everything.
[21:22] Five men came to see me one time. I was an old man of about 28 or 29. I've been to all the preacher's conferences. I knew what preachers were supposed to do. I knew about yelling about everything. And so I preached about it all the time.
[21:34] And five of my men came to me and they said, you know, we love you. We love this church. You led most of us to Christ. But could you back off at least one Sunday without yelling about this stuff and just preach something else?
[21:48] Well, I was externals focused. Now, I would have told you I wasn't. Because when you're externals focused, you don't think you are. And I told them, I said, you let me pray about it and I'll tell you.
[22:01] And so the next service they came to, I told them where the door was. And I got rid of all them. When a young man should have listened to older people and realized, maybe a little love along the way might help.
[22:15] Maybe a little why might help. Maybe not always fussing might help. So I worry about parents. And I worry about my own children as they raise their kids. If you're not careful and you focus on the external too much and you don't focus on the internal, when they go to college, they might just go the way you didn't want them to go.
[22:32] If you focus on the external and not the internal, when a tragedy happens in their marriage later on, they may go the wrong way because it's not theirs. Isn't it amazing how God's people have children that grow up and don't love Jesus?
[22:47] And we're all like, what happened? I raised them right. I told them not to do this. I told them not to do this. And I told them not to do this. And I told them to do this.
[22:59] And I told them to do this. And when the story's over, it's a Jehoash story. Hey, Jehoiada's dead.
[23:10] How about us going back to worshiping the demons? Sure. No problem. That means there wasn't a real change in any of their hearts.
[23:21] Somewhere along the way, I challenge you to be real careful to say, not so much on the rules. I'm not saying don't have rules. You can take anything I'm saying and try to twist it.
[23:34] But I'm saying Bible teaching. Sweet, gentle, loving Jesus Bible teaching. That changes lives.
[23:47] Having a Jesus you can love and honor and respect changes lives. Having somebody who's just mean and got a whole bunch of rules I don't like or don't agree with, that kind of turns us away from Jesus.
[24:00] And you're probably thinking, boy, he's liberal. He started off the day telling us Jesus loves us. Independent Baptists don't believe that. And he's ending up the day saying don't make a bunch of rules. That's where it is.
[24:12] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.
[24:29] Thanks.