I remember the last spanking my dad ever gave me. My friends and I were doing some things after church together that were actually dangerous for all of us. My dad had told me not to do it before, and yet there I was, joining in my friends, playing in a dangerous part of the church property. That night, my dad and I had a talk. I told him I had forgotten that he had forbidden playing in that area outside the church, and I honestly had. But he said that he wanted to help me remember so that I would never do it again. So, he spanked me, I cried, and I never played in that area of the church again. I remember thinking at the time that that was an unpleasant experience. And Scripture confirms that thought, saying in Hebrews 12:11, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
Now that I have my own children and spend much time disciplining them, I find myself often thinking of how thankful I am for my dad’s discipline of me. I didn’t enjoy it, and honestly he didn’t either. He would tell me that it hurt him more than it hurt him, and I’m really not sure how to measure that, but I know what he’s saying. I’ve felt it myself. Then why do it, we might ask. The answer is that my dad disciplined me because he loves me. On that particular occasion that led to my last spanking, he loved me enough not to let me risk hurting myself.
And as I read over these four chapters this week, I was reminded of that because these chapters feel like the loving discipline of a loving heavenly Father toward his children. We already know from 1 Corinthians 10:6 that the Lord recorded Israel’s sin and judgment so that we might learn from that. So, I think that these four chapters serve us this morning in that they are a sobering call to us to turn from sin in our lives. That’s what I want these chapters to be for us. Perhaps we might think of them along the lines of my dad coming to me when I was disobeying him and saying, “I want to talk to you about your disobedience.” That is an act of love by a loving Father, and that’s what I pray we will see the Lord doing with us as we examine 2 Kings 14-17.
These four chapters in 2 Kings record the downfall of the northern kingdom of Israel. This section moves pretty quickly through the reigns of the final seven kings of Israel, addressing four kings of Judah along the way: Amaziah, Azariah/Uzziah, Jotham, and Ahaz. But you can feel it moving toward the time of judgment which comes in chapter 17. But, as I said, I believe the focus is addressing the sins of the Lord’s people, the nature of their sins, and the results of their sins. Therefore, I want to note some of these things that we see in the text this morning.
The first thing I want us to see in regards to sin in our lives is that God will not settle for less than absolute obedience
Chapter 14 begins by telling us about the reign of Amaziah, the king of Judah. And the first 22 verses deal with his reign. But before looking at his reign, I want to set this chapter in a bit of context. God had commanded the people of Israel to fear him and not other gods, to obey him commands, and he would bless them, including delivering them from their enemies. Then, as David was about to die, he had reminded Solomon of the same thing, telling him that if he would simply obey God’s commands, he would prosper.
Now, I want to remind you of that so that we feel the weight of the assessment of Amaziah given to us in 14:3-4. There, we read, “And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet not like David his father. He did in all things as Joash his father had done. But the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.”
The temptation here can almost be that we read this and say, “Oh, so he was one of the good ones.” After all, it is quite often we read an assessment that says, “And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” So, doing right with a bit of compromise doesn’t sound that bad. Obeying the Lord like Joash did but not to the level that David did seems like pretty acceptable obedience, doesn’t it?
Yet, as we read on through the details of his reign, going down through verse 22, we do not see a picture of prosperity, like David said would be Solomon’s if he would simply obey the Lord. Nor do we see a picture of being delivered from his enemies, as God had promised his people if they would simply remain faithful to the covenant. Rather, we see a man whose compromise in regard to obedience is on full display.
After noting that he compromised in regard to holiness, sinning in some areas without addressing it, we read in verse 6 that he obeyed the law of Moses which said that children should not be put to death for their father’s sins, for each should die for his own sins (v. 6). Therefore, he killed those who murdered his father, but not their children. Great, so what’s the problem? Well, as we read in verse 4, he never removed the high places and the people still made sacrifices that were outlawed in the law. That is, the events of verse 6 do not just make the statement of verse 4 disappear.
So, eventually, he defeats the Edomites and thinks he is ready to take out the northern kingdom of Israel as well. The king of Israel tells him to just be content with his victory over the Edomites and calm down. But he persists until finally they face off, and Judah is defeated, Amaziah’s own people turn against him, and he is murderd so that his son Azariah (sometimes called Uzziah) reigns in his place.
This is ultimately then a screaming reminder to us that the Lord doesn’t tolerate compromise. The Lord is not content with us holding on to some sins just as long as we make sure that we are doing good things. It’s not okay to continue to gossip as long as you encourage to their faces those about whom you are gossiping when you see them face-to-face. It’s not okay to look at inappropriate images on the internet as long as you are reading the Scripture and trying to grow in your understanding of God’s Word. God demands absolute obedience. With Amaziah, he wasn’t content with Joash-level obedience. He wanted David-like obedience, someone who directed his whole heart to the Lord.
So, let me say to all of us this morning, it is not okay to allow any sin to linger in our lives. It is not okay to allow any sin to persist in our lives. Nor is it okay to say we’ve repented of it without taking steps to make sure that it doesn’t not repeatedly happen in our lives. Jesus told us that we should rather pluck out our eyes than use them to sin. That is, he is telling us to take (even painfully difficult) steps to allow sin to have no foothold in our lives. So, I want to first remind us that God does not settle for less than absolute obedience, and he commands us to deal with every sin in our lives. There must not be any sin that we refuse to repent of and attempt to eliminate in our lives.
But there’s more. I want to skip over 14:23-29 for a minute to show us something in chapter 15 and in 17:24-33 and 41. And it is this: sin that is not dealt with will spread to others.
Chapter 15 presents us with a repeated theme: sin that is not dealt with spreads to others. We see it with Azariah, the son of Amaziah. He begins to reign in Judah after his father’s death. And just like his dad, so we read of him in 15:3-5, “And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. And the LORD touched the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death, and he lived in a separate house. And Jotham the king’s son was over the household, governing the people of the land.”
So, here again we see that he does exactly what Amaziah, his father had done. Obedience with the same compromises in regard to sin. But what about Azariah/Uzziah’s son? Well, we read that he was made king in 15:32, and then we read of him in verses 34-35, “And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his Father Uzziah had done. Nevertheless, the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord.”
I think we’re supposed to pick up on the fact that this is the exact description happening again and again. And this is true throughout this chapter. Sandwiched between these Judean kings are the quick summaries of five Israelite kings. For each king we get little more than a brief assessment of their reigns. But listen to the repetition throughout. Of Zechariah we read, “And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin” (15:9). Then, of Menahem in 15:18, “And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart all of his days from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin.” Then, of Pekahiah in 15:24, “And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin.” Finally, of Pekah in 15:28, “And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin.”
This repetition of Jeroboam was of a king who had reigned years prior, and he did evil. So, what are we to see in this repetition? Sin that is not dealt with spreads. We see this in a powerful way as well at the end of our section. Chapter 17:24-41 records the events after Israel was conquered by the Assyrians. It tells us that the king brought in pagans into the land to settle, but these do nothing to honor the Lord. Therefore, the Lord sends out lions and kills some of them. So the king decides that he better give them a priest who can teach them the ways of Yahweh.
Interestingly enough, however, the people do not turn from their evil practices, they just add godly practices to them, so we read in 17:33, “So they feared the LORD but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.” Then, in the last verse of chapter 17 (verse 41), this concept is repeated again, but note what is added: “So these nations feared the LORD and also served their carved images. Their children did likewise, and their children’s children—as their fathers did, so they do to this day.”
Do you see this constant theme? Sin that is not repented of and dealt with spreads to others. Paul confirms this in writing to the Corinthians as he says to them, “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” (1 Cor 5:6).
Do not think that your sins that you are holding not, not repenting of, and not dealing with affect only you. They don’t. I would even say that far more often than we hope is true, children know the sins of their parents. It’s hard to hide stuff from your children. So, don’t think you’re sin is only affecting you. And this isn’t just true for those with children either. For those who might be single and yet spend time with others, your unrepentant sin, if you do not deal with it, will spread to others. Your back-biting will spread. Your pride and self-pity will spread. Your covetousness will spread.
So do not be deceived into thinking your sin only affects you. It doesn’t. So deal with it. I’m not saying that your children should never see you sin or your roommates should never see you sin. They inevitably will. However, what marks believers is that we address our sin; we repent of it. And sin that is not dealt with spreads. We also see that sin that is not dealt with escalates.
Chapter 16 reveals that sin that is not dealt with not only spreads to others but escalates. Here you have a king, Ahaz, whose sin is taken to another degree. We read in 16:1-4, “In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God, as his father David had done, but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.”
But it doesn’t stop there. The king of Syria and the king of Israel decide that they’re going to attack him, and he knows he’s in trouble. Now, we’ve seen this before. Remember from 2 Kings 13 how Jehoahaz was an evil king who was attacked by the king of Syria, and then he decided to call out to the Lord and amazingly we read, “and the Lord listened to him” (13:4). Well, this isn’t what happens with Ahaz. As he’s about to be attacked, he decides to buy help from the king of Assyria. We read in 16:7, “So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, ‘I am your servant and your son. [this is terrible in light of the fact that the king was to be God’s son] Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.’” Then we read in verse 9, “And the king of Assyria listened to him.”
Now, I think that we’re supposed to remember when Jehoahaz (an evil king) called out to the Lord, and the Lord listened to him. I think we’re supposed to think, “Jehoahaz was evil, but at least he knew to call out to the Lord.” Things are getting worse.
But it doesn’t stop there. In a land where people think it’s okay to worship Yahweh and not tear down false altars, we read that Ahaz goes through Damascus, sees a pagan altar and thinks, “I want one of those.” So, he comes home and has one built just like it, offering sacrifices on it. And if that wasn’t bad enough, we read in 16:14-20 that he completely redesigns the setting in the temple, though Yahweh had specifically commanded it to be a certain way.
Here, in 2 Kings 16, we get a good reminder that if sin is not addressed, it escalates. Do not deceive yourself into thinking that if you ignore your sin, it will remain as is. Sin that is not addressed has an effect of hardening your heart so that your sin will grow. Only genuine repentance keeps your hearts from growing harder and deceiving itself more and more and more. There is a reason why someone who refuses to address sin in one area of his or her life will soon be dealing with more and more sin. Let this be a warning to us. Sin that is not addressed not only spreads, it escalates.
But then there’s one final thing I want you to see. God will not allow his children to ignore their sins.
It’s interesting, early on in this section we read of Jeroboam II. We are told in 14:24, “And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin.” So, we would expect then, his defeat at the hands of his enemies or something to show the Lord’s disdain for his sin. But we read in 14:25, “He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.”
It’s a bit puzzling, isn’t it? Why is God blessing him? Is he ignoring his sins. Well, we get the answer in 14:26, “For the LORD saw that the afflection of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel.”
You see, God’s blessing was not because of his delight in Jeroboam II at all. It was because of his pity for Israel, as they were suffering. Is there then a place where God clearly shows that he’s had enough or does he let this continue on forever? That answer is found in chapter 17. There, we read that the king of Assyria invaded Israel and conquered them. We read in 17:6-14, “In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger, and they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, \"You shall not do this.\" Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, \"Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.\" But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God.”
You see, God had not ignored their sins. He had seen them. Even those things they were doing in secret, God knew about them, and he wasn’t going to ignore them. So it is with us. God knows our sins. Right now, he is aware of sins in your life that perhaps no one else is aware of. And if we belong to him, he will not give us over to those sins. He will discipline us, if necessary so that we do not continue in sin.
So, I want to encourage us to respond to 2 Kings 14-17 by dealing with our sin. Confess it, and repent of it so that you may delight in forgiveness. God commands us to live holy lives, and it does not mean that we will never sin. But we must repent of our sin and attack it so that it does not become a repeated pattern in our lives.
But I want to add something else as well. God does not command holiness so that we might then be justified before him. I said at the beginning that Amaziah was not perfectly obedient, and God knew that we wouldn’t be either. So, he sent his Son, born under the law and he obeyed the law perfectly. He did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. He then died to pay the penalty for what we had done. Then he was raised so that we might believe and have forgiveness of sins and eternal life. That’s our motivation for holiness – what God has done for us in Christ. Let that dwell richly in your hearts, and do not let sin linger.
And I believe you will address your sin before God today because, if God has saved you, have has put in you a heart to love him and to love your neighbor. That’s why I’m confident that I can point you to the forgiveness that is yours in Christ and that you will long for holiness. Therefore, as we come to the table, let’s come repentant, thanking God that he has chosen to address our sins instead of giving us over to them, and let’s celebrate the forgiveness that is ours in Christ. Amen.