“Rejecting Good Examples” – FBC Morning Light (6/15/2023)

Good Thursday morning to you. Today we're reading in 2 Kings 15 and 16,

Romans chapter 2, and the first section of Psalm 119.

Remember, Psalm 119 has those sections that are each according to the

Hebrew alphabet, and each section is eight verses long. So we're reading

Psalm 119, 1 to 8 today. But I want to go back to 2 Kings. It's been in that book every day this week, and today is no exception.

I'm going to focus on this particular king, Ahaz, the king of Judah.

And what a tragic story is this man's life.

Ahaz had a grandfather and a father who both provided for him, relatively speaking, good examples to follow.

His grandfather was Uzziah, he reigned 52 years, and the summary of the summary of Uzziah's reign was he did that which was right in the eyes of the

Lord. He didn't do it perfectly, later in life he failed and he suffered for it, but the summary of his reign was that basically he did what was right in the eyes of the

Lord. And same with Ahaz's father,

Jotham. We read in chapter 15, verse 34, that Jotham did what was right in the sight of the

Lord, he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. So Ahaz had some pretty good examples for leading the nation of Judah in a way that was according to the ways of the

Lord, to doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. And he could have and should have followed in those ways, but that's not what he did.

Instead, what we read in verse 2 of chapter 16, that he was 20 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem, he did not do what was right in the sight of the

Lord as his father David had done, that is, his ancestor David had done, but instead he walked in the way of the kings of Israel.

Indeed, he made his son pass through the fire according to the abominations of the nations whom the

Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel. You see what he's done? He had good examples, relatively speaking, good examples in his father and grandfather, but Ahaz repudiated those examples and instead embraced the godlessness or the paganism of the

Jeroboam worship in Israel, those false calves that he set up, plus, even worse than that, the child sacrifice practices of the pagans that had been kicked out of Canaan.

And what a tragedy this is. And yet, maybe some listening today have seen this in your own experience, where children grow up under the influence of Christian homes and Christian parents who aren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but by and large they try to do what's right in the eyes of the

Lord, and grow up in churches that are faithful to preaching the

Word, perfect churches? No, there aren't any, but nevertheless, they endeavor to be faithful in the preaching and the teaching of the

Word, and yet those children repudiate those examples, utterly repudiate them, and go off and live for the world.

I mean, I know some pretty bizarre examples of that very thing. And yet, what do we do?

What default response to that kind of thing that says, mom and dad are to blame?

I hope you don't. I hope you realize that the kids are like Yahez, they have their own choices to make, and as part from the grace of God, working in their lives, bringing them to faith in Christ, and submitting to the

Lordship of Christ, they'll reject it, they'll go off in their own way, and do their own thing, even to their own destruction.

So moms and dads, let's be faithful, let's be diligent about training up the children, and bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the

Lord, and faithfully teaching the Word, and faithfully bringing them under the sound of the preaching of the

Word. But in the end, let's realize that it is the grace of God that needs to grip their heart.

Let's pray to that end, that God in his grace and his mercy would grip the hearts of our children, and bring them to personal, genuine, deep faith in Christ, that they might live for him, and walk with him throughout the course of their lives.

So let's pray to that end. Our Father and our God, we do pray for the next generation, those who follow after us.

We pray that in us they would see a people who love you, and who endeavor and desire to live for you, and to walk with you, even though we stumble too many times.

And I pray, Father, that by your grace you would open their blind eyes, and unstop their deaf ears, give them ears to hear, give them a heart to receive the truth of the gospel, and to submit to the

Lordship of Christ. And I pray this in Jesus' name. Alright, well listen, you have a good rest of your