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Reading 2 Chronicles 25 and 26, stopping to talk about punishment for sin and how you are accountable for your own sins, not someone else's. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
Every once in a while someone will come along and try to say that you are guilty because of the sins of your ancestors. That's not what the Bible says. It says that God will judge each one for their own sins.
But you still need a Savior when we understand the text.
This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.
Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. We continue with the Chronicles of Judah, or the story of Judah that we read about in the book of 2 Chronicles today, looking at chapters 25 and 26. So we have entered into a period in which several righteous kings assume the throne in Judah, but they're kind of a mix of righteous and unrighteous.
This began last week with Joash, who did the right thing as long as he was receiving counsel from Jehoiada, the chief priest. But once Jehoiada died, Joash started taking counsel from some wicked men.
And then Jehoiada's son, Zechariah, stood before the people and he said, Thus says God, why do you break the commandments of the Lord so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.
And instead of the people being cut to the heart, being convicted over these things that Zechariah said, he was stoned to death because he preached truth. They turned on a prophet of God. And so God brought judgment upon Joash and he himself was assassinated.
And though Jehoiada was treated as a king, Joash was not buried with the kings. And we're going to see similar things come up with the next two kings that we're going to read about today, Amaziah and Uzziah.
They're going to do some righteous things, but they're also going to do some unrighteous things. And this just goes to show something that I pointed out last week, how a king cannot bring righteousness to his people.
Righteousness comes only from God. And the chronicler, as he's writing in First and Second Chronicles, what he's anticipating is the fulfillment of the covenant that God made with David, that he would establish his throne forever.
And from his line would come a king who would save his people. Now we know that king is Jesus Christ. And the way that he would save us is by dying on the cross for our sins and rising again from the grave so that all who believe in the person and work of Jesus Christ will have their sins forgiven and will be given the righteousness of Christ.
Furthermore, we will become fellow heirs of his eternal kingdom in glory. So turn from your sin and worship Christ, and he will make you righteous before the holy God. Let's read about Amaziah here, starting in chapter 25, Amaziah was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem.
His mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem, and he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. There's a caveat here, just like there was with Joash, yet not with a whole heart. Verse three, and as soon as the royal power was firmly his, he killed his servants who had struck down the king, his father.
But he did not put their children to death according to what is written in the law, the book of Moses, where the Lord commanded fathers shall not die because of their children, nor children die because of their fathers, but each one shall die for his own sin.
Generational sins is something that we've talked about here on the broadcast before, it usually comes up in a Q &A, where somebody will ask if there are generational curses upon a family, and usually the question is rooted in a passage like Exodus 20, starting in verse four, where we read the following.
You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them.
For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
So the question will come up then, is this a generational curse? Are we being cursed and judged for something that our parents did? Well, that's not what's being talked about here. What's being illustrated is that there are consequences for sin, and sin is so serious that it is going to be felt not just by you.
You are not just going to experience the consequences for your sin, but your children will experience them as well, and your children's children, and on down the line it goes. As we're told in Galatians 6, 7, and 8, do not be deceived.
God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
No one sins on their own, to their own detriment and to no one else's. Sin is not a private thing. Remember when the whole controversy was coming up about same-sex marriage, there were people that were saying, hey, just let a person do what they want to do, and it doesn't affect anyone else.
Well, we see that that narrative and that agenda wasn't true, because they're trying to impose it on everybody else. But furthermore, nobody sins on an island. You don't sin by yourself, and it doesn't have any effect on anyone else.
The sins that you commit absolutely do affect other people. And here we are being shown that those sins will have a generational effect. If you do something as serious as worship a false god, it will lead your children astray, and they likewise will lead their children astray, and on and on down the line it goes.
But if you are faithful to the Lord your God, he will show you steadfast love to thousands, meaning thousands of generations. So your faithfulness to the Lord means that there are generations that will come after you who will likewise love the Lord your God by your witness and your testimony and your faithfulness to the truth.
God will not inflict judgment upon a person for someone else's sins. They will be judged only for their sins. We read this in Ezekiel 18 20, the soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son.
The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. So you are not going to be judged for your parents' sins or for your grandparents' sins.
I know there was an article that was written recently in which it was attempting to be said that you are guilty because of your parents' sins or your great grandparents' sins or whatever. But anyway, I'm not going to get into all of that.
Just know that the judgment that we will face before God will be only because of your sins and no one else's, which is why you need a savior. And you cannot be saved because of anybody else's righteousness.
Your parents were Christians. They went to church. That doesn't mean that you're a Christian. You're a Christian because you have put your faith in Jesus Christ and no one else. No one can do that for you.
Only you can respond to the gospel for yourself, convicted in your heart of the sin that you have committed against God. And you repent. You turn from that sinfulness. You obey Jesus Christ and his commands.
As John MacArthur said recently, grace commands us to obey God. As we read in Titus 2, 11 and 12, the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions.
So if you are covered by the grace of God, then you will turn from that sinful wickedness and you will worship Jesus Christ and obey him. Obedience is the language of love when it comes to following God.
So do you obey God? Do you have faith in Jesus Christ? Then you will obey him. You will show that in your actions. Because you love God, you will obey what it is that he has commanded of you. Every person will be judged for his own sins, not for somebody else's.
But everyone will be received into the kingdom of God by Christ's righteousness and no one else's. For we do not have a righteousness of our own. We have been given the righteousness of Christ, all those who believe in him.
What a wonderful grace of our Savior that he has saved us in such a way. So let's go on here, 2 Chronicles 25 verse 5. Then Amaziah assembled the men of Judah and set them by father's houses under commanders of thousands and of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin.
He mustered those twenty years old and upward and found that they were 300 ,000 choice men fit for war, able to handle spear and shield. He hired also 100 ,000 mighty men of valor from Israel for a hundred talons of silver.
But a man of God came to him and said, O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel with all these Ephraimites. But go, act, be strong for the battle. Why should you suppose that God will cast you down before the enemy?
For God has power to help or to cast down. And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do about the hundred talons that I have given to the army of Israel? The man of God answered, The Lord is able to give you much more than this.
Then Amaziah discharged the army that had come to him from Ephraim to go home again. And they became very angry with Judah and returned home in fierce anger. But Amaziah took courage and led out his people and went to the Valley of Salt and struck down 10 ,000 men of Seir.
The men of Judah captured another 10 ,000 alive and took them to the top of a rock and threw them down from the top of the rock, and they were all dashed to pieces. But the men of the army, whom Amaziah sent back, not letting them go with him to battle, raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth Horon and struck down 3 ,000 people in them and took much spoil.
Now that looks like that the prophecy that was said here by the man of God did not come to fruition because he said, Hey, if you send the Ephraimites away and you do not partner with them, then God will protect you.
He has the power to help or to cast down. And yet, as Amaziah went to battle against Seir, which is an alternative name for the Edomites, the Ephraimites went and raided some of the cities of Judah and struck down 3000 people.
So Amaziah was just being faithful to what this man of God said. Why would Ephraim come against Judah in such a way? Well, there's two reasons for this. Number one, because Amaziah did not obey in the first place.
He should not have had anything to do with Ephraim because they were wicked. Remember, this was Jehoshaphat's mistake also that he had partnered with Israel, formed an alliance with them, and then he brought evil upon Judah because he had done that.
And so Amaziah has done the same thing, not only partnering with Ephraim, but paying them. And because of this partnership, which he severed, which was the right thing to do, but because he had even partnered with them in the first place, it brought judgment upon Judah.
That's the first reason. So the first reason why this happened to Judah is because Amaziah should not have partnered with him in the first place. And he was doing something evil by partnering with men of evil character.
And the second reason is because Amaziah's heart was not right before the Lord either. So even though he did the right thing here, look at what Amaziah did next. Verse 14, after Amaziah came from striking down the Edomites, he brought the gods of the men of Seir and set them up as his gods and worshiped them, making offerings to them.
Therefore the Lord was angry with Amaziah and sent to him a prophet who said to him, why have you sought the gods of a people who did not deliver their own people from your hand? But as he was speaking, the king said to him, have we made you a royal counselor?
Stop. Why should you be struck down? So the prophet stopped but said, I know that God has determined to destroy you because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel. So again, this judgment came upon Judah, not just because Amaziah had partnered with Ephraim, but also because his heart went after other false gods and Judah followed his lead.
So now we read about Israel being used as the instrument of God to bring judgment upon Amaziah. Verse 17, then Amaziah, king of Judah, took counsel and sent to Joash, the son of Jehoaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, come, let us look one another in the face.
And Joash, not the same as the Joash who was king over Judah, he's the king of Israel. He sent word to Amaziah, king of Judah, a thistle on Lebanon, sent to a cedar on Lebanon saying, give your daughter to my son for a wife.
And a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. You say, see, I have struck down Edom and your heart has lifted you up in boastfulness, but now stay at home. Why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?
So this little riddle that Joash sent back to Amaziah was to say that, hey, if you want to do battle with one another, you're not going to win this. So verse 20, but Amaziah would not listen, for it was of God in order that he might give them into the hand of their enemies.
God hardened the heart of Amaziah that he would not listen to the counsel of prophets, that he would not listen to the advice of the king of Israel, and that instead he would go into battle so that God would bring judgment upon them because they had sought the gods of Edom.
Verse 21, so Joash, the king of Israel, went up and he and Amaziah, king of Judah, faced one another in battle at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. And Judah was defeated by Israel and every man fled to his home.
And Joash, king of Israel, captured Amaziah, king of Judah, the son of Joash, son of Ahaziah at Beth Shemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for 400 cubits from the Ephraim gate to the corner gate.
And he seized all the gold and silver and all the vessels that were found in the house of God in the care of Obed Edom. He seized also the treasuries of the king's house, also hostages, and he returned to Samaria.
Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived 15 years after the death of Joash, the son of Jehoaz, king of Israel. Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, from first to last, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel?
From the time when he turned away from the Lord, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there. And they brought him upon horses and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David.
Chapter 26, now we read about Uzziah reigning in Judah and all the people of Judah took Uzziah who was 16 years old and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. He built Eloth and restored it to Judah after the king slept with his fathers.
Uzziah was 16 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jechaliah of Jerusalem and he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that his father Amaziah had done.
He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah who instructed him in the fear of God and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper. He went out and made war against the Philistines and he broke through the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabnah and the wall of Ashdod and he built cities in the territory of Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines.
God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians who lived in Gerobel and against the Maonites. The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah and his fame spread even to the border of Egypt for he became very strong.
Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate and at the valley gate and at the angle and fortified them and he built towers in the wilderness and cut out many cisterns for he had large herds both in the Shefala and in the plain and he had farmers and vine dressers in the hills and in the fertile lands for he loved the soil.
Moreover, Uzziah had an army of soldiers fit for war in divisions according to the numbers in the muster made by Jael the secretary and Maaseah the officer under the direction of Hananiah one of the king's commanders.
The whole number of the heads of father's houses of mighty men of valor was 2 ,600. Under their command was an army of over 300 ,000 who could make war with mighty power to help the king against the enemy.
And Uzziah prepared for all the army shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows and stones for slinging. In Jerusalem he made machines invented by skillful men to be on the towers and the corners to shoot arrows and great stones and his fame spread far for he was marvelously helped till he was strong.
But then we read about Uzziah's pride and his punishment in the next section starting in verse 16. But when he was strong, he grew proud to his destruction. The Lord blessed him with many great things and he became proud.
He thought it was because of him. He thought he was something great instead of continuing to humble himself before the Lord God. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.
We read about this when we were in second Kings also. But Azariah the priest went in after him with 80 priests of the Lord who were men of valor and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, it is not for you Uzziah to burn incense to the Lord but for the priests the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to burn incense.
Go out of the sanctuary for you have done wrong and it will bring you no honor from the Lord God. Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense and when he became angry with the priests leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the Lord by the altar of incense and Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him and behold he was leprous in his forehead and they rushed him out quickly and he himself hurried to go out because the Lord had struck him and King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death and being a leper lived in a separate house for he was excluded from the house of the Lord and Jotham his son was over the king's household governing the people of the land.
Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah from first to last Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz wrote and Uzziah slept with his fathers and they buried him with his fathers in the burial field that belonged to the kings for they said he is a leper and Jotham his son reigned in his place.
So because Uzziah did this proud thing in the house of God the Lord afflicted him with an illness an infection that made him unclean and he was not allowed to go to the house of the Lord again. So because he did not treat the house of God with reverence he would not be allowed to go back to the house of God and God judged him for his sin not because of his father's sin or for anyone else's sin and no one else was judged because of Uzziah's sin.
He was afflicted with judgment because of his own sin. So once again making the point that this is what we stand before God guilty of our own sins not anyone else's and we need a righteousness that comes not from ourselves it comes from God.
As Jesus said in Luke 18 14 everyone who exalts himself will be humbled but the one who humbles himself will be exalted and he was talking about this in the context of justification. Humble yourself before the Lord confess your sins to him ask forgiveness and repent of those sins never go back to doing them again pursue the righteousness of Christ and it's because of Christ's righteousness that you will be justified by faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City Kansas. Find out more online at www .utt .com.