Ruining God’s Blessings (Part B)

You will have your chance if you remain faithful to the Lord to where you notice that the zeal is just not as it used to be. The candle's not burning as bright. And sometimes there's no reason you can put your finger somewhere.

This is why. You know, I didn't get the job I wanted, now I've just got to struggle. That could be two, but it doesn't have to have a reason that you can put your finger on it, except that you're a sinner. You work to restore your faith, to build it back up. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of 2nd Kings.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Now let's join Pastor Rick in the Book of 2nd Kings Chapter 12, as he continues his message, Ruining God's Blessing. He presented all the dedicated things of the house of God, the house of Yahweh, to the Ba'als, the false gods, pagans.

So that's where the damage came from, six years of neglect and damage. I should also add, this is not the local church, this is the national place of worship. They're not fundraising for synagogues, for example. This is something that was from the beginning, when Moses was entrusted with building the tabernacle in the wilderness, the people gave. So much so that Moses turned them away. Well, we got more than enough, we don't need any more.

And something, again, you'll not see a prosperity teacher doing. And let them repair the damages of the temple wherever any dilapidation is found. Well, verse 6, Now it was so by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash that the priests had not repaired the damages of the temple. Well, he is either twenty-three or twenty-nine years old.

See, it's very difficult to button down these numbers. And the reason why is, did they start counting from the time he was born because Athaliah was the illegitimate queen? Or did they start after he, she was killed and he was seven years old?

Where did they start the count? And these are things that are all over the Old Testament, there's some in the New, and just not worth getting all caught up in. We don't know, we have no point of reference here, so we don't know how long of an interval there is from the time he gave the command to the time he's now calling them in. This is the biblical teaching on dealing with contractors. How come the work's not done? It's a tough, it's tough. I mean, construction's a hard thing.

I know, you pay and they don't show up for two, three weeks and you're, okay, enough of that flashback stuff. One time I came in, a contractor at the carpenter was sleeping. He's sleeping in the room, he's supposed to be nailing and measuring and sawing.

He's sleeping. Alright, he had a fever. That part I shouldn't leave out. Anyway, what a thought the house of God on earth can be damaged. It says a lot about man. It says a lot good and bad.

It says bad for those who damage it, but it's good for those who are engaged in repairing it. Spiritual war includes taking back things which are lost. The Lord Jesus said, I've come to seek and to save that which was lost in his entire life of spiritual war, as ours is supposed to be. The priest had not repaired the damages of the temple, it tells us here in verse six. Of course, the work's not getting done. Inactivity, is it through negligence?

Is it through apathy? Why aren't the priests getting it done? Is it, is it that they're not getting enough money to support themselves and to pay for the repairs of the house of God?

That's what we're considering. Why is there a problem? And the historian leaves it somewhat classified as though he is saying, well, the priest had legitimate arguments and so did the king. And rather than get into that, because they were both right, we'll just pass over it. That's how it appears to be. Even in Chronicles, it really doesn't give us the outright answer. And I don't think that they're shielding the priest or the king from embarrassment. I think it just became convoluted.

It just got confusing with other problems coming into the picture. Because the priests are really not rebuked other than why isn't the work done? Okay, you're not going to do it anymore.

We're going to do it this way. But there's no, you know, Yahweh gets you for this or anything like that. Verse seven, so King Jehoash called Jehoiada the priest and the other priest and said to them, why have you not repaired the damages of the temple? Now therefore do not take more money from your constituency, but deliver it for repairing the damages of the temple.

So again, why is not the work getting done? It appears he's saying that whatever monies you have earmarked for this, you know, deliver it for repairing the temple and don't take any more. And he said to them, why have you not repaired the temple? So he's holding them accountable as is his role. He is supposed to do that, continues here in verse seven.

Now therefore do not take more money from your constituency. Well, we are expected to be faithful with what we're assigned to do. We expected them to get the work done. He did and he was wrong. Well, we expected him to be faithful and we're wrong about him. He wasn't faithful.

Just kind of threw that in because it just popped in my mind. But anyway, I think the problem was a money issue. They just weren't getting enough money to go forward with the project and still support themselves.

And the nation was obligated to support the priest and the Levites. Because the historian gives no explanation, I stand by it. It's a hint to us that maybe both sides had good reason. You could say, well then why didn't somebody speak up? Well, we could say a lot of things.

I would agree with that. But deliver it for repairing the damages of the temple. So he now eliminates the middlemen. King Josiah will follow this pattern when he rebuilds the house of God 200 years later. Verse eight, and the priests agreed that they would neither receive more money from the people nor repair the damages of the temple. They were like, fine, we're out of this. It puts us back to being priests and Levites and not contractors or general contractors. So they're out of the fundraising and the contracting side of the story. But when we get to verse 16, it will tell us the priests were cared for with the proper offerings.

And so again, it doesn't seem to be anything hostile here. Verse nine, then Jehoiada, the priest took a chest, bore a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar on the right side as one comes into the house of Yahweh. And the priest who kept the door put all the money brought into the house of Yahweh. So this is at the king's command.

When Jehoiada takes this box, and we get that from 2 Chronicles 24 verse 8, the king commanded this. That's the solution. They just worked on a solution together. We got a problem.

Let's fix it. And it is nice to see that it appears to have worked out. When the people heard that the project was now under royal supervision, they seemed to be encouraged and gave more. Verse 10, so it was whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest that the king's scribe, verse 10, and the high priest came up, put it in bags, and counted the money that was found in the house of Yahweh. So they put, Jehoiada drills a hole in the box, they put offering boxes, they just make them available. And they're not saying anything but this is what we want to do.

And it is a very beautiful picture of the people rallying to have their place of worship repaired. There is a chain of custody that provides a system of accountability, but it turns into faith later where they're not checking anything. They're like, you know what, we trust you. Continuing on verse 11, oh I should add, the people are giving them money, but they don't have a say so in what gets done first, what kind of, you know, should that be cedarwood or should we use cypress?

That's not in their hands. Sometimes it's good. I think many times it's good as a matter of fact.

Oh, you think almost all the time it's good. Verse 11, too many cooks spoil the broth. Verse 11, and they gave the money which had been apportioned into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of Yahweh, and they paid it out to the carpenters, the builders who worked on the house of Yahweh. Labor is worthy of his wages.

These guys weren't working for free nor should they be expected to. Verse 12, and to the masons, the stonecutters. These masons, they weren't working for free. They weren't free masons. That's pretty clever. Okay, you can tell me all about it later how clever it was.

Where was I? Verse 12, to the masons, the stonecutters, and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the damage of the house of the Lord, which is Yahweh, and for all that was paid out to repair the temple. Look, various trades are there, which indicates the damage was extensive. They didn't just have a guy come on, I can do a little sheetrock and I can do that too.

We got a little wiring, that's no problem. No, these are whole trades here, so it was pretty severe damage. Second Chronicles again, chapter 24, verse 13, so the workmen labored and the work was completed by them. They restored the house of God to its original condition and reinforced it.

Is that not beautiful language? I mean, the whole story ends up being just a win situation for everybody. The plan was a good plan in the beginning, but it didn't work. So they adjusted the plan.

No one seems to have been damaged in or hurt in this. And then the people rallied to the support. They put their money where their mouth is. The workers, they are hard workers, according, you know, as it is in the book of Haggai, the people had a mind to work, or Nehemiah, sorry, they had a mind to work, so the wall went up. Well, it's the same thing here.

And they reinforced it. I just, that strikes me, the spiritual applications to my personal devotions to the Lord. To get back to where I used to be at some point, you may come to that place in your walk where you just don't have the zeal you once had, where you rebuild it and you reinforce it.

Verse 13. I'm going to pause there again. Because maybe you will have your chance if you remain faithful to the Lord, to where you notice that the zeal is just not as it used to be. The candle's not burning as bright. And sometimes there's no reason you put your finger, so this is why. You know, I didn't get the job I wanted, now I'm just going to struggle. That could be too, but it doesn't have to have a reason that you can put your finger on, except that you're a sinner. You work to restore your faith, to build it back up, and reinforce it. And it can take a long time. But that you keep at it irritates hell. The fact that you, I'm not backing down from this, I may take smaller steps, I may read lesser sections, but I'm not going to give up on this fight.

I will get my faith to where it needs to be, so help me Lord. Verse 13. However, they were not made for the house of Yahweh, basins of silver, trimmers, sprinkling bowls, trumpets, any articles of gold or articles of silver, from the money brought into the house of Yahweh. So the money went for repairing the structure, the facility itself, but these articles for worship, what about them? Anyway, the trimmers, they were used to keep the lampstands burning bright, and that's true.

In your life as a Christian, you sometimes have to trim the wick to keep it burning bright, and you have to, maintenance is a part of Christianity. These items will be carried off as plunder. We read in 2 Chronicles, so it happened in the spring of the year that the army of Syria came up against him, that is Jehoash, the present king, and they came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the leaders of the people from among the people and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus. And of course, if they didn't get it all, well Nebuchadnezzar will follow later and he will take it all.

Whatever is left, whatever is restored. Verse 12. But they gave that to the workmen, and they repaired the house of Yahweh with it. So, the point that we should probably make here, New Testament point, is we do not meet in a place, we meet in a place we assemble to worship, but we do not meet in one place of worship. What we do is meet around one person in worship, and this is old school Christianity.

This is not an original statement, it is just old school. It's not one place to worship in, but one person. John chapter 4 verse 21, Jesus said to the woman, woman believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. And that had several applications to it, and one of them is that God is our Lord, we approach him anywhere, anywhere that we are. Well, because we can't be anywhere else.

We can only be where we are. Verse 15, Moreover they did not require an account from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to be paid to the workmen, for they dealt faithfully. So the workers were so honest and faithful that nobody checked on them. No one cast suspicion. What are you doing with the money?

I see you have a new robe, did you use some of that money for that? They received the benefit of trust. Trustworthy men drew no suspicion, and this is an outstanding feature. There are things I could get into now that Christians and churches do and I'm just going to pass on it, because I don't know that, I don't feel led to say it, not because I don't want to.

I do want to say it, but if the Lord doesn't give me the green light then I can't say it. But anyway, no fussing and arguing. I guess it comes down to if you don't trust other drivers, stay off the road. Trusting is a part of life.

There are times when you have to watch for sure. In this church we have board members, they can tell if there's any embezzlement going on or anything shady like that. You don't open that up to everyone. Let me just show everybody the books here, because why? Because if we're criminals, we're not going to show you the true books. We're going to cook the books and show you something else, because we're criminals. And if we're honest men and this is the Lord leading us, why do you need to look? Well, so I can fuss, so you can protest, so you can throw your two cents in, but that's what we don't want.

And yet it happens all the time. And I remember one, actually I'm saying the things that I felt I shouldn't say because I now feel led to say them. So this is a young girl and she's so happy with the worship here and she said, well, you know, when do I get to look at the books?

You don't. Maybe the snickering on my part was a bit much. No, I didn't snicker as I'm a professional until I get to my office and then I can. So I told her, you know, why we don't do that. She said, oh, it's no problem whatsoever. We never saw her again.

Because it was a problem for her. And it's like, what are you going to do? Okay, here's what we give to missions. Are you happy with that? Is that okay? You're not okay with that? Well, what do you think we should do? Well, what else do you think we should do? How about you be in a pulpit Sunday and I'll just stay home? It's not offending anyone.

We're not breaking laws. Paul never said, hmm, what should I do? Let's put it to a vote. Paul said we're going that way. And what did they do? They rallied behind him.

When he told Timothy and Titus, I'm going to Corinth and I need you to go back and check on Thessalonika or go to Berea. That's what they did. These things are not bad, but we Americans, you know, we don't like to be told to do anything. It's a free country. I have a right.

It's my constitutional right. You know, it's a bunch of biblical rights. Anyway, coming back to this, verse 16, the money from the trespass offering and the money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of Yahweh. It belonged to the priest. And so there the priests are taken care of in accordance with Leviticus 7.

They're getting their income and they should. Verse 17, Hazael, king of Syria, went up and fought against Gath and took it. Then Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem. Okay, Jehoiada is dead at this point, so we don't have a time stamp, but we know he is no longer around. And this is a judgment of God. He's using the king of Syria.

This is the Hazael who the prophet Elisha looked at and wept. He said, you're going to kill your master, King Ben-Hadad. And he did kill him. Is my master going to survive this sickness? Yes, but you're going to kill him.

So I guess no. He had already conquered other parts of Israel. He is going to come to Jerusalem as read already.

Second Chronicles 24, again for the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, but Yahweh delivered a great army into their hand because they had forsaken Yahweh, God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash. Of course, this is for his apostasy. He will be killed for killing the son of Jehoiada.

This is two separate judgments that he will have to deal with. The people were in cahoots with him in the false worship, so they got what was prophesied, what was coming to them. You would think they would say, the Lord prophesied these things, let's change back from the false gods to the true God, but we don't read about that. Verse 18, in Jehoash, king of Judah took all the sacred things that his father Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, had dedicated and his own sacred things and all the gold found in the treasury of the house of Yahweh and the king's house and sent them to Hazael, king of Syria, then he went away from Jerusalem. So he takes all the articles that they labored to, all of the things that God had given them and their fathers had acquired, he gives it away to appease the king instead of fighting by faith, as other kings will do and have done, such as Jehoshaphat. He gives us a way to avoid war, but his grandfather Jehoshaphat, he sought the prophets, he called upon Yahweh, he moved the people to call upon Yahweh, they had great victory. Second Chronicles 17, speaking of Jehoshaphat, and his heart took to light in the ways of Yahweh, moreover he removed the high places and the wooden image from Judah. Second Chronicles 17 again, also in the third year of his reign he sent leaders, and then verse 9, so they taught in Judah and had the book of the law of Yahweh with them, they went throughout all the cities of Judah and taught the people. And so there's King Jehoshaphat wanting to educate the people, understanding that people who were ignorant of their God were not an asset, it was not a virtue, that they had to learn, and that's why the priests and Levites were there, and so he put it to use. But Joash caves to the request, we don't read of him calling on Yahweh after Jehoiada. Second Chronicles again, chapter 24 verse 25, and when they had withdrawn from him, for they left him severely wounded, his own servants conspired against him because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada, the priest, and killed him on his bed. So he died, and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings. And so they went away, they came back, they had war. It didn't work, appeasing the enemy. It was a warning to us all, verse 19, now the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

Yes, they are. It's just kind of cute how they ask these questions, like it's rhetorical, but we know the answer, so why not spit it out? The death of Joash, the chronicler in Chronicles, not here in Kings, exposes Joash for ruining God's blessings, being saved from death as a little child, having such people around him, the two wives, the two mentors, his aunt and his uncle, the people who are all part of hiding him, the soldiers that rallied behind Jehoiada to make him king, and this is what he does. In the end, he turns away from their God, from his God, and what's he get out of it all? What's the payoff? Well, he gets death, the all right, and then what?

Because there is a then what? And he gets judgment for violating the first commandment among others. Thou shall have no other gods in my sight. Verse 20, and his servants arose and formed a conspiracy and killed Joash in the house of the milo, which goes down to Silla, and I'm not going to stay on all of that part. Suffice it to say, they killed him. Verse 21, for Jazakar, the son of Shemaath and Jehozabab, now are you getting this? Who's the son of Shemaath?

Quick! And the son of Shemaath, his servants, struck him. Now there's two men here, but their fathers are listed too, so it sounds like four, but it's two men that are doing the killing. So he died and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David. Then Azariah, his son, reigned in his place.

So it's a heartbreaking end to an encouraging beginning, a courageous beginning. And you just say, was it wasted? Well no, it wasn't wasted on him, but there were others that benefited from what God was doing in the early stages, getting rid of Athaliah and repairing the house of God.

So there were people that benefited from this, but on a personal level, he threw it all away. He became an apostate. Amaziah, his son, will execute these two men. We'll get that in chapter 14. The way to ruin God's blessing is to turn against God.

It's not very difficult. So we'll close with this verse, 2 Chronicles 24, verse 22. Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada, his father, had done to him. I know I read this verse already. But killed his son, and as he died, that is the son Zechariah, he said, Yahweh, look on it and repay. And the Lord granted that prayer request, and this king had been killed.

In the end, he died as a fool. Thanks for joining us for today's edition on Cross Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.

We trust that what you've heard today in the book of 2 Kings has been something to remember. If you'd like to listen to more teachings from this series, go to crossreferenceradio.com. Once more, that's crossreferenceradio.com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast too so you'll never miss another edition. Just go to your favorite podcast app to subscribe. Our time is about up, but we hope you'll tune in again next time as we continue on in the book of 2 Kings. We look forward to that time with you, so make a note in your calendar to join Pastor Rick as he teaches from the Bible right here on Cross Reference Radio.