2 Kings 19 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+19&version=ESV

While you may not generally find yourself surrounded by an army the size of the city of Madison, you certainly do face problems every day. Most of them are little (first world problems). Some of them are harder – losing loved ones because of arguments or death or something else. None of these compare to what Hezekiah faced. But that should be comforting to us! It’s a greater to lesser argument – if God could so easily help Hezekiah out of such a big problem, then He can certainly help with all of ours That doesn’t mean he will make your problems all disappear like the Assyrian army. But it certainly means that every problem you face is really God’s problem – that is, He cares about it! He wants you to lay it before Him just like Hezekiah did with Sennacherib’s mocking. Plus, God wants you to see that every problem is really a spiritual problem. Every trouble is Satan besieging your soul, trying to distract you, to break you down, to depress you and steal your hope in Christ. He sends mocking words, “God cannot help you. God does not care about you.” Lay it, whatever problem you face, before God. Make it His problem and then it’s no problem. For on the list of God’s great works, the destruction of Sennacherib, as amazing as it is, is nothing compared to what happened some 500 years later outside that same city. The very thing which Isaiah (first introduced to us in this chapter) would prophecy of so clearly – the man of sorrows, the suffering servant of Jehovah would give His life, surrounded by enemies to deliver us from ours! He, by death would kill death. And He, by life would bring an end to every problem.

So that problem of yours? Make it God’s problem. See it through Christ. Then it’s no problem. Amen.

Check out this awesome poem by George Gordon Lord Byron about this chapter – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKjBSC_F1NA

In Christ
Pastor Ude

2 Kings 18 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/…

Sennacherib had it all figured out…or so he thought. He believed he had Hezekiah and Judah caught. They couldn’t get help from Egypt – Assyria was more powerful than Egypt. They wouldn’t get help from their God, after all none of the other gods of the other countries had helped them. Plus, Sennacherib believes that Hezekiah’s destruction of the high places was an attack against Judah’s God. Sennacherib thought he had every angle covered and so he boasted and mocked Hezekiah and all the people of Jerusalem. But Sennacherib had made a fatal error in his logic – the God of Judah was nothing at all like the gods of the other peoples.

2 Kings 17:24-41 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/…

If i wanted to drive to Eau Claire from Appleton, there are many ways I could go. At least three of them would take about the same amount of time. All of them would get me to the same place. If I want to make a steak, there are many different ways that I could cook it – frying pan, oven, grill (charcoal or gas). Some might be better than others, but all will do the trick. There are, as they say, many ways to skin a cat. Many people would have you believe that the same is true when it comes to God. They say that all the different religions in the world all get to the same place, they’re all really the same. And they are right that all religions in the world are the same…except for one. And that’s the only one that’s any good.

2 Kings 17:1-23 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+17%3A1-23&version=ESV

2 Kings 15 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%2015&version=ESV

While Uzziah (also known as Azariah) was reigning for 52 years in Jerusalem, Israel went through a parade of Kings. And as you read through the chapter you’ll see why I entitled this “a broken record.” One King after another “does what is evil in the sight of the Lord.” Even the goods kings in Judah (4 of them in a row – Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham) don’t get rid of the high places. They are good but none of them go far enough. One after another, the kings of Israel are killed, often brutally and bloodily. Finally that nation will be conquered and taken captive by Assyria. See, after a while, God destroys broken records.

Are you a broken record? Do you keep committing the same sins day in and day out – lust, pride, selfishness, carelessness for the Word of God – not walking in the ways of the Lord – worshiping the idols of the day – money, popularity, tv, music, sex? Do you put these things above Christ and His Word? Do you allow them to compromise your beliefs, to change and cajole you into abandoning what Christ says? What will God do with a broken record like you?

He will forgive you. We are all broken records – playing again and again the same old sins of yesterday. And we should indeed be warned by the example of Israel not to take God’s grace for granted, not to think that His forgiveness means we can go on living however we want – that’s not faith. But we recall during lent that when we repent of our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins – He cleanses us from all unrighteousness! And that’s because of Jesus. Jesus who, with his last gasps, was still speaking forgiveness and love to all. Jesus, who by His last gasps was atoning for all sins. Jesus, who by His first breath of resurrected air assures us of forgiveness and eternal life. Now He lives in us in order to keep us in faith, assure us of eternal life and change us from broken records to beautiful instruments for His glory.

Prayer – Jesus, call us to repent.Forgive us. Change our hearts, change our lives. Let us be for you.

In Christ
Pastor Ude

2 Chronicles 26 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Chronicles%2026&version=ESV

Uzziah’s story is, in some respects, very similar to his father’s. He was a good king, he followed the Lord, the Lord blessed Him, then he got proud and the Lord punished him. We don’t know what Uzziah’s spiritual situation was like at the end of his life, we’d like to believe that the Lord’s discipline led to Uzziah’s repentance, we don’t know. However, there is a very important lesson to learn from Uzziah.

We live in a world that operates on pride. The world has always been this way. Ever since Satan convinced Eve that she should be the one in charge (“you will be like God”), people have always wanted to be the highest, the leader, the most honorable. In fact, this idea is so ingrained in us in our sinful natures that the second I say “submission” you think I’m talking about someone being less, unequal with someone else. That’s a lie. It’s Satan’s lie. One which he has been very successful at implementing. He did it with Uzziah who wanted to be the one offering those sacrifices. He’s done it in our culture today destroying the roles for men and women that Christ appointed in the church (1 Timothy 2:12, 1 Corinthians 14:34) and in the home (Ephesians 5:20-26). This idea is so stuck in our heads that we probably have a hard time swallowing these words too: 1 Corinthians 15:28, “When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.” Yes that does say that Christ’s relationship to the Father will be one of submission. Yes that is speaking about Christ according to both His divinity and His humanity. Yes that is the Son’s relationship with the Father from eternity and NO that does not mean that they are not equal. See, this idea that submission and leadership means inequality is a complete lie. One that causes much damage in relationships and in society. It makes people feel badly about the role that God has given them. It makes others feel superior and arrogant about theirs. It’s a leprosy destroying and ruining what God made to be good.

Only Jesus can stop it. Jesus who forgives. Jesus who serves. Jesus who submits. Jesus who dies and now lives for us. Jesus whose love causes love. Jesus whose Word shows the right way – not pride but place. Find your place in God’s church, your role according to what His Word says, use your gifts in that place to serve Him. Don’t be deceived by this world’s arrogant, prideful ideals – submission and love are the way. They were the way Christ forgave your sins and they are the way for you to serve your neighbor. Place, not pride.

In Christ
Pastor Ude

2 Chronicles 25 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Chronicles%2025&version=ESV

“Don’t get cocky” is always good advice (Han Solo knew it!). When we become proud of our success to the point where we forget what brought us that success, it’s pretty easy to come tumbling down. You become a great baseball player by repetition, hard work, practice! If you stop working, you can lose all that you gained. You won your spouse’s heart with romance, how easy it is to get cocky, to forget to do the things you used to do together! It’s especially applicable with God. Amaziah got cocky, It was God who had given him the victory over Edom. The true God only! Yet, in his pride, Amaziah not only brought home the gods of the defeated Edomites (how crazy is that!) but then scorned and refused to listen to God’s prophet. He taunted the king of Israel, dared him to fight, all the while trusting no in God but in himself. Things didn’t turn out well.

Paul warned the Galatians about something very similar – “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3). He was talking about their salvation. They had been brought to faith by the Spirit alone, it was God’s work to bring them to new life through the message of Christ crucified. They had nothing to do with it! But now they were being told that they needed to do certain things in order to make it the rest of the way – that it was up to them! What foolish pride. They were forgetting what had got them there. Perhaps at times, so do we. Christ is what got us to where we are. Christ died for us, rose for us, lives for us, lives in us! Christ forgives us and strengthens us. And it must be Christ who still keeps us and helps us. It is not now (nor ever will be) the time to say to Jesus, “You’ve done a good job so far, let me take it from here.” Such an approach will leave us with Amaziah, turned away from God, refusing to hear His word and finally destroyed. God grant us hearts to trust in Him only for salvation – not our works, not our feelings, not our understanding – Jesus only. Amen.

In Christ

2 Chronicles 24:15-27 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Chronicles+24%3A15-27&version=ESV

There are very few things in this world that can drive a decent person to kill – very few things that mean enough to someone for them to do that. But, even when this is the case, the killing is usually still selfish. Imagine that your child was captured by ISIS and they told you that you had to plant a bomb at such and such a place or else they would kill your child. That would, of course, be a terrible thing. Many people would probably do it. It would still be the wrong thing to do. And it would probably, truly, be a selfish kind of love that would do that. What most people identify as love isn’t love at all but “the way that person makes me feel” and what my life would be like without them.

We see something different from God. He killed for the sake of His Word but it was good in His case and it wasn’t selfish. When Joash and the people turned away from Him, God sent His prophets, He sent Zechariah and Zechariah was willing to do die for the proclamation of God’s Word. When Joash refused to listen, God allowed him to be defeated and assassinated. Why? Judgment certainly but also compassion. He wanted His Word to be preserved. And not because He just wanted us all to know how great He was but because His Word is the only thing that can save us! That’s why it’s so important. That’s why God will kill for it, because He would kill for you. And He did. He killed His Son. The Son who volunteered to be the sacrifice for all the sins of all the ages of mankind.

You are not called to kill for God’s Word. Leave such things up to God. But you might be called to give your life for it. And you should treasure it more highly than anything else – even children. Because God’s Word alone saves. His Word alone tells you that your sins are forgiven and heaven is opened. Because God was willing to kill for you.

In Christ
Pastor Ude

Mining Treasures From God’s House

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/…

Here we get an overview of the first part of Joash’s reign. He sets out to restore the temple of the Lord, he gathers money, he sticks with it, he makes repairs, he remakes the utensils of silver and gold etc. What he did was good! He was remaking what God had commanded Solomon to make. He was setting apart the house of God, the place where He would come to His people in His promises as the most important thing in the kingdom – in the world! But Joash does not stick to his guns. As soon as he hears that Hazael, King of Syria, is going to come and attack Jerusalem, he abandons all that he had been doing before and takes all the riches of the temple of the Lord and sends them to Hazael to appease him.

2 Kings 10 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+10

I think perhaps this phrase perfectly sums up Jehu’s dedication the Lord. He talks a big game while he is killing and slaughtering and making morbid public displays – that’s all stuff he likes to do. Jehu is clearly a blood man. He could talk about performing all the the Lord had promised and fulfilling His Word as long as it was that thing which he enjoyed. But that was the end of His obedience to the Lord.

The chapter before us shows to things in glaring contradiction – Jehu’s energetic dedication to the destruction of Ahab’s house and his total apathy towards restoring the true religion. He followed in the sins of Jeroboam – that is, he didn’t call the people back to the Lord but had them “worship the Lord” at the golden calves which Jeroboam had set up. Why would he do this? Either because he didn’t care, or more likely, because he like Jeroboam didn’t want his people leaving Israel to go to Jerusalem as they had been commanded and then move down there. It was self-interest. Either way, it is clear that while he spends tremendous energy killing Ahab’s house and the prophets of Baal, he spends nothing on teaching the true Word of God for forgiveness and salvation. Why? Because while he liked killing, he didn’t care about God. He didn’t have faith. And so he didn’t love God nor did he love the things God loved.

When you and I find ourselves only obeying God’s Word “as far as it suits me,” the answer is not just to do it anyway but first to receive Christ’s forgiveness for that sin and then to have a change of heart – to desire those things which God desires. The latter is only caused by the former. “We love Him because He first loved us.” Christ’s death and resurrection set us free from the penalty that our sins deserve (the same penalty that Ahab’s house received) and strengthen us to love all God’s Word – Psalm 119:97 – Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.

In Christ
Pastor Ude