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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Jevede Harris

Restoring God’s Temple to Killing God’s Prophet

Our most gracious Father we thank you so much for your many blessings.

We pray Father that at this time your Holy Spirit will please speak to my heart and through me speak to each person here this morning.

We ask these mercies in the name of Jesus.

He narrowly escaped his grandmother's murderous scheme.

He was only an infant when he was stolen from among his brothers who were about to be put to death.

Hidden in the temple for 6 years and nurtured by the wife of Jehoiada, the faithful priest, he was raised with Christian virtues.

At the tender age of 7, he became king of Judah.

But unlike his wicked father, the Bible bears testimony of his godly conduct.

Joash did what was pleasing in the eyes of the Lord.

By his own initiative, he even restored the temple of the Lord, removing reproach and disrepute from God's temple and holy name.

Yet, we can't rejoice Because we know how his story ends.

We know that Joash abandoned the temple of the Lord and instead worshipped Asherah poles and idols.

We know that he rejected again and again the calls to repentance that God sent time after time through various prophets.

We cringe when we remember how he murdered Zechariah, the prophet and priest, in, of all places, the courtyard of the Lord's temple.

We tear up when we recall his premature death and dishonorable burial.

We ask how could this godly king sink to such low depths, from living a godly life to worshiping idols, from restoring God's temple to killing God's prophet.

And may I suggest that This saga is relived in the lives of many a Christian today that you and I are no less capable of falling as Josh did.

That there are principles in this story that if understood and applied to our lives, will not only prevent us from backsliding, but will also fortify our relationship with Jesus.

It's for godly Christians whose lives are pleasing to the Lord and the cry of their heart is higher ground.

It's for Christians who are struggling and wavering but are not content to remain where they are, their prayer and aim is also higher ground.

It's for Christians wavering and struggling who are content with substandard Christianity.

Maybe you're here at Advent Hope this morning or perhaps listening, will listen to the sermon through audio verse.

Hopefully by the end of our time together this morning, your prayer and aim will also be higher ground.

The purpose of this message is to highlight the factors that contributed to Josh's crash course with sin and the corresponding principles that underlie Christian growth.

Please turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Kings 12.

In 2 Kings 12, verses 1 and 2, and I'll be reading from the New International Version, the Bible says, in the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem 40 years.

Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

It was Jehoiada the priest who protected the infant Joash in the temple while the wicked Athaliah reigned.

It was Jehoiada who led the revolt against Athaliah who had usurped the throne and assassinated the royal family.

It was Jehoiada who restored Joash, the rightful heir to the throne.

It was Jehoiada who led out in religious reforms that involved tearing down the Temple of Baal and smashing the idols to pieces and putting the priest of Baal to death.

It was Jehoiada who roused the people to turn back to true worship.

As a result of these religious reforms, Joash was raised upon the ruins of idolatry.

Now we know that a seven-year-old does not possess the intellectual capacity to rule a kingdom.

Really, it was Jehoiada who was doing the governing until Joash was old enough to assume that responsibility.

Like a father to Joash, he ensured that the young king was taught the fear of the Lord and the principles of godly leadership.

Like many of you, he was raised in a lovely Adventist home and went to Adventist schools all his life.

So it comes as no surprise that he did what was pleasing in the eyes of the Lord.

But notice what is conspicuously missing.

The Bible doesn't say that Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord as his father David had done.

Such a testimony is reserved for kings whose devotion was wholehearted and who remained faithful all their lives.

Note with me what is said of Amaziah, the son of Joshua who succeeded him in 2 Chronicles 25 verse 2.

In 2 Chronicles 25 verse 2, the Bible says that he, Amaziah, did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly.

Or as the King James Version puts it, but not with a perfect heart.

Now, 2 Kings 14 verse 3, a parallel text to this 1 says, He, Amaziah the son of Joash, did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not as his father David had done.

In everything, he followed the example of his father, Joash.

Not wholeheartedly, just like his father, Joash.

Amaziah, as you recall, also died an apostate.

So Joash, even while he was keeping God's commandments, honoring the Sabbath, returning a faithful tithe, abstaining from prohibited practices and places, even while his conduct was pleasing to the Lord, in his heart of hearts he was not wholly devoted.

That Joash did what was pleasing to the Lord is qualified by all the years that Jehoiada the priest instructed him, or as the New Living Translation puts it, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

Indeed, his apostasy following Jehoiada's death revealed that when he did that which was right in the Lord's eyes, it was not with a perfect heart.

He acted not so much from a principle that had become a part of him, but in compliance with Jehoiada.

Why did Joash's story end the way it did?

Because he had something that you and I may have without even realizing it.

A proxy is someone who acts and speaks on behalf of another.

That is, he did not possess a faith that was uniquely his.

His conduct was an expression of not his faith, but Jehoiada's faith and the result of Jehoiada's influence.

Therefore, when Jehoiada was removed by death, Joash found himself without an anchor.

I remember an old hymn that says, in times like these we need a Savior.

Be very sure, the songwriter says, that your anchor holds and grips the solid rock.

Be very sure that your anchor holds and grips not someone else's faith, but Jesus Christ, the solid rock.

Faith you see has to be personal in order to have salvific power.

Jesus often said, Your faith, not somebody else's, but your faith has made you whole.

Now you may be thinking about the paralytic of Mark chapter 2 where the Bible says that when Jesus saw his friend's faith, he said to the sick of the palsy, your sins are forgiven you.

Yes, but when Jesus said to the sick of the palsy, your sins are forgiven you and arise, take up your bed and walk, his friend's faith met its limit.

In order to be healed, he had to exercise the faith that he had in Jesus.

Now the point I'm trying to make here is that at some point in your life and at some point in mine, somebody else's faith brought us in contact with Jesus.

Now that faith, in order to have salvific power and redemptive power in us, needs to become a personal, living, dynamic experience.

And as that faith becomes living and personal and dynamic, it invariably leads others to the Savior that we have come to know and love.

Jehoiada's faith brought Jehosh in touch with Jesus.

Raised in the church, instructed in the ways of the Lord at home, and having passed through the Adventist education system, he learned what was right.

But he did not have a wholehearted consecration to the God of that which was right.

He did not develop a faith that was uniquely his so that he could be made whole.

And yet to all appearances he had this faith.

How could he have known that irrespective of his good Christian deeds, his heart was not perfect with the Lord?

And how can you and I know whether our right living is the result of wholehearted consecration to the Lord.

And it is independent of how long we have been in the church.

Now as I stand here today and I do not wish to toot my own horn but I believe that in some ways like Joash I have a pretty good form of godliness.

And the fact that you are here Sabbath after Sabbath also indicates that you too have a form of godliness.

But what's even more important is whether we have the Spirit and the power.

Amanda read so eloquently that passage from Steps to Christ this morning for us.

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Restoring God’s Temple to Killing God’s Prophet

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