He Walked In The Ways of His Father

Introduction

Are we on? I think that sounds good. All right. Good morning, everybody. We can do a little bit better than that. Good morning, everybody. Very good. I’m a bit of a call and response guy. I want to kind of sense the energy of the room, see how everybody’s doing if you’re wide awake this morning. If you have your Bibles with you, if you want to open up the Heavenly Library to 2 Kings chapter 21. 2 Kings chapter 21. That’s where most of our time is going to be spent in our lesson this morning. While you’re turning there, I just want to extend a thank you, or three thank yous, really, first to our Lord and Savior Jesus and the bond that unites us all together in Christ that allows us to be together and to worship one another and to draw nearer to him each Lord’s day.

And as well, I would like to extend a thank you to Mr. Ken for offering me this opportunity to come and be able to worship and speak with you all. Then I also want to extend a thank you to Elijah Morris because Elijah and I actually went to camp together. I grew up with Elijah, and when he messaged me this week and told me that he was going to be out of town preaching, uh it just warmed my heart to know that he is, you know, taking on the mantle of preaching God’s word, and I think the world of Elijah, and you know, by extension, I think the world of you guys as well, for you know, raising up a young man like him and encouraging him in the work and the road that he has before him.

So, with that said, I’d like to turn our attention to the lesson this morning that comes from 2 Kings chapter 21. When I was a kid, I was always really fascinated with King Hezekiah of Judah. When I think of King Hezekiah, I was always particularly fascinated by, first of all, he was in the minority of the good kings that come from the divided kingdom of God’s people. You know, if you raise your hand if you ever grew up seeing the chart of the smiley faced kings and the frowny face kings. By a show of hands, anybody remember this? Yeah, several people remember the smiley face and the frowny face kings. So he was one of those, you know, kind of great standard, green, smiley faced kings that served the Lord and was a great example.

So I was always truly fascinated by King Hezekiah. But now as I grow older and I understand his character more, I’m actually still fascinated by him, but less in his actual character and more in the legacy that he left behind. It’s because the kings that follow Hezekiah, you know, the period of time for Judah being in the divided kingdom, when Hezekiah comes onto the scene, he’s responsible for many great reforms in a spiritual awakening for the people of Judah to draw them back to God. And you’d expect that the line of succession of his son and his grandson might be further building upon those reforms and the righteous actions taken to restore the people back to God, but what we find is just the opposite. So let’s look in 2 Kings chapter 21, look at verse 21 about what the text says about his grandson Ammon.

It says that Ammon walked in all the way in which his father walked and served the idols that his father served and worshipped him. The text tells us that Ammon walked in the ways of his father. Not much is described about Ammon and his tenure as king over Judah, but what we do know is that he was comparable to his father Manasseh. And so going back to that frowny face and smiley face chart, if Hezekiah is one of the few green, you know, smiley faced kings, his son Manasseh would probably be the darkest red, most evil crimson red color of a frowny faced king. Manasseh is probably the greatest failure of a king in Judah’s history for the actions that he committed. And his son Ammon, as the text tells us here, was a lot like him.

And so given Hezekiah’s character and the reforms that he brought about in Judah’s land, we may ask the question, how could this happen? How could this happen to the people of God who had just reformed themselves and revived their relationship with God and drawn nearer to him? How could it be that this came about? And I’d like to use this question as a springboard into the lesson this morning, and that is the cautionary example that exists between four kings that we’re going to look at this morning about the importance of being a good father and leading a good example. And as a caveat to our study this morning, while you may not know me very well, I will tell you that I’m not a father. And so while it may seem a little bit weird that I’m presenting this lesson to you all, I think that all of us, no matter whether we are fathers or whether we are mothers, or whether we’re children or we’re aspiring fathers like I am, we can all see the importance of being a good example to others, whether that be our own kids or others in the church, or even those outside of the gospel to help grow and better ourselves to the standard of the cross.

So, how did this happen? How was this evil succession of kings brought about by the revival of Hezekiah? Let us answer the question behind Ammon’s reign by first looking at the reign of his father, Manasseh, at the beginning of 2 Kings chapter 21. So we just read chapter 21, verse 21, so let’s back up to verse 1 to see what the Bible says about Ammon’s father, Manasseh. Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign. And he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem. And it says in verse 2 that he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Manasseh succeeds the throne at just 12 years old. Now I don’t know any 12-year-olds that are in this room, but at Valrico, when I talked about this lesson, some 12-year-olds came to mind that we might kind of shudder in fear thinking about them leading an entire nation from Valrico.

So if you have any here, a brother or a cousin that maybe you can think of, just picture that person in charge of a nation.

But anyway, his father dies, that’s Hezekiah, and Manasseh comes to rule the land of Judah.

1. Good Fathers Lead as Good Examples

But regardless of what the Bible says about Manasseh and his character, and even Hezekiah and his character, when you think about taking on the office of king, that’s no small undertaking. And so no matter what type of person they were, one could imagine that these two would have wanted more time together. But what we do know about Hezekiah and the goodness that he did, we can recognize that Manasseh would need to continue the reforms and continue to build up the nation of Judah. And in order to do so, in order to continue the spiritual high for the land of Judah, Manasseh was going to need something. And that was his father’s legacy or his father’s example. And that is what I think all of us can see, and it is that good fathers lead as good examples.

And let’s look at the example it is that Hezekiah left for his son to follow. If you flip just a couple chapters back in 2 Kings 18, the description of Hezekiah’s reign when he comes to the throne in Judah is given for us. Second Kings chapter 18, draw your attention to verse three. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. So right off the bat, Hezekiah is compared to the greatest standard of kingship, being David. And he removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the asherah, and he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made. For until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it.

So what was supposed to proclaim the glory of God for his people and signify the salvation that God brought to his people had now been reduced to merely an idol. But thankfully Hezekiah nipped that in the bud and stopped it and put a stop to the idolatry that arose from that. It says in verse 5 that he trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those before him. For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. And then it ends his tenure with saying that the Lord was with him. The Lord was with Hezekiah and his rule.

And I’m sure that if Hezekiah had been given the opportunity, he would have wanted to stay and raise Manasseh so that he could be prepared for the office of king. But based off of this text and what we can see about the character of Hezekiah, we can recognize that the groundwork and foundation for greatness and continual revival and success, drawing nearer to God for Manasseh’s reign, it was there. The foundation for Manasseh was there through his father’s example. And on top of this, going back into 2 Samuel chapter 7, God had promised the line of David that he was going to be with them if they would just rely upon him and depend upon him, just as his father Hezekiah had done. But what we can see from this is that we cannot expect our children, we cannot expect young people to fall into their faith.

And what I mean by this, despite the many influences in children’s lives and young people’s lives, whether that be media, whether that be physical figures, role models, no matter what it is, there is a spiritual war for our children. And what children are going to need is their example of those closest to them to follow. And so whether that be a father or a mother or a spiritual figure, they need someone to follow as a good example. One of my favorite books written by Stephen Covey is The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. And if you haven’t read it, there’s this wonderful chapter of the book where Stephen is working with his son, who’s starting to grow up, and he’s starting to reach kind of this age where they want to offer him up some more responsibility and give him some more freedoms.

So Stephen makes a deal with his son, and he tells his son that if he is willing to become kind of the groundskeeper for their yard, that he will offer him up some more responsibility and even give him an allowance. And the son, you know, excited to tackle the challenge, says, Yes, Dad, I’ll do it. You can count on me. And over the course of the chapter, what happens is the family has this barbecue event in their backyard. And Stephen was excited to turn to his, you know, young apprentice and watch him continue and you know, really take on that mantle of groundskeeper and to follow up with the duty that was entrusted to him. But what Stephen finds is the next day after, the yard is still a mess.

There’s still lawn furniture everywhere, there’s trash, there’s leftover food laying out, toys in the yard, that sort of thing. And Stephen looks to his son and uh he reminds him, he says, Remember our deal. And his son says, Yes, yes, dad, I remember. I’ll get to it. I’ll get to it soon. And so then another day goes by and it’s not done, and another day goes by. And finally Stephen gets tired of it, and he goes to his son and he shows him the yard and he explains the terms of the deal to him and asks him why it is that the yard is not done. And his son just looks at his dad and he embraces him and he breaks down into tears and he says, Dad, I can’t do it.

It’s just too hard. And what Stephen does is in that moment, he uses that moment to be intentional in his example to his son. And where, if you’re like me, your parents probably would have bent you over their knee and taken the belt to you and said, You’re gonna clean this yard, whether you like it or not. But what Stephen does in this moment is he goes out into the yard with his son and he helps him to clean the yard and he shows him the standard to which he expects his son to fulfill the job. And from that day forward, Stephen’s son then takes up the mantle and without ever being told again, always keeps up with the yard. And really, that is the larger lesson throughout the book of Kings that we’re studying from this morning, from these four kings and the lesson of Stephen and his son, is that for our children to be raised up by good examples, whether that be our physical children or children in the faith, it does not matter.

2. It Is Up to the Son to Choose to Follow

We must be intentional in our example. But certainly, while it is true that leading an example is important for children and critical to their upbringing in the Lord, it is also the case that it is up to the son to choose to follow that example. What I mean by everyone has the opportunity and the choice to choose whether they are going to follow a good or bad example. And so, despite what we may expect from Hezekiah’s successful reign and his example, Manasseh, as it turns out, neglects his father’s example. He does not take up the mantle of continuing the reforms of Judah, but instead despises the actions of his father. One commentator says that while Hezekiah’s shortcomings, which he certainly has some, come from self-centeredness and pride, when you look at Manasseh’s acts, he just simply acts.

He simply does things as if he’s not thinking about them at all. It’s a complete 180, a reversal of what his father enacted. Manasseh, as a king was responsible for much and the suffering and the leading astray of the nation. But I think chapter 21 and verse 9 of 2 Kings best sums up his tenure as king over Judah. Best sums up his sin as king over God’s people. It says in verse 9 that Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done, whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel. So he has now led Israel to be even more astray, even more wicked than the pagan nations whom God drove out from the land of Canaan. It is though, despite Hezekiah’s promising foundation, Manasseh reverses time.

Manasseh reverses time in such a way that it is if he wipes out centuries of growth and understanding of who God is and what he expects from his people by leading them astray. And that is what verses 2 through 7 summarize for us here in chapter 21. And furthermore, it is if it is as if he rules in a time before, a time before the promise of David, the establishment of Zion with God’s people had never been made.

But in a moment of you know sadness and sorrow, he’s determined to do what? To reverse time. And so he flies out into the atmosphere outside of earth, and he flies around the earth in such a way that he spins it back around and reverses time, saving the day. But whereas Superman reversed time to right his wrongs, Manasseh could be described as reversing time to wrong the rights of his father. So how does this happen then? How can this happen to this nation? Well, I think we get our answer from Galatians and the Apostle Paul’s relationship to the Christians in Galatia. If you want to turn there, I’m just going to kind of summarize and reference some points. But in chapter 4, the Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Galatian church, he says that he’s perplexed about their behavior in verse 20.

And he uses this language throughout this chapter that can only be described as labor language, labor terms. He speaks of his motherhood over the Galatian church and the childbirth pains that they bring him. And that gives us an insight into the deep emotional relationship that existed between the Apostle Paul and the Galatian church. They were his children. They were his children in the faith because he taught them the gospel.

And here he’s perplexed about something in their demeanor as a church. And the answer to what it is can be found in Galatians chapter 1 and verse 6, where the Apostle Paul says this I am astonished that you were so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. What we can infer from this is that Paul is amazed at how they have deserted the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul, as their spiritual mother, as their father figure, their parent in the faith, is astonished at their behavior because they did exactly what Manasseh had done as an evil son does. He neglected, they neglected his example in turned away from the cross. And that is what I want us all to see.

It is that in connection with the story that we’re looking at this morning and the story of Paul to the Galatian church, it is up to each individual whether they are going to choose to serve God or serve a different path. Just as Manasseh chose to desert his father’s example, so too the Galatians have neglected the gospel that Paul shared with them and chosen the path of a different gospel, one of wickedness and of darkness. And I’d like to make this parallel in connection with parents here who may have kids that are no longer faithful. You may have done your best to raise up children, or maybe in your mistakes they have turned away from the cross. And it is important to acknowledge our mistakes in that and to repent of those things.

But like Paul with the Galatians, like Manasseh in 2 Kings, ultimately, we must recognize that it is up to each individual as moral free agents to decide whether they will be faithful or not. But while it is certainly up to each individual person to be free, moral agents, and to be influenced by the world around them, or to choose to cling to a path that pursues God, parental influence does play a key role in that decision. If it didn’t, then why would the Bible spends so much time teaching us about the importance of examples, especially the cautionary examples of bad parenting and of bad decision making? For example, the book of Proverbs is entirely written from the standpoint of a father to his son, or from a king to a prince who would eventually take the office of king.

3. Bad Fathers Tend to Lead as Poor Examples

If these things are all recorded in God’s word for us, why are they there if they do not matter? And so the Bible teaches us continually that bad fathers tend to lead as poor examples for children. Looking where we started this morning in 2 Kings 21, Ammon was just like his father, as verse 21 tells us. No doubt Manasseh has stamped the image of himself. He imprinted himself upon his son. And I don’t want to make this point too strongly, but what we’re told here in 2 Kings 21 and verse 22 is that Ammon abandoned the Lord. And so if he abandoned the Lord, then therefore we can probably infer that at some point he may have been with the Lord. And if you know the full story of Manasseh as told in 2 Chronicles, Manasseh eventually does repent and he does renew his soul towards God, and he attempts to undo the wrongs that he had committed.

But I think what we can see here is that lasting impression did not leave itself upon his son, and his son reverts back to the pagan wicked ways that his father’s earlier tenure had been described as.

Shorter reigns of all the kings in Judah, and his reign is only two years long. And he’s assassinated by his court officials in a conspiracy against him. And the description of his reign and his character and his untimely death could only be described as mere symptoms of the pain and suffering caused by the disgusting actions of his father. Even though he had made his own sinful decisions, we can see that his father’s example resulted in his downfall. And therefore, I’d like us to recognize this morning that our example too will have consequences and effects that those closest to us will ultimately face, often our children. And I think another example of this can be seen in the life of David. David, who is described in the book of Kings as the king who did everything right with a little asterisk, right, except in the manner of Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite.

And what happened in that situation when David sinned against a lot of people, but first and foremost against God, is that every event after that in David’s life, every piece of heartbreak and sorrow that happens in David’s life is a result. It’s a consequence of that original sin that he committed against God and against his people.

And it makes us recognize that sin is serious and our examples are important.

4. Children Can Choose God

Particularly that just as children can choose to neglect godly examples, on the other hand, children can choose God, even in the most dire and broken familial circumstances. And that brings us to the tenure of our fourth king this morning, our final king, and that is the reign of Josiah, which takes place in chapter 22. Josiah’s reign can be described as radically different from his father and his grandfather, especially Manasseh. While they both began their reign at an early age, that is Josiah and Manasseh, Josiah is compared to the greatest standard of kingship that he and his fathers could ever be measured against, and that is King David. Spending time with my dad makes me recognize that often I follow my dad’s example in a number of ways.

Josiah here in 2 Kings chapter 22 chooses to imitate a more godly example, one that is more righteous, and that is the standard of a man that was described as the man after God’s own heart. And in my own life, I can see how I imitate my dad’s example in a number of ways. My dad and I, although we are very different in a few ways, there are an overwhelmingly number of ways in which we are similar. And one of those ways is in the way that I drive. I drive just like my dad does, and if he were here this morning, he would definitely be protesting this and contesting that statement. But that’s because he’s thinking about the quality of our driving. And certainly, I can’t say anything about that, but what I can say is the actual way that we drive is exactly the same.

I can remember growing up and riding in my dad’s Mustang, he had this little old white Mustang, and he always held his left hand at one o’clock on the steering wheel and his right hand on the gear shift. And I just thought that was so cool when I was a little kid. And when I got older, and when I turned 15 and I got a permit, like the first thing that I did when I got into the car was I put my hand at one o’clock and my other hand on the gear shift, and that’s how I drove. And to this day, 99% of the time, that is how I drive, just like my dad does. It’s a simple fact of life that we often imitate and become like our parents in a number of ways.

But here the actions of Josiah as a righteous king that compared him to David were more than mere habits and imitations. They were intentional similarities, intentional actions that he took to be remembered as a great king. I think it could be seen in two primary ways as a good king. How it is that Josiah, as a good example of a king that chose God to be compared to David is seen first in his righteous leadership as a king and his repairs to the temple, just like David, who desired to build a house for the Lord, led the same example in his love for God and for his people. And then secondly, in his love for the word of God, by recording his own copy of the law.

Each king is Deuteronomy chapter 17 and verse 18 instructed, each king was to write their own copy of the law, was to record the commandments that God had given Moses for how kings were to act. And in that section, it says at the end in verses 18 through 20 of Deuteronomy 17 that kings were to record their own copy of the law. And that is what Josiah did just as David did, which helped them to ultimately not stray to the right or to the left, but draw nearer to God. And I think that we can best look at it in this way. When I was in second grade, the first week of school, my second grade teacher, Mrs. Rowe, I remember coming in on the very first day, and the lights were kind of dimmed, and we sat down, and she handed us this piece of paper.

And on this piece of paper was the entire pledge of allegiance written in like the tracer font. So it has like the dotted lines, and you’re supposed to fill it in. And every day for the entire first week of school, we started off like the first 20 minutes of every class day tracing over the pledge of allegiance. And at the end of the first week of school, well, at the end of each day, I was a bit frustrated because I didn’t want to do that. I mean, I was in second grade. Who wants to do something like that? But I will tell you that at the end of that first week of school, every time we stood to say the Pledge of Allegiance, I was I was jumping up out of my seat to say the Pledge of Allegiance.

One, because I knew the Pledge of Allegiance really well at that point. I understood the words republic and that sort of thing that are found in the Pledge of Allegiance. But number two, it made me a bit more patriotic. Even in second grade, I recognized the importance of the freedoms that we had in this country, and I thought it was wonderful that I was doing that.

And certainly some of the wicked kings that we talked about this morning who missed the mark on this probably could have used by writing a copy or two or tracing the law, and maybe that would have helped them to lead more righteous lives. But even more so, Josiah is willing to do this, demonstrated his love for God and his willingness to know what his word expected of him. And while the ugliest of family ties certainly jumbled up the path for Josiah to follow, he recognized where God was and chose to pursue a relationship with him. And he had a heart for his people.

Conclusion

But certainly that as well. Through God it is possible. But the reality is this children do indeed deserve godly parents who are committed to their upbringing and determined to lay them at the feet of Jesus so that they themselves can grow into disciples. And so stay with me real quick. What we’re going to do as we close is we’re going to look at three really four now quick applications that I think apply to everyone in this room. And number one, know that parents make a difference. For the fathers and spiritual figures, the mothers, all of those working here to provide physically and spiritually for your family, for your children, thank you for what you are doing and continue to pursue that work. Number two, recognize that God makes a difference.

Certainly, while parents make a critical difference in a child’s life, God Himself can make a difference in a child’s life, even if the parents made mistakes, even if there are no parents at all. For every story of a wicked child that comes from righteous parents in Scripture or even in our lives, there also is the vice versa that wonderful righteous children choose God that come from untimely circumstances. And three, if you’re blaming yourself, recognize that in each of these stories of the kings that we talked about this morning, the choice for each king was to choose to walk in the way of David or to walk in the way of someone else. And ultimately, it is just that. It is a choice. It is one thing for us to take to the Lord our mistakes and to repent, but even the best parents have children that walk astray.

Like Manasseh’s image that was imprinted upon Ammon, God’s image in a vice versa way is on us, but we still have a choice to choose and to serve Him. And then as I was driving over this morning, I realized that this sermon doesn’t really have a point for young people, and so it’s not on screen, but fourth, for young people, find a strong spiritual example to follow. Find somebody in your life who you can view as a role model that helps you to choose God and to serve him.

A perfect relationship.

And that is through the blood of Jesus Christ. And if you have not made the decision to join that family, to be renewed in the gospel of Jesus, to be buried in your sins in baptism, then an opportunity is before you this morning. If we can help you in any way, will you come forward as we stand and single?