Sunday
Morning Bible Study
January 12, 2003
Introduction
Illustration
HARE PRODUCTS
A man was blissfully driving along the highway, when he saw a rabbit
hopping across the middle of the road. He swerved to avoid hitting the bunny,
but unfortunately the rabbit jumped in front of his car and was hit. The
driver, being a sensitive man as well as an animal lover, pulled over to the
side of the road, and got out to see what had become of the bunny. Much to his
dismay, the bunny was dead. The driver felt guilty and began to cry. A woman
driving down the same highway saw the man crying on the side of the road and
pulled over. She stepped out of her car and asked the man what was wrong. “I
feel terrible,” he explained. “I accidentally hit the rabbit and killed him.
What should I do?” The woman told the man not to worry. She knew exactly what
to do. She went to her car trunk, and pulled out a spray can. She walked over
to the limp, dead bunny, and sprayed the entire contents of the can onto the
little furry animal. Miraculously the rabbit came back to life, jumped up,
waved its paw at the two humans and hopped on down the road. 50 yards away the
rabbit stopped, turned around, waved and hoped on down the road another 50 yards,
turned waved, hopped another 50 yards and waved again! The man was astonished.
He said to the woman, “What in heaven’s name is in your spray can?” The woman
turned the can around so that the man could read the label. It said: “Hair
Spray. Renews life to dead hair. Adds permanent wave.”
There have been some huge upheavals in the little kingdom
of Judah. You’d think they had been hit by a truck. It seems that the downhill spiral started
when good king Jehoshaphat had made a treaty by marriage with the evil king
Ahab and his wife Jezebel. Jehoshaphat had his son Jehoram marry Ahab’s
daughter Athaliah. Because of this treaty, Jehoshaphat got dragged into a war
where he almost was killed. After Jehoshaphat’s death, his son Jehoram took
over. Because of the influence of his wicked wife Athaliah and his
mother-in-law Jezebel, Jehoram first had all his brothers killed, and then he
introduced the nation to the worship of Baal. God brought judgment on Jehoram
to wake him up, he became sick and his bowels fell out (yuck!). Jehoram’s son
Ahaziah was also a wicked man, but his reign only lasted a year. When he was
killed, Jehoram’s wife, Athaliah, decided to make her move and had every royal
offspring put to death, including her own grandkids. She wanted every descendant
of King David killed and she planned on ruling by herself. She had material
stolen from the Temple and used to
build the temple of Baal.
And for six years the nation of Judah
was in a dark condition. What Athaliah didn’t know was that one of her grandchildren
had been rescued, a one year old boy named Joash. He was hidden in the Temple
and raised by the high priest Jehoiada until he was seven years old. When he
was seven, Jehoiada organized a coup, Athaliah was put to death, and little
Joash was anointed to be king over Judah.
It was a time for renewal. But it
doesn’t come with “hair spray”.
A picture of renewal
:16 Jehoiada made a covenant …that they should be the LORD'S people.
covenant – b@riyth –
covenant, alliance, pledge
Lesson
Renewal requires a commitment to one
The language that is used reminds me of the things that Elijah had spoken a
few years earlier.
Elijah and the showdown on Carmel
A few years earlier in the northern kingdom, the people were under the
reign of Athaliah’s dad, Ahab. Ahab was a confusing guy. There were times when
he actually seemed to be a little “soft” towards the things of God. At one time
he was rebuked by Elijah the prophet for killing an innocent man and taking his
property, and after being rebuked, Ahab actually humbled himself for awhile
(1Ki. 21:27-29).
But he also lived a life where he tolerated great wickedness.
This confused life was reflected in the nation as well.
(1 Ki 18:21
KJV) And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long
halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then
follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
The people didn’t know what to say. It doesn’t seem that
they were particularly hateful towards the Lord, but they kind of liked to have
the Baal stuff around as well.
Elijah proposed to have a “showdown” between the “gods”. Each side would
present their offering and the “god” that answered by sending fire from heaven
would be declared the winner. Elijah allowed the prophets of Baal to go first,
and they spent the day making a lot of noise, but nothing happened. When it was
Elijah’s turn, he set up his altar, laid out the sacrifice, and then just to
rub it in he poured a couple of barrels of water over the sacrifice.
(1 Ki 18:36-40 KJV) And
it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that
Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of
Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy
servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. {37} Hear me, O
LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that
thou hast turned their heart back again. {38} Then the fire of the LORD fell,
and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust,
and licked up the water that was in the trench. {39} And when all the people
saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the
LORD, he is the God. {40} And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal;
let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to
the brook Kishon, and slew them there.
The whole point is that you have to make a choice.
Sometimes we tend to follow Groucho Marx’s philosophy: “Those are my principles, and if you don’t
like them … well, I have others”
You will be happiest when you learn to only serve One. One set of principles.
Jesus said,
(Mat 6:24
KJV) No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love
the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot
serve God and mammon.
The problem with many of us is that we try to serve two masters.
But we end up having too much of the world to enjoy the
Lord and too much of the Lord to enjoy the world.
:17 Then all the people went to the house of Baal, and brake it down
Though Jehu destroyed Baal worship completely out of the northern kingdom
six years earlier, it had flourished in the southern kingdom under the rule of
Athaliah.
They have now made a new commitment to Yahweh, but it’s not just a matter
of words, but is followed by action.
Lesson
Renewal requires going farther
It wasn’t enough that they killed Athaliah and set up a new king.
It wasn’t enough just to make a promise to serve only Yahweh.
They needed to get rid of Baal worship as well.
They got rid of the altars.
They got rid of the images.
They even killed the high priest of Baal.
There will be things going on in the Temple
as well.
It will take some time, but eventually they’re going to start work at
rebuilding and restoring the Temple.
You’re going to find that when you come to Jesus, God isn’t going to want
to stop there.
He’s going to want to make a whole lot of other changes.
There are things that will need to go.
There will need to be things that are added.
:18 Jehoiada appointed the offices … to offer …as it is written
Lesson
Renewal requires worship
There were two kinds of worship that Jehoiada got going again: Burnt offerings and praise. We too are to
have these kinds of worship.
(Rom 12:1-2 KJV) I beseech
you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
{2} And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing
of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect,
will of God.
This is our “burnt offering”. We no
longer can get away with just barbecuing a lamb. We need to get our own selves up on the altar
and give our whole bodies to the Lord. And
we don’t even get the luxury of dying, we have to be “living” sacrifices. We need to be alive but totally dedicated to
the Lord.
(Heb 13:15
KJV) By him therefore let us offer the
sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving
thanks to his name.
A husband ought to tell his wife often that he loves her. Just telling her on the day you got married
isn’t enough.
We need to be letting the Lord know how much we love Him. We do this by telling Him. Often.
Lesson
Renewal requires obeying the Word
The things that Jehoiada restored were things that had been written down in
the Word. He restored the sacrifices
written down by Moses. He restored the Temple
worship written down by David.
It’s not just a matter of having God’s Word, but doing the things inside the
Word that counts.
Jesus had been up on a mountain with Peter, James, and John. While He was gone, the other disciples were
having a tough time. A scribe had
brought his son to the disciples and had asked them to cast a demon out of his
boy. The other disciples had not been
able to do this. When Jesus returned and
heard about this,
(Mark 9:19
KJV) He answereth him, and saith, O
faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer
you? bring him unto me.
At times I think that Jesus was probably saying this to
the man, especially since He will be challenging the man to believe. But sometimes I wonder if Jesus wasn’t
intending this to spill over a little to the disciples as well. I wonder if they weren’t a little
“faithless”.
Jesus goes on cast the demon out of the boy.
(Mark 9:28-29 KJV) And when
he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we
cast him out? {29} And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing,
but by prayer and fasting.
Some of the modern translations omit the word “fasting”.
Whether the other disciples had not been “fasting” or not isn’t really the
issue. They at least had not been
praying. They had been unable to handle
the situation.
I wonder how I would have done if I was one of those disciples. I certainly am aware that I often am unable
to respond correctly to some of the situations I face. Sometimes it’s because I’m not spiritually
prepared. I haven’t been doing the
things that I’m supposed to be doing.
:19 And he set the porters at the gates of the house of the LORD, that none
which was unclean in any thing should enter in.
porter – show‘er –
gatekeeper, porter. Think of a big
burley security guard.
In the Temple in Jerusalem,
nothing unclean was supposed to enter. The Temple
was supposed to be a model of heaven, and in heaven, nothing unclean enters. Only
things that are holy and clean will enter into heaven. Only things that are
holy and clean can survive God’s presence. In the Temple,
the people needed to learn that God has standards. You have to play by His
rules.
About heaven:
(Rev 21:27
NLT) Nothing evil will be allowed to enter--no one who practices shameful
idolatry and dishonesty--but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's
Book of Life.
(Rev 21:8 NLT) But cowards who turn away from me, and unbelievers,
and the corrupt, and murderers, and the immoral, and those who practice
witchcraft, and idol worshipers, and all liars--their doom is in the lake that
burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death."
How to apply this:
Lesson
Renewal requires a guard
Jehoiada put guards at the Temple
gates to keep the wrong people out.
We’ve talked before about how our bodies are a “temple” of the Holy Spirit
(1Cor. 6:19).
I think we ought to consider putting guards on the gates of our eyes and
ears to keep unclean things away.
There’s some pretty nasty stuff that wants to get into your “temple”.
The Eyegate: I
think of how nasty the Internet can be. At times the Internet seems like we’ve
won a shopping spree in a Candy Store, but once you get in the door and take a
bite, you find that it’s not a Candy Store, it’s a sewer. And you shouldn’t take a bit in a sewer.
I think we ought to think of putting “guards” on the
Internet. I think filtering software is good. I think we need to think about
making ourselves accountable as well. I think we ought to have people who will
check on us. People who will ask questions. People who can peek over our
shoulder.
I think a person who goes Internet surfing without any
accountability is like a guy trying to climb up El Capitan
in Yosemite solo, without a climbing buddy and without a
rope. One slip and you’re dead. There may be some rare people who can do it,
but I’m not one of them.
I am very concerned about those of us who get to thinking
that we don’t need to ask another person for help. We usually do this because we don’t want to
risk the embarrassment of admitting our sin to another person. Yet Jesus said that if our hand offends us,
we ought to cut it off (Mark 9:43). We ought to be willing to do whatever it
takes to stop our sin.
What are other ways that the “unclean” might try to get
into the Temple? TV. Music. Books. The
influence of ungodly friends. Video Games. Magazines. Movies.
How not to apply this:
Lesson
Unclean things at church
Should we ask the ushers to make sure that “unclean” people don’t come into
the church? No.
This is one sense in which the church is not like the Temple.
This is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints
Unclean people need to come to church because that’s one place where you
should be able to become “clean”.
Illustration
One mom writes, “I asked my two-year-old to take his dirty clothes and put
them into the hamper. He looked
puzzled, and I explained, “You know; it’s the place where we put our dirty
clothes before
they’re washed.” My son picked up his things, ran into my bedroom, and
threw his clothes on the floor...on
his dad’s side of the bed.”
That’s not a bad line. Bring those
“dirty clothes” to the Father’s side of the bed. Not to be thrown on the floor, but to be
cleaned.
The church is kind of like a Laundromat. You go to a Laundromat because
you’ve got dirty clothes that you want to get clean. You don’t go to a
Laundromat with your dirty clothes, hang out, and then leave with your dirty
clothes, do you?
(Rev 22:14-15 NLT) Blessed
are those who wash their robes so
they can enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of
life. {15} Outside the city are the dogs--the sorcerers, the sexually immoral,
the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie.
The only way you become “clean” is to wash your robe.
Church ought to be a place where you get clean.
How do we become clean at church?
(1 John
1:5-9 KJV) This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare
unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. {6} If we say
that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the
truth: {7} But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us
from all sin. {8} If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us. {9} If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We walk in the “light”. We find ourselves exposed to a
light that penetrates us and shows us our problems.
We don’t ignore the sin. We don’t make excuses for the
sin. We turn from it. We admit it. And when we ask God for forgiveness, He
forgives us.
:20-21 …set the king upon the throne …and all the people of the land
rejoiced: and the city was quiet
Lesson
What king sits on your throne?
When Jesus sits on the throne of your life, you will experience His peace.