From Clocker Valley in County Tyrone we present Let the Bible Speak. It's good to have you join us as Gospel Minister the Reverend Peter McIntyre is here to let the Bible speak and preach Christ in all his fullness. Good afternoon, Peter McIntyre with you for the next 15 minutes. Please stay tuned. Today we're going to be thinking about a king called Joash who was crowned when only seven years of age but in later life he became the king who forgot his past, how dangerous it is to forget our past. First please listen to the Granshaw Gospel Group singing this piece of gospel invitation. Think about these words. Ye who are troubled and burdened by sin, come just as you are. Come to the Savior, a new life begin. O come, just as you are. Come, just as you are. Come, sinner, just as you are. And from your sin let the Savior come in. And come, just as you are. Deep in your heart, see, there's written this scar, Come just as you are. Though from your father you've wandered afar, Oh, come just as you are. Come just as you are. Oh, come save me just as you are. Sinful and guilty, heart broken and lost, come just as you are. Think what your ransom on Calvary costs, O come, just as you are! Come, just as you are! O come, Savior, just as you are! Turn from your sin, let the Savior come in, And come, just as you are! There is a verse I would like to read to you from the book of 2nd Chronicles chapter 24. It is the verse 22. Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The Lord look upon it and require it. This afternoon I would like to introduce you to some people in the history of ancient Judah. The first person I want to tell you about is Athaliah. She was a wicked woman. Her husband was king of Judah. He died. Her son became king. He died as well. And after her son's death, she decided, I will become queen myself. In order to do that, she had to get rid of those who had a claim on the throne. And those who had the claim on the throne were her own grandchildren. They were known as the seed royal. She gave the order and had her grandchildren murdered, assassinated, massacred. It was a bloody event. A grandmother taking away the lives of her grandchildren so she could wear a crown of blood upon her head. That was Athaliah. Now let's talk about a couple who lived in Jerusalem at that time. One was a woman called Jehoshabeth. Joshua Beth had a husband. His name was Jehoiada. Jehoiada was the high priest of the Jewish people. They were a godly couple. They loved the Lord and they were determined that they would save an heir to the throne and they managed to rescue one of the dead king's sons from the hands of the cruel soldiers who were carrying out the orders of Athaliah. There was a little boy, only one year of age. They took him, they kept him, they hid him for six years in the temple. And Athaliah, as she wore the crown, she did not know, through heir to the throne, was still alive within the city of Jerusalem. That was Jehoshabath and Jehoiada. Now let's talk about the young boy who was rescued, because he is at the very centre of our story. His name is Joash. As I have said, he was rescued from the swords of the soldiers. Now he is seven years of age. The one who has rescued him, who actually is also his uncle, because Jehoshabeth and Jehoiada were his uncle and aunt. This man Jehoiada has determined that the time has come when Joash must become king and so he makes the plans. He has the young boy prepared. Elders have come from every city within the Kingdom of Judah and they have come to Jerusalem to the Temple for this important event when they would depose their false and evil tyrannical Queen and when they would anoint a true successor to the throne. Jehoiada has soldiers placed in strategic positions around the Temple he has the young boy surrounded with a personal bodyguard in case the queen would devise some mischief. Solemnly the high priest anoints the boy makes him king and Joash becomes king of Judah and when Athaliah hears the shouts from the temple she cries treason treason but no one will listen to her now because she is hated and despised amongst her people and so she was taken and killed for all the wickedness that she had done and so Joash, this boy only seven years of age, this boy with a miraculous background becomes king. Yet inexplicably at a later day we are told that Joash forgot his past. He forgot the kindness that his uncle Jehoiada and his aunt Jehoshabeth had showed towards him. He became the king who forgot his past. In the first place let's think about the foundation of Joash's faith. There is no doubt that Joash had faith, but was his faith genuine? Was it deep-rooted? Or was it a shallow profession? An examination of this man's life will reveal that his faith was erected upon the influences of others, rather than upon the God of Israel and His Word. The clue is found in 2 Chronicles 24 verse 2, And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada, the priest. He did right but he only did that which was right as long as he was under the direct influence of his uncle, the high priest. It seems that Jawash had too much of his religion framed around Jehoiada, pleasing him and too little if his religion was centered upon God and the truth of God's word. He became a man pleaser rather than a king who feared God and sought to please him. The question we must address is, Why do we believe as we do? Why do we read our Bibles? Why do we espouse principles and standards? Why do we attend church and go to prayer meetings? Is it to please someone in our home? Is it to please someone else whom we know as a Christian? Is it to do what is expected of us? or is it to please God? Is your faith true? Is it a faith lived out in the presence of God? Do you live in the very fear of a holy God? If you don't, then your faith is shallow and it will never be sustained. What kind of faith do you possess? Let's also talk about the corruption of Joash's convictions. It appears that Joash entertained certain convictions as long as the high priest was alive. He promoted the worship of Jehovah. He rebuilt the temple that had been broken down in a previous time. He resisted idolatry. But yet these convictions were dramatically eroded. How did this work out? Well, after Jehoiada died, and he was a strong influence upon Joash, The princes of the nation worshipped the king, they bowed, they honoured him, they scraped before him and they encouraged him to reintroduce idol worship to the land. And because Joash was in the business of pleasing men, he did as they required of him. And suddenly the worship of God was quickly abandoned. It would seem to me that Joash's religion was a formal religion. He went through the motions of faith as long as Jehoiada was alive. And someone who is engaged in a formal religion, it is not genuine. It is not built on a solid foundation. And that kind of religion will quickly pass away. We are told that God was displeased with Joash, with what Joash did. But Joash was not concerned about that. All he was concerned about was pleasing men and not pleasing God. Is your religion formal? Is it a religion of pleasing men? Because I want to tell you something, if your religion is not a living faith and a living God, then that kind of religion will never be sustained. I also want to share with you the depth of Joash's decline. God was gracious to this king. He sent prophets to warn him and admonish him, but he would not listen. Perhaps you have heard the Word of God over and over again, you have been warned, you have been witnessed to, you have been testified to and yet you have refused to listen to the Word of God. Joash continued to refuse God's Word and then Zedekiah, the high priest, he had inherited the priesthood from his father Jehoiada, he stood up in the temple above the people, the Spirit of God came upon him, he condemned the king for his sins, he rebuked the nation, for the path that they had chosen for themselves and at the commandment of the king he was stoned within the temple. This shameful event was very famous in the history of Israel. Even the Lord Jesus Christ referred to the death of Zedekiah who was a true martyr for true religion. It was Joash who had been blessed with such a godly upbringing and who had shown great promise. who was guilty of this crime, he followed his own path, he forgot what God had done for him, he forgot the teaching that he had received in earlier years and he embarked upon a terrible path of crime and shame. Follow your own path and you do not know where your sin will lead you to, go your own way, refuse God's word and You do not know where you will end up. Sin will take you further than you want to go, will take you further than you think you will go, and it'll exact a greater price from you than you ever want to pay. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Let's talk about the disaster of Joash's destruction. As Zedekiah died and as those stones pummeled a man of God, he said, the Lord look upon it, and so it was. That very year the Syrians came against Judah to battle. They had a very small army. Judah had a much stronger army, but the Lord delivered the stronger host of the nation of Judah into the hands of the very small army of the Syrians. It was clear that God was now judging Judah. Joash was left in a bad way after that battle, we are told that his body was wracked with great diseases and as he lay in his bed his own servants took him and killed him because of what he did to the sons of Jehoiada the high priest and they refused to bury him among the kings as people would not honour him. with a dignified funeral and with a burial place amongst the great kings of Judah. I remember an elderly man, a dear saint of God used to tell me, it's not how you start out on the Christian life that proves the genuineness of your faith, it's how you finish. He used to talk about Jacob, Jacob was a man who disobeyed God, he went his own way but he repented, he came to God and he finished well, he finished strongly. But whenever we look at this man Joash, he seemed to start well, but he finished badly. He finished in disaster, he finished in disgrace. Whatever your background is today, if you seek the Lord and you trust him, you make a start to the Christian life, you can carry on and by God's grace you can finish. But if you have appeared to start well, and if you're not going on with God, and if you've never fully embraced the Christian way of life, if you're depending upon some kind of profession, some kind of commitment, but it has never changed, your life. May God have mercy upon you and may you truly seek God today with all of your heart that you might finish well but don't bank on getting to heaven if you have never fully trusted Christ because it isn't going to happen. Joash had some kind of commitment but it meant nothing to him. Commitments mean nothing. It's only saving faith in Christ that can truly change. It's only saving faith in Christ that can adequately prepare us for death. Where is your faith resting on today? Is it resting on a church? Is it resting on the confession of a church? Is it resting upon an experience? Is your faith resting upon what others and what they have done for you? Or is your faith resting upon Jesus Christ? In Galatians 2 verse 20 Paul said, I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me. and the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Are you living your life by the faith of the Son of God? Is Christ living in you? Have you truly experienced Christ? Oh think upon these words and don't end your days as Joash ended his. I thank you so much for listening. You've been listening to Let the Bible Speak. If we can be of any further spiritual help, or if you would like to receive some free gospel literature, we invite you to write to us. Our mailing address is Let the Bible Speak, Rev. Peter McIntyre, 13 Willand Crescent, 5 Mile Town, County Tyrone, BT75OQL. That's Let the Bible Speak, Rev. Peter McIntyre, Thirteen, Willand, Crescent, Five Mile Town, County Tyrone, BT75, OQL. You may hear Mr. McIntyre preach each Lord's Day here in Clocker Valley Free Presbyterian Church at 11.30am and 7pm. For further information you may phone us at 028 8952 1611. 028 8952 1611. We assure you of a very warm welcome at all the services and look forward to having you visit with us. Thank you for listening today. May the Lord richly bless you, and don't forget to tune in on this same station at the same time next week, when once again we turn to the scriptures and let the Bible speak.