Firm Faith Stands

O. T. #981  " Firm Faith Stands"
May 15, 2017
2 Chronicles 28
Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm. Isaiah 7:9b NLT

LET IT GLOW

What good can you say about a bad king, of Judah, who did not do what was pleasing in God's sight. Instead, he followed the example of the kings of Israel. Do we fluff it off because he was only 20 years old when Ahaz became king? No, Joash was only 7 when he became king. Was it due to his father Jotham did not go into the Temple of God? An excuse.

My parents did not attend church services, but they took me whenever I wanted to go and was too young to drive. They were believers in Jesus, just did not practice faith to the extinct that I do. Yet their ways did not detour me from serving God. We are each answerable for our own life.

What else did King Ahaz do which was displeasing to God?

• Ahaz cast metal images and worshiped the pagan god Baal.
• He walked in the ways of Israel.
• He burnt incense in the valley of Hinnom, which has a Hebrew name of Ge-ben-hinom (in NT is Gehenna), a name for eternal punishment.Also, sacrificed and burnt incense in high places, on hills, and under every green tree.
• He did a detestable practice of burning his children in the fire as an act of worship to the idol. Even today this practice continues in a different form-abortions, as unborn babies are burned by medicines to kill them. May God have mercy on our nation for allowing such a horrible thing to be lawful. I pray it will be stopped soon.

Our heritage influences, but doesn't necessarily determine, our life decisions. King Ahaz turned away from the good examples of his father and grandfather. However, his poor example seems to have had little effect on his own son, Hezekiah, who proved to be a great and godly king. (Life Application Study Bible)

Are we sacrificing our children to the god of pleasure, materialism, and other things as we neglect their spiritual needs? How deep is our faith and faithfulness to God?

LET IT GROW

Ahaz was delivered by God into the hands of the king of Syria, then Israel.
What happened?

• Judah had 120,000 men killed in one day by Syria.
• Apparently, Syria and Isreal wanted Judah to join them in the invasion of Assyrian Empire, but Ahaz refused.
• Ahaz's own son, Maaseiah, and second in command, Elkanah, were killed, also.
• Then 200,000 women, sons, and daughters of Judah were taken captive to Israel.

Israel and Syria plotted against Ahaz and capture Judah for themselves.
Reading in Isaiah 7, the Lord warned Israel that within 65 years they would be crushed and completely destroyed. This happened as Assyria conquered Israel because they did not repent of worshiping other gods.

Unless our faith is firm, God will not make us stand firm.
I your faith firm? Is my faith firm? Whenever I give up, am I actually giving up on God? Am I saying without words that He cannot do it? Faith is the key to our Christian life. Without faith, it is impossible to please God.

LET IT GO

Keep firm in my faith in God, no matter what comes my way.

Ask Him to make me to stand firm.