Hello again. I want to bring you another message from the series which we are considering at the moment. We're considering how great our God is as the God of new beginnings. You know, there are times when we all have to start again because of how we have messed up our lives, because of how we have failed. And we have a God who can bring us to that point of renewal, of cleansing, of recommission, of endowment. of strength that he gives us to serve him, the God of new beginnings. We're looking at individuals for whom that was true in the Bible itself. We've looked at people like Cain, who was allowed to come again with the proper sacrifice. Samson, who could cry out to God in that temple of the Philistines as they worshiped their God, Dagon. blinded and used for sport, O God, strengthen me again, just this once. And God came upon him again by a spirit in power. We have looked at others as well, Naomi, who came home again. Sometimes we have to come home to God, from Moab back to Bethlehem. Then we looked at Elijah, Elijah who ran away, who fred for his life and sat down under the broom tree and wished to die, but God graciously cared for his servant and brought him to the place where he realised that God was still working and God still had a part for him to play in the future ministry, and God recommissioned him again. Wonderful moment. Those are precious, precious stories. But now we want to look at another individual in the Bible, and that is the man called Manasseh, King Manasseh. We're reading of him in 2 Chronicles 33, verse 1 to 20. And you know, it's wonderful, this man, was the instigator of such awful sin in the land of Israel among the people. Such awful sin but we're told how that God took him back again. Listen to what it says just at the moment in verse 12 of 2 Chronicles 33. Now when he was in affliction He implored the Lord as God and humbled himself greatly before the Lord, before the God of his fathers, and prayed to him. and he received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. God brought him back again. Oh, it's wonderful when God brings us back again, and that can be your experience wherever you are at this present moment. You know, according to Jewish tradition, Ezra has been the proposed author of 1 and 2 Chronicles. And there was one book originally, of course, They do cover much the same material as we have in One and Two Kings, and people then question and say, is this not just repetition here? But you know, it wasn't just repetition. There are theological distinctions between both books. And as far as their purpose is concerned, you can see there's a different emphasis and a different reason for these books. I want to explain that a moment. My way to do that today is not to go into all the details, but to think about the story of Manasseh himself. It's amazing. If you look at the story of Manasseh in Kings, you'll discover that... It brings out his gross sin, how he led the people astray so much, the terrible sin that he committed. Because what is happening there is, the author is showing why the exile happened and he's using Manasseh and his sin to show that. In fact, there is a verse, actually, back in 2 Kings chapter 23, which, if you listen to this, verse 26, This is the exile coming, with which his anger was aroused against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. Manasseh's to blame, it's the provocations with which Manasseh provoked God. And you can see how the whole emphasis in the Kings is about Manasseh as being the reason why the exile occurred. But then in 2nd Chronicles, it's different, because there's part of the story told here that's not in Kings. because here in 2 Chronicles 33 we're told about how Manasseh was taken away into exile, taken away with hooks in his nose, so painful, dragged away and treated so seriously that he cried out to God in his affliction, implored God to forgive him and to renew him in his relationship with him and he's owning God as his God and God listens to him and here brought him back to Jerusalem. So the emphasis is more about the restoration of Manasseh and how God received him again and I think that emphasis is reflected in Chronicles as well. An emphasis is that God is looking at the exiles who've gone away and come back again, and they're being told now that God can accept them again, they can have a relationship with them again, and they can go forward into a new life with them again. So the emphasis is slightly different, more towards those who've returned from the exile. But let's look at Manasseh now and see what we can learn from him. the man God brought again back to Jerusalem. We can say first of all that Manasseh was a child of privilege. He was the son that was born to Hezekiah whenever he was getting on in life. You remember that time when it's recorded that Hezekiah became mortally ill and he turned his face to the wall and cried out to God and God heard him and sent Isaiah to him to say, your life is going to be lengthened for 15 more years. And it was three years after that moment, after that experience, that actually Manasa was born. So he's really knowing the experiences and the life of Hezekiah when he's older. We do remember what Hezekiah was like when he was younger. Wonderful, wonderful reforms he carried out at that time, because if you look them up, you'll find that he removed the high places, he restored the worship then, He also defeated the Philistines, as only David had done. We're told that in 2 Kings 18 and 8. And as well as that, the phrase, the Lord was with him, that's a phrase that's used of him, just as it was used of David and Solomon. He had that special relationship with God. He cleansed the temple. He instituted the Passover and also reintroduced tithing. And you know, he prayed to God during the siege by the Assyrians of Jerusalem and God delivered the city. Wonderful things that Hezekiah accomplished. But what about later life? Here's what we read in later life. Well, we're told here in verse 25 of 2 Chronicles 32, we're told, But Hezekiah did not repay according to the favour shown him, for his heart was lifted up. Therefore wrath was looming over him and over Judah and Jerusalem. Yes, he did not repay according to all that the blessings he had known. We're told here in verse 27, he had very great riches and honor. He made himself treasuries for silver, for gold, for precious stones, for spices, shields, all kinds of desirable items. And then he provided cities for himself, for himself, mind you, cities for himself. We do know that he He rediverted the water, and that tunnel that is still there in Jerusalem today, Hezekiah's tunnel. And then there's the ambassadors that came from Babylon. He was willing to consider an alliance with them. That's a lack of trust in God at the time. And of course, it was at that time, we get this recorded very clearly in Isaiah 39, that Isaiah was sent to him to say to him, you know, you brought these ambassadors from Babylon, one day all your people will go to Babylon and even your sons, your sons will be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. And Hezekiah replied to that, well, at least it's not going to happen in my time. Very, very sad reactions. Not what you'd expect from a man who should have his people's welfare at heart. And you know, what I'm trying to say is that this was the Hezekiah that Manasseh knew. Not the earlier Hezekiah, but the later Hezekiah. You know, it's so important, the example we set for our children. They need to see in our home godliness and closeness to the Lord in all that we do and the things that are important for us. But here, those things appear to have been lacking in Manasseh's early childhood, sadly. So he was a child of privilege. but he didn't receive the example that he should have from his father, Hezekiah. And so we find we can describe him not just as child of privilege, but king of excess. You know, Spurgeon could say David's blood was in his veins, but David's ways were not in his heart. Because we read here in verse two of chapter 33, but he did evil in the sight of the Lord according to the abominations of the nations that the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. He did evil. And how much evil Manasseh did. It's unbelievable the evil that he did. He rebuilt those high places that his father had broken down. He raised up altars to the Baals. the temple became really just an idolatrous brothel. They worshipped in the temple the host of heaven. And as well as that, astrology from Assyria and Babylon was introduced. He burned his sons in the fire, we're told, to the god Moloch. And there was violence and bloodshed throughout Jerusalem. Perhaps some of the supporters of his father's reforms were put to death here. And we can add to this as well, Jewish tradition states that he killed Isaiah the prophet. We have the record in Hebrews 11, verse 37, of how some of God's servants in the Old Testament, his saints, one was Son of Sunder. This is the story of Isaiah. You know, dear friends, we're told that he did more evil. Listen to what the verse says here in verse 9. Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations among whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel. More evil. So we can say of Manasseh, he was certainly a child of privilege, but he was king of excess in the evil that he committed and encouraged his people to commit. So then we can move on to see that Manasseh became prisoner in Babylon. This is the story that's not found in the books of Kings, but what we have here is the Lord actually sends against him the captains of the army of the king of Syria. They took Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters and carried him off to Babylon. Oh, it must have been so painful to have a hook put through your nose and dragged with your hands and fetters dragged off to Babylon. And the cruelty and what he experienced there, we're told that he was in affliction. a dreadful experience of him in Babylon, prisoner in Babylon. But then we can describe him not only as child of privilege, king of excess, prisoner in Babylon, but humble penitent, because here he cries out to God. In verse 12, when he was in affliction, he implored the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers and prayed to him, He calls him the God of, his God, I say here, his God, not the false gods, the Lord, his God. And he implores him. and prays before the Lord God of his fathers and it says that God received his supplication, his entreaty, brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Isn't that amazing that God actually listened to this man when he cried out to him after such sin, such evil, taking his people down into the very depths, yet God heard his cry and God God forgave him, God received him again and God brought him back to Jerusalem. And of course there he actually displayed the reality of his conversion. We're told in verse 13 here, then Manasseh, the last line, then Manasseh knew the Lord was his God. There was a real experience of God come into his life A real experience. But his conversion was shown through his deeds, the reforms that he performed. You know, when you turn into the New Testament to Acts 26, the story of Paul before King Agrippa, there's a moment whenever Paul talks about his ministry and what he did in Damascus, Judea to the Gentiles, he preached that they should repent. OK. Turn to God, but here's what it says, do works befitting repentance. In other words, it's all right to say you've repented, but it's got to be seen. It's got to be shown that the works that are there to show the reality of your experience. That's what we have here in the case of Anassa, because, you know, we're told in the verses that follow here about how he He took away the foreign gods, verse 15, the idols from the house of the Lord, all the altars which he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, he cast them out of the city. He repaired the altar of the Lord, sacrificed peace offerings, thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. All these reforms he carried, which demonstrated the reality of the experience that he had with God at this particular time. So we can say finally, he was child of privilege, he was king of excess, he was prisoner in Babylon, he was a humble penitent, but he also was the recipient. of marvellous grace, the grace of God that brought him back to Jerusalem, into his kingdom. You know, so many different individuals have experienced marvellous grace. Abraham, we're told in Joshua 24 and 2 about his fathers and so on. They served other gods beyond the river, beyond the Euphrates. You remember he was an heir of the Chaldees, but God called him from there. and from that idolatry. Zacchaeus was rich, but you know, Jesus revealed himself to him, and Zacchaeus, half of his goods he gives to the poor. If he's taken anything from any man, he restores him fourfold. You know, God in grace changed that man. Paul, his hands were stained with Christian blood, but God stopped him on Damascus Road and saved him. He was chief of sinners. but God saved him and so you mightily used him. And Manasseh again is one we can adhere about how God reached this man and saved this man and brought him back to Jerusalem. You know, it doesn't matter how far away you've gone from God, You know, where you are at the moment, you can realise this, there's a God to whom you can turn, a God you can call upon at this time, call out to Him. You know, the precious blood of Jesus, we're told in 1 John 1, verse 9, that the blood of Jesus Christ, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. All can be cleansed and God can bring you again into a place where you can demonstrate the reality of the change he has brought in your heart. You can demonstrate that with new works and serving him and seeking to witness for him and reaching out to others for him. God wants to bring you again. Whoever you are today, cry out to him. He can bring you again. and you can be used again in a way to glorify him. You know, these talks are for the 500 plus community. There was one, the witnesses in 1 Corinthians 15, 500 who witnessed for the resurrection. But we need a 500 plus community today of people that know the risen Christ, know his presence, have fellowship with him. You can be part of that. You can come to the Lord. be brought back again, and you can write to us, a letter, email, text, to say that you're part of those who are serving the Lord today. Give us your name and where you're from, and we'll add you to our list. God bless you. May God bring you again. you