2 Chronicles, I guess we'll start reading in verse 10. 2 Chronicles 22. 2 Chronicles 22. 10. The Bible says after the death of Ahaziah, in that context it says, but when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah. But Jehoshabeth, the daughter of the king, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeth, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, for she was the sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah so that she slew him not. And he was with them hid in the house of God six years, and Athaliah reigned over the land." Now this is a tragedy. This is a mess. Here's somebody from the house of Omri and Ahab up in Israel who were in ungodly idol worship and immorality that we couldn't even describe in a mixed audience is now over Judah where the house of David is supposed to be reigning and where the ones that are sincere are living and yet they've got this wicked person over them. Did you know there have been places and times in history where people trying to live right suddenly had a terrible ruler over them And God still got them through it. And even in times where, God forbid, they were thrown in jail and killed, as our Baptist forefathers were, the Lord still got them through it. Our religion, our belief, needs to be strong enough that we continue to stand for the Lord, even when, as Granny used to say, Mr. Hard Times comes. And they found themselves in one of those times. Think how they must have felt. All the seed of David that all the promises came through are now killed. Not everybody even knew that this one youngest son, Joash, had been spared. And of the ones that did, they knew he was about a year old. He wasn't going to be able to be king for, I don't know, 20 years, something like that. They wouldn't think. Think how hopeless it looked. Did you know God Almighty can step in and do things you didn't even think of? Don't ever look at a situation and think, well, there's no way out. God's got a couple of things you ain't thought of. But even if for some reason He lets it go as long and as bad as it seems like it's going to, He gives you special grace to get through that too. So you don't sit and think, oh no, it'll never get any better. It might. Or you don't say, I'll guarantee it'll be better by tomorrow. Well, it might not. You just stay faithful either way, and you'd be surprised how the Lord steps in. And so he does. 2 Chronicles chapter 23, verse 1. And in the seventh year, Jehoiada strengthened himself. This is the priest that married the aunt, I guess you would say, of the king. And in the seventh year, Jehoiada strengthened himself and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah, the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael, the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah, the son of Obed, and Messiah, the son of Adiah, and Elishaphat, the son of Zichri, into covenant with him. He said, all right, I need you. I need you to make a commitment with me, and I'm going to make a commitment to you. They went about in Judah and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah and the chief of the fathers of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. And all the congregation made a covenant with the king and the house of God. And he said unto them, Behold, the king's son shall reign as the Lord hath said of the sons of David. This is the thing that you shall do. A third part of you entering on the Sabbath of the priests and of the Levites shall be porters of the doors, and a third part shall be at the king's house, and a third part at the gate of the foundation, and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the Lord. But let none come into the house of the Lord, save the priests and they that minister of the Levites. They shall go in, for they are holy, but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord. And the Levites shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand." Praise the Lord and pass the ammo, Dr. Ruppman used to say. And whosoever else cometh in the house, he shall be put to death. But be ye with the king when he cometh in and when he goeth out. So the Levites and all Judah did according to all things that Jehoiada the priest had commanded and took every man his men that were come in on the Sabbath with them that were to go out on the Sabbath for Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the courses. You know it used to be they served for a little while and got dismissed and the next one came in and so forth. He kept them all in. We're going to need their services in this case. Verse 9, Moreover Jehoiada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds spears and bucklers and shields that had been King David's, which were in the house of God. And he said all the people, every man having his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple, along by the altar and the temple, by the king round about. Then they brought out the king's son. and put upon him the crown, and gave him the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, God saved the king. Now when Etheliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, She came to the people into the house of the Lord and she looked and behold the king stood at his pillar at the entering in and the princes and the trumpets by the king and all the people of the land rejoiced and sounded with trumpets. Also the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praise. Then Athaliah rent her clothes and said treason, treason." Now notice all the people were rejoicing as this was going on. But I'm sure that it was suppressed before this that all the people would be so happy with it because they were all scared to speak up. Don't get thinking that just because you're under an oppressive regime that you don't have people that agree with you. You do. They're just all scared to say something. And when you get in a situation with groupthink, where everybody's dare not say something because it'll be reported on the news media wrong, a bunch of people that know better get scared to say so. I trust that Bible-believing Baptists would not fall into that cowardly number. But notice when they saw the king was coming back and they had the arms on their side, all of a sudden everybody's rejoicing. Verse 14, Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds that were set over the host, and said unto them, Have her forth of the ranges, and whoso followeth her, let him be slain with the sword. For the priest said, Slay her not in the house of the Lord. So they laid hands on her, and when she was come to the entering of the horse gate by the king's house, they slew her there. And Jehoiada made a covenant between him and between all the people, and between the king they should be the Lord's people. Then all the people went to the house of Baal and break it down and break his altars and his images in pieces and slew Matan, the priest of Baal, before the altars. Also Jehoiada appointed the offices of the house of the Lord by the hand of the priests, the Levites, whom David had distributed." Notice how often they're mentioning David and the stuff David had prepared and the offices David had set up. They knew when God Almighty was reigning with power. It doesn't hurt you to find a good example and follow it. You know the power of God's been on. But it says in verse 18, hand of the priests to the Levites whom David had distributed in the house of the Lord to offer the burnt offerings of the Lord as it is written in the law of Moses. There's another one, Moses and David, David and Moses. With rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by David. And he set the porters at the gates of the house of the Lord that none which was unclean in anything should enter in. And he took the captains of hundreds, and the nobles, and the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought down the king from the house of the Lord. And they came through the high gate into the king's house, and set the king upon the throne of the kingdom. And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword." All right, now the name Athaliah means afflicted of the Lord. Why in the world would somebody name their baby girl afflicted of the Lord? What on earth are you thinking? That's somebody that's godless, lawless, and couldn't care less what anybody thinks. Now Jehoiada, the priest that gets the king back in place, his name means Jehovah knows. And Jehoshabeth, his wife that is kin to the king, boy king that gets put back in place means Jehovah's oath. So it's Jehovah knows and Jehovah's oath versus afflicted of the Lord. Although I will admit that's a powerful word of testimony as to what kind of person she was. Your Heavenly Father, I pray that you'll speak to us as we try to study this passage a little bit and get some guidance from you based on the way things might go. our own history. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. All right, now we're studying the reign of Aethely. And I hate to study the descendants of David and the kingdom of Judah and have to even include her. What an ungodly person. She was a daughter of Omri and or Ahab. It's one of those things where it says the daughter of Omri in one place, daughter of Ahab in another. And when it says daughter, it could be daughter or granddaughter, according to Strong's Concordance, you know, female descendants. And of course, she was just completely corrupt. Corrupt sexually, corrupt politically, corrupt socially, just corrupt every which way. And being a daughter of Omri implies some things. First of all, it implies gross idolatry. The Bible says about Omri, the king of Israel from which she had descended, that he did the worst of all in Jeroboam's sin. You know Jeroboam had them worshiping the golden calves and all that and it said Omri did the worst of any of them. Then his son Ahab comes and continues this and added Baal worship because of Jezebel. You know, if I had lived in that time and I had saw wicked Baal-worshipping Jezebel marrying the son of Omri, who did the worst of all the golden calf-worshipping house of Omri, I'd have said, well, they're good enough for each other. But did you know the Bible says that that added to Ahab's sin? That actually made him worse. Did you know who you marry can make you worse? even if you're already scraping the bottom of the barrel. And who you marry can make you better. Who you marry can help you. They can shore up some weaknesses. Buddy Omri was about as low as you could go. And Ahab and Jezebel busted through the bottom of the barrel and dug down into the ground. He said, as if this was a small thing, he added this, that he married Jezebel. They worshiped Baal. Horrible, horrible. And that is the family from which we get Aphaliah. She certainly lived up to her heritage. She set up Baal worship. When they did clean this place out, you know what they had to do in chapter 23, verse 17? They had to go to a house of Baal. There was a whole house built for him. They had to break it down, break his altars. There were altars, extensive, I'm sure beautiful, religious altars built there. break images. It says in his images in pieces. There were statues everywhere. You better look out for images. There are a lot of warnings in the Bible about images. The Bible says when you go in those heathen land, you destroy all their pictures. I don't live up to this completely. But there is something wrong in our day with all the pictures of this world that are coming to us a thousand different ways from television and movies and social media and computers and now our phones are little computers. Way too many of the world's pictures. There's no way that's good. No way is that good. I don't know exactly how to tell you. I know that our businesses depend on it and all those things, but as much as possible, We need to greatly reduce the pictures of this world. But nevertheless, they had to break down his images, his altars, his house. They had Matton, this priest of Baal, this apparent leader of all this stuff. They had to get rid of all that. Furthermore, she had broken up the house of God, because it says even further than we read back in chapter 24, verse 7, it said, For the sons of Etheliah, that wicked woman had broken up the house of God, and also the dedicated things of the house of the Lord did they bestow upon Balaam. Oh, what a horrible thing. Think if years from now you came to Victory Baptist Church and it was dedicated to something wicked and ungodly. and worship of some other God, how that would break your heart. And here were the things that were meant for the Lord and had either been destroyed or put over into Baal worship. How horrible. What a sickening, horrible time. There's some stuff going on in the United States of America that the old timers never meant for what it's being used for today. It ought to bother us. We ought to be on our knees trying to get a hold of God to help us with these things. If she's a daughter of Omri and Ahab, that implies gross idolatry. If she's a daughter of Omri and Ahab, that implies treachery. Omri took over by military force over Zimri and Timni. He just saw an opportunity and he was a pretty good military man, so he just killed a bunch of people and took over. All kingdom builders are bloody killers. When somebody wants political power, in most cases they'll kill to get it. And especially when they just want to start spreading it everywhere. The only way you can do that, spread it over large empires, is to kill a bunch of people. And that is not a good person. It's not somebody you need to trust. It just wants to go around killing a bunch of people. I believe in violence and bona fide self-defense only. That's it. Ahab and Jezebel slew good people. 1 Kings chapter 18, verse 13, it says they slew the prophets. In 1 Kings chapter 21, it says they slew Naboth. Then Jehoram, after mixing in affinity with Ahab's house, he killed a bunch of people in Judah and Israel. And then the Arabians came in and killed a bunch of people so they could have power. And now here ate the lion. It says in chapter 22 in verse 10, Now is that a good person or a bad person? It doesn't take an expert in value judgment to know that if you go kill a bunch of innocent people that haven't done anything to you, just so you can have power, you own the bad team. You're on, and I'm being joking here, so don't get offended, but you're on Santa's naughty list. Don't get me wrong, I was raised in the old fundamentalist movement. They wouldn't touch Santa with a 10-foot pole. I'm just trying to make a joke. But you're not on God's side. You're not in the Lord's army if you're doing that. And that's the kind of, if you're a daughter of Omri and Ahab, it implies idolatry. It implies treachery. She lived up to this, slaying all the seed royal herself. So that's Athaliah, the daughter of Omri. Now let's look at the punishment of God. Chapter 22, it says, and he was with them hid in the house of God six years. And Athaliah reigned over the land. So the Lord let this go for six years. But he had something going on in his house that he was going to take care of it. You know where I want to be? I want to be in the house of God, where even if bad times are going on, I'm hearing what God's got going. I want to know about Him and His program, what He's got going. Now this is a punishment of God, no doubt about it. Judah had messed around, and even somebody as good as Jehoshaphat had made affinity with Ahab, and the Lord was angry at him about that. You mess around with this world and you make friends with the devil and his bunch, God will be mad at you, even though you have some redeeming qualities, as he said to Jehoshaphat. Wrath will be upon you from the Lord. That's what happened. All right, now let's notice what the Bible says about this. I mean, why aren't they saying, well, wait a minute, they've had all these men rulers, so here's a woman ruler now. Isn't that progress? Well, let's see what the Bible says about that. Turn to Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 3. Isaiah chapter 3 and verse 9, show of their countenance doth witness against them. And they declare their sin as Sodom. Start dealing with Sodomites. You're on the wrong team. They declare their sin as Sodom. They hide it not. Well, hello, Facebook. How'd you get in here? You publicize it all over social media. You've got pictures of it on Instagram and whatever the other ones are that I'm not thinking of right now. They're not even ashamed of it. Woe unto their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. When you live that way and publicize it that way, it's coming back on you. Verse 10, say ye to the righteous that it shall be well with him, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him. As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them, so that they can have good progress because everything is going so great. That's not the context here, is it? Children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err and destroy the way of thy paths." Women and children leaders is not progress, it's a punishment. And I tell you what, it's very specifically often the punishment of that the men didn't get up and lead like they're supposed to. There's watching ball games, playing video games, looking at TV and watching the latest movie. And if anybody was going to lead, a woman would have to. You couldn't get the man off the couch. And it's going the wrong way when it heads that way. Verse 13, the Lord standeth up to plead and standeth to judge the people. Well, why? They're making all this great progress. There's young people now leading. It's not just old white men. Isn't that what they say? The Bible looks at things differently than the news media. Have you noticed that? If you believe the news media, you may as well throw your Bible right straight in the garbage. You won't be needing it. But if you believe the Bible, you need to throw the news media right in the garbage. You won't be needing them. Verse 14, the Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people and the princes thereof, for you have eaten up the vineyard. The spoil of the poor is in your houses. Now all times say they care about the poor, care about the poor, care about the poor, and use that to get more power. And the spoil of the poor is in their houses. Have you ever looked at the houses of some of these people that tell me they're so concerned about the poor? You remember when Zacchaeus, he said, behold of my goods, I give to the poor when he got right with God. You know what it said about Judas? It said, this he said, not because he cared for the poor, but because he held the bag. There are some big bags in government. Verse 15, what mean ye that beat my people to pieces and grind the faces of the poor, saith the Lord God of us? Well, wait a minute, I thought they were all the time talking about how they care about the poor. Don't fall for it, it's a lie. Nothing like a Bible to clear up a college education and a news media broadcast. They don't care about the poor. Let's see, how much further can we go here? Verse 16, still in Isaiah three. Moreover, the Lord saith, because the daughters of Zion are haughty. Here's the women, all proud. And walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet. Therefore the Lord will smite with the scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their secret parts. And that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet and their cauls and their round tires like the moon, the chains and the bracelets and the mufflers, the bonnets and the ornaments of the legs, the headbands and the tablets and the earrings, the rings and nose jewels, the changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, the glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the veils. I mean, these are some rich women. God ain't supposed to talk that way about women. Let me tell you about God. He knows all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And whoever needs judgment, He gives it to them. Isaiah 3 isn't very politically correct, is it? Verse 24, And it shall come to pass that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink. Man, how unpleasant. And instead of a girdle, a rent. And instead of well-set hair, baldness. And instead of a stomacher, a girding of sackcloth. And burning instead of beauty. Yeah, go down here to the local seeker-sensitive church, see if they cover that passage with you. Let me tell you something. There's some Jezebels, and there's some Athaliahs, and God judges them, too. Alright, back to 2 Chronicles. Punishment of God. Number one, deaths of royal family. That's definitely a punishment of God. Number two, a woman ruler. That's a punishment of God. Even though you're not there supposed to say that. Number three, instability of short reigns. Jehoram just reigned for eight years. He was the one that had that mighty quick fall right after Josaphat. Ahaziah, just one year. Athaliah, six years. frequent fightings as opposed to Jehoshaphat. Look back to chapter 20 in verse, let's see, 30 I think I want. There it is. 2 Chronicles 20 verse 30. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet for his God gave him rest round about. How's it going after Jehoshaphat? Under Jehoram, they had a revolt of Edom. They had a revolt of Libna. They had Philistines attacking them. They had Arabians attacking them. Under Ahaziah, they had Hazael of Syria fighting them. They had Jehu of Israel come down there and wipe them all out. Man, they're not having peace. They're under a punishment of God. You know what the best thing you and I can do is live a godly life and spread the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ and live as clean and be the best example we can. You know why? So that the punishment of God either doesn't come or is lessened in our country. You want to have a good effect on your country? Live for God. Live clean. Talk of the Lord. Let me know if I'm doing something wrong with my little thing here. Under Ahaziah, they finally ended up with Jehu wearing them out. Under Athaliah, She comes from a killing family. She rose up by killing. All Judah seems willing to replace her. There's no way it went good, because as soon as a seven-year-old boy is king is brought out there and the army is around him, it says they're all rejoicing. Hey, you know what? I wouldn't rejoice if you told me my next leader was going to be a seven-year-old boy. I'd say no. I'm thinking he's not ready. But with Athaliah, they said, yeah, we'll take him. That tells me things weren't going too smooth under Athaliah because her death brings quiet to the city. So we see that she's a daughter of Omri, implying idolatry and treachery. We see the punishment of God, deaths of the royal family, woman ruler, instability, frequent fighting, all these problems. But did you know in the middle of all that, when they said, well, good night, man, we're going to lose a whole generation. Well, don't talk too soon. The Lord can always do things that you haven't thought of. So let's look at the deliverance from God here in 2 Chronicles 23, and then we'll be done. All right, first of all, notice, as I said, it came earlier than you might expect. I mean, he ain't but a year old, I think, when they save him. And in the seventh year, it says in chapter 23.1, Jehoiada strengthened himself and took the captains of hundreds and so forth. Now, who would have thought? Oh, don't worry, the king's seven now. We can go ahead and get started. Isn't that way sooner than you would have thought? Tell you something, God can do things sooner than you think. Here's the key. If you have a change of heart, If you won't change, it may take four times as long. If you won't repent, it may take... But there were some people ready, and God saw their hearts, and God saw Jehoiada and Jehoshabeth had been faithful, and he said, you know what? I'm going to have mercy on them. I'm about sick of watching all that filth from Ethel Eye anyway. You stay faithful. It might not take as long as you think. There is many a person that has said, you know, I just can't hold out that long. Well, you don't know how long you might have to hold out. You just be faithful to God and trust Him. Now, there are times that I will admit He makes you wait a long time. There are also plenty of times people quit and if they had just held out a little bit longer, God was ready to deliver them. Of course, the famous speech, acres of diamonds, tell story after story of a person that was dying for diamonds and dying for riches. And they went and bought this place, you know, trying to dig for oil or trying to dig for diamonds and sold the place they had lived on their whole lives to go find fortune somewhere else. And the person that bought the place from them dug and found diamonds right there where they already were. Don't let that be your testimony. Blossom where you are planted. God's got something for you where you're at. Find it. It came earlier than you might expect. Joash was only seven years old, but it came by the works of a brave couple. If it wouldn't have been for Jehoiada and Jehoshavith, this wouldn't have worked. That was who God used. What if they'd have said, well, now look. Believe me, I love this little boy. He's kind to us. I want to save him. But I mean, you got to admit, the house Ahabs took over. They're a bunch of killers. We're going to have to turn him in because they'll kill us. I can't risk my life for this. But they did. Are you willing to die for what's right? You willing to risk that? Our Baptist forefathers sure were. That's what happened. It came by a brave couple. Maybe this explains Joe Ashe's zeal about repairing the house of the Lord. He remembered and always heard those stories about the first six years of his life, how he was hid in the house of God. Because I know when he gets to be king, one of the very early things he does is, let's repair the house of the Lord. That thing was precious to him. No spot so dear to my childhood as the little church on the hill. Remember those songs? I hope that's dear to us. I hope that's precious to us. It came by the works of a brave couple. I'll tell you something else. The military seemed to agree first. Chapter 23, verse 1, it gives their names. Hey, when they signed the Declaration of Independence, when they took the side of the colonies, they may as well have been signing a death warrant. It took some courage. Are you willing to put your name as a follower of this book and the Lord Jesus Christ, even against the communists and the liberals and the filth that's going in our day? There's some danger there, I'll give you, but there's some adventure to it. There's some blessing being faithful to God. The military men, names listed, sat down and made a covenant with Jehoiada. It said, you can count on us, and we're counting on you. I'll tell you something else. The Levites and the chief of the fathers risked much to support this. It says in verse 2 and 3, it says, and they went about in Judah and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah. That's the priests. And the chief of the fathers of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. Don't you know, as word started to get out, And as they're sending letters to these people, they were in danger. What if one of these letters had been intercepted? You know, that stuff has happened in history. And they said, oh, so this is the name of one of them that's going to meet with Jehoiada in Jerusalem. Something must be up. We found two or three of these others. Why are these Levites? Why are these chief of the fathers coming from all over to go meet in Jerusalem? Something's going. They risked. You know what Paul said about Aquila and Priscilla? He said, hazarded their lives, risked their necks, so to speak, for my sake. There are some things that are worth just giving your all for. They gathered to Jerusalem. They made a covenant with the king. I wonder if they got there and took one look and saw that seven-year-old boy and said, now, wait a minute. Now look, look Jehoiada, now we're with you, but now, you know, it's going to have to be a better, this does not look good. I am not sensing strength here with this little boy. You'd be surprised what God can do with a young one that has given his life to him. How about little David at a young age? How about Josiah at a young age? They made a covenant with the king. Tell you something else, they seem to be there present as representatives of the people. Look at it, it says in verse 3, and all the congregation made a covenant with the king and the house of God. As if these men that came represented the congregation, the larger group. They knew that the people didn't stand. There's some stuff going on that's claiming to be mainstream that I'm not saying the United States of America is what they ought to be, but I think I know them good enough to know they're not in agreement with some filth going on. They seem to be representatives of the people. Look at verse 8. So the Levites, here it is, and all Judah, All Judah. Well, they didn't have all Judah there. No, they just had some representatives there. Does that sound familiar? Do we not elect some representatives to go speak for us? They don't always do that, do they? All Judah did according to all things that Jehoiada the priest had commanded. So they seem to be representatives of the people here. Notice there's a place for everybody. In chapter 23, verse 4 to 7, he says, and this is the thing that ye shall do, a third part of you entering in on the Sabbath of the priests and of the Levites shall be porters of the doors. All right? I want a third of you handling this. Then he says, verse 5, and a third part shall be at the king's house. All right? I need a third of you over there because I guarantee they'll want to take out the king if they can. And a third part at the gate of the foundation. And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the Lord." They had to guard. They had to keep watch. They had to be in the courts in the house of the Lord. Notice something else though. It had to be according to God's word. This wasn't something that Jehoiada just thought up. Boy, I think this would be a real neat plan. No, this was in accordance with God's word. Look at verse 8. So the Levites and all Judah did according to all things that Jehoiada the priest had commanded and took every man his men that were to come in on the Sabbath. Jehoiada didn't invent the Sabbath. But Jehoiada did have some authority here. Number one, they had to keep his house holy. Look at verse 6. But let none come into the house of the Lord, save the priests and they that minister to the Levites, they shall go in, for they are holy. God had set them aside to fill a holy role. Secondly, in obeying the priest. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 17 and look at how strong this is. How that you were supposed to obey the priest at that time while they were under the law. Deuteronomy chapter 17, let's see, verse 8. The Bible says, if there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates, then shalt thou arise and get thee up unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, and thou shalt come unto the priests, the Levites." Who are we talking about over there? the priests, the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, Jehoiada in this case, and inquire, and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment. And thou shalt do according to the sentence which they of that place which the Lord shall choose shall show thee. And thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee, according to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee. And according to the judgment, and if you don't obey, look what it says in Deuteronomy 17, 12. And the man that will do presumptuously and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God or unto the judge, even that man shall die and now shall put away the evil from Israel. They had Moses telling them they were supposed to obey their priest in these times of controversy. Alright, so it had to be in keeping with the word of the Lord. I'll tell you something else, it was connected to David and the house of God. Verse 9, towards the end of the verse says, that had been King David's, which were in the house of God. Look at verse 10, and he said, all the people, every man having his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple, along by the altar and the temple, by the king round about. This is all based on stuff that the word of God had already laid out. David, house of God. Let's see, verse 18, it's mentioned again, whom David had distributed. The end of the verse, as it is written in the law of Moses, look at, oh, and do not forget this one, with rejoicing and with singing. Did you know God expects you to worship Him with rejoicing? And did you know when He said He's going to send judgment, He says, because they worshiped Me not with rejoicing because of the abundance of all things. If there is anybody that ought to be worshiping God with rejoicing because of the abundance of all things, in our day, surely it's the United States of America. And yet we've got more depression and mental problems than Christians most any place in this world. We're not worshiping Him with rejoicing because of the abundance of all things, and that's another issue. But it's connected to David and the house of God. I'll tell you one other thing. It's even binding on the king. Don't think that because you have a position of authority, you're still not under the word of God. It said in verse 3, all the congregation, back in 2 Chronicles 23, and all the congregation made a covenant with the king and the house of God. Behold, the king's son shall reign as the Lord has said of the sons of David. Verse 11, Then they brought out the king's son and put upon him the crown and gave him the testimony. That's the thing you gave every king that he was supposed to read and make sure he followed along with. There was a there was a thing the king had to do. You couldn't be king and just do what you felt like, at least not and do it right. Look at, I'm still over here in Deuteronomy 17, verse 14, it says, When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me. He said, all right, I've got some instructions when that day comes. Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose. One from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee. Thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. Now here's his rules. He shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses. For as much as the Lord has said unto you, you shall not henceforth return no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself." Boy, some kings didn't keep that, did they? "...that his heart turn not away. Neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold." Whoa, he had some rules. You know, just because you're in a position of authority doesn't mean you do whatever you want. You still stay under the rules God gives you, and He has some for you. Verse 18, And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law and a book out of that which is before the priests and the Levites. and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life." God says, you want to be king? All right, you can't multiply wives, you can't multiply horses, and you can't multiply gold, and you can't take my people back to Egypt. I got them out of there. And furthermore, I want you to take a pen and paper and write down this law and your whole life read it. You know what I know? I know David did that. Because one time they came to him and said, this man killed this lamb. It was the only one of this guy. And you know what David did? Gave him judgment right straight out of the law of an obscure verse that nobody else would even remember. You know what that tells me? David wrote out that law and was reading it just like God told him. God has rules. It must be according to God's word. I'll tell you just a couple other things and we'll close. There is opposition. Don't you know that when they get rid of a queen that's been a killer, and her whole family's been a killer for generations, and they want to set up a new king that's only seven years old, don't you know a couple of people would be against that? Yeah, there's going to be some opposition. Let me tell you something. You start trying to do right, you start trying to separate from this world, you start trying to be a witness for the Lord Jesus, you start trying to obey this Bible, the devil will send some soldiers to take some shots at you. Yeah, there will be some opposition. There was political from oppressive rulers. There was religious from the priests of the false worship. But you know what there had to be? There had to be some commitment. You say now, wasn't this treason to kill the ruler of their people? All right, let's look at Deuteronomy chapter 17 one more time and see where that's covered here. Deuteronomy chapter 17, verse 2, if there be found any among you within any of thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, anywhere I'm in charge, God says, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God in transgressing his covenant, and hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun or moon or any of the hosts of heaven, which I have not commanded. And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently, and behold it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel. Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman which have committed that wicked thing unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones till they die." No, it wasn't treason. It was obedience to Deuteronomy chapter 17. That's what they were told to do. There was commitment. They said, all right, that's what God said, we're going to obey it. It was done First, in the slaying of the Queen and the priests of Baal. Also, in dedicating themselves to the Lord. The Bible says over here in 2 Chronicles 23, in verse 16, it says, "...and Jehoiada made a covenant between him, and between all the people, and between the king, that they should be the Lord's people." There's a commitment. I guarantee you, buddy, if you take out the wicked ruler that has a bunch of people behind him, used to killing people, You, as they say in the vernacular, you've got skin in the game at that point. It was like when John Hancock signed that document and said he won't need his spectacles to see this. I'll guarantee you at that point he had skin in the game. There was risk on his part. Dedicating themselves to the Lord and then they took on the specific tasks. Verse 18, sacrificing and singing. Did you hear that singing? Here we're talking about a kingdom being switched from one wicked ruler to the ruler that God had sent. And you're worried about singing? Singing is a big deal to God. There have been times where there was a battle to be fought. And it was because that God wanted His name to get glory that He had them singing while they defeated the enemy. Don't think that singing and music is a small matter. Hey, you've got a gift in singing. You've got a gift in playing an instrument. That's one of the things that's part of taking over this kingdom. That is not a small matter. That brings glory to God. The Lord shows up while praises are being sung to His name. There's sacrificing, there's singing, there's guarding, there's commanding, verse 20. He says they took the captains of hundreds and the nobles and the governors and all the people of the land and brought down the king from the house of the Lord and they came through the high gate into the king's house and set the king upon the throne of his kingdom. And then I want to notice in closing verse 21, and the people of the land rejoiced. There was rejoicing. And you know what else they had? They had quiet. You know what that tells me? Peace. You don't have any peace when you're living in a place where Athaliah is queen. You see injustice, you see gross immorality, you see things that you're scared to speak up about, and all of a sudden they went from mourning and a knot in their stomach to rejoicing in peace. Thank God that's the end of the reign of Ahab down in Judah. But I will say this. Joash and Amaziah, the next two kings, still are not listed in the lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ. The only thing I know to take from that is they were intermingled too much with the house of Ahab and it messed them up for some generations. Listen, don't intermingle with this world. You don't know how long it will take. Don't get me wrong, God might be merciful and it might end way quicker than you ever thought. but then it also might last. The prodigal son, I'm sure, never thought he would stay all the way until he ended up in a hog pen just hoping to get some of the slop that those hogs were eating. I'm sure he didn't think he was going to stay that long. You can't predict the consequences of a bad decision. Think about that before you partake in sin.