Creation, I encourage you to open your Bibles with me once again to Second Chronicles chapter 33. I'd like to direct your attention to verse 12 and 13. Second Chronicles 33 verses 12 and 13. This is page 713 in the pew Bible. Now, when Manasseh was in affliction, he implored the Lord, his God, and humbled himself greatly 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. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. Congregation today is Sanctity of Life Sunday. It's a day where many Christians are intentionally thinking about the grave issue of abortion. And I believe it's necessary for us as well to have this on our minds today. And the reason is that it's so easy for us to forget this issue. It's easy for us to forget that every single day in Canada, just Canada alone, 300 babies are murdered in the wombs of their mothers. I mean, just look around. There's roughly 300 people here. Cut down. And then again tomorrow. And then again the next day. So we need to hear this. Painful reminders that every day little humans with little faces, little hands, little feet are wiped out. Now the goal of this message is twofold. First, I want to shine a light on the horrendous evil of murdering children and of all sin. And second, I wanna shine a light on the magnificent mercy of God and the forgiveness that's available for those who murder children and commit all sin. So those are the two goals. The first, and we wanna see this through looking at the story of King Manasseh. So our title is Mercy for Manasseh. Two points, first of all, murderous Manasseh. Murderous Manasseh. Mercy for Manasseh, first point, murderous Manasseh. Notice with me verse one. Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king and he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem. And the first thing we're seeing here then is the decline. The decline, the beginning of our text takes us to this steep decline in the history of Judah. What we find here as we come to verse one is a shocking cultural shift. Because remember who Manasseh's father is. Well, you see it just the verse before, the chapter before. It's King Hezekiah. King Hezekiah was one of the best kings in Judah's history. Of course, he was far from perfect. Like all of God's people, Hezekiah had his grievous sins, one of them being his pride. You remember what happened with Babylon? They came, looked at all his stuff. Let me show you all that I have. His pride was a horrible sin. And yet, on the whole, Hezekiah was a great example of godly leadership. He ruled well over Judah and he led the nation in many reforms, taking them back towards God and his law. And children, maybe you remember that one time in Hezekiah's life where he was struck with life-threatening sickness. Suddenly he was sick and he was dying. And at that moment, he had no children. He had no heirs to take over the throne, no sons for the throne. And you remember how Hezekiah prayed in the midst of his sickness and God graciously heard his prayer and added 15 years to his life. Well, three years into those 15, God gave Hezekiah a son, Manasseh. And so what a happy time for Hezekiah. God's heard my prayer to give me life. Now he's provided me with a son so that the greater son of David might one day come, that we might be a king on the throne. And in those precious 12 years that godly Hezekiah had with Manasseh, surely he taught him to fear God and to love God. And yet, Hezekiah dies, and Manasseh takes over the throne at age 12. Any 12 year olds here? Imagine, you get the throne. Manasseh takes over the throne, and it quickly becomes apparent how different Manasseh's rule's going to be than his father's. And beloved, there's an application here, and that is this. It reminds us that God's grace is not automatically inherited. Yes, God is the covenant God who ordinarily works through families, but conversion is personal and it needs to be personally experienced. The children of the godly are not automatically godly. See Hezekiah and his son Manasseh. So, there's this major shift in Judah's morals when Manasseh takes the throne, and verse 3 points us to that. Notice this major cultural shift. Verse 3 tells us Manasseh is reversing all that his father has done. Hezekiah was tearing down the idols, Manasseh's building them up. The difference in society in Judah in this day is obvious. Everyone sees it. There's different morals now coming from the throne and pervading throughout the land. Verse nine, strikingly says, so Manasseh seduced the people to do more evil than the Canaanites who had previously lived in the land. And beloved, here's the point I'm making. It's one we can relate to. At this moment, as we've been saying, in Judah's history, there's this great decline in morals, a dramatic shift in priorities and policies. It's moved from God honoring leadership to God despising leadership. The morals in the land have taken a nosedive and we can relate. Because we have also gone through cosmic shifts and cultural attitudes towards morality. Whether you zoom out and look over the last 70 years or even over the last 20 years, there are cosmic shifts. It leaves us unsettled, maybe scared, but it's helpful then to know that we aren't the first generation having to deal with this. History is helpful. Church history is helpful. This is a situation God's people has often been through it, uh, enduring. But notice another thing here, notice the duration of this decline into darkness. Verse one, he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem. That's a long time. In fact, Manasseh has the longest reign of any king in Judah's history. And doesn't that take us to another practical application here? It reveals the mysterious nature of God's providence. Because the longest reign in Judah's history belongs to their worst king. We might naturally think that God would act quickly to rid such an evil king from the throne. We would think that he would just strike down Manasseh in an instant. Sometimes he does that. Evil Jehoahaz lasted three months. Wicked Jehoiachin also was removed after three months. And yet sometimes in the Lord's surprising providence, he gives darkness a long time on the throne, 55 years, decades upon decades of moral decline, the Lord giving Judah over to her own evil desires. And for a time, he removes then the restraints on sin. And we get glimpses of what our hearts are capable of. We have them out elsewhere in history. We think of the Nazi regime and and you see you get glimpses. This is what the human heart is capable of. It's frightening. But how God's people that must have grown tired living under Manasseh at Psalm 10 verses one and two must have been on their lips. Why do you stand afar off O Lord? Why do you hide in times of trouble? The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor. Let them be caught in the plots, which they have devised or Psalm 13 verse one. How long, Oh Lord, will you forget me forever? These were the, the worn out Psalms of God's people in these days. Surely now, of course the Lord could do anything in our times, but we need to be prepared for the long haul. It appears that it will only get darker before the light of truth shines. This means yes, pray for revival, pray for change. Know that God is capable of it. No, he loves to work when things are the darkest, but be prepared as well for the long haul. We need the spirit to give us patient hope. We need the spirit to give us persistence and perseverance. And all of that comes when the spirit gives us perspective. And what's the perspective we need? It's this, that the light will triumph in the end. It will. Jesus will come back. He is coming back. And he will reward all of his faithful servants who have stood for his cause and have labored diligently for it. Well, this is the decline we see in Judah. But notice then the description of Manasseh's reign. That's the second thing here. The description, verse two, but he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. And so here is the summary of what the Lord writes over Manasseh's reign, four letters, evil. Evil. And friends, the text here is clear then, the Lord is the judge. Notice what it says. He did evil in the sight of the Lord. Isn't that striking? God sees everything. All of our actions are before his eyes. It's in his sight. And so it doesn't matter whatever everyone else is saying. It doesn't matter what the polls are saying or popular opinion is saying. God is the judge. He gives the ultimate analysis and he says evil. Evil. What's that? Well, it's the opposite of what is morally right and good. It's determined on the basis of God's standard, his perfect law, this moral law, which we've heard already. It's summarized in the 10 commandments, even more tightly summarized in the two commandments. Jesus gives us love the Lord, your God above all, and love your neighbor as yourself. God judges Manasseh on that standard and rightly declares your reign is evil. Congregation, this is the standard God uses to look at all nations, including Canada. What's the verdict? We live in a land of many freedoms, much prosperity, all of it undeserved. We don't deserve better. And so, and we also cannot take these things for granted. We are privileged compared to so many people in history. All of that is true. And yet, let's not be fooled about what God thinks. He sees what's happening in our land, like Manasseh's day, sin is abounding, evil is prevalent, and the judge sees it. But friends, this is personal as well, because God doesn't just judge, he doesn't just see the nation, he sees the individual. He doesn't just evaluate Judah, he evaluates Manasseh. And he's evaluating all of us based on his law. And what does he see? What's the verdict when he looks at your life? As God holds up his moral law next to your life, next to your thought life, next to your words, your actions, does he see perfect obedience to this standard, this good standard? And the answer for all of us is the same, left to ourselves, evil. We've sung it. Psalm 130 verse three. If you Lord should mark iniquities, if you should see our iniquities and tally them up for what they are, if you should do that, Lord, who could stand? None of us could stand left to ourselves, but notice Lord doesn't just give us the summary description. He actually does get into the details. He gives us the specifics of Manasseh's life, and that begins in verse three. Begins explaining the evil that Manasseh performed, for he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah, his father, had broken down. He raised up altars for the Baals and made wooden images, and he worshiped all the hosts of heaven and served them. This is idolatry, and you see it as you keep reading. Idolatry, idolatry, idolatry. Breaking the first table of the law. And friends, this is at the root of all of our sin. idolatry. We turn from the good God who gives us everything in whom we live, move and have our being. We turn away from him and substitute him for another. All of our disobedience is the result of this roots in. We put something else at the center of our lives. It's as the highest priority in our lives. It could be our money, our reputation, ourself, our own interests. We're very good at finding idols just like Manasseh. Look at what it says. Read of how his heart just runs to all the hosts of heaven. It's like he just can't get enough of these idols. You'll have anything but God. And we're all like that. Calvin famously said our hearts are like idol factories. Summarizing the truth of what scripture says about us. Romans 1.25 describes sinful humanity. It says, we've exchanged the truth of God for the lie. We've worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator. Friends, that's the horrendous evil we're all guilty of. It's scandalous in the sight of God. But notice, flowing from this idolatry is another horrible crime, and you see that in verse six. He caused his sons to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. This here is describing the practice of child sacrifice. Manasseh, in a frightening way, didn't just break the first table, he also broke the second table of the law, not loving his neighbor, his young neighbors, his children. Congregation, let your mind linger on this for a moment. It's painful to do. Manasseh, in his wickedness, brought his own offspring to the fire. He's not the only one in Israel's history. Many other kings did the same. He sacrificed his own flesh and blood to appease his false gods. The reality of this didn't strike me until recently I was reading a secular biography of the General Hannibal. Now, he was a great general from Carthage who famously attacked Rome around 200 BC. And Carthage was a city, a Phoenician city, and the Phoenicians were historically linked to the Canaanites. And so they shared the same gods as the Canaanites. So his God was Baal. In fact, Hannibal, that name means Baal has been gracious. And here's the point I'm making. I opened to page one of this biography, and it starts with a description of Hannibal's parents taking one of his siblings to sacrifice them. And here's a secular author just recording history, and my skin has never crawled like it did then. As he unpacks what that would have been like to see and smell and hear. I'll never forget it, and now I see what the Bible says when it says Manasseh caused his sons to pass through the fire. And while it's not exactly the same thing, there are major parallels with what's happening in abortion. We have the images, we have the videos, it exposes the horrors of what's happening day after day under labels that sound so clean and friendly, reproductive health or family planning, family care. And it should make our skin crawl what's happening. None of us can claim ignorance. We know it. We can try to ignore it. We can try to hide it, but we can't pretend to be ignorant to what's happening. Listen to the parallel account of NASA's life. Second Kings 21 verse 16, second Kings 21 16. It says this Manassas shed very much innocent blood till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another. Do you see the graphic language scriptures using to picture this for us? The streets are filled with blood, painted red, as it were, with blood. Manasseh's reign is a rule of death. He's created a culture of death in the nation. He's murdering his children. He's seducing the other people to do this as well. He's killing also the prophets who are speaking out against us, saying, this is wrong. Let's kill them too. I don't want to hear it. Historical tradition tells us that Isaiah was most likely one of those victims, sawn in half by Manasseh. The text there, 2 Kings 21 says, he shed very much innocent blood. Isn't that an interesting phrase, innocent blood? Now, this doesn't mean that the children or the prophets that he killed are innocent in the sense of not inheriting the guilt and pollution from our fallen Adam. All are conceived and born in sin, Psalm 51 tells us, Romans 5 tells us. And yet this highlights for us the value in God's sight of a human life. Yes, even fallen humanity still bears the image of God in the wider sense. And so life is precious. We're not highly evolved animals. We are image bearers. The baby in the womb is a human, a precious life. And so whatever crisis or horrific circumstances has led to the pregnancy, and there are crises and horrific circumstances that do lead to pregnancies, but whatever they are, the solution is never to shed innocent blood. This leads us to the final thing under the first point, the displeasure. And that's the Lord's displeasure we're speaking of here with Manasseh and his wickedness. Notice verse six, it closes with, he did much evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. Friends, this is God's response to any sin, rightfully so. As the holy God, he is rightly provoked to holy anger. Sin is a direct attack on him and his law. He wouldn't be God, he wouldn't be just, he wouldn't be good if he wasn't provoked to anger by sin. When we see sin being perpetrated, we rightly get angry. There's a good, holy, righteous anger. God has that imperfection. And in particular, notice how God labels the child sacrifice that Manasseh engages in as an abomination. That's what's referred to in verse two, when it says the abomination of the nations, worshiping these false gods in such an abominable way. And this word abomination highlights how despicable this is in his sight. He hates it. It incites judgment. verse 9. Again, Manassas seduce Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel congregation. Just think about that. Manassas grew up in a godly home. And yet he leads the nation further into darkness. So their sins are making the pagans around them blush. And isn't it sad that the countries that once had the light of the gospel have plunged further than others. Canada consciously founded on the word of God. Our national motto still is our on our official coat of arms from Psalm 72 from C to C Christ shall have dominion from C to C. Yet we are the only developed nation without any law restricting abortion at all. In Canada, you can get an abortion if you aren't happy with the sex of the child in the womb. And so, congregation, we are leading the charge in the murder of children. We who've had the light are leading the charge. While this is murderous manasseh, it takes us to our second point, matchless mercy. Matchless mercy. Congregation, we must shine a light on sin and expose it, whatever the sin is, for what it is. But we must also shine a light on the mercy of God. We must. This is an integral part of the message God wants us to bring and that God wants us to hear. Friend, maybe you've been uncomfortable so far. Maybe you've had an abortion. Maybe you've encouraged someone to get one. Now what? What message of hope can this culture offer you? They can say, celebrate what you've done. They can say, don't face reality, don't see the face of reality. Just forget it, it's fine. Friend, that's not a solution. Your voice inside your head and your heart knows it's not a solution. Do you have something that can deal with your guilt? And congregation, this is a crucial question for all of us, whatever our sin might be. Do you have something that can deal with your guilt? We've all committed horrendous atrocities in the sight of God. We've all been Manasseh like to varying degrees and unlike many in our culture today, we have the clear teaching of scripture. We've heard it over and over. That was Manasseh sinning against light and we've sinned all of us. Do you have something that can deal with your guilt? Is there hope for us? Well, friends, if we are going to be saved, we need matchless mercy. A little mercy won't do for me. A little washing won't cleanse me because I am too stained. The grime on my heart is way too thick. I need matchless mercy. Mercy that's not matched anywhere else. Infinite mercy. We need a flood of mercy. And friends, here's the amazing thing. There is such a flood available for sinners today. There's a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And sinners plunge beneath the flood, lose all their guilty stains. Matchless mercy available. Let's hear how that happened for Manasseh. First of all, notice the persistent mercy, the persistent mercy he received. Verse 10, and the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. Manasseh and the people, they sin and they sin and they sin day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade, they sin, they sin, they sin, and God doesn't strike them down. He could have, and he does in other cases. Instead, he sends messengers, prophets, They bring warnings. They bring promises of forgiveness. And look, the warnings from the prophets go unheeded. He told them through his prophets and people, this is wrong and they ignore it. Now what? Surely this is the end of the line from Manasseh. Surely now God will send him what he deserves. Surely now God will cast him in the prison of hell forever. That's not what happens. Oh friends, see the patience of God that he has with sinners and that he has extended towards you and me. So we are here today. Notice his persistence. Manasseh won't hear the prophets. God's determined to get his attention one way or another. He will show mercy on this one. He's one of his chosen ones. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And so he keeps going after Manasseh. Verse 11. Therefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon. He doesn't get carried off to the prison of hell, but to the prison of Babylon, where the light of mercy is gonna dawn on him. God's whole goal here is to bring affliction into Manasseh's life, so he might finally see the evil of his ways and cry out for help. What mercy! And beloved Christian, how many times and in how many ways did God have to come to you before you woke up to see your sin and your need for a savior, so you fell on your face and cried out to him. How many times, if only we knew how many times, oh, we would see the persistence he has with sinners. Child of God, maybe you can remember a time in your life where God's word was easy to ignore. I can remember it, it was easy to ignore. I had all the ways to ignore it, all the ways to plug my ears in a sermon. easy to ignore. Then he starts squeezing your life, maybe. Then he brings affliction. Then he makes you feel the pressure. He makes you feel the consequences of sin. He takes away the false supports, and maybe in his kindness, you woke up. You woke up to see who you are, and you started to see the nature of your sin. Like Psalm 119, verse 71, it is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. You see this with Manasseh. Children, you can come with me to the prison of Babylon. It's a depressing cell. You see it there? You don't want to be in that cell. It looks awful. And yet there in that cell, we find this once mighty king, Manasseh, who was living as if he could do whatever he wanted and go his own way. But look at him now. He's a mess. He's an utter disgrace. But listen, do you hear that? It's a cry. We don't know how loud a cry. Is it just a sob? Is it a flood of tears? But there's a cry. And oh, what a beautiful sound. Because for the first time, Manasseh is crying out to God. And notice how verse 12 just piles up the word for prayers. Now, when he was in affliction, he implored the Lord, his God, and he humbled himself greatly before the Lord, the God of his fathers, and he prayed to him. And the next verse goes on to speak of how he entreated him. Friends, this is a miracle of mercy. The Holy Spirit in his persistence has come after Manasseh, Manasseh, who has pushed away the spirit, pushed away his convictions time and time again. He's resisted the spirit time and time again, and yet here in in his irresistible grace. The spirit finally makes a crack and this hard hearted sinner. And for the first time in his life, he's humbled. He's humbled. And this friends is the chief sign of being humbled is that we start to cry out to God. We start to pray. That's been asked. And now he implores the Lord. That is, he earnestly praise he, and he prays for mercy. Literally verse 12 says this, he entreated the favor of the Lord, his God. He entreated the favor, the undeserved favor. He did. He entreated the mercy of God. We don't know the words of his prayer, but probably sounded something like Psalm 25 verse 11, which says this Psalm 25 verse 11 for your namesake. Oh Lord, pardon my iniquity for it is great. Don't you love those words? You here who think that your mountain of sin stands in the way of you receiving the mercy of God. Don't you love those words? Have you let your mind pour over the logic of that prayer? Pardon my iniquity for it is great. It's a mountain. It's massive. My debts are huge. And yet Lord, pardon them. That's how God wants us to pray. He doesn't want us to say, Lord, forgive me because I haven't been that bad. No, we've been terrible. Lord, you see it. It's all before your sight. Now I'm owning up to it and pardon me. Give me what I don't deserve. Has the greatness of your sin, friend, driven you to plead with God for his matchless mercy? It should. It must. Second, notice the pardoning mercy, not only persistent, but pardoning mercy. Verse 13, amazing words. God heard, God heard his supplication. God heard him. God heard Manasseh. God heard this man with all that blood on his hands, with all the wickedness that he committed. God heard him and God forgave him. And friends, this is what God loves to do. He calls the wicked to forsake their ways and he promises. I will abundantly pardon Isaiah 55 verses six and seven. If you don't believe me, look it up. I'm believing friend. God has a question for you. Why will you die? Why will you die in your sin? Ezekiel 18 31. Why should you die? Oh, house of Israel, for I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Therefore turn and live. That's what God is pleased in. Turn whoever you are. There's pardon. There's mercy. It's available. There was mercy for murderous Manasseh. There was mercy for the woman caught in adultery. There was mercy for the thief on the cross. And there's also mercy available for you. There's mercy. Turn and you shall live. Turn and you will be washed completely clean. Though your sins be like scarlet and crimson, the deepest red, I will make them white as snow. You'll be declared righteous in the sight of God. God will make this declaration of you. Not only are you forgiven, not only are you innocent, meaning you haven't broken the law, but even he'll go further. You are righteous, meaning you are a law keeper in the sight of the law. Legally, you're standing before the court of heaven. If you turn to me, you are righteous. And so you deserve to be in heaven. Amazing. How can that be? Is God unjust? How can he do that after a lifetime of our sin? Here's Manasseh sinning, sinning, sinning, sinning, and he turns the Lord in prayer and God says, forgiven, innocent, better yet righteous. You are now fit for heaven. If Manasseh died at that moment, he would go there on good grounds. How is that just? Doesn't God care about justice? God cares about justice more than anyone. He doesn't just overlook a lifetime of sin and depravity, absolutely not. Children, Manasseh's name appears one time in the New Testament, on the first page, Matthew chapter one. And it's found in a long list of sinners in a genealogy that takes us to this. And Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who's called the Christ. And Matthew one, just a few verses later tells us why his name is Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. God does not, when he forgives, he does not overlook sin. He supplies a savior, a sin bearer, a savior who will bear Manasseh's sins. violent, murderous sins, Manasseh's shedding of innocent blood. Jesus says, I will take that upon myself. I will put that on my shoulders. I will take him as if they are mine. I will count them to my account and act as if they're mine. And I will go take the death you deserve. I'll go take the hell you deserve. I'll go take the cup of God's wrath that you, Manasseh, deserve. And I'll do it cheerfully. because you're mine, I love you, and this is mercy. Justice is served on Jesus. Mercy is given to Manasseh. And so let me be as clear as I can. If you've had an abortion, there is complete forgiveness for you in Jesus Christ. If you've encouraged someone And more than that, force someone to have an abortion. There is mercy, complete forgiveness available for you if you turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have performed abortion, if your own hands have killed children, thousands of them, there is mercy for you in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is Manasseh leading the charge in the murdering of his children, and there's mercy for him. Mercy for this one. Beloved right now, Manasseh is around the throne of God and he's enjoying the presence of God. And what do you think he's doing? Do you think he's saying I've earned my spot here? I deserve to be here because of who I am, what I've done. No, he's like everyone else in heaven. And like every other true Christian, Manasseh is saying worthy is the lamb who was slain. He's the reason there is mercy today for sinners. And so friends here is a God who's rich in mercy. And we need to tell this to others. We need to tell this to those in the front lines of the abortion industry. Yes. About their sin. Yes. But the matchless mercy of God, but there's one other aspect of mercy and it's powerful mercy. It's powerful mercy. And we'll close with this. Notice God's mercy has powerful effects on Manassas life, visible effects. True repentance is seen in his change of life. Verse 13. Here's the biggest thing. Now Manassas knows that the Lord is God. That's amazing. That's at the heart of this different life. He knows God. He's in relationship with God. He loves God. And so there's positive activity now in his life. You see verses 14 to 16, what a difference he's tearing down the idols and he's turned now to serve the living and true God. And so beloved repentance is evidenced by obedience to God's law. God's law says, among other things, do not murder. but that not only forbids us from murdering, but it also calls us to promote life as our catechism explains. And so here's a challenge for all of us. Where is the evidence of that in our lives? We all have different positions. We all have different opportunities, but where is the evidence of that? As death surround us surrounds us, how are we promoting the life and wellbeing of the unborn neighbors and the life and wellbeing of the mothers and fathers in difficult circumstances? Are we praying? Are we educating? Notice the consequences of Manasseh's sins remain. He can do his part, but the nation is still intent on idolatry. We may not be able to stop the tide of evil in our day, as Manasseh couldn't, but we are called to be faithful. as Manasseh was at the end of his life. And so may this message of overwhelming mercy move us to labor for the lives in our nation. We have work to do. And may the mercy of God be our motivation to see change in our land for the welfare of parents in difficult circumstances and for the welfare of unborn children alike. May God help us. Amen. Let's sing Psalter 2