I'd like to draw your attention again to 2 Chronicles 33. We'll be looking at the first 20 verses. You'll remember the first verse says, Manasseh was 12 years old and he began to reign. He reigned 50 and five years in Jerusalem and so forth. I remember a time in my life where I was greatly encouraged. I was in seminary. I was in Greenville, South Carolina, and I was reading about a lady, and I think many of you will know this woman. Her name is Rosaria Butterfield. And I'm reading about her life. She is a trophy of mercy. She's a trophy of mercy. She was a English professor in Syracuse, New York, And she was an outspoken lesbian. She had been baptized in Rome. What she knew about the true God was under that cloud. And she was very wicked, very hostile to the true faith, very hostile to Christians. She thought the Bible was a joke. So basically what happens is she gets involved and she has contact with, you know, God used basically the means of a pastor, a local pastor, to kind of shed some light, say a few things, kind of reached out to her, had her over for dinner. And then she started reading the Bible and it took some time, but she actually, came to faith in Jesus and she believed in the Bible as like authoritative, even like the book of Leviticus, right? Like in the sense of it's God's word. And like she started wrestling with all the crazy things in the Bible that we read about and that she would have seen as really strange, right? But she kept wrestling and God brought her to a knowledge of Christ. And she turned from her lifestyle. got heavily involved in a reformed church, and she married a minister, they adopted children, and she's serving the Lord. Trophy of mercy. It's amazing. It really is amazing. I mean, I don't know of a just more radical personal turnaround in our day. That's my experience, and I'm reading about her, and I'm filled with hope, filled with encouragement. God's powerful. He changes people, and God's not just powerful, he's merciful. And I wanna speak to you tonight words of encouragement, especially if you are here, especially if you are here, And you know you're a guilty sinner and you're a filthy sinner. Now you may not be converted tonight and you may not have any sense of that. You may be very much proud and just, I don't need Jesus. A lot of people are like that, but you may actually be bothered. And I want to speak to you. Encouragement I want to speak to you tonight as well as as those here who who know the Lord and you're walking with the Lord and you're discouraged by how powerful evil seems to be Maybe not in your family. Maybe not in your immediate family or life, but just in our culture and in In our in our world around us well 2 Chronicles 33 is a portion of history in God's people. And the broader context is it's a bad time. The northern kingdom is really doing bad, if you're familiar with the northern tribes. And then Judah, which is what we've got going on here, is also doing really bad. Hezekiah, Manasseh's father, was a good king, brought great reformation, but it was wicked before him, and God's people are just very much back and forth. And this chapter is, you can kind of see that back and forth nature. What's interesting about this chapter is that it's not, this portion of Manasseh is not in 2 Kings. 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles are different books, have different purposes, but it's very striking and important for us to note that this is only here. The Holy Spirit moved the writer of this book to include this for a purpose, and I think that purpose is to give us courage and hope, to show us the power of God and something about God and his mercy. So I want to speak to you on the theme, and the title of my message is Manasseh, a Trophy of Mercy. And as I did this morning, I want to speak to you under three headings. First, I want to give an exposition of these 20 verses. Secondly, I want to make clear to our minds and prove from other scriptures and reason the doctrine of these verses. Then thirdly, give application. So first, The exposition of 2 Chronicles 33, 1-20. Four points of exposition. We have here, in verses 1-2 and verses 18-20, we have Manasseh's summary. Manasseh's summary. Now, it's actually predominantly bad. The summary is Mostly bad. Verses 1 introduces him. He was 12 years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for 50 and 5 years. And here it comes. But he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. This is a reference to his reign. It's evil. We have in verses 18 and 19 a reference to two books. And verse 18 The book is the book of the kings of Israel, and in verse 19, we have a book, the sayings of the seers. Verse 18, it seems to be post-conversion, okay? His prayer to his God, the words of the seers that spake to him, more on that in a second. And it seems to be, you know, his, post-conversion, whereas the second book, in verse 19, it reminds us, oh, by the way, his sin and his trespass, before he was humbled. So again, mixed, it's kind of, you know, he was bad, don't forget that. Verse 20, he had a private, or if you like, a common burial. This is in stark contrast to Hezekiah's burial, his father, much public a mourning. And it's interesting to note that a reference to a king's burial is kind of a clue into his spiritual state, if we were to read and reflect on that. For example, Ahaz, Joash, and Jehoram, all three were specifically said not to be buried in the sepulchres of the kings. And then Ammon, in this chapter, Manasseh's son, there's no reference even to his burial. Asa is the only other king to be buried in his own burial spot. And he was a good king, and that's Manasseh's burial. It was a private burial. He was buried in his own house, it says in verse 20. I believe the second Kings says he was buried in a garden in his house. Matthew Henry writes regarding his burial, penitents may recover their comfort sooner than their credit. Okay. Penitents may recover their comfort sooner than their credit. He was not seen or esteemed by the people necessarily as a good and godly great king from this burial. He was just buried as a common person. Now, I think the significance of this summary, is it being mixed and even kind of mostly bad, is helpful because it seems to suggest to us that Manasseh repented later in his life. Maybe you kind of assume that from the reading, you kind of get the gist of that as you read, but we don't have a timeline here. We don't have a timeline here, but it seems they repented later in his life. He reigned for 55 years. And he was still seen as a bad king, or at least it was mixed. So Manasseh's summary, Secondly, under exposition, Manasseh's sins, verses three through nine. There's six sins, at least in my mind, logically, you could divide them up that way. First is deformation. We're familiar with the word reformation. Hezekiah was a reformer. Well, he's a deformer, and it's a serious sin. He's sinning against the light. Notice verse three. It says here that he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down. He's sinning against light. He's worshiping the true God wrongly. These high places is where they actually worship the true God. But as verse 17 points out, it was not sanctioned by the Lord. It was wrong. And he's going against light. Children be very careful about your conscience your covenant children. You've been taught a lot and all of you really To whom much is given much is expected This is actually Really bad Manasseh inherited Hezekiah's reign Hezekiah inherited another person's reign defamation secondly idolatry Later on in verse 3 He reared up altars for Balaam, false god, made groves. False god worship is the emphasis. It's trees associated with pagan worship. Worshipped all the hosts of heaven and served them. This is a worship service. He was offering worship to them. A third sin, what I call sacrilege. Verses four and five and seven and eight, sacrilege, he's mixing the worship of false gods with the worship of the true God in the place where God is worshiped, the true God is worshiped. He built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord, that's verse five, and then verse four he says, he built altars in the house of the Lord. Okay, we see in verse seven and eight, He said a carved image, the idol which he had made in the house of God. It's not clear to me that this carved image is actually a false god, or maybe he meant it to be Yahweh. So it could have been a second commandment issue, but it's interesting, verse 7 and 8, the writer here inserts this, oh, by the way, this is the line of David. We're talking about Jerusalem, the place, the people who inherited the oracles of God. the commandments of Moses, and that just adds to the sacrilege, it adds to the sin. This is Manasseh, he's a king of Judah, and he's mixing the worship of the false god with the true God. So, fourthly, we have another sin, we see this in verse six, and it's murder. No doubt this sin here is also connected to idolatry, but it's also another sin. It's murder. And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. His children. Think about the wickedness of this man. 2 Kings 21 verse 16 says, moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another. 2 Kings 21 verse 16 may be a reference to something else. Maybe as a king he just was very unjust and he killed those who were righteous and he He justified the wicked and whatnot, but either way, he was a murderer. And I want you to think about a foul sinner, a really wicked sinner, because that's who Manasseh was. Five, witchcraft. Later on in verse six, that's what we have. He was associated directly with Satan. He saw and interacted with Demons. It's a real thing. Don't mess around with it. Don't get interested in it. Throw it away, just like Moses told the Israelites. But it's real. And he was accustomed to it. I mean, in some sense, every worship is demon worship, if you want to categorize it logically. I mean, demons created, if you will, Islam and and every other cult and everything But there's another type of way of looking at it where there's there's paganism where there's it's much more direct like demon worship witchcraft I mean, this is what's going on here, and I want you to see that enchantments wizards familiar spirits It even says after that he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord. This is very wicked witchcraft in the wall had the penalty of death Moses said in Deuteronomy 18, let it not even be found among you. And this is the king of Judah. And finally, verse, or the sixth sin, is the sin I would call causation. Causation, verse nine. So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err. Leaders need to take heed to this, because when a leader sins, a husband you know, an elder, whatever, a civil magistrate. It's not just their sin, but it's what they cause other people to do because of their sin. James 3.1 says, Brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that as such we will have stricter judgment. This is bad. He caused them to err worse than the heathen. Worse than the heathen. In Deuteronomy 18.12, God says why he's He's casting out the Gentiles and the Holy Land. Because of these abominations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. And He made Judah, God's people, do worse than the heathen. So Manasseh's sins. This was a wicked man. We have a third under exposition. We have Manasseh's salvation. Manassas Salvation, verses 10 through 13. And there's three things here under Manassas Salvation. We have preparation for it. And this is a helpful word, preparation. It's a helpful word for us to think about. We believe, we would rightly understand conversion to be in a moment, but that doesn't mean that God doesn't prepare people and work on people. And that's what we see here. In verse 10, we have a word of warning. And the Lord spake to Manasseh. It wasn't an audible voice from heaven. We know from this chapter and from other chapters in 2 Kings 21, that it was by the word of his prophets. And we should understand that word to be by the word of a preacher. The prophets foretold, they also foretold, they expounded the law. There was a preacher in Manasseh's ear. There's a sermon, if you will, a word from God. There's also, we need to see this, words from others. We ought to realize that Hezekiah had some influence upon Manasseh. We don't know that directly, and it's probably not wise for us to elaborate much more than I already have. Hezekiah would have spoken to Manasseh. Hezekiah was a godly man. He was. What about faithful priests? He would have been around these things. He would have known about that growing up. Preparation for it also came, verse 11 and 12, by providential affliction. And this is often the order of things. If we don't respond to God's warnings, and He still is determined to save us, and to work grace in us, that he will afflict us. And so that's what he does. Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the hosts of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns. Interesting phrase. I think we could understand this to be hooks. I won't go into this. I don't think it's super important, but it seems as if when Assyria and Babylon too took the Jews captive, there was some hooks involved, and they actually put hooks in their lips, carried them off as slaves, captives. It wasn't as if Manasseh's house in Jerusalem was overgrown in thorns, is my point. Among the thorns, and bound him with fetters or chains, carried him to Babylon. He was a prisoner. He was captive. We don't know if he was in a dungeon. Maybe he was treated a little bit more kindly, but he was not a king in Babylon. I'll tell you that. He was a subject. He was a servant. He was a slave. And this situation here, we need to realize, you know, because we're reading the Bible and we're kind of like, yeah, you know, God came. This would have been like normal. Okay. Assyria was a power, you know, and, and, and Manasseh could have seen this as, you know, not God's working, but God is working. You know, God's working through providence. He brings afflictions upon us to wake us up, to see our weakness. In verse 12, it says that he was in affliction. So there's preparation for it. But now we see, secondly, under Manasseh's salvation, his seeking of it, his seeking of salvation. The second part of verse 12 and the first part of verse 13. He besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers and prayed unto him. He sought the Lord. Kids, it's not as if Manasseh was searching through a house looking for the Lord. It's a motion of the soul. And this would have involved the memory. He remembered. The truth. Again, I don't think this is, I think this is helpful to say. I mean, it doesn't say there was a prophet there. It doesn't say there was a priest there to speak to Manasseh. There's nothing there. It seems to me that Manasseh remembered. He remembered in Babylon the truth. And in his memory, he sought the Lord. He humbled himself. This was not just a sorrow for being caught, a sorrow for being in a bad situation. This was an evangelical sorrow. He humbled himself greatly. He humbled himself greatly. This was a deep sorrow and mourning. And it was a spiritual genuine because it says, before the God of his fathers, in relation to this holy God of which I am a covenant recipient to, the God of my fathers, I'm going to humble myself before him. I am a sinner, I am wicked, and you are holy, and you are great, and you are magnificent. And he humbled himself. He's no longer this proud king of 50 years or 45 years doing his own thing. And he prays. What did he pray for? Well, we don't know the words, but I'm sure it involved confession of sin. Acknowledgement of God being God and him being a sinner. And this prayer is faith. Now, there's people who pray, and they don't have faith, and they're dead. But a true prayer is faith. I mean, it's a very practical expression of faith. Well, thirdly, under monastic salvation, we have the description of it in verse 13. He's physically saved, he's restored to his kingdom, and he's converted. So God physically takes him out of Babylon, Babylon. But he doesn't just bring him back to Jerusalem, he also makes him a king again. It says in here, it says here that he brought him again to Jerusalem, into his kingdom. And it's not clear exactly, you gotta keep in mind that Assyria and Babylon are kind of world powers right now, there's a transition to Babylon. The host of the captain of the army of Assyria was the one that got Manasseh. But he takes him to Babylon, not Nineveh, interesting. Not really sure what's going on here, maybe Babylon doing a favor to Assyria, maybe there's confusion going on. But it seems as if Manasseh becomes an actual king again, in his own land, not serving any one of these nations. But that's not really the salvation. I mean, in the history of redemption, this is important. I mean, he is the king of Judah, and so he's gonna be a king again. But it's his conversion, his personal knowledge of the Lord that I want you to see. Notice verse 13, it says, then Manasseh, or you could just understand it as and Manasseh, knew that the Lord, he was God. And I take this to be really the pivotal point in the chapter. And really, if this wasn't here, it wouldn't be the same thing. I take this as a reference in Old Testament language to his conversion. Now, it could mean something different. So, for example, Exodus 7, verse 5, in relation to the exodus and the plagues coming upon the Egyptians, over and over again through that narrative, we have this language of, you know, the Egyptians will know that the Lord is God. Exodus 7, verse 5, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt. And that knowledge of the Lord was not saving It was an acknowledgement intellectually and circumstantially that our gods are nothing and that he's the real God. But it doesn't have to mean that. It can mean something like Jesus when he says, this is eternal life. They might know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent. In the Old Testament, that idea is used. Jeremiah 9, 23 through 24. Let not him who, this is a paraphrase, let not him who's rich glory in his riches, let not him who's mighty glory in his might, let not him who's wise glory in his wisdom, but let him who glories, glories in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord. You see, that's a reference to experimental saving knowledge of God. And that's how I take this phrase. So Manasseh saved. Fourthly, under exposition, we have Manasseh's switch. And children, I don't mean like a little twig. I'm talking about like a light over there. You switch it on, there's a change. There's repentance. That's what I'm talking about. Manasseh's switch, verses 14 through 17. Well first, he performs the duty of the king. We don't know for a fact that he wasn't doing this before, but since the Assyrians came and took him away, maybe he was failing on this. He performed the duty of a king, which was building a wall. This is in verse 14. He built a wall without the city of David. Then later on in that verse, he says that he put captains of war on all the fenced cities of Judah. He strengthened and ordered the army. And this is what kings are to do. Christ, spiritually, as our king, Now, he takes us from the dominion of Satan. He rules and defends us, right? So this is what he's doing. But notice this, verse 15. Mass is switched. Secondly, he removed false gods. He removed false gods and he took away the strange gods and the idol out of the house of the Lord and all the altars. It's entire, all of them. And he cast them out of the city, and we should understand this to be a permanent thing. He didn't just throw them out the gate, and they set up shop outside the gate of Jerusalem, and they were allowed to worship false gods. No, the language is like, get them out of here. It's pretty strong. It's repentance. And he does more than that. He restores the true worship. He restores the true worship of God. And he repaired the altar of the Lord and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. He countenance the true worship of God financially. Our larger catechism, 191, in referring to praying that God's kingdom would come, part of what we think that means And this is one of the reasons why we do that. We say that the church furnished with all gospel officers and ordinances purged from corruption, countenance, and maintained by the civil magistrate. You know, Israel was unique as a nation and as a church. And America is a nation and it's not the church. And yet this is still helpful for us today and nations today to see that the magistrate is to countenance the true worship of God and command the people to worship God. He commanded Judah. He made it unlawful to worship any other god. And this is normative. How would we explain Darius and Cyrus, who countenance the construction of the temple? They were Gentile kings. What about the king of Nineveh, who commanded his people to obey the first commandment? You see, this is something that he's doing that's good to do. And he also personally worshipped God. Verse 16, he sacrificed their own peace offerings and thanks offerings. And I would take that to mean that he participated in the priest's administration of it. And notice that there's not an emphasis in this chapter, I'm gonna come to it later in the sermon, but peace offerings, that's important. It's important for Manasseh to have a peace offering. and then a thank offering. And the text says that. That should delight our souls. See, Christ is here. Manasseh knew how to be reconciled with the true God. He knew what was going on when a priest would, and forgive me if I'm not exactly right, but I know this is generally correct, would put the hand on the lamb, confess the sins of the people, then cut his throat. What's going on there? Payment for sin. So Jesus died on the cross. He's the Lamb of God. Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. Here's Manasseh, you know, this phrase, and he sacrificed there on peace offerings. He worshiped God. The countenance of the true worship, the restoration of the true worship was not perfect. Notice at the end of verse 17, or I'm sorry, verse 17, nevertheless, the people did sacrifice still in the high place. Yet unto the Lord their God only. That's a negative thing, okay? God commanded them to worship at the temple, and that's where they were supposed to worship God, and God said nothing about other places of worship, thus they were forbidden, as far as corporate sacrificing goes. And they were violating that. So it wasn't pure, as some of the other Reformations were. One other comment about Manasseh's switch that's helpful, In the beginning of this passage, verse 14, this section, Manasseh's switch, it says, now after this, and this switch was a fruit of his conversion, not a prerequisite. It's helpful. We can't convert ourselves anyways, but it's just something to think about. Luke 3, 8, bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance. That's John the Baptist. When a person's converted, they're born again, and they have the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God pushes them on, maybe slower in some, maybe some backing up a little bit, but it pushes them on to fruit and to obedience. And Manasseh's showing it. He's showing it. Repentance involves having a full purpose of an endeavor after new obedience. The thief on the cross, saw Christ, he was converted, he put his faith in Christ, and he had in his heart a full purpose of an endeavor after new obedience, even though he didn't have the time to show that. Manasseh had the time to show that, and here it is, and it's a fruit of his conversion. So this is the exposition, and I want to explain now what it means, our doctrine, And my doctrine has three points. This is the doctrine. God will give saving mercy even to the most foul of penitent sinners. That's the message. That's the teaching. God will give saving mercy even to the most foul of penitent sinners. Manasseh was a foul sinner who turned to the Lord and was saved. Psalm 86.5, for thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. That's who God is. We see the mercy of God in this chapter. And we read about it in Psalm 86.5 by precept. He's describing God as a God who's ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy to all them that call upon thee. I mentioned the thief on the cross. He acknowledged, in that passage in Luke, he acknowledged that he was worthy to die. I wonder what he did. And yet, he said to the Lord, remember me. When you come into your kingdom, he's confessing that Jesus is the Lord. And he's saved, and Jesus says, today you'll be with me in paradise. Well, there's another great, great point of doctrine for us to hold on to. This is the teaching of scripture. Now, a few other comments. I realize my time is going on here. Just a few other comments about this doctrine. There's a condition in it. I want to defend that condition. God will give saving mercy, not to just every and all foul sinners, period. No. To penitent sinners. There is a condition. Now, salvation is described, I'm gonna mention it here in a second, faith and repentance go together. In Romans 3, we saw the reference to by faith and through faith. It's never on account of faith. God doesn't save us on account of our repentance. The merit's in the Lord Jesus. He's the one who died on the cross and he's the one who obeyed all the law. And faith, which is a turning of the heart to Christ, unites us to him. So it's not an issue of merit, but of means. But the condition is faith and repentance. It is faith and repentance. Sometimes repentance is emphasized. In other places, faith is emphasized. Here, repentance is emphasized. They come together. They're like two sides of a coin. Children, you have a quarter. One is heads, another's tails. But there's never a quarter without tails or heads. They come together. It's like that. Paul mentions them in Acts 20, 21. He mentions them both. That he testified to the Jews and Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. There's both of them there. Sometimes it's repentance is emphasized. In Acts chapter two, verse 38, Peter responds to the inquiry from the crowd. What must we do to be saved? Repent. That's what he says. And then later on that same passage in verse 44, it says that, it refers to those who believe. Those who repented earlier were those who believed. Interesting. Of course, belief is... Believing is the verb of faith. Faith is the noun. Same word in Greek. They always come together. And you need to know that that condition is real. And that's my point. God will give, saving mercy, even to the most foul of penitent sinners. And I want to briefly, before we go to application, defend the blessing. This is why we read Romans chapter three, and this is why I referenced the peace offerings and the thank offerings. Here's the question. So you're a foul sinner, and you know you're a foul sinner, and you're asking yourself, how can God really save me? How can God actually forgive me? Well, it's through the Lord Jesus Christ, okay? It's through the death. and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God actually judiciously punishes you and judiciously declares you worthy in Christ, okay? 2 Corinthians 5.21, He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. A lot of theology, a lot of discussion here. We read Romans 3, the redemption which is through Christ Jesus. You see, Sinners deserve to die and they will be punished. And so in order to save sinners, God punishes his elect in Jesus. And then he gives his people all the righteousness, all the obedience that Jesus procured. And then he can be just and the justifier. So the Father can be just and the justifier of the one who believes in Jesus. So this doctrine is true. God will give saving mercy even to the most foul of penitent sinners. So what are its uses for us? Well, I have five applications. Five applications. This doctrine is of use, first, to give hope to foul sinners. You may not be converted here, and you may not be too bothered about that. But perhaps you are. And you've really wrestled with whether God can forgive you. Would God actually receive me? Witchcraft? Check in the box there. I've done some other things too that were really bad. I'm wicked. And you feel your guilt, and you feel your filth. And you need to realize that you can do, and this is what Satan would have you do, he wants you to be like Judas. He wants you to just be in utter despair. And really be proud of your, you know, to just not believe this message of hope. Luther despaired of his sin. Luther groped for a long time. Martin Luther, how can God forgive me? How can I be righteous with God? And I want to tell you that, I'm just telling you, there's hope. Manasseh's telling you that. Manasseh's here to tell you, God does forgive sinners, even really foul ones. Now, secondly, and on that, this doctrine directs sinners. It directs sinners on what to do, because God does want you to do something. He wants you to repent. And that's clear. Here's the thing. You've seen Jesus, as it were, in this text and in my sermon, as a savior, dying on the cross, making a way of salvation. You see Manasseh actually be forgiven. He repented. Listen, have you actually called upon God? to forgive you? Have you actually said, God, forgive me? Have you actually confessed and turned to Him? I remember speaking to a man in Fresno, California, who was kind of bothered. I could tell he was responding to my street preaching. He was kind of bothered. And I just asked him, have you ever called upon the name of the Lord? Prayed? He said, no. And repent. You know, I mean, you take on Christ by faith and he's also your Lord. And so, you know, he'll help you turn away from those things. And this is what you must do. And you need to know this is what you must do. You must come to him. I want to say a third thing. This passage of scripture directs all sinners to repent today, now. And what I mean is this, is that you can, I want you to feel the mercy of God and the patience of God. But God does not promise everyone 55 years, right? It was actually 67, but you get my point. Here's the thing. You might be thinking to yourself, yeah, I'll do it later. I'll do it later. I mean, after all, Manasseh had a long time to do his own thing. And here's the thing. God does not owe anyone a prophet or a preacher or a verbal warning, much less a providential affliction. So you're thinking to yourself, I'll repent on my deathbed, or I'll repent later. I'll repent after I have some fun. or I'll repent when I'm afflicted. You may die tonight. You may die in a car wreck suddenly. There may not be a thief on the cross type of situation where you're bleeding out and you can see your life passing before you and the Savior of the whole world is near you. One of the things about preaching that is very sobering is that my sermon tonight may very well be the last time that God speaks to you in the preaching of the word and offers you the gospel. How are you going to respond? So there's no quarter for folks who are delaying repentance. I want to speak to you, these last two applications, I wanna speak to you here who are Christians, and you have, you are walking with the Lord, and you love him, and you're aware of your sin, but you say amen to all these things. And I wanna say to you two things. First, this passage of scripture is of use to give you hope despite the apostasy of specifically a covenant child. I specifically want to mention that to you. Maybe you don't have children, or you don't have grandchildren, or you don't have a child who's apostatized or has left the faith. Maybe you don't even know someone in this church who's done that, but it happens. It happens a lot. Children grow up in the church just like Manasseh. and they reject him. And they do so for years and years and years. And parents and grandparents and pastors and elders and members of the church who know these things can despair. Why keep praying for this person? And I want to give you hope. I'm not just telling you to keep praying for those people. I mean, that's an application every sermon. Pray for the lost. Do so with hope. I mean, I know of a family, and I'll just keep this brief. Two of the children went astray. One verbally apostatized. One was living an openly wicked life. And the parents just kept praying for them. A decade goes by. More sin, more wickedness. But now, both of those have returned. You know, it's just, God can do that. And specifically for our children. Manasseh, I believe, remembered He remembered. It's an encouragement for parents and for Christians alike in different stations to just share the word with people, to teach your kids the word, because they know sometimes the Holy Spirit will bring that word to fruit later. Now, I want to say this last application. In this doctrine, this passage should be very warm to you. It should bless you. Oh, the mercy of God. And the power of God. This doctrine is of use to give you hope despite the apparent power of wickedness in our day. Manasseh was so wicked, personally acquainted with the devil in worship, he killed his own children, and God snatched him. That's encouraging. Because here's the thing, you're a faithful Christian, and you live in our world, and you see the secularism of our culture, the weaknesses of the church, our denomination is super small, and the Reformed faith is super small, and we believe what we believe is the truth of the Bible, and the world is very big and very powerful, but guess what? Our God is more powerful than Satan. And we need to keep praying and we need to keep witnessing, keep living a godly life and let God work it out. But here's the thing, God can change things. God can move. He can bring revival. He can do that. And we need to have hope and have joy as we continue to serve the Lord. We can talk about the repentance of Nineveh. We can talk about Pentecost. We can kind of see those things as as special things, and maybe they were, but God does move in mighty ways. He'll snatch a single person, Rosaria Butterfield or Manasseh, and we just need to press on. We just need to press on. God is very powerful, and this should give us hope. We will preach as a church, and we'll witness as a church and as people, We need to do so with hope. Expecting the Lord to do something, because He can. It's not just that God will give. Saving mercy. He can. He can. He can snatch people from the demons and from the devil. And He can rule over them and save them. Amen. Let us stand for prayer. Heavenly Father, we bless your name. We give you praise for you are the great God, and you are the great Creator God, and you are the great Savior God. You save sinners. You are powerful to come down and to work. And we ask that you would Encourage us to press on in our duties as Christians waiting upon you, waiting upon you with joy and hope. We ask also that you would save anyone here that's still under the dominion of Satan. She would save those loved ones that are the part of the faith that we know. Father, we ask that you would work. And we bless you for this message and for this story. We pray all this in Jesus's name, amen.