All right, 2 Kings 15 here tonight. One more lesson before I head back to Isaiah and also work Micah into. Again, I'm trying to do some of this going back and forth with the kings, kings of Israel and Judah, and then also with the prophets so we can understand a little more the context. And it's gonna be interesting. I thought it was an interesting study to look at Jotham and Ahaz for here tonight. But just for introduction, I want for us to see here the life of Jotham. Of course, he's the son of King Uzziah that we've studied here in Isaiah 6. It says in verses 32 and following, 2 Kings 15. The second year of Pekah, the son of Ramaliah, king of Israel, began Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, to reign. Five and 20 years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was, notice, Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok. Now, that's going to be very important as you understand this. Of course, Zadok was the priest in the time of David. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. And he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done, albeit the high places were not removed. This is a consistent thing that ended up being a snare for the kingdom of Judah. The people sacrificed and burned. incense in the high places. He built the higher gate of the house of the Lord. Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? In those days, I should say, the Lord began to send against Judah Rezan the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Ramaliah. We're going to see this referenced in Isaiah 7. And Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father. And notice, Ahaz his son reigned in his stead. And when we understand that Jotham is a good king, and of course his mother, as we've already seen, was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok, so in the family of Zadok. So when we think about Jotham being a good king, it's interesting, Isaiah skips over Jotham as far as the prophecies. He was a good king and there was nothing to be corrected as far as the king was concerned. So literally, during the time of Jotham's 16-year reign, there was nothing. And of course, we understand that King Uzziah, in presumptuous pride, went into the temple and tried to offer incense. Of course, 81 priests confronted him and said, this does not pertain to you. You need to leave. Notice again, it says in verse 37, in those days, the Lord began to send against Judah, Rezan the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Ramaliah. And we're going to see here in a moment that this is actually in relation to the people, the corruptness of the people in relation to this. And of course, Ahaz then was a wicked king. One of the things I want for us to consider as far as the example of Jotham is he was consistent, he was steadfast. And when you think about all the kings that ended up being good kings, but they ended up not finishing well. I just jotted down a list here. King Asa ended up, at the end of his life, he was trusting in man instead of God. Then you have Joash. Of course, if you think about Joash, he was spared being killed by Jehoshaphat's son. And again, all of that in relation to Jehoshaphat, his compromise with Ahab, at the end of his life. So all of these good kings ended up not finishing well. And then of course, Isaiah, as I've already mentioned, died a leper after he entered into the temple to offer incense. But you think about all of these kings that were good, but they did not finish well. Notice 2 Chronicles. We have the parallel passage here, 27. 2 Chronicles 27 verse 1 says Jotham was 25 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. So again you think about the spiritual influence of his mother and that reminds me of 2 Timothy 1 verse 5 where Timothy had a grandmother and a mother that was a spiritual influence in his life even though His father was an unbeliever, as we see in the book of Acts. Verse two, it says, he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah did, how be it. So we have the added note here in the Chronicles. And let me just say this, some things are added, that there's extra things in the book of Chronicles that's not in the book of Kings, because Chronicles was actually specifically mentioned in relation to the temple in particular, the tabernacle. even as far as King Saul, how be it he entered not into the temple of the Lord. And notice the people did yet corruptly. Hang on to that statement. I want you to notice a contrast here in a moment as far as King Jotham. But I want you to notice also, though, in verse two, that it says he entered not into the temple of the Lord. So as far as his mother, of course, of spiritual influence. But King Uzziah, his father was a good spiritual influence also. And yet, I want you to consider, even when we are inconsistent, children need to learn from their father's error. It's not just the positive things that we learn from our parents, but we also need to learn lessons of things that we need to avoid. I don't want to be a leper, so I think I'm going to stay out of the temple. I mean, I don't know what Jotham's reasoning was, but again, it very clearly says here in 2 Chronicles 27 that he entered not into the temple of the Lord like his father did, But again, notice the statement at the end of verse two, the people did yet corruptly. As we go down, work our way down to verse six, notice it says he built the high gate of the house of the Lord. And what I learned here today is that the high gate actually was one of the gates that was in a close proximity to the palace. Chapter 23 verse 20 gives us a clue on this. And he took the captains of hundreds and the nobles and the governors of the people 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. So notice there was a close proximity to the palace here as far as the high gate and set the king upon the throne of the kingdom. So we see again this high gate and it says he built the high gate of the house of the Lord. So he did a repair there or added to that or whatever. And it says on the wall of Ophel he built much. There's various things that mention some of these, but this was a rocky area that was north of Jerusalem. And so it says he built much, so he added to that. Moreover, he built cities in the mountains of Judah. In the forest, he built castles and towers. So again, we see here this, he built the national defense. He fought also with the king of the Ammonites and prevailed against them. And the children of Ammon gave him the same year and hundred talents of silver, 7,500 pounds of silver. 10,000 measures of wheat and 10,000 of barley. So much did the children of Ammon pay unto him both the second year and the third. So initially they did that, and chapter 26 and verse 8 shows us the tie with the Ammonites here as far as his father. It says, the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah, and his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt, for he strengthened himself exceedingly. So this was, again, placing them under tribute as far as the strength of the nation. Then notice it says in verse six, this is what I want for us to take note of. So Jotham became mighty, so in other words, strength, because he prepared his way before the Lord his God. You don't need to turn it on, let me read for you a statement about Ezra. Ezra chapter seven, verse 10. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. Notice the preparation of the heart that is very important. So often I think we just end up going through the motions as far as our Bible reading, prayer time, whatever, we just go through the motions. But you notice the wording there, it says he prepared his ways before the Lord has gone. Have we prepared our hearts but In particular, it says, as far as Jotham, he prepared his ways before the Lord is God. And again, as we're talking about ways, we're talking about how we live our lives. So as he lived his life, as he went through his life, he was preparing himself before the Lord is God. And of course, Enoch walked with God. There's various references to that. Noah walked with God. And some says that they even walked before the Lord, their God. So as we think about this preparation, I think we see in this an ordered life. That's why I say he was very consistent. Jotham had a consistent life, and I believe that's what we need also. Then it says in verse 7, Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all his wars and his ways, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. He was five and 20 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Ahaz, his son, reigned in his stead." Again, as you think about the name Jotham, I believe this was a good reminder to me as far as this king, as I've been looking through all the kings. So what block can we see on his life? He died blameless. He lived consistent. It's very interesting as we see, you know, just this short account of King Jotham, we see that he was very steadfast and consistent in how he lived his life. The key to that is he prepared his ways before the Lord is gone. Now, we're going to see his son was an absolute total contrast. Notice it says here in, we'll go to 2 Kings 16 in a moment, So as a contrast here, as far as King Ahaz, his son, nothing good is said about Ahaz. Only good was said about Jotham. Nothing was good as far as Ahaz. Notice chapter 28, verse one. Ahaz was 20 years old and when he began to reign. And I want to emphasize again that Isaiah and Micah are prophesying during Ahaz's reign. In fact, in particular, we'll see that as far as Isaiah seven through nine. So he had prophets of God to proclaim a message that he should have heeded. And notice he reigned also 16 years in Jerusalem, but he did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord, like David his father. Notice it's not compared to Jotham, it's compared to David. And even as we saw as far as the Northern Kingdom, that Jeroboam the son of Nebat was the standard by which all of the kings were judged. Why? Because he was so wicked and everyone was following in the same way as Jeroboam the son of Nebat. As far as the kings of Judah, people are compared in particular, in many cases to David, his father, of course, not his immediate father, because Jotham was his father. But as far as as far as his lineage, David was a standard that was set up as far as as far as a man after God's own heart and so on. He was not perfect by any means. He was not perfect. But again, he he loved his God. And notice it says he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. and made also molten images for Balaam. So now as we think about the example here of Ahaz, you think about the fact that, first of all, he's walking in the ways of the kings of Israel. So this is in total contrast to what we just saw in verse six, Jotham became mighty because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God. Now in total contrast here in chapter 28, verse two, it says he's walking in the ways of the kings of Israel. I remind you that, Israel, the northern kingdom is only decades away from being totally destroyed as a nation, broken as a people as we saw here recently. So he's walking the ways of the kings of Israel. Now, first of all, I want you to understand that the king who is reigning at this time in Israel is Pekah. Pekah was a murderer. He was a murderer to get to the throne. Also, when you think about the fact that he's walking the ways of the kings of Israel, they have all been evil, not one good king. So we have to be careful who we're following, who we are setting up as an example for us to follow. And even as you think about the fact that he could have followed his father's example, he's not following it by any means. But when we think about this, as far as adult children, unsaved or away from the Lord, I want you to think about the fact that each individual is accountable before God. Who was Ahaz's son who reigned? Hezekiah. So a wicked king had a good king for a son. So everyone has personal accountability before God. Notice also in the end of verse two, it says he's made molten images for Balaam. So he's setting up Balaam. Again, the I am ending speaks of plurality here. So as far as he's making these images, And I'm assuming because there's images plural that they're set up throughout the nation of Judah. So he's bringing all this Baal worship in from the north. I'm sorry, verse two, chapter 28, verse two. So he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and made also molten images for Balaam. Notice verse three then, again, the list here of all the wickedness that he has, 2 Chronicles 28, verse three. Moreover, he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom. So he's burning incense in a place of wickedness. I noticed he burnt his children, plural, in the fire after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. Now, I'll remind you that Hezekiah's son Manasseh did the same thing, very wicked. So you're skipping generations now as we're heading on down towards the end of Judah. And so we're going to see If I remember right, two good kings after this point. But here, notice he's burning incense in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which was a place where child sacrifice was practiced. And even as we think about the gods, Molech and Chemosh, or the two in particular, but 2 Kings 16.3 talks about his son being sacrificed, where here it's talking about plurality. Children were burnt in the fire. So we see that more than one but Kings emphasizes his son being given up to these false gods. I remind you that Moloch, and I don't remember exactly the shape of Chemosh, but Moloch was a statue that had a furnace within or at its feet, and literally it was designed to burn children. It was designed to hold a child in their hands, and as that fire was heating up, the baby would literally squirm and scream in pain, And so from what I've read, that's when they had loud beating drums and all that so they could drown out the cries of the baby, the infant, as the baby literally drops into the fire. They have found, I know in places like Carthage and various places where Phoenicia and some of those influences, literally they had urns of ashes of babies that were burned in the fires. Think about this, this is a king who had a good father He had access to prophets to proclaim the message. And you notice here the wickedness, the abominations that he brought in. And let me just say this as far as an application, small compromises lead to great wickedness. I just here recently listened to Joshua and Judges a little bit. And when you think about in chapter two in particular, it says tribe after tribe after tribe did not drive out all the inhabitants of Canaan. but it says they were put under tribute or they dwelt with them. Literally, they dwelt among them and they saw their wicked gods. Again, the wickedness was great. That's why God had said to Abraham, the wickedness of the evil of the Amorites is not yet full, but after 430 years, they were going to be driven out of the land. So when we think about these small compromises, I want you to think about the fact that it left the door wide open for for the Israelites to practice the abominations of the people around them. It says in verse four, he sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. There were shrines and worship centers set up all over Judah. And of course, we've already seen that in the Northern Kingdom. And it was practiced, it was put into practice down in the Southern Kingdom as well. Wherefore the Lord his God, notice his God, whether he acknowledged him or not, the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria and they smote him and carried away a great multitude of them captives and brought them to Damascus. He was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel who smote him with a great slaughter. So think about this. It says he was delivered into the hand of the king of Israel. And it says in verse two that he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. it's always going to come back and cause problems when we sow to the flesh and so on. Now, when we think about what we'll see in Isaiah chapter seven, Ahaz was one who was judged for his unbelief. He refused to believe, and we'll even see an application of that in chapter seven. But as we think about in chapter 28 here, verses five through eight, Why don't you think about the consequences that he experienced as far as the nation? And I remind you again that the statement is made, the people did yet corruptly and back in that chapter 27. So here's God's judgment upon Judah. We're not talking about the Northern kingdom. They're going to be delivered over to Assyria and literally sifted throughout all the nations as we saw in the Lord's day. It says in verse six, for Pekah the son of Ramaliah slew in Judah, So here's the King of the North that he's following after. 120,000 in one day. 120,000 are put to death in one day, which were valiant men. Notice, they're all valiant men. 120,000 were defeated in battle, were killed in battle, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. So notice the consequence. And when we think about the fact, if we don't serve the Lord with all our hearts and our soul and mind and so on, if we forsake the Lord God, we are opening ourselves up to consequences for chastening and so on from the Lord. Notice verse seven, Zechariah, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maseah, the king's son. So this is obviously a son that was not offered as a sacrifice. And Ezraikam, the governor of the house, and Elkanah, that was next to the king. So those close to King Ahaz were put to death. Also then it says in verse eight, the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren. Notice fellow Israelites. The children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren. 200,000 women, sons and daughters and took also away much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria. So I believe in verse six, we're talking about 120,000 valiant men who are warriors, part of the military. Here now in verse eight, we see that women, sons and daughters were taken away captive and they took away much spoil from them. Now, this is a story that I've never really focused on. I've never really looked at closely before. So as we think about that, the Northern Kingdom of Israel, they've won great victory here. They're heading back. And this was not a defensive war, obviously. This was an offensive. And they're literally taking spoil, taking captives back home to the Northern Kingdom. And I remind you again, I keep saying this, but we need to keep it in perspective. The Northern Kingdom of Israel has maybe 20, 25 years left as a nation. So when we think about this, Peek is not the last king as we saw last week, but notice there's a prophet named Oded. I've never really paid attention to Oded before. He's one of my new heroes as I was looking down through this passage. So we think about this military, they're coming off of great victory. They're taking spoil, they're taking captives back to the Northern Kingdom. They're thinking that they are unconquerable. And so as they're on their way back home with the spoils of war, notice a prophet of the Lord was there. Now, I'm trying to remember, it says he went out before the host that came to Samaria, but I don't know that I've even caught where he's necessarily from, if he was from the Northern Kingdom or from Judah. But notice there's a prophet of the Lord who is there, and he meets the military going back from conquering Judah. Notice this prophet was named Oded, and he went out before the host and came to Samaria and said to them, behold, because the Lord God of your fathers was wroth with Judah. He hath delivered them into your hand, and ye have slain them in a rage that reacheth up unto heaven." Notice what Oded is saying. Here's a prophet of God standing alone, and he's facing this military that has 200,000 captives, spoil of battle. They just killed 120,000 of Judah's valiant men. And all of a sudden, this prophet of God says, you are in trouble with God. I mean, he's standing by himself and he's telling them, you better go back. He says, the only reason you did that is because the God of your fathers was wroth with Judah. He's the one who delivered them into your hand. And ye have slain them in a rage that reacheth up unto heaven. God has taken notice. Here's one prophet of God and he's standing against the entire military of the Northern Kingdom. And now ye purpose, you're determined to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you. By the way, this is a violation of God's law. But are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord your God? You have committed sins. Are you gonna add to your sins? Now hear me, therefore, and deliver the captives again, which ye have taken captive of your brethren. For the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you. Now, for the most part, for two and a half centuries, the Northern Kingdom has ignored, for the most part, they have ignored the God of Israel. And I want you to notice the Northern Kingdom is still accountable to God's law. So when you think about somebody who rebels against God, they're still going to be held accountable whether they acknowledge it or not. So you notice they're Oded. Oded says, you better repent of this. So remember, this is a nation. Northern Kingdom is under God's judgment. They're headed to be broken as a nation. So it says in verse 12, this is an amazing heart change here, at least temporarily. Then certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim, notice there's four names mentioned here, Azariah, the son of Johanan, Barakiah, the son of Meshillamoth, and Jehizakiah, the son of Shalom, and Amasa, the son of Hadli, stood up against them that came from the war. So a prophet of God, use the word inspired, inspired four men to stand up and say, we're not doing this. You're turning around, you're going back. We're under God's judgment. Notice, they said unto them, ye shall not bring in the captives hither, for whereas we have offended against the Lord already, ye intend to add more to our sins, our sins, and to our trespass. For our trespass is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel. Again, two and a half centuries, they've ignored the God of Israel. They don't care about God's law. They have their own, remember the ordinances of the heathen. So the armed men left, so these five men are standing against armed men. Verse 14, so the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the congregation. They left them all there. Okay, you take care of it for us. And the men, notice first, which were expressed by name, verse 12, the men rose up and took the captives and with the spoil, clothed all them that were naked among them and arrayed them and shod them and gave them to eat and to drink and anointed them and carried all the feeble of them upon asses and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, place of refuge to their brethren. Then they returned to Samaria. Five men, a prophet and four men stood against an entire military that had just conquered a nation. We never know what kind of results we will get if we take a stand for what is right. A bold stand is needed today. Verse 16, at that time did King Ahaz, at that time, all right? So the conflict as far as the nation, think about all the losses that they just experienced. You would think Ahaz would say, you know what? I need to repent. I need to get back with God. I need to get right with the God of Israel. Notice what he says. He sent to the kings of, kings, plural, of Assyria to help him. Instead of turning to the Lord, his God, he turns to Assyria for help. Well, that's gonna be disaster, as we're gonna see in this passage. So he's not repenting, he's not turning back to God. For again, the Edomites, notice, while they're weak, notice the Edomites to the southeast came and smitten Judah and carried away captives. So while they're at their weakest moment after this conquest by northern kingdom of Israel, notice that from the southeast, the Edomites are coming in, from the southwest, the Philistines, also had invaded the cities of the low country, or the south Judah, and had taken Bathshemesh and Adjalon and Gederoth and Shokoh with the villages thereof and Timnah with the villages thereof, Gimzo also and the villages thereof and they dwelt there. Notice they took permanent possession of six different cities. So they expanded their territory when Judah was at their weakest moment. But again, who did he turn to? He turned to Assyria instead of to God. Notice verse 19, for the Lord, Notice the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he made Judah naked and transgressed sore against the Lord. So you notice here, as far as the people of Israel, they did corruptly. Now they have a king that's also wicked before the Lord. So the Lord brought Judah low, and so we see the 120,000 military valiant men are killed in battle, 200,000 taken, but now we have also the Edomites and the Philistines taking advantage of them at their weak moment. Tilgath Pilneser, it's also pronounced, spelled a little bit differently in the kings, but notice the king of Assyria came unto him and distressed him, but strengthen him not. Verse 16 says, he went to the kings of Assyria for help. And notice they ended up distressing him, not strengthening him. So notice the Assyrian king has taken advantage of Judah's weakness as well, instead of helping them. And so Judah is even losing a measure of independence here. For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the Lord. In fact, it says in, what is it? 2 Kings 16, 8, it says, Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord. So he's taking from the house of the Lord, the temple, and giving all of this wealth and so on to Assyria for help, and in the treasures of the king's house, and send it for a present to the king of Assyria. But it's also, it's interesting in verse seven of 2 Kings 16, here's what Ahaz says as he goes to Assyria for help. I am thy servant, and listen to this, and thy son. So here's a descendant of David, and he is going to a pagan king in Assyria and saying, I am thy son. Now, you think about as far as Judah, that was an offense before God. Because remember, these are the kings that are in the lineage leading up to the Lord Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords. So literally, he's taking from the house of the Lord and out of the house of the king, the princes and gave it to the king of Assyria, but he helped him not. Let's emphasize it again. So he goes to Assyria for help, with this conflict and battles. But notice as he gives those things for help, he ends up being distressed instead of being helped. In the time of his distress, did he trespass yet more against the Lord? This is that King Ahaz. Notice that summary state, this is that King Ahaz. How many times I've heard of this over the years? I mean, you're living in a situation. Somebody is living wrongly before God. And instead of repenting and getting things right as they're dealing with all the consequences of their bad choices, what do they do? They go make another bad choice. It's like, why do we do that? Getting right with God is, in fact, I've heard it said this way. Get back to the right place as quickly as you can. for he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him. And he said, because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, therefore will I sacrifice to them that they may help me." Instead of going back to the king of kings and Lord of lords, he's gonna go and worship these gods of Damascus, Syria. But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. Notice, all Israel. Wait a minute, I thought he was king of Judah. Very interesting, as far as God is concerned, both the northern and southern kingdoms were still his nation. Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God and shut up the doors of the house of the Lord. He made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem. Every corner of Jerusalem, he's putting an altar in there for the worship of the gods of Damascus, Syria. In every several city of Judah, he made high places to burn incense unto other gods and provoked to anger the Lord God of his fathers. The rest of his acts and all his ways, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. Ahaz slept with his fathers. They buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem, but notice, but they brought him not into the sepulchers of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah's son reigned in his stead." I want you to go with me to 2 Kings 16. I want to show you something else here as far as the gods of Damascus. There's another aspect of this that I want you to see. So it says in verse 10, 2 Kings 16, verse 10, King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser. This is, again, this other spelling that I mentioned, king of Assyria. And notice, while he's in Damascus, he saw an altar that was at Damascus. Now, I remind you that God commanded Israel to have a simple altar. They were not to lift a tool upon it. They were to not make it beautiful and all those things. It was to be simple. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah, the priest, the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it according to all the workmanship thereof. So you think about in Jerusalem, they had the altar in the temple, the one that Solomon had built, had designed. And so we have this altar there in the temple. And notice it says here, King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest, the fashion of the altar and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof. Whether he drew it or what, but he drew out all these plans and sent the design to Uriah. Now it's very interesting, Uriah is actually mentioned in Isaiah 8 verse 2 as a faithful witness. And you notice here, Uriah the priest actually gives in and helps King Ahaz do this wicked thing as far as this altar. So Uriah the priest fashioned the altar. It was given the pattern and so on, according to all the workmanship thereof. Uriah the priest built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. So Uriah the priest made it against King Ahaz came to Damascus. So when he went to meet with Tiglath Pileser in Damascus, In the process, while he was away, notice Uriah the priest had this altar built. This is for false gods of Damascus, Syria. When the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar. The king approached to the altar and offered thereon. Again, the whole thing about this altar is it was designed for false god worship. And he burnt his burnt offering and his meat offering and poured his drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings upon the altar. He brought also the brassen altar, and notice, which was before the Lord, from the forefront of the house, from between the altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of the altar. Literally, he moved the authorized altar to a different location for the prominence of the altar from Damascus, Syria. King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, upon the great altar burned the morning burnt offering and the evening meat offering and the king's burnt sacrifice, and his meat offering with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their meat offering and their drink offerings, and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice, and the brassen altar shall be for me to inquire by." Now, I want you to notice what he's doing here is he's replacing God's order of worship and placing in the temple an altar to false gods. Thus did Uriah the priest, according to all that King Ahaz commanded. Very interesting. He was a friend of Isaiah, and notice this priest gave in to a wicked king. King Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, removed the labor from off them. So now the sacred furniture of the temple is being mutilated and marred. He took down the sea from the brass and oxen that were under it and put it upon a pavement of stones. He's designing his own things as far as the temple now. The covert of the Sabbath, that they had built for the Sabbath, I should say, that they had built in the house. And the king's entry without notice turned he from the house of the Lord for the king of Assyria. You know, when we disobey God in even small matters, we begin a process of spiraling down and down and down. I was reminded of this here just yesterday as I was looking through some Photos that I have as reminders to pray for people and came across a photo that grieved my spirit as I understood and thought about how much a family had at one time been serving God in a Bible preaching church and so on. They ended up going to a church of compromise and of course the standards went down and down and all of that. It's just, again, when we see here as far as Jotham and King Ahaz, when we are shown and we realize that we are trespassing against God's commands, the first thing we need to do is get on our faces before God and repent. Instead of, like Ahaz, doing wicked things, and then he keeps adding to it, and adding to it, and adding to it, and God says, I'm gonna judge you, I'm gonna judge the nation. Instead of going deeper and deeper into it, we need to just get right with God. So the contrast, father and son. So you think about father, Jotham, was a good king. But Ahaz was totally opposite, totally wicked. And then Ahaz has a good son, Hezekiah. Lord, I pray that you'd help us to understand that each one of us is personally held accountable before thee. Lord, I pray that you'd help us to be like Jotham, that we would be faithful, consistent in our lives, that we would finish well, Lord, spiritually. And Lord, as we think of Ahaz, or we think of Ahaz doing totally opposite of his father, Lord, I pray that you'd help us when we realize that we are on the wrong track, as far as thy commands are concerned, that we would get right with thee, get it settled, and not continue down the wrong path. Lord help us to learn these lessons today, I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.