Let us turn to that text we read earlier in our Old Testament to 2 Kings chapter 11. 2 Kings and chapter number 11. This morning, we're going to be pausing and later resuming our other series in the Gospel of John. But this morning, we're going to be looking at a text from 2 Kings chapter number 11. And this text is found in verse number 14. Verse number 14 of 2 Kings and chapter number 11, which reads, And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manor was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced and blew with trumpets. And Natalia rent her clothes and cried, treason, treason. Amen. Our title for this morning's message is this, on this text, treason, treason, treason, treason. These are the words cried out by Athaliah in our text here. She is a very wicked queen. She is what you might call a usurper, someone who is not the rightful ruler Judah. And she cries out these words twice, treason, treason, or conspiracy, conspiracy. Now, I fear in our modern age we may not grasp as many would in the past, the seriousness of this charge, treason, treason. We live in a day of great change and people will often live in different countries and move around and for much of the last maybe 10, 20 years, there seems to be less and less ties to countries. Now we should never make a nation an idol, but there is what one would call a healthy patriotism or a healthy love of country or a healthy love of your neighbor where you are living. Those wishing that their nation would fear God. But since in our modern day, there's much movement, there's less and less attachment to the place where we're in, our roots are not quite as deep as they once were, we struggle with the idea, when you hear this word treason in our modern day, it doesn't quite hit us as much as it would have in most generations. The last person who was tried with treason and executed in this country was in 1946. There's been a handful of people since then. And if you notice, there's a few cases of it in the last few decades. The sentences are not that serious. But in 1946, it carried the death penalty. It's a serious, serious charge to go against the legitimate and rightful ruler of a country. Anyone who seeks to do harm to the leader really seeks to do harm to the nation. It's seen as an attack, almost like an act of war, upon the country and the nation and the stability of the nation itself. It destabilizes. Because what is it seeking to do? To overthrow rightful rule in that country. To overthrow. and to place maybe themselves or someone else in their place. Athaliah cries treason, treason. And for most of human history, as it does here, it would carry the death penalty. An act of war, a serious crime. Why do I speak about treason here this morning? This is not about politics or things like this. Yes, rulers in countries are to be ministers of God, but it's about something even more profound and deeper than this. Because we often undervalue what treason against the king is, we often undervalue the seriousness of our own treason against the king of kings. and Lord of Lords Himself. Because that's what sin is. Sin says to God, no. Sin says to God, I will place myself in my own throne, I will erect my own kingdom, and I will make my own rules. And when we are asked to follow God, this is what unbelief and sin does, it will cry out against treason. Treason. we make ourselves a little king or a little queen, just like Athaliah. So we may think of this as an ancient history lesson from a couple of thousand years ago, but friends, if we are in unbelief today, if we say no to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, we are in our own day, our own Athaliah. We should not stop there. Friends, by grace, are you a subject of the King? By grace, have you trusted in His mercy? Or are you still a traitor? Strong word, isn't it? A betrayer. Viewed such, all outside of Christ are viewed in such a way. We're going to look at this passage here this morning under three headings. And the first heading we're going to look at is this, the rightful ruler. The rightful ruler. We need to look at some of the background here. What has happened? What has happened to provoke Athaliah, this wicked queen? She shouldn't be in this position. That she is there in the first place. The true king is here in our passage. This is Joash. He's referred to in verse number two of this same chapter. But Jehoshaphat, the daughter of the king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons, which were slain. Athaliah was so wicked She sought to destroy all the royal seat to place herself upon the throne. Her son, Aesir, had just died. And the rightful ruler would have come from that seed. And one son was kept alive, Joash, or as he's also called in verse 21 at the end of this chapter, Jehoash, which is, it's the same name, more or less. Athaliah is not of the line of David. Her parents were Ahab and Jezebel. of Israel. And we need to pause here for a second. You might think, well, what's the problem with that? Well, at that point in time, there were two nations. There was division. Sin caused this division. And in the north, you had Israel. And in the south, you had Judah. And the line of David continued in the southern kingdom of Judah. The Northern Kingdom, generally speaking, was far worse. And you'll notice, if you read throughout 1 and 2 Samuel and other things, and 1 and 2 Kings, it will repeat many, many times. The kings of Israel typically followed in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. So while Judah was not exactly perfect in the south, in that line of David, the northern Israeli kings were a mess. There was plots, there was killings, there was removals of lines, and the line of Jeroboam, the son of Daboth, did not continue for very long. There was a far greater departure. There was ruin and rebellion. It was bad. And it was unwise for the rulers in Judah to join hands with the rulers in Israel. But this is where Athaliah was from. And I know we are often different people to our parents, but sometimes we're not. Sometimes we're not. Athaliah was a bad influence upon the kingdom. She marries in. Her son, Ahaziah, is referred to there at the beginning of the chapter. Ahaziah has just died. And does she accept the line of David, the legitimate successor to come, the continuation of the line? No, she seeks to kill. She seeks to destroy so that she could rule herself. She really, it's really an attack upon the ultimate ruler. Who was to come from the line of David? Who was to come from that line eventually? The Lord Jesus Christ himself. Remember in the New Testament, he would often cry out, have mercy upon me, son of David. Really significant. So it was an attack. Really? I'm the Messiah. And by the providential hand of God, Joash's life is spared. Because God is in control of all the details of life. But this bad influence of Athaliah leads to an attack upon the true king. But it cannot stop the true king. We need to remember that. No matter what the plots of the enemy are, against the true and rightful ruler, the true and rightful ruler will reign. No matter what the enemy may plot, there will be times when Satan may seem to have small, brief victories. But ultimately, the true ruler of heaven and earth rules. In our world, there is greater and greater influence of many who claim to be Christians, but a lot of churches that lack the gospel. They lack knowledge of this true successor in the line of David, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Friends, do you know this morning, we can talk about others and various things, but do you know the true and rightful ruler? We also need to realize it's not you. You're not the ruler of your life. You never have been. You will not make Him Lord of your life. He is. The question is, do you know Him? Do you know who he is? In our passage, Joash has been brought to the pillar by the pillar of the temple here. In verse 14 it says, And when she looked, and behold, the king stood by a pillar. The rightful ruler taking his rightful place in the temple of God. In Haggai chapter 2, verses 21-23, Haggai chapter 2. shows how this line of David, the one who would come out of the line of David will go forth and conquer and be victorious, the rightful ruler. Verse 21 of Haggai chapter two, speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. And I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen. And I will overthrow the chariots and those that ride in them. And the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts. Verse 23. Will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Sheltiel, saith the Lord. And I will make thee as a signet, for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts. Now Haggai is a period when they've been taken into captivity by the Babylonians and then they've returned. The Lion of David continues, not extinguished in any way. And the rightful ruler will remain on his throne, never to be removed. You see, this thing of the Lion of David is so, so important. It says in Matthew 9, 27. Matthew 9 and verse number 27. And when Jesus departed, thence two blind men followed Him, crying and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. Matthew 15, 22. Matthew 15 and verse number 22. Says this, and behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and cried unto him, saying, have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. So that was a very important title. Son of David. The true and rightful reign. And this reign was not just going to be for a moment like the other kings. You had David, then you had Solomon, then you had Rehoboam, and then you had all the other kings that followed after them. But this king would not rule for a period of time. This king, this ultimate David, this greater David, will rule forever and ever. Joash will have his time to reign, starting at the age of seven. But the greater David, to whom it points towards, will rule forever and ever. The son, the ultimate, the greatest son of David. First Chronicles in 22. 1 Chronicles chapter 22 and verses 10 and 11. 1 Chronicles 22 verses 10 and 11. And he shall build a house for my name, and he shall be my son, and I will be his father. I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever. This is David speaking about Solomon, but is he just speaking about Solomon? Verse 11, now my son the Lord be with thee and prosper thee and build the house of the Lord thy God as he hath said of thee. For it's a kingdom that will be established forever. This is very important. that we know who the Son, the ultimate Son of David is, so we know who to cry out to. Have mercy upon me, O Son of David, the one whom you say has right to rule and reign in your life. The one who is your king, the rightful ruler, the rightful king. And in the presence of the rightful king, how did the people respond? In verse 14, as the manor was, that's the custom or the habit, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king and all the people of the land, what did they do? Rejoiced and blew the trumpets. brings us to our second point, the right response. The right response. There's two different responses we see here. We see the right response. And the wrong response. The right response is celebration. The right ruler is in place. The true king stood in the pillar. The people of the king, of the land, they rejoice and blow the trumpets. But Athaliah rent her clothes and cried, treason, treason. So number two, the right response. Again, we don't make Jesus the King. He is King. Eternally so. He is King. The Lord is King. But the question is, do we recognize that? Do we bow the knee to the rightful King? Or do we reject Him? There's no neutrality in this. You see, Athaliah rents her clothes. In the Bible, when you see sackcloth and ashes and renting of clothes, what's this a sign of? It's a sign of repentance, yes, at times, but also mourning. She is mourning. She is sad that the rightful king, Joash, is in place. She is sad that the line of David continues. She is sad that her attempt to kill and destroy the line of David has failed. That is what rebellion is. And how do we respond? How are we to respond to the ultimate, the greater David? Faith alone. Faith alone. where to respond to the one who is anointed. Verse 12 says that this king was, that they anointed him. They made him king and anointed him. Verse 12 says this, and he brought forth the king's son and put the crown upon him and gave him the testimony. And they made him the king and anointed him. And they clapped their hands and said, God save the king. Anointed him. And that word anointed is, the anointed one is the Messiah. The anointed one, in Greek we get the word Christos or Christ. We are to respond in faith to the ultimate true anointed one, the one it all points towards. In the Old Testament, prophets, priests, and kings were all anointed. And Jesus is the ultimate prophet, the ultimate priest, and the ultimate king. He rules and he reigns. And how do we respond to him? We realize, firstly, that we are guilty ourselves of treason. We ourselves by nature are children of wrath even as others. We ourselves deserve the death sentence that has been laid upon Athaliah. She was slain in verse number 16. They went into her house and they were slain. Remember how I said, across much of human history, treason against the king, that was a death penalty. The wages of sin is death. See, that's why sin is so serious, because it is treason. and we need our treason forgiven. It's a serious charge, isn't it? It's not just some, sometimes the way sin is described as some innocent mistake, kind of a hiccup or an oopsie moment. Friends, it is not. It is saying to God and his rule, treason. It accuses God. But we need saving faith, which is the gift of God, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9. And what is saving faith? Sometimes you talk to people and say, oh, I have great faith. Oh yes, I have great faith. And it seems that they have faith in faith, or faith in their own faith. But faith is laying hold upon the one who saves. That is the ultimate son of David, the ultimate, the one who is the Christ, the son of God. But there's three elements in saving faith. Number one, knowledge. Knowledge. You need to know whom you're believing in. You need to know that you're a sinner. Because if you don't know you're a sinner, what are you being saved from? This is the hate aspect of the gospel. We must know something about Christ. We must know who He is. We must know why He came to die. We must know why He rose again from the grave. I'm not saying that we have perfect knowledge. We don't. We're going to spend the rest of our life studying the gospel. We're going to spend the rest of eternity studying the gospel. But we must know. We must know information. Without the doctrinal information part, who are we trusting in? What if I said to you, I know your best friend. Oh, who is he? Oh, well, he's about seven foot tall, and he's extremely strong. And you say, no, that can't be my friend. My friend's extremely weak, and he's about five foot tall. That can't be the same person. The information is important. Are we trusting in the true Son, the greater Son of David? Because if you say to somebody, well, he's nine foot tall, or whatever he is, well, you must be thinking of another person. And there's many people in this world, they are trusting in a Christ of sorts, but it is not the Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture. And so in that place, they reject the true knowledge of God. That is not saving faith. There are many distortions of who Jesus is in this world. And what you must do. We hate this word. It's called work. Study. We must study and to show ourselves approved. All of us. We must think about these things. We must compare Scripture with Scripture. I'm not saying that we have to be the smartest person in the room or anything else like that, but that you grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And may that knowledge to you who are saved, the more you learn of the gospel, the more it would comfort your soul. That He is your King, that He is the rightful ruler, that He will deliver you. heaven one day, when you breathe your last breath, when you're in those dark moments, that the truth that you learn will comfort your soul. See, there's many distortions of Jesus in the world. One of the ways that people often distort God is through images of God. And this has become very, very common in the last few decades. I think since the printing press and it's so much easier to publish books. We cannot artistically represent God. God is not a creature. God is so glorious, no matter how artistic we may be, no matter how skillful we may be, we're always going to present nothing but a distortion of the true God. If someone was to draw your wife and you said, she's the most beautiful woman in all the world, you'd have to get the most amazing artist to be able to capture or come close to her beauty. And probably still, it would fall short. Of course it would. But if we are trying to capture infinite beauty, I don't know about you, but I don't know any artist of infinite or unlimited talent. And we end up comparing God with a creature, or the products of our own imagination. And it's the same with Jesus, because Jesus is not just true God, He's also true man. Friends, this has been a doctrine held by the church for over 2,000 years, but it's become very much worn away in recent times. So we must shun distortions of Jesus Christ. We must embrace the truth of Jesus Christ. Our second element of saving faith is this, assent. What we learn of Jesus Christ is not just head knowledge, but we also have to believe these things are true. If we don't believe it's true, well, will it save us? If we don't think that it's accurate, if we think, okay, I know the information, but you're questioning things, you're rejecting things. We must believe it to be true and accurate. The Word of God is truth without error. But is it possible to have the right knowledge and believe it's true? You may believe that the Bible is the Word of God. Does that mean that bare assent is enough to save you? It's not. James 2 in verse 19. James 2 and verse 19. It says this, thou believest that there is one God. Thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble. And if you go throughout the Bible, you'll see various people, you know, Paul will say to various people, I know that thou hast faith, that thou believest. But he's not saying that they have saving faith at times. You believe there is a type of faith that is assenting to the truth and believing that it's true and nothing more. But the devils themselves, they believe and they tremble. And would we say that they have a confidence and a trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The devils have information. The devils know that these things are true and they tremble. May we even say, could we even say that the devils may have more wisdom than many who profess to be believers? We must trust him. We must trust him. If we're going flying, we can look at all the statistics and say, oh, flying, logically I can say flying is the safest form of travel. It's probably even safer than driving on the road. And many people see this logically, but they can't get on a plane. They're terrified of flying. They don't trust it. So you can see that this information is true and you know the right information, but it doesn't mean you've put your confidence and trust in Jesus Christ. Have you trusted in Him with your life? Have you trusted Him with your eternal destiny? Have you said, I trust you? Here, I put my confidence in you, not in myself. You see, if you're still trusting in yourself, that's not putting confidence in the Lord. Confidence in Him, who not only died in your place, He rose again. He rose again from the dead. He showed openly, victorious over death and over hell. Many people have the information. Many people even believe the information is true. But they will not have this man to rule over them. See, actually, with many, many people, it's not that they lack information. Some people have not had the gospel explained to them. They are rejecting God, of course. There's the light of nature. But there are many people, they have all the information. They've had the gospel presented to them time and time again. And it's not an information problem that they have. They do not want this man to rule over them. And there are people who grow up in the church. They have had the gospel pleaded to them again and again. They have men in the pulpit with tears in their eyes, and they go out into the world. And hell is a frightful place for anyone who grows up, who has listened to countless pleadings from the gospel, and yet rejects the truth. Have you been washed clean? Or friends, do you have the same future as Athaliah? Isn't that a frightful thing? We think the Athaliah's, the usurpers, they're the horrible people. They're the Hitler's, the Mao's, the Stalin's of this world. These mass murders, they're sinners. Yes, hell is for them. No. It's for anyone who doesn't trust in Jesus Christ. We are all treasonous traitors by nature, but by grace. See, the darker the sky, the more clearly you can see the stars shining through, the grace of God in forgiving us, the grace of God to show pity upon us, to set us free, that we would humble ourselves before him and not be like the Athalites of this world, not that we boast in that. but by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Our third and final point is this, the rebellious rebuke, the rebellious rebuke. So the rightful ruler, that is the son of David, the right response, faith alone, and then the rebellious rebuke. Athaliah is clearly wrong. All the evidence is against her. It's not been that long ago since she tried to wipe out all of her, essentially, her grandchildren. She was so power-hungry. She wanted the throne for herself that she was willing to kill children. She wanted the throne for herself. And when the true king has been placed there, placed in where his rightful place, it says here in our text, stood by a pillar. That's where the king stood in the temple. The rightful king in his rightful place. And what does she say? I'm wrong. I shouldn't have done this. Treason, treason, or conspiracy, conspiracy. All the evidence is against her. Friends, this is the arrogance of unbelief. All the evidence is against you. The King of Kings has been set before you. The greater Son of David, the Christ. The One who taketh away the sin of the world, the Lamb of God has been set before you in preaching and in the Word of God. All the evidence is against you. The heavens declare the glory of God. Psalm 19 verse 1. All the evidence is against you and yet in unbelief, if you remain in unbelief, you cry out the words to God as He is upon His throne, treason. Treason. And when you see the people of God following God, celebrating God, you will do the same thing that Athaliah does. In your heart. You may not act it out. You may be a very pleasant person to be around. But in your heart, you say treason, treason. I will sit on my throne. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. That's what unbelief is. That's what unbelief is. We turn to Isaiah 14 and verse 12. Isaiah chapter 14 and verse number 12 says, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations? For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne. Do you see those words? I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. You see that? Athaliah, she exalted her throne. And anyone who stood in her way, anyone who came and challenged her power and her rule, treason. Treason, she cried. And she cried it out for all the people who would follow the rightful ruler. This upsets her. This makes her angry. She rent her clothes. Sin does not upset her. The true king, the sight of the true king. The true king gives the true believer delight. He rejoices, he's happy. Celebration breaks out. But the unbeliever, when they see the true king set before them, disgust. And you'll see it when you witness to people. People will say this, that's not my God. And they're right about that. That isn't their God. Many people believe they're Christians but they follow another God. The God of their own imagination. Many people believe they're Christians and have never read the scriptures. They refuse to read the scriptures. In our day, I suppose you've heard of the term safe spaces. I think they've been set up in a number of universities and campuses and other things like that. And they've been set up to what? So that people will not be triggered or people will not be upset. It's the worst crime in the world these days is to upset somebody or to make them unhappy. They're offended by everything and everyone that will get in their way. Friends, what are we creating in our generation? We're creating many, a whole generation of Athaliahs. My rule, my reign, my way. Athaliah wants control. She seems like an extreme and unusual case. And in some ways she is, and in other ways she isn't. No, not every unbeliever will go to the lengths that she has gone. Why? Because God has restrained them. We're not as bad as we could be. People who go to hell, the restraining grace that keeps them back from the misery of their sin and being as evil as they could be, that will be removed. There's many things that are frightening about hell. I think that's one of the most frightening. What keeps us back from becoming like the Hitlers and the Mao's and all those other people? What? God preserving society, restraining the world from being as wicked as it could be. You see it in Genesis chapter 11. The world was of one speech and they all joined together out of fear being scattered everywhere. and to restrain them from being as wicked as they could be, they were scattered. They were given all these languages, and today we've over, what, 6,000 or 7,000 languages in the world. Why is there all these different languages in the world? You may say, I'm not sure why I know that. To restrain us from coming together and pooling our evil together. That's just one way that the Lord restrains even the unbeliever in his rebellion. See friends, when we read earlier in Isaiah chapter 14, the unbeliever's ambition sounds exactly like the devil. And that's why Jesus said in John 8, you are of your father, the devil, and of his works you will do. Either we will follow God by faith and by faith alone, or we will naturally be our own tyrant. we will be our own tyrant. Do we cry out, treason, treason, friends, when confronted with the gospel? Who else did something similar? Judas was very quick to accuse others. John 12 in verses three, to five, John 12. John chapter 12 and verses three to five. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the odor of ointment. Then said one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him. Why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? And why? Verse 6, we're told why he said it. This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief. Judas was very quick to accuse others. Satan himself in Revelation chapter 12 and verse 10 is referred to as the accuser. of the brethren, the accuser of the brethren. The one who will take accusations and hurl them before the people of God will condemn Jesus himself. Friends, either we will be by grace humbled before the sight of God bowing before Jesus Christ, trusting in him and him alone, or we will still be in our hearts, crying out to his rightful rule and his rightful kingdom, treason, treason, conspiracy, conspiracy. And this is why the people of God suffer. Because in unbelief, when God's people celebrate their king, the rightful king, The world sees it as treason. The world, the flesh, and the devil sees what has happened. You have turned your back on the world, and in a sense you are. You're a treason by faith in Christ to the world, this fallen world. But by grace alone, through faith alone, you've trusted in the true King of kings and Lord of lords. What was the end for Achaliah, as we conclude? How many years did she get to reign? Joash was 7 years old when he reigned. His life was saved. We see that in verse number 2. He was not slain after Ahaziah dies. It's the seventh year of her reign, she is dethroned, short-lived, and that is the seeming rule of the unbeliever. It's short, it's brief, and it's a seeming rule because you don't really rule. You don't. God is in control of every breath going in and out of your lungs and every beat of your heart. Every single thing is in God's control. Will you turn to brief, fleeting, fragile rain in your own heart? Or will you turn to eternal joy and eternal rain to the true ruler the greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ. See, your reign is brief. Your reign will end. Your reign is tiny. Your kingdom is puny. Will you give up that puny kingdom for the riches, the unsearchable riches of Christ? I'm not saying give up good things, I'm saying give up fleeting, short things. And gain something far better in Jesus Christ. Amen.