for his sake and all God's people said, Amen. Well, I'd like us to see from the very Word of God that it's never too late. Surely that's something of the message both of the penitent thief and of Manasseh. Manasseh is introduced to us by the chronicler in a formula, which as we have examined second chronicles grows familiar to us. And yet, although the formula is somewhat similar, it is changed from the way in which the chronicler has introduced other kings. If we turn back just a few pages to 2 Chronicles chapter 28 and see how Ahaz is introduced. Chapter 28 and at the very beginning Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign. He reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. and he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord. In other words, the chronicler is laying before us, this is what you're going to be reading of. Don't look to it as being a tremendous word of encouragement. He didn't do what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Now that formula is somewhat adapted as we now encounter Manasseh. Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign and reigned 55 years in Jerusalem. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Well, we might say somebody's not doing the right thing, but when we're actually saying he did what was evil, then be prepared that what we're about to read in 2 Chronicles will not fill your heart with much encouragement, at least not the opening verses and after the flesh. He did what was evil. Now, in chapter 33, What we're seeing with Manasseh is he brings the sins of the leadership and the sins of the people down to an altogether new level. the abominations of the nations. And he's compared not with the kings of Israel, not with the kings of Judah, but now he's compared with the ancient Canaanites. Now, in case you ever thought that the Canaanites were just some peace-loving individuals who were minding their own business when Joshua invaded, entering in across the River Jordan, and then suddenly there was this huge host of Israelites who were kicking them out of their land which they had occupied for generations, then bear in mind the testimony of the Word of God. They were evil people who did much evil in the land. And now Manasseh is being compared not to previous kings of Israel who didn't quite do the right thing. What Manasseh is being compared to is the evil people who offered even their own children in sacrifice before their false gods. So when we read the word for, this is at verse 3, for he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had broken down. He erected altars to Baals. That's just the ancient Canaanite word for Lord. It's just false gods. to the Baals and the Asherahs, fertility religions of the ancient Near East. It's an affront to God. God had revealed himself to his people and made them into a great nation. So why is this such a big deal? Well, you might say, is it not obvious? When we ask a question such as, how can I be praying for you? Well, perhaps if you're not a Christian, you probably aren't even asking that question. But even in the very question, there is something of a presupposition. How can I be praying for you? You're saying, I'm a worshipper of the one true and living God. But if you're adhering to some false religion, as in the days of Manasseh with their Baal worshippers and their Asherah pole worshippers, the fertility gods of the ancient Canaanites, you say, well, how can I be praying for you? Well, you're going to some false god that has eyes that cannot see and hands that cannot touch and ears that cannot hear. Well, to forsake the one true and living God, the God of the universe who formed us in his own image so that we might have fellowship with him. If you are forsaking the true religion for false religion, then it is important, it is a big deal. it discovers to us the orientation of our heart. And in that first paragraph of 2 Chronicles chapter 33 we see the orientation of Manasseh's heart. His forefather Hezekiah had torn down the altars on the high places. It was thought, according to the superstitions of the ancient Canaanites, you build the altar on the highest place you can find because that way you will be nearer to God and he's more likely to be able to hear you. Presumably because these false gods were hard of hearing, which of course they were, completely deaf, couldn't hear a thing that was being said to them because they didn't exist. Well, what are we reading of here? Manasseh rebuilds those altars, encouraged them to worship the false gods, the ancient Canaanites. As though that was not a big enough affront, we also read of what he does in the temple. Now the temple had been erected in order to do what? To bring worship to God, according to the design that God had given to the original architects. But instead of following through with godly worship, they thought they knew better. And here, even though, if we'd read through the Ten Commandments, as we often do, we're not to make any image of God. Why not? Because every time we make an image of God, what are we doing? We're making the God that we're worshiping more like us. So we don't have pictures of God. We don't have pictures of Jesus. Because every time you do that, you're making him a human and just a human. So the commandments forbid that. But it's not sufficient for Manasseh to raise up his altars on the high places round about in the land of Judah. What he also does, he erects a massive statue, even in the temple grounds itself. Is there anything more that I can do that will annoy faithful godly people? Is there anything more I can do to annoy God himself? Well, the answer is not a whole lot more. And so there's that element of worship and what it means to be a follower of God, to read his word and to seek to apply it to our life, to say, I belong to God and by God's grace, God belongs to me. I worship him and adore him. He's the only one worthy to be worshiped and adored. And I delight to do that, Lord's day by Lord's day. But then we also read of not just that dimension of his life, we read about the superstitions that he imported. He consults with those that write horoscopes. If you're tempted to open your newspaper and read the horoscopes and think, yeah, I'm in good company. I'm in good company with the King of Judah. And just think that that didn't actually do him any good. So these are superstitions that are being imported into the worship of God. And part of his superstition, it falls to an alternative. It's almost difficult to read it in scripture that he burned his children in the fire. Now, what's the picture there? I struggle to actually find words not to say exactly what was on because in a sense, I really don't want the children to have this picture in their minds. But he killed his own children. And the Word of God makes it clear the mechanism for doing that. So everything that his forefathers had done, which had wicked and evil, did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Now we've got to find a new formula for describing Manasseh. He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord and burned his sons in his pagan worship, offering up sacrifice of his children. Well perhaps we live in a day when we find that new evils are being perpetrated and indeed we live in a generation which will seemingly quite happily sacrifice its children if it's not convenient, if it's going to have an impact economically or it's just going to interfere with a lifestyle, let's just sacrifice our children. Well, when once you abandon God, you have no reason or logical place at which to stop. If you think you have, you're fooling yourself, probably just because you want to be able to sleep at night. So we might ask, well, why is this in scripture? Well, a simple answer is because God put it there, and that, in one sense, you can say, well, that's good enough for me if God wrote it. I need to give it to my attention But we might ask a deeper question. Well, why did God put this particular passage in scripture? Well, I'd simply point you to what happened on the road to Emmaus. Those of you that know your New Testaments remember that Jesus is on the road to Emmaus after the resurrection and he meets with Cleopas and with a friend, he's not named, And they're all kinds of miserable because the one that they thought was going to be the Messiah died on a cross and had been buried. We had thought, they said, blue perfect tense, we had thought. that he was going to be the Messiah. But, I think we were wrong. And then Jesus, joining with them, opens up to them what? Christ in all the scriptures. Well, he's not talking about the New Testament at that time. There's only about three or four words in the New Testament that had been written by that time. Three or four words? Yeah, think about it, and if you don't have the answer, then ask me afterwards. Christ in all the Scriptures. The Scriptures to which Jesus is pointing, Cleopatra's Scriptures, are the Old Testament. And so we're not surprised indeed. We're looking for it. There's something that is contained in the New Testament we'll also find reflected in the Old Testament. So why did God put this particular passage about Manasseh? It's a real downer when you think of the evil that he did. I don't want to I really don't want to read of what he did to his own children. Why does God put that in there? It's to show you how far a man can fall. How much evil he is capable of. And it's a warning to us. Men are wicked. They're not basically good and kind and will do the right thing always and ever. It's just society that pushes them in the wrong direction. No. If we're reading our scriptures and thinking through faithfully, we are fallen. We have broken the laws of God. When we read the law, it's not so that we can pat ourselves on the back that we have done well when our neighbours have done so badly, but to remind ourselves that we are sinners and that we need God's saving grace today as much as in the hour in which we first believed. So here in the Old Testament, in the book of Chronicles, what we're being warned about is This is what a man's heart is really like. It's a warning, there are consequences. So we pick it up in the second paragraph that we read together, 2 Chronicles chapter 33 verse 10. The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. Does that sound familiar? The gospels being preached, But men and women pay no attention. Somehow it doesn't apply to them. Well, we're certainly in good company in the generation in which Manasseh was king in Judah. The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. Verse 11, therefore, boys and girls, we come across the word therefore so often in Scripture. We've been going through the book of Romans. Paul is always his favorite word. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Therefore. Here we find it in the Old Testament. God speaks to his people, he speaks to Manasseh, but they're not listening, they're paying no attention. So what's the result? Well the word of God tells us what the result is. Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria. Now that tells us straight away something about the ebb and flow of history. Were the armies of the King of Assyria being frog-marched along the road, not quite sure why they were walking there or what they're going to do when they get there, or because the King of Assyria had some plan to subjugate the King of Judah? Well, the book of Proverbs gives us the answer to that question. God holds in his hands the hearts of kings and princes. He turns them like a watercourse. What's the picture there? You've got a field, you've got a river running by, you just divert just a portion of the river into your fields, and when that field is watered, then you divert it to another field, and then that field is watered. And that's how scripture describes the hearts of kings and princes. They may think that they're in charge, But God is the one that directs these things. So the king of Assyria has this idea which he thinks is all his own in his palace. And he sends out his army to take control of Judah. And he captures, captures Manasseh. Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains and bronze and brought him to Babylon. God will not be mocked. If you think that you can do whatever you like with impunity, whatever takes your fancy, then one day there will be a day of reckoning. And when Manasseh wouldn't listen to God, when the people wouldn't listen to God, there is a therefore. Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders. And what happens? He's taken off into captivity. Hooks and bound him with chains of bronze, brought him to Babylon. There's the warning. And it's God's grace to give a warning. That's God's grace. Whenever you're reading through, we read through together from the Sermon on the Mount, from Jesus himself. He's talking about the nature of the law and how we should receive the law. Don't think because you've not actually committed murder that therefore that you are, you know, you're a good person. Or any of the commandments, don't think because you haven't actually made your way to the very top of the mountain to this peak, that you are therefore a good person. Jesus makes it clear, make your peace with the guard, the officer of the law. or he will come and arrest you and he will take you off into prison and you'll never get out until you have paid the last penny. Well, Jesus, can't you give us a more helpful and encouraging word? That sounds rather strict. No, says Jesus, I'm telling you this, I'm warning you now, it's a warning from Jesus. Listen to his words. Well, if my righteousness has to exceed that of the Pharisees, and I'm a long way short of that, then what hope is there for me? Well, it's because Jesus has fulfilled the law and the prophets. There's a warning, therefore, that comes with Scripture. If you treat God with indifference, then don't be surprised if God orders your life in such a way as to bring calamity upon you. But don't curse God for doing that. Thank him. that you have that warning. Because what do we go on to read? We've seen the vileness, the evil, the sort of things that he was doing that, quite frankly, uncomfortable even explaining, especially in the presence of children. He refuses to listen to God, even when his word is being proclaimed to him. And then what happens? Well, God brings the penalty. Therefore, God will not be mocked. But here's the Gospel. And when he was in distress, he entreated favour of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. So by whom was this distress brought upon Manasseh? It was brought upon him by God. And though it may seem to us a harsh measure, it was ultimately for his blessing. But having passed through great difficulties, his kingdom taken away from him, and kept in bondage, big chains around him, God was using that to bring him to himself. While he was still in Jerusalem, he thought he could get away with it. And no matter, it seemed, what God would do, he wasn't listening. He paid no attention. But now he was paying attention. God got his attention through a most severe mercy. We see something of the same in the thief upon the cross. He was no doubt held in some prison cell, awaiting his execution. And when he woke that morning, he was facing the worst day of his life. Up until then, he'd been doing exactly what he liked. He would not bother to work for a living. Why not? Well, why should I work when I can steal the fruit of somebody else's labors? But now it was a day of reckoning for the thief, both of the thieves. And they were taken from the prison cell, and you would have waited them, it was to be crucified. Arguably the most painful way of death imagined. And it was designed to be so. Crucified on either side of this strange rabbi, Jesus, above whose cross was written the words, this is the King of the Jews. Well, one of them, as we noted, railed against Jesus, but the penitent thief, well, he saw something in Jesus that perhaps not even his own disciples did at that hour. All but one of them had fled. They didn't see him as King and as Lord over all that he surveyed. But he called out to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come in your kingdom. Well, his hands were nailed to a cross. There was nothing that he could do for King Jesus. His feet were nailed to a cross. There was nowhere that he could go. He had no means of making some grand promise. Well, I made a mess of it up till now, but if you will just do this for me, this is what I will do for you. He could do nothing. He was even then drawing his last breaths. But he called out to Jesus. And Jesus heard his prayer. Well, God is always better than we can imagine. The day that began as being the worst day of that thief's life ended by being the best day of the thief's life. Today, you will be with me in paradise. So Manasseh is distressed and we don't need to ponder why that should be. He'd lost everything and he was humiliated by those who had captured him. But it wasn't the humiliation brought about by those who had captured him that is the stress of Scripture. It says he humbled himself. He humbled himself greatly. and he prayed. Now everything that he might have promised when he was king of Judah, I'll establish the temple, I'll make sure it is fully equipped, I'll pay for the priests and those who offer sacrifices, I'll do this, I'll do that, all the things that he might have done, and yet so hideously contradicted by his actions, he had no ability any longer to do And there is in that recognition, he humbled himself greatly before God. Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. He's brought low in order that God might lift him up. And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and tumbled himself greatly before the God of his father as he prayed to him. And God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. It wasn't when he returned and then started to do everything which he ought to have done beforehand, God heard his entreaty while he was still in Babylon. And as we then have unfolded before us, his response, what we're seeing is not the root of his salvation, but the fruit of his salvation. God had humbled him. in the place of Babylon, of all places. It's a byword in scripture for all that is wrong and evil and is contrary to the things of God. And yet it was in Babylon that Manasseh found salvation. He humbled himself, asked for forgiveness, and God heard his entreaty and answered that prayer and restored him to Jerusalem. So why is this portion of scripture in there? Why does God put before us both the penitent thief and Manasseh? Perhaps your immediate response might be, well, it has no real relevance to me. After all, I'm not Manasseh. I haven't raised up any statues in churches or anywhere else in the temple in Jerusalem. I haven't. burnt my children on the altar of some false god. No, perhaps you are not like Manasseh. But perhaps you've also missed the point. You may never have been to the mountaintop of some particular sin. Even as we have reluctantly scaled the mountaintops, it seems, as we read through the life of Manasseh, and kept him company along those roads. That has not been our path. We've pitched our tent in the foothills of sin and have been content to do so. Well, Jesus, in his sermon on the mount, warns us about murder and adultery and points us to how we should receive the Ten Commandments. Well, you're not a murderer. But have you ever found yourself cursing someone out on the interstate because they've done something stupid? No shortage of stupid people on interstates, I've found. And I speak from experience having been one of those stupid people. Adultery? Oh, I've never committed adultery, no. But have you looked with lust in your heart upon another? Have you coveted? Wish that what somebody else has is yours. You envy them. Well, says Jesus, if you have committed murder in your heart, if you've committed adultery in your heart, if you've coveted in your heart, then you're a lawbreaker. You see, the point of having both the penitent thief and Manasseh is not to say, if you happen to be the worst offender that you have ever come across, then there's still hope for you. But everybody else, well, we've just got our tents in the foothills of sin, and therefore we don't need to worry about that. I'm not Manasseh, I'm not Hitler, I'm not Stalin, I'm not Pol Pot, and all these great villains of history. No, well, you're not, and probably because you've not had the opportunity, you're not in charge of a country that you can bring much evil to bear. But the response that we should make to this is if there's room for Manasseh in heaven, and if there's room for a penitent thief on a cross in paradise, then there's room for me. If the worst offenders can find grace and forgiveness, than I can too. It's not about our boasting for the future, what we might yet accomplish. The thief found grace when he was fixed to a cross in his dying breath, quite literally. Manasseh was in Babylon and had no power to set himself at liberty. God had brought him there to bring him low, and it was God who restored him to his kingdom. So if there's hope for Manasseh, there's hope for me. If there's hope for a penitent thief upon the cross, then there's hope for me. not because of some vague promises for the future that I will yet earn my way into heaven, but having utterly failed to do so, that we still trust in a God who can be moved by our entreaty. He hears our prayer not because of our fine deeds, or our promises for the future to be a better me, but because he is a God of grace, and because his heart can be moved by our entreaties. And so we find ourselves so often singing with the psalmist, do not deal with me, as my sins deserve. But according to your loving kindness, the God we worship is a God of grace who hears the entreaties of those who are broken of spirit. Let's pray. Our gracious God and our heavenly Father, We do thank Thee for what Thou hast revealed to us in Thy Word, that Thou art ever and again a God of grace, who can be moved by our prayers and petitions, by our entreaties, not by cold words of prayers that have no root in our hearts, but when we are brought low that thou wilt hear us and raise us back up again. Be pleased, O God, we pray, to write upon the fleshy tables of our hearts the story of the penitent thief and of Manasseh. And we ask, Father, that this day before the sun sets, that each one of us may give thee glory and proclaim thy goodness, thy mercy, thy grace towards sinners. And may we have confirmed by the work of thy Spirit in our lives that promise made to the penitent thief that we shall be with thee. in paradise. For these things we would ask in Jesus' name, for His sake. And all God's people said,