2 Chronicles

[0:00] The End The End The End

[1:29] The End The End The End

[2:59] But let me just direct a general remark concerning the history of the Old Testament Scripture as it concerns particularly the history of the Lord's ancient people of Israel.

[3:25] A spiritual prophet to be derived from these things that God has caused to be written, caused to be preserved.

[4:10] And there is no doubt in my mind that a neglect of the Old Testament Scripture is most unprofitable.

[4:27] It is not only that we are wise prayerfully and practically to study the history of the Old Testament, the Lord's ancient people of the Old Testament, but there is no doubt in the Old Testament, but there is no doubt in the Old Testament.

[4:47] Now in the case of Solomon, the son of David, we have a great volume of instruction.

[5:01] There was a man who was a man who was humble enough to ask wisdom of God. When God sent before him alternatives, his mind and spirit were so graciously sanctified that he asked God to make him wise.

[5:23] And God gave him wise.

[5:53] And we find Solomon falling a prey to temptation. His heart was turned aside from God. Things various led him astray and led him away.

[6:07] So that God eventually in judgment upon him pronounced these things. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, Now be it, I will not render away all the kingdom, but will give one tribe to thy son, for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, which I have chosen.

[7:03] Now you see, God pronounces as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, what he will do with such a powerful, such a mighty, such a rich kingdom as Solomon's.

[7:22] And we would learn from this and appropriate to the present situation that it is by God that kings reign and princes decree justice.

[7:38] Kingdoms are not maintained by men. Kingdoms are maintained by God. God rules the universe.

[7:51] He raises up one. He puts down another. And my friends, there's no guarantee that a kingdom will remain inviolate.

[8:02] Only by God is a kingdom preserved. Now we have much reason to be thankful for in this nation that God has maintained our throne.

[8:17] And he's given promise for the future. And we hope that by his mercy, our kingdom may be preserved to the end of time.

[8:30] Well now Solomon, with all his glory and all his power and all his riches and all his wisdom, he wasn't proof against temptation.

[8:42] He wasn't proof against evil. And God in his justice pronounced what would happen in the future by reason of his neglect in his position of responsibility before God and toward his kingdom.

[9:02] Those in the highest places, in any area, have a great responsibility and accountability to God for the influence they exercise.

[9:17] Now, in the case of Rehoboam, we have the fulfillment of that terrible judgment which God pronounced toward Solomon's son.

[9:40] It seems that God held over the judgment until Solomon had passed, but brought it to bear in the days of Rehoboam.

[9:57] Now there again is a very salutary consideration, a principle that is worthy of our constant meditation, that we're leaving a heritage.

[10:13] We're leaving a heritage to our children. What are we leaving? A heritage of judgment? How sad.

[10:24] How sad. If our children have a harvest to reap because of our ill sowing. And my friends, how we would be careful and prayerful to sow for their future that which is good and profitable to them, lest, like Rehoboam, Rehoboam lost almost all the kingdom of his father because his father had transgressed the commandments of God, had forsaken the ways of God.

[11:02] Now, Rehoboam is obviously a man, a son with many failings.

[11:13] He established the kingdom in the two tribes which were preserved to Judah and he strengthened himself and then he forsook the law of the Lord and all Israel with him.

[11:40] So that there was a leadership here that was contrary to the commandment of God, the law of God. The nation wasn't based upon scriptural principles.

[11:55] The mind of Rehoboam usurped the position that must ever be occupied by the mind of God. And my friends, in consequence of that, Rehoboam and his people suffered the just judgment of God.

[12:16] And God brings Shishah, king of Egypt, as his servant to serve him, to exercise his judgments upon Rehoboam.

[12:29] God can always bring judgment to bear. He's the Lord of hosts. Thousands and thousands of servants serve him. And when it pleases him to exercise his judgmental authority upon any person or any kingdom, he's never lacking a means to the end.

[12:55] And he calls upon Shishah, king of Egypt, and with him the Lubims and the Sochims and the Ethiopians. They join hands together and they come into the fenced cities that pertained to Judah and to Jerusalem.

[13:16] Now how fearful to think that those forces are strengthened by the hand of God. That they're not coming, so to speak, as just one army against another people, but they're coming with the sword of the Lord in their hands to exercise his pronounced judgments upon the offending people of Judah.

[13:51] And this is the message that the prophet Shemaiah, who is sent to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah, must deliver.

[14:04] Thus saith the Lord, ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishah.

[14:21] Whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and they said, The Lord is righteous. Now this is a most remarkable thing, that Rehoboam and the princes that were about him humbled themselves and they acknowledged before God that God was righteous in his judgments upon them.

[15:04] My friends, so often we hear this, What have I done to deserve this? Whenever you hear that, or whenever you feel that spirit in your heart, you can say, it's not humility.

[15:25] It is pride, self-justification, ignorance of sin and its consequences. But we find here Rehoboam and his princes who have forsaken the law of God, become proud and arrogant in the exercise of the kingdom.

[15:53] They appreciate when the servant of God comes to them and tells them that you have forsaken me and therefore I also left you in the hand of Shisham that they humble themselves and they say, The Lord is righteous.

[16:17] Now that's the first evidence of a humble spirit. But what do we read immediately verse 7 in this chapter?

[16:29] When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah saying, They have humbled themselves. Now let me establish this point at this juncture.

[16:45] Humility has a peculiar attraction to deity. Humility has a peculiar attraction to deity.

[16:55] people. Pride is an abomination to the Lord. But whoever it is, under whatever circumstances there may be, humility has a peculiar attraction to the Lord.

[17:16] The Lord never ignores a humble spirit. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. cannot This command a humble spirit to us.

[17:33] Should not this fact create within us a perpetual desire to be humble before the Lord.

[17:45] My friends, when we think that Rehoboam, with all that is said of his kingdom, with all that is said of spirit. When he humbled himself before the Lord, the Lord immediately, it seems, acknowledges that through his servant. And he says, they have humbled themselves. Therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance. And my wrath shall not be poured upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shazah. Humility caused the Lord to exercise his power of restraint upon their enemies. My friends, humility is priceless. The influence of humility is invaluable.

[18:38] Therefore covet earnestly a humble spirit, because a humble spirit the Lord will bless.

[18:50] You see, there's so much of the spirit of Christ in humility. There's nothing of the spirit of Christ in pride, because the Lord was never proud. He was always humble. He humbled himself in every work and way of his pilgrimage, from the womb to the tomb.

[19:20] Well then, we go on through this chapter that we've read together this evening. And we appreciate that certain judgments were nevertheless brought to bear. I felt very sad to read that that Shishak was permitted to take the shields of gold which Solomon had made, and that in their place, Rehoboam made shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the chief of the guard that kept the entrance of the king's house. A diminishing of glory, and of riches, Solomon was of such wealth and power that even the guard that guarded the king's house had shields of gold.

[20:33] But when it came to the judgments of God, those shields of gold are taken into a distant land, and in their place, shields of brass are provided. The Lord knows how to bring us down. The Lord knows how to strip us of glory.

[20:55] The Lord knows how to humble us. And thinking upon these things, what a humiliating experience we have had as a nation, have we not? When we think of the riches of this kingdom in generations past, how the world acknowledged the might and influence of Great Britain in the councils of the universe.

[21:26] And here we are stripped of the universe. And here we are stripped of an empire and greatly humbled. And my friends, is not the secret, is not the interpretation of our position here, that we've offended against God.

[21:42] And God has, in judgment, brought these things upon us. And cannot we say, looking at the spiritual and moral state of our country, comparatively, that truly we have sinned and the Lord is righteous.

[22:06] But, instead of which, King Rehoboam made shields of brass and committed them to the hands of the chief of the guard, that kept the entrance of the king's house.

[22:25] And when the king entered into the house of the Lord, the guard came and fetched them, and brought them again into the guard chamber. And when he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him, that he would not destroy him altogether.

[22:42] And also in Judah things went well. Here is a further illustration of the value of a humble spirit.

[22:56] I wouldn't like to say, where not, the spirit of pride is impossible of working.

[23:18] You know, we don't need much to make us proud. We don't need much position. We don't need much possession. Very little things can work upon our natural paths to make us proud.

[23:41] And pride is something that we should be conscious of as a propensity of nature that's to be prayed against and is to be fought against with every faculty of our being.

[23:57] We can be proud in our homes. We can be proud in our businesses. We can be proud in our families. We can be proud of any possession we're possessed of.

[24:10] It's so easy to become proud. But when we become proud, whatever may be the cause and reason, however small as it were, the secret occasion of that spirit might be in our hearts and in our lives, we immediately begin to provoke the Lord.

[24:33] Pride is provocation to the majesty on high. My friends, let us treat pride as a formidable enemy.

[24:50] It was pride that really occasioned the casting out of the devil from heaven. And pride was certainly in the Garden of Eden when our first parents were banished from the enjoyment of communion with God in that happy relationship and position which they initially occupied.

[25:20] And how many of us have forfeited the enjoyment of communion with God through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by the influence of pride coming in and coming between, provoking the Lord to anger, to displeasure in his relationship with us.

[25:52] My friends, watch against pride. Pride can work upon some small occasion, some little pretext.

[26:06] Pride pride. Pride takes from God that which belongs to God.

[26:20] Pride appropriates glory from God to self. And my friends, we have no ground upon which to be proud of ourselves.

[26:41] Pride and ignorance inevitably go together because if we know ourselves, we shall truly acknowledge that we have no ground, cause or reason to be pleased and proud of ourselves.

[26:58] No, pride is an abomination to God. Pride is an abomination to a knowledgeable and sensitive spirit in the fear of the Lord.

[27:11] Pride is something to be watched against and prayed against because it will invariably promote a separation between God and our precious souls.

[27:27] God is to be to be a man. And when he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him. What a wonderful consequence of the spirit of humility humility is here on record.

[27:50] Yes, the Lord's, I was going to say, the Lord's attitude toward him changed. Immediately, there was evidence of a humble spirit.

[28:03] And my friends, how precious is that record, isn't it? not only here, but in other places of the word. The same principle is re-established again and again, that humility is restoring in its influence to those that have been under the dominion of pride and have brought themselves into the displeasure of the most high God.

[28:41] And when he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him that he would not destroy him altogether. The Lord, as it were, commanded the preservation of Rehoboah as a consequence of his humbled spirit.

[29:06] A gracious spirit is invariably a humble spirit. Nothing of the sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost affects people in a way of pride and personal ostentation.

[29:38] God never makes us feel how good we are. God never makes us feel how prosperous we are, how successful we are.

[29:56] God is faithful we are. That's not the influence of grace. Grace brings us to the feet of the Lord, ascribing the blessing of his mercy and of his grace through Christ Jesus to unworthy sinners.

[30:21] The crown will always be at the feet of the Lord when our spirits are truly humble. not unto us O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be the glory.

[30:39] That's the right spirit. That's the humble spirit. Now I acknowledge that nature is hungry for praise.

[30:51] Nature is always seeking an opportunity of self glorification, self exhortation. My friends, the people of God and those strangers, to the very nature of pride and its influence in the heart and in the life.

[31:11] But all the child of God tender in the fear of God treats this influence as an enemy, prays against it, resists it, seeks to crucify it when it may raise its head within and the burden of real God given graces as I have described, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be the glory.

[31:44] Thou be nobody in heaven pleased with themselves. So, we've got to lose that spirit if we have that spirit before we die, if we're going to heaven at last.

[32:00] My friends, we've got to lose that spirit. We can't go to heaven with the spirit of self-engrandisement, all the glory in heaven is justly, righteously, and absolutely attributed to the worthy, precious name of Jesus Christ.

[32:29] Well then, not only does the text speak of the consequence of Rehoboam's humility being the turning of his personal captivity and the favour of God upon him in preserving his life, but also in his kingdom, in his domain, and also in Judah things went well.

[33:05] Now, here is a point very well worthy of our prayerful consideration that not only did the humility of Rehoboam benefit him personally, but it benefited the cause, the kingdom, collectively.

[33:32] That God caused things in Judah to prosper when the right spirit was present.

[33:46] When the spirit of pride, departing from God, despising God's law, choosing their own ways before God's ways, when that spirit was in the midst, God left them to his judgment through Shyshak, king of Egypt.

[34:05] But when their spirit changed, then the Lord's purpose toward them changed. And my friends, this should be a cause of deep examination, deep prayerful consideration.

[34:24] prayerful prayerful if we're not prospering, if we're not, if things are not going well with us, why?

[34:37] Is the spirit of pride somewhere? Is somebody walking in pride? Especially to those of us who are leaders in the cause of Jesus Christ, should not we be in deep exercise?

[34:53] are things not going well because I should become boastful if they prosper? I should take the glory to myself? If indeed the Lord lengthened the cords and strengthened the stakes, is the Lord not answering the prayers of his people and prospering his cause because he sees we should not give him the glory?

[35:16] We should take the glory to ourselves if our place was set as a city on a hill that could not be hid? My friends, is it pride that we're not humbled, that we're not waiting to give God the glory, that we're not, as it were, prostrate before him, begging for his grace and power that may glorify his name and that we may be first and foremost in attributing the praise to him who alone can turn our captivity, who alone can make our way prosperous.

[35:58] Now these are deep considerations, aren't they? And it becomes us all to appropriate these principles to our own hearts.

[36:11] When he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him that he would not destroy him altogether and also in Judah things went well.

[36:27] It seems that there is a connection between the general condition and position and the personal spirit, doesn't there?

[36:40] How many proud people does it need in a fellowship for the Lord to withhold his spirit? How many proud people in a fellowship does it require for the Lord to exercise judgment in withholding his spirit from them?

[37:02] my friends, there was only one Jonah in the boat and the whole company in the ship were in trouble.

[37:16] There was only one Achan in the camp and because of Achan's presence, the enemies gained the mastery over the whole of Israel.

[37:28] this is where I come to that need of personal examination. It's all right to, as it were, say we live in days when there's a general withholding of the spirit and when the word of God is discredited and the ways of God are neglected and as it were blame external reasons and causes.

[37:52] But really if we're wise, in appropriation of such language and subject as we have before us this evening, we shall be convinced that prosperity is possible under the most adverse circumstances when the internal spirit is right with God.

[38:24] God's God's heart. And when he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him that he would not destroy him altogether, and also in Judah things went well.

[38:40] We've much to be thankful for. We've much to ascribe to the goodness and mercy of God. God's heart. But we need the Lord to do great things for us, my dear friends.

[38:54] And if the Lord doesn't do great things for us, our future certainly seems to be in question. I put that to you for your prayerful consideration and your personal self-examination.

[39:10] O may not the pride of our hearts precipitate the eventual closing of the doors, but may the Lord grant us such humility before him, such prostration, such prayer, such single desire for his honor and glory in the means of grace that our spirit thus being made right before him will attract him to our cause and to our need that he will provide for us.

[39:48] A period of restoration, a period of upbuilding, a period of ingathering because the arm of the Lord is not shortened, that it cannot say, neither is his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.

[40:08] I leave these few thoughts and meditations with you for our, and I say our, involving myself in a very deep sense of need, for our prayerful and practical consideration.

[40:28] Amen. That's hard by singing hymn 874.

[40:40] Amen. Thy mercy if I share, if thy blood has purged my sin, to my needy soul impart thy good spirit from above.

[41:25] To enrich my barren heart with humility and love. Amen. Amen.

[42:10] Amen. Amen. Amen.

[43:10] Thank you.

[43:40] Oh, you may be here and above. Man, we send me lots and cry.

[44:02] Oh, my sorrow is on you. Smile me into fruit for time.

[44:18] If no longer me will do. Oh, no passion gave my taste.

[44:34] Let the pause I bid to know. Give me all thy boundless grace.

[44:50] Give me all my tears. And above.

[45:04] Why should one that bears thy name? Why should thy adopted child?

[45:20] Being round the place falls to shame. Like a summit built and won.

[45:36] With my children I will sing. And I'm like an alien home.

[45:50] Love my soul and make it clear. With your rivers to come along.

[46:08] Greatest sin of great despair.

[46:20] Love my soul and love. Love my soul and love. Love my soul and love. Love my soul and love.

[46:32] Love my soul and love. Love my soul and love. Love my soul and love. Love them to be joy. Love my soul and love.

[46:44] understanding of information. Love my soul and love. See. Love my soul and love. w durchaus CRCORNCENT Homecoming cruise Give me one Now give this uma Butore Joy Pederno Lord Undore Lord Hear Our Prayer and bless us now as we part, go with those that go journeys and watch over them, especially the young people, put a hedge about them and keep them from harm and from evil.

[47:44] May thy grace, Lord Jesus, the love of God and the sweet communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen.

[47:55] Amen.