Bulletins - Keystone Presbyterian Church

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Gloria Patri
Doxology
As we continue looking at Psalm 137, we are continuing our look at the first city mentioned in this Psalm, Babylon. Babylon is mentioned 262 times or more depending on the translation.
How many times have you said to your children or others, “That’s enough!”? What do these 2 words really mean?
I’m tired of your fighting, your disobedience, and your overall bad attitude. A lot of the time, those two words tend to be followed by punishment. This was the case with the Kingdom of Judah.
The Babylonians began to be a problem after King Hezekiah showed them the entire Kingdom. Isaiah prophesied that there would be a day when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians and that those who were not killed would be taken away as captives. When Manasseh, (Hezekiah’s son) became King, he sinned against God.
2 Chronicles 33:10–13 NASB 2020
10 So the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. 11 Therefore the Lord brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains, and led him to Babylon. 12 When he was in distress, he appeased the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13 When he prayed to Him, He was moved by him and heard his pleading, and brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord alone is God.
Years later, Manasseh’s grandson Josiah became King at age 8. Josiah led Judah to a time of obedience and faithfulness to God. After Josiah died, the Kingdom of Judah followed after other gods and became God’s enemy.
Let’s read our passage for today.
2 Chronicles 36:15–23 NASB 2020
15 Yet the Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; 16 but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against His people, until there was no remedy. 17 So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or frail; He handed them all over to him. 18 He brought all the articles of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and his officers, to Babylon. 19 Then they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its fortified buildings with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles. 20 He took into exile those who had escaped from the sword to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept the Sabbath until seventy years were complete. 22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia—in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah—the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he sent a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, 23 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the Lord his God be with him; go up then!’ ”
1. God’s patience
God sent Prophets to preach warning and repentance. God blessed the Kingdom of Judah every time they would repent. It grieved God to watch His people continually rebel. Today is no different. God has sent Preachers, Teachers, and Evangelists to proclaim the need for Christ and repentance. God has blessed us time and time again when we are repentant, although it never seems to last. It hurts God to watch His children, and His creation continually rebel. For now, God is holding back His great wrath. Why? He is waiting for that last soul to be saved.
We are without excuse when we violate God’s law. There is nothing we can say that would excuse us for the sins we commit.
But I never read that before. That’s the problem, you haven’t read God’s word that was written so you may know.
How many churches do you pass each day? Have you ever counted how many you pass? I haven’t actually counted either. But I do know there are times that I have been on a motorcycle trip and it seems like every major intersection has a church.
We didn’t know which church to go to. There isn’t anything that says you must go to one church and try it and then decide if you ant to go to church.
I never heard that said before. Maybe you should have spent more time in church than just Easter and Christmas.
Again and again God has shown mercy and grace. After telling everyone the future and the decision you have to make God still gives us more than one chance.
Even Pharaoh was given several chances to turn to God.
God is patient but that patience will end.
2 Chronicles 36:16-21
2. God’s punishment
When that patience ends, God will punish.
God said, “That’s it”. The people lost their freedom. The very symbol of God’s presence, the Temple, was destroyed. God had given them a lot of time and several Kings to get it right; but they did not.
While Jehoikim was the King, Nebuchadnezzar invaded the land of Judah and placed Jehoikim under him. After 3 years, Jehoikim rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar and was taken to Babylon. Then Jehoikim’s son, Jehoichin was just as evil; and he was taken by Nebuchadnezzar as a prisoner to Babylon. At this time, the Babylonians took everything of value from the Temple. After Jehoichin, Nebuchadnezzar appointed Jehoichin’s uncle, Mattaniah to be the King. His name was changed to Zedekiah. In time, Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar and he marched against Jerusalem. Jerusalem was under siege for 2 years; and famine began to take over. They tried to sneak away; but were caught. Zedekiah watched all of his sons be killed; and then his eyes were poked out and he was taken away to Babylon. At this point, Jerusalem was destroyed and almost all who lived were taken into captivity.
God is patient and and merciful.
Psalm 86:15 NASB 2020
15 But You, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, Slow to anger and abundant in mercy and truth.
That patience will end. I sometimes wonder why it hasn’t ended based on the history of the church, seeing the evil that has been done in the name of Christ. Like today as many in the church have twisted Scripture to say that evil is good and good is evil.
There will be a day, a day that no one knows, that God will send Jesus to bring His children home. There will be a peace treaty between the Antichrist and Israel which will begin a 7 year tribulation.
Half way through that treaty, God’s wrath will be poured out; a time so bad that the world has never seen before. Christ will be victorious in the last battle and will then reign on earth as King for 1,000 years. Satan will be bound during this time. At the end of that time, Satan will be loosed for one last time. After that short time, Christ will have the final victory. Satan, and any who followed him, will be cast into the lake of fire. God will destroy the first heaven and earth and create new ones. It means that God had enough and it was time to punish His rebellious children.
Verse 16 ends with “until there was no remedy”. This doesn’t mean that God ran out of options. It means that God is saying, “That’s enough”.
2 Chronicles 36:22-23
3. God’s promise
Even as we look at God’s wrath, we can still remember His promise.
Many years before our passage, God made a promise to David.
2 Samuel 7:16 NASB 2020
16 Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.” ’ ”
Although God severely punished the Kingdom of Judah, He never stopped loving them. Once again, God was going to show His presence to His people and to the world.
When the time was right, God took His people out of captivity and sent them back into freedom where Jerusalem and the Temple would be rebuilt. Once more, God’s presence and glory could be seen with His people.
God’s promise that David’s throne will be established forever is still being kept through King Jesus.
I find it ironical that we have protests going on in America that says we will have no king over us. I know they are trying to make people think Trump is being a king but at the same time, listen to the ones saying it and it is obvious they really do not want a king over them, even though Jesus is king over all. Once day, every knee will bow and every person will acknowledge that Jesus is the King.
The eternal rule of a Davidic king is on going. But we also have a promise.
John 3:16 NASB 2020
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.
God didn’t send His Son because He had run out of options. God sent His Son because He was the only remedy.
Martin Luther said:
The law discovers the disease. The gospel gives the remedy.
Martin Luther (Founder of the German Reformation)
Charles Spurgeon said:
The world’s one and only remedy is the cross.
Charles Spurgeon
What is your relationship with God?
Have you repented of your sins, confessed and believed in Christ?
If you have never, today is the day God calls for you to do that. Don’t wait until the time is up.
If you have, are you living the life God desires for you to live? We aren’t promised tomorrow. We aren’t promised we will have the time to work on our relationship past this time now.
Let’s pray.
- - 2 Chronicles 33:10–13NASB2020
- - 2 Chronicles 36:15–23NASB2020
- - Psalm 86:15NASB2020
- - 2 Samuel 7:16NASB2020
- - John 3:16NASB2020

2 Chronicles 33:10–13NASB2020

2 Chronicles 36:15–23NASB2020

Psalm 86:15NASB2020

2 Samuel 7:16NASB2020

John 3:16NASB2020