Sermon Manuscript

Royal Reviews: The Lives of the Kings of Israel and Judah

No. 12: “Jotham” (2 Chron. 27) 21 Jan 1996 • Dr. Doug McIntosh, Senior Pastor CORNERSTONE BIBLE CHURCH • 869 COLE DRIVE • LILBURN, GA 30047

Introduction: Death in the Church Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage. The next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over. The problems began when Chippie’s owner decided to clean Chippie’s cage with a vac- uum cleaner. She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage. The phone rang, and she turned to pick it up. She’d barely said “Hello” when— sssopp! Chippie got sucked in. The bird owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and opened the bag. There was Chippie—still alive, but stunned. Since the bird was covered with dust and soot, she grabbed him and raced to the bath- room, turned on the faucet, and held Chippie under the running water. Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any compassionate bird owner would do... she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air. Poor Chippie never knew what hit him. A few days after the trauma, the reporter who’d initially written about the event contacted Chippie’s owner to see how the bird was recovering. “Well,” she replied, “Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore—he just sits and stares.” It’s not hard to see why. Sucked in, washed up, and blown over.., that’s enough to steal the song from the stoutest heart. The weaknesses that plague the modern church sometimes come from the hand that life has dealt us. We recognize that the modern world is a pretty hostile place when it comes to living out your Christian faith. We sometimes feel like poor Chippie: sucked in, washed up, and blown over. But just as frequently, the things that unsettle us come not from without, but from within. We fall into a pattern of losing the same battles over and over and we wonder whether or not it is realistic even to keep up the fight when the one we are fighting is ourselves. We discover the truth from the old Pogo comic strip: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” Our subject for today, King Jotham of Judah, is a wonderful example of how people can overcome major problems in their lives if they approach the battle God’s way. Let’s look at his story, which occupies the brief twenty-seventh chapter of Second Chronicles. Just to keep our chronology straight, we have now skipped down four generations from Ahaz- iah, our subject last week.

Scripture 2 Chronicles 27 1 Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerushah the daughter of Zadok. 2 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah had done (although he did not enter the temple of the Lord). But still the people acted corruptly. 3 He built the Upper Gate of the house of the Lord, and he built extensively on the wall of Ophel. 4 Moreover he built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he built fortresses and towers. 5 He also fought with the king of the Ammonites and defeated them. And the people of Ammon gave him in that year one hundred talents of silver, ten thousand kors of wheat, and ten thousand of barley. The people of Ammon paid him this amount in the second and third years also. 6 So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God. 7 Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars and his ways, indeed they are writ- ten in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. 8 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. 9 So Jotham rested with his fa- thers, and they buried him in the City of David. Then Ahaz his son reigned in his place.

Jotham: The Fine Art of Judging Yourself When I read the account of the life of King Jotham, a New Testament principle comes to mind, the one put forth by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:31, “If we would judge

Page 2 ourselves, we would not be judged.” This simple statement is one of the most important for daily Christian living to be found anywhere in the Word of God. In order to see what it is, and how it is exemplified in the life of King Jotham, I want to remind you of the rea- sons why the Apostle Paul made that statement. The Exposition of the Principle to the Corinthians The problem of the Corinthian assembly. There was a profound problem in the church at Corinth, one that is not at all uncommon in churches around the world. The Corinthian church had brought the cultural baggage and the moral weaknesses of its environment into the Christian faith with it. Corinth was a city given to its pleasures, and the believers there were so immersed in their practices that they were not always aware of how wrong they were, and how God detested some of the things they did.The particular case in point was their observance of the Lord’s Table. Unlike most modern churches, the Corinthians actually had a meal as the Lord’s Table, with the bread beginning the meal and the cup ending it. At least that was the way they had been taught to do it. In actual practice, the believers in Corinth had allowed the eating part of the Lord’s Table to become the important part, and the elements of remembering the Lord were sort of secondary. People would arrive at the meeting location bringing their lunches with them. Instead of waiting for each other and beginning the meal to- gether, some of them just started into eating and drinking. They ignored the limited food of the poor members of the fellowship and stuffed themselves with little concern for each other. Some of them were even drinking to excess at the Lord’s Table. As you might imagine, the Lord took a very dim view of this. He tolerated it for a while, and then took some steps to get their attention. Bad things began to happen in the Corin- thian church. There was an unusual outbreak of weakness; then people began to be ill; then people began to be seriously ill; then people began to die. The Apostle Paul wrote and told them that their illnesses and deaths were the direct result of the contempt they were showing for the Lord’s Table and for each other. Then he added an important state- ment: “If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.” The principle and its broader application This statement is God’s way of saying, “You won’t ever get in trouble with Me if you will pay attention to yourself and discipline yourself before your problems get out of con- trol. Learn from your mistakes. Learn from the mistakes of others. Ride herd on your weaknesses. Be open to the rebukes and wise counsel of others, and especially of the Word itself.” What is most sobering about this in many respects is that the church was completely un- aware of why its members were dying. They were oblivious to the problem, because they had not been subjecting their own actions to the light of Scripture. God had to judge them, because they refused to let the Word of God have the transforming impact God wanted it to. People sometimes ask me, “How often do you think God finds it necessary today to take the lives of Christians who persistently violate some basic expression of the will of God like this?” My answer usually us, “He probably does it today as much as He ever did.”

Page 3 Which is to say, not terribly often. God is merciful, and allows us lots of time and a lot of gentle correction before He gets out the big rod. But He will get it out when it is called for. Far better to do our own spanking. Obviously, this is a general principle that applies across the board in Christian experi- ence. The patterns of pain that our lives become subjected to are often the direct result of our failure to address our problems and deal with them ourselves. I ran across a tongue-in-cheek description this week of a “psychiatric hotline,” a mythical phone setup designed to help people with problems. When you dial the required number, this is what you hear: “Hello. Welcome to the Psychiatric Hotline. “If you are obsessive-compulsive, please press 1 ... repeatedly. “If you are co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2. “If you have multiple personalities, please press 3, 4, 5, and 6. “If you are paranoid, we know who you are and what you want. Just stay on the line so we can trace the call. “If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which number to press. “If you are manic-depressive, it doesn’t matter which number you press; no one will answer. “If you are delusional and occasionally hallucinate, please be aware that the thing you are holding to the side of your head is alive and about to bite off your ear.” Inside that bit of humor there is an important truth. We assign descriptive names to label problems that have gotten out of control. In effect, they often reflect a failure to judge ourselves. What he told the Corinthians was, “If you will assume responsibility for deal- ing with your problems, then I won’t have to.” There are few better examples of this kind of preventative self-judgment than the person who is the subject of our study today: King Jotham of Judali. The Exhibition of the Principle in King Jotham Jotham exhibits the outworking of this principle in his own life in three major areas. First, he does so... In the learning of godliness Generally we see this in the capsule description of his life in verse two: “And he did what was right in the sight of the Loiu, according to all that his father Uzziah had done.” Now here we find the key to it all. Jotham grew up as the heir to the throne of his father, whose name was Uzziah. King Uzziali was one of the great kings of the land, and Jotham had many years to see him operate. Our text tells us that he reigned sixteen years in Jerusa- lem, but most of those were years when he was co-regent with his father. He learned god- liness from his father generally.

Page 4 Specifically, he learned that you with a sense of accountability to the Lord. Verse six tells us, “So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the Lolu) his God.” This is an interesting expression, isn’t it? What do you do when you prepare your ways before the Lord your God?” You always behave in the light of God’s observing what you do and evaluating it. In other words, it means judging yourself, so that God doesn’t have to. It means being faithful to walk with God every day, and letting Him take care of you. During the filming of the movie Ben Hur, Chariton Heston had to learn to drive a chariot He was having a great deal of trouble, so he complained to Cecil B. DeMille, “I can barely stay on this thing. I can’t win the race.” Answered DeMille, “Your job is to stay on it. It’s my job to make sure you win.” God will make sure we make progress if we just stay on the chariot. That’s what Jotham did. But not only did Jotham exhibit the principle of judging oneself in his learning of godli- ness, he also exhibits it... In the learning of industry Jotham as engineer. He was a man with a passion to build. As an engineer, he con- structed a series of improvements in and around Jerusalem which made the country more secure and the temple more usable. Verse 3 says, “He built the Upper Gate of the house of the Lord, and he built extensively on the wall of Ophel. Moreover he built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he built fortresses and towers.” Uzziah actually started all this business, and its wisdom was obvious to Jotham, so he kept it going. He learned from his father the kind of industriousness that benefited his people. He also learned how to command troops and defend the land. Jotham as general. Verse five says, “He also fought with the king of the Ammonites and defeated them. And the people of Ammon gave him in that year one hundred talents of silver, ten thousand kors of wheat, and ten thousand of barley.” One hundred talents of silver is about three and a half tons! In modern dollars, The Ammonites gave tribute to Jotham of about three quarters of a million dollars. This happened, according to verse five, in the second and third years also. You may wonder why the chronicler mentions the second and third years only when Jotham ruled for sixteen years, but the answer is that he was coregent with his father Uzziah for the first twelve of those sixteen years, so these numbers pretty much cover his sole reign. His wars with the Ammonites were his first test as a sole ruler, and he passed it brilliantly. “They said, ‘Jotham is a nobody. His daddy was a great leader, but who is he? Let’s see what he’s made of.’ “ They found out in a hurry. Jotham, unlike many of the people who preceded or followed him, did not consider the kingship to exist for himself. He was able to profit from the mistakes of those who cod- dled themselves at the expense of the people who were paying the taxes. He lived to im- prove the lot of his countrymen. He learned industriousness at the feet of Uzziah.

Page 5 But not only did Jotham exhibit the principle of judging oneself in his learning of indus- try, but also... In the learning of humility It is here that his wisdom is most apparent, for it was in this area that his father did not judge himself, and God found it necessary to judge him. Uzziah’s folly. Uzziah was a man who gave in to the peril of the press clipping. He was so successful as a king that he began to take himself seriously. He believed what people were saying about him. He began to think that he was an important person. He ruled for 52 years. Can you imagine that? People were born, grew to maturity, and died, and never knew a king other than lJzziah. There is a story about Baron Rothschild who was having a large dinner party for a group of movers and shakers in England. His master of ceremonies asked him a question about who ought to receive seating priority near the baron himself. His answer was interesting: “Those that matter won’t mind where they sit, and those who do mind, don’t matter.” Uzziah was a man who became a living legend for the right reasons and who became a dying legend for the wrong ones. He was a man who for most of his life didn’t care where he sat at a dinner party, and when he finally did care there were no dinner parties to which he was invited. Uzziah was on the throne of his nation for well over half a century. In a land where kings were overthrown and even killed with some regularity, his steadiness in power speaks very loudly. And in spite of the fact that he faltered along the way, his kingship was a real success when it was judged by God and by the godly people of the land. No less an authority than Isaiah the prophet was deeply moved by the death of this king when it fi- nally came. But Uzziah couldn’t stand prosperity, and when he was so prosperous and so successful that no nation would try to dislodge him, he blew it. The preceding chapter tells the story. 16 But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to bum incense on the altar of incense. 17 So Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him were eighty priests of the Lord, who were val- iant men. 18 And they withstood King Uzziah, and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed! You shall have no honor from the Lord God.” 19 Then Uzziah became furious; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead, before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the incense al- tar. 20 And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and there, on his forehead, he was leprous; so they thrust him out of that place. Indeed he also hurried to get out, because the Lord had struck him.

Page 6 21 King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death. He dwelt in an iso- lated house, because he was a leper; for he was cut offfrom the house of the Lord. Then Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the peo- ple of the land. 22 Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, from first to last, the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz wrote. 23 So Uzziah rested with his fa- thers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of burial which be- longed to the kings, for they said, “He is a leper.” What a dreadful end for such a marvelous individual! From our point of view, however, the critical thing is that Jotham learned from his father’s mistake. Jotham’s education. This is called to our attention in verse two, where we read, “And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah had done (although he did not enter the temple of the Lord).” The words in parentheses are not a commentary on his church attendance. God is telling us that he imitated Uzziah in the good aspects of his character but not in the bad ones. He took the Lord very seriously, but did not take himself seriously at all. I read a story this week about a pastor who had arrived at the place where he was proud and happy with all that was going on in his church. The church was bursting at the seams and they were engaged in a new building program. He was congratulating himself on the tremendous job he had done in the ministry. When he and his wife went on vacation in another city they went to a church to hear a man preach whom they had always wanted to hear. This man took for his text Peter’s words, “Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.” He listened critically to the message, analyzed its weaknesses, and thought he could have done a much better job of preaching it himself. They went on to another city and visited another church the following Sunday. To his astonishment, the sermon was on the same text, “Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.” He listened much more soberly on this occasion. The text came home to him in a profound way. The next day, he and his wife opened a devotional book and he was amazed to find the text for the day was, “Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.” He began to get the message. They both got down on their knees and confessed to God how proud and arrogant they had been. They were a little slow on the uptake, but they caught the importance of self-judgment eventually. Dr. Harry Ironside used to tell about a young Scottish preacher who preached his first sermon in a new church. The pulpits in Scottish churches, as you may know, are raised high above the congregation, so that the preacher must climb several steps up to the pul- pit. This young man had just graduated from seminary, having reached the place where he knew more than he would ever know again! Bible under his arm, his head held high,

Page 7 he climbed the steps to the pulpit, confident that his message would lay his hearers in the aisles. But as he began to speak, his thoughts eluded him; he fumbled and stumbled about. His notes fell to the floor and he had to regain them. Nothing went right. As he came down the steps, his head downcast, sagging under a sense of failure and inade- quacy, a dear lady sitting right by the pulpit tugged his robe and said to him, “Young man, if ye’d gang up like ye cam doun, ye’d have cam doun like ye gang up!” If arrogance is so ugly and so out of place in the ministry, it is because arrogance is so out of place in the Christian life across the board. Arrogance and pride are like all sins: they won’t get out of control if we judge them on a daily basis. But what exactly is preventative self-judgment? How do you go about doing it? It involves four steps. First, you cannot judge yourself if you have no standard. The only standard that really matters is the Word of God. So, step one is a regular, daily intake of the Scriptures so that you will know what God wants of you and for you. Second, you have to have a teachable heart. You have to be willing to change. That can be expressed to God in the prayer of the psalmist: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties” (Psa. 139:23). That is an appeal to have God scru- tinize the inner person for what is really there. That is a prayer that God will answer. Third, when you step off the right path and a “wicked way” comes to your attention, con- fess it to God. Remember that Christians confess their sins to God not because their eter- nal destiny is in jeopardy, but because it is God’s prescription for keeping open lines of communication with Him right now. John says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Fourth, appeal to God for strength to go with that cleansing in the concluding prayer of the psalmist: “See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psa. 139:24). Here we recognize that we cannot hope to overcome the problems that weigh us down without God’s help. We never give in to sin, because God’s help is al- ways available to us. Can you comfortably do those four things? I believe any Christian can. But you have to mean them. You can’t play games with God. He doesn’t play. He’s never lost a game yet. He’s never even lost an inning. Judging yourself can be done. More importantly, it must be done.

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Copyright © 1996 P. Douglas McIntosh. This data file/manuscript is the sole property of the copyright holder and may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file/manuscript must contain the above copyright notice. This data file/manuscript may not be copied in part (except for small quotations used with citation of source), edited, revised, copied for resale, or incorporated in any commercial publications, recordings, broadcasts, performances, displays, or other products offered for sale without the written permission of the copyright holder. Requests for permission should be made in writing and addressed to Dr. Doug McIntosh, Senior Pastor, Cornerstone Bible Church, 869 Cole Drive, Lil- burn, GA 30047.

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