Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we want to thank you for this day for the rain that's refreshing everything and urging on the growth of things we thank you. Father, thank you that you are with us now. We pray that you'll teach us from your word and by your spirit that you renew our understanding and renew our hearts in our love for you and us desire to serve you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Okay, we'll come back to our outline. Somebody asked a question about the expression used for speaking tongues in Acts chapter 10 and I checked that and yes indeed Luke uses more or less precisely the same words when he's talking about the Gentile believers speaking tongues and glorifying God in Acts 10 in the home of Cornelius when they respond to Peter's proclamation of the gospel as he uses in Acts 2 to describe what happened on the day of Pentecost and the whole point of the account is that nobody is able to forbid water for baptism precisely because the Holy Spirit has come on the new Gentile converts in precisely the same way as he came on the apostles on the day of Pentecost. That's the whole point of the way Luke describes what took place to demonstrate in the clearest possible manner that God has redeemed the Gentiles in exactly the same way as he has called his apostles to himself. Now we were talking about Timothy in class on Tuesday looking at this section what I've called God's infinite variety of means, the means by which he saves people and I had drawn your attention to the fact that Timothy comes from the city of Listera in southern Turkey and Provincivation Minor, the Roman Provincivation Minor. It's a city in which Paul was almost stone to death on his first missionary journey there after the crowd had wanted to offer sacrifices to him and Barnabas as if they were gods. Then some Jews came along and incited people into a riot and they're almost stone to death. In fact Paul is dragged out unconscious and then revived and we're told of no conversions in the account in Acts 14 which describes this but when Paul is back there later in Acts 16 the beginning of Acts 16 we read that there are there is a church there in the city of Listera and Timothy is a member of that church and is well spoken of and so Paul calls him to go along with him and to be trained on the job as an assistant to the apostle and a preacher of God's word. So Paul referring to Timothy as his true son in the faith and by which he clearly means that Timothy was converted through Paul's ministry and it must have been presumably on that first occasion. Now in talking about Timothy and this is where we'll pick up from where we left off last time Timothy has a history as well. Timothy's spiritual journey does not begin on that first missionary journey of the apostle Paul to the city of Listera. It has started earlier and if you're looking around for the attendance sheet I forgot to pass it around so here we go. Thank you. It had clearly started earlier Timothy's spiritual journey even if he was converted on that time when Paul was proclaiming the gospel there in Listera. We're told in Acts 16 verse 1 that Timothy was raised in Listera by a Greek father and a Jewish mother and in 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 5 and 2 Timothy 3 15 2 Timothy 1 5 and 2 Timothy 3 15 Paul tells us that Timothy's mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois were believers and that they had taught Timothy the scriptures from his infancy. That's the context in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 15 16 and following that Paul makes his well-known statement about all scripture being God breathed inspired and able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ but that's the context in which Paul makes that statement talking about how Timothy have been instructed in the scriptures from infancy. God had been at work in Timothy's mind and heart from his earliest childhood through the instruction he received from his mother and grandmother through their teaching through their reading of scripture through their love through their prayers and through their God the example and when Paul comes to Listera to proclaim the gospel the Holy Spirit brings the work that he's been doing for many years in Timothy's heart to fruition. Timothy's soul we might say or Timothy's person is white to harvest when Paul arrives in the city of Listera in the work that God has been doing for many many years and of course many of the believers that you and I know are like this someone may make a commitment to Christ in response to a sermon at an evangelistic meeting during a one-on-one conversation but if we probe into their history we'll discover very often that there has been somebody like Lois and Eunice in the person's life going back for many many years who has been praying for them seeking to communicate the truth to them as they have the opportunity and trying to live a godly example before them. It's again white so helpful to ask about people's history you'll Paul gladly acknowledges that other people were used in Timothy's life though he does regard him as his own son in the faith so do ask about people's history now what I want to do today is to look a little more at God's infinite variety of means every individual God has created is different now there are no two people precisely the same in the world God loves diversity he loves diversity you're not carbon copies of each other even those of you who come from the same family most certainly aren't my wife and I have three sons and as we look at them when they were little and even today in their mid-twenties we wonder you know how they could possibly have the same parents that were quite sure that they do you know they're so totally different from each other in appearance and in personality and in all sorts of ways this is even true of identical twins they may look the same but when you get to know them they are very different from each other of God loves diversity and because of that uniqueness of each individual every individual's story of salvation is different because God respects that uniqueness he delights in it so he honors it as he draws people to himself and so in an addition to the uniqueness of the individual in their person also everybody's own history is different the history of the means by which God draws someone to himself is also different just as different as those persons are from each other so every Christian has a different story to tell of the various means God used to draw them to himself one of the things I have done over the years here at the seminary in this class and now we'll give you the form in a couple of weeks but is to ask people in this class and for the last few years it's been 100 to 120 people all together in this class and with the MA students to write down for me in a cant of their conversion and every single one is different and I've got well I've read thousands of them now I suppose well more than that probably getting on for 1500 to 2000 and every one of them is different and it's just wonderful to read the way God treats people as unique individuals and does this different work this unique work in the heart of each person to draw them to himself it's a marvelous record of that you know it's my own sort of private survey of how God has called people to himself but it's wonderful to read and Edith Schafer uses an image in her book it's her autobiography of her life and Francis Schafer's life and she uses an image of a tapestry that God is weaving a tapestry in the lives of people and she speaks of God's portrait gallery now God has these infinite number of portraits of all these different people who are coming to know Christ and coming to be transformed and for likeness of Christ one day all of us are going to be perfectly like Christ but we're all still going to be completely different from each other oh God delights in diversity and every portrait hanging in the kingdom of heaven is a different portrait now has those unique features now what I want to do is to look at several examples from scripture of some of the means God uses to draw people to himself we'll start with the example of Naaman the Syrian his story is recorded for us in two kings chapter five and Naaman was the commanding officer of the army of the Syrians he's a man who's been successful in war and is in high standing with his king now what adds particular interest to the story of Naaman's conversion is that the Syrians and Israelites were enemies at the time at this moment in history as they were at many other moments in their history and right up even till the present of course Naaman had been the leader of the Syrian army in their victory against Israel that's who he is so he's the the leader of the enemy army that's how we should think about him we might put it this way and say God has used Naaman as his means of judging his covenant people for their lack of faithfulness to the Lord now what were the means that God used to call this one who's referred to as a great man as highly regarded as a valiant soldier now the first is trouble trouble Naaman has leprosy wretched wretched disease and as we think about that trouble that adversity that affliction in Naaman's life
we need to think about some of the challenge there is in people coming to know God scripture teaches us the apostle Paul says in first Corinthians 126 that not many who are wise by human standards not many who are influential not many who are of noble birth are called into God's kingdom and the fundamental reason for that is because that wisdom power and influence and being born in a family with a high social status can make a person proud and proud is the pride is the fundamental the enemy of the gospel of coming to know God God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble the scripture teaches us over and over again pride is at the heart of human sin and rebellion against God fame fortune power money wisdom great skill can cause us to be so proud that we'll not bow before God and acknowledge his knee our need of his work in our lives but Naaman despite his reputation his greatness his social status his success suffers from leprosy and such an affliction can bring humility and an open heart even to the mighty and this appears to be what has happened in Naaman's case his leprosy humbles him sufficiently that he's prepared to seek help and that's not something the wise and mighty and nobly born and powerful do at all easily you know people like that yourself and how hard it is for them to enter the kingdom of God as Jesus says about the rich young ruler with God with men this is impossible now the second means that God uses in the life of Naaman is a young witness we don't know how old she is but she's just a child or maybe a very young teenager but during the war between Israel and Syria a young Israeli girl is taken captive and in God's providence she becomes a servant in the household of Naaman she is a servant to Naaman's wife we're not told much about her we'll get to meet her one day she's clearly a child of faith and it's fascinating because this is a time if you read the background in the book of kings and chronicles this is a time of great apostasy in Israel a very great apostasy where there are few believers
and God says to Elijah what is it 7,000 or something like that haven't found the need to bail that's not very many people in a nation it's a tiny minority now when she is clearly one of these despite being a captive and a slave in the home of the commander for her people's enemies because that's her position she takes pity on her master and she pleads with Naaman's wife to have Naaman go to visit the prophet Elijah in order that he might be healed she's clearly a person of strong faith for we are told explicitly by Christ in Luke chapter 4 verse 27 that even though there were many lepers in Israel at that time not one of them was healed this was the only leper healed at that moment in history by God and it's fascinating because she has not been accustomed in other words to seeing leprosy healed this isn't an everyday occurrence even with a great prophet like Elisha around but she trusts in the power of God for her master and she has confidence that God will answer the prayers of his prophet Elisha and God responds to her faith and one day of course we can find out whether Naaman's wife and other people in that has hold became believers as well through this child so that's the second means that God uses this young witness thirdly the powerlessness of the king the king of Israel Naaman at the urging of his wife gets permission from his master the king of Syria to go to Israel to be healed and in this section in kings there's a very amusing description of Naaman's visit to the king of Israel his assumption is that the Syrians are trying to start another war with him by sending a leopard to him to be healed because when he reads the letter from Naaman's king we're told he tore his robes and said am I God can I kill and bring back to life why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy he's trying to pick a quarrel with me that's his response of Naaman learns that there is no human being not even a king who was able to meet his need but even the king of the people of God can help him only God is the one who can help us in our deepest troubles and Naaman learns that as he's confronted with the powerlessness of the king of Israel now before Elisha God uses Elisha of course his prophet Elisha hears of the despair of the king of Israel and sends a message to him that Naaman should come to him for healing now when Naaman arrives at Elisha's house Elisha knows that this man in order to be saved must be humbled even further and that explains what happens next instead of inviting Naaman into his home instead of coming out to honor Naaman who's after all a mighty man and the leading commander of the victorious army of Israel's enemies now Elisha just sends a messenger out telling Naaman to go and wash in the river Jordan and Naaman leaves in fury he's just outraged by this request because what it does is sting both his personal pride you know he's not he doesn't feel like he's been treated with honor and the respect due to him by Elisha and also it stings his nationalism as well you know there's plenty of better rivers in Syria than the Jordan River why should I do this here and it's an amusing story to read and we're all like this the kind of comments we make about our own nation and in comparison with others but that's what's happening here it stings his pride in himself and his pride in his nationality and Naaman's servants are also used by God in this account because we'll find out one day whether they were saved too but but they plead with their master you know don't take offense you know this is such a little thing you're being asked to do just go do it just go do it so they plead with him to humble himself and they say to him very clever words they say to him if the prophet had asked you to do a great thing you'd have done it gladly so what they're really doing is challenging him to humble himself that's what they're actually doing and finally the power of God now he goes to wash himself in the river and God of course heals him after he immerses himself seven times in the Jordan river his leprosy is taken away and his wasted flesh is restored because leprosy of course starts eating away at your flesh and just as in some of the miracles of Jesus in the gospels his flesh is restored and he is made whole now it's an extraordinary miracle as I said it's the only one like this done in those days there's no leper in Israel healed God doesn't have that particular pity on his people who suffered with leprosy name and returns the prophet to thank him to offer him a gift which eliza refuses that's an instructive word too for those of you who are in the ministry there are times when it's important to refuse gifts that's why Paul refused to be supported by those to whom he proclaimed the gospel he was supported by churches already started but he would not run the risk of making people think that the gospel could be bought for money or that he was doing his work for money challenging thing to think about the inappropriateness of accepting a gift when somebody just newly converted in terms of what it communicates and of course he turns most importantly to praise God now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel he comes to worship the one true God and you and I will meet him one day in the kingdom and we can ask him what happened next we have this story of what brought you to faith but what happened when you went home to your family and to other people around you and what was it like to serve God faithfully in such a pagan nation and he has the deal with one of those issues because he has to go back and lead his master the king into the temple of Rinnen to worship this pagan God so wonderful story we see some of the means God uses in this man's life our next example is the widow of Zarifath her story is in first kings 17 during the days of Elijah now this is another non-Israelite of course coming to faith and just as with the story of Naaman Jesus uses this story to teach his neighbors from Nazareth where he grew up that God cares not only for his own people Israel but also for the people of other nations that's the point Luke 14 4 14 through 30 Jesus uses these two stories and if you read that account in Luke 4 the effect of it of Jesus saying this that God cares for people from other nations is that they want to kill him that's their response that's why they want to kill Jesus time it's the statement about Naaman in the widow of Zarifath that makes them so furious they want to put him to death teaches us something about the difficulty of reaching out beyond our own national and cultural boundaries now as we look at this story the widow of Zarifath lives in a town which is under the rule of Sidon a city state weighed the north of Israel on the coast of the Mediterranean known then as the great sea and close to the kingdom of Tyre Tyre and Sidon like Syria were enemies of Israel throughout most of Israel's history and so we've got another account of somebody who belongs to a nation which is an enemy of the people of God and Tyre and Sidon are represented over and over again in the Old Testament as examples of the greatest kind of wickedness and false belief now what are some of the means God uses in this woman's life number one is a famine the story takes place during the reign of Ahab one of the particularly wicked kings in the history of Israel and Ahab's queen Jezebel is from Sidon that's where she's from and she's even more wicked than her husband leading him into even greater sin she's the one who with Ahab has Naboth and his sons put to death because they won't sell Ahab their vineyard she has many of God's prophets put to death and has brought to Israel the worship of Vale that's the time in which the story takes place and that's where this woman is from the same place as Jezebel but because of the great wickedness of Ahab and Jezebel and they're leading the people into such apostasy and sin God pronounces through Elijah that there will be no reign in the next few years except at the prophet's word first king 171 and there is a severe famine as a consequence of this judgment of God on Israel a severe famine not only on Israel but on the surrounding countries and it's in this experience of judgment and hardship a famine that salvation comes to the widow of Zaraphat now the second thing that's we should notice about the story is the character of this woman she is kind she's an unbeliever she's a member of a pagan nation but she is kind when Elijah comes to her and asks for food she only has enough food for one last meal for herself and her son but she shares it with him anyway it's kind of different from that story I told you the other week of being told to go and live out in the country and buy a house there and stock it with food and guns to kill hungry people now here's this pagan of sharing the little she has with Elijah somebody who belongs to an enemy nation but that's what she does oh human beings bear the image of God and God's image in the life of unbelievers is one of the primary means that he uses to draw people to himself he has not left himself without a testimony in the heart and life of unbelievers and one of the primary areas of his testimony is the fact that people are made in the image of God and that's what's happening here in this story you will all find those of you who become pastors or involved in any position of leadership in the church but many of the people who are becoming believers right now who come to our churches come to our churches because they are concerned for their children you know they have a sense of responsibility as people made in the image of God lots of young couples when they expect their first baby that's when they start going to church lots of couples when they have teenagers who are facing pressures in the culture of drugs and sex and all kinds of other problems will come to church for help simply because of that sense of responsibility towards their children they know they don't have adequate means in themselves to help their children cope with the pressures of the culture in which we live until they look to the church for help but it's that sense of responsibility which is in them because they're made in God's image but is God's means of speaking to their hearts and drawing them to himself I spoke about my own father's conversion and and again in his life it was primarily his deep commitment to the family as a husband and as a father that was God's means of touching him and drawing him to himself and his kindness his sense of righteousness and justice and mercy all those things don't save a person that's not what I'm saying don't miss hear me their God's witness in the heart of a person because God made people in his image and he uses that image as one of the primary means to testify to people about the truth of who they are and who God is the God who made them everything that is beautiful in a human life comes from God and leads back to him everything that is beautiful in any human life comes some God and leads back to him that's why it's so important for you when you meet unbelievers not to just seek out their sin and try to convict them of sin but to start by recognizing what is glorious about them as a person made in the image of God and we'll talk more about this later but this is one of the primary means God uses to touch people so this kindness of this woman to Elijah is one of the bridges God uses to speak to her thirdly the provision of God the widow makes for Elijah a small cake of bread from the tiny store of flour and oil that she has left but God in his great mercy provides for her for her family and for Elijah so that her jar of flour never runs out and her jug of oil does not run dry and Jesus tells us but in Israel there were many widows who stopped to death at this time in Israel but God provides for this particular widow of this nation that are enemies of his people a nation from him from him Jezebel comes a name synonymous with wickedness God feeds this widow
so she and her family see God at work through the prophet Elijah and God uses his loving provision for her needs as he calls her step by step to faith in himself now a fourth element of this story of God's means is the tragedy that strikes her household this widow's son becomes sick and dies now she not only has no husband but no son and she is overwhelmed with grief and with bitterness of soul and her words to Elijah are remarkable she says what do you have against me man of God did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son it's fascinating because if any of you have experienced grief if you've had a member of your own family one of your parents or a brother or sister or child who has died you will know that one of the first responses to tragedy like that is a sense of guilt now almost everyone will say I wish I had done this you know why wasn't I kinder why didn't I spend more time with them why did I get mad with them just a couple of days before they died if I had known this was going to happen one is reminded of one sin face to face with death we've become acutely conscious of our sin and that's what happens with this woman is tragedy brings to the surface her own sense of guilt before God I was both the element of tragedy itself which reminds us of the fragility of our human life but also this fragility of human life in the face of death reminds us makes us acutely aware of our sin the Holy Spirit as Jesus said he would is convicting her of sin and righteousness and judgment that's what's happening in this story but as well as it being a cry of bitterness it's also a cry for help it's a longing that a sorrow the brokenness the tragedy of this world would be healed it's an appropriate response now this is not what God intended for the human race originally it's a consequence of the fall a consequence of sin this dreadful tragedy of the loss of a child and so she cries out and we should notice biblically a cry of sorrow in the face of tragedy is far more pleasing to God than passive resignation that's a Hindu response to suffering that's in his lamic response to suffering it's the will of Allah there's nothing you can do about it that's been the pagan response to suffering throughout history but it's not a biblical response that's why jokes confaters are so criticized in the Pharisees Christ himself the son of God weeps in grief and anger at the grave of Lazarus and he is God that's the appropriate response the scripture forbids us to heal people's wounds lightly don't you go to people who are suffering and say it's okay just calm yourself down that's a completely inappropriate response biblically and when my wife had her colon cancer a couple of two and a half years ago and had her chemotherapy which was so awful it almost killed her I had a couple of people coming to me and saying them completely inappropriate thanks a couple of pastors coming to me and saying completely inappropriate thanks well God is going to do something wonderful through this you know even if your wife dies you know you're gonna just do great Jared well that's not the way scripture encourages us to speak to people when Jesus sees people who are hurting he's filled with compassion tragedy sickness death our consequence of the fall and Christ came into the world to deal with them and one day he's going to wipe away all of our tears because he tears are the appropriate response English is the appropriate response passive resignation is not that's not what it means to be reformed say everything's fine everything is not fine and that's not what scripture means when he's as God works things for our good of course God is powerful enough to bring our growth as believers out of trouble of course he is but that's not because the trouble is unreal or something just to be passive about or resigned about God hates it that's why Christ died on the cross he hates it that's why Jesus weeps over the death of his friend even though he's going to rise and raise him from the dead in a few moments that's why he's filled with anguish at Lazarus grave that's why he's angry the Greek words could not be stronger and that's the appropriate response that's why scripture tells you to weep with those who weep don't go to them and say it's fine it's not fine when a child dies it's not fine when somebody's wife or husband is dreadfully ill it's not fine at all it's awful and you are called to be men and women of sorrows acquainted with grief who were able to comfort people in their afflictions not with pretending things are okay but by really having compassion on people and being merciful to them and helpful all of us have said words to people who are suffering that we should be deeply ashamed of but don't ever do it again don't ever do it again scripture for business to heal people's wounds lightly to say peace peace when there is no peace the apostle Paul says in first Corinthians 1519 if if if only for this life we have hope in Christ we are of all people most to be pitted sorrow is the right response the tragedy of course it is of course it is that's the biblical response to tragedy and the widow sorrow helps to open her heart to the truth to the power to the hope that God brings number five the prayer of Elijah now Elijah is deeply moved by this woman sorrow and he cries out in his own grief and perplexity to the Lord oh Lord my God have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I'm staying with by causing her son to die see it is a tragedy the prophet says it's a tragedy of course it's a tragedy but just as with Jesus at the grave of Lazarus the father hears the cry of Elijah and the boy is raised to life of death is an enemy that's what the scripture says it's the last enemy you know death isn't a friend of course it's better to go and be with the Lord I told you that story of my friend who was who had fragile bone disease I was so dreadful when he was dying it was terrible as he got pneumonia and I would visit him in the hospital he was coughing himself to death and every time he coughed he'd break another rib somewhere and get an even greater agony and he said to me I long to die but not because death is a friend but because Christ is conquered death and he knew he'd be going to be with the Lord and he'd be free of this awful body which was such a burden to him and as he died in such agony we planned his funeral service and he said I want it to be like a wedding and it was we filled the church with flowers and sang hymns of rejoicing of course at the same time there's terrible grief and he knew that for his wife and his children who were going to miss him dreadfully but that's the way death is for the christianist a combination of grief and hope of sorrow and joy that's why Paul says we don't grieve like those who have no hope he doesn't mean we don't grieve at all but we have hope so we had a funeral like a wedding service at the same time full of grief for his family we're going to miss their husband and father but here in this case God answers Elijah's prayer and the child is raised from the dead and given back to his mother and her response is this now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your math is the truth there she comes to faith as a consequence of all this now again one day we can ask of what have a next what was it like to live as a believer in a pagan nation like siden but we see God doing his work in her life
that brings us to another story from the Old Testament and I want to look at the example of Manasseh it's a completely different kind of account and Manasseh's story is recorded for us in two chronicles chapter 33 and two kings chapter 21 and Manasseh of course is a rebellious son and his story is an extraordinarily sobering story he became king at the age of 12 years old and ruled with extraordinary wickedness oh the list of his sins is shocking by anybody's standard I mean he's the worst king whose life is recorded in the Old Testament he built altars to bail and many other false gods all over the land of Israel and even within the temple of the Lord even in the temple he practiced sorcery and divination he consulted mediums and evil spirits he engaged in witchcraft he sacrificed his own sons to idols it said that he shed so much innocent blood that he filmed filled Jerusalem with innocent blood from end to end in addition to his own indulgence of every conceivable kind of wickedness we're told that he led the whole nation into the worship of other gods and into every kind of detestable practice and it summarizes the consequence in two chronicles 33 so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites that's the consequence of Manasseh's reign that his kingdom becomes worse than the kingdoms of the Canaanites who God had destroyed in the land when they first came in and if you see anything about the archaeology of those peoples you know what their life was like it was just filled with every kind of idolatry and detestable practice and the morality that you can imagine and many you can't thank God yet we read that Manasseh eventually comes to repentance and faith teaches you not to write people off and what does God use to bring him to his knees and number one the wages of sin because God exists and because he is a moral God we are living in a universe which is which has a moral order God's own character defines for the whole human race what is good and right there is a moral structure this universe just as there's a physical structure if you try to break the physical laws of the universe you experience the consequences it's precisely the same if you break the moral laws of this universe you experience the consequences if that's true for everyone believe or an unbeliever when we do good there are good consequences not always completely because we live in a fallen world but there are good consequences you get a clear conscience you have the moral respect about the people the direct effects of an act of kindness to somebody in need or a faithfully loving your wife if you're an unbeliever and you love your wife like my parents loved each other yeah it creates great happiness for them and for your children of course it does of course it does that's the way God made the universe that this should be so and when we do evil there are awful consequences not fully and not immediately because of the fallenness of the world but there is a sense of uncleanness and a hardened conscience there is the criticism and judgment of others the direct effect effects and in the case of a king of course the fear of others the terror of others living under the reign of somebody so wicked and brutal as Manasseh the direct effects of his acts of brutality just imagine the effects on his other children of his sacrificing his children to idols murdering your own children you can imagine the kind of consequences there must have been in Manasseh's kingdom surrounding him all the time he must have had a tender conscience at the age of 12 perhaps still but it would have born a growing burden of guilt and becoming increasingly hardened as the years went by the lives of other people all around him damaged and destroyed by his cruelty the loss of respect from anybody whose opinion he valued nobody could have possibly respected him as a person because of the way he lived over time any advisor with integrity and righteousness must have been replaced by people who were flatterers and absolutely corrupt that's what happens when you have a wicked ruler like this you get surrounded by flatterers and people corrupt and greedy for power that would have been what happened to Manasseh the terror of the people whenever he appeared in public and you imagine that's the first thing the wages of sin in Manasseh's own life secondly the judgment of God God judges us partly through the wages of sin that's what Paul teaches us in Romans chapter 1 he says the wrath of God is being revealed now against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in their wickedness and who serve other gods and Paul says that judgment is made known by God handing people over to the wages of sin to the effects of their sin three times Paul says that in Romans 1 God hands them over to the consequences of their sin that's what it means to live in a moral universe that when we do wrong we experience the judgment of God in the consequences of our sin but in addition in Manasseh's case there are direct judgments of God also God intervenes in Manasseh's life to judge him and in Manasseh's case this comes on him through the cruelty of the king of Assyria Manasseh is imprisoned he is taken captive to Babylon by the king of Assyria and he is led like a ball with a hook through his nose and bronze chains and shackles on his legs and arms and he's treated like an animal that's how he's taken captive and this Assyrian commander who takes Manasseh prisoner is got both God's means of punishing Manasseh and God's means of humbling him
God's judgment can be a kindness just as the discipline of a wilful child is a kindness by the parents and through this judgment God humbles Manasseh. Thirdly they must have been the prayers of
Manasseh's godly parents his fathers has a kaya and his mother hefsivah and we know that has a kaya was a devout believer of course he was a sinner there aren't any other kind of people around than sinners but he is described in two chronicles 29-2 as one who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord just as his father David had done he's described as a devout believer he was a reformer a king who led a reformation of the nation who led the people back to the worship of God and he died at the relatively young age of 54 leaving his 12-year-old son on the throne and we have to assume from the way has a kaya is described in scripture that he must have prayed for his son Manasseh tried to teach him to worship the one true God and live as an example before him and when Manasseh was finally humbled in Babylon he must have remembered his father and perhaps his mother's instruction and finally turned back to God God one day answered their prayers they died of course and had no idea but before their death what was going to happen but ultimately their prayers were answered and finally number four of course the faithfulness of God has a kaya's Manasseh's parents presumably prayed for him but none of us says covenant parents do a perfect job in praying for our children in teaching them the truth or in living as an example before them or seeking to lead them to love Christ and to serve him oh if God's promises depended on mine and your perfection as parents none of our children will be saved
the covenant depends on the faithfulness of God fundamentally he calls us to do our part to pray to live to teach our children but none of us do those things as adequately as we should we are not perfect parents any of us but God is gracious and he was gracious in the case of Manasseh and we read this account a Manasseh in Babylon is humbled and comes to faith and tries to set right some of the things that he had done wrong now this story of Manasseh ought to be an encouragement to every parent particularly to parents who have children or some of you have brothers and sisters who have turned away from God and who have been involved and become involved in all sorts of sins some of you are writing papers for a sibling like that and the story of Manasseh should be an encouragement to you now God is able to reach even the most dreadfully sinned sinful people let me finish today just by telling a little bit about my own conversion and what God used in my life this is another different kind of example which gives us some other examples of God's means several of you have asked me to share my own testimony with you and I will do that quickly now I mention a series of things first I had parents who were loving parents my parents were not evangelical believers but they were wonderful parents who as I've said to you before had one of the best marriages I've ever seen and they have always been to me a model of self-sacrificing love of gentleness of cherishing each other and honoring and respecting each other and of kindness and care for their children and I will tell you that when I went off to college in the sixties now Britain then was like America is the day and my parents example and teaching even though they were not Christians was kind of like a rock that held me from getting into many of the traps and problems that most of my friends got into makes an enormous difference if you have parents who have shown you what sexual fidelity is and what sexual purity is and taught that to you and many other wonderful things as well and they're kindness I've spoken about the fact how they were tremendously poor my parents lived in real poverty really severe poverty like most of you have never seen we lived in a little corrugated iron and asbestos shack basically with one cold tap and toilet out in the garden in the yard that's how I was raised but my parents were extraordinarily kind people always sharing with other people always hospitable always giving to others um and they had an enormous impact on me in terms of restraining me God used their life an example to restrain me from all kinds of things I could have got into a second thing that God used was C.S. Lewis and Tolkien my father used to read a lab to us every night right up until I went off to college something I'd commend to all of you who are parents or who are going to be parents and two of the books he read to us were C.S. Lewis's nine-year stories and Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and I didn't know he didn't know of course that they were Christians but they wrote wonderful stories and those books give such a wonderful account of the truth the Christian messages right below the surface of both of those books all the time and they created in me a longing for something C.S. Lewis and his account of his own conversion surprised by joy talks about how great literature was God's primary means of using of drawing him to himself of creating him a longing for a better world a longing for a lost paradise a lost God and have even eaten a longing for a future home for paradise that would be where things would be set right and that was one of the effects that those stories had on me you know a longing for something different in revealing an echo of truth they created a longing for truth in me that was a second thing that God used a third was I don't know quite how to put it well let me just tell you what happened yeah when I I worked for a year between high school and college as a gardener that's my that was my father's profession that's what he did that most of his life he took care of people's yards which at that point wasn't poolingly badly paid I mean not enough to live on but that's what I did from all the way through every vacation from when I was about 11 years old Christmas Easter and summer and for a year before I went to university and during that year when I was laboring I had lots of time to think and I thought about all the questions about life that I wanted to have answered questions particularly about the meaning of a person's life about the problem of evil and suffering about the different whether there's any basis for distinguishing between good and evil and I went to university expecting that my questions would be answered I was going to a place of learning surely they would answer these basic questions I love literature and God had used literature to put in my heart a longing for the answers to the questions that all good literature raises about our human existence and about suffering and about good and evil and I went to university tremendous the idealistic expecting my questions would all be answered by my professors and when I got there I was studying literature and I discovered that not only did they have no answers at all to my questions they thought it was stupid even asking them and I've just dismissed them as unimportant they really though they were teaching these wonderful books having the slightest understanding of what they were really talking about the basic questions of human existence that all good literature addresses and very quickly in the first couple of months after I arrived at university I became just filled with a sense of futility of feeling life was completely absurd that there were no answers to the questions I was asking at all and I very quickly came to a position of just total despair just really deep despair and at the time I was watching movies that were giving that same message some of you may have seen the film blow up or the film The Silence by Ingmar Bergman or who's afraid of Virginia Woolf with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton those films and many others like them express a sense of the total absurdity of human life just like a lot of rap music today a lot of alternative music and they just made me feel more and more miserable all the time and what that led to eventually was a desire to kill myself and I set everything in order one day and I went out to throw myself over a cliff to actually commit suicide because I felt there was absolutely no point in carrying on living and when I got out to this place was outside Manchester where I was at university place called Alderley Edge I got out there and there's this very high cliff and I stood on the edge of it just ready to walk straight over was in the middle of January I was in the winter and as I stood there just ready to take that final step I had an overwhelming sense of the beauty of creation you could say I had a Romans one experience Paul speaks about God's invisible qualities as eternal power and divine nature being perceived in the things that are made or in Psalm 19 David saying that the heavens declared the glory of God the earth shows forth this handiwork I didn't believe in God that day but I had such a sense of the beauty of nature even in the middle of winter that that stopped me I mean literally God prevented me from walking over that cliff
and so I went back I thought I've got to keep searching I've got to keep looking I've got to keep asking questions even though there seem to be no answers a couple of weeks later I've met my first real Christian who was a Canadian student who was studying at the university and he had spent quite a bit of time at LeBrice studying under Francis Schaeffer in Switzerland and he used to have discussion at his apartment on Saturday nights and he played tapes by Schaeffer and have Bible studies and discussions and that very first evening I went to his apartment he did a Bible study on the first two chapters of the book of Ecclesiastes and he started off just reading I had Ecclesiastes chapters one and two meaningless meaningless everything is meaningless declares the preacher and you know I had never read that passage in the Bible before I thought that the Bible just as a fairy story I had gone to church as a child my parents had taken us the church in the hope that we would hear something useful though they didn't believe it themselves but I never heard the gospel in that particular church or anything which would have made me think that the Bible was anything but fairy stories and when he read this these chapters to Ecclesiastes it just absolutely blew me away because this book was describing exactly what I felt you know I saw for the first time that the Bible addresses the real questions of human existence it isn't fairy stories at all and that was a very powerful moment in my life I the book of Ecclesiastes is still my favorite book in the Bible and it's a wonderful book to use to speak to people today I can testify to that personally and I've used it many times in preaching evangelistic messages but God used first that Bible study and then the life and prayers and example of this guy Mike Timshack who is a professor at the University of Canada now and still one of my dearest friends and about a year later I came to faith through Mike's example and through his teaching and through his taking my questions seriously and answering them one by one I need to stop there but it was about a year after I first meeting him that that I eventually came to faith kneeling on his kitchen floor when Tuesday evening