In the Lord’s Sight

Yahweh wanted to be King of His people and make a place for them. They rejected Him, and He warned them. He gave them what they wanted, and they became enslaved like everyone else. In 1 & 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, people are faced with choices. Would they continue to reject the Lord and create their own high places of worship, or return to the Lord and His rightful place of worship? Would they do what was right IN THE LORD'S SIGHT as written in His word, or what was evil IN THE LORD'S SIGHT that seemed to work in the world? We face the same choices today...IN THE LORD'S SIGHT. #1kings #2kings #2chronicles #2023

Starter

• Tell about a time when someone tried to warn you but you did not turn away?

Pray

Lord we thank You that You see all things. Help us to trust your plan for this world now, the world that you are currently building, and the new world you will bring when You return. As we look at the Kings of Your people and your people’s response from ages past, help us to see you and see ourselves. May we strive to understand our standing in Your sight as our King. May we long for the day when we will stand with all your people In the Lord’s Sight. Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do. Thank you that you are a just and compassionate King, and we can turn away from sin and death and turn to You. Amen

Study Questions

God had made a people of His own from Abraham. He had delivered them from slavery, subdued their enemies, and had brought them into the land that he promised them. However, because of their unwillingness to listen to God, his prophets, and his judges they asked for a king. God wanted to be their King. However, they rejected The Lord as King because they wanted an earthly King and earthly benefits now like all the other people of the earth seemed to have.

They thought an earthly king could do for them and provide for them what only God could. For 430 years, God allowed his people to experience the reality of rejecting Him as King and pursuing what they wanted in an earthly King. Thankfully in our King Jesus, the gift of His word, the power of His Holy Spirit, and the encouragement of His body the church we can continue to turn away sin and death and turn to the glory and life found in worship of Him.

READ 2 Kings 13:10-13, Revelation 3:19, Acts 3:18-19

1. Like all the kings of Israel, Jehoash “did not turn away from all the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit, but he walked in them”. **David Guzik’s says that, “Jehoash was not a worshipper of the false gods. He was a false worshipper of the true God.”
   1. What were “all the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat” and all the other kings of Israel “had caused Israel to commit”?
   2. In what ways do political and spiritual leaders today knowingly and unknowingly cause God’s people to continue in their sin instead of turning away?
   3. How can we see the false worship of the true God in our day among people who call themselves His people?
   4. Why do you think believers today are often hesitant to call out false worship of the true God?
2. Turning away from sin and turning to God is called repentance. Repentance is a change in how one thinks that leads to a change in how they live. Biblically, repentance is a turning away from man’s thoughts and ways and turning to God’s thoughts and ways. It is a continual process of turning and seeking the God. We have the ability to repent because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, our surrender to Him, and the work of the Holy Spirit given to us as believers.
   1. What is something that you have more recently realized that you have turned/repented from and turned to God?

READ 2 Kings 13:14-19

1. The prophet Elisha spent his entire life calling Israel to turn/repent to the true worship of God. However, Elisha still became “sick with the illness that he died from”.
   1. How does the reality of a surrendered obedient prophet dying from a sickness fly in the face of many modern believers tendencies and expectations?
2. “*Jehoash king of Israel went down and wept over him” (*Elisha) and said, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!” Obviously Jehoash knew the stories of God because he uses a reference from 1 Kings 2:11-13. Yet, it did not change Jehoash or cause him to turn. 2 Corinthians 7:10 says, “For godly grief produces a repentance not to be regretted and leading to salvation, but worldly grief produces death.”
   1. How do we see words and emotions like Jehoash’s in our churches today that don’t turn hearts?
   2. What do we need to do practically if we are going to produce “a repentance not to be regretted and leading to salvation?”

READ 2 Kings 13:15-25

1. God extends his grace to His people through Jehoash, an evil King, against Israel’s enemy Hazael king of Aram.
   1. Why does God do that according to the txt?
   2. Why is it just as important for us to remember why God works on our behalf?
   3. Jehoash’s success against Hazael king of Aram is limited. Why?
   4. How can our earthly success, especially against destroying the enemy of sin in our lives and others, be limited by are actions like Jehoash?

READ 2 Kings 14:1-6, 2 Chronicles 25:5-16, 2 Kings 14:7-24

1. How did Amaziah do what was right in the Lord’s sight?
2. How did Amaziah still allow the “false worship of the true God.”?
3. Have you ever thought about what the high places of false worship might be in our culture today? What might they be?