"What significance will the cross have in connection with the crown? If anything is true, this is true: there will be nothing in heaven that does not have the mark of the cross upon it and has not passed through death and resurrection."

-- A. B. Simpson, The Cross of Christ
Home Sermon Notes II Chronicles Sermon Notes II Chronicles 35-36

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  • 1 Peter 1 "Our Living Hope"
    "We all remember Peter, that disciple that opened his mouth too much with Jesus. Peter later, however, because one of the chief pillars of the early church. Peter and Paul were the two major apostles in bringing the gospel to the Jews (Peter) and Gentiles (Paul). The themes are hope, holiness, and suffering. This letter was mainly to bring encouragement and renewed motivation to live in Godliness no matter what the circumstances"
  • Nehemiah 13 "Cleaning House"
    "When you clean your house do you only have to do it once and then it remains clean? No. There is dirt around here and messy people. It takes a continual maintenance and cleaning. When you take a bath do you only have to do it the first time and then you don't have to bathe anymore? No, we get dirty living in this world. We need to keep on cleaning or we stink and become grotesque. The people had made many promises in chapter 10 of what they were going to do for God and how they were going to live. Unfortunately, when Nehemiah went back to report to the King the people had turned quickly back to the sin and impurity that they had said they would not do. Through God's Word, and spiritual leadership, God's people were going to clean house again. This chapter is about cleaning that which was rebuilt. It is a maintenance process to examine your life, family, church, and leadership to make sure they are according to the standard of purity that God has shown us in His Word. "
  • Nehemiah 11-12 "Rebuilding Together"
    "The work of rebuilding is not something we can do alone. We need God obviously, but we also need one another. There are a few lasting lessons that we can take with us about rebuilding our lives. We are given a reminder of those lessons in these final chapters. The people were now right with God, and together they continued in the day-to-day decisions that made this rebuilding last. Let us be reminded that: Rebuilding Together Needs People. Rebuilding Together Needs Praise. Rebuilding Together Needs Provisions."
II Chronicles 35-36

2 Chronicles Chapter 35-36

“A Sad Ending, but Hope for the Future”

 

  1. I. The Ministry of the Passover Celebration (35:1-19)
    1. 1. Ministry should not be a burden (Verses 1-3)
      1. They were encouraged in the ministry
      2. Take off the burden!

& 1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”

& Matthew 11:30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

& Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

  1. 2. We should prepare ourselves for ministry (Verses 4-6)
    1. We want to be prepared for service

& 2 Timothy 2:21 “Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.”

  1. 3. Ministry is about giving to others (Verses 7-9)
    1. The leaders themselves were an example of giving and serving

& Luke 22:25-27 “And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called 'benefactors.' 26 But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. 27 For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.”

  1. 4. All of us have a part to play in ministry (Verses 10-15)
    1. They functioned similar to the way Christ’s body is to function

& 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:”

  1. He wanted to conduct.  His conducting style, however, was idiosyncratic. During soft passages he'd crouch extremely low.  For loud sections, he'd often leap into the air, even shouting to the orchestra. His memory was poor.  Once he forgot that he had instructed the orchestra not to repeat a section of music.  During the performance, when he went back to repeat that section, they went forward, so he stopped the piece, hollering, "Stop!  Wrong!  That will not do!  Again!  Again!" For his own piano concerto, he tried conducting from the piano.  At one point he jumped from the bench, bumping the candles off the piano.  At another concert he knocked over a choir boy. During one long, delicate passage, he jumped high to cue a loud entrance, but nothing happened because he had lost count and signaled the orchestra too soon. As his hearing worsened, musicians tried to ignore his conducting and get their cues from the first violinist. Finally the musicians pled with him to go home and give up conducting, which he did. He was Ludwig van Beethoven. As the man whom many consider to be the greatest composer of all time learned, no one is a genius of all trades.

 

 

 

 

 

  1. 5. We can make this ministry great! (Verses 16-19)
    1. We want this testimony about us. That God has used Calvary Chapel powerfully in this day and age!

 

II.Josiah Fell Down at the Finish (35:20-27)

  1. 1. He meddled in business that wasn’t his (Verses 20-21a)
    1. The king of Egypt didn’t come to fight against Israel, but to join with the Assyrians against Babylon.
  • Don’t get involved in business that is not your own.

& Proverbs 26:17 “He who passes by and meddles in a quarrel not his own Is like one who takes a dog by the ears.”

  1. 2. He didn’t listen to God’s leading voice (Verses 21b-22)

  1. 3. He died like a man who hated God—Ahab (Verses 23-24a)
    1. Each king disguised himself, archers delivered the fatal blow, each king admitted I am wounded, and was propped up in a chariot before he died. (See 2 Chronicles 18, and 2 Kings 18-19)
    2. Let us stay strong until the end!

& Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

  1. 4. But he was still remembered as a good man by God’s grace (Verses 24b-27)

  1. III. The Fall of Jerusalem (Chapter 36)
    1. 1. The final kings had the same story—Evil in the sight of the Lord (Verses 1-14)
      1. Jehoahaz (1-4)
      2. Jehoiakim (5-8)
      3. Jehoiachin (9-10)
      4. Zedekiah (11-14)

 

  1. 2. Summery of God’s heart and the reality of judgment (Verses 15-21)
    1. God sent warnings because He has compassion on people

& Ezekiel 33:11 “Say to them: 'As I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'”

  • But there came a point where they were beyond remedy.

& Romans 1:24,26,28

  1. God is serious
  • We can’t laugh at sin and pretend that God is joking with us about how terrible it is. Sin will one day be removed, and sinners punished.

& Romans 2:4-6 “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who "will render to each one according to his deeds":

  • God’s future judgment on this world will be more terrible than we can even imagine.

& Revelation 14:17-20 “Then another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. 18 And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe." 19 So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, up to the horses' bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs.”

  1. 3. Future hope (Verses 22-23)
    1. King Cyrus gives the decree that the Israelites can return to the land and rebuild the things that were destroyed

& Jeremiah 29:10-14 “For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.”