'We Should Not Sin Against The Lord.'
2 Kings 17:7-17.
a) 2 Kings 17:7. Things go wrong when God's People sin against Him.
b) 2 Kings 17:7. God rescued them from Pharaoh.
c) 2 Kings 17:7. Yet they turned to other gods.
d) 2 Kings 17:8. God's People walked in the customs of the Nations.
e) 2 Kings 17:8. These Nations had already been driven out by the Lord.
f) 2 Kings 17:8. They followed the customs of the kings rather than following the Lord's Way.
g) 2 Kings 17:9. The Israelites secretly did things that were not right against the Lord.
h) 2 Kings 17:9. They built high places in all of their towns.
i) 2 Kings 17:9. These high places were for the worship of other gods.
j) 2 Kings 17:9. They built them everywhere, from watchtower to fortified city.
k) 2 Kings 17:10. They set up for themselves stone pillars to worship.
l) 2 Kings 17:10. They set up poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah.
m) 2 Kings 17:10. They did this on every high hill and under every large green tree.
n) 2 Kings 17:11. They burned incense on all the high places.
o) 2 Kings 17:11. They sacrificed in the same way that the Nations that the Lord had carried away from before them.
p) 2 Kings 17:11. They did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger.
q) 2 Kings 17:12. They served idols, even though the Lord told them not to do it.
r) 2 Kings 17:13. The Lord warned His People by every True Prophet:-
1-Turn from all of your evil ways.
2-Keep My Commands and My Ordinances.
3-Follow the Law that I Commanded your fathers.
4-Follow the Law that I sent to you by My Servants the Prophets.
s) 2 Kings 17:14. But the Lord's People did not listen, they stiffened their necks.
t) 2 Kings 17:14. Their necks were like the necks of their ancestors.
u) 2 Kings 17:14. These ancestors did not Believe the Lord their God.
v) 2 Kings 17:15. They:-
1-Rejected the Lord's Decrees.
2-Rejected the Promise that the Lord made to their ancestors.
3-Rejected the warnings given to them by the Lord.
4-Went after worthless idols.
5-Became as worthless as the idols.
6-Behaved like the Nations around them. Even though the Lord told them not to.
w) 2 Kings 17:16. They:-
1-Abandoned all the Commandments of the Lord their God.
2-Made for themselves metal images of two calves.
3-Made an Asherah.
4-Worshipped all the host of Heaven.
5-Served Baal.
x) 2 Kings 17:17. They:-
1-Made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire.
2-Practised divination.
3-Read omens.
4-Sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, to provoke Him.
(This QT strongly reminds me that I Should Not Sin Against The Lord)
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'When Revival Comes.'
Mark 1:5.
a) Many people in Judea and Jerusalem were touched by it.
b) They went to John the Baptist. (The Preacher)
c) They were being Baptised by Him.
d) In the Jordan River.
e) At the same time, confessing their sins.
(This Second one reveals to me what happens When Revival Comes)
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Chris.
Many idols are man-made, just like God's People, when they were backsliding, made idols with their own hands. We should not be surprised about idols nor should we admire them. To admire an idol is the same as worshipping an idol. The Bible tells us that God is Spirit and those people who Worship Him worship in Spirit and in Truth.
