Skip to content How Low Will God Go? Aug 27 · 50 min ...more
August 27, 2020 · 50 min · Messages of Hope
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Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies.
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0:00 Almost every year, I have the privilege of taking my granddaughter to the circus. It's probably the best entertainment bargain, in town.0:13 For almost 3 hours, you get to sit there and have a variety of entertainment brought before your eyes, and I am certain that many of you, like me, grew up0:24 visiting the big top. On a number of occasions, as we have driven up to Barnum and Bailey Circus, the elephants are0:36 lined up on the parking lot, preparing to be brought into the arena at the appropriate time. If you will look very carefully, you will notice something that0:48 will grab your attention, and that is the elephants are held at bay by little teeny chains that are tied to a stake that has been knocked1:00 down in the ground. What is most amazing is that they do not rip the stakes up out of the ground and go about their business.1:12 These stakes could be easily discharged from their location by simply a solid jerk of the elephant's foot.1:25 Because you see, there's really only 1 chain around 1 ankle. And these elephants can carry tons. Never, never, never1:38 pull the peg or the stake out of the ground to get away. How is it that elephant after elephant1:50 after elephant after elephant after elephant can be held at bay by a little stake on a little chain around 1 of its ankle areas.2:02 Well, see, that didn't happen by chance or luck. That was planned. You see, in order to prepare an elephant to be a circus animal, when the elephant2:14 is a mere baby elephant, it gets to feel the chain around its ankle. It's raised.2:26 To learn this principle. Whenever you feel the chain, you don't go anywhere. It's taught early on that the chain tied2:38 to a stake means that you cannot move. Baby elephants who are being prepared for the circus, as adult elephants,2:52 learn what it is to obey the principle of the stake and the chain. So if you ever go to a circus, and you see3:04 an elephant on the parking lot chained to a stake, what you need to know is that what they're really chained to is their past. They are tied3:15 to what they learned yesterday that keeps them from becoming free today. They are tied to their past, and so they3:27 dare not seek freedom in their present. They're simply there for showtime. Many of us3:39 have a chain. It may not be visible, but it is real. Where we are chained to our past,3:52 to the things we were raised or taught, to the mistakes that we've made, to the hurts that we've experienced. And these chains have a way of keeping us from4:04 going free. They have a way of locking us down in the present because of the lesson that they taught us in yesterday.4:17 In fact, there are some of us here who are so low in the present, who are4:29 so beaten down in the present that we really don't even know how low we are. Satan has a way of continuously throwing up4:41 yesterday, and he can mess up a good today. That's why my mind was drawn to second Chronicles 33.4:54 It was drawn to 1 of the most incredible stories in all of the Bible. I mean, it would be hard to top this 1 when it comes to5:06 illustrating the magnificent grace of God that sets captives free. And make no mistake about it, I know that in our5:18 audience, there are some folk who need to be set free. There are some men here who have walked away from their children. There are many5:29 who have, years ago, impregnated women. And not only have you not helped raise the child, not only have you never supported the child, you may not even know the child.5:44 There are some who were married, and perhaps you're now divorced, and they live in 1 area, and you live in another area, and now they've grown up,5:56 and the kids don't even want to hear your name. Or perhaps you were a nuclear dad, that is, you were physically there,6:08 but not responsibly there. And when you dwell on it too long, you have regrets. Or or or maybe6:20 you're a man or a woman who has circumstances in your history that make you feel ashamed. Some things back in the closet where the6:32 skeletons are located that you beg God never to let out. But nevertheless, the chain is there. And like the circus animal,6:45 you perform, but you're still locked into the past. Let me introduce you to a man, who was a father by the6:56 way. His name is Manasseh. We wanna look at 4 features of this man that will hopefully give you hope to move on to tomorrow, because of what you learned today7:08 about how to fix yesterday. The first thing we want to note is Manasseh's rebellion. We're told in verse 1 of second Chronicles7:20 33 that Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king. That's a pretty young age to become king. He's 12 years old, and his reign7:32 lasted, verse 1 says, 55 years. Now, order to understand and appreciate7:43 how messed up Manasseh is, and is going to become during the majority of his reign, you have to understand whose son he was.7:57 His father's name was Hezekiah. Sometimes you have to read the chapters that precede, say, from chapter 29 all the way up8:09 to 33, but let me summarize it for you. In fact, the best summary statement I can give you is chapter 29 verse 2, which says about Hezekiah, he did right in the sight8:20 of the Lord according to all his father David had done. In other words, Hezekiah was a good man. He was a godly man.8:32 I mean, you see Hezekiah removing the idols. You see Hezekiah restoring temple worship. You see Hezekiah restoring and reinstituting the Passover. You see Hezekiah chapter 318:44 destroying the idols. You see him bringing about reform. You hear him praying about his enemy, still God supernaturally coming through. And 1 other aspect of Hezekiah that8:56 really brings up the issue of Manasseh is that he was terminally ill. He turned his face to the wall with tears running down his face, and asked God9:08 to extend his life. God graciously extended his life another 15 years. During that 15 year period, Manasseh was born.9:22 So Manasseh is the fruit of his old age due to his life extension. So what makes what we're going to learn about Manasseh really bad is the9:34 kind of daddy he had. He had a godly daddy. He was raised in a godly atmosphere. He had godly influences in his life. He knew who God was.9:46 He was not some pagan out there who had no idea of who the true God was. He was exposed to God from the day of his birth, and boy, did his daddy have some stories for him.10:00 In fact, he could tell him every time it was his birthday, boy, the only reason you're here is because God heard my prayer. What a great daddy.10:12 What a great story. But at 12 years old, he ascended to the kingship at the death of his father.10:26 And here, this young man who had at least during the early years, being rooted and grounded in righteousness, through the influence of his10:38 father, went left. And we're talking way left. His resume is given to us in verses 2 through10:49 verse 9. We won't reread it all again, but let me summarize it for you. In fact, the summary is in verse 2. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the11:01 abominations of the nation, which the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel. Notice the difference between Hezekiah and Manasseh. Hezekiah did right before the11:13 Lord. Manasseh did evil in the sight of God. What made Manasseh do evil when he was raised so right? I think verse 2 tells us.11:25 It says, he did according to the nations. In other words, he looked around and saw what everybody else was doing. And that just looked like a lot more11:37 fun. He was raised 1 way, but when he looked across the fence, when he looked across the street, when he looked11:48 across the road, he says, I like it better over there. Now, know I was raised 1 way by my daddy over here, but over there is12:00 where the where the parties are. You say, I can't relate to that. Maybe you can't relate to that at 12, but maybe you can relate to it at 18 when you went to12:12 college. I'm sure there's some folk here who were raised in very godly homes by a godly mother or by a godly father who12:23 instilled virtue and principles, who sent you to Sunday school, took you to church, and all looked okay till you got free.12:38 And when you got 18 and went off to college, you didn't know worldliness could be so much fun. And you hit the party scene, you hit the frat scene, you hit the12:50 sorority scene, and you just went left. And we talking way left. Embarrassing left. Don't tell nobody13:02 left. That's right. Left. He was an idolater, it tells us.13:14 He destroyed everything his father built up, verse 3. What his father built up, it says, Manasseh tore down, in order to13:26 worship and serve idols. In fact, he really got rank with it, verse 4, because it says that he even took the idols into the house of God.13:39 He brought his unrighteousness in church. He didn't just leave it out there in the world. He brought it in church. So he became13:50 rank as a man. Not only that, but look at verse 6. He made his sons pass14:02 through the fire in the valley of Ben Hanan. Now, do you get much worse than that? He offered his children as child sacrifice.14:16 He threw Can you imagine taking your baby boy and putting him in a fire to burn him alive, to sacrifice to a false god? You14:28 say, I I can't relate to that. Well, maybe you didn't put your kids in a fire. But maybe because you didn't influence them righteously, right now, they're on their way to hell.14:41 Eternal fire. Worse. Maybe you have a son who's in jail today because he did not have your influence, and the gangs or the14:52 crowd took over what should have been your influence, and your son has made a mess of his life, you gave him over to the gang fire. Maybe you've got a15:04 child today strung out on drugs, and they are going through the fire of alcoholism or drug addiction because of the idolatry of your own life.15:18 Maybe your fatherlessness or motherlessness has placed your own kids in the fire. Not only that,15:31 but this guy was so confused that he practiced, verse 6 says, sorcery, and went to mediums and spiritists.15:43 He sought horoscopes and palm readers To get spiritual direction, he sought to enter the spiritual realm through false means.15:55 And we've said it enough, but let me say it again. Any attempt to use the creation to get to the creator is false religion. Anytime16:07 you look at the stars for guidance, anytime you align the moon and the sun for direction, anytime you read a horoscope and seriously answer the question, what sign16:18 are you? You have entered into the realm of the occult, and you function as a pagan. I had a person tell me 1 day they went to a palm16:30 reader to get direction, reading lines on your hand. You gotta watch out for these palm readers, because see, they can say things like, Oh, I'm looking at16:42 this line, and your life is falling apart. Well, that's why I'm here. And you've just broken a relationship. Well, that's 90 percent of people's16:54 problems. This man betrayed his heritage. He betrayed what he was raised to believe and to do. He betrayed17:05 everything his father lived for. He betrayed his own children. So that not only did he mess himself17:17 up, but look at verse 9. Then Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the17:29 sons of Israel. In other words, they were worse than the sinners. And these were God's people. Did you know that God's people can get worse than sinners? When17:41 God's people leave God, they can be worse off than sinners. They depart from God due to this man's evil.17:53 Because evil has a way of transferring. And the whole nation is led astray. This man's18:05 favorite color was red, and I mean blood red. This is the kind of man this man was. Evil to the18:17 curse to the core. Now, know we probably have some wicked past in this room, but probably not too many on this level. We've got things we're ashamed of,18:29 failures that we've had, mistakes we've made, but probably not this low. This is as low this guy's lower than a dog. You send your18:40 kids to the fire, lead a whole nation astray, just totally disregard everything your daddy stood for, you don't get lower than this. It's like Manasseh wanted to18:52 see, could he beat everybody else's evil? Remember, remember when we were growing up, we we tried to do the limbo? You know?19:05 The whole point was to go lower than the next person, and who could go down lowest to go under the bar doing the limbo this man would've wanted if it was the limbo19:17 of life. Because this is as low as you can possibly get. Verse 10 introduces us19:29 to God in Manasseh's life. The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. God19:40 speaking, you saying amen, but you know you're not paying attention. You're here in church, and you've been here every week, and perhaps you19:52 even come in the middle of the weekend, and you hear God speak, but you already know what you're gonna do when you leave here. And God coming out of heaven is not gonna change20:04 your calendar, because you're gonna do it, because you've decided to do it, and if it's just wicked, so be it, God. Get used to it. I gotta20:16 be me. Therefore. Gotta watch out for therefore. Because if God can't get your20:28 attention with his word, he will get it with his wrath. The Lord brought the commanders of the army of Assyria against them. They20:40 captured Manasseh with hooks, bound it with bronze chains, and took him to Babylon. God sent travail.20:53 They put hooks in his nose like a wild bull and took him to Babylon.21:05 That is, God sent the enemy in order to bring discipline and judgment upon this rebellious son.21:18 Now, I I don't think God did enough. I I mean, I'd have just taken that boy up out of here. Why didn't God just take this boy up out of here?21:32 When you read through the Old Testament, you will regularly see God saying, he did this in somebody's life for the sake of their father. You will regularly see that in the Old21:44 Testament, that God will adjust what he does over here because of what daddy did over here. See, that's why you wanna be a godly daddy, so that if your kids do21:56 act a fool, God can remember you. So when your kids go crazy, and they deserve the wrath of God, your name pops22:08 up in God's head, and God holds back. Some of us, if our name popped up in God's head, he'd do it to him twice.22:24 You see, this was Hezekiah's boy. And for the sake of Hezekiah. Some of22:36 you have mamas that prayed. Some of you have mamas still praying. And for the sake of grandmama, you're still alive. For the sake of grandmama's22:47 memory, you are still here. For the sake of your mother or those who have gone before you, so the wrath of God was sure. Designed to do 1 thing,23:00 to break the boy down. Whenever you are in rebellion and you go as low as you can go, God will meet you there23:13 to break you down. And God will do whatever it takes for you to cry uncle. It's like a weight lifter trying to lift weights,23:25 and the weights are too heavy, and you can't even get them up, and then somebody comes over and leans on them. That's what God does. He leans on you.23:38 He puts hooks in your nose until he leans on you and you cry uncle. It's called being broken. You all know Silver, Lone Ranger's23:50 horse? You remember? High old Silver? Low way. Most of us know about the Lone Ranger. Most of us know24:02 about Tonto. Not a lot of us know about Silver. See, to know about Silver, you woulda had to see the first installment of the Lone Ranger. You had to see the first show. If you missed the first show, you don't know how24:14 the Lone Ranger got to be long. You just thought, it's this dude with with a mask on. No. When it first came, he didn't have a mask on,24:25 and he wasn't a lone ranger, he was part of a group of rangers. And the group of rangers got ambushed in a canyon in the old west. All of the other rangers were slain,24:37 and he was left for dead, but he wasn't dead yet. And he was revived by an Indian who discovered him in the canyon named Tonto.24:50 And when Tonto discovered the man who would become known as the Lone Ranger and nursed him back to health, in the canyon, they heard the voice of a horse. And they went25:02 over and they saw this white stallion, untamed. And the lone ranger began to ride the stallion, and the stallion would bucket25:13 off, ride the stallion and the stallion would bucket off, and he continued to ride the stallion until he got broke. Until he came under the control of the lone ranger.25:26 So when you see, at the end of the lone ranger, movies or television shows, Ohio Silver, and you see him go up on 2 legs25:38 and obey the lone ranger, it wasn't always that way. He had to be humbled. He had to be brought under the control of his master.25:51 God knows how to make you here high old silver. And any good cowboy will tell you, you ride a horse until it breaks.26:04 And God will ride you till you break. And soon as 1 thing gets fixed, something else will break. And it will break and break and break and break again until you say, Uncle.26:17 So what God does is he allows the weight of life to weigh us down in terms of his retribution against sin.26:30 Which leads us to verse 12. You're not gonna like verse 12. I'm a tell you that now. You're not gonna like verse 12. Because verse 12 says, and when he was in distress, that is when he cried uncle,26:43 he entreated the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God, watch this, of his fathers. You gotta watch this now. In his distress,26:55 Uncle, I quit, you win. After God had beaten him to a spiritual pulp,27:07 in his distress when he saw no way out, when his world was falling apart, when life had caved in and crushed in on him27:19 in his distress. If you've been living in rebellion today, and you're undergoing distress, that's good news. That's good27:31 news. That's not bad news. That's good news if you're living in rebellion and are undergoing distress, because that means God is still trying to get your attention. Beware when you're living27:43 in rebellion and there is no distress. He humbled himself greatly. He27:55 didn't just humble himself, he humbled himself greatly. In other words, he went way down. He got real low. Why did he28:07 humble himself greatly? Because he had sinned greatly. Great sin demands great response in repentance. Repentance means to change your mind.28:19 And the key to repentance is it unlocks the door of mercy. When a father or a mother for that manner has rebelled against God,28:31 even by throwing their sons to the dogs. As so many men have done today. When you humble28:42 yourself before God, he can't skip that. How do you know when you're really28:54 repentant? Oh, simple. You wanna vomit. Your soul wants to vomit. Like like29:05 when you're physically upset in your stomach and you wanna throw up. See, if your sin hasn't yet made you wanna throw up, you're not in enough distress yet.29:19 You're repentant when you begin to feel like you're sinned like God does, and you want to throw up at your rebellion,29:33 what you have done literally makes you sick, spiritually. It's distress, he says.29:46 Now, most of you have not done literally the things that he's done the way he has done them, but so many of us have our own resumes.29:59 We've abused women and left them emotionally strapped, emotionally devastated for our30:11 own good pleasure. We've abandoned children. We've walked away from responsibility.30:23 We've left mothers to go it alone. It's evil. There are ladies here who have rebelled against God.30:38 But the good news here is that when God's discipline causes you distress, God is ready to hear30:50 your repentance. He humbled himself. That means to go low, to become small in your own31:02 eyes. Football teams want big linemen. If you're on the line, you're a big31:14 guy. They want them stocky and stout and strong. And 1 of the things they tell their big linemen is stay low.31:27 Don't let the other guy stand you up. Because if he can stand you up, you lose power. So no matter how big you are as alignment, and you need to31:39 be big, be big but stay low. See, Manasseh got big and stayed high. He didn't get big and stay low. That's31:51 the trouble with success. That's the trouble with becoming a king at 12 years old. That's the trouble with being successful in your own business, being successful in your own32:03 life, being able to cut your own way that you get so big, you stay high. Rather than recognizing the higher you are, the lower you go.32:15 Say, need to go play golf. Well, a few problems with playing golf. Number 1, I don't have 4 hours at the same time. So I got a fundamental time32:27 problem in playing golf. Where am I gonna find this time with all I do to play golf? That's just 1 problem. Another problem is that's the most boring looking game I have ever32:38 seen in my life. Now, I know I got some golf guys here who love golf. I don't quite understand what you love, but I must admit,32:50 with the ascendancy of Tiger Woods, My interest in golf has somewhat peaked, at least when he's on33:01 television. Once his shot is over, I'm turning to the basketball game, or the football, whatever he else is on. But the way they talk about this guy,33:13 you know, I'm I'm just have become a little intrigued. Now I know very little about golf. I don't know much about golf, and I've only tried to play it twice. And the thing I don't like about it is33:25 how strong you are is irrelevant. You know? Lifting weights does not help you in golf. I could look the part, man. Know, you step you step around the ball a little bit, you know, you33:37 look down there, you know, and I look down. I even tried and did this. You know, try to get my try to get my swing on. I said, I can do this. Went up.33:51 You know, ball still on the tee, didn't budge. But there's 1. I know what what you're asking, where are you going, pastor, with this? I34:03 am going somewhere. Golf is different than basketball, and baseball, and football, and hockey,34:16 and tennis. Because in golf, the low score wins. See, all these other sports, the higher34:27 you go, the greater you are. The higher the points, the greater you are. Not in golf. In golf, the lower, the34:39 minus is what carries you in golf. If you've got plus in front of your number in golf, I don't know much, but I know this. If you've got plus in front of your34:51 golf number, you in trouble. The other day I saw Tiger Woods was minus, minus 9.35:04 The closest guy to him was plus 1. I was always raised to believe plus meant more. Not in golf. Minus means more.35:18 His greatness is in his ability to have a low score, to be on the minus side of the ledger. In God's kingdom,35:29 your pluses are not what carries you over. It is your ability to be exalted because you humble yourself. It is your ability to go low that makes you high in God's35:41 kingdom. Humble yourself below the mighty hand of God, and he will exalt you. Go low, he says. The greater your sin, the lower you go.35:56 He humbled himself. And then we come to verse 13. When he prayed to him, when Manasseh prayed to God,36:09 he, that is God, was moved by his entreaty, his prayer, his and heard his supplication, and brought him again36:21 to Jerusalem to his kingdom, then Manasseh knew the Lord was God. Now some of us don't like that. You know why we don't like it? Because he doesn't deserve that. This man36:33 doesn't deserve that. How could God do that? We don't like this because we don't like him. And36:45 anybody we don't like, we generally wanna see the worst happen to him. Anybody we don't like. Of course, we don't want the worst happening to us.36:57 Have mercy on me, get him. It says, God heard his37:08 supplication in the distress that produced the humility. He got low. There are some men and women here today who need37:20 to get low before God. You are still too high. You are not doing the limbo. Now let me hit you with a heavy 1.37:32 Hold on for this 1. Did you know that there will be people in heaven37:45 who were worse than people in hell? Let me say that again. Some of you didn't catch that. There will be people in heaven who37:56 will be worse than people in hell. You give me a man on death row who has killed a number of people, who comes to God in sincere humility38:08 and repentance and humbles himself. I'll show you a man who goes to the electric chair forgiven. I'm talking about forgiven.38:20 You show me another man who would never hurt a fly. He is the best neighbor in the world. He is the best person in38:32 the community. He has fed the poor. He has helped the sick. He has bought cookies from the Boy Scouts. I mean, this guy, this lady is just a tremendous38:43 citizen who does not see their need to humble themselves before a holy God, I'll show you a murderer who was forgiven in heaven and a good person who didn't need38:55 forgiveness in hell. Because a man is not made right with God by his righteousness. You say, how can that be fair? It's easy when you're perfect.39:09 I like to use the illustration of my wife on this 1, because everything has to be spic and span. Any of you men married to women like that, this spic and span kinda ladies?39:21 Oh, 2 of you. Alright. Just just everything has gotta be spic and span all the time.39:34 You know? That kind of stuff sometimes would drive you crazy. You know what I'm saying?39:47 So, 1 day she had to go out, she asked me to clean it up for her because she had to go out. So I called the kids around and gave them their jobs.39:59 You do this, you do this, you do this, I'll supervise. Okay? So we we did a pretty good job, in my opinion. I think I think we did good. She comes home.40:13 So I'm expecting this big hug and kiss and congratulations and oh, what a wonderful husband you are and I'm glad I married you and, you know, I can never love another after loving you, you know, all40:25 that stuff. This this stuff, you know. She comes in a little muffed, more40:36 irritated. You know? What's the problem? She says, I thought you were gonna clean up for me.Show more
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