Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2365
“And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.” 2 Chronicles 24:2.
“Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king listened to them. And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this, their trespass.”
2 Chronicles 24:17,18.
THERE is a book called The Museum of Natural History and the most amazing animal in that museum is man. It would be far more easy to understand any other creature than to understand a human being. He is worthy of very great study and the more he is studied, the more will he surprise you. There are certain characters that are great curiosities. Alas, there are, also, other characters that are great monstrosities! You can never tell, from what a man is, what he will be. The case before us is a very extraordinary one because here is a man with every possible advantage who, through a number of years, exhibited the brightest form of character. And, yet, in the end, he was not thought worthy to be laid in the sepulchers of his fathers with others of the kings of Judah. Neither was he worthy of any royal interment, for the latter part of his life blackened and defiled the whole of his career and he who began his reign like the dawning of the day, ended it like the middle of the night.
I wonder whether there are any persons here who will turn out to be very sinful and wicked before life is over? I mean, those who have begun well, who are now the hope and joy of those who know them, but who will end badly, in dishonor to themselves and grief to their households? If there are such here, probably you can find them out by this one test. Those who say, “It is impossible that it should be so with us,” are probably the persons. While those who are afraid lest it should be so and ask for Grace that it may not be so, are probably those who will be preserved and whose path will shine brighter and brighter unto the perfect day.
Dear Friends, what need there is to go below the surface in the examination of moral and spiritual character! I shall have to prove this to you, tonight, for in appearance, Joash was all that we could wish. Yet, had he really been what he seemed to be, he would have continued so! If there had been that work of Grace within his soul which there appeared to be in his life, he would not have turned aside as he did, for where a work of Grace is real and true, it is known by its abiding influence throughout the whole of life. Where godly principles have been imparted and a Divine Life has been infused, these things are not taken from a man. “They went out from us, but they were not of us,” said the Apostle John, “for if they had been of us, they would, no doubt, have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” So was it with Joash. He turned aside from God because he had never truly known the Lord at all! And his last end was worse than the first because his beginning was really not such as it had seemed to be.
I trust that every person here desires to have genuine religion and not to have the sham. There is a prayer that I recommend to everyone as I desire to use it myself, “Lord, let me know the very worst of my case! Do not suffer me either to deceive myself, or to be deceived by others. If I am not Yours, let me know that I am not Yours. If my repentance is but a seeming repentance and my faith but the mere shadow of faith, and not the substance of it, Lord, by Your good Spirit convince me of my dangerous delusion and let me know where I am and what I am!” I am sure many of you desire to pray like that and, perhaps while I am speaking, that petition may be answered, especially in the case of some of our young friends.
I was very happy, last Sunday night, in preaching as I believe so as to suit the case of one young man of whom I knew but very little. Yet it seems that I described him so accurately that he felt that I was speaking especially to him. At the same time there was another young man, sitting in quite another part of the Tabernacle, who came in on Thursday to tell me how pointedly and distinctly I had described him. On Saturday I received a letter from the center of England, from a father who sent me his son’s letter saying that he was here and that I had looked at him, and distinctly and accurately described him. It is not always that we can hit three birds with one shot, but I have been praying that I may have still better success, tonight, and that many may feel, “The preacher is speaking of me. He is describing my character.” God grant that it may be so!
My first head will be taken from the first verse of our text—“Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.” This is my first division—It is a great blessing when young people yield to godly influences. The second division will be—But this is not all that is needed. And the third will be—This yielding spirit may prove a source of mischief. Instead of being a blessing, it will be a curse if it has not something more added to it.