Why do people fall away? Over the last two weeks, the Bible has given us two hard warnings. A true Christian can fall away. Not because Christ is weak , or God is unfaithful , or the Holy Spirit fails. But because faith receives salvation in Christ through the Word about Christ. So i f we turn away from Christ to trust again in ourselves, then we turn away from the only place where salvation is given.
Then last week, we heard how falling away starts. It does not usually start with someone waking up one morning and deciding, “Today, I will reject God.”
It starts when something else begins to look more necessary than Christ. Security. Control. Respect. Relief. Power. A way out.
F alling away does not begin somewhere strange and far away from us. It begins in exactly the places where we are frightened, pressured, tired, ashamed, cornered, or desperate.
But why does this happen? Why do some people fall away?
King Ahaz was not a n outsider ; an unbeliever; or a pagan . He was king in Jerusalem. He had the temple. He had the promises. He belonged to the line of David. He was surrounded by everything God had given for the life and salvation of his people. And yet when pressure came, he trusted something else.
Ahaz’ life gives us three warnings about why people fall away, and one assurance from the Gospel. The first warning is this: 1) We all underestimate our capacity for evil
Let’s read vv. 1-4 :
1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God, as his father David had done, 3 but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.
You’re Ahaz . You’re twenty . And the responsibility for the entire country is placed on your shoulders. All of us here have many stresses : — the contracts needed to start that business; —that negotiation with your spouse; —money, health, family issues.
Many of us are still struggling to juggle these things at 30, still a personal mess at 40, not on top of everything at 50.
The entire country was on Ahaz’ shoulders at 20.
Now, he had more than just responsibility:
He had inherited the promises of God. He had the temple , the priesthood , the sacrifices , the Scriptures. He had the history of David, the mercy of the LORD, the covenant.
And yet despite all these blessings , th e pressure sat on Ahaz, and crushed him . He did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD. He trusted in his own judgment —and did what was right in his eyes. He walked in the way of the kings of Israel. Not in the ways of David. He worshipped where God had not commanded — popular religion that seemed to be successful, rather than trusting the unpopular Word God says — which culminates in that awful statement: “He even burned his son as an offering.”
We all underestimate our capacity for evil
Ahaz did not lack religious surroundings. He didn’t lack access to God’s Word . The temple was right next door where he slept; God’s prophets met in his court each day . Ahaz fell away with the promises in his ears. He fell away while wearing the crown of David’s house. He fell away into the most horrifying practice imaginable.
We can’t rely on ourselves. We can’t trust ourselves. It doesn’t matter how good your upbringing was, or how sincere and religious your feelings are today. The pressures in life came upon Ahaz early, and those pressures forced what he trusts to the surface. He turned from God’s Word to trust what was popular and visible. And even his privilege didn’t curb his horrific sin.
This is a danger for all of us because: 2) We all want to trust something powerful
Verses 5-9 zoom into part of Ahaz’ story:
5 Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. 6 At that time Rezin the king of Syria recovered Elath for Syria and drove the men of Judah from Elath, and the Edomites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day. 7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath- pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” 8 Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasures of the king’s house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. 9 And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir, and he killed Rezin.
We get this snapshot of Ahaz’ life, because it shows us the heart of his sickness that eventually led to the sickness of his actions.
Ahaz is stressed. He’s under huge pressure. He’s in danger. His country’s in danger. His people are in danger.
Think about when you’ve made your worst mistakes in life. What provoked them? I think of my kids, my career, my finances, my reptutation . When these things are attacked and threatened —that’s when I make my biggest mistakes. I was talking to someone this week, who was really worried about their child: and so they are struggling with anger and frustration. Of course they are: We all want to trust something powerful When someone you love deeply is threatened, you want to see the solution—now.
That’s why Ahaz turned away from the Lord, and took the gold from the temple, and put his trust and God’s treasure in the hands of Tiglath- Pilezer . Because he was scared, and trusted power he could see.
What power you can see do you trust?
But where this turned into real self-deception for Ahaz, was the way he convinced himself he was being faithful. That’s the third warning: 3) We all reshape religion around what we trust
Tiglath- pilezer was the most powerful man in Ahaz’ world, and so Ahaz concludes: of course his religious views must be true, vv. 10-18 :
10 When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath- pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. 11 And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. 12 And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it 13 and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. 14 And the bronze altar that was before the LORD he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of his altar. 15 And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” 16 Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded.
17 And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal. 18 And the covered way for the Sabbath that had been built inside the house and the outer entrance for the king he caused to go around the house of the LORD, because of the king of Assyria.
Ahaz turned way from the Lord to a successful religion, a powerful religion, a religion for which he even sacrificed even his own child .
But, We all reshape religion around what we trust
As we discuss today planting Nottingham Lutheran Church, will we talk about “What gets results?” or will we talk about “What does faithfulness look like ?” As we ask ourselves: what church is a trust church, will we talk about the purity of doctrine from the Bible, or which church does God seem to be outwardly blessing? These are the three warnings Ahaz’ life gives us: We all underestimate our capacity for evil We all want to trust something powerful We all reshape religion around what we trust
But then the prophet who recorded this history gives us one assurance from the Gospel : 4) no amount of evil can stop God’s promises
Please look at vv. 19-20 :
19 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 20 And Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.
That is all we get. After all the horror, all the unbelief, all the false worship, all the corruption of the temple, all the damage Ahaz did to Judah and to his own son, the chapter ends very quietly.
Ahaz died. His fear died. His strategy died. His deal with Assyria died. His successful religion died.
But the promise of God did not die. “And Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.” Now, Hezekiah was not Christ. Hezekiah was also a sinner. But when faced with the same pressures, Hezekiah responded with trust in God’s Word, not trust in himself. Ahaz did not get the final word over God’s promises.
Back then, the king of Judah changed each generation. But today, the king of Judah is fixed forever, and his trust his Father , and his commitment to you, never waivers. Not one bit.
Ahaz could corrupt the temple, but he could not destroy the mercy of God. Jesus ended the temple, by giving up the temple of his body, all so that God’s mercy for you would be legally fixed forever.
Ahaz could sacrifice his son, but he could not end the line of David. The true Son of David gave himself for you and your children, and his work as priest for you and your family will never end.
Ahaz could drag Judah towards Assyria, but he could not stop the Lord from bringing his King.
Your evil is real. Your unbelief is real. Your capacity to fall away is real. Your desire to trust something powerful is real. Your habit of reshaping religion around what you trust is real. But just as Ahaz’ evil was not stronger than God’s promise, your evil is not stronger than God’s promise.
You cannot trust yourself, your will power, your ability to withstand. But you can trust Jesus, his will power, his ability to preserve you , and his promises . Hear what the eternal Son of David promises you:
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:27-28)