2 Chronicles 28:22-23

And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord.

When affliction may be said to have failed of its object

I. I suppose that you have set your heart upon some cherished design--that you have dwelt upon it to such a degree as to neglect for it many social duties and all your thoughts of God. You have missed attaining it, and are deeply disappointed. If you have not learned thenceforward to strive more soberly, to plant and sow, and build and labour, and not look for success without uttering, “Father, if it seem good to Thee, nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt”; if you are still engaged in the same projects with the same temper, or one even more infatuated--then distress has been sent to you in vain: you are sacrificing to the gods that smote you; trespassing yet more against the Lord.

II. Suppose that you have been smitten with some disease, mental or bodily--the not unnatural, consequence of dissipation or thoughtlessness, or perverseness, or the like. If you have not learned from God’s displeasure; if you have not resolved that with renewed health you would walk in newness of life; if you have returned to your old sins with new zest from being for a time debarred from them--then the distress which God sent you has hardened and not softened you. You are worshipping the idols of your own hearts with a devotion which it will be more difficult than ever to displace.

III. Or, in conclusion, suppose that you have given way to ill-temper, and that God has punished you by alienation of friends, by retaliation on the part of ill-wishers, by distrust on the part of all. Has this set you upon governing the impetuousness of passion, or checking the reproachful word? Or have you merely turned your spirit into some more unkindly channel--moroseness, peevishness, misanthropy? If so, distress and chastisement have not done their proper work upon you. Like Ahaz you are going on to trespass yet more against the Lord. (D. Hessey.)

Ahaz’s persistent wickedness

I. A conspicuous example of persistent wickedness. He pushed on in face of many and powerful barriers placed in his way.

1. He had a godly ancestry. “Oh, sir,” said an aged sinner who came to his minister in great distress, “to think of my father’s and mother’s prayers, and then of the vile wretch that I have been!”

2. It would seem that other like influences continued to surround Ahaz in his own palace. The mother of his son Hezekiah was the daughter of the wise and good Zechariah.

3. God often makes use of goodness to bring men to repentance. He tried this upon Ahaz. In a time of peril and alarm Isaiah was commissioned to “say unto him, Take heed and be quiet; fear not, neither be faint-hearted.”

4. When goodness fails, it is God’s way to try severity.

II. What came of all this?

1. The king’s life was one of ill, not of good.

2. Ahaz brought ill upon others: “He made Judah naked.” “If,” says Dr. South, “a man could be wicked and a villain to himself alone, the mischief would be so much the more tolerable. But the case is much otherwise. The guilt of the crime lights upon one, but the example of it sways a multitude. Especially is this true if the criminal be one of note or eminence. For the fall of such an one by any temptation is like that of a principal stone or stately pillar tumbling from a lofty eminence into the deep mire of the street. It does not only plunge and sink into the black dirt itself: it also dashes or bespatters all that are about it, or near it, when it falls.”

3. In character and influence Ahaz went from bad to worse.

4. He went to an unhonoured and hopeless grave. (Monday Club Sermons.)

Sinning under the rod

I. Ahaz was the son of a pious king of judah.

II. For his wickedness God visited him with a series of sad calamities.

III. We see here the guilt and danger of hardening ourselves under God’s afflicting hand.

IV. Those who receive afflictions may grow more rebellious under them.

V. The guilt of any approach to such a condition may be easily seen.

VI. It becomes us to inquire, what have been the effects of God’s chastenings upon ourselves? (W. H. Lewis, D.D.)

The use and danger of despising afflictions.

I. The use of afflictions. The end of all the Divine dispensations towards mankind is their eternal salvation, in subserviency to the honour of His great name. This end can only be accomplished in the way of repentance, faith, and holiness. The aim, therefore, of all ordinances, providential dispensations, and means of grace, is to beget or strengthen in us these three branches of Christianity. Among the various means which the Lord makes use of for this end, affliction is one of the chief. The right use of afflictions will lead us--

1. To humble ourselves beneath His mighty hand.

2. To ascribe righteousness to Him by confessing our sins and acknowledging the justice of His dealings with us.

3. To return to Him by Jesus Christ.

4. To cleave to Him with full purpose of heart.

5. To submit to His will.

6. To depend upon His grace and power.

7. To walk in His ways.

II. The dreadful case or those who despise and abuse them (Proverbs 29:1). Ahaz trespassed more and more. Too many are like him (Revelation 16:10). (W. Richardson.)

Lessons from the life of Ahaz

I. That a course or sin is continually downward. Sin propagates itself, but is not reformatory.

II. That God is faithful in checking men in this downward course. God ever seeks by His providence and Spirit to turn men from an evil course which will end in ruin.

III. That if men will not be checked in an evil course, they may become notable examples of punishment. (James Wolfendale.)

Evil habits

1. Evil habits strengthen by indulgence.

2. The world increases its power over its votaries as they advance in life.

3. Sinners in mature years lose the perception of religious truth.

4. There is a limit to Divine endurance. (Biblical Museum.)