1. King Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign as the king of Judah, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem (28:1).
2. "He did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD, like David his father" (28:1; cf. 28:22).
3. Because he was such a wicked king, he died unlamented and was refused a burial with the kings, his ancestors (28:27).

I. KING AHAZ WAS AN INCORRIGIBLE SINNER

1. Second Chronicles 28 is not easy to read. We see over and over again that King Ahaz was an incorrigible sinner (28:1-4).
2. King Ahaz had many advantages -- a godly king for a father, and a godly king for a grandfather (cf. 27:1, 2).
3. But King Ahaz did not follow in the footsteps of his father Jotham. "For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim" (28:2).
4. Matthew Henry said, "Never surely had a man greater opportunity of doing well than Ahaz had, finding things in a good posture, the kingdom rich and strong and religion established; and yet here we have him in these few verses -- wretchedly corrupted and debauched."
5. King Ahaz was a stubborn, obstinate sinner. Proverbs 27:22 says, "Though thou shouldest bray (to pound or to crush) a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him."
6. The LORD kept pounding King Ahaz, but Ahaz refused to give up his foolishness (cf. II Chron. 28:5-8).
7. In fact, the deeper into trouble he got, the worse he got (28:22).
8. Merrill Unger described King Ahaz this way: “Ahaz was of a peculiar stripe of wickedness. At the very time he was oppressed, he continued to wrong the LORD. He was a royal donkey in whose case divine chastisement beat no sense into his head but, rather, beat out of it what little sense that may have been there. His spiritual idiocy is seen in his offering sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, which smote him (through Rezin), reasoning that if these gods helped his foes, they would now help him” (Unger’s Commentary on the OT, Volume 1).
9. "Though thou shouldest bray (to pound or to crush) a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him" (Pro. 27:22).
10. One preacher said, "With some men, however severe may be the efforts you employ to drive out the folly that is in them, your labour is in vain. There is no correction that will cure them. Repeated reproofs accomplish nothing. Their folly cleaves to them still. They are so incorrigibly bad that, like Ahaz, they trespass yet more" (Homiletical Commentary on Proverbs).
11. Second Kings 16:17 says King Ahaz sent messengers to the king of Assyria, saying, "I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me."
12. How much better to pray to God and say, "I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me"!
13. There are some of you here today who will not submit to God, but you have no qualms about submitting to worldly people who are only leading you astray.
14. Young people -- you need to submit to God. Your worldly companions are leading you down the path of ruin -- immorality, drugs, crime and mischief, etc.

II. KING AHAZ PRACTICED RELIGIOUS SYNCRETISM (28:23).

1. Religious syncretism is the attempt to reconcile or blend together different or opposing religions. For example, some Roman Catholics have tried to scramble together Roman Catholicism with voodoo or Santeria, etc.
2. Idolatry and syncretism had been a problem in Israel from the very beginning. The LORD said, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image" (Ex. 20:4, the second commandment).
3. The LORD judged King Solomon because he practiced religious syncretism, and God split his kingdom in two (I Kings 11:1-13).
4. The first king of the northern kingdom was Jeroboam, and he introduced syncretism right away, in order to keep the Israelites from worshipping in the temple at Jerusalem (I Kings 12:25-33).
5. Religious syncretism (today it is often called "religious pluralism") is still very popular today. The modern ecumenical movement is very syncretistic. An example of this was the prayer service held in Yankee Stadium in 2001, a few days after the September 11 terrorist attack on the WTC.
6. Oprah Winfrey (unsaved "New Age" television celebrity) was the host for this syncretistic hodge-podge that included Roman Catholic priests, Jewish rabbis, Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims.
7. King Ahaz was an idolater, and he followed "after the abominations of the heathen" (28:2-4).
8. When King Ahaz was in Damascus, he was impressed with one of the heathen altars he saw there, and he decided to have one built in Jerusalem just like it (cf. II Kings 16:10-18).
9. Second Chronicles 28:23 says this syncretistic worship "was the ruin of him, and of all Israel."
10. The Bible says King Ahaz "made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem" (28:24), and he "provoked to anger the LORD God of his fathers" (28:25).
11. King Ahaz was so engrossed in heathenism that he even "burnt his children in the fire..." (28:3).
12. This "valley of the son of Hinnom" (28:3)is very prominent in Scripture. When we get to the New Testament, the Hebrew word Hinnom is called by the Greek name Gehenna.
13. It is always translated in our English Bible as "hell."
14. Our Lord said in Mark 9:43, "And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched."
15. The fires in the valley of Hinnom were eventually quenched, but the fires in hell will never be quenched. The Bible speaks of eternal hellfire, and eternal damnation.
16. It is incredible that a king of Judah would actually kill his own son, and offer him as a burnt offering (II Chron. 28:3).
17. We shudder when we read things like this, but look at what is happening here in so-called Christian America. More than 56 million babies have been aborted since the Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973.
18. And in England, the bodies of thousands of aborted and miscarried babies were incinerated in furnaces in order to heat the hospitals.
19. Just the other day, the British Department of Health issued an instant ban on the practice which their health minister Dr. Dan Poulter branded "totally unacceptable."
20. At least 15,500 fetal remains were incinerated by 27 National Health Service trusts (government corporations) over the last two years alone, an investigation discovered (cf. Numbers 35:33, 34).
21. Recently the New York Jets hired quarterback Michael Vick. Many people are upset because Mr. Vick used to run a dog-fighting ring, and some dogs were killed. He spent 19 months in prison for that crime.
22. Yet these same people who are furious with Michael Vick (and with the Jets for hiring him) for killing a few dogs do not seem bothered by the fact that 1.6 million babies are killed by abortion every year here in America.

III. KING AHAZ WAS JUDGED BY GOD

1. Second Chronicles 28:5 says, "Wherefore the LORD his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him..." (cf. verses 6-8, 19).
2. If King Ahaz had put his trust in the LORD, he would not have suffered defeat. Israel and Syria formed an alliance in an effort to attack Jerusalem and take over Judah.
3. When King Ahaz was being threatened by Israel and Syria, the LORD graciously sent the prophet Isaiah to talk to King Ahaz, and Isaiah assured him the LORD would take care of his enemies.
4. But Ahaz did not trust in God. Isaiah said to King Ahaz, "If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established" (Isaiah 7:9b).
5. The key was faith! If King Ahaz would trust God, God would fight for him. But sadly, King Ahaz was faithless, and so he was defeated by his enemies.
6. Isaiah responded to King Ahaz's impiety and hypocrisy by saying, “Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?” (Isaiah 7:13).
7. Sinners weary God with their unbelief and their foolishness.
8. King Ahaz would not turn to the LORD, so he was defeated by his enemies. Pekah, the king of Israel, slew in Judah 120,000 in one day (II Chron. 28:6).
9. Then King Ahaz's son Maaseiah was killed. Azrikam the governor (steward or treasurer) of the house, and Elkanah who was second in command to the king were also killed (II Chron. 28:7).
10. "For the LORD brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel..." (28:19). Verse 19 says King Ahaz "made Judah naked." This means he stripped them of the LORD'S protection, making them exposed to their enemies -- the LORD allowed the Edomites and the Philistines to invade Judah (28:17, 18).
11. Despite all this trouble, King Ahaz would not turn to the LORD!
12. "And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz" (28:22).
13. The LORD warned King Ahaz, but King Ahaz foolishly ignored God's warnings.

CONCLUSION:

1. I read an interesting article the other day about the mudslide in Washington State. At least eighteen people have died and they are still looking for more bodies buried under the mudslide.
2. Many residents have been reported missing, and are likely dead.
3. In 1999, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hired a geologist to do a study. After the mudslide, the man said, "I knew it would fail...I was not surprised." He said he warned them.
4. Furthermore, that area is prone to landslides. Less than a decade ago, another mudslide hit in the same general area.
5. The Johnstown Pennsylvania Flood in 1889 was one of the worst disasters in American history. For days men were busy trying to shore up the dam but eventually realized their efforts were hopeless.
6. They sent men three or four times to warn people below of the impending danger, but the citizens had ignored the warnings.
7. Right before the dam broke, a telegraph operator at the railroad station saw the flood waters rising, and had heard of the first break in the dam.
8. He sent a message to his wife to prepare for the flood. His message read: “Dress the three children in their best Sunday clothes. Gather together what valuables you can easily carry and leave the house. Go to the stable on the hillside. Stay there until the water reaches it; then run to the mountain. The dam is breaking. The flood is coming. Lose no time.”
9. His wife showed the message to her friends, but they laughed at her. They even persuaded her to not follow her husband’s instructions.
10. Finally the flood came, and the telegraph operator saw houses and bodies sweep past him. His last message was: “The water is all around me; I cannot stay longer, and, for God’s sake, all fly.”
11. Then he jumped out of his tower window and ran up the mountain just in time to save himself. Houses plunged up in the waves of water -- 20 million tons of water! He saw people standing on roof tops yelling and crying.
12. The flood killed 2,209 people, and it destroyed 1,600 homes and 280 businesses. Amos 4:12 says, "Prepare to meet thy God."