THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

The Books Of The Chronicles: God's Preservation Of His Davidic And Levitical Covenants

XXXIII. Overcoming Ungodly Peer Pressure To Compromise

(2 Chronicles 22:1-9b)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

(1) In today's world, we face a lot of peer pressure to support Black Lives Matter demonstrations:

(a) The Republican-American has told of many demonstrations in many places, including right here in New Hartford, where people expressed outrage over the murder of black man George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers.

(b) Evangelical leader John Piper has said, "'I saw a statistic that there were 102 unarmed black men killed by police, and that compares in its rate to a rate of five times larger than the killing of unarmed whites. So, you can get a feel for . . . the emergence of something like Black Lives Matter.'" (Brannon S. Howse, Marxianity, 2018, p. 172)

(c) Following George Floyd's death, Minneapolis councilmember Jeremiah Ellison said, "'We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department . . . And when we're done, we're not gonna glue it back together.'" (Michael Balsamo, "What does 'defund the police' mean?"; Ibid., Republican-American, June 8, 2020, p. 11A)

(d) In some cases, white demonstrators have felt so guilty over Mr. Floyd's death that they have knelt in public to confess the sin of racism to blacks. (Amanda Prestigiacomo, "White Protestors Kneel Before Black Protestors, Ask For Forgiveness; Black Protestors Respond By Joining Them In Prayer," June 1, 2020; dailywire.com)

(2) However, supporting Black Lives Matter and it demonstrations involves great compromises with Scripture:

(a) The "About" section of the Black Lives Matter website claims, "We affirm the lives of Black queer and trans folks, disabled folks, undocumented folks, folks with records, women, and all Black lives along the gender spectrum . . ." This organization thus opposes a number of the Biblical sexual standards of Leviticus 18:1-30 and Romans 1:24-27 while also countering the 1 Peter 2:13-14 call that we obey every ordinance of the government.

(b) Katie Pavlich's story, "Exposing The Black Lives Matter Movement For What It Is: Promotion of Cop Killing" (September, 2015; townhall.com) reported, "BLM activists in Minneapolis chanted, 'pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon,' as they marched . . . one day after the execution of Texas Sheriff Deputy Daron Goforth while he was filling up his patrol car at a local gas station." The phrase "'pigs in a blanket'" refers to "the bodies of dead police officers in body bags" (Ibid.), so supporting this Black Lives Matter chant counters Exodus 20:13 that forbids murder.

(c) On John Piper's claim about police killing five times the percentage of unarmed blacks versus whites, a study by "'Washington State University-Spokane'" found that "'officers were less likely to erroneously shoot unarmed black suspects than they were unarmed whites -- 25 times less likely . . . (a)nd officers hesitated significantly longer before shooting armed suspects who were black compared to armed suspects who were white or Hispanic'" (Ibid., Howse, p. 173). Evangelical leader John Piper's claim thus violates Ephesians 4:15 that calls us to speak the truth.

(d) On Mr. Ellison's call to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department, that move counters Romans 13:1-4 that directs us to submit to officials whom God sanctions using lethal weapons to punish evildoers! Even Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden after George Floyd's death has opposed stripping funding from police departments! (Bill Barrow, "Biden promises police reforms without stripping funding," Ibid., Rep.-Amer., June 9, 2020, p. 12A)

(e) On the guilt over George Floyd's death, Ezekiel 18:1-32 asserts that only the one who commits a sin is guilty of it, so only the people who acted in such a way that Mr. Floyd died are guilty of his death! God does not hold all white people guilty of Mr. Floyd's death as racists just because it was a white officer who mainly caused his death.

(f) There are also major spiritual problems with the founders of BLM, "Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi." ("Some Background on the Black Lives Matter Organization," June 7, 2020; targetliberty.com) "Cullors . . . is a queer black woman and a Fulbright scholar" and the "2018 recipient of the Jose Munoz Award from CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center," Ibid. "Garza is . . . the Special Projects Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance," and "is a queer black woman," Ibid. "Tometi . . . is a student of liberation theology" who "was allied with The Third World Women's Alliance, a revolutionary socialist women of color organization active from 1968 to 1980," Ibid. "The website informs that Black Lives Matter attempts to . . . disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure" and "foster a queer-affirming network," Ibid. The immoral and Marxist beliefs of these women violate Exodus 20:14, 15, and 17 that prohibit adultery, coveting and stealing.

Need: So we ask, "How must we respond to strong peer pressure to support Black Lives Matter demonstrations?!"

I. When Ahaziah rose to power, he compromised the Biblical truth of his Judaean ancestors, 2 Chr. 22:1-6:

A. Ahaziah compromised the Biblical faith, following the lead of his godless mother Athaliah, 2 Chron. 22:1-4:

1. Evil Ahab and Jezebel produced the godless Athaliah, Ryrie St. B., KJV, 1978, ftns. to 2 Chr. 22:1 & 22:2.

2. Since Athaliah was Ahaziah's mother, she counseled him to follow her vile Canaanite gods worshiped in turn by her wicked parents Ahab and Jezebel, and Ahaziah heeded Athaliah's counsel, 2 Chronicles 22:1-4.

B. Ahaziah compromised his associations, joining his evil uncle Jehoram in battle against Aramea, 2 Chr. 22:5:

1. Israel's king Jehoram was Ahaziah's uncle and his mother Athaliah's brother, so Ahaziah joined his wicked uncle in a military association to fight the Arameans at Ramoth-Gilead, 2 Chronicles 22:5.

2. Ahaziah had not learned the lesson his grandfather Jehoshaphat had forced to learn -- that joining in battle with a wicked king of Israel at Ramoth-Gilead elicited God's wrath! (cf. 2 Chronicles 18:1-34 with 19:1-3)

C. Ahaziah compromised his fellowship, trying to comfort his evil uncle Jehoram over his injury, 2 Chron. 22:6:

1. When evil Jehoram was wounded in battle, he retired to Jezreel to heal from his wounds, 2 Chron. 22:6a.

2. Ahaziah then compromised his fellowship by visiting his evil uncle Jehoram to encourage him (2 Chron. 22:6b), for 2 John 10-11 reveals that encouraging an apostate makes one a partaker of his evil deeds!

II. For these compromises, God arranged for Ahaziah to have an untimely, violent death, 2 Chron. 22:7-9a:

A. The Lord used Ahaziah's compromising effort to encourage the wounded Jehoram to end his life, 2 Chr. 22:7a.

B. Specifically, when Ahaziah visited Jehoram, he went out with Jehoram to meet Jehu the son of Nimshi whom God had anointed to destroy Ahab's line, 2 Chronicles 22:7b. Jehu slew the princes of Judah and Ahaziah's relatives who attended king Ahaziah, and Jehu searched for and found Ahaziah and slew him also, 2 Chron. 22:9a. Judah's people buried Ahaziah out of respect for his godly grandfather Jehoshaphat, 2 Chron. 22:9b.

Lesson: God severely punished Ahaziah with an untimely, violent death for compromising his faith, his associations and his fellowship.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ for salvation, John 3:16. (2) May we not compromise our Christian faith, our associations or our fellowship, but stay true to Scripture's God in our faith and our relationships.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

We apply this sermon's lesson to the issues addressed in our introduction (as follows):

(1) Acts 5:29 directs that we obey God over man, and participating in or supporting Black Lives Matter violates God's Scriptural commands in several ways: (a) Black Lives Matter demonstrators have promoted the murder of police officers and as an institution, BLM condones immorality, the destruction of the family and rebellion against law and order as noted in our introduction. (b) Also, participating in or helping apostates violates God's call in 2 John 10-11 that we not encourage apostates lest we share in their evil deeds, so we cannot support Black Lives Matter.

(2) However, Scripture teaches us to view every human being as precious: (a) God loves and values black people, for He sent Philip from Samaria to meet the lone Ethiopian eunuch of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, when he was riding in his chariot returning from Jerusalem and reading from Isaiah 53:7-8, wondering what it meant, Acts 8:26-34. Philip explained the passage to him, preached about Christ, and the Ethiopian eunuch believed in Christ, Acts 8:35-39. (b) Later, when God led the Apostle Paul by a vision in Acts 16:6-10 to cross the Aegean Sea from Troas to Thessalonica to evangelize people there, the Lord was opening the door for ministry to Europe. God thus also loves and values white people. (e) Finally, Jesus in Matthew 28:19 told His followers to disciple "all nations," so every human being regardless of race or ethnicity is precious in God's eyes and needs to hear the Gospel of Christ that he might believe it and be saved! Dr. Byang H. Kato, the son of a West African shaman, who trusted in Christ and earned a doctorate of theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary, in his critique of "black theology" in the seminary's scholarly journal, clarified this issue, writing, "Christians are to worship not a black Jesus or black God, but the omnipotent God of the Bible, who has spoken to 'red and yellow, black and white,' all of whom are precious in His sight." (Byang H. Kato, "An Evaluation Of Black Theology," Bibliotheca Sacra, July-September, 1976, p. 252)

(3) As for the sin of racism, applying Ezekiel 18:1-32 leads us to see that (a) one who hates another person due to his race is guilty of sin, and he must confess it as sin to the person he has hurt and to God. (b) However, one must not let himself feel guilty of racism due to his skin color or due to what his forefathers might have done in mistreating others of another color; rather, he must judge himself by what is in his own heart and by what he himself has done!

(4) On demonstrating, Philippians 4:5 directs us Christians to let our "moderation" (KJV) be known to all men, the Greek term being epieikes, a "forbearing spirit." (Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 292) Demonstrating is the opposite of a forbearing spirit that puts up with pain or wrong, so we should not demonstrate!

May we trust in Christ for salvation. May we not compromise our faith, our associations or our fellowship, but heed God in the Holy Spirit's power to be righteous, loving and forbearing!