By Steve A. Hamilton

2 Kings 1:2-6

Introduction: How often have we used that old cliché?  

I. Ahaziah never learned.

          A. Ahaziah was confined to bed due to an injury he received in a fall.  So he thought he would inquire of Baalzebub whether his condition was life threatening.  However, God had Elijah to meet Ahaziah’s messenger to inform him of his arrogance.  “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron?  Now therefore, thus says the Lord: ‘You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die’”     (2 Kings 1:3-4).

          B. Ahaziah is an Israelite and the king of the ten northern tribes of Israel. He is so out of touch that he seeks the advice of an idol.  Do we honestly think that Ahaziah never heard the first of the 10 commandments: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Ex. 20:3)?

          C. When the messenger returns to Ahaziah with the bad news, Ahaziah decides to retrieve Elijah with his soldiers (2 Kings 1:9-12) Understand, Ahaziah wasn’t even willing to acknowledge God before Elijah came into the picture.

          D. Now after being told by God that he would die and losing two groups of 50 soldiers, do you think Ahaziah learned anything?  Apparently Ahaziah did not learn a thing because he sends a third group of 50 soldiers.  The only difference this time was the captain learned something (2 Kings 1:13-15).

          E. Ahaziah never learned (2 Kings 1:16-17a).

II. Consider the foolishness of Ahaziah.

          A. He already knew he was being disobedient to God and that God was angry with him.  So what does he do?  He tries to forcibly make God’s prophet respond to his summons.  Wouldn’t you think he would have gotten the message after God wiped out the first set of soldiers?  Not only did he foolishly send a second set of soldiers to their destruction but he sent a third set of soldiers.

          B. The point is this: how many times do we foolishly fail to learn from our sins?  Sin has consequences; yet, we foolishly repeat the same destructive conduct.  Are we really that much different than Ahaziah?  

III. Do we never learn (Rom. 15:4)?

          A. How often do we sin in the same way over and over again?  Despite all the instructions and examples to the contrary in God’s word; how often do we find ourselves doing the very thing we should know is wrong?

          B. Notice one of the 7 abominations that God hates (Prov. 6:16-19); “Feet that are swift in running to evil.”

          C. We must be insane.  Insanity practically defined is doing the same thing and hoping to get different result.  Do we do the same things that sinful people throughout history have done hoping to escape the judgment of God?

IV. We must come to a knowledge of the truth.

          A. We cannot afford to ever be learning (2 Tim. 3:6-7).  Paul is talking about the days in which we live which are full of people who constantly allow lusts to rule their lives (2 Tim. 3:1-5).

          B. Sadly, all sinful conduct will become known to all (2 Tim. 3:8-9).

Conclusion: Wisdom should teach us to learn from our mistakes and from the mistakes made by others (Jas. 3:13-18).  Do you need to repent of your destructive sinful ways?  Or do you just never learn?

Last modified: 05/02/08