Repent before it is too late!

2/8/11 2 Kings 21; 2 Chronicles 33; John 4

S: 2 Chronicles 33:6 Manasseh also sacrificed his own sons in the firet in the valley of Ben-Hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and he consulted with mediums and psychics. He did much that was evil in the LORD’s sight, arousing his anger.

2 Chronicles 33:10-13 The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they ignored all his warnings. So the LORD sent the commanders of the Assyrian armies, and they took Manasseh prisoner. They put a ring through his nose, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon. But while in deep distress, Manasseh sought the LORD his God and sincerely humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. And when he prayed, the Lord listened to him and was moved by his request. So the LORD brought Manasseh back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh finally realized that the LORD alone is God!

O: King Manasseh should have known better -- he had a really godly father, King Hezekiah. Yet he did so much evil, even to the point of human sacrifice!

Yet, it was still possible to repent!

A: Let's not wait until we are dragged off in captivity to repent, like Manasseh did. In our modern context, God gives us grace and time to repent, but after a certain time, the consequences of our sins will come upon us.

I personally struggle with temptation a lot and give in a lot. But I need to repent quickly and not wallow in the sin, and I need to resist temptation and not sin in the first place!

Thanks be to God that even bad King Manasseh could repent. Let's repent quickly!

P: Father, I repent of my sins and thank You for Your grace and forgiveness. Thank You for Jesus' sacrifice on the cross which makes this possible. Keep me from temptation and deliver me from evil. In Jesus' name, Amen.

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Note: verse 18 says that the prayer of Manasseh was recorded in The Book of the Kings of Israel and verse 19 says that it was also recorded in the Record of the Seers. These two books don't survive to this day, but in the Orthodox Christian Bible (from the Septuagint, the ancient Syriac, Old Slavonic, Ethiopic, Armenian and Ethiopian translations of the Bible) you can find a passage called the Prayer of Manasseh. You can read a modern English translation of this text here. This text is recognised as scripture by the Orthodox church; the Catholic church sees it as an important text, but does not recognise it as scripture; some Protestant churches have a similar view as the Catholic church, while others are like the Evangelical churches which largely ignore it.