Prayer of the Day: Spare us, O Lord, and mercifully forgive us our sins. Though by our continual transgressions we have merited Your chastisements, be gracious to us. Grant that all these punishments which we have deserved may not come upon us, but that all things may work to our everlasting good; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Sermon Theme: Amazing Grace for Manasseh and Me

So Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel. And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. Therefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon. Now when he was in affliction, he implored the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God. After this he built a wall outside the City of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate; and it enclosed Ophel, and he raised it to a very great height. Then he put military captains in all the fortified cities of Judah. He took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem; and he cast them out of the city. He also repaired the altar of the LORD, sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel. NKJV

In the name of Christ Jesus, who came to save sinners, grace and peace be with you all, dear fellow redeemed,

Some of you may be familiar with the background to the hymn “Amazing Grace.” It was written by an Anglican pastor named John Newton in the late 1700s. The hymn is about John Newton’s own life experience. Before he was an Anglican pastor, he was a man who gave very little thought to God. After leaving the British Royal Navy, he became involved in the business of slave trading—transporting men, women, and children from Africa to America to sell them as slaves.

In 1748, at the age of 23, Newton was involved in a storm at sea that was so violent he thought he was going to die. He prayed to God for mercy, not only from the storm but from his sins. God spared Newton’s life. Newton went on to study Christian theology and eventually became an opponent of slavery. God saving him from his wretched sins is the “Amazing Grace” that Newton writes about.

Our text this morning also gives us an example of God’s amazing grace for a wretched sinner. Listen to the great sins of King Manasseh and God’s grace which was even greater in 2 Chronicles 33, verses 9 through 16.

Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel.

¹⁰ The LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. ¹¹ Therefore the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. ¹² And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. ¹³ He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.

¹⁴ Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into the Fish Gate, and carried it around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah. ¹⁵ And he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city. ¹⁶ He also restored the altar of the LORD and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel. (ESV)

So far the Word of God. Even so we pray with the young prophet Samuel, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Amen.

When godly King Hezekiah died, his son, Manasseh, began reigning in Judah at the age of 12. Manasseh was not like his believing father. Manasseh rebuilt the altars to false gods his father had torn down. Manasseh worshipped the sun, moon, and stars. He offered his son as a burnt offering to false gods. He placed altars to false gods and even an idol in the Temple of the LORD.

And as the king went, so went the people. The first verse of our text speaks of the spiritual impact wicked King Manasseh had on the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Verse 9 states that Manasseh “led” the people to do more evil than all the heathen nations before them. Literally, it means to stumble around like a drunkard. That’s what Manasseh was doing himself and causing the people to do. They were spiritually stumbling around like a drunkard, going from one false god and sin to another.

The LORD tried to warn this wicked king. He sent His messengers with His Word to warn Manasseh about his sin. But he and the people would not listen. So the LORD punished Manasseh. He was captured by the Babylonians and led away like an animal to Babylon, chained with bronze shackles, with a hook through his nose.

King Manasseh was indeed a great sinner. But if we only see Manasseh’s great sins in this text, we are not looking close enough. Do you see yourself? If I look hard enough, I see myself. Manasseh’s chief sins were against the First Commandment. The First Commandment isn’t that difficult to understand. It’s something we learned as children. “You shall have no other gods,” the LORD says. Jesus says, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.” (Matthew 22:37-38) “Do this and you will live,” Jesus says (Luke 10:28).

Manasseh sure didn’t. But do we? Is ALL of our heart, ALL of our soul, and ALL of our mind committed to the LORD our God ALL of the time? Maybe our idolatry isn’t as open and obvious as Manasseh’s. Maybe it’s that secret idolatry of the heart, where we put someone or something ahead of God in our hearts.

• Maybe our family or our job is more important than God and His Word.
• Maybe it’s our free time or entertainment that becomes more important than God and His Word.
• What about the sports fan who said if their favorite team was playing at the time of the worship service, they would be in front of the TV rather than in front of Jesus to hear His word.
• Or maybe like me, you want to be god, with everyone listening to you and praising you.

Our idolatry may not be as open and obvious as Manasseh’s, but our sin is great. For such sins, a hook should be put in our nose, and we should be led away in chains to the eternal darkness of hell. With John Newton and Manasseh, we are wretched sinners.

What does God do for us wretched sinners? While chained in Babylon like an animal, King Manasseh became like the prodigal son Jesus speaks of in His parable. Manasseh humbled himself greatly and ran to the heavenly Father in repentant prayer.

Now, there is no reason why God should hear the prayer of this man. God had given Manasseh his chance. Manasseh had been born to a Christian father. God reached out to Manasseh with His Word, warning him of his sins, but Manasseh would not listen. Finally, God had Manasseh hauled away from Jerusalem like an animal in chains. NOW God was supposed to listen to his prayer?

No, God did not need to. Justice required that this wicked king be rightly punished for his wickedness. Yet, God does hear Manasseh’s prayer. “God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.” God heard and answered the prayer of this great sinner and restored him.

Why? Why would God do this for such a great sinner? God did it because His amazing grace, His undeserved love for sinners, was even greater. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 5:20 that “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” The Apostle Paul personally knew about great sin and greater grace. Paul calls himself the chief of sinners. He was formerly a persecutor of Christians. He went into the homes of Christians and hauled mothers and fathers off to jail for worshiping Jesus.

Yet on the road to Damascus, the amazing grace of God shined down on Paul from heaven. In the little town of Bethlehem, a young virgin from the house and lineage of Manasseh, gave birth to God’s gift of amazing grace to the world. God became man. God became man, not because HE needed to, but because WE needed Him to. Jesus is the great Savior that Manasseh, Paul, and we needed.

Jesus was born to be Manasseh’s sin bearer. He took all of Manasseh’s vile wickedness on Himself and on the cross suffered a punishment worse than a hook through the nose. All the sins of Manasseh were chained to Jesus. And by the wounds of Jesus, Manasseh was healed. Christ’s resurrection from the dead meant that God accepted the perfect sacrifice of the perfect Son of Manasseh and Manasseh would be forgiven. Through faith in the grace of God, Manasseh was restored not just as king of Judah, but restored as God’s child. The grace of God is so amazing that He could forgive even Manasseh’s sins.

This amazing grace of God for this great sinner changed Manasseh. We read in our text that Manasseh fortified the city of Jerusalem and tore down the altars he had built in Jerusalem and in the Temple. He commanded the people to serve the LORD God of Israel.

This is good news. This is GREAT news. No matter the sin, no matter how great, the sinless Son of Manasseh came into the world to save sinners just like Manasseh, just like Paul, just like me, and just like you. Rejoice that God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor 5:21). Rejoice, dear repentant sinners, that the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. Christ came to save you because you could not save yourself. Rejoice that God’s grace is so amazing that it can even save YOU.

Forgiven and restored to a right relationship with God, the Holy Spirit now wants to cleanse the temple of your heart. With Manasseh, cast out those idols from your temple. Don’t run back to those sins but run away from them. If something in your life causes you to sin, Jesus says to cut it off. Daily crucify your old man with his sinful desires through repentance, confessing your sins. Run again and again to the amazing grace of God, and in the Son of Manasseh, Jesus Christ, find perfect forgiveness and restoration. And then sing with John Newton and King Manasseh:

—Pastor Nathan Pfeiffer

Berea Ev. Lutheran Church
Inver Grove Heights, MN

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All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved