Whose Faith Are You Living On?

Introduction

Last week we watched Jehu do everything God told him to do without ever giving God his heart. This week the story moves south into Judah, and it begins with a seven year old boy on a throne.
If you have ever known someone who seemed rock solid for twenty years and then walked away from all of it in about eighteen months, this passage gives us some great insight. And if you have ever wondered whether the faith you are living on is actually yours, this story helps us to look into the mirror of our own lives.
2 Kings 12:2 NIV
Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

Part One: The Background

2 Kings 9:27 NIV
When Ahaziah king of Judah saw what had happened, he fled up the road to Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him, shouting, “Kill him too!” They wounded him in his chariot on the way up to Gur near Ibleam, but he escaped to Megiddo and died there.
2 Kings 11:1 NIV
When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family.
2 Kings 11:2 NIV
But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes, who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah; so he was not killed.

Part Two: 2 Kings 12

2 Kings 12:1–2 NIV
In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba. Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him.
2 Kings 12:6 NIV
But by the twenty-third year of King Joash the priests still had not repaired the temple.
2 Kings 12:7 NIV
Therefore King Joash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and asked them, “Why aren’t you repairing the damage done to the temple? Take no more money from your treasurers, but hand it over for repairing the temple.”
2 Kings 12:15 NIV
They did not require an accounting from those to whom they gave the money to pay the workers, because they acted with complete honesty.
2 Chronicles 24:15 NIV
Now Jehoiada was old and full of years, and he died at the age of a hundred and thirty.
2 Chronicles 24:17 NIV
After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them.
2 Chronicles 24:18–19 NIV
They abandoned the temple of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and worshiped Asherah poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God’s anger came on Judah and Jerusalem. Although the Lord sent prophets to the people to bring them back to him, and though they testified against them, they would not listen.
2 Chronicles 24:20 NIV
Then the Spirit of God came on Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands? You will not prosper. Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’ ”
2 Chronicles 24:21–22 NIV
But they plotted against him, and by order of the king they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. King Joash did not remember the kindness Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had shown him but killed his son, who said as he lay dying, “May the Lord see this and call you to account.”
2 Kings 12:2 NASB 2020
Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all his days that Jehoiada the priest instructed him.
Hebrews 7:23–24 NIV
Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.
2 Chronicles 24:17 NIV
After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them.