The Danger Of A Lukewarm Heart Series

God’s prophet points out to Amaziah that what he’s done is not only wrong, it’s flat-out STUPID. If your army beat their army, isn’t that proof positive that your God is better than their gods?

But Amaziah’s heart was not turned toward God. Amaziah had been influenced by the godless culture around him. In those times, people believed that when a nation won a battle it was not because their gods were stronger but because the losers’ gods abandoned them and moved to the other side. By worshipping the idols, Amaziah was thanking them for “helping out” with his victory… as if the one true God could not have done it without them.

What is most disturbing about this account is that one minute Amaziah appeared to be serving God and the next minute he was blatantly bowing down to foreign idols. Have you ever seen anything like that?

· A well-known Christian leader appears to be 100% committed to God’s work, but suddenly appears on the front page in a public scandal.

· A friend or mentor who has helped you grow as a Christian suddenly falls into depression or anger and turns away from God.

· A young Christian is going all-out for God and then suddenly decides to forget the whole thing and go back to his old life.

Since all we can see is the outward appearance, these things seem hard to understand. But if we could see the heart, as God sees the heart, we would surely see a heart that has moved from LUKEWARM to COOL to STONE COLD.

3. The Stone Cold Heart II Chronicles 25:16

Remember how the scripture summed up the condition of Amaziah’s heart: He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not wholeheartedly. II Chronicles 25:2

Obedience is important, but it is not enough. God is after a heart that is fully devoted to Him. Amaziah did what was right, but he never put his whole heart into it. He started out with faith, but it was a flabby, lukewarm faith. Even after he sinned by worshipping idols, God … in his mercy … gave him another chance. But look at how he responded to the prophet’s warning:

While he was still speaking, the king said to him, “Have we appointed you an adviser to the king? Stop! Why be struck down?” II Chronicles 25:16a

In other words, I don’t want to hear anything from God. If you don’t stop talking, I’ll have you executed. No small threat from a King. So the prophet summed up where Amaziah’s STONE COLD heart was going to take him.

So the prophet stopped but said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.” II Chronicles 25:16b

The rest of the story goes down hill fast. The COLD-HEARTED King lurches from one disaster to another. First he attacks the northern nation of Israel and gets trounced. The Israelites capture him, then plunder the temple and the palace. After 10 years, Amaziah is released and returns to his ruined country of Judah. But, after a while, he is chased from his own palace and assassinated by his own people.

I Corinthians 10:6 tells us that these Old Testament accounts were recorded examples for us. So we need to ask: What can we learn from Amaziah’s example?