Yes, I have entitled today’s Lesson from the life of King Manasseh “serial sinning,” or maybe better, “chain sinning.”
Seldom does one do wrong in just one area of life. Or just one little corner of a department of life. “Sin,” by its very nature, loves to have company! Paul the Apostle once said of evil men, of the propensity of iniquity: “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” 2nd Timothy 3:13, where the verb “wax” means “to become.” They actually plunge “deeper and deeper” into sin!
“One little sin,” so-called, is not long just “one.” And not long “little,” for that matter. Sin aggregates, builds, worsens with the passing of time.
Now to the life of Manasseh. Using just one verse from 2nd Chronicles 33, at that! “For he (the king, still young too) built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.”
I count 5 of them, “tandem” sins! One right after the other! One “building” (or “destroying”) upon another! Yes, “chain sinning!”
Look:
- He rebuilt the “high places,” mountaintop retreats for perverted religious practice.
- He made abominable altars for the exclusive worship of Baal.
- He cleared and planted and groomed the earth, creating “groves of trees” for the worship of the “nature” gods and goddesses of the surrounding heathen nations.
- He worshipped the stars (sun and moon too, presumably) of heaven.
- Then, he pattered his life (served, obeyed) those false gods, those idols.
If that’s not sinning “habitually,” I do not know the meaning of the term!
And the parallel account of the beginning of Manasseh’s reign, tells the same story. One sin leading to another! “For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.” 2nd Kings 21:3, so sad.
Remember King David’s sin?
Laziness (not going to battle with his army) then lust (looking at Bathsheba) then adultery (illicit sex with another man’s wife) then murder (killing her husband) then … on and on it goes!
What a reminder to keep “short sin accounts” with God!
If one sins (and we all do) … stop immediately!
Confess that sin!
Forsake that sin!
And do not let it attract other sins!
Proverbs 28:13 comes to mind. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”
Someone reading here this morning … Quit playing around with that little “sin” that seems so much fun, so exciting! Mortify that thing (meaning put it to death) … sin is dangerous!
Oh, that Manasseh had learned this lesson.
— Dr. Mike Bagwell