been long in his position of influence and power till he turned
utterly away from the Lord and began to wallow in every form of sin.
There was no dirty idolatry that he did not practise. There was no
false belief to which he did not seem willing to give hospitality.
There was scarcely any form of evil of which he was not guilty.

And his career of godlessness was all the more inexcusable because of
the good opportunities that he had. He was the son of a great and good
father. His father was Hezekiah. And Hezekiah was one of the best
kings that Judah ever had. He was a man of spiritual power. He was a
man who served as saving salt to his kingdom throughout his entire
reign. When the Assyrians hung like a threatening storm cloud over his
weak little nation, it was the compelling might of his prayer that
stood as a wall between them and their enemy. So, Manasseh was the son
of a great saint.

And mark me, it is no small privilege to be the child of a godly father
or of a saintly mother. If God granted to you to open your baby eyes
to look into other eyes that were "homes of silent prayer," if He sent
you to grow up in a home where the family altar and the saintly life
made Christ real, then He has given you an opportunity unspeakably
great. And as great as is your opportunity, just so great is your
responsibility. How hard must be the sentence upon that boy or that
girl who breaks away from such saving and sanctifying influences to go
into the far country.

Not only was the guilt of Manasseh intensified by the fact that he had
a saintly father. It was intensified further by the fact that he was
repeatedly warned. Though he turned his back on God and though he gave
himself up to a perfect orgy of wrong doing, God did not forget him and
did not give him up. He sent to him messenger after messenger to bring
home his guilt and to invite him back to the pardon and peace of his
Father's presence. But seemingly the more he was warned the deeper he
plunged into sin.

And you who are in sin, you are even more guilty than he, because to
you God has sent warning after warning, rebuke after rebuke. God has
given you calls and invitations without number. He has called you
through your conscience. He has called you through your wretchedness
and restlessness and hunger of heart. He has called you through your
longing for usefulness. He has called you through your sorrow and your
pain and your losses. He has call