Sermon
2 Kings 10: Ahab’s Family Destroyed AUGUST 5, 2026 Pastor Steven L. Anderson
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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And then second Kings chapter number 10,
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we have this great story about Jehu picking up
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where we left off.
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Remember last time Jehu was anointed as king
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and he went and faced off with the king of Israel
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and the king of Judah, defeated them both and so forth.
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Now we're beginning to see the aftermath of this
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because it wasn't enough for God to just judge Ahab
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himself personally that happened many, many years earlier
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but also judging the king on the throne, Jehoram,
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the son of Ahab but actually God is just gonna wipe out
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completely the entire house of Ahab.
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Everybody's getting punished, everybody's getting smoked
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and that's what we see in this chapter
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and also we're gonna see Jehu just completely eliminate
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Baal worship from the nation of Israel, right?
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There's been all of this Baal worship
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and Baal is just Satan, right?
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Baal Zeebub, Baal is the devil.
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They're literally worshiping Satan
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and he's gonna completely wipe it out.
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Let's jump into the story here.
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It says in verse number one,
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Ahab had 70 sons in Samaria.
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So he obviously as a king, he has a multitude of wives.
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He's put out lots of children, 70 sons
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and Jehu wrote letters and sent to Samaria
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under the rulers of Jezreel to the elders
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and to them that brought up Ahab's children saying,
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now as soon as this letter come into you,
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seeing your master's sons are with you
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and there are with you chariots and horses,
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a fence city, also an armor,
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look even out the best and neatest of your master's sons
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and set him on his father's throne
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and fight for your master's house.
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Now you gotta love Jehu's style.
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I mean, this entire chapter is hilarious,
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watching Jehu and his style because I mean,
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this guy is a bad dude
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and he's got a serious sense of humor
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at every stage of this.
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I mean, this guy is just on fire
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and you see him in the previous chapter,
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he's just driving furiously,
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he's super eloquent against the enemies
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and then in this chapter is just a two or day force
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and as you're reading this,
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if you don't know the end of the story,
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you're just thinking like,
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Jehu is my new favorite Bible character.
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You're ready to name your kid Jehu
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and you're all excited about this guy.
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That's how I felt reading this for the first time.
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You're just like,
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where has this Bible character been all my life?
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Like this is the coolest guy in the whole,
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but what ends up happening though
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is when we get to the end of the chapter,
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what we see though is him just compromising
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in a huge way and just totally failing
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as a king of Israel.
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So he does a great job at just destroying the enemies
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and wiping out the house of Ahab,
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wiping out Baal worship,
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but when it comes to actually doing something positive
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and leading the nation,
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he's a complete and utter failure
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and it's the biggest disappointment in the whole Bible.
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You know, when you're reading this,
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when Jehu doesn't pan out.
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And I think that there are a lot of lessons
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we can learn from this today
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because people like this abound,
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people that are really good at pointing out the problems,
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people that are really good at identifying the error,
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but they're not actually good
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at giving you the right solution
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or giving you anything positive.
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And so we have to be very careful about this
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that there could be some great preachers out there.
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Oh man, they're doing such a great job
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exposing the Jews or exposing Islam.
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You know, these people are exposing,
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you know, this fraud over here
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and they're exposing the Catholics or whatever,
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exposing the atheists.
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And we have to be careful because sometimes
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you could have these awesome people
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that are so eloquent and so good
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at trashing a false religion,
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but then you look at their religion
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and they have stupid beliefs of their own
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and they're not actually soul winning Christians,
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actually preaching the right gospel
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or anything like that.
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And so we gotta be careful
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that we don't just get into only destroying that
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which is evil, we need to also be building
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and producing that which is good, okay?
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And here's the thing about Faithful Word Baptist Church
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is that Faithful Word Baptist Church
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isn't just a place where we preach against false religion
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and preach against false teachers.
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No, no, it is a place that is super focused
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on soul winning, right?
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Being productive, winning people to Christ.
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We're going out and preaching the gospel.
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We're going out and evangelizing, right?
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And we're knocking doors and going on mission trips
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telling people the good news
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about the Lord Jesus Christ.
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We're giving clear presentations of the gospel
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and here's the thing.
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People out there, they could sit there and say,
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well, here's what Faithful Word's known for.
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They're known for being against homos
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or they're known for being against Israel
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or they're known for preaching against Islam
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or whatever, but at the end of the day
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like what we're actually about here is the soul winning
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and the winning people to Christ.
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Like that is really the heartbeat of the church.
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And so anybody who only gets the negative side
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is kind of missing the whole point, okay?
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And here's the thing.
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There are lots of other people out there
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that will expose heresy and false religion,
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but that's only part of what we do around here.
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We do it, but you know what we can also do
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is give the solution, give the right answer
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and actually do something positive,
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getting people saved, starting churches,
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seeing people get saved, lives changed,
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joining the church, serving God,
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learning how to win souls.
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You know, that's a lot harder and more rare
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than just pointing out what's bad.
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You know, and you have entire ministries
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that are just based on trashing false religion
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and I'm glad that they're exposing the errors
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of the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons or whatever,
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but at the end of the day,
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if they're not having the real answers
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about what the right gospel is, what the truth is,
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what are we supposed to believe,
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what are we supposed to do?
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You know, it's super imbalanced
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and at the end of the day, it's not really what we need.
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We need the whole package.
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We need, yes, the negative stuff,
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but we need the positive stuff too.
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Yeah, we want to tear down that which is wrong,
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but we also want to build up that which is right.
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And so be careful about getting sucked in
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to some eloquent destroyer of this heresy over here
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because, you know, he might be like a Jihu
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where he's super good at trashing Baal,
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but he's just gonna get you into the sins of Jonadab,
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the son of Recap, sorry, not Jonadab,
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the son of Recap.
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Yeah, that was a horrible thing to say.
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Jeroboam, the son of Nebat,
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I'm getting ahead of myself in the sermon.
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He's just gonna get you into the sins
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of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.
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So it's kind of out of the frying pan into the fire,
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like, oh, we're not gonna worship Baal,
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we're just gonna worship, you know, these golden calves.
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It's, you know, there's not like a hell number one
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and a hell number two, folks.
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There's just hell.
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And so, you know, at the end of the day,
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I don't think the devil really cares
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if you switch from one false religion to another.
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What he really doesn't want
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is the devil doesn't want you
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to actually get the gospel.
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Get what's right.
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And so it's always easy to point out,
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you know, even just politically,
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it's pretty easy to just point out
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everything that's wrong with America, right?
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But the hard part is finding the right solutions
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how to fix things.
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You know, that's gonna be the more difficult thing.
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That's always gonna be the more difficult thing.
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And so, Jihoo, he starts out
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by saying at the beginning of chapter 10,
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hey guys, you know, you guys have a lot of resource.
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You got horses, you got chariots,
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you got 70 sons of Ahab to pick from.
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Why don't you just pick your favorite son of Ahab,
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get the best one, you make him king,
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and you get your horses and you chariots,
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and you come at me because I am ready to fight you.
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Come defeat me.
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And they're like, whoa, this guy,
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we don't wanna mess with this guy.
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Look what they answer in verse number five.
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Or sorry, verse four.
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But they were exceedingly afraid
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and said, behold, two kings stood not before him.
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How then shall we stand?
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They're just like, oh man, we're scared.
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So Jihoo's intimidating them.
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He's just like, come at me, bro, come on.
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You got the horses, chariots, let's go, let's fight,
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let's do it.
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And they're just like, whoa, we don't wanna do this.
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Jihoo's too powerful for us.
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Verse five.
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And he that was over the house
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and he that was over the city,
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the elders also, and watch this,
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the bringers up of the children, right?
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So these are like all of the tutors and schoolmasters
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and trainers and babysitters.
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Because when you have 70 kids and you're royalty,
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it's like you just kinda outsource all that work.
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And so they're being taken care of
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by all the different nannies and everything.
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So they all get together and they send to Jihoo
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saying, we are thy servants
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and we'll do all that thou bid us,
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we will not make any king,
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do thou that which is good in thine eyes.
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Verse six.
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Then he wrote a letter the second time to them saying,
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if you be mine and if you will hearken unto my voice,
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take ye the heads of the men, your master's sons,
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and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time.
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Now the king's sons being 70 persons
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were with the great men of the city which brought them up.
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Now, just so you know, when he says,
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hey, you know, bring me the heads,
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he's not using this as like a synecdoche
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where the part represents the whole or something like that.
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He's saying, no, no, no, just the heads.
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So he's saying basically remove their heads from their bodies
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and just bring the heads.
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That's what they do.
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Look at verse seven, it came to pass
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when the letter came to them that they took the king's sons
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and slew 70 persons and put their heads in baskets
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and sent them to Jezreel.
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And there came a messenger and told him saying,
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they have brought the heads of the king's sons
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and he said, lay them in two heaps,
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you know, in America we would call these piles, right?
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Put them in two piles and he says,
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lay them in two heaps at the entering of the gate
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until the morning.
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And it came to pass in the morning that he went out
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and stood and said to all the people, ye be righteous.
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See what I mean about the kind of sarcasm, sense of humor?
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I mean, this guy is not playing games.
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He says, oh yeah, you be righteous.
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Behold, I conspired against my master and slew him,
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but who slew all these?
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So he's basically saying, you know, I killed one guy.
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I killed King Jehoram.
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I killed Ahab's son, the king of Israel,
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but y'all just killed 70 people.
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You beheaded 70, he's like, I killed my master,
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but who slew all these, okay?
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But here's what's interesting in the very next breath.
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He says this in verse 10,
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know now that there shall fall unto the earth
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nothing of the word of the Lord
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which the Lord spake concerning the house of Ahab,
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for the Lord hath done that which he spake
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by his servant Elijah.
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And I think that the main point that Jehu is making here
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is he's saying, look, this is not my personal vendetta.
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This is not my personal agenda.
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This is not me just kind of taking this upon myself
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and I'm just taking revenge
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and I'm just taking over the kingdom
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and I'm just killing everybody.
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He's saying, look folks, this is a force of nature.
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This is God's word being fulfilled.
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This is the fulfillment of Bible prophecy
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and it is going to happen.
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It has to happen.
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It must happen.
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And it's not just me doing it.
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Everybody's involved
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because everybody is fulfilling the will of the Lord.
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And here's the thing.
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When God decides that somebody's gonna go down,
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they're going down.
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There's no way to escape it.
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And the Bible talks about people trying to escape
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the wrath of God and he says,
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man, if you climb all the way up to heaven,
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I will drag you down from there.
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If you dig down all the way down to hell, he says,
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I will bring you up from there.
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Like you cannot escape the judgment of the Lord.
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He says, it's like when you're running,
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and I'm paraphrasing, but he says,
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it's like you're running from a bear
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and you run into the house and shut the door
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and then the serpent bites you or whatever.
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Or you go down into the bottom of the sea
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to try to escape and some weird poisonous sea snake
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gets you or whatever.
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It's impossible to escape the wrath of God,
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the judgment of God.
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And so what we see is that Jihoo is explaining to the people,
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this is a process that has been set in motion by God
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and nothing can stop it.
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He's saying, I can't stop it.
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You can't stop it.
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Word is gonna go with it.
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This is the word of God.
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It's a judgment pronounced by Elijah.
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It has to happen.
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And here's the thing.
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He's telling the truth.
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Because if you remember,
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in the previous chapter, chapter nine,
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Jihoo was not planning to go become king.
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He didn't have the idea to kill Jehoram,
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but rather it was Elisha's messenger.
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Elisha sent one of the sons of the prophet
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that came and anointed him and said,
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thus saith the Lord, you're gonna be king of Israel
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and all that.
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This is all from the mouth of the Lord.
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He's saying, look,
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I'm not the only one fulfilling prophecy here.
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You guys are fulfilling prophecy.
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You guys are all involved.
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So I think this is a fascinating couple of verses,
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verses nine and 10,
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because I think that there are lots of different things
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going on in verses nine and 10.
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On the one hand, he's kind of saying,
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hey, you guys are just as guilty as me now.
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We're all kind of in for a penny, in for a pound.
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And he's trying to kind of get them to see
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that, hey, you guys are in this with me now,
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because you guys have done this.
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There's no going back from this.
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So he's trying to solidify that with them.
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But I think the bigger thing that he's saying
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is verse 10, when he says,
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look, none of God's word is gonna go unfulfilled.
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We are fulfilling Bible prophecy.
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It has to happen.
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It's inexorable.
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It's a force of nature.
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You can't stop it.
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God's word is not gonna return void.
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It's gonna carry out that for which it was intended.
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So it says in verse number 11.
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So, Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab
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in Jezreel and all his great men
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and his kinsfolk and his priests
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until he left him, none remaining.
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So what we see is that initially
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he'd won the battle in chapter nine.
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Then in chapter 10, the 70 sons are beheaded.
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Then he explains to people, folks,
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this has to happen.
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This is the destiny that God has already forecast
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through the preaching of Elijah.
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It must happen.
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And then he says, let's finish it.
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And then he ends up killing
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everybody else of the household of Ahab, right?
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But it doesn't even stop there
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because look at verse 12.
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And he arose and departed and came to Samaria.
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And as he was at the shearing house,
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in the way, Jehu met with the brethren
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of Isaiah king of Judah and said, who are you?
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And they answered, we are the brethren of Isaiah.
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And we go down to salute
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the children of the king and the children of the queen.
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So this feels like a chance encounter.
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This feels like a coincidence
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because basically Jehu is heading on his way to Samaria
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and just crossing paths,
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he stops at the rest area basically, right?
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He pulls off at the rest area
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and here are the brethren of the king of Judah.
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But remember, the king of Judah
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is super buddy buddy with the house of Ahab at this time.
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And they're kind of just going the other way.
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So he's coming this way.
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They're going up and they don't know what happened
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because this is before the internet, TV, whatever.
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So they have no clue.
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They're like, oh, we're going up
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to see the king and the queen.
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They don't know that the queen
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just got thrown out the window in chapter nine.
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They don't know that the king got smoked on the battlefield.
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They're just like, oh, we're just going up to visit.
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Yeah, we're on our way.
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And it's just like a chance encounter
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where they run into them
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and they're just crossing paths.
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And look what it says.
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At the end of verse 13,
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we are the brethren of Isaiah
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and we go down to salute the children of the king
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and the children of the queen.
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And remember, these are the guys
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that just lost their heads a few verses ago.
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That they're going to visit.
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And he said, take them alive.
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And they took them alive
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and they slew them at the pit of the shearing house.
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Even two and 40 men, neither left he, any of them.
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And again, this was not a chance encounter.
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I'm saying it seems like it feels that way,
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but this is the will of God
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because these guys were buddy, buddy
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with the house of Ahab, the enemies of the Lord,
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worshipers of Baal, and they're all getting smoked too.
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You know, what I see as the main theme here
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in this chapter is that, you know what?
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You do not want to be hanging around with buddy, buddy with
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and associating with the enemies of the Lord.
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You don't want to do it
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because here's the thing, just the fact
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that these guys are coming up to visit the house of Ahab
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and they want to hang out with the house of Ahab
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and they want to be buddies with the house of Ahab.
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They all get smoked.
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They all get killed.
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They all get thrown in a mass grave.
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42 guys get thrown in a mass grave.
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Why?
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Because they're trying to associate
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with the enemies of the Lord.
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Keep your finger here
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and go to 2nd Chronicles chapter 19 verse two.
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2nd Chronicles chapter 19 verse two.
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And look what the Bible says
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and this is actually the exact same subject
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because in 2nd Chronicles 19 too,
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this deals with the exact same thing
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where you have the people
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that are from the good kingdom of Judah down south.
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Jehoshaphat is a good king of Judah.
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You know, they are worshiping the Lord down there
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whereas in the northern kingdom
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they're worshiping the devil.
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And what do we see?
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It's the same deal
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where you have the better people of the southern kingdom
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being buddy, buddy with these super evil people
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in the northern kingdom.
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And look what it says
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in verse number one of chapter 19 2nd Chronicles.
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Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah
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returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem.
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You know, from being up with the north
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and Jehu, the son of Heneinai,
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the seer went out to meet him
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and said to King Jehoshaphat,
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shouldest thou help the ungodly
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and love them that hate the Lord
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therefore is wrath upon thee
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from before the Lord.
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Nevertheless, there are good things found in thee
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and he goes through some of the good things that he's done.
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And so look, you could be a good guy,
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you could be a good person,
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you could be a person where God's pointing out
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your good attributes and your worship in the Lord
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and everything like that.
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But he says, if you're helping the ungodly
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and you're loving them that hate the Lord,
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then God's wrath is gonna be upon you,
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like God's mad at you
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just for aiding and abetting the enemy.
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And so we need to be careful
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that we're not aiding and abetting
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the enemies of the Lord,
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the enemies of the church.
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And you know what, by the way,
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when people get thrown out of our church
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for being super wicked,
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for committing evil sins,
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for doing 1 Corinthians 5 sins,
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I don't care if you think,
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oh, they're great people,
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they're nice people,
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they're cool, they're my friends.
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Hey, if people are thrown out of the church
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for a 1 Corinthians 5 level super evil sin,
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you know what, you need to realize
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that those people are under the curse of God
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and those people are excommunicated
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and you should not be buddies with those people,
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you should not be hanging around with them,
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you should not be friends with them,
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and you know what, it's just, it's true.
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Ah, it sounds so culty,
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oh, okay, I forgot,
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1 Corinthians 5 is a cult document
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because 1 Corinthians 5 literally says,
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with such a one, no not to eat,
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put away from among yourselves that wicked person,
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ah, it sounds kind of culty.
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No, it's actually just from the Bible.
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The Bible just says,
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put away from among yourselves that wicked person
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with such a one, no not to eat.
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Jesus also talks about church discipline
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in Matthew chapter 18.
Matthew 18 chapter mention
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And in Matthew chapter 18,
Matthew 18 chapter mention
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when he talks about someone being thrown out of the church,
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he says, let them be unto you as a heathen and a publican.
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And you know what's funny is,
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you'll have people arguing sometimes
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about whether they think that someone is saved or unsaved.
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Here's the thing, who cares?
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If someone's thrown out of the church,
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it doesn't matter whether they're actually a heathen
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because the Bible just says
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they're supposed to be unto us as a heathen.
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So why would I sit around trying to figure out
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whether they're saved or not saved?
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I don't care, a person can be saved,
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a person can be a great person at one point
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and then go down a dark path
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and get thrown out of the church.
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You know what, that person is unto me as a heathen.
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I'm gonna treat them as a heathen
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because that's what Jesus said,
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treat them if they will not hear the judgment of the church,
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let them be unto you as a heathen and as a publican.
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And you know the sad thing is,
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even truly saved, born-again children of God
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can do some wicked things and can do serious sins.
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And in fact, I've said this so many times,
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I can't even count over the last 21 years of pastoring.
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Here's the thing, that people who are not right with God,
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even if they're saved,
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even if they're a born-again child of God,
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if they're not walking in the spirit,
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but they're walking in the flesh,
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if they're backslidden,
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they can be every bit as wicked as unsaved people.
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Why?
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Because it's impossible to reform the old man.
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The old man cannot be reformed,
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the flesh cannot be reformed.
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That's why the Bible says the carnal mind
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is enmity against God.
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The carnal mind cannot be brought
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into subjection of the laws of God.
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And this is why, what does the Bible say all the time?
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It says put off the old man, put on the new man.
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It doesn't say, hey, we're gonna fix the old man,
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we're gonna reform the old man,
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you know, we're gonna have a better old man.
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No, no, it's just put off the old man,
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put on the new man, walk in the spirit,
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don't fulfill the less the flesh.
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The flesh is never gonna stop having the wrong appetites.
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It's never gonna stop having the wrong attitude.
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It's never gonna stop wanting to sin.
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That's why you have to crucify the flesh
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and walk in the spirit, die daily, deny self,
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take up the cross, follow Jesus.
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I mean, this is clear in scripture
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that you gotta walk in the spirit,
-
put on the new man because the old man cannot be reformed.
-
That's why the Bible says, mortify the old man,
-
mortify the flesh, put the old man to death
-
because you cannot fix him.
-
And so therefore, if you have a person,
-
and this is where people get confused about salvation too,
-
you could have a person who believes
-
on the Lord Jesus Christ,
-
truly believes on the Lord Jesus Christ,
-
calls upon the name of the Lord.
-
Let's just say that person never goes to church,
-
never gets baptized, never reads their Bible, never prays.
-
You know what, they're probably gonna act
-
a lot like an unsaved person.
-
And then people will look at that person and say,
-
oh, this person's not saved,
-
look at the way they're living, but hold up.
-
Could they still be saved?
-
Yeah, because what does the Bible say in Romans 4-5?
-
But to him that work could not,
-
but believe it on him that justified the ungodly,
-
his faith is counted for righteousness,
-
even as David also described with the blessedness
-
of the man unto whom God imputed righteousness without works.
-
Saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven
-
and whose sins are covered,
-
blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
-
You could have a person that worketh not, but he believes.
-
His faith is counted for righteousness,
-
the righteousness of Christ imputed unto him,
-
his sins are not imputed, he's saved,
-
he's going to heaven.
-
And the Bible talks about the same guy
-
in 1 Corinthians 3,
-
when he talks about being at the judgment seat of Christ
-
and your works are either gonna be gold, silver,
-
and precious stones, or they're gonna be wood, hay, and stubble.
-
And if all your works are wood, hay, and stubble
-
and all your works are trash
-
and all your works are burned up,
-
it says, yet he himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire.
-
And so yeah, you could still be saved
-
and just not have any good works that actually,
-
you know, stand the test of the judgment seat of Christ
-
and you're getting zero rewards, but you're still saved.
-
And so here's the thing is that people
-
who are saved Christians, truly saved children of God,
-
if they are not walking in the Spirit,
-
if they're in the flesh,
-
they're gonna be just like unsaved people.
-
They're gonna be just like they were before they were saved.
-
And look, we also have many testimonies
-
of people that we've known
-
where this person will get saved
-
and nothing changes about their life immediately.
-
Now there's a change that happens on the inside,
-
but we're not seeing it on the outside
-
because they're not putting on the new man.
-
The new man's there inside, there's a change inside,
-
but it's not worked its way out, unfortunately.
-
And so sometimes you'll see people in that condition
-
for five years, 10 years, 15 years,
-
and then down the road,
-
they'll eventually get into a good church
-
and all of a sudden, bam, they're getting baptized,
-
they're reading their Bible, they're praying,
-
they're going soul-winning, they're singing hymns,
-
they're getting sin out of their life
-
and then all of a sudden there's a dramatic change,
-
but they actually got saved like 15 years earlier
-
or five years earlier, 10 years earlier,
-
but you didn't see the dramatic change
-
until they start putting on the new man,
-
putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, walking in the Spirit.
-
And so we don't wanna get that wrong about salvation.
-
Salvation is a free gift, it's by grace through faith,
-
it's not of work, listen to me mention both,
-
you don't do works to get saved,
-
you don't do works to stay saved,
-
you don't have to do works to prove to God
-
that you're saved, to prove to yourself that you're saved.
-
No, works do not have anything to do with salvation, okay?
-
They are, after we're saved, we should do the work
-
so we can get rewarded by God, that's the point.
-
So when it comes to people committing grievous
-
first Corinthians five sins, you know, that's wicked.
-
It's not a small thing, it's not like,
-
well, great guy, but he just says this one problem,
-
no, if you're committing first Corinthians
-
five type sins, severe sins, drunkenness, railing,
-
extortion, idolatry, that stuff, hey, you're out.
-
And you know, obviously, you're brought back
-
if you're repentant.
-
Look, there have been people in our church
-
who were drunkards, but they felt bad about it,
-
they're sorry, they wanna get help,
-
they wanna change, we're not gonna throw that person out
-
if the person is repentant and getting it right.
-
But the people that are unrepentant, they're out
-
and they should be treated as heathens and they're wicked
-
and we should not even eat with them,
-
that's what the Bible says.
-
You know, and it's amazing to me
-
how people struggle with that, but it's pretty clear.
-
But you, and you say, well, why wouldn't I still hang around?
-
And here's the thing, I'm not out here policing you,
-
it's not that I'm like, hey, I'm not gonna let you
-
hang around with these people.
-
No, no, no, you go do what you want.
-
I'm just telling you, these people are under the curse of God,
-
you don't want that miasma, you don't want that,
-
that's a bad word to use, but you don't want that
-
contamination, that is a better word, getting on you.
-
You know what I'm saying?
-
Like, you don't want to be connected to that
-
and it's like when Korra, Nathan, and Abiram
-
are rebelling against Moses and Aaron,
-
God says, get you up from the tents of these wicked men,
-
lest you be consumed with them.
-
Get out of there, you don't want to get smoked with these people,
-
you don't want to be associated with them.
-
Because look, these people are being friendly
-
with these wicked people and what happens?
-
42 dudes in a mass grave, why?
-
Because they're going to visit and hang out with
-
and be buddy, buddy with these bunch of
-
veil worshiping wicked people in the Northern Kingdom.
-
So back to 2 Kings, we're done in 2 Chronicles.
-
Back in 2 Kings, chapter 10, we see this encounter
2 Kings 10 chapter mention
-
along the way at the rest area.
-
Then we see verse 15, and it says,
-
and when he was departed thence, he lighted on
-
Jehanadab, the son of Recap.
-
Sorry, Jehanadab, I accidentally mixed you up
-
with zero bone earlier in the sermon.
-
Jehanadab, the son of Recap, coming to meet him
-
and he saluted him and said to him,
-
and I love this, is thy heart right
-
as my heart is with thy heart?
-
It's a little bit of a tongue twister,
-
but I like what he says there.
-
Is thy heart right as my heart is with thy heart?
-
And Jehanadab answered, it is.
-
If it be, give me thine hand and he gave him his hand
-
and he took him up to him into the chariot
-
and he said, come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.
-
So they made him ride in his chariot.
-
See what I mean about like when you're reading this
-
and you don't know how it's going to end,
-
you're like, this guy, gee, who's awesome.
-
So many one liners, just come with me
-
and see my zeal for the Lord.
-
I mean, it's exciting, you know?
-
In fact, one of the early versions of our tract
-
that we handed out door to door literally said,
-
come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.
-
Like, you know, that was like a tagline
-
for our church at one point.
-
Or maybe it was somebody that we sent out
-
to start a church.
-
I know I've put, I designed something
-
and stuck it on there at one point.
-
But the point is that he's saying to him,
-
is your heart right with my heart,
-
you know, as my heart is with your heart?
-
And you know, what I take from this is that,
-
you know, there are a lot of people
-
that you can be super cool with,
-
super nice to have nothing but good feelings
-
and good energy toward that person.
-
And in their heart, they do not feel the same way.
-
You know, and it's like, you'll be nice to people
-
and you treat people well and you love them
-
and you have nothing but good feelings for them.
-
And they just have malicious, evil intent toward you.
-
And that's what, gee, who is wondering like,
-
you know, he's like, bro, I have no ill will toward you,
-
but is your heart right with my heart,
-
you know, as I am with you?
-
I forgot the actual tongue twister.
-
And so you need to understand that everybody
-
who's pretending to be your friend
-
isn't actually for real, unfortunately.
-
And it's sad, but you know,
-
this is exactly like Judas Iscariot betraying Jesus.
-
David was betrayed by close friends and family,
-
you know, all throughout the Bible,
-
you see people being betrayed
-
and turned on by people that they love.
-
And you know what, the apostle Paul,
-
you know, he sounds pretty disgruntled, disenchanted,
-
disillusioned, quote unquote, blackpilled
-
when he says, the more I love, the less I be loved.
-
I mean, what a thing for Paul to say in the New Testament.
-
Man, it seems like the more I love, the less I be loved.
-
You know, and obviously there are lots of other scriptures
-
about people being hated without a cause,
-
returning evil for good, and so forth.
-
It's a tragedy, but unfortunately it's out there.
-
And so that's what Jehu's asking, you know,
-
hey, I love you, I'm your friend,
-
but do you feel the same way about me?
-
And John Adab, the son of Recap,
-
he actually is a real one
-
and he's actually telling the truth when he says it is.
-
And notice, John Adab, the son of Recap,
-
he doesn't have to go into a bunch of flattery
-
and go on and on, like proving
-
how great of a friend he is to Jehu.
-
He just says, yup.
-
It's like, are you with me?
-
He's just like, yes I am.
-
All right, let's go come see my zeal for the Lord.
-
You know, sometimes the people
-
that kind of flatter you the most
-
and lay it on super thick and go on and on,
-
you know, those aren't even necessarily the real ones.
-
Because talk is cheap.
-
It's pretty easy to just say stuff.
-
It's more about showing it with your deeds,
-
showing it with your actions, showing it with your life,
-
the loyalty that you have as a friend
-
and your loyalty to the truth and God's word
-
and the church and so forth.
-
So let's keep going here.
-
He says, I'm gonna show you my zeal for the Lord.
-
Come see my zeal for the Lord.
-
And when he came to Samaria,
-
he slew all that remained under Ahab in Samaria.
-
I mean, look, wow.
-
Everybody associated with Ahab is getting smoked.
-
I mean, it's just like step after step
-
after step after step.
-
When God is ready to judge a group of people,
-
they all get smoked.
-
And it's just, you know, it doesn't happen overnight
-
because this happens over the course of like 10 years
-
because Ahab died like 10 years earlier.
-
And then now 10 years later,
-
it's just like everybody's getting smoked
-
in the same week.
-
But then it says here in verse 18,
-
Jehu gathered all the people together.
-
Here's Jehu's sense of humor once again.
-
His style comes through once again.
-
He said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little,
-
but Jehu shall serve him much.
-
He's like, hey, you guys like worship and Baal?
-
I got news for you.
-
Now this might have freaked some people out.
-
Like the worshipers of the Lord
-
are probably a little freaked out by this
-
because he says, hey,
-
Jehu served Baal a little bit,
-
or excuse me, Ahab served Baal a little bit.
-
He's saying, Jehu is gonna serve him a lot.
-
He's like, I'm gonna be the biggest Baal worshiper ever
-
because I'm gonna do the biggest sacrifice to Baal
-
that anybody's ever seen.
-
I'm gonna do the ultimate mega Baal sacrifice.
-
And so in order to do that,
-
I need every single Baal worshiper to show up.
-
We're gonna have the mega conference for Baal worship.
-
And we're just gonna bring every Baal worshiper.
-
Want every single priest of Baal, prophet of Baal.
-
This is just like the mega Baal convention of all time
-
because we're gonna do the greatest sacrifice
-
to Baal in history.
-
Like, you think that Israel was worshiping Baal before?
-
Oh, wait till you see what I'm gonna do to worship Baal.
-
So he brings them all out and it says in verse 19,
-
now they're forecalling to be all the prophets of Baal,
-
all his servants and all his priests
-
let none be wanting.
-
For I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal.
-
Whosoever shall be wanting,
-
he shall not live.
-
He's like, if we find out you're a Baal worshiper
-
and you didn't show up, you're gonna be put to death.
-
Like, this is, you gotta be here for this.
-
This is that important.
-
And they're like, they're probably like so happy.
-
They're probably thinking like, wow,
-
finally Baal worship is getting the attention
-
and the funding and the government support
-
that it deserves.
-
So they're super stoked.
-
They're like, they're just on cloud nine.
-
And they get all excited.
-
It's sort of like Mordecai where he gets his revenge on Haman.
-
But right before that, Haman's kind of top of the world.
-
Like, hey, I just kind of invited to be with Esther
-
at the bank or whatever.
-
It's like a lot of times these people will get all,
-
they're all chipper and they're all gleeful
-
and they think they're winning
-
when they're actually about to get smoked.
-
Pride goes before destruction,
-
a haughty spirit before the fall.
-
And so these Baal worshipers, they're all excited.
-
They're probably getting their priestly garments,
-
all cleaned and pressed and get it all decked out
-
and oh man, this is gonna go down in history.
-
The biggest Baal event ever.
-
And Jihoo said in verse 20,
-
proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal and they proclaimed it.
-
And Jihoo said throughout all Israel
-
and all the worshipers of Baal came
-
so that there was not a man left that came not.
-
And they came into the house of Baal
-
and the house of Baal was full from one end to the other.
-
And he said to them that was over the vestry,
-
bring forth vestments for all the worshipers of Baal.
-
So he's like, hey guys, we got a special outfit
-
for you guys all to put on so that we can
-
give you this robe that you're gonna put on
-
to identify all the elite platinum level Baal worshipers
-
and everything.
-
So they all put on the clothes.
-
Jihoo went and johannadab the son of Recap
-
under the house of Baal and said to the worshipers of Baal,
-
search and look that there be here
-
with you none of the servants of the Lord,
-
but the worshipers of Baal.
-
You know, we don't want any worshipers
-
of Jehovah God in here.
-
No, no, no, this is Baal worshipers only.
-
So look around and talk to your neighbor
-
and make sure that you know every,
-
make sure that these people are all real Baal worshipers
-
and that there's none of these like worshipers
-
of the Lord have snuck in, right?
-
And these people have no clue what's about to happen.
-
So then they make sure, no, no, no,
-
it's only Baal worshipers.
-
And then it says in verse number 24,
-
and when they went in to offer sacrifice
-
and burn offerings, Jihoo appointed four score men
-
without, so he gets 80 guys,
-
because you know these Baal worshipers,
-
they don't have any weapons or anything.
-
You know, they're just there to worship Satan,
-
worship Baal.
-
And so Jihoo just gets 80 guys, armed men,
-
and he says to these four score men, these 80 guys,
-
he said, if any man who might have brought
-
into your hands escape, he that let it them go,
-
his life shall go for the life of him.
-
He said, okay, now we're gonna kill
-
every single one of these Baal worshipers right now.
-
So they just bring them all together,
-
they're all excited, yay, worship big Baal.
-
And then just 80 guys just come in
-
and just kill every single one of them.
-
And it says, I lost my place here.
-
It says, and it came to pass as soon as
-
he had made an end of offering the burnt offering,
-
that Jihoo said to the guard and to the captains,
-
go in and slay them, let none come forth,
-
and they smote them with the edge of the sword,
-
we're in verse 25, and the guard and the captains
-
cast them out and went to the city
-
of the house of Baal, and they brought forth
-
the images of the house of Baal and burned them,
-
and they break down the image of Baal
-
and break down the house of Baal
-
and made it a draft house under this day.
-
What is a draft house?
-
Well, remember in the New Testament,
-
it's an old word that we're not familiar with necessarily
-
in 2026, but remember in the New Testament,
-
he said, whatever you eat is digested,
-
it goes into the belly and then it comes out the draft.
-
He's saying we're gonna make it into a public toilet.
-
So he basically turns the house of Baal,
-
he destroys it, tears it down to the ground,
-
and then says we're gonna make it
-
into a giant public bathroom.
-
Okay, it's just gonna be because Baal worship
-
is a bunch of crap, and so that's literally
-
gonna be what it is.
-
And then look at verse 28,
-
thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.
-
I mean, the religion's just totally eliminated
-
because every single Baal worshiper, every priest,
-
every prophet shows up, they're all dead,
-
the images are all destroyed,
-
and you know what you don't have noticed
-
about the gods that we read about
-
in the Bible of the heathen?
-
Because we read about all these false gods, right?
-
Baal, and Astoroth, and Molec,
-
and all these different false gods.
-
Have you noticed that no one worships them in 2026?
-
Think about it, like who is worshipping Baal by name
-
in 2026, who is worshipping Astoroth, Molec,
-
Ramphan, Cayenne, all of the false gods
-
that are listed in the Old Testament,
-
nobody's worshipping them.
-
Think about the gods of the ancient Greeks, Zeus,
-
and Apollo, who's worshipping them?
-
Nobody.
-
Who's worshipping the Roman Pantheon?
-
Nobody.
-
Who's worshipping the Scandinavian Pantheon?
-
Versus like, obviously yeah, there's gonna be
-
some weird white guy living in his mother's basement
-
who's like into Thor and whatever,
-
and he's either like, oh, I'm a pagan or whatever,
-
but it's like, seriously, realistically,
-
nobody's worshipping these religions,
-
because God ends up just eliminating them in the long run.
-
False religions in the long run,
-
they get eliminated, they get destroyed,
-
but the name of the Lord, the word of God
-
stands forever, the Bible stands forever.
-
These other false religions, they come and go,
-
is what they do.
-
And so, Baal worship just gets completely annihilated.
-
So, up to this point, Jihu is just batting 1,000,
-
and he has such great flair and such great style
-
about the way he does everything, and you love the guy,
-
but then look at this in verse 32, or sorry, verse 29.
-
How be it, from the sons of Jeroboam,
-
the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin,
-
Jihu departed not from after them,
-
to wit the golden calves that were in Bethel,
-
and that were dead.
-
I mean, this is one of the most disappointing verses ever.
-
This guy's just been awesome for two chapters,
-
and now all of a sudden, it's like,
-
still idolatry, it's just a different idol.
-
And again, it's like this.
-
You'll see some guy on the internet
-
that's just, some little short comes,
-
I don't watch stupid shorts, but people who do,
-
the short comes up, and you're like,
-
ooh, this guy sounds good, he's ripping on homos,
-
or oh, he's ripping on the Jews,
-
or he's ripping on Muslims, or whatever.
-
And then it's like, wow, this guy sounds really good.
-
And then you check, and it's like Roman Catholic.
-
You're just like, come on, like, Greek Orthodox.
-
You're just like, give me a break, man.
-
Right, it's just like, what?
-
Because guess what?
-
Those are just as satanic,
-
it's just a different branch of the same thing.
-
And so, obviously, it's easier to point out error
-
than to preach truth.
-
Preaching truth is more difficult and more rare
-
than just pointing out errors.
-
Anybody can point out errors.
-
It's having the right answer, the right gospel,
-
the truth from the word of God.
-
That's what is more important.
-
So, Jehu's awesome at destroying the bad guys.
-
All he does is destroy the bad guys,
-
but then when it comes to his walk with God
-
and now he's gonna worship the Lord,
-
he totally fails and has people worship
-
in the golden calves.
-
And so it says in verse 30, the Lord said to Jehu,
-
don't miss verse 30 though,
-
because I want you to see that this is a correct analysis here
-
that what he did was right and good.
-
Because it says in verse number 30,
-
the Lord said to Jehu, because thou hast done well
-
in executing that which is right in my eyes
-
and has done unto the house of Ab,
-
according to all that was in my heart.
-
He's like, look, what you did, Jehu,
-
this is exactly what I had in mind.
-
Wiping out the house of Ahab,
-
wiping out the worship of Abel.
-
He's like, you did what was in my heart, bro.
-
Isn't that what the Lord is saying?
-
You did well, you executed that which was in my heart.
-
He says, because you did that,
-
your reward is gonna be what?
-
It says, thy children of the fourth generation,
-
so sit on the throne of Israel.
-
So he's saying, you're gonna be king,
-
your son's gonna be king,
-
his son's gonna be king,
-
and his son's gonna be king.
-
Four generations of kings.
-
So that's great news, right?
-
But although the Lord is so good unto him
-
and so generous to him and so gracious unto him
-
to allow him to have that boon,
-
it says in verse 31,
-
but Jehu took no heed to walk in the law
-
of the Lord God of Israel.
-
So it's like, God is sitting there and telling him,
-
man, I'm gonna bless you,
-
you're gonna be king,
-
your son's gonna be king,
-
your grandson, your great-grandson,
-
and instead of being like, wow, man, God is so good,
-
God is blessing me so much,
-
I have a guaranteed kingdom.
-
My great-grandson has a guaranteed kingdom.
-
That should make him super thankful
-
and wanna do something good for God and be right.
-
But now it doesn't have that effect, unfortunately.
-
Because he took no heed to walk in the law
-
of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart,
-
for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam,
-
which made Israel the sin.
-
He ends up having idolatry.
-
And again, idolatry is a severe sin.
-
It's one of those first Corinthians five sins, by the way.
-
Having idolatry is a severe commandment
-
of the second commandment of the Ten Commandments.
-
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
-
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them or serve them
-
because I, the Lord God, am a jealous God.
-
And so he says, do not make graven images
-
and bow down to them, it's wicked, it's wrong.
-
And so this is very disappointing.
-
But it says in verse 32, you know, in those days,
-
the Lord began to cut Israel short.
-
So even though he's guaranteed to be the king of Israel,
-
all the way down to his great grandson,
-
it doesn't mean that Israel is gonna retain
-
all of its glory.
-
So it ends up losing territory, losing prestige,
-
losing power, he starts cutting them short.
-
And Hezail, that's the king of Syria,
-
smote them in all the coasts of Israel
-
from Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead,
-
the Gaddites and the Rubenites and the Manasites
-
from Arower, which is by the river Arnon,
-
even Gilead and Beishan, right?
-
And we were just talking about that before the service,
-
you know, that crew that inherited
-
on the east side of Jordan.
-
And they said, hey, we don't wanna cross Jordan,
-
we wanna inherit on this side of the Jordan River,
-
Ruben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manassee.
-
And they end up inheriting on that east side.
-
And what happens here is that because they're
-
on the periphery and because there's
-
that geographic barrier of Jordan,
-
you know, they end up being the ones
-
who end up getting picked off by the enemy
-
more than anything, right?
-
Because Hezail smote them because they're on the edge, right?
-
And so here's the thing, when it comes
-
to the will of God, we don't wanna be on the periphery,
-
we wanna be in the center of God's will.
-
We wanna be in the heart of God's will, right?
-
And we don't wanna be a fringe person
-
of the church, we wanna be a core person of the church.
-
Because look, if you're a core church member,
-
you're less likely to get picked off
-
than when you're a peripheral church member.
-
And so here's the thing, the nation of Israel
-
represents the congregation of the Lord,
-
represents the church.
-
Like the Old Testament nation of Israel
-
is analogous to the New Testament church, right?
-
When Moses has the congregation of Israel,
-
it's called the church in the wilderness.
-
And so these people who are like,
-
you know what, we don't wanna go all in.
-
We don't wanna be all the way in the Promised Land.
-
We like it over here on the edge,
-
east of the Jordan River, on the periphery.
-
But you know what, they're the ones
-
that end up getting smoked the most, right?
-
And so here's the thing, it's always gonna be
-
this way at church.
-
At church, you're gonna have people
-
that are super involved.
-
And most of the people that I'm talking to right now
-
are the really super involved people.
-
That's why you're here on Wednesday night.
-
Because the primary service that people
-
would tend to go to is Sunday morning.
-
And so you have a lot of people
-
that are Sunday morning onies.
-
And they only come to church on Sunday morning.
-
And so they're more, what we would call
-
in the modern vernacular, the casuals, right?
-
The casuals show up on Sunday morning
-
and they're not that into it.
-
They're not showing up for soul winning.
-
They're not going to conferences.
-
They're not going on mission strips and whatever.
-
And look, okay, I'm not saying like,
-
hey, you have to go on Sunday night.
-
You have to go on Wednesday night.
-
You have to go to everything.
-
I'm not saying that.
-
I'm just saying that the Bible says
-
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together
-
as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another.
-
And so much the more as we see the day approaching
-
that as we see the day approaching
-
we need more church, not less.
-
And the people who are getting the fellowship,
-
getting the preaching, showing up to more services,
-
showing up to more soul winning,
-
showing up to more events and everything like that.
-
You know what, they're more deeply rooted
-
in the church, rooted in their beliefs,
-
rooted in the faith.
-
And it's going to be more difficult for the devil
-
to pick them up than the fringe people
-
who are showing up three times a month.
-
Now look, if you show up three times a month,
-
I'm glad you show up three times a month.
-
Love to see you three times a month.
-
If you're a Sunday morning only
-
and maybe you're listening to this online,
-
hey, we love having you here on Sunday mornings.
-
And it's good that at least you're supplementing
-
your Sunday morning attendance
-
with at least a Wednesday night live stream
-
or download of this.
-
But at the end of the day,
-
you don't wanna be a fringe person
-
and you can figure out and decide what you think that means.
-
If you don't agree with my definition
-
of a fringe person, then why don't you figure out
-
what you think a fringe person is?
-
But you know what, when I read the Bible,
-
when I'm reading the book of Numbers,
-
when I'm reading this story right here,
-
what I see is that the fringe people get picked off first.
-
That's the way it tends to be.
-
And so therefore, I wanna be all the way in.
-
I don't wanna be on the periphery
-
because who's more likely to get out of church?
-
The guy who's going three times a week
-
or the guy who's going three times a month?
-
You know, because here's the thing.
-
If I'm going three times a week
-
and let's say something comes up,
-
let's say I get sick,
-
let's say something bad happens
-
and I get pulled away, I'm going on work trips
-
or who knows what happens, right?
-
Here's the thing.
-
If I go to all three services every week,
-
I'm going to church 13 times a month, right?
-
Our church has approximately 13 services per month.
-
So therefore, if you're going to all three
-
and you miss a few, you're still getting
-
a lot of church, right?
-
Let's say I miss three services in a month.
-
I still got 10 services.
-
That's pretty good, right?
-
But if you're a Sunday morning only
-
and you miss three services,
-
now you went to church like once.
-
And you know what I've seen is I've seen,
-
some people are like, oh, I have to miss,
-
you know, church for work sometimes
-
and sometimes work makes me miss church
-
and stuff like that.
-
And here's what's funny is that
-
you'll have a Sunday morning only person
-
and then they're missing church for work
-
pretty soon they're barely even coming.
-
They're coming once or twice a month
-
and then, oh, I'm so shocked,
-
they're totally out of church now.
-
I can't even count how many times I've seen that.
-
Whereas if you had a guy who's three to thrive,
-
Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night
-
and then occasionally there's an emergency,
-
he has to deal with something,
-
work pulls him out or whatever.
-
Hey, at least he's still going to church a lot.
-
Does everybody see what I'm saying?
-
Now, personally, I for the last 25 years of my life,
-
26 years of my life or more,
-
yeah, I guess I'm getting older.
-
I need to update these numbers
-
because ever since I've been like 18,
-
I've pretty much been a die hard, died in the wolf,
-
like three to thrive, do or die,
-
where I really made it a priority
-
to be at virtually every service
-
or at least to show up to three services
-
a week or something.
-
I've been pretty serious about that
-
for that amount of time, so I guess now that I'm 45,
-
I guess it's like 27 years or something.
-
Where I'm just like three to thrive is the standard.
-
And I'm telling the boss, no, I'm not working
-
on Wednesday night, we're gonna find another way
-
to get it done and whatever.
-
But look, I understand that people
-
have different situations in their life
-
and I'm not dictating anything to you.
-
Like I said, if I see you every two months at church,
-
if I see you every four months at church,
-
I'm just gonna be glad to see you
-
and happy to see you and smile and shake your hand
-
and whatever.
-
You can come here once in a blue moon for all I care
-
because at the end of the day,
-
it's your life, it's your spiritual growth,
-
it's your spiritual development.
-
You're the one who is running the risks
-
of being a fringe person.
-
Whereas if you're a three to thrive core member,
-
you're involved, and by the way,
-
you know what, it's a good idea too a lot of times
-
to when you can get here a little early
-
and do some fellowship.
-
Stay after a little bit and do some fellowship.
-
Get together with friends outside of church
-
and have good spiritual fellowship
-
with like-minded brothers and sisters in Christ.
-
Those are all good things to be doing too.
-
Hey, go to a conference, go on a missions trip,
-
go out to dinner with brothers and sisters in Christ.
-
Get here early, stay late, come to special services.
-
You know, these are all good things to do.
-
Hey, I think we can all probably kind of figure out
-
who are kind of people that are taking it real seriously
-
and putting a lot of time in
-
versus people that are super fringe.
-
And again, I'm not mad at the fringe people.
-
I'm just telling you that when you decide
-
that you wanna be that fringe person
-
that's on the edge,
-
you're the one who has ale has gotten his sights
-
because the devil is like a roaring lion
-
seeking whom he may devour.
-
And when the Bible says he's like a roaring lion
-
seeking whom he may devour,
-
it's like a lion, if the lion goes after the herd
-
of wildebeest or whatever,
-
it's been a while since I've watched
-
any nature channels or anything.
-
But I remember when they used to wheel that cart
-
into the classroom with a TV and a VCR strap to it
-
with a belt.
-
And I watched the nature shows
-
and the lion is just looking for the slowest
-
wildebeest that's, and you know what?
-
The one that wanders off and gets away from the herd, right?
-
The core herd, most of them are gonna be okay.
-
It's the stragglers that are gonna get picked off
-
because that's who he may devour.
-
So I personally, I don't wanna be a straggler.
-
I don't wanna be a fringe guy.
-
I wanna be a core member of the church.
-
I wanna be all the way in.
-
And so it says in verse 34,
-
now the rest of the acts of Jihu
-
and all that he did and all his might,
-
are they not written in the book of the Chronicles
-
of the Kings of Israel?
-
And Jihu slept with his fathers
-
and they buried him in Samaria
-
and Jehovah has his son reigned instead.
-
And the time that Jihu reigned over Israel in Samaria
-
was 20 and eight years.
-
So look, God blessed this guy a lot
-
for at least smoking the enemies of the Lord.
-
He ended up, you know, getting to reign
-
for 28 years, son, grandson, great grandson,
-
all get to reign.
-
But at the end of the day,
-
he was a personal failure of a leader
-
because he did not take heed to walk verse 31
-
in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart.
-
That tells me that the ticket to success
-
is to walk in the word,
-
but to take heed unto walking according to the word.
-
What does that mean?
-
Take heed.
-
It means it's not gonna happen by accident.
-
It's not gonna happen with a sloppy Christian life
-
of just kind of like, yeah,
-
I'm kind of following the Bible.
-
Kind of a church member, kind of a Christian,
-
kind of a quasi, you know, here's the thing
-
is you got to put effort into your walk with God.
-
Now look, if you're a saved Christian,
-
you're going to heaven no matter what,
-
you can never lose your salvation.
-
But if you want to be a successful Christian
-
on this earth, you got to put in the effort.
-
You got to take heed.
-
And you know what?
-
Come into services, getting out soul winning,
-
investing in fellowship, Bible reading, prayer, whatever.
-
All those things are helping you take heed
-
unto your walk with God,
-
put in the effort and the attention to your walk with God
-
so that you can follow the Lord with all your heart
-
and not be half-hearted about your walk with God.
-
Look, if somebody asked me who I am,
-
the most important thing about who I am
-
is that I'm a Christian.
-
Right, that's more important than being American.
-
It's more important than being white.
-
It's so stupid when people's identity
-
is wrapped up in their race.
-
Like, just, it's all about being black.
-
It's all about being white.
-
It's like, you know, these white supremacists, it's stupid.
-
You know, oh, you know, it's all about being Hispanic
-
or Chinese or whatever, you know?
-
Like the Chinese or like, they think they're better
-
than the Japanese and vice versa or whatever.
-
It's like, bro, you guys are all just Asian, man.
-
Just, what's the difference, man?
-
You know, we're all a bunch of white people.
-
Who cares what kind of white people we are?
-
Whether we're French, German, Scandinavian, Russian,
-
whatever, my wife's probably back there thinking like,
-
wait a minute, German's better than being Russian.
-
I'm like, no, man, it doesn't matter.
-
Don't get wrapped up in, you know,
-
these other things that don't, you know,
-
at the end of the day,
-
our main identity is that we're Christians.
-
Red, yellow, black and white, we're Christians.
-
That's what matters.
-
It's not like, oh, you know, I'm wealthy
-
and I'm high society.
-
It's like, no, no, no.
-
You know what?
-
All the wealthy and the poor,
-
we're all in the same playing field here.
-
We're all Christians.
-
And Christianity should be our defining demographic,
-
our defining feature, our defining identity
-
where our whole heart is all just like all about
-
serving God, loving God, being a Christian.
-
And so that no matter what we do,
-
the whole day, whether we eat or drink
-
or whatsoever we do, we do it all to the glory of God.
-
So it's like, oh, you know,
-
my biggest thing in my life is I'm an electrician.
-
But here's the thing, if you're an electrician,
-
you should be waking up every morning
-
deciding to be a Christian electrician.
-
And you're gonna be the best electrician you can be
-
for the glory of God.
-
And you're gonna do good at your job
-
because you wanna honor Christ.
-
And because you wanna be the best Christian you can be
-
and you're thinking about God
-
and in all your ways, you're acknowledging Him
-
and letting Him direct your paths.
-
That's how you're gonna succeed in the Christian life.
-
Being halfway is just gonna lead to problems.
-
You know, you gotta be all in.
-
And I'm not saying that when you're all in,
-
you're not gonna suffer yet.
-
All that will live Godly in Christ Jesus
-
or gonna suffer persecution.
-
But at the end of the day, you're still gonna be standing.
-
You're still gonna be here because let's face it,
-
five years from now, 10 years from now, 15 years from now,
-
we're not all gonna be serving God.
-
You guys know that, right?
-
Statistically speaking, I wish I could just say
-
everybody in this room, I now pronounce you lifetime
-
servants of God that will never crash and burn.
-
You know, I wish I could say that, but you know what?
-
There are kids in this room that are gonna grow up
-
and go the way of this world, go the way of the devil.
-
They're gonna be adults in this room,
-
they get back slidden, quit on God,
-
and just go out and just get totally out of church.
-
There are gonna be people in here
-
that fail and crash and burn.
-
You know what I'm talking about tonight?
-
You know what I'm talking about?
-
I'm talking about being one of the people
-
that is steadfast in the long run.
-
That's what I'm talking about.
-
I'm talking about who is still serving God,
-
whether it's here geographically
-
or somewhere else geographically,
-
who is still gonna be serving God five years from now,
-
10 years from now.
-
And look, hey, I got saved 39 years ago, okay?
-
And I've been consistently soul-winning
-
and serving God for like 28 years or something.
-
You know what I mean?
-
Like almost 30 years.
-
And you know what?
-
I wanna be here 10 years from now, 20 years from now.
-
I wanna be here 50 years from now.
-
I wanna be in it for the long run, right?
-
Christianity's not measured in years,
-
it's measured in decades.
-
And I'm telling you how to be a long run.
-
Cause I've seen some flashes in the pan around here
-
of some people who are super zealous
-
and super excited doing great works for God.
-
And I'm not saying that they were bad people,
-
they really were doing great works for God,
-
but they didn't make it in the long run.
-
I'm talking about not being a casualty
-
and being in it for the long haul
-
by taking heed and actually, you know,
-
following the Lord with all your heart.
-
Let's bow out in our word of prayer.
-
Father, we thank you so much for this great chapter, Lord.
-
Thank you for the good example of Jihu
-
in his zeal, his excitement,
-
and his desire to destroy false religion
-
and to stand against evil.
-
But Lord, help us also to learn from his failure
-
and to realize that we need to be all in,
-
all our hearts taken heed unto your word, Lord.
-
Help us not to be just negative people,
-
trashing everything that we don't like
-
and that everything that's anti-Christ and anti-Bible,
-
but help us also to be preaching the good news,
-
the good message of the gospel and getting people saved
-
and building something good as well,
-
planting churches, winning souls,
-
baptizing converts and teaching them to observe all things,
-
whatsoever Christ has commanded us.
-
And it's in Christ's name, we pray, amen.