SPEAKER_00: Well, I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles this evening to 2 Kings.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Kings chapters 9 and 10.
SPEAKER_00: As we come to this passage of Scripture, we continue the story that unfolds in this powerful book, 1 and 2 Kings.
SPEAKER_00: But let us come before the Lord and seek his grace and help as we come before Him now.
SPEAKER_00: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_00: Our great and gracious God, I do thank you and praise you for this day today.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I thank you for the real, yet the preview of the rest that we experience in the Lord Jesus Christ each Lord's day.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for what this day represents, what this day reveals, and what this day points to.
SPEAKER_00: As we now take this time to open your word and in a few moments have our hearts prepared to meet around the table of your Son, I pray that you bless us.
SPEAKER_00: Be with Matt Kretha as he ministers the Word of God at Central Mountains Baptist tonight.
SPEAKER_00: May the saints there be blessed.
SPEAKER_00: Help us now to have hearts, to be receptive to your word, give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and I ask for help on high.
SPEAKER_00: I pray these things in the name of the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: When you turn to 2 Kings chapter 9 and then chapter 10, a sermon from this section of Scripture must begin with a warning.
SPEAKER_00: The warning is that these chapters are violent.
SPEAKER_00: These chapters contain action-packed violence.
SPEAKER_00: This could be packaged as an action-packed thriller.
SPEAKER_00: They are chapters full of bloodshed and a vengeance rampage, like nothing else you've read up to this point.
SPEAKER_00: There is a lot going on in this chapter.
SPEAKER_00: But it would be wrong to fixate on the details of violence, knowing that these details of violence aren't to be the main point, as detailed and as gruesome as they are in the text itself.
SPEAKER_00: But what we need to understand is what's going on in this section of scripture is the Lord breaks into the experience of the people of Israel and unleashes justice.
SPEAKER_00: God uses an avenger to bring justice to those who have perverted the nation of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: You need to remember the background to this section of scripture, and it really goes back to a prophecy in 1 Kings chapter 19.
SPEAKER_00: But what's been happening is through the corrupt leadership of Ahab and his household, the prophets, the prophets of the Lord have been murdered by wicked Ahab and his house.
SPEAKER_00: Idolatry is promoted throughout the land.
SPEAKER_00: The holy land, the holy city has experienced the gross acts of wickedness.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord God is being defied.
SPEAKER_00: Injustice is breaking through the land.
SPEAKER_00: Wicked Jezebel has persecuted the people of God.
SPEAKER_00: Lives who love the Lord and are devoted to him have experienced the cruelty of these tyrants.
SPEAKER_00: Ungodliness has perverted the land of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And a long time has passed.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord had issued a warning through the prophet Elijah many years earlier that justice would come.
SPEAKER_00: But from the eyes of the onlooker and those who are on the ground who are experiencing the horrible effects of the house of Ahab and all of its wickedness, it's as if these evildoers have got away with it scot free.
SPEAKER_00: Justice has not been dealt with.
SPEAKER_00: Wickedness continues to pervert the land.
SPEAKER_00: Gross immorality is openly taking place.
SPEAKER_00: But the moment of justice arrives in 2 Kings 9.
SPEAKER_00: And it happens by means of an unlikely avenger.
SPEAKER_00: A man whose rampage could truly be described with the words that are the title of my sermon: Fast and Furious.
SPEAKER_00: Judgment breaks into the land as one speeds down the highway of justice, unleashing the judgment and fury of God in a way that results in epic violence.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, this truly is a confronting section of Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: It is action-packed, but know and understand that what is primarily taking place in this section of Scripture is the unfolding of God's sovereign purposes.
SPEAKER_00: Those who defy the covenant of God must face the one who says that I will avenge, says the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We learn this in the book of Deuteronomy.
SPEAKER_00: It's repeated again in the book of Numbers.
SPEAKER_00: God is the ultimate avenger, and he will carry out justice.
SPEAKER_00: It is his.
SPEAKER_00: Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I will repay.
SPEAKER_00: So we need to remember these facts as we go into a passage that is stained by blood.
SPEAKER_00: This is what's going on in the background.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't want us to miss the main theme that we'll be breaking through.
SPEAKER_00: Now, as we go into these two chapters, what I want you to notice what's going on here is there is three scenes that we need to see.
SPEAKER_00: The first scene is in chapter 9, verses 1 through 13.
SPEAKER_00: But then we come into scene two, which is 9.14, all the way through to 1028.
SPEAKER_00: It's the largest of scenes, but it is the one that truly comes with a warning as we enter into it.
SPEAKER_00: But then we come to the final scene, which is very brief.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that you need to notice as we walk our way through these three scenes in this moment of the life of Israel is God raises up an avenger.
SPEAKER_00: This individual carries out justice in the land.
SPEAKER_00: Yet you're left at the end unsatisfied.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't quite get the job done.
SPEAKER_00: And there is a mixed appraisal in regards to this character.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to see that thread because that's really important to notice as you go through this section of scripture.
SPEAKER_00: But ultimately, what you need to see in this section is not the individual carrying out the act of justice, but you need to ultimately see the true avenger behind it all, and that is the Lord God.
SPEAKER_00: So let's come to the very first scene in this passage this evening.
SPEAKER_00: And that first scene is an unlikely instrument of judgment.
SPEAKER_00: This is the first 13 verses of chapter 9.
SPEAKER_00: And what takes place in this first scene is the great prophet Elisha calls for a messenger to go.
SPEAKER_00: To go to a place where he will meet in Ramoth Gilead, Jehu.
SPEAKER_00: Jehu is a military leader.
SPEAKER_00: Jehu has already been mentioned by name way back in 1 Kings 19, 18, where a prophecy is given that Jehu will be selected as a future king among the people of Israel, and he will carry out acts of vengeance.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Elisha sends his messenger to go, and he's actually given some very strange instructions.
SPEAKER_00: But as strange as they seem, they make sense when you understand the political situation going on in the northern kingdom at this point of time.
SPEAKER_00: You need to remember that this is a moment of political unrest.
SPEAKER_00: There is political instability going on in the nation.
SPEAKER_00: There has not been a king in this northern kingdom that has been honoring the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: It has been a moment of ongoing defiance, wickedness, injustice, bloodshed of the innocent has been taking place.
SPEAKER_00: Idolatry is perverting the land.
SPEAKER_00: The Ten Commandments are being defied.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is forgotten.
SPEAKER_00: Fists are being shaken in his sight.
SPEAKER_00: Prophets are being killed.
SPEAKER_00: And in this moment of instability, a secret mission gets set up by the prophet Elisha.
SPEAKER_00: He tells his servant, I want you to go and I want you to meet with Jehu, the military commander.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to tell him that he has been selected by the Lord God Almighty to be the next king of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And not only is he to be king, you are to anoint him.
SPEAKER_00: And when you anoint him, you are to then commission him.
SPEAKER_00: You are to give him a great commission in the land of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: He is to go and do what it says in chapter 9 and verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: Tell him, You shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants, the prophets, the blood of all the servants of the Lord at the hand of Jezebel.
SPEAKER_00: Give him his job.
SPEAKER_00: His job is you are released to unleash judgment on the house of Ahab.
SPEAKER_00: Go for it.
SPEAKER_00: But then he says to him, strangely, once you anoint him, then you are to just quickly open the door and run away as fast as you can.
SPEAKER_00: Again, this is indicating a time of instability.
SPEAKER_00: This is a risky mission.
SPEAKER_00: This is a secret anointing.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Jehu is there with a group of other military men, men of great might, great warriors, and suddenly they're confronted by this site where this man just runs on in and calls Jehu for a private meeting.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine it?
SPEAKER_00: Use your imagination.
SPEAKER_00: These group of soldiers, wild, strong, courageous, are there, and then all of a sudden someone just breaks up your meeting and he calls for your man to go out the back and he wants to have a private meeting.
SPEAKER_00: You're all sitting there thinking, I wonder what they're talking about.
SPEAKER_00: What's going on here?
SPEAKER_00: They can't hear the words, but they hear just the sounds going on in that back room.
SPEAKER_00: But to make the event just so alarming, the man who was sent from Elisha opens the door and does exactly what Elisha says.
SPEAKER_00: He just bolts and runs away.
SPEAKER_00: Well, there's no surprise then that Jehu's men say, What did this madman have to say?
SPEAKER_00: That was a complete weirdo, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_00: He just sort of ran over here.
SPEAKER_00: He wanted to meet with you in the back room.
SPEAKER_00: You guys were having a big chat.
SPEAKER_00: It sounded intense.
SPEAKER_00: Uh it got quiet for a moment, and then all of a sudden we heard the intensity, and he just ran off.
SPEAKER_00: What did that madman have to say to you, Jehu?
SPEAKER_00: Well, Jehu brushes it off.
SPEAKER_00: Look, he had nothing to say at all.
SPEAKER_00: But but they're not buying it.
SPEAKER_00: Jehu, something happened.
SPEAKER_00: Behind closed doors, something happened right now.
SPEAKER_00: This guy's clearly mad, but but something just occurred.
SPEAKER_00: And to the shock of Umal, Jehu just suddenly says, I actually just got anointed king of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And immediately these men fall down and and show homage and honor.
SPEAKER_00: And in the same wording that we see back in the book of 1 Kings, they pay homage to him.
SPEAKER_00: Long live the King Jehu! They begin to affirm and recognize that this man is now the anointed one.
SPEAKER_00: He is the king.
SPEAKER_00: This is a profound scene.
SPEAKER_00: Jehu is king, they declare in verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: Trumpets are blowing, fanfare is happening.
SPEAKER_00: But you need to understand how anticlimactic this is.
SPEAKER_00: It's not the same as King Charles' coronation, is it?
SPEAKER_00: It was done behind closed doors.
SPEAKER_00: Only a small group of people were invited.
SPEAKER_00: And really, they only knew about it after the fact.
SPEAKER_00: They had no warning.
SPEAKER_00: This was a private coronation, revealing the instability of the nation.
SPEAKER_00: But what I want you to note in these first 13 verses is something very significant and a lesson that we must take hold of as we go through the rest of this section.
SPEAKER_00: This very first scene is set up to show us something important, and that is the main character of this story is not Elisha.
SPEAKER_00: It's not the man who was charged as being a madman, nor is it Jehu.
SPEAKER_00: The main character of the first 13 verses is the Lord God.
SPEAKER_00: And the lesson that we need to grasp immediately as we go into this section of Scripture is that the Lord will often use unlikely individuals to carry out judgment.
SPEAKER_00: The judgment that must be carried out in the nation of Israel, judgment that will be seen explicitly in scene number two, is judgment that had first of all been prophesied back in 1 Kings 19.
SPEAKER_00: It was a part of the plan of God.
SPEAKER_00: And what we need to learn right here is often God will carry out his work in unlikely ways.
SPEAKER_00: And because God's work and ways is often carried out in unlikely manners, it's easy for us to miss the work of God in this world.
SPEAKER_00: Straight away, you need to be confronted with this reality in this first scene.
SPEAKER_00: Great injustice is taking place in the nation of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Perversion is spreading the land.
SPEAKER_00: Moral depravity is rampant.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord God, in his holiness and righteousness, is being defied.
SPEAKER_00: And what looks like nothing happening, and when people look at the obvious places where things should be happening, there seems to be inactivity.
SPEAKER_00: But the great lesson here is God was working.
SPEAKER_00: God was working even behind closed doors, in a coronation that the nation had no clue about.
SPEAKER_00: That should humble us.
SPEAKER_00: We are constantly faced with scenarios and situations where wickedness is pervading through our culture.
SPEAKER_00: Horrible injustices are taking place.
SPEAKER_00: Perversion is permeating around the world.
SPEAKER_00: But what a humbling reality to know that in closed corners, in secret places, in situations that you and I are not across and are not aware of, God is working.
SPEAKER_00: And the same God who was working here in 2 Kings 9, verses 1 to 13, continues to be working and governing this universe.
SPEAKER_00: What we're learning in this first scene is providence unfolding.
SPEAKER_00: God is showing that Israel's story is his story.
SPEAKER_00: God has not forgotten his promises.
SPEAKER_00: And God will work in ways that are often confusing to us.
SPEAKER_00: He will work in strange ways, he will use unlikely individuals, and sometimes he will use individuals who do not meet our approval.
SPEAKER_00: But this is the thing.
SPEAKER_00: And we need to be humbled by that reality.
SPEAKER_00: We ought not to be only looking for situations that match our preferences.
SPEAKER_00: I think sometimes we can be like that too, that when we hear of an individual, when we hear of particular moments of history that might not tick every box, we are very quick to turn our eyes to think that God cannot work in that.
SPEAKER_00: We may not say it with those words, but I think we can think like that.
SPEAKER_00: And the great lesson here is God is working.
SPEAKER_00: God is working and he's going to do it through an unlikely individual, and it's a secret act.
SPEAKER_00: The only reason we knew this happened is because the narrator told us it happened.
SPEAKER_00: But apart from this being revealed in the written word of God, no one would have known what God was doing behind the scenes.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what was done in private will become a very public act of vengeance in just a moment.
SPEAKER_00: But know and see the first scene.
SPEAKER_00: These first 13 verses reveal to us an unlikely instrument of judgment.
SPEAKER_00: And God continues to work that way.
SPEAKER_00: Just as we see him doing that in the life of his own people, we learn in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: And we see look on in uh verses 29 onwards, we see this incredible description in 1 Corinthians that there are not many mighty, not many noble, not many rich, but God has calling the foolish things of this world, the base things of this world, to confound the wise.
SPEAKER_00: God's ways are often making use of the unlikely, the unknown.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the reasons for this is to show forth his glory, his power, and his might.
SPEAKER_00: Well, if we in just summary can take a great lesson from these opening verses, as we see in this first section a strange scene in which the Elijah, Elisha the prophet, calls one of the sons of the prophets, sends him on a mission to go and anoint Jehu to be king, resulting in the shock and surprise of his associates, who then triumphantly declare that this man is king.
SPEAKER_00: They lay down garments for him to stand on, they pay him homage, know and understand that God is working, but God is often working in ways that we least expect.
SPEAKER_00: But this is now what brings us to the second scene in this section.
SPEAKER_00: And I mentioned before, this is the largest one.
SPEAKER_00: If you have a look at chapter 9, verse 14, and then scan your eyes all the way through to 1028, we come to a section of scripture that truly needs to have a warning on it up front.
SPEAKER_00: What we're going to see here, and we have to move through it relatively quickly, but I think we get the point as we go through it.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, moving through it quickly actually captures the spirit of what's going on in this section because what's happening here is fast and furious activity.
SPEAKER_00: Jehu is now released on his mission.
SPEAKER_00: Jehu has been commissioned by a son of the prophets on the behalf of Elisha, who was speaking the word of Yahweh in fulfillment to a prophecy given to Elijah years before to go and unleash vengeance upon the house of Ahab and those who are affiliated.
SPEAKER_00: I've titled this second scene, Justice Unleashed.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what happens in this section.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to notice how it begins.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 14 tells us so Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshe, conspired against Joram.
SPEAKER_00: You need to understand that Joram is the king of the northern kingdom, and Ahaziah is the king of the south.
SPEAKER_00: Jehu now makes it his mission to do what he was told to do in chapter 9 and verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: He is to bring vengeance, he is to bring justice, he is to bring down the wicked house of Ahab and all who are in affiliation.
SPEAKER_00: So he begins his journey.
SPEAKER_00: Journey, interestingly enough, to the very location where Naboth was murdered.
SPEAKER_00: And what's quite fascinating about this scene is the very location where the ground experienced in justice becomes the battlefield in which justice is on display.
SPEAKER_00: And don't you love that?
SPEAKER_00: Because it is a reminder that the earth is the Lord's and everything that is in it.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord has remembered.
SPEAKER_00: He has remembered the injustices that have come upon his people.
SPEAKER_00: He has remembered the perversions that have hit the land.
SPEAKER_00: And the same memory that our Lord has in this text is the memory that he continues to carry today.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord knows he hears the cry of his saints.
SPEAKER_00: Like Abel, those who were dead yet still speak.
SPEAKER_00: They are testimonies, and they are bearing witness, and they cry out as we read in the book of Revelation, How long, O Lord, how long till you avenge us.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the moment for vengeance takes place in this very section.
SPEAKER_00: So again, you need to use your imaginations.
SPEAKER_00: Jehu is ready.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, Let's go to Jezreel.
SPEAKER_00: And first of all, we are going to go after the two kings.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to go after the king of Israel, and we're going to bring down the king of Judah.
SPEAKER_00: This is a bold mission.
SPEAKER_00: This is no small thing.
SPEAKER_00: You are going to tear down the two most powerful men in the land.
SPEAKER_00: Ask Jehu.
SPEAKER_00: He says, That's right.
SPEAKER_00: That's what my commission is.
SPEAKER_00: So he's on his chariot and he goes.
SPEAKER_00: And as he begins to head, there is a watchman in the tower and he alerts King Joram that look, someone's coming in the distance.
SPEAKER_00: So King Joram wants to know.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder if this person coming, who's coming pretty quickly, as he speeds down the highway of justice, King Joram wants to know.
SPEAKER_00: I'm curious, is this man coming in peace?
SPEAKER_00: So he does what any king would do in this situation.
SPEAKER_00: He calls for one of his messages, messengers, and says, I want you to go and I want you to inquire of this man who's coming down that highway very fast.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to find out, is it peace?
SPEAKER_00: So the first messenger goes and he arrives before Jehu and asks the question, Are you coming in peace?
SPEAKER_00: And after some brief interaction, Jehu says, Get in line behind me.
SPEAKER_00: And the man files behind him.
SPEAKER_00: He continues to go down with great speed, heading towards the tower where King Joram is.
SPEAKER_00: Joram again thinking, I don't know what's happening here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to send a second messenger.
SPEAKER_00: And he says to the second messenger, no doubt with more sense of anxiety of the moment.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to find out.
SPEAKER_00: Is this a peaceable situation?
SPEAKER_00: The second messenger goes and asks the same question.
SPEAKER_00: Do you come with peace?
SPEAKER_00: And Jehu says, get behind me.
SPEAKER_00: And he joins him.
SPEAKER_00: All of a sudden, an accumulating army.
SPEAKER_00: And as they are getting closer, he is driving so fast on his chariot.
SPEAKER_00: And I just love the description of verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: We read, So the watchman reported saying, He went up to them and is not coming back.
SPEAKER_00: That is the second messenger.
SPEAKER_00: And the driving is like the driving of Jehu, the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously.
SPEAKER_00: He is fast and furious.
SPEAKER_00: This has to be Jehu.
SPEAKER_00: No one else drives their chariots like him.
SPEAKER_00: You can relate to that.
SPEAKER_00: You know people who have a reputation for how they drive.
SPEAKER_00: You see a car go down Old Windsor Road, and you think, I know who that was.
SPEAKER_00: That's how they drive.
SPEAKER_00: They drive quickly.
SPEAKER_00: You can you can identify them very quickly, you know.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what was going on here.
SPEAKER_00: They knew this man driveth like Jehu.
SPEAKER_00: One of the elders in my previous congregation said that one time.
SPEAKER_00: I remember pulling into the car park quickly.
SPEAKER_00: And the very first thing he said to me, he goes, You driveth like Jehu.
SPEAKER_00: And it reminded me, wow, this the reputation here.
SPEAKER_00: And this is exactly what's happening.
SPEAKER_00: Jehu is coming with fury.
SPEAKER_00: He is coming fast.
SPEAKER_00: He is approaching the king.
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly, as he comes within an earshot of King Joram, Joram, who in this moment of time, as the text tells us, is recovering from an injury, speaks out to Jehu and wants to know, do you come in peace?
SPEAKER_00: And after some brief interaction, Jehu pulls out of his chariot a bow.
SPEAKER_00: He stretches it back and without hesitation releases the arrow, and the arrow is plunged right into the heart of Joram, and he collapses in front of everyone.
SPEAKER_00: King Aaziah is there, the king of the south.
SPEAKER_00: And King Aaziah immediately knows what's going on and he flees.
SPEAKER_00: And Jehu pursues him and also fires at him.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't kill him on the spot, but he wounds him in a fatal way, and he's left limping away and ends up dying out in Megiddo.
SPEAKER_00: But it's not over.
SPEAKER_00: Jehu then says, Now let's go to Jezreel and get Jezebel.
SPEAKER_00: Wicked Queen Jezebel.
SPEAKER_00: Well, we're introduced to that scene in what happens next.
SPEAKER_00: And as he makes it into Jezreel, we're confronted in verse 30 onwards with a very violent scene.
SPEAKER_00: Jezebel immediately becomes aware that Jehu is on his way.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps the message has already been passed on.
SPEAKER_00: Jezebel, Jehu is on a rampage.
SPEAKER_00: He has killed King Joram.
SPEAKER_00: He has killed Azariah.
SPEAKER_00: These men are dead.
SPEAKER_00: He's now coming for you.
SPEAKER_00: And what does Jezebel do?
SPEAKER_00: She gets the best makeup she's got.
SPEAKER_00: She doles herself up like you wouldn't believe it.
SPEAKER_00: She presents herself looking super impressive and in an act of defiance and pride stands outside her window.
SPEAKER_00: You need to understand what's going on here.
SPEAKER_00: Here is a person who is anticipating the end of a cruel reign.
SPEAKER_00: She is anticipating the end, but stands with defiance.
SPEAKER_00: Very often those who stand with such hard hearts towards the Lord will go out without showing any humility.
SPEAKER_00: And she does the very thing.
SPEAKER_00: Notice the interaction that takes place in verse thirty-one.
SPEAKER_00: Then as Jehu entered at the gate, she said, Is it peace, Zimri?
SPEAKER_00: Murderer of your master.
SPEAKER_00: He then looks up the window and he said, Who is on my side?
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly some of the officials, eunuchs, who worked inside of the royal room, come out by the window.
SPEAKER_00: And as Jehu calls for an invitation of loyalty toward him, a moment of justice, suddenly these officials take Jezebel and cast her outside of the window.
SPEAKER_00: And she falls to the ground with a violent death, devoured by dogs.
SPEAKER_00: And without missing a beat, Jehu runs inside the tower, goes upstairs, sits down at the table, and has lunch.
SPEAKER_00: And as he eats his meal, he puts his cup down and suddenly remembers, well, she is the daughter of a king after all, so she ought to be given a right burial.
SPEAKER_00: And he issues her instructions for her body to be collected.
SPEAKER_00: But what happened?
SPEAKER_00: They go outside to look for her and they found her.
SPEAKER_00: And sorry for the gruesome details, but they're there in the text.
SPEAKER_00: But there's a reason that they're in the text.
SPEAKER_00: All they could find is her skull and the palms of her hands.
SPEAKER_00: What we have here is a description that is gruesome, but you need to understand that the finding of her skull, feet, and palms was actually in precise fulfillment of a prophecy that God had given through the prophet Elijah that this is what's going to happen to Jezebel.
SPEAKER_00: And what we see here is that the promise of God, the prophecy that had come from God to the prophet, had been fulfilled even down to the gruesome details.
SPEAKER_00: The story continues.
SPEAKER_00: The two kings are dead.
SPEAKER_00: Jezebel, eliminated, but it's not over.
SPEAKER_00: He's been given the commission to bring down the house of Ahab.
SPEAKER_00: So Jahab, Jehu rather continues, and as he continues, he enters into the region of Samaria, and knowing that Ahab had seventy sons there, he writes a letter asking for the execution of the seventy sons of Ahab.
SPEAKER_00: He wants seventy heads.
SPEAKER_00: And it happens.
SPEAKER_00: It becomes very clear to the people, to the recipients, that this man has already brought down the two kings.
SPEAKER_00: Jezebel is gone.
SPEAKER_00: We do not stand a chance.
SPEAKER_00: We need to do what Jehu wants.
SPEAKER_00: And they beheaded.
SPEAKER_00: Seventy people, the seventy sons of Ahab, gone, eliminated.
SPEAKER_00: It's over.
SPEAKER_00: And then after this, it continues.
SPEAKER_00: We see that the the um the family of Ahaziah is also eliminated.
SPEAKER_00: We then see the rest of the relatives of Ahab removed, gone, killed, eliminated in chapter 10, verses 15 to 17.
SPEAKER_00: But Jehu's mission isn't over because one of the great perversions of the land is not just being seen in these individuals, these cruel leaders, these tyrants, individuals who are not functioning according to the law of God.
SPEAKER_00: But there is also something else going on in the land.
SPEAKER_00: There isn't just evil individuals, there is also the prevailing practice of idolatry.
SPEAKER_00: Idolatry defies the first table of the law.
SPEAKER_00: There have been other gods in Israel other than the one true God.
SPEAKER_00: There have been carved images.
SPEAKER_00: There has been taking the name of the Lord God in vain.
SPEAKER_00: There has not been the honorable worship taking place on the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: This has been perverted because there are those wicked Baal worshippers.
SPEAKER_00: And they have a temple.
SPEAKER_00: And this temple has been standing in a position of defiance against the one true God.
SPEAKER_00: This land is the Lord's, the earth is the Lord's.
SPEAKER_00: God had made a promise to Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: And in that land that had been given to the people of Israel through through Joshua's leadership has been perverted.
SPEAKER_00: And now it's time to bring down and eradicate from the land Baal worship.
SPEAKER_00: And what takes place?
SPEAKER_00: Well, after a bit of an elaborate scheme, the elimination of Baal worship takes place.
SPEAKER_00: It is completely and totally abolished and eradicated from the land.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to see in verses 18 through to verse 31, excuse me, verse 28, this intense destruction of those who served as priests and prophets, and anyone who served as an official in the capacity of this temple were slaughtered by the sword.
SPEAKER_00: And not only that, Jehu instructs for the temple worship and the actual structure to be demolished.
SPEAKER_00: And get this the Baal temple becomes a public toilet.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it says in at the end of the text in verse 27.
SPEAKER_00: Then they broke down the sacred pillar of Baal, tore down the temple of Baal, and made it a refuse dump to this day.
SPEAKER_00: That is simply saying it became a place where people would publicly relieve themselves.
SPEAKER_00: This was a way of showing that this is to be shamed, it is to be brought down, it is to be mocked, it is to be shown for all that it is.
SPEAKER_00: This was the act of Jehu.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what do we do with a scene like this?
SPEAKER_00: How does this scene help us in our daily life?
SPEAKER_00: This is a fast and furious description of justice being unleashed.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the grand lesson that I want you to see in this section is as messy as all of this is.
SPEAKER_00: And it is.
SPEAKER_00: God remembers.
SPEAKER_00: That's the lesson of this section.
SPEAKER_00: God remembers.
SPEAKER_00: God sees every injustice.
SPEAKER_00: God sees every act of perversion.
SPEAKER_00: He saw it in the nation of Israel, and he continues to see it today.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord God sees every action of perversion in Australia and every act of injustice.
SPEAKER_00: He sees every act of defiance.
SPEAKER_00: He sees it in the churches.
SPEAKER_00: He sees it in the homes.
SPEAKER_00: He sees it in the parliament.
SPEAKER_00: He sees it throughout the land.
SPEAKER_00: And God is the ultimate avenger.
SPEAKER_00: He will carry out justice.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes the Lord will raise up unlikely instruments who, as clunky and as messy as it may be, will carry out acts of great justice in moments that brings reprieve in a society.
SPEAKER_00: When you read a passage like this and you learn about the death of Joram, the death of Ahaziah, the death of wicked Jezebel.
SPEAKER_00: What ought your first response be when you pray to the Lord and you think about that event?
SPEAKER_00: Is that something that you ought to come before the Lord and thank him for doing that work as messy as the process was?
SPEAKER_00: I think yes.
SPEAKER_00: Because great injustice took place in the land, and sometimes in the providence of God, he will carry out through unlikely instruments individuals who may go about it in a rather messy way, but still bring about an aspect of justice.
SPEAKER_00: And when we do see any individual regime, any individual who stands in defiance to God, any movement that defies the one true God brought down and crushed, that ought to be something that brings rejoicing to the heart of the people of God.
SPEAKER_00: But this passage, at the key of it all, is to remind us God remembers.
SPEAKER_00: God remembers every act of injustice, God remembers every perverted activity.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord remembers.
SPEAKER_00: But then we come to the end.
SPEAKER_00: And the end is actually rather unsatisfying.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jehu, who had been given a clear commission, a commission back in chapter 9 and verse 7 to strike down the house of Ahab, to avenge the blood of the Lord's servants, the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord at the hand of Jezebel, all of a sudden we come to an appraisal.
SPEAKER_00: And what we read in verses 29 to 36 is really an assessment on Jehu.
SPEAKER_00: I guess you could ask the question at this point.
SPEAKER_00: So, how did Jehu go?
SPEAKER_00: What did the Lord think of all that he did?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I've titled verses 29 to 36, The Danger of Partial Obedience.
SPEAKER_00: The danger of partial obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Jehu was fast and furious.
SPEAKER_00: Jehu was filled with zeal.
SPEAKER_00: But notice what the text says in verse 29.
SPEAKER_00: However, Jehu did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin, that is, from the golden calves that were at Bethel and Dan.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord said to Jehu, Because you have done well in doing what is right in my sight, and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in my heart, your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.
SPEAKER_00: But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart.
SPEAKER_00: For he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam who made Israel sin.
SPEAKER_00: What we learn here is Jehu had zeal, but it was incomplete obedience, partial obedience.
SPEAKER_00: He carried out great acts of justice, but the zeal covered something up.
SPEAKER_00: The zeal covered up his lack of being wholly devoted unto the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And I hope there is something that strikes us to the heart here as a direct reminder and application.
SPEAKER_00: It's one thing for any of us to publicly strive for justice, to publicly declare the Lordship of God in some areas of life, but to not follow that up with consistent obedient areas in other areas of life.
SPEAKER_00: That kind of public zeal becomes a cover to disguise your partial obedience and God is not pleased with you.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes, we can and must rejoice when we do see good acts of righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: When a political leader makes a courageous decision and does something that brings about good and flourishing and justice and punishes evil, we ought to rejoice in that.
SPEAKER_00: We ought to celebrate in that.
SPEAKER_00: We ought to praise the Lord for that.
SPEAKER_00: But let us not be deceived that if that person's zeal covers up their wholehearted heart for God, that person will still receive the judgment of God.
SPEAKER_00: And what I find fascinating is maybe 80, 90 years later, in the book of Hosea, the prophet will say in Hosea chapter 1 and verse 4 that vengeance must be unleashed on the house of Jehu for Jezreel.
SPEAKER_00: Why would the Lord say that?
SPEAKER_00: That's not saying everything that Jehu did was wrong.
SPEAKER_00: We know it's not wrong because the Lord rewards Jehu.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Jehu, you did a whole lot that I asked you to do, so I'm actually going to let the next four generations of your family sit on the throne.
SPEAKER_00: But that's all.
SPEAKER_00: There is a small reward for your partial justice.
SPEAKER_00: And that justice did bring about good and it did honor God's name.
SPEAKER_00: But you are not serving me with your whole heart, therefore I am not pleased with you, and therefore there will be vengeance on your household.
SPEAKER_00: And what this reminds us of is that when it comes to serving the Lord, don't disguise your partial obedience with zeal.
SPEAKER_00: Where you go around telling everyone out loud what you're doing, you go around saying how obedient you are, how amazing you are, or you go around giving the impression that you're doing this and this and this for the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But the question that we must ask ourselves is: are you hiding your partial obedience?
SPEAKER_00: Where this gets very practical is you might be saying this and this and this about the Lord, but are you applying the Lordship of Christ to all of life?
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is after a whole heart, a devoted heart.
SPEAKER_00: And you see, this is where Jehu leaves us with absolute frustration, because here is a man with zeal but in perfect obedience.
SPEAKER_00: But isn't it wonderful that we We don't have to look to Jehu to solve the problem of the world.
SPEAKER_00: But instead we can look to the one in John 2, who is described as the one who said, Zeal has consumed me when he entered into the temple grounds.
SPEAKER_00: He was able to flip the tables because of the gross acts of defiance against the Lord as he entered into the temple grounds.
SPEAKER_00: But not only was he consumed by zeal for his father's house, he said, My food and drink is to do the will of my Father.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, the greater than Jehu is the Lord Jesus Christ, who was filled with zeal but was also filled with perfect obedience.
SPEAKER_00: And the reminder for us is that Jehu, who was an unlikely instrument unleashed for justice, yet ended with the sin of partial obedience, is replaced by the one who was unlikely in the way he came into this world, who did carry out justice and continues to carry out justice in this world, came in full obedience to the Lord God.
SPEAKER_00: Well, this chapter should remind us that despite the evil, injustice, and wickedness that permeates our world, delayed justice doesn't mean justice denied.
SPEAKER_00: God will carry out justice, and the time will come in which the Son of God will return in a faster fury than Jehu did, and it will result in which every foe will be vanquished.
SPEAKER_00: But the great difference is he will get the job done perfectly.
SPEAKER_00: So the reminder for us right now is we need to rest in the providence and sovereignty of God.
SPEAKER_00: We ought to be praying for justice to prevail in this world.
SPEAKER_00: We ought to strive to see justice take place.
SPEAKER_00: We ought to condemn true wickedness and injustices.
SPEAKER_00: We ought to pray that leaders be brought down and that righteousness be brought up.
SPEAKER_00: We ought to stand with strong courage, but we do it in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, knowing that our commander is not one who comes with a sword on this side of his return, but through the power and the advancement of the gospel, but upon his second return will come with a sword and will bring every enemy down to the ground.
SPEAKER_00: He will place his feet upon their heads, and he will rule and reign.
SPEAKER_00: Will you follow King Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Will you trust him for justice?
SPEAKER_00: Will you live for him?
SPEAKER_00: Our gracious and mighty God, I thank you and praise you for the lessons you give us in this grand text.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to not lose sight of the great work that you are doing in the background of it.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to honor you, trust you, and live for you in Christ's name.