May 29, 2016 Rejoice Gods Enemies Have Been Scattered by Pastor Josh Sheldon

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May 29, 2016 Rejoice! God’s Enemies Have Been Scattered Kings 9:14-10:28 Pastor Josh Sheldon

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Good morning. I'll be reading this morning from Psalm 68 and also from Revelations Chapter 19.
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If you're using one of the Bibles and you see it in front of you, the page numbers are there on your bulletin. And it's a bit of a long passage here in Psalm, so if you feel that you need to sit down or prefer that, then you're free to do so.
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Otherwise, please stand with me for the reading of God's Word. That's perfect. Psalm 68, verse 1.
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Psalm 68, verse 1.
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Psalm 68, verse 1. Psalm 68, verse 1.
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Psalm 68, verse 1. Psalm 68, verse 1. Psalm 68, verse 1. Psalm 68, verse 1. Psalm 68, verse 1. Psalm 68, verse 1.
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Psalm 68, verse 1.
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Psalm 68, verse 1.
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Psalm 68, verse 1. Psalm 68, verse 1.
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The singers in front, the musicians last, between them virgins playing tambourines.
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Psalm 68, verse 1.
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Psalm 68, verse 1. Psalm 68, verse 1.
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Psalm 68, verse 1.
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Psalm 68, verse 1. Psalm 68, verse 1. Psalm 68, verse 1. Psalm 68, verse 1. what seemed to be a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven crying out, Alleluia, salvation and glory and power belong to our
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God, for his judgments are true and just. For he has judged a great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.
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Once more they cried out, Alleluia. The smoke from her goes up forever and ever. And the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped
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God, who was seated on the throne saying, Amen, Alleluia. And from the throne came a voice saying,
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Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great. Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters, like the sound of mighty peals of thunder crying out,
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Alleluia, for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the
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Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, pure and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
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And the angel said to me, write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the
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Lamb. And he said to me, these are the true words of God. Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said, you must not do that, for I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus.
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Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Let us pray.
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Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you have allowed us to be here to worship and to praise you and to hear the preaching, the teaching of your word.
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We ask that you would be with our pastor, God, as he opens your word and shares with us what it is that you have for us to hear.
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We ask that you would cause your word to change our minds and our hearts, our motivations, and cause us to live according to your desires.
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We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Amen, be seated. Thank you,
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Tom. We're working through this series we've been on, if you're visiting with us, on the prophets
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Elijah and Elisha. And we're now in the second of these two, Elisha, and actually getting fairly close to the end of this series.
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In the last message that we had on this, we saw Elisha anoint two kings.
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One in Syria, his name was Hazael. The other in Israel, his name was Yehu, or Jehovah.
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Yehu, they're both generals in their respective king's armies, and they both ascended to their thrones finally after hearing the anointing words of the prophet from God.
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They ascended to their thrones the same way, through assassination. Now this morning, by them, we're gonna see the judgment spoken out against Ahab, going all the way back to 1
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Kings 20, when Elijah met Ahab and told him what
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God was gonna do to him for the murder against Naboth. Those judgments are now about to be carried out.
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Elisha, this prophet we've been following for all this time, is going to fade into the background, and he doesn't come up again in the scripture until 1
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Kings chapter 13. And then only in verses 14 to 21, which record his death.
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Our scripture this morning is fairly long. It's the record of the end of this house of Ahab, this king whose wife, with his knowledge, with his approval, brought in Baal from Sidon, the
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Sidonian god, this king who is so violent, so wicked, so murderous, so greedy, is going to finally have the end of his house accomplished exactly as the word of God through these prophets, through both of them, said it would be.
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This Omride dynasty, called Omride after Ahab's father,
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Omri, so Ahab's house is called the Omride dynasty, is going to pass from history.
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In fact, there's only going to be one carrier of any blood from the Ahab's line left, and that's going to be good king
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Joash in Judah. We're not gonna go there this morning, I just tell you that for your information. This morning, what do we want to see from this?
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Simply this, God is sovereign. God does not speak without purpose.
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God's word does not come except with power, and the word of God will be accomplished, as the prophet
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Isaiah says. It's like the rain which God sends from heaven. It does not return to him, except accomplishes that for which he sent it.
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And here this morning, we have a wonderful example in actual history. Remember what we have here in 1 and 2
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Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, 1 and 2 Samuel, the so -called historical books. Remember they're called historical books because they are, in fact, history.
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And we're gonna see in this history, God's word, given time before, accomplished in minute and exact and precise detail.
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And what does this tell us? Our God is powerful, yes. His word is a word to be heard.
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It tells us that too. God is sovereign, and he speaks his will to his people as it pleases him for them to know what he will do.
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And why does he tell us? Why did he tell them? As a warning to cause men to consider their ways, to stop in their tracks and hear the word of God, and know the dread judgments that come should they stay on the wrong path, go against God, continuing their rebellions, their blasphemies against him.
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Ahab and all his sons after him were warned. They were warned by the prophets.
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They were warned by Elisha face to face. The man of God who had proven himself to be a man of God by the miracles he worked told these kings what would come.
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This morning, understand that this word of God that tells you who are outside of Jesus Christ, this word of God speaks no less surely to your fate than it did to the fate of this house.
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And what God says to all who are outside of Jesus Christ, to all who do not obey the gospel of God that was accomplished in his son
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Jesus Christ, no other name given to men under heaven by which they must be saved. This word that speaks of the coming judgment and condemnation of those no less sure than what happened here in first kings, or excuse me, in second kings to the house of Ahab.
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Let's take warning by this. God is sovereign. His word will be accomplished.
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It is not sent without purpose. It is not sent without power. This morning we're gonna look at the destruction of this awful house.
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We're gonna go back in our Bibles a few times to grasp the grand sweep of history that's being accomplished here and brought about by the word of God who had long before spoken of this.
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In his mercy, he delayed this final punishment, this final judgment. He offered men the grace of repentance by the word of his servants, the prophets.
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And of course, they were ignored. They were ignored, they were persecuted, they were murdered. God bore all these blasphemies and these insults with patience.
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He held his wrath at bay, but now the pot can no longer contain his anger. God's avenging angel, who is
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Yehu, the king who was just anointed, his avenging angel has unsheathed his sword and is going to soon drip with blood.
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That's what's happening here, the word of God being accomplished. Before we dig into this very much, there's a lot of names here.
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There's a lot of genealogy to keep track of who is under judgment, who is being spoken of. Part of the confusion comes in the very names.
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Ahab's first son was Ahaziah, the one who fell through the latticeworks and asked Beelzebub if he'd survive, and of course he didn't.
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His brother, Ahab's other son, Joram, then became king. That's Israel, that's the northern kingdom.
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Now around this same time, Jehoshaphat, we call him Good King Jehoshaphat, though he had his problems, and we're not gonna go into that very much this morning, but Jehoshaphat, who in the end is rated by the biblical author as a king who did what was right in the sight of the
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Lord, well his first son's name is Joram, the same as Ahab's second son, and his second son's name is
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Ahaziah, same as Ahab's first son, and at one point, some of these are living at the same time.
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So our biblical author thankfully calls one Joram, that's the king of Israel, and the other
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Jehoram, so we can make the difference, that's the king of Judah. You have handed to you a yellow insert, and it's got a very, very simple genealogical chart so you can kind of keep track of those.
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I kept it simple for a number of reasons, one so you could simply look and see, we're not trying to give you all the detail of every heir to the line, and also so that it wouldn't attract too much attention while we're trying to preach and explain what's going on there.
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But just to keep track of who it is we're talking about and where they are in that line, we've given that to you.
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I will try and make it specific when I speak of a king, say of Judah or of Israel.
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I wanna speak first of the death of King Joram of Israel, Ahab's son.
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It's interesting that after Jehu's anointing, he's a man of action, he goes immediately to work.
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He was told by the prophet who Elisha sent to anoint him what he is to do, he's going to destroy the house of Ahab, he's gonna make them like the house of Jeroboam.
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It's now time, as I said, God had given plenty of time for repentance, he had preached his word through, he had had his word preached through the prophets, been ignored, murdered, persecuted.
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God's patient is at an end and Jehu begins immediately.
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He goes after Joram. A read of this in 2
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Kings 9, verses 21 to 26, the first part of that passage tells about how
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Jehu comes to this city where Joram is at with his army, having accumulated his followers.
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And Joram sends out a rider to see if he's coming peaceably and Jehu says, no, get behind me and follow me.
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He sends out another rider and Jehu says, you better get behind me too. We come now right to verse 21 in 2
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Kings 9. Then Joram said, make ready, and his chariot was made ready.
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Then Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, and we'll speak a little bit later about what
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Ahaziah is doing there and his relation to Joram, but now both kings go out to meet
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Jehu. Joram king of Israel, Ahaziah king of Judah. They went out, each in his chariot, and they went out to meet
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Jehu and met him on the property of Naboth, the Jezreelite. Now it happened when
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Joram saw Jehu that he said, is it peace, Jehu? So he answered, what peace?
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As long as the harlot trees of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft are so many. Then Joram turned around and fled and said to Ahaziah, treachery,
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Ahaziah. Now Jehu drew his bow with full strength and shot Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow came out his heart and he sank down in his chariot.
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Then Jehu said to Bidkar his captain, pick him up and throw him into the tract of the field of Naboth, the
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Jezreelite. For remember, when you and I were riding together behind Ahab his father, that the
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Lord laid this burden upon him. Surely I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, says the
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Lord, and I will repay you in this plot, says the Lord. Now therefore, take and throw him on the plot of ground according to the word of the
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Lord. This is gonna become a refrain as we go through this. This is where we get this warning to you who do not believe in the
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Lord Jesus Christ, you who do not obey the gospel. Jehu is accomplishing exactly what
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God had said, must be done to this house, beginning with his son, Jehoram.
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I caught myself while I was speaking, pronouncing that name two different ways. Jehu and Yehu.
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As it's just a habit, I can't land on one. Jehu is sort of the English. There's no
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J sound in Hebrew. And so in the Hebrew it's Yehu, and we don't mean Yehu like he's real
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Yehu. That's a whole different silly expression. So forgive me as I go back and forth.
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I can't seem to quite land on one. I even do that while I read. I pronounce it in my mind both ways. Jehu has immediately begun to accomplish that word of God for which he was anointed.
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Now Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoshaphat's son, Ahaziah had come there to visit
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Joram because Joram had been wounded in his fight against Hazael of Syria.
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Now if you look at that chart I gave you, I don't know if it comes out clearly, but Joram was actually
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Ahaziah's uncle by the marriage that Jehoshaphat brought down into Judah.
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The intermingling of Ahab's family with this line of Judah began then under Jehoshaphat. And it gets very hard to explain.
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It gets very intricate. But at one time, as I said, there were two Jorams, one in Judah, one in Israel. And that's why you have the chart there.
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Ahaziah is nephew to this Joram. So when he heard his uncle had been wounded, that's why he's there.
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We're gonna speak about the sovereignty of God throughout this message, but that's something to keep in mind that both kings are in one place at a time.
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Now Joram is gone. He's the first one that Jehu goes after according to the word of God.
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And we need to go on. I want you to hear Ahaziah, king of Judah's end.
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2 Kings 9 and verse 27. But when king
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Ahaziah of Judah saw this, he fled by the road to Beth -hagan. So Jehu pursued him and said, shoot him also in the chariot.
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And they shot him at the ascent of Ger, which is by Iblium. Then he fled to Megiddo and died there.
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And his servants carried him in the chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in the city of David.
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Do you see already just in these two short passages the sheer sovereignty of God and the certainty of his word?
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And this man who God chose for Elisha to anoint as king of Israel, specifically to carry out
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God's vengeance against his house, how quickly and how inexorably he moves.
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This upstart king, he was a general to his king. All of a sudden there comes this prophet.
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What is his captain said, you know, this madman. They said, no, he's not a madman. He said something to you.
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He said, well, I'm going to be king. They all follow him and immediately he has his army and very immediately he's carrying out this exact word of God.
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See how quickly it happens. How determined he is. So Joram of Israel, dead.
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Ahaziah of Judah, the same. It doesn't slow down.
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The scripture doesn't slow down for a moment. We don't even get to catch our breath. Jezebel, whose name is the symbol for sexual immorality, she's next.
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Same chapter beginning at verse 30. Now when Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it and she put paint on her eyes and adorned her head and looked through a window.
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Then as Jehu entered at the gates, she said, is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master?
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Now this reference to Zimri goes way back to first kings. Zimri was a king, not a king, he was an upstart who assassinated the king then, king named
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Elah. Elah had reigned for all of seven days, Zimri being the one who put an end to him.
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And what Jezebel is doing is taunting him with that memory. It's sort of, if Zimri was an upstart, you're no better, you're just an upstart.
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Today we might say punk. And Zimri lasted for seven days and you,
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Jehu, are gonna last no longer. She's taunting him. There are a lot of commentators who think that she painted her eyes and got dressed because she's preparing herself for death.
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She knew she was gonna be executed. I don't think that's the case. It seems much more likely that she hoped to gain
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Jehu's allegiance by seducing him. And so she was dolling herself up, I think we might say.
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Jehu, as you might expect, have none of it. Continue at verse 32.
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And he looked up at the window and said, who is on my side, who? So two or three eunuchs looked out at him.
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Then he said, throw her down. So they threw her down and some of her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses.
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And he trampled her underfoot. And when he had gone in, he ate and drank. Then he said, go now, see to this accursed woman and bury her, for she was a king's daughter.
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So they went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands.
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Therefore they came back and told him. And he said, this is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant
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Elijah the Tishbite, saying, on the plot of ground at Jezreel, dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel.
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And of course, we all know it was Ahab who wanted the land that Naboth had.
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It was Ahab whose covetous, wicked heart desired to have that one plot. Out of all
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Israel, he who could have all he wanted, he had to have that spot. And it was
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Jezebel who saw him depressed and said, are you not a king? Are you the king of Israel?
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You just go eat and drink, anoint your face, stop repenting, get out of the sackcloth and the ashes, and we'll take care of it.
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Remember, she plotted against Naboth, had him falsely accused of blaspheming God. He was executed for that crime of which he was falsely accused.
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Ahab went along with it. Ahab is the one responsible for it. And that's what Naboth's vineyard, and why it was so important that Ahaziah and Joram were killed there.
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And that's how Jezebel fits in. It goes on, and the corpse of Jezebel shall be his refuse on the surface of the field in the plot at Jezreel so that they shall not say, here lies
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Jezebel. We have a long ways to go.
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The bloodletting is not over. Jehu goes to Jezreel where Ahab's 70 sons are.
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They are there in the custody of the elders of that town. They are there being raised and taken care of as royal children often were.
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First, 2 Kings chapter 10. I'm gonna read to you all of verses one through 11. Now Ahab had 70 sons in Samaria, and Jehu wrote and sent letters to Samaria to the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to those who reared
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Ahab's sons, saying, now as soon as this letter comes to you, since your master's sons are with you, and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city also, and weapons, choose the best qualified of your master's sons, set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house.
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In other words, he's calling them out. He's saying, here
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I am, and you know I'm here, and obviously they knew what had happened to the king of Israel and the king of Judah, Joram and Ahaziah.
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They say, you wanna do something about it? Here I am. Come on out. Let's duke it out, we might say today.
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He's challenging them. But they were extremely, or excuse me, they were exceedingly afraid, and said, look, two kings could not stand up to him.
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How can we stand? And he who was in charge of the house, and he who was in charge of the city, the elders also, and those who reared the sons, sent to Jehu, saying, we are your servants.
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We will do all you tell us, but we will not make anyone king. Do what is good in your sight.
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Then he wrote a second letter to them, saying, if you are for me and will obey my voice, take the heads of the men, your master's sons, and come to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow.
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Now the king's sons, 70 persons, were with the great men of the city who were rearing them. So it was, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons and slaughtered 70 persons, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him at Jezreel.
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Then a messenger came and told him, saying, they have brought the heads of the king's sons. And he said, lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning.
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So it was in the morning that he went out and stood and said to all the people, you are righteous. Indeed, I conspired against my master and killed him.
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But who killed all these? Know now that nothing shall fall to the earth of the word of the Lord, which the
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Lord has spoke concerning the house of Ahab. For the Lord has done what he spoke by his servant Elijah.
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So Jehu killed all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his close acquaintances, and his priests, until he left none, until he left none remaining.
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You know, it strikes me as we look at this, that Ahab had 70 sons.
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It strikes me because if you remember back to Genesis, Israel's seed as a nation was what?
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It was the 70 souls. We could say the sons of Jacob, those who went down with him to Egypt.
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They became a nation, they became a great nation. They became so great a nation that Egypt became afraid of them.
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And said, look, if our enemies come against us and they should choose to side with them, then we'll have nothing left.
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They will be wiped out. 70 sons could have become a nation.
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These might have well done that, but a nation that would have been abominable to God, more abominable than even the
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Amorites, or the Moabites, or the Philistines, and all the rest. I mean, it would have been a nation that lived on the promised land, the land that God gave his people, the land he gave them when he took them out of Egypt.
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That promised land. And they would have been a people who bore his name, Israel.
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No, God will not have such a thing. Ahab's sons are gone. There's no chance for this to become that nation, if indeed they could have.
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If you look down, I'm not gonna read them all, but if you look down, verses 12 to 14, we have 42 brothers or relatives of Ahaziah, Ahaziah of Judah, the one who had just been killed.
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They're found by Jehu traveling to Samaria. What are they doing? He says, who are you guys?
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We're Ahaziah's relatives. Where are you going? We're going to Jezreel to greet the queen mother. In quotes, that's what the scripture says.
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We're going to greet the queen mother. Obviously unaware that Jezebel had been executed.
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What does Jehu do? They're relatives, brothers, depending on your translation of Ahaziah.
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Therefore, in the direct bloodline of Ahab, the ruler, the one who started this house that's being taken out, what does
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Jehu do? Kills them all. He says, take them alive. So his men took them alive and slaughtered them.
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The bloodletting is not over. God's word against this house, against their abominations, against their battle worship, all that God said would come upon them because of all these things, having warned them in advance, clearly is coming to pass.
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It's not over. Second Kings 10, beginning of verse 15.
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Now when he, that's Jehu, when he departed from there, the place where he killed the 42, he met
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Jehonadab, the son of Rahab, coming to greet him. And he greeted him and said to him, is your heart right as my heart is towards you?
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And Jehonadab answered, it is. Jehu said, if it is, give me your hand. So he gave him his hand and he took him up into the chariot.
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Then he said, come with me and see my zeal for the Lord. So they had him ride in his chariot.
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And when he came to Samaria, he killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria till he had destroyed them according to the word of the
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Lord, which he spoke to Elijah. How are you doing with this?
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Have you had enough? Men being assassinated, killed, travelers on a road just going to visit their aunt or whoever
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Jezebel was to them, slaughtered. 70 sons of Ahab being reared in the custody of these men.
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They're supposed to protect them, raise them to be a king. Heads in baskets and given to this man,
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Jehu. This one I call the avenging angel. That's my word, that's not what the scripture calls it. But you can see where I get that from.
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Have you had enough? Do you see the dread consequence of ignoring
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God? Of blaspheming his name? Of disobeying his word?
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Of thinking of him as a light thing or person who does not actually speak and does not actually accomplish?
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Do you see the consequence? The bloodletting is not over.
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What God speaks in his word will be accomplished. Remember, dear ones,
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I'm speaking to you of a historical record. The Bible needs no outside source to confirm it, but the outside sources do help us to strengthen us that yes, even those who don't believe have to affirm that these things did happen.
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Much of this is confirmed in secular sources, archeologists, excuse me, have uncovered steels, have uncovered records that confirm much of what the scripture says.
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The scripture does not need them, be clear on that. The scripture is true because God spoke it. And yet, even those sources outside of the scripture, even those who do not believe in God, must confirm much of this.
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Remember this as we preach this. I'm speaking to you of history, of things that occurred in time and space.
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Have you had enough? Is this like one of those awful movies where they just can't be violent enough?
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No, this is holy scripture. And the bloodletting is not over. Baal, this awful
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God that Jezebel introduced from Sidon, Baal remains in the land.
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And verses 10 through 18 of the chapter we've been reading tell us how Jehu kills all the priests of Baal more thoroughly than even
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Elijah had on Carmel. And what else does he do? He destroys Baal's temple.
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In that whole passage, I just wanna read the last verse. I commend it to your reading later this afternoon.
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Verse 28 in that chapter says just this. Thus Jehu destroyed
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Baal from Israel. Thus Jehu destroyed Baal from Israel. This is what he was anointed for.
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And his anointing is what Elisha was anointed for by Elijah, his master, his predecessor.
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All this in exact accordance with the word of God. If there's a single theme for this morning's message, it's just what
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I said earlier. It's the sovereignty of God, that he speaks with purpose and he speaks with intent.
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And the purpose is that you be warned. The purpose is that you know that what
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God says he will accomplish. Usually, most commonly, through men he will accomplish.
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And he is ordained to those purposes. Such as Elijah handing his ministry over to Elisha.
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And Elisha fulfilling it by accomplishing these men to do these very things. A sovereign, powerful
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God. And why does he speak? He spoke then for the same reason
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I speak it to you today. It's so that men might examine themselves and consider what is their fate.
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He speaks so men will know it is God who determines that fate. And it is to God to whom they must turn.
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Turn from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? Why would you contend with a
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God whose word is so certainly accomplished as this
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God? This God who has spoken and done exactly what he said.
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Why would you stand before that God as though you could resist him? If the men of Israel said, look, he's already killed two kings.
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He's already destroyed them. How are we gonna stand against him? They're speaking of Jehu. They're speaking of man who
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God in his sovereignty chose to accomplish these things. But just a man. How then will you stand against the
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God whose word it is that brought all this to bear?
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Why will you die, O house of Israel? When it suits him, when it suits God, when the sin of the
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Amorites, so to speak, when the sin of the Amorites is complete, then suddenly he acts and there's no one who can stay his hand and say, what are you doing?
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What are you thinking? How can you do this thing up there? It's too much blood for me, it's too violent.
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It doesn't seem fair. Nobody's going to answer back to God. When he's ready, he moves.
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No one will be able to say that they weren't warned. Not a single hair on a single head will be harmed, but those whom
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God designated for the just reward of their deeds. As we look at this record,
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I can only say, take warning. Take warning, all of you, that God's will revealed in his word cannot be stayed and cannot be avoided.
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We spoke a couple of weeks ago about the anointing of Hazael in Syria and Jehu, the one we've been following here, how it fulfilled
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Elisha's prophetic purposes. It's Jehu and Hazael who together will destroy
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Ahab's line. Now, I haven't said much about Hazael. Hazael, the one who was anointed by Elisha's assistant, as it were, who went to this place at Ramoth Gilead and anointed him as king there.
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I haven't said much about him. He's going to have a great impact on Israel, but most of it is beyond Elisha's ministry.
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It'll come later and we're not going to continue that far in this series. But I will point out just one verse about him for now.
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Don't pass by this parenthetical statement. If you're following a New King James or the ESV Bible out there, it's a parenthetical statement.
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Don't pass by it too quickly because it's terribly important and it reminds us of the sovereignty and the sheer unmitigated power of God.
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Second Kings chapter nine verses 14 and 15.
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Again, this is parenthetical. Now, Joram, Joram king of Israel, the first one who was killed by Jehu.
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Now, Joram had been defending Ramoth Gilead. You remember this is the place where Ahab got
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Jehoshaphat to go along with him. So do you not know that Ramoth Gilead is ours and yet the Syrians have it?
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And so Jehoshaphat joins him. It's the same place, sort of northeast of Israel a bit.
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Joram had been defending Ramoth Gilead, he and all Israel against, guess who?
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Hazael, this one who was just anointed king and who became king by murdering, by assassinating his king,
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Ben -Hadad. That Hazael, okay, he'd been defending it against Hazael, king of Israel.
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But King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds which the Syrians had inflicted on him when he fought with Hazael, king of Syria.
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That's why Joram was at Jezreel because he'd been wounded. That's why Ahaziel was at Jezreel to visit his uncle,
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King Joram. Hazael, this king of Syria anointed by Elisha is the one who brought these men to that same spot.
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Do you see the sovereignty of God? Do you see a God who works all things in accordance with his will and with his purposes?
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All things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purposes, including this, as violent and as bloody as all this record seems, including this.
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Hazael, unknowingly but in exact accord with the will of God, is the one who enticed these condemned men to come to the executioner's sword that is in Jehu's hand.
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Do you see the sovereignty of our God in this? As awful as some of this record might seem, it was the will of God who can do no wrong that all these executions take place.
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And he had spoken of just these events. He had warned of them by his prophets.
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As a reminder of this, God didn't just suddenly start smiting people, but had warned them, had told them exactly and specifically what would happen if they didn't turn from their evil ways.
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Look back, if you would, at 1 Kings chapter 21.
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In that pew Bible, that's page 304. Look back at 1
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Kings 21. It's Elijah with a J, Elisha's predecessor.
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Elijah confronting Ahab after this murder we spoke about, when he murdered Naboth for his vineyard.
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Listen to what God, through that prophet, said to him. Hear what
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God says to you if you stand before him without Jesus Christ.
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These words, I would hope, would sink down into your ears. Behold, I will bring disaster upon you.
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I will utterly burn you up and will cut off from Ahab every male bond or free in Israel. And I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Naboth, and like the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah, for the anger to which you have provoked me.
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And because you have made Israel to sin. And of Jezebel, the Lord also said, the dogs shall eat
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Jezebel within the walls of Jezreel. Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in this city, the dogs shall eat.
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And anyone of his who dies in the open country, the birds of the heavens shall eat.
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No one can stand before God and say, why have you made me thus?
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No one will stand before God and gain a pardon because they could say to him, you didn't warn me.
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You didn't tell me. I was unaware of all this. No more than Ahab can say that.
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Here it is. Elijah told him exactly, specifically what was coming.
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He speaks of making the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam. The son of Nebat.
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Remember I said at the beginning, we have to go back a couple times in our scripture to pick up this sweep of history and how it's working out.
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So we need to consider for a moment this King Jeroboam. He was the first king of Israel after the north rebelled and seceded from the south.
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And in fact, only he and Jehu were specifically named by God to be kings in that land.
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Only they were anointed by God's prophets. So you can read about that in 1 Kings 1 and 26 to 40, which
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I would suggest for later. Don't turn there now. The point is that God raised up Jeroboam.
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Why? Jeroboam was raised up as a judgment against the king of undivided
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Israel who was then Solomon. Jeroboam, the king of the north, the one whose name becomes synonymous with the reason that Israel eventually collapsed completely because of the sin he brought in.
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He was raised up as a judgment against King Solomon. Now again, you don't have to turn there, but 1
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Kings 11 is where you read of how Solomon's heart turns away from the Lord. He builds temples for his wife's gods.
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You remember he had many, many wives. They came from all these different foreign pagan lands. So he built temples for their gods and even worshiped some of them.
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In order to bring him back to his right mind, the wisest mind known until the advent of the
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Lord Jesus Christ, God brought adversaries against him. That's all in 1 Kings 11. His realm,
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Solomon's realm had been one of peace and prosperity, but now it's characterized by war and conflict.
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There was Hadad, the Edomite, and then there was a man named Rezan, a determined and lifelong enemy of Solomon.
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And so Solomon, with all his wisdom, could not see God's hand in this.
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Solomon, this man who wrote these proverbs that so many of us are encouraged by and guided by and rebuked by, that's
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Solomon, who God used in so many ways. He would not repent of his evil in the sight of the
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Lord when he brought in this idolatry to Judah. Wisdom doesn't always mean biblical intelligence.
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A man as wise as Solomon can refuse to see and repent. The simplest child, on the other hand, can hear the gospel of God, can see their sin, and can repent.
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They can turn in faith and dependence like a child, as Jesus says, to the
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Lord Jesus Christ. The psalmist says, your word has made me wiser than all my teachers.
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If you repent, if you fall in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ, we could say your word has made me wiser than Solomon.
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Solomon, think of it. Not that there's any boasting. I'm remembering our
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Sunday school lesson and how easily boasting slips in. No, we don't boast about wisdom like this.
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But if you know the Lord Jesus Christ, and repent of your sins, that's wisdom indeed.
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Come to him as a little child to Jesus, dependent, expectant, innocent, trusting him.
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The point with Jeroboam is that his ascension to the throne in Israel didn't just happen. He was placed there by God as a judgment on Solomon.
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And Jeroboam soon became afraid that if his citizens went to the temple in Jerusalem, that they'd be so impressed with that that they wouldn't come back to him.
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So he set up idols in the corners of his kingdom. Here is the sin of Jeroboam, this refrain that goes constantly through first and second kings.
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The sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, is this. Idols set up in the corners of his kingdom.
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Dan in the northeast and Bethel in the south, the golden calves. He said, here are your gods, O Israel, who redeemed you and led you out of the land of Egypt.
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Jeroboam, raised up as a sign against Solomon, soon fell into the same sins as Solomon had.
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And so when Ahab is told, your house will become like the house of Jeroboam, Jeroboam, son of Nebat, here's what he's referring to.
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First Kings chapter 14. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel.
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This is from the prophet Ahijah to Jeroboam now. Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over my people
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Israel, and tore the kingdom away from the house of David, meaning Solomon, and gave it to you, and yet you have not been like my servant
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David, who kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my eyes.
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But you have done evil above all who went before you and have gone and made yourself other gods and metal images, provoking me to anger, and have cast me behind your back.
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Therefore, behold, I will bring harm upon the house of Jeroboam. And will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both bond and free in Israel, and will burn up the house of Jeroboam as a man burns up, dung until it is all gone.
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Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city, the dog shall eat, and anyone who dies in the open country, the birds of the heavens shall eat, for the
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Lord has spoken it. This prophecy was carried out not just against Ahab.
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Not just against Ahab, but several kings before him. Jeroboam died and his son
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Nadab was assassinated by Baasha. You've got some of this on the other side of that yellow insert
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I gave you. Look at it later, just hear this. Jeroboam's son Nadab, Nadab, excuse me, was assassinated by Baasha.
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Baasha died and his son Elah became king, and Elah was assassinated by Zimri, referred to him with Jezebel a little while ago.
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Zimri rules for one week and he's killed by Omri, Ahab's father. And now the worst of them all,
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Ahab, have been fixed in God's sights and wiped out by Jehu. That's what it meant.
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That's what it means to become like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat. And it happened over and over again.
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So by the time Ahab heard this prophecy, he could look back, remember, hear this term carefully.
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He could look back in history to things that had actually happened and see the certainty of the word of God being told to him by the prophet.
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Ahab, dead. His first son, Ahaziah, is dead.
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Ahaziah's brother, Joram, is dead. Joram's nephew, Ahab's and Jehoshaphat's grandson,
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Ahaziah, is dead. Ahab's wife, Jezebel, dead. Ahab's 70 sons are dead.
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Ahab's, or excuse me, Ahaziah's 42 brothers, dead. Baal's priests, dead.
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Baal's temple, destroyed. And what are we to make of this?
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This is this history as we come close to the end of this series on Elisha. Perhaps two or three more.
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I haven't quite decided yet. There's a few things we can circle back and pick up, I think, with great benefit to our souls.
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But we're almost done. As I said, Elisha slips away now. He fades into the background until chapter 13, then just for a short time.
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We'll certainly cover that if the Lord wills. What do we make of this now?
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This particular history, this huge amount of scripture that you've heard, much more scripture than exposition this morning.
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The reason I gave you so much scripture, the reason I gave you all these names, some of them shared amongst different people at the same time, and all this huge sweep of history so that you'd see this in time and space, you would be sure of the word of the
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Lord. You would see the minute detail, the certainty, the sheer accuracy of how every jot and tittle the
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Lord spoke was carried out. At the beginning of this message,
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I said, take warning, all of you. God's will, revealed in his word, cannot be stayed, and it cannot be avoided.
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These chapters speak to us of history, of actual events that happened to actual people.
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Ahab was told in excruciating detail what God had determined for him, but he refused to believe.
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Now, he did repent after murdering Naboth, but not what we think of repentance. More sorry it happened.
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Compared to what true biblical repentance is, it was sort of a shrug of the shoulders, almost flippant,
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I think. True repentance means that we've seen our sin from God's perspective.
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It means that we're horrified at our sheer depravity, not compared to each other, compared to me, you look pretty good, and compared to you,
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I look pretty good. Maybe not, doesn't matter. Maybe I should admit that you're less of a sinner than me, or I'm more than you.
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It might be true, but it makes no difference. Ultimately, it makes no difference. In the end, it doesn't matter what you or I think, it only matters what
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God thinks. It only matters what God thinks. True repentance, not possible, unless you see yourself as a depraved sinner, worthy only of condemnation.
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And you're told this in the scripture no less clearly than was
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Ahab. God wills you won't follow him any further than hearing that.
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And you'll turn away from his ignoring of it, and hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, because in Jesus Christ, even sins as bad as Ahab's are forgiven for all who will turn to him and repent.
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Put their faith, put their trust, put their hope, put their life in his hands, because of what he did on the cross.
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And only he did, and add nothing to it, just him.
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You know, think about it, God says in his word that our most righteous work, our best deed, done for the best motive that we can conjure up is in his sight, if it be done without faith in him, by and through faith in Jesus Christ.
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If it's done that way, in his sight, no matter how good it might be, it's just a filthy rag. It's a pile of cloths used for the most base purposes you can imagine.
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We are Ahab, we are Jezebel, we are Joram, we are Ahaziah, we're whoever stands against God as his determined enemy.
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And that's who Ahab and his house were. And that's where you, without Jesus Christ, are simply this, enemies of God.
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Their destruction was awful. In human terms, you might even say it was ghastly. So much bloodletting, how many times did
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I say accurately, I would argue, the bloodletting is not over. 42 were killed, the bloodletting is not over.
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70 were killed, it's not over. Heads in baskets, it's not over. Jezebel thrown down from a balcony, eaten by dogs, it's not over.
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That's just a snapshot of what this word of God says God will eventually do to all his enemies.
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Second Thessalonians says, it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the
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Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. In flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know
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God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you hear the warning, the prophetic warning of scripture?
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Do you hear what Elijah told Ahab? Oh God willing, you will hear this this morning.
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Because these words I'm speaking from Second Thessalonians are from the same God who spoke and then accomplished his will way back in second
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Kings, centuries and centuries before this. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the
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Lord and from the glory of his power when he comes, that's when Jesus comes, when he returns, all this comes, this
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Jehu once anointed can't be turned back. When Jesus comes, no turning back.
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When he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who believe because their testimony among you was believed.
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What does this speak? This speaks of eternal dying for those who do not obey this gospel. Paul writes in Philippians chapter three of the enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction, whose
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God is their belly and whose glory is their shame and who set their mind on earthly things. Are you warned?
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Be warned. Be certain of these things.
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Jesus quotes Isaiah 66, 24 when he speaks of hell as a place where fire that shall never be quenched, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.
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Eternal, never -ending, dying. Not death, not annihilation as some will tell you, not ceasing to exist as some would have you believe because that's easier.
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Eternal, never -ending, dying is what this speaks of. There are more, but these few make the same point.
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As Ahab was worn by Elijah, as Joram was worn by Elisha, so you are worn by the same prophetic word.
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As the word of God to Ahab and all the others was true, so it is true and inexorable to you.
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So what to do? Just what I said. Repent and believe the gospel.
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See your sin and count yourself as an ally of Ahab and then confess that God's judgment is just and look to Jesus Christ, look to him, look to Jesus, look to his cross where he became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him, where he was treated as if he were
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Ahab and worse in your place or mine.
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See him upon whom the punishment for your sins was poured out. Repent before God by faith in him.
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Plead to God that he might count your sins as having been included when Jesus Christ suffered. Believe by faith in what
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Christ did when he suffered that God will forgive you for all and that Ahab's fate will not be yours to share.
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Just one more comment and then we'll close. I know it's been a rather long message this morning. For we who believe, what do we do with all this?
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All this bloodletting is not over. More bloodletting is not over. More is not over, more is not over.
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What do we do with this as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ? One word, rejoice.
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Rejoice that you've been forgiven. Rejoice to see God's judgment so wonderfully displayed. Rejoice that God's enemies are scattered as the psalmist says.
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It's grounds for rejoicing. Did you hear what Tom read in your Bible? Revelation 19? When God's judgment was finally enacted on the earth, what did heaven do?
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Heaven rejoiced for all these reasons. Join this heavenly chorus.
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Alleluia. Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God. For true and righteous are his judgments because he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication and he has avenged on her the blood of his servants shed by her.
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Again they said alleluia. Her smokes rise up forever and ever. And the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped
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God who sat on the throne saying amen, alleluia. Then a voice came from the throne saying praise our
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God, all you who are his servants and those who fear him, both small and great.
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Rejoice that the word of salvation in God's son Jesus is no less sure than is his word of warning and judgment against his enemies.
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Rejoice that God has remade your heart, that you can believe the gospel of the
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Lord Jesus Christ and know that the fate of Ahab which we all richly deserved is not yours because that fate was poured out on Jesus and he paid your price for it.
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Rejoice in that. Rejoice that the word of judgment is just as certain as also is his word of salvation.