Let U.S. Open our Bibles to 2nd Kings
chapter 10 and I ask you to place your finger there at verse
18. I want to remind you that Jehu
accomplished what the Lord asked of him and what Elijah
prophesied concerning the House of Ahab.
He did bring total annihilation to this dynasty.
And that is how our study concluded last week in Second
Kings 10/17. So we might expect then that
since Jehu's campaign is now over, then we're going to
encounter what we usually find at the end of a brief account of
one of the kings, a general summary of his reign.
But what we're going to discover is that's not the case.
Jehu is not finished with his efforts.
Actually, Jehu is much more motivated and ambitious than we
initially thought, because Jehu is not content in just dealing
with the House of Ahab. He wants to cleanse the land of
Israel of all worshippers of Baal.
And it's in these final verses of Second Kings chapter 10 where
we're going to study how Jehu is going to accomplish this.
And so we're going to start by reading verses 18 and 19, pause
slowly, reflect as we usually do, and continue with that pace
until we complete this chapter. Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you for this wonderful book.
We trust that by the power of your Holy Spirit, You will guide
us to glean every golden nugget of truth that is necessary for
our sanctification at this point in our lives.
Thank you for every person who is here, every person who is
watching as our brother opened the service with may your voice
be heard. We want your complete majesty
and glory and power to be felt and realized in the fruitfulness
of our lives being lived out. In response to these truths.
We entrust our hearts, our minds, our emotions, our
decisions to you. Conform everything of who we are
to Your complete will. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. Verse 18 Then Jehu assembled all
the people and said to them, Ahab served Baal a little, but
Jehu will serve him much now. Therefore called to me all the
prophets of Baal, all his worshippers, and all his priest.
Let none be missing, for I have a great sacrifice to offer to
Baal. Whoever is missing shall not
live. But Jehu did it with cunning in
order to destroy the worshippers of Bail.
What a way to open a Bible study, especially you've been
following this week after week. There are a couple of questions,
crucial questions that we have to find answers for before we
move on. The first one is this.
Is Jehu's determination to eradicate the land of Israel
from all Bail worshippers something that is legitimate and
authorized by God? So just just give me a hand if
you think this is right for Jehu to do 2 people and if it's wrong
lift your hand more than two people and the rest of you are
not sure which is OK. Given that we've already studied
him enough to know that his mandate was very specific, that
he was to deal with the House of Ahab alone, correct?
So then at face value we might think this is just another case
of JU going beyond what the Lord asked of him.
However, if you are a student of the Law of Moses, then you will
recall that there are specific laws pertaining to idolaters in
the land. And when we look at some of
those laws, we might realize and conclude that JU is actually
more aligned with God's will than we initially thought.
Here's a general verse that summarizes God's heart for this
people in this covenant concerning idol worship.
Here's a reference for you. In Exodus 22, verse 20, he says
whoever sacrifices to any God other than the Lord alone shall
be devoted to destruction. So again, that is a general
prohibition against, and it is a call for punishment for idolatry
among this people. But it's not until you go to
Deuteronomy chapter 13, and that's where I'm going to ask
you to turn, where you get the specific detailed protocol of
how this destruction should take place.
And it's in the latter portion of Deuteronomy 13 where we learn
what the people ought to do when idolatry becomes larger in
scale, where communities and cities are infected by apostasy.
What should the people do then? And here's what we find here in
Deuteronomy 13, verse 12. If you here in one of your
cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to dwell there,
that certain worthless fellows have gone out among you, and
have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go
and serve other gods which you have not known, that you shall
inquire and make search, and ask diligently.
And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination
has been done among you, you shall surely put the inhabitants
of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction all
who are in it, and it's cattle. With the edge of the sword, you
shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square and
burn the city and all its spoil with fire as a whole burnt
offering to the Lord your God. It shall be a heap forever.
It shall not be built again. Now we don't have time to delve
into why such severe punishments were enacted under the Old
Covenant. The main point is this.
Based on this, we learned that Jehu is not in the wrong.
He's not out of line in this pursuit.
To identify and chase down and discipline those who are
worshippers of false gods. Now that is clear.
We've established that. Here's the second question,
though. The ambition is in alignment
with God's will. It's his strategy, the way he
brings us about. Is this something?
Praiseworthy. Is this something that reflects
God's methodology? Answer no.
It's not, and this is not the first time that we found Jehu
implementing deception in order to achieve his political goals,
is it? So what are we discovering about
this man that this manipulation is actually embedded in his
character? He was very good at lying and he
often wielded that as a weapon. Oh, you say, well, it's for a
righteous goal. OK, well we'll talk about that
in a moment. However, what I want us to see
here is that this man is pretending to be a worshipper of
Baal in order to attract worshippers of Baal.
Now listen, Jehu's goal is far different, but I want to make a
comparison with many Christians who implement similar tactics in
trying to attract. The lost.
If your attempt to draw people who are outside of the truth
requires you to betray your convictions or to participate in
their sin, you're outside of God's will, no matter if your
righteous goal is what you're trying to achieve.
That never justifies the means and never justify the means.
And when I looked at this, I remember because it's wonderful
to look back at things that you've seen before that might
compliment or add commentary to what you're discovering here.
This is not the first time a leader in Israel called for such
a large conference, is it? I think back to Elijah.
Remember when Elijah called for a showdown between him and the
prophets of Baal and Ashra on Mount Carmel?
And here's what I recall, that Elijah didn't have to pretend to
be a worship of veil to bring in the worshippers of veil, did he?
No, no, He enticed them by standing true to the Lord, even
if he stood alone. That's what drew people in to be
like, OK, is this real? Is his God real?
Is his God really more powerful than Baal?
So if we're going to use any way of hooking people in closer to
the truth, to encounter the truth, let it be because you are
different, not because you're so similar.
Yes, his goal is different, but his tactics are copied by many
today. You don't have to change the way
you talk. You don't have to sin, you don't
have to look a certain way as long as it's not sinful.
Like Paul said, he was willing to converge himself and to
conform as long as it didn't betray his conscience or God's
will in order to win some, yes, but never at the expense of your
holiness and God's honor. And.
Glory. So we read on.
He asked them to meet him in the capital Samaria.
And the Holy Spirit even tells us here that he did this with
cunning. Just in case anybody thought
that he became a bill worshipper overnight.
Let's read at verse 20. And Jay, who ordered sanctify a
solemn assembly for bail. So they proclaimed it.
And Jay, who sent throughout all Israel and all the worshippers
of Bail, came so that there was not a man left who did not come.
And they entered the House of bail, and the House of bail was
filled from one end to the other.
My initial reaction when meditating on these verses was
where did. All these worshippers come from.
Do you know why that crossed my mind?
Because again, look back and remember what we've studied in
Second Kings when Jeho Ram or Joram, the king who was on the
throne before Jehu assassinated him and occupied the throne,
though he was a wicked man, he did not encourage Bale worship.
Do you recall this? Let me remind you, in Second
Kings 3 verses one and two, look at Second Kings 3 when he first
became king. We're told here in verse one in
the 18th year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, Jehoram, the son
of Ahab, became king over Israel and Samaria, and he reigned 12
years. He did what was evil in the
sight of the Lord, though not like his father and mother, for
he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made.
So a wicked man, but he must have observed something living
in the House of Ahab. Ahab being his father.
Baalism doesn't work. Baal failed my dad over and over
again. So he doesn't really repent.
But as a strategist, as an opportunist, he takes this
monument that was dedicated to Baal and he tucks it away
somewhere. Desire in the hearts of God's
people to worship Baal. It revealed a deep seated
idolatry that was there all along and bail, yes, he was
proven false. He was proven weak on Mount
Carmel and under this administration, Joe Rams
administration, it was discouraged and it waned over
time. And yet still, what I learned
from this is that throughout that time.
You had a group of people who worshipped Bale all along.
This is fascinating because you could admire this unwavering
commitment, can't you? It's toward a false God.
But the discipline and the dedication is kind of
convicting. And we see it here, a great
number of people who still worship Bale.
But God is going to see this kind of commitment, and in his
wisdom, it's going to lead to mass casualty.
Why? Because deception is the fate of
those who persistently reject the truth.
Not that God approves of Jehu's trickery, but he permits it.
How does he permit it? He does not rescue the victims
of this deception and will allow them to be led to the slaughter
as punishment. And I don't know if you
recognize this, but what Jehu does here as a leader and how he
tricks all these people is a preview of what we're going to
see in the last days. Because we are told in the New
Testament that there is going to be a leader known as the lawless
one, known as the Antichrist. Who?
Will win the world by way of wicked deception through the
activity of Satan, and that deception will end up proving to
be damning for millions and millions of people and.
Paul, by the Holy Spirit tells us how God works in the midst of
all of this. And that's what I want you to
see in Second Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 9.
Notice what Paul says about the final moments of human history.
The coming of the lawless 1 is by the activity of Satan with
all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked
deception for those who are perishing because they refuse to
love the truth and so be saved. We read this a few weeks ago,
but we didn't touch on verse 11 and verse 12.
Therefore God sends them a strong delusion.
God, you would think Satan would send them a strong No, no, no,
no, no. God does.
God sends them a strong delusion so that they may believe what is
false. God wants people to believe what
is false. Oh, you can cut this verse up
and make. It sound like that no?
He's willing to let people believe what is false after they
have denied the truth. This is not his first move.
This is his response to the persistent rejection of a
generation. Let's continue on in order that.
All may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had
pleasure in unrighteousness. So for Paul to say, I mean, this
is incredible. There's so.
We can make a Bible study just out of these verses, but for
Paul to say that God sends them a strong delusion.
Encourages us in this way, you're saying?
How does that encourage me? I'll tell you because we just
read about how the Antichrist will rise and he will sweep the
world off its feet and he will deceive and he'll perform all
these persuasive things. And you think the Lawless 1 is
ruling the world? He's governing the affairs of
this planet and it Paul's quick to say God is actually
supervising all these events. He is actually sovereign over
all these things. Not that he's the author of it,
but he's still in control over it.
He allows the strong delusion to be unleashed.
He's the one who lets loose the Antichrist at the right time for
the right generation. So this is prophetic, but it's
also practical because in practical terms, what this
teaches me is that when a people deliberately deny the truth,
they become helplessly vulnerable to deception.
There comes a time when someone objects and refuses and stiffens
their neck so much that they are destined to believe a lie to
their own destruction. Is it any wonder that over and
over in the new. Testament.
You hear this admonition today if you hear his voice.
Today, not tomorrow. Today, Friday night, Bible study
at 7:45 if you hear his voice, not Saturday morning.
Today, if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart.
Don't harden your heart. And so we see something similar
here. A deception sweeps over Israel.
The masses are coming believing it to be true.
And this is not a people that are just being introduced to the
idea of Baal. This is a people who have
experienced God's favor, His intervention, His grace, his
deliverance, and they denied him over and over.
You don't want the one that I sent that I'm going to give you
someone else. You don't want Christ.
Here's the Antichrist that will come because the Bible says so.
But there's another comparison that I'd like to make, and it's
more of a contrast. So we've been studying these
past couple weeks. Jehu's climb to the throne of
Israel. But we still have many chapters
in Second Kings, and one of the kings that we're going to
discover together is Hezekiah. He's not going to be the king of
Israel. He's going to be the king of
Judah. And you don't see this
explicitly in Second Kings. You find him more in Second
Chronicles, in the parallel account to 2nd Kings.
But Hezekiah himself will make a call for the solemn assembly.
He's going to reach out to the whole nation, not just the
Kingdom of Judah, but even Israel, all the northern tribes
to come to not Samaria but Jerusalem, not to worship Baal,
but to worship the true and living God.
And when you compare Jehu's attempt and success of bringing
in these worshippers of Baal to Hezekiah's attempt of bringing
in the true worshippers of God, you're going to discover a
heartbreaking outcome. Would you like to see it?
Well, let's see it together. Go to Second Chronicles 30, and
I want you to see it in verse one.
Hezekiah is one of the few reformers.
In Judah's history, and we read here what he does for the glory
of God in Second Chronicles 30 verse one, Hezekiah sent to all
Israel and Judah. Why is that significant?
Because he's the king of Judah at this time, but he's.
Even reaching out to the northern tribes, so to all
Israel and Judah and wrote letters also to Ephraim and
Manasa that they should come to the House of the Lord at
Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the Lord the God of Israel.
Why is he doing this? Because you read in the same
chapter that it's been so long since they honor the Passover as
one nation. And so he's reaching out saying
why don't we do this the way God told us to do it?
Let's, let's all make pilgrimage and all come to the House of God
and worship him at the Passover. Here's the response.
Scroll down to verse 10. So the couriers went from city
to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh and as far
as Zebulun. But they laughed them to scorn
and mocked them. How funny when you call
everybody to worship Bill. We're going to see how many
people showed up when it came to worshipping God.
You had many. You want me to come all the way
down to Jerusalem? Yeah, right.
Well, it's not completely bleak. Look at verse 11.
However, some men of Asher, of Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled
themselves and came to Jerusalem.
And in the following verse you learn that the hand of the Lord
was upon the tribe of Judah, and they were one heart to come and
honor this feast. So let me remind you something.
You don't have to turn there, but back in Second Kings chapter
10, we're told there that all the worshippers, not some of the
worshippers of Baal, all of the worshippers of Baal came to
Samaria. When Hezekiah calls for the
worshippers of Yahweh, specifically in the northern
tribes, some. This breaks my heart, but it
also stirs a fire in my soul. And I'll tell you why, because
it teaches and it challenges you and me, that our devotion to the
Lord should never be outshined. By those who live for idols.
Never, never listen to this. The gospel of grace should make
you and I more faithful, more earnest, more zealous, more
committed, more devoted than those who are working for their
salvation. This gospel of grace should make
you more, more committed, more invested.
Wait to the Lord Jesus Christ, never, never live for this
legacy that when your family, your spouse, your children
reflect on your brief pilgrimage on the earth, they can say with
confidence, he lived for Christ. She lived for Christ.
Oh, yeah, they, they had this job and, and they had those
hobbies and, and they, they had those kind of connections, but
none of that compared to how that person loved Jesus, just
determine that, that this is what my life will be about him,
him alone. Everything else will orbit
around him. This little life that I have a
breath will be a fragrance unto him.
So when it came to Baal worship revival, when it came to the
worship of the true God, the sanctuary was not full.
Let's read on. In verse 22, Second Kings 10, he
said to him who was in charge of the wardrobe, bring out the
vestments of all the worshippers of Vail.
So he brought out the vestments for them.
That's quite interesting. So they had even their own
wardrobe. And I wonder if Jay, who's doing
this so he can just easily target them.
So dress them up. They do.
Verse 23 Then Jay who went into the House of Bail with Johanna
Dab, the son of Recap, and he said to the worshippers of Baal,
search and see that there is no servant of the Lord here among
you, but only the worshippers of Baal.
Then they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings.
Don't you find it interesting that right before Jehu executes
quite literally these worshippers?
He asked the group. To.
Scan the room. Ensure that there aren't any
worshippers of the true God in their midst.
This should cause you to pause and ask, why would there be any
worshippers of the true God at this assembly anyway?
That's a fair question, isn't it?
Why would there be? You called for the worshippers
of Baal. Here's the honest truth that
even for a true believer, they can lapse and they can find
themselves in the wrong place with the wrong people doing the
wrong thing. That's possible for a true
servant of God, and that's what we see here.
And this is just an imaginative way this could have played out
in this situation. So just imagine the news.
Jehu calling the masses to Samaritan worship.
Bale reaches your neighborhood, right?
This rising king Jehu, and there's so many different
discussions about him. There's rumors of what he's all
about. But this news comes to your
town, calling all these worshippers to honor Bale in a
new and fresh way. And your friends and some of
your family, they're ecstatic. About this, they're absolutely
thrilled. And here you are in their
presence, hearing them talk about this is it.
We're we're going to see Bill bless us now.
He's going to unleash his goodness on our land.
And surely he will honor us if we abandoned everything and make
our way to his house. And as you look out your front
step, maybe sitting on your little porch, you are watching
people frantically walking and running, packing their mules and
their donkeys and their Chariots, and there's Glee on
their faces and there's a buzz in the air, and finally a few
colleagues approach you. And they ask.
Would you come look how many people are going join us?
We haven't seen anything like this for so long and you think
to yourself perhaps. It's not a big deal, is it?
What can one visit the House of Bill really do?
I mean, how harmful can it be? If anybody asks I can just say I
was curious. What if Bale is real?
What if he's making a comeback? What if, what if Bale is
actually using this to test to see who is truly for him?
And, and if we don't pass the test, if if I don't pass the
test, then I'll be judged, I'll be cursed.
Oh, how wrong you would be to go to the House of Bale on that
day, because you see Jay who in asking for the room to be
evaluated. I'm not sure if you recognize
this is an act of God's intervening grace for a true St.
who might have made a wrong decision.
But know this, we don't always walk away from sinful
experimentation unscathed. That's not always granted to
people. And I've heard horrific life
altering stories, especially of young people who are too curious
for their good and it impacted them for the rest of their
lives. So let me say this, the best
thing to do is to always take God at His word.
If he says it's sin, if He says it's evil, leave it at that and
walk on and enjoy him and live for him.
So make sure that there's nobody here who worships the Lord.
Why would there be there anybody there to begin with?
Because it's possible for us to waver, and Jehu shows us that
God is gracious enough to deliver us.
But sometimes we can't always determine the outcome of our
sinful choices. Verse 25 of Second Kings 10
let's. Read back at verse 24.
Then they went in and to sacrifice, to offer sacrifices
and burnt offerings. Now J who had stationed 80 men
outside, and said, the man who allows any of those who might
give into your hands to escape shall forfeit his life.
This man is serious. You can't miss one of them.
I mean business here we have every single worshipper of Bail
in attendance. Not one is going to leave with
their life. What happens?
Verse 25 S As soon as he had made an end of offering the
burnt offering, Jehu said to the guard and to the officers, Go in
and strike them down. Let not a man escape.
So when they put them to the sword, the guard and the
officers cast them out and went into the inner room.
Of the House of bail, And they brought out the pillar that was
in the House of bail and burned it.
And they demolished the pillar of bail and demolished the House
of bail. And made it a latrine.
To this day, you know what they did with that area?
They turned it into sewage. Now, many things were said here,
but is there any detail that stands out to you in light of a
comment that was maybe made earlier in this study?
Particularly with an object that was mentioned in these verses,
if you know, you can say it out loud.
Somebody said it, the pillar of Baal.
Did you notice that this is the same pillar that Jeharam put
away in Second Kings chapter 3 and now it makes a reappearance.
So obviously when Jairam was trying to discourage Baal
worship, he didn't do it to the degree that Jehu does.
Here Jairam tucks it away. When Jehu gets a hold of it, he
crushes it to find powder. And hopefully you agree with me
in this. I see 2 examples of how people
handle and relate to sin. Jehoram when he comes to deal
with this object of idolatry, he recognizes that it's
unbefitting. He recognizes that it's no good.
And in like manner you have some who profess Christ that will
identify patterns, habits, decisions, addictions and they
they know full well this is unbefitting for a follower of
Christ. But instead of.
Putting it to death, they put it aside because down deep inside,
they, they don't know if at another future time they can
make use of that. Use of what?
Anything A harmful substance in times to medicate your anxiety.
An ungodly relationship that yeah, you ended it.
But all it takes is one text message or a phone call and a
night of loneliness so that you can feel loved or even
dishonorable ways of making money that you vowed to never
revisit again. But when times get tough and the
bills start piling up, I put it aside.
But I can make use of it. Again, we're not told why Joe
R.E.M. just put it aside. But one thing is for certain,
that is not a way to deal with idols.
The example here is JU. He's not the best example for a
lot of things, but in this case, he showcases the kind of
ambition that you and I have to have in our fight against sin.
Here's what you have to do to determine that.
I'm not going to give this thing another chance to reappear in my
life. It is that kind of level of
determination that God will honor and supply strength for.
That is true repentance, though we may repent over and over
because sin has a tendency to reintroduce itself.
In our lives, even sin that you hate and that you put aside,
even something that you were never tempted by for years, it
has a tendency of of knocking on the door of your heart and
saying you Remember Me. We must meet that sin with the
same force that we have when we originally decided that we are
going to put it to death. God will honor that kind of an
attitude, and we see it here. Unfortunately.
Get ready for probably the most shocking part of this Bible
study. Unfortunately, Jehu did not
extend the same determination he had against bail to other idols
in the last verses of this Bible study.
We have to honestly conclude that Jehu was an idolater at
heart. Very successful in honoring God
in this specific specific lane, but not in the ways that God had
asked of him and any Israelite of his time.
So he. Burns down the House of bail.
He destroys pillars. Any images that reflect him,
it's all gone. And you would think that he's
going to be the one, a very few who were honorable in this
roster of kings. And by way of comparison, he
still is. But notice what you read here in
verse 28. Thus, Jehu wiped out Bail from
Israel. But Jehu did not turn aside from
the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabad, which he made Israel to
sin, that is the golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan.
What, you did all that to make sure that not even a stone would
be left representing Bill? But when it came to those two
golden calves that Jeroboam erected in Dannon and Bethel,
you left them. And not only did you leave them,
you reinforced worship for them and toward them.
How? How?
I'll tell you how. This confirms what we were
suspicious of all along. That though this man Jehu did 1
honor God in destroying Baalism, there was mixed ambition.
This man also wanted to arrive to the throne of Israel and
secure his position as long as possible.
So here's how we make sense of this.
He got rid of Baal, but then he remembered now being the king of
Israel and with the selfish goal of being the king of Israel,
staying the king of Israel. He recalled what Jeroboam did
when he was fearful that the people would go down to the
Kingdom of Judah and worship at Jerusalem.
Here's how he's thinking. I have to do what Jeroboam did.
In the same way Jeroboam kept the people by making them
worship idols and making worship convenient, I will do the same.
So if he was truly honorable to the Lord, he would have totally
respected God's wishes that three times a year the people
were to go down and worship at Jerusalem.
But no, no, no, that was too dangerous, that was too risky.
He might lose popularity, he might lose people.
The king of Judah might take them from him.
So what does he do? Let's resurrect.
Let's reinforce the worship that Jeroboam established in this
land. It's a dangerous thing when you
idolize power, when you idolize popularity, when you idolize
your position. And that's exactly what this man
does. And we read something strange in
verse 30. And the Lord said to Jehu,
because you have done well in carrying out what is right in my
eyes and have done to the House of Ahab, according to all that
was in my heart, your sons of the 4th generation shall sit on
the throne of Israel, full stop. So the Lord, hold on, hold on.
We just learned that this man was not completely devoted.
And then we get God's not condemnation commendation since
you've done what was in my heart.
And so I'm going to reward you to the 4th generation, which is
quite impressive when you compare the succession of kings
in Israel for four generations. Your seat is going to rule on
this throne. But where's the criticism of the
motive of his heart? Where's the denunciation of his
worship of Jeroboam's calves? Though God doesn't explicitly
say it, He is not pleased with it.
How do we know that in the last verses of this chapter?
Notice what happens verse 31. But Jehu was not careful to walk
in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart.
He did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which He made Israel,
to sin. Here it is verse 32.
In those days the Lord began to cut off parts of Israel.
Pause. What was Jehu's desire in
compromising this way? I want to keep.
These tribes to myself, I want to keep the population as near
to me, as close to me as possible.
They're mine. I want their praise.
I want their allegiance, even at the expense of them truly
honoring the Lord. Even if I have to promote
idolatry, so be it. So you want the people, huh?
Here's how God disciplines them. I'm going to cut off some tribes
from your people. Here's how I'm going to humble
you. You betrayed me for these
people, so I'm going to take some of these people away from
you. How does he do it?
The second part of verse 32, Hazel.
You remember Hazel? You didn't forget about him,
right? The king of Syria, Hazael
defeated them throughout the territory of Israel and
specifically we were told where verse 33 from the Jordan
eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gaudites and the
Rubenites and the Menacites from error, which is by the valley of
Arnon, that is Gilead and Bashan.
So remember when Elijah was told by God back in First Kings 19, I
need you to anoint three people, Hazel to be the king of Syria,
Jehu to be the king of Israel, and Elisha to be your successor.
Those three were raised up to ultimately be means of
discipline towards Israel. The King of Syria does so
throughout Jairam's Lent reign. We see here that the king of
Israel, Jehu, does so. But the moment that Jehu now
turns and joins Israel in their idolatry, now he is personally
going to be disciplined by the Lord.
So now Syria is the means of discipline, the main means, and
he does so by cutting off a particular group of the tribes.
And this is very important to realize.
Within the boundaries of the Promised land, you had tribes,
but you also had certain amount of tribes that were just.
Over the border, That's the Jordan River.
Can anybody tell me the tribes that were just over the border?
If you can, if you know, you can say it.
Half tribe of Manasseh, not the full tribe.
Half tribe of Manasseh and the two other ones, Ruben and Gad. 2
1/2 tribes remained beyond the Jordan.
They they did not want to enter in.
Now I'm curious to know, was anybody here?
Not here, but Friday night Bible study here back when we studied
the Book of Numbers. Three people?
Really. Is that more?
Yeah. Well, we studied the Book of
Numbers together. And in the.
Book of Numbers We learn why these 2 1/2 tribes stayed back
instead of going into the promised land.
And this is how we're going to end our Bible study.
Go to Numbers 32. Here's my question as you're
turning there. Was it God's original will that
any of the tribes should establish themselves outside of
the boundaries He determined? Good.
It wasn't. So why did these 2 1/2 tribes
choose to settle? There are a couple of obvious
answers. Let me just show you 1 #32 verse
one. Now, the people of Reuben and
the people of God had a very great number of livestock and
they saw the land of Jazzer and the land of Gilead and behold,
the place was a place for livestock.
Read the rest of the chapter on your own time.
It's a fascinating discussion between these tribes and Moses.
And they tell Moses, I'm summarizing Moses.
Thanks for being faithful to us throughout these, you know, past
40 years. But we'd like to stay here.
And Moses is I can just imagine because just read it.
He goes, we're right at the border.
We're just here. Don't mess this up for us.
The not the wandering in the wilderness these past four
decades. Was that enough?
For you, did you not see what happened to the first
generation? And so they're going back and
forth. And Moses even warned if if you
actually pursue this kind of rebellion and distrust, God will
wipe us out and he'll raise up another generation.
And so they come to an agreement.
And here's the agreement because Moses was worried that their
decision to stay back would discourage the other tribes from
going in and fighting for their possession.
So here was the contract. KK, you can stay here if you
want, but you have to come in and fight with us.
And that's what we find in the book of Joshua.
However, though we might read this and think that this is
strategic, that this is practical, in reality it's a
manifestation of unbelief. On the part of these 2 1/2
tribes now you read here initially it's Reuben and Gad,
right? You're saying where's Manasa?
Manasa shows up later and here's what I believe that after Reuben
and Gad introduced this idea, they.
Influence half of the tribe of Manasa.
And that's why that tribe joins at least half of the tribe.
But let's take this tool here. What's their reasoning based on
verse one? They looked at their
possessions, they looked at the land and they thought, this is
perfect. Why get all cramped inside that
place and be limited and split that up when we can have this
and they can have more? This is perfect.
This is wonderful. It's unbelief because.
They didn't trust that what God had determined for them would be
enough for them. And they were so consumed with
their possessions, the fear of their future, their children's
future, their their livestock, their agriculture, their
businesses, that they totally dismissed God's glory #1.
And God's perfect provision and will for your life and mine.
Can I tell you how you can enter into very spiritual, spiritually
danger territory? When you begin to be convinced
that God's will is limited, when you begin to be convinced that
living fully for the Lord limits your options, you're flirting
with danger because that's what they're believing.
Here we have more on this side than if we go forward.
Who said that? Did God not know exactly what
would be enough for you? He did.
They didn't believe it. And So what do they do?
They lived on the fringe of God's will, these 2 1/2 tribes.
They wanted to be close enough where they're associated with
the people of God, but far enough where they can have what
they desired in the flesh. So they settled where some many
Christians settle on the outskirts of God's purposes and
plans for their lives. You read the end of Joshua and
you already begin to see the trouble of this because it seems
like, OK, it worked out. And this is one of the beauties
of reading through the the word of God because you come to
numbers and you think, all right, it seemed to have worked.
Then you continue on. There's no issues.
And it's not until you come to books like Second Kings.
Where you begin to. See the consequences of that
ancient choice. What do I mean by that?
All seems to be well, the end of Joshua.
There was a little bit of a confusion because they
understood that since we're not in the Promised land, these
tribes within the land of Canaan might think that we're not a
part of their family. And so they set up an altar and
it was a memorial right at the border so that the tribes within
would remember. These two of tribes outside are
a part of us. And what was the confusion
there? That the tribes within thought
that they were raising up an altar to worship when there was
supposed to be one place of worship which would be
established in Jerusalem later on.
So already there's problems in the beginning.
Things get quiet. You think, OK, seems like maybe
that was the right choice. Everybody has more space.
They're happy. Israelites within are happy.
But if you read your Bible carefully, what you'll realize
is that oftentimes the first ones to be harassed by
neighboring nations. Were the very tribes that chose
to be outside of the promised land Go back to 2nd Kingston.
Look at verse 33. Who did Hazael first come to
from the Jordan eastward? All the land of Gilead, the
Gaddites and the Reubenites and the Menasites, the very tribes
that thought it would be better for them to stay outside of
God's promise, were the first ones to taste punishment, were
the first ones to be harassed by the enemy.
And if you think this is an isolated case, look at Second
Kings 15 verse 29. This is when not Syria, but US
Syria comes into the land of Israel and captures some of the
people. Second Kings, 1529 in the days
of Pika, king of Israel. Tiglath pilot Sir King of
Assyria came and captured Skip. Name #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 What's that
name there with the letter G? Gilead and Galilee, all the land
of NAFTA, and he carry the people captive to Assyria.
There's nothing more prosperous, nothing more protective than to
be in God's complete will. And no matter what kind of
advantages you think you'll gain by remaining on the outskirts,
know this. It's always at the cost of being
more exposed to trouble, removing yourself from God's
perfect perfection, protection, provision.
I think there's a wonderful way to kind of tie everything
together. In the study of Second Kings 10,
you have this example of Jehu who was not wholehearted to the
Lord and reminded of these 2 1/2 tribes who also were not
completely invested in the will of God.
Both were robbed of God's complete reward.
It makes me wonder how much more Jehu would have been blessed
with if he had done it God's way completely.
Some reward, not a total reward. Yeah, these.
Tribes were able to enjoy some openness and good soil.
But it came at a great price. Here's how we end this study.
Don't settle. Don't settle for partial
obedience. Don't justify 1 area where you
know you're honoring the law about other areas where you know
that you're not trusting him. Don't settle living close enough
where your conscience is a little bit more calm, but you
know that you're not supposed to be where you are.
God will help us if we're willing to say, Lord, take
everything. He is so faithful and kind to
lead us. The moment we acknowledge we
need to be LED. Can we pray and ask for that
together? Father, from the bottom of my
heart, I give you maximum glory. That every Friday night we come
together to hear challenging verses in your book.
That every week we are confronted with truths about
sin, sin, sin, sin. We are constantly reminded
because your Word wants to remind us.
But Lord, in these discussions of the deception of sin, the
severity of sin, Lord, we ask that we would never lose the
fragrance and the sweetness of the Savior.
That you are right there ready to redeem us, forgive us, wash
us, restore us. And that's what we're asking for
now, Lord, if, if any person here has chosen to live
spiritually where they're not supposed to be, may they loosen
the ropes of their tents and make their way into the fullness
of your will. Lord, if if as we close with J
who any of our hearts are not totally there with you and for
you, if, if there are areas in your word where we ignore
deliberately, where we deny but justify with other areas that we
are praising and preaching, Lord, submerge us completely and
all that you have for us every single aspect of Your truth.
And so, Lord, we even consider that, like Jehu, send out a
final call for those who are of you to be removed from the place
and the people and the pursuits that they should not be
indulging in. May this Bible study serve as
that same warning and loving admonition that we would escape
and rejoice in your grace, that You love us enough to speak into
our lives even while we're in sin.
Lord, we honor you this evening and we want to praise you for
your word. Again, thank you for this Bible
study. Thank you for these precious
people. We give you all the honor and
all the glory and all the thanks.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Let's stand and let's worship
Him, glorify him, and give him the sacrifice of praise.
So I have a pastor friend who was led by the Lord to take that
that principle of some who put away their idols and others who
should be destroying it. And he was a brand new believer
and he was in his room worshiping the Lord, spending
time in his word. And the Lord impressed on his
heart, you have stuff that you put away, but that you didn't
destroy. And he was preaching that out of
the text that we were studying, but just the principle, because
you can find that at different places of God's word.
And sure enough, he, he knew exactly what the Holy Spirit was
convicted me of. And he opened his closet door
and there was a box there filled with paraphernalia and, and
items and even ungodly music and all these different things.
And he, he without hesitation took it and he destroyed it and
he threw it all out. Then he never looked back.
And it could be that there's some people here tonight who
need to do something similar. And it might not be physical
objects, it might be digital. It might be phone numbers.
The Lord will convict you if you're looking to know exactly
what He's asking of you. And perhaps it's true of some
here who you're not experiencing the fullness of joy in Christ
for this main reason. You're not fully given over to
Christ. You've planted your tent beyond
the Jordan. You're not within the promised
land. So maybe tonight for you, it's
not particular things as a believer, it's you becoming a
true believer. It's you saying, I'm giving my
complete heart over to you. I'm not reserving anything.
And that's where that's where you unlock all the blessings
that are in Christ. He will fully give the moment
you fully surrender. He's waiting for you.
Lord, we thank you again that
you can speak so loud and clear on a Friday night through a
Bible study because it's Your Word and it's a supreme
authority over our lives, and it is the supreme joy of our lives.
Lord, go before us as we make our way home, even in these
small moments of fellowship. May that just be added blessing
to our own hearts. We give you all the glory.
Bring us back together again. If it is your will, in Jesus
name we pray, Amen and Amen. May the Lord be with you, bless
you, empower you, reveal himself to you and we'll see you next
week, God willing. Take Care now.
Bye bye.