This is a long passage of scripture, but really the only way to get
this story in our minds is to go ahead and read it. So I'm
gonna read it pretty fast. I'm gonna try to blast through
it, not with disrespect to the scriptures, but we just need
to get the story in our mind and then we'll look more closely
at the points we wanna make. So 825, let's look at chapter
eight, Verse 25. In the 12th year of Joram, the
son of Ahab, king of Israel, did Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram,
king of Judah, begin to reign. Now the way these updates are
given in the scripture, it'll tell you what year we're in in
Israel's king. that marks the beginning of Judah's
king. So that's what's happening here. You've got the 12 tribes
divided, the 10 tribes that were loyal to Rehoboam were called
Israel, and the two that were loyal to David and Jeroboam,
David's son, David's grandson, are Judah and Benjamin, which
were called Judah. And so that's what it's informing
us of here, who the two kings are, and it's important to get
that in our minds, is the reason I'm mentioning that. So Joram
was the son of Ahab. Scriptures often says son when
it's grandson or great-grandson, it just says son. But Joram,
the son of Ahab, king of Israel, and Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram,
king of Judah, began to reign in that year, in the 12th year
of Joram in Israel. And two and 20 years old was
Ahaziah when he began to reign. And he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Athaliah,
the daughter of Omri, king of Israel. Now that's of the family
of Ahab. And if we can keep in our minds
that the family of Ahab were all evil, and the family of the kings of Judah were good
up to a point. When it mentions Ahaziah, the
son of Jehoram in 25, Jehoram was a son, a descendant of Jehoshaphat,
who was a godly king, a good king. the effective king. But, as we'll see, we'll be reminded
again, he married into the family of Ahab. And that's gonna be
consequential in our story. So he walked in the house, the
son of Ahaziah, who married into the family of Ahab, walked in the way of the house
of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the Lord, verse 27,
as did the house of Ahab, for he was the son-in-law of the
house of Ahab. So you've got these, you've got
Israel and Judah, Israel, evil king, Ahab, and his descendants,
evil, evil, evil, generation after generation. Over here you've
got the descendants of Jehoshaphat, good king, his son, good king,
good king, good king, until one of his sons marries one of Ahab's
daughters. Then you've got evil in Judah,
and it continues with the son of the grandson, or great-grandson,
whatever it is, of Jehoshaphat, because of that marriage. And
so we'll try to remember that as we go through. And in verse
28, and he went with Joram, the son of Ahab, to the war against
Hazael, king of Syria, in Ramoth Gilead, and the Syrians wounded
Joram. Joram was the evil king, Ahab's
descendant, in Israel, and this son of Jehoram, Ahaziah, went
with him because he was in on that family now by marriage.
Verse 29, and King Joram went back to be healed, he was wounded,
this is the evil king of Israel, to be healed in Jezreel of the
wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought
against Hazael, king of Syria, and Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram,
who is in the lineage of Jehoshaphat, a good man, but had married,
his mother was the wife The wife of his father was of the house
of Ahab. So Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram,
king of Judah, went down to Sejoram, the son of Ahab, in Jezreel,
because he was sick. And Elisha the prophet, now here's
God's man, called one of the children of the prophets and
said unto him, gird up thy loins, and take this box of oil in that
hand and go to Ramoth Gilead, and when thou comest thither,
look out there, Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat. Now here's another
son of the good king, the godly king Jehoshaphat, whom the Lord
was with, the son of Nimshi, and go in and make him arise
up from among his brethren and carry him to an inner chamber,
then take the box of oil and pour it on his head, and say,
thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open
the door and flee, and tarry not." So the young man, even
the young man, the prophet, went to Ramoth-Gilead, where this
evil king, it's hard to keep the names straight, isn't it? But this evil king Joram was
wounded, and Ahaziah, now married into the, his mother had married
his father and she was of the house of Ahab. They're together
down there because they had been, that one king, the king of Israel
had been wounded. He said, when you come there,
you anoint him, carry him to an inner chamber, anoint him
with oil, tell him that the Lord has chosen him and then get out
of there because it's going to be fireworks. So, the Lord is anointing King, another
of Jehoshaphat's sons, who hasn't married into the house of Ahab,
who has nothing to do with the house of Ahab, and so he's still
a godly young man. So the young man, verse four,
and then verse five, when he came, behold, the captains of
the host were sitting, and he said, I have an errand to thee,
O captain, and Jehu said, unto which of all us? And he said
to Theo, Captain, so this Jehu was there, he was in the army.
That doesn't mean he agreed with what they were doing, with what
the evil that was going on, but he was there, one of the captains
of the host. And so this man said, I need
to talk to you. And he arose, verse six, and went into the
house, and he poured the oil on his head, and said unto him,
Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I have appointed thee king over
the people of the Lord, even over Israel, and thou shalt smite
the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of
my servants, the prophets, and the blood of all the servants
of the Lord at the hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall
perish, all of them, all of them. And I'll tell you right now,
as we look into this, we're gonna see this Jehu as a picture of
Christ. Every time God anoints a king
over Israel, that's a picture of Christ already, because Christ
is God's true king of his people. And so even in that very act
of anointing him and choosing him and putting him over his
people, that's already a type of Christ. But also typical of
our Savior, He says, you're going to destroy every enemy of God,
all of them. The house of Ahab, they're all
goners. The whole house shall perish,
verse eight, and I will cut off from Ahab, and this phrase here
just means the men, and him that is shut up and left in Israel,
and I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam,
the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah. And I think I got Jeroboam and
Rehoboam mixed up earlier when the kingdom split. But Jeroboam,
it looks like, was the one that was over Israel. But look at
verse 10. And the dogs shall eat Jezebel
in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her.
And he opened the door and fled. He delivered his message and
he got out of there. Then Jehu came forth to the servants
of his Lord, and one said unto him, Is all well? You know, he
comes back in the room and they're like, what was that all about?
Is everything okay? Was it bad news? Wherefore came this mad
fellow to thee? He was apparently nervous and
felt the weight of the message he was bringing. And he said
unto them, you know the man and his communication. And they said,
it is false, tell us now. And he said, thus and thus spake
he to me, saying, thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee
king over Israel. Then they hasted and took every
man his garment and put it under him on the top of the stairs
and blew with trumpets saying, Jehu is king. So it sounds like
a lot of these captains of the host, the army of Israel, was
a little bit anxious to see this evil king put down. Joram. So Jehu, verse 14, the
son of Jehoshaphat, The son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. Now Joram had kept Ramoth-Gilead,
he and all Israel, because of Hazael, king of Syria. But King
Joram was returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds. which
the Syrians had given him when he fought with Hazael, king of
Syria. And Jehu said, if it be your
minds, then let none go forth nor escape out of the city to
tell it in Jezreel. So he's going to pay a little
visit. The one just anointed king by
God, he's fixing to pay a little visit to Joram and Hazael. And he said, if you guys are
with me, don't let anybody leave. Don't let any messengers leave.
I don't want them to know I'm coming. So verse 16, so Jehu
rode in a chariot and went to Jezreel for Joram lay there and
Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram. And there
stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the
company of Jehu as he came and said, I see a company. And Joram
said, take in horsemen and send to meet them and let him say,
is it peace? So there went one on horseback
to meet him and said, thus saith the king, is it peace? And Jehu
said, what hast thou to do with peace? This is an evil king that
had, he'd just gotten back from a war, wounded in a war. He had no interest in peace. He was a man that was a tyrant. He led Israel in the ways of
Ahab and idolatry and debauchery. So he said, why would you even
have the word peace in your mouth serving this evil king? Turn
thee behind me, get out of my way. And the watchman told, saying
the messenger came to them, but he cometh not again. Then he
sent out a second on horseback, which came to them and said,
Thus saith the king, is it peace? And Jehu answered, What hast
thou to do with peace? Turn thee behind me. And the
watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not
again, and the driving is like the driving of Jehu, the son
of Nimshi, for he driveth furiously. And Joram said, Make ready. And
his chariot was made ready. And Joram, king of Israel, and
Ahaziah, king of Judah, both evil kings, went out, each in
his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met him in
the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. And it came to pass, when Joram
saw Jehu, that he says, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered,
What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her
witchcrafts are so many? And Joram turned his hands and
fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah. And
Jehu drew a bow with his full strength and smoked Jehoram between
his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk
down in his chariot. Then said Jehu to Bidkar, his
captain, take up and cast him in the portion of the field of
Naboth, the Jezreelite. For remember how that when I
and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the Lord laid
this burden upon him. This had been prophesied that
he would die in the very place that he had committed sin and
treachery. Surely I have seen yesterday
the blood of Naboth and the blood of his son, saith the Lord, and
I will requite thee in this plat, saith the Lord. Now therefore
take and cast him into the plat of ground according to the word
of the Lord. "'But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, "'he
fled by the way of the garden house, "'and Jehu followed after
him and said, "'Smite him also in the chariot.' "'And they did
so at the going up to Ger, "'which is by Iblim, "'and he fled to
Megiddo and died there. "'And his servants carried him
in a chariot to Jerusalem "'and buried him in his sepulcher with
his fathers "'in the city of David. "'And in the 11th year
of Joram, "'the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah,
And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezreel heard of it and she painted
her, Jezebel, Jezebel heard of it. And she painted her face
and tired her head and looked out at a window. This is the
one who is a picture of Christ confronting the woman who is
a picture of the, you know, the word Hortums is used because
false religion. is that way they're adulterers
and fornicators against the truth of God. And she's the picture
of all evil here. Her name Jezebel, the very name
Satan is included there. The Bel part is significant of
the devil. And as Jehu entered in at the
gate, she said, had Zimri peace who slew his master? And we'll
talk about all these questions and stuff here. And he lifted
up his face to the window and said, who is on my side? Who? And there looked out to him two
or three eunuchs. And he said, throw her down.
So they threw her down, and some of her blood was sprinkled on
the wall and on the horses, and he trod her underfoot. And when
he was come in, he did eat and drink and said, go see now this
cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter. They
had the respect to bury her, which she didn't even deserve
that, and it didn't happen. shows good intentions on Jehu's
part, but it doesn't happen. Look at verse 35. And they went
to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull and
the feet and the palms of her hands. Wherefore, they came again
and told him, and he said, this is the word of the Lord, which
he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, in the
portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel, and
the carcass of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the
field in the portion of Jezreel. so that they shall not say, this
is Jezebel. There'll be no monument, no remembrance
of her at all. So every time you see God, when
he anoints a king, there's a type of Christ right there, we see
all through this story. Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat,
a godly king, anointed, and he's a type of Christ through all
this, and it requires a little thought, as you see, to keep
straight all these names, and I may have mixed something up
still. in my mind, but you see the two
portions of the kingdom of Israel. 10 tribes called Israel, Judah,
and the different kings over them. And Judah began as loyal
to King David and his lineage. And it wasn't until Jehoram married
a daughter of Ahab that that changed. But when that did happen,
and they had a son, and he was evil too, God said, that's it,
that's enough. That's enough. I'm gonna set
up my king. And of course he was in all of
it. He was ruling over all of it.
And I'm thankful that the Lord gives respite from the evil that
we gravitate toward. We're self-destructive, aren't
we, as sinners in this world? And the Lord, every once in a
while, will refresh things and bring back some order. And he
does it for his sheep. But I've already gone through
the different parts of the two kingdoms in
these the lineages and the names of
those who were on either side. But it was Rehoboam that was
loyal to King David. I had that wrong the first time.
And it was Jeroboam who the other 10 tribes followed at the time
that the kingdom originally divided. But Jeroboam was a self-proclaimed
king. It wasn't according to the Lord's
anointing or succession consistent with the Lord's anointing at
all. So you have a king endorsed by God and one that's a false
king, a fake king. Just as in spiritual matters,
you have the Lord Jesus Christ and Antichrist. Anyone or anything
that you worship other than Christ, that you follow, that you pledge
allegiance to, is anti-Christ. And like in spiritual
matters, most of the people of Israel, 10 of the tribes out
of 12, were not loyal to Christ, to God's King. And so it is in
our world. So several generations later,
you have Ahab and his sons ruling over Israel, the 10 tribes, and
Jehoshaphat and his sons, mentioned in our text, ruling over Judah.
And to a man, the sons of Ahab are wicked like he was. And that's
a lesson to us too. And Jehoshaphat's sons are godly
until we come to Jehoram, whose name means Jehovah is exalted. Jehoshaphat had something to
do with that and his descendant. But he was raised godly according
to the tradition of how all of the king's sons tended to be
like them. But Jehoram married a daughter
of Ahab and was a terrible, terrible king, horrible. And then Jehoram's
son reigns, Ahaziah, and he's also an evil king because his
mother was, as our text says, a daughter of Omri, who was Ahab's
father. And this shows the truth of,
it shows us much truth that's taught in the scriptures. Train
up a child in the way he should go, and when he's old, he will
not depart from it. Typically, the king's son was
like the king. as far as whether they followed
the Lord or departed from the ways of the Lord. But also in
our text, we see how that evil associations can ruin that and
cause exception to it. And it affected not only Jehoram
when he married an evil woman, but his children also. His son
Ahaziah was the same way. And so that one bad decision
by one man who was probably raised in the ways of the Lord almost
certainly affected so many and even an entire nation. And that's
a lesson, isn't it? The lesson that might escape
us pretty easy because it's just so simple and maybe obvious is
that whenever the scriptures declare a king to be evil or
good, They always act like it. It doesn't just say he was an
evil king and then we're just, you know, it stops there. You
see in everything he does that he was an evil king, that he
hated God. It's not just a matter of whether
the Lord has mercy on a man or not to lead. That's the cause,
but it goes beyond that. The effect is consistent with
that. The cause is God's mercy, God's favor upon that king. But
the effect is always consistent with that. Evil kings do evil
things. Good kings do good things. But
good kings do bad things too, because we're still flesh. We're
still, the old man is still there, but they seek the Lord. And generally
the Lord uses them for good. We see that all through this
study. But the moment that Jehu is anointed
king, we see Christ in him. His name means Jehovah is he.
His first order of business is to destroy the house of Ahab
and Jezebel. The Lord said, you tell him this,
I'm anointing you king over Israel, and here's what you're gonna
do. And that was the first thing he set out to do. And the reason
given, look at verse seven. of chapter nine. Thou shalt smite the house of
Ahab thy master that I may avenge the blood of my servants, the
prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord at the
hand of Jezebel. God anointed him and gave him
that one order of business to begin with, to avenge his people. That's our Savior, that's Christ.
This is Christ. Turn to Revelation 19.1. Revelation 19, one, and after
these things, I heard a great voice of much people in heaven
saying, hallelujah, salvation and glory and honor and power
unto the Lord our God. All of heaven is worshiping the
Savior, the Lord, the King, for true and righteous are his judgments.
For he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the
earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his
servants. at her hand." That's the Son
of God. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's avenged the blood of his servants. And again, they said,
hallelujah. And her smoke rose up forever
and ever. And the four and 20 elders and
the four beasts fell down and worshiped God that sat on the
throne saying, amen, hallelujah. And a voice came out of the throne,
saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear
him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. You see, people there are gonna
be glad he's on the throne. People aren't too happy about
that now, except his sheep. But everybody then there, I'm
gonna be real pleased with that arrangement. And I'm thankful
that he's made us pleased with it now, because it's sure enough
so even now. But you notice all that worship
surrounding, why? What was the one thing that was
done? God avenged the blood of his people. The way that he describes
the destruction of all enemies, of his and ours, is it's revenge
for our blood. It's revenge, it's saving us,
it's saving us from enemies, and it's a picture of our spiritual
enemies too. He has vanquished all of our
enemies, physical and spiritual. The Lord said, I'll give men
for you, I'll give people for your life, and he does, and everything
that is for God's glory is for the good of his sheep. They praised
his name, hallelujah, all these things attributable to him, we
worship him, And also, it's for our benefit. We're avenged, we're
saved from the enemy. We're taken from among the enemy
and made to be servants. God's son has tied his very glory
to our eternal good. And that's comforting. Even the
destruction of his enemies, he characterizes it this way. I'm
doing it for you. I'm doing it for you. That's
the Lord Jesus who said that to threaten one of his sheep,
you'd be better off tying a millstone around your neck and throwing
yourself into the ocean to the bottom of the sea than to offend
one of my little ones. That's who we're talking about.
He avenges his own, he protects them. He destroys all of our
enemies and we can rest in his arms. in his everlasting arms,
may he give us grace to rest in him. He said, vengeance is
mine. You don't even have to worry
yourself about it. Don't worry yourself about it, it's mine.
Vengeance is mine, it's well in hand. Justice will be done. Notice for the ones that were
not loyal to God's king, there's no mercy. There's no mercy. There's an important lesson in
this that should give us some perspective of what it is that's
going on in this world. The people that we care about
now, they're gonna have to hear it somehow, aren't they? There
are no exceptions. You look at verses seven and
eight again. Thou shalt smite the house of
Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants, the
prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord. "'at
the hand of Jezebel, "'for the whole house of Ahab shall perish. "'No exceptions. "'I'll cut off
every man of that house "'and him that shut up and left in
Israel.'" And look at verse 33 again. Listen to just the brutal. And this is graphic. They throw her down. Verse 33,
they threw her down. And some of her blood was sprinkled
on the wall and on the horses, and he trod her underfoot. When
she hit the ground, he stomped all over her. That's how much compromise there
is when the honor of Christ is at stake. This woman had ruined
for many, many, many years the nation of Israel. And when he
was come in, it didn't bother him a bit. He sat down to eat
and drink. That's brutal, isn't it? That's cold. But that's the
truth of the matter. Bring me something to eat. And said, go see now this cursed
woman and bury her. That was the decent thing to
do. He was a godly man. God had already said that's not
gonna happen. It's not gonna happen. Does that sound though,
like the fake Jesus of religion that is trying to save everybody? Listen to, turn with me to Revelation
14. Let's look at some scripture. I won't be long. It seems like
it because it took us so long to read, but Revelation 14, 14. I want us to see our savior,
just a glimpse of him, and then we'll be through tonight. Revelation
14, 14. And I looked and behold a white
cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the son of man,
having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle.
This is the Lord Jesus Christ, he got the crown on his head
and a sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of
the temple crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the
cloud, thrust in my sickle and reap. for the time has come for
thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe." Now there's
the harvest of the earth, I want you to distinguish, there's the
harvest of the earth, and then there's what comes after, as
we'll see. The harvest of the earth is ripe, that's his people.
All through the scriptures, the earth is likened unto a farm.
He said, I planted a field. And they said, where'd these
tares come from? He said, I didn't plant those, those are not mine.
The devil is behind that. God so loved the world, this
world is his garden. When I say I love my garden,
I'm not talking about the weeds and neither is he. In which another
angel, verse 18, came out from the altar which had power over
fire and cried with a loud voice, Well, I skipped a little bit.
Look at verse 16. He that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle
on the earth, and the earth was reaped. And another angel came
out of the temple, which is in heaven, he also having a sharp
sickle, and another angel came out from the altar, which had
power over fire, and cried with a loud cry to him that had the
sharp sickle, saying, thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather
the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully
ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth and
gathered the vine of the earth and cast it into the great winepress
of the wrath of God." There's another harvest. The wrath of God. And the winepress
was trodden without the city and the blood came out of the
winepress even unto the horse's bridles by the space of 1,600
firbolgs. Now, that's what we see in our
tech, no mercy. There's no, there's mercy now.
There's mercy now to be had at the feet of the Savior, but not much longer. And think about this now. This
is done to relate to evil, false, anti-Christ, free will religion, notwithstanding the surface beauty of godless false religion. Look
at verse 30 with me in chapter nine. When Jehu was come to Jezreel,
Jezebel heard of it, and look what she did. The one that Jehu
is tasked with destroying, God said, I'm gonna avenge the blood
of my people at her hand, at her hand. And she heard that
Jehu was coming and look what she did. She painted her face.
She painted her face and she tired her head and looked out
a window. She put her makeup on. Judgment's coming and she knows
it. As judgment hangs over the head of all of the inhabitants
of this wicked world. And what does false religion
do about that? puts its makeup on, doesn't it? The word there,
paint, is cosmetic. And she tired her hair, that
is she makes it goodly, she made it pleasing. She fixed up her
hair, put her makeup on, she's used to getting what she wants
by her beauty, by her surface beauty, by shallow, Surface beauty. And by that,
she covered up what she actually was. And by. And religion puts on the fancy
cosmetics, don't they? The beautiful architecture and
stained glass and the sculptures and the paintings. Our Lord likened them and they
use pretty words, don't they? Talk about God in heaven. How gracious God is. Our Lord
said they're like expensive, fancy, shiny coffins that are
full of corruption and death on the inside. And this is all
a false religion in every age. Our Lord's not fooled, is he?
He didn't bat an eye. He said, who's with me? Throw
her down, throw her down. Religion also loves to threaten
sinners with hell. Look at verse 31. As Jehu entered in at the gate,
she said, had Zimri peace, who slew his master? Now, Zimri was
an evil man that committed treason. You'll have to look up Zimri
in the scripture, because we're just not going to take that much
time. But this was a warning to him. There was a man named
Zimri who committed treason against an evil king. But you think about
this, that had absolutely nothing to do with what Jehu was tasked
with doing here. The example that she gives had
nothing to do with it. Zimri was an evil man that committed
treason against an evil man, and he got what he deserved.
So it didn't go well with Zimri. And she's saying, look what happened
to Zimri. That has nothing to do with it. And that's false
religion too. They'll lie. They'll use, you know, that was
true. Zimri did betray his king and he died for it. Nothing to do with what was happening
now. You see, religion threatens people
like that in order to manipulate you, to get you to tithe and
to come to church and to support them, to manipulate you. The gospel comes with a warning,
but you know why the gospel comes with a warning? To send you straight
to Christ, straight to Christ. Not the same thing. This is all
religion. No, that's all they know, because
God hasn't revealed the truth to them. Listen to 2 Corinthians
2, 3. Well, I tell you what, turn there with me, we'll close.
2 Corinthians 2 and verse 3. We'll see the equivalent to this.
Picture Jezebel, you know, she fixes herself all up to meet
I guess she thought he'd feel sorry for her. Look how beautiful
she is. She can't be as evil as people say. Yeah, he knew
better than that. Second Thessalonians 2.3, let
no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except
there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed
the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all
that is called God, or that is worship, so that he as God sitteth
in the temple of God, showing himself that he's God. They put
on a false face. Remember ye not that when I was
yet with you, I told you these things? And now you know what
withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time, for the
mystery of iniquity doth already work. Only he who now letteth
will let until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that
wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit
of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.
Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan. She had
the very name Beelzebub in her name, Jezebel. If you look it
up, it means something to that effect. with all power and signs and
lying wonders, verse 10, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish because they received not the love of the
truth that they might be saved. And for this cause, God shall
send them strong delusion. Israel was under Ahab and Jezebel
for so long and their descendants, they didn't know which end was
up when it came to God and the worship of God, honoring of Christ
and the sacrifices in the temple, the tabernacle. For this cause,
God shall send them strong delusion, verse 11, that they may believe
a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth,
but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks
all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory, of our Lord Jesus
Christ. You see what just was said? The
one and only difference between us and those who in verse 10
are said to perish, deservedly, richly deserving to perish, they
perish, there's one difference. God made a decision. God hath
from the beginning chosen. God made a choice. God put a
difference. And because he did, the Spirit
of God came where his people were. He goes where he pleases. And look what he did. God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. The Spirit came and set
us apart. He goes where he pleases. He
set us apart unto God. Sanctification of the Spirit.
That's to be set apart for the purpose of God. Picked us up. Made a difference. We believe
the truth. We believe God. And all hinges
on that in God's purpose. Again, this same passage, what
was wrong with the other? They received not the love of
the truth. Some received not the love of
the truth and believed a lie. And some by God's grace fell
in love with the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel. And they despise
any message that's not him. So may the Lord make us loyal
to his king and only his king, the one he has anointed. There's
just one king. A lot of pretenders in this world,
but the scriptures speak of that day when the Lord alone shall
be exalted. And may he only be exalted now
in our hearts by his grace. Give us grace, Lord, to love
your truth and to teach our children your truth. How consistent it
is that an evil king has a son who's an evil king, and he has
a son who's an evil king, and then a good king will have a
son who's a good king, and then somewhere down the line, though,
somebody makes a stupid decision. They're attracted by the flesh.
Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. And the evil. comes in and destroys everything. But may the Lord give us grace
to love His truth and to teach our children to love His truth,
that they might follow Him also. All right, let's pray together.