Now this evening, we're looking
at 2 Kings chapter 10, 2 Kings chapter 10, 36 verses in this
chapter. I'm taking the title for the
message from verse 31, verse 31. But Jehu took no heed to
walk in the law or the word of the
Lord. He took heed to do a lot of other
things, didn't he? But he neglected the word of
the Lord. Now when we started our study
in 2 Kings 9, seeing how The Lord called Jehu and anointed
him as king in Israel by the express command of God, and we
read over the many victories that God gave him, and how he
went about the Lord's business with such zeal in his heart,
and he did. Verse 16 of 2 Kings 10, he said
to the young man, Jehonadab, come and see, come with me and
see my zeal for the Lord." So he made him ride in his own chariot. He said, I'm on fire for the
Lord, come and see, come and see. The zeal that was in his
heart, So Jehu, we read about how he waged war against Ahab's
house, and he did so according to the will of the Lord, and
he wiped out the house of Ahab, verse 11. So Jehu slew all that
remained in the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all of his great
men, his kinfolks, his priests, he left none remaining. And then
he moved on from Jezreel over to Samaria, verse 17. And when
he came to Samaria, he slew all that remained under Ahab in Samaria,
till he destroyed him according to the saying of the Lord which
he spake, to Elijah. Now he was doing what God commanded
him to do, no doubt about that. God raised him up for that purpose.
He was very zealous and waged war on the worshippers of Baal
and he did so according to the will of the Lord. As we read
there in verse 25 of 2 Kings 10, it came to pass because God brought it to pass.
As soon as he made an end to the burnt offering, that Jehu
said to the guard and to the captains, go in and slay them.
Let none come forth. And they smote them with the
edge of the sword. And the guard and the captains cast them out.
And they went into the city of the house of Baal. And they brought
forth the images out of the house of Baal and burned them. They
break down the images of Baal and break down the house of Baal
and made it a sewer house. unto this day, verse 29, verse
28, thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel. What he does, he does according
to the decree of God. Now I said earlier in a message
from 2 Kings 9, that Jehu, whose name means Jehovah is, that he
could be used as a type and picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is King of kings and Lord of lords, who is the mighty conqueror
over all our enemies, and how the Lord Jesus Christ was anointed
above his fellows with the oil of gladness, and how The Lord
Jesus, He did the will of the Lord perfectly with all His heart,
not like Jehu. Now, Jehu is a type of Christ
in a very faint way in that he is a king, that he is anointed,
and he does put down the enemies of the Lord. But he's not a perfect
picture. He's not a perfect picture. But
with the Lord Jesus Christ, he did the will of the Lord perfectly,
always. He said, I always do those things
that please my Father, and he did it with a perfect heart,
a perfect motive, always to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I finished the work
you gave me to do, now glorify Thou me with Thine own self,
with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. But now regarding Jehu verse
29, how be it from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who
made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them to whet the
golden calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan. Verse 31,
But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of
Israel with all his heart. Jehu took no heed, how be it
except and however. He took no heed to the word of
the Lord, the law of the Lord. Thank God, when we talk about
the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no how be it, and but, and
except. Thank God there is no how be
it. The Lord Jesus Christ, He shall not fail, He shall not
be discouraged. Turn to Psalm 40. The law of
the Lord was written upon His heart, And he executed it perfectly. Psalm 40 verse 7, Then said I,
lo, I come. And the volume of the book is
written to me. I delight to do thy will, O God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. I preach righteousness in the
great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord. Thou knowest I have not hid thy
righteousness within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness. In thy salvation I have not concealed
thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation."
So, the Lord Jesus Christ, the law of God was written in his
heart and he did accomplish all the will of the Lord perfectly
in perfect righteousness. The Lord, look back to the text
now, the Lord reveals unto us the rest of the story. The whole
story, the true story about Jehu. You see, the Lord looks upon
the heart. Jehonadab couldn't see the heart of Jehu. He saw his outward zeal and all
that he'd done, no doubt he'd heard about it. But Jehonadab
could not look on his heart. The Lord looks on the heart. Not just the outward deeds, but
the thoughts and the intent of the heart. Don't turn, let me
just read this to you because you're familiar with it. But
you remember when Samuel went down to the house of Jesse to
anointed king. And Jesse had all them older
brothers of David. And Samuel said, certainly, that
guy right there, he is the Lord's anointed. He's so big, he's tall,
dark, and handsome. God rejected him. He said, you're
just looking on the outward countenance. God looks on the heart, not the
outward countenance. Now listen to this Scripture.
Hebrews 4 verse 12, For the Word of God is quick and powerful,
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing, even to dividing asunder,
of soul and spirit, and the joints and marrow, and a discerner of
the thoughts and the intents of the heart. Neither is there
any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things
are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we Have to do. Have to do. While he did what
God commanded him to do, his actions were right and the Lord
acknowledged that in verse 30. Many of his actions in executing
the Lord's enemies were right. Verse 30, the Lord said unto
Jehu, because thou hast done well in executing that which
is right in my eyes. And that's done under the house
that they have according to all that was in my heart. Thy children
of thy fourth generation shall sit upon, shall sit on the throne
of Israel. But Jehu took no heed to walk
in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart. while he did what God commanded
him to do. And his actions as far as concerning
destroying the enemies of God were right. The Lord acknowledged
that in verse 30, but his heart was all wrong. His heart was
wrong. His heart was not changed. Now, I want to show you something
here, the difference. Find 2 Kings 12. Verse 2, this is one of the sons
of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehohas, 2 Kings 12 verse 2, did that
which was right in the sight of the Lord all the day wherein
Jehoiada the priest instructed him. Now whenever you read about
a good king, and there was none in the northern part in Samaria
and Israel, there were a few in Judah, Hezekiah, and Josiah,
and some others. But Jehu here took no heed to
the law of the Lord. He ruled in Israel for 28 years,
as it says in verse 36, but he continued in the sins of Jeroboam. It says that twice in verse 29
and verse 31. He destroyed all the idols of
Baal, wiped them out, brought all the idols out of the house
and burned them. He destroyed all the idols of
Baal, but he kept the idols of Israel. Why didn't he destroy
those golden calves like Moses did? You remember Aaron? Fashioned
a golden calf. Remember what the Lord did to
that? He ground it up. He was full
of zeal against Baal, but full of zeal for the golden calves
and the idols of Israel that were in Bethel and that were
in Dan. He hated one sin, but he laid
hold of and loved another. He condemned the sin of another,
didn't he? but he neglected his own heart.
He did not walk in the law of the Lord. He did not believe
the word of the Lord. Remember why Jeroboam set up
those golden calves, making those two golden calves? We went over
that in 1 Kings chapter 12. But he did very similar to what
Aaron did when Moses was up on the mountain receiving the law
of the Lord and he delayed. Aaron told them people to break
off some golden earrings and they threw it in a fire and he
later told Moses, well, this calf just popped out of the fire.
We don't really know how happened this kind of mysterious thing
But he said these he said Aaron said this to the the children
of Israel these be thy God though Israel Which brought thee up
out of the land of Egypt? They were seeking to worship
God through this golden calf. That's exactly what Jeroboam
did. How many times when you read
through 1st and 2nd Kings, when you read about the sin of Jeroboam,
the sin of Jeroboam, God keeps bringing it up, the sin of Jeroboam. You see, it was a matter of convenience
for Jeroboam to keep the people from going down to Jerusalem
to worship So they would not return to the house of David. It was a matter of convenience.
Let's just keep it up north here. We'll just have the golden calves.
Oh, we don't have a priest. We don't have a David Thoma.
We don't have the mercy seat. It was just a matter of convenience.
Matter of fact, we could call it a religion of convenience.
That's what most people have today, is it not? A religion
of convenience. As long as it doesn't offend
me, my mother, especially my grandmother, you know, well,
just get along. It's a religion of compromise
and convenience. Now, here's a subject and warning
I wanted to consider for a few moments in verse 31. Jehu took
no heed. Jehu took no heed. A person can be most zealous in his religious
zeal, and even do those things he does in the name of the Lord,
that's what they say, yet have no true faith in Christ. True faith looks only to the
exalted Lord Jesus Christ. They can be full of religious
zeal, but lost. full of religious zeal, but lost."
You remember the Pharisees were a very good example of that.
The Lord said of them, He said, "...but in vain they do worship
Me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men, rather than
the Word of the Lord." You remember from Matthew 7, they said, "...Lord,
we preached in Your name, we've done many wonderful works in
Your name, we have even cast out demons in Your name." The
demon of alcohol, the demon of this, the demon of that. Religious
people all the time going around waging war on demons. And they
don't look right here. And the Lord said to them, I
never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. He said to them again, these
same Pharisees. He said, you are they that justify
yourselves before men, but God knows your heart. That which
is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight
of God. So the Pharisees were very much
like a picture of Jehu, full of zeal, but his heart was not
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. But perhaps I think the prime
example of this, someone who is full of religious zeal and
lost, was Saul of Tarsus, don't you think? Oh, he was on fire. He was going to stamp out the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He wasn't satisfied to do that
in Jerusalem. He received letters to go into
Damascus, into Syria and stamp out everybody that called on
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He did it in the name of the
God of Israel, didn't he? Yet his heart was not right with
God. His heart was not right with
God. If you want to find Galatians
chapter 1, if not I'll read it to you, Galatians
chapter 1, but this is what he says. Before he was converted,
Galatians chapter 1, he said, you've heard of my conversation
in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted
the Church of God and wasted it, and profited in the Jews'
religion above many of my equals, my own nation, being more exceeding
zealous of the traditions of the fathers. He wasn't exceeding
zealous of the Word of the Lord. But thank God that's not the
rest of the story. But when it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by grace to reveal
his son in me that I might preach him among the heathen, I immediately
conferred not with flesh and blood. He went out preaching
the Lord Jesus Christ as all of his salvation. But he was a very zealous, religious,
lost man, wasn't he? Self-righteous. He said, I was
a Hebrew of Hebrews. My mom, my dad. I was circumcised
the eighth day. Concerning the law, I was a Pharisee. And concerning that law, concerning
the law, he said, I was blameless. Really. But then later, he said,
when the commandment came, sin revived, it killed me. The law
that I thought was the life condemned me. Condemned me, didn't it? He said later in his conversion,
over here in 1 Timothy chapter 1, 1 Timothy chapter 1, remember
he said, verse 13, he was before a blasphemer. Wait a minute,
I thought this was the Pharisee Saul of Tarsus who never violated
the law of God. who was before a blasphemer,
a persecutor, injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did
it ignorantly in unbelief." Later on he wrote to those Romans,
In Romans chapter 10, remember what he said? He said, verse
1 of Romans 10, "...brethren, my heart desire in prayer to
God for Israel, as they might be saved. For I bear them record,
they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. They
being ignorant of God's righteousness, His holy character, going about
to establish their own righteousness, and have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God, That's Christ. For Christ is
the end of the law, for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Now, having said all that, I
want us to camp for a moment or two on verse 31. Jehu took no heed to walk in
the law of the Lord God of Israel with all of his heart, for he
departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, Idolatry, golden calf
worship, which made Israel to sin. It affected the whole nation.
Jehu took no heed to what? To what? The Word of the Lord. Now, how important is that? Now, don't turn. Let me just
read this to you. How important is that? He took no heed to what?
To the Word of the Lord. Psalm 119, verse 9. Wherewithal shall a young man
cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to the Word. Oh, how important is the Word
of the Lord. He took no heed to the Word of
the Lord. Now, he took great heed and delight
to kill Ahab's family. He took great heed to kill all
the worshippers of Baal and destroy all those idols, but He took
no heed to the Word of the Lord. And the Word of the Lord in thy
book revealed, I see the blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He took no heed to the Word of
the Lord to walk in it with His heart. Now, many around us This is a very religious community. Many around, especially this
time of the year, many around us are very self-righteous, very
religious, but they take no heed to the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ revealed in the Word. They take great heed and rely
upon their feelings, They take great heed to their traditions.
Why? They'll even have a manger scene
with a camel and everything else until they get in trouble. Then
they'll cancel it. They take heed and they rely
upon their feelings, their religious tradition, their experience,
rather than believing what is given in the Word of the Lord.
They take no heed to the Word of Truth. There's no place. for the written word of God in
their heart, in their life, in their mind, in their soul that
tells us about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now many times I've heard
people say this, when I try to tell them about the gospel of
God's saving sovereign grace and the particular effectual
redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ in that righteousness
that's freely given through the Lord Jesus Christ, they say this,
well I don't know what the Word of God says, but I know what
I think. Isn't that sad? Now, that's what
you hear all the time. Isn't that exactly what Naaman
told? And Naaman said, well, I thought
Elisha would come out and strike his hand and, man, it'd be a
big show, but he wants me to go dip in old muddy Jordan. It's,
I think, I think. I don't know what the Word of
God says, but you better find out. You better find out what
the Word of God says. But I know what I think. Grandma
has instructed me. Papa has instructed me. They
take no heed to walk with God with all their heart because
they take no heed to the Word of the Lord. One old writer said,
those that are heedless to the Word of the Lord are usually
graceless. Those who are heedless are graceless. They have not departed from their
golden calves of free will, works, religion. Have they? They still
have that religion of convenience. How pitiful to set the will of
man on a pedestal and worship it. Nothing is more frail and
fickle and foolish and sinful than our sinful will. You used to have that commercial
years ago. You remember that old Lay's commercial?
Lay's potato chips? Bet you can't eat just one. And
you usually eat the whole bag. You see, you can't even control
your own appetite. I wish I could, but I can't.
I'm too weak. But why will men set up the God
of their free will and worship that rather than the God who
says, I will do all my pleasure? Whatsoever the Lord please, that
did he. I'll tell you why, because they're
ignorant of the gospel of God revealed in the Word of God. Aren't they? They have will worship. Will-worship, that's what Paul
calls it over in Colossians 3 verse 21. They have will-worship, instead
of searching the Scripture to see if these things be so. When God is pleased to do a work
of grace in our heart, He turns us to Him and away from our idols. Do you remember that Scripture?
I don't turn, let me just get this for you, because this is
very familiar territory. But I'll give the reference to
those who are listening on sermon audio and those who would listen
by CD. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, He
said, verse 9, For they themselves show of us what manner of entering
in with heaven to you, how you turn to God from idols to serve
the living and true God." Now it doesn't say you turn from
your idols, although they did, but it says how you turn to God
from your idol to serve the living and true God. Who turned us?
Turn us, O Lord, and we shall be turned. We shall be turned. You see, you remember the scripture
where it says over there, In Isaiah 55, he said, my thoughts
are not your thoughts. These are my ways, your ways,
saith the Lord. You see, everything we think
naturally about the way of salvation and spiritual things and the
true and living God is completely wrong. Wrong. God says, you thought I was altogether
such a one as yourself. Psalm 50. To approach God apart
from the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is a fatal mistake. It
is an eternal mistake which brings damnation to your soul. He that
believeth not the Son of God shall not see life, but the wrath
of God abides on him. Now what does the law or the
word of the Lord reveal about God and His gospel? The gospel
of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, we know The Word
of God tells us that God is holy, eternal, absolutely sovereign,
all of His attributes. And the Word of God also tells
us that we are sinful. How can this sinful man have
anything to do with a thrice holy God? Who shall stand in
the presence of the Lord? Well, none but those who are
holy. The Word of God tells us about
the Gospel of God, that God is holy, that we are sinful. Four things I know to be so.
We must have a suitable high priest to present us and represent
us before God, and we do have that in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our great high priest.
The book of Hebrews, one of my favorite books, because it tells
us so much about the priestly work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's not a priest like Aaron. Aaron brought many sacrifices.
There were many priests under the law. The Lord Jesus Christ
is that priest forever after the order of Melchizedek who
brought that one sacrifice for sin. We must have a suitable
high priest to represent us before God and we do have that in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Consider the Great High Priest,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, we must have a suitable,
proper sacrifice upon a designated altar. Not a golden calf now. And we do have a suitable proper
sacrifice upon a designated altar in the Lord Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. When He by Himself purged our
sin, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
By the one sacrifice, He perfected forever them that are sanctified. God said their sin and their
iniquity will I remember no more. We have an effectual Atonement. We have an effectual high priest. The Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed
His humanity on the altar of His deity. He is the altar, He
is the sacrifice, He is the high priest, and He's the God to whom
it's offered. Think about that. We have everything
in Christ Jesus. And it's who He is that gives
infinite merit to what He did. He's the good shepherd, the great
shepherd, the chief shepherd that laid down his life for us. He bought us with his own blood.
Thirdly, we must have a suitable and appointed mediator. There's
one God. This is what the word of God
reveals. You'll never, you'll never, you cannot believe what
you haven't heard. You've got to be taught from
the Word of God by God the Holy Spirit. We must have a mediator. I can't be my own mediator. You've
got to have one appointed of God to represent you. There's
one God and one mediator, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. We need a mediator to intercede
for us. We need an advocate to stand
for us. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous, and we have an intercessor who
is now, right now, at the right hand of God to represent us to
our great God and Father. And we have that in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's entered in once into the
holy place. and He's seated there, and He
ever liveth to intercede for us. He's able to save to the
uttermost all that come to God by Him, saying that He ever liveth
to make intercession for us. Fourthly, we must have a suitable
and justifying righteousness before God. Now where do you
read about that? Where's that revealed? In the
Word of God. In the Word of God. It is absolutely
astounding how religious people are totally ignorant of all these
four things. You know why? Because they're
ignorant of the Word of God. That's not nice to call somebody
ignorant, but God does. God does. We must have a suitable
and justifying righteousness before God and we have that in
the Lord Jesus Christ. No wonder the Apostle Paul who
at one time of Saul of Tarsus was trusting his own righteousness
and counting that before God that would either gain his favor
or at least remove his wrath. But later after he was converted,
regenerated and made a new creature in Christ, the Apostle Paul said,
I count all that dung and ruin that I might win Christ and be
found in him. not having my own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ." That was David's only hope before God. If you read
Psalm 71, I think we've got time to do this. Turn to Psalm 71. Psalm 71, Brother Bruce Crabtree
brought a message from Psalm 71 verse 2. in that Bible conference
in Lexington just recently. I would encourage you to go on
Sermon Audio and find it. But Psalm 71 verse 2, Deliver
me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape. Incline thy
ear unto me, and save me. David's hope was not the fact
that he was a king, not the fact that God gave him authority. His hope was to be delivered
in that righteousness. Now this whole Psalm, Psalm 71,
look at verse 14. It mentions his righteousness
repeatedly. Psalm 71 verse 14, But I will
hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more, My
mouth shall show forth thy righteousness, thy salvation all the day. For
I know not the numbers thereof. I will go in the strength of
the Lord, I will make mention of thy righteousness, even thine
only. Look at verse 19. Thy righteousness
also, O God, is very high. Who hath done great things, O
God, who is like unto thee? You see, He is the Lord our righteousness. Again, verse 24. My tongue also
shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long. They are confounded,
they are brought to shame, that seek my hurt." You see, David's
hope and every believer's hope is that righteousness, and that's
Christ. Now, may the Lord help us to
take heed to the word of the Lord, and to depart from any
idle worship, false worship, vain worship from the sins of
Jeroboam. That is anything and everything
that is contrary to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our
Lord said in John 4, you remember, He seeketh such to worship Him,
to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Let us take heed to
the word of the Lord. That's why when we come together
we make much of the word of the Lord. Don't we? We read it every service in the
beginning In the end, in the middle part, we make much of
the Word of God. You can't make too much of it.
You wouldn't want me to stand up here and tell you about all
my experiences, would you? Now, I have some experiences
I can tell you, but that's not going to help you. What you need
is the Word of the Lord. The Word of the Lord is quick
and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword. Take heed to the Word
of the Lord. and to walk by faith, looking
to Christ with all that is in you, not half-heartedly, but
wholeheartedly. Listen to this scripture, 1 Corinthians
10, 12. Wherefore, let him that thinketh
he stand, take heed, lest he fall. Take heed, take heed. Now I wanna close, got a few
minutes here. Hebrews 3, turn there, Hebrews
3. I tried to look up that word,
take heed. Hebrews 3 verse 12. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be any of you an evil heart of unbelief departing from the living
God. Take heed. Take heed. One other. Find 2 Peter. 2 Peter
1. Take heed. Verse 19, we have also a more
sure word of prophecy, wherein to you do well that you take
heed. Take heed! Pay attention. Meditate upon the word of the
Lord. Give yourself wholly unto it. As unto a light that shineth
in a dark place, unto the day dawn and day star arise in your
heart, knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is any
private interpretation. For the prophecy came not at
old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Spirit. What you hold in your hand, my
friend, is the word of God. the sword of the Spirit, which
is the word of the Lord. The Apostle Paul, he said, I
commend you to God, his last word to the elders at Ephesus,
I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able
to build you up and to give you inheritance among them that are
sanctified.