THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

The Books Of Kings: The Kings Of Israel And Judah From Solomon To The Babylonian Captivity

III. The Latter Era Of The Divided Kingdom, 2 Kings 2:1-27:41

P. Trusting God Versus Manipulating For Supporters

(2 Kings 10:18-36)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Last Sunday, a believer asked me if I thought there were a number of people in evangelical churches today who appear to be Christians but who are actually unsaved! I answered, "Yes," adding that Jesus predicted this state of affairs in His Parable of the Wheat and the Tares where Satan takes advantage of the existence of weak believers in the Church to plant unbelievers in it since unbelievers act much like weak believers! (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43) Along with this state of affairs comes a vacuum in true spiritual fellowship and with it insecurity in relationships, so the lost and weak believers often try to manipulate others to create an artificial support base from them. We illustrate:

(1) Chris Powell's column, "Sales-tax trial balloon sure to pop," Republican-American, February 1, 2019, p. 6A, reported how Connecticut's new governor "Ned Lamont is considering repeal of Connecticut's sales tax exemptions for groceries and medicine, necessities of life." Mr. Powell commented, "No tax policy could be more retrograde," or more backward or harmful, Ibid. Yet, Mr. Powell added that the governor may be floating the idea, knowing it will be sunk by opponents so he can later offer a "less resentful" one, Ibid. In short, he's manipulating!

(2) We face it in evangelical circles, too: Dr. Robert D. Culver, long-time Professor of Theology at the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, in his book, A Wake Up Call, 1993, p. 71, claimed: "(P)rofessors in seminaries are under extreme constraint of many sorts to . . . short-change doctrine in curriculum in order to add more courses on church growth, administration and how-to-do-it in about every related social or psychological realm." He added, "Pastors too . . . are under constraints to conform to the . . . spirit of the age . . . Witness present disarray about women as pastors and speaking in tongues . . ." (Ibid., p. 73)

Thus, pressure is applied to seminary profs and pastors to conform to worldliness for security in relationships.

Need: So, we ask, "How do we handle today's lack of security in relationships so we can rightly relate to others?!"

I. Jehu tried to manipulate his subjects in order to strengthen his power as king, 2 Kings 10:18-29:

A. To secure his power after the reign of Ahab's dynasty, Jehu not only destroyed Ahab's dynasty (2 Kings 10:17) but he deceptively sought to eradicate the Baal worship Ahab had introduced in Israel (1 Kings 16:29-34).

B. To that end, Jehu gathered all of his subjects together deceptively to announce he would serve Baal more than Ahab had, and he called for all of the prophets, servants and priests of Baal to gather for a Baal worship service at the Baal temple Ahab had built in Samaria, 2 Kings 10:19a,b with 1 Kings 16:32.

C. At this meeting, Jehu made sure there were no prophets of the Lord present (2 Kings 10:20-23) and then he deceptively offered up a burnt offering to Baal at the site (2 Kings 10:24-25a) only to secure the area with his soldiers and have them destroy all of the worshipers, temple and cult objects of Baal, 2 Kings 10:25b-28.

II. However, Jehu SINNED in his efforts to manipulate the people, 2 Kings 10:18-29, 31:

A. First, He sinned in his methods of obliterating Baal worship in Israel in 2 Kings 10:18-29:

1. Jehu violated Exodus 20:16 in lying to the nation in stating that he would serve Baal more than Ahab. Though getting Baal worshipers to gather so he could destroy them, his method violated Scripture!

2. Jehu violated several Scriptural directives in his method of participating in the burnt offering to Baal:

a. Israel was to sacrifice in worship to God alone, not other gods such as Baal, Exodus 20:1-5.

b. Israel was to sacrifice only at the tabernacle or temple, not at a place like Samaria, Deuteronomy 12:4-8.

c. Only the Aaronic priests, not Jehu, were to offer up burnt offerings, and that to the Lord, Lev. 1:1-17.

B. Jehu also sinned by failing to end Jeroboam I's religious syncretism, 1 Kings 10:31 with 1 Kings 12:26-33:

1. 1 Kings 10:31 reports that Jehu failed to follow God with his whole heart, failing to depart from Jeroboam I's religious syncretism that mixed the worship of God with the golden calves at Dan and Bethel.

2. That religious syncretism violated Scripture on several counts (as follows):

a. Exodus 20:4-6 forbade Israel from making a graven image and bowing down to it, 1 Kings 12:26-29.

b. Deuteronomy 12:4-8 forbade Israel from worshiping God at any place but His house, 1 Kings 12:28-30.

c. Leviticus 8:1-9:24 endorsed only Aaron's sons as priests versus Jeroboam I's priests, 1 Kings 12:31.

d. Leviticus 23:1-44 established God's feasts, not the unbiblical one set by Jeroboam I, 1 Kings 12:32-33.

III. The REASON for Jehu's unbiblical manipulation was his failure to TRUST GOD for a loyal following:

A. Since Baalism had been introduced by Ahab, destroying Baalism in Israel fit Jehu's agenda to manipulate his subjects to drop all former loyalty to Ahab by abandoning even Ahab's religious beliefs and practices.

B. However, abandoning Jeroboam I's religious syncretism humanly threatened the loyalty of Jehu's subjects:

1. Jeroboam I had established his religious syncretism to keep his subjects from traveling south to the Jerusalem temple in the rival nation of the Southern Kingdom of Judah lest his subjects be influenced in going there to switch allegiance from Jeroboam to follow Judah's king instead, 1 Kings 12:26-29.

2. Thus, though Jehu would readily want to eradicate Baalism further to end his subjects' loyalty to Ahab as Baalism had been uniquely contributed to Israel by him, Jehu was not willing to end Jeroboam I's religious syncretism lest doing so weaken his subject's loyalty to him!

C. Jehu thus failed to TRUST GOD to establish a loyal following from his subjects in Israel, so he resorted to try manipulating them to follow his leadership at the cost of heeding Scripture with God's blessing!

IV. Jehu thus experienced PARTIAL blessing and PARTIAL judgment from the Lord, 2 Kings 10:30-36:

A. For destroying Ahab's line and eradicating Baalism, God promised Jehu a dynasty of his own, 2 Kings 10:30.

B. However, for disobeying Scripture in particularly not eradicating Jeroboam I's syncretism, God began to weaken Jehu's kingdom in a way that was especially and fittingly troubling to him, 2 Kings 10:31-36:

1. The Mosaic Covenant warned that failing to heed Scripture would bring military defeat, Deut. 28:15, 25.

2. Jehu thus faced military failure that was especially and fittingly distressful to him, 2 Kings 10:32-33:

a. When God had arranged for Elisha's student prophet to anoint Jehu as king, Jehu was then leading Israel's army in war at Ramoth of Gilead against Hazael's Aramean army, 2 Kings 8:28-9:3.

b. Fittingly, then, when Jehu later failed as Israel's king fully to obey the Lord, God let his old enemy Hazael of Aramea make significant military gains against Israel, from the Jordan River eastward, all the land of Gilead where Jehu had been anointed king, the Gadites, Reubenites, Manassites, Gilead and Bashan, 2 Kings 10:32-33. Jehu thus saw his kingdom weakened by his old archenemy to his dismay!

Lesson: When Jehu tried to manipulate his subjects in unbiblical ways to secure their loyalty instead of wholeheartedly trusting the Lord to give him such loyalty, though God rewarded him for eradicating Baal worship in Israel, to Jehu's dismay, God used his old enemy in Hazael of Aramea to weaken Jehu's kingdom.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ for salvation from sin, John 3:16. (2) May we realize that GOD is the One Who arranges for us to have loyal human supporters, that we thus NOT unbiblically manipulate others to try to secure their loyalty, but TRUST GOD to provide such support and just WHOLEHEARTEDLY OBEY the LORD.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

While I was visiting relatives in California in 1993, a man I did not know gave me a book titled A Wake Up Call by a certain Dr. Robert D. Culver whom I did not know, and the donor told me that I as a pastor needed to read it.

I instantly put my guard up with the book! It was given it to me by a man I did not know, it was written by a man I did not know and it was on a controversy I did not know! However, as I reluctantly began to read the book, I saw Dr. Culver claim that when he started to minister at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 1951, becoming a professor of theology there, "Many of my students were veterans of World War II who had seen violent death on the battle fields of the world and were fresh from the rigors of military life. They created a special, no-nonsense atmosphere that lasted on past the return of veterans of the war in Korea." (Ibid., p. 2) Dr. Culver had applied this "no-nonsense" approach to write repeatedly to leaders at Trinity about a professor there whom he held to be in grave theological error on Christ's resurrection body. He provided copies in the book of all his relevant correspondence in letters with the parties involved, and he cited the theological problem statements in the book. He had then referred to Scripture passages, and written with forthrightness that was balanced with Christian love. However, Dr. Culver reported, "I have received in answer almost uniform silence or bitter, angry replies. There have been exceptions. But to date not one has addressed the issues I have raised or the evidence submitted." (Ibid., p. 5)

In response, regardless of my initial reservations about him and his book by the way I had been introduced to them, from my exposure to his A Wake Up Call book alone, I now view Dr. Culver as a dear man of God! Why? The Holy Spirit has persuaded me from his words in that book that he tells the Biblical truth in love! The Lord has made me a loyal supporter of Dr. Robert D. Culver and his position due to the moving of the Holy Spirit in my heart.

I have since found several of his articles in the Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, and when he comments in them on the spirituality of specific Bible characters, I take note! I trust his judgment!

May we trust in Christ for salvation. May we heed Scripture and let GOD give us loyal supporters.