Transcript
We have now completed the cycle of stories in the book of Second Kings that covers the career of Elisha the Prophet. And this morning I would like to start a new series also in the book of Second Kings. And the title of my new series is Jehu Who Drives Furiously.
Now you may not initially understand exactly what that title means. But if you come back to enough of these discussions I hope that that title will be meaningful to you. Jehu who drives furiously.
And for our first message in this series turn with me please to Second Kings chapter 9. Second Kings chapter 9. Second Kings chapter 9. And we want to begin reading at verse 1.
Second Kings chapter 9. And Elisha the Prophet called one of the sons of the Prophets and said to him, “Get yourself ready. Take this flask of oil in your hand and go to Ramoth-Gilead. Now when you arrive at that place look for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi and go in and make him rise up from among his associates and take him to an inner room. Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, ‘Thus says the Lord, “I have anointed you king over Israel.”’ Then open the door and flee and do not delay.”
So the young man, the servant of the Prophet, went to Ramoth-Gilead. And when he arrived there were the captains of the army sitting. And he said, “I have a message for you, O commander.” And Jehu said, “For which one of us?” And he said, “For you, commander.”
Then he arose and went into the house. And he poured the oil on his head and said to him, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘I have anointed you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel. You shall strike down the house of your master Ahab 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. And I will cut off from Ahab all the males in Israel, both bond and free. So 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. The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the vicinity of Jezreel. And there shall be none to bury her.’
And he opened the door and fled. Then Jehu came out to the servants of his master. And one said to him, “Is all well? Why did this madman come to you?” And he said to them, “You know the man and his babble.” And they said, “A lie. Tell us now.” So he said, “Thus and thus he spoke to me saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “I have anointed you king over Israel.”’”
Then each man hastened to take his garment and put it under him on the top of the steps. And they blew trumpets saying, “Jehu is king.”
As a longtime bachelor here is an idea that never occurred to me. Somewhere around 1994 David Weinlick of Bloomington, Minnesota got tired of being asked the question, “When are you going to get married?” Well I can understand him getting tired of the question. But it was the answer he eventually came up with that surprises me.
He started to tell people that he was going to get married on June the 13th, 1998. One little problem though. He did not have the remotest idea who he was going to be married to on that date.
So as the magical day approached and Weinlick was still unattached he and his relatives and friends came up with a novel idea. They decided to take applications from prospective brides. And so on June the 13th, 1998 a couple of dozen adventurous young women showed up at what they called a bridal candidate mixer.
Now I’ve never heard of a bridal candidate mixer before. And I have a feeling this was the first one in history. And at that mixer the candidates had to answer questions that were posed to them by David’s friends and relatives. And after the questioning was done his friends and relatives voted on their favorite candidate.
And the winner was a pharmacy student at the University of Minnesota named Elizabeth Runze who happened to be 28 years old, the same age as David Weinlick was. And shortly after this election Weinlick and Runze exchanged their marriage vows. Where do you suppose? At the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota as a couple of thousand of shoppers lined the railings of the upper levels of the mall’s rotunda to watch the ceremony.
Steven Fletcher, a friend of David Weinlick’s, said that the new couple had similar interests. They had similar senses of humor. They really were a good intellectual fit. And then he said, “You can see the chemistry between these two. Those two just looked right together.”
Now I know that you are all wondering how they are doing in the year 2003, whether they are living happily ever after. And I can’t tell you that. But I can tell you that I really like the headline that covered the story as it appeared in the newspaper. The headline was this: “A Match Made in the Mall.”
I love it don’t you? A match made in the Mall. I give a double A to the headline writer. I give a double question mark to the bride and groom.
And if you are not married this morning I certainly do not advise you to adopt that method for finding a spouse.
And if you will permit me to say it this morning God never makes matches in the Mall. And I’m not talking now about marriages and weddings. I’m talking about some very important matches that God makes in relationship to the Christian life and in relationship to the Christian experience.
And therefore I want to invite you for a few minutes to think with me about the following question. Who made your match? Remember I’m not talking about your spouse. I’m talking about something that is every bit as important as that.
So my question is the title of my message to you this morning. Who made your match?
Now I suppose that almost everybody in my audience would agree that David Weinlick is hardly your typical ordinary garden-variety young man. In fact he strikes me as a very unusual person.
But if you want to talk unusual, if you want to talk about somebody who really breaks the mold, you could hardly do better than to talk about the person we read about a few minutes ago in the Word of God. A man whose name was Jehu.
Now a lot of us have been watching a good bit of TV these last 10 days or so. And even if we didn’t know who he was several weeks ago we now probably most of us know who Tommy Franks is, right? Tommy Franks is the commanding general of our operation in Iraq. And his name is rapidly becoming a household word.
And Jehu was a man like that. He was a military commander. And his name would soon become the most familiar name in the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
You see we are getting close to the end of the dramatic career of Elisha the Prophet, that mighty man of God who stood for God in times of religious unfaithfulness and religious decay.
And in one of the last acts that is recorded of Elisha he calls to himself one of the sons of the Prophets. And as we have said before these men are probably close to being the functional equivalent of a seminary student in our own day and time.
And so this young Prophet comes to Elisha. And Elisha says to him, “Get ready. Take a flask of oil. Go to Ramoth-Gilead. And when you get there find a man named Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi. Take him away from his companions and bring him into an inner room. Pour the flask of oil on his head and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “I have anointed you king over Israel.”’”
Now let me pause right here to say to you that the instructions that Elisha is giving to this young Prophet are much more impressive than we might think at first.
Do you realize that before Jehu the only king of the Northern Kingdom who had been directly selected by God was the very first king, a man named Jeroboam? When Jeroboam died his son Nadab took over for two years. But then a man named Baasha rebelled and killed Nadab. And Baasha took the kingdom by force.
And after Baasha died his son Elah became the king for two years. And then Zimri rebelled and he took the kingdom away from Elah by force. And Zimri reigned only seven days. And when he realized that he was going to lose the kingdom he committed suicide by burning the king’s house down around him.
And then there was a war between two leaders named Tibni and Omri. And Tibni was killed. And Omri reigned. And when Omri died his son Ahab reigned. And when Ahab died his son Ahaziah reigned for two years. Then Ahaziah had an accident and died from the results of the accident. And his brother also the son of Ahab, Joram, took over.
And don’t you see that over and over and over again in the Northern Kingdom men have seized the kingship? But now God is going to choose the king. Now God is going to match the kingship with the man that He has chosen.
So what happened? Well this is what happens. This young Prophet goes to Ramoth-Gilead. He walks into a place where the commanders of the Israelite forces are all sitting around together. And without calling anybody by name the young Prophet says, “I have a message for you, O commander.”
Now ladies I’m going to tell you a little secret about us men. If you ever have the chance to watch a group of men sitting around together interacting with each other you watch them closely enough you can find out who the natural leader of the group is.
The natural leader of the group is the man that everybody listens to when he speaks. The natural leader of the group is the man that everybody seems to want the approval of when they make a suggestion. The natural leader of the group is the man whose ideas are usually enthusiastically supported and adopted by the group.
And if someone were to walk in on that meeting and address everybody in general it’s very likely that it’s the natural leader who will speak up first.
And when this young Prophet comes in and says, “I have a message for you, O commander,” guess what? Out of all those men it is Jehu who speaks up. And he says, “For which one of us?” And of course the reply is, “For you, commander.”
And don’t you see my friends? God has chosen out of that group the natural leader. And we shall see in the career of Jehu the qualities of leadership that he did in fact possess. Because God is matching the man with the work He has for him to do.
And if you’re here this morning and if you have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for the absolutely free gift of everlasting life and if therefore you know for sure that you’re going to live with Him forever in the kingdom of God then I want to tell you something. God wants to match you with the kind of work He wants you to do.
The Bible says we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
There was a middle-aged farmer one time. And he became convinced that he had received a call from God to go into the ministry. So he entered seminary. But after a few months in seminary he found the work was starting to get hard for him.
And so the Dean of the seminary called this farmer in. And very gently he said to him, “Why in the world did you think that you should go into this seminary?” And the farmer replied, “Well sir I was out in the field one day and I had a vision. And I looked up in the sky and I saw the letters P C. So I decided that the Lord was calling me to go into the ministry to preach Christ. And therefore I have entered seminary.”
Very kindly the Dean replied to him, “But not all of us have to go into seminary to preach Christ.” And then he added this telling comment. He says, “Have you ever considered the letters that you saw in the sky might have meant plow corn?”
And my dear Christian friends this morning our minds have a tremendous ability to persuade us that God has told us to do this or that or go here or there when God hasn’t done that at all.
And when we tell ourselves that God wants us to do this thing we are making our own matches. And God is the one who matches His servants to His work.
So what did the young Prophet say to Jehu? Did he say to Jehu as he walked in on this group, “I have a wonderful idea for you, O commander”? No he didn’t say that. Did he say, “I have a vision to show you that you can follow the rest of your life, O commander”? No he didn’t say that either.
He said, “I have a message. I have a message. I have a message for you, O commander.”
And when he gets him into the inner room the first words out of his mouth are, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel.” This is God’s Word. “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘I have anointed you to be king over Israel over My people. And you will strike the house of your master Ahab that I may avenge the blood of My servants the Prophets and the blood of all My servants that has been shed by Jezebel. And I will wipe out the house of Ahab and leave no male in Israel for him whether bond or free. 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 the dogs will eat Jezebel in the vicinity of Jezreel. And there will be nobody to bury her.’”
Listen Jehu says the Prophet. This is the Word of God. He has appointed you to be the king. And He wants you to be the instrument of His judgment on the house of Ahab. And even Jezebel will die without a burial. This is God’s Word to you.
And you know what surprises me? A lot of times Christians who often know better sometimes say something like this. “I think God has told me to do this or that or to go here or there.” And if you ask them how did God tell you that they will reply, “I’ve got a feeling in my heart. It’s a burden on my soul.”
Nonsense. Absolute nonsense. Never once does the Bible tell us that God leads us by our feelings. May I repeat that? Never once does the Bible tell us that God leads us by our feelings.
Folks we are sinners. And our feelings are corrupted by sin and distorted by our own wickedness. We can’t possibly rely upon our feelings.
But the Bible does teach us that He guides us through His Word. The Bible says all Scripture is given by inspiration of God that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. You have all you need in the Word of God.
Now I’m going to tell you just about my favorite incident that happened to me in this building. As most of you know I’ve been with this group a long time going on 49 years now. And a lot of interesting and amusing things have happened to me. But this is just about my favorite story. And I’ve told it a lot of times to people outside the church. But I’ve never told it to the church.
And my apologies if she is here to the woman who gets named in this story. But it’s one of my favorites.
A number of years ago I had preached from this pulpit. And I was standing as I often do back there in the foyer. And Christine Alonso came up to me. And you know that Christine has known me almost the entirety of 49 years that I’ve been here.
And as I remember it nobody else was standing in the foyer at the moment. And this is what Christine said to me. She said, “Zane when I first heard you preach I said to myself, ‘Zane’s a nice fellow but he’s in the wrong profession.’” And then Christine added this. She said, “But now I think you do all right.”
And if you know Chris you know she just gave me a five-star compliment by saying that.
And you know what? Chris was right. When I first came here many years ago and started teaching the Word of God down at the little mission on Hickory and Jeffrey Street I wasn’t a very good preacher.
And if you had asked me if I was absolutely sure that God wanted me to preach and teach His Word I would have said, “I’m not absolutely sure.” But there were certain things I did know from the Word of God.
For one thing I knew I had eternal life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I knew that if I was a Christian the Word of God taught that I was a member of the body of Christ. Then I had received a spiritual gift from the Holy Spirit. And I understood that God wanted to use that gift for the benefit of other Christians. And that if that was the gift that I had God would help me to develop it so that it was fruitful and so that it was effective for Christ.
And 49 years later folks I have no doubt that the gift that God has given me is the gift of teaching. Whether I do it here at Victor Street or at Garland Bible Chapel or at East Coast Bible Church in Southern California or up in Oregon, wherever I do it, I know who I am. I’m a man that God has called to the ministry of teaching His Word.
And I found that out with the indispensable help of the Word of God.
Please understand God isn’t sending you to some kind of a religious mall where you can pick out whatever you want to do and come home with it. That isn’t the way it works.
The way it works is that God matches us to our ministry through the wisdom that we gain from His Word.
You know what makes me sad? I believe that there are people who have grown up from childhood here in this church. And if you ask them what their spiritual gift is they wouldn’t have the slightest idea. And furthermore if you ask them to name five spiritual gifts that are mentioned in the Bible they couldn’t do it.
No wonder they don’t know what God wants them to do if they are not applying the Scriptures to their life and experience and activity.
God matches us with our work through His Word.
So what happened? Well just as soon as the young Prophet has given Jehu the Word of God he follows Elisha’s instructions. He opens the door and he runs away.
And I’m pretty sure that that was a little bit of a surprise to Jehu and probably something he would have preferred the young Prophet hadn’t done. I mean would it be nice to keep him around for a few minutes and take him back in where the other commanders are and let him repeat the message to them so that they know that Jehu is leveling with them?
But no. The Prophet is gone. What in the world is Jehu going to do? Well to use contemporary language he plays it cool.
And so he goes out from the inner room. And he goes back to the other captains of the army. Apparently doesn’t say anything. So one of them says, “Is everything all right? What did that crazy guy say to you?”
And Jehu kind of acts like he thinks it was a put-up job. You know a setup. So he replies to this individual, “Oh you know who he is. You know what he said to me. You know his babble. You all know about this don’t you?”
And immediately they deny it. They say, “It’s a lie. We don’t know anything about this. Tell us now.”
And then Jehu said, “Well he said to me, ‘Thus says the Lord, “I have anointed you king over Israel.”’”
Notice how delicately Jehu has handled this. If there’s somebody in that group who wants to say you’re rebelling against King Joram we won’t stand for this, Jehu hasn’t committed himself yet has he?
But when Jehu says this I’m sure perhaps once again to Jehu’s surprise the whole group of commanders spread their garments on the top of a stairway for Jehu. They can stand above them. They blow their trumpets. And unanimously they say, “Jehu is king.”
And Jehu makes a very important discovery from this. That if God matches you to the work he wants you to do he will help you to do it. He will help you to do it.
So the question is isn’t it? Who made your match? Did you match yourself with whatever you are trying to do for God? Or did you let God through his Word match you to the kind of work he has for you to do?
Now I know the South lost the Civil War folks. But the South had some very great men in its army. Two of them were General Robert E. Lee and General Stonewall Jackson.
Near the close of the Civil War General Lee of course was the commander-in-chief. He sent a message to General Jackson. And his message said, “The next time you ride in this direction I would like to see you about a matter that is of big importance.”
When General Stonewall Jackson got that message he prepared to leave the very next morning. He got up early. He rode for eight miles through a storm of wind and snow. And he reached the headquarters of General Lee just as General Lee was finishing his breakfast.
And General Robert E. Lee expressed surprise to see General Jackson. And General Jackson said this, “But you said you wished to see me. And the slightest wish of General Lee is a supreme command to me.”
And my dear Christian friends this morning the slightest wish of our commander-in-chief the Lord Jesus Christ should be a supreme command to us. And we should discover from His Word, working through our experience, discover from His Word what it is He has for us to do so that God through His Word matches you with the work He has for you to do.
Shall we pray? Father we’re all headstrong people. And we’re also capable of a lot of self-deception. And so very often Father we jump to conclusions that are not supported by your Word. And we do not live in accordance with your revealed truth.
So Father help us to renew our commitment to full obedience to your Word. If we haven’t discovered what it is that you want us to do, the kind of work you have and granted us the capacity to do, may we seek it perfectly through your Word. Lead us into the work you want for us we pray in Christ’s name. Amen.