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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] All please have a seat, grab a hymnal and open up those hymnals To song number 207, we can begin this evening's service by singing a song number 207 entitled, Only a Seven. Song number 207. ["Only a Seven"] ["Only a Seven"] ["Only a Seven"] ["Only a Seven"] ["Only a Seven"] ["Only a Seven"] ["Only a Seven"] Amen. Brother Darlow, pray for us. Thank you Father God for this day. Thank you so much for this evening's service. Please bless this evening's service. Receive our praises unto you. We give you the glory. In Jesus' mighty name, amen. Amen, thank you brother. Let's start our hymnals to song number 127. Song number 127, it tastes so sweet for us in Jesus. Song number 127. ["Just in Jesus"] ["Just in Jesus"] ["Just in Jesus"] ["Just in Jesus"] ["Just in Jesus"] ["Just in Jesus"] Amen, at this time we'll go with the announcements. We will be following with song number 166. Alright, if you need to bolt in, go ahead and slip up your hand. And Adam will bring you one. As always, we've got the service times listed there. In the upper left-hand side, we'll be in 2 Kings chapter 11 tonight. We've also got the salvation baptisms offering totals and attendance for month and year. Don't forget the Thanksgiving Dessert Social is coming up on Thanksgiving, which is going to be Thursday, November 24th, so that's a week from today at 6 p.m. Please bring a pie to share or dessert to share. Now, let me just say this, we have the sign-up sheet back there, and if nobody wants to bring dessert, the fact is, we're all probably going to have to be rolled through the door. No one's going to be showing up here at 6 o'clock, hopefully, ready to stuff themselves to the gills. Hopefully you've already done that during the day. Okay, so if you just feel like, hey, I'm not really keen on bringing a whole bunch of dessert here, then don't. No one has to bring a dessert. If that sign-up sheet stays blank, then the church will make up the difference. If you want to just come and have, we'll get enough for whoever's coming. Who thinks they're going to be here, and I'm not trying to out you for skipping church or anything, but just so I can get an idea, who thinks they're going to be here. Okay, so we've got the Martinez family. Okay, good. All right, several hands. Perfect. That gives me an idea about how much dessert I may or may not have to get. The sign-up sheet's back there, though. If you want to bring something exotic and make sure nobody else brings tiramisu or something like that, then you can sign that up. If you want to just come and enjoy and not have to deal with making food for even more people on Thanksgiving, then you can just not sign up, and there will be pie here, folks. There will be pie in this building at 6 p.m. on Thursday, November 24th. With or without you, I will be here eating, which I am sure comes as a shock to many of you. Let's move on. We've got the homeschool field trip. That's coming up this Friday, so if anybody's going, it's probably too late, to be honest, if you haven't told me already. Nobody did. I'm sure no one's going, but I do like to keep these out there for you guys because I know sometimes the Tempe people like to get up there and take advantage of this. That's why the homeschool field trip to the Shamrock Farms is in there, and if you're going to go to that, please also RSVP with me sooner than later. On the back, we've got the more local homeschool field trip to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. That's this Tuesday, December 13th, not this Tuesday, and you've got the rules there. One parent for families with five children or less. Two parents for six children or more. Please sign up if you plan to attend. That's back there, too. And then, don't forget the Candlelight Christmas Eve service coming up. So that's a great service to invite family, friends, co-workers, neighbors to come and visit. If you were here last year, it's the same thing. It's just 20 minutes about reading the Christmas story, singing some hymns, and lighting candles and just having a nice night right before Christmas. So come out and join us if you can. We've got the song schedule below that for the upcoming services, and then let's count up the soul winning real quick going back to Monday. Anything for Monday? What about Tuesday? Wednesday? I keep thinking I see a hand, but I don't. Thursday, anything for the group today? Alright, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching tonight. So number 166, I will praise him. 166. I will praise him. I will praise him. Praise the land of the singer sweet. Give him glory all ye people. For his blood can wash away his strength. Oh, grace the stream and barrel. All I claim will stumble away. My omniscient mountain wishes that my feet and ashes play. I will praise him. I will praise him. Praise the land of the singer sweet. Give him glory all ye people. For his blood can wash away his strength. There comes fire upon the altar. All of my heart will set aflame. I shall never cease to praise him. Glory, glory to his name. I will praise him. I will praise him. Praise the land of the singer sweet. Give him glory all ye people. For his blood can wash away his strength. Blessed be the name of Jesus. I'm so glad he took me in. He's forgiven my transgressions. He has pierced my heart from sin. I will praise him. I will praise him. Praise the land of the singer sweet. Give him glory all ye people. For his blood can wash away his strength. Glory, glory to the Father. Glory, glory to the Son. Glory, glory to the Spirit. Glory to the three in one. I will praise him. I will praise him. Praise the land of the singer sweet. Give him glory all ye people. For his blood can wash away his strength. In 2 Kings chapter number 11, the Bible reads, beginning in verse 1, And when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal. But Jehoshabah, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons which were slain. And they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Ahaliah, so that he was not slain. And he was hid in the house of the Lord six years, and Ahaliah did reign over the land. In the seventh year, Jehoiada sent and fetched the rulers of over hundreds with the captains and the guard, and brought them to him in the house of the Lord, and made a covenant with them, and took an oath from them in the house of the Lord, and showed them the king's son. And he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that ye shall do. A third part of you that enter in on the Sabbath shall even be keepers of the watch of the king's house, and a third part shall be at the gate of Shur, and a third part at the gate behind the guard, so shall ye keep the watch of the house, that it be not broken down. And two parts of all you that go forth on the Sabbath, even they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord about the king. And ye shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand, and he that cometh within the ranges, let him be slain, and be ye with the king as he goeth out, and as he cometh in. And the captains over the hundreds did according to all the things that Jehoiada the priest commanded, and they took every man his men that were to come in on the Sabbath, with them that should go out on the Sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest. And to the captains over hundreds did the priest give King David spears and shields that were in the temple of the Lord. And the guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, round about the king, from the right corner of the temple to the left corner of the temple, along by the altar and the temple. And he brought forth the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony, and they made him king, and anointed him, and they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king. And when Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she came to the people into the temple of the Lord, and when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar as the manor was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced and blew with trumpets, and Athaliah rent her clothes and cried, Treason, treason! But Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds and of the officers of the host, and said unto them, Have her forth without the ranges, and him that followeth her, kill with the sword. For the priest had said, Let her not be slain in the house of the Lord. And they laid hands on her, and she went by the way, by which the horses came into the king's house, and there she was slain. And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people, that they should be the Lord's people, between the king and the people, between the king also and the people. And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal and break it down. His altars and his images break they in pieces thoroughly, and slew Matan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of the Lord, and he took rulers over hundreds, and the captains, and the guard, and all the people out of the land. And they brought down the king from the house of the Lord, and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king's house, and he sat on the throne of the kings. And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was in quiet, and they slew Athaliah with the sword beside the king's house. Seven years old was Jehoash when he began to reign. Let's go ahead and pray. Dear Lord, again, thank you for the opportunity we have to be in your house. Lord, I pray that you would help me, Lord, tonight to preach and to edify your people. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. So we're moving along here in 2 Kings 11, and let me just start out by saying this, that with these characters, Athaliah and Ahaziah, and these kings that are surrounding this period of Israel, Judah's history, is probably, in my opinion, the most confusing bit of Scripture to try to straighten out who's who, and what all the relationships are, and what's all going on here. There's a lot that's really going on under the surface. I'm not going to try and address all of that tonight, because one, it really gets you into the weeds, and I don't know that I could keep people on a Thursday night that entertained, or if you're that interested, on a Thursday night. But I do want to come back to that, probably at the end of the book, and address some of these things that are going on here. But let's just look at Athaliah real quick, and just kind of get an idea of who she is. This woman that is reigning at this point, and then, as we just read, was ultimately disposed and taken out after six years. But it says there in verse 1, And when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royals. So Ahaziah is her son, whom Jehu slew. So she sees what happens there, and then she destroys all the seed royals. Now, what's going on here is she's making, this is a power play, which, again, I'm not going to go into it. This is something that's kind of been ongoing with her and several kings leading up to this. There's just kind of been this political intrigue going on between Israel and Judah, where the kings of Israel are actually trying to usurp the kings of Judah, and this is kind of what's going on here. So, Athaliah, she decides to destroy all the seed royals. And who is this Athaliah? Well, Athaliah is, of course, Ahaziah's mother, as we read, but she's also the daughter of Ahab and the wife of Jehoram. Now, again, without going too far into it, Jehoram, this is just something to keep, as I understand it, again, this is one of the most, I think, honestly, probably the most complicated story to straighten out in all of Scripture, really, honestly, I think, anyway. But as I understand it, what I gather out of this is that Jehoram is not the biological father of Ahaziah. And you might not get that right away, but if you would, well, just keep something there, go back to 2 Kings 8. I won't take the time to rehearse everything that we've, you know, go through, prove all this from the text, you know, make us read all of it. But as far as the lineage of the kings of Judah, you have Asa, and it goes Jehoshaphat, then it goes Jehoram, then Ahaziah, who we're writing about, then Athaliah, his mother, she arranged, she's not technically a king. Then you have Joash, Amaziah, and Uzziah. That's kind of the litany of the kings that we see here, okay? But the proof of the fact that Jehoram is not the biological father of Ahaziah is the fact that Ahaziah is not mentioned in the lineage of Christ in Matthew chapter 1, okay? If you were to compare that, you would see it would go Asa, just like we see in the Chronicles and Kings, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begat Joram, Joram begat Ozias. So it jumps over Ahaziah, it jumps over Ahaziah, Athaliah, of course she's not even really a king, Joash, and Amaziah, and goes right to Uzziah, or in the New Testament, Ozias. And again, I know this is not, you know, Thursday night material, I know everyone's kind of sleepy out there, so I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this, all right? But, you know, there's something that you can learn from this, and again, when I have a deeper understanding, when I've, you know, got a more firm grasp on this, you know, I'll go into those weeds with you, and we'll get something out of it, and hopefully it'll be entertaining at the same time too, so come back in 20 years, you know, I'm just kidding. But no, I'm going to try and, I mean, I'm going to preach that, there is a sermon in the works to kind of go through all that in February, in case you want to stay home that entire month, I don't know. But anyway, that's what we see, that, you know, that's who Athaliah is, you know, she's actually somebody who married into the kings of Judah for political reasons, there was an affinity made with Jehoram, the kings of Judah and Israel, they made an affinity, so this is kind of a political union that's taken place, that's probably why it's so easy for her to just get up and destroy all the seed royal, you know, a lot of these probably aren't her children even. But that's who she is, she is, you know, the mother of Ahaziah, and the mother of Ahaziah who is not Jehoram's biological son, I believe. She's also the daughter of Ahab. If you look there in 2 Kings chapter 8 verse 16, it says, In the fifth year of Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign, and there's a whole other sermon right there, okay, there's a whole other thing because when you compare that to 2 Chronicles 22, there's a discrepancy in the scripture of 20 years. If you read that same account, it says that he reigned, you know, it's a difference of 20 years, and people point at that as some kind of an, you know, an inerrancy in scripture, but there's a really good explanation for all that. Again, that's going to be a whole other sermon because that's something, it takes a lot of kind of study and background, and it's a long sermon. But anyway, moving on here. It says there of Jehoram, 32 years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem, and he walked in the ways of kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. Okay, so this is referring to, I believe, Athaliah. That's who the daughter of Ahab is. Jump down to verse 26. 22 years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Athaliah. That's who we're reigning about tonight. And it says the daughter of Amorai, king of Israel. Well, which is it? Because Amorai is the father of Ahab. Is she the daughter of Ahab, or is this another woman that's, you know, the daughter of Amorai? Well, what I believe it's saying there at the end of verse 26 is it's referring to her in the sense that she's a granddaughter, because the Bible doesn't use terms grandson, grandpa, grandfather. It doesn't really use those terms. It does use the terms sons, sons, daughters of the sons. For example, Job says, after this, Job lived in 140 years and saw his sons and his sons' sons, even four generations. Same thing about Jacob. It says Jacob's sons and his sons' sons with him, they were brought down into Egypt, and his sons' daughters, and all his seed brought with him. So it doesn't use that terminology. So when it's saying that it's the daughter of Amorai, king of Israel, it's really saying that Athaliah, I believe, is the granddaughter of Amorai, the daughter of Ahab, the son of Amorai. Look, I know it's a lot to kind of keep straight in your head, but basically what we're getting out of this is that, you know, this woman is a very wicked woman, Athaliah. If you didn't catch that from verse one, she's slaying all these children. It kind of goes back to what we talked about last week, remember? About how the men that brought up Ahab's sons in Samaria and raised them up when they were grown men were so quick to just kill them. When Jehu said, hey, put a king upon the throne and stand your ground. Let's throw down. Or they said, hey, we can't sit against you. Well, in that case, just go ahead and behead all the sons of Ahab and bring me their heads, you know, as a sign of loyalty, right? And the men that beheaded those sons were the men that raised them up. And we made the application that other people are not going to be as invested in your children as much as you are. That's why we should not just be entrusting our children to just every person. We should be guarding our children because other people are not going to care about our children as much as we are. Naturally, okay? And there was a whole application with the public school system. I'm not going to re-preach that sermon. If you haven't heard it, I suggest you go back and listen to it. But it's kind of the same story, right? You have this woman, Athaliah, and when she sees what's going down, she, you know, she goes ahead and makes her power play by killing a bunch of, you know, of the seed royal. And it was not just grown men, right? Because we see in the story that, it says in verse 2, that Jehoshiba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons, which were slain, and they hid him, even him and his nurse. So this isn't a grown man. Obviously, we read that. You know, he starts to reign at seven years old after six years of being in hiding. So this woman isn't just slaying grown men. She's killing all of the seed royal. Anybody that could possibly pose a threat to her, she's taking them out, right? So she's a very wicked person, right? And she is the, you know, the mother of Ahaziah, and she is also the wife of Jehoram. And look there at verse 18 in 2 Kings chapter 8. I know I pointed this out when we preached through 2 Kings 8, but it says, and he, speaking of Jehoram, walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab. So the Bible's saying here that Jehoram was wicked, and he walked in the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab. But notice then, it goes on and explain, gives you a reason why he did that. It begins to explain, it gives a reason as to why he did these wicked things. For, right, he's saying, he did this because the daughter of Ahab was his wife. You know, he's going after that, and of course there was all the political stuff going on then. But it seems to me like the Bible's showing us that, you know, as wicked as he was, he was even more wicked because of the fact that he had the daughter of Ahab, this Athaliah, as his wife, right? And he did evil in the sight of the Lord. So this woman is wicked, and she was a wicked influence on her husband, okay, on the king. You know, and again, I feel like I brought this up recently, but I'm going to preach it again because we have a lot of young people in the room, you know, and people that are, you know, going to be getting to that age where you're about to make probably, in fact I'll just say it, probably outside of salvation, what you're going to do with Christ, the biggest and most important decision you'll ever make in your life, which is who you're going to marry. I believe that. I believe that outside of, you know, salvation, the next biggest decision you'll make in your life is who you're going to yoke up with in life, who you're going to marry, who you're going to spend your life with. Because as we see in this story, you know, who you marry has a profound effect on your life, doesn't it? And in fact, it affects even those that come after you, your children, your grandchildren. You know, things could go horribly wrong or they could go very well, right? So what can we learn from Athaliah and Jehoram is that, you know, the only reason to marry is for love, okay? All right, everyone, you know, you can breathe a sigh of relief. They're not marrying for love, I don't believe. I think they're marrying for political reasons, for power. I mean, I know that sounds crazy to think that that people out there would do that, right? Because we obviously could probably never think of any examples of people that would get married just so that they could, you know, obtain more political power and then just leave a wake of death and destruction in their path. I mean, nobody comes to mind, I'm sure, out there, right? Nobody by the name of the Clintons, I'm sure, definitely comes to mind, right? That there aren't people that just get married so they can just make some power play and just leave a wake of death behind them, right? Well, we have a modern day example, right? And there's no new thing under the sun. You know, it's the same thing going on. Your people are getting married just because they're wicked, they want advantage. Now look, I'm not saying, you know, any of you are probably at risk of being the next Bill and Hillary Clinton in the room. You know, hopefully not, good night, right? But, you know, you might marry for the wrong reasons, all the same. That's the greater application here. You know, you might just marry because, you know, of financial gain. You might just marry because it's just convenient or, you know, there's just nobody else, you know. And of course we want to tell, we always preach to the young people, hey marry, you know, but don't just be marrying because of the butterflies in your stomach, right? But you also do want to have that there, right? You still do want to have the infatuation, you still don't want to have the attraction and the romance. These guys are getting married just for any, just for political gain, you know. Don't get married for the wrong reasons. That's the broader application here. You want to get married for the right reasons. You want to marry the right person. You don't want to marry the wrong person. It will have, you know, I'm not going to get up here and say it'll ruin your life, although it could, it could get that bad to where it just destroys you completely. I mean, it kind of went that way for some of the people we've been reading about the last few weeks. You know, Ahab didn't do so well, you know, Mary and Jezebel turned out pretty poor for him. Jehoram, same thing, it didn't go very well, you know, and the Bible is very clear, before he married the daughter of Ahab, that was his wife, right? So I'm not going to get up here and say, well, if you marry the wrong person for sure, your life's just over, right? Because obviously there are people who have, you know, got married and maybe got divorced or whatever, got in a bad situation, and they're still dealing with the consequences of that. That doesn't mean their life's over, right? They could still serve God, they could still do great things for God, they can still read their Bibles and love God, but I'm just saying this, you know, there will be consequences for marrying the wrong person. You know, there ought to be more to your marriage than just, you know, a pretty face. You know, you ought to be getting married to somebody who, you know, is going to be a godly influence, is going to not be an ungodly influence, somebody who's going to, you know, compliment you spiritually, right? You know, the Bible says in Proverbs, houses and riches are the inheritance of fathers and a prudent wife is from the Lord. A prudent wife is from the Lord. You know, a good godly wife is something that God gives, right? That's something that, you know, you say, what do you mean God gives the prudent wife? Like the heavens are going to open one day and my wife is going to descend like a dove, you know, and light upon me? No. You know, but God, I think what it's saying there is that, you know, a prudent wife is somebody who's been raised to be that way. It's somebody who has certain values, it's somebody that loves the Lord themselves, somebody who loves God's Word, who reads God's Word, cares about lost souls, loves going to church, loves serving the local church, you know, loves the things of the Lord. You know, if there's a young lady that loves the Lord, you know, she's going to be a prudent wife, you know, and vice versa. You know, a young man who really loves the Lord and loves, you know, church and the Bible and those things, he's going to be the kind of young man that a young woman should want to marry, right? The Bible says in Proverbs 13, I know we all, 31, I know we all know it, who can find a virtuous woman for her price is far above rubies, right? Meaning that the godly woman is rare, you know. The Atholians of this world are a dime a dozen. They're a dime a dozen out there. It's really easy to find some loose, wicked woman who doesn't care about the things of God, that has no virtue, has no honor, doesn't care about being pure, doesn't care about honoring the things. That's easy to find, young men. That's easy to go out there and get. You know, that's why those girls are called, what, easy, right? You know, but those girls, you know, you might go out and have a lot of fun or whatever, but when it comes time to live for God, when it comes time to have children and actually serve the Lord, they're not going to be on board. You know, they're probably going to slay all the seed royal, even potentially. You know, some godly, you know, I wouldn't call them godly at that point, but, you know, some Christian young man goes out and goes out in the world and tries to find his wife out on a bar stool somewhere, you know, and she ends up getting pregnant. Don't be surprised if she just wants to slay the life in her womb. And you'll have no say over it. And then you'll have, you know, in a way, you'll be kind of accountable for that. Your actions led to that. You know, that's the reality. You know, make 2 Kings 11 a practical, okay, how's that? You know, that's something you can consider is that the Athalayas of this world are everywhere, and there's nothing special about them. You know, they might allure the flesh, they might appeal to the eye, they might, you know, have all that going on for them, but they're, you know what, the godly woman, the woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. The woman that is prudent and is of the Lord, you know, her price is far above rubies. You know, she's of great value. He goes on and says in verse 11, the heart of her husband does safely trust in her. You know, he doesn't have to worry about what she's going to do. So that he shall have no need of spoil. She's prudent, she, you know, she's hardworking, she's, you know, careful with the finances, all that. That's probably the immediate application there. She will, you know, her husband does safely trust in her so that he shall have no need of spoil, meaning he's not going to have to go out and fight battle and take the spoil off the enemy. He's not going to have to go, you know, and maybe get the second job because, you know, she's at home just, you know, racking up the Amazon card and just, you know, ringing up the credit cards or whatever. You know, she's prudent, you know, she's finding the deals, all that. You know, what the other application would also be, you know, he trusts in her because she's not an Athaliah, right? She's not going to just run around behind his back, you know, she's not going to go out and run around and commit adultery or whatever. And the Athaliahs of this world, you know, who are focused what? Only on themselves. I mean, that's verse one of tonight's chapter. She sees what's going on, she just kills all the seed royal so that she cares only about herself. That's the Athaliahs of this world. They focus only on themselves. They're not concerned about their household, they're not concerned about other people. They're just selfish human beings, okay? So, verse one. Let's move on to verse two. It says, but Jehoshiba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons which were slain, and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not slain. And he was hid with her in the house of the Lord, six years, and Athaliah did reign over the land. Now that always kind of makes me chuckle whenever I read that. Because he's like, they're literally hiding in plain sight. It wasn't like with Joseph and Mary where the angels like, you know, flee. You know, because, you know, Herod's going to seek for the child's life, where he's going, he's got to leave the country, he comes back, he turns aside and goes into Nazarene, you know, or into Nazareth. You know, he's not, it's not, they're like literally in the same city. They're still in Jerusalem. It's like she's hiding, they're right under her nose. But where is it that she's, that they're hiding? In the house of the Lord. Right, they're going into the temple. The last place that wicked woman would ever look. She's never going to be caught dead in church. So they're like, well that's the perfect place to hide the king's son. You know, we know she's not going to go to church, you know, until she sees there's something going on, until she hears all the racket. You know, and the application here is that the house of the Lord, you know, is a place of refuge from the wicked. You know, and make no doubt about it, you know, there are wicked people that want to get at us today, aren't there? I mean, I'm sure that we, I don't think any of us are getting chased down by a literal, you know, slayer, someone wants to literally slay us. There isn't like an Atholai who wants to, hopefully not, you know. I don't know how you were driving on the way over here. You know, maybe you made somebody mad and you've got some road rage going on. But there's probably no one chasing you down tonight, right, when you came in here. But spiritually, that is the case, isn't it? Spiritually, there are people out there that want to, in a sense, take your head off. They want to take you out of service. They want to get you out of church. You know, they want to get you out of serving God. They, you know, we are, you know, we are surrounded by, you know, evil workers. You know, we are fighting against principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world in high places. Like, we have a spiritual battle that we're fighting. Where are you going to seek refuge from that? Where are you going to go find refuge from the spiritual battle that, whether you like it or not, you're already in? You know, you got saved and God puts you on the front line. That's the reality. If you're saved, you're already in this battle. You got drafted. You've been conscripted into Christ's army. But where are you going to find reprieve from that battle? Where are you going to find solace from the enemy? It's not at the bowling alley. You know, it's not going to be at some place of recreation. It's not going to be sitting at home on your couch. You know where it's going to be? It's going to be in the house of God, where the preaching of the word of God is. It's going to be spiritually, you know, getting with the Lord, going to the tower that is God's word. Going to the Lord. You know, the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runneth into it and is safe, the Bible says. You know, maybe this goes over your head a little bit, but you know, we have to stop and think about the spiritual reality that we're involved in. You know, there is a battle that's going on in our lives. It's very subtle. The devil's attack is very subtle, but it's there. And we need to have a place to go to find, you know, respite from the enemy at times. Sometimes people just have to go and bide their time and lick their wounds and let time pass. You know, this child had to grow up into at least a boy, right, before he could be made king. They had to wait six years before they could make this move here. But during that time, where did they go? They went to the house of God. They went to the temple of the Lord and hid there six years. It's a refuge. Are you saying we should all go over to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple for a refuge today? No, because today, church is that refuge, right? Back then, it was the literal house of the Lord, right, the temple. But go over to 1 Timothy 3. Beginning in verse 14, it says, These things write unto thee, hoping to come to thee shortly. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. So what's the pillar and ground of the truth? What is the house of the living God? It's the church of God. Back then, the house of the Lord was a literal temple that they went to in Jerusalem. That's where he was hid from Athaliah. Today, the house of God is the church. And I'm not talking about, you know, some worldwide spiritual church that we're all part of. I don't believe that. But this, you know, this assembly right here is a refuge from the world. You know, the group of people that are assembled here tonight, this church, each and every one of you, you know, make up. Go over to Ephesians 3. I just read 1 Timothy 4. Go to Ephesians 3. You know, each one of you make up the house of God today, spiritually. You know, it's a spiritual house that we make up today. You know, that's why it's important to be here. You know, and I know I harp on it a lot, but it's something that I just think people just don't get. I think it just goes over their head. Like, they have this take it or leave it attitude with church. And I don't get it. I've never understood that. Because when you read the Bible and you see what the church actually is, it's not just us to get together and slap each other on the back and eat donuts once a month or something. We're coming here because we're seeking refuge from a wicked world. We're coming here because we want to be strengthened in the Lord. We're coming here to learn the Word of God and to be encouraged in the Word of God and to go out, back out into the world and fight that spiritual battle, you know, another week. To go back out there, recharged and ready to take on, you know, the enemy that we all have to fight. The Bible says in Ephesians 3, look at verse 19, Now therefore ye no more strangers and foreigners, but what? Fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. We are built up. We are built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets. Look at verse 21, in whom all the building fitly framed together, in whom, in Christ, all the building, which is a spiritual building, fitly framed together, groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord. Look, it's saying here that we are the household of God, that we are built upon the foundation, that we make up the house of God. You know, you're part of the house of God. You're part of that place that we ought to go and seek refuge. You know, but sometimes we come to church and it's like, the people that should be encouraging us, the people that we should be, you know, spurring us on to live for the Lord, sometimes can be just a discouragement. It ought not be that way. You know, I'm never interested in coming to church and making me feel somebody bad about living the Christian life. You know, I want to come to church and have fellowship. The Bible says, you know, as iron sharpenedeth iron, so, you know, a man sharpened the countenance of his friend. You know, we should come out of here feeling sharper. You know, and sometimes it's like you come to church and if we're not, you know, if we're not sharpening one another, what are we doing? Well, then we're dulling one another. Let's not come to church and be, walk out worse. Let's come here and walk out better. Come in here with a, you know, a good attitude, a spiritual mindset, you know, of sharpening your brother in Christ. Encouraging one another because we are that spiritual building. We are built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord. In whom also ye are builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. That's a powerful verse. We are built together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. To the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that's in every one of us that are saved, you know, we make up a spiritual building in Christ. It's powerful. That's why church is so important. That's why I just harp on coming to church and being in church. The importance of being there for the preaching of the word of God. And when you come in here, you know, to treat it as such, as the house of God. You know, to treat it like, you know, a place where we're going to come and worship God. You know, every bit as much as they would have done in the temple. I mean, they really went above and beyond with the temple, didn't they? Because they understood this is the house of God. I'm not saying we're going to start, you know, overlaying everything with gold in here. You know, we ought to come in with an attitude of, hey, I want to make this better. I want to have a good day at church. I want to be an encouragement to those who are there. I want to greet visitors. I want to get more people in here. I want to grow this habitation in the Spirit. Let's go on in our story here. Look at verse 4. It says, in the seventh year of Jehoiada, that's the priest, he sent and fetched the rulers over hundreds and the captains of guards and brought them unto the house of the Lord and made a covenant with them and took an oath of them in the house of the Lord and showed him the king's son. So this is the big reveal, right? He's getting all the men there. He's going to make his play to get rid of Athaliah and reinstate the king's son. It says in verse 5, and he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that ye shall do. A third part of you that enter in on the Sabbath shall even be keepers of the watch of the king's house, and a third part shall be at the gate of Shur, and a third part at the gate behind the guard. So shall you keep the watch of the house, that it be not broken down. And two parts of all you that go forth on the Sabbath, even they shall keep the watch of the house of the Lord about the king. And you shall compass the king around about, every man with his weapons and his hand. He that cometh within the ranges, let him be slain, and be with the king as he goeth out and as he cometh in. So he's setting up the king's bodyguard, right? Because this is it. Everybody else has been destroyed, okay? And verse 9, the captains over the hundreds did according to all the things that Jehoiada the priest commanded, and they took every man, his men, that were to come in on the Sabbath with them, that they should go out on the Sabbath and came to Jehoiada the priest. And the captains over hundreds did the priest give King David spears and shields that were in the temple of the Lord. So notice, when they're coming into the temple of the Lord, who are they surrounding? They're surrounding the king. Again, this might help us to understand what it is that we're doing when we're coming to church. We're coming into the presence of the king, right? The king that is in heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're coming into his presence. He is what is at the center of this church. And it's in the word of God. This is the center, the written word of God. Which is like Christ. Christ is called the word of God. This is what we center around. This is what we surround. That's the centerpiece of church. We don't come to church to put on a show. If you're looking to just be entertained, this isn't the church for you. If you want to find a church that's going to entertain you, we could put a blindfold on you, spin you around ten times, and send you out the door, you'll probably just walk into one eventually, because they're a dime a dozen. They're setting them up all over the city. But who are the people that are drawn to that kind of a church? People that just want to be entertained. People that are just curious about what's going on. The Athalayas of this world, right? Because that's what happens in our story. They get all the men in there, they get the king out, they're saying, long live the king, and Athalaya finally pays attention to what's going on in the temple. She's like, oh, I guess if there's all this ruckus going on, now I'll go over there and see what's going on. She couldn't be bothered because she's a wicked person up until that point. Look, there's a lot of buildings out there where they have people that are just making a lot of ruckus. There's a lot of noise out there. It's really entertaining. But that's not what church is about. This isn't preacher attainment up here. This isn't a comedy routine. That's why we're not going to get all the purple lights and smoke and the graphic tees and the little glass pulpit and the little queer-looking earpiece. And I'll get my three-piece suit on and I'll have a different tie every week and just tell you how good God is. It's just so great to have you all in here today. And just smile ear to ear, put Vaseline on my teeth so my lips just go right up real nice and easy. Just hold it there until my face hurts. I'm not interested in being that guy. But that's out there. And they're running people in the hundreds. Because that's what people want today. They just want to go to church to be entertained. But we should be coming to church, why? To surround the King. To get around the Word of God. To get around that. And notice, when they went there, it says, in verse 11, the guard stood, every man, excuse me, no, no, that's not the part I wanted. Ah, where is it? Well, you saw it there. They gave them all the weapons from King David. They gave them the shield, yeah, verse 10, and the captains over hundreds, and did the priest give the king David spears and shields? You know, we come to church to get armed with King David's, you know, spears and shields. They're giving them, you know, David as a picture of Christ. You know, we come here not to, you know, clean our ARs, you know, and pack ammo. You know, although we might do that outside. We might do that outside the walls of this church from time to time. You know, but we come here to get spiritually armed, right? We come in here to, you know, get the weaponry from the king, right? And that, again, goes back to this. You know, like it says, I won't take us to time to go to Ephesians 6. We probably all know it, about putting on, you know, the helmet of salvation, and taking the sword of the spirit, and the shield of faith, as I mentioned last week. You know, all of the spiritual weaponry needs to be distributed. But where is it to distribute it? It's not over the live stream, folks. It's not downloading it on the internet. It's distributed in the temple to the people that are there. The people that actually show up in the temple, they're the ones that actually get armed. Because they actually have a job to do. They actually have to serve the king, right? They're there to do God's work. You know, people that are actually going to live for God and do God's work, you need to get here to get armed, to have the soul winning mat put in your hand, to have, you know, the invites put in your hand, to have the word of God put in your hand, and in your heart, and in your mind, and go out there and fight that spiritual battle. You know, so that's why this church isn't about entertaining you. And look, I'm sure this is a very exciting time. And obviously there's going to be exciting times in church. Sometimes they're going to be more exciting than others. But you know, church serves a very utilitarian function in our lives. It's a utility that we use. It's like a spiritual barracks. You know, it's not a spiritual playground. It's a barracks. It's where we go to train. It's where we go to get armed and go out and fight the battle that we've been called to fight. You know, going to church is what gets you armed against the enemy that is, that is out there. And people that kind of just have a take it or leave it attitude towards church, sometimes I wonder, do you really understand what's at stake spiritually out there? You know, do you see, I mean, if you don't think it's that important to be here, it's like, well, where else are you getting armed? Who else is helping you and sharpening you? Where is, you know, the place that you're going to get trained up and learn the things you need to learn? And to find, you know, brothers and sisters in Christ that are going to be there to help you live the Christian life, right? We'll move on here in the story. It goes on in verse 12 and it says, And he brought forth the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony, and then they made him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, God save the king. And when Athaliah heard the noise of the guards, so now she's interested because there's all this noise, right, that was the illustration I just made, and of all the people, she came to the people into the temple the Lord, and when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manor was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced and blew with trumpets, and Athaliah rent her clothes and cried, treason, treason. So that's probably not what she saw coming when she woke up. You know, but it goes to show you that if we're patient, you know, the wicked will eventually get what they have coming to them. You know, it was six years of Jehoiada the priest having to put up with this woman, six years, all the people that loved the Lord, you know, all those that wanted to worship God, they had to be under this wicked woman's rule, you know, and not say anything, they had to wait, right, and it's kind of the same with us. You know, we have this spiritual, you know, this spiritual kind of fort here in the church, this stronghold that we come to and to strengthen ourselves, but, you know, we're waiting for the return of our king to come and do away with the wicked, when Christ returns. It's kind of a picture of that. It goes on, it says in verse 15, But Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds and the officers of the host, and said to them, Have her without the ranges, and him that followeth her, kill with the sword. For the priest had said, Let her not be slain in the house of the Lord. And they laid hands on her, and she went by the way by which the horses came into the king's house, and there she was slain. And so she's taken out where they take the animals, and she's killed like a beast. And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people, that they should be the Lord's people, between the king also and the people. I mean, I just love the poetic justice that you always see in the Word of God. I mean, that's not as good as what happened to Jezebel. I mean, Jezebel's story is, I mean, that's a hard one to top, when the dogs are eating you, with everything except your head and your hands. You know, when you're being cast out of the window by a bunch of eunuchs and splattered all over, and the Bible says, you say you're being graphic, the Bible says that some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall and on the horses, right? I mean, God, when He, that's why He says, you know, vengeance is mine, I will pray. I'm like, you do it, you know, because you're way better at it than I am. You know, and we want to, sometimes, we see what's going on in this world, and we get a lot of angst, and we get angry, and that's understandable. You know, but what we've got to learn from this is that, you know, ultimately God does repay the wicked to their face. You know, and He does it in such a way that it's like, it's very demeaning to them, right? Being taken out by the way, take her out by the way the horses come in, and kill her out there with all the manure, you know, and everything else that's out there. It's like, it's just being executed in some back alley somewhere. It's such a, it's not a glorious death, right? It's not a good death, you know? It's a bad death. So she goes out, you know, not in a blaze of glory, but, you know, who knows what, right? Use your imagination. So it says, in Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people that they should be the Lord's people, between the king also and the people, verse 18, and all the people of the land went into the house of Baal, and break it down, his altars and his images break they in pieces thoroughly, and slew Matan and the priest of Baal before the altars, and the priest appointed officers over the house of the Lord. So the other thing that we see too is that you know, sometimes when wicked people, it's wicked leadership that leads people into sin, right? It's not until she's done away that they're bold enough to go in and destroy the house of Baal, right? And when we have righteous, you know, the Bible says when the righteous rule, the people rejoice, right? So when we have, when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn, that's what the Bible says. When you get rid of the wicked leadership, you know, there's people just waiting that want to do right, you know? There's people out there, and we should never have this attitude of, well, everybody else is wicked. Like, I know we're living in a very wicked time, but again, is it the most wicked time that's ever been? Is the earth filled with violence like in the days of Noah? You know, is every imagination of the heart of man only evil continually? You know, I don't think it's that bad, there's still, you know, obviously the world's wicked, it's always going to be wicked, but we shouldn't have this attitude of well, everybody's wicked, because as soon as the wicked leadership is out of the way, they're like, let's go, you know what, let's go destroy the house of Baal. What did we read about last week? You know, that's what Jehu did, and he turned it into a public restroom, the house of Baal. Literally. That's what he did. That's what he did, you know, and it was what, when the wicked leadership got out of the way. What should tell us that, you know, when there's wicked people ruling and reigning, things look a lot worse than they actually are. Right? And our society is really good about this, especially when you get into the news media, right? On either side of the aisle, you know, the conservatives are always just making it, oh, you have no idea, it's just, it's just liberalism everywhere, it's just every person, you know, all the, every public school room is just filled with, you know, it's got a tranny at the head of it. I mean, they just blow things out of proportion, don't they? And it's the same thing on the left, you know, it's just, the whole country's just being run by fascists, you know, they blow things out of proportion. Right? And we can't let that affect the way we ought to really see the world. Is that, yeah, there are wicked people that are ruling, but you know what, there's still people out there that, if given the opportunity, would do right. You know, if they got saved and were shown how to live for the Lord, they would do it, you know? Obviously, I don't think we're ever going to get to this place where, you know, it's not really our place to go and, you know, overthrow governments or anything like that, obviously. But I'm making the application, is this, is that don't let, you know, the world convince you that it's more wicked than it really is, that things are as bad as they want you to think. You know, there's still good people out there. It's just that when there's wicked people, it seems a lot worse than it really is. Because as soon as she's gone, you know, as soon as she goes to see Mr. Ed, you know, people are ready to break down the house of Baal. It says in verse 19, It was in quiet, meaning it was at peace. There was nobody, there was no BLM, you know, there were no BLM riots going on. Nobody was up in arms that the king got reinstated. You know, they weren't all upset because the wrong guy got elected. They weren't burning the city down to the ground. Right? It was in quiet, meaning everybody was glad for what happened. And they slew Athaliah with the sword beside the king's house. So again, you know, when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. That's what we get out of it. But notice the last verse there, it says, Seven years old was Jehoash when he began to reign. Now, what I get out of this is that beggars can't be choosers. Sometimes. Sometimes in life, you know, something's better than nothing. Because I don't know about you, but having a seven year old as the king isn't exactly the ideal situation. Is Corbin in the room? I forgot, I was going to talk to him about it. I was going to actually have him come up here. Because he's almost seven. He's going to be seven in February. Where I was going to say, hey, you know what? We got a new pastor. You know, he's going to take over for us and have Corbin come up here. Right? I wasn't going to ordain him or anything. But I was going to use it like, how would you like that? Have a child, you know, running the house here. You know, he'd probably be like, eh. You know, it's just kind of, just to illustrate, that's what they're dealing with. I don't know if it was some blonde-haired, blue-eyed kid like mine, but probably not. But it was a boy. It was a seven year old. But they're happy. They're just like, at least we got rid of that wicked Athaliah. Give us the seven year old. We'll wait. Yeah, let's get him up there. Let's get things going. They were glad to have anything. Right? And what it shows us is that beggars can't be choosers. Because again, you know, Jehoash here at this point, at seven years of age, he's no David. They're not reinstating Solomon here. They're not going back to the glory days of Israel. They're not going back to that rule. They've got a seven year old. But beggars can't be choosers. You know, it's better than Athaliah. And this is something I've observed with people when it comes back to the issue of church again. You know, because I hear from a lot of people they're just like, well there's just no good church in my area. But what they want is, they want like a clone of their favorite new IFB preacher in their city. You know, well there's one, you know, I don't think they can't clone humans yet, can they? I'm just kidding. Of course not. Right? But even if they could, we'd be against it. Right? I'm sure that's not biblical. But that's what they want. They'd go to church if they had pastor so-and-so, their favorite pastor that they live stream every Sunday, then they'd go they'd be real excited. But here's the thing, beggars can't be choosers. Right? I'm sorry you don't have your favorite pastor there to hold your hand and preach every service and entertain you every week. And that's no fault to any of the pastors. This is just the way people are. Sorry you can't have that, but I'm sure there's probably a Jehoash in your city. Or even better, this attitude of, well, you know, this old IFB, they can't teach me anything. It's like, come on. Well, they're wrong on the rapture. So what? They're wrong on Israel. So what? Do they have the right Bible? Do they have the right gospel? Then what's your excuse? Get in there. Well, I'd go there, but they have a different view on this or that. Some obscure doctrine. Well, they think Esau was saved or unsaved. It's like, who cares? People split hairs over the dumbest things. But these people are an example of, hey, it's not Atholai, it's Jehoash. He's only seven, but we'll take it. And they were happy. They were glad because it was better than what they had. It's better than going down to the house of Baal having any kind of church. Let me say this. What makes a church great isn't necessarily the preacher behind the pulpit. What makes a church great is the people as a whole. It reminds me of when we came to Faithful Word Baptist Church. We moved here however many years ago. It's been, I don't know exactly, over a decade ago. We left an old IFB church. And we were real excited to be in, the new IFB wasn't even a thing back then. We were just excited to be at Faithful Word Baptist Church. But it wasn't just because we were starstruck and wanted to just gaze upon Pastor Anderson. And that's the thing that's out there. No fault of his own. I get it. But what we were really excited about is that we were in a church that had people that loved the Lord in it that we went from 12 people, three of them my family, and four of them the pastor's family, and the rest of them had one foot in the grave and the other foot in a banana peel. I say that as respectfully as I can. But it's just a fact. We were sitting in a church that was 12,000 square feet. That's a huge building. On 10 acres of land with 12 people in it on a Wednesday night. Because that's kind of what they get all about. They're all about their buildings. They get real into their buildings. When we left there was enough building for every one of the members to have a thousand square feet to themselves. An entire house. You sit over that part of the house and you have that entire house over there and we're all just sitting in this giant building and swimming in it. So we were excited to get out of frankly a dead church or a dying church and to get into a church that was doing something for God. And it wasn't just because we were going to sit under the preaching of Pastor Anderson. Although obviously that was a huge blessing to be under good preaching. I'm not discrediting that. I'm not downplaying that. But what really made the church great for us was the people. It was the fact that there were 80 people crammed into that little building and nobody cared about the carpet or what color this was or whatever. They weren't obsessed with the color of the walls. They weren't worried about how it sounded. They were just glad to be in a church where something was going on. And this is the attitude we have to have about church and understand is that it's the people that make the church great. Regardless of what kind of pastor. Obviously if the pastor is some raging heretic, some unsaved false prophet, that's a deal breaker. But it's the people that make a church great. That's what's exciting about this story. Was it Jehoash's seven year old kid's charismatic personality that made it such an exciting day? Is that what was going on? That kid was probably, his knees were probably knocking. That's a pretty nerve-wracking thing. I'm sure if I had asked Corbin to come up here, he probably would have said no. Just stand in front of those people, right? But what made it exciting is the fact there were a bunch of godly people, the priests coming in and their courses. You had people being armed. You had people surrounding the king. You had people that were getting zealous and on fire. People that were taking, and what kind of people were they? People that were willing to take what they could and do something with it. People that just said, hey, this is good enough for me. We can work with this. Is it David that's being reinstated? Is it Solomon? Is it some great king of old? No, it's a seven year old boy, but we'll take it and we'll do something with it. Give me that spear. Give me that shield. Let's get something done. When we're done rejoicing here and making him king, let's go over the house of Baal and get to work. That's the attitude we have to have about church. Not try to make it all about a personality behind the pulpit, but realize it's the body. You're built up in holy habitation through the spirit. This is the church, not this. We are the body of Christ. And then we need to get out there and do the work and not get hung up about the personality behind the pulpit. Because that's what's exciting about a church, is the people that are in it and the zeal that they have. So do something with what you've got. Do something with what you've got. And God will do great things through you. Maybe I'm not your favorite preacher online. Maybe you have a preference for another preacher. That's fine. I have my preferences too. But you know what? This is where I'm at. This is where you are. This is what we have available to us to do something. The question is, are we going to do something with it? Let's go ahead and pray. Dear Lord, again, thank you for the opportunity that we have, Lord, to serve you here in this church. And Lord, I pray that you'd help us to be a people that are zealous of good works. And Lord, that you would help us to take advantage of what's been offered us here. We ask these things in Christ's name, Amen. Alright, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we go. Let's open up our hymnals. Song number 379. Song number 376. Bring in the sheets. Song number 379. Always cease to find it. So we can't look through. So we can't look through it. Waiting for the harvest and the time of evening. We shall come rejoicing. Bringing in the sheep. Bringing in the sheep. Bringing in the sheep. We shall come rejoicing. Bringing in the sheep. Bringing in the sheep. Bringing in the sheep. We shall come rejoicing. Bringing in the sheep. Slowly in the sunshine. Slowly in the shadows. We may gather clouds. We'll forget to cheer the breeze. By and by the harvest and the labor ending. We shall come rejoicing. Bringing in the sheep. Bringing in the sheep. Bringing in the sheep. We shall come rejoicing. Bringing in the sheep. Bringing in the sheep. Bringing in the sheep. We shall come rejoicing. Bringing in the sheep. Rolling through with me. Strolling for the last two. All the lost has made us cheer about the breeze. Where our babies go. Where illegal widows follow. We shall come rejoicing. Bringing in the sheep. Bringing in the sheep. Bringing in the sheep. We shall come rejoicing. Bringing in the sheep. Bringing in the sheep. Bringing in the sheep. We shall come rejoicing. Bringing in the sheep. We shall come rejoicing. Thanks for watching!