(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

all right so in 2nd Kings chapter number 13 we're actually gonna keep your finger here we're gonna read a little bit from 2nd Kings chapter 10 we're gonna see a promise made from to Jehu because what we see in chapter 13 here is a couple of Jehu's children and we kind of see the same story just being repeated over and over again with his children now I'm a pretty big fan of Jehu I like the zeal that Jehu had I like when he said you know come see my zeal for the Lord and he drove furiously and he really got a lot of stuff done now he's not the the biggest hero in the Bible because he still decided not to follow God with all of his heart you know he did do some good works and God blessed him for it and if we're in if you're in 2nd Kings chapter 10 look at verse number 29 well to see really quickly here it says how be it from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin Jehu departed not from after them to wit the golden calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan and the Lord said unto Jehu because thou has done well and executing that which is right in mine eyes and has done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel but Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam which made Israel to sin this is an important point God it's it's referenced here in chapter 10 go back if you would to chapter 14 it's referenced there twice just in a couple verses how he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat now he did a lot of great things and I'm not going to repreech 2nd Kings chapter 10 but in chapter 10 we saw that he you know drove bail out of Israel he got rid of all the bail worshippers and the prophets of bail and kind of cleaned house in that regard he got rid of the Satan worship and the false gods and the false idols but he still had his own idols set up within you know I'll call Christianity right within Judaism whatever whatever you want to call the the religion of serving the Lord at that time he he still had Jeroboam sins of the of the two golden eyes you know the golden calves the idols that were set up and he didn't depart from those he still was holding on to it you know a remnant of his Catholicism or whatever you have that that he just he couldn't get out of and he didn't have the desire he said he took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart he did a lot of great things for God no doubt about that and God blessed him for that too that's why he said hey you're gonna have four generations now on the throne but because Jehu did not just seek God with all of his heart and did not was not interested in walking in all the laws of the Lord with all of his heart we see what happened to his children did they sit on the throne for four generations yes they did but what do you really have to speak for when you look at the lives of his four children his four descendants that ended up sitting on the throne what we see is a repeat of what was said about Jehu look at chapter 14 here verse number because we're gonna see a two of Jehu's or yeah Jehu's children we have Jehoahaz which the exact same phrase is said of him he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and then Jehoash he did that which was evil and did not you know depart from the sins of Jeroboam which caused Israel to sin and then he had another descendant Jeroboam same exact story you see the same words referenced about his children just all four of them it's not a coincidence it's not a coincidence that he didn't we know he was willing to do the other work and God blessed him for it of getting the you know the other wickedness out of Israel but he still hit a clung tight to the idolatry that that he could not he could not get rid of he could not just follow all the laws of the Lord and as a result his children end up the same way look at verse number 23 here in 2nd Kings 14 that was in the 15th year of Amaziah the son of Jehoash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Jehoash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria and reigned forty and one years and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin now I pardon me because that was chapter 14 and that's Jeroboam he's the third descendant I added that my notes in chapter 13 the other two descendants I didn't make note of these but it says verse 1 in the three and 20th year of Jehoash the son of Asaiah king of Judah Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria and reigned 17 years and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which made Israel to sin he departed not therefrom that was his first descendant that was his first son that he did he's now he did some good things too and he fought some good battles but overall when the Bible is talking about his reign he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord and he still followed after the the the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and then his son in verse number 10 says in the 30 and 7th year of Jehoash king of Judah began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz to reign over Israel in Samaria and reign 16 years and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin but he walked therein the same phrase we already read 2nd Kings 14 verses 23 and 24 about the third descendant and then in chapter 15 verse number 8 Zechariah is the last descendant he's the fourth this heir of Jehu which was promised to be on the throne verse number 8 the Bible reads in the 30 and 8th year of Azariah king of Judah did Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reign over Israel in Samaria six months and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord as his father's had done he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel the sin the same phrases are being used to describe every single one of those and it's not by accident now look it's not an excuse for any one of these men to say oh that's how I was brought up but at the same token as a parent as a man someone who's gonna have descendants and children the way that you live your life and the beliefs that you follow is gonna have a big impact on your children and we need to make sure that we are doing the best we can for our children so we aren't just raising generation after generation of people who just don't want to get rid of their idols see I think if Jehu would have would have gone all the way in for God and just I mean he had this great zeal but if he could have added maybe a little bit more knowledge to that deal or been more willing to just get get the rest of that junk don't be clinging on any of your idolatry just get rid of it all and completely sell out for God his children would have turned out different I firmly believe that just from from the way that these are these these these phrases are brought up I mean identically and ultimately having his children being on the throne for four generations what does that accomplish if they're still into idolatry and if they're still doing evil in the sight of the Lord it really doesn't matter that much verse number 12 then in chapter 15 says this was the word of the Lord which he spake unto Jehu saying thy son shall sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation and so it came to pass of course God always keeps his promises so when God promised that hey you're gonna have four generations after you on the throne of Israel I mean at the time he's probably thinking hey that's great praise God you know we're gonna have a strong line I'm gonna have you know my sons are gonna do a great thing and and that's not the way it turned out because it started off with Jehu not being willing to to get rid of that idolatry and and really seek after you know it wasn't just that doubt it was just you know ultimately what it is is his heart not wanting to fully follow after the Lord and that's what's reference it says that Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart he was kind of a half in half out type of a Christian type of a believer I and that's what I think when I when I read this story what jumps out to me is something that's kind of representative of Jehu and his descendants is that of lukewarm Christianity that yeah they may be saved right they may be believers but they're unwilling to give up their worldliness their own idols whatever it is that they like to have to serve and and and they kind of want the best of both worlds so to speak as opposed to just going all in and saying you know what I'm not gonna love the things of this world because everything all that is in this world the lust of the flesh lust the eyes of the pride of life is not of the is not of the father but is of the world and that any man that loveth the world the love of the father is not in him and this is the attitude that we need to have towards this world and not try to be mixing and having it both ways so to speak and it's and it's just gonna end up ultimately in disaster I mean as children as you read and we'll see this in 2nd Kings 14 and 15 it's almost like they get worse and worse there's there's in the sense that there's less and less good being said about these kings we have two of them just in chapter 13 where we're at tonight where their lives are covered and that's it and they are not even recorded in the Chronicles like this is this is all we have of Jesus descendants like these two kings chapter 13 that's it there's no supporting scriptures to find out like more about them in God's Word so let's go back to chapter 13 because they're going to segue off of that point of them kind of representing this lukewarm type of Christianity and with another point that's a parenthetical statement here in chapter 13 look at verse number 3 we'll keep reading here the Bible says in the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel need delivered them into the hand of his ale king of Syria and into the hand of Ben hadad the son of his ale all their days so God's angry why is God angry because the king still doing evil and not getting rid of the idolatry that's why because that's what you just mentioned verses 1 & 2 verse 4 and Jehoah has besought the Lord and the Lord hearkened unto him for he saw the oppression of Israel because the king of Syria oppressed him now before I even go any further I do think that these men probably were saved they're probably believers I mean we see here that I mean I'm pretty confident Jehu was you know he said come see my zeal for the Lord right he seemed to be relying on God he seemed to know the scripture he seemed to to wanting to be fulfilled God's Word even though he didn't fully seek it with all of his heart there's nothing that would indicate to me that Jehu wasn't a believer his son here now yeah he did he's kind of mixed up the same way his dad was but when things get really bad he's still turning to God right that's what it says Jehu has besought the Lord and Lord hearkened unto him for he saw the oppression of Israel because the king of Syria oppressed them so because of him not really fully following the Lord they're being oppressed but then when he turns to God God's like yeah you you are being oppressed and I'm gonna relieve that oppression and send a deliverer some you know someone to help you out here so you're not being oppressed anymore because they turn to him because they humbled themselves and turn to God and say God please help us because that's what God is looking for look at verse number five this is the parenthetical statement the Bible says and the Lord gave Israel a Savior so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents as before time nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam who made Israel sin but walked therein and there remained the grove also in Samaria you're gonna find in this chapter in the next couple chapters that come this is a sticking point this is something I believe I get that's getting God very angry is that they're still not getting rid of the groves we're not getting rid of the high places are not getting rid of the idolatry you need to just completely do away with what Jeroboam had done but we see here also this this type of an attitude this happens all the time this is a type of a salvation where we see people who the Lord gives them a Savior and did God save Israel from from Hazele in the Syrians sure he did because he saw they were being oppressed and they turned to God and what did God do he saved him he brought up he raised up a Savior did that automatically then just move the hearts of everybody so that now they were just fully following the Lord with all their heart nope should they have absolutely I mean wouldn't you doesn't it sound kind of ridiculous to not be following the God and his laws with all of their hearts after he just saved them what isn't that what you would expect well if he really saved them then they would be more gracious no they should be more gracious they obviously weren't nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam so just because they weren't gracious enough they weren't diligent enough they weren't zealous enough to really follow God to really go after his commandments doesn't mean they didn't get saved we see this happen all the time receiving Jesus Christ as your Savior spiritually is easy easy to call upon the name of the Lord and get saved requires zero work because I'll Asians of grace and not of works and just as in the case here Israel as a nation was brought really low because they were being oppressed and they were brought so low and being hammered so hard that they just turned to God because they realized at that point they're powerless and this is the way that self that spiritual salvation works in many people's lives as well unfortunately in order for people to be humble enough to admit that I'm not good enough to go to heaven that I can't earn it on my own there's no amount of good deeds that I can do that's gonna make me worthy of being in the presence of the Lord to get to that state unfortunately some people need to be brought really really really low in their life to realize I need someone to save me I need a Savior but thank God that God does bring people low enough to get saved because I'd rather be brought that low in my life and receive salvation then never be brought low and not be saved but this happens every day people get brought down really low in their life and realize that hey I need a Savior and they turn to God and God saves them God has already given us a Savior he's already there we just need to accept it and once we do they get saved they receive eternal life praise the Lord but you know what for many of those people that even get brought low you would think you've been brought so low and it's a result of your sins it's a result of you living a wicked life and God has gotten you now to this place and you're humble and you realize you need a Savior and you realize what he's done for you and how much God loves you you would think that those people from that point on when they receive that free gift and they're thankful for it that they would turn their whole life around and devote their entire existence to serving the God that saved them and loved them you think that that would happen and you know what that should happen but it doesn't in many many cases in many situations but that doesn't make these people unsaved it doesn't mean they didn't receive that Savior it's just like the the lepers the ten lepers that came to Jesus and he healed them and only one of them turned around and was thankful for it just one you should think that they'd all be thankful that they'd all return oh and be like oh wow thank you you the great power of God you've healed us I'm gonna follow you now because obviously you're of God is that what happened nope were they still healed though yep and this is the this is this is the the nonsense it's interesting because I've been receiving a lot of a lot of comments lately on the the potter's house sermon that I preached I don't even remember I mean it's probably been about a year ago I don't know exactly when I preached that it's been a while though it's funny how the YouTube videos do that though somehow they get picked up somewhere another and then it's like you start getting all these views and comments and stuff but I've been getting these comments on the potter's house stuff and it's just the same old stuff and because they preach a false gospel which is exactly I think what the sermon that I preached was titled like the potter's house perverts the gospel of Jesus Christ and they're doing work for Satan because they're not preaching salvation by grace through faith alone because they take the mentality of well if you're really saved then you would depart from your sins and they take the attitude of well you need to keep obeying God and getting all this sin out of your life or else you're no longer saved and that's a false gospel just because you see someone that hasn't departed from their sins doesn't mean that they weren't already saved that they didn't receive a Savior but there's gonna be a lot more to come on that coming soon I don't want to spend too much time on that tonight let's keep reading in 2nd Kings chapter 13 it's just Jehu and his descendants right I believe are kind of representative of this this lamestream Christianity where they're getting some things done and Jehu got some things done but then like his followers and his descendants I think they're just getting more and more lame and watered down and actually is just doing more wickedness because Jehu wasn't actually actively like he wasn't regarded as he did evil in the eyes of the Lord right he did good in the eyes of the Lord and that's how his life was was characterized in chapter 10 but he didn't fully do all that he could have done he could have done he left a lot lacking but then when it comes to his descendants right away they're they're being characterized as they did evil in the sight of the Lord not like their father but you have one guy who's actually doing did a good work but still kind of lame in the end and didn't go all the way in now his children are actually doing evil and continuing in the same sins of their father but let's keep reading verse number 7 chapter 13 neither did he leave of the people to Jehoahaz but fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen for the king of Syria had destroyed them and it made them like the dust by threshing so what that's saying though that that God gave them a Savior and God delivered them but he didn't leave them with much they still were decimated they still you know militarily their strength was diminished really small and God was keeping them trying to keep them humble but he did deliver them now verse number eight says now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz and all that he did and his might are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel and Jehoahaz slept with his father's and they buried him in Samaria and Joash his son reigned in his stead in the 30 and 7th year of Joash king of Judah began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz to reign over Israel in Samaria and reign 16 years now I know I brought this up in the past but just I want you to keep this in your mind as you're reading your Bibles especially in this section of the Kings you have Joram you have Jehoram same name you have Joash you have Jehoash same name so don't let that throw you off but just be aware of it but then also be aware that there are other kings oftentimes with the same name and you'll have Joram Jehoram and they're both being used for both of the kings of Judah and Israel while they're reigning at the same time so just try to be very careful when you're reading the scripture and also always be paying attention to what's going on and don't just speed read to just check off that I've done my reading for the day when you're reading God's Word because you will you it can actually be dangerous and can confuse you and cause you just to have wrong thoughts and ideas about what the Bible saying because in most places it's pretty you know chronological it's pretty straightforward there's many stories where you're not going to get necessarily mixed up on things but in here it's a lot easier to do and specifically in this chapter what you're going to see is see when God wants to cover certain topics and kind of make a point a certain chronology will be used to talk about that topic which then you know you could you could jump forward and then as you're reading go back in time again to provide more details or another story or more insight into something that's already been covered so we see that happen actually in this chapter it goes over the life of the first two descendants of Jehu Jehoahaz and Joash and then it goes back after and says here well let's keep reading here because this is where we're at I think we're left off around verse number 10 in the 30 and 7th year of Joash king of Judah began Jehoash the son of Jehoaz the reign over Israel and Samaria and reign sixteen years and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin but he walked therein and the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did in his might wherewith he fought against Amaziah king of Judah are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel and Joash slept with his fathers and Jeroboam sat upon his throne and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel so this makes sense because the Bible is giving you just just really quickly these first two descendants of Jehu and just the length of the rain they did evil and I think it's to point out and kind of highlight that they did evil and they followed after the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat he did evil followed after the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat and to get that all real quickly in context here and then just say and he died and just kind of pointing out that there's really not a whole lot to say about these people's lives now we are gonna see where Amaziah goes to fight against Joash in Second Chronicles that that is covered I mean we're not going to go into that but that is covered but it's it's the point being made as to why he goes all the way through to Joash's death and then talks about Jeroboam being next but it doesn't then continue on telling us anything about Jeroboam but then goes back to Joash's life as we continue on in this chapter so the reason why I'm even pointing out is just to say pay attention because if you're just going really quickly you could be just thinking like okay Joash is dead now where we at you know you'll find that it's not even just and this is kind of a real minor occurrence of this but when you read in Judges and you read in other places in the Bible there's actually it's not all chronological you'll find that going back pretty far and being at different points in history you really got to be paying attention to that so just keep that in mind I know sometimes we get to a point to where I'm just trying to make sure that I'm doing my daily activities for God you know whether it be praying and reading and things that that you've decided that you want to make sure you're doing to maintain your spiritual level and even to grow but don't let it become this this burden where I just got to get through it where you're just checking off the box especially when it comes to you know when it comes to your praying you should be praying for people earnestly and honestly and thinking about them and not just chanting through some some words that you have to just repeat over and over again to make sure okay I prayed to God today and it's the same thing with your Bible reading that you're reading to receive and to hear from God not to just have your eyes glaze over the words and say I read my chapter today or whatever it's better for you and more important to read less with understanding than to read more without getting anything from it and that's pretty simple concept but just try to keep that in mind you know a lot of people get get caught up in these goals which I love goals and goals are great so please don't misinterpret what I'm saying but of wanting to say I've read through the Bible four times cover to cover this year but then they're their comprehension really suffers because they're not they're just concerned of how fast can I get through these chapters don't fall into that trap you don't have to be hyper spiritual to say I've read the Bible this many times because someone if that's all you're thinking about someone that's read the Bible half as many times as you could know way more because they actually spent the time to understand what they're you know think about and be concerned about what they're reading let it sink in pay attention to the details and don't skip over them let's keep reading here verse number 14 we're gonna see it this this cool little it's almost a parenthetical story here actually no that's a little bit later but this is we're going back to Elisha now Elisha's at the end of his life verse number 14 says now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness where have he died and Joash the king of Israel came down unto him and again we see Joash was the one he's he's seeking the man of God he's not going to bail he's actually going to the right person here and it is another reason why I think if you use the sentence are probably safe right meter dirt dirt dirt at the end of the day they are going to the Lord they are seeking out God but overall their lives are characterized by doing evil so here we have Joash going to Elisha says now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness where he died and Joash the king of Israel came down unto him and wept over his face and said oh my father my father the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof now this phrase was used if you remember with Elisha and Elijah when Elijah was carried to heaven by the chariot and and in that whirlwind going up in the heaven and basically what he's saying you know by this phrase is because Elisha is about to die you know he said my a lot you know the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof like you're about to be taken from me and be taken to heaven basically is what that what he's saying there verse number 15 and Elisha said unto him take bow and arrows and he took unto him bow and arrows and he said to the king of Israel put thine hand upon the bow and he put his hand upon it and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands and he said open the window eastward and he opened it then Elisha said shoot and he shot and he said the arrow of the Lord's deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria for thou shalt smite the Syrians and a feck till thou have consumed them now Elisha here is clearly having him do what he's telling him to do as it's representing a blessing from God right he's telling him hey shoot you know first he says take the bow take the bow and arrows right and when he grabs them then Elisha is putting his hands over the hands of Joash he's because he's giving him a blessing and then he's like okay open up the window take the bow you know shoot shoot out the window so he listens everything he says he does it and then he explains okay now basically just as you've shot that arrow he says the arrow of the Lord's deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria because they've been oppressed by Syria by Hazeel by Ben Hadad that they've been receiving this oppression from Syria he's saying you know what God's gonna deliver you Lord's gonna deliver you thou shalt smite the Syrians and a feck till thou have consumed them so that's great news you know and obviously this is why Joash is even coming to Elisha he's coming in and and coming to the man of God and trying to turn to God and seeking out that Savior and seeking out help so Elisha blesses I mean he says okay you did all these things I just just like I told you to do and you did these things and God's gonna bless you now and what's also if you remember when Elisha himself right before Elijah was going to be taken from him and he was going to die you know he'd be taken to heaven it's a very similar situation because Elisha asked Elijah for that double portion right like he's going to him it's kind of like this last request before he dies well that's what Joash is doing here with like sort of like his last request before Elisha dies and and and Elisha is imparting something a blessing to Joash just as Elijah imparted a blessing to Elisha now obviously Elisha got a much better blessing because he was actually you know a godly man and someone who was looking to serve the Lord but uh nonetheless let's keep reading verse number 18 and he said take the arrows and he took them he said unto the king of Israel smite upon the ground and he smote thrice and stayed and the man of God was wroth with him and said thou shouldest have smitten five or six times then heads thou smitten Syria till thou has consumed it whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice and I remember when I used to read this I would wonder why did Elisha get wroth wroth means like having wrath which is which is pretty angry right he got really angry with the king when he took the arrow because he said take the arrows and hit him on the ground so he took the arrows and he went and stopped and as I read this story I remember thinking like well why would he be angry about that I mean he didn't tell him how many times it with the arrows right like you tell him hit the arrows he hit the arrows or you know what's the big deal well first of all you know because I know I was thinking like how could he know that that was going to represent how many times you're gonna you're gonna defeat the Syrians well here's how because he already went to him and the whole point of him going to Elisha was like for a blessing and he's already been acting out these various things that are representative of the blessings that he's just been receiving he just had to open up the window and shoot the arrow and then he's saying that arrow that you just shot is the deliverance of the Lord you know I mean so what do you got angry about is again I think representative of his being this lamestream Christian where you know you're told to do something and you're just looking to do maybe the minimum like okay I hit it on the ground no when you're told to do something he said just do it you know do it with fur if you're looking for that blessing give it all you have you know you should have smelt in it five six that you know I mean if you would have just been like all right you want me to hit these arrows so then you would have defeated the Syrians completely and what this is demonstrating is his lack of heart it's a lack of heart that do you had to follow the Lord completely it's the lack of heart that his descendants had that Joash had here that yes he didn't like being oppressed but who would yes he turned to the Lord which is the right answer but his heart really wasn't in it he just wanted to be delivered and that's it he just wanted to hear him say okay I'll save you but didn't really want to give anything back he didn't really want to give and and and really be zealous to serve God and to do what's right he went to Elisha knowing well that he was a prophet and especially to you I remember this you know we read these stories and it's a little bit more foreign for us on how they behave and how the prophets behave and how you know like how there's so much symbolism and the things that they do but look at what Ezekiel did you know look at what God had so many prophets do look at what he had Hosea do he had a prophet you know marry a woman of whoredoms and you know and and and name him certain names and and it's all representative he had Ezekiel you know he was like laying down the ground naked and he had to like eat cows dung and like do all kinds of things that we I mean that's really foreign to us but for the way that God was using his prophets especially the Old Testament that wasn't that foreign that they would they would do things that were a little bit different but they were very representative so what I'm saying is that you know when when Joash went to him he would have had a different understanding of how the Prophet works of how Elisha kind of dealt with things and we do and he already was was receiving that with the whole arrow thing so what I think we could totally take away from this though is is not to do things half-heartedly don't try to just do the minimum don't try don't just you know if God wants you to do something well how much do I really have to do that and that's all I'm gonna do because will it work to some degree it will you know I mean it's not like you know if you do any work for the Lord it's gonna return void or vain and what happened here was yeah the three times that he hit the arrows on the ground he defeated Syria three times in three battles and they were important battles and and and that was you know that that was a good thing of course so so good came out of it for sure but he's saying you should have just given it more you should have just given it all that you had because then you would have had great victory then you would have had great blessings then you would have had great rewards Elizabeth turn around and face forward even when God is blessing you and fighting your battles for you you still have to give it all that you have because God was the one that was saving him right and we see with King David and many other situations where they're completely relying on the Lord to fight their battles for him they still go out and will give it all that they have another example that when I was studying for this for the sermon tonight made me think of a story in Joshua seven when they just defeated Jericho turn if you would there if you were to Joshua seven real quickly because one of the problems is it's too easy to get this attitude of coasting in our Christian life and and not giving it our all right you still may be doing good things still still doing those good works you smoke the arrows a few times and you and you'll be blessed for that because you know God will bless you you know the work that you do whatever work you do you're gonna bless you for that but it's it's it's not comparable to just giving it everything right when you when you really give it all God really multiplies the the blessings that you receive for that and we see here so what happened in Joshua was that they had this great victory that God wrought for them right remember they compass the the city seven times you know for seven days and then on the seventh day they compass the city seven times and then the walls came Creole they made the shout they sounded the trumpets the walls just came crumbling down miraculously this great stronghold this great strong city of Jericho who could penetrate Jericho well God just made the walls crumble to the ground and the children of Israel obedient and then they went in and they finished the battle and they did what they were supposed to do you know and then the next battle was against AI the next city that they were going to fight and look at what they said look at verse number two in Joshua 7 buses in Joshua sent men from Jericho to AI which is beside Beth Avon on the east side of Bethel and spake unto them saying go up and view the country and the men went up and viewed AI and they returned to Joshua and said unto him let not all the people go up but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite AI and make not all the people to labor thither for they are but few so there went up thither of the people about 3,000 men and they fled before the men of AI and the men of AI smote of them about thirty and six men for they chased them from before the gates even unto Shevarim and smote them in the going down wherefore the hearts of the people melt and became as water now look I know that the main cause for their defeat here is because Achan took of the accursed thing when they defeated Jericho which God told them they're not to take anything not to touch the accursed thing it's all going to be destroyed and it's all the Lord's because that was our first battle the first victory and the first goes unto God and that's the way that God said he wanted to be done Achan didn't do that as a result God's not with them and these men of AI now are defeating them but I don't think that that's the only thing going on there now that is the primary reason I'm not going to say it's not because the scripture says so but we see here is this attitude from them saying well we just got this great victory don't make everybody work don't make everybody go out and labor you know they're just a few people let's just send a few thousand people down there and they start getting this arrogant attitude well let's let's not make people actually do the work let's just send out a few people to do the work let's let everyone else just relax and sit here and and not do anything when they all ought to been to the work God's called all of us to do work don't just rely on well we've got a couple people doing the work that's good enough for me I'm just gonna coast on the coattails of the blessing that's gonna come by the work that these people are doing and I don't have to do anything it's a it's a bad attitude to have an actually God can choose not to bless because everyone's not you know because because there's not this willingness and the spirit to to get put everyone to the work let's go back if you would to 2nd Kings chapter 13 2nd Kings chapter 13 try to stay on fire retain that that zeal that debt you know like G who had to just go out and serve God and try to give it everything that you have let's keep reading here in verse number 20 in a lie should died and they buried him in the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year and it came to pass as they were burying a man that behold they spied a band of men and they cast the man in the sepulcher of Elisha and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha he revived and stood up on his feet now this is a really cool little story here because it's kind of just thrown in here but basically what happens that the Moabites are invading Israel and as there's just this group of guys that you know someone had died maybe in battle maybe not it's not clear but they're going to bury this guy and then they see the Moabites are right there so they have to like hurry up and get out of there they don't have time to do a procession they don't have time to even dig this guy his own grave they're like oh there they are we need to get out of here so they're like hey here's here's a tomb right here let's let's just throw them in here and get out of here so they lower them down and happen to be Elisha's sepulcher Elisha's Elisha's grave and they lower them down into there and when the guy hits Elisha's bones he comes back to life the guy they are trying to bury then comes back to life and that and that's a really it's kind of a weird story it's like I said it's almost just like thrown in here now what I've heard before I haven't gone through and and verified this on my own you remember when Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah's spirit to be upon him I've heard it said and you might want to check this out for yourself but I've heard it said that Elisha did twice as many miracles that are recorded in Scripture than Elijah did so Elijah did a lot of things right you remember you helped the widow woman and the crew you know the oil didn't fail and the meal didn't fail you know and all the various miracles that occurred through Elijah well I was told that Elisha had done twice as much and up to this point he had done one less than twice as much and then when when this happened this is like the the last one that makes it exactly twice as many miracles being done I think that's kind of cool it sounds great but I can't say for sure that that's that that's a fact but it is interesting enough to kind of look up and check out I didn't have enough time to go back and verify all of that and count the miracles but if you're so inclined let me know what you find out but continuing on here so we have we have that little story where the guy just revived by just by touching the the bones of Elisha the man of God verse number 22 but Hazeel king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz and the Lord was gracious unto them and had compassion on them and had respect unto them because of his covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and would not destroy them neither cast he them from his presence as yet so Hazeel king of Syria died and Ben Hadad his son reign in his stead and Jehoash the son of Jehoaz took again out of the hand of Ben Hadad the son of his ale the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war three times did Joash beat him and recovered the cities of Israel so that's the the the fulfillment of the prophecy from Elisha when he was dying when he smoked the arrows three times on the ground well now he was able to recover these three cities as opposed to completely eliminating Syria for being a problem from them had he you know hit those arrows multiple times and really put his heart into it and really cared about it enough to go forward no he just but he did recover these three cities so still it's a good thing he did a small work he has small gesture and and he received a small blessing for it but the last thing I just want to bring up about this whole about everything we're reading here is this theme that kind of comes up regularly of the impact that one individual can have for generations to come and I preach an entire sermon on this how you know you need to remember that you individually can have a great impact on this world on this area on many people to come after you and don't get caught up in a mindset that of this who am I I can't do anything in one sense that's true but if you are willing to devote your life to serving God and just and just saying here am I Lord send me God can use you to do many great things and that's what these men did that the repercussions of their actions and their faith and what they did with that faith has has gone forward to many many generations it brings up here the reason why God's not destroying Israel even though they're still doing wickedly even though they're still got idolatry and everything else going wrong he says you know what because of the Covenant I made with Abraham Isaac and Jacob all three of those men are brought up so many times throughout the Bible as being men of God that had a lot of faith that acted on that faith and as a result and David and even Jehu the the actions that they did carried forward for many generations but then we also see the actions of people who do wickedly carrying forward like Jeroboam the son of Nebat for many generations I mean if people don't have that to follow they'd have to come up with it on their own you know what I mean and that's a lot harder to do it's easier for people to follow along in the path of sin than to trail blaze their own path of sin Jeroboam trailblazed when he set up those idols he actually did you know really acted out to create those idols everyone else along the way just didn't remove them they just kind of followed along that path whereas Jehu probably wouldn't have been going and setting up golden calves if they didn't already exist yet he didn't get rid of them and those actions good and bad can continue forward for a real long time keep that in mind and think about that for the good don't think that you know hey what can I do what can I really accomplish you can accomplish a lot God can choose to use anybody that's willing to give of themselves to have many great things be done even after you're gone from here to continue forward but it takes work it you can't be the lame Christian that's only going to smite the arrows three times you got to be willing to give it all if you if you want to have those great results if you want little results you could put in a little if you want great results put in a lot let's borrow I just have a word of prayer dear Lord we thank you so much for all these great stories that we get to read from your word I love these these books and reading about the various kings and the trials and tribulations and the victories that that you've wrought through various people dear Lord I prayed you please help us to emulate these heroes of the faith and and help us to to model ourselves after their strengths and and to learn from all their weaknesses and their in the areas that they didn't do as well with your Lord help us to make the application our own life God help us to be spiritually minded and and know that we even though we know us individually especially our own strength we're nothing but that if we're willing to give ourselves that you can use anyone you could use us to have many great things done and to bring honor and glory to your name and bring a blessing upon generations to come dear Lord I prayed you please help us to stay fervent in our desire to serve you and that we would you know just be completely sold out and in our service to you in Jesus name we pray amen