Elisha Series

If you get your Bibles, we've been reading 2 Kings, Chapter 3, which is a fantastic story. Pete is going to come now and he's going to preach on this and read the story, so over to Pete. Welcome to everyone. My name is Pete Woodcock. I'm the pastor of the church.

You can see that it's cold here. I've got my coat on, but we're going to go for this. I mean, people talk about history being written from the point of view of the winners, and that's so often true, isn't it? History is for of battles, won, battles lost, full of people that have made the mark and the powerful movers. That's how history is is mostly written.

Rarely is history told from the point of view of the bible preacher, or a prophet, or just an unnamed army officer that actually gets the kings to listen to a prophet or an unnamed musician that calms the prophet down so that he can hear the word of God to be able to give the word of God. Rarely is it told from those point of views. Now I've called this passage and we'll read it as we go through because it's a long reading. I've called this passage a Game of Thrones. Because there's all kinds of Thrones here and it is a Game of Thrones, but it's written to show us who really is on the throne and the other kings are just playing games with Thrones.

This is written from the point of view of Yahway, of God, history, is his story and this passage is going to show us that very, very clearly. He's the 1 who doesn't play games, but he's on the throne. And it's written to show us how utterly involved the yahweh God is with history, even down to a musician or a a servant, as we'll see as we go along. And he is the 1 who rules over nature, over armies, over nations, over water, as we'll see in this story. And he's doing it to build his kingdom.

He is on the throne and he's building his kingdom and that is more important than all the other games of Thrones that are going on. We're going to see that. So let's enter 2 kings, this Game of Thrones, and see history written by God so that we can learn many, many lessons. Too many lessons for me to to say. Let me just give you a quick background.

No pictures yet, but just a quick background to the history. Israel was 1 nation under King Solomon. That was when it was at its biggest. King Solomon is a picture of David's greatest son. And Israel as a land was 1 nation.

After king Solomon died, it split into 2 nations, the north and the south. The north and kingdom called Israel, Israel and sometimes other things, and the southern kingdom called Judah, and sometimes called other things. But right from the start of the northern kingdom, the kingdom of Israel, every king that ruled was ungodly. Every king was wicked. Starting with Geroboam, who led the nations into following false gods, and every king was wicked And there wasn't any more wicked king than Ahab, who ruled with his wife, Jezebel.

They were the epitome of wickedness sort of after Gerabome who was the most wicked. Does that make sense? I hope so. And so God denounced this kingdom. Judgment was on the kingdom, and particularly that was seen in recent days because judgment is on king Ahab and his family and queen Jezebel.

So God had pronounced his judgment on that family in particular, and that's where we start This passage starts with us in the northern kingdom and 1 of Ahab Ahab has died and 1 of Ahab's sons is ruling and Ahab is going to make an alliance with the southern king of of of Judah, and they're going to attack another kingdom called Moab. It's complicated, isn't it? But that's the way it goes. Here's a map to show you. You should be able to see on that the kingdom of Israel right at the top.

And then down underneath that, the kingdom of Judah, and then you'll see the kingdom of Moab. That's that's where we're at. Let me introduce you to some characters. Flip through the next 1. Flip through that.

Here are the characters so that you understand when we go through the story. Very quick the characters. You've got king Jehoram, in other versions, Joram. So it gets a bit muddling, but he's king Jehoram. And he is king of the northern kingdom, king of Israel.

You've got king Jehoshaphat. He is king of the southern kingdom. He is king of Judah. You've got King Mesure. He's king of Moab that they're going to attack.

You've got the King of Eden. He plays a very minor part and we probably won't mention him too much after this. You've got Elijah. Remember he's bald headed prophet? He's fairly stern, and he's gonna point out some issues.

As we'll see. You've got an unnamed officer or servant that's going to turn the whole of history and you've got an unnamed musician who's going to turn the whole of history. That's the characters. They're the cast of this scene. Let me quickly go through the story then.

The story is like this. The king of Israel, there he is, Juhoram, asks the king of of Judah, Juhosaphat, Hey, can we join up? And he says, yes, to attack Moab. And he says, well, we were asked the king of Eden on the way, and we're attacked through Eden. And that's how they do it.

It's like a fish hook. They come around to attack the king of edom. This is what happens in the story. Next picture, please. As they come to attack Moab, they've run out of water.

7 days, they have been on the trot without water. Stupid. You think they'd think about that. They come to a very dry riverbed. They don't know what to do.

The king of the north says, oh, we're gonna die. Yeah. And Johannesophak, the king of the south says, well, isn't there a profit? He finally asked for a profit, and they get hold of Elijah. And Elijah comes into the picture, and he says what's going to happen.

He tells them that God says, dig holes. So they dig a whole load of holes and overnight without a storm, without without any waterfall falling down from the sky, God fills up the holes so that the animals and the army that haven't had a drink for 7 days can drink. Yeah. So they're ready for war. But what happens in the morning is that the king of Moab wakes up in the morning and he sees the sun rising and the sun is on these pools of water.

He knew there was no water and there was no rain. So he sees the pools of water, and because of something that I can't tell you because it would take too much time happened in his past, He says, oh, these 3 kings, they never liked each other very much. They've actually warred against each other because that's what happened to him in the past. And they've spilt each other's blood. So he saw the pools of water as blood.

So he says hooray. In the name of my false God, let's go and take the Israelites and edomites and Judah. And so he goes and attacks, but no. It isn't pools of blood, its pools of water. And the 3 kings of alliance then attack Moab and push him back and back, and he goes running, and they go through town, after town, taking over the towns and the fields until they come to this town.

Which is called here, Kia. There we go. Doesn't matter what it's called. That's a picture of it today. That's what it looks like today.

It's a massive fortified town with whack in great blocks. So the the the king of Mohab retreats to his fortified city, the best in the world, I guess he thinks, and the Israelites and Judaism and edomites start flinging rocks at this at this fortified city. So that infuriates the king of Mohab measure. And he comes out with his sword and 600 swordsmen and says, and he attacks the weakest line, which is the King of Eden. But that fails.

So he retreats back to his walls and he tries now not the sword, but religion. And he prays to his God and he kills in front of everybody his own son, sacrifices him to his God. That's the story. Okay? Right.

Let's focus in a little bit more because I want us to focus in on some of these characters. First of all, the first king Johoram. I've called him a proud sinner. Look at these words. In the eighteenth year of jehoshaphat, King of Judah, Jehoram, the son of Ahab, became king over Israel in Sumaria, and he reigned for 12 years.

He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Though not like his father and mother, for he put away the pillar of Bale, that his father had made. Nevertheless, he flung he clung to the sin of Jarabohim, the son of Nibat. Which he had made Israel to sin. He did not depart from it.

Here enters into this scene then, into this all story that I've given you the whole story of, King Jehoram. Is he good or is he bad? Well, compared to Ahab, he looks pretty good. He really does. To be quite honest, I can imagine if you were living at that time.

You might say of him. Well, look, He's not perfect but he's not ahab. He's better than ahab. It's a bit of reform in him. And he's done some good.

He got rid of this horrible thing that his dad, Ahab and his mother built, this nasty bale pillar thing statue. So he's better than them. And as we see in the story, or we've already seen really, he unites the 2 kingdoms back to when it was in the days of Solomon. Yeah? So it's quite an amazing thing.

And not only does he unite the 2 kingdoms, he goes for Moab because he wants to underpin his economy with this amazing tribute that he wasn't getting. I I really think People at the time would say, okay, he's not a perfect king, but he's going to make Israel great again. That's exactly what he would say. And I guess that's his campaign. I'm going to make Israel like Solomon's Day.

I'm gonna keep the borders extended. I'm gonna underpin my economy from these pagan people outside. I'm going to make Israel great again. Back to the days of Solomon. And I guess people would have said, look, Solomon wasn't perfect.

Remember all the wives he had. And all the trade agreements he had. And maybe Jehovah will reverse the judgment of God upon us, and make Israel great again. But that isn't how God sees things. See, on the surface, that looks like that.

But look at verse 3, this is how God sees it. Nevertheless, he, that's king Jehovah, clung to the sin of Jehovah, jeroboam, the son of Nibat. And he made Israel to sin and did not part from it. He clung to sin. And that word clung means deeply, utterly involved with it, attached to himself.

Like a leech sucks on to you to get its energy from the blood that it's sucking from. He clung on, he hung on, whatever the consequences, whatever happens in his life, Whatever the consequences of that sin, he didn't really mind. He clung onto it. He put away certain idols of his father, but he clung on. Do you see?

And God sees the clinging. He's a cling on. He clung on. Yeah? So his sense of sinfulness only went so far on the outward.

So that people would think that he's a reformer, spiritually. But actually in his heart, he clung on. And notice God notices Noticeise God notices verse 2. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He clung on to the sin of Geroboam.

God notices what's going on in history, not a faraway God, and he notices the heart of the kings. So that's the first king. Second king is measure. It should go onto measure. There's measure.

He were looking king. And he's a picture of false religion. You see it throughout this whole thing. So verses 4 and 5. Now measure King of Moab was a sheep reader, and he had to deliver to the king of Israel, a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams.

But when Ahab died, the king of Mohab rebelled against the king of Israel. Do you see what Jehovah wants to do is to restore that tribute to to to underpin his economy. A hundred thousand lambs. Every year is extraordinary amount and a hundred thousand, you know, wool of rams. So that would underpin the economy of Israel.

So do you see that Jehovah is wanting to make the the false people, the people from beyond his borders, to pay. Yeah? To pay. To underpin the economy, make Israel great again. Let's put the Moab bytes in their in their place.

You see? Do you see this? But measure was a worshiper of of a force religion, a horrible religion. And he would do anything not to be under the rule of Yahweh, God, even to the point of sacrificing his own son. And to rely on someone who treats his own people like that, to underpin your economy doesn't sound good news to me, certainly doesn't sound godly.

So let's go on to the third king. Jehoshaphat. Now Jehoshaphat is a believer. He does believe and love the Lord, but I would call him an impulsive believer. He love the lord, but it's in fits and starts.

He's a he's a baying of the lord. If you read his more detailed story in 2 chronicles, which you can in to Chronicles chapter 7 17 to 20, you'll see that he follows the lord, but he's far too easily influenced and tossed about and swayed about by worldly associations and alliances and politics and and the kingdom of this earth. He's really into that stuff. And sometimes he submits to the word of God and seeks the word of God and sometimes he doesn't the word of God. He just goes on his own wisdom or political alliances or the intrigue of of international affairs.

So he's definitely a believer, but he's a failing believer. He's certainly strong in personality and he's impetuous. He goes for stuff. Mean, I think you'd be quite a nice bloke to be around, a quite exciting king. But he's often weak in the spirit.

Previously, he had joined up with King Ahab, and that had all gone wrong. And a prophet said to him this, you'll see these words in 2 chronicles 19. Should you help This is what a prophet says to him. Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord. Because of this, the wrath of the Lord is on you, there is however some good in you, for you have rid the land of Asherah Poles and have set your heart on seeking God.

Do you see that? He loves the Lord, he follows the Lord, and yet he's impetuous and he's into intrigue and he he goes into alliances like with Ahab. Paul says this if you go to the new testament about this sort of believer. Look at it. I think it's up there, is it?

2 Corinthians, chapter 6, next slide. No. Yes. No. Okay.

I didn't put it up. Go back to the other 1 then. Paul says this. Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?

Or what fellowship can light and darkness have? Listen to this. He says this. What accord has Christ and belial, satan, evil, false gods, idols. Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?

What agreement has the temple of God with idols? You see that? And this is Jehovah. He's not listening to that. He's going for alliances.

And so Even after the warning of 2 chronicles 19, look at verse 6 and 7 of 2 kings 3. Even after the warning, look, it says, so King Jahoram marched out of Samaria at the time and mustered all Israel. And he went and sent word to Jehovah King of Judah, the king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to battle against Moab. Listen to what Jehovah says.

He said, I will go. He doesn't seek the Lord. He doesn't inquire of the profit. I will go and then look, he's totally committed to it. I will go.

I am as you are. My people are your people. My horses is your horses. You know? I'm into this.

Thanks for asking. He never seeks the Lord. He never weighs things up spiritually. He never thinks through the possible outcomes of an ungodly lion alliance. He doesn't seek advice.

He doesn't even remember the warning of last time he did this. He's that sort of believer. And then Jehovah is so totally into the battle look at verse 8. He said, by which way shall we march? Jehoram answered by the way of the wilderness of Eden.

So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Eden. So they're totally into it. Where are we going? How are we gonna do this? Let's go.

No thought, no real preparation, no seeking the Lord, just going for this ungodly alliance. However, It goes completely wrong. There is no water after 7 days. They're in the desert. It's so bad that the king of the north Johoram says this in verse 10.

I'll just go to verse 10 at the bottom there. Then the King of Israel said alas, We have got no water. The Lord has called these 3 kings to give them into the hands of Moab. You see that? How interesting?

We're gonna die, and the Lord God has sorted all this out And in his providences, brought us together to a desert so that we die. I mean, he's a flipping hangdog bloke, isn't he? All the enthusiasm, unprepared, now, it's all gone wrong. And it's it's sort of almost blaming God, isn't it? Oh, there is God.

It sounds Godly. He understands that he's under the judgment of God. He would know the prophecies of his whole family that he's under the judgement. I go, now it's time to die, isn't it? Yeah?

But notice, I just want you to notice there's no repentance in this man. There's no real pleading to God or no repentance. He's like those people that say, oh, yeah. Well, I'm a sinner. Always the way I was brought up.

And if you knew how I was brought up, then oh, yeah, the Lord will yes. I'm too bad to be forgiven, and they never really wanna hear about how God could forgive them. Do you know those people? There was there was 1 person right on my mind this very weak who exactly fits this. It wasn't until I was thinking about him until that I understood Jehovah.

Oh, yeah. You know, they always talk about, oh, I'm so sinful. God's judging me and and it's taught, you know, but it's almost blaming God. There's no Lord. You're right.

I I do need to be judged, but I'm sorry, and is there any way you could change my heart? No repentance. So jehoshaphat, he's very different. Look at verses 11 and 12. And jehoshaphat said, is there no profit of the Lord here?

Through whom we can inquire of the Lord. Then 1 of the king's a king of Israel's servants or an army officer answered Elijah, son of SAFat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah. And Johannesophat said the word of the Lord is with him, So the king of Israel and Jehovah and the king of Eden went down to him. So Jehovah is like so many of us Christians. We jump into life without seeking the Lord, We go and do reckless things in our alliances without seeking the Lord, and then it all goes wrong and he seeks God at the point of trouble.

And God in his kindness says, okay. Isn't that amazing? How gracious God is? So we move on to Elijah. Are you still with me?

Alright. I knew this was a big 1. Okay. So we move on to Elijah, the prophet of God. So we've just read versus 11 and 12.

I won't read them again. So Elijah is there. No, no, just go back a bit. You see this servant of the Lord, an unnamed servant, and it's beautiful. The servant Because he knows about Elijah.

I I mean, why is Elijah here in Eden anyway? We've no idea other than God had arranged it. But I reckon he was doing a 1 to 1 with this army officer, this servant. He'd come to do a 1 to 1 with him. It was listening to the word of God, this servant.

And that makes this unnamed servant at the center of the universe. He's at the center of this story. The whole story turns on this 1 bloke, who we don't even know what his name is. You see? History is written by God who uses unnamed people.

And the servant, all he says is you wanna listen to the prophet and the prophets here. Yeah? Elijah, I've been having a 1 to 1 with him. Yeah? And the whole thing turns because of that 1 blow.

Isn't that extraordinary? Yeah. You hear you what you you lock on your own. You're on your own in your room watching this on your own. Who the heck are you?

I don't even know who you are. I can't see you. But the whole of the UK history may turn on you just advising someone to listen to the word of God. It's extraordinary. And that's what happens.

So Elijah comes, and Elijah is not happy. He's not happy. And it's got nothing to do with his bald head. He's just not happy because he certainly doesn't tailor his words as a it to these kings. He speaks the truth.

He's committed to the truth. He's committed to the word of truth. Look at verse 13. I think it I'm not sure if it's there. But verse 13.

And Elijah said to the king of Israel. This is the king of Israel. Elijah says to him, what have I got to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother shove off. I'm not gonna speak the word of God to you, who do you think you are, you've got your own prophets, go and see them.

It's magnificent evangelism, isn't it? You got your own gods. Go to them. What have I got to do with you? Then the second half of verse 13, but the king of Israel said to him, no.

It is the Lord who has called these 3 kings to give them into the hands of Mo. He's onto that, I'm unworthy stuff again. And Elijah doesn't have a he doesn't say, oh, no. No. No.

Look, God will fig he just doesn't have a and it goes on verse 14. And Elijah said, as the Lord of host lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehovah the believer? Were it not of that I have regard for him, the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you. Yeah? I don't play your game of Thrones.

I talk to the 1 who's on the throne. You are not on the throne? God's not interested in your career, But because there's a believer amongst you, that's the kingdom God's interested in. So verse 15, Some people were asking about this, I love this verse. But now bring me a musician.

Or a harpist in the new international version. Now bring me a musician. And when the musician played, the hand of the Lord came upon him, Here is a that's sister Rebecca Tharp. Look at her. But I don't know whether the musician was male or female, but but It's an unnamed musician just like the servant unnamed.

And I guess she's brought in or he's brought in just to calm Elijah down. Because Elijah's job according to Elijah, who went before him, was to bring judgment on Ahab's family. Was it now he was to bring the judgment? But if he brought the judgment now, your Hocifat would be under the judgment, because he stupidly got himself into this alliance. So Elijah does what?

He needs to calm down a bit. He need because he's that to bring the judgment of God onto this nation, But is it now or is it a time of grace? Is it now or is it a time of grace? Everyone else in this story is impulsive, he needed time. Ann and myself watched a a bit of a documentary on Jimmy Carter.

The the president of America who's still alive. I think he's like a hundred or something. And it was a really good documentary, actually, and showed what just what a sort of amazing blokey was, really, even though he wasn't liked that much and wasn't voted in again. But There was a big crisis in in his life. It was it was the Iranian hostage crisis.

Some of you may remember that. And everybody was saying to the president, you've got to bomb because it's America, of course. You've got to bomb Iran. You've got to bomb the enemy. You got to blast them.

And he knew that if he did that, that all those Iranian hostages would be killed and he didn't want to do that. And in the in the story, it was quite interesting. It says he went into a little room in the White House at night, late at night, put on gospel music, and prayed, Lord. What do I do? And they asked him, why did you put on this music?

And he said, I just needed to calmed down to think and be be have time before the Lord, and music helped me do that. That's what's happening here, isn't it? What is Elijah to do? Is it a time of extended grace or judgment? So the word of the Lord comes to Elijah.

And we get the story of these events. You are to dig holes. Remember we've seen it. They'll be filled so your horses can drink. And then you can go and attack.

And Moab, the miracle will happen that Moab thinks it's blood and they get all confused. And you'll drive the moabites back. That's the word of the lord. And that event of driving the moabites back is between 2 sacrifices a little but important thing that I've got not too much time on. In verse 20, we're told that that the attack happened during the time of the offering, which is the 1 that would be in Jerusalem.

And then the end of the story is this other offering, this other sacrifice to the pagan God of a human boy. And here's the last line. We're nearly there, by the way. Except I've got to apply it and that'll take some time. Verse 27, the last verse, an extraordinary verse.

Then, Masha, King of Moab, remember, took his oldest son who was to reign in his place and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel, and they withdrew from him, that's Mecca and returned to their own land. What does that mean? Great Roth against Israel. They'd won the battle, They got to the fortified city, and this horrific event happened.

Great Roth was on Israel. What does that mean? Well, there's a number of things it could mean. Bear with me. It could mean that the moabites were so angry at what happened to their future, and now their future is hopeless because the prince has died.

And there is no 1 to reign after measure. They were so angry at the destruction of their future that they just got so angry, they reinforced and all the Roth was against Israel. Could certainly mean that. But it would mean that the God of Mesia appears to have won, but it could mean that God could have allowed that to have happened. It could mean that Israel saw the horror of idolatry and they themselves felt so disgusted that they said to themselves We don't want this tribute after all, and they cut all political ties altogether.

We what would rather not have their import and their imports and all of the stuff they're bringing to our land. If they treat their own people like this, we don't want we don't want treaties that underlie you know, underpin our financial support when they treat their own people like this. Could mean that, couldn't it? That that would be a good lesson. Could mean.

It could mean that Israel saw the horror of the idolatry and knew their own commitment to idols very similar to measures. And they were they were disgusted at themselves. It could mean in the fourth place that something about this event made them understand that their own kingdom was finished. If you killed the heir of the king, then that kingdom's gone. That's what happened to Moab.

And they saw that actually they're going to be finished because they too are under the judgment of God. And whenever the phrase is used, great wrath. It's usually used with God's great wrath. So God's great wrath might have been over Israel. And instead of restoration, they withdrew to their own land and waited for that wrath.

Okay. Can I apply it? I know this is long. There's lots of details there. But there's some good application.

Let me whiz through it. First application, how does this help us today? Life is like a game of Thrones. Who's gonna sit on the throne? Who rules?

With all the excitement and the planning and the desires and the intrigue and all the being taken up with international affairs, And all the trying to rule, the tiny little lifespan we are not in control, stop playing the Game of Thrones, there is only 1 in control, and that is God. And God's plan will come to fruition. And God is about saving his people and making his kingdom. That is what I think verse 14 is about when Elijah says, I would only have I have no regard for you. I'm only going to do this because of Jehovah.

Because God doesn't regard the nations and the kingdoms. He uses them to build his kingdom. That's what he's about. That's how he writes history. That's his big plan.

That's why Christ came. That all the things Christ are, and you get this in colossians. A whole build up that he created the world and his ruler over authorities and powers, and the great pinnacle of this description of the bigness of Christ is that he's the head of the church. That's the history he writes. And all of this other that people are taken up with and we're given all these details of all of these plans and wars and battles.

All of this is just a game of thrones. It's just playing. I'm ruler. It's kids saying, I'm the king of the castle, but actually no. Get it right what God is doing.

Verse 18, Elijah says, this is a light thing in the sight of God. He can change history, easily, and he uses 2 unnamed people to change history. That's how easy it is for God to do whatever he wants. History is his story. And he's about building his kingdom.

And it doesn't matter how powerful other kings are. He's interested in Jehovah. However, we are believers, he is. Second application. God is involved in a way we may not see.

If you lived at the time, you may not have understood what was going on. He uses unnamed people to move the movers and shakers. You wouldn't have seen that. But god sees it. The servant, the officer, the musician.

Wonderful stuff. Third thing, current blessings and miracles and helps from God don't mean that God is pleased with the nation even though he does help a nation. Beware of the thought that because we're in a rich world and we have riches and vaccines, but God must be pro us, and there's no judgment on us. Just because there are mercies, just because there are acts of God, it's all down to what God thinks is best for building his church, his kingdom. We're being taught here how do we live in a land in a world that has judgment pronounced over it.

In 70 years time, Israel is no more. In 300 years time from this event, Judah is no more. They're gone. Those nations have gone. There is a certain judgment coming and just because God is kind, even to a wicked king, doesn't mean that he now will restore the kingdom.

The vaccine here is God's kindness to us, I guess. And we can thank God for that, the miracle of the vaccine. But it doesn't mean to say that all is well with us, and we carry on worshiping our gods in the way that we carry on worshiping our gods. And God is pleased with that just because he's blessed us. He's about kept building his church.

The fourth bit of application is who are you in this? Are you Jehoram? You clinging on to your sin? You might not be as bad as someone else. People may say well, at least he's done this, but are you still clinging on to your sin?

You know you're a sinner, but you say, oh, well God couldn't forgive me. Oh, it was just the way I was brought up. Stop playing with the patience of God. And just because he helps you with a battle in your life. Doesn't mean to say you're right with God if you've never asked him to change your heart, Do not show contempt for the riches of his kindness.

Do not show contempt For his forbearance and patience, don't you realize that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? Says the Bible. Or are you a Jehovah? You're a Christian that just doesn't take advice. You're impulsive.

You jump into things and into alliances so quickly. You move quickly without finding a church You get yourself into into marriage situations, and it all goes wrong. And it's at that point you turn to God, and God in his kindness will have you back, of course, But why did you do it in the first place? Or you would like measure, hardened against God. You'll do anything to keep yourself alive, even kill your own children.

You like measure? Take him down to the abortion clinic and get rid of him so that I can still be rich. Are you like measure? Get rid of the sun. I don't care as long as I'm alive.

And my way of life carries on, I'll sacrifice anybody for that. Where are you like the servant and the musician? You're just a faithful person. You've got a gift of playing music? And you play it and it cheers up the profit.

Very very I don't I I actually can't think of a day in years that music hasn't helped me. I constantly listen to music. I have music on as I write. As I wrote this a sermon. I was listening to music.

Ben, I'll tell you what, but it cheers me up and it gives me vigor. Even strange music. If you come on a Friday afternoon when I've just finished my sermon sometimes, The music blasts on. It's usually loud and very strong in its guitar playing. Music helps you.

I haven't had music today. That's why I'm fed up. If you knew what was going on just before this sermon, I should have put music on, although the hymns did. But he got rid of 1. And he had the first 1, No wonder I'm grumpy.

Yeah. Or are you like a lycia? You don't really care about kings. You all tell them the truth whatever. There's a fifth application and then I'm done, really, really genuinely.

The mercy of God holding off judgment. To allow people to respond to the profit. To the word of God is magnificent, isn't it? Don't you understand that God is holding off his wrath right now upon you, upon this world, he is kindly giving us a vaccine. He is holding off and giving people more time.

He's telling us about death every day on the news. To get us ready for the day we meet him. He's holding off from you, the wrath of God. Right now, he's holding back only because of the blood of Christ, only because Christ has died for the whole world. He's holding back his wrath because of the blood of Christ so to give you time.

He's patient and forbearing and merciful to us. And as a nation, so that we would listen to the Word of God that Jesus is our Savior. He's the 1 that poured out his blood on the ground, to rescue us and save us and to extend the kingdom of God. So will you listen to that prophet? The prophet, priest and king, the Lord Jesus Christ, it's 12 o'clock, It's a long passage, a long sermon with lots of truths, but don't forget them.

Let's just take a moment. Think about those things that have been said. Where am I in this story? Lord, please help us to listen. Please give us ears to hear.

Give ears to us as a church. Give ears to this nation, give ears to this world, gaveers to the kings and the rulers and the experts Law, we thank you for this brilliant story that's been explained to us opened up and prayed over and worked on. And, Lord, thank you for that officer. Thank you for the servant. Thank you for that musician.

Again, lord, please help us as people to see ourselves in this story and to act accordingly to change what we need to change. And please, Lord, please would you give us what we need so that we listen to the word of God. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen.