-Transcript-
00:36 Amen. Glory to God. Welcome to KJV Cafe where we discover biblical truth in our lives, in our lives.
00:44 That means more than just a saying, amen. It means that we truly are looking to the Bible for how to live and how to live means how to get closer to God. I believe those go hand in hand.
00:57 So let’s get closer to God. Let’s learn how God would have us to live today as we continue our study on godly zeal, having zeal for the Lord. And this is the third message in a series on having godly zeal.
01:13 The question I have for you is, do you have zeal for the Lord? And what underlays that is the idea that to have zeal for God you have to be close to Him. Right? You can’t have zeal for God and be far off from God. Another way to look at it is you can’t serve God and not really know Him.
01:24 Right? The engine that moves you to serve God is the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is enriched by a closeness with God and a walk with God. And without that we can’t do anything right. So do you have a zeal for God? If not, if you don’t, let’s grow close to Him.
01:45 And if you do, Amen. Keep on tracking. So the scripture I’ve been using here this week is 2 Kings 10 16 and he said come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.
02:00 So they made him ride in his chariot and that he is Jehu. Jehu, the commander of the army of northern Israel. And then later on the king there tells Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, who is kind of the father, head, or figure of the Rechabite group, to come with him in his chariot because he’s zealous for the Lord and he’s about to do something big for God and he wants this individual to be a witness.
02:31 And Jehu, as we’ve talked about, wipes out Ahab, the rest of Ahab’s family. Amen. He wipes out Jezebel.
02:38 Finally he’s involved in that. He gets rid of all Baal worship from the people and wipes out all of the worshippers of Baal. And I don’t know how long in chronological time but in biblical real estate this happens pretty quickly here in 2 Kings 10:15-28.
02:59 He destroyed Baal out of Israel and Jehonadab, the Rechabite, was there to witness it. And we understand that the Rechabites were a nomadic people group that had strict rules. They didn’t drink wine or build houses or plant seed or vineyards.
03:17 Jeremiah 35, some 200 years after this incident, explains the Rechabites are going strong and they’re abstaining. And even God himself tells them through Jeremiah to drink wine and they won’t do it. Amen.
03:33 And they say, no we’re not gonna do it because we’re gonna be faithful to our belief. Amen. They were zealous people.
03:41 And so we see Zeal in word in 2nd Kings 10. We see Zeal in action in 2 Kings 10. And we see Zeal in legacy in 2nd Kings 10 because we see the Rechabites there noted by God.
03:55 And both Jehu and the Rechabites were rewarded for their zeal. And so we have this clear example of being zealous for the Lord. I mean in the text verse it literally says come on I want you to see how my zeal for the Lord.
04:10 Okay it’s it’s not cryptic. It’s not coded. We have this clear example of having zeal for God.
04:16 And now we are trying to understand how can we follow that. You know what what are the ways that God would have us be zealous today. And the example I’ve given in the first several episodes has been we should look within to see okay what idols do we have.
04:36 I mean I don’t think God’s calling us to wipe out of people. Please don’t don’t ever take me to say that. What I’m saying is that God may be calling us to wipe out idols in our heart, in our minds, in our life.
04:43 That God’s calling us to be zealous for him. And I see this in the scriptures. How about Revelation 3:19.
04:51 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent. So we see a God’s clear command for us to be zealous and do what? Repent.
05:04 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten. You know if God loves you you’ve probably been rebuked and chastened by him. You know if you’re happy as a clam and you never see God interacting you know in your life or hindering you in some way or rebuking and chastening you in some way you got a problem sir or ma’am.
05:20 You got an issue amen. Every preacher that I’ve been close to that I could see has had a relationship with God that is wonderful and close but also somewhat like a strict father Amen. God will take you to the woodshed.
05:36 You sin you mess up you yeah you go and you get a refill when you weren’t supposed to the Lord will let you know about that. I was told a story I was at a grocery store once and I was I was like sick and I was tired and they had this iced tea and I had got a big cup of iced tea and I was sitting there and I was drinking it eat my sandwich and I said to myself I’m gonna go get a refill because it was just a container out there and as soon as I stood up Lord had convicted me don’t you do that. And then I went over and I read a sign and it looked like it said no refills.
06:05 I asked an employee they said there’s no refills. I said to myself oh Lord he chastens who he loves I can’t even get I mean I’m he’s not playing amen. God is in the little things and the big things.
06:16 The reason why I give that example is to understand that God wants us to repent. So what did I do right there? I know it’s kind of a simple example but what I do I repented I said Lord I’m sorry because he knew my heart and he knew that I was you know thinking oh well hey they left the tea out I’m gonna go get a tea. No uh-uh that’s not right you know and we can’t get into this today but you know if you’re called into the ministry of your preacher teacher etc you’re held to a very high standard but really all of us we need to repent.
06:45 Revelation 3:19 as many as I love I rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore and repent. So one way that God tells us to have zeal in our lives is to repent and if we’re zealous for Him we’ll have the humility to go to God
07:03 and repent and this I think people want to line up repentance with just like someone that committed a crime and they’re gonna go repent to God.
07:09 No repenting to God is every day maybe multiple times a day going to the Lord saying Lord I repent for the things that I’ve know I’ve done and you explain those and Lord if there’s things that I don’t know that I’ve done sins that I’ve committed that I’m not aware of please Lord point them out
07:21 help me to understand them I repent for them so I will not do them again because I believe that God will be very specific in your heart in your mind as the
07:30 example I gave don’t get don’t get a refill when they say no refills amen what an embarrassing example but oh well it’s true and so we repent before God in the big things and the little things
07:40 because He’s calling us to do that and if we’re zealous to do that if we’re zealous to be humble to sacrifice to get rid of that pride in our life to live for God in a way that we realize our state being depraved Amen
07:54 being sinful having no no good on our own no righteousness on our own only through Christ when we have a zeal to live like that then the rest will start coming in short order that’s why I started with that one God’s command to be zealous
08:10 number one repent from Revelation 3:19 on number two be zealous of good works Titus 2:14 who gave Himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works
08:27 and so here we see a reference to Christ who gave himself for us why did he give himself for us so that he could redeem us from all iniquity or sin we are redeemed by what by the blood of the Lamb amen we are redeemed by Christ we are given over to reconciliation only by Christ the Bible tells us that when we were born the first time Amen
08:50 we were born to the first Adam we were born in sin it’s hereditary amen it is passed down from generation to generation so we’ve got sin upon us we can’t do anything right the Bible says that we are have enmity with God we were at warfare with God
09:07 and so how do we get redeemed how are we made right with God how are we reconciled with God it’s only by what Christ did on the cross at Calvary we are reconciled to God by his precious blood Amen that He shed at Calvary for all that would believe on Him Amen
09:22 he shed the blood for all but only some will believe on him there are many that have unbelief but for those that believe on Christ for those that say yes Jesus I accept you as my Lord and Savior Amen
09:31 I believe on you then we are saved and what does it say here in Titus 2:14 for us to do that we should be a peculiar people zealous of good works well why is being zealous of good works peculiar well that’s because most people aren’t are they most people are not zealous of good works ask someone to do something that will gain them nothing
09:54 and it’s difficult and see if they’ll do it say no one will know you cannot put a picture on social media you can’t brag about it you will get no benefit from this for yourself it will hurt you and be hard on you and burdensome on you but God wants you to do it and he’ll see it I think most people 999 out of a thousand will say no thanks
10:17 but we are to be zealous of good works we are to be that peculiar people that says oh yeah I’m in for that that sounds great okay let me go to an unreached people group in the jungle that wants to kill me oh yeah let me go knock on doors
10:29 and with people that are angry you’re gonna slam doors in my face to ask him if they know the Lord oh yeah let me go play at a church in some little town and where nobody knows me and and preach to a small congregation until the Lord calls me home
10:43 and people are gonna point the finger and say I told you so whatever it is amen God calls us to do these things we should do them we should be zealous to good works when we have no benefit of our own and God calls us to do it do those things that shows number one that we believe in God and to a Christ like sacrificial love that shows what us what Christ did for us we can never emulate what Christ did for us fully
11:14 and holy but when we live to love others and we live zealous to good works and we we live with with no worry about our name being lifted up or any personal gain when we do that right we are then understanding what Christ did for us amen on this earth now I know he’s highly exalted in heaven forever Amen and he is the Savior forever Amen
11:35 but on this earth he was obedient unto death he walked he was a man of no report amen he came from Nazareth where I think was Nathaniel said what good you can come from Nazareth everything about his life was geared towards saving mankind saving you saving me that was what Christ did and as Christ did that we need to accept that and understand that
11:58 and then live that out by being zealous to good works not easy to do but what God’s called us to do so we show our zeal through repentance we show our zeal through being zealous of good works and we show our zeal by edifying the church
12:14 1 Corinthians 14:12 even so ye for as much as years zealous of spiritual gifts seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church and so everybody wants to know what’s my spiritual gift what are my talents what has God given me that I can do something with right and then what’s the next step
12:31 I mean let’s say God gave you an amazing voice right or he made you the best athlete ever or he gave you an ability to do math like no one’s ever done math or he gave you a talent for teaching like no one’s ever taught or writing like no one’s ever wrote well what’s what happens next the flesh says
12:52 Oh monetize that make yourself famous and get rich and the Spirit says edify the church take that gift and give it to others don’t give it asking to receive just give it give out of out of what the scripture says that we should as much as we are zealous for spiritual gifts we should be zealous to edify the church
13:12 what does it mean to edify it means to instruct or improve someone morally or intellectually we are to instruct and improve those in the church we are to help and love those in the church
13:25 we are to be zealous over that activity and using the spiritual gifts that God’s given us to edify others we should be excited about that we should say amen thank you God for giving me this gift
13:35 I’m going to use it to edify the church in all that I can and that’s gonna be my priority that’s gonna be more important than earning a living or getting a name or doing great in school or making friends or whatever it is I’m gonna use a spiritual gift to bless others
13:51 and I’m gonna be zealous about I’m gonna be excited about it because it’s your plan for me and that that’s incredible where zeal shows up in the Bible to repent to be like Christ and be zealous to good works and to edify the church isn’t that interesting humility humility and humility Oh God is so good
14:07 I thank Him for His word here today I thank you for listening we’re gonna get to the next part of this message tomorrow so tune in
14:14 take care God bless and Amen