Trinity Presbyterian Church North Bay — Sermons & Sunday School

Sermon preached on 2 Kings 14:1-22 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 08/23/2020 in Novato, CA.







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If you’ve known my sermon style when it comes to Old Testament passages, you know that I’m not a fan of those kinds of sermons that just seem turn the passages into moral character studies. You know the kind that primarily treats a character in the text as an example to either follow or avoid. Such sermons tend to say things like we need to “be more like Daniel” or “don’t be like King Saul”. I’m not opposed to occasional applications along those lines, but it tends to not be the main thrust of my sermons. And yet, here we come to King Amaziah and find that in verse 3 he gets described in comparative terms to others. Verse 3 says that he lived like his father Joash, but he did not live like his predecessor David. And, unfortunately, in his case, these comparisons for him were meant to be critical and not complimentary of him. So then, today we’ll spend some time thinking about how King Amaziah was like King Joash but not like King David. From there, we’ll look at the applications we can draw for ourselves from these comparisons.



Let me begin with a little reminder about King Joash of Judah. This was from 2 chapters back, in 2 Kings 12. Remember, he was the king who survived Queen Athaliah trying to wipe out all the male heirs in the house of David. The high priest Jehoiada and his wife had hid Joash away until he was old enough to be restored to the throne. What we then saw in Joash’s reign was a good beginning. He successfully oversaw much needed repairs to the temple. But then his mentor the high priest Jehoiada died and his obedience to the Lord turned greatly astray. He started worshipping Asherah poles and other idols. He ignored prophets and even killed one – the very son of his late mentor! God raised up the Syrians against him in chastisement and yet he still didn’t seem repentant. Ultimately, he was conspired against by his own people and assassinated. Outwardly a good beginning, but he definitely did not finish the race well.



I did want to offer a clarification on my previous sermon about King Joash. During that sermon you might recall that I said that the course of his life might suggest that Joash maybe never really knew that LORD – that maybe he was actually never truly regenerate. The clarification I wanted to offer here is that the text doesn’t actually give us the answer to that question one way or another. Its focus is on reporting the actions of King Joash and how that did or didn’t measure up to God’s laws. So then, looking at how he conducted himself with such a major departure from godliness late in his life, certainly raises the possibility that he wasn’t truly regenerate. His good deeds in his early days might have only been outward adherence to God’s law, not done from a born-again heart. Yet on the other hand, the other possibility is that he was truly a born-again believer, but just had a very major waywardness late in life, filled with many grave theological errors. So, while we might consider the possibilities, I don’t believe we can be dogmatic on either side. That’s just not a question the text is trying to raise for us. However, the text does want us to consider those aspects of the king’s conduct that were commendable, and which aspects were not. Here we have the opportunity to do that again in the context of the life of his son, King Amaziah. And in fact, we’ll see that Amaziah’s life is much like his father’s – a good beginning with a very bad ending. Something which again, like Joash, is brought out here in 2 Kings in a restrained way but is brought out much more fully in the 2 Chronicles parallel account (2 Chronicles 25).



So then,

Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 08/23/2020 in Novato, CA. This week we continued our series on biblical history, discussing the period of Jesus’ earthly ministry.

Sermon preached on 2 Kings 13 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 08/02/2020 in Novato, CA.







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Today we come to our final passage in the Elijah-Elisha narratives. Related to that, we see that it is also the passage that highlights the end of God’s three-pronged sword of judgment that he had told Elijah on Mt. Sinai that he would use to bring great death to Israel. God had told Elijah that he would raise up the swords of Jehu, Hazael, and Elisha to bring widespread judgment and death upon Israel for their great rejection of the LORD. Well, this passage marks the death of all three. In Jehu’s death, his son Jehoahaz comes to reign, verse 1. Hazael’s death is recorded in verse 24. And Elisha’s death is recorded in verse 20. And so, on the one hand, today’s passage is the culmination of a period of great death and judgment that God had bestowed on Israel especially at the hands of Jehu and Hazael. On the other hand, we’ll see this passage is also a great display of mercy and grace of God again being manifest toward his elect.



In our first point for today, let us observe that sword of Hazael that God had said would kill so many in Israel. 2 Kings has already been showing us Hazael’s sword at work in such a way. We see the rest of its work today. Note the context for his sword. It’s Israel’s continued sin. Even after the Baal worshippers had been wiped out of the land by the sword of Jehu, the people continued in egregious sin against God. Verse 2 records that they continued to sin with the idolatry of the golden calves that Jeroboam had setup. Verse 6 says that they “walked” in these sins of Jeroboam – in other words it was a habitual pattern of their perverted worship of God. And not only that, but verse 6 also notes that they hadn’t gotten rid of the pagan Asherah poles in Samaria. Such sin was the context for God’s continued judgment against Israel at the hand of Hazael.



Verse 3 explicitly makes this connection for us. It says that God’s anger burned against Israel because of their sin and so consequently he gave them continually into the hand of Hazel. In other words, Hazael, king of Syria, kept defeating them in one military battle after another. It was a long period of war between Israel and Syria and Israel wasn’t winning the war. Verse 22 says that all through King Jehoahaz’s reign, Hazael was afflicting Israel. We learn in verse 25 that Hazael’s repeated military victories meant that Hazael was capturing one Israelite city after another and annexing them to Syria. This is surely what verse 5 has in mind when it speaks about how many Israelites were being displaced from their homes – they would have had to flee their cities and towns as Hazael captured them.



The war became so bad in King Jehoahaz’s day for Israel that verse 7 records how the Israelite army was almost completely destroyed – at least in terms of its horsemen and chariots. At one point, there were only fifty horsemen and ten chariots left. Surely, they still had a number of regular soldiers left too, but if this was a chess game, it’s like they had lost almost all of their special pieces. You aren’t usually going to win a game of chess if you only have pawns left. From human standards, the strength of the Israelite army was almost all gone.



That leads us next to see them call out to God for help. We see this in verse 4, “Then Jehoahaz sought the favor of the LORD.” It goes on to say that God heard him with the result that he gave them a savior to deliver them. Let me note how this language is a bit reminiscent of the time of the judges. The book of Judges records how Israel, before it had any kings, would repeatedly fall into the same cycle of sin and restoration over and over again.

Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 08/02/2020 in Novato, CA. This week we continued our series on biblical history, discussing the period of Jesus’ earthly ministry.

Sermon preached on 2 Kings 12 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 07/26/2020 in Novato, CA.







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Today’s passage begins in the aftermath of the Davidic kingdom in Judah being restored in King Joash, who also known as King Jehoash by the way. The house of David had been threatened with annihilation at the hand of Ahab’s daughter. But Joash had been hidden away and kept safe until the High Priest Jehoiada could help him to retake the throne. King Joash’s reign is then summarized in verse 2. Listen to verse 2 again, this time from the King James. Verse 2, “And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him.” The King James translation helps to bring out what is said more clearly in the 2 Chronicles 24 account – that King Joash did what was right in God’s sight, but only as long as the High Priest Jehoiada was alive. We see that here in our passage. In the aftermath here of the kingdom being repaired, we see Joash’s good leadership to repair something else in the nation – the temple. The high priest had helped to see the kingdom repaired, and now the king helps to see the temple repaired. And so, today’s passage will help us to reflect on the leadership involved here in the repairing of the temple and what applications we can draw from such for today.



We begin in our first point by looking at King Joash’s plan A for repairing the temple. This is verses 4-8 and I say plan A because he’ll need to come up with a plan B to actually accomplish the desired repairs. Notice then that this plan A was the king’s initiative. Verse 4 shows Joash as the instigator of these plans to repair the temple. In itself, that is a good thing. It is right in God’s sight for the king of his people to lead an effort to repair the temple.



Verse 4 then shows that Joash’s plan A is essentially to commission and delegate this work to the priests – that’s who he addresses and gives this plan to implement. Verse 5 shows there were two aspects to the plan: a fundraising aspect and a construction aspect. There was a need for a capital campaign to raise the finances required. But then they needed to actually performing the work. It’s not enough to just collect the funds. You have to then do the actual repair work.



With regards to the fundraising aspect, we see the king instruct the priests in verse 4 of where to get the necessary revenues. Verse 4 seems to reference three specific sources of revenue, but summarizes them as “holy things”. Each of these offerings can be described as holy things. The giving of such were different acts of worship and thus were consecrated, sacred things. Before such monies would have been common things. But in giving them unto the LORD as an act of religious worship, they go from common to holy. The very fact that Levitical priests were collecting these offerings shows that such giving was part of their worship of God.



So, then the three specific sources of revenue mentioned in verse 4 reference three specific kinds of offerings described in the law. This is a reminder, by the way, that there were a number of different kinds of sacrifices and offerings outlined in the law as part of the people’s overall worship of God under the old covenant. So then, verse 4 likely describes monies collected through a census, through people fulfilling their vow offerings, and through other voluntarily contributions made by the people. Regarding the census money, we find description in Exodus 30 about a sort of per capita tax that was to be collected whenever a census was to be taken of the people, and that such money was to be used to support the worship done at the Tabernacle (and now at the temple).

Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 07/26/2020 in Novato, CA. This week we continued our series on biblical history, discussing the period of Jesus’ earthly ministry.

Sermon preached on 2 Kings 11 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 07/19/2020 in Novato, CA.







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The last two weeks we’ve studied the major reformation God had brought to the northern kingdom of Israel via the hand of Jehu. He had purged Baal worship from the land, and had killed all of Ahab’s male heirs and Jezebel herself. Well, in a sort of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, sort of moment, we see here that the house of Ahab and Jezebel will not go quietly into the night. In their own sort of counter-reformation, this Jezebel named Athaliah strikes back at the very vitals of religion and at the heart of God’s promises. If the late, otherwise-godly Jehoshaphat had looked unwise before when he gave his son in marriage to this Athaliah, now in hindsight he looks just plain foolish. I say that with as much respect as I can for King Jehoshaphat – even the godly can unwittingly help the cause of the evil one. Here evil strikes back against godly reformation and it strikes back hard. Yet, as bleak as it looked, the gates of Hades would not prevail against the Lord’s church. That was true at the time of our passage for today, and it is still true today!



So then, we begin today by looking at how the house of Ahab rages on in his daughter Athaliah. What an anti-reformation theme going on here. Think of the timing. Athaliah secures the throne of the southern kingdom of Judah just after her son Ahaziah is killed by Jehu. She then proceeds to start killing off all the royal family. In other words, she starts killing off all the male heirs of the house of David. While Jehu is off in Israel killing off all the male heirs of King Ahab, she is off in Judah killing off all the male heirs of King David. It is the anti-reformation to the reformation going on in Israel by Jehu.



This is sickening to think that she as a mother would be involved in killing off even some of her own blood descendants. And even those others in the house of David that weren’t directly related to her by blood, they were still related to her by marriage. Remember how King Jehoshaphat twice responded to the house of Ahab when it had called out to him for help against its enemies. Both times, Jehoshaphat agreed to help saying, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” This was said in light of the alliance that was forged between Israel and Judah through the marriage of this Athaliah, daughter of Ahab, and Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat. In their alliance, Jehoshaphat treated the house of Ahab like family. But here, this daughter of Ahab returns that kindness with hatred by trying to completely wipe out the house of David that she had married into. And here this presumed daughter of Jezebel carries on the Jezebel-like ruthlessness against Judah. Where Jezebel tried to murder all the prophets of the LORD, Athaliah tries to murder all the kings of the LORD.



And so Athaliah then sets herself up as Queen Regnant where she rules Judah for six years. To clarify, she’s not acting merely as a queen consort, which be the wife of ruling king. Nor is she acting as a queen regent which would be a queen ruling temporarily until her son is old enough to assume the throne. A queen regnant is one who rules on their own right as the sovereign over the land. She has usurped all authority from the house of David and presumed to rule in place of it. Realize what this is. By doing this, Athaliah has made herself a literal Antichrist. God had made a covenant of salt with King David to give him the kingdom and the reign over his people. This covenant promise included that from David’s line would ultimately come a king who would be an everlasting king. That was the promise of the Davidic Messiah or Christ.

Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 07/19/2020 in Novato, CA. This week we continued our series on biblical history, discussing the period of Jesus’ earthly ministry.

Sermon preached on 2 Kings 10 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 07/12/2020 in Novato, CA.







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No one should be surprised when the LORD does what he has said that he would do. Today’s passage is a sobering reminder of such. But we can also recognize that while God’s hand of judgment fell heavily upon the people here, it was also something directed toward spiritual reformation for the remnant of the faithful among Israel. And so, as we began to see last week, today’s chapter furthers God’s use of Jehu in bringing simultaneously judgment and reformation upon Israel.



We begin first today by observing how Jehu finishes God’s judgment on the house of Ahab. This was part of the specific instructions given prophetically to Jehu from Elisha’s messenger. He was to wipe out the entire house of Ahab – every single male from Ahab’s house. Last time we saw that Jehu was anointed king by the prophet and then declared king by the military. Jehu then attacked and took Jezreel, killing King Jehoram, son of Ahab, in the process. He also killed that wicked Jezebel at the same time. Now, today’s passage shows him further consolidate his destruction of the house of Ahab.



The context then begins for this that Jehu is now a king of Israel who is in control of at least some of Israel, including Jezreel, which had been like a second capital for the nation. However, Samaria was the official capital, and so Jehu then turns to confront Samaria directly. As we are not surprised to learn, the bulk of Ahab’s other heirs and descendants are in Samaria. So, Jehu writes to various officials and leaders of Samaria and basically issues a sort of declaration of war to them. He tells them to go ahead and crown one of Ahab’s heirs as their new king and prepare to go to battle against him. The presumed prize, of course, is control of the nation of Israel.



Well, the various officials in Samaria, in fear of Jehu’s strength, decide unconditional surrender to Jehu is better than going to war against him. Ultimately, they concede to his request to behead Ahab’s seventy sons there in Samaria. When the heads arrive from Samaria to Jezreel, Jehu gives a little speech in verses 9-10 about this. Three points stand out in his speech. One, he declares that none of the people are guilty in this matter of the deaths of Ahab’s sons. Two, his acknowledgment that it was not just himself involved in the death of Ahab’s seventy sons is him publicly showing that he has broad support for his reign from the nation. Three, he ultimately explains all of this being a fulfillment of God’s word through Elijah. What a key statement here, verse 10, “Know then that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the LORD, which the LORD spoke concerning the house of Ahab, for the LORD has done what he said by his servant Elijah.” This is why there was no guilt in general for the killing of Ahab’s house, because not only had God prophesied the destruction in general, but God had told Jehu specifically to execute this judgment on Ahab’s house. To our modern sensibilities, such might strike us as atrocious to see these heads get delivered here, but the legality of their executions was ultimately upon the order of the Supreme Judge and King of the land, the LORD God Almighty. Judgment is sobering. And so this brings a purging from Samaria of Ahab’s house. And then then a short while later, we read in verse 17, that Jehu goes to Samaria and finished off any remaining from Ahab’s house in Samaria. So then, the purge of Ahab’s house in Samaria is complete.



We can also note a few more actions of judgment against Ahab’s house here by Jehu. We see in verse 11 that Jehu did further purging in Jezreel.

Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 07/12/2020 in Novato, CA. This week we continued our series on biblical history, discussing the period of Jesus’ earthly ministry.