Trinity Presbyterian Church North Bay — Sermons & Sunday School

Sermon preached on 2 Kings 9 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 07/05/2020 in Petaluma, CA.







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The day of judgment upon the house of Omri and Ahab had finally come. Interestingly, the United States just celebrated its independence, a holiday about freedom from tyranny. Well, in a certain sense, God’s raising up Jehu as king was a revolution in Israel for freedom from tyranny as well. God’s judgment on the house of Jehu would bring, to a certain degree, much needed liberation for the faithful remnant among Israel.



As we look at this passage, I’ll have us take it in three scenes. Scene 1 then deals with Jehu being anointed as king with a mission for vengeance. This scene begins with Elisha finally fulfilling the job God had given his predecessor Elijah on the top of Mt. Sinai back in 1 Kings 19. To clarify, it’s not that Jehu wasn’t on the scene yet back in Elijah’s day. Jehu’s words in verse 25 show that he was alive and already in King Ahab’s service back then. In other words, Jehu could have been anointed way back then. But God did not ordain it to happen until now. This was the patient mercy of God in delaying the judgment.



Some of that divine mercy in this regard is seen back in a very relevant passage for today, 1 Kings 21. That was the chapter where King Ahab coveted the vineyard of Naboth, and his wife Jezebel did a government conspiracy against him to get him falsely condemned and put to death. As we learn in this passage for the first time in verse 26, her actions apparently included getting Naboth’s sons put to death as well. And so, the background of the evil of Ahab and Jezebel against Naboth and the declared judgment is referenced in this passage. Yet, it was also in that same chapter of 1 Kings 21 where Ahab greatly humbled himself before God in response to the announced judgment. God took notice and pointed out the response to Elijah. God then told Elijah that his decision was to not enact the judgment during Ahab’s day, but during his son’s day.



So then, here we are. After much patient mercy of God where he used Elijah then Elisha to usher in a period of spiritual reformation among some in Israel, the day had finally come to bring the judgment upon Ahab’s house. Elisha is seen just briefly in this passage, but he is instrumental in commissioning one of the sons of the prophets, a servant-disciple, to go and anoint Jehu to be king. Interestingly, Elisha adds the specific instruction that once you anoint him, get out of there immediately. Maybe that’s because he knows that things are going to become bloody and violent almost immediately. Maybe it’s because the disciple’s anointing of Jehu is risky in that it is treasonous and conspiratorial. Maybe because of both.



So then, Elisha’s servant-disciple follows the instructions, calls out Commander Jehu from a meeting among other military commanders in Ramoth-Gilead – the town that Israel had been defending from King Hazael of Syria. The servant-disciple speaks privately with Jehu and anoints him with oil in the name of the LORD God of Israel. By the way, I love how there in verse 6 the prophecy states twice that Israel was God’s people. It’s wonderful to see that after all their sin and rebellion, God had not completely disowned his people. Rather, he will raise up Jehu as king, in part, as act of salvation for his remnant among Israel.



So then, recognize that Jehu now is the anointed of the Lord. Of the many kings in Israel and Judah, we don’t see very many of them being specifically anointed by the LORD. Jehu is the anointed of the LORD. Just to remind you, that is what the Hebrew word messiah and the Greek word christ means. Jehu is the Lord’s anointed.

Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 07/05/2020 in Petaluma, CA. This week we continued our series on biblical history, discussing the period between the Old and New Testaments.

Sermon preached on 2 Kings 8:7-29 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 06/28/2020 in Petaluma, CA.







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We return in today’s passage to see the action going on in the southern kingdom of Judah where the house of David has been reigning. It has been many chapters since the book of Kings has really dealt with what has been going on in Judah. Ever since the book started talking about the wicked and notorious house of Omri, especially Ahab and Jezebel, its focus has been on Israel and God’s response through Elijah and Elisha to that wicked house. And yet, now here, the author turns our attention briefly back to Judah. In the space of a half of a chapter, we get the sort of typical royal summaries for two kings of Judah. And yet to be clear, while it might seem like the narrator is turning our attention away from Israel for a moment to look again at Judah, that’s barely the case. Rather, what we find here is that the narrator’s short attention back to what’s going on in Judah is to actually show us how the Omri-Ahab-Jezebel evil has become an “infection” that has even spread to Judah in a very serious way. So then, today’s passage will help us see how this evil had begun to infiltrate into Judah and the threat that brought with it.



Let’s begin then first with the important background of verses 7-15 where Hazael is anointed king of Syria as an arm of God’s judgment against his wayward people. The background to this is all the way back to 1 Kings 19 when Elijah was on Mount Sinai. There God explained how he was going to combat the wicked house of Omri and Ahab. It included a three-pronged approach where Elijah would anoint Hazael king of Syria, Jehu king of Israel, and Elisha to be prophet in Israel. Elijah himself only completed the task of anointing Elisha to be the prophet to continue on his work. Finally, after much ministry to a growing remnant of the faithful among Israel, Elisha turns now to finish the work given to his predecessor Elijah. Here, we find him travel to Damascus, the capital of Syria, where he is used by God in Hazael’s rise to the throne in Syria. Next chapter we’ll see him likewise prophetically declare Jehu king of Israel. After much longsuffering on God’s part, God’s judgment on the house of Omri and wayward Israel was finally coming about. Elisha had been used by God to bring about repentance among some in Israel and bring about some spiritual reformation. But now the hand of judgment was going to come upon Omri’s house and Israel via the swords of Hazael and Jehu.



We see here that Hazael especially will be a hand of judgment upon Israel in general. That’s how Elisha prophesies here in verse 12. Hazael’s sword will not only be directed narrowly against the house of Omri. It will especially be directed broadly against Israel as a people. Verse 12 describes how he will set on fire Israelite fortresses and kill Israelite young men and murder defenseless Israelite babies and rip open the wombs of pregnant Israelite women. This is a great evil. This is terrible news. Yet it reflects the judgment of God in his removing of his hand of protection that he had given Israel time and again. God removes his hand of protection which allows for the wicked evils of King Hazael to fall upon Israel. If the Israel people would forsake God, then he would forsake them by not giving them the protection from evil humans that he had given them in the past.



This causes Elisha to weep, verse 14. Before the tears start flowing, he stares down Hazael for a bit in verse 11, since he knows what Hazael is going to do to Elisha’s kinsmen. While Elisha surely wanted Israel as a whole to repent and return to the LORD, he is still understandably grieved that it has come to this.

Sunday School class led online by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 06/28/2020 in Petaluma, CA. This week we continued our series on biblical history, discussing the period between the Old and New Testaments.

Sermon preached on 2 Kings 8:1-15 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 06/21/2020 in Petaluma, CA.







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Today’s passage draws our attention to the great things Elisha had done among Israel. Those great things inspired others to do great things as well. But not everyone responded the way they should have to the great works of the Lord through Elisha. And as today’s passage draws our attention to the great things that Elisha has done, it ultimately draws our attention to the great things Christ Jesus has done. How will we respond to those great things? How will we receive Christ?



We begin in this passage with a reminder of one who had received Elisha well. Verse 1 reminds us of the Shunammite woman from back in chapter 4. This was the wealthy woman who with her husband showed great hospitality to Elisha when he passed through their town. She even convinced her husband that they should remodel their home a little to make a room for Elisha and his servant Gehazi to stay in whenever they came through. As verse 1 reminds us, this was same woman that Elisha whose son died and Elisha miraculously restored him to life. That was indeed a great thing that Elisha did!



Well, we see in verse 1 that Elisha’s care and concern for that family didn’t stop with raising the boy from the dead. We see Elisha warning the woman about a coming seven-year famine. Presumably, that was the same famine we saw going on in last chapter too. Elisha specifically commands the woman to depart with her whole household and leave her home and become a sojourner for a time, until the famine is over. Basically, Elisha gives her advanced warning about the coming famine so she can preempt the troubles by proactively relocating to some place where the famine will not be. So, she obeys Elisha and she and her family move to the land of the Philistines and become sojourners there.



We might begin to recognize some parallels with the book of Ruth. That was the story of another Israelite family who long before on their own prerogative left Israel during a famine to go to Moab until the famine was lifted. But things did not go well with that family during their time of sojourning – all the men of the family died, and only Naomi returns to Israel with nothing to show for it but bitterness and the widowed wife of one of her dead sons – one Moabitess named Ruth. Yet, God graciously brought redemption to that family through a kinsman redeemer named Boaz and even used the Moabitess Ruth to bring forth a son who would be a restorer of life to their afflicted family.



In contrast, this Shunammite woman is explicitly commanded to leave Israel and sojourn elsewhere. They didn’t presumptuously leave their hometown. Rather it was an act of godly obedience that they heeded the prophet’s command. And surely in the immediate moment, it served to sustain her family which otherwise would have suffered much under the seven-year famine. And yet look at her situation when she returns home after these seven years. She returns home to find out that, somehow or another, her family land in Shunem had been confiscated. Some have suggested the king took it as abandoned land, which seems likely and even thematic for the house of Ahab, but the text doesn’t explicitly state that, to be fair. But remember, the plots of land in Israel had been given by God to be divided up among each tribe and family. God spoke of such land as an inheritance of the Promised Land that he was giving each family. It was their portion and heritage in the land of promise. But this woman comes back home and finds her land has been taken from her. She comes home with the son who would presumably would work that land and carry on the family line and legacy into...

Sunday School class led online by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 06/21/2020 in Petaluma, CA. This week we continued our series on biblical history, discussing the period between the Old and New Testaments.

Sermon preached on 2 Kings 7:3-20 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 06/14/2020 in Petaluma, CA.







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I remind you of the setting for our passage. Last week we saw that Syria had besieged Samaria, the capital city of Israel. Due to famine, the city had pretty much run out of food. Things looked bleak. We saw those two mothers agreeing to eat their babies together. We saw King Jehoram’s anger and his struggle in properly waiting on the LORD. Last week’s passage ended with Elisha prophesying God’s salvation but that they would all have to wait a little longer – until the next day. We ended ourselves last week waiting to read the culmination of the story. We have now finished it up and see the wonderful salvation that God yet again gave his people. And as we look at this passage we see struggles of faith and the unexpected way God brings and even announces his salvation.



Let us look first then at the doubting captain who ends up getting trampled. We see this captain mentioned in verse 2. He’s described there as being a man whom the king leaned upon. He is appears to be some sort of top official under King Jehoram. But while we are not told his name, we are told of his great unbelief. Notice his incredulous words there in verse 2. At hearing Elisha’s prophesy, he retorts “If the LORD himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” This passage is obviously interested in condemning such unbelief because the passage ends bringing this matter up and showing its outcome. It specifically quotes these words by the captain only to show how wrong they were.



Think about the unbelief embodied in these words. First, they show that he doesn’t believe the prophecy itself. That could be interpreted as a lack of faith in Elisha. But notice that the captain’s words are worse than that. It isn’t just that he doesn’t think Elisha’s prophecy won’t come to pass. It’s that he doesn’t think even God himself could do such thing. So, his unbelief is ultimately in the ability of God. I think of the father of a demon possessed boy in Mark 9 who asked Jesus for help. At first, the father asked Jesus for help, saying, “If you can do anything”. Jesus immediately admonished the man and said, “If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.” The father them commendably corrected himself and in a very honest reaction said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” That would have been a great response by this captain when Elisha in turn rebukes the captain’s unbelief. Due to the omnipotence of God, we ought not to doubt the might and ability of the LORD. Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save (Isa. 59:1)! The question is never about God’s ability to deliver but his will.



I can’t help but see a subtle contrast going on here with Namaan from back in chapter 5. That was when Naaman the high ranking official in Syria had leprosy and came to Elisha to be healed. Though Naaman at first struggled with Elisha’s call to bathe in the Jordan River, he ultimately complied in faith and was healed. So, there you had a Gentile leader being blessed by a miracle of God as he trusted God’s Word and ability. In contrast, you have a leader among Israel who should have believed in the Word of the LORD and his ability to save who instead scoffed at the idea. I think this contrast can be subtly found even in the text. You might remember that Naaman spoke of how his master the Syrian king leaned upon his arm. Here in today’s chapter it twice tells us how this the king leaned on this unbelieving official – same word for leaned. And then of course you have the leprosy reference her too with the lepers. All this subtly reminds you about the recent Naaman miracle. (Some have even speculated if Gehazi was one of the lepe...

Sunday School class led online by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 06/14/2020 in Petaluma, CA. This week we continued our series on biblical history, discussing the postexilic period concerning the work of Nehemiah and the prophetic ministry of Malachi.

Sermon preached on 2 Kings 6:24-7:2 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 06/07/2020 in Petaluma, CA.







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Great trouble was upon Israel. The King of Israel in verse 33 declares that they were experiencing trouble from the LORD. While he seems to have said that as a complaint and accusation, I can’t argue with the truth. They were indeed in trouble. The army of Syria once again was afflicting Israel. This time they had besieged Samaria, Israel’s capital city. Verse 25 references a famine going on. From what we learn in chapter 8, likely that this food shortage in Samaria was not only due to the siege, but also that there was a seven-year famine in general going on in that area. Likely Syria was taking advantage of that famine as a time to strike the Israelite capital. This famine had become so severe that an unclean horse head would have cost a large amount of money – 80 shekels of silver – something most people surely couldn’t have afforded. Likewise, even a small measure of dove dung – hopefully to be used for fuel – had seen its prices massively inflated. (I don’t even want to know the price of toilet paper.) This was a perfect storm for Israel and much trouble.



And indeed, surely, this trouble was from the LORD. Wayward Israel in many ways had continued in their sinful practices and had not turned back to the LORD in the way that they should. So then, the LORD has brought such calamity to fall upon them. We are confronted then with Israel who has come to desperate times. Will their LORD save them? Will they look to the LORD to save them? Will they turn back to him and hope in him to save them? Will they seek salvation and wait for such salvation in the LORD? Well, it does seem in this passage that there has been at least some effort in that regard, though it only comes across in a mild way and a seemingly insufficient way. Yet, let us look at what we find.



Let us begin then by looking first at the helplessness of Israel’s king in this passage. This was surely King Jehoram, son of Ahab, by the way. His helplessness demonstrates much of the trouble that Israel was in at that time. We can begin to note the helplessness of Israel’s King in terms of the military aspect. Jehoram here is no David. He is no king mighty in battle who is able to save and deliver his city from the hand of the enemy. They are surrounded and it appears Jehoram does not have a sufficient strength of forces to combat the Syrian army.



But more than that, we see the helplessness of the king in terms of this terrible scene starting in verse 26 with the dispute of the two mothers. Here, the king is out passing along the wall, surely inspecting the state of things, and this one mother cries out to him. He hears her plea. There is this dispute between two mothers – one dead baby and one remaining alive baby. They’ve already eaten one baby. One wants to divide the alive baby between them as they had evidently agreed, the other wants to keep their baby alive. The one mother appeals to the king in his role as chief judge in the land. She cries out to him to give her justice. Does that sound at all familiar to you? It should remind you of that glorious story of Solomon deciding the case between the two mothers who one lost their baby and tried to take the other woman’s baby. Solomon, using his God-given wisdom settled the dispute by exposing who was the real mother. There are certainly some similarities between the two legal cases. But of course, the case in today’s passage is but a sad parody at best. For even the wisdom of Solomon would have surely had trouble deciding such a case. Indeed, the king here does not issue a verdict in the matter, at least not in terms of judging between the mothers.

Sunday School class led online by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 06/7/2020 in Petaluma, CA. This week we continued our series on biblical history, discussing the postexilic period concerning the rebuilding of the temple, and the works of Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah.