All right, I appreciate that, amen. And I thank God for the whole family, there's no question about it, but I definitely appreciate Brother Isaac coming, and I know that he could still be with his family, and it's a tough thing, but we just keep praying that the Lord will lift him, amen, and give him strength. All right, let's get our Bibles out, amen, let's get our Bibles out. I can't wait to hear Brother Brian. Javier Warren. I'll point her out. My daughter. It was my daughter. It was my daughter, brother. Or as some people say, Javier. So I have to give a little story. I have a similar, similar. So my name is Russell Braxton Snoddy. But my middle initial is B, right? I had no idea it was Braxton. My daddy always called me boy. My daddy hardly ever called me by my name. He said, come here, boy. Hey, boy. Stop, boy. I'm going to spank you, boy. And I went to school, and they said, okay, Russell, you know, they went through the names, and I was like, that's not my name. I said, my name is Boy. And they were like, no, your name is Braxton. I said, I'm pretty sure it's Boy. So, Brother Brian, Jave, you're born. Come on up here, brother. Thank you. Oh, what a blessing. I didn't shake his hand because I've had a little cold. I love you. I appreciate that. Amen. Well, since we got started on that note, I guess it leaves me a little explaining to do. So yeah, I'm Brian Javier Warren. Javier Warren, actually. And so I always grew up thinking my name was Brian Javier Warren. And both my parents are hearing impaired, so neither one of them really knew how to pronounce my name, because both of them are deaf. So my daddy thought it was Brian Xavier. He thought it was the X they thought. And so I guess he figured if we change it to J, then it's Javier. If it was Xavier, then it'd be Javier. It makes sense. I get it. And so I just grew up my whole life, just Brian Xavier Warren. That's my name. And so one day when I was 16 years old and I was in Spanish class, And I'm sitting there in the chair, and I'm listening and everything's going on. And the teacher says my middle name. And I'm like, I don't think that's it. My name's Brian Javier. And I was like, this is Javier. And I'm just like, wow, I'm Brian Javier Warren. So I was 16 years old before I ever knew how to say my whole name. So those of you that take a little time to figure out what your name is, don't worry about it. You got a long time to go. And so, but yeah, technically I was 16 years old when I figured out how to say my name. So interesting. But you know, God's still good. And I got Brian out of it. You know, I'm still Brian, so that's good. I'll take it. I'll take it. But anyhow, all right, well let's get into God's Word tonight. And I'll tell you it's a blessing to be here. We're gonna be in 2 Kings 9. It's a blessing to be here tonight. I appreciate this church and I appreciate Pastor Snoddy and his family. Good church, good people doing a good work for the Lord here. And I'm very thankful for them. They have been a blessing to me over the years. I've known them for a while now. And Pastor Snotty's been in my church before. He's preached a number of times. He was just back with us just a few months ago in our spring revival, preaching for us in the morning. And we also had the Brent Rochester family with us as well, not too long ago. And they were a blessing to us then also. But it is good to be here tonight. And I just pray that God just moves in our midst, speaks to our hearts, and just gives us what we need to hear from his word, amen? Amen, all right, well before I get ready to preach, let's pray and just ask that God would just bless the services tonight. Father, we thank you so much for this day. And God, you've been so good. Lord, we're just coming together here tonight to pray that you would just bless our time here together. And Lord, it's just so good to see both of these churches here tonight worshiping and serving you. And Lord, I just pray that in our midst, God, if there's one that's not saved, God, that they'd get saved. And Lord, that you use this opportunity that they have to come to know you. Lord, there may be some folks here tonight just battling, struggling with a number of different things and Lord, I pray that also in the midst of this service and as we go through the preaching and of course the good singing we've already heard and some more a little bit later and God that you would move in that as well and that Lord, our hearts are being encouraged. We learned some things about you and from your word tonight. Lord, I just pray that you just bless the service and give us what we need. We love you and thank you for it all. In this we pray in Jesus' name, amen, amen. All right, 2 Kings 9. I'm gonna begin there in verse 30 here this evening, 2 Kings 9, there in verse 30. I've entitled this message, Make Room for the King. Make room for the king. How many of you can attest to the fact that maybe tonight that there's some room that probably needs to be made in our life? I guess we can all agree with that. How many of you can also probably say at the house there's probably some room we need to make for some things? Isn't it amazing sometimes how we can have so many things that we just collect in our life? That it just kind of piles up and collects? I remember one day I was back in town, was back home in North Carolina, And I thought, you know what, I'd like to go see the place I grew up at when I was just real small. I grew up there and we moved away when I was just right after the first grade. And I said, you know, I'd like to go back and just kind of see the home place and what it looked like. And so I got in a truck that wasn't far away from where Amy lived down there. And so I got in the truck, drove down there, and got looking around. I thought, wow, look at this place. I mean, it had become a junkyard is what it had become. I mean, there was stuff all over the place. And there was so much stuff that I actually thought it was a junkyard. I thought it really was. And so I was driving. I thought, man, surely it did. I thought, maybe I just passed it. Maybe I missed my home place, and I went past it or something. And it had been a while since I'd visited. So I turned around and came back, and I said, No, this is it. And I just kind of looked at it from the road, from my truck there for a minute, and the people were outside. And so I pulled on in there, and of course, because they were staring at me. And so I just pulled on in there, and I said, y'all selling any of this stuff? They said, no, we just collect. I was looking around. I'm like, wow. They need to start selling some of this stuff. They need to have some yard sales. They need to do something. But I just thought to myself, wow, isn't that amazing? They don't sell any of this stuff. They just collect and collect and collect. And man, I tell you, it was in the woods. It was all in the yard, backyard, side yard. I mean, everywhere you looked, there was something. And I just thought, for sure, these folks sell this stuff. But no, they said, no, we just collect. They were proud of it. They just stood there and looked at it. No, we just collect. And I was like, okay, all right. And so I said, all right, well, y'all have a good day. And I didn't say I used to live there or nothing like that. I just got in the truck, you know, got back and I just left. But I just thought to myself on my way back to Amy's mom and dad's in-laws, as I was on my way back there, I just started thinking to myself, I thought, wow, isn't that amazing how so much has changed over the years? And I thought you know it's amazing too as I was putting asbestos together And thinking about this even here tonight that you know in our life We can kind of do a lot of the same thing we could just It's amazing how we can just collect a lot of things and just pile it up in our life and just never do anything with it And I imagine all of us here tonight. We probably go home. We say wow look at all this stuff I got how many of you have yard sales yearly? Some of maybe some of you do sometimes you have so how many of you probably need to maybe we'll put it like that y'all just collect That's it, y'all just collect. But you need to have a yard sale. And so you go home tonight and you look around and you say, man, I tell you what, we need to have some spring cleaning, we need to have a yard sale. There's a lot of things that we can really make some room for. Well, that's just kind of what I want to speak to us tonight about, is making room for the king. And we take a look at this here tonight, I think it'd be a blessing to you. As we take these truths, we apply it to our life, I really think it'll really help you this evening. Listen, God's ready to help us no matter what, amen? All right, let's look into it here this evening. Let's see what God has for us. And we're gonna begin there, 2 Kings 9, we're gonna begin there in verse 30. And let's notice what the Bible says. Let's read the very first verse. The Bible says, and when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it and she painted her face. and teared her head and looked out at a window. Now, as we see there in verse 30, just to give us a little information, Jehu is a man of God that God has anointed. earlier in the chapter, God had anointed him king. And as Jehu was king, God had gave him a mission to what he needed to do was he needed to go throughout the land and eradicate all the evilness and all the wickedness and all the sinfulness and everybody that was in power that was doing wicked, evil things. He says, what I want you to do is I want you to go, in essence, take care of all of that mess, get it all out of the way, because there's so many, we just need to start over around here. God was looking for his people to start over, and I tell you what, I'm thankful for the opportunities that I had to start over. I'm going to hear him start over. I had to start over this morning, amen. I had to start over this morning. Listen, we got to start over in our life and I'm thankful that I have a God that lets me know that in his word that he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and if we'll just bring ourselves to him and we'll just call out to him that he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. And so having that fresh start is such a good thing for our souls and in our life. And so right here, what we see is we see in essence, God had anointed Jehu to go and eradicate the land of this sin and the wickedness and all the evil. So whenever we get here to verse 30, there's a number of things that's already happened. We get into verse 30, we see that Jezebel, the Bible says, heard of it. Jezebel heard of it, and the Bible says she painted her face and she teared her head and looked out at a window. But notice there in verse 30, the Bible says, and Jehu was come to dress Jezreel. Now Jehu means the Lord is he. Jezreel means God showeth. And so what I want us to see tonight in essence really is, as we think about putting our life together, as we think about, listen, if you're not saved, getting saved's the greatest thing you can do. It's the best thing that you can do in your life. And so if you're not saved, man, man, please get saved tonight. Please listen to that still small voice of God. But we can see here that the Bible shows us that Jehu means the Lord is he. Jezreel means God soweth. And so what we can see when we put those names together is that we see that the Lord is he that sows. I believe God has a desire to sow something here tonight. And if we'll just let God sow that which he desires to do in our life, I believe it'll change us. I believe if we allow God to work in our hearts tonight, that God can really do something. But understand this, as we begin there in verse 30, as Jehu was commissioned to come out and do this, he was commissioned to go out there and rid the land of all this evilness and wickedness and to help the folks to start over. Jehu there is a good picture of the Lord. And of course Jezebel, she is a good picture of sin. She's a good picture of death. She's a good picture of evil, idolatry, sexual immorality. She's a seducer of men. She's a prideful woman. She has a lust for power. She is a liar. She is one who desires control. I mean, she is the epitome of wickedness and evilness that we see all throughout the scripture. And right here we see the Jehu, a good picture of the Lord, who is now coming to help the folks to rid the land of all the evil and wickedness. And here in the text, I want us to see something. The Bible says that Jehu has come to Jezreel and Jezebel heard of it. And she painted her face and teared her head and looked out at a window. And so what we can see here then, the very first verse, the very first truth I want us to see as all of us will see in verse 30, sin's attraction. Sin's attraction. Did you know that whenever you decide, you know, you sit here one day and you say, you know what, I need to get my life right, things need to be better, and I need to start going to church, or maybe even I need to get saved, and you know, all these different things, I need to do this, and I need to do this, and I need to do that, and you start thinking about doing all that kind of stuff, the devil just loves to show up and make himself look as pretty as he can. The devil loves to show up and sin loves to show up. You say, well, I need to get rid of this sin in my life. It could be alcohol, it could be pornography, it could be smoking. It could be a whole host of different things. And you say, you know, I really need to get rid of this stuff in my life. Well, then the next thing you know, as soon as you say that, it's almost like the devil just perks up his head. Sin just perks up his head and does everything it can to make himself look. as beautiful as it possibly can. You know why? Because the last thing the devil wants you to do is to get rid of that which he knows, which he knows is gonna destroy your life. And the Bible shows us here in verse 30, that Jahe was come to Jezreel, and Jezebel heard of it, and she painted her face and teared her head, and I told my people teared her head means the same way we would say down here in the south, she got her hair did. She got her hair did. And Jahee was coming to Jezreel and Jezebel heard of it. And she painted her face and she teared her head. Listened to sin. She wanted to do everything she could to make herself look as attractive as she could possibly be. And you sit here tonight and say, you know what? I need to get myself together. I need to get my life right. I need to get these things out. I need to make room for the king of my life. But you know what? I got this over here and I got this over here and I got this over here. I've got so much stuff in my life. I've got so much going on. There's so much stuff taking this piece of me and so much other taking this piece of me. I ain't got much room left. And you sit here and say, Noah, I need to get this out. I need to get this out. I need to get this out. And we can see here in the text that, man, praise the Lord, that Jehu was on the way to help out with this. But we see there in the text that Jezebel, she heard it. And she painted her face and teared her head because she wanted to make herself look as good as she possibly could. Because when you desire to get sin out of your life, and you desire to start living for God, and you say, you know what, I'm gonna get saved, I'm gonna go to church, and I'm gonna read God's word, and I'm gonna be faithful, and I'm gonna support my preacher, and I'm gonna do all these things. The devil's gonna do everything he can. Sin will do everything he can to make itself look as beautiful as possible so that you don't get rid of it. So that you'll just keep it around Sin desires to hang around and to be around in your life and when you desire to get rid of it, it'll do everything it can to make you think that you can't live without it. Sin will do everything it can to make you think, well listen, why would you want to get rid of me? I'm so fine, I'm so beautiful. Why would you want to get rid of me? Think about all the good times we've had together. Think about all these things that we've done in our life and I've been around for so long. Why would you want to get rid of me? And so sin just paints its face. paints his face. But what we don't see, I think, is we don't see Jezebel without her makeup. I wonder what she'd look like without it. Whenever she wasn't all dolled up, and her hair wasn't all did, and her face wasn't painted. When she didn't have any of that, I wondered what the scene really looked like. I wondered how bad it really was. But you see, that's how a scene is. It makes itself look good. We talk all the time about the alcohol commercials and those different types of commercials that make these people look like they're living a life that's so good and so great. But what you don't see is that those people that are drugged out in drugs over here laying in the ditch, or these people over here in hospitals, and these people over here that are all beaten and battered and bruised, or folks over here in car wrecks, and people's done being killed and mangled bodies laying all over the place, and body parts and blood all over the place. Listen, the beer commercials don't show you that stuff. They don't show you that mess. All they want you to see is the horses coming out in the snow and the barrels ringing on it and everybody laughing and having a good time. But they don't show you, they don't show you the aftermath of that. They don't show you the kid that's sitting over there that don't have no clothes to put on and don't have the right size shoes and all this kind of stuff because his daddy won't buy him nothing. because his life is so consumed in alcohol and so consumed in gambling and so consumed in drugs that he won't buy the things that he's supposed to buy. Sin always do everything it can to make itself look as good as possible so that you don't get rid of it. I'm thankful that the Lord Jesus, whenever he came, that He made it a way, that He made it possible not just to cleanse me of my sin, but to give us power over sin through the Holy Spirit of God. Listen, I didn't have no power of it on my own. There wasn't nothing that I can do, but listen, when the Lord Jesus came into my life, with the power of the Holy Spirit of God, He gave me the ability to overcome sin. So you're sitting here tonight and you say, preacher, I know I need to get my life right. And like Jay, you know, I need to come in. I need to clean things out. I need to make room for the king. But I got this, I got this, I got this, and I got that. And what am I going to do? And I'm not sure if I can do it. And whenever sin does what it can to make itself look as pretty as possible, sometimes we get the feeling like we can't. The Bible says that there in verse 30, that she teared her head. The next verse says, in verse 31, and as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, had Zimri peace who slew his master. Not only do we see a sin's attraction, but I want us to see sin's appeal there in verse 31. Now you read verse 31, just that verse by itself may not make much sense, but when you find out who Zimri is and the kind of life he lived and what he did, it makes more sense. And I'll just go ahead and tell you tonight. The Bible says there in verse 31, as we see sins appealed. The Bible says as Jahee walked through the gate, the Bible says that he entered the gate and she said, had Zimri peace, who slew his master. Zimri was a man who was a king, but he was only a king for seven days. He was a king for seven days. Reason why he was a king for seven days, listen, God didn't appoint him as king as he did like the other prophets. He wanted to be king, so he took it by force and killed the king that was there, conspired against the king, was a king for seven days, and then after he became the king, other people conspired against him. He found out what was going on. He went into the king's palace, he set it on fire, and Essex burned himself up inside the king's palace. Was a king for seven days. So she looks down at him, as he comes to liberate the place. And she says, as J.E. Nunn and the Gettys, she said, had Zimri peace and slew his master. And so as he comes in to rid the land of idolatry and sinfulness, evilness, and wickedness, she looks down on him from above. She looks down on him from above and is in essence, casting stones, in essence, throwing discouragement in his eye by doing this, almost like, you know what, I'm up here and you're down there. She was sitting there, the Bible says, notice in the text, the Bible says there in verse 31. But as he entered into the gate, she said, had Zimri peace? Those are the judges that sat in the gates. So he enters in through the gate, she sees him come in, and as she sees him come in, she looks down over there, and she sees him walk in, she said, had Zimri peace or slew his master? In other words, it's almost like a picture of sin, it's almost like the picture of the devil up here, and here we are down here, and it's almost like the devil looking down on us, or our sin looking down on us, thinking, you know what, are you really gonna be able to do anything to me? I'm way up here and you're way down there. You're not gonna have any power and authority over me because I'm up here and you're down there. Not only that, but I think we also see here in this text, the Bible says there in verse 31, that as Jehu entered the gate, that she said had Zimri peace and slew his master. She was also there in verse 31 insinuating that she was his master, that she was his master. So she says, did Zimri have peace who slew his master? In other words, I'm your master too. Do you think you're gonna have any peace by getting rid of me? You know, sometimes we're trying to get ourselves right with God and we're trying to really work on ourselves and we're trying to get sin out of our life and we're trying to do all these things and it's almost like the sin looks down on us or what we're battling, that besetting sin, like it just kind of looks down on us Like it towers over us, you know? And it discourages our hearts, you know? And in essence says, do you really think that getting rid of me is gonna do you any good? Do you really think that getting rid of me is gonna last you long? Listen, Zimri, he tried to get rid of the king. He was only ruler for seven days. Do you honestly think that getting rid of this sin right here, do you honestly think that getting the devil out of your life and out of your house right here, do you honestly think that that's something that's gonna last? No, it's not. Do you think he had peace? You're looking for peace in your life, you're looking to start over in your life, you're looking for comfort in it, you're looking for all these things, but do you really think that getting rid of me is what that's gonna bring you? Sometimes, listen, I'm telling you, the devil, in seeing this world, it'll do everything it can to tear itself up, do everything it can to paint its face, and do everything it can to make us look so good, but it's so wicked, and so nasty, and so evil, and sometimes in life, it seems to tower over us, and it seems to taunt us, and it seems to discourage us in our hearts in life, because we have a desire to get rid of it. We say, you know what? I don't wanna do this anymore. I don't wanna look at that anymore. I don't wanna talk like this no more. I don't wanna go down there no more. We're battling, we're battling, we're battling, we're battling. And it's almost like the sin in essence is looking down over top of us and saying, do you really think getting rid of me is gonna do you any good? Do you really think it's gonna bring you peace? Do you really think it's gonna do anything for you? Do you really think it's gonna be a blessing to your family? Also, I want us to see there in verse one, verse 31, the Bible says that Jehu entered in at the gate and she said, as Zimri peace has slew his master, I also want you to see that there in verse 31, she was the very first one that spoke, not Jehu. You also see in the next verse, he never said anything to her in the whole encounter. Never spoke to her not a word. We take this right here and you go back to the book of Genesis chapter three and verse one, What do you see when Adam and Eve, they were in the garden and the devil came in and he began to talk to Eve, he was the very first one that spoke. He was the very first one that went over to where Eve was and he began to talk to her and coerce her and talk to her about this tree until he finally got her to where he wanted her to be. And we can see right here in this text that whenever Jehu came in, she began to speak to Jehu, but Jehu didn't want to listen to what she had to say. I think one of the things that we can learn out of that in our life is that when the devil speaks, Yeah. In essence, plug these ears up. Because listen, I'm telling you what, the world, the devil, do everything he can, man. It's trying to get in your head. It's trying to do everything he can. It's trying to get in your family. And the devil's trying to speak to you. And the devil's trying to get you to walk in a certain direction. Listen, as God's people, listen, we gotta, we just gotta, we gotta, we gotta just say, you know what? I'm here on a mission. I'm focused. I'm doing what God wants me to do. I'm not going to allow myself to be distracted by what the devil wants me to do. I'm not going to allow myself to be distracted by the storms that the world wants to throw at me. I'm just going to do what God wants me to do. I'm going to live how God wants me to live. I'm going to proceed with the calling of God on my life. I'm not going to listen to the world here. I'm not going to listen to the devil there. And we can see there in this verse, there in verse 31, that as he entered into the gate, she began to speak to him. But there in verse 32 and all throughout the following verses, we never see where he ever answered her back. Because he didn't want to hear what she had to say. He didn't have a desire to speak to her. He knew that she was there. He had no desire to have any communication. You see, that's one of the problems that got Eve where she was at. She spent too much time walking with the devil. Spent too much time walking with the devil, too much time listening to the devil, and the devil ended up getting her exactly where he wanted her, and listen, if he would have carried on a day, he would have carried on a conversation with her. There's no telling what the other things that Jezebel would have tried to say. But he didn't want to give her any time of day. He didn't want to listen. I've also found it interesting that there in the book of Genesis, we see that the devil, he spoke to Eve three times. God spoke to Adam three times. And then he asked Adam, Satan asked Eve three questions. God asked Adam three questions. He asked Eve one question, but when it came to the devil, he never asked the devil anything. He didn't want to hear what he had to say. He didn't want to hear what he had to say. The devil done came in, done what he desired to do. The devil done came in, done what he wanted to do. He was happy. Went on his way. And listen, seeing it comes in, The Bible says one sinner destroyeth much good. One sinner destroyeth much good. And we see right here that he comes in through the gate. He hears her speak, but he doesn't want to acknowledge that she's even there. He doesn't want to answer her. We see sin's attraction, but we see sin's appeal there in verse 31. almost like she's saying, you don't want to get rid of me. You want to kind of keep me around. Look how good I am. Look how we've been together for years. Why would you want to get rid of me? In essence, is what our sin would say to us. We've been battling, we've been struggling, we've been fighting for such a long time. And there in verse 31, she said, had Zimri peace who slew his master. The devil would have you to think that by getting rid of sin in your life and living for God in your life, that you wouldn't get peace, that you wouldn't have victory. The whole purpose of that is to make you quit. The whole purpose of that is to make you give up. The whole purpose of that is to say, well, you know, if I can't get victory and I can't win, if I can't do this, what's the point of reading the Bible? What's the point of going to church? What's the point of taking my family? And so we'll just quit. We'll just quit. We'll just throw in the towel. We'll just completely give up. But what you've got to think about is this, listen, you're not just hurting yourself, you're not just hurting your wife and your spouse, you're not just hurting your kids. But listen, think about this, what about the grandkids? What about the great-grandkids? What about all those that are going to raise up on after them? Listen, we want to make sure that we're doing everything we can. to start off a generation that's gonna bring its people up in the house of God and fear the Lord. And it could be, listen now, if you get out of church and you get away from God, how long's it gonna be for the rest of them to get back in the house? How long's it gonna be? I mean, it could just be one generation, it could be two, but listen, you and I, neither one of us know, but isn't one generation too many? I mean, I would hate to think, I'm standing up here this morning preaching my heart out to folks and devoting my life and my family devoting their life and you devoting your life to serving God. Listen, I would hate to think that here I am doing everything I can to try to bring people to the Lord and my great grandkids would die and go to hell. I'd hate to think that. The Bible shows us right here. And Jehu entered in at the gate, and she said, as Zim repeats, and so his master, listen, the devil wants to discourage you tonight in thinking that you try to get right with God and you get sent out of your life, or if you get saved. that it's not gonna do you any good. Or if you come to Christ, it's not gonna help you. Listen, don't you believe that stuff? The Bible says this here in verse 32. Let's keep reading. Not only do we see sin's attraction, not only do we see sin's appeal, but I also want us to see sin's affliction. Take a look there in verse 32. The Bible says, he lifted up his face to the window, and he said, who is on my side, who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs. You'll notice there in verse 31, she spoke to him, but he had no desire to speak to her. When the devil comes along, listen, don't you spend any time, don't you spend any time with the devil. There in verse 32, the Bible says he knew she was there. The Bible says he lifted up his face to the window. Now, wasn't she looking out the window? Of course she was, he knew she was there. He knew what she looked like. He knew that she was declaring herself to be his master. He knew that whenever he was, that she was declaring herself necessary to be the judge sitting there at the gate. He looked down, he knew that she was declaring herself to be all these things. but he never spoke to her. All he did was when he looked up, he said, who is on my side? Because you know what he knew, because he knew how the kind of person Jezebel was, he knew that there's got to be somebody on the inside that wants to be free. There's got to be somebody on the inside that's sitting behind her. They just ain't come to the front yet. Listen, the devil's holding a lot of people captive today. And he hollered out, he didn't look, he knew she was there. It was almost like he wanted to look past her because he didn't want to acknowledge her. He didn't care nothing about her. What he cared about was who was on the inside. Who's behind her? That's what he wanted to focus on. That's what he cared about. Who is on the Lord's side, he cried out. But nobody answered. And then he said, who? And the second time, The Bible says two or three eunuchs peered out the window. But before we get to that, aren't you glad that even though, listen, some of us may not have answered God the first time. Aren't you glad that God had patience? Aren't you glad that the Lord was concerned about who else was on the inside? Aren't you glad that whenever he walked, that whenever the Lord came to us and wherever we were at, whatever it is that we were doing, that when the Lord came to us, he was concerned about our salvation. He was concerned about our destination and where we were going. Jehu, he came here as well. When the Bible says, whenever he came, that he lifted up his face to the window and he said, who is on my side? But nobody answered. And so he then cried out again and he said, who? And the Bible says, and they all looked out to him, two or three eunuchs. We're gonna see sin's affliction here tonight. Now you say, well, what's a eunuch? Well, a eunuch was a commander or a guard, so to speak. There were three ways you can become a eunuch. Number one, a eunuch was somebody that didn't have kids, and there were three reasons why they didn't. One, it was by their own choice. They decided not to. You can see this in the book of Matthew, where Jesus is talking about it. One reason why is because they decided not to of their own accord. Another reason why is because they were born that way. They couldn't produce offspring. They couldn't have kids. The third reason why is because the men were castrated themselves and it was forced upon them. Here we see, here we see, Jayhue comes in and he hollers out there in verse 32, who is on my side? Because he knew that there had to be somebody on the inside that had been touched with the affliction of this woman. Who had been touched with the affliction of sin. And he cared about who was on the inside. What's going on in there? He wanted to give them a chance. He wanted to give them an opportunity to get right. There in verse 32, these two or three eunuchs, they stuck their head out. I imagine, it makes me wonder how long these two men were in there. How long did they serve this woman? The reason why they were eunuchs I do not know. The Bible doesn't expressly say, but I would dare say that They were probably afflicted to be that way because sin destroys everything that it touches. I imagine these men were in that condition because they were forced to be that way. So whenever he says, who's on the Lord's side? And all of a sudden we see these two or three guys, they stick their heads out the window and they see J.U. down there. I wonder how long they've been waiting on somebody to show up and say, who's gonna be on my side? I wonder how long. How long did they sit up there and say, and wonder with themselves, man, I sure wish somebody would come along and show us a new way. I sure wish somebody would come along and lead us up out of this place of darkness and lead us out of this evilness. I wish somebody would come along and help us. And then when they heard who's on the Lord's side. when they saw that their master Jezebel was looking down the window and talking to Jehu, that Jehu, he wasn't honoring her position. He didn't want nothing to do with her. He didn't want to talk to her. And I wonder if behind the scenes, these guys were sitting here and they were thinking to themselves, maybe, maybe today's our chance. Maybe now. Maybe today is that day we make a decision to do what's best for us. Maybe that's for you. Maybe you find yourself, the giant in your life or the sin in your life is in essence doing all the speaking for you. And you're sitting behind the devil's out front and the sins out front and leading your life. leading your life. In essence, almost like that sin is your spokesman. Almost like that sin is living your life and you're just kind of sitting here in the back. You're just the one just kind of riding along and just dealing with it as it comes. Let me tell you something, it don't have to be that way. It don't have to be that way. Notice the Bible says here in the text, The Bible says in verse 32, he lifted up his face to the window and he said, who's on my side? Who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs, and I believe these men who have been afflicted by this woman, they have dealt with this woman, they have listened to this woman for who knows how long, and I believe at this moment they begin to decide within themselves, now is our moment, now is our time, now is our chance, what are we gonna do? Are we gonna continue to live this life of affliction? Are we gonna continue to let her be out in the front? Are we gonna continue to let her be the one that speaks for us? What are we going to do? The Bible says there in the text, take a look at it. The Bible says there in verse 33, and he said there in the text, throw her down. Not only do we see sin's affliction, but we also see sin's assistance. There in the text, the Bible says in verse 33, he said, throw her down. So they threw her down and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall and on the horses and he trod her underfoot. Throw her down. You see this text right here, J.U., when he was talking to this woman, well, not this woman, whatever, he was talking to the eunuchs. He didn't need them to, at colony in this situation. Listen, if you've got something that's going on in your life, you've got something that's going on in your family that's completely destroying your family, that's completely ruining everything that you have, are you just gonna sit there and pamper it and pet it? Are we just going to sit there and say, well, you know, I need to get this out of my life. But you know, it's ruining my life and it's ruining my wife's life. It's ruining my husband's life. It's really messing with my kids. But I just want it. I love it. I desire it. And I crave it. Listen, we spend so much time pampering our sin, we spend so much time playing around with it, we spend so much time petting it, we spend so much time prancing around it. Listen, let me tell you something, we gotta get this stuff out of our life. And the Bible says right here, he says, listen, he didn't say, he didn't say, sir, if you send up some coffee and then try to sit down and reason with it. He didn't say none of that. He says, listen, he didn't say, I tell you what, you don't like old Jezebel up there, why don't we just all sit around the dinner table together and see if we can just work this thing out. You have this day, the sin can have this day, and I'll have this day. Now, is it over after midnight? Over after midnight. Listen, there comes a time in your life that we just got to, we got to just pray something's asked for. Things that don't belong, things that don't need to be there. Listen, I'm telling you, all of us, if we would search our hearts tonight, from the pulpit to the pew, we could all sit here and say, you know what? There's some things that I need to throw out of here. for some things I need to throw out. And listen, I know I'm in a house full of people, godly people here tonight, but listen, we're all a work in progress and a pull up to the pew. And as we all sit here tonight, we can think about some things that's hindering our walk with God, that is keeping us from being what God would have us to be for Him. And we would think about, but listen, what is it that I need to throw out of my life? And maybe it's that beset sin. God's knocking on the door of our heart tonight and He's saying, listen, I'm here to set you free. Who's on my side? I'm here to get rid of it for you. Who's on my side? But listen, I'm ready to tell you this, You're gonna try to get rid of it, and it's gonna paint itself up. It's gonna make itself look as good as it possibly can, and it's gonna sit here, and I'm gonna try to, your sin's gonna try to be your friend. Oh, please don't get rid of me. We've had all this good time together. Remember when we've done this years ago, and remember when we've done this last week, and remember when we've done this today, and sin will do everything it can to get you to leave it alone. But there has to come a time where you say, you know what, I gotta get rid of it. I'm gonna have to throw it out. But understand this, your sin, nor mine, wants to leave without any kick in his wheel. I imagine, I wonder in my mind, the Bible doesn't say, I just gotta think about it in my head. But I wonder whenever he said, who's on my side? I imagine those two eunuchs, three eunuchs, they sitting over here, And they're thinking to themselves, man, maybe they stay. Maybe they stay. And they walk up to her. Get out of the way! And they look down at Jayden. Jayden says, I saw the acknowledgment that he needed. Throw her down. Now get this now. Get this in your mind. Oh, here am I. Oh, Desmond, I love you here. Yeah. Doing everything she can. Yeah. Oh, just leave me in here. It's going to be OK. Oh, don't mess with him. He don't know what he's talking about. You're going to keep me here. These guys over here, look at Desmond. I imagine as they began to walk over there to her, she probably began to step back. You know what I find it amazing? Now sin is powerful again. But listen, sometimes we give sin more strength than good. And sin's not going to go out kicking and screaming. I mean, it's going to go out kicking and screaming. It's not going to go out voluntarily. So what we're going to have to do is provide a little assistance. And that means we're going to have to pick it up and throw it out. Now sit around the table and try to bargain with it. And I sit around the table and say, well, I'll tell you what, I'll let you have Monday at seven o'clock, and I'll enjoy my sin from seven to eight, and then maybe on Wednesday, and then maybe on Friday, and maybe a little bit on Sunday after church. But what we'll do is, no, he says, throw her out. How can you live your life? How can we live our life with her in here? Can't do it. You're gonna have to throw her out. So he reaches over there. I imagine both those eunuchs, they go over there. They see these guys over here that suffered for who knows how long. And Jezebel's looking at them and trying to make them think that she's all good. And they're looking at her and all they can see is, we see a man right here that has come to deliver us, to set the captives free. We see a man right here who has come to deliver us from darkness. We see a man right here that has come to give us another opportunity. We see a man right here that's come to give us another chance. And you got to go! And they walk over there too, and they want to grab a hold of her, and she's doing everything she can to get away. And they grab a hold of her, and they take her, and they just... Somebody give me an amen on that one. That's right. I'm telling you. The Bible said throw her down. He didn't say try to reason with it. That's part of the reason why we fail in our life, in our Christian life, is we got these sins. We try to print and prep and paint and all these different kinds of stuff. Listen, we just gotta throw it out. We got to throw it out and realize, listen, it wants to, it wants to doll itself up. It wants to make you think that it is over you, that it is your judge, that it is your spokesperson, that there is no way possible that you could ever have rule over. But once you turn around with the power of God, once you turn around and you take a look at it, you decide for yourself, listen, I don't need you in my life any longer. I'm going to throw you out. All of a sudden it starts backing up. I understand sin is powerful, but listen, let's not give it more strength than what it is. I understand that sin is strong. I understand that. It is no match for the power of my Savior. It is no match for the power of my Savior. Listen, I know that people are struggling, I know that people are battling, and I know what sin has done in people's lives. Listen, I get it, I understand it, I know it, but listen, I tell you what, there is one who has come, the Lord Jesus Christ who died on the old rugged cross so that you can be free, so that you can be saved and have victory over sin in your life. The Bible says right here, it says throw her down. So when you go to face your sin, you have to see for the ugliness of what it is, and it's not, it's gonna go out kicking and screaming, it's not gonna wanna leave, but don't you pay no mind to that, just like Jehu didn't, you just throw it out. Don't reason with it, don't play with it, just throw it out. The Bible says in verse 33, he said, throw her down, so they threw her down, and some of her blood sprinkled on the wall, and some on the horses, and he throwed her underfoot. Sin's assistance. They threw her out, she falls down, The Bible says she gets to the ground. Blood splatters on the wall. Blood splatters on the horses. And Jehu's sitting there on his horse. Not for us men done yet. And he gets his horse. Runs this way. Runs back. Runs back. It's J.D. Rotatieri, trotter underfoot. Listen, I'm just trying to get you to see tonight, when we throw that scent out, listen, we don't want to just, we don't want to leave it half dead. You don't want to leave it half, you don't want to leave, you don't want to leave your scent sitting there going. No, we don't want that. Because what will happen is this, you don't kill him. I'll tell you what's going to happen. You're going to throw it out. You're going to come down the steps, like the innocent. You're going to come down the steps and you're going to walk that new man. Are you okay? Let me help you get up. Let me go put you over here in my little safe place. And I'll nurture you until you get back. You gotta get rid of it. You gotta completely destroy it and annihilate it out of your life. Because your husband's worth it. Your wife is worth it. Your kids are worth it. Your church is worth it. Your country is worth it. The Bible says here in the text, they trod her underfoot. They weren't playing around. They weren't messing. They weren't going to invite sin over to dinner. They weren't going to do anything. No, we're going to take care of this thing. We're going to rid ourselves of this evil. They threw her out the window. They throwed her underfoot. And then watch this. And when he was come in, he did eat and drink. But I want you to notice something. The king never came in until Jezebel was gone out. The Bible says you can't serve two masters. There's only one throne. There's only one throne on your heart. And you gotta make sure the Lord's sitting on it. Yes, sir. Jehu never went inside until they threw Jezebel out. Right. When they threw Jezebel out, that is when the king went in. Listen, I'm telling you here tonight, we want victory in our life. We say, I want the Lord to work. I want God to move. I want God to do something. I want God to bless the family. I want all these different things. But listen, we want all of that while we still have J.U. on the outside saying, who's on my side? And Jess Bell is up here saying, listen, this is just the way it's gonna be. I'm the one that's the master. I'm the one that's in control. How are we supposed to live such a blessed life that we desire to have? as long as she's still up in the tower yelling and screaming down at us. How are we supposed to live the life that we want to live while the king's still sitting outside knocking on the door, while the king's still sitting outside hollering up there at the window, I want to come in, I want to help you, I want to bless you, I want to show you the way, I want to bring light into your life, I want to set you free. How is that supposed to happen? We don't ever get Jezebel that way. Nicky never came in, but Jezebel was home. I'm just trying to get us to say tonight, Jesus said himself, no man can serve two masters. He'll either hate the one or love the other. We got to get the Jezebels' sin, the wickedness, the evil, we got to get this stuff out of our life. We're not going to pramp around it. We're not going to pet it. We're not going to try to read That's how you get rid of it. You gotta get it out. And it's gonna go out kickin' and screamin'. How many of you got kids here tonight? You've heard the kickin' and screamin' before? It ain't gonna bother you none. Throw it out. Get that stuff out of your life. If I was sitting here in the text, notice he says here, and when he was come in, he did eat and drink and said, go see now this cursed woman. and bury her, for she is a king's daughter. There in verse 34, what you see here is that he desired to come in, and when he came in, the Bible says he sat down to eat and drink. That sounds kind of, what in the world is that all about? You know, as I studied this, it was just amazing to me how I'll see here in the book of Revelation, when the Lord Jesus is giving that invitation to come, how the Bible says that he is in essence knocking on the door, and desires to come in and eat and sub with us. But how can he when Jezebel is still the master? When Jezebel's still declaring to be the master in our life, how can he come in and still be the Lord of our life while Jezebel's sitting on the throne? We see here in this verse, he says here, And whenever he was coming in to eat and drink, and he said, go see now this cursed woman, bury her, for she is the king's daughter. He desired to come in and have fellowship. Isn't that what the Lord desires to do in our life? To free us from darkness, to set us free from sin, and to come in and fellowship with us. What did God say in Isaiah, what, chapter one, verse 18, 19? Come now, let us read this together. God has a desire to fellowship with his people. But I believe for many people today, he's on the outside, he's hollering up at the window. I sure would like to come in there. They're going to have to get Jezebel out. The Bible shows us here in the text, he said barrier, verse 36. And wherefore they came again, told him, and said, this is, sorry, verse 35, they said, they went to barrier, but they found no more than her skull and her feet and the palms of her hands. There's a message in this, I haven't preached it yet, but I've entitled it Three Things That Dogs Won't Eat. But you take that and you run with it, I don't know what you can come up with it, but I'm sure there's something there. Maybe they didn't eat her head because of all the wickedness that she conceived. Maybe they didn't eat her feet because of all the wicked places that she went. Maybe they didn't eat the palm of her hands because of all the wicked things that they had done. But verse 36, wherefore they came again and told him, and he said, this is the word of the Lord, which he spake by a certain Elijah the Tishbite, saying, in the portion of Jezreel shall the dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel. That prophecy was spoken in 1 Kings 21, verse 23. In verse 37, and the carcass of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field. So what we're going to do is there in verse 34 is we're going to completely abandon this sin. In verse 8, I believe we see sins of horrence in verses 35 to 37. In verse 37, the last one, I think we see sin's appraisal. There in verse 37, the Bible says, and the carcass of Jezebel shall be as dumb upon the face of the field, and the portion of Jezebel, watch this now, so that they shall not say, this is Jezebel. When J.D. came in, after they threw Jezebel out, J.D. came in, and he began to fellowship with everybody. He said, now listen, in essence, We're gonna start this ain't over. We're gonna start this ain't over, man. And since we're gonna start this ain't over, what we're gonna do is we walk out here, listen, God done said all this sin, we don't wanna remember it no more. It's all gone. Aren't you glad that when you got saved, God washed your sins away? Aren't you glad that when you got saved, He forgave you completely and totally? Yes. The Bible says there in verse 37, He said, The carcass of Jezebel, which is a pitcher of sin, shall be as dung upon the face of the field, and the portion of Jezebel, so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel. What He didn't want was, He didn't want the body of Jezebel being anywhere because that would be a memorial to her. Listen, I don't need a remembrance of my sin, and neither do you. You know what that does? Not only does it set us free from the sin, but it also sets us free, if we allow ourselves to be free, of the guilt of it. Listen, God don't want to revisit your sin. The Bible says that as far as the east is from the west, cast into the depths of the sea, cast behind us to be remembered anymore. Listen, God don't want to look at your sin. He don't want to think about your sin. He don't want to remember your sin anymore. Neither should we. Neither should we. He says, listen, we're going to start this thing over and we're not going to set up a memorial for this sin. We're not going to set up a memorial for this wickedness. You know what we're going to do? We're going to, from this point on, we're going to move whatsoever. That old life, all those things, all that wretchedness, all that evil, all that stuff, man, it has no value whatsoever. We don't want to remember it. We don't want nothing else to do with it. We're not going to set up a memorial to go back to it. What we're going to do is we're going to start right here and we're going to move forward and we're going to act like it was never there. It's no longer there. to start completely over. I don't know about you, but I like the idea of starting over. Yes, sir. I guarantee you, if it was all to raise our hands, you don't have to here tonight, but in your heart you can, how many of us in our life would say, you know what, preacher, I need to start over. I need to start over. I done told you I had to start over this morning. I had to start over every day. God, please help me to live for you and be the man of God that I need to be. You're sitting here today and you're not saved. Don't let your sin and don't let the devil tower over you and make you think that you can't win. Make you think that by getting rid of him, getting rid of this sin, get rid of the worldliness and the wickedness and the evil out of your life, that it's not gonna bring you that which you desire. God could do far more for you. Let us pray here this evening. As the musician prepares to come and give his song invitation, I don't know where you're at here tonight in your life with the Lord. It could be you're here this evening and you're not saved. It could be that you've never trusted Christ as your personal savior. And I promise you here this evening that if you do, it'll be the greatest thing you've ever done. And me standing here this evening, I can't save you. But all I can do is point you to the one who can. I don't know what you're battling with and what you're struggling with here tonight. It may seem like it's towering over you. It may seem like it's taunting you. But I just want you to see that God can give you that which you need. God can change your life. He can help you tonight if you let him. If you're here this evening, you've never accepted Christ as your personal savior as a musician plays whenever he gets ready. If you're here tonight, you've never accepted Christ, nobody's looking at me and God. But listen, I gotta ask you, how long are you gonna let Jezebel be the master? How long are you gonna let the sin run your life and continue to ruin your life? when there is a God in heaven who has sent his only begotten son to die on a cross for you? How long are we going to allow ourselves to continuously every day be afflicted by this sin? To be afflicted by the devil? How long are we going to allow ourselves to keep doing that? Or is today going to be the day where you say, you know what? I'm ready to start over. I'm ready for things to be done. Today, I want to change my life. I promise you, no matter what you've done, no matter where you've been, you want to be cleansed, you want to be saved, you can be. My Bible tells me that where sin abounds, grace much more abounds. There is no sin that could stain the soul so bad that the blood of Jesus can't wash away. And you can call out to Him tonight, and Christ can completely change your life. If you're here this evening, nobody's looking but me and God. Say, you know what, preacher, if I died today, I don't know if I'd go to heaven. Or I know, I've never accepted Christ as my Savior, but tonight I sure would like to. Things need to change. I got some things I need to throw out. Tonight I want to get that done. Preacher, I want to get saved. Now, anybody like that here this evening? Slip your hand up so I can see you. Anybody like that anywhere? Preacher, I need to get saved. It could be that you're just sitting here tonight and you're saying, you know what? I do just have some things that I need to get rid of. There are some things I need to cast out. Preacher, would you pray for me about that? I just, I need some strength today. Anybody like that here this evening? I see hands up all over. And what we're gonna do is, if I can get us to stand here for just a moment, we're gonna open up the altar. If you wanna come and pray. I encourage you to come. Listen, don't let this just be another message that I just heard. Let God move in. Change your life. Whatever sin that it could be. Whatever it is that is keeping you away from the King. You know what it is? You can call it by name. Listen, sometimes it can be bitterness. Sometimes it can just be anger that we have in our hearts. don't always have to be about alcohol and drugs and these types of things. Sometimes we're just angry and sometimes we're just bitter in our soul and spirit. Lord's hollering, who's on my side? Don't let Jezebel continue to stand there and keep you away. but make a decision today for you and your spouse and your kids and your church and your nation because it all begins in homes all across America just like yours and just like mine. We can change Not just ourselves to the power of God, but God can change our families. He can change our churches. He can mold our communities and even our nation. I believe it with all my heart. Maybe it is you're sitting here tonight and you're saying, you know what preacher, I do have two masters. and I'm struggling and I'm battling tonight. I want the King to come in and fellowship and I want to enjoy the presence of the King, but at the same time, I'm enjoying Jezebel. Listen, you can't have them both. You gotta make a decision in your life.