When Dry Rot Sets in

There is a slow regression that can occur in the people of God if they are not watchful against it, of which I speak, friends, is the rotting condition of spiritual decay. This pulling away in our affections towards God begins in the closet, in our prayer lives. The first signs of spiritual decay in the life of a believer will manifest itself by prayerlessness.

You no longer carry a spirit of prayer with you throughout the day. Prayerlessness, if left unchecked, will lead to a neglect of duty because the spiritual decay is like dry rot in a tree. I used to live in a forest, and trees were always coming down by a bad storm because of dry rot in the root of the tree.

Once that occurred, the first big windstorm that came along would topple that tree. That's why it's so dangerous in the life of a church and the life of a Christian, because if you allow spiritual dry rot to set up in your daily living, then don't be surprised if you end up falling somehow. It hurts the church when a leader in a denomination falls into moral sin, but if you were to look closely in his life, you would find spiritual dry rot already there, and he was a big tree just waiting to be blown down.

Like I said, prayerlessness, if unchecked, will lead to neglect of duty, and this will lead to half-heartedness in our affections toward God. And it is here, friends, where the spiritual decay sets in like dry rot in a tree, because half-heartedness toward God will turn into apathy towards the spread of the gospel and indifference to the lost and perishing. I have a tear-stained globe of the world that I have spent countless hours with my hands on the nations, interceding for the people there in intercessory prayer and agonizing over them to such a degree that my tears have stained that globe all over it.

I want us to look at several scripture passages today, friends, with the express purpose of diagnosing our own spiritual condition before God to see if we have allowed dry rot to set in. The title of my message today is When Dry Rot Sets In, and my text can be found in the book of 2 Kings. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends.

We will be in a haunting passage of scripture because it haunts the conscience when you dig into it. Chapter 10 of 2 Kings sticks out like a sore thumb, and it should be a warning to each of us personally. Chapter 10 highlights the exploits of King Jehu, the half-hearted king.

He typifies half-hearted service to God. I believe we can learn a lot from this old boy Jehu. We're going to put his reign under a microscope today, friends, and see how he holds up under scrutiny of God's word.

I wonder if your own life was put under a microscope and the Holy Spirit shined his light of holy scrutiny upon you, how would you come out? Would we want to see it, or would we want to turn away? Let me give you the backdrop of chapter 10 and the deeds of this man Jehu, who reigned over Israel and Samaria for 28 years. Jehu is anointed king over Israel by the prophet Elijah, and immediately he goes to the bloody work of assassination. He assassinates Joram, then he assassinates Azahiah, the king of Judah, then bloody Jehu assassinates Jezebel, then he goes on a killing spree to completely wipe out the family of King Ahab, with nothing less than their complete extermination in view, and he ends up with a basket of 70 heads.

Then this old bloodthirsty boy goes after all the Baal worshippers, and he hews them down, and he collects all the images of Baal, and takes them out and burns them. I don't believe you'd want to be on the bad side of this fella Jehu. I want to pick up our story today, friends, in verse 27.

And they break down the images of Baal, and break down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day. Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel. Let me pause here, friends, to call your attention to the very next word of the next verse.

How be it? That's an enlightening word, friends, because it throws light on what Jehu did and do. It reveals his half-hearted service to God. Listen.

How be it? From the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan. Let me pause here, friends, to say Jehu only went so far in his service to Jehovah. He got rid of Ahab's family, and got rid of the Baal worship in the land, but the zeal he pretended for the Lord was really zeal for himself and his own advancement.

He was not jealous for God's glory. He left the golden calves alone. He knew if he went too far in cleaning up idols, then he may make some of his deacons mad.

So he left the golden calves alone, because the people enjoyed them. God commends Jehu in the next verse for his obedience and fulfilling the prophecy of God and destroying Jezebel and the house of Ahab. But what stands out in black print on white paper is verse 31, which reads, But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart, for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.

I will stop there, friends. I believe what happened to King Jehu can happen to a pastor. I believe it can happen to a church.

We're services commendable unto God as we serve him over here, but over there in our Bethel and in our Dan there is a calf lowing, if I may so speak. We really haven't cleaned up the house of God, but did it really for ourselves. We didn't want to upset the ones in our church who hold the reins of power, so we did just enough cleaning up to satisfy them.

How be it we stopped there and left their golden calves alone. How be it with your church, brother pastor? How be it with you, friend?