1 00:00:01,880 --> 00:00:11,560 Second Kings chapter 3, in the 18th year of Jehoshaphat. 2 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:13,440 That's how you would see it in the Hebrew. 3 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:19,240 Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. Jehoram, or Jehoram the son of 4 00:00:19,240 --> 00:00:23,520 Ahab, became king over Israel and Samaria, and he reigned 12 5 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:25,880 years. He did what was evil in the 6 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:29,240 sight of the Lord, though not like his father and mother, for 7 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:33,280 he put away the pillar of the owl that his father had made. 8 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:38,280 Nevertheless he clung to the sin of Jeroboam, the son of the bat, 9 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:44,920 which he made Israel to sin. He did not depart from it. 10 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:50,720 Lord, we ask that You bless the reading, the proclamation, the 11 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:53,600 hearing, and the application of Your Word. 12 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:58,680 Give us great help, unction, excitement, clarity of thought 13 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:05,040 so that we can leave here equipped, furnished, washed by 14 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:08,200 Your Word. We ask these things trusting in 15 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:10,000 the help, in the ministry of the Holy Spirit. 16 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,920 Amen. So before we advance, I think 17 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:18,760 it's important to retrace our steps because this will 18 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:23,080 unclutter our thinking and it will give us greater clarity of 19 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:26,240 the setting of this passage that is before us today. 20 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:31,720 At the end of the Book of First Kings, the Holy Spirit focuses 21 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:35,040 on the reign of one particular king of the northern Kingdom of 22 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:36,600 Israel. Who was he? 23 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:39,840 His name starts with the letter A. 24 00:01:42,320 --> 00:01:44,520 Oh no. What happened? 25 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:47,240 Ahab. Remember Ahab? 26 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:55,840 We focused on Ahab, and after Ahab had died, his son Ahaziah 27 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:58,520 succeeded him. That's what we see in the final 28 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:00,320 verses of the Book of First Kings. 29 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:04,160 And we study the brief reign of Ahaziah in the beginning of the 30 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:10,080 Book of Second Kings. And after Ahaziah died, we read 31 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:16,640 in these verses that Isaiah's brother Jeho Ram became king 32 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:19,280 over Israel. Now here's my first question. 33 00:02:19,640 --> 00:02:23,440 Why didn't any of Ahaziah's sons succeed him? 34 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:28,400 Why was it that his brother seized the throne instead? 35 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:37,280 Any idea? He did not have any sons and 36 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:40,440 that's not speculation. That's what you find in verse 17 37 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:44,920 of Second Kings chapter one. We read that Isaiah, he had no 38 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:48,560 sons. Now during the administration of 39 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:50,440 these 3 kings, right? Remember, we have the northern 40 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:52,880 Kingdom of Israel. We have the Kingdom of Judah. 41 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:57,320 During the administration of these 3 kings, you had Ahab, 42 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:02,600 Isaiah, Jehoram. There was one king, a primary 43 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:03,920 king at least. I don't want to make it too 44 00:03:03,920 --> 00:03:08,080 confusing, but there was one primary ruler governing the 45 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:09,800 southern Kingdom. What was his name? 46 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:17,240 Oh, no, we just read it. Say it. 47 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:19,200 Yes. Jehoshaphat. 48 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,120 Jehoshaphat. So Jehoshaphat was the one who 49 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:25,560 was ruling and reigning during the administration of these 3 50 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:28,680 kings. And we remember him, I hope we 51 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:31,920 remember that Jehoshaphat made a marriage alliance with who? 52 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:36,240 Ahab. He made a marriage alliance with 53 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:38,160 Ahab. And did that bless him, or did 54 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:39,440 that get him out of a lot of trouble? 55 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:45,720 A lot of trouble. Moreover, he partnered with 56 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:49,120 Isaiah, the son of Ahab. Did that get him in trouble as 57 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:51,280 well? It did get him in trouble, and 58 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:55,120 the trouble is only going to continue as he converges with 59 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:58,280 Joe Ram. We're going to see that in a 60 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:02,040 moment here, and I hope our vision is clarified a little bit 61 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:05,240 more to give us enough confidence now to understanding 62 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:07,840 the context of what is taking place here. 63 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:12,000 Now, there is more to know about Joe Ram other than the fact that 64 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,080 he was the brother of his I and the son of Ahab. 65 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,959 We read here that he was unsurprising to us, an evil man, 66 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:26,000 but he was not as evil as we might think, because the author 67 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:27,560 tells us that. Look at verse two. 68 00:04:27,840 --> 00:04:30,760 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, though not 69 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:34,320 like his father and mother, for he put away the pillar of Baal 70 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,680 that his father had made. Now who would, who would the 71 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:40,400 father of Jairam be? Remind me? 72 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:45,040 Ahab, right? So if Ahab is Jairam's father, 73 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:48,400 who would his mother be? Good, good, good, good. 74 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:49,320 Jezebel. That's right. 75 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:58,080 Now under score this that he was not like his father or mother 76 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:02,080 for one main reason. It says here that he put away 77 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:05,680 the pillar of bail that his father had made. 78 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:09,680 Evidently, there was some sort of monument that was dedicated, 79 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:13,560 a significant one that was placed in public view, and Jared 80 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:21,680 Ram moved that he hid it because we're not exactly told why, but 81 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:26,680 we can assume that he witnessing his father's life and the 82 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:30,800 outcome of bail ISM how bail failed his father was probably 83 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:35,280 the greatest motivation for him to disassociate himself with 84 00:05:35,280 --> 00:05:39,840 this particular idol. And if that is the case, if 85 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:43,000 that's the reason why he does this, then we can applaud him 86 00:05:43,840 --> 00:05:48,280 for having wisdom. Wisdom and learning of the 87 00:05:48,280 --> 00:05:52,680 faults and the sins of others and applying it to your own 88 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:55,160 life. But it's a limited wisdom. 89 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:58,680 It's not complete wisdom. Why? 90 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:01,240 Because although he removes himself and separates himself 91 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:04,760 from one idol, we learn what he clings to other idols. 92 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:07,400 What are the other idols? Verse 3. 93 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:09,920 Nevertheless, he clung to the sin of Jeroboam, the son of 94 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:12,560 Nabat, which he made Israel to sin. 95 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:17,480 He did not depart from it. What were the idols that 96 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:20,520 Jeroboam created that caused Israel to stumble? 97 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:32,080 There were No2 what? 2 golden calves. 98 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:36,440 You remember that right? 2 golden calves 1 he set up in 99 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:38,440 Dan and the other place he set up where? 100 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:44,040 Bethel right? This is why we're doing this, 101 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:47,080 because I don't want to move on and and things evaporate every 102 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:48,320 chapter. I want us to be able to have 103 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:51,600 these things concrete. So you had Dan and Bethel, 2 104 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:55,920 golden calves. These are the idols that Jeremy 105 00:06:55,920 --> 00:07:03,280 chose to keep and to protect. Why would he do that? 106 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:10,880 Well, he's a reminder to us that forsaking some sin, removing 107 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:14,480 some idols from our lives does not ultimately make us 108 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:19,880 righteous. We must abandon all known sin if 109 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:22,400 we want to truly be pleasing to God. 110 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:27,640 And his choice of idols shows us why there are people who cling 111 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:30,480 to certain sins over others. Think about it. 112 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:36,920 He saw what Baal ISM did to his father, to his Kingdom, and so 113 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:39,080 it was easy for him to say no thanks. 114 00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:44,360 But the reason why Jeroboam created those idols was because 115 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:47,720 he did not want the people from the Northern Kingdom to unite 116 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:50,560 themselves to the Southern Kingdom, because they would have 117 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:52,960 to go to Jerusalem to worship at the temple. 118 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:56,440 And so Jeroboam thinks of this genius but wicked idea. 119 00:07:56,640 --> 00:08:00,920 Let me create idols within the boundaries of my domain and keep 120 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:04,160 the people to myself. And I believe Jeroboam is the 121 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:08,080 one who is understanding this and following in that pattern, 122 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:10,280 seeing that there is an advantage to him and keeping 123 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:13,440 these idols. And people today are no 124 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:14,800 different. They are selected with their 125 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:19,320 repentance. So they give up certain sins, 126 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:21,480 but they hold on to others. They give up certain patterns 127 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:27,440 while holding on to others. God wants complete surrender, 128 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:31,560 total devotion. And if you want to be able to 129 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:35,640 identify what idols in your life, if there are any, hope 130 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:37,559 they're not. But what idols in your life are 131 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:39,280 the ones that are most difficult to get rid of? 132 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:42,720 I want you to just sit back and imagine the Lord asking of you, 133 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:46,760 not just of everything that that in theory is very easy to, to 134 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:48,880 agree with. I give up everything to you, 135 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:52,600 Lord, No Think of particular things in your life and ask 136 00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:55,760 yourself, am I willing to let go of this if the Lord were to ask 137 00:08:55,760 --> 00:09:02,200 me to give it up? In this particular case, he was 138 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:05,400 selective. That's not going to be good for 139 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:09,000 him, as we're about to discover. He's still deemed as evil. 140 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:13,360 Now we read in verse 4. Now Mesha, king of Moab was a 141 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:16,520 sheep breeder and he had to deliver to the king of Israel 142 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:20,960 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 Rams. 143 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:26,040 But when Ahab died, the king of Mohab rebelled against the king 144 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:29,000 of Israel. Now we study this in depth. 145 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:32,720 Remember in the opening study of the Book of Second Kings how 146 00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:35,880 Moab was subservient to Israel since the days of David. 147 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:41,120 Remember David captured Moab and they were slaves to Israel and 148 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:43,440 they had to pay a tax, and this is the tax. 149 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:49,920 But it wasn't until Ahab was defeated by Syria where Moab saw 150 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:52,680 an opportunity to free themselves from the clutches of 151 00:09:52,680 --> 00:09:54,040 Israel. And they did so. 152 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:59,640 And we understood that when Moab, which is east to Israel, 153 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:05,520 right, it's modern day Jordan, when Moab freed themselves from 154 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:10,520 Israel, we determined that that was a providential thing to 155 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:14,880 cause a Heziah who took Ahab's place to to call out to God to 156 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:18,200 see this disturbance and for him to self examine and to 157 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:21,400 ultimately seek the Lord, which he failed to do. 158 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:27,320 But a Heziah's brother Jairam will not be, will not be like 159 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:28,840 that. He will not accept this. 160 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:32,520 He will not even be slothful in dealing with it. 161 00:10:33,200 --> 00:10:37,360 Almost right away, he makes his top priority emergency protocol. 162 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:42,280 He comes up with a plan to try to regain what his brother had 163 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:45,360 lost. And we're going to see what's 164 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:47,480 going to happen now. Following that, let's read verse 165 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:50,360 6. So King Joram marched out of 166 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:54,160 Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel. 167 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:58,480 And he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. 168 00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:03,040 The king of Moab has rebelled against me. 169 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:06,560 Will you go with me to battle against Moab? 170 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:11,840 And he said, I will go. I am as you are, my people as 171 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:14,600 your people, my horses as your horses. 172 00:11:15,560 --> 00:11:17,640 Then he said, By which way shall we March? 173 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:20,480 Joram answered By the way of the wilderness of Edom. 174 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:28,400 Does Joram's invitation and Jehoshaphat's response sound 175 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:31,200 familiar? It does, right? 176 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:34,880 Because it is almost identical to the interaction that we 177 00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:37,160 studied between Ahab and Jehoshaphat. 178 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:39,520 Remember, Ahab is Jerem's father. 179 00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:42,520 Let's revisit it. Go to 1st Kings with me, chapter 180 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:46,400 22, First Kings 22. Look with me at verse 4. 181 00:11:49,560 --> 00:11:55,760 This is when Ahab wanted to go to war with Syria, and he wants 182 00:11:55,760 --> 00:12:01,280 Jehoshaphat to join him. And he says here, and he said to 183 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:04,520 Jehoshaphat, will you go with me to battle at Ramoth Gilead? 184 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:09,560 And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as you are my 185 00:12:09,560 --> 00:12:15,000 people, as your people, my horses as your horses. 186 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:20,400 Is it surprising that Jehoram asked Jehoshaphat to join him in 187 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:22,560 battle? It's not surprising. 188 00:12:22,560 --> 00:12:23,680 Why? Because there was a marriage 189 00:12:23,680 --> 00:12:25,280 alliance between these two families. 190 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:31,360 What might be and should be shocking to us is Jehoshaphat's 191 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:35,360 relapse into the tendency of what being unequally yoked. 192 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:41,800 Did this guy not learn his lesson from working with Ahab? 193 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:48,680 He almost died when he yoked himself to a wicked man, and for 194 00:12:48,680 --> 00:12:52,160 a brief moment there looked like that he did in fact learn his 195 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:54,000 lesson. But now we come to this point 196 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:57,080 and we realized that he actually didn't. 197 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:03,600 Is there any indication to why this man is willing to put 198 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:07,160 himself at risk of doing something that he knows God told 199 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:10,600 him not to do beforehand? There is explanation. 200 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:16,720 There is a complimentary story in the Bible. 201 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:22,560 It's not found in First Kings. It's not found in Second Kings. 202 00:13:23,560 --> 00:13:26,280 But something happens. Pay pay attention to this. 203 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:31,840 Something happens after Jehoshaphat's fallout with Ahab 204 00:13:33,560 --> 00:13:37,360 and before his treaty with Joram. 205 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:41,160 Something happens in between after his fallout with Ahab and 206 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:45,720 before he goes to war in this chapter, and we find that 207 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:47,680 incident in the book of Second Chronicles. 208 00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:50,920 So you have to turn there. It's found in chapter 20. 209 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:56,560 There is a war that takes place in that interval period of time, 210 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:00,040 and the reason why 1st and 2nd Kings doesn't mention it, the 211 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:04,040 reason why the Chronicler includes it in his writings is 212 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:08,520 because the Chronicler is more interested in depicting and 213 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:11,360 revealing the history of the Southern Kingdom. 214 00:14:12,560 --> 00:14:14,240 And that's why we find this story here. 215 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:16,600 But look at verse one of Second Chronicles chapter 20. 216 00:14:18,680 --> 00:14:20,960 After this. Those two words are important. 217 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:22,440 You know why? Because when you read the 218 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:27,240 previous chapters, you will learn of Ahab's partnership with 219 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:29,360 Jehoshaphat when they went to war together. 220 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:31,640 That's also found in Kings. It's also found in Chronicles. 221 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:37,400 So after this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of 222 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:41,240 the Meonite came against Jehoshaphat for battle. 223 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:44,560 Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, A great multitude 224 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:47,920 is coming against you from Edom from beyond the sea, and behold 225 00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:51,000 they are in hazards on Tamar, that is in Getty. 226 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:55,760 Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, 227 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:58,880 and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 228 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:02,120 And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord. 229 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:06,160 From all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. 230 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:13,000 So here we have a coalition that arose against the Kingdom of 231 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:16,480 Judah. Josephat responds in fear. 232 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:20,440 He is absolutely terrified, but he does the right thing. 233 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:22,800 He seeks the Lord. And what you have in here is one 234 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:26,120 of the most outstanding testimonies of prayer in all of 235 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:28,880 the Bible. It's an incredible chapter. 236 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:32,920 And the reason why victory will come is because of that. 237 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:37,200 There was a simple yet desperate faith that Jehoshaphat had, and 238 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,400 he led the people to have as well the people under his care. 239 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:43,800 We don't have time to read obviously the entire chapter, 240 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:48,240 but victory comes against this coalition and we read it. 241 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:53,720 Look down at verse 23. For the men of Amon and Moab 242 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:56,520 rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to 243 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:58,760 destruction. And when they had made an end of 244 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:02,360 the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one 245 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:05,480 another. So something weird happens that 246 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:08,200 these armies that were working together at one point now stop 247 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:13,560 and begin to kill each other. When Judah came to the 248 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:16,480 Watchtower of the Wilderness, they look toward the horde and 249 00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:19,640 behold, there were dead bodies lying on the ground. 250 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:24,600 None had escaped. It's marvelous. 251 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:30,160 It's a supernatural account. And this victory provides more 252 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:34,760 explanation as to why Jeho Ram wanted Jehoshaphat to go to war 253 00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:38,520 with them, right? But it also provides 254 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:41,760 explanation, makes sense of Jehoshaphat's eagerness to agree 255 00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:45,800 with it in this coalition. Did you notice who was 256 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:50,800 mentioned? The Moabites, The same people 257 00:16:50,800 --> 00:16:53,200 who rebelled against the people of Israel, the same people that 258 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:55,480 Jehoram wants to go to war against. 259 00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:04,119 Perhaps Jehoshaphat saw Jehoram's invitation to go to 260 00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:09,560 war with Moab as an opportunity to put a final end to a 261 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:12,560 potentially recurring threat, namely the Moabites. 262 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:19,040 And he was so fixated on defeating the Moabites, I'm sure 263 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:23,640 that he did not even regard the consequences of being unequally 264 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:28,200 yoked with with evil people, even though he almost died in a 265 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:32,800 similar situation. I believe that Jehoshaphat, in 266 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:37,400 agreeing to go to war with Jehoram against the Moabites, is 267 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:42,120 encouraged by fear. And you have to learn from 268 00:17:42,120 --> 00:17:45,840 Jehoshaphat, please, that you and I are more prone to 269 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:49,160 compromise our convictions and even overlook the potential 270 00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:55,600 consequences of our compromise. When you make your decisions out 271 00:17:55,600 --> 00:18:00,000 of fear, when you allow your decision making to be influenced 272 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:06,720 by alarm or agitation. I'm currently reading the book 273 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:09,360 of Jeremiah. I'm almost done in my personal 274 00:18:09,360 --> 00:18:14,600 devotions and separate from this, I was just overwhelmed by 275 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:19,520 the different characters in that story that made very foolish 276 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:24,480 decisions because of fear. They even outright rebelled 277 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:27,640 against some of the clear commands of the Lord because 278 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:32,480 they were so overcome by dread. Fear is possessive. 279 00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:38,840 Fear is intoxicating. Fear has a way of blurring your 280 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:44,840 judgement and rewiring the way you understand things and 281 00:18:44,840 --> 00:18:48,200 events. It's very powerful. 282 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:52,880 Some people are willing to again overlook the consequences of 283 00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:57,520 what that fear is leading to do because it is so persuasive and 284 00:18:57,560 --> 00:19:05,240 and one of the consequences of revisiting sin, any sin, when 285 00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:10,520 you find yourself in a cycle of compromise, it will eventually 286 00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:15,400 change you. We don't often think about that 287 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:19,040 when we think about unequally yoked relationships, among other 288 00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:23,640 things, we think about the physical, relational, financial 289 00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:25,360 harm that we might place ourselves in. 290 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:29,520 But rarely do people talk about this outcome of sin, that when 291 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:36,200 you sit in it long enough, it alters you, it mutates you, it 292 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:43,520 has the ability of changing you. And here you have Jehoshaphat 293 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:46,000 now who is compromising yet again. 294 00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:51,760 This is his third time out of three kings that he chooses to 295 00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:53,600 work with when he shouldn't have. 296 00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:58,680 And you'll notice a change in Jehoshaphat very early on in 297 00:19:58,680 --> 00:19:59,880 this chapter saying, what do you mean? 298 00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:04,440 Look at verse 8 again. So after he told Jehoram, my 299 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:07,120 horses are as your horses, my people are as your people. 300 00:20:08,120 --> 00:20:11,080 It says here in the ESV. Then he said, By which way shall 301 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:13,800 we March? Jarem answered by the way of the 302 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:19,920 wilderness of Edom. Compare that to how he responded 303 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:22,600 to Ahab. Remember with Ahab he said, My 304 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:25,400 people as your people, my horses, your horses. 305 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:27,360 But what does he say right after that? 306 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:31,040 Go to 1st Kings 22. Look at verse 4 again, and look 307 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:36,880 at verse 5. And he said to Jehoshaphat, Will 308 00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:39,360 you go with me to battle at Ramoth Gilead? 309 00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:43,040 And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as you are, my 310 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:45,760 people, as your people, my horses as your horses. 311 00:20:46,120 --> 00:20:50,320 And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, inquire first for the 312 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:55,920 word of the Lord. Did he say that, that he asked 313 00:20:55,920 --> 00:21:00,640 for that with Joram? No. 314 00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:03,160 What do you say? All right, what's the plan? 315 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:06,480 How do we get this thing going? I'm ready. 316 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:10,200 Let's go. He does not inquire of the Lord. 317 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:14,240 There's no impulse to pray. There's no mindfulness of God. 318 00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:18,400 Instead, there is this hurriedness to move along with 319 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:20,440 the project. Do you know what this means? 320 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:25,160 It means that the longer we compromise, the more you are 321 00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:30,520 likely to change. I see it all the time. 322 00:21:32,360 --> 00:21:36,320 Things that used to prick your conscience no longer bother you. 323 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:41,800 Words and profanities that you would never have used are 324 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:43,680 starting to become part of your vocabulary. 325 00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:47,760 Emotions that you were able to have control over by the power 326 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:51,200 of the Holy Spirit now overtake you with ease. 327 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:57,480 Matters that you would once pray about, you no longer seek the 328 00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:02,080 Lord for. And the dreadful possibilities 329 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:09,240 go on and on and on when you and I repeatedly revisit the same 330 00:22:10,120 --> 00:22:15,560 compromise. But you know you can praise God 331 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:19,640 for something. In light of that saying, what do 332 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:22,320 you mean? If you truly belong to the Lord, 333 00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:27,400 He will not allow you to remain in such a condition without His 334 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:30,240 intervention. And that's exactly what's going 335 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:32,560 to happen here. We're about to read something 336 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:34,760 that we've seen in so many Bible studies in the past. 337 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:38,400 Look at verse nine. So the king of Israel went with 338 00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:40,960 the king of Judah and the king of Edom. 339 00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:45,080 And when they had made a circulus March of seven days, 340 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:49,880 there was no water for the army or for the animals that followed 341 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:55,800 them. We always pay a price when we 342 00:22:55,800 --> 00:23:01,520 fail to put God first. Always the price might look 343 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:05,160 different every time, but there is always a cost. 344 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:08,000 They failed to acknowledge the Lord. 345 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:11,800 And even though earlier Jehoshaphat shouldn't have 346 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:15,720 worked with Ahab, he at least had a spiritual sensitivity to 347 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:18,360 say, can we first seek a word from a prophet? 348 00:23:18,360 --> 00:23:20,480 He doesn't do that here. And guess what? 349 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:23,120 They're going to pay for it. They wander in the wilderness 350 00:23:23,120 --> 00:23:27,200 for days and they put themselves on a very dangerous predicament. 351 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:33,920 They, they have no water left. And I look at this and I think 352 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:38,240 to myself, if it was God's will for them to go to battle with 353 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:42,120 Moab to begin with, surely if they sought the Lord, he would 354 00:23:42,120 --> 00:23:45,760 have given them instructions to maximize their efficiency and 355 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:50,520 minimize their distress. You know this very well. 356 00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:53,160 You probably have this verse somewhere on a coffee cup in 357 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:58,160 your house. Proverbs 3/6 In all your ways do 358 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:02,120 what? Acknowledge Him and what's the 359 00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:05,200 promise he will make straight your path. 360 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:12,040 In some of your ways. In all of your ways all means 361 00:24:12,040 --> 00:24:14,160 all. It's not cryptic. 362 00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:17,920 All means all. In all your ways acknowledge Him 363 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:21,480 and the promises He'll make straight your path. 364 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:26,960 I hope you develop that habit. I hope you developed the habit 365 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:32,800 of inviting the Lord and all your affairs, that when you want 366 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:34,480 to move somewhere, you invite the Lord. 367 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:37,800 When you want to purchase something, you ask the Lord. 368 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:41,480 I'm not talking about being overly spiritual and crippling 369 00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:44,440 where you become legalistic. That's not what I'm saying. 370 00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:48,240 But with a joyful heart, when you are aware that you can make 371 00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:53,120 a blunder here, that you would call the Lord to deposit His 372 00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:59,240 wisdom and His leading, He's faithful to do that in all your 373 00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:00,400 ways. Acknowledge him and he will make 374 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:02,240 straight your path. But what does that mean? 375 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:04,080 That seems so general. He'll make straight your path, 376 00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:05,320 but you have to look at the context. 377 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:08,760 There are blessings around that in the same chapter of Proverbs 378 00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:11,880 that give us an indication of what we inherit. 379 00:25:12,120 --> 00:25:15,160 When you make it a discipline to say, Lord, I'm, I'm putting you 380 00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:19,360 before me now, I'm putting you before me in these plans, I'm 381 00:25:19,360 --> 00:25:22,280 putting you before me in these desires, I'm putting you before 382 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:26,000 me. Is this what you want here? 383 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:27,920 Here it is. Look at Proverbs 3-4. 384 00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:30,120 Proverbs 3/6 was acknowledge Him in all your ways. 385 00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:34,240 Proverbs 3-4 Listen to this. So you will find favor and good 386 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:36,320 success in the sight of God and man. 387 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:42,640 You will find favor and good success in the sight of God and 388 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:45,960 man. Look at Proverbs 32 for length 389 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:48,840 of days and years of life and peace. 390 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:52,200 They will add to you. What is he talking about here? 391 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:53,680 He's talking about the commands of the Lord. 392 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:56,160 This is what the Father is saying to his son. 393 00:25:56,280 --> 00:25:57,520 And one of those commands are what? 394 00:25:57,520 --> 00:25:58,880 Acknowledge the Lord in all your ways. 395 00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:02,400 That's the context. So look at these blessings that 396 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:07,840 are attached to an individual who makes it a practice to say, 397 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:11,320 Lord, I'm acknowledging you. I'm inviting you into this 398 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:15,720 length of days and years of life. 399 00:26:16,120 --> 00:26:18,880 That's wonderful, but it's actually a curse if you don't 400 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:22,560 have peace with it, right? Peace. 401 00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:24,280 We're talking about peace. We're talking about favor, we're 402 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:28,880 talking about good success and it's exclusive to those who make 403 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:32,120 it their heart desire to say, Lord, I want your will. 404 00:26:32,120 --> 00:26:37,200 Please, I put this before you may become our reflex as we 405 00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:40,080 advance in this life. Now, it doesn't mean that if you 406 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:42,520 pray about certain things that it guarantees a trial free 407 00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:45,520 journey. Actually, if you ask the Lord 408 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:50,920 for His will, sometimes you'll be LED into greater turmoil, but 409 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:54,360 at least you will have this peace and knowing that whatever 410 00:26:54,360 --> 00:26:59,520 problems might arise, they carry purpose because you have done 411 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:02,120 your part to commit that cause to the Lord. 412 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:06,680 So what praying and inviting the Lord does. 413 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:11,200 It doesn't eliminate challenges or trials, but it does give you 414 00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:13,840 the rest of knowing that whatever might come your way, 415 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:15,960 you are shielded by this tranquility. 416 00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:19,960 Because before anything even began, you said this is yours. 417 00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:26,080 So you don't have to second guess or wonder what this is all 418 00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:28,160 about. You can look back and realize 419 00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:31,360 I've prayed about it. I've been praying about it. 420 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:34,480 So whatever this is, is in accordance with God's plan. 421 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:37,160 I am at rest. Does that make sense? 422 00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:42,000 I hope it does. And one might say, well, 423 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:44,760 couldn't have the Lord just provided for them anyway? 424 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:47,680 Couldn't he have made water come into the wilderness even though 425 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:50,600 they hadn't prayed me? Could have, but God is not 426 00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:54,080 interested in dishing out His mercies from a distance. 427 00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:01,840 One of His primary designs in distress is that you would be 428 00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:08,040 drawn to Him, that you would allow calamities of any size to 429 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:11,800 'cause you, even if you need to crawl to Him, especially if 430 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:14,560 you've wandered away. Joshua fat wandered away. 431 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:20,600 And so there is no doubt in my mind that this is the Lord 432 00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:24,640 bringing them to a point of such despair that they would actually 433 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:27,160 now inquire of the Lord and they're going to do that in a 434 00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:29,880 moment. But the king of Israel, Jeho Ram 435 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:33,200 doesn't interpret this in the same way you and I do. 436 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:37,640 Notice what he says in verse 10. Then the king of Israel said, 437 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:43,080 alas, the Lord has called these 3 kings to give them to the hand 438 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:47,160 of Moab. Can I translate that for you? 439 00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:52,600 This is God's fault. That's what he's saying. 440 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:57,360 So he's, he's acknowledging Providence here, right? 441 00:28:57,480 --> 00:28:59,400 What does he say? That the Lord has brought these 442 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:02,040 3 kings together. He's acknowledging Providence, 443 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:06,720 but in an accusatory way. He's blaming God for their 444 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:11,600 troubles here. Can we blame God for any of this 445 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:16,400 mess? No, not one thing. 446 00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:20,520 There's no indication that it was the Lord's will for Jairam 447 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:25,680 to go to war with Moab. Joshaphat and him collaborating 448 00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:30,360 together was wrong in itself, and there is no partnership in 449 00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:32,280 seeking the will of the Lord moving forward. 450 00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:36,720 So God wasn't included in any of this and gets guess who gets all 451 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:37,640 the blame? God. 452 00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:43,240 And before you think that this is a unique attitude attributed 453 00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:49,680 to Jairam, the Bible tells us that many people have the habit 454 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:52,360 of doing this. You want another proverb? 455 00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:54,800 Here's a good one. Proverbs 19, verse three. 456 00:29:56,360 --> 00:30:03,200 It says there that when a fool brings his way to ruin, his 457 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:07,440 heart rages against the Lord. Have you ever read that proverb? 458 00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:12,960 I remember the first time I saw it, I laughed because I've seen 459 00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:19,080 it all my life. So people don't honor God's word 460 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:21,120 when it comes to who to find in a spouse. 461 00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:23,920 They go ahead and they just work with their passion and they make 462 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:26,640 decisions based on their emotions and then they realize 463 00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:29,640 what a disaster it is. And then guess who they blame? 464 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:36,840 God. There are people who in any 465 00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:40,280 sphere of life, they trust in their wisdom, They have enough 466 00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:44,120 Christian background to include God in their thinking to some 467 00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:46,200 degree, but they don't, they're not. 468 00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:48,840 They don't acknowledge the Lord in all their ways, just some 469 00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:50,440 other ways. Just like Joram. 470 00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:52,440 I'd like this one. I'll get rid of that one. 471 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:54,320 I'll acknowledge God here, but not here. 472 00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:58,160 And then problems ensue and get guess who gets the blame? 473 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:06,400 God, so the king of Israel, represents what's what a fool 474 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:08,480 does when their sin causes them trouble. 475 00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:12,480 On the other hand, Jehoshaphat is about to demonstrate to us 476 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:15,960 what we must do if we have gone astray. 477 00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:18,960 What happens here? Look at verse 11. 478 00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:25,000 And Jehoshaphat said, is there no prophet of the Lord here 479 00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:28,160 through whom we may inquire of the Lord? 480 00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:32,960 Then one of the kings, rather the one, one of the king of 481 00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:35,640 Israel's servants, answered Elijah, the son of Shaphatis 482 00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:39,200 here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah. 483 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:43,600 Josh, about his history with God. 484 00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:45,880 He understands what God has done in the past. 485 00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:51,400 And so he pauses in this moment as people are frantic and the 486 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:54,320 king of Israel is raising his first to the heavens, and he 487 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:57,760 says, is there any prophet that we can inquire of? 488 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:01,320 Is there anybody who is in tune with God that can give us some 489 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:05,040 direction here? You know what I thought when I 490 00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:07,240 meditated on this today? I thought to myself, why didn't 491 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:12,440 you do this before? Why are you doing this now? 492 00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:17,200 In many instances we wouldn't need to pray as much in 493 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:19,640 difficult times if we knew how to pray when things were going 494 00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:25,320 well. At the same time, if you and I 495 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:29,760 have failed to seek God in the past, then we must make it our 496 00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:34,240 priority to seek Him while He may be found and trust that He 497 00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:37,240 will welcome us. I believe the reason why 498 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:40,280 Jehoshaphat is able to do this is because he's done it before. 499 00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:43,160 I wasn't planning to do this, but let's go there anyway. 500 00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:49,280 Remember when he was with Ahab? He inquires a word from the 501 00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:51,640 Lord. The prophet Makai comes and 502 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:54,440 tells him exactly what God's will is, and Jehoshaphat doesn't 503 00:32:54,440 --> 00:32:56,160 listen. Anyway, he goes into battle with 504 00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:58,680 Ahab against Syria, and what happens? 505 00:32:59,560 --> 00:33:02,120 They think that Jehoshaphat is the king of Israel and they're 506 00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:05,280 ready to kill him. And does anybody remember what 507 00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:07,920 this man does for his life to be spared? 508 00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:14,640 Very good, very good. He cries out to the Lord. 509 00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:18,160 Let me read this to you. This is in Second Chronicles 18 510 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:21,760 verse 31, Second Chronicles 1831. 511 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:25,680 As soon as the captains of the chariot saw Jehoshaphat, they 512 00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:29,560 said it is the king of Israel. So they turned to fight against 513 00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:33,880 them, and Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him. 514 00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:43,840 God drew them away from him. Jehoshaphat knew despite his 515 00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:48,960 frustrating thinking and his relapse, he understood. 516 00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:51,560 It's never too late to cry out to God. 517 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:58,000 Please believe that. Please believe that no matter 518 00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,400 where you are, no matter how far you've gone, no matter what 519 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:04,800 you've repeated, it is never too late to seek the Lord. 520 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:10,199 And so he initiates this. He says, let's look for a 521 00:34:10,199 --> 00:34:12,679 prophet. Does anybody know of a prophet? 522 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:17,679 And here's what's so amazing. They get an answer, but the 523 00:34:17,679 --> 00:34:20,080 answer doesn't come from the king of Israel. 524 00:34:21,159 --> 00:34:22,840 The answer doesn't come from the king of Edom. 525 00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:25,000 Now remember, there's 3 kings here, right? 526 00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:27,920 So at some point they recruited the king of Edom. 527 00:34:28,840 --> 00:34:30,880 And it doesn't come from Jehoshaphat himself. 528 00:34:31,480 --> 00:34:34,639 Who's the one who found an answer. 529 00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:42,760 If you don't know, you're right. He is unknown. 530 00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:44,920 All we know about him. Look back at verse 11. 531 00:34:47,719 --> 00:34:54,560 Then one of the king of Israel's servants answered, unknown, 532 00:34:55,480 --> 00:35:02,040 unnamed, a servant. It was this servant who was 533 00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:06,640 aware of the whereabouts of Elijah, while the kings were 534 00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:10,920 completely oblivious to it. Is this detail random? 535 00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:12,720 You've been at this Bible study long enough to know that this 536 00:35:12,720 --> 00:35:16,160 detail is not random. It provides a wonderful 537 00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:18,800 contrast. Here's what I thought. 538 00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:22,800 I read this last night before I closed my Bible and resumed this 539 00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:29,400 morning. Better to be a servant who has 540 00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:35,480 knowledge of God than to be a king who is oblivious to the 541 00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:41,160 things of God. Better to be a servant and in 542 00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:46,360 tune with the things of God than a king who is absent minded of 543 00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:51,160 them. The thing about it who who is 544 00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:54,840 more powerful and efficient and what matters most here? 545 00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:59,680 It's not the commander of the armies, it's this poor fellow 546 00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:05,400 who has a right understanding of God, the things of God, the 547 00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:10,600 people of God. And I remember that we studied 548 00:36:10,600 --> 00:36:14,280 this with another servant. You remember when Saul, before 549 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:18,120 he became king, was looking for his, his father's donkeys. 550 00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:21,400 Remember that? And they were lost and they 551 00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:24,680 could have fined it. And so at one point they arrived 552 00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:27,640 at a certain place. And it was his servant who said 553 00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:33,400 to him, Samuel the prophet, he's here, let's go inquire of him. 554 00:36:34,200 --> 00:36:39,000 And we we learned there that a servant was more sensitive, more 555 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:43,120 in tune with the things of God then Saul, who would be the 556 00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:48,960 first king of Israel. Position doesn't matter, status 557 00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:52,320 doesn't matter. What matters the most is what 558 00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:56,440 matters the most. Knowing God, knowing the truth, 559 00:36:57,240 --> 00:37:00,040 possessing that information that sets people free. 560 00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:04,560 Remember what Jeremiah said. Let not the man who is mighty 561 00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:06,600 boasts in his might. Let not the man who has riches 562 00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:09,400 boasts in his riches, the not the man who is wise boasts in 563 00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:12,160 his wisdom, but let him who boasts, boasts in this, that he 564 00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:14,440 understands and knows. Me. 565 00:37:18,240 --> 00:37:20,720 I don't covet anything in this life. 566 00:37:20,720 --> 00:37:24,480 If there's one thing that my heart has a holy jealousy for is 567 00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:30,560 a person who has the word of God, richly abiding and dwelling 568 00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:35,240 in them, who has a close and intimate walk with God. 569 00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:41,800 This servant shows something very special, and we can even 570 00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:45,480 apply it to Elijah himself. Do you remember what we said of 571 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:50,760 Elijah before he died? Go to 2nd Kings 13. 572 00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:54,720 You'll see it with me. Second Kings 13. 573 00:37:54,720 --> 00:38:07,160 Look at verse 14. Now, when Elijah had fallen sick 574 00:38:07,160 --> 00:38:10,320 with the illness of which he was to die, Joash, king of Israel, 575 00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:13,920 went down to him and wept before him, crying, My father, my 576 00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:17,560 father, the Chariots of Israel and its horsemen. 577 00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:21,840 What is he saying there? In a symbolic way? 578 00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:26,360 He's saying you're really the strength, the power of this 579 00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:29,840 nation. It's not the armies, it's not 580 00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:31,600 the commanders, it's not the generals. 581 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:37,760 You are what has been the protective force for this 582 00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:40,480 people. And he was mourning because he 583 00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:45,520 saw Elijah now leaving, being taken away from the scene. 584 00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:47,840 You know what that reminds me of? 585 00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:50,520 People should be able to say the same about the Church of Jesus 586 00:38:50,520 --> 00:38:53,720 Christ. People should be able to say 587 00:38:53,720 --> 00:38:57,760 that about the church when she is walking strong and holy in 588 00:38:57,760 --> 00:39:00,720 accordance to God's will, empowered by the Holy Spirit. 589 00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:07,560 Communities should feel it, families should feel it. 590 00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:15,640 It should be recognizable. Even these kings recognize 591 00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:17,360 something about these men of God. 592 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:21,680 When they were there, there was wonderful things, blessings that 593 00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:24,760 would flow. When they were not there, it was 594 00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:32,200 a mournful thing. So Elijah here as a man of God 595 00:39:32,400 --> 00:39:35,440 is of greater importance than these armies who are stranded in 596 00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:38,720 the wilderness and are about to die because they don't have 597 00:39:38,720 --> 00:39:44,080 water. And so we come back to our text 598 00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:48,000 and we realize that as much as he was indeed the Chariots of 599 00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:50,840 Israel and its horsemen, he's referred to differently in verse 600 00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:54,200 11. You know, verse 11 of Second 601 00:39:54,200 --> 00:39:56,160 Kings chapter 3 can be a Bible studying itself. 602 00:39:56,160 --> 00:40:00,080 Just verse 11. There's so much to say in this 603 00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:04,760 one verse. Then one of the king of Israel's 604 00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:08,040 servants answered Elijah, the son of Shaphat this year, who 605 00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:10,560 poured water on the hands of Elijah. 606 00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:20,440 Why is he saying that? Well, Elijah not too long ago 607 00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:23,360 graduated into heaven. Elijah just took his place. 608 00:40:23,840 --> 00:40:27,240 And so the servant wants to provide credentials to these 609 00:40:27,240 --> 00:40:30,040 kings of the newly installed prophet. 610 00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:33,680 So he says, look, Elijah was a close associate to Elijah. 611 00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:35,000 He assisted him. He walked with him. 612 00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:40,040 He indeed succeeded him. But this means more to us than 613 00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:42,640 just that. It says something about the 614 00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:44,320 beginnings of Elijah, does it not? 615 00:40:44,680 --> 00:40:46,760 It says something about his humility, says something about 616 00:40:46,760 --> 00:40:50,040 his servant heart. What did he do? 617 00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:55,080 What was he known for? Pouring water on the hands of 618 00:40:55,080 --> 00:40:58,840 his tutor. Doesn't sound very glamorous, 619 00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:02,080 does it? But here's the image that came 620 00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:05,240 to mind because we studied Second Kings chapter 2 last 621 00:41:05,240 --> 00:41:07,680 week, did we not? And one of the miracles that 622 00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:11,400 Elisha performed is that he took salt in a clean bowl and he 623 00:41:11,400 --> 00:41:13,200 poured it in the waters of Jericho. 624 00:41:13,200 --> 00:41:18,320 But before he poured salt in the waters of Jericho, Elisha poured 625 00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:26,920 water on the hands of Elijah. Before God can promote anybody, 626 00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:36,400 he first must find humility. He first must find somebody who 627 00:41:36,400 --> 00:41:41,520 is dedicated, committed to the most menial tasks. 628 00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:50,520 Elijah went from washing the hands of a man to healing the 629 00:41:50,520 --> 00:41:56,440 waters of a city. I'm moved by this man. 630 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:02,280 Verse 12. Here's where we're ending 631 00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:10,400 tonight. And Jehoshaphat said the word of 632 00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:14,800 the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and 633 00:42:14,800 --> 00:42:19,600 Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. 634 00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:23,760 So once they were granted information about the 635 00:42:23,760 --> 00:42:27,720 whereabouts of Elijah, and that's, that's, that's an 636 00:42:27,720 --> 00:42:29,840 extension of God's grace in itself, right? 637 00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:36,240 We don't know exactly how it is that Elijah was in the same area 638 00:42:36,240 --> 00:42:39,760 as these armies. Makes you wonder if the Lord 639 00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:43,040 instructed Elijah to go there and to wait for this moment. 640 00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:46,320 Makes you wonder if Elijah was following them. 641 00:42:47,240 --> 00:42:51,560 That's concealed to us. But what's important is that 642 00:42:51,560 --> 00:42:56,960 once they learned where Elijah was, they made their way to him. 643 00:42:57,520 --> 00:43:02,360 And these 3 kings give us a model of how, no matter what 644 00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:07,280 your foolishness has LED you to, of what you should do in order 645 00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:10,720 to receive the greatest help you can receive, and that is help 646 00:43:10,720 --> 00:43:13,440 from God. They do two things. 647 00:43:13,920 --> 00:43:17,000 The first thing that they do is that they humble themselves. 648 00:43:17,320 --> 00:43:21,720 These are kings. What would be the temptation of 649 00:43:21,720 --> 00:43:26,040 any king if they want somebody to be in their presence? 650 00:43:29,880 --> 00:43:33,040 Servants go find Elijah and bring him here. 651 00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:38,560 Is that what they do? No, they said, let's go find 652 00:43:38,560 --> 00:43:40,000 Elijah. That's a humbling thing for 653 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:43,520 kings to do. If you're a king, you summon 654 00:43:43,520 --> 00:43:47,600 people. You don't go out of your way and 655 00:43:47,880 --> 00:43:49,960 spend your energy and time to look for them. 656 00:43:52,840 --> 00:43:56,560 So if you are in a place where you're not supposed to be, you 657 00:43:56,560 --> 00:44:02,080 have to humble yourself. I've sat, I've sat enough with 658 00:44:02,080 --> 00:44:05,480 people who are in very dire circumstances because of their 659 00:44:05,480 --> 00:44:08,000 own sins. And when they're presented the 660 00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:10,400 prescription according to the word of God, of what they need 661 00:44:10,400 --> 00:44:15,640 to do to get out of that pit, some people refuse to humble 662 00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:20,320 themselves. You will never know an inch of 663 00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:25,720 victory if you're not willing to do exactly what the Lord calls 664 00:44:25,720 --> 00:44:29,280 you to do. I love that miracle in John too. 665 00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:31,920 Jesus performs a miracle at a wedding. 666 00:44:32,080 --> 00:44:36,640 Jesus was invited to weddings and when they ran out of wine, 667 00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:40,360 Mary approaches. Jesus brings the predicament to 668 00:44:40,360 --> 00:44:46,640 his attention, and when Mary walks away, she says whatever He 669 00:44:46,640 --> 00:44:53,480 tells you to do, do it. And it's no different for you 670 00:44:53,480 --> 00:45:00,720 and I that when sin or any circumstances causes us to be 671 00:45:00,720 --> 00:45:04,680 dried up in one way or another, we must be willing to do what 672 00:45:04,680 --> 00:45:07,720 the Lord tells us to do. So if you have to, if you have 673 00:45:07,720 --> 00:45:09,840 to seek people for forgiveness, you do that. 674 00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:15,000 If you have to gain more accountability, you need to, 675 00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:18,560 whatever it is that He presents to you, you have to humble 676 00:45:18,560 --> 00:45:23,040 yourself. It starts there and very close 677 00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:26,280 to it, as I already mentioned, is that they, they didn't just 678 00:45:26,280 --> 00:45:29,800 go anywhere. They went where what the 679 00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:32,480 Jehoshaphat say, the word of the Lord is with him. 680 00:45:34,360 --> 00:45:37,200 There are many prophets in the land, false prophets, but this 681 00:45:37,200 --> 00:45:41,640 is what qualified Elisha. God's word was with Elisha. 682 00:45:42,520 --> 00:45:47,680 You want real help out of the rut of rebellion I have The 683 00:45:47,680 --> 00:45:53,640 sickness of sin, the fractures that come from folly. 684 00:45:54,240 --> 00:45:59,760 Go where God's word is. And in this case, it was a 685 00:45:59,760 --> 00:46:02,640 prophetic word of Elijah. But in our context, it's the 686 00:46:02,640 --> 00:46:05,760 written word of God that we all have access to. 687 00:46:08,160 --> 00:46:09,280 This encouraged me. You know why? 688 00:46:09,280 --> 00:46:12,240 Because Elijah had a reputation. Yeah. 689 00:46:12,240 --> 00:46:16,080 He washed the hands of Elijah, and he would gain a reputation 690 00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:18,120 of performing wonderful miracles. 691 00:46:19,160 --> 00:46:21,760 But this one moves me incredibly. 692 00:46:22,320 --> 00:46:25,360 People knew him, at least Jehoshaphat did at this time, as 693 00:46:25,360 --> 00:46:28,360 the one whose God's word was with. 694 00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:33,280 And this is my prayer for this church, that if this church 695 00:46:33,280 --> 00:46:35,680 would be recognized for anything, it'd be for people to 696 00:46:35,680 --> 00:46:37,160 say the word of the Lord is there. 697 00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:41,280 If this church will be made-up of anybody, it would be made-up 698 00:46:41,280 --> 00:46:43,680 of people who live in such a way. 699 00:46:45,520 --> 00:46:49,240 Their reverence for the Word, there's their subjection to the 700 00:46:49,240 --> 00:46:53,160 Word, their adoration of the Word would cause others to see 701 00:46:53,160 --> 00:46:56,760 the blessings that come from such a relationship with the 702 00:46:56,760 --> 00:47:00,600 Word of God, that they would say there's something. 703 00:47:01,960 --> 00:47:03,560 These are real people of the book. 704 00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:10,760 Elisha was that man. They recognize them and they 705 00:47:10,760 --> 00:47:12,800 would go to him. So the king of Israel and 706 00:47:12,800 --> 00:47:16,720 Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. 707 00:47:16,720 --> 00:47:19,120 I believe this is a good place to pause before we finish this 708 00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:22,040 chapter. Much has been said, much 709 00:47:22,480 --> 00:47:25,760 deserves meditation. So let's stop here and thank God 710 00:47:25,760 --> 00:47:51,890 for it. Well, we ask you tonight that 711 00:47:51,890 --> 00:47:55,240 you would help these truths become real to us. 712 00:47:55,240 --> 00:47:57,360 Please, Lord, bring them to remembrance. 713 00:48:02,710 --> 00:48:06,950 Lord, if we are in a place where we feel as though we're doing 714 00:48:06,950 --> 00:48:09,750 nothing of significance, we're just washing, we're just 715 00:48:09,750 --> 00:48:15,510 supervising, we're just taking care of simple things. 716 00:48:15,510 --> 00:48:17,910 Lord, help us believe that you are pleased by that. 717 00:48:18,230 --> 00:48:21,710 And when it's done well, it moves others as well. 718 00:48:23,350 --> 00:48:26,840 Lord, help us learn from Jehoshaphat to never allow 719 00:48:26,840 --> 00:48:29,800 compromise in our lives to go unchallenged, but to realize 720 00:48:29,800 --> 00:48:33,560 that one of the greatest, greatest ramifications of it is 721 00:48:33,560 --> 00:48:39,640 that it can begin to change us, blunt our spirituality, dull our 722 00:48:39,640 --> 00:48:43,520 conscience. Lord, sin is vicious with us. 723 00:48:43,520 --> 00:48:49,880 May we be vicious with sin. And Lord, we thank you for the 724 00:48:49,880 --> 00:48:52,240 threads of mercy and grace in this chapter. 725 00:48:52,240 --> 00:48:55,960 That even when these men walk their own way, ignored you, 726 00:48:56,480 --> 00:49:01,800 despised you, when they called upon you, you answered. 727 00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:09,560 Help us never abuse that. But we pray Lord that we would 728 00:49:09,560 --> 00:49:13,760 learn ahead and we would know how to acknowledge you in all 729 00:49:13,760 --> 00:49:17,720 our ways and not only acknowledging you when our ways 730 00:49:17,800 --> 00:49:21,120 mess up. So Lord, tonight we just pause 731 00:49:21,200 --> 00:49:25,040 and we afresh dedicate every aspect of our lives like the 732 00:49:25,040 --> 00:49:28,400 burnt offering that was cut into pieces, every part must be put 733 00:49:28,400 --> 00:49:30,560 on. We pray for every part of our 734 00:49:30,560 --> 00:49:32,360 lives to be consecrated to your will. 735 00:49:35,200 --> 00:49:39,360 From our finances Lord, to our relationships, to our desires, 736 00:49:39,360 --> 00:49:42,760 to our ministries, our plans, to our abode. 737 00:49:44,200 --> 00:49:46,840 We just lay it all at your feet and we say, please, Lord, have 738 00:49:46,840 --> 00:49:49,400 your way. Take it where you want it to go. 739 00:49:51,160 --> 00:49:53,640 And we trust Lord, that you will make straight our paths. 740 00:49:54,960 --> 00:49:58,200 So Lord, we rejoice in you that in your love you warn us. 741 00:49:58,200 --> 00:50:01,080 You give us clear, stark examples to keep us from making 742 00:50:01,080 --> 00:50:04,560 the same foolish mistakes. And for this we give you thanks. 743 00:50:04,880 --> 00:50:07,840 In Jesus name we pray, Amen, Amen. 744 00:50:08,120 --> 00:50:11,320 Let's stand, let's sing to him, honor him, praise and worship 745 00:50:11,320 --> 00:50:14,120 him, love him, for His word was rich tonight.