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2 Kings 3 (Part 1) Bible Study (Moab Rebels Against Israel) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Second Kings chapter 3, in the 18th year of Jehoshaphat.
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  That's how you would see it in the Hebrew.
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  Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. Jehoram, or Jehoram the son of
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  Ahab, became king over Israel and Samaria, and he reigned 12
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  years. He did what was evil in the
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  sight of the Lord, though not like his father and mother, for
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  he put away the pillar of the owl that his father had made.
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  Nevertheless he clung to the sin of Jeroboam, the son of the bat,
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  which he made Israel to sin. He did not depart from it.
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  Lord, we ask that You bless the reading, the proclamation, the
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  hearing, and the application of Your Word.
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  Give us great help, unction, excitement, clarity of thought
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  so that we can leave here equipped, furnished, washed by
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  Your Word. We ask these things trusting in
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  the help, in the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
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  Amen. So before we advance, I think
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  it's important to retrace our steps because this will
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  unclutter our thinking and it will give us greater clarity of
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  the setting of this passage that is before us today.
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  At the end of the Book of First Kings, the Holy Spirit focuses
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  on the reign of one particular king of the northern Kingdom of
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  Israel. Who was he?
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  His name starts with the letter A.
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  Oh no. What happened?
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  Ahab. Remember Ahab?
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  We focused on Ahab, and after Ahab had died, his son Ahaziah
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  succeeded him. That's what we see in the final
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  verses of the Book of First Kings.
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  And we study the brief reign of Ahaziah in the beginning of the
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  Book of Second Kings. And after Ahaziah died, we read
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  in these verses that Isaiah's brother Jeho Ram became king
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  over Israel. Now here's my first question.
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  Why didn't any of Ahaziah's sons succeed him?
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  Why was it that his brother seized the throne instead?
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  Any idea? He did not have any sons and
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  that's not speculation. That's what you find in verse 17
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  of Second Kings chapter one. We read that Isaiah, he had no
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  sons. Now during the administration of
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  these 3 kings, right? Remember, we have the northern
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  Kingdom of Israel. We have the Kingdom of Judah.
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  During the administration of these 3 kings, you had Ahab,
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  Isaiah, Jehoram. There was one king, a primary
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  king at least. I don't want to make it too
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  confusing, but there was one primary ruler governing the
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  southern Kingdom. What was his name?
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  Oh, no, we just read it. Say it.
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  Yes. Jehoshaphat.
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  Jehoshaphat. So Jehoshaphat was the one who
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  was ruling and reigning during the administration of these 3
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  kings. And we remember him, I hope we
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  remember that Jehoshaphat made a marriage alliance with who?
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  Ahab. He made a marriage alliance with
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  Ahab. And did that bless him, or did
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  that get him out of a lot of trouble?
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  A lot of trouble. Moreover, he partnered with
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  Isaiah, the son of Ahab. Did that get him in trouble as
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  well? It did get him in trouble, and
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  the trouble is only going to continue as he converges with
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  Joe Ram. We're going to see that in a
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  moment here, and I hope our vision is clarified a little bit
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  more to give us enough confidence now to understanding
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  the context of what is taking place here.
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  Now, there is more to know about Joe Ram other than the fact that
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  he was the brother of his I and the son of Ahab.
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  We read here that he was unsurprising to us, an evil man,
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  but he was not as evil as we might think, because the author
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  tells us that. Look at verse two.
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  He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, though not
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  like his father and mother, for he put away the pillar of Baal
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  that his father had made. Now who would, who would the
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  father of Jairam be? Remind me?
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  Ahab, right? So if Ahab is Jairam's father,
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  who would his mother be? Good, good, good, good.
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  Jezebel. That's right.
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  Now under score this that he was not like his father or mother
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  for one main reason. It says here that he put away
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  the pillar of bail that his father had made.
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  Evidently, there was some sort of monument that was dedicated,
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  a significant one that was placed in public view, and Jared
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  Ram moved that he hid it because we're not exactly told why, but
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  we can assume that he witnessing his father's life and the
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  outcome of bail ISM how bail failed his father was probably
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  the greatest motivation for him to disassociate himself with
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  this particular idol. And if that is the case, if
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  that's the reason why he does this, then we can applaud him
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  for having wisdom. Wisdom and learning of the
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  faults and the sins of others and applying it to your own
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  life. But it's a limited wisdom.
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  It's not complete wisdom. Why?
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  Because although he removes himself and separates himself
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  from one idol, we learn what he clings to other idols.
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  What are the other idols? Verse 3.
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  Nevertheless, he clung to the sin of Jeroboam, the son of
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  Nabat, which he made Israel to sin.
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  He did not depart from it. What were the idols that
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  Jeroboam created that caused Israel to stumble?
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  There were No2 what? 2 golden calves.
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  You remember that right? 2 golden calves 1 he set up in
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  Dan and the other place he set up where?
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  Bethel right? This is why we're doing this,
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  because I don't want to move on and and things evaporate every
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  chapter. I want us to be able to have
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  these things concrete. So you had Dan and Bethel, 2
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  golden calves. These are the idols that Jeremy
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  chose to keep and to protect. Why would he do that?
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  Well, he's a reminder to us that forsaking some sin, removing
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  some idols from our lives does not ultimately make us
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  righteous. We must abandon all known sin if
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  we want to truly be pleasing to God.
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  And his choice of idols shows us why there are people who cling
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  to certain sins over others. Think about it.
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  He saw what Baal ISM did to his father, to his Kingdom, and so
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  it was easy for him to say no thanks.
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  But the reason why Jeroboam created those idols was because
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  he did not want the people from the Northern Kingdom to unite
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  themselves to the Southern Kingdom, because they would have
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  to go to Jerusalem to worship at the temple.
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  And so Jeroboam thinks of this genius but wicked idea.
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  Let me create idols within the boundaries of my domain and keep
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  the people to myself. And I believe Jeroboam is the
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  one who is understanding this and following in that pattern,
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  seeing that there is an advantage to him and keeping
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  these idols. And people today are no
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  different. They are selected with their
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  repentance. So they give up certain sins,
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  but they hold on to others. They give up certain patterns
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  while holding on to others. God wants complete surrender,
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  total devotion. And if you want to be able to
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  identify what idols in your life, if there are any, hope
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  they're not. But what idols in your life are
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  the ones that are most difficult to get rid of?
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  I want you to just sit back and imagine the Lord asking of you,
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  not just of everything that that in theory is very easy to, to
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  agree with. I give up everything to you,
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  Lord, No Think of particular things in your life and ask
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  yourself, am I willing to let go of this if the Lord were to ask
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  me to give it up? In this particular case, he was
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  selective. That's not going to be good for
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  him, as we're about to discover. He's still deemed as evil.
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  Now we read in verse 4. Now Mesha, king of Moab was a
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  sheep breeder and he had to deliver to the king of Israel
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  100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 Rams.
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  But when Ahab died, the king of Mohab rebelled against the king
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  of Israel. Now we study this in depth.
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  Remember in the opening study of the Book of Second Kings how
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  Moab was subservient to Israel since the days of David.
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  Remember David captured Moab and they were slaves to Israel and
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  they had to pay a tax, and this is the tax.
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  But it wasn't until Ahab was defeated by Syria where Moab saw
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  an opportunity to free themselves from the clutches of
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  Israel. And they did so.
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  And we understood that when Moab, which is east to Israel,
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  right, it's modern day Jordan, when Moab freed themselves from
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  Israel, we determined that that was a providential thing to
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  cause a Heziah who took Ahab's place to to call out to God to
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  see this disturbance and for him to self examine and to
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  ultimately seek the Lord, which he failed to do.
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  But a Heziah's brother Jairam will not be, will not be like
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  that. He will not accept this.
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  He will not even be slothful in dealing with it.
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  Almost right away, he makes his top priority emergency protocol.
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  He comes up with a plan to try to regain what his brother had
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  lost. And we're going to see what's
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  going to happen now. Following that, let's read verse
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  6. So King Joram marched out of
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  Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel.
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  And he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.
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  The king of Moab has rebelled against me.
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  Will you go with me to battle against Moab?
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  And he said, I will go. I am as you are, my people as
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  your people, my horses as your horses.
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  Then he said, By which way shall we March?
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  Joram answered By the way of the wilderness of Edom.
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  Does Joram's invitation and Jehoshaphat's response sound
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  familiar? It does, right?
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  Because it is almost identical to the interaction that we
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  studied between Ahab and Jehoshaphat.
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  Remember, Ahab is Jerem's father.
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  Let's revisit it. Go to 1st Kings with me, chapter
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  22, First Kings 22. Look with me at verse 4.
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  This is when Ahab wanted to go to war with Syria, and he wants
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  Jehoshaphat to join him. And he says here, and he said to
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  Jehoshaphat, will you go with me to battle at Ramoth Gilead?
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  And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as you are my
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  people, as your people, my horses as your horses.
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  Is it surprising that Jehoram asked Jehoshaphat to join him in
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  battle? It's not surprising.
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  Why? Because there was a marriage
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  alliance between these two families.
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  What might be and should be shocking to us is Jehoshaphat's
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  relapse into the tendency of what being unequally yoked.
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  Did this guy not learn his lesson from working with Ahab?
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  He almost died when he yoked himself to a wicked man, and for
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  a brief moment there looked like that he did in fact learn his
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  lesson. But now we come to this point
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  and we realized that he actually didn't.
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  Is there any indication to why this man is willing to put
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  himself at risk of doing something that he knows God told
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  him not to do beforehand? There is explanation.
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  There is a complimentary story in the Bible.
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  It's not found in First Kings. It's not found in Second Kings.
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  But something happens. Pay pay attention to this.
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  Something happens after Jehoshaphat's fallout with Ahab
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  and before his treaty with Joram.
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  Something happens in between after his fallout with Ahab and
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  before he goes to war in this chapter, and we find that
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  incident in the book of Second Chronicles.
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  So you have to turn there. It's found in chapter 20.
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  There is a war that takes place in that interval period of time,
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  and the reason why 1st and 2nd Kings doesn't mention it, the
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  reason why the Chronicler includes it in his writings is
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  because the Chronicler is more interested in depicting and
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  revealing the history of the Southern Kingdom.
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  And that's why we find this story here.
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  But look at verse one of Second Chronicles chapter 20.
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  After this. Those two words are important.
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  You know why? Because when you read the
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  previous chapters, you will learn of Ahab's partnership with
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  Jehoshaphat when they went to war together.
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  That's also found in Kings. It's also found in Chronicles.
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  So after this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of
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  the Meonite came against Jehoshaphat for battle.
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  Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, A great multitude
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  is coming against you from Edom from beyond the sea, and behold
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  they are in hazards on Tamar, that is in Getty.
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  Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord,
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  and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
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  And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord.
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  From all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.
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  So here we have a coalition that arose against the Kingdom of
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  Judah. Josephat responds in fear.
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  He is absolutely terrified, but he does the right thing.
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  He seeks the Lord. And what you have in here is one
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  of the most outstanding testimonies of prayer in all of
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  the Bible. It's an incredible chapter.
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  And the reason why victory will come is because of that.
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  There was a simple yet desperate faith that Jehoshaphat had, and
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  he led the people to have as well the people under his care.
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  We don't have time to read obviously the entire chapter,
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  but victory comes against this coalition and we read it.
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  Look down at verse 23. For the men of Amon and Moab
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  rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to
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  destruction. And when they had made an end of
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  the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one
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  another. So something weird happens that
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  these armies that were working together at one point now stop
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  and begin to kill each other. When Judah came to the
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  Watchtower of the Wilderness, they look toward the horde and
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  behold, there were dead bodies lying on the ground.
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  None had escaped. It's marvelous.
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  It's a supernatural account. And this victory provides more
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  explanation as to why Jeho Ram wanted Jehoshaphat to go to war
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  with them, right? But it also provides
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  explanation, makes sense of Jehoshaphat's eagerness to agree
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  with it in this coalition. Did you notice who was
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  mentioned? The Moabites, The same people
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  who rebelled against the people of Israel, the same people that
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  Jehoram wants to go to war against.
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  Perhaps Jehoshaphat saw Jehoram's invitation to go to
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  war with Moab as an opportunity to put a final end to a
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  potentially recurring threat, namely the Moabites.
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  And he was so fixated on defeating the Moabites, I'm sure
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  that he did not even regard the consequences of being unequally
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  yoked with with evil people, even though he almost died in a
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  similar situation. I believe that Jehoshaphat, in
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  agreeing to go to war with Jehoram against the Moabites, is
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  encouraged by fear. And you have to learn from
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  Jehoshaphat, please, that you and I are more prone to
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  compromise our convictions and even overlook the potential
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  consequences of our compromise. When you make your decisions out
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  of fear, when you allow your decision making to be influenced
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  by alarm or agitation. I'm currently reading the book
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  of Jeremiah. I'm almost done in my personal
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  devotions and separate from this, I was just overwhelmed by
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  the different characters in that story that made very foolish
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  decisions because of fear. They even outright rebelled
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  against some of the clear commands of the Lord because
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  they were so overcome by dread. Fear is possessive.
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  Fear is intoxicating. Fear has a way of blurring your
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  judgement and rewiring the way you understand things and
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  events. It's very powerful.
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  Some people are willing to again overlook the consequences of
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  what that fear is leading to do because it is so persuasive and
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  and one of the consequences of revisiting sin, any sin, when
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  you find yourself in a cycle of compromise, it will eventually
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  change you. We don't often think about that
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  when we think about unequally yoked relationships, among other
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  things, we think about the physical, relational, financial
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  harm that we might place ourselves in.
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  But rarely do people talk about this outcome of sin, that when
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  you sit in it long enough, it alters you, it mutates you, it
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  has the ability of changing you. And here you have Jehoshaphat
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  now who is compromising yet again.
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  This is his third time out of three kings that he chooses to
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  work with when he shouldn't have.
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  And you'll notice a change in Jehoshaphat very early on in
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  this chapter saying, what do you mean?
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  Look at verse 8 again. So after he told Jehoram, my
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  horses are as your horses, my people are as your people.
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  It says here in the ESV. Then he said, By which way shall
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  we March? Jarem answered by the way of the
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  wilderness of Edom. Compare that to how he responded
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  to Ahab. Remember with Ahab he said, My
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  people as your people, my horses, your horses.
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  But what does he say right after that?
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  Go to 1st Kings 22. Look at verse 4 again, and look
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  at verse 5. And he said to Jehoshaphat, Will
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  you go with me to battle at Ramoth Gilead?
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  And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as you are, my
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  people, as your people, my horses as your horses.
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  And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, inquire first for the
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  word of the Lord. Did he say that, that he asked
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  for that with Joram? No.
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  What do you say? All right, what's the plan?
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  How do we get this thing going? I'm ready.
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  Let's go. He does not inquire of the Lord.
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  There's no impulse to pray. There's no mindfulness of God.
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  Instead, there is this hurriedness to move along with
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  the project. Do you know what this means?
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  It means that the longer we compromise, the more you are
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  likely to change. I see it all the time.
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  Things that used to prick your conscience no longer bother you.
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  Words and profanities that you would never have used are
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  starting to become part of your vocabulary.
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  Emotions that you were able to have control over by the power
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  of the Holy Spirit now overtake you with ease.
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  Matters that you would once pray about, you no longer seek the
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  Lord for. And the dreadful possibilities
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  go on and on and on when you and I repeatedly revisit the same
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  compromise. But you know you can praise God
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  for something. In light of that saying, what do
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  you mean? If you truly belong to the Lord,
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  He will not allow you to remain in such a condition without His
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  intervention. And that's exactly what's going
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  to happen here. We're about to read something
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  that we've seen in so many Bible studies in the past.
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  Look at verse nine. So the king of Israel went with
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  the king of Judah and the king of Edom.
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  And when they had made a circulus March of seven days,
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  there was no water for the army or for the animals that followed
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  them. We always pay a price when we
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  fail to put God first. Always the price might look
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  different every time, but there is always a cost.
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  They failed to acknowledge the Lord.
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  And even though earlier Jehoshaphat shouldn't have
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  worked with Ahab, he at least had a spiritual sensitivity to
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  say, can we first seek a word from a prophet?
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  He doesn't do that here. And guess what?
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  They're going to pay for it. They wander in the wilderness
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  for days and they put themselves on a very dangerous predicament.
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  They, they have no water left. And I look at this and I think
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  to myself, if it was God's will for them to go to battle with
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  Moab to begin with, surely if they sought the Lord, he would
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  have given them instructions to maximize their efficiency and
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  minimize their distress. You know this very well.
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  You probably have this verse somewhere on a coffee cup in
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  your house. Proverbs 3/6 In all your ways do
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  what? Acknowledge Him and what's the
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  promise he will make straight your path.
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  In some of your ways. In all of your ways all means
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  all. It's not cryptic.
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  All means all. In all your ways acknowledge Him
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  and the promises He'll make straight your path.
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  I hope you develop that habit. I hope you developed the habit
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  of inviting the Lord and all your affairs, that when you want
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  to move somewhere, you invite the Lord.
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  When you want to purchase something, you ask the Lord.
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  I'm not talking about being overly spiritual and crippling
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  where you become legalistic. That's not what I'm saying.
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  But with a joyful heart, when you are aware that you can make
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  a blunder here, that you would call the Lord to deposit His
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  wisdom and His leading, He's faithful to do that in all your
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  ways. Acknowledge him and he will make
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  straight your path. But what does that mean?
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  That seems so general. He'll make straight your path,
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  but you have to look at the context.
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  There are blessings around that in the same chapter of Proverbs
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  that give us an indication of what we inherit.
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  When you make it a discipline to say, Lord, I'm, I'm putting you
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  before me now, I'm putting you before me in these plans, I'm
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  putting you before me in these desires, I'm putting you before
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  me. Is this what you want here?
• 25:26
  Here it is. Look at Proverbs 3-4.
• 25:27
  Proverbs 3/6 was acknowledge Him in all your ways.
• 25:30
  Proverbs 3-4 Listen to this. So you will find favor and good
• 25:34
  success in the sight of God and man.
• 25:37
  You will find favor and good success in the sight of God and
• 25:42
  man. Look at Proverbs 32 for length
• 25:46
  of days and years of life and peace.
• 25:48
  They will add to you. What is he talking about here?
• 25:52
  He's talking about the commands of the Lord.
• 25:53
  This is what the Father is saying to his son.
• 25:56
  And one of those commands are what?
• 25:57
  Acknowledge the Lord in all your ways.
• 25:59
  That's the context. So look at these blessings that
• 26:02
  are attached to an individual who makes it a practice to say,
• 26:07
  Lord, I'm acknowledging you. I'm inviting you into this
• 26:13
  length of days and years of life.
• 26:16
  That's wonderful, but it's actually a curse if you don't
• 26:18
  have peace with it, right? Peace.
• 26:22
  We're talking about peace. We're talking about favor, we're
• 26:24
  talking about good success and it's exclusive to those who make
• 26:28
  it their heart desire to say, Lord, I want your will.
• 26:32
  Please, I put this before you may become our reflex as we
• 26:37
  advance in this life. Now, it doesn't mean that if you
• 26:40
  pray about certain things that it guarantees a trial free
• 26:42
  journey. Actually, if you ask the Lord
• 26:45
  for His will, sometimes you'll be LED into greater turmoil, but
• 26:50
  at least you will have this peace and knowing that whatever
• 26:54
  problems might arise, they carry purpose because you have done
• 26:59
  your part to commit that cause to the Lord.
• 27:04
  So what praying and inviting the Lord does.
• 27:06
  It doesn't eliminate challenges or trials, but it does give you
• 27:11
  the rest of knowing that whatever might come your way,
• 27:14
  you are shielded by this tranquility.
• 27:15
  Because before anything even began, you said this is yours.
• 27:22
  So you don't have to second guess or wonder what this is all
• 27:26
  about. You can look back and realize
• 27:28
  I've prayed about it. I've been praying about it.
• 27:31
  So whatever this is, is in accordance with God's plan.
• 27:34
  I am at rest. Does that make sense?
• 27:37
  I hope it does. And one might say, well,
• 27:42
  couldn't have the Lord just provided for them anyway?
• 27:44
  Couldn't he have made water come into the wilderness even though
• 27:47
  they hadn't prayed me? Could have, but God is not
• 27:50
  interested in dishing out His mercies from a distance.
• 27:57
  One of His primary designs in distress is that you would be
• 28:01
  drawn to Him, that you would allow calamities of any size to
• 28:08
  'cause you, even if you need to crawl to Him, especially if
• 28:11
  you've wandered away. Joshua fat wandered away.
• 28:16
  And so there is no doubt in my mind that this is the Lord
• 28:21
  bringing them to a point of such despair that they would actually
• 28:24
  now inquire of the Lord and they're going to do that in a
• 28:27
  moment. But the king of Israel, Jeho Ram
• 28:29
  doesn't interpret this in the same way you and I do.
• 28:33
  Notice what he says in verse 10. Then the king of Israel said,
• 28:38
  alas, the Lord has called these 3 kings to give them to the hand
• 28:43
  of Moab. Can I translate that for you?
• 28:48
  This is God's fault. That's what he's saying.
• 28:54
  So he's, he's acknowledging Providence here, right?
• 28:57
  What does he say? That the Lord has brought these
• 28:59
  3 kings together. He's acknowledging Providence,
• 29:02
  but in an accusatory way. He's blaming God for their
• 29:06
  troubles here. Can we blame God for any of this
• 29:11
  mess? No, not one thing.
• 29:17
  There's no indication that it was the Lord's will for Jairam
• 29:20
  to go to war with Moab. Joshaphat and him collaborating
• 29:25
  together was wrong in itself, and there is no partnership in
• 29:30
  seeking the will of the Lord moving forward.
• 29:33
  So God wasn't included in any of this and gets guess who gets all
• 29:36
  the blame? God.
• 29:40
  And before you think that this is a unique attitude attributed
• 29:43
  to Jairam, the Bible tells us that many people have the habit
• 29:49
  of doing this. You want another proverb?
• 29:52
  Here's a good one. Proverbs 19, verse three.
• 29:56
  It says there that when a fool brings his way to ruin, his
• 30:03
  heart rages against the Lord. Have you ever read that proverb?
• 30:07
  I remember the first time I saw it, I laughed because I've seen
• 30:12
  it all my life. So people don't honor God's word
• 30:19
  when it comes to who to find in a spouse.
• 30:21
  They go ahead and they just work with their passion and they make
• 30:23
  decisions based on their emotions and then they realize
• 30:26
  what a disaster it is. And then guess who they blame?
• 30:31
  God. There are people who in any
• 30:36
  sphere of life, they trust in their wisdom, They have enough
• 30:40
  Christian background to include God in their thinking to some
• 30:44
  degree, but they don't, they're not.
• 30:46
  They don't acknowledge the Lord in all their ways, just some
• 30:48
  other ways. Just like Joram.
• 30:50
  I'd like this one. I'll get rid of that one.
• 30:52
  I'll acknowledge God here, but not here.
• 30:54
  And then problems ensue and get guess who gets the blame?
• 30:58
  God, so the king of Israel, represents what's what a fool
• 31:06
  does when their sin causes them trouble.
• 31:08
  On the other hand, Jehoshaphat is about to demonstrate to us
• 31:13
  what we must do if we have gone astray.
• 31:17
  What happens here? Look at verse 11.
• 31:20
  And Jehoshaphat said, is there no prophet of the Lord here
• 31:25
  through whom we may inquire of the Lord?
• 31:29
  Then one of the kings, rather the one, one of the king of
• 31:32
  Israel's servants, answered Elijah, the son of Shaphatis
• 31:35
  here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.
• 31:42
  Josh, about his history with God.
• 31:43
  He understands what God has done in the past.
• 31:46
  And so he pauses in this moment as people are frantic and the
• 31:51
  king of Israel is raising his first to the heavens, and he
• 31:54
  says, is there any prophet that we can inquire of?
• 31:59
  Is there anybody who is in tune with God that can give us some
• 32:01
  direction here? You know what I thought when I
• 32:05
  meditated on this today? I thought to myself, why didn't
• 32:07
  you do this before? Why are you doing this now?
• 32:14
  In many instances we wouldn't need to pray as much in
• 32:17
  difficult times if we knew how to pray when things were going
• 32:19
  well. At the same time, if you and I
• 32:25
  have failed to seek God in the past, then we must make it our
• 32:29
  priority to seek Him while He may be found and trust that He
• 32:34
  will welcome us. I believe the reason why
• 32:37
  Jehoshaphat is able to do this is because he's done it before.
• 32:41
  I wasn't planning to do this, but let's go there anyway.
• 32:43
  Remember when he was with Ahab? He inquires a word from the
• 32:49
  Lord. The prophet Makai comes and
• 32:51
  tells him exactly what God's will is, and Jehoshaphat doesn't
• 32:54
  listen. Anyway, he goes into battle with
• 32:56
  Ahab against Syria, and what happens?
• 32:59
  They think that Jehoshaphat is the king of Israel and they're
• 33:02
  ready to kill him. And does anybody remember what
• 33:05
  this man does for his life to be spared?
• 33:10
  Very good, very good. He cries out to the Lord.
• 33:14
  Let me read this to you. This is in Second Chronicles 18
• 33:18
  verse 31, Second Chronicles 1831.
• 33:22
  As soon as the captains of the chariot saw Jehoshaphat, they
• 33:25
  said it is the king of Israel. So they turned to fight against
• 33:29
  them, and Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him.
• 33:34
  God drew them away from him. Jehoshaphat knew despite his
• 33:43
  frustrating thinking and his relapse, he understood.
• 33:49
  It's never too late to cry out to God.
• 33:53
  Please believe that. Please believe that no matter
• 33:58
  where you are, no matter how far you've gone, no matter what
• 34:00
  you've repeated, it is never too late to seek the Lord.
• 34:06
  And so he initiates this. He says, let's look for a
• 34:10
  prophet. Does anybody know of a prophet?
• 34:13
  And here's what's so amazing. They get an answer, but the
• 34:17
  answer doesn't come from the king of Israel.
• 34:21
  The answer doesn't come from the king of Edom.
• 34:22
  Now remember, there's 3 kings here, right?
• 34:25
  So at some point they recruited the king of Edom.
• 34:28
  And it doesn't come from Jehoshaphat himself.
• 34:31
  Who's the one who found an answer.
• 34:38
  If you don't know, you're right. He is unknown.
• 34:42
  All we know about him. Look back at verse 11.
• 34:47
  Then one of the king of Israel's servants answered, unknown,
• 34:55
  unnamed, a servant. It was this servant who was
• 35:02
  aware of the whereabouts of Elijah, while the kings were
• 35:06
  completely oblivious to it. Is this detail random?
• 35:10
  You've been at this Bible study long enough to know that this
• 35:12
  detail is not random. It provides a wonderful
• 35:16
  contrast. Here's what I thought.
• 35:18
  I read this last night before I closed my Bible and resumed this
• 35:22
  morning. Better to be a servant who has
• 35:29
  knowledge of God than to be a king who is oblivious to the
• 35:35
  things of God. Better to be a servant and in
• 35:41
  tune with the things of God than a king who is absent minded of
• 35:46
  them. The thing about it who who is
• 35:51
  more powerful and efficient and what matters most here?
• 35:55
  It's not the commander of the armies, it's this poor fellow
• 36:01
  who has a right understanding of God, the things of God, the
• 36:05
  people of God. And I remember that we studied
• 36:10
  this with another servant. You remember when Saul, before
• 36:14
  he became king, was looking for his, his father's donkeys.
• 36:18
  Remember that? And they were lost and they
• 36:21
  could have fined it. And so at one point they arrived
• 36:24
  at a certain place. And it was his servant who said
• 36:27
  to him, Samuel the prophet, he's here, let's go inquire of him.
• 36:34
  And we we learned there that a servant was more sensitive, more
• 36:39
  in tune with the things of God then Saul, who would be the
• 36:43
  first king of Israel. Position doesn't matter, status
• 36:48
  doesn't matter. What matters the most is what
• 36:52
  matters the most. Knowing God, knowing the truth,
• 36:57
  possessing that information that sets people free.
• 37:01
  Remember what Jeremiah said. Let not the man who is mighty
• 37:04
  boasts in his might. Let not the man who has riches
• 37:06
  boasts in his riches, the not the man who is wise boasts in
• 37:09
  his wisdom, but let him who boasts, boasts in this, that he
• 37:12
  understands and knows. Me.
• 37:18
  I don't covet anything in this life.
• 37:20
  If there's one thing that my heart has a holy jealousy for is
• 37:24
  a person who has the word of God, richly abiding and dwelling
• 37:30
  in them, who has a close and intimate walk with God.
• 37:37
  This servant shows something very special, and we can even
• 37:41
  apply it to Elijah himself. Do you remember what we said of
• 37:45
  Elijah before he died? Go to 2nd Kings 13.
• 37:50
  You'll see it with me. Second Kings 13.
• 37:54
  Look at verse 14. Now, when Elijah had fallen sick
• 38:07
  with the illness of which he was to die, Joash, king of Israel,
• 38:10
  went down to him and wept before him, crying, My father, my
• 38:13
  father, the Chariots of Israel and its horsemen.
• 38:20
  What is he saying there? In a symbolic way?
• 38:21
  He's saying you're really the strength, the power of this
• 38:26
  nation. It's not the armies, it's not
• 38:29
  the commanders, it's not the generals.
• 38:32
  You are what has been the protective force for this
• 38:37
  people. And he was mourning because he
• 38:40
  saw Elijah now leaving, being taken away from the scene.
• 38:46
  You know what that reminds me of?
• 38:48
  People should be able to say the same about the Church of Jesus
• 38:50
  Christ. People should be able to say
• 38:53
  that about the church when she is walking strong and holy in
• 38:57
  accordance to God's will, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
• 39:01
  Communities should feel it, families should feel it.
• 39:09
  It should be recognizable. Even these kings recognize
• 39:15
  something about these men of God.
• 39:18
  When they were there, there was wonderful things, blessings that
• 39:21
  would flow. When they were not there, it was
• 39:24
  a mournful thing. So Elijah here as a man of God
• 39:32
  is of greater importance than these armies who are stranded in
• 39:35
  the wilderness and are about to die because they don't have
• 39:38
  water. And so we come back to our text
• 39:44
  and we realize that as much as he was indeed the Chariots of
• 39:48
  Israel and its horsemen, he's referred to differently in verse
• 39:50
  11. You know, verse 11 of Second
• 39:54
  Kings chapter 3 can be a Bible studying itself.
• 39:56
  Just verse 11. There's so much to say in this
• 40:00
  one verse. Then one of the king of Israel's
• 40:04
  servants answered Elijah, the son of Shaphat this year, who
• 40:08
  poured water on the hands of Elijah.
• 40:14
  Why is he saying that? Well, Elijah not too long ago
• 40:20
  graduated into heaven. Elijah just took his place.
• 40:23
  And so the servant wants to provide credentials to these
• 40:27
  kings of the newly installed prophet.
• 40:30
  So he says, look, Elijah was a close associate to Elijah.
• 40:33
  He assisted him. He walked with him.
• 40:35
  He indeed succeeded him. But this means more to us than
• 40:40
  just that. It says something about the
• 40:42
  beginnings of Elijah, does it not?
• 40:44
  It says something about his humility, says something about
• 40:46
  his servant heart. What did he do?
• 40:50
  What was he known for? Pouring water on the hands of
• 40:55
  his tutor. Doesn't sound very glamorous,
• 40:58
  does it? But here's the image that came
• 41:02
  to mind because we studied Second Kings chapter 2 last
• 41:05
  week, did we not? And one of the miracles that
• 41:07
  Elisha performed is that he took salt in a clean bowl and he
• 41:11
  poured it in the waters of Jericho.
• 41:13
  But before he poured salt in the waters of Jericho, Elisha poured
• 41:18
  water on the hands of Elijah. Before God can promote anybody,
• 41:27
  he first must find humility. He first must find somebody who
• 41:36
  is dedicated, committed to the most menial tasks.
• 41:45
  Elijah went from washing the hands of a man to healing the
• 41:50
  waters of a city. I'm moved by this man.
• 42:00
  Verse 12. Here's where we're ending
• 42:02
  tonight. And Jehoshaphat said the word of
• 42:10
  the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and
• 42:14
  Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
• 42:21
  So once they were granted information about the
• 42:23
  whereabouts of Elijah, and that's, that's, that's an
• 42:27
  extension of God's grace in itself, right?
• 42:30
  We don't know exactly how it is that Elijah was in the same area
• 42:36
  as these armies. Makes you wonder if the Lord
• 42:39
  instructed Elijah to go there and to wait for this moment.
• 42:44
  Makes you wonder if Elijah was following them.
• 42:47
  That's concealed to us. But what's important is that
• 42:51
  once they learned where Elijah was, they made their way to him.
• 42:57
  And these 3 kings give us a model of how, no matter what
• 43:02
  your foolishness has LED you to, of what you should do in order
• 43:07
  to receive the greatest help you can receive, and that is help
• 43:10
  from God. They do two things.
• 43:13
  The first thing that they do is that they humble themselves.
• 43:17
  These are kings. What would be the temptation of
• 43:21
  any king if they want somebody to be in their presence?
• 43:29
  Servants go find Elijah and bring him here.
• 43:34
  Is that what they do? No, they said, let's go find
• 43:38
  Elijah. That's a humbling thing for
• 43:40
  kings to do. If you're a king, you summon
• 43:43
  people. You don't go out of your way and
• 43:47
  spend your energy and time to look for them.
• 43:52
  So if you are in a place where you're not supposed to be, you
• 43:56
  have to humble yourself. I've sat, I've sat enough with
• 44:02
  people who are in very dire circumstances because of their
• 44:05
  own sins. And when they're presented the
• 44:08
  prescription according to the word of God, of what they need
• 44:10
  to do to get out of that pit, some people refuse to humble
• 44:15
  themselves. You will never know an inch of
• 44:20
  victory if you're not willing to do exactly what the Lord calls
• 44:25
  you to do. I love that miracle in John too.
• 44:29
  Jesus performs a miracle at a wedding.
• 44:32
  Jesus was invited to weddings and when they ran out of wine,
• 44:37
  Mary approaches. Jesus brings the predicament to
• 44:40
  his attention, and when Mary walks away, she says whatever He
• 44:46
  tells you to do, do it. And it's no different for you
• 44:53
  and I that when sin or any circumstances causes us to be
• 45:00
  dried up in one way or another, we must be willing to do what
• 45:04
  the Lord tells us to do. So if you have to, if you have
• 45:07
  to seek people for forgiveness, you do that.
• 45:11
  If you have to gain more accountability, you need to,
• 45:15
  whatever it is that He presents to you, you have to humble
• 45:18
  yourself. It starts there and very close
• 45:23
  to it, as I already mentioned, is that they, they didn't just
• 45:26
  go anywhere. They went where what the
• 45:29
  Jehoshaphat say, the word of the Lord is with him.
• 45:34
  There are many prophets in the land, false prophets, but this
• 45:37
  is what qualified Elisha. God's word was with Elisha.
• 45:42
  You want real help out of the rut of rebellion I have The
• 45:47
  sickness of sin, the fractures that come from folly.
• 45:54
  Go where God's word is. And in this case, it was a
• 45:59
  prophetic word of Elijah. But in our context, it's the
• 46:02
  written word of God that we all have access to.
• 46:08
  This encouraged me. You know why?
• 46:09
  Because Elijah had a reputation. Yeah.
• 46:12
  He washed the hands of Elijah, and he would gain a reputation
• 46:16
  of performing wonderful miracles.
• 46:19
  But this one moves me incredibly.
• 46:22
  People knew him, at least Jehoshaphat did at this time, as
• 46:25
  the one whose God's word was with.
• 46:30
  And this is my prayer for this church, that if this church
• 46:33
  would be recognized for anything, it'd be for people to
• 46:35
  say the word of the Lord is there.
• 46:39
  If this church will be made-up of anybody, it would be made-up
• 46:41
  of people who live in such a way.
• 46:45
  Their reverence for the Word, there's their subjection to the
• 46:49
  Word, their adoration of the Word would cause others to see
• 46:53
  the blessings that come from such a relationship with the
• 46:56
  Word of God, that they would say there's something.
• 47:01
  These are real people of the book.
• 47:06
  Elisha was that man. They recognize them and they
• 47:10
  would go to him. So the king of Israel and
• 47:12
  Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
• 47:16
  I believe this is a good place to pause before we finish this
• 47:19
  chapter. Much has been said, much
• 47:22
  deserves meditation. So let's stop here and thank God
• 47:25
  for it. Well, we ask you tonight that
• 47:51
  you would help these truths become real to us.
• 47:55
  Please, Lord, bring them to remembrance.
• 48:02
  Lord, if we are in a place where we feel as though we're doing
• 48:06
  nothing of significance, we're just washing, we're just
• 48:09
  supervising, we're just taking care of simple things.
• 48:15
  Lord, help us believe that you are pleased by that.
• 48:18
  And when it's done well, it moves others as well.
• 48:23
  Lord, help us learn from Jehoshaphat to never allow
• 48:26
  compromise in our lives to go unchallenged, but to realize
• 48:29
  that one of the greatest, greatest ramifications of it is
• 48:33
  that it can begin to change us, blunt our spirituality, dull our
• 48:39
  conscience. Lord, sin is vicious with us.
• 48:43
  May we be vicious with sin. And Lord, we thank you for the
• 48:49
  threads of mercy and grace in this chapter.
• 48:52
  That even when these men walk their own way, ignored you,
• 48:56
  despised you, when they called upon you, you answered.
• 49:03
  Help us never abuse that. But we pray Lord that we would
• 49:09
  learn ahead and we would know how to acknowledge you in all
• 49:13
  our ways and not only acknowledging you when our ways
• 49:17
  mess up. So Lord, tonight we just pause
• 49:21
  and we afresh dedicate every aspect of our lives like the
• 49:25
  burnt offering that was cut into pieces, every part must be put
• 49:28
  on. We pray for every part of our
• 49:30
  lives to be consecrated to your will.
• 49:35
  From our finances Lord, to our relationships, to our desires,
• 49:39
  to our ministries, our plans, to our abode.
• 49:44
  We just lay it all at your feet and we say, please, Lord, have
• 49:46
  your way. Take it where you want it to go.
• 49:51
  And we trust Lord, that you will make straight our paths.
• 49:54
  So Lord, we rejoice in you that in your love you warn us.
• 49:58
  You give us clear, stark examples to keep us from making
• 50:01
  the same foolish mistakes. And for this we give you thanks.
• 50:04
  In Jesus name we pray, Amen, Amen.
• 50:08
  Let's stand, let's sing to him, honor him, praise and worship
• 50:11
  him, love him, for His word was rich tonight.