Series A – Third Wednesday in Lent – Wednesday March 08, 2023 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough
| Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough: |
| Time Stamp | Transcript |
| 0:22 | Now because of the |
| 0:29 | length of the text that I will be preaching from I will not be reading it in its entirety instead we are going to |
| 0:36 | be looking to right now highlights from Second Chronicles chapters |
| 0:42 | 17 18 and 19. |
| 0:48 | Jehoshaphat asa’s son reigned in his place and strengthened himself against |
| 0:54 | Israel he placed forces in all the Fortified cities of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in |
| 1:01 | the cities of Ephraim that ASA his father had captured the Lord was with |
| 1:06 | Jehoshaphat because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David he did |
| 1:12 | not seek the balls but sought the god of his father and walked in his |
| 1:17 | Commandments and not according to the practices of Israel therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand and |
| 1:24 | all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat and he had great riches and honor his |
| 1:29 | heart was courageous in the ways of Yahweh and furthermore he took the high places and the ashirim out of Judah |
| 1:38 | chapter 18. now Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor and he made a marriage |
| 1:44 | alliance with ahav after some years he went down to ahav in Samaria and a half |
| 1:50 | killed an abundance of sheep and oxen for him and for the people who were with him and induced him to go up against |
| 1:57 | ramoth Gilead ahav king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah will you go |
| 2:03 | with me to raymoth Gilead he answered him I am as you are my peoples as your |
| 2:08 | people we will be with you with you in one it with you in the War Chapter 19. |
| 2:16 | Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned in safety to his house in Jerusalem but |
| 2:22 | jehu the son of hanani the Seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat should you help the wicked and love |
| 2:29 | those who hate Yahweh because of this wrath has gone out against you from |
| 2:35 | Yahweh nevertheless some good is found in you for you destroyed the asheroth |
| 2:40 | out of the land and have set your heart to seek God O Lord have mercy on us thanks be to God |
| 2:49 | in the name of Jesus Amen so as we work our way through portions of the book of |
| 2:56 | second chronicles we’re looking at good Kings by the way it’s jehoshaphats a |
| 3:01 | good King as good Kings go but the one thing I can say about Jehoshaphat is |
| 3:07 | that he suffers from the same thing you and I suffer from a really bad case of |
| 3:12 | simil Eustis at picature sounds terrible right simul Eustis epicator that’s a |
| 3:18 | Latin phrase that means simultaneously Justified and sinner at the same time |
| 3:23 | the Apostle Paul describes this lamentable condition in Romans chapter 7 |
| 3:28 | when he says to this effect the good that I don’t want to do I don’t do the evil that I don’t want to do I keep on |
| 3:35 | doing right and then he asks the question who will deliver me from this body of death Jehoshaphat does some |
| 3:42 | really good stuff and Jehoshaphat does some horrifyingly terrible bad stuff in |
| 3:49 | fact it’s not until after he dies that you’d learn just how horrible it really |
| 3:55 | is well we’re going to work our way through this story because it’s really good all right so if second Chronicles |
| 4:02 | chapter 17 King ASA who we looked at last week he’s dead his son Jehoshaphat |
| 4:08 | has now ascended to the throne he’s the freshly anointed king of Judah keep in |
| 4:14 | mind Israel’s in the northern kingdom and they’re steeped in idolatry and a |
| 4:19 | little bit of historical note here I always will pronounce his name hebraically correct his name is ahav |
| 4:27 | it’s not Ahab okay Ahab is from from from you know from Florida you know but |
| 4:33 | ahav he’s you know he’s he’s from he’s from Israel right and you’ll remember Ahab ahav he’s married to one of the |
| 4:41 | most notorious villains in all of scripture Jezebel |
| 4:47 | let me remind you Jezebel’s father was a priest to ba’al and Jezebel her name in |
| 4:55 | Hebrew means princess of all okay she is uh just uh you know as as that goes |
| 5:02 | she’s as icky as they get I mean she puts some Disney Princesses to shame I would say Maleficent doesn’t have |
| 5:08 | anything on Jezebel I mean that’s how Wicked this woman is and keep in mind |
| 5:15 | ahav and Jezebel they have had children and one of their children is a Girl by |
| 5:21 | the name of the Thalia and Nathalia will come into play here so keep this in mind so as we read here so the freshly minted |
| 5:30 | king of Judah he strengthened himself and note the words against Israel |
| 5:35 | remember in last week’s sermon when we looked at King ASA God had to well |
| 5:40 | actually ASA had him used a political strategy and Intrigue in order to undo |
| 5:47 | to the the uh the store had the the Fortified City that the king of Israel |
| 5:52 | had set up and God rebuked him for this because he didn’t trust God to deliver him from the king of Israel so |
| 5:58 | Jehoshaphat first thing he does because you know tensions are running pretty high between the northern kingdom and |
| 6:04 | the southern Kingdom he goes about preparing for the inevitable war with |
| 6:11 | the northern kingdom so he placed forces in the all the Fortified cities of Judah he set garrisons in the land of Judah |
| 6:18 | and the cities of Ephraim that ASA his father had captured and Yahweh was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the |
| 6:24 | earlier ways of his father David he did not seek the balls but sought the god of |
| 6:30 | his father and he walked in his Commandments and not according to the practices of Israel therefore Yahweh |
| 6:38 | established the kingdom in his hand and all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat and he had great riches and honor his |
| 6:44 | heart was courageous in the ways of Yahweh and furthermore he took the high places in the asharim out of Judah then |
| 6:53 | he goes about doing something that I think is quite brilliant his faith comes |
| 7:00 | by hearing hearing through the word of Christ and Jehoshaphat is a man of the Bible listen to what he does next this |
| 7:07 | reform is brilliant in the third year of his Reign he sent his officials Ben hael |
| 7:13 | Obadiah Zechariah Nathaniel and mikhaya to teach the cities of Judah and with |
| 7:19 | them the Levites shamaya nathania Nathaniel zabadaya asahel |
| 7:28 | ahmath jahanathan Adana |
| 7:36 | and the with these the Levites and the |
| 7:41 | priestram and they taught in Judah having the book of The Law of the Lord |
| 7:47 | with them and they went about through all the cities and taught among the people |
| 7:53 | so they took the Bible commissioned a bunch of guys and they |
| 7:58 | sent them throughout Judah with this task preach the word all right so far so |
| 8:04 | good I’m liking this King okay but here’s the thing I can tell you this is that the Bible always takes great pains |
| 8:11 | to take somebody who’s looking good and then show us their seedy underbelly okay |
| 8:17 | because you’ll note that each and every one of us we’re Sinners David was a sinner a great Sinner and yet a man of |
| 8:24 | great faith Jehoshaphat great man of Faith but he’s also a sinner so this is |
| 8:30 | all going to come come to ruse give it a moment here while we still work through the good bits so the fear of the Lord |
| 8:36 | fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah and they made no war of Jehoshaphat so anybody who was |
| 8:43 | making designs on Judas thought better of it in the you know no way uh we we fear Yahweh too much some of the |
| 8:50 | Philistines they even brought Jehoshaphat presence of silver for tribute and the Arabians also brought |
| 8:56 | him 7 700 Rams 7 700 goats and |
| 9:02 | Jehoshaphat grew steadily greater and greater he built in Judah fortresses and |
| 9:08 | store cities and he had large supplies in the cities of Judah he had soldiers Mighty Men of Valor in Jerusalem and and |
| 9:15 | then well 14 through 19 just explains all the different men the men of valor |
| 9:23 | and the military might that he had and let’s just say it’s impressive even by |
| 9:29 | today’s standards right so far so good |
| 9:36 | for chapter 18. here it comes let me kind of explain it |
| 9:42 | this way okay have you noticed that we human beings although we are Christians sometimes we |
| 9:50 | think we know better than God okay let me give you an example okay so I’ve been |
| 9:56 | a artist critic of the purpose-driven and secret driven churches right because |
| 10:01 | what do they do they go out and they ask pagans rank pagan people who don’t |
| 10:07 | believe in God uh how come you don’t go to church it’s boring they respond oh |
| 10:13 | really what do you think’s boring about it I don’t like hearing Bible okay don’t like Bible what else do you not like I |
| 10:18 | don’t like hearing hymns they’re stuffy and old and and they sound like dirges okay no hymns no Bible okay and what |
| 10:26 | would you prefer a smoke and light show with a band and a guy in skinny jeans okay we can do that right and so what do |
| 10:32 | they do so the in the name of growing the church they put the world in charge |
| 10:39 | okay which makes no sense okay because it’s not not our clever marketing |
| 10:46 | methods that that grow the church what grows the church the word of God right so you’ll note that we human beings are |
| 10:53 | prone to well thinking that we know better than God so let me let me let me |
| 10:58 | give you the problem here before we explain it from the text all right so um I although I do not live in Europe I am |
| 11:05 | familiar with European history and the one thing I can say about the royal families of Europeans they’re all |
| 11:13 | interrelated okay they’re all family why because somebody somewhere a long time |
| 11:19 | ago came up with this idea if that if you have two kingdoms that are in Conflict a simple way to solve the |
| 11:27 | conflict is you take the the Crown Prince of one of the kingdoms and have |
| 11:33 | him marry a princess from the other Kingdom and the two come together and |
| 11:38 | it’s all about love right the the happy couple they enjoy each other’s company |
| 11:43 | and everyone goes how could we go to war with each other because oh it would just break the heart of our of the queen and |
| 11:51 | the King you know and stuff like this so right so what do they do they enter marry for political reasons and for |
| 12:00 | reasons that gain political bonus points if you would so Judah and Israel are in |
| 12:08 | conflict with each other what better idea thinking the way the |
| 12:13 | world thinks than have the Crown Prince of Judah marry a princess from the house |
| 12:19 | of ahav I mean it’s it sounds like a perfect way to avert war and conflict |
| 12:25 | and bloodshed because I mean after all all we need is love love is all we need and then the Beatles say that right so |
| 12:33 | um so here’s what the text says so Jehoshaphat had great riches in honor and he made a marriage alliance with |
| 12:40 | ahav just so you know the Crown Prince of Judah is a fellow by the name of |
| 12:45 | jeholram and just so you know the woman he married is a Thalia okay second only to Jezebel |
| 12:54 | as far as wicked women of the Bible I mean wow is she up there I mean really |
| 12:59 | up okay and and here’s the thing what does God’s word say about things like |
| 13:05 | this a good Jewish boy is not to marry a pagan chick it doesn’t matter if it’s |
| 13:11 | politically expedient or even if she’s hot okay remember what happened to Solomon right okay so athalia being the |
| 13:20 | daughter of Jezebel do you think that she is a True Believer in Yahweh and |
| 13:27 | that she loves the Lord her God with all of her heart soul mind and strength not even close Okay and here’s the thing is |
| 13:36 | she penitent nope okay this is a this this is a formula for disaster so keep |
| 13:43 | that in mind because we’ll talk about the Fallout from this at the end of the sermon so you have to stay tuned yeah |
| 13:49 | the state stay tuned it gets better so for some years then okay so note here marriage Alliance jehovaham has married |
| 13:56 | a Thalia and what does Jehoshaphat do he decided to make a royal visit to |
| 14:04 | Israel to visit the house of ahav okay I mean after all they’re now related |
| 14:10 | through marriage right you know you know they’re they’re in-laws now and so here’s what happens some years later |
| 14:19 | Jehoshaphat went down to ahav in Samaria and a half so so so blessed by having |
| 14:26 | Jehoshaphat come and visit killed an abundance of sheep and oxen for him and |
| 14:31 | for the people who were with him and induced him to go up against ramoth Gilead he kind of went like this so so |
| 14:37 | while you’re here I have an idea why don’t we go to war with Ray moth Gilly |
| 14:43 | we could we could do the war together right okay they were they were just |
| 14:48 | enemies just a few years ago before the wedding and now they’re going to go to |
| 14:53 | war together right and so ahav the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah will you go with me to ramoth |
| 15:00 | Gilead he answered him I am As You Are My People is your people we will be with |
| 15:05 | you in the war foreign |
| 15:12 | there’s a song that’s on social media and it goes and the song goes like this |
| 15:18 | dumb ways to die right you know this is just one of those things you’re |
| 15:25 | sitting there going what is going on Jehoshaphat you’ve sent guys throughout |
| 15:31 | Judah to preach the Bible haven’t you read what you’re supposed to be doing in |
| 15:37 | this circumstance right so Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel so they’ve come together they’re |
| 15:43 | going to go to war together I mean apparently it’s like playing Cricket okay they’re going to war together and |
| 15:49 | so Jehoshaphat being the pious King that he is although you can tell he’s his |
| 15:54 | brain is suffering from symbol used to said picature in the worst of ways uh he |
| 16:00 | he says hey uh could could couldn’t we inquire first for the word of Yahweh now |
| 16:06 | a little bit of previous history here if you know the history of ahav he came this close I mean this close to |
| 16:13 | legitimately truly repenting and trusting in Yahweh alone for his |
| 16:19 | salvation as his God okay but here’s what happened is is that |
| 16:27 | rather than availing himself of listening to the true prophets of Yahweh |
| 16:32 | he decided to surround himself with prophets of Yahweh that he found on |
| 16:37 | YouTube okay uh that that’s pretty much the the same kind of caliber of profit |
| 16:44 | that that he was listening to so in other words he he became |
| 16:49 | it basically Jewish and a believer in Yahweh in like name only but according |
| 16:56 | to his desires not according to the truth of God’s word right okay so so so |
| 17:01 | of course Ahab has prophets that could give him the word of Yahweh right and |
| 17:08 | you’ll see these guys are about as Wing that whacker doodlish as um any of the people we focused on in Prophecy bingo |
| 17:15 | so the king of Israel gathered the prophets together 400 of them 400 men and he said to them shall we go to |
| 17:23 | battle against ramath Gilead or shall I refrain and they said go up for God will |
| 17:29 | give it give it into the hand of the king and Jehoshaphat Joseph goes you smell |
| 17:37 | that it smells like sulfur to me um you sure these are prophets of God right and |
| 17:42 | so Jehoshaphat said is there not here another prophet of Yahweh of whom we may |
| 17:47 | inquire and the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat well there is yet One Man by |
| 17:53 | whom we may inquire of Yahweh his name is mikhaya and he’s the son of imlah but |
| 17:59 | I hate him this is what Ahab ahav says I hate him for he never prophesies good |
| 18:05 | concerning me but always evil in other words he speaks the truth right |
| 18:11 | and so Jehoshaphat said well let not the king say so bring him in right so then |
| 18:17 | the king of Israel summoned on officer and said bring quickly mikhaya the son of imlah now the king of Israel and |
| 18:23 | Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting on their Thrones arrayed in their robes and they were sitting at the |
| 18:29 | threshing floor at the entrance of the Gate of Samaria and all the prophets were prophesying before them and |
| 18:35 | zedekiah the son of henna Anna made for himself horns of iron and said thus says |
| 18:41 | Yahweh with these you shall push the syrians until they are destroyed and all |
| 18:48 | the prophets prophesied so and said go up to ramoth Gilead and Triumph Yahweh |
| 18:53 | will give it into the hand of the king and the messenger who went to summon Makaya said to him now listen to these |
| 19:00 | words so the messenger gets Makaya and he said he says kind of puts him aside and says listen very carefully to what |
| 19:06 | I’m going to say here okay behold the words of all of the prophets with one |
| 19:11 | Accord are favorable to the king let your word be like the word of one of |
| 19:17 | them and you need to speak favorably okay in the corporate world we call this |
| 19:24 | setting expectations okay okay |
| 19:30 | we don’t want to hear any of what these other people are saying do |
| 19:35 | you got it Kimo Sabe okay right this is a great story it |
| 19:42 | really is good so Mikaya said as Yahweh lives what my |
| 19:48 | God says that will I speak way to go Micaiah right so when he had come to the |
| 19:55 | king the king said to him shall we go to ramoth Gilead to battle |
| 20:00 | or shall I refrain NOW Watch What Happens here Micaiah gives a very |
| 20:06 | sarcastic answer but he doesn’t say thus saith the Lord so Makaya says all right |
| 20:11 | well um he said hang on a second here he says |
| 20:16 | you go up and and he says go up in Triumph they’ll be given into your hand |
| 20:22 | notice he didn’t say thus saith the Lord right yeah well I did I did what you told me to you told me to say the same |
| 20:29 | thing that these bozos are saying right and so uh at this point um ahav isn’t keen on the her word that |
| 20:37 | he just heard from Makaya so the king said to him well how many times shall I |
| 20:42 | make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of Yahweh |
| 20:48 | and then he said I saw all of Israel scattered on the mountains as sheep that |
| 20:53 | have no Shepherd and Yahweh said these have no master LED each to return to his home in peace and the king of Israel |
| 21:00 | said to Jehoshaphat did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me but evil and Micaiah said |
| 21:07 | therefore hear the word of Yahweh I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne |
| 21:13 | and all the hosts of Heaven standing on his right hand and on his left and |
| 21:18 | Yahweh said who will entice ahav the king of Israel that he may go up and |
| 21:23 | fall at ramoth Gilead and one said one thing and another said another |
| 21:30 | and then a Spirit came forward and when you read the commentaries on this everyone agrees this is probably a |
| 21:37 | demonic spirit the Demonic Spirit comes forward and says I will entice him |
| 21:45 | Luther has an interesting phrase he says you got to remember that the devil is still God’s devil right |
| 21:52 | the devil still belongs to God so Yahweh said to him all right by what |
| 21:57 | means and he said I will go out and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all the prophets I think that same lying |
| 22:04 | spirit is in the mouth of all the YouTube prophets today right he said all right you are to entice him and you |
| 22:10 | shall succeed go out and do so now therefore behold Yahweh has put a |
| 22:15 | lying spirit in the mouth of you these your prophets Yahweh has declared disaster concerning you |
| 22:22 | now here’s the thing if somebody gives a false prophecy they’re a false prophet these guys are false prophets straight |
| 22:29 | up they’re not speaking by the spirit of Yahweh they’re speaking by a lying spirit so then zedekiah the son of Khana |
| 22:37 | came near and he struck Micaiah on the cheek and he said which way did the |
| 22:42 | spirit of Yahweh go from me to speak to you and Micaiah said behold you shall |
| 22:49 | see that on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself a little bit of a note here inner Chambers back |
| 22:56 | in the day those are the place where places where people relieve themselves so Makaya prophesied here that this |
| 23:03 | fellow who struck him that he would end up hiding in a bathroom like a you know like a little girl like you know in |
| 23:10 | danger right so uh let’s see and the king of Israel |
| 23:16 | said sees Micaiah take him back to Amman the governor of the city and to joash |
| 23:21 | the King’s son and say thus says the king put this fellow in prison feed him with meager rations of bread and water |
| 23:28 | until I return in peace and Micaiah said if you return in peace Yahweh has not |
| 23:34 | spoken by me and he said hear all you peoples and here’s the thing |
| 23:41 | Ahab will not return in peace he’s about to breathe his last just like the true |
| 23:46 | prophet of God said and here’s the thing nowhere ever is Micaiah mentioned again |
| 23:52 | the implication is is that the son of ahav kept him in prison and he died |
| 23:58 | there for speaking the truth keep that in mind |
| 24:03 | so now the Fulfillment of all of this so the king of Israel a Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to ramoth Gilead |
| 24:10 | and the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat I will disguise myself and |
| 24:15 | go into battle but you wear your robes why did Jehoshaphat say yes to this you |
| 24:21 | look all Regal so that they’ll want to kill you and I’m gonna be in Disguise so that nobody will recognize me |
| 24:29 | oh lovely and of course your host Pat said sure no problem okay this is a bad |
| 24:35 | deal all around okay so he said and so the king of Israel he disguised himself |
| 24:40 | and they went into battle now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of his |
| 24:46 | chariots fight with neither small nor great but only with the king of Israel |
| 24:52 | as soon as the captains of The Chariot saw Jehoshaphat they said it is the king of Israel uh-oh case of mistaken |
| 25:01 | identity uh jehoshaphat’s in trouble so they turned to fight against him and |
| 25:06 | Jehoshaphat cried out and Yahweh helped him God drew them away from him for as |
| 25:12 | soon as the captains of The Chariot saw that it was not the king of Israel they turned back from pursuing him but a |
| 25:18 | certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate |
| 25:24 | therefore he said to the driver of his chariots turn around carry me out of the battle for I’m wounded and the battle |
| 25:31 | continued that day and the king of Israel was propped up in his Chariot facing the syrians until evening and |
| 25:38 | then at Sunset he died |
| 25:44 | ah jealous of that why were you even there okay just this this uh such a mess |
| 25:49 | so Jehoshaphat the king of Judah he returned in safety to his house in |
| 25:54 | Jerusalem but jehu the son of hanani the Seer now remember last week it was |
| 25:59 | hanani who rebuked King ASA his son jehu |
| 26:05 | now rebukes asa’s son Jehoshaphat jehu the son of hanani the Seer went out to |
| 26:10 | meet him and he said to King Jehoshaphat should you help the wicked |
| 26:16 | and love those who hate Yahweh because of this wrath has gone out |
| 26:24 | against you from Yahweh it’s already left the barn wrath has |
| 26:29 | already been been determined for Jehoshaphat from God because he did this |
| 26:36 | nevertheless some good is found in you for you destroyed the asheroth out of |
| 26:42 | the land and have set your heart to seek God now Jehoshaphat and being a man of |
| 26:49 | the book he knows full well that when God determines disaster for somebody |
| 26:55 | best thing you can do is repent and maybe God will relent but here’s the |
| 27:00 | thing we’re gonna we’re gonna revisit this prophecy of of jehu the son of hanani |
| 27:06 | because wrath had already gone out and when it finally hits its mark |
| 27:13 | it’s it’s devastating it’s the best way I can describe it utterly devastating |
| 27:18 | now Jehoshaphat now begins a series of reforms and it seems like they’re |
| 27:24 | prompted by this rebuke that he received from God Jehoshaphat lived at Jerusalem he went out again among the people from |
| 27:31 | badshiba to the Hill Country of Ephraim and he brought them back to Yahweh the god of their fathers he appointed judges |
| 27:38 | in the land in all the Fortified cities of Judah City by City said to the judges consider what you do for you judge not |
| 27:45 | for man but for Yahweh he is with you in giving judgment now then let the fear of |
| 27:51 | Yahweh be upon you be careful what you do for there is no Injustice with Yahweh |
| 27:56 | Our God or Porsche partiality or taking bribes so first order of business |
| 28:02 | judicial reform and he puts men in place and warns them very sternly that they |
| 28:09 | are to judge rightly show no partiality and reminds them that they by their |
| 28:14 | judgments are acting in the place of God remember the Apostle Paul makes it clear |
| 28:19 | that the governments exist for the purpose of punishing the evil doer which is all the more reason why Jehoshaphat |
| 28:25 | should have never been in Samaria with ahav right and that that that that that and that by punishing the evil doer the |
| 28:33 | the uh the kingdoms of the earth they carry the sword of God now what about the church well the church gets a little |
| 28:40 | bit of Reform too moreover in Jerusalem Jehoshaphat aborted certain Levites and |
| 28:45 | Priests and heads of families of Israel to give judgment to yah for Yahweh to |
| 28:51 | decide dispute disputed cases and they set their seat at Jerusalem and he |
| 28:56 | charged them thus you shall do in fear of Yahweh in faithfulness and with your whole heart whenever a case comes to you |
| 29:03 | from your brothers who live in their cities concerning bloodshed law or commandment statutes or rules |
| 29:10 | then you shall warn them that they may not incur guilt before Yahweh and wrath may not come upon you and your brothers |
| 29:18 | thus you shall do and you will not incur guilt and behold amariah the chief |
| 29:23 | priest is over you in all matters of the Lord and zebediah the son of Ishmael the governor of the house of Judah and all |
| 29:29 | the kings matters and the Levites will serve you as officers deal courageously and may Yahweh be with the upright |
| 29:38 | man it’s when he does good he really does good |
| 29:45 | when he does evil he really does evil |
| 29:51 | you know what this sounds like it sounds like me it sounds like you that’s kind |
| 29:57 | of the point right all right now all while all this is going on right keep |
| 30:04 | this in mind the happy lovey couple uh Jehovah RAM and athalia are getting |
| 30:10 | closer and closer to each other right and um and she is teaching him the ways |
| 30:16 | of all and evil this this is all going on in the background okay now |
| 30:24 | days of disaster come upon us all I by the way since we’re making this a long |
| 30:29 | sermon let’s make it a little longer all right I’m excited about the sermon okay so uh |
| 30:38 | when we talk about somebody properly orientating themselves right you got to |
| 30:43 | properly orientate themselves in Hebrew to orientate yourself is to face East okay now that’s kind of an interesting |
| 30:50 | way of of looking at things but in the Hebrew way of thinking you have to think |
| 30:55 | of it this way since we cannot see the future in the Hebrew way of thinking we |
| 31:01 | always then in this life we walk backwards and to be properly orientated is to face |
| 31:09 | the word of God and to face God’s holy Temple and by reading the word of God |
| 31:14 | you have a clear understanding of what’s happened in the past and it will guide you as you walk backwards into the |
| 31:21 | future never able to see what’s coming into the future it’s kind of an interesting way of looking at it it’s kind of fun if you think about it but |
| 31:28 | all that being said you never know when disaster is going to come because we all walk through into the future blindly |
| 31:33 | well the day of disaster has come and the moabites and the ammonites and the |
| 31:39 | muonites the men of Sayer they came against Jehoshaphat for battle some men |
| 31:45 | came and told Jehoshaphat a great multitude is coming against you from Edom from Beyond the Sea and behold they |
| 31:52 | are in hazazon Tamar that is in engetti and Getty by the way is in the western portion of the Dead Sea it’s a it’s a |
| 31:59 | natural spring there David hung out and hid in engetti so then Jehoshaphat was afraid and what do you do when you’re |
| 32:06 | afraid and you’re up against something like this he set his face to seek Yahweh |
| 32:12 | ah man I love this guy when he does right okay Dave Trouble Comes Along we |
| 32:17 | need to pray okay so he proclaimed a faster all of Judah and Judah assembled |
| 32:23 | to seek help from Yahweh from all the cities of Judah they came to seek Yahweh |
| 32:31 | okay and then Jehoshaphat stood in the Assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of Yahweh before the new court and |
| 32:38 | he said oh Yahweh God of our fathers are you not God in heaven listen to this |
| 32:44 | prayer no decreeing no declaring and by the way Jehoshaphat legitimately is a |
| 32:50 | king okay he can he’s he’s capable of issuing declarations and stuff like this |
| 32:57 | but when he is face to face with his God and he’s calling out to his God |
| 33:03 | even the king humbles himself yes yes I love this theme here it’s good stuff |
| 33:10 | here okay so he said oh Lord God of our fathers are you not God in heaven you |
| 33:16 | rule over the kingdoms of the nations in your hand our power and might so none is |
| 33:22 | able to withstand you did you not our God drive out the inhabitants of this |
| 33:27 | land before your People Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend he’s quoting the Bible back |
| 33:35 | to God ah way to go good way to pray right and say and they and they have |
| 33:41 | lived in in it and have built for you in a sanctuary for your name saying if disaster comes upon us the sword |
| 33:48 | judgment or pestilence or famine we will stand before this house and before you for your name is in the is in this house |
| 33:56 | and cry out to you in our Affliction and you said that you would hear us and save |
| 34:01 | and now behold the men of Ammon and Moab and mount seir whom you would not let |
| 34:07 | Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt and whom they avoided and |
| 34:12 | did not destroy behold they reward us by coming to drive us out of your |
| 34:18 | possession which you have given us to inherit Oh Our God will you not execute |
| 34:25 | judgment on them for we are powerless against this great horde that is coming |
| 34:31 | against us we do not know what to do but our eyes are on you |
| 34:40 | okay that’s a good prayer prayer of faith too Jehoshaphat is a man of faith |
| 34:46 | and he’s also a horrible sinner all right so meanwhile all Judah stood |
| 34:52 | before Yahweh with their little ones their wives their children everybody was |
| 34:57 | their praying the young the old the men the women the children they’re all there |
| 35:03 | crying out to Yahweh for help so the spirit of Yahweh Came Upon jahaziel the son of Zechariah the son of |
| 35:10 | benaaya the son of Jael the son of matanaya a levite the son of the of the |
| 35:16 | sons of asaph in the midst of the assembly and so he said listen all of Judah and |
| 35:22 | inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat thus says Yahweh to you do not be afraid do not be dismayed at |
| 35:30 | this great horde for the battle is not yours but Gods tomorrow you go down |
| 35:36 | against them behold they will come up by the ascent of ziz and you will find them at the end of the valley east of the |
| 35:42 | Wilderness of geruel but you will not need to fight in this battle stand firm |
| 35:48 | Hold Your Position and see the salvation of Yahweh on your behalf o Judah and |
| 35:54 | Jerusalem do not be afraid do not be dismayed tomorrow go out against them |
| 35:59 | and Yahweh will be with you all right say what God legitimately just |
| 36:07 | promised you don’t even have to put your armor on I’m gonna fight this one for |
| 36:12 | you and Destroy them all for you boom what an answer to prayer and by the |
| 36:18 | way isn’t that exactly what God does for you and for me right Satan and the |
| 36:23 | hordes of Hell have come against us right and we were all brought onto the |
| 36:29 | submission of the Dominion of darkness and become children of the devil and his demons and we were destined for God’s |
| 36:36 | Wrath and we cried out to God and he heard us and he sent one man Jesus |
| 36:43 | Christ save us he’s the one who Wags The Warfare and he was found in human form |
| 36:50 | born of the Virgin Mary there was God in human flesh and he obeyed God’s Commandments perfectly and then he |
| 36:58 | willingly laid down his life for you and for me and by doing so he won the whole |
| 37:04 | War he defeated the devil and his angels and you know do we have to do anything |
| 37:10 | for that I wasn’t even around when it happened and neither were you I you know that being the case you’ll note that |
| 37:17 | this battle was won even before we got on the scene and God has won our |
| 37:22 | salvation for us The Battle Belongs to the Lord amen and amen the themes here are rich |
| 37:30 | so Jehoshaphat having heard this he bowed his head with his face to the ground all Judah in the inhabitants of |
| 37:38 | Jerusalem they fell down before Yahweh worshiping Yahweh and the Levites and |
| 37:44 | the coethites and the chorothites stood up to praise Yahweh the god of Israel with a very loud voice and this was |
| 37:52 | their response to the promise of God that he would win the battle for them so |
| 37:58 | they Rose early in the morning went out into the Wilderness of Toccoa and when they went out Jehoshaphat stood and said |
| 38:05 | now hear me Judah in inhabitants of Jerusalem believe in Yahweh you’re a God and you will be established Believe In |
| 38:11 | His prophets believe His prophets you will succeed believe this word that God has given us is what he’s basically |
| 38:17 | saying and so when he had taken counsel with the people he appointed those who were to sing to Yahweh and praise him |
| 38:23 | and holy attire as they went before the Army saying give thanks to Yahweh for his steadfast love endures forever now a |
| 38:31 | little bit of a note charismatics and wing nut whacker Doodles in the Nar read this text and basically make the claim |
| 38:37 | it is our praise that makes it possible for God to fight our battles for us |
| 38:43 | balagna okay God made the promise that he would fight and win the battle for |
| 38:49 | them before they ever sang a single Praise Chorus to Yahweh this is not a |
| 38:55 | text that teaches that our praise defeats our enemies that’s just nonsense |
| 39:00 | right so when they began to sing in Praise Yahweh said an ambush against the men of |
| 39:06 | Ammon Moab and mount seir who came against Judah so that they were routed |
| 39:12 | the men of Ammon and Moab Rose against the inhabitants of Mount Sayer devoting |
| 39:18 | them to destruction and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Sayer they all helped to destroy one another |
| 39:27 | well um that’s not how you win a battle laughs but note here Yahweh is the one who |
| 39:35 | turned them against themselves and he won the battle for them not a single |
| 39:40 | Israelite not a single Jew lost their lives that day in that battle because when they arrived on the scene it was |
| 39:47 | just a land of corpses okay this is wonderful so when Judah came to the |
| 39:52 | Watchtower of the Wilderness they looked toward the horde and behold there were dead bodies lying on the ground |
| 39:58 | none had escaped casualties for out what were 100 percent |
| 40:09 | for the other side okay and Judah didn’t even have to swing a sword not even once |
| 40:16 | so when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil they found among them in great numbers Goods Clothing |
| 40:22 | precious things which they took for themselves until they could carry no more they were three days in taking the |
| 40:28 | spoil it was so much three days okay taking spoil |
| 40:34 | I’m sure at the end of that three days the smell was awful okay but you know you know you got to make sure that you |
| 40:41 | get the spoil right so three days they took for themselves and to tell they can carry no more on the fourth day |
| 40:48 | they assembled in the Valley of barakah the valley of blessing for there they |
| 40:53 | blessed Yahweh therefore the name of that place has been called the valley of barakah to this day and then they |
| 41:00 | returned every man of Judah and Jerusalem and Jehoshaphat at their head returning to Jerusalem with joy for |
| 41:06 | Yahweh had made them Rejoice over their enemies they came to Jerusalem with Harps and liars and trumpets in the Hat |
| 41:12 | to the house of Yahweh and the fear of God came on all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that Yahweh |
| 41:19 | himself had fought against the enemies of Israel so the realm of Jehoshaphat |
| 41:25 | was quiet for his for his God gave him rest all around thus Jehoshaphat reigned |
| 41:31 | over Judah he was 35 years old when he began to Reign he reigned 25 years in Jerusalem his mother’s name was azubah |
| 41:38 | the daughter of shilohi he walked in the way of Asa his father and did not turn aside from it doing what was right in |
| 41:45 | the sight of Yahweh the high places however were not taken away the people had not yet set their hearts upon the |
| 41:52 | god of their fathers now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat From First to Last are Written In The Chronicles of jehu |
| 41:58 | the son of hanani which are recorded in the book of The Kings of Israel a little bit of a note we know then for a fact |
| 42:05 | that jehu the son of hanani was one of the anonymous not so Anonymous authors |
| 42:11 | of the book of Second Kings so keep that in mind this was written by the prophets |
| 42:17 | but then we get this little post script and I told you that we would then hear about the Wrath that had gone out when |
| 42:24 | it finally strikes okay it’s devastating but here’s the PostScript remember what jehoshaphat’s |
| 42:31 | kind of Achilles heel sin was again he suffers from civil use to set picat or pretty badly right and that is is that |
| 42:38 | he thinks he can well rule in some cases using worldly wisdom rather than the |
| 42:46 | wisdom that comes from God’s word so he was inconsistent just like you and I can |
| 42:51 | be inconsistent after this it says Jehoshaphat the king of Judah joined with ahaziah the king of |
| 42:58 | Israel who acted wickedly ah what is going on here he joined him |
| 43:06 | in building ships to go to tarshish and they built the ships of ezean Gaber and |
| 43:11 | when Eliezer the son of Dada vahu of Marisha prophesied against Jehoshaphat |
| 43:17 | saying because you have joined with ahaziah Yahweh will destroy what you have made and the ships were wrecked and |
| 43:24 | they were not able to go to tarshish why did you not learn your lesson the |
| 43:31 | first time okay wrath has gone out now how does this all end jehoshaphat’s dead |
| 43:37 | right but remember jehu the son of hanani prophesied that wrath had gone out because of what he had done and so |
| 43:45 | like I said all the while in the background The Newlywed couple of johoram and athalia |
| 43:53 | they are a thing and her influence grows and grows and grows on johoram and |
| 44:00 | here’s what it says Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David and |
| 44:07 | johoram his son reigned in his place he had Brothers the son of Jehoshaphat Azariah jahel Zechariah Azariah Mikhail |
| 44:16 | Chef attire all of these were the sons of Jehoshaphat the king of Israel and |
| 44:21 | their father gave them great gifts of silver gold and valuable to get |
| 44:27 | possessions together with fortified cities in Judah but he gave the kingdom to Jehovah because he was the firstborn |
| 44:35 | now a little bit of a note here if your father as like the last things he does on Earth sets you up gives you great |
| 44:42 | gifts of gold and cities and things like this that speaks well of a Father’s Love for his sons right and that his |
| 44:50 | intention was that they would all succeed and do great in his absence |
| 44:56 | after his death but when Jehovah had ascended the Throne |
| 45:02 | of his father and was established he murdered all of his brothers with the sword and also some of the princes of |
| 45:09 | Israel johoram was 32 years old when he became king and he reigned eight years in |
| 45:16 | Jerusalem and he walked in the way of the Kings of Israel as the house of ahav |
| 45:23 | had done why for the daughter of hahab was his wife and he did what was evil in |
| 45:31 | the sight of Yahweh yet Yahweh was not willing to destroy the House of David because |
| 45:37 | of the Covenant that he had made with David and since he had promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons |
| 45:43 | his sin led to the murder of all of his sons |
| 45:49 | every single one of them and now the reigning king of Judah is a raging |
| 45:57 | idolater and he learned this from his wife |
| 46:03 | well God wasn’t thrilled with this and so it says Yahweh stirred up against |
| 46:08 | jehorram the anger of the Philistines and the of the Arabians who were who were near the Ethiopians and they came |
| 46:14 | against Judah invaded it and carried away all the possessions they found that belonged to the King’s house and also |
| 46:20 | his sons and his wives so that no one was left with him except jehoiah’s his youngest son |
| 46:26 | and after this Yahweh struck Jehovah in his bowels with an incurable disease in |
| 46:32 | the course of time at the end of two years his bowels came out of the because of the disease and he died in great |
| 46:38 | Agony his people made no fire in his honor and like the fires made for his |
| 46:43 | fathers he was 32 years old when he began to Reign and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem and he departed with |
| 46:50 | no one’s regret they buried him in the city of David but not in the tombs of the Kings that’s how |
| 46:57 | Wicked he was nobody lamented his death and after him the inhabitants of Jerusalem made ahaziah his youngest son |
| 47:03 | King in his place for the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp |
| 47:08 | had killed all the older Sons so ahaziah the son of jehoram the king of Judah |
| 47:13 | reigned ahazai was 22 years old when he began to Reign and he reigned one year in Jerusalem his mother’s name was a |
| 47:20 | Thalia the granddaughter of Omri daughter of Jezebel he also walked in |
| 47:26 | the ways of the House of ahav for his mother was his counselor in doing wickedly he did what was evil in the |
| 47:33 | sight of Yahweh as the house of ahav had done and after the death of his father they were his counselors and add to his |
| 47:40 | undoing he even followed their counsel and went with Jehovah the son of ahav |
| 47:46 | the king of Israel to make war against Hazel the king of Syria at ramoth Gilead and the serious syrians wounded Joe RAM |
| 47:53 | and he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that he had received at Rhema when he fought against haziel the |
| 48:00 | king of Syria and ahaziah the son of Jehovah and the king of Judah went down to see Joe around the son of ahav a |
| 48:05 | dresser real because he was wounded but it was ordained by God that the downfall of ahaziah should come about through his |
| 48:11 | going to visit Joe RAM and so he died also this is just tragedy after tragedy |
| 48:19 | now and when a Thalia the mother of ahaziah saw that her son was dead she |
| 48:24 | arose and destroyed all the royal family of the house of Judah she murdered every |
| 48:30 | last one of them that she could find and but Jehovah Jehoshaphat the beat the |
| 48:37 | daughter of the king took joash the son of ahaziah and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were about to be put |
| 48:43 | to death and she put him and his nurse in a bedroom then Jehoshaphat the daughter of the king of King johoram the |
| 48:50 | wife of jehoihadiah the priest because she was the sister of Azariah hid him from a Thalia so that she did not put |
| 48:57 | him to death and he remained with them for six years hidden in the house of God while athalia herself reigned over Judah |
| 49:08 | wrath indeed has gone out so what’s it all mean well like I’ve |
| 49:14 | been saying Jehoshaphat for as great as he was a man of Faith he was he was a |
| 49:21 | ranked sinner like you and like I in fact he suffers from the same thing that |
| 49:27 | you and I suffer from a bad case of symbol Eustis at picotor but let me point this out okay it was absolutely |
| 49:35 | inappropriate that the that the the the Crown Prince of Judah the son of David |
| 49:41 | the son of Jehoshaphat would marry a pagan chick right but what about Jesus |
| 49:50 | I want you to think about this we the church are the bride of Christ right and Christ has laid down his life |
| 49:59 | for his bride and he has washed away her sins in the waters of baptism and you’ll |
| 50:04 | note here Jesus marries a pagan chick |
| 50:09 | right but here’s the difference okay a Thalia was an impenitent Pagan chick but |
| 50:16 | Christ takes a penitent Pagan girl to be his wife |
| 50:22 | she comes to him humble she comes to him lamenting her sin she comes to him |
| 50:27 | filthy and practically naked and ashamed and Jesus in great love and compassion |
| 50:35 | for his bride he washes her clean he instructs her in his ways he clothes |
| 50:42 | her in his own righteousness and so rather than the wicked athalia how she |
| 50:49 | had influence over Jehovah Ram to the point where he became so wicked and evil instead it’s the other way around with |
| 50:55 | Christ’s bride because of his great love for his bride he is the one who cleanses |
| 51:01 | and sanctifies her and makes her holy so that she doesn’t have influence on him for evil instead he has influence on her |
| 51:10 | through his Holy Spirit and his word to sanctify her and make her like him it’s |
| 51:17 | a big reversal if you think about it it’s a beautiful love story the best one that there is the great love that King |
| 51:23 | Jesus has for his bride the church and that’s you and I so be his comforted |
| 51:29 | brothers and sisters long sermon be comfort for this and that is is that despite the fact that we all suffer from |
| 51:35 | a bad case of similus decepticator it says of jehosha the fact that he died in |
| 51:40 | faith and each and every one of us we still pray daily forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us |
| 51:47 | please God have mercy on us and he does he knows that we still have a sinful |
| 51:53 | nature but as Paul lamented oh Lord who will rescue me from this body of death |
| 51:59 | he resolves that question by asked by saying this but thanks be to God that |
| 52:05 | there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus no condemnation for |
| 52:10 | you no condemnation for me Christ has been condemned in our place in the name |
| 52:16 | of Jesus Amen |
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