Preached Sunday, December 12, 2010
from
2 Chronicles 17-20
Theme: As God’s people, we bring harm to ourselves and to God’s cause when we affiliate ourselves to the actions of the ungodly.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
This morning, in our study of the Kings of Judah, we take up the story of King Jehoshaphat—truly one of the greatest and most godly of the kings.
I found myself faced with a real challenge in preparing a biblical message on the life of Jehoshaphat. For one thing, I searched in vain for anything in the Bible about him “jumping”. And for another, I found that there are so many things from the Bible to say about him that it would easily take several sermons. But I would like to try to sum-up his story this morning under a particular, practical lesson that his life has to teach us.
As is true of each of the kings of Judah—both the good ones and the bad ones—there’s a particular spiritual lesson to be learned. And I’d like to begin by showing you where that spiritual lesson is clearly identified for us. It’s found in a rebuke that King Jehoshaphat received from God through the agency of a prophet named Jehu. That prophet said to him,
“Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Therefore the wrath of the LORD is upon you. Nevertheless, good things are found in you, in that you have removed the wooden images from the land, and have prepared your heart to seek God” (2 Chronicles 19:2-3).
You see; Jehoshaphat was truly a very good and godly king. As this passage tells us, he was a king who had “prepared” his heart “to seek God”. And in seeking God, he did good to his kingdom. He even went throughout the land and removed all of the “wooden images”—that is, those images used by the people to worship false gods. When God examined his life, “good things” were found in him; and those good things characterized his life all the way to the very end.
But he was also an imperfect man. He had a particular flaw in his character—a flaw that brought a great deal of trouble upon himself and his people. As God’s man, he failed to keep himself sufficiently separated from ungodly people—and from the ungodly actions they took. He himself was not at all an ungodly man; but as this passage indicates, he had a very bad tendency to form alliances with those who were—so much so, in fact, that God had to rebuke him for actually having helped or enabled “the wicked”, and for loving “those who hate the LORD”.
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The lesson that Jehoshaphat’s life has to teach us is that, as God’s people, we bring serious harm to ourselves and to God’s cause when we affiliate ourselves to the actions of the ungodly. And this, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, is a lesson I believe we Christians need particularly to heed today!
One of the great challenges we face is believers is how to be—as it is often said—”in the world, but not of the world”. As ambassadors of Jesus Christ in the midst of a fallen world, we need to be able to present the claims of Jesus Christ to fallen people—people who are lost, and who are enslaved to the sinful values and priorities and life-style habits of an ungodly world system. And to do this, we must go to where unbelieving people are, and sufficiently relate to them that they will hear about our Savior, and see the difference He makes in our lives. But at the same time, we must also be very careful that we ourselves don’t get entangled in those same sinful values and priorities and practices that they embrace. We must not “love” the very works of the devil that the Lord Jesus came to destroy; nor “help” or “enable” ungodly people to engage in them.
It’s a ‘fine line’ that we must walk. The apostle Paul gave expression to it in his first letter to the Corinthian Christians. In their effort to be ‘in the world’, they failed to be separate from it. They had welcomed a man into their church who was living in open sexual immorality—sexual immorality of a type, in fact, that was even shocking to the unbelieving world! And yet, rather than sorrowful over the man’s sin, they had become proud of how ‘open’ and ‘tolerant’ they were.
Paul had to write a very strong letter to urge them to remove this sinful man from their midst—and to remind them of who they really were. He told them,
Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:6-8).
Paul reminded them that it was not at all appropriate for them to have behaved as if they were “of this world”. They were a special people; because Jesus Himself died to make them “pure” and “unleavened”. In this world, they were to live a distinct life—to live like what they truly were in Christ.
This, of course, didn’t mean that they were to live in caves somewhere, and have no contact with the unsaved people of this world. If they did so, unbelieving people wouldn’t be able to hear the gospel and be saved. But their relationship with the people of this world was to be conducted carefully. Paul went on to say;
I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person” (vv. 9-13).
God promises to judge the sinful values, priorities and practices of this world. And so, in our interaction with the people of this world, we must make sure that we don’t ally ourselves so closely to them that we actually join ourselves to the sinful actions that God promises to judge. If we fail to keep ourselves separate from the ungodliness of the ungodly, then when God brings judgment on them, we will suffer along with them!
Jehoshaphat—a very godly man—learned this the hard way. He had a bad habit of associating with people who were contrary to everything he stood for. He had even allied himself so closely to them that God said he actually became complicit in their wickedness, and that he “loved” those who “hated” the Lord.
What a needed warning this lesson from his life gives us today!
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Now; the beginnings of Jehoshaphat’s reign were truly marvelous. The Bible commends it greatly by saying;
Now the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the former ways of his father David; he did not seek the Baals [that is, the false gods of the unbelieving nations]; but sought the God of his father, and walked in His commandments and not according to the acts of Israel [that is, the northern kingdom that had rejected God]. Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand . . . (2 Chronicles 17:3-5).
This is a very important testimony; because it shows why it was that God blessed Jehoshaphat and his kingdom. He didn’t need to join himself in any way to the things of this world in order for his kingdom to be blessed. Instead, he only needed to be devoted to the all-sufficient God of his father David.
And as proof of God’s sufficiency, the rest of this chapter goes on to show the richness of God’s blessings on Jehoshaphat. It tells of how he was used by God to spread the teaching the Scriptures throughout his land; and of how all the surrounding nations brought riches and honor to him. He became powerful and prosperous; and God enabled him to build up the defenses of his people wonderfully. He became a living illustration of Proverbs 16:7; “When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.”
So; if you look at the first verse of chapter 18, you see that “Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance . . .” But if you look at the rest of the verse, you’re surprised to see the beginnings of the great flaw in his character; because we’re also told, “. . . and by marriage he allied himself with Ahab.”
King Ahab was the king of the northern kingdom of Israel. And he was an exceptionally wicked man. In another portion of the Bible, we’re told this about him:
Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him. And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him (1 Kings 16:30-33).
A godly man like Jehoshaphat had no business anywhere near so wicked a man as Ahab. But the Bible tells us that he “allied himself with Ahab” by marriage. He had taken the daughter of Ahab as a wife for his son Jehoram. Her name was Athaliah; and as we’ll see later on in our study of the kings of Judah, she turned out to be such a profoundly evil woman that she almost completely murdered the whole lineage of the kings of Judah altogether! What terrible destruction this ‘alliance by marriage’ with wicked Ahab brought on the people of God!
And this imprudent alliance got worse. When Jehoshaphat came for a visit, Ahab asked him if he would help him go to war with the Syrians to take back a city he had lost to them called Ramoth Gilead. Jehoshaphat foolishly told him, “I am as you are, and my people as your people; we will be with you in the war” (18:3).
I have often wondered what Jehoshaphat was thinking. Was he believing that he could bring a positive influence on Ahab if he were closely affiliated with him? Did he think that, by being his close associate, he could “witness” to him better? Was he trying to be “missional”? Whatever his thinking was on this, it quickly became clear to him that he was in an affiliation that was contrary to his primary allegiance to God. Before going to war, he asked Ahab, “Please inquire for the word of the LORD today” (v. 4). It must have been obvious to him that Ahab had not thought to do so. So, Ahab called forth four-hundred prophets from within his kingdom and asked, “Shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?”; and to a man, they all said, “Go up, for God will deliver it into the king’s hand” (v. 6).
Jehoshaphat could clearly tell that none of these so-called prophets spoke from God; because he asked “Is there not still a prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of Him?” (v. 6). And Ahab said, “There is still one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD; but I hate him, because he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil. He is Micaiah the son of Imla”. And in response to the scornful way that Ahab spoke of a true prophet of God, Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say such things!” (v. 7).
Have you ever found yourself in a situation like that? Have you ever gotten connected with someone; and then—hearing them talk, and seeing the attitude they have toward the things of God—realized that you’re in close affiliation with someone that you had no business being around? It makes me think of Psalm 1:1; “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful . . .” Have you ever found yourself getting in too deep with the plans of the ungodly; and discovered to your horror that you were walking in the counsel of the ungodly, or standing in the path of sinners, or sitting in the seat of those who hold your God in scorn?
This would have been a very good time for Jehoshaphat to stand up and say, “Ahab, I’m sorry for any inconvenience I’m about to cause you; but I’ve just come to realized that I can no longer be involved in what you are proposing. I can see that you and I are contrary to one another in our most fundamental commitments. You’re going down the road in the opposite direction that I should be going. And out of love for the God to whom I am committed, I must disassociate myself from your actions.” That can be an embarrassing thing to have to do. Someone would very probably be insulted by it. But it’s far better than going any further into compliance with sin. But sadly, that’s not what Jehoshaphat did. As the story goes on, this true prophet from God was brought forward and declared that Ahab would die in this foolish venture, that it would fail, and that the people would be scattered “as sheep that have no shepherd” (v. 16). And that’s exactly what happened. Ahab was killed by a randomly shot arrow from the enemy; and Jehoshaphat barely escaped with his life!
When it was all over, the prophet Jehu came to Jehoshaphat and rebuked him with those stinging words from God that we read earlier:
“Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Therefore the wrath of the LORD is upon you. Nevertheless good things are found in you, in that you have removed the wooden images from the land, and have prepared your heart to seek God” (2 Chronicles 19:2-3).
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When I think of this, I recall something that an expert in youth ministry once told me. He spoke of teenagers in his youth ministry who were starting to date; and of how they would often come to him and ask how “far” it was okay for them to go with members of the opposite sex. He told them that there was something very wrong with the fact that they were asking how close to the edge of sin could they go. If they truly belonged to the Lord, their question should be, “How far away from the edge of destruction can I stay!”
Brothers and sisters; if you and I truly belong to the Lord Jesus, then we should not be asking how close into areas of sin we can draw with unbelieving people—even from out of a desire to reach them. We should want to live abundantly in the holiness for which the Lord Jesus has saved us! If I have truly tasted of the pure waters of life-abundant in Him, then there’s something wrong with me if I’m asking how much of the filthy swamp-waters of this world it would be alright for me to drink with my unsaved friends! I should want to be as far from the edge of sin as I can go. And the fact of the matter is that, if I am appropriately separated from this world’s sinful values, priorities and actions, I’m in a far better position to bear witness of Jesus Christ to the people of this world. I’m better equipped to call them away from the edge of destruction—because I’m sufficiently far from it myself!
What would have happened if Jehoshaphat had told Ahab, “King Ahab; you are seeking to take back a city that you have lost to your kingdom because you have rejected the God of your fathers. You have welcomed me into association with you; but I will not be a part of this effort with you. Instead, I urge you to do the thing that will most lead to the God’s blessing on both you and your people: Turn from your rebellion against the God of your fathers, cast away your idols, and repent before Him. If you do this, you will find—as I have—that He richly and abundantly blesses those who prepare their hearts to seek Him.”
Perhaps Ahab would have listened; and perhaps not—only God knows. But one thing is sure—Jehoshaphat would not have suffered the losses he had suffered through an unwise alliance with the actions of an ungodly man!
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Now; I believe that Jehoshaphat gained from this experience. As chapter 19 goes on to tell us, Jehoshaphat went out again among his people and sought to bring them back to the Lord. Perhaps his unwise alliance with Ahab had a negative effect on the spiritual condition of his people; and he needed to restore them to a devotion to God. But in any case, he worked hard to advance the spiritual reforms he had begun at the start of his reign.
And then, in chapter 20, we find that his renewed devotion to the Lord was tested. A great multitude of the people of the nations of Ammon and Moab—along with the people of Mount Seir—came against the people of Judah in order to take their land as their possession. Jehoshaphat gathered his people together to fast and pray; and he himself prayed one of the most remarkable prayers of faith you’ll find in all in the Old Testament! He stood in the assembly of the people of Judah and said;
“O LORD God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, ‘If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’ And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir—whom You would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them—here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You” (2 Chronicles 20:6-12).
The Bible tells us that, right then, the Spirit of God came upon a prophet of the Lord named Jahaziel; and through him God told Jehoshaphat and the people that they had nothing to worry about. They were to go the next day to a certain place and watch; and they would see the salvation of the Lord. They wouldn’t even have to fight in the battle; because the Lord was with them.
Jehoshaphat and the people responded to this by offering praises of thanks. The next day, Jehoshaphat and the people went where the Lord told them to go—with a worship team leading the way to sing praises to God. And as soon as they began to sing, “Praise the LORD, for His mercy endures forever” (v. 21), the Lord set an ambush against the enemies of His people. The people of Ammon and Moab stood up to kill the inhabitants of Mount Seir; and we’re told that “when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another” (v. 23). When Jehoshaphat and his people arrived to the place that God told them to go, they found all their enemies fallen to the earth dead. “No one had escaped” (v. 24).
What’s more—for some reason known only to God—all of the enemies from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir had decided to come to battle that day wearing an abundance of valuables and precious jewelry! It took the people of Judah three days to gather the spoil; and on the forth day, they had a great celebration to commemorate the way the Lord had blessed them!
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Now; I emphasize that story to once again highlight the fact that Jehoshaphat and his people never needed to affiliate themselves in any way with the ungodly people or resources of this world. God Himself was more than sufficient for everything they would ever need. They could best influence the ungodly people of the surrounding world by keeping themselves apart from this world’s values and priorities, and allowing God to demonstrate His great sufficiency to them and through them.
But sadly, as we come to the end of Jehoshaphat’s story, we see that this otherwise-godly king once again chose to affiliate himself with the ungodly. We’re told that after all this, he “allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who acted very wickedly” (v. 35). Ahaziah was the son of Ahab and Jezebel; and he walked in all the evil ways that his father and mother had walked. Jehoshaphat affiliated himself with Ahaziah to build a fleet of merchant ships that would go into Tarshish to transport gold from Ophir.
Jehoshaphat didn’t need to enter into a “gold-merchant” business with ungodly Ahaziah. He had already learned by experience that God could abundantly bless him. But nevertheless, he did so. And as it turned out, the ships never sailed. A prophet came to Jehoshaphat; prophesying against him and saying, “Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah, the LORD has destroyed your works”. Then, the Bible tells us that the ships were wrecked, “so that they were not able to go to Tarshish” (v. 36).
In1 Kings 22:49, we’re told that Ahaziah tried to once again get this business venture going. He told Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships.” And the Bible closes the matter with these words: “But Jehoshaphat would not.” Apparently, he had been bitten enough times by his own folly; and there would be no more affiliations with the works of the ungodly!
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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; as those who have been made pure and holy in God’s sight through the cross of His Son, we need to live closely enough to the unbelieving people of this world that they can clearly see the goodness and grace and all-sufficiency of our wonderful Savior. Let’s be very sure we do so.
But in doing so, let’s also be very sure that we keep ourselves separate from any affiliation with the works of the ungodly! Let’s truly be “in the world”; but let’s make it very clear to the people of this world that we are not “of the world.” Let’s not bring loss upon ourselves, or harm to the cause of Jesus Christ, by a careless alliance with ungodliness.
Let’s be very sure that we never have to hear the rebuke by the Lord that Jehoshaphat heard—”Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD?”
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