Our Gospel lesson text this morning is taken from 2 Chronicles chapter 18. Please turn there in your own Bibles or if you're using the Bibles that are in your seats that's found on page 318 and I'd like for you to turn there so that you can read along as you hear this God's Word being read. This is the passage we looked at last week and rather than I give you an hour long sermon last week we're dividing this sermon up into 2 and so we look again at Jehoshaphat and his alliance with Jehoshaphat was king of the southern kingdom of God's people known as Judah and he lied himself with a half king of Israel which was the northern kingdom of God's people and a half was known as a terrible, terrible king who was as unfaithful to God as about anyone had been leading God's people into great unfaithfulness. So we read about this in Jehoshaphat and his alliance with they have and God's evaluation at the very end of this passage as to how Jehoshaphat has acted. 2 Corinthians 18 began in verse 1 and this is God's Word eternally true. Now Jehoshaphat had great wealth and honor and he lied himself with a half by marriage. Some years later he went down to visit a half in Samaria. They have slaughtered many sheep and cattle for him and the people with and the people with him urged him to attack Rheumat Gilead. A half king of Israel asked Jehoshaphat king of Judah, will you go with me against Rheumat Gilead? Jehoshaphat replied, I am as you are and my people as your people, we will join with you in war. But Jehoshaphat also said to the King of Israel, first seek the counsel of the Lord. So the King of Israel brought together the prophets, four hundred men and asked them, shall we go to war against Rheumat Gilead or shall I refrain? Go they answered, for God will give it into the king's hand. But Jehoshaphat asked, is there not a prophet of the Lord here whom we may inquire of? The King of Israel answered Jehoshaphat. There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the Lord. But I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me but always bad. He is my kaya son of Imla. The King should not say that, Jehoshaphat replied, so the King of Israel called one of his officials and said, bring my kaya son of Imla at once. Dressed in their royal robes, the King of Israel and Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, were sitting on their thrones at the Threshing floor by the entrance of the gate of Samaria, with all the prophets prophesying before them. Now Zedekaya son of Kananana had made iron horns and he declared, this is what the Lord says, with these you will gore the air of man's until they are destroyed. All the other prophets were prophesying the same thing. Attack Raymeth Gilead and be victorious, they said, for the Lord will give it into the King's hand. The messengers who had gone to summon my kaya said to him, look, as one man the other prophets are predicting success for the King, led your word, agree with theirs, and speak favorably. But my kaya said, as surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what my god says. When he arrived, the King asked him, my kaya, shall we go to war against Raymeth Gilead, or shall I refrain? Attack and be victorious, he answered, for they will be given into your hands. The King said to him, how many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord? Then my kaya answered, I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said, these people have no master, let each one go home and peace. King of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, didn't I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me but only bad? My kaya continued, therefore, here the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the host of heaven, standing on his right and on his left, and the Lord said, who will entice Ahab, King of Israel, into attacking Raymeth Gilead, and going to his death there? One suggested this, and another that, finally a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, I will entice him by what means the Lord asked. I will go and be a lion spirit in the mouths of all his prophets, he said. You will succeed in enticing him, said the Lord, go and do it. So now the Lord has put a lion spirit in the mouths of these prophets of yours, the Lord has decreed disaster for you. Then Zedakaya, son of Kanatana, went up and slapped my kaya in the face, which way did the spirit of the Lord go when he went from me to speak to you? He asked. My kaya replied, you will find out, on the day you go, to hide in an inner room. The King of Israel then ordered, take my kaya and send him back to Amin, the ruler of the city, and to Joash the king's son, and say, this is what the king says, put this fellow in prison, and give him nothing but bread and water until I return safely. My kaya declared, if you ever return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me. Then he added, marked my words, all you people. So the King of Israel and Joash the king of Judah went up to Reymouth, Gilead. The king of Israel said to Joash the king, I will enter battle in disguise, but you wear your royal robes. So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle. Now the king of Aram had ordered his chariot commanders to not fight with anyone, small or great except the king of Israel. When the chariot commanders saw Joash the king of Israel, they thought, this is the king of Israel. So they turned to attack him, but Joash the king cried out, and the Lord helped him. God drew them away from him. For when the chariot commander saw that he was not the king of Israel, they stopped pursuing him. But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armor. The king told the chariot driver, wheel around and get me out of the fighting. I've been wounded. All day long the battle raged and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot, facing the aromains until evening. Then at sunset he died. When Joash the king of Judah returned safely to his palace in Jerusalem, Jahu the seer, the son of Hanani, went out to meet him and said to the king, should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this the wrath of the Lord is upon you. There is, however, some good in you, for you have rid the land of the Ashera Poles and have set your heart on seeking God. Herein's our gospel lesson text for this morning. Let us respond to the Lord and thankfulness for him giving us this is word, the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Our Father we are thankful that you have given us this is your word, that you care for us, your people, that you give this word to us and though it's about the things that happened and what seems to us to be ancient history, your words are alive and living and active and may contain your gospel. May clear to us in Jesus, help us as we look at this text to see your gospel that we might live according to it that our lives might reflect your good gospel character among us and in this world. Do this by your spirit, preach to us Jesus, this gospel word of yours, we ask in Christ's name.
We look at this text this morning from the perspective of Jehoshaphat and as Chronicles is being written, it's always written from this perspective of the southern kingdom of Judah, much of the events, many of the events that are recorded in 1st and 2nd Kings are again recorded for us in 1st and 2nd Chronicles except that in 1st and 2nd Chronicles you have hardly anything about the kingdom of the North because that's not the the concern of God as he writes the book of 1st and 2nd Chronicles. Rather we have an account of what's going on in the southern kingdom of Judah and as far as Judah interacts with Israel that's how we hear about Israel but we don't have a steady accounting of the kings of the North but we and we learn about how evil Ahab is mostly from what we read about him in kings but we see Jehoshaphat a man who has done and and sits in the shoes of David who is a son of David, a descendant of David and who is rightly ordained as king over God's people to lead them, to shepherd them, to protect them. We see how he has been good in his early life and the the prophet, the son of Hanani, here recounts that in verse 3 of chapter 19 that Jehoshaphat had been good and he had rid the land of pagan worship, ridding the land of ashrah poles. He had set his heart to seek the Lord but yet this prophet comes and pronounces God's view on all these occurrences that it happened in chapter 18 gives us the final summation of things when he comes to Jehoshaphat at the beginning of chapter 19 and he proclaims Jehoshaphat has just made a terrible terrible mistake. God in the heavenlings was executing judgment upon Ahab in the north who had misled 10 of the 12 tribes of God's people and Jehoshaphat had stepped forward to bring a softening to blow in God's economy of things nonetheless God accomplishes his purpose, his decree to bring Ahab to death through what is humorously termed here a random arrow. You see how God accomplishes his decree from the heavenlings against Ahab nonetheless and he rescues Jehoshaphat nonetheless but the great thing about scripture is that even though Jehoshaphat has made a great error here in his life even though he's majorly blown it to use the language of today we see God's mercy to Jehoshaphat and it shows God's gospel to us his people and it shows God's gospel to those who are not yet his people as well. There are three principles of the gospel that we see here in this passage in the first one is this and it's your first point in your outline if you'd like to fill out outline points and fill in blanks here's the first one for you if you don't we want just one less than that's fine too. God communicates to us clearly here that shedding God leads to personal destruction. Shedding God leads to personal destruction. We see this in verse 29 and verse 33 and in verse 34 here's what goes on in this story. Ahab is evil and what it winds up for him is God working out in the heavenly realms among the angels how he's going to put Ahab to death. And God is to create it and the question is how's he going to do it and the prophet Micaiah gives the sin side into this he tells us what the vision that God has given him God opened up the the heavens the heavens to him in a vision and showed Micaiah what was going on in heavenly places and so for Ahab complete destruction comes upon him for his shedding God. He was a king over God's people and his job according to the law of Moses to deronomy 17 was to read the law of God daily and to follow it and to lead God's people in accurate complete careful observance of the law of Moses which included directing God's people toward the temple in Jerusalem which Ahab forbid. As well Ahab brings in pagan religion and encourages the practice of pagan religion among God's people the ten northern tribes. In addition to that he marries Jezebel one of the most wicked queens recorded among God's people in all of scripture and she's not an Israelite and she comes in with her pagan religion. This is forbidden in deronomy 17 for the king and he does this shedding God for Ahab leads to his destruction but we see as well not only for the non-believer today does shedding God lead to destruction and we see that in people's lives when they don't direct their lives by God's law it leads to destruction for themselves if you lie sheet and steel if you don't consider others better than yourself it comes back to you and my name is Earl humorously brings that to us each week if you treat people poorly Earl has the revelation in the first episode that the reason his life is so crappy is because he's treated everybody so poorly all through his life all he's ever done is look out for himself and that's why his life stinks in his words that's how it that's how it goes on that's the an i work car max yesterday and the guy that was taking care of us it's a Clayton high graduate he graduated his funny graduate from high school first graduating class of us being here in Clayton but treated us very very well and ran out in the hot sign to get things for us and all kinds of things and his comment was what goes around comes around if I treat you well it's gonna do me well he'd figured it out don't know that I don't know his spiritual state but he had figured it out if you treat people well which is following the moral law of God whether he knows it or not if you treat people up comes back to you well if you don't treat people well guess what if you have a business those people don't return do they it's smart if you're just a non-believer to follow the moral law of God to love people as you love yourself it works out God's law works but also for God's people it just it pays that's what God's law says it pays for us to follow the moral law of God and when we shed God when we think we'll do okay without him when we think our advice to ourselves is better than his advice to us destruction comes about and Jehoshaphat is a graphic example of this Jehoshaphat's the believer in this example and when he sheds all God what God cares about and aids somebody an actor rebellion against God who's actively leading God's people away from God Jehoshaphat almost loses his life over it he's the one and the the archers of Aaron of Raymond Gillian are aimed against him and him alone and he almost loses his life and that's the picture for us as believers God has his law for us not because he wants to kill our joy God has his law for us there because he wants to give us greater joy and it's joy that we get when we follow God's moral law we don't screw up our own lives when we love others as we love ourselves we don't screw up our own lives when we love God with all our hearts all aligned following God's law living our lives in a way that reflects who Jesus is gives us joy in our lives so we don't shed God as believers imagine if Jesus in his incarnation as a human being living on this earth imagine if he had shed it his father and done things his own done things his own way he would not be at the right hand of God right now as king and head over all God's people rather he would have lost his life and what is maybe a hypothetical possibility Jesus would have died on the cross for his own sin against his father but instead he follows his father's will and it leads to him being exalted above every name that has ever been named Philippians 2 and that's what this passage teaches us if we think we're too smart for God if we think that shedding God is going to as shedding God's law is going to get us ahead I'm going to accomplish something for us it's going to blow up in our face and we're going to wind up with a whole mess of luck over us the message from this prophet who confronts Jehoshaphat who up to this point in chapter 18 and we kind of think Jehoshaphat is done a good thing but we find out that he hasn't that Jehoshaphat hasn't and when when this prophet says this we say yeah he has not looked at God's law and cared for the things of God and that's what happens to us when we go away from God's law and to fill out some blanks here now that we've talked about this story here for a Christian shedding God leads to discipline that's your blank discipline from the Father we call read about that for us this morning in Hebrews 12 God as a Father disciplines us when we ignore him things blow up in our face and we endure hardship and the writer of Hebrews tells us to endure hardship as the discipline of the Lord but for non-Christian shedding God finishes well with a whole bunch of mess in this life but in the end eternal death we see that what they have okay shedding God wound up with it for him with death and that's what it winds up for the non-believer scripture talks about Jesus talks about when he's on here those who have not faith in him have eternal death they're not the ones who get their sins forgiven as that woman got her sins forgiven who comes to Jesus in faith in Luke chapter 7
Jehoshaphat almost loses his life but he experiences the discipline of the Lord and we hear his sentence in the beginning of chapter 19 A-hab one of the most wicked kings of gods people on the north gets his own death despite his well-laid plans despite his connivings despite his setting up Jehoshaphat to look like himself because he probably knew that the air man would come and target him so he gets Jehoshaphat to come up and act like him and despite all that he still gets hit with a fatal arrow he can run but he can't hide so to speak second point God shows us here second point of his gospel is this crying out to God in faith brings God's mercy crying out to God in faith brings his mercy and we see this with Jehoshaphat with verse 31 and this is the good news of Jesus too crying out to God in faith brings God's mercy here's the good news and here's your blanks God gives mercy even after serious and major sin God gives mercy even after serious and major sin and secondly all God requires his belief is belief that he will rescue you this is the kind of faith Jehoshaphat had he turned to the Lord not as a blind hope not as a Hail Mary he turned to the Lord knowing that God would rescue him he had seen that before in chapters before as a young man that when he had cried out to the Lord before the Lord rescued him so in his time of trouble when he maybe comes to some recognition of boy I've gotten myself into a mess here he cries out to the Lord and the Lord rescues him somehow or another the text doesn't tell us the air man's figure out that Jehoshaphat is not a hat and they turn away and Jehoshaphat is rescued so this passage tells us part of the goodness of the gospel is all that we have to do is cry out in faith look to the God who rescues his people and this is true whether a person has come to saving faith a person of the church who finds himself in major sin God does not write off his people God does not give his people a period of of a probation and say well work it off for a while God is looking that we would turn to him like Jehoshaphat how quickly does that rescue come for Jehoshaphat instantly he turns to the Lord in faith and says God you can rescue me do it and God does it and that's the good news for us as believers that when we find ourselves in major sin or sin that we thought we would never get in that God does not abandon us Jesus has saved us he's died for that sin and we as believers should turn to him to cry cry out to him in the midst of our foolishness and for non-believers some people find themselves and maybe you're in this case where you're in a place where you've done things that you think are beyond partenable and you've messed up things for yourself and for those around you the good news of the gospel is cry out to the savior God he will rescue you that's the good news of the gospel isn't an ironic with Simon the Pharisee and Jesus and Luke chapter 7 Simon says in his head about Jesus if this man were truly a prophet he would know what kind of a woman this woman is she's a prostitute and the irony of it was Jesus did know what kind of woman this was and that's why he was allowing her to touch him the Pharisee had it all wrong the good news is no matter how much think about a life blown this woman grows up and goes into prostitution and that's what she does and she's excluded from temple worship because of her lifestyle not allowed in not allowed to bring a lamb or any sacrifice to a tone for her sins outside of the grace of God and she comes and recognizes that Jesus is a rescuer and she cries out literally to him and he says woman your sins are forgiven declares it to Simon her sins are forgiven for she loves much evidence of her being forgiven she gets it so she's loving me lower hearts all mine and strength this is evidence and should be evidence to use Simon so Jesus kind of speaks to him that she understands that she has forgiveness she understands the grace of God she understands the gospel and this is the gospel message there is nobody beyond saving there is nobody beyond rescue third thing this passage teaches us that God says to us adhering to God's moral law that's your first blank adhering to God's moral law in seeking God seeking is the second blank adhering to God's moral law and seeking God is the road of wisdom in life when we see in chapter 19 verses verses one and two that's what this is based upon there is wisdom what what is the thing that that rescues Jehovah's feth's future from being totally bombarded with the wrath of God it's the fact that he sought his own heart to seek or he put his own heart set his own heart to seek the Lord listen to the words of the prophet Jehovah comes and says there is however some good in you for you have rid the land of the asher oppose and have set your heart on seeking God this is why the full wrath of God doesn't come upon Jehovah's effect this is what saved him when he was in battle and he cried out this is God's message to us wisdom is found not in shedding God but in following him wisdom is found in saying how might I in this situation love this neighbor of mine this person whether he be non-Christian or Christian who bears God's image wisdom is found in following God's moral law and saying how might I love this person my neighbor as I love myself wisdom is found in saying how might my life love God and Jesus you know what Jesus said about loving God it's not about standing around saying Jesus I love you I love you Jesus said if you love me you'll do my word John 14 and John 15 he said that about five different ways in that passage there there's proof to whether you love me or not there was proof with that prostitute that came to him that she loved him that she loved him much that she understood she had a great debt of sin that he had forgiven adhering to God's moral law to love God with all your heart soul mind and strength and to do whatever that would require a few to adhere to God's moral law that says love your neighbor as yourself that is the road to wisdom when we treat people well people guess what are inclined to treat us well back there's not a lot of ground gains by treating people in a selfish way that catches up with us wisdom is found in the moral law of God God's law is not a bummer God's law is life and righteousness and help and we cling to it when we find ourselves in terrible situations we usually find ourselves in situations in which we have not loved God well we have not loved our neighbor well and this is the path of Jesus careful to obey his father in all things even unto pain of death that's the road of the gospel that's the manner in which we conduct our lives in a manner worthy of the gospel the gospel declares to us that we obey our fathers will even if it costs us our life because that's what our Savior and King Jesus did to what Jehoshaphat should have done but what Jesus thankfully did that's what brought us our salvation and as we follow the moral law of God it brings good to us and it brings good to those who are around us as well and that's good news God is not abandon us to live life in a silly foolish way he's given us wisdom from above inspired it for us put it at the hands of men given us this book his very words inspired by his spirit that we might live in a way that reflects him well in this world that blesses us and blesses those around us just like Abraham he would be a blessing to the nations because he would live in faithfulness to God Jesus lived in faithfulness to God and we are called to be like Jesus Christ like that's the good news let's pray Jesus we are thankful that by your faithfulness you had no sin of your own to pay for on your cross and therefore all the justice poured out and God's wrath on your cross was our sin help us to walk in your way Jesus help us to be faithful help us not to think that we can shed you or shed your law at any time help us to be quick and mind and heart to say in every situation how might I best love God here how might I best love my neighbor here help us to do that Lord for your glory and for our own good for the good of those we love and and and our neighbors around us we ask in Christ name