“Follow the Teaching” – FBC Morning Light (6/18/2024)

Well, a good Tuesday morning to you. Today in our Bible reading, we're in the book of 2 Chronicles, chapters 17 through 20. I'm sure if you're following along the chronological Bible reading plan, you're noticing how we're jumping back and forth between the Kings and the Chronicles.

Well, today we're reading about Jehoshaphat and his reign in 2 Chronicles 17 and following. And there's something about Jehoshaphat's rule as king that points up an interesting fact. And that is that a leader of God's people who is earnest about following the Lord and about leading God's people in the right way, understands the importance of teaching God's word to his people.

And you see this in the reign of Jehoshaphat in chapter 17, verses seven through nine. Listen to what it says. It says, in the third year of his reign, he sent his leaders, Ben-Hel, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah.

And with them, he sent Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebediah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah, the Levites. And with them, Elishema and Jehoram, the priests. And what was their purpose?

Why did Jehoshaphat send them out? For this simple purpose. They taught in Judah and had the book of the law of the Lord with them. They went throughout all the cities of Judah and taught the people. Well, there is good godly leadership on the part of Jehoshaphat.

He realizes how important it is that God's people know God's word. But there's another side to this. It's not enough that God's people just learn what God's word has to say. And this brings up one of the great challenges of the ministry, actually.

You know, as a pastor, can do what I can to make sure the Sunday school classes are teached teaching God's word in the adult class as well as in the kids' classes. I have a passion about and a conviction about expositional preaching of the word so that the majority of the preaching I do is passage by passage through a book of the Bible so that God's people learn the scriptures.

But the other side of it is, what do God's people do with that? See, what do they do with that? And the reason I bring that up is because of what we read about at the end of Joshua's reign in chapter 20, later in our reading.

In chapter 20, verse 31, it says, Jehoshaphat was king over Judah. He was 35 years old when he became king. He reigned 25 years in Jerusalem. So he had a nice, long reign. And remember, it was in the third year of his reign that he started in earnest to make sure that the teaching of God's truth went out throughout the land.

So for 22 years, that's been going on. And verse 32, it says, and he walked in the way of his father Asa and did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. Nevertheless, don't you hate the nevertheless?

Don't you hate the thing but? Nevertheless, it says, the high places were not taken away, for as yet, now get this, this is after 22 years, teachers going through the land to teach the word. It says, the high places were not taken away, for as yet, the people had not directed their hearts to the God of their fathers.

So you see the significance of that, right? The leadership can do everything in its power to teach God's word and to do what they can to disseminate this truth of scripture and give God's people every opportunity to hear the word and to learn the word, to come to know their God better, to find out what God is like and what God likes so that they might live accordingly, but it all comes down to this.

Will the people direct their hearts to the God of their fathers? Will the people direct their hearts to hear what the teaching is? And not only to hear it, but to heed it, to have it make a difference in their lives.

So let that be a challenge to us today. You who, you're hearing the word, you're presumably faithful and going to God's house and so forth, it is not enough just to fill our heads with what the truth of scripture is.

It needs to change our lives. Our hearts need to be directed to hearts of obedience. Our Father and our God, give us that kind of heart, we pray, and we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. All right, listen, have a good rest of your Tuesday.

May the Lord bless you in it.