A Bad Case of Simul Justus et Pecator

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Now, because of the length of the text that I will be preaching from, I will not be reading it in its entirety.

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Instead, we are going to be looking to, right now, highlights from 2

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Chronicles chapters 17, 18, and 19.

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Jehoshaphat, Asa's son, reigned in his place and strengthened himself against Israel.

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He placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that Asa, his father, had captured.

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The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the earlier ways of his father

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David. He did not seek the Baals, but sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments, and not according to the practices of Israel.

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Therefore, the Lord established the kingdom in his hand, and all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had great riches and honor.

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His heart was courageous in the ways of Yahweh, and furthermore, he took the high places and the

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Asherim out of Judah. Chapter 18. Now, Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor, and he made a marriage alliance with Ahav.

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After some years, he went down to Ahav in Samaria, and Ahav killed an abundance of sheep and oxen for him and for the people who were with him and induced him to go up against Ramoth Gilead.

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Ahav, king of Israel, said to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, Will you go with me to Ramoth Gilead?

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He answered him, I am as you are, my peoples as your people. We will be with you in the war.

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Chapter 19. Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, returned in safety to his house in Jerusalem.

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But Jehu, the son of Hanani, the seer, went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, Should you help the wicked and love those who hate

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Yahweh? Because of this, wrath has gone out against you from Yahweh. Nevertheless, some good is found in you, for you destroyed the

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Asheroth out of the land and have set your heart to seek God. O Lord, have mercy on us.

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Thanks be to God. In the name of Jesus. Amen. So as we work our way through portions of the book of Second Chronicles, we're looking at good kings, by the way,

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Jehoshaphat's a good king, as good kings go. But the one thing I can say about Jehoshaphat is that he suffers from the same thing you and I suffer from, a really bad case of simul justus epicator.

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Sounds terrible, right? Simul justus epicator, that's a Latin phrase that means simultaneously justified and sinner at the same time.

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The Apostle Paul describes this lamentable condition in Romans chapter seven when he says to this effect, the good that I don't want to do,

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I don't do. The evil that I don't want to do, I keep on doing, right? And then he asked the question, who will deliver me from this body of death?

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Jehoshaphat does some really good stuff and Jehoshaphat does some horrifyingly terrible bad stuff.

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In fact, it's not until after he dies that you'd learn just how horrible it really is.

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But we're going to work our way through this story because it's really good. All right. So Second Chronicles chapter 17,

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King Asa, who we looked at last week, he's dead. His son Jehoshaphat has now ascended to the throne.

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He's the freshly anointed king of Judah. Keep in mind, Israel's in the

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Northern Kingdom and they're steeped in idolatry. And a little bit of historical note here.

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I always will pronounce his name Hebraically correct. His name is

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Ahav. It's not Ahab. Okay. Ahab is from Florida, but Ahav, he's from Israel, right?

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And you'll remember Ahav. He's married to one of the most notorious villains in all of scripture,

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Jezebel. Let me remind you, Jezebel's father was a priest to Baal and Jezebel, her name in Hebrew means princess of Baal.

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Okay. She is just, you know, as that goes, she's as icky as they get.

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I mean, she puts some Disney princesses to shame. I would say Maleficent doesn't have anything on Jezebel.

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I mean, that's how wicked this woman is. And keep in mind, Ahav and Jezebel, they have had children.

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And one of their children is a girl by the name of Athaliah and Athaliah will come into play here.

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So keep this in mind. So, as we read here, so the freshly minted king of Judah, he strengthened himself and note the words against Israel.

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Remember in last week's sermon, when we looked at King Asa, God had to, well, actually

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Asa had used political strategy and intrigue in order to undo the fortified city that the king of Israel had set up.

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And God rebuked him for this because he didn't trust God to deliver him from the king of Israel. So Jehoshaphat, first thing he does, because you know, tensions are running pretty high between the

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Northern kingdom and the Southern kingdom. He goes about preparing for the inevitable war with the

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Northern kingdom. So he placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah. He set garrisons in the land of Judah and the cities of Ephraim that Asa, his father, had captured.

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And Yahweh was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek the

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Baals, but sought the God of his father and he walked in his commandments and not according to the practices of Israel.

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Therefore, Yahweh established the kingdom in his hand and all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat and he had great riches and honor.

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His heart was courageous in the ways of Yahweh. And furthermore, he took the high places and the

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Asherim out of Judah. Then he goes about doing something that I think is quite brilliant.

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Faith comes by hearing, hearing through the word of Christ. And Jehoshaphat is a man of the

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Bible. Listen to what he does next. This reform is brilliant. In the third year of his reign, he sent his officials,

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Ben -Hael, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nathanael, and Micaiah to teach the cities of Judah and with them the

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Levites, Shemaiah, Nathaniah, Zebediah, Asahel, Shem -ir -amoth,

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Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah, and with these the

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Levites and the priests Elishema and Jehoram. And they taught in Judah, having the book of the law of the

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Lord with them. And they went about through all the cities and taught among the people.

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So they took the Bible, commissioned a bunch of guys, and they sent them throughout

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Judah with this task, preach the word. So far, so good.

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I'm liking this king. But here's the thing, I can tell you this, is that the Bible always takes great pains to take somebody who's looking good and then show us their seedy underbelly, because you'll note that each and every one of us were sinners.

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David was a sinner, a great sinner, and yet a man of great faith, Jehoshaphat, great man of faith, but he's also a sinner.

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So this is all going to come to roost. Give it a moment here while we still work through the good bits.

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So the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah, and they made no war of Jehoshaphat.

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So anybody who was making designs on Judah thought better of it, no way, we fear

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Yahweh too much. Some of the Philistines, they even brought Jehoshaphat presents of silver for tribute, and the

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Arabians also brought him 7 ,700 rams, 7 ,700 goats, and Jehoshaphat grew steadily greater and greater.

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He built in Judah fortresses and store cities, and he had large supplies in the cities of Judah. He had soldiers, mighty men of valor in Jerusalem, and then, well, 14 through 19 just explains all the different men, the men of valor and the military might that he had.

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And let's just say it's impressive even by today's standards, right? So far, so good.

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Now for chapter 18. Here it comes. Let me kind of explain it this way, okay?

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Have you noticed that we human beings, although we are Christians, sometimes we think we know better than God, okay?

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Let me give you an example, okay? So, I've been an ardent critic of the purpose -driven and seeker -driven churches, right?

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Because what do they do? They go out and they ask pagans, rank pagans, people who don't believe in God, how come you don't go to church?

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It's boring, they respond. Oh, really? What do you think is boring about it? I don't like hearing Bible. Okay, don't like Bible.

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What else do you not like? I don't like hearing hymns. They're stuffy and old, and they sound like dirges, okay?

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No hymns, no Bible. Okay, and what would you prefer? A smoke and light show with a band and a guy in skinny jeans.

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Okay, we can do that, right? And so, what do they do? So, in the name of growing the church, they put the world in charge, okay?

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Which makes no sense, okay? Because it's not our clever marketing methods that grow the church.

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What grows the church? The word of God, right? So, you'll note that we human beings are prone to, well, thinking that we know better than God.

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So, let me give you the problem here before we explain it from the text, all right?

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So, although I do not live in Europe, I am familiar with European history, and the one thing

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I can say about the royal families of Europeans, they're all interrelated, okay?

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They're all family. Why? Because somebody somewhere long time ago came up with this idea, that if you have two kingdoms that are in conflict, a simple way to solve the conflict is you take the crown prince of one of the kingdoms and have him marry a princess from the other kingdom, and the two come together, and it's all about love, right?

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The happy couple, they enjoy each other's company, and everyone goes, how can we go to war with each other because, oh, it would just break the heart of the queen and the king, you know, and stuff like this, right?

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So, what do they do? They intermarry for political reasons, and for reasons that gain political bonus points, if you would.

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So, Judah and Israel are in conflict with each other. What better idea, thinking the way the world thinks, than have the crown prince of Judah marry a princess from the house of Ahav?

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I mean, it sounds like a perfect way to avert war and conflict and bloodshed because,

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I mean, after all, all we need is love. Love is all we need. Didn't the Beatles say that, right?

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So, here's what the text says. So, Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor, and he made a marriage alliance with Ahav.

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Just so you know, the crown prince of Judah is a fellow by the name of Jehoram. And just so you know, the woman he married is

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Athaliah, okay? Second only to Jezebel as far as wicked women of the

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Bible. I mean, wow, is she up there. I mean, really up there, okay?

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And here's the thing. What does God's word say about things like this? A good

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Jewish boy is not to marry a pagan chick. It doesn't matter if it's politically expedient or even if she's hot, okay?

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Remember what happened to Solomon, right? Okay? So, Athaliah being the daughter of Jezebel, do you think that she is a true believer in and that she loves the

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Lord her God with all of her heart, soul, mind, and strength? Not even close, okay?

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And here's the thing. Is she penitent? Nope. Okay, this is a formula for disaster.

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So, keep that in mind because we'll talk about the fallout from this at the end of the sermon. So, you have to stay tuned.

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Yeah, stay tuned. It gets better. So, for some years then, okay, so note here. Marriage alliance,

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Jehoram has married Athaliah, and what does Jehoshaphat do? He decided to make a royal visit to Israel, to visit the house of Ahav, okay?

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I mean, after all, they're now related through marriage, right? You know, they're in -laws now, and so here's what happens.

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Some years later, Jehoshaphat went down to Ahav in Samaria, and Ahav, so blessed by having

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Jehoshaphat come and visit, killed an abundance of sheep and oxen for him and for the people who were with him and induced him to go up against Ramoth Gilead.

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He kind of went like this. So, while you're here, I have an idea. Why don't we go to war with Ramoth Gilead?

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We could do the war together, right? Okay? They were just enemies just a few years ago before the wedding, and now they're going to go to war together, right?

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And so, Ahav, the king of Israel, said to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, will you go with me to Ramoth Gilead?

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He answered him, I am as you are. My people is your people. We will be with you in the war.

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There's a song that's on social media, and it goes, and the song goes like this. Dumb ways to die, right?

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This is just one of those things you're sitting there going, what is going on? Jehoshaphat, you've sent guys throughout

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Judah to preach the Bible. Haven't you read what you're supposed to be doing in this circumstance, right?

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So, Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel. So, they've come together. They're going to go to war together.

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I mean, apparently it's like playing cricket, okay? They're going to war together. And so, Jehoshaphat, being the pious king that he is, although you can tell his brain is suffering from simul justus epicator in the worst of ways, he says, hey, couldn't we inquire first for the word of Yahweh?

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Now, a little bit of previous history here, if you know the history of Ahav, he came this close,

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I mean, this close to legitimately, truly repenting and trusting in Yahweh alone for his salvation as his

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God. This close, okay? But here's what happened, is that rather than availing himself of listening to the true prophets of Yahweh, he decided to surround himself with prophets of Yahweh that he found on YouTube, okay?

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That's pretty much the same kind of caliber of prophet that he was listening to.

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So, in other words, he became basically Jewish and a believer in Yahweh in like name only, but according to his desires, not according to the truth of God's word, right?

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Okay, so, of course, Ahav has prophets that could give him the word of Yahweh, right?

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And you'll see these guys are about as winged that wackerdoodle -ish as any of the people we focused on in Prophecy Bingo.

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So, the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, 400 of them, 400 men, and he said to them, shall we go to battle against Ramoth Gilead or shall

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I refrain? And they said, go up for God will give it into the hand of the king.

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And Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat goes, you smell that? It smells like sulfur to me.

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I'm not, you sure these are prophets of God, right? And so, Jehoshaphat said, is there not here another prophet of Yahweh of whom we may inquire?

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And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, well, there is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Yahweh, his name is

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Micaiah, and he's the son of Imlah, but I hate him. This is what Ahab says,

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I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil.

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In other words, he speaks the truth, right? And so, Jehoshaphat said, well, let not the king say so, bring him in, right?

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So, then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, bring quickly Micaiah, the son of Imlah. Now, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, were sitting on their thrones, arrayed in their robes, and they were sitting at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them.

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And Zedekiah, the son of Hannah, made for himself horns of iron and said, thus says

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Yahweh, with these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed.

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And all the prophets prophesied so and said, go up to Ramoth Gilead and triumph.

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Yahweh will give it into the hand of the king. And the messenger who went to summon

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Micaiah said to him, now listen to these words. So, the messenger gets Micaiah and he kind of puts him aside and says, listen very carefully to what

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I'm going to say here, okay? Behold, the words of all of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king.

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Let your word be like the word of one of them, and you need to speak favorably, okay?

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In the corporate world, we call this setting expectations, okay? We don't want to hear anything out of you except what these other people are saying.

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Do you got it, Kimo Sabe? Okay, right? This is a great story.

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So, Micaiah said, as Yahweh lives, what my God says, that will

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I speak. Way to go, Micaiah, right? So, when he had come to the king, the king said to him,

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Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth Gilead to battle or shall I refrain? Now, watch what happens here.

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Micaiah gives a very sarcastic answer, but he doesn't say, thus saith the Lord. So, Micaiah says, all right, well, he says, hang on a second here.

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He says, you go up and he says, go up and triumph. They'll be given into your hand.

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Notice he didn't say, thus saith the Lord, right? Yeah. Well, I did what you told me to. You told me to say the same thing that these bozos are saying, right?

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And so, at this point, Ahab isn't keen on the word that he just heard from Micaiah.

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So, the king said to him, well, how many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of Yahweh?

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And then he said, I saw all of Israel scattered on the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd.

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And Yahweh said, these have no master, let each to return to his home in peace. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, did

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I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil? And Micaiah said, therefore, hear the word of Yahweh.

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I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left.

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And Yahweh said, who will entice Ahab, the king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead?

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And one said one thing and another said another, and then a spirit came forward.

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And when you read the commentaries on this, everyone agrees this is probably a demonic spirit.

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A demonic spirit comes forward and says, I will entice him. Luther has an interesting phrase.

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He says, you got to remember that the devil is still God's devil, right? The devil still belongs to God.

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So Yahweh said to him, all right, by what means? And he said, I will go out and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all the prophets.

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I think that same lying spirit is in the mouth of all the YouTube prophets today, right? He said, all right, you are to entice him and you shall succeed.

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Go out and do so. Now, therefore, behold, Yahweh has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these, your prophets.

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Yahweh has declared disaster concerning you. Now, here's the thing.

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If somebody gives a false prophecy, they're a false prophet. These guys are false prophets straight up.

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They're not speaking by the spirit of Yahweh. They're speaking by a lying spirit. So then Zedekiah, the son of Hannah, came near and he struck

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Micaiah on the cheek. And he said, which way did the spirit of Yahweh go from me to speak to you?

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And Micaiah said, behold, you shall see that on that day, when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself.

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A little bit of a note here, inner chambers back in the day, those are the places where people relieve themselves.

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So Micaiah prophesied here that this fellow who struck him, that he would end up hiding in a bathroom like a little girl in danger, right?

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So, let's see. And the king of Israel said, seize Micaiah, take him back to Ammon, the governor of the city and to Joash the king's son and say, thus says the king, put this fellow in prison, feed him with meager rations of bread and water until I return in peace.

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And Micaiah said, if you return in peace, Yahweh has not spoken by me.

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And he said, hear all you peoples. And here's the thing, Ahab will not return in peace.

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He's about to breathe his last, just like the true prophet of God said. And here's the thing, nowhere ever is

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Micaiah mentioned again. The implication is, is that the son of Ahab kept him in prison and he died there for speaking the truth.

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Keep that in mind. So now the fulfillment of all of this. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead.

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And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes.

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Why did Jehoshaphat say yes to this? You look all regal so that they'll want to kill you.

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And I'm going to be in disguise so that nobody will recognize me. Oh, lovely.

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And of course, Jehoshaphat said, sure, no problem. Okay. This is a bad deal all around.

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Okay. So he said, and so the king of Israel, he disguised himself and they went into battle.

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Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of his chariots, fight with neither small nor great, but only with the king of Israel.

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As soon as the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, it is the king of Israel.

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Oh, case of mistaken identity, Jehoshaphat's in trouble.

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So they turned to fight against him and Jehoshaphat cried out and Yahweh helped him. God drew them away from him.

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For as soon as the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.

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But a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate.

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Therefore he said to the driver of his chariots, turn around, carry me out of the battle for I'm wounded.

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And the battle continued that day. And the king of Israel was propped up in his chariot facing the

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Syrians until evening. And then at sunset, he died. Jehoshaphat, why were you even there?

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Okay. Just this, this, oh, such a mess. So Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, he returned in safety to his house in Jerusalem.

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But Jehu, the son of Hanani, the seer. Now, remember last week, it was Hanani who rebuked

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King Asa. His son, Jehu, now rebukes Asa's son,

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Jehoshaphat. Jehu, the son of Hanani, the seer, went out to meet him. And he said to King Jehoshaphat, should you help the wicked and love those who hate

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Yahweh? Because of this wrath has gone out against you from Yahweh.

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It's already left the barn. Wrath has already been determined for Jehoshaphat from God because he did this.

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Nevertheless, some good is found in you for you destroyed the Asheroth out of the land and have set your heart to seek

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God. Now, Jehoshaphat, being a man of the book, he knows full well that when

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God determines disaster for somebody, the best thing you can do is repent and maybe

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God will relent. But here's the thing, we're going to revisit this prophecy of Jehu, the son of Hanani, because wrath had already gone out.

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And when it finally hits its mark, it's devastating.

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It's the best way I can describe it. Utterly devastating. Now, Jehoshaphat now begins a series of reforms, and it seems like they're prompted by this rebuke that he received from God.

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Jehoshaphat lived at Jerusalem. He went out again among the people from Bathsheba to the hill country of Ephraim, and he brought them back to Yahweh, the

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God of their fathers. He appointed judges 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 for man, but for Yahweh.

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He is with you in giving judgment. Now then, let the fear of Yahweh be upon you.

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Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with Yahweh, our God, or partiality or taking bribes.

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So, first order of business, judicial reform. And he puts men in place and warns them very sternly that they are to judge rightly, show no partiality, and reminds them that they, by their judgments, are acting in the place of God.

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Remember, the Apostle Paul makes it clear that the governments exist for the purpose of punishing the evildoer, which is all the more reason why

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Jehoshaphat should have never been in Samaria with Ahab, right? And that by punishing the evildoer, the kingdoms of the earth, they carry the sword of God.

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Now, what about the church? Well, the church gets a little bit of reform too. Moreover, in Jerusalem, Jehoshaphat appointed certain

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Levites and priests and heads of families of Israel to give judgment for Yahweh to decide disputed cases, and they set their seat at Jerusalem, and he charged them, thus you shall do in fear of Yahweh in faithfulness and with your whole heart.

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Whenever a case comes to you from your brothers who live in their cities concerning bloodshed, law or commandment, statutes or rules, then you shall warn them that they may not incur guilt before Yahweh, and wrath may not come upon you and your brothers.

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Thus you shall do, and you will not incur guilt. And behold, Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of the

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Lord, and Zebediah the son of Ishmael, the governor of the house of Judah in all the king's matters, and the be with the upright.

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Man, when he does good, he really does good. When he does evil, he really does evil.

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You know what this sounds like? It sounds like me. It sounds like you. That's kind of the point, right?

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All right? Now, all this is going on, right? Keep this in mind.

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The happy, lovey couple, Jehoram and Athaliah, are getting closer and closer to each other, right?

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And she is teaching him the ways of all and evil.

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This is all going on in the background, okay? Now, days of disaster come upon us all.

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By the way, since we're making this a long sermon, let's make it a little longer. All right. I'm excited about this sermon.

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Okay. So, when we talk about somebody properly orientating themselves, right?

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You got to properly orientate themselves. In Hebrew, to orientate yourself is to face east, okay?

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Now, that's kind of an interesting way of looking at things. But in the Hebrew way of thinking, you have to think of it this way.

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Since we cannot see the future, in the Hebrew way of thinking, we always then in this life, we walk backwards.

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And to be properly orientated is to face the Word of God and to face

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God's holy temple. And by reading the Word of God, you have a clear understanding of what's happened in the past, and it will guide you as you walk backwards into the future, never able to see what's coming into the future.

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It's kind of an interesting way of looking at it. Kind of fun, if you think about it. But all that being said, you never know when disaster is going to come, because we all walk into the future blindly.

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Well, the day of disaster has come and the Moabites and the Ammonites and the Meunites, the men of Seir, they came against Jehoshaphat for battle.

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Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, a great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea.

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And behold, they are in Hazazon Tamar, that is in En Gedi. En Gedi, by the way, is in the western portion of the

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Dead Sea. It's a natural spring there that David hung out and hid in En Gedi.

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So then Jehoshaphat was afraid. And what do you do when you're afraid and you're up against something like this?

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He set his face to seek Yahweh. Ah, man, I love this guy when he does right.

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Okay, day of trouble comes along, we need to pray. Okay, so he proclaimed a fast through all of Judah, and Judah assembled to seek help from Yahweh from all the cities of Judah.

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They came to seek Yahweh. Yes, this is great. Okay, and then

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Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of Yahweh before the new court.

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And he said, oh, Yahweh, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? Listen to this prayer, no decreeing, no declaring.

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And by the way, Jehoshaphat legitimately is a king. Okay, he's capable of issuing declarations and stuff like this.

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But when he is face to face with his God, and he's calling out to his God, even the king humbles himself.

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Yes, yes, love this theme here. It's good stuff here. Okay, so he said, oh,

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Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over the kingdoms of the nations.

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In your hand are power and might, so none is able to withstand you. Did you not, our

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God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people, Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham, your friend?

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He's quoting the Bible back to God. Way to go, good way to pray, right?

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And say, and they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, if disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you for your name is in this house, and cry out to you in our affliction, and you said that you would hear us and save.

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And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let

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Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy.

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Behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit.

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Oh, our God, will you not execute judgment on them?

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For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

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Okay, that's a good prayer. Prayer of faith too. Jehoshaphat is a man of faith, and he's also a horrible sinner.

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All right, so meanwhile, all Judah stood before Yahweh with their little ones, their wives, their children, everybody was there praying.

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The young, the old, the men, the women, the children, they're all there crying out to Yahweh for help.

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So the spirit of Yahweh came upon Jehaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jael, the son of Mataniah a

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Levite, the sons of Asaph in the midst of the assembly. And so he said, listen all of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat, thus says

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Yahweh to you. Do not be afraid, do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours, but God's.

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Tomorrow you go down 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 wilderness of Jeruel.

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But you will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of Yahweh on your behalf.

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Oh Judah and Jerusalem, do not be afraid, do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them and Yahweh will be with you.

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All right, say what? God legitimately just promised, you don't even have to put your armor on.

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I'm going to fight this one for you and destroy them all for you. Boom, what an answer to prayer.

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And by the way, isn't that exactly what God does for you and for me? Right? Satan and the hordes of hell have come against us, right?

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And we were all brought onto the submission of the dominion of darkness and become children of the devil and his demons.

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And we were destined for God's wrath and we cried out to God and he heard us.

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And he sent one man, Jesus Christ, to save us.

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He's the one who waged the warfare. And he was found in human form, born of the

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Virgin Mary. There was God in human flesh and he obeyed God's commandments perfectly.

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And then he willingly laid down his life for you and for me. And by doing so, he won the whole war.

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He defeated the devil and his angels. And you know, do we have to do anything for that?

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I wasn't even around when it happened and neither were you. That being the case, you'll note that this battle was won even before we got on the scene.

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And God has won our salvation for us. The battle belongs to the Lord. Amen and amen.

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The themes here are rich. So, Jehoshaphat, having heard this, he bowed his head with his face to the ground.

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All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, they fell down before Yahweh, worshiping

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Yahweh. And the Levites and the Kohathites and the Korathites stood up to praise Yahweh, the

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God of Israel, with a very loud voice. And this was their response to the promise of God that he would win the battle for them.

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So, they rose early in the morning, went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out,

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Jehoshaphat stood and said, now hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in Yahweh, your

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God, and you will be established. Believe in his prophets. Believe his prophets. You will succeed. Believe this word that God has given us, is what he's basically saying.

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And so, when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to Yahweh and praise him and holy attire as they went before the army saying, give thanks to Yahweh for his steadfast love endures forever.

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Now, a little bit of a note. Charismatics and wingnut wackerdoodles in the NAR read this text and basically make the claim, it is our praise that makes it possible for God to fight our battles for us.

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Balagna, okay? God made the promise that he would fight and win the battle for them before they ever sang a single praise chorus to Yahweh.

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This is not a text that teaches that our praise defeats our enemies. That's just nonsense, right?

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So, when they began to sing in praise, Yahweh set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who came against Judah so that they were routed.

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The men of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction.

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And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another.

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Well, that's not how you win a battle. But note here,

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Yahweh is the one who turned them against themselves, and he won the battle for them.

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Not a single Israel, not a single Jew lost their lives that day in that battle because when they arrived on the scene, it was just a land of corpses.

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Okay, this is wonderful. So, when Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked toward the horde and behold, there were dead bodies lying on the ground.

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None had escaped. Casualties were 100 % for the other side, okay?

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And Judah didn't even have to swing a sword, not even once. So, when

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Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil, they found among them in great numbers goods, clothing, precious things, which they took for themselves until they could carry no more.

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They were three days in taking the spoil. It was so much. Three days, okay, taking spoil.

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I'm sure at the end of that three days, the smell was awful, okay? But, you know, you got to make sure that you get the spoil, right?

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So, three days they took for themselves until they could carry no more. On the fourth day, they assembled in the

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Valley of Barakah, the Valley of Blessing. For there they blessed Yahweh.

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Therefore, the name of that place has been called the Valley of Barakah to this day. And then they returned every man of Judah and Jerusalem and Jehoshaphat at their head, returning to Jerusalem with joy for Yahweh had made them rejoice over their enemies.

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They came to Jerusalem with harps and lyres and trumpets to the house of Yahweh. And the fear of God came on all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that Yahweh himself had fought against the enemies of Israel.

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So, the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet for his God gave him rest all around.

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Thus, Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was 35 years old when he began to reign. He reigned 25 years in Jerusalem.

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His mother's name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi. He walked in the way of Esau, his father, and did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of Yahweh.

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The high places, however, were not taken away. The people had not yet set their hearts upon the

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God of their fathers. Now, the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat from first to last are written in the chronicles of Jehu, the son of Hanani, which are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel.

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A little bit of a note. We know then for a fact that Jehu, the son of Hanani, was one of the anonymous, not so anonymous, authors of the book of second kings.

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So, keep that in mind. This was written by the prophets. But then we get this little postscript.

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And I told you that we would then hear about the wrath that had gone out when it finally strikes.

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Okay. It's devastating. But here's the postscript. Remember what Jehoshaphat's kind of Achilles heel sin was?

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Again, he suffers from simul justus epicator pretty badly, right? And that is that he thinks he can, well, rule in some cases using worldly wisdom rather than the wisdom that comes from God's word.

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So, he was inconsistent, just like you and I can be inconsistent. After this, it says,

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Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, joined with Ahaziah, the king of Israel, who acted wickedly.

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What is going on here? He joined him in building ships to go to Tarshish. And they built the ships of Ezzion Geber.

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And when Eliezer, the son of Dadavahu of Marashah, prophesied against Jehoshaphat saying, because you have joined with Ahaziah, Yahweh will destroy what you have made.

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And the ships were wrecked and they were not able to go to Tarshish. Why did you not learn your lesson the first time?

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Okay. Wrath has gone out. Now, how does this all end? Jehoshaphat's dead, right?

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But remember, Jehu, the son of Hanani, prophesied that wrath had gone out because of what he had done.

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And so, like I said, all the while in the background, the newlywed couple of Jehoram and Athaliah, they are a thing and her influence grows and grows and grows on Jehoram.

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And here's what it says. Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David.

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And Jehoram, his son, reigned in his place. He had brothers, the son of Jehoshaphat, Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, Shaphatiah.

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All of these were the sons of Jehoshaphat, the king of Israel, and their father gave them great gifts of silver, gold, and valuable possessions together with fortified cities in Judah.

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But he gave the kingdom to Jehoram because he was the firstborn. Now, a little bit of a note here.

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If your father, as like the last things he does on earth, sets you up, gives you great gifts of gold and cities and things like this, that speaks well of a father's love for his sons, right?

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And that his intention was that they would all succeed and do great in his absence after his death.

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But when Jehoram had ascended the throne of his father and was established, he murdered all of his brothers with the sword and also some of the princes of Israel.

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Jehoram was 32 years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem, and he walked in the way of the kings of Israel as the house of Ahav had done.

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Why? For the daughter of Ahav was his wife, and he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, yet Yahweh was not willing to destroy the house of David because of the covenant that he had made with David.

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And since he had promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons, his sin led to the murder of all of his sons, every single one of them.

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And now the reigning king of Judah is a raging idolater, and he learned this from his wife.

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Well, God wasn't thrilled with this, and so it says, Yahweh stirred up against Jehoram the anger of the

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Philistines and of the Arabians who were near the Ethiopians, and they came against Judah, invaded it, and carried away all the possessions they found that belonged to the king's house and also his sons and his wives, so that no one was left with him except Jehoah as his youngest son.

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And after this, Yahweh struck Jehoram in his bowels with an incurable disease.

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In the course of time, at the end of two years, his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great agony.

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His people made no fire in his honor, and like the fires made for his fathers, he was 32 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem, and he departed with no one's regret.

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They buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings. That's how wicked he was.

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Nobody lamented his death. And after him, the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his place, for the band of men that came with the

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Arabians to the camp had killed all the older sons. So, Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, the king of Judah, reigned.

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Ahaziah was 22 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was

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Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri, daughter of Jezebel. He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahav, for his mother was his counselor in doing wickedly.

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He did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as the house of Ahav had done, and after the death of his father, they were his counselors to his undoing.

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He even followed their counsel and went with Jehoram, the son of Ahav, the king of Israel, to make war against Hazael, the king of Syria, at Ramoth Gilead.

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And the Syrians wounded Jehoram, and he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that he had received at Ramoth, when he fought against Hazael, the king of Syria.

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And Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, the king of Judah, went down to see Jehoram, the son of Jezreel, because he was wounded.

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But it was ordained by God that the downfall of Ahaziah should come about through his going to visit

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Jehoram. And so he died also. This is just tragedy after tragedy now.

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And when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family of the house of Judah.

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She murdered every last one of them that she could find. And but Jehoshabath, the daughter of the king, took

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Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons, who were about to be put to death.

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And she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Then Jehoshabath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiadaiah, the priest, because she was a sister of Azariah, hid him from Athaliah, so that she did not put him to death.

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And he remained with them for six years, hidden in the house of God. While Athaliah herself reigned over Judah.

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Wrath indeed has gone out. So what's it all mean? Well, like I've been saying,

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Jehoshabath, for as great as he was, a man of faith he was, he was a rank sinner, like you and like I.

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In fact, he suffers from the same thing that you and I suffer from, a bad case of simul justus et peccator.

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But let me point this out, okay? It was absolutely inappropriate that the crown prince of Judah, the son of David, the son of Jehoshabath would marry a pagan chick, right?

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But what about Jesus? I want you to think about this. We, the church, are the bride of Christ, right?

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And Christ has laid down his life for his bride and he has washed away her sins in the baptism.

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And you'll note here, Jesus marries a pagan chick, right?

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But here's the difference, okay? Athaliah was an impenitent pagan chick, but Christ takes a penitent pagan girl to be his wife.

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She comes to him humble. She comes to him lamenting her sin. She comes to him filthy and practically naked and ashamed.

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And Jesus, in great love and compassion for his bride, he washes her clean.

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He instructs her in his ways. He clothes her in his own righteousness.

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And so, rather than the wicked Athaliah, how she had influence over Jehoram to the point where he became so wicked and evil, instead, it's the other way around with Christ's bride.

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Because of his great love for his bride, he is the one who cleanses and sanctifies her and makes her holy so that she doesn't have influence on him for evil.

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Instead, he has influence on her through his Holy Spirit and his word to sanctify her and make her like him.

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It's 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 Jesus has for his bride, the church.

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That's you and I. So, be comforted, brothers and sisters. Long sermon, but comfort for this.

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And that is, is that despite the fact that we all suffer from a bad case of simileus decepticator, it says of Jehoshaphat that he died in faith.

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And each and every one of us, we still pray daily, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

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Please, God, have mercy on us. And he does. He knows that we still have a sinful nature.

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But as Paul lamented, oh Lord, who will rescue me from this body of death?

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He resolves that question by saying this, but thanks be to God that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

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No condemnation for you. No condemnation for me. Christ has been condemned in our place.

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In the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen.