9.13.08
The Blessed Life, Part 3: Jehoshaphat
2 Chronicles 20:14-17
Jehoshaphat fortifies the cities,
verses 1-2
“Now the LORD was with
Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the former ways of his father David; he did
not seek the Baals, but sought the God of his father, and walked in His
commandments and not according to the acts of
Verse 3 The Lord was with
Jehoshaphat, because he sought God, and he walked in His commandments.
3-4... “Let us hear the
conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this
is the whole duty of man.” Ecclesiastes
12:13
At the end of King Solomon’s
life, when he had learned how wonderful and blessed life can be when you obey
God, and how ugly and terrible life can be when you disobey God—this is when
Solomon wrote these words of truth.
THERE IS NO BETTER PERSONAL
I mean, we can make out life
theme as fancy as we want it, but in the final analysis will it be said that we
were followers of God or not? Did we
walk in His commandments or not? Did we
truly seek His will, and surrender to His will?
Jehoshaphat did. And his life was blessed.
What it means to walk in God's commandments:
Constant reliance on the Holy Spirit.
* Rom. 8:1-9 “There
is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who
do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and
death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God
did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account
of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the
law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but
according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their
minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the
Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death,
but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is
enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God
dwells in you.”
Summary of
* There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ
Jesus.
* “In Christ Jesus” is defined as not walking according to
the desires of the flesh, but rather according to the Holy Spirit
* So, those who are allowing the Holy Spirit to guide them
and change them are truly in Christ Jesus, and they are the ones who are not
under condemnation.
* Three “laws” are being discussed: The law of the Spirit
of life (Holy Spirit); the law of sin and death (sinful human nature/carnal
nature); the law of God (Ten Commandments).
* When we surrender to the Holy Spirit, the power of God
becomes a reality in our lives.
* The “righteous requirements of the law” are “fulfilled”
in us, as we obey the will of God, and rely completely on the Holy Spirit for
strength of will.
* Jesus “condemned” sin in the flesh. That is, He destroyed the power of sin in our lives, when He was
completely victorious over sin.
* We set our minds, that is, direct our thoughts to the
“things of the Spirit”, or the things that please God.
* The new birth experience involves a complete
transformation of the mind.
* Being “spiritually minded” results in “life and peace”
(the blessed life).
* The “spiritually minded” person is subject to the law of
God, and lives to obey it, through the power of the Spirit.
* The Spirit of God lives within us.
* Here is how the three laws interact: The Holy Spirit
enables us to bypass the desires of the sinful nature, and thereby render
obedience to God’s law.
My friend, if this process
does not describe you, and it seems foreign to you to want to obey God or to be
able to obey God, I suggest that you give the Lord Jesus Christ a chance to
come into your life. He will if you ask
Him. We can’t even begin to live right
unless we are born again from above.
The Bible says that unless we
give the control of our lives over to Jesus Christ, we are still “carnally
minded”. And to be carnally minded is
DEATH, the Bible says clearly. And when
Jesus returns to this earth with power and great glory, and you are still
carnally minded, you will be identified with sin and rebellion, and you will be
destroyed either by the falling rocks, disintegrating mountains, volcanic
activity, seven last plagues, or by the exceeding brightness of Christ’s
appearing.
This is not a time to be
careless and live any way we want to be live.
If you are here this morning, it’s because God WANTS you to be here to
listen to His voice in Scripture. He
wants to save your life this morning.
Won’t you let Him?
Verse 5-6 Mutual
delight...Jehoshaphat delighted in the ways of the Lord. Isn’t that wonderful? That’s how it can be for us as well. We can delight in God’s ways and God’s
will. The Bible says that God blessed
Jehoshaphat greatly because he delighted in God’s ways. The Bible says that God established the
kingdom in Jehoshaphat’s hand.
Isn’t that something? Do you realize the difference it makes when
God establishes our work in our hand?
This is incredible! God wants to
enlarge our work for Him! God wants to
expand
His kingdom in our
lives! God will establish us and settle
us and grant us true, lasting success, IF WE DELIGHT IN HIS WAYS AS DID KING
JEHOSHAPHAT!
Do you want to be established
this morning?
Jehosphaphat even removed
high places, the Bible says. He went
beyond what other kings did—even decent kings.
Jehoshaphat is one of the shining stars of the Bible. He is good example of what life is like when
we live to obey God and please God.
7-9 establishment of teaching
presence...
results of pleasing God—fear
fell on surrounding kingdoms 10...
philistines bringing
presents? 2 times presents actually.
v12 increasingly strong—the
blessed life...
v16 interersting that Amasiah
"willingly offered himself to the Lord" Bible makes specific mention
of this fact. This is because God values a willing spirit—He places a high
premium on faithful service of any kind. Amasiah wasn't just selected or
drafted to be a general. His serving flowed from his devotion to God, his life
of surrender to God.
There are certain things that
you and I have to do, things we must do. It may be part of our job or some
other responsibility that is really not optional. Our character is in part
measured by how willing we are to fulfill our daily duties. But another measure
of our character is how willing we are to volunteer to do things that God is
calling us to do.
The Bible does say just how
Amasiah became a military leader of a large army of men. But God made sure future readers would notice
that he served with a willing spirit—a consecrated, whatever-you-say-God
attitude. And that’s exactly what you
and I need today.
We need to be able to jump to
it when the Lord tells us to do something.
The world has a real shortage of men and women who are willing to live
radical lives of integrity and obedience.
God is looking for Amasiahs who will stand up and be counted.
Now, chapter 18 tells us the
story of Jehoshaphat’s dealings with Ahab, king of
The story goes that Ahab was
about to go against Ramoth-Gilead and the Syrians, and he asked Jehoshaphat to
help him in this effort. Jehoshaphat
should not have been so eager to extend
familial assistance to Ahab,
because God was not on Ahab’s side at all.
But his generosity got the best of him.
v4 “please enquire”
v6 “Is there not still a
prophet of the Lord here?” The Holy
Spirit spoke to Jehoshaphat and informed him that Ahab was not being totally
honest. The Holy Spirit will do that for
us as well, as we get close to Him and start listening to Him. We will become giants of faith, giants of
discernment in a very short period of time.
v7 “There is still one
man…but I hate him, because he never prophesies good concerning me”
Micaiah—a true prophet…
* Micaiah asked to prophesy smooth, positive things
* v13 Micaiah: “As the Lord lives, whatever my God says,
that I will speak”
Micaiah was a true prophet
who cared more about speaking the truth than making people feel good. You know, a true prophet will rarely make you feel good! A prophet of God will say what we need to hear; not what we want to hear.
First Micaiah bluffs King
Ahab. Then he lets him know the truth.
vv16-17
vv18-22 A prophetic look behind the scenes…similar to
the time of Job, when we are allowed to see that all the sons of God came
before Him, including Satan, and Satan challenged God regarding Job. This was one of those times.
You can see that not only is
there a raging, ongoing spiritual war going on for souls, but you can see that
Satan is constantly enquiring—constantly looking for ways to ensnare us and to
tempt us to do evil. At least on this
occasion, he apparently had to ask God’s permission to mess with Ahab and to
deceive him.
Right now someone in this
sanctuary is being talked about in the heavenly courts. Satan is appearing before the Father and he
is asking for permission to deceive you and to destroy you. Now, God will only grant such a request if
everything He has tried to reach your heart has failed, and you are totally resistant. Then He will allow Satan to bring deception
and delusion and destruction into your life, as He did with Ahab.
It’s a scary thing, isn’t
it. Makes one wonder at what stage the
devil is in one’s life. It begs the
question, “Have I resisted God so much that He is now allowing me to fall into
dark deception, so that I cannot find my way out?
This is why we must NOW make
our calling and election sure. We must
take advantage of this moment to surrender our hearts to Jesus Christ, and
accept His lordship over us, so that when we walk out of this sanctuary, we
walk out as a child of God, AND NOT AS A CHILD OF DARKNESS WHO IS IN THE
PROCESS OF BEING DESTROYED BY SATAN.
So, God permits a demon to
influence the so-called “prophets” to flat out lie to King Ahab, and tell him
that everything will be okay, when it will actually be disastrous for the king.
This infuriates Ahab, and he
throws the true prophet, Micaiah, into prison.
v27 Micaiah: “If you ever
return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me.”
So the story goes that even
though Ahab disguises himself in battle, “a certain man drew a bow at random,
and struck the king of
So, just as Micaiah had said,
Ahab dies in battle against the Syrians at sunset, and did not return to
Be sure your sin will find
you out.
And King Jehoshaphat, even
though he shouldn’t have helped Ahab, survives the battle. He was about to be killed, because they
thought he was the king of
Jehoshaphat’s Reforms
19:4-10
* “brought them back to the Lord God of their fathers”
* judging in the fear of the Lord
Jehoshaphat’s Prayer in Time of Trouble 20:1-12
* greatly outnumbered
* first response: seek the Lord
* 14-17 God’s response through Jahaziel
* 13, 18 a corporate response of humility and worship
Jehoshaphat Sends the Singers Ahead of the Army
* 20:20 Do you want
good vision? “Hear me, O Judah and you
inhabitants of
* 21 Kohathites and
Korahites sing and praise God
God Provides the Victory
* 22-30
*
Notice the progression, for it is the same order of victory for us as well . .
.
Personal Reforms
Do what you already know you
should do, and what you’re not able to do yet, pray for strength to do it.
Prayer for Strength and Indwelling of Holy Spirit
Pray about the areas of your
life that you knows are not yet surrendered to Him; the tough areas and
habits. Give God daily permission to
renovate your life. “I don’t know what
to do, but my eyes are upon You.”
Worship and Praise
Continue to be humble before
God, and praise Him for His presence and power in your life. Continue to gather strength and knowledge
from His Word.
God Provides the Victory
“Those who consent to enter
into covenant with God are not left to the power of Satan or to the infirmity
of their own nature.” Ministry of Healing, 93
* God protects us from the
two main enemies we face: self, and Satan
* As long as we are willing
to be led, He will grant us personal victory