Jehoshaphat's life demonstrates how a strong start in faith can falter due to misplaced affections and ungodly alliances. Initially walking in the first ways of David, Jehoshaphat strengthened Judah, taught God's word, and experienced peace and divine protection. However, his decision to allow his son to marry into Ahab's wicked family led him to make compromising alliances, famously stating, "I am as thou art, and my people as thy people." Despite a period of revival and renewed commitment to God after a rebuke, he later joined forces with the wicked king Ahaziah, resulting in broken ships and a tragically diminished legacy. The sermon emphasizes that true godliness requires putting God first in all aspects of life, guarding the heart against idols, and maintaining integrity even when loved ones stray.
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continue our study in the lives of the kings by taking up tonight the life of Jehoshaphat. Now, the life of Jehoshaphat is found in four chapters in Second Chronicles, chapter seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, and twenty. I should like to read the opening verses of chapter seventeen and eighteen. The first six verses of chapter seventeen and then the first seven verses of chapter eighteen of Second Chronicles.
And Jehoshaphat his son, that is the son of Asa, reigned in his stead, and strengthened himself against Israel. And he placed forces in all the fenced cities of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken. And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the first ways of his father David and sought not unto Baalim. but he sought the Lord God of his father and walked in his commandment and not after the doings of Israel.
Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hands. And all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presence and he had riches and honor in abundance. And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord. Moreover he took away the high places and groves out of Judah. Then chapter eighteen, Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance, and joined in affinity with Ahab. And after seven years he went down to Ahab to Samaria. And Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people that he had with him.
and persuaded him to go up with him to Remus Gilead. And Ahab, king of Israel, said unto Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, Will thou go with me to Remus Gilead? And he answered him, I am as thou art, and my people as thy people. And we will be with thee in the war. And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Inquire I pray thee, at the word of the Lord today. Therefore the King of Israel gathered together of prophets four hundred men and said unto them, Shall we go to Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear?
And they said, Go up, for God will deliver it into the king's hands. But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides? that we might inquire of him. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him. For he never prophesied good unto me, but always evil. The same as Micaiah, the son of Imla. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. Now let us again Act the Lord's blessing.
Gracious God and Father, we unite our hearts again in the things we have already said to thee. And now we pray that thou wilt guide us by thy Holy Spirit. We ask thee, our Father, to speak to each of us according to the need of our hearts and lives. And we pray that we may be certain. may be living and operative in each of us for we pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ amen now we come tonight to the life of Jehoshaphat we find here another case of a man who began well he began very well, and he ended dismally.
Now we see that in the case of Solomon, he was turned aside by his many wives. Rehoboam was evidently turned aside by his mother, largely at least. Asa was turned aside by his grandmother. Jehoshaphat was turned aside by his son. The boy fell in love with Akaliah, the daughter of Ahab. Ahab was the most wicked king that Israel ever had. And if anything, Akaliah was worse than her father.
Both her father and her mother were exceedingly wicked. And if anything, she exceeded them. And Jehoram, the son of Shehoshaphat, fell in love with this wicked girl, Athaliah. Now, it's my opinion that Athaliah was a charmer. I have an idea that Athaliah was very attractive and exceedingly clever. And she was something of a charmer. And she took Jehoram's fancy. And it ended up that not only did Jehoram marry Athaliah, but Jehoshaphat was turned away from the things of God, and there were eight rulers before you ever get another man that walked in the ways of David.
One hundred and sixty-eight years passed by. before there was another king that walked in the ways of David. If you count back a hundred and sixty-eight years from today, it brings us to the last year of George Washington's first administration. How would you feel if you hadn't had a godly ruler in a nation like Israel, the people of God, since the days of the last year of George Washington's first administration, that's what it amounted to, a hundred and fifty-eight years, before there was another king that walked in the ways of David.
Now this was disastrous, yet the man began well. He began well. When C.H.M. Charles Henry McIntosh wrote on the life of Jehoshaphat, he described it as world bordering, a man who lived for God, but he stayed near enough to the borderline that several times he was swayed. And twice in the record of Jehoshaphat in these four chapters, you find that Jehoshaphat identified himself with the ungodly kingdom of Israel, which at that time was worshiping Baal twice in his life.
Jehoshaphat identified himself with those people. Now, we find... that it often happens, that a person starts well and allows other influences to get into his life and they bring him back from the advances he has made in the things of God and they introduce into his life again the worldly elements that once he gave us. And part of that grows out of desiring for our children the things that we gave up for ourselves.
You know, if we gave them up because we didn't believe they were of God, if we let go the things of the world in order to take hold of the things of heaven, then we are not doing our children a favor if we encourage them to take hold of the things that we gave up. If we gave them up because they weren't worth holding on to, then let us not desire those things for our children. We are not doing them a favor. And not only that. But if we encourage our children to take hold of the things that we gave up, you can be very sure it's going to bring us back from the advances we made in the things of God, and it will put our interest again in the things that we once turned away from.
Now, when the Apostle Paul gave up earthly advantage, he never turned back with a longing eye to say, I wish I had it again. Paul says, I suffered the loss of all things, and I counted but done. I don't want it, that I may win Christ. And he wrote that from the Roman prison almost at the end of his days. Paul never looked back and said, you know, I gave up a lot of things. Maybe I gave up too much. I see a lot of brethren didn't give up as much as I did. Maybe I shouldn't have been so bold. Oh, no. No, no. Paul says, I have suffered the loss of all things, and I counted but done.
I don't want it. I've got something better. If it's better for me, it's better for my children, too. And if it isn't better for my children, then I didn't really think it was better for me. If the thing is a reality in my soul, it'll be just as real for my children as it is for me. That's what Jehoshaphat didn't see. Erdogan was twice in Jehoshaphat's life. He became involved in alliances with the young godly, and he ended his life a dismal failure, and it was a hundred and sixty-eight years, and eight rulers later, before you get another person coming to the throne of Judah, of whom it is said that he walked in the ways of David.
Well, now let us look at Jehoshaphat briefly in these four chapters. Chapter seventeen, you'll find Jehoshaphat started well. Jehoshaphat, his son reigned in his stead and strengthened himself against Israel. That was a good start, because the nation of Israel at that time had gone into the worship of Baal, and Jehoshaphat was worshiping Jehovah. And he was a man of faith, and he was a man of God, and he walked not only in the ways of David, but it says he walked in the first ways of David. And that's a very important point, because you know even David himself, in his later life, fell into a lot of sins.
But he walked in the first ways of David. Here's a man who took David at his desk and he said, this is my pattern. It reminds you of Paul saying, follow me as I follow Christ. And Jehoshaphat said, I want to follow David in those years when David followed the Lord, wholly from his heart. And so he walked in the first wave of his father David. That was a good start. It would have been a good thing if they'd kept up with that, but he didn't. And he allows his son to bring him back from that. Now there again, as we have said several times in these studies, the Lord Jesus said, If a man loves father or mother more than me, he's not worthy of me.
If he loves wife or children more than me, he's not worthy of me. And Jehoshaphat might have said, boy, if you're determined to marry that girl, that's up to you, but you'll never succeed me on the throne of Judah. If you line up yourself with that ungodly family, he might have said that, but he didn't. No, he didn't. He said, well, you know, the dear boy, after all, he's in love, and you have to make allowances, and though he made allowances, you know, well, the dear boy was in love with the wrong person. And it was disastrous not only to Jehoshaphat, it was disastrous to Judah. Let's think of a hundred and sixty-eight years. That's a long time before they ever had another godly ruler.
Well, look. It says he placed forces in all the fenced cities of Judah, and he set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim, which his father had taken, and the Lord was with Jehoshaphat. because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and he sought not unto Balaam, yet strengthened himself against Israel. He sought to the Lord at God of his father, and walked in his commandment, and not after the doings of Israel. Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hands, and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat's presence, and he had riches and honor and abundance.
and his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord. Moreover, he took away the high places and the groves out of Judah. And then we find that in the third year of his reign, he sent to his princes. And verse eight with them he sent Levites. Verse nine, and they fought in Judah. And they... and had the book of the law of the Lord with them, and they went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and they taught the people, and the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.
Now this reminds you of the opening days of Asa. You remember that Asa had ten years of peace, And Asa used that ten years to build up Judah. He built the cities, and he established the people, and he established the nations. I'm Joshua doing the same thing. He determined he was going to walk in the first waves of David. He was going to honor Jehovah his God. And he called the Levites and the princes, and they went about throughout all Judah with the word of God in their hands. And they taught the people the word of God, and the kingdom was established and strengthened.
And the fear of the Lord came on all the nations round about. You know, there is something about it that when a man walks with God, the people around him get the conviction and the consciousness that God is with us. And that was Jehoshaphat's safety. That would be our safety today. There's a great debate going on, as we know today, as to whether or not this nation is properly defended. Well, I believe that the true defense of this nation would lie in turning to God. And I believe that if this nation were characterized by godliness today, we wouldn't need to have any fear about whether we have enough missiles.
I'm not saying we shouldn't make the missiles. I believe that it's right to have armaments. I believe that the law, the government, is established for that. I'm not quarreling with that, but I say our safety doesn't lie in that. You could have ten times as many missiles as you have. You could come to absolute destruction. If God is in it, if God is with our people, God will preserve us. And if God isn't with us, then we can't be preserved no matter how many missiles you have. You read in Scripture of one case where the Israelites put their enemies to flight when they were outnumbered beyond any conception.
And then on the other hand, you find times when people put the nation of Israel to flight when they didn't have an army as Israel left. And the Lord says to them, how do you think that happened? And he answers the question. He says, because your rock sold you into their hands. That's what he says. When we turn away from God, that's exactly what the prophet says through Asa. When you turn away from God, God turns away from you. When you do not walk with God, God is not going to protect you. Well, Jehoshaphat was learning that. Everything was going fine till that boy fell in love.
It's amazing how much damage a girl can do sometimes. To a man, to a family, to a nation. That's why we need to have guarded hearts. You can't live a godly life unless you have a guarded heart. That's what we need. Well, Jehoshaphat went about establishing the people in the Word of God, and God gave him peace. Now, that is what every one of us needs to do, is to use our opportunities to fortify ourselves so that when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of God can raise up a standard against them.
But you'll be sure of this. You neglect the Word of God and prayer when you have opportunity for it, and then when the time of trouble comes, you will have no strength whatever. It's a little late in the day to cry to God then. What we need to do is fortify ourselves with the Word of God and prayer day by day. You can't disregard God six days a week and then make up for it on the seventh day. It doesn't work that way. A godly life is lived every day. What I am in the sight of God is not what he sees on Sundays.
What I am in the sight of God is what he sees six days in the week. The way I live in my home, that's what I am in the sight of God. You know, when the Word of God instructs Timothy how to choose elders, what do you think he says? Do you think he said, go to meeting on prayer meeting night and pick out a godly man? Well, that wasn't what he said. He didn't say, go to the prayer meeting. He said, go to his house. See the way he lives at home. He says, what he is at home will determine whether he's an elder in the assembly or not. It isn't what he does in the church.
It's what he does at home. That's what I am in the sight of God. And if I do not have godliness in the home, and I put it on in the church, you know what you call that? Anything that I have in church, more than I have at home, is pure hypocrisy. Pure hypocrisy. I am no more godly when I come in that door than I was before I left the door of my home. What I am at my home is what I am in the sight of God. And when God wants Timothy to choose an elder, that's where it tells him to go.
He doesn't say, go to the church. He says, go to his house. You see how he lives at home. That's what the man is. If he has the godly character there, you can make him an elder in the church. If he doesn't have godliness in his home, then everything he has in the church is simply put on. That's a show. Now, Jehoshaphat, up to this point, was doing well. He was building the people up in the word of God. He was using the opportunity, go out in the land, up and down the land, and find people where they are, and teach them God's word, and build them up on their most holy faith.
That's godliness. God gave him peace round about, and the fear of God fell upon the nation, and Jehoshaphat had peace. Now it says also verse twelve, he waxed straight exceedingly, and he built in Judah castles and cities of store, and I'll not take the time to add up the number of his army, but I was interested when I did add it up to find out that he built an army exactly twice the size of the army that Ezekiel had. you would say, well, Jehoshaphat is making a good start.
He has built the people up in the knowledge of God, and the result was there was an army in Judah that was well able to defend the country. Everything was fine until you come to chapter eighteen. Now when you come to chapter eighteen, there's a marked change. It says in verse eighteen, In chapter eighteen I should say, verse one, now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor and abundance. And he joined affinity with Ahab. In chapter seventeen he strengthened himself against the house of Israel.
In chapter eighteen he joined affinity with Ahab. Now we learn that that affinity was by the marriage of Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram to the daughter of Ahab, who was Ahalaya. And he joined affinity with the house of Ahab, and that was his downfall. Now you say, could he prevent Jehoram from marrying Ahalaya? No, he couldn't. But he didn't have to join affinity. It says he did. It doesn't say Jehoram did. It was Jehoram who did.
But it doesn't say Jehoram did. You read elsewhere that Jehoram has Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, and Jezebel's wife. But what it says here is that Jehoshaphat joined affinity with Ahab. And what that means to me is this, that when Jehoram married Athaliah, Jehoshaphat said, well, after all, we've got to make the best of a bad bargain, and I might as well go along with it. And so, you know, after all, now, Ahab is the father-in-law of my boy, and, well, you know, that boy was the darling of Jehoshaphat's bosom.
Now, that's idolatry. Wherever you have an object that comes before God, That's idolatry. Oh, but you say that's my boy. Am I not to love my boy? Yes, you are, but you're to love the Lord more. And if that boy comes between you and God, you're not to love that boy in that position. That was idolatry. Ahab was worshipping Baal, and we would say, oh, that's an idol. Jahashaphat was giving Jehoram the place that the Lord should have in his heart, and the Word of God says that was enough.
Ahab had the idol out where you could see it. Yahashaphat had the idol where you couldn't see it, but God could see it. I wonder if perhaps we don't have idols like that. You know, in the... fifth chapter of First John, when John says little children, keep yourselves from idols, that's the kind of idols he's talking about. John didn't expect that they were going to set up idols in their house. He didn't expect that. John didn't think that the believers were going to have images of Jupiter and Apollo and all that kind of thing.
He wasn't talking about that. When John says, little children, keep yourselves from idols, he was talking about the kind of idols you set up inside that other people don't see, but God sees. And that's the thing that determines whether your heart is really all out for God or whether it is not. If you have an idol in your heart, then all that outward devotion is just for show. If you mean the outward devotion, It means that the Lord is going to have the first place in your heart. And if your darling son follows a path that is dishonoring to God, maybe you can't stop him, but you can say, boy, I'm sorry, but this is something that I can't follow you in.
because this is an ungodly woman, and she proved herself to be that. And she took godliness away from Judah, and as we say, it was a hundred and sixty-eight years before they got another king that walked in the ways of David. This was a serious business. Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't show the kindness of God if our children do marry an unsaved person. We certainly can show the kindness of God and try to win them to Christ, but let us not allow it to make us. Make affinity with anything ungodless. That wouldn't be right. And that's what happened to Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat made affinity with Ahab.
I want you to see how far it went. Verse two, after certain years, he went down to Ahab to Samaria. and Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance and for the people that he had with him, and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramoth Gilead. And Ahab, king of Israel, said unto Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, will thou go with me to Ramoth Gilead? And this is what Jehoshaphat answered. Now this is what I'm talking about, making affinity with the house of Ahab. He said, I am as thou art. Bihashahat said to Ahab, I am as thou art.
My people are as thy people, and we will be with thee in the war, and it was Ahab's war. Now, I'm not saying that your son marries an unsaved girl, that you may not receive that girl with kindness and try to win her to Christ. But I hope you'll never say to that girl, I am as you are, and wherever you go, I'll join you in it. That's what Shah Shafat was saying. That's an entirely different thing. It's one thing to show the kindness of God to unsaved relatives and try to win them to Christ. It's another thing to say, oh, I'm just as you are.
You go your way and I'll go with you. That's what he was saying. It was Ahab who said to Jehoshaphat, go with me in the war of the reign of Gilead. Jehoshaphat nearly lost his life. It was only by the grace of God that he wasn't killed in that battle. Think of him saying, I am as you are, and my people are as your people, committing the nation of Israel to be like those that were worshiping Baal. And we'll go with you in this war, which is your war. We'll help you. And then suddenly a conscience smote in, and they said, maybe we could inquire of the Lord.
Well, you know, it's a bad time to inquire, isn't it? You know, when you do Christian counseling, sometimes you find a young woman comes to you or a young man, as the case may be. And they say, you know, I'm going to get married next week to this fellow or this girl, and they're not saved. Is it all right? I'm going to get married next week. Is it all right? Well, what difference in my father? All right, you're not. You're going to do it next week. You've got the date set, and you have the license, and you have the ring and the grave, and the invitations are out, and now you want to know, is it all right? Well, that's what your heart has had to do with us. It says, I am as thou art, and my people as thy people, and we'll go with you through the war.
Let's ask the Lord about it. Well, it's a little late in the day to ask the Lord about it then. He should have thought about asking the Lord before he said, anything about I am as thou art, and my people as thy people. He should have said, Ahab, I've got to ask the Lord about this. But first he commits himself, and then he says, let's ask the Lord. Verse four, Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Inquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord today. Therefore, the king of Israel gathered together the prophet four hundred men and said, Shall we go to Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear?
And they said, Go up, for God will deliver it into the king's hands. Well, now, Jehoshaphat discerned that there wasn't the prophet of Jehovah there. In the four hundred men that Ahab had, there wasn't a single prophet of Jehovah. And Jehoshaphat said, Don't you have a prophet of Jehovah here? Oh yes, Ahad says, I have one. I keep him in prison. I hate him. And I keep him in prison. Isn't that astounding? I've got one prophet of Jehovah, and he's shut up in the prison. And whatever he says is always bad against me, I should think it would be. You know, here's the striking thing about this man, Micaiah.
He was there witnessing for God. And he was in prison for the word of the Lord. And Elijah, you know, these were the days of Elijah. And Elijah didn't seem to know anything about it. Elijah never said a word to Jehoshaphat. Of course, he was a prophet to Israel, but some of the prophets spoke to the kings both of Israel and Judah. Elijah did not. Elijah spoke to Ahab, never a word to Jehoshaphat. But Elijah said to the Lord, I only am less. I wonder why he didn't know something about Micaiah. Other people knew about Micaiah.
Micaiah was faithful to God. Micaiah was in prison for the word of the Lord, which Elijah himself was not. And think of saying to the Lord, I'm the only one less. That wasn't very true, was it? But you know, I've heard brethren talk like that. I've heard people say we're the only ones have the truth. Well, are we? You know, there might be others that have the truth besides us. I have known Christians who weren't with us, who were in prison for the word of God, just like Micaiah. I wonder sometimes if we don't get into the spirit of Elijah. Say, Lord, I'm the only one left. Nobody's faithful with me.
Well, perhaps there are others faithful. besides ourselves. It doesn't pay to be too self-occupied. Even a man of God like Elijah made a mistake. And you know it says in Romans eleven, but what sets the answer of God to him? It says, Behold, listen, Romans eleven, Behold how Elijah pleads against Israel. That's what the word of God says. That's the New Testament commentary. Behold how Elijah pleads against Israel, but what says the answer of God to him? I have seven thousand men that have not bowed beneath the veil.
Elijah, you don't know what you're talking about. He was pleading against Israel, nobody faithful but me. Why, God says, it's seven thousand. And one of them was Micaiah. And Elijah didn't say a word about Micaiah. But here he was. But Ahab knew about Micaiah. Ahab said, I've got one prophet of Jehovah. He shut up in the prison, and he always prophesies against me. I know what he'll say. And Jehoshaphat says what? Not the king say so. But it was true. So they called Maupai. And first he gave that mocking answer. You know, they warned him.
They said, now all the prophets have prophesied good. You better say the same thing. And Micaiah, there's no doubt about it, it was pure mockery. He said, oh, yes, go off, go off. Everything is fine. And the king knew he was just mocking him, and he commanded somebody to smite him, and now he said, you tell me the word of the Lord. He said, I'll tell you the word of the Lord. I saw all Israel as sheep without a shepherd. And he went on to tell him what was going to happen. And Ahab said, Put him in the prison and feed him bread and water till I come in peace. And Micaiah said, If you come in peace, the Lord hasn't spoken by me. Well, Ahab didn't come in peace. He died on the field of battle.
I don't know what happened to Micaiah, but I do know this, that Micaiah's name is written in heaven. Let's never be proud because we think we're a little bit faithful. We may be overrating ourselves and we may be underrating others. We may be ignoring people who are laying down their very lives for Christ. And we may be taking credit that isn't to us at all. The scripture says, Judge nothing before the time. And another thing that it says, and this may hurt, but it is something that has been on my mind for a long time. The scripture says, Let each esteem other better than himself.
And you know, when I get to the state where I look down on other Christians... and I take pride in myself there's something radically wrong with my outlook. Because the teaching of Scripture is that we ought to esteem others better than ourselves. We ought to recognize the godliness that others have. And I'm afraid that we're passing by many Micahas. While like Elijah, we're saying, oh, we're wonderful, look what we did. Well, what we did is all right, but look to it what they have done and are doing. And let us not discredit what they do because they're not of us.
And let us not magnify what we do because it is ourselves. But let us learn to give honor to whom honor is you. And let us leave it to the Lord to decide who is faithful and who is not. So Elijah was pleading against Israel and God had to answer it. And he said, Elijah, there are seven thousand. And that even may be a symbolic number. And some have thought that perhaps it implies even more. But even if it's a literal number, seven thousand is a lot more than none. Elijah said, I only am less. And the Lord said, no, Elijah, there are great many that you don't know, but I know.
Well, here was Micaiah. This man of God, and he witnessed against Ahab. And the thing that is heartbreaking in this chapter is this, that Jehoshaphat never raised a single word in favor of my heart. Here was Jehoshaphat taking credit as a godly king, and here was a single prophet of Jehovah that dared to stand up and tell Ahab the message of God to him. And Jehoshaphat never said a single word, and Micaiah was sent back to the prison and to his bread and water, and Jehoshaphat went out to battle with Ahab, and he nearly lost his life.
And it would have served him well if he had. It was only the grace of God that spared him. I'm not going into the details of that battle. But you can see the disastrous effect of making affinity with the house of Ahab. Now I'll admit it was the boy who got him into it. But you know the boy wouldn't have got him into it if he hadn't given the boy the place that the Lord should have had in his life. If the Lord had been first in Jehoshaphat's heart, he would have mourned over that boy, but he never would have said to Ahab, I am as thou art. And my people are as thy people, and your cause is my cause.
He never would have said that, if the Lord had had the right place. Well, let's go down. We're not going to go through this part of the chapter. In chapter nineteen, the Lord spared the life of Jehoshaphat, and he returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. And she who is the son of Hamani, the sheer, went out to meet him. He said to King Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that heath the Lord, therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord. Nevertheless, there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God.
Well, now, Jehoshaphat was not like Asa in this. Asa was angry when the seer spoke to him, and Asa put the seer in prison for speaking to him. Now, Jehoshaphat didn't do that. There was good found in Jehoshaphat, and this was part of it. In spite of his failure, which was weakness, rather than outright wickedness, it was weakness. And in spite of that weakness, when the word of God came to Jehoshaphat, he answered it. And he says, in effect, that's right. And what we need to do is get back to God. And so he started a new campaign.
And verse five, verse four, Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem, and he went out again throughout the people from Beersheba to Mount Ephraim, and he brought them back to the Lord God of their fathers. And he set judges in the land throughout all the French cities of Judah, city by city. And he said to the judges, Take heed what ye do, for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord who is with you in the judgment. Wherefore now, let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Take heed and do it, for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts.
would have been a good thing if Jehoshaphat had held to that, you know, himself right on through. But anyway, he sees that now. There's a revival in the heart of Jehoshaphat. And so he attempts to revive the people. And God honored that. And then we read in chapter twenty that after the people were re-established in the ways of God, the enemies of Israel came upon them again. It came to pass after this also that the children of Moab and the children of Ammon and with them others, the Zionists, came against Jehoshaphat in battle.
And they told Jehoshaphat, verse five, And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court. And he said, O Lord, God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven, rule us not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen, and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee, art thou our God? who did strive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gave it to the seed of Abraham, thy friend, forever, and so on.
He says, They dwelt therein, and they have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, If one evil cometh upon us, as the sword, the judgment, the pestilence, or the famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, for thy name is in this house, and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help. And he goes on with this kind of prayer. Now we find in verse fourteen that Jehaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Beniah and so on, verse fifteen said, Harkin ye all Judah and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat.
thus says the Lord unto you. Be not afraid, nor dismayed, by reason of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but it is God. Verse seventeen, ye shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves Stand ye still and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord will be with you. Now we won't take time to read through the story. But Joshua sent the singers out before the army.
Now I love that. I love that. He sent the singers out before the army. Now what that means is this, that Joshua sang the praise of God before the battle started, and that shows to me that Jehoshaphat answered in his soul to the promise of God. The prophet said, Jehoshaphat, you don't need to be afraid. The battle is not yours, but the Lord, you stand still. You won't even have to fight. God will fight for you. And Jehoshaphat says, praise God. And he sent the singers out to sing the praise of God before the battle had started.
He said, Jehoshaphat, you better not be too bold. You better not start to sing. You better wait till you see how you're going to come out. Oh, no, Jehoshaphat said, I know how I'm going to come out. Because the man of God has come and told me. Now this is love. This is love. This is real recovery. Wouldn't you think it would stick this time? Wouldn't you think? This is something that amazes me. The first time I could understand how Jehoshaphat could be drawn away from his noble stand by his boy marrying Akeliah. But now you find Jehoshaphat had a second thought.
And what it means to me is this, that for all the revival that Jehoshaphat had, there was one thing he didn't let the Lord take away. And that was the idol of having his boy, first in his heart. And consequently, he was still open to an appeal from the house of Ahab. Now look, at the end of chapter twenty, where you get a summary of the life of Jehoshaphat, and it says in verse thirty-five, and after this, my wouldn't you think after this Jehoshaphat went on happily with the Lord?
Well, it doesn't say so. Look, after this, did Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, join himself with Ahaziah, king of Israel, who did very wickedly? and he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish, and they made the ships in Ezeon Giber. You read about Ezeon Giber in the news today. That's the town at the very head of the Gulf of Aqaba that Israel and the Arabs or the Egyptians are fighting about today. That's the place. It says they built ships in Ezeon Giber to go to Tarshish.
And verse thirty-seven, then Eliezer, the son of Zodeva of Marisha, prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken thy work. And the ships were broken, and they were not able to go to Toshish. And the next verse says, Now Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers. in the city of David. The last recorded thing about Jehoshaphat is his work for a book. Isn't that a sad record? Well, that's the record of the man who didn't put God first.
He wanted to follow in the ways of God with a reservation. I want to put God first in my life after Jehor. Well, he wouldn't have said it in words. But you know, you don't have to say it in words. What we do and what we are speaks louder than our words. We may say, I put the Lord first. But if we follow, as Shoshaphat did, the course of an ungodly son, then we're not putting the Lord first. Now, he couldn't prevent that boy from marrying Athaliah.
And there wouldn't have been anything wrong in his saying to Akaliah, well, you come and visit us, and we'll try to get to know you. And maybe we can be a help to you. There wouldn't be anything wrong in that. But there was something radically wrong when he said, if you won't go our way, we'll go your way. There was something radically wrong in that. And when he said to Ahab, I am the Zahart, that was wrong. and my people are as thy people, that was wrong. And then when God recovered him, to think that a second time he would go with this young man Ahaziah, one of the sons of Ahaz. I don't wonder that the closing record of the word of God concerning him is his workbook.
Isn't that a sad ending to a life that started out in the first ways of David his father? Well, these are things that speak to me. It makes me realize that what I am in the sight of God is not just what I say. It isn't just what I do in the church. It's what my life is made up of every day. The things that occupy my life. the things that fill the time, whether I am building myself up in the things of God, whether I am sacrificing myself to Christ, whether I crucify self and put the Lord first, that's what I am if I do that.
And if I don't do that, then instead of the Lord being first, something else is done. Either I have an ambition or I have someone that I love and I'm going to follow them, instead of following my Savior, And it may end up that a life that could have been a power for God ended up a broken life And let me repeat, it was eight reigns later and a hundred and sixty-eight years before there was another king that walked in the ways of David, so that not only his life was broken up, but the testimony of Judah was broken up too.
Well, may the Lord speak to all of us according to our needs. Let us pray. Gracious God and Father, again we come to thee through the Lord Jesus. And we believe thou art speaking to us. There are many things here that we know we need to take to heart. We need to profit by. We ask our Father that thou wilt. speak into our hearts by thy Holy Spirit and that thou wilt work into our lives those things that are pleasing in thy sight. We pray, blessed God, that at the end of our days our works will not be broken but that we shall be so occupied with thy will that the works of our lives shall abide for all eternity.
We think of the promise of thy word He that doeth the will of God abide it forever. And so, our Father, we pray that thou will bless each of us, help us to be a blessing to those that are around us. We pray for those that are not here tonight. We think especially of those who are perhaps sick, those who are not able to come. We ask we to minister a blessing to them, comfort and strengthen each one according to their needs. And so we commit ourselves into thy loving hand, and we give thee thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.