2 Chronicles chapter 20, and I
want to read the first 30 verses in that chapter. This is a very
interesting story. I want to look at it with you
this morning and see some lessons that you and I can learn from
it. I often think of that passage of the scripture that says, Whatsoever
things were written beforehand were written for our learning.
that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might
have hope. So you and I can learn something from this trial that
came upon this great king, Jehoshaphat, and this tribe of the children
of Judah. Let's begin in verse 1. 2 Chronicles
chapter 20. And it came to pass after this
also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, And
with them other besides the Ammonites came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Then there came some that told
Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee
from beyond the sea, on this side Syria, and, behold, they
be in Hazazon Tamar, which is in Judah. And Jehoshaphat feared,
and set himself to seek the Lord, and to proclaim a fast throughout
all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves
together to ask help of the Lord, even out of all the cities of
Judah they came to seek the Lord. And Jehoshaphat stood in the
congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before
the new court, and said, O Lord God of our fathers, art thou
not God in heaven? And rulest 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
not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land
before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham
thy friend for ever? And they dwelt therein, and have
built thee a synagogue therein for thy name's sake? If when
evil cometh upon us as the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or
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 now behold the children of
Ammon, and Moab, and Mount Seir, whom thou wouldst not let Israel
invade when they came out of the land of Egypt. They have
turned from them and destroyed them not. Behold, I say now,
how they reward us to come to cast us out of thy possession,
which thou hast given us to inherit. O our God, wilt thou not judge
them? For we have no might against
this great company that cometh against us. Neither know we what
to do, but our eyes are upon thee. And all Judah stood before
the Lord, and their little ones, and their wives, and their children.
And upon Ahaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah,
the son of Jeal, the son of Mataneah, the Levite, the son of Asaph,
came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation.
And he said, Hearken, all ye of Judah. and ye inhabitants
of Jerusalem, and thou King Jehoshaphat. Thus saith the Lord unto you,
Be not afraid, nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude,
for the battle is not yours, but God's. Tomorrow go ye down
against them. Behold, they come up by the cliff
of Zis, and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before
the wilderness of Jeruel. not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves, stand still,
and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not, darbedes made, tomorrow
go down against them, for the Lord will be with you. And Jehoshaphat
bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshiping
worshiping the Lord. And the Levites, the children
of the Korhites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel
with a loud voice on high. And they rose up early in the
morning and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they
went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, Judah, and
ye inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God,
so shall you be established. Believe his prophets, and so
shall you prosper. And when he had consulted with
the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, that should praise
the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and
to say, Praise the Lord, for his mercy endures for ever. And when they began to sing,
and to praise the Lord, And to praise, the Lord set ambushes
against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, which were
come against Judah, and they were smitten. For the children
of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir,
utterly to slay and to destroy them. And when they had made
an end of the inhabitants of Mount Seir, every one helped
to destroy another. And when Judah came toward the
watchtower in the wilderness, they looked upon the multitude,
and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none
escaped. And when Jehoshaphat and his
people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among
them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies and precious
jewels, which they stripped off for themselves more than they
could carry away. And they were three days in gathering
their spoils, it was so much. And on the fourth day they assembled
themselves into the Valley of Beresh, that is, the Valley of
Blessing. For there they blessed the Lord.
Therefore the name of the same place was called the Valley of
Beresh until this day. Then they returned every man
of Judah and Jerusalem and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them to go
again to Jerusalem with joy. For the Lord had made them to
rejoice over their enemies. And they came to Jerusalem with
psalteries, and harps, and trumpets unto the house of the Lord. And
the fear of the Lord was on all the kingdoms of those countries,
when they had heard that the Lord fought against the enemies
of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was
quiet, and God gave him rest." Roundabout. These are two of the nations. You remember these nations and
how they got their start, the Ammonites and the Moabites. These
were the children of Lot by his daughters when they fled out
of Sodom and Gomorrah, was children of incest, Moabites and the Ammonites. Very, very wicked people, cruel
people. People dreaded these two nations. dreaded the nation that lived
around Mount Seir, Sinai. And these nations, especially
the Ammonites and the Moabites, hated the Jews. It's strange
because Abraham and Lot loved each other, but their children
hated each other. Abraham's children didn't like
Lot's children. And lots of children hated Abraham's
children. And they got together and said,
let's go overcome them. Let's go make war against them
and drive them out of the promised land. And that's what they were
going to do. I noticed the surprise here in
verse 2. Nobody seemed to know, especially
the king, that these two great armies were coming after them.
And somebody came and told Jehoshaphat, said, they're not only coming
after us, they're here. They have crossed into the west
side of the Dead Sea. They came through Jericho, and
they're about a day's journey away. And boy, he was touched
with this. He became very afraid. He goes
into the house of the Lord. Here in verses 6, verse 12, he
makes this plea before the Lord that we'll look at here in a
minute, reminding God of who he is. And what a touching scene,
verse 13, is when you consider this, just get this in the imagination
of your mind. All Judah and the Serb are suddenly
gathered here into the center of Jerusalem. And they're standing
there with all their wives. and with all their children,
while this great king pleads their cause." What a touching
scene that must have been. And how anxious it must have
made them. I mean, you can take a band of
soldiers, you can take a company of soldiers, and man, they're
trained. They can face the enemy so many
times without fear. But when you've got your wives
there, and when you've got your wives holding your babies there,
And you know that the enemy is coming to rape your wives and
to make your children sex slaves and slaves. That's concerning,
isn't it? These people seem to be somewhat
desperate. And then here in verses 15, verse
17, the Lord gives His answer, or He makes His plea to the Lord,
and the Lord gives His answer. in verses 27 here in our text
that I read to you. And the Lord said, just go down
to meet these enemies and you won't need to fight. All you've
got to do is show up. And all they did was march out
to meet their enemy. Jehoshaphat said, You got your
army, you got your weapons. All you need is singers. Now,
I've studied a little bit about battles. I love battles. I love the strategies that commanders
take in battles. I've never read, I've never saw
any place where any captain got a group of singers and put them
in front of the soldiers to sing on their way to battle. And they
had two main themes that they sang about, the holiness of their
God. We just sang about it, didn't
we? Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The earth is full of
his glory. That's what they were singing.
The beauty of his holiness. Now, the children of God see
something in their God that the world don't see. When the Lord
Jesus Christ was here, There was no beauty that we should
desire in Him. But does that mean there's no
beauty in Him? Oh, He's lovely, isn't He? He's altogether lovely. And one of the things that makes
Him so lovely is His holiness. He is the Holy One. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. And that's what they sing. And
the second song that they sang was His Mercy. His mercy endures
forever. And as they went out singing
that, the armies of the enemy turned on each other. Those two
wicked nations turned on the people of Mount Seir and slaughtered
them. And then they turned on each
other and killed each other. And when Israel got up to where
they were, there was nobody left alive. And it took them three
days to get all the spoil together of silver and gold and clothes
and food and everything else. And I love the way this story
ends. I read to you here in verse 27.
The Lord made them to rejoice. over their enemies. And the realm
of Jehoshaphat was quiet, and the Lord gave him rest." Roundabout. I love that story, don't you?
I love to preach from these stories. What can you and I learn from
it? It's not just a story about them, it's a story that you and
I can learn from. What's the first thing we learn
from this? A lesson that's very difficult for you and I to learn.
A lesson that almost shocks us every time we learn it. The Lord's
people suffer. The Lord's people suffer sometimes. I'm talking about His own. His
chosen people. His redeemed people. Even worse,
they get in trying situations that they can't deliver themselves
out of. That's the thing about our story.
Lord, we have no power against these people. We have no might
against this great company. Lord, we don't know what to do. Now, if you're in a situation
you know what to do, thank God for it. But I'm talking about
those situations that you and I can get into that we can't
get out of. And we don't know how to reason
ourselves out of it. We don't have wisdom enough to
deal with a situation. Here in verse 3, it said, Jehoshaphat
feared when he heard the news about this coming army. I tell
you, brothers and sisters, It's not a good thing to go through
this world with our eyes shut. It's not a good thing to go through
this world so secure that we think no trouble will ever come
our way. It's a good thing to live with
somewhat of a healthy dose of reverence for this world and
what can happen to it, isn't it? The Bible tells us to be sober,
to be vigilant, be careful. Why? Because our adversaries,
the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he
may devour. Can you imagine Jehoshaphat hearing
about the enemy coming, an innumerable company of soldiers to fight
against him, and him just brushing it off? It's not a healthy thing
to go through this world and think that we're so secure that
nothing can hurt us. This is a dangerous world we
live in, isn't it? Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof. How many of God's children, His
little children that He knows and they know Him, have gotten
out of bed some morning and everything was fine? And man, they felt
wonderful. And they went on their way in
this world, but before the sun set, their world was turned upside
down. How many have we heard about
that? It happens to so many that we read in history, and it can
happen to you, and it can happen to me. And we can reach the place
where our text says here in verse 12, Oh, our God, will thou not
judge them? We have no might against this
great company that has come against us. Neither know we what to do. Boy, we face struggles. I mean,
we face struggles. The children of God face struggles.
I've told you about, been listening to some research on this health
and wealth gospel. that is being preached today,
and it's growing like crazy, that people believe it's never
God's will for a child of God to be sick. It's never His will
for you to be in any financial trouble. And people are starting
to believe that everywhere. Well, what do we do in a situation
like this? I think we need to learn from
it, don't you? That the children of God face struggles in this
life. We've got struggles within our
own heart. This warfare. You ever have this
warfare that sometimes just gets you down? Oh, wretched man that
I am, when I would do good, evil is present with me. Then we've
got sometimes people will aggravate you to death. People will offend
you. People will speak evil of you. And listen, there's nothing you
can do about it. People challenge you and there's nothing you can
do about it. These special trials that bring
us here to verse 12. And why does this happen? I want you to look. at a scripture, hold our text,
because we're coming back to that. But I want you to look
to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 1. This is concerning the sufferings
of Christ in us. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1
and 5, for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, So our
conversations also abound by Christ. We suffer for Christ's
sake. That's why this warfare is going
on inside, because Christ is in us. He's given us a new nature
that's opposed to the old nature, so you've got your warfare. Sometimes
we're tempted. We're tempted of the devil. We're
tempted from our own hearts. We're tempted of other people.
But you know temptations is the sufferings of Christ. Christ
suffered being tempted. The next time you're tempted,
just think of this. This is Christ suffering in me. He suffered
for me. He suffers in me. We suffer for
his sake. And look what he says over in
verse 8. For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble
which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure,
above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life." Now
the Apostle Paul was in a situation that he could hardly endear it. He said the pressure was so great
I could not describe the measure of it. And it probably lasted
so long he could not measure the longevity of it. But what
was that for? Look in verse 9. We have the
sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves,
but in God who raised us the dead. We suffer for different reasons.
The Lord suffered these enemies to come against Judah and Jehoshaphat
and the children of Israel. To wean them from self-trust. Sometimes the Lord, we suffer
sometimes because the Lord chastens us for our sins. That happens
sometimes. No chastening seems to be pleasant,
but it's grievous. It puts you in a situation you
can't get out of until the Lord delivers you. It's good. It's from the Lord. It's from
our Father in Heaven. Sometimes we suffer to try our
faith. It's for the trying of our faith,
which is so precious that it might be found like gold when
our Lord appears. If God has given you grace to
believe, He's going to try your faith. He's going to try it. Sometimes these sufferings come
to the Lord's people just simply to wean them from
self. And I tell you, there's nothing
more difficult to wean us from than this self-trust. Do you
know that? I remember, and I've told you
this so many times, that when I was going through my teenage
years and the beginning of my twenties, I spent so much time
thinking I really thought, I can win God's favor. I can merit forgiveness of sins. There's something I can add to
my salvation. And I just kept promising God
all of these things that I would do. And God had to wean me from trusting
in myself. And it takes the Holy Spirit
to do that. That Pharisee that stood and
prayed thus with himself, I thank you that I am not like other
men are. I pay tithes all that I possess. What is that? Well,
the Lord told us what that was. He spake a parable to those who
trusted in themselves that they were righteous. One of the things
that our Lord has to beat us out of when He brings us to Himself,
and that's self-trust. And it takes Him to do that.
Self-trust. But you know something? This
weaning us from self-trust is not a one-time deal. If He weaned
us and saved us and said they'll never trust in themselves again,
oh, how wrong He would be. But He knows us. And He knows
that we have to be weaned almost constantly from self-trust. And that's where He was bringing
His people of old to. Lord, we can't do anything to
deliver ourselves. We have no might before this
enemy. We're pressed out of measure. We've despaired even to lie. If it's left up to us, we're
goners. We don't even know how to reason
ourselves out of this situation. He brought them to the place
where their eyes was going to be taken off of themselves, off
of their power, off of their wisdom, and their eyes looked
to Him. I think this has got to make
the Lord rejoice. when He sees His people come
to this place. We don't know what to do, but
our eyes are toward Thee. Our enemies are too strong. We
don't have the wisdom to know what to do. Lord, our eyes look
unto Thee. That we should not trust in ourselves,
but in God. That we should not trust in ourselves,
but in God. Somewhere, sometime, somehow,
brothers and sisters, everybody is going to be weaned from self-trust. Everybody is going to be weaned
from self-trust. Self-trust is one of the most
wicked sins that we can imagine. It's saying the Lord is not completely
able. I must do something. I must add
my part. And that's why we have to draw
to the place where we utterly despair of self-help and self-deliverance. Sometimes the bed of affliction
will wean us of self-trust. Sometimes an afflicted conscience
will do it. An absolute felt need of the
salvation of my soul will do it. A need to be forgiven of mountains
of sins that I can't earn and I can't merit. Boy, when you look at your sins,
what do you see? Lord, this is a company I can't
overcome. This is a company I can't defeat.
My eyes will look unto thee. Look unto me, all the ends of
the earth, and be ye saved. But to look to Him, you've got
to look away from yourself. And that's difficult to do, isn't
it? I've talked to one of my sons
a lot, and he's always looking for something within him. If
I could be more earnest, if I could do this and if I could do that,
and he's always looking within. And we cannot be saved by looking
within. We cannot be delivered by looking
within. It's when the Lord brings us
to the place that we look unto Him, that's when we're saved. And when we get into these situations
that we can't get out of, that's usually when He delivers us.
When we can't look unto ourselves anymore, we can't have confidence
in ourselves anymore, we have to look unto Him. And what does
the Bible tell us about that? Well, you look one time, and
that's enough. Looking unto Jesus. And that word there, they tell
us, is one of those Greek words that means something that happens
all the time. Looking unto Jesus. The author and finisher of our
faith. Some people are going to trust
in themselves. Right up until the time they
hear the Lord Jesus Christ say, depart from me, you're cursed. Some people are going to trust
in themselves right up until the time that they're cast into
the lake of fire by those holy angels. They're literally bold
enough to stand before the judge of all the earth and say, have
we not preached in your name? If they'd have asked me, I'd
have told them, man, that ain't going to get you anywhere. Have
we not cast out devils in your name? Have we not done many works
in your name? What is that? Self-trust. And it will damn the soul as
quickly and as most certainly as any open and profane sin.
And what a blessing it is, brothers and sisters, when the Lord brings
us to the place to wean us from trusting in ourselves. The older
I get, the more I'm realizing how much is out of my control. A few decades ago, I thought
I controlled quite a bit of stuff. I've just about reached the point
now in my thinking that I control nothing. And I think I'm headed
in the right direction, and I think I'm going to arrive when I realize
I control nothing. I work out, used to work out
quite a bit. Try to eat right. And yet last year, three times,
I was so sick that it just almost devastated me and I still haven't
completely got over it. And you know something? There's
nothing I can do about it. Nothing I can do about it. You
try to eat right, you try to get proper rest, You try to take
care of your health. And what happens? We get sick
and we die and there's nothing we can do about it. Brothers
and sisters, what do we control after all? Nothing. Nothing. We think we do. We've got these
little things that we think we control. We control nothing. Just wait till the little things
become big things and see how much you control it then. If we learn this lesson in life,
that Lord, we control nothing. Everything is out of our control. Everything. The sooner we learn
that, the sooner we'll not only fix our eyes, upon the hills
from which cometh our help. But we'll keep our eyes there.
Every time we begin to trust in ourselves, we get in ourselves
in a fix, don't we? It's a blessed thing to be bought
where this people was brought here in my text in verse 12.
What a blessed place to be brought. We have no might against this
great company. Neither know we what to do, but
our eyes are upon Thee. If our eyes of dependency are
upon our Lord, then His eyes of grace and mercy will be upon
us. If you and I have been brought
utterly to depend upon our Lord to meet every need that we have,
it is because He has brought us there. And if He brings you there, He'll
never forsake you. If He's brought you not to trust
in yourself but Him, He'll honor that trust. You just wait and
see. Wouldn't it be wonderful to live
here in verses 15 and verse 17? Wouldn't it be wonderful to live
our daily lives in the faith and knowledge of this? Look in
verse 15. And the prophet said unto Jehoshaphat,
Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and
thou King Jehoshaphat. Thus saith the Lord unto you,
Be not afraid, nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude.
For the battle is not yours, but God's. And verse 17, Ye shall
not need to fight in the battle. Set yourself and stand 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." Wouldn't it be wonderful to live
your life like this without any fear? When you found yourself in a
situation that most people would be scared to death to be in,
and yet you have no fear, you're not dismayed, you're not afraid.
Why? The battle is not yours. It's
the Lord's. It's the Lord's. Every battle,
brothers and sisters, we face, it's the Lord's. You say I overcome
by faith. Where did you get the faith? I was faithful during the trial.
I stayed on my way. I followed the Lord. Well, why
did you do that? The Lord worked in you to will
and to do. The battle is the Lord's. If
He removes you from the situation or the situation from you, it's
His doings. And to live every day in the
faith and knowledge of this, the Lord is my helper, and I
refuse to be afraid. Fear is a paralyzing thing, isn't
it? It will absolutely paralyze you. Nobody was as guilty of this
as the children of Israel. Every time they got themselves
in a situation they couldn't see any way out of, they fell
into this slavish fear and started to complain. You remember when
they were there at the Red Sea? The Lord had delivered them.
They were going into the desert and through there to the land
of promise. Pharaoh's army was behind them,
mountains on either side of them, the Red Sea in front of them.
And what did they do? I'll tell you what they did. They were scared to death and
said, would to God we'd stay in Egypt. Would to God we'd die
in Egypt. You brought us out here to kill
us. Fear paralyzed them. It weakened what faith some of
them had and brought these awful accusations against God and the
servants of God. You brought us here to kill us. Had God brought him there to
kill him? No. He said, stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord. Why can't we do that in every
situation? I tell you, we'd be happy if
we did. If we'd keep our eyes upon our Lord in every situation,
we'd be so happy. We'd live without fear and anxiety. The children of Israel went on
out into the desert. The Lord brought them right to
the borders, right to the border of the promised land. And Moses
sent out 12 spies and they came back and they said, we can't
take it. The walls are too high. There's giants over there. You
know what they did? They started shaking. They paralyzed themselves
with fear and went back out into the desert for 40 long years. fearful heart never profits us. A slavish fear will do us no
good. If our eyes are truly looking
to our Lord and our Savior, and if our hearts are truly trusting
Him, then don't let this tormenting, paralyzing fear afflict you. Let me give you three or four
things quickly. Jehoshaphat's confidence. Where was it? Here's
where our confidence has to be. I want you to look in verse six
of our text. Where was this man's confidence?
Look what he says in verse six. Jehoshaphat went up to the temple. All the people there
in the new court. I don't know if he had a platform
that he stood upon. I imagine he did where all the
people could see and hear him. And here's the way he began his
prayer to the Lord. And he said, O Lord God of our
fathers, are not thou God in heaven? Isn't that comforting? He takes
the time to remind God of where God is. Maybe he needs to remind himself,
but it is stranger that he reminds God, O Lord God of our fathers,
are not thou God in heaven? Boy, he did not say this. God
has given us the gift of free will, and we've got to get ourselves out
of this trouble. He didn't say that, did He? He didn't say God
helps those who help themselves, so let's figure out how to get
out of this mess. He begins by reminding God and
Himself and all of those around Him who their God is. And where He is, our God is in
the heavens. What does that mean? That means
He's above us. That means He's over us. That
means we're not to compare Him with ourselves or the armies
of our enemies. He's unlike everybody and anybody
else. Where is our God? He's up in
heaven. He is the Most High God. That's what that means. The heathen
asked David the question one day when they saw David in an
awful trial. And they said, David, where's
your God? You remember what David told them? My God's where He's
always been. My God's in the heaven. And He
hath done. whatsoever He pleased." Now,
do you get comfort out of that? Well, here you find yourself
in this awful situation. You're overcome. You're almost
ready to throw up your hands. You're almost in despair. You've
been brought into a situation you can't get yourself out of.
But here's the first thing you need to do. There is one above
your situation. There's one above all your enemies.
And that's your Father. in heaven. When the Lord told
His disciples to pray, here's the first thing He said to them. Our Father who art in heaven. Where's our Father? He's in heaven. And that means He's on His throne. You say, Bruce, isn't our Heavenly
Father everywhere? Yeah, He's everywhere. He is. Makes His path in the deep waters,
doesn't He? Plants His footsteps in the sea
and He rides upon the storm. The clouds are the dust at His
feet. But there's one special place He resides. And you know
where that is? In heaven. And that's the highest
place you can attain. That's where He's always been.
In heaven. That's where His throne is. That had to be comprehended.
for Jehoshaphat and the people that heard him. But he doesn't
stop there. Secondly, in the second portion
of verse 6, he reminds God of this. And rulest not thou over
all the kingdoms of the world? Aren't you sovereign over everything? It wasn't that he was vowed in
this. He was just taking great pleasure in reminding God who
he was. I think God loves to hear that,
don't you? He loves to hear us poor mortals
brag on his sovereignty to tell how great that he is. Don't you
rule? Of course you rule. over all
the nations, over all the heathen nations. When COVID first began and everybody
was scared to death, somebody sent me a bunch of pictures on
my computer. And it showed major cities in
the world, Rome and places here in the States, Moscow,
Places in Japan. Places in China. Places in South
Korea. And all of them were empty. Remember
that? People were scared to death.
We all were for a time, weren't we? Didn't know what was going
to take place. What in the world is going on? That these big cities
all over the world have emptied themselves of their citizens.
But here was the thought that came to me during that time. That's so comforting. We don't know what's going on,
but we know who rules everything. That's a comfort, isn't it? Rulers, not thou over, and just
put everything in there. If he don't rule over everything,
then he may not rule over nothing. Tell me what he doesn't rule
over. Is there anything he doesn't
rule over? If it is, you better hope you don't even get involved
with it. If there's something he hasn't got sovereignty over,
then all of us are in trouble. He rules everything, does he
not? When Jehoshaphat realized the
Gentile army was coming against them, he goes to God in prayer
and reminds Him, these people are under Your rule. They're under Your authority. And don't we bring a prayer like
this and this thought and this faith right down to where we
live our daily lives? Don't this apply to us when we
pillar our heads at night? Don't we pillar our heads with
this thought in mind and this faith that God rules inside our
house while we sleep? That He rules the neighborhood
that we live in? Do you believe that? What about your place where you
work? You ever have trouble where you work? Does He rule the situations
in your workplace? When you go travel on vacation
or whatever you do in your life, do you believe every aspect of
your life is ruled by the hand of this sovereign Lord? Won't that dispel your fears? Sometimes he brings us to realize
that. We forget that, don't we? If a certain man don't get back
in the White House this fall, this country's going to pot.
And it ain't going to last another term. I heard a man say that
just the other day. This country cannot exist through
another term. Well, for crying out loud, who's
upholding this nation? Who's upholding the Communist
nation? Who's upholding the socialistic
nation? Who rules in the kingdom of men? Who rules in every situation
you find yourself in? If you don't quickly answer,
my God rules it all, then I hope He teaches you. But to teach
you, He may bring you into a situation where you can't get out of it
until He brings you to earnestly believe, I better look outside
myself. And the one I better look to
is the one who sovereignly rules everything in this life. We talk
about these things all the time, but I wonder how much we believe
it. We talk about God being sovereign
and salvation, and then we complain about God's sovereign providence.
Don't we? I love what he says next. The
third thing he says here in verse 6, And in thy hand there is not
power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee. I love that, don't you? What
can withstand? Who can resist? our God. Joseph did not know what he was
going to do to these heathens. He had no idea what judgment
the Lord was going to bring on them. If anything, he just knew
this, that if God was pleased to deliver them, these heathen
armies, as many as they were and as powerful as they were,
could not resist the will and working of God. Mortals are immortal here until
their work is done. When Martin Luther tacked his
95 theses on the wall there in Germany, the Pope put out a contract on
him, wanted him killed. They paid several thousand dollars
to have this man killed. And the question kept arising,
why can't they kill him? Here's the answer, isn't it?
Here's the answer. Why will not you despair when
you get in trouble? Why will you remain in this world
and continue believing in your Lord and your Savior until He
takes you out of this world? Why? Because He's upholding you. He supported you. And nobody
or nothing can resist His will. And here in verse 7, I love the
way he says this. Just tell me where his confidence
was. You can't go off and say, well, I know I'm going to get
out of this situation. I ain't going to worry about
it. You better worry about it if your confidence is not in
the right God. The prophet told these people,
don't you fear and don't you be dismayed. But he can only
tell them that because their confidence was in this sovereign,
ruling God. But notice something very intimate
here in verse 7. Are not thou our God? Boy, that brings it home, doesn't
it? To believe that God is in heaven,
that our Lord and our God rules the kingdoms of men, that nobody
can resist Him, that's wonderful. But when you bring it here and
say, this God is my God, He's mine, well, that makes it personal
then, doesn't it? You and I belong to our God,
don't we? Listen to these passages of Scripture.
This is the covenant that I will make with Him after those days,
saith the Lord. I will be their God. He's yours by covenant promise. Long before you had a being,
God made a covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave unto
Him this multitude that no man could number. And He says, Son,
this is a covenant promise that I'm making to all of those that
I've given to you. I will be their God. It's not us that have committed
ourselves to Him that enables us to say He's our God. He committed
Himself to us. I promise you, I'm your God. Well, here's my purchase. He's
our God by purchase. I have redeemed them. They are
mine. You're not your own. You're bought
with a price. You're God's. You belong to Him.
His Son bought you at a great price to Himself. You're His. Call Him His. Call Him yours.
We're His because He's called us to Himself. I have called
thee by thy name, thou art mine. My sheep, you're my voice. I
know them, and they follow me. The foundation of God standeth
sure. He knows them which are His. If you're His, then acknowledge
that. When trouble comes, don't refuse
to call Him your Father because of trouble. Here's a man in deep
trouble. He didn't know how he was going
to get out of it. And yet, what did he say? You're my God. You're my God. You're my God
when things are well. You're my God when things are
not so well. You're the God of the valley. You're the God of
the hills. You're my God. You're our God. And here's the last thing in
verses 7 through 9. This temple. They were there
in front of this temple in the temple court. And Jehoshaphat,
I can see him looking at this huge, beautiful temple. And he
said, Lord, you promised that when we were in trouble and afflictions
came and the sword came and famine came, if we would look towards
this house, because your name is in this house, and pray towards
this house, you would hear us and you would deliver us. We know who this house represents,
don't we? It represents not just the Lord
Jesus Christ, but a very specific aspect of Jesus Christ. You know
what this house, this temple represents? It represents, through
Jesus Christ, our access to the Father in heaven. And that was the confidence that
Jehoshaphat had. He said, you know, I've sat at
this temple. I've got my eyes on this temple. And you promised
to hear the prayer that's prayed when we look to this temple.
And brothers and sisters, we have continued access unto our
Father in Heaven through our Lord Jesus Christ. In times of trouble, and then
when we're on a smooth road, we have access to the Father
through Jesus Christ. It's not the greatness of your
faith. It's not the depths of your knowledge. That don't give
us access. We have access one way, through
the Son. And every prayer that is prayed
in Him and through Him and for His glory, the Father will hear
it and answer. And therefore, God answered and
He said, don't be afraid. You just trust me. The work is
mine. You don't lift your sword. You
stand still and see me deliver you. That's a good story, isn't it?
I pray and I hope that it's been a help to you and will be a help
to you the next time trouble comes. Father, we thank you. Thank you, Father, for our Lord
Jesus Christ. Thank You for Your Word. Thank
You for Your promises. Thank You that You claim us as
Your own. We can know that by Your Word. We can know that by Your Spirit. If we can truly say that I'm
Yours, then we can say You're ours. Oh, blessed Father, thank you
for such confidence in this sad world, in this dangerous world.
If God be for us, who could possibly be against us? Amen. Anything before we go? Got a song you want to sing? See some of you Wednesday night,
the Lord's willing. Be careful. Go on home.