Well, we've read our text. I truly believe I have a good
text. Now, I think if I can preach
it and get out of the way, you'll be a blessing. I pray that the
Lord will make it so. Now, here are the situation in
2 Chronicles 20. is the king of Judah. The kingdom
is divided. Israel has its own king. And
Jehoshaphat's a good king. You know, over the course of
Israel's history, they had some good kings, they had some bad
kings. Jehoshaphat's a good king. And if you look back a few pages
at chapter 17, I'll show you why I say that. Chapter 17, verse 3. And the
Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of
his father and sought not unto Balaam, but sought to the Lord
God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not
after the doings of Israel. Therefore the Lord established
the kingdom in his hand, and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat
presence, and he had riches and honor and abundance, and his
heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord." He had all these
riches and gifts and praise of men, but his heart was lifted
up in the ways of the Lord. Moreover, he took away the high
places and the groves out of Judah. He took away the places
of idol worship and restored the worship of the Lord. So he's
a good king. He did things the way he was
supposed to do them, didn't he? But that didn't make him immune
to trouble. Here in chapter 20, serious trouble arrives. It came
to pass after this also that the children of Moab and the
children of Ammon and with them others, beside the Ammonites,
came against Jehoshaphat to battle. And there came some that told
Jehoshaphat, saying, There come with a great multitude against
thee from beyond the sea on this side of Syria. And behold, they
be in Hazazon Tamar, which is in Gedi. And Jehoshaphat feared,
and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed 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." Now, let's just be honest with
ourselves. When bad news arrives, just out of the clear blue sky,
bad news arrives. What's the first thing we do?
It's human nature to immediately try to come up with some genius
plan to get ourselves out of this fix, isn't it? But that's
not what Jehoshaphat did. He set himself, as soon as bad
news arrives, he sets himself to seek the Lord, to seriously
fervently, continually seek the Lord, to seek help from the Lord,
to seek the very presence of the Lord, to seek deliverance
from the Lord. If you look back at chapter 16,
Jehoshaphat's a wise man. You know, a wise man, he either
experiences something in history or he hears something in history,
and he doesn't repeat the same mistake. Look here in chapter
16, verse 1. In the sixth and thirtieth year
of the reign of Asa, this is Jehoshaphat's father, Asa, king
of Israel, came up against Judah and built Ramah to the intent
that he might let none go out or come in to Asa, king of Judah.
Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of
the house of the Lord, and out of the king's house, and sent
to Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying,
There is a league between me and thee, as there was between
my father and thy father. Behold, I have sent thee silver
and gold. Now go, break thy league with
Basha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. And Ben-Hadad
hearkened unto King Asa, and sent the captains of his armies
against the cities of Israel. And they smote Ijon, and Dan,
and Abel-ma'am, and all the store cities of Naphtali. And it came
to pass, and Basha heard it, that he left off building of
Ramah, and let his work cease. Then Asa the king took all Judah,
and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof,
wherewith Basha was building, and he built therewith Geba and
Mizpah." Sounds like a good plan, doesn't it? Everything worked
out just according to the plan. He had enough material. He built
two cities. Everything looks wonderful, doesn't
it? Worked out just like he planned. But look at verse 7. And at that
time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah. and said unto
him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not
relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria
escaped out of thine hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the
Lubans a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet
because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into
thine hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout
the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them
whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly. Now, men thought he had a good
plan, but the prophet says you've done foolishly. Therefore, from
henceforth thou shalt have wars. Well, Jehoshaphat knew that story.
He knew it very well. He didn't make that same mistake.
He's a wise leader. He sought the Lord and he called
on all the people of Judah to fast and to seek the Lord. And
here they all come out of all the cities. All of them come
with their families. And they're standing in front of the temple,
seeking mercy from the Lord. I can just see them standing
there, a bunch of mercy beggars, standing there at the door of
the temple, hat in hand, begging mercy, knowing we need help. We need deliverance. We are completely
dependent on God's mercy. And here we are. We're going
to wait here until you tell us what to do as a wise king. So they are all gathered together,
and Jehoshaphat in verse 5 leads the people in prayer. And Jehoshaphat
stood in the congregation of Judah in Jerusalem, in the house
of the Lord before the new court. And he said, O Lord God of our
fathers, art thou not God in heaven, and rulest thou not over
all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thy hand is there not
power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? Art
thou not 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." Now, there are many things
Jehoshaphat does not know. And we can sympathize with him
in the situations that we find ourselves in. There are so many
things we do not know. Just like Jehoshaphat, he didn't
know why all this was happening. He didn't know if he was going
to be delivered. He didn't know how he could even be delivered.
But let's start with what we know. Brother Henry told me and
Janet that one time. Janet asked him a question, and
Henry said, well, let's start with what we know. Remember that?
And so I thought I'd done that. Every time I come across a situation,
let's start with what we know. Well, here's what Jehoshaphat
knows. God is sovereign. And he gives thanks. God is sovereign. David said, the Lord reigneth.
Let the earth rejoice. You know, it's human nature to
chafe against the sovereignty of God. But David said, this
is a good thing. Let the earth rejoice. And God's
people do. It's not just that they should.
God's people do rejoice. Our God is sovereign. There's
so much comfort to be found in the fact that our God is sovereign.
He's able to deliver us. And it's not just that he's able
to accomplish his purpose. Brethren, he will accomplish
his purpose. And nothing's going to happen
to derail that. He's sovereign. He's too wise
to make a mistake. And he's too powerful. He's sovereign
so that nothing will happen outside of his control. And this sovereign
is our God. See what Jehoshaphat says? You
are our God. It's not just that God is sovereign.
He says it's our God that's sovereign. He's our God because he made
himself to be our God. In the covenant of mercy, he
said, I'll be unto you of God and you'll be unto me of people.
He made us his. So Jehoshaphat says, now you're
our God. You've made us yours. Now we're
looking to you for help. I use this illustration. It's
like a child. When a child is hurt and having
a bad day, just a little thing, just everything, it doesn't take
much for every little thing, everything in their world to
be wrong. And what do they want? I want my momma. That child doesn't
want just any woman. I want my momma. Because since
she's my momma, she'll make me feel better. She's got the heart
to love me. She can make me feel better.
Our daughter Savannah is 17 years old and she gets sick. She wants
her momma. And this really happened. She came home sick from school
and neither one of us were there. So I come to see what's wrong
with her and she pushes me out of the way and says, where's
momma? I want my mama because she can make, I belong to her.
She can make me feel better. That's exactly what Jehoshaphat's
saying. You are our God and we look to you at all times, at
all times. Now, not just in this hour, but
at all times. And the comfort is he's our father. He cares. We're not just crying
to a soft and cold God, you know, the way people might describe
him. This is our father. Our Father is the Sovereign.
He loves his people. He cares for them. Now, we cry
to you, and we're waiting on you to help us, to show us what
to do. God's delivered us in the past.
That's what Jehoshaphat says. You delivered our fathers in
the past, so won't you help us now? Won't you do the same thing
now? You're the landlord here. This
is your land. You gave it to us as inheritance.
It's your land. We're just tenants. Now are you
going to let the heathen evict us from your land? It's your
land, you can do with it what you want, but now are you going
to let the heathen evict us from your land? That's what he's saying.
And he goes on, verse 8, he says, And they dwelt therein, and have
built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, If when
evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine,
and we stand before this house, and in thy presence, for thy
name is in this house, and cry unto thee in our affliction,
Then wilt thou hear and help." Now it almost sounds like Jehoshaphat's
asking the Lord, now we built you this nice temple, so won't
you help us out because we built you this nice temple? And that's
not what he's doing. He's not asking for merit. What
he's doing is he's pleading God's own word. Look back at 2 Chronicles
7. This is at the dedication of
the tabernacle. 2 Chronicles 7 verse 12. And the
Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard
thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for a house of
sacrifice. If I shut up the heaven, that
there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land,
or I send pestilence among my people. Now you notice that there
is not no rain by accident. God said, if I shut up the heaven.
The locusts don't just come just because they all decided to by
accident. God said, if I send them. Pestilence
didn't break out because germs were running amok. God said,
if I send, he's sovereign. God said, I send these things.
Now, if I do these things in verse 14, if my people, which
are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and
seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear
from heaven and I'll forgive their sin and will hear their
lament. Now mine eyes shall be opened,
and mine ears attend unto the prayer that is made in this place.
For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may
be there forever, and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually."
Now that is exactly what Jehoshaphat is pleading. He is pleading God's
own word. You know, when we find ourselves
pleading with God, this is a good example to follow. Plead his
word. Just plead his own word. God
will honor his word. And the Jospat saying, Lord,
you said in a time of trouble, come to you in this place and
pray and you'd hear us. Now, here we are. We're in trouble. We're praying to you. We're looking
to you. The God of Israel is our refuge. We're hiding and
depending on no one but thee. Now, you know, this temple is
a picture of Christ. And the people of Judah ran to
that temple. They ran to that picture. That's
what God told them to do. They ran to that picture to find
mercy. How much better do we have it? Even in the dark day of today,
how much better do we have it? We don't run to a building that's
a picture. We run to Christ Himself. We
run to Christ Himself to find mercy and salvation. We come
pleading the Word of God. seeking mercy for Christ's sake.
That's how we come. We come the exact same way. And he goes on in his prayer
here in verse 10. He says, And now behold the children
of Ammon and Moab of Mount Seir, whom thou wouldst not let Israel
invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned
from them and destroyed them not. Behold, I say, how they
reward us to come to cast us out of thy possession which thou
hast given us to inherit. And here these enemies are, they're
surrounding us, they're coming to do us evil when you did them
good. And this is the encouragement
that this prayer can give Israel. We know the Lord has not brought
us this far to perish. Look at history. The Lord didn't
deliver Israel from Egypt just as they go out in the wilderness
and die of hunger and thirst, did he? He didn't deliver Israel
from the hand of Pharaoh just so Pharaoh could catch him and
destroy him into Red Sea. He's not doing anything different
today. He's doing the same thing, the same God. So, verse 12, he
says, O our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might
against this company that cometh against us. Neither know we what
to do, but our eyes are upon thee. He says, Lord, won't you
help us? We're helpless, we're hopeless,
and we need thy strength. By nature, we're so dumb, we
don't even know which way's up. We need thy wisdom. In the worst
way, we need thy wisdom. Solomon, the wisest man who ever
lived, what he asked for, God said, ask anything you want,
I'll give it to you. He asked for wisdom. He said, and here's
why he asked for wisdom. He said, I don't know how to
go out or I don't know how to come in. I don't have sense enough
to come in out of the rain, much less rule over this people. I
need wisdom. Well, we need Christ, who is
the wisdom of God. We're not just asking for smarts
because we'll lose them eventually. We need Christ, the wisdom of
God. And that's what Joss is saying.
We don't have any power. I don't have any plan. I don't
have plan B. This is my plan to come seek
mercy from God. That's my only plan. I don't
have a plan B. I don't have a backup plan. I don't have any allies.
It's just us and our wives and our children. We're some army,
aren't we? Now, you know, actually, the historians say that Jehoshaphat
had a million-man army, well-trained men of valor. But he doesn't
depend on that army. He spent a long time building
and training that army. But he doesn't say, I've got
this army if you want me to use them. He says, I don't have any
might. I'm completely dependent on you. So our eyes are upon thee. And
in humble submission, we wait on thee. Now, that's a hard thing
to do. It's easy to say and hard to
do. Just in humble submission, we
wait. We put all the responsibility
in this situation on God. We're looking to him because
we don't know what to do. But we know he does, and we know
he always does what's right. So you look to the eye, with
the eye of faith, you look to the Lord Jesus Christ. You look
to him with total dependence on him. Total dependence on his
blood to put away your sin. Total dependence on his righteousness
to make you accepted. Total dependence on his presence.
Total dependence on him to protect and lead and guide. And, you
know, that should be our attitude at all times. You know, there's
good days and there's bad days. There's sunny days and there's
cloudy days. But no matter, every day, every moment should be the
time that we spend looking to Christ and depending on him.
If we ever take our eye off him, we'll surely fall. Now, that's
a good prayer, isn't it? That makes a good sermon outline
sometimes. Someone wants to preach on that. It says who God is and
who we are. God's sovereign. Whatsoever the
Lord pleased, that did he, in heaven, the earth, the seas,
and all deep places. God has sovereignly chosen the
people, given them an inheritance. He gave that Jewish nation, he
gave them Palestine, the promised land. That's their inheritance.
Well, God's given spiritual Israel an inheritance. He's given us
his own son. That's our inheritance. And who
are we? We're nothing. We're a bunch
of nobodies that don't know anything. Except the Lord has taught us
this. He's taught us we don't know anything. And He is everything. So we look to Him. And here they
are, verse 13. All Judah stood before the Lord
with their little ones and their wives and their children. That
prayer of Jehoshaphat's ended. Nobody moved. Nobody left. All
these families, fathers, mothers and children, all come to worship. Now, and let me say this, this
is a, you know, all these families that come to worship, that's
a blessed family. In the dark day, the whole family
comes together to worship. And in that dark hour, soon as
that prayer's ended, look what happens in verse 14. Then upon
Jehaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of
Jeiel, the son of Mataneah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the
Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation. And he said,
Hearken ye all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and
thou kings of Hosaphat. 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." Now as soon as this
prayer ended, God sent an answer. Now you know by experience it
seldom works that way, don't you? The Lord doesn't always
send an answer just as soon as we say amen. But listen, we never
seek the Lord in vain. I said not to the seed of Jacob,
seek ye me in vain. We don't seek the Lord in vain.
God answers prayer. God still answers prayer. At
lunch Sunday, we were eating lunch and we were talking about
this very thing. And someone said, well, it's hard to take
your burdens in these situations to the Lord. And Maurice said,
no, it's not either. It's not hard to take your problems
to the Lord. That's just our knee jerk reaction.
We do that first time something bad comes up. We take the, go
to the Lord in prayer. Here's the problem. Taking it
to the Lord and leaving it there. You just leave it there. The
battle's not yours, but God, that's the problem, isn't it?
Just leave it there. God will answer prayer. And the
Holy Spirit came upon this man, Dehaziel. Now he's got something
to say. He'd been quiet up till now,
but when the Spirit of God came upon him, now he's got something
to say. He's got something worth listening
to. And here's his message. He said, all ye people of God,
listen. Thus saith the Lord to you. Now that ought to get our
attention. Thus saith the Lord to you. This is God's message for you,
for us here tonight. This is God's message to you.
You take this to your heart and take it home with you. This is
what God says to you. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid
of this multitude that's attacking you. Don't be dismayed because
you're outnumbered. The crowd's so big, you know.
There's going to be a battle, but don't worry. The battle's
not yours, but God's. Now, we just read how our God
is sovereign. Is anybody going to fight against
him? Who's going to win this battle? Well, God is. Then fear not. Don't be dismayed. We've got nothing to fear. Now, Judah was delivered from
their situation there, but let's bring this to us right here today,
2010. We have a multitude of enemies. surrounding us. The first enemy
is our sins. There are too many for us to
count. David said they're everywhere I look. My sins are ever before
me. I can't turn anywhere. I don't
see my sins. There are too many. They're too powerful for me.
I can't put one sin away, much less a whole multitude of them.
I have no power against the multitude of my sins. And if you think
you do, just take five seconds and don't sin. Didn't work. You have no power against the
multitude of these sins. And I don't have any idea what
to do. I wish I could find somebody that honestly felt like that,
because here's what you can tell them from God's word. You look
to the Lord Jesus Christ. You look and live. You look and
turn your eyes upon the Savior and just wait on him, because
the battle against sin is not yours, but God's. The father
sent his own son into this world, clothed in human flesh, so he
would put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And brethren, he
got the job done. The sins of God's people are
no more. It's not as if they never existed. They never existed. He's obliterated
them. They're gone. The battle is over. He is the mighty conqueror. So
don't be afraid or dismayed by the multitude of your sin. You
can be depressed by it, but don't be dismayed by it, because the
battle is not yours, but God's. And we hate our sin. Yet our
Savior has already won the victory over the sin of His elect. Now
the battle is over. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they'll be white as snow. Though they be red as crimson,
they'll be as wool. The multitude of our sins has
been put away. under the blood of Christ. Now, that's the biggest enemy
we have. And our Lord just took care of that in three hours,
put him away. Can't we trust him to take care
of all of our smaller problems, too? The rest of it is light
work. He put our sins away. He'll take
care of the rest of it. Well, how about Satan? He's another
enemy. He's the accuser of the brethren. He's our adversary,
is what scripture calls him. Well, don't try to tackle this
enemy on your own either, because we can't handle any of our enemies,
much less this one. But listen, the battle's not
yours, but God's. At Calvary, Satan was defeated. At the same moment sin was put
away, Satan was defeated. He brought everything he had
against God's Son, and a battle raged, and the heel of our Savior
was bruised. Yet our Lord crushed the head
of Satan. The battle's over. The battle's
not yours, but God's. There's no more battle. Well,
how about the law? The law is a letter of death
to us, isn't it? Well, Christ our Lord didn't
defeat the law or put the law away like he defeated Satan and
removed sin. He saved us through the law,
through his obedience to the law. He said, don't think that
I've come to destroy, but to fulfill. He came and fulfilled
the law. He obeyed the law perfectly.
And in him, the law says you're innocent. Everyone in Christ,
the law says you're innocent. You see, the battle to keep the
law is not yours, but God's. He already kept the law. He magnified
the law and made it honorable. And now the law is not your enemy. Not if you're in Christ. The
law has nothing to do with you if you're in Christ. There's
nothing to say to you. Because in Him, you're innocent. He put
that enemy away. Well, how about the enemies of
the gospel? You know, they've always been around. They've always
been in business. They attacked our Lord when He
was here on earth, and they'll attack you now, too, if they
could, if the Lord lets them. They hate the Lord, and they'll
hate those who love Him. Now, how are you going to handle
them? Leave them be. I know you want
to take a hammer and hit him in the head, but leave him be.
Just leave him be. Vengeance is mine, I will repay,
saith the Lord. The battle's not yours, but God's. He'll take care of them in due
time. And he may not take care of them
in the way we'd like to see him taken care of necessarily sometimes.
How about Saul of Tarsus? Reckon anybody pray that fellow
get run over by a horse? or something, you know, how many
people would like just to cut that guy's head off? The Lord
turned one of the greatest enemies of the church to ever live into
the greatest apostle who ever lived. He'd take care of that
enemy, either in judgment or in mercy. And I pray to be in
mercy. Oh, I pray for mercy. The battle
So the battle plane is his too. He'll accomplish his purpose
as he will. Well, how about the problems
of this life that we face? Boy, there are many, aren't there?
I mean, there are many. We face uncertain futures, sickness,
loss of loved ones, loss of companionship, physical pain, mental pain and
anguish. The list goes on and on and on.
How are we going to handle these things? Are we going to take
better vitamins, get better doctors, learn to win friends, influence
people or something? The battle's not yours, but God's. I promise you this. To God's
children, I promise you this. You're not alone. Now, you're
not alone. The battle's not yours, but God's. You wait on Him. The battle is
his, and the victory is his. And what does scripture say?
We're more than conquerors through him who loved us. So that's Jehaziel's
message, and he tells them where to go out and find their enemy
in verse 16. He says, tomorrow go you down
against them. Behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz. You shall
find them at the end of the brook before the wilderness of Jeruel.
Now you shall not need to fight in this battle. Stand ye still,
and see the salvation of the Lord with you. O Judah and Jerusalem,
and fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them,
for the Lord will be with you." You see, we go out to the battle,
but we're just spectators. We're just witnesses to the victory
of our Lord. And there's no need for us to
join in the battle. As a matter of fact, it's forbidden. We're forbidden to try to help
the Lord out in this battle. The battle's well in hand. Don't
insult the Lord by trying to help out. The battle's well in
hand. He's got this under control. We're to go out, though, and
set ourselves. You go set yourself and do not
give an inch. Now, if you really believe the
battle's the Lord's, you're not going to give an inch. You're
not going to retreat in fear. You just stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord. Just like the children of Israel
at the Red Sea, that Egyptian army's bearing down on them.
You don't need to get your spear and run out and fight them. The
battle's not yours, but God's. Just stand still. That's the
hardest thing in this world for us to do, isn't it? Just be still
and see the salvation of the Lord. And as you're watching,
as you're watching the battle rage, don't fear. Don't be discouraged. The Lord will be with you. I
just told you, you're not alone. The Lord will be with you. How
much more encouragement can we get? than to know wherever you
go, the Lord will be with you. And isn't that a picture of the
gospel that we preach? Salvation is entirely in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's done all the work of redemption.
He's defeated every enemy. He's made the way wide open to
come to God through him. And this great salvation is freely
given to sinners. Matter of fact, you can only
receive this salvation if you receive it freely. You can't
do something. You can't make a down payment
on it and then have the Lord do the rest. You can't contribute,
you know, just a little bit of your righteousness to make yourself
a little more savable than somebody else. It's given to you freely. You can't help out a bit. Just
be still. Just be still. Rest in Christ
because the Bible is His. And the believers reaction to
that message is in verse 18. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head,
with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. And
the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children
of the Korhites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a
loud voice on high." That's the believer's reaction to the gospel. It's reverence and worship and
praise. So everybody goes home, gets
up in the morning. Remember what you heard preached
last night? Well, look at verse 20. They
rose early in the morning and went forth into the wilderness
of Tekoa. And as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear
me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in the
Lord your God. So shall ye be established. Believe
his prophets. So shall ye prosper. Now, Jehoshaphat,
like I said, he's a good leader. On the way to the place where
Jehaziel told him to go, he stops. And what does he do? He re-preaches
Jehaziel's message. Says the same thing, just re-preaches
it. He knew the people heard yesterday. But did they hear
and really believe? Was what they heard mixed with
faith? Did they forget? You know, people hear. But they
didn't really hear. I mean, you know how that goes.
We all do it. And maybe they heard, but they
thought, well, you know, I'm going to hide a few, you know,
weapons here, you know, in my food or somewhere, just in case
I got to start fighting. And Jehaziel says, now, you just
believe in the Lord your God. You believe in him and you rest
in him. Don't plan on starting to run
out and fight in this battle. You just believe God and all
will be well. And that's the same thing in
salvation. You just believe God. Don't plan on getting down the
road and thinking you've grown up, you know, matured a little
bit and now you can start contributing some of your own righteousness.
No, don't think, you know, you've gotten stronger and now you can
help in the fight. No, you just rest in Christ. Rely on him to put away your
sin and make you accept it before God. Just believe him. How did
you begin? In faith. Well, that's how you
continue in faith. And that's how you reach the
end. It's in faith. Just believe God. If you believe
God, you'll be established, is what he says. That's what God's
word says. You believe him and you'll be established. You'll
be built up and strengthened by God. Now, if you try to stand
on your own, try to stand in your own righteousness, your
own ability, you're building on sinking sand. That song a
kid sang, it's going to go splat. You just can't build on sand.
But you'll prosper. Your soul will prosper if you
believe God's prophets. Now, you have absolutely no reason
not to believe God's prophets who faithfully teach God's word,
because it's not a man you're believing. You believe the word
of God that we preach. And I tell us, tell you and I
tell me, believe God. And if there's someone here tonight
that doesn't believe him, I have a question. What's stopping you? What's stopping you? Honestly,
what is stopping you? Believe God and your soul will
prosper. Quit trying to fight this battle.
Quit going about like Paul said of his Jewish brethren, going
about to establish your own righteousness and just submit yourself to the
righteousness of Christ. Believe God and your soul will
prosper. And Jehoshaphat believed what
he was preaching. Look at verse 21. And when he
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
endureth forever. You see, Jehoshaphat didn't send
the army first, did he? He sent those singers first,
singing and praising God, singing the church's favorite chorus.
God's mercy endureth forever. Praise the Lord. His mercy endureth
forever. Jehoshaphat was so confident.
He believed God so much. He put the army in the rear and
put the singers up front. He was singing God's praises
before he ever physically received a blessing from God, wasn't he?
Just praising God simply for who he is. So verse 22, when
they began to sing and to praise, the Lord sent ambushments against
the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, which were come
against Judah, and they were smitten. For the children of
Ammon, Moab, and stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir,
utterly to slay and to destroy them. And when they made men
to the inhabitants of Seir, everyone helped to destroy another. And
when Judah came toward the watchtower in the wilderness, they looked
unto the multitude, and behold, they were dead bodies fallen
to the earth, and none escaped. Here's another one of the stories.
God gives Israel the victory and they didn't fire a shot because
the battle wasn't theirs. It was God's, wasn't it? And
that's the way we hear the gospel. By God's grace, we come under
conviction of our sin by the Holy Spirit and we become absolutely
scared to death of the multitude of our sin. It's not just that
I've committed some sin. I'm a sinner. I am sin. We're horrified at just the little
glimpse that God gives us of our sin nature. And we're terrified
of the judgment that's sure to come. Then God sends a preacher
to tell us, don't fear, but believe on the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He tells us the battle to put away your sins is not
yours, but God's. That battle has already been
fought by Christ himself. Just believe him. Just rest in
him. And when we believe, you know what we find out? The multitude
of our sins that we are so scared of has already been put away
under the blood of Christ. So verse 25, when Jehoshaphat
and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found
among them an 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
the spoil that was so much. And on the fourth day, they assembled
themselves in the valley of Barak. For there they blessed the Lord.
Therefore, the name of the same place was called the Valley of
Baraka unto this day." They received greater blessing than they even
dared ask for, didn't they? They just asked to be delivered,
and God made them rich. They could say, with David my
cup runneth over. They found rich garments, just
like we find the spotless robe of Christ's righteousness. They
found gold and silver and precious stones. God gives His people,
spiritually, something a whole lot better than a box full of
stones. He gives us Christ, the pearl
of great price. Makes us beauty in all the things
that He gives us. Just like that baby found polluted
in its own blood. She was raised up and made beautiful.
In my beauty which I put on you, saith the Lord. That's what they
found. And they were so thankful. They blessed the Lord right then.
And then they went back home. Then they returned every man
of Judah and Jerusalem, 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."
You know, it's what I mentioned a little bit ago. There's dark,
rainy days, stormy days, and there's calm, sunny days. In
both days, thank the Lord. We always have something to be
thankful for. Even in those dark, dark days,
there's something to be thankful for. Be thankful for his presence,
thankful for his mercy. Well, verse 29, and the fear
of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they
heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel. So the
realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest round
about. You know, God's victories are
so complete that winning the battle ends the war. This is
just one battle and the whole war is over. There's no more
rebellious uprisings of the enemies that Christ has put away. Mike
sings at Maurice Quota this Sunday, the battle's over, there'll be
no more war. You have peace in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Christ made peace for us through
the blood of his cross. And we give thanks. Give thanks. There can be peace because the
battle's not yours, but God's. All right. Well, I hope that'll
bless you.