And so we're going to be working
from 2 Kings chapter 3. This is the story in the Bible
about two kings. Two kings in particular, the
king of Israel and the king of Judah. These kings were called
Jehoram and Jehoshaphat. So these are not common names
to us, but they are common names from that time in Bible history. And in fact, we find that there
were a number of people that had these names in history. And
sometimes you have to be a little bit careful just who you're talking
about. The two people here, the two
kings, one of Israel, Jehoram, and one of Judah, Jehoshaphat. And after the time of David and
Solomon, the kingdom of Israel began to break up, it began to
fragment. David had ruled wisely and powerfully
and he established a great kingdom and he gave that kingdom to his
son. When David died, Solomon took
over and these were good times in Israel. But as is the way
of life very often, sometimes the children don't remember the
wisdom of their parents. And so it was in the kingdom
of Israel. And subsequent generations, subsequent
kings were not as good as David and Solomon had been. And after
the time of David and Solomon, the kingdom of Israel divided,
it split apart. And there was the northern tribes,
they were the 10 tribes, and there was the southern tribes,
and that was principally the tribe of Judah. And so the southern
part of the kingdom took the name Judah, and the top part,
the northern part, it took the name Israel. And so there were
two kings in Israel, if you like. One in Israel, and one in Judah. Jehoram the king of Israel was
an idolater, he was a wicked man, he was a false worshipper,
he was the son of Ahab and Jezebel and these have a reputation of
being amongst the most wicked kings and queens ever of Israel,
and he was son to these two wicked people. Jehoshaphat of Judah,
on the other hand, was a man who sought to worship God. He
was a man who tried to honour God and to follow God, and he
was a true follower of God's faith and God's religion. And
these were days of weak kings. They were days of fragile kingdoms,
and everyone was frightened of one another. There was no peace
in the land, there was no security, and there was trouble all around. One of the nations close by Israel
decided that they wanted to fight with Israel. And Moab, one of
Jehoram's neighbours, he said that he was going to withhold
the tribute that he had previously given. And Jehoram knew that
he wasn't strong enough to defeat Moab. So he called for Jehoshaphat
from the other part of the kingdom. He called for Jehoshaphat to
come and help him in order to beat Moab. So what should Jehoshaphat
do? Moab, or Mesha, the king of Moab,
was a bad king. He was a wicked man. He was an
idolater and a false worshipper. But so was Joram. Should Jehoshaphat
go and support one idolatrous king against another? Jehoshaphat
followed God after all, so what was he to do? Look with me at
2 Kings and chapter 3. And there at verse 7 we find
what the answer was that Jehoshaphat gave. So Joram went and sent
to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab hath
rebelled against me. Wilt thou go with me against
Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up, I
am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horses as
thy horses. And he said, which way shall
we go up? And he answered, the way through the wilderness of
Edom. So here Jehoshaphat decided that
he would help Joram against this king of Moab. And the interesting
thing about what Jehoshaphat said was that he identified completely
with Jehoram. He said, I will go up for I am
as thou art, my people as thy people. You see, Jehoshaphat
made himself one with Jehoram. And the Bible tells us that that's
not a good thing to do. The Bible tells us that we must
be very careful about joining together in any form of alliance,
in any form of partnership, in any form of confederacy with
the men and women and the principles of this world. Now there are
some things that we have to do because we're in the world, though
we are not of the world, as the Lord's people. But we are not
to willingly or voluntarily join ourselves together because there
will be trouble between those who follow the Lord and those
who are against the Lord. Indeed, the little prophet Amos
says in his little book in chapter three, verse three, can two walk
together except they be agreed. Well, the two kings decided that
they would travel to Moab through the desert of Edom. And they
led their armies and their wagons with all their equipment, and
they brought cattle with them to feed them along the way. And
they travelled into the desert seven days. And then they discovered
that they had a problem. They didn't have any water. They
had travelled for seven days into the desert and they had
run out of water. There was no water for the army
and there was no water for the cattle. And before they had even
got to Moab to fight their enemy, the soldiers and the cattle began
to die. If you look back at chapter 3
in verse 10, you'll see what Jehoram the king said. The king of Israel said, Alas,
that the Lord hath called these kings, these three kings, he
was talking about the king of Edom who had come along to help,
called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand
of Moab. It's interesting that Jehoram,
who was an idolater, immediately blamed the Lord for the stupidity
of the situation into which the two kings or the three kings
had come. But Jehoshaphat said, is there
not here a prophet of the Lord that we may inquire of the Lord
by him? And one of the kings of Israel's
servants answered and said, here is Elisha, the son of Shaphat,
which poured water on the hands of Elijah. And Jehoshaphat said,
the word of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and
Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. There is a lesson here for us
too, I think, boys and girls, that even when we make mistakes,
as Jehoshaphat did in this situation, even when we sin against God
by running on ahead and doing things that we shouldn't do,
the Lord still looks after us. If we are the Lord's people,
he is faithful to us, even when we are unfaithful to him. And also it's worth noting this,
that when the Lord comes to help, He comes to help his people. He comes to help those who trust
in him because he loves them. But sometimes those who are with
those that he loves, they also get helped by the way. And this is what we discover
in this situation too. The king of Israel and the king
of Judah both went down to speak to Elisha. And here's what Elisha
said to the king of Israel, Jehoram the idolater. Verse 13. And Elisha said unto the king
of Israel, what have I to do with thee? Get thee to the prophets
of thy father and to the prophets of thy mother. That was Ahab
and Jezebel he was talking about. And the king of Israel said unto
him, Nay, for the Lord hath called these three kings together to
deliver them into the hand of Moab. And Elisha said, As the
Lord of hosts liveth before whom I stand, surely were it not that
I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would not
look toward thee, nor see thee. You see what Elisha's saying
here? Elisha is going to speak to God and God is going to perform
a miracle. The miracle that took place was
that water was provided from the hills there in the desert. Elisha told the two kings to
tell their soldiers to dig holes in the dry ground. And though
there was no rain clouds and though there was no wind blew,
The waters rushed from the mountaintops, filled the holes in the valley,
and the cattle and the soldiers of the armies were saved. And
Elisha said, this is just a little thing that the Lord can do, giving
you water for your army. The Lord is also going to deliver
the king of Moab into your hands, and the cities of Moab will be
yours, and you will win the battle. But note this, that the benefit
only came to Jehoram because the Lord loved Jehoshaphat. Did Jehoshaphat win this battle,
even although he had been negligent in going with a man who was not
a worshipper of God? Yes, he did. Why did he win the
battle? Why did he find this miracle
of the water provided for him? because the Lord loved him and
the Lord desired to save him. Did Jehoram win the battle? Yes,
he did. He got out of it too. He got
water for his soldiers and his cattle and he beat his enemy,
the king of Moab. But not because the Lord loved
him, but for the sake of Jehoshaphat. Because the Lord loves his people,
he gives good things to this world. Sun and rain come on everyone. Why? Because the Lord loves everyone? No, because the Lord loves his
people and is providing for his people. And those who do not
love the Lord benefit as a result of God's goodness to his people. The sun and the rain, the springtime
and the harvest, the common good and the common provision of God
for his people come to those that he loves. And there is a
day coming when all of the people of God will be taken to heaven
and there will be no more people in this world whom God loves.
And then judgment will fall upon this world. What are we to do
in that situation? Do these wicked people who do
not serve God think that because God doesn't punish them, their
sin goes unnoticed? Do not think you will escape
the judgment of God if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ
as your savior. The Lord himself says, what shall
it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his
own soul? May the Lord teach us to love
him and always to go to him for mercy. Thank you for listening
to this today.