Would you turn to 2 Kings 3.
I'm going to read this entire chapter. 2 Kings 3. Now Jehoram, the son of Ahab,
began to reign over Israel and Samaria in the 18th year of Jehoshaphat,
king of Judah. And he reigned 12 years, and
he wrought evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like his
father and like his mother, Ahab and Jezebel, for he put away
the image of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless, he cleaved
unto the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which made Israel
to sin. He departed not therefrom. Now
let's hold your finger there and go back to 1 Kings chapter
12. Here's what Jeroboam did. And his sins are mentioned over
20 times after his death. And this is what he was guilty of. Now remember,
let me remind you what took place. When Jeroboam was king, Israel
became divided. There were the two tribes of
Judah and Benjamin. over which Rehoboam was the king
of, and there were the 10 tribes that Jeroboam was over. And the
only place that you could offer sacrifice was in Jerusalem. And
Jeroboam became nervous about this. He thought, well, they're
going to go to Jerusalem and they're going to forget me and
they're going to kill me and start becoming loyal to Rehoboam,
the son of Solomon. So here's what he did to take
care of that problem. Look in chapter 12, verse 26,
and Jeroboam said in his heart, now shall the kingdom return
to the house of David. This is first Kings chapter 12.
This is a hundred, a couple hundred years before what we're reading
about. And if this people go up to do sacrifice in the house
of the Lord of Jerusalem, then shall the heart of their people
turn again to their Lord, even unto Rehoboam, king of Judah. And they'll kill me and go again
to Rehoboam, king of Judah. Whereupon the king took counsel
and made two calves of gold and said unto them, it's too much
for you to go up to Jerusalem. It's too expensive, it's too
difficult, it's too inconvenient. Behold thy God, O Israel, which
brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one
in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan, and the thing became
a sin. For the people went to worship
before the one, even unto Dan. And he made a house of high places,
and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not
of the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam ordained a feast
in the eighth month on the 15th day of the month, like unto the
feast that's in Judah. It was a counterfeit, might've
looked like it, but it was a counterfeit. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing
unto the calves that he'd made, he placed in Bethel the priests
of the high places which he had made. So he offered upon the
altar which he had made in Bethel the 15th day of the eighth month,
even the month which he had devised of his own heart, and ordained
a feast unto the children of Israel, and he offered upon the
altar burnt incense. Now this sin, is, after his death,
is spoken of 20 different times, this compromise. And Jehoram,
while he took the image of Baal out of the temple, he still claimed
unto this sin. Now, verse four. And Mesha, king
of Moab, was a sheep master, and rendered unto the king of
Israel 100,000 lambs and 100,000 rams with the wool. He, during Ahab's reign, he had
to pay this tribute. And now that Misha is reigning,
he feels like he's a weak man and I don't have to pay this
money anymore. But it came to pass when Ahab
was dead that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of
Israel. And King Jehoram went out of Samaria the same time
and numbered all of Israel. And he 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'll 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 the king of Israel went, the
king of Judah, and the king of Edom. And they fetched a compass
of seven days' journey, and there was no water for the host. and
for the cattle that followed them. And the king of Israel
said, alas, that the Lord have called these three kings together
to deliver them into the hand of Moab. And Jehoshaphat said,
is there not here a prophet of the Lord that we may inquire
of the Lord by him? And one of the king of Israel's
servants answered and said, here's Elisha, the son of Shaphath,
which poured water on the hands of Elijah. He was Elijah's servant,
and now he's taken his place. 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. And Elisha said unto
the king of Israel, Jehoram, what have I to do with thee?
Get thee to the prophets of thy father and to the prophets of
thy mother. 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 wouldn't
look toward thee, nor see thee. But now bring me a minstrel,
a musician. And it came to pass when the
minstrel played that the hand of the Lord came upon him. And
he said, thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches. Dig ditches. Remember, they didn't
have any water. He says, make this valley full
of ditches. For thus saith the Lord, you
shall not see wind, neither shall you see rain. Yet that valley
shall be filled with water that you may drink, both you and your
cattle and your beasts. And this is but a light thing
in the sight of the Lord. He'll deliver the mole bites
also into your hand. And you shall smite every thin
city and every choice city and shall fail every good tree and
stop all wells of water and mar every good piece of land with
stones. And it came to pass in the morning
when the meat offering was offered the morning sacrifice that behold
there came water by the way of Edom and the country was filled
with water. And when all the Moabites heard
that the kings were come up to fight against them, they gathered
all that were able to put on armor upward and stood in the
border. And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone
upon the water. And the Moabites saw the water
on the other side as red as blood. And they said, this is blood.
The kings are surely slain and have smitten one another. Now,
therefore, Moab to the spoil. And when they came to the camp
of Israel, The Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, so
that they fled before them. But they went forward, smiting
the Moabites, even in their country, and they beat down the cities
and every good place of land, cast every man a stone and filled
it. And they stopped all the wells of water and felled all
the good trees. Only in Kirharaseth left they
the stones thereof, albeit the slingers went about and smote
it. And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore
for him, He took with him 700 men that drew swords to break
through, even unto the king of Edom, but they couldn't. Then
he took his eldest son, that should have reigned in a stead,
and offered him up for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there
was great indignation against Israel, and they departed from
him and returned to their own land. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ name that
you would be pleased to meet with us and enable us to worship
thy blessed son. Enable us to hear the gospel. Speak to us from your word and.
Lord, accept our thanksgiving for who you are. We know that
our thanksgiving can only be accepted through the merits of
our son. But we're so thankful that you are who you are. That
you are who you have revealed yourself to be in your word.
Holy, just, all powerful. glorious and holiness. Lord,
how we thank you for the revelation of yourself. Lord, we pray that
we might be enabled to truly confess our sins and confess
thy son before men. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Now, Ahab's son, was a weak man. And we read of his demise later
on. Ahab, while he was a wicked man,
was a powerful king and he had these people paying tribute to
him. We just read 100,000 sheep and their wool. It was just amazing
everything that he was giving to Israel to pay tribute. You
know, I think it's interesting. Men have always been the same.
We're going to try to take advantage of anybody we can. And Israel
was doing that to the Moabites. You'll live as long as you pay
this money. Now, after Ahab died, the king
of Moab revolted against this. He said, I'm not going to pay
this money. And Jeroam went to Jehoshaphat, who was a good king,
but he had some problems. Years before he had united with
Ahab and the Lord rebuked him for it because of his union with
Ahab. And here he does, goes doing
the exact same thing with Jehoram. He unites himself to him and
the king of Edom and they were all going to destroy the Moabites
or make sure that they got their money's worth back. Now, let's
pick up reading in verse nine. So the king of Israel went, and
the king of Judah, and the king of Edom, and they fetched a compass
a seven days journey, and there was no water for the host, and
for the cattle that followed them. They didn't have any water
in the wilderness. And the king of Israel said to
Alas, that the Lord hath called these three kings together to
deliver them into the hand of Moab. Now this is interesting.
Jeroam was a worshiper of Baal. But now that he's in this position,
he says, Jehovah has delivered us into this place. And now we're
in trouble. What he did was sinful. In the
first place, he didn't seek the Lord. And yet he blames the Lord
for his troubles. And this is what I want to try
to say is yes, God is sovereign in all things. He's the first
cause of all things. Amen. And our sin, we can't blame
it on his sovereignty. It's all our fault when we sin. Now, those are two things that
are absolutely true. Yes, God is absolutely sovereign.
He's the first cause behind everything. And our sin is not to be blamed
on his sovereignty. The Lord's brought us here to
slay us. No, you brought yourself here through your wickedness.
Now, let's go on reading. But Jehoshaphat said, is there
not there a prophet of the Lord that we may inquire of the Lord
by him? And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and
said, here's Elisha, the son of Shaphath, which poured water
on the hands of Elijah. Now for six years, he served
Elijah. And what that reminds me of is
you can't be a leader unless you're first a servant. He was
a servant and the Lord used him to be his prophet. Now let's
go on reading. And Jehoshaphat said, the word
of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat,
the king of Edom went down to him. And Elisha said unto the
king of Israel, to Jerome, his presence irritated him. He said,
what have I to do with thee? Get thee to the prophets of thy
father and to the prophets of thy mother, Ahab and Jezebel.
Go to the prophets of Baal, see what they can do for you. 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 lives 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.
I wouldn't give you the time of day, is what he's saying.
But now bring me a minstrel, a musician. And it came to pass
when the minstrel played that the hand of the Lord came upon
him. Now, I've looked at that passage of scripture and thought,
what's the significance? Well, Spurgeon suggested this,
and I'll just go with this. He said, Elisha was so agitated
and irritated by the presence of this heathen king that he
just couldn't think straightly and he needed to have somebody
come and play music and play the Psalms of David to calm him
down before he could act properly. I do know that the scripture
says, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord. Music
is powerful if the Lord blesses it to us. And here he calls for
this minstrel to calm him down, I guess, because you could see
he was very angry at the presence of the King of Israel. So let's
go on reading. The hand of the Lord came upon
him and he said, Thus saith the Lord, make this valley full of
ditches. Dig ditches. Dig a lot of ditches
in this valley. For thus saith the Lord, you
shall not see wind, neither shall you see rain, yet the water The
valley shall be filled with water that you may drink both you and
your cattle and your beasts. Now here we have a very simple
and a very beautiful illustration of faith. Was there any water
in the valley? No. They were told to dig ditches
according to the word of God, believing that after digging
those ditches, water would be there simply because God said
it. Now that is what faith is. You believe what God has said. If he says dig ditches and water
will be there, dig ditches. and the water will be there.
You believe what God said. That's the same thing as Abraham. God said you're going to have
a sea that can't be numbered. Look at the stars. All Abraham
had was what God said. The naked promise of God. He
believed God. Now did digging those ditches
create water? No. Did digging those ditches
quench their thirst? No. Would they have had any water
if they didn't dig the ditches? No. This is a beautiful and simple
illustration of faith. Believe what God has said. They went out and dug those ditches
and what took place? Water. water. Evidently, it was created. Some
have suggested that a flash flood brought it in. I don't know.
I think it was just water that was created. It was not there
before matter was brought into existence that was not there
before, much like Elijah. Remember the food that kept coming
in the pot every day, new meal, new oil every day? bringing matter
in existence, which had not been there. Well, this is what's going
on. Dig these ditches, and a mighty miracle will take place. Water
will be there that was not there before, and you're gonna live
off that water. Now, they had to dig the ditches,
didn't they? Digging the ditches didn't create
the water. Digging the ditches didn't quench their thirst. But this is faith. Faith doesn't
save, Christ saves. Faith believes that. And there
is no salvation apart from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If
they didn't dig those ditches, there would be no water. If you
and I don't look to Christ only, we will not be saved. We look
to Christ, we have all of God's salvation. What a beautiful picture
of faith, just digging these ditches. Now what happened? Verse
17, for thus saith the Lord, you shall not see wind, neither
shall you see rain, yet the valley shall be filled with water that
you may drink, both you and your cattle and your beasts. And this
is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord. This is not difficult.
He will deliver the Moabites also into your hand. And look
what he tells them to do. And you shall smite every fenced
city, every city that thinks it's protected. every choice
city, the ones you would choose and like and rejoice in, and
you shall fell every good tree and stop all wells of water and
mar every good piece of land with stones. Now, what he's telling
them to do is that when you go into the land of Moab, everything
that they would find desirable, destroy. knock down the fences
that are around their fence city, mar every good piece of ground,
every choice ground, destroy it all, throw rocks on it, make
it to where it's uninhabitable. Now, I guess that's what you wanna
do when you wanna utterly defeat the city, but what's the spiritual
application of this? Where there is faith, There is
repentance from dead works. Where there is faith, always
there is repentance from dead works. And if there is no repentance,
a change of mind regarding dead works, there is no faith. Now
what is meant by dead works? Well turn to, hold your finger
there, and turn to Hebrews chapter nine, or chapter six, I'm sorry. Therefore, leaving the principles,
the first oracles, the beginnings, the ABCs of the doctrine of Christ,
let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of
repentance from dead works." And there's five other things
he mentions, but the first thing he mentions is repentance from
dead works. Look in Hebrews chapter 9. Verse 13, for the blood of bulls
and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean sanctifies
to the purifying of the flesh. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who the eternal spirit offered himself without spot
to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God. Now, what are dead works? Dead works are any works before
regeneration. Now let me repeat that. Dead
works are anything that comes from you before God gave you
life. Now, this is a problem. When men say, I was saved by
an act of my free will, that's dead works. When men say, I was
saved before I heard the gospel of God's grace, but I heard something,
that's dead works. Anything that you do before regeneration
is dead works. And there's a call to repent,
change your mind concerning those dead works and look to Christ
only. Now, back to our text, look what
they were told to do. Smite every fence city. Everything that you think protects
you, smite it. It's no good. All the things
that you think protect you from the wrath of God, the things
that you think you've done, knock down those fences. And every
choice city, that's the word elect. That's where that comes
from. What you choose, anything that has anything to do with
your will, smite it. Knock it down. fell every good
tree. Everything that you think is
good, remember, it's nothing but filthy rags. Your righteousnesses,
the good trees, the good works, they're filthy rags. Now, whenever
there's true faith, there is also repentance from dead works.
When they dug those ditches, they were also called upon to
destroy all these things. Look, you shall fell every good
tree and stop all wells of water, the source Marr every good piece
of land with stones. Everything that you think is
good about you by nature, marr it. Understand what you are. You know, you really can't look
to Christ unless, you haven't looked to Christ unless you see
yourself in this light. It's only when you see yourself
in this light, all the good stuff is marred and destroyed and you
can't protect yourself. Only then will you look to Christ
only. as everything in your salvation.
Now, they were called upon faith, dig the ditches, in obedience
to the word of God, trusting God to bring this water, there's
faith, and then repentance from the dead works, mar, destroy,
cut down, smash down, everything that appears to be good. You
see, it may appear to be good, but it's not. It's not. All right, verse 21. And when all the Moabites heard
that the kings were come up to fight against them, they gathered
all that were able to put on armor and upward and stood in
the border. And they rose up early in the morning and the
sun shone upon the water and the Moabites saw the water on
the other side as red as blood. Now how'd that happen? Well,
God caused it to happen. It wasn't as red as blood. I
don't see how the sun could make something look like it's red.
I can see it make it look very shiny, but they saw it as blood. Wherefore God shall send them
strong delusion that they should believe a lie. And that's what
was going on here. They saw something that was not. And the reason they did was because
this was a part of God's judgment against them. We see how evil
these people were. We see the king offering up his
son as a human sacrifice on the wall to his God. These people
were wicked people and the Lord was leaving them to themselves.
And this is exactly what took place. They saw it as blood. And they said, this is blood,
the kings are surely, verse 23, the kings are surely slain and
they've smitten one another, now therefore Moab to the spoil.
And when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose
up and smoked the Moabites, just like God said he would deliver
them into their hands, so that they fled before them, but they
went forward smiting the Moabites, even in their country. beat down
the cities on every good piece of land, cast every man a stone
and filled it, and they stopped the wells of water and felled
all the good trees. Only Gerareth, a Seth, left the
stones thereof, howbeit the slingers went about it and smote it. And
when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him,
he took with him 700 men that drew swords to break through
even unto the king of Edom, but they couldn't do it. You see
the Lord had ordained their destruction and they could not break through.
Then he, the king of Moab, took his eldest son that should have
reigned in his stead and offered him for a burnt offering upon
the wall, up on the wall where everybody could see it. Everybody
witnessed this. And I'm sure this was a gruesome
sight to everybody. And I think that he did this
on the wall so that everybody could see it, to see what desperation
he'd been driven to and what he was willing to do to get out
of this mess. He'd sacrificed his own son.
And there was great indignation against Israel. The Moabites
hated the Israelites, that things had come to this point. And they
departed from him. and return to their own land.
I guess they were just so sickened by this sight that they just
went back to Israel, not rejoicing but disheartened that things
could be that bad. What's the main point? Faith
and repentance from dead works. May the Lord give us this faith
that believes what God says and relies completely on what he
says and digs the ditches and repentance from dead works to
mar everything that we think is good about ourself and look
to Christ only. We need everything about us to be
washed in the blood of Christ because there isn't anything
about us that really is meritorious before God. May God impress us
with this.