Would you turn to 1 Kings chapter
15. Verse 24. And Asa slept with his fathers,
and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father,
and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead. Now turn to 1 Chronicles,
or I mean 2 Chronicles chapter 17. 2 Chronicles chapter 17. And Jehoshaphat his son reigned
in his stead, speaking of Asa, and strengthened himself against
Israel. And he placed forces in all the
fenced cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah,
in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken, And
the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the first
ways of his father David and sought not unto Balaam, but sought
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 Jerusalem
Jehoshaphat's presence, and he had riches and honor in abundance,
and his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord. Moreover, he took away the high
places and groves out of Judah. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in the name of thy dear son, and we ask that by your grace,
our hearts might be lifted up in your ways, that you would
speak in power to our hearts from your word. And Lord, give
us the grace to worship thy dear son, to look to him only, and
to walk by faith with him. Lord, we confess our sins, we
pray for forgiveness and cleansing, and we pray that we might be
found in your Son, be with all your people wherever they meet
together. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Jehoshaphat was one of the best
kings. We know that Josiah was the best
king, according to the scriptures. They put him right above David. Jehoshaphat was very close, and
his name means Jehovah Judges. He was a man who loved God and
wanted others to know him, as we're going to see as we look
at this man's life. And he had a very prosperous
reign, a very peaceful reign, and he had the largest army assembled
in Israel. It was 1,160,000 people. So he
is a special, special man. And Kings just doesn't give much
detail about him, but there are four chapters devoted to him
in Chronicles. So that is what we are going
to consider. Now look back in 2 Chronicles
chapter 17, and Jehoshaphat his son reigned
in his stead, and and strengthened himself against Israel. Now that's
interesting. Why does he strengthen himself
against Israel? Because Israel was involved in worshiping golden
calves. They had a counterfeit Passover. They had no need for the temple. Anybody could be a priest if
he could pay the money to become a priest. You had to give some
money to Jeroboam to become a priest. Jehoshaphat didn't want to have
anything to do with these people. He strengthened himself against
Israel, and well, he should have. They had become like every other
nation, steeped in idolatry, and he was protecting the land
from them. So he says in verse 2, he placed
forces in all the fenced cities of Judah, and set garrisons in
the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa
his father had taken, look at verse 3, and the Lord was with
Jehoshaphat. What better thing can be said? The Lord was with him. I couldn't
help but think of if God be for us, who can be against us? And this is what I need and you
need desperately, His presence. Him being with me. Whether I feel it or not, I still
need to know He's with me. I can't help but think of Hebrews
chapter 13, where the writer to the Hebrews says, let your
conversation be without covetousness. Now, how can my conversation
be without covetousness? And then he says, be content
with such things as you have. Well, what do I have? I have Christ. I have justification. I'm accepted
in the beloved. I have the love of God in Christ
Jesus. And then he makes this promise
for he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. The Lord was with him and he's
with every one of his people right now, whether you quote,
feel it or not, he's with you. if you're a believer, and if
God be for us, who can be against us? The Lord was with Jehoshaphat
because he walked in the first ways of his father, David. Now, what were the first ways
of David, his father? Well, I think it's pretty easy
to answer that. The Lord said, I am the way. I love that. Not I'll show you
the way, or I'll lead you along the way, or I'll reveal to you
the way. He said, I am the way. He's not a way, he's the way.
He's the way to the Father. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. The only way
I can come to the Father is by me being in Him and Him going
to the Father, and I'm right there with Him. This is talking
about union with the Lord Jesus Christ. I am the way. Now, this was David's way. David was a man after God's own
heart. He believed the gospel, and this was his way. If you
would ask David, what's your way? David said, my way is the
way of Christ. And you know, in the New Testament, there's
seven or eight ways this word way is used, it's called the
way of God. I like that, don't you? Not the
way of man, the way of God. It's called the way of salvation. Christ is the way of salvation. If you wanna be saved, saved
from yourself, saved from your sins, saved by God, the only
way you'll be saved is by Christ. He is the way. He's called the
way of righteousness. Don't you love that? He is the
way of righteousness. In Christ, I'm the very righteousness
of God. He's called the way of peace.
This is David's way. If you would have asked David, what's your
way? He'd say, the way of Christ. And he's called in the scriptures,
the way of peace. Now the only way I have peace
is to know that Christ is my peace with God. I don't get any
peace from anything in me, anything I've done, anything I've thought,
anything I've tried to start doing, anything I've quit doing.
The only peace I have is that everything God requires of me,
he looks to Christ for. Peace. The way of peace. He's called the narrow way. way that excludes all other ways.
He's called the right way as opposed to the wrong way. There's
a way that seemeth right to men, the in thereof are the ways of
death. He's called the more excellent way, and I like this, he's called
the way which they call heresy. But Jehoshaphat walked in all
the ways of David his father, and that is what commended him.
Verse and he sought not unto Balaam." Now, he was a contemporary
with Ahab, and Israel had gone totally into Baal worship. We're
going to get into the life of Elijah against Ahab here within
a couple of weeks. But Israel had gone wholeheartedly
into Baal worship. They had completely forsaken
the God of Israel, but not Jehoshaphat. He would not go in this direction. Verse 4, but he sought to the
Lord God of his father. Now, what is it to seek God? You know, the best thing you
can tell me to do is to seek the Lord. That's the best answer
to anything. Seek the Lord. What should I
do? Seek the Lord. What's it mean to seek the Lord?
Well, I'm saying, Lord, Manifest yourself to me. That's what it
is to seek the Lord. Reveal yourself to me. Don't
leave me to myself. Reveal yourself to me. Reveal
yourself to me through your word. Give me hearing ears. Give me
eyes to see and a heart to receive. Reveal yourself to me. That's
what it means to seek the Lord. It's really simple. You won't
do it unless the Lord enables you to because the scripture
says there's none that seeketh. And I love what David said. David
said, when thou said, seek ye my face, my heart said, thy face,
O Lord, will I seek. Now this is what characterized
this man Jehoshaphat. He sought the Lord. May you and
I be people who seek the Lord. You can't seek in vain. You can't
seek in vain. All who seek find. that's His
promise. And this is what was said of
Joshua, he sought the Lord God of his father and walked in His
commandments and not after the doings of Israel. Once again
Israel and Judah are contrasted. Judah was Baal worshipped, they
were worshipping a false God. Now remember any God that is
not the God of the Bible is idolatry, idolatry. You know, people think,
well, you've got a different view of things. No, it's a different
God. It's a different God. And I've said this several times
over the last couple of months, but this is an example of what
I'm trying to say. If your God is not the God of
predestination, your God is non-existent. I mean, it's absolutely non-existent. It's a false God. It's an idol.
He sought the Lord God of His Father, the God of the Bible.
That's the only God there is, is the God of the Bible. And
He had nothing to do with Baal worship. And it says He walked
in His commandments. Now, once again, what does it
mean to walk in the commandments of God? It means to believe the
Gospel. The Ten Commandments. Shouldn't
we try to keep the Ten Commandments? I've kept the Ten Commandments
in Christ. I've kept the Ten Commandments.
And me trying to keep them is, well, I don't even know what
to tell you. You ought not lie, should you?
You ought not steal. You ought not murder. You ought
not covet. You ought not all the things
the Ten Commandments say. But if I think that I've kept
one of them one time in myself, all I've proved by that is I've
brought God's holy law down to standards that I think I can
keep. And I just show disrespect for the law of God. The only
way you really show respect for the law of God is look to Christ
only is the end of the law. That's it. Are you saying it's
okay to sin? No, I never said that. I never said that. But
I know this, the only righteousness I have is the righteousness of
Christ. I have kept the law. That's why I don't have to fear
God's law. I've kept it in Christ. It justifies me. It declares
me not guilty because in Christ I've kept God's holy law. So
when He's speaking of keeping His commandments according to
1 John chapter 3 this is His commandment that we believe on
the name of His Son and love one another as God gave His commandment.
I do believe the Gospel. I And that's obeying his command. I do believe the gospel. And
the only reason I believe the gospel is because he gave me
the faith to believe it. But I do believe the gospel.
I rest in Christ only and I love his people. And so did Jehoshaphat. He walked in his commandments,
verse five, therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his
hand. And all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat
presence. And he had riches and honor in
abundance. His kingdom was actually as prosperous
as Saul's was. His army was even bigger. And
there was a time of peace for a great long time through this
man Jehoshaphat. And then I think this verse,
all that this would describe you and I, his heart was lifted
up in the ways of the Lord. What a description. God that
this would be said of me and you." Our heart is lifted up
in the ways of the Lord. And you know what happens when
somebody's heart is lifted up in the ways of the Lord? There's
going to be the destruction of idolatry. You're not going to
be tolerant of that which is contrary to the Lord in whose
heart you're lifted up. What did He do? He took away
the groves. He took away the idols. You know,
if you love, if I love the Lord, we cannot tolerate that which
is contrary to Him because we love Him. We really do. And that's
what happens when a man's heart or a woman's heart is lifted
up in the ways of the Lord. They will become intolerant of
that which is contrary to the one they love. You know, most
folks don't get this because they really don't love the Lord.
But if you love the Lord, you will not be able to tolerate
that which dishonors Him and brings down His name and clouds
the issue of Him getting the glory in all things in the Gospel.
Now, that's what this man did. Now, look what he did also. Look
in verse 7. Now, what we're going to see
with the rest of this chapter is he gives the prophets' names
He gives the priests names, and He gives the generals over His
army names. And every one of these names
are very significant. They mean something very important
with regard to the Gospel. But notice what He did. This
is, and I think this is such a blessing to see this. Also,
in the third year of his reign, he sent to his princes, even
to Ben-Hel, and to Obadiah, and to Zechariah, and to Nathanael,
and to Micah, to teach in the cities of Judah. Now, this is
what this man wanted to do. He wanted to send out these prophets
to teach and preach the word of God. In other words, he loved
people. And he wanted them to hear the
gospel. And he used every means necessary to send them out to
preach the gospel in the land of Judah. Now he sent these prophets,
what I think of is it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. God has manifested his word through
preaching. which is committed to my trust.
Now, this thing of preaching and teaching the word of God
is a supernatural thing. It's a completely supernatural
thing that God owns to reveal himself to people. And in doing
that, you're not putting the preacher on a pedestal. I please God by the foolishness
of preaching. A fool like me preaching to a
fool like you. But yet, this is the way God
speaks. This is not a clergy lady thing.
I'm God's preacher, and I despise that kind of attitude. I believe
myself to be the chief of sinners, preaching to a bunch of other
folks who believe themselves to be the chief of sinners, seeking
to preach the gospel. But the Lord said, take heed
how you hear, and take heed what you hear. Take heed what you
hear. You better be hearing the truth.
If you're hearing error, you're going to be what you hear. And
take heed how you hear. Take heed with regard to your
attitude in hearing. Take heed how you hear. Hear
with a hungry heart. Don't become a preacher or critic.
Whenever you listen with a critical ear, you can't get anything out
of what they're saying. Oh, may God give us a hearing
ear and a receptive heart. Now Jehoshaphat sent these men,
now let's, these were, he sent prophets, he sent priests, and
he sent these, or he names these generals over the kings of his
army. Now let's look at this, verse seven. Also in the third
year of his reign, he sent to his princes even to Ben-Hel. That means son of strength. Son of Strength. Now, the only
way you and I are going to become strong in the Word of God is
by hearing the Word of God and believing the Word of God, but
Son of Strength. The next man was Obadiah, Servant
of Jehovah. The next man's name was Zachariah,
Jehovah Remembers. I got to thinking about that,
Jehovah Remembers. He remembers everything. Well, how is it it
says he doesn't remember your sin? Because there's no sin to
remember. He remembers that. He remembers that. There's no
sin to remember. You're accepted in the beloved,
perfect in Christ Jesus. The name, where is it? I get so frustrated trying to
preach. I ought to get up and practice on them and I'm sorry,
I don't. I just read them and I get up here and I think, I
can't even pronounce it. Nethaniel, that's close I guess,
but it means given of God. And isn't that the message we
preach? Everything we have is freely
given of God through Christ Jesus. And then Micaiah, I love this
name, who is like God. And in our preaching, that's
the way we're preaching. Who's like God? Nobody. There's no
one to compare him to. I love that. Any comparison is
a wrong comparison. He's utterly unique. He's transcendent,
He's glorious. There's nobody to compare Him
to. What a God we worship. One of my favorite statements
is this. There's a lot of statements I like to say a lot. I like to
say this one a lot. Jesus Christ is not like God. He is God. Don't you love that? He's not
like God at all. He is the God of glory. That's who He is. Now look in verse eight, and
with them he sent Levites, the priests, and their names are
of great significance. Shemiah means heard by God. Isn't it? I know the father hears
Christ and he hears everybody the son represents. heard by
God. My prayers are heard by God for
Christ's sake. Neth- verse 8. Nethaniah means
given of Jehovah. The Father gave the Son. And
Zebediah means endowment of Jehovah. And Asahel means God made. I love that, God made. When we're
talking about the gospel, we're talking about what God has made.
He made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Of him are you in
Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. When we're talking about the
gospel, we're talking about what God has made. And then Shemar
Raimoth, That means name of heights, name of heights. And we preach the high God. We don't
try to bring him down to make it to where men can accept him.
We preach the high God and we glory in the high God, that name
that's above every name. And we're not gonna bring him
down to try to make him more acceptable and more likable to
men. No, we preach the high God. This
is who he is, like it or not, this is who he is. We like it
though, don't we? We like his highness and his
glory. The next one is Jehoram, Jehovah has graced. Jehovah has grace. Isn't that
a wonderful name? I love the word grace. Jehovah has graced. And then the next one is Adonijah. Jehovah is exalted. Jehovah is
exalted. He's glorified. Adonijah. Tobijah
means my Lord is good. And Tobedonijah means, my God
has heard. These are a lot of names. I've got a definition of all
of them so bear with me I keep getting lost. But what did they
do? They taught in Judah, and had
the book of the law of the Lord with them, and went about throughout
all the cities of Judah, and taught the people." They were
preachers of the gospel. These prophets and these priests,
these Levites, would come for this very purpose to do what
we're doing right now, to teach the gospel. Verse 10, "'And the
fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the land that
were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.'"
The Lord's providence is such that everybody is controlled
by Him. And these people were afraid
to touch Judah because the fear of the Lord fell upon them. The
Lord was controlling everything with regard to them. And remember
that. The Lord's controlling everything
and everybody for you. For you. He's in absolute sovereign
control. He really is God. And He's controlling
everything and everybody for you. Verse 11, and some of the
Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and tribute and silver,
and the Arabians brought him flocks, 7,700 rams and 7,700
he goats. And Jehoshaphat waxed great exceedingly. And he built in Judah castles
and cities of store. And he had much business in the
cities of Judah. And the men of war were mighty
men of valor were in Jerusalem. And these are the numbers. And
he gives five different generals and the people that were under
them. And their names are very significant. But at this time,
the army of Israel was 1,160,000 people. Mighty men of valor, the scripture
says. So this is the largest army we
ever read that Judah had. And they were so prospered under
this man. But look at these captains. Verse 14, and these are the numbers
of them, according to the house of their fathers, of Judah, the
captains of thousands, Adna, the chief, and with him mighty
men of valor, 300,000. Adna means pleasure. Pleasure. What pleasure there is in being
saved by free grace. What pleasure there is in seeing
the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. What pleasure there is
in hearing the gospel, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Oh,
it's such a pleasurable thing. The Lord is so good. He's so
glorious. And there is pleasure. Now, there's
a fellow that wrote a book called The Pleasures of God, and it
was kind of like if you're a Christian, you'll have a more pleasurable
marriage, you'll have a more pleasurable experience at work
and all this kind of stuff, and that's flesh. That's all that
is, is flesh. That's an appeal to the flesh.
Oh, you'll have a better marriage if you become a Christian. Well,
I need to get married or become a Christian so I can have a better,
that's flesh. But that being said, we read
in the scriptures of the joy and the peace of believing. There is joy. there is peace,
pleasure in this army. Now what's the next man's name?
Verse 15. And next to him was Jehonahan,
the captain. And with him 204 score thousand. Jehonahan means Jehovah has graced. Jehovah has graced. Oh, what
all we could say about that. And next to him was Amaziah.
Jehovah is strength. And look how this man is described,
and next to him was Amaziah, the son of Zechariah, who willingly
offered himself unto the Lord. What a beautiful description
of a man. He willingly offered himself
to the Lord. And then, verse seven, and Benjamin,
and of Benjamin, Eliabda, and that means God knows. That's
what his name means, God knows. Isn't it wonderful to know that
God knows? You know, I don't have any idea
what he's doing in Providence, but he does. And I'm so satisfied
and content with that. I don't need to know, he does.
and I am relying on his knowledge of me. I love what Paul said
in Galatians 4.9, he says, now that you've known God, or rather
are known of God. That's what I'm relying on, not
my knowledge of him, his knowledge of me. And verse 18, and next
to him was Jehoshabad, That means Jehovah has endowed, oh how he's
endowed and given. That's what the gospel is. And
with him 104 score thousand ready, prepared for war. These waited
on the king besides those whom the king put in thin cities throughout
all Judah. These all just waited on the
king. And that's what I want to do, don't you? I want to wait
on the Lord. Now, as the Lord gives you an
opportunity, read 2 Chronicles 18 this week. And that's a very
interesting story with regard to the life of Jehoshaphat and
the prophet Micaiah. And it's also in 1 Kings chapter
22. But that's what we'll look at
next week, Lord willing.