I appreciate that. I know we
all were blessed by the hymn, the words, the truth, open for
me. The scripture says, in that day
there shall be a fountain open. And it was open for sin and for
uncleanness. And it was open that men might
wash, filled with the blood of Christ, that fountain might wash
and be clean. Thank you so much. Now, tonight,
if you will, let's open first of all to Romans chapter 15. Romans chapter 15. We then that are strong ought
to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his
neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself. But, as it is written, the reproaches
of them that reproach thee fell on me. For whatsoever things
were written aforetime were written for our learning. that we, through
patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. In verse 3,
the Apostle Paul quoted from Psalm 69, and verse 9 showing
how that it applied that verse of Scripture there, written some
600 years before the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world,
that it applied to him. But the point I want to make,
and I want us to see here, is this, that in verse 4, he tells
us that the Old Testaments, because that's the Scriptures that he
had to go with at that time, the Scriptures, for whatsoever
things were written aforetime, and speaking about the Scriptures,
the Old Testament of our Bible, was written for us, for our learning,
that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might
have hope. And I encourage all of us to
read the Word of God. And I believe it helps, not everyone
maybe is in agreement with this, but I believe it really helps
to have a program, a form to read the scriptures. Because
if you don't do that, most likely you will read the same scriptures
over and over. I like to read through the Bible
every year. I know that's not possible for
some people. But I have found, several years
ago, someone told me that if you read three chapters in the
Old Testament and one chapter in the New Testament every day,
that you will go through the Bible in a year. And what I have
found is, you actually finish the New Testament way before
the year is up, and you will go through the Old Testament.
I know other people have other ways, other forms of reading
through the Scriptures. Over the years I have also, I
don't do this anymore, but the book of Proverbs has 31 chapters
in it. You read one chapter a day, and
what wisdom you have given unto you there in the book of Proverbs. But the point is, as the Apostle
tells us here in this verse of Scripture, that the Scriptures,
they were written for our learning. For whatsoever things were written
before time were written for our learning. But if we don't
read the Old Testament, then we're not going to learn the
lessons that we have in the Old Testament. And always remember
this. None of you would ever be guilty
of this. But there are those who go on in the name of Christian,
and they will make a comment like this. Well, I love the God
of the New Testament. I don't care for the God of the
Old Testament. Well, same God. Same God. And He's the same in
the Old Testament as He is in the New Testament, because He
is immutable. He doesn't change. He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever. But read the Old Testament, for
you're learning. And as I read through the Old
Testament every year, and I've just finished, I'm in the book
of Job now. But as I read, especially through
the 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, and 1st and 2nd Chronicles,
I'm just amazed. Many times I see something and
I think, Now, no, it isn't, because I've
read through here before. But the Word of God is different
from any other book. It's living, it's powerful, because
it's God's Word. And as you read through the Scriptures,
you will see and you will learn, as the Apostle tells us here,
that through patience and comfort, of the Scriptures, you might
have hope. Now, tonight, the title of my
message is going to be, Our Eyes Are Upon Thee. That is, Our Eyes
Are Upon God. But the subject, the subject
that I want to speak to us about tonight is this. What is a child of God to do
when he doesn't know what to do? What is a child of God to
do when he doesn't know what to do? What is a child of God
to do when he recognizes he is in a strait, he is in a particular
situation and he has no power? What is a child of God to do
when he doesn't know what to do? And I want you to turn back
with me now to 2 Chronicles chapter 20, and we will see this is exactly
what one of the kings of Judah confessed. In 2 Chronicles chapter 20, and verse number 12, these are the words of the king
of Judah, Jehoshaphat, O our God, wilt thou not judge them? Now notice, for we have no might. He confessed, he recognized,
he had no might, no power. We have no might against this
great company that cometh against us. Now notice, neither know
we what to do. What is a child of God to do
when he doesn't know what to do? This is what Jehoshaphat
confesses. We have no mind, and we do not
know what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. Our eyes are upon
thee. So let's consider this for just
a few minutes this evening, this example that we find concerning
Jehoshaphat. First of all, who was he? Who
was Jehoshaphat? Well, I've already said he was
one of the kings of Judah, and you know as you read through
the history of these kings, many times when they come to the throne,
when one king dies and his son comes to take his place, it will
say he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. He
did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. Sometimes
he did that which was evil. Well, this king, Jehoshaphat,
is one of those kings of whom it is written, He did that which
is right in the sight of the Lord. Look back to chapter 17. 2 Kings chapter 17, verse 1, And
Jehoshaphat his son, that is, the son of Asaph. Now, I believe
Jehoshaphat was a great, great grandson of David. So he's not
that far removed from David from Solomon. Jehoshaphat his son,
Asa's son, reigned in his stead and strengthened himself against
Israel. And 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." Now notice, "...and
the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first
ways of his father David." He walked in the first ways, that
is, when David was first walking after the Lord, following the
Lord, serving the Lord. He walked in the first ways of
his father David. If we had the time we could read
through these chapters which relate the history of Jehoshaphat
and we would see that he actually led a reform in Judah. He led
a reform in Judah by taking away the high places and the groves.
And when you read about the high places and the groves, you realize
that the people were wont to offer sacrifices in a place other
than where God had commanded the sacrifice to be offered.
God had placed His name in Jerusalem. That's where He placed His name,
that's where the tabernacle, the temple was built, and that's
where the altar was where the sacrifices were to be offered
unto God. But offering these sacrifices
out on the hills, closer somehow, thinking they're closer to God,
being elevated to altitude, making them somehow closer to God, even
though what they were doing was in disobedience to God and the
groves that they had. And it wasn't only sacrificing other gods, and especially this
god Baal that we read about so often. The god named Baal that
they worshipped. The Philistines, that was one
of their gods, and he was one of the gods of the children of
Ammon, I believe also, the nation of Ammon. But anyway, they worshipped
these false gods, and as I said, Jehoshaphat, he removed them. He removed these places where
these sacrifices were offered. But the one glaring, the one
glaring error that you see in the life of Jehoshaphat as you
read through it, is this. He made affinity. In other words,
he became a bosom buddy of a wicked king. And this wicked king, his
name was Ahab. And everyone knows the wife of
Ahab, Jezebel, she was even more wicked than Ahab. We'll turn
back there to 2 Kings chapter 18. Now Jehoshaphat had riches and
honor in abundance, now here it is, and joined affinity with
Ahab. This is one glaring mistake you
see in the life of Jehoshaphat. He joined forces with a wicked
king, with the king of Israel, the northern kingdom. In fact, we know one time that
he went out in battle with Ahab. They joined forces, and he said
it, or not we, is he? Not Judah, the nation of Judah? Are we not as thee, Israel? Sure,
I'll go into battle with you." But what he didn't realize is
the king, the nation they were fighting, he said, don't fight
with the small, just the regular foot soldiers. I want the king. That's the man I want. Well,
he was talking about King Ahab. But Ahab told Jehoshaphat, You
go into the battle with all the flags flying on your chair, showing
that you're somebody, that you're royalty. I'm going to disguise
myself. And I'm going into the battle
so that no one will recognize me. Well, the king had told his
men, you fight with neither small nor great, but you go after the
king. That's the one I want. Well, they thought at first Jehoshaphat
was King Ahab. He had all the regalia there
on his chariot. He looked like he was a king.
He was a king, but not the king of Israel. And he barely got
out of that battle with his life. And Ahab, the wicked king, Remember,
he's the one who called for the prophets when Jehoshaphat came
down, and Ahab said, Will you go with me to battle? He said,
Sure, but isn't there some prophet we can ask? Oh, yeah, there's
plenty of prophets here. And so he called his prophets
together, and they all said the same thing. They were in agreement,
Go up, go up, the battle's yours. It's as good as won already.
And Jehoshaphat recognized these prophets were not prophets of
God, and he said, Isn't there a prophet of God here? Oh, yes,
there's one. But I don't like him. I don't
like him because he always prophesies bad concerning me. Oh, don't
let it be so. And so they sent for him, Micaiah.
And Micaiah came, and as they were bringing him, they told
him, Now say the same thing. Go along with what the prophets
are saying. These 450 prophets, I believe
it was, what they're saying, go along with what they're saying.
And Micaiah said, I'll say what God gives me to say. That's what
I'll say. And at first he said, yes, go
up. But Ahab knew he was speaking
mockingly. He said, didn't I tell you he
always speaks bad about me? And he said, put him in prison, put him in
prison, and feed him with bread and water until I come back.
And Micaiah said, if you come back, God hasn't spoken by me. Well, there he is in the battle.
The king said, go after the king, and he's disguised. He doesn't
appear to be a king, but one man took a bow, put that arrow
in there and pulled the string and shot it at a vintage. But
that arrow had Ahab's name on it. And God took Ahab out. This was a glaring mistake on
the part of Jehoshaphat. And when he returned Notice what
the prophet said to him in 2 Kings chapter 19, when Jehoshaphat
came back from that venture with the wicked king and the Bible. And he comes back. And Jehoshaphat,
the king of Judah, returned to his house in peace, to Jerusalem. And Jehu, the son of Hanani,
the seer, went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat,
Shouldest thou help the ungodly? Should you join hands with the
ungodly and love them that hate the Lord?
Ahab, a hater of God, a worshiper of idols and other false gods,
hating God, you joined with them. Should you love them that hate
God? Therefore is wrath upon thee
from before the Lord. Nevertheless, and I'm so thankful,
aren't you, for God's neverthelesses. Nevertheless, there are good
things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves
out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God. This makes me say this tonight.
Aren't you thankful that there is forgiveness with God? It's
easy to see this man's fault, and it's easy to speak evil of
him for what he did. But you know, when we look in
the mirror, we see many times we've done the same thing, or
maybe even worse. I think about Peter, Apostle
Peter. He denied the Lord, grievously
denied the Lord, with an oath. I don't know him. I don't know
that man. But there's forgiveness with
the Lord, isn't there? There's forgiveness with Him,
the Scripture says, that He might be feared, might be reverenced. And the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ is a God of all mercy. And yes, thank God,
He is a God of forgiveness. But now, what was Jehoshaphat's
trouble? That's a little bit, who was
he? That's a little bit about who he was and what's recorded
concerning him. But what was this particular
trouble in which he said, we have no might and we don't know
what to do? But our eyes are upon thee. What
was his trouble? There were two nations, Moab
and Ammon. Along with some others, we're
told, that these two nations primarily they had invaded. They were on the border. They
were on the west side of the Dead Sea, which the Dead Sea
was a natural border of the land of Palestine. And they were there
with their troops, and word comes to Jehoshaphat. Let's see that
in verse 1 of chapter 20. 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. 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 hazard Zantamar, which is in Enjida. And Jehoshaphat
feared. This was his trouble. His nation
was being invaded by two powerful armies along with others, and
it caused him to fear because he knew he was not prepared to
go to battle. You know, to go to battle, I
remember the first Gulf War. when President Bush, the first
president, you know, when he took the troops into Kuwait. It took a while. It took a while
to prepare, even though we have a large standing army. But it
took a while to prepare to go to battle. And here this man
is. They're here. The army's here. They're on the
border. And it was a great host, no doubt,
these two nations, their armies together. And he was not prepared. And this caused him fear. I can
only imagine what a man in that position, the king, over thousands
of people, the responsibility for their welfare, their care,
was all upon his shoulders. I can just imagine the stress,
the fear that came upon him. Can't you? Those of you who are
fathers, sometimes just for your children, your family unit, maybe
five or six and something happens and you feel a lot of stress,
don't you? A lot of fear, maybe. Can you
imagine? Being the father of a nation,
that's what the king is. He's the shepherd of the nation. He was responsible. And here
these armies are, they're coming to invade. And I'll tell you
something, you read about these wars in the Old Testament, they
had no mercies. They had no mercies. They came into the country and
they killed and took captive and took the spoils away. He said, I don't know what to
do. Well, what do you do? What do you do when you don't
know what to do? Well, let's see what this man
did. What did he do when he didn't know what to do? The first thing,
he set himself to seek the Lord. Notice that in verse 3. And Jehoshaphat
feared and set himself to seek the Lord. That's the first thing
we read about this man. What he did when he did not know
what to do, he sought, he set himself to seek the Lord. He
purposed in his heart to seek the Lord. He set aside time Isaiah chapter 10 and verse 12,
we read, It's time to seek the Lord. And it's always time to
seek the Lord. It's always time to seek the
Lord. He didn't know what to do, but He did know that His help, if it were to
come, was going to come from the Lord. he began to seek the
Lord. The second thing that I see that
he did, he called upon the people, the nation, to seek the Lord
with him. Verse 4, 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. He
set himself to seek the Lord, and his people, they too, came
to seek the Lord. And third, he prayed. He prayed. We see that in verses 5 through
12. And I notice these things about his prayer. First of all,
in his prayer, beginning in verse 5, the Jehoshaphat called 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 not thou 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? He
began to pray, And the first thing I notice about his prayer
is that he prayed and he confessed to God that God is sovereign
and that God has all power. Now, these two things always
go together. You can't have sovereignty unless
you have power. And when you have power, all
power, as God has, then, yes, you have sovereignty. And verse 6, he confessed that
God had given this land, verse 7 rather, God had given this
land unto Abraham and had given it unto them by covenant. Art thou, or not thou, our God,
who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people
Israel? There was no way that the nation
of Israel could conquer the nations in Canaan. It was six nations,
I believe, that were powerful, and here's this nation that came
out of Israel, out of slavery, and after 40 years in the wilderness,
they come into the land of Canaan, and yet they're going to defeat
these powerful nations. No, God dispossessed those nations. It was God's power that had given
them the land. drive the nations out of the
land. You gave this land to thy people,
thus to the seed of Abraham thy friend forever." Notice that
here. He refers to Abraham as God's
friend. God called Abraham his friend.
Lord, you're all-powerful, you're sovereign, and this land that
they're coming in to dispossess us of, to defeat us and take
us into captivity, no doubt. Lord, you're the one who gave
us this land. You're the one who drove out
the enemy so that we might live here in this land of Canaan. And you did it because you made
a covenant with your friend Abraham. You took Abraham out one day
and told him to look in every direction. He was in the land
of Canaan. Look in every direction. I'll
give you this land. Give this land to your seed,
Abraham. Gave it to him in a covenant. And then not only that, Lord,
but you allowed your people, Solomon, you allowed your people
to build a temple in this place. And they dwelt therein and have
built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name's sake. And when
this temple was dedicated, this is part of the prayer that you
testified to. Jehoshaphat doesn't say that,
but we know it's true that God testified to this prayer because,
remember, God filled the house. The glory of the Lord filled
the house. Well, look back with me to 2
Kings just a moment. I'm sorry, 1 Kings. 1 Kings chapter
8. And part of the prayer, it's
a lengthy prayer, this dedication prayer that Solomon prayed. And I noticed this this morning.
This is not in my notes for tonight, but look in verse 12, 1st Kings
chapter 8, about what Solomon said about the Lord. Then spake
Solomon, the Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. If you watched the streaming
service this morning, you know I mentioned the fact that many
of God's greatest works were done in darkness, in darkness. And we think about his work of
creation when he created the heavens and
the earth in darkness. And I mentioned the fact that
God's providence is many times for us. dark, darkness. And we don't have the ability
to understand, to comprehend His ways. His ways are above
our ways. His thoughts are above our thoughts.
And of course His work of salvation, the darkness, the incarnation
in Christ came into this world. That body that was prepared Him
and He joined to Himself, His person. in darkness in the womb
of the Virgin. And then on the cross in darkness
for three hours. And then when he walked out of
that tomb, no one saw that except God. But anyway, here in 1 Kings,
when he dedicated the temple, verses 38 and 39, this is part
of Solomon's prayer. What prayer and supplication
so ever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which
shall know every man the plague of his own heart. The plague
of his own heart. The sinfulness. The sinfulness. and spread forth his hands towards
this house, that is, the temple there in Jerusalem. Then hear
thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give
to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest. For thou, even thou only, knowest
the hearts of the children of Neah. Jehoshaphat is here praying,
and in his prayer, he mentions the fact that when that sanctuary
was built there, that in the dedication prayer, he said, if
when evil cometh upon us as the sword, judgment, or pestilence,
or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, for
thy name is in this house, and crying to thee in our affliction,
then thou wilt hear and help." And then he confessed that it
was God who had not allowed the Israelites to defeat these two
nations of Ammon and Moab when they came out of Egypt. And Moab, the nation
of Moab, and the nation of Ammon, both of those nations, did not
treat the Israelites well, even though they said they would walk
straight through their property, through their land. But God would
not let them smite them. The Ammonites, well, both of
these nations were descendants of Lot. Moab was a descendant
of Lot. And I believe Ammon had to do
with Esau. It's actually Seir, the Ammonites. And then, in our text, he confesses
that they didn't have any strength, they didn't have any knowledge,
but Our eyes are upon thee. Our eyes are upon thee. The fourth thing that we see,
he heard the Word of God. He heard the Word of God and
he believed the Word of God. After he made this confession,
this prayer, then upon Jehaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son
of Benaiah, the son of Jael, the son of Mattanias, 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 you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and You, King Jehoshaphat, he
heard the Word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord unto you.
What do you do when you don't know what to do? You set your
heart to seek the Lord, you pray, you hear God's Word, and believe
God's Word. You say, how do you know Jehoshaphat
believed God's Word? Notice the word of the Lord.
Be not afraid, nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude,
for the battle is not yours, but God's. Tomorrow go you down
against them. Behold, they come up by the cliff
of Zist, and you shall find them at the end of the brook, before
the wilderness of Jerial. You shall not need to fight in
this battle. Set yourself, stand you still,
and see the salvation of the Lord. Here, O Judah and Jerusalem,
fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow, go out against them,
for the Lord will be with you. How do we know Jehoshaphat believed
the word of the Lord? Because he went out against them. The next day he went out against
them. Verse 20, And you cannot help
but notice this, that The battle was given, the victory, I should
say, was given to them when they began to sing and praise the
Lord. 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 you inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God,
so shall you be established. believe his prophets, so shall
you prosper. And when he had consulted with
the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that they
should praise the beauty of holiness as they went out before the army,
and say, Praise the Lord, for his mercy endureth forever. What to do when you don't know
what to do? Well, we have this example. Keep
your eyes upon him. Isn't that what the Apostle tells
us in the New Testament? Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. When Peter got out of the ship
that night and started walking on the water, he continued to
walk as long as his eyes were upon Christ. But when he took
his eyes off him, he began to sink. looking unto Jesus to meet all
of our needs, both spiritual, emotional, and physical. as the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians,
now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above
all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in
us. I pray the Lord would bless this
word to all of us here tonight. We're going to sing a final hymn,
number 279. I hope that's a blessing, pray
it's a blessing, a help to all of us tonight. Number 279.