Jehoshaphat

February 21, 2021

Randy Hageman

What establishes our

for right living and decision making?

Our culture has increasingly told us there are no

truths – everything’s

Reveal Answer

.

In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. —Judges 21:25 (NLT)

There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death. —Proverbs 14:12 (NIV11)

To say there is no absolute truth is an absolute. All people make truth claims—only difference is between those who know and those who don’t. —Pastor Tim Keller

Jesus: … ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ —John 14:6 (NIV11)

Jesus made an incredible claim, unless you can back it up, and he did, by

his death and resurrection and then

Reveal Answer

exactly what he said he would do.

… David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, Asa the father of Jehoshaphat —Matthew 1:6-8 (NIV11)

The LORD was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the ways of his father David before him. He did not consult the Baals but sought the God of his father and followed his commands rather than the practices of Israel. The LORD established the kingdom under his control; and all Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat, so that he had great wealth and honor. His heart was devoted to the ways of the LORD; furthermore, he removed the high places and the Asherah poles from Judah. —2 Chronicles 17:3-6 (NIV11)

Jehoshaphat intentionally worked to help everyone

the LORD better and turn away from other pagan gods.

The next couple of chapters show us that

, including faithful followers, can listen to the wrong voices and get sidetracked in their journey of faith.

Now Jehoshaphat had great wealth and honor, and he allied himself with Ahab by marriage. —2 Chronicles 18:1 (NIV11)

Ahab was

of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him. —1 Kings 16:30-33 (NIV11)

Ahab king of Israel asked Jehoshaphat king of Judah, ‘Will you go with me against Ramoth Gilead?’ Jehoshaphat replied, ‘I am as you are, and my people as your people; we will join you in the war.’ —2 Chronicles 18:3 (NIV11)

Ramoth Gilead was a key

center on the Kings Highway, connecting northern and eastern Mesopotamia with the coastal trading powers.

But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, ‘First seek the counsel of the LORD.’ So the king of Israel brought together the prophets—four hundred men—and asked them, ‘Shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I not?’ ‘Go,’ they answered, ‘for God will give it into the king’s hand.’ —2 Chronicles 18:4-5 (NIV11)

But Jehoshaphat asked, ‘Is there no longer a prophet of the LORD here whom we can inquire of?’ —2 Chronicles 18:6 (NIV11)

It wasn’t that Ahab didn’t believe in God, but he also believed in other

and worshipped them.

The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, ‘There is still one prophet through whom we can inquire of the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.’ ‘The king should not say such a thing,’ Jehoshaphat replied. —2 Chronicles 18:7 (NIV11)

Ahab wanted a god who told him what he

to hear, versus the

Reveal Answer

.

For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. —2 Timothy 4:3 (NLT)

Sooner or later a

always falls in on itself, usually, making things worse.

…for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. —Acts 20:27 (ESV)

‘Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.’ —Matthew 7:24-27 (NIV11)

The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, ‘Look, the other prophets without exception are predicting success for the king. Let your word agree with theirs, and speak favorably.’ But Micaiah said, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, I can tell him only what my God says.’ —2 Chronicles 18:12-13 (NIV11)

Then Micaiah answered, ‘I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the LORD said, “These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.”’ —2 Chronicles 18:16 (NIV11)

‘… “This is what the king says: Put this fellow in prison and give him nothing but bread and water until I return safely.” Micaiah declared, ‘If you ever return safely, the LORD has not spoken through me.’ Then he added, ‘Mark my words, all you people!’ —2 Chronicles 18:26-27 (NIV11)

So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead. —2 Chronicles 18:28 (NIV11)

It’s hard to understand why this godly king went along with Ahab, except we have to realize that

of us can be caught up in hearing what we want to hear.

But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the breastplate and the scale armor. The king told the chariot driver, ‘Wheel around and get me out of the fighting. I’ve been wounded.’ All day long the battle raged, and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot facing the Arameans until evening. Then at sunset he died. —2 Chronicles 18:33-34 (NIV11)

When Jehoshaphat returned to Jerusalem, likely knowing he hadn’t followed the Lord God’s leading, he was confronted by another

of the Lord.

Jehu the seer, the son of Hanani, went out to meet him and said to the king, ‘Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, the wrath of the LORD is on you. There is, however, some good in you, for you have rid the land of the Asherah poles and have set your heart on seeking God.’ —2 Chronicles 19:2-3 (NIV11)

Jehoshaphat messed up, but God could still

him because he still set his “heart on seeking God.”

Because he recognized that he had strayed from God’s Word, he redoubled his efforts to

God’s Word with the people of Judah, and this time,

Reveal Answer

also went out with them.

Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and turned them back to the LORD, the God of their ancestors. —2 Chronicles 19:4 (NIV11)

Two important ways we move forward in a world that’s often apathetic to God:

1. We need God’s

to continue to ground us in His truth.

2. We need God’s

to both encourage us and confront us with God’s truth when we become enamored with the ways of this world.

Next Week: Hezekiah