Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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Well, if you have your bibles, you can turn to second chronicles,
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Chapter Twenty versus thirty one through thirty
seven, or you can perk up your
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ears and listen carefully. Second Chronicles
Twenty versus thirty one through the end of
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the chapter. This, by the
way, ends the section here of Jehoshah
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fat's reign. So second chronicles twenty, verse Thirty One. Thus Jehosha fat
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reigned over Judah. He was thirty
five years old when he began to reign
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and he reigned at twenty five years
in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azuba,
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the daughter of Shulhee. He walked
in the way of Asa, his
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father, and did not turn aside
from it, doing what was right in
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the side of the Lord. The
high places, however, were not taken
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away. The people had not yet
set their hearts upon the god of their
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fathers. Now, the rest of
the acts of Jehosha fat, from the
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first, from first to last,
are written in the chronicles Jehu the son
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of Hanani, which are recorded in
the book of the Kings of Israel.
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After this, Jehosha fat, King
of Judah, joined with a Hasiah,
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King of Israel, who acted wickedly. He joined him in building ships to
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go to Tarshish, and they built
ship and they built the ships and as
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Eon Geber then Eliezer, the son
of Dotovoo Vahoo of Marsha prophesied against Jehosha
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fat, saying because you have joined
with a Hasaiah, the Lord will destroy
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what you have made. And the
ships were wrecked and we're not able to
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go to tarshish. As I mentioned, we come to the end of the
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chroniclers, chronicling of the reign of
King Jehoshah Fat. He gives us a
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sort of summary in versus thirty one
through thirty three and then ties it up
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in a sort of neat bow and
thirty four and then all of a sudden,
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there he sort of starts again,
doesn't he adds one more story,
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one more explanation of of his reign. It seems a sort of odd,
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at least to me. It feels
out of place, but of course it
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isn't. God has written this book
and has arranged it perfectly through this his
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servant, and there is a perhaps
a reason for it, I which I
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want to suggest to you. But
first let's remember what has happened, what
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we've learned about Jehosha fat's life,
review sort of from a big picture perspective,
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what it is this presentation we've had
of this particular reign of this king,
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because it comes to us as a
whole, even though we've taken it
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in parts, in these various scenes
and episodes of his life and his or
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his reign, but it comes to
us as a whole and gives us,
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I think, a lesson that's important
for us to learn as a whole.
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So let's review Jehosha fats life.
When we start back, we have to
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go back to a chapter, seventeen. He follows the reign of his father,
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King Asa, who's mentioned at the
end of Jehoshah fat's life. In
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the first part of the story of
Jehoshah Fat, we read that he was
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a good king. Ja Follow.
Jehoshah fat was someone who strengthened himself against
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Israel. You remember that the Kingdom
of Israel was its name in the north
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and the Kingdom of Judah was in
the south. Israel had defected from the
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Lord from Yahwei, had established its
own priests, its own system of worship,
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had left the covenant. God's work
was continuing on in Judah, in
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the south, under Jehoshah Fat.
And so they find themselves at this unfortunate
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time where Israel's the enemy, and
at the very beginning of Jehoshah fat's reign,
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we read that he strengthens himself and
his country against Israel, and it
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works well. We also read that
he's not only fortifying the cities and the
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various fortresses, but he's also fortifying
the souls and resolve of his people.
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He spreads the teaching of the word
of God. He establishes the Covenant and
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its place in the life of his
people. He sends out a teachers and
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desires that in every place it would
be taught and and read. But as
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we move on in Jehoshah fat's life, we read of an unfortunate event.
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This comes, I believe, in
chapter eighteen. Right in chapter eighteen,
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verse one, we read now Jehoshah
fat had great riches and honor and he
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made a marriage alliance with Ahab.
Now this is a problem and a little
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bit contrary to what we read in
the first chapter, because a have was
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the king of Israel, this very
country, and King in which he was
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strengthening himself against and now he's entering
into a marriage alliance. Typically, we
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think of marriage alliances, or marriage
as we call it, as being something
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that's based on love and commitment.
Often, though, in politics now and
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in the ancient world, it was
based more on power, and it seems
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that this is what got to Jehoshah
hat. He had strengthened his country,
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he had done well, he had
riches, he had honor and now it
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was time to grow and so he
makes this marriage alliance with Israel. He
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makes this alliance to strengthen his power
and allies himself. Allies himself with one
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of the most wicked kings Israel will
ever know. Good King Jehoshah fat and
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King Ahab married in a sense.
Ahab, we read in the rest of
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that chapter, pushes him to go
to war. He wants to go fight
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these various battles. And Ah,
I'm sorry, Jehoshah fat is hesitant.
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I'm good. King Jeoshah fat is
feeling a little uncomfortable with the plan,
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and so he says, let's call
a prophet, let's find out what God
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has to say about this. And
so they call a bunch of prophets,
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you remember, and they all say
go, Ahab, go to battle,
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it's going to be great and and
Jehoshah fat says, isn't there someone else
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still and they have complaints and they
bring macaiah and Machaiah says, yeah,
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it's not going to go well,
don't go, and they decide to go
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anyway. And you know what happens? AH PUSHES HIM to go to war,
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despite the word of the Prophet,
and ultimately Jehoshah fat barely makes it
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out alive. Ahab is killed and
judgment for his wickedness, God spares Jehoshah
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fat and he returns to a Jerusalem, the place where he belongs. So
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in Chapter Nineteen we read this this
verse, Verse One. Jehosha fat,
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the King of Judah, returned in
safety to his house in Jerusalem. In
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some ways I think that it's right
to read this as the Prodigal son coming
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home. He's been out making alliances
about doing battles he shouldn't have been done,
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and now we read that he returns
home. The king, Jehosha Fat,
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the King of Judah, where he
belongs, returns in safety to his
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house in Jerusalem. We see how
strongly the geography is emphasized there to remind
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us that this is where Jude Jehosha
fat belonged and he was doing the right
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thing. And this is what happens. God preserves him and again he in
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this next chapter nineteen. He strengthens
himself in his country. The people flourish,
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he establishes justice and there's some good
principles there. He calls his a
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people to courage and to confidence in
the Lord. Things are going well for
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good King Jehosha Fat, despite his
great mistake and even sins in a lot
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and making an alliance with Ahab.
Well, this faith that we have in
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chapter nineteen is then is then tested
in chapter twenty. This great multitude from
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Edom is bearing down on him and
his country and we find out that Jehosha
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fats faith is proved true. It's
a wonderful a wonderful accounts of faith,
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and I mean that in two ways. Joseph Fats faith is proved to first,
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in that it is a genuine faith. He really believes this. He
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stands in the midst of uncertainty and
and fear and danger and he remember what
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he says. He says, we
know not what to do, but our
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eyes are on you. Jeoshah fat's
faith is proved genuine. But there's another
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way that faith is proved true,
and that is the faith, the thing
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in which Jehoshah fat's faith was placed, or the one rather, in the
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in which Jehoshah fats faith was placed, was proved true. In other words,
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God and whom he was relying proved
reliable, in other words, for
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not only was Jehoshah fats faith genuine, but God, who he was trusting
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in, was genuine. And God
did exactly as he promised. He took
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care of Jehosha fat, he took
care of his people. They cried out
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to the Lord, they humbled themselves
before God and the Lord. Fought their
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enemies and of course the Lord defeated
them soundly. They didn't even lift a
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finger. They went out to battle. You remember, in worship, stand
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firm, Jehoshah fat says to his
people, hold your position and God will
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fight on your behalf, and that's
exactly what happened. So this is the
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the brings us now to the point
we come to today, the very end
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of the chroniclers chronicle of Jehoshah fat's
reign. We have this great account of
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his faithfulness and his goodness, his
humility before God, his recognition of God,
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as King, and we read in
Verse Thirty One. Thus Jehosha Fat
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Reign Dover Judah. He was thirty
five years old when he began to reign,
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and he reigned twenty five years in
Jerusalem. It described, gives his
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name of his mother, and then
says in verse thirty two, he walked
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in the way of Asa, his
father, and did not turn aside from
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it, doing what was right in
the side of the Lord. We wish
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it would end there, but it
doesn't. The chronicler goes on to say
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in verse Thirty Three. The high
places, however, were not taken away.
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The people had not yet set their
hearts upon the god of their fathers.
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That's a little bit surprising, I
think, especially after the last chapter.
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They are all the people were calling
out to God, asking for salvation,
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asking for victory, relying on him
totally for what they needed. But
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yet there was sin that remained.
High places is a euphemism or a way
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of describing these pagan worship sites that
were set up throughout Israel, places where
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people would go to worship to Astra
and other gods, and these were left.
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There was a sense, the chronicler
tells us, in which the people
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were faithful and calling out to the
Lord, and yet also a sense in
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which they had not yet set their
hearts upon the god of their fathers.
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Perhaps the situation was somewhat like we
see in the book of judges, where
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the people are calling out to the
Lord, save us, save us,
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we need you, we're desperate,
and he saves them and he rescues him,
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and then they fall right back into
the hands of foreign gods and foreign
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worship and and idolatry. They had
been rescued, but their hearts were not
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completely in the right place. Sin
Still remained, at least to some degree,
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if not a completely intact it's hard
to say exactly. But no matter
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what, we see that the grace
of God has been in place. He
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is preserved, this king and his
people, and Jehosha fat is labeled and
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and and not labeled, but characterized
as one who has done well, he
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has done right in the side of
the Lord. And then concludes in Verse
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Thirty Four. Now the rest of
the acts of Jehoshah fat are recorded here
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in this book. Again, you
would think, well, this now is
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the ending. Right, this is
the final say. But then the chronicle
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or adds one more thing after this. Jehoshah fact, King of Judah,
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joined with a Hasiah, King of
Israel. What's this doing here? He's
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not supposed to be joining with the
King of Israel. He already made that
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mistake. He saw what happened.
Ahab died and this king likewise acted wickedly.
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And here Jehosha fat is again joining
him in the building of ships to
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go to tarshish. You remember,
this is where Jonah was trying to flee
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to. Didn't make it there either. Shipwrecks and all that. We'll not
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shipwreck, I guess. But Anyway, a prophet comes to Jehosha fat and
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this time he does the opposite of
what he did before. Before he listened,
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or least sort of listened. He
told us of was. Well,
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I guess he did not. I
think of it. He didn't listen when
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he and Ahab went into battle.
He doesn't listen here either. And then
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the Lord says through his Prophet,
because you have joined a Hasiah, the
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Lord will destroy what you have made. The ships were wrecked and we're not
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able to go to tarshish. To
US least, US desert non nautical people.
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This may not seem like a big
deal to lose a ship, but
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if you think about how it's characterized
and you try to put yourself in their
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place, this likely was a big
deal. They're not just building ships.
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That's this sort of put joint political
effort that he's doing with this king.
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I'm likely this was quite a large
deal, or else they wouldn't have gone
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in and done this work together.
So not only are the ships destroyed,
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but the intentions of this alliance and
this work and all the money and resources
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and whatever went into it was was
destroyed, was taken apart by the Lord.
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So how do we characterize this ending? After an inspiring range, Jehoshah
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fats great leadership and especially in Chapter
Twenty, we come to the end of
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his life, a time to pause
and reflect on what he has done and
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the state of the people of God. And what do we find? We
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find that he was a good king, but he's certainly not perfect. The
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high places remained. We read in
Verse Thirty Three and, just in case
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you might be tempted to downplay it, the chronicler warns us of the consequences
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of this kind of compromise by telling
us this final story about an unholy alliance
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with the King of Israel that literally
ends in shipwreck. I think this,
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at least I'll suggest to you this
might be one purpose of this final story,
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one reason the chronicler adds this.
He's not just tacking it on as
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if he was a sloppy editor and
says, Oh right, I forgot one
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more thing. PS. No,
I think what he's doing is he concludes
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his story, but he doesn't allow
us to sort of skip over that high
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places part. He doesn't allow us
to say well, overall, good job,
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Jehosha fat, thumbs up. No, he tells us that there he
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reminds us of this one more story
because he wants to characterize Jehoshah fat's reign.
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Is Good, but he wants to
understand that the compromise in the sin
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that is still there will have its
consequences. It's somewhat the purpose of the
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whole book of chronicles. It's meant
to set before the people this kind of
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choice, this sort of sense of
now that you have been exiled and out
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into out of the land and been
brought back and we're reviewing your history,
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we're retelling your history. Your called
to make some decisions here. You're called
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to think about the consequences of your
actions by thinking about the past, consequences
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of your past kings. God is
telling Israel think about your history, know
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it, understand it and remember that
the choices that you make have consequences us.
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I think this tells us and teaches
us a very important lesson. The
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story of Jehoshah Fat's life is one
of faithfulness, a great measure of that
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faithfulness being on Jehoshah fat side and
a perfect faithfulness on God's side. But
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we miss the point of Jehoshah fat
story if we see him as a hero,
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as a good king, apart from
God's constant guidance, protection and grace,
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if we sort of think of God
and Jehoshah Fat's life is a kind
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of added value or a or a
bonus right that Jehoshah fat gets from time
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to time, we really miss the
point of the story, and I think
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that's when reason, the Chronicler,
adds this on the end, because it
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forces us not to miss that point. We cannot walk away without realizing the
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supremacy of God, even over this
generally good king. Jehoshah fat is not
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ultimately the hero of the story.
It is God, and this is important
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because because God is teaching us that, apart from him, apart from his
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faithfulness, our lives, the lives
of those who lead us, end in
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shipwreck. They are destroyed in disaster, in judgment. Sometimes people like to
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think of God as a kind of
optional add on for our life, a
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good thing. You know, that's
nice to have. I'm good and having
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God in my life makes me great. This kind of general happy perception of
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ourselves with God sort of added on
as a as a plus, as a
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bonus. My life is good,
but you know, God really makes it
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better, as if God were like
having a company car or a Christmas bonus.
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God is not like that. God
is more like the air that we
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breathe, the ground that we walk
on, the food that we eat.
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With him, we live, without
him, we die. Jeoshah fats life
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reminds us of this, and it's
a great picture of this. COMPARE HIM
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TO AHAB or to eat them,
or to a Hasaiah. Under one king,
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under Jehoshah Fat, for example,
you are safe, you are secure
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under a guy like a have despite
his great power, despite as many armies,
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all the signs pointing to victory,
you are being led to your death.
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JEHOSHAHATS life teaches us. It pictures
for us God as our king.
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We need a king who is a
great ruler, who is brings us safety,
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brings us life. But of course, with all of Jehoshah fhat's faults,
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to only follow him or to follow
him as of course, no guarantee
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of perfect safety, of complete joy
or something as grand as eternal life.
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JEOSHAPHAT was a good king, but
that's it, and he made some very
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big mistakes, as we all do. What jehoshaphats life teaches us is that
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we ultimately need a king who is
God himself if we are to have the
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kind of life that God wants for
his people, a happy life, a
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holy life, an eternal life.
We cannot have it through sinful men.
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We cannot have it no matter how
good they are, no matter how wise
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they are, no matter how well
they follow after the Lord. And if
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we can't have it of even the
greatest men who have ever lived, we
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certainly can't have it in ourselves,
who have the same sins and the same
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problems, in the same compromise and
the same temptations that even the greatest of
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us do. So we are left
with a question with the life of Jehoshah
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fat. How can we know the
god of Jehoshah Fat? How can we
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live under his reign? How can
we have him in the way that we
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need? Well, one sense,
we can't. We can't go grab God,
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we can't go have God. He
doesn't come to us on our terms.
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We can't have him in our way. As I've said several times now,
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he's not a bonus, he's not
something we add on to our lives,
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but we can have him in the
way that he gives himself to us.
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He did this when he gave us
Jesus, the Dividitt King, to
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come after David, after Jehoshah fat, to sit on this great throne of
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God, to rule over his people. Jesus, as God and man,
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came as a king in order to
surpass Jehoshah fat. It's one way to
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characterize what he came to do.
He came to take Jehoshah fat's kingdom and
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just rise far above it, not
just quand sitatively above it, but qualitatively
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above it, an entirely different kingship
and eternal kingship and everlasting kingship, one
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that not only brings us salvation from
earthly temporal enemies, but from death itself,
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from the pains of Hell Forever,
from the judgment of God. And
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because this is not us going out
and putting God onto our lives as an
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added benefit, but God coming into
our lives and rescuing us. It changes
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things and it means that we who
are in Jesus Christ know that we have
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eternal life, the light of God, the joy of Salvation, protection,
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guidance, the fortress that is God. That's who we have in him,
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and he can do all these things
for us. He can save us in
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this way because he is God.
He can do the thing that no merely
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human king, no sinful king,
could ever do. Jesus could be perfect
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in a way Jehosha fat never was, because he was divine. Jesus could
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do something that Jehoshaphat never did,
and that he didn't only teach the law,
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but he forgave our sins and made
our hearts obedient by his spirit to
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the law. And all this he
does completely imperfect by his sacrifice for sins.
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He dies, the death of Ahab
that we deserved so that we can
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live the life of Jehoshah fat that
he earns for us, except to in
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an unimaginably eternal degree, Jesus,
through his obedience and his death, establishes
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in a kingdom that so far exceeds
Jehoshah Fat. We can hardly imagine it,
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but we can certainly compare it to
the perfect righteousness that he has that
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so far exceeds any kind of relative
goodness that Jehoshaphat has. JEHOSHAT's life,
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in other words, teaches us about
the strength and the faithfulness and the constant
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grace of our God, who lived
and died for us to give us a
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kingdom by His grace. So do
you know this king is an important question.
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Do you know Jesus as he is
told, as we learn of him
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in scripture? I certainly hope so, given all he is given, all
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that he came to do, all
that he promises to give to us when
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we repent and believe on him.
But if you don't know him, if
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you don't believe him, it's time
to consider your life. It's time to
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think deeply about your sinful hearts,
your proclivity to love yourself the way in
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which you're controlled by your desires,
your constant, constant, unending needs and
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your constant, constant uninability to meet
them. This is our life apart from
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God. You have to take that
seriously. But it's also time to consider
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what God promises to do for those
who reject the life of Ahab to,
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who reject the rejection of God and
instead turn in repentance and faith toward God.
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Instead of death and fire and eternal
judgment, we are given life and
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peace and safety and security here and
now, in our lives and forever.
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To live apart from Jesus means to
live apart from God, as we read
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earlier in Matthew. In Matthew Eleven, Jesus says people know the father through
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me. You must know Jesus.
He's not going to settle to be a
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part of your life like make up
on a dead person. In Jesus,
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God is our life. He is
our life like resurrection from the dead.
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Jehoshaphat was a good king whom God
used to teach us of, the perfect
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king, of the final king.
There's no other king coming, there's no
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one else to wait for. So
I called you repent of your sins,
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believe in King Jesus now and know
that you will be saved. Let us
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pray our father, you, your
grace and your mercy is outstanding.
