Episode Transcript
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Maybe seated. Let's turn our attention
this evening to second chronicles, Chapter Twenty
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one. Second Chronicles Chapter Twenty one
after the reign of a couple relatively successful
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and great kings in Israel, and
we now read of the reign of one
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of their sons, Jehoram, who
is disgraceful, I'm despicable, a not
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a model in any way to be
followed. And these are some of the
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things that will consider as we consider
the Kingdom of God, as God has
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established it and has been revealing it
in history and has revealed it now in
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Christ. Well, let's hear God's
Word From Second Chronicles Chapter Twenty one.
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Jehosha fat slept with his father's and
was buried with his fathers in the city
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of David, and Jehoram, his
son, reigned in his place. He
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had brothers, the sons of Jehoshah
fat, Ozariah, Jeheliel Zechariah, Azariah,
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Michael and Chefetil. All these were
sons of Jehosha fat, King of
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Israel. Their father gave them great
gifts of silver, gold and valuable possessions,
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together with fortified cities in Judah.
But he gave the kingdom to Jehoram
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because he was the firstborn. When
jehoram assent had ascended the throne of his
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father and was established, he killed
all his brothers with the sword and also
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some of the princes of Israel.
Jehoram was thirty two years old when he
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became king, and he reigned eight
years in Jerusalem, and he walked in
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the way of the kings of Israel, as the House of Ahab had done,
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for the daughter of Ahab was his
wife, and he did what was
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evil in the side of the Lord. Yet the Lord was not willing to
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destroy the House of David Because of
the covenant that he had made with David
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and since he had promised to give
a lamp to him and to his sons
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forever. In his days, Edom
revolted from the rule of Judah and set
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up a king of their own.
Then Jehoram passed over with his commanders and
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all his chariots, and he rose
by night and struck the Edomites who had
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surrounded him and his chariot commanders.
So Edom revolted from the rule of Judah
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to this day. At that time, Leibna also revolted from his rule because
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he had forsaken the Lord, the
God of his father's moreover, he made
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high places in the hill country of
Judah and led the inhabitants of Jerusalem into
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hordem and made Judah go astray.
In a letter came to him from Elijah,
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the Prophet, saying thus says the
Lord, the God of David,
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your father, because you have not
walked in the ways of Jehosha fat your
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father, or in the ways of
ASA, King of Judah, but I
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walked in the way of the kings
of Israel and have enticed Judah and the
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inhabitants of Jerusalem into Hordem, as
the House of Ahab led Israel into hordem.
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And also you have killed your brothers
of your father's house, who were
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better than yourself. Behold, the
Lord will bring a great plague on your
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people, your children, your wives
and all your possessions, and you yourself
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will have a severe sickness, with
a disease of your bowels, until your
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bowels come out because of the disease
day by day. And the Lord stirred
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up against Jehoram the anger of the
Philistines and of the Arabians who are near
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the Ethiopians and they came up against
Judah and invaded it and carried away all
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the possessions they found that belonged to
the king's house and also his sons and
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his wives, so that no son
was left to him except Jehoah has,
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his youngest son. And after all
this, the Lord struck him with the
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struck him in his bowels with an
incurable disease. In the course of time,
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the end of two years, his
bowels came out because of the disease
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and he died in great agony.
His people made no fire in his honor,
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like the fires made for his father's. He was thirty two years old
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when he began to reign and he
reigned eight years in Jerusalem and he departed
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with no one's regret. They buried
him in the city of David, but
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not in the tombs of the Kings. You get a real sense of what
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the Chronicler is doing here through all
these comparisons that he sets up in second
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chronicles twenty one. Over and over
and again, this word or this person,
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David keeps coming up. And did
you notice that? How many times,
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in many ways where you think it
could have just as easily been left
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out, but and the story would
have still made sense. But yet the
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chronicler continues to tie everything that's happening
here back to David, and not just
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to David, but also the kings
that have most recently come before Jehoram,
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his father Jehosha Fat, and before
Him Asa. In all of this,
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Jehosha fat is being compared, he
is being compared here to these kings who
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have gone before him, who have
followed after the ways of David, this
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paradigm of what a Godly King ought
to be, and at every point Jehoam
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fails. He fails so completely and
so miserably. In fact, instead of
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being characterized with his father David,
or even Jehoshah fat or even Asa,
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he's characterized as one of the kings
of Israel with a have, this terrible,
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rotten king who did terrible did horrible
things, who fought against the Lord,
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who established all kinds of idolatry and
wickedness in Israel. Judah was supposed
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to be the place of safety,
Judah was supposed to be the place of
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holiness, and instead we see a
Libna leaving the house of Judah because it's
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so bad. They're a kind of
revolt or rebellion, not usurping the king,
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but just I'm getting out of here, it's so bad God's rule in
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this we see always a continues on. There are always remnants that remain,
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and that is good news for us. But to go back to David,
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it's also connected with that promise.
The Lord says this in Verse Seven.
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Despite all of these things and despite
all these horrors that come upon Jehoram,
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yet the Lord was not willing to
destroy the House of David Because of the
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covenant that he had made with David
and since he had promised to give a
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lamp to him and to his son's
forever. It's not an accident that there
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was one son left to Jehoram when
his enemies came and took away all of
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his possessions and his wives and his
sons. They didn't leave one by accident.
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God preserved this child. He desired
that the kingdom would go on.
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And there are other ways that this
comes out as well. But let's step
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back a minute and remember the strong
foundation in which Jehoram began his work as
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a king. It was a very
strong foundation. Jehoshah had an asa before
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him had made great reforms in Israel. They had established prophets and teachers throughout
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the land. They had put down
idols, they had routed kings, they
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had established great peace throughout. This, of course, wasn't just their work.
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This was the blessing of God.
Remember, all the way back to
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Deuteronomy, God established his covenant with
his people. He promised them that if
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they obeyed and if they followed after
him, he would blow us them with
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land and possessions, with with growing
families and rich fields and harvests and cattle,
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safety from their enemies, union with
one another, everything that you would
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want in a nation. God promised
to to pour out on them abundantly as
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they followed after him. But he
also warned them if you don't follow after
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me, if you run after other
gods, if you whore after idols of
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your own making, if you reject
my kingship, then I will reject you.
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When God pours out his wrath on
Jehoram and on Jehoram's people, he
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is not just being vindictive or mean
hearted. He is fulfilling his word.
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He is punishing sin and their rebellion
against him as their king. Jehoram however,
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he begins in this such a great
place, Asa and Jehosha fat having
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gone before him and established this good
line. The story even starts out so
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well. In Second Chronicles Twenty one, we read that as Jehosha fat died,
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he had these sons and to these
sons he blessed them, he gave
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them great gifts. Of this is
verse three, of Silver, of gold,
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valuable, Thou lable possessions, together
with fortified cities in Judam. This
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is a good situation, right.
They have wealth, they have power,
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they're not under attack, they have
peace with their their enemies, they have
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security within the land, union with
one another. But what does Jehosha fat
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do with this? We says very
clearly verse four. When he ascended the
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throne of his father and was established
in it, he kills all of his
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brothers. This is not just a
wicked act, it's a faithless act.
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It's an act that doesn't trust the
Lord to establish him and keep him secure
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and strong as a king. It's
an act that a faithless act, that
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does not trust God, it does
not trust his will, but seeks to
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establish, by his own power and
his own strength, through wicked ends,
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his right and terign and his length
of his reign. He tries to eliminate
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all possible threats to him, forgetting
that the only threat to him is the
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Lord himself, the Lord whom he
should fear and tremble at. This is,
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of course, the reveals to us
the great sinfulness of mankind. It's
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hard to imagine in one and how
Jehorem could have not known this lesson.
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His father, just before him,
had seen in very striking examples how,
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when he would follow the Lord,
Trust Him, God would work mighty miracles
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to protect him and establish him.
But when he ran to the King of
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Israel, when he did evil things, the kingdom fell apart. You,
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we wonder. I wonder. I
think to myself, how could Jehoram have
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not understood this? He's seen it
over and over again. It's recorded in
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his own family's history. But of
course I understand why, and we all
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do. The Lord teaches us these
lessons, he shows us these things.
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We have them here in scripture,
just like jehoream did. And yet we
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fall away, don't we? We
fall after the sinful things. We try
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to secure power and and our position
in our place through any means possible.
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Other than trusting in the Lord.
We want to establish our own kingdoms and
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our own ways instead of trusting in
him. Well, when Jehoram does all
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of this and does these evil things
in this short period of time, to
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presidential terms in US terminology, eight
years. In eight years, he sort
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of decimates everything. In setting up
the high places, he establishes false worship
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in Israel, these high places being
places of idolatry and worship of other gods.
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Edom revolts, libna separates. Other
enemies come up against him, the
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Philistines in particular, the Arabians as
well. He aligns himself and marries with
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Ahab's family. All of these things, on such evil things, and you
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see his kingdom of being torn apart. God warns him against this and then
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brings this great plague upon him and
his people. The consequences for disobedience are
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all over the place in the scripture. This is something we can never forget.
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We must never forget, because it's
a constant theme. When we go
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against the Lord, when we fight
against him and his kingdom, he doesn't
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ignore these things, he doesn't sweep
them under those under the rug. And
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here this king who was called to
obey, who is called to protect,
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who is called to mediate and rule
on God's behalf in this kingdom. When
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he acts and rebels against the Lord, the Lord brings his wrath upon him.
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And, as we read in verse
twelve, because you have not walked
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in the ways of Jehoshaphat, your
father, or in the ways of Asa,
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the king of Judah, but have
walked in the way of the king
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of kings of Israel, and if
enticed Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem into
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hordem, as of that as the
House of Ahab led Israel into Hordem,
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and also if you killed your brothers, who are better than yourself, the
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Lord will bring a great plague on
your people, your children, your wives
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and all your possessions, and you
yourself will have a severe sickness, with
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a disease of your bowels until your
bowels come out because of the disease.
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Day by day, over the course
of two years, Jehoram would suffer and
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suffer and suffer in great agony until
he died. Sadly, we never read
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a single line of Repentance. We
never read a single line of him who
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were calling out to the Lord in
hope or in pleading for mercy. Kings
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before him had done terrible things,
had made bad choices, false alliances,
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had fallen into great sins. But
the godly kings who had come before him
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turn to the Lord that they had
rebelled against, turn to the one whom
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they had as sinned against, and
they pleaded him from mercy, for forgiveness,
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for help, for supply in their
needs, and in every case God
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answered their prayers. This is yet
another lesson that Jehoram did not learn,
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another lesson that he refused to listen
to. Not a word here of him
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calling out, not a word here
of him hoping or wishing or trying to
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do anything different. Instead, he
simply presses on, and his humiliation is
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not only made evident in the way
that he died, but even after his
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death, his people made no fire
in his honor, like the fires made
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for his father's. He departed with
no one's regret. Good riddeness, they
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said of Jehoram. They buried him
in the city of David, but not
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in the tombs of the king's what
are we to learn as we study Jehoram,
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this horrible man? I think one
obvious lesson is that coming from a
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good family, me, even a
covenant family, even belonging to this in
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a very direct way, to the
Covenant with David, did not guarantee success.
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Sin, pride, rejection of the
Lord, these things can topple in
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adulthood all that is given in childhood. This is a lesson for all of
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us to pay attention to, no
matter where it is that God began to
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richly pour out his blessings on us, whether that was from our very infancy
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or even later in life. What
will we do with those gifts, the
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grace of hearing his word, the
opportunity to belong to his church, to
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hear his promises, to know his
law, to be promised His forgiveness?
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What choices will we make? Will
we take them and embrace them by faith?
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Will we live our lives and confidence
of God and his kingdom that he's
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established in Jesus? Or we will? Or will we despise him and turn
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from the word of the Lord,
turning to other gods? Will we,
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who have heard and tasted of the
good things of God, desire evil more
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than good, trust ourselves instead of
him? If so, then Jehoram's life
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is a great warning to us.
It's a warning that those who depart from
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the Lord, those who rebel against
him and leave him, will law,
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will remain and find themselves in darkness. If you find yourself even now experiencing
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great aspects of the Lord's discipline because
of your sin, and you're hearing the
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message that he calls you to repentance, that he promises you life and blessing
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in him, then know that you
are being blessed even now, that your
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experience and trials under the discipline hand
of the Lord can be turned for good,
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can be made into repentance. But
know also that if, like Jehoram,
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you refuse and your you refuse to
listen and you remain in your blindness,
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then you will end in a much
worse place than he did, that
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as we read of it here,
in his time on earth, because the
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judgment of God and the wrath of
God does not continue just while we are
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alive or even a little bit in
the memories of people after our death.
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But Jesus promises us that those who
rebel against him, those who sin and
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do not turn in repentance and will
suffer a life of everlasting torment, of
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everlasting disgrace and horrors and agonies.
JEHORAM's life must be a warning to us
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of both of what God requires and
of the promises that he makes to us
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to turn to him when we fail
to meet his demands. That brings us
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to a second lesson that we learn
from Jehoram's life, and that is this,
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that the Lord God is true to
his covenant. And like Jehoram and
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like a lot of people, all
of us who lie and are deceptive from
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time to time at least, if
not in our whole lives, the Lord
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is always, always, true.
He never lies, he never departs from
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his word, he always does what
he says he will do. Now,
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of course, this holds great threat
for those who rebel against God, those
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who depart from him. To know
that the Lord will judge and will take
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vengeance on those who fight against him
is a threat, it is a promise.
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The Lord's keeping of his covenant and
reminds us of this. But that
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the Lord is true to his covenant
also reminds us that his promise that all
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who cling to him by faith will
be saved is absolutely true. It's as
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true as his justice is. For
some period reason, we often doubt this.
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Many people are willing to recognize that
God is just, that is God
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is good and that that is sure
that one day we are all going to
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get what's coming to us, one
way or another. That many people can
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and will affirm. But that same
Lord who has promised Justice has also promised
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great forgiveness and repentance. He has
promised to David that he would establish a
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king on his throne, a light
and a lamp that would never be snuffed
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out. This was his promise,
and even in the life of Jehoram,
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this wicked king, we see the
promise of the Lord continuing on, and
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that's a promise, of course,
that is made even more sure and brought
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to completion in Jesus. In all
of the ways that Jeh Ram is a
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terrible king, a despicable king,
of rotten king, Jesus is wonderful.
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He comes in as the great son
of David and he is good in every
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way, upright in every way,
perfect in every way. This is God's
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answer to promise and in the same
way that Jehoram p plunged all of his
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people into plague and darkness and idolatry, Jesus does the converse. He lifts
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all of us up to godliness and
true worship and and goodness and greatness.
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Psalm Twenty Five Eight says good and
upright is the Lord. Psalm thirty four
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eight says taste and see that the
Lord is good. Blessed is the man
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who trusts in him. Jehoram is
terrible, he is not good and not
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to be trusted in Jesus, however, is the ultimate good, the ultimate
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promise, and everyone who trusts in
him is not plagued but blessed. The
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greatness of Jesus is on display in
a thousand ways throughout scripture. The psalms
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declare it in many ways. Consider
what we read earlier from Psalm one hundred
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and forty five. The Lord Is
Gracious and merciful, slow to anger and
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abounding steadfast love. The Lord is
good to all and his mercy is over
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all that he has made. And
then notice the works that it speaks about
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his kingdom, this kingdom that was
failing in a way under Jehoram but ultimately
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upheld and and strengthened by God.
In some one for eleven it says,
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they shall speak of the glory of
Your Kingdom and tell of your power,
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to make known to the children of
Man Your Mighty deeds and the glorious splendor
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of Your Kingdom. Your Kingdom is
an everlasting kingdom and your dominion endures throughout
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all generations. This is a promise
that seemed very much to be under threat
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with Jehoram. The Enduring Kingdom of
God did not seem to be the case.
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LIBNA separating, other parts of Judah
are separating, Israel has already separated.
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Everything seems to be falling apart,
but the very thing that Jehoram refused
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to recognize was the thing that was
still going on. God was still sovereign,
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God was still good, God was
still in control, God was good,
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God was great. And when Jesus
is born into the world, all
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of this goodness and this greatness comes
on display. As he casts out demons
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we read earlier, and establish his
kingdom, his kingdom, as he heals
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the blind, as he makes the
lame walk, as he feeds the hungry
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and gives grace to the poor.
Jesus establishes this wonderful kingdom, a good
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kingdom, a great kingdom and,
praise be to God, a gracious kingdom.
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We can belong to the Kingdom of
God because of the forgiveness and promises
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that he offers to us in Christ. I want to read to you a
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verse that some verses that we heard
earlier the week and the week during our
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devotion on Wednesday. It's comes from
Titus Chapter Three. Paul writes to titus.
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He says, for we ourselves were
once foolish, disobedient, let us
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stray, slaves of various passions and
pleasures, passing our days in malice and
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envy, hated by others and hating
one another. We are a bunch of
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Jaho rooms, in other words.
But when the goodness, not the evil,
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but the goodness and loving kindness of
God, our Savior, appeared?
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How did it appear in Jesus,
who's born into the world to bring forth
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the Kingdom of God we read?
Paul says that he saved us not because
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of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy,
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by the washing of regeneration and the
renewal of the Holy Spirit whom he poured
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out on US richly through Jesus,
Christ, our Savior, so that,
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being justified by His grace, we
might become heirs according to the hope of
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eternal life. You see, just
as Jehosha fat poured out great, great
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riches and blessings on his son's,
God also has poured out great blessings and
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riches on us, his sons.
Through Jesus Christ, through him, God
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has established a kingdom. He has
taken what Jehoram was ruining and bringing to
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completion, or it was bringing to
disintegration. What he was ruining, what
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mankind has always been ruining, what
sin always tears apart, and he brought
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it together, he established it strong, he made it, as we read
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in Psalm, one hundred and forty
five, everlasting. This means that we
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have in our savior a king worthy
of the Kingdom of God. And because
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is he's worthy in this way,
not only as a son of David but
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also as the soven of God,
we can have absolute confidence that we will
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never fail as long as we are
in him. If your faith is in
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Jesus, you never need to worry
that he's going to turn out to be
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a JEHORAH. You never need to
worry that at the eleventh hour, Jesus
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might go astray and lead us all
into idolatry, because he's not just a
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human king, he is God himself. We don't just follow after him,
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in other words, we worship him, we praise him, we lift up
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his name and as a king who
is not only worthy but of all praise
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and honor, but who is also
right and everything that he does good and
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everything that he does successful in everything
that he does. This teaches us that
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we don't need to we don't need
to worry either about Jesus leading US astray,
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but about any other king or person
that would come into our lives and
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seek to do us harm. In
Christ we have a king that not only
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rules well, but is secured our
salvation forever. The saints in Leibna our
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good example to us, people that
saw and recognize that this king was not
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from the Lord, was not leading
in the ways of the Lord. But
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they didn't lose heart, they didn't
lose faith, they didn't say, well,
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guess the Kingdom of God is all
over now. They trusted still in
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God that he would remain true to
his promises to David, and we should
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have that same kind of faith,
knowing who God is, knowing what he
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has done. In Jesus, we
never need to doubt, we never need
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to worry. We can completely and
always trust in Jesus Reign. Where Jotham's
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reign brought disease and disgrace, Jesus's
reign is eternally present, eternally present,
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but pleasant also and and full of
grace. and Jesus we have every blessing
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that we could ever want, every
security that we could ever need. So
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trust in him, lean on him
and when there's darkness around you, in
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Evil and idolatry, and you worry
and you fear, fear not, for
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God has given you a king that
is above all. Let's pray and ask
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that God would establish us very strong
in Him
