Jehoshaphat: A Good Man Who Sat With the Wicked

But but then we do see that Ahab did repent, he did have a prayer of repentance to God. So something happened prior to this event where he got some things right with god but maybe it didn’t go all the way if if maybe that’s one way we can look at it but then on the other side of of King Ahab’s life, you know, set right next to Ahab is Jehoshaphat.

And Jehoshaphat was the exact opposite of Ahab. And the Lord puts them together because what you have is in these in these several chapters, you have an interaction between Ahab and Jehoshaphat is I think, very instructive, at least it’s been instructive to me and I hope it will be to you. And so in chapter 17 in verse number one, if you’ll look at that, the Bible says this, and Jehoshaphat his 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. And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David and sought not unto Balaam. Let’s pray together. Our Lord, once again, we come to you now in the name of Christ and we ask you Lord to please strengthen us to understand the scripture.

Help us to see the truths and principles taught in this passage of scripture that we might grow as believers. And Lord, that we know that many times we find ourselves in association with the Ahabs of this world. And Lord, we want though to associate with them in a way that’s right in Your sight. And so, want to look at this example and we ask You to lead us, lead me as I try to help and instruct Your people, but Lord, lead also Your people, all of us, as we listen to the Word, that our hearts might receive it with meekness and fear.

And Lord, that we might have the character in us, that You might put the character in us that is the way that You would have us to be, the way that Jehoshaphat really did not have.

And so Lord, guide our study this morning, we pray in Jesus name, amen. So you can see in verse number three, Jehoshaphat, and I just wanna say this, whatever negative thing I say about Jehoshaphat, I don’t mean to take away from the good character of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat stands out. He is a he is one of the high points. You know, you’ve got Jehoshaphat, you’ve got Hezekiah. I mean, you really... David, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, really, I mean, there may might be one other one in the kings of Judah who lived for god and and of course, David is the standard, the human standard anyway. In verse number three, the Bible says, and the lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the first ways of David, of his father David and sought not unto Balaam. And so, Jehoshaphat stands in the history of the kings, he stands out. He is a man who like the example of David was a man who had a heart and a walk with God.

And so nothing I say about Jehoshaphat today is intended to detract from that fact. In fact, that’s part of the whole story. That’s part of the the reality of this man, this man of god, Jehoshaphat, this part of the part of the the complexity that Jehoshaphat had that we often have, that we we very often have the same kind of character that he had but Joshua was a good man.

He was a godly man. He was a man who loved god. He was devoted personally in his heart, in the in the privacy of his life. He was a man that was devoted to God. And verse three says, he walked in the first ways of his father David. As you read the kings, if you see, whenever you see the Lord commend one of the kings of Judah by saying he walked after the pattern of David, you know the lord is giving high praise because of David’s like unique love and devotion for god which we which is recorded very abundantly in the book of Psalms.

So, Jehoshaphat was a man who had that kind of devotion. He was also a man in verse number three, who it says, he sought not unto Balaam. Now, he he was a man who meticulously avoided idolatry. You know, that’s also one thing that stands out with David and with Hezekiah. You know, the lord doesn’t commend any of these kings as you go through first and second Kings and Chronicles. He doesn’t commend any of the kings if they were involved in idolatry.

He says, maybe they had some good things about them but he reserves the high praise like we see in verse three to those who avoided idolatry because David was one for all of David’s faults for numbering the people, for his pride, for his sin with Bathsheba, for his murder, for all of the things that David did, all of which should be condemned. David never betrayed god in idolatry and that is is notable to god. The same true same is true with Moses. Same is true with Daniel.

The high people that the the people who are the the foremost characters in scripture did not mess in idolatry. That was something that was off limits. Whatever their other sins were, that’s something that stands out and this is true of of Jehoshaphat as well. Not only that, in verse number four, the Bible says, but he sought to the Lord his God, the Lord God of his father, and walked not in the and walked, I’m sorry, and walked in his commandments and not after the doings of Israel.

So, Jehoshaphat was a man who sought God sincerely. You don’t... Listen, you don’t keep God’s commandments in this way unless you’re seeking God sincerely. Like, sincerely, in private, where nobody else sees. It’s actually what’s in your heart and that comes out whether we like it or not. What is in our heart will come out in our lives. We can’t hope, we can’t keep the facade forever but he had no facade.

This was the real man. Amen. And the Lord is commending him, I think, on purpose because we’re going somewhere later with this. Verse four also says that he kept the commandments of God. So, he kept them faithfully. So, he he was the one who who took serious his duty before god to actually follow through with what the lord told him in practice, in his walk. And then if we keep reading down to verse number five, therefore, the Lord established the kingdom in his hand, and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presence, and he had riches and honor in abundance.

And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord. That’s usually a bad thing. In this case, a good thing. He was he was zealous. His heart was... He was he was zealous for the Lord and wanted to do the will of God and wanted to know what God wanted him to do. Moreover, he took away the high places and groves out of Judah. So I mean, he he took some steps to actually take out the negative. It wasn’t all just in the positive direction, he looked at some of the negative things that were happening in his kingdom and he’s like, we need to we need to rectify this, we need to repent, we need to get right.

Verse seven, also in the third year of his reign, he sent to his princes, even to Ben Hale, and to Obadiah, and to Zechariah, and to Nethaniel, and to Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah. And with them he sent Levites, even Shemaiah and Nethaniah and Zebadiah and Asahel, and pardon all these Aya names, right? Shimmer Shim Eremoth and Jehonathan and Adonijah and Tobijah and and Tob Adonijah, Levites, and with them, Elishama and Jehoram priests, and they taught in Judah and had the book of the law of the lord with them and went about throughout all the cities of Judah and taught the people three times here. Jehoshaphat was the one responsible.

The one to be thanked for sending these teachers into the cities of Judah to teach them the fear of god. Verse number 10, and the fear of the lord fell. Man, that’s a whole message in it in and of itself. When the people of god are taught, the statutes and words of god, the result is the fear of god and that’s exactly what happened. They began to fear the lord and it fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat. So it affected not only Judah, it affected all the kingdoms around Judah. Now here’s the key.

Jehoshaphat not only had all these commendations but he sought by his leadership to bring others into the fear of god. Right? In other words, he’s he’s soul winning. Right? He’s he’s sharing the truth. He’s making sure other people hear about the word of God.

You know what he did? He used his leadership because he is the king, right? He provides leadership. He he uses leadership in a godly way to forward and encourage the people of god over whom he had leadership in spiritual things that they also might draw nigh to god. I mean, everything we’ve read here, he is an exemplar. He is he is he is a man to be commended and a man to be emulated.

Joshua was a great man. And not only that, but because of his faithfulness to God. Because of his devotion to God, the blessing of God was upon his life, his kingdom, and his circumstance. Look at what it says in verse number five. Therefore, that is because of his seeking the lord and doing doing god’s commandments. Therefore, the lord established the kingdom in his hand and all Judah brought presents to Jehoshaphat to brought to Jehoshaphat presence and he had riches and honor and abundance.

And so we read about, you know, the honor and the riches and the wealth and the prosperity of Jehoshaphat’s kingdom and it’s we won’t read it all, but it’s it’s all throughout this part of of the book. He enjoyed peace and prosperity. He didn’t have a lot of wars and that was all. All of that was directly attributable to his walk with God. Do you see that?

And that’s perfectly consistent because in the Old Testament economy, what did God promise them? God promised them in Deuteronomy and in and in and in Exodus and Numbers, he said, if you obey me and you keep my commandments and you love the Lord your God, I will keep all the diseases away and I will increase your honor and your riches and these all of these physical promises that god made to them, to Israel, in the law, if they kept his law, you see coming to pass in in Jehoshaphat’s life and let me just apply that here.

Now, you are not Old Testament Israel, you are New Testament Christian. And the Lord, if you took... You you and I would be mistaken if we took these verses, and people do all the time, prosperity preachers, they take these verses, they say, listen, if you obey the Lord and live for God, you’re gonna have plenty of money and everything’s gonna go good and you’re gonna have a kingdom and all of this, you know, it you know, promises you physical prosperity.

But in the New Testament, that’s not what we’re promised. In fact, we’re promised the opposite. Faithfulness to God. Yey, all they that live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer not riches, but persecution. In fact, Romans eight which we studied in the school of scripture, it said, it it describes all of the trouble and tribulation and and and sorrow that the believer goes through and he says, yea, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. He says, I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of god which is in Christ Jesus. So, here’s the thing, to the New Testament believer, these outward things, good or bad, they have no bearing.

Listen, you can live wicked and prosper. To the New Testament Christian, a life that is characterized by devotion and faithfulness to God like we see with Jehoshaphat will yield benefits and blessings to the believer in the same way, but the promises are just different. In the New Testament, we’re not promised material prosperity, we aren’t. Now there are, just as a caveat, there are general principles, especially you found in Proverbs that if we that that if we follow it it naturally in God’s universe produces certain effects, the law of cause and effect.

But concerning the blessings of God, the New Testament Christian has promised joy and peace and contentment. He’s promised that he will bear fruit unto God. He’s promised that he will be rewarded. He’ll lay up treasures in heaven that he’ll have opportunities to serve God, who have blessings in his family, and and go on and on and on but those aren’t material things. They’re far more important than material things.

Whether the material things come or go or whatever because they do. They change. But the principle remains the same which is this, if you and I are devoted to God and we obey His commandments and we follow His will and we do what He wants us to do, it does absolutely lead to a life of blessing from god. Amen. That is a principle that is found throughout scripture and the reverse is also true.

Third John verse two says this, beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth. So, you see the question of the health is not always certain like god promised Israel but he says, the question of the soul is, our soul should always be prospering. Whatever is going on around us because that is directly related to our to the blessing of god in our life as a result of our walking with him.

So, you have all of these things. I spent so much time talking about just Jehoshaphat because I wanted you to see that he truly is a good man. And god put puts his stamp of approval upon the man’s life. Now, we get to chapter 18.

Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor and abundance and joined affinity with Ahab. Do you know what affinity is? Affinity is intermarriage. You... Of course, you’ve seen it in scripture, but many times the kings in in this... Well actually it’s true now with the monarchs that still exist, they... What they’ll do is they’ll intermarry, And that’s the way they make affinity, they make a connection with another kingdom. Well, that’s also true.

I’m snickering to myself because Brother David and I and Josh have been joking that we’re all of a sudden related, and it just feels weird to be related to Brother David. We’ve joined affinity with the Harris family, and via via liberty, you know, somehow we’re related to David. So, they might might show up that, you know, that they come to our house for, you know, Thanksgiving. What I don’t know. I’m I’m just, you know, there’s an affinity there and it’s just unusual. Something you would never, you know, you just wouldn’t expect. You couldn’t have predicted it, right?

But here it is. And that’s kind of what you have here. You have a connection that you didn’t previously have and it’s via marriage. Now let’s pause here a second because that’s this idea of marriage. You know, let’s let’s hold on a second. You’re a parent of a teenager, you’re a parent of a child, you need to be very careful who your kids get involved with. Amen.

There is no such thing as a child of Ahab that had any business near a child of Joshaphat. You know whose job that is? Well, they fell in love. Well, they need to fall out of love.

Listen, it is the parent’s responsibility to step in and oversee that process Because here’s the thing I want us to understand, is this affinity, once this relationship has been established, you know what it’s gonna do to Jehoshaphat which we’re gonna see? It’s going to create duties and obligations that now he is socially bound to, that are gonna lead him into things that are not good for him.

That all could have been avoided, had his affinity been a little more carefully considered. And so that’s what we’re talking about when we say affinity. Being a, you know, through that relationship of marriage, being obliged by social rules to associate with a man that maybe Jehoshaphat would not have associated with otherwise because of his character, because of Ahab’s wickedness. But now, he’s obliged to accept this man’s gifts, he’s obliged to spend time with him.

And so this affinity led to some downstream problems and really disobedience in Jehoshaphat’s life. It says in verse one, Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor and abundance and joined affinity with Ahab, and after certain years, he went down to Ahab to Samaria, and Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people that he had with him and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramoth Gilead, and Ahab king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat king of Judah, wilt thou go with me to Ramoth Gilead? And he answered him, I am as thou art and my people is thy people, and we will be with thee in the war. I read verse three and it grates on me. I’ll be honest, it grates on me. Jehoshaphat and his people are not like Ahab and his people. Why is he saying this?

Jehoshaphat’s heart is totally different. Polar opposite to Ahab’s. Why is he saying that he is he is as Ahab? Jehoshaphat’s people, the the people of Judah have been studying and reading and paying attention to and growing from the word of god. Ahab’s people have been sacrificing their children to idols. They are not the same.

So, that tells us something. Who’s speaking this? Jehoshaphat. Something is off with the way Jehoshaphat is viewing Ahab. Something is off. If he is so grossly overlooking Ahab’s character. There is something off. Verse four, and Jehoshaphat said unto said unto the king of Israel, inquire I pray thee at the mouth of the Lord’s day. Therefore, the king of Israel gathered together of the prophets 400 men and said unto them, shall we go to Ramoth Gilead to battle or shall I forbear? And they said, go up for God will deliver it to the king’s hand. But Jehoshaphat said, is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides that we might inquire of him? Alright, Jehoshaphat is getting nice and cozy and now he’s listening to false prophets.

He’s standing there while false prophets are talking, knowing full well that they are that they are prophets of a false God. And listen, again, it is so important and the reason why I spent so much time talking about Jehoshaphat at the beginning is because I don’t want us to have any cause to question his sincerity. He is he is a man devoted to God. He doesn’t think much of these false prophets and yet he’s listening to them. Why?

Because of his proximity to Ahab. That’s why he’s there. Verse seven, and the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, there is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him. You know, may, you know, who likes you and who dislikes you? Says something about you, does it not? For he never prophesied good unto me but always evil. The same is Micaiah, the son of Imla. And Jehoshaphat said, let not the king say so. So, so mealy mouth. Verse eight, and the king of Israel called for one of his officers and and said, fetch quickly Micaiah, the son of Imla. And the king of of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, sat either of them on his throne and clothed in their robes and they sat in a void place at the entering in of the Gate Of Samaria, and all the prophets prophesied before them. And Zedekiah the son of Chennai had made him horns of iron and said, thus saith the lord, with these, thou shalt push Syria until they be consumed, right? He he’s so dramatic, so sensational.

He went through the the time and effort and expense to create horns to convince this is the word of God, you know. He’s so dynamic, dynamically wrong. Yeah, very relevant. Yeah. Verse 11, and all the prophets prophesied so, saying, go up to Remnath Gilead and prosper for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. And the messenger that went, now listen to this, the messenger that went to call Micaiah spake to him saying, behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one assent, Let thy word therefore, I pray thee be like one of theirs and speak thou good.

And Micaiah said, as the lord liveth, even what my god say it, that will I speak. Amen. So, you know, all of these prophets, you know, these are paid prophets. These these people in an office. They’re servants of the king. They’re paid. So, it’s in their favor. There is a incentive for them to say what they know that the king wants to hear. Right?

And when they and here the messenger comes to the real prophet of the lord, Micaiah and he says, listen, just say what they say. Don’t be the odd one out.

Because these prophets here, they have no concept of a man who’s not in it for money. They have no concept of a man who’s willing to say whatever god tells him to say even if it costs him and it does cost this man. This man is put into prison by Ahab. As a result of this very prophecy. In other words, a true prophet of god is an entirely foreign concept to the false prophets of this world. You think about Balam, right? In it for the money.

In it for the money. Now, I’ll tell you something. In this world, first of all, I want you to see that there were false prophets. They exist. You know, false prophets are associated with religion and that’s true today too. There’s tons and tons of people who who are are in offices of spiritual leadership who are false prophets and false teachers. It’s no different. And what motivates them is no different than what motivated these.

It’s power, it’s money, it’s whatever. And sometimes when they, know, I’ve been following this pastor of James Talarico. The pastor on video saying that the pastor does not believe in a literal resurrection of Christ. The pastor doesn’t believe that that that... And even a majority of the church members are even theists. They’re atheists. There are false prophets in this world. And they’re all under the banner of religion and these are their motivations.

And so when a true prophet of God comes, of course everybody wants words of comfort, but how is God gonna give words of comfort to a man like Ahab? There are no words of comfort for a man like Ahab. God has plenty of words of comfort for his people, for those that love him, the Jehoshaphat’s of the world, but he has no words of comfort for for the Ahab’s of this world, but you know what the... Look look at what Ahab said. I hate him. And then the the messenger says, hey, why don’t you say something good?

What did they want him to say? They wanted words of comfort while maintaining their wicked life. That’s what they wanted. They wanted words of comfort without any repentance, without any acknowledging of their wickedness.

But for those, God has words of warning and rebuke. Did you know it is a sin to give someone a false sense of assurance when their life is in the dregs of sin? Amen. And to tell them everything’s okay? And listen, sometimes the way that we present the Gospel, or maybe I should say, the way that the Gospel has been... People have been led to present the Gospel has been misleading by telling people, listen, telling people who are, listen, in the darkness of sin, who are at this moment condemned, right? And are told, listen, everything’s fine. God loves you. That might be true but you’re you might be giving them a false sense of of assurance and peace and comfort when there is no peace.

For for evil, the Lord’s words are not comfort, but they are warning. And the warning itself is mercy, right? But the false prophets give words give words of comfort when actually words of warning are in order. And here comes the true prophet of God and his message is not popular at all.

His message is warning and rebuke. His message is therefore unwelcome and that is the same as it is today. The Bible describes people in age as having itching ears, what does that mean? Their ears itch, they want scratches, they want to be told nice things that they want to hear, right? What I’m saying is this is not a new phenomenon, this has been happening a very long time.

I love the kind of inside view of the conversations, know, the behind the scenes conversations in the pastor’s offices about what he should preach and the influences that, you know, or the people of honor and the people of of of power and money and influence that might come into the church and saying the right thing, the right people. God forbid. Amen. God forbid. Not just me but also to you.

To everyone, to all all believers. Verse 14 says this, and when he was come to the king, the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth Gilead to battle or shall I forbear? And he said, I’m gonna say it like Micaiah said it, go ye up and prosper for they shall be delivered in your hand.

He doesn’t believe that. He just kinda goes along with it. I I I just love it. I I imagine him, you know, with the straight face, just kinda like, yeah, whatever you wanna do, that’s fine. That’s what the Lord wants.

And of course, verse 15, the king said unto him, how many times shall I adjure thee that thou say nothing but the truth to me in the name of the Lord? How did he know he was lying? I think because his his face was straight. And then he said, I did see all Israel scattered up in the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd. And the lord said, these have no master. That’s referring to Ahab.

Let them return therefore every man to his house in peace. So this vision that Micaiah had from God said that Ahab’s gonna die in this battle. This is not gonna go well. Now I’m not gonna go into all of that, but I wanna get back to verse number 28, and then we’re going somewhere to kinda finish up. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead.

And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, now stop. Did Josiah hear what these prophets said? Did Josiah... Josiah. Did Jehoshaphat hear what the prophet Micaiah said? That Ahab’s gonna get killed? This is not gonna go well? He don’t have any business being involved in this in this battle. Now he heard that from a prophet of the Lord whom he reveres, who whom who he he’s devoted to, right?

Verse 29, and the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself. If you’re not if you’re not chuckling in your mind, then you haven’t fully caught up yet. And go, we’ll go to battle, but thou, but put on, put thou on thy robes, so the king of Israel disguised himself, they went to the battle.

So here’s what Ahab’s idea is. He’s heard a prophecy that says, you’re gonna die in this battle and so he’s gonna put on regular clothes and that leaves poor old Jehoshaphat in king’s clothes in an effort to evade the judgment of god upon him. So, maybe Jehoshaphat will get killed and not himself. Right.

And Jehoshaphat is just kind of naively sitting there going along with this scheme. Verse 30, Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of the chariots that were with him saying, fight not with the smaller great save only with the king of Israel. And it came to pass when the captains of the chariot saw Jehoshaphat that they said, it is the king of Israel. Therefore they compassed about him to fight, but Jehoshaphat cried out, here it is, and the Lord helped him.

And God moved them to depart from him, for it came to pass that when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back again back again from pursuing him. Why did Jehoshaphat not get killed? Because God intervened. Except that, he’s dead. But why would he be dead?

Proximity to Ahab. Proximity to Ahab. And of course we know that Ahab does die because God is the God of coincidence and providence. And so some random Syrian draws a bow and shoots an arrow and it just so happens to land between the joints of his armor, and he’s dressed as a regular soldier. Right? And then we get to chapter 19.

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 and love them that hate the Lord?

Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord. So Jehoshaphat has a fault. It is a gross fault. And based upon what we see here, first of all, God sent a prophet, secondly, God rendered a judgment, God judged him.

He should have known better. That’s why God judged him. Look at a few verses here. Don’t lose your place here if you will, look at Psalm 26. Psalm 26 verse four.

David speaking here, he says, 26 verse four, I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers. I have hated the congregation of evildoers and will not sit with the wicked. We see Joshua doing that. David said, I will not.

Look if you would at Psalm 119. Psalm 119 verse 63. I am a companion of all them that fear Thee and of them that keep Thy precepts. Look at verse one fifteen, one fifteen.

Depart from me ye evildoers for I will keep the commandments of my God. You seeing a trend here? The godly are saying, I don’t want to be in proximity to the wicked. Right? Alright, let’s look at Psalm, I’m sorry, Proverbs 13. Proverbs 13.

Verse 20, he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. One last one, Jeremiah 15. Jeremiah chapter 15. Jeremiah fifteen seventeen says, I sat not in the assembly of the mockers nor rejoiced, I sat, what does it say? Alone because of Thy hand, for Thou hast filled me with indignation.

Now, you would go back to second Chronicles 19, you see the Lord based upon what Jehu the prophet says, the Lord expected Jehoshaphat to have both discernment and willingness to honestly see and evaluate Ahab’s life, his works. Now, when I when I say that, often times, our minds raised to, you know, judging because that’s what we’re talking about, judging someone’s motivations but with Ahab, you didn’t have to know Ahab’s motivations.

Ahab’s works were wicked. And the problem was not Jehoshaphat refused to judge Ahab’s motivations is that he refused to judge Ahab’s works which is the very thing that god expected him to do and reproved him for not doing it. Now, it might have been that Jehoshaphat, we don’t know the reasons. Speaking of judging people’s motives. We don’t know the reasons that that Jehoshaphat didn’t didn’t judge the the works of Ahab and didn’t examine and analyze that.

It might have been because of because he he blinded himself to it or it could be that he was just simply unwilling even though he might have known Ahab’s life. He was because of the affinity, maybe from the marriage or because of other whatever. He he might have just been willing to just go along with it.

Maybe he just want to be nice. Whatever the motivation, whatever the cause, it was not what god wanted because the scriptures, the scriptures present godly people is saying, listen, I will not sit with the wicked. Amen. I will not join affinity. I... Because I know that the proximity to those people is dangerous to me.

Now think about the things that happened. Think about the things that happened to Jehoshaphat as a result of his a result of his affinity, as a result of his proximity to Ahab. Because Jehoshaphat was unwilling to judge the wicked works of Ahab like God did, like the prophets did, like Elijah, right? Because he was unwilling to do that, Jehoshaphat’s own life was influenced by the life of Ahab, just because of how near he was to him.

Think about the things we’ve read in... Just to summarize them. The failure of Jehoshaphat to discern or be willing to judge the wicked works of Ahab led to his being in a dangerous proximity to Ahab. And that proximity led directly to the effects of that wicked man’s life harming Jehoshaphat. Even though Jehoshaphat, as we saw at the beginning, was a righteous man. Now, a righteous man is being harmed because of a wicked man.

We already saw that Jehoshaphat was influenced by false prophets, Jehoshaphat was taken advantage of and used in Ahab’s scheme to disguise himself so that Jehoshaphat would be killed and he would evade the judgment of God as revealed by Micaiah the prophet. Think about this, he was so naive or so maybe unwilling to look at Ahab’s works that it it he was willing then to be used and to be killed.

That’s how, in other words, he got so naive that he actually put himself at real risk. Jehoshaphat was further caught up in the god’s judgment upon Ahab because when when Joshua Jehoshaphat heard the prophecy of the prophet Micaiah, that should have been a signal to him. It’s a good prophet. He’s saying something. I know about Ahab’s life. So, it’s the prophecy makes sense. So, that should have been a signal to Jehoshaphat that god was not pleased with Ahab and that therefore, he should not be pleased with Ahab.

It should have been a signal that he should keep his distance, but here he is giving him a holy kiss. Jehoshaphat foolishly went into a battle that he knew was under God’s displeasure because he heard it from the Lord’s prophet, because his affinity and his proximity caused his necessity, he felt obligated. Man, how many times do we get in trouble? By obligating ourself to something that is not good for us.

Do we not? We get ours... In other words, we make choices that that obligate us and that and that bind us and that lead to trouble for us because we have chosen to obligate ourselves and that’s exactly what Jehoshaphat does through his affinity. Not only that, although Jehoshaphat was a good and godly leader to the people of Judah, at this moment, he’s using his office as a leader to aid in an effort that was outside of God’s will.

And he was directing those under his authority and leadership, his soldiers, to be involved also in something that was not God’s will. And we already saw how that Jehoshaphat’s life was put in danger. And the only reason that the tragedy was averted is because of God’s direct intervention, that’s in 18 verse 31.

And so we go back to verse number two Of chapter 19, and Jehu, the son of Hananiah, the seer went out to meet meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the lord? Therefore, is wrath upon thee from the lord? Nevertheless, there are good things found in thee and that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land and has prepared thine heart to seek god. So, this is what I was speaking of at the beginning which is this complexity of Jehoshaphat’s life.

We don’t know the reason that Jehoshaphat got close to Ahab, like exactly. But here’s what we do know, That as a believer, God expects us to be discerning and God expects us to use wise judgment. Now the warning here is not judging motivation because we can’t see people’s hearts, but the Lord absolutely expects us to examine and judge people’s works.

Here’s the problem though, in our world, we are taught... Let me back up a little bit further, okay, I’m almost finished. If you went back twenty, maybe thirty years in churches like ours, Brother Burgess can testify to this, the movement was, the popular theory was to be against everything, Right? To be against everything. You hate everything. Right? The harder you were, the better you were. I mean, you’ve seen that before, definitely.

And that was part of the kind of the Baptist movement back then. It’s just be and mean to judge, you know. And and so, the reaction with that was judge, judge, judge, judge not, judge not, judge not, right? That was the reaction. Because there absolutely were people that gave other people no latitude in their life at all. Like if you didn’t do, if you didn’t wear the color, like did you know there are people that think it’s somehow wrong for a preacher to wear a shirt that’s not white?

I don’t know how or I mean this is a real thing. Wire rimmed glasses? That I mean that is real. And a lot of that goes back to the hippies. I mean, there’s no scriptural basis for whatsoever. I even heard one preacher who said that it was compromised for a man to have a beard. Yes. And that’s that’s actually modern. But it’s not it’s it goes back quite a few decades.

Here you are, look at, you should be ashamed of yourself, the beard and your, look at your blue shirt. See? See? You’re not as right, I am holier than thou.

So the pendulum swung that way and now it swung this way, now we’re on the other extreme. Now if you’re gonna be a good Christian, you don’t even need to see wicked works. You dare not discern or judge. You shouldn’t even be willing.

Right? In other words, Christians are are supposed to be so nice and compassionate and they’re supposed to love everybody. I’m I’m mocking. I know but but so to love everybody and and that love should bring us close to everybody even the Ahabs. What I’m telling you is that if the story of Ahab tells us anything is number one, we should be discerning of people’s works. Amen. We are not to wrap our arm around just anybody. Amen. Now, let me let me pause there and make sure I cover I I I cover the basis.

What we’re not talking about is actually judging people’s motives. Oh, well, you know, she did that, it’s probably because blah blah blah. Or he he’s doing that because blah blah blah. We don’t know that. You know, but the truth is you don’t have to know what people’s motivations are, just you can observe their works, what’s on the outside. And sometimes the motivations match and sometimes they’re different and some, know, that’s not the point.

But the Lord expects us like he did with Jehoshaphat, he did expect Jehoshaphat to recognize Ahab for crying out loud, Did he not? He did expect Jehoshaphat to recognize the wicked works of Ahab and keep his distance. Because here’s why. Jehoshaphat’s view of Ahab’s works says something about Jehoshaphat. Does it not? If a person is supposed to be so in love with with with Christ, and yet they find their self so easily being near such utter wickedness.

Something is wrong. And that’s exactly what’s wrong with Jehoshaphat. That’s why I wanted you to see. I’m not trying to say Jehoshaphat was a bad guy. He wasn’t and there, you know, there are a lot of there are many many Christians who have been absolutely browbeat to think that they should turn their brain off out of love. And not see wickedness when it’s right in front of them.

And they’re obligated somehow by God to have affinity with it. And the Lord says, uh-uh, that’s not what the Lord wants us to do. So the medium is right here, right in the middle.

Now here’s what I’m not saying, just again I wanna be clear. We can’t use this story and say, anybody who disagrees with me hates the Lord. Bro, I don’t like your red tie, you probably hate the Lord. You know what I’m saying? And that’s... That was kind of the danger back in the day, right? Against everything, they probably ain’t even saved. I’ve actually heard people say this.

I’ve actually heard people say that if you’re not carrying a King James Bible, you’re probably not even saved. Right. You’re probably not even saved. Judging motives. But here’s the thing, the question is not even whether that issue is right or wrong, that’s not the point. You can’t use this story to say that should be our attitude toward people.

Because that should not be our attitude toward people. But on the flip side, our attitude toward people should not be, I’m gonna blind my mind and refuse to see, I’m gonna be unwilling to even recognize what God condemns because that itself is an ethical and a moral problem to us. Did you not see the Psalm that we read, Psalm forty forty five I think it was, when he says, I will not sit with the wicked because that says something about my values.

Listen, is your, is righteousness and holiness and godliness and uprightness and those things that that to avoid sin. Do you hate sin enough to to stay away from it? Right? Do you hate sin enough to to hate it not just in yourself? That’s the most important thing but then to also hate it in other people so that you don’t want to get near it. Let’s get real practical now.

Let’s get real practical. I’m not going to I’m not going to somebody’s house if I know they’re drinking. Amen. I don’t want to be around it. Yes. Right. And neither should you.

I’m not going to their house if I know people are going to get going to going to get hammered. Now, have I been in situations where I was bound to it? Absolutely. United States Marine Corps. Marine Corps ball, November 10. It’s full of drinking, they a wanted me to designated driver to cart around the drunkards as they went and committed fornication and every other thing they did at the Marine Corps ball.

So sometimes we get in situations that we just can’t avoid, right? But it’s a horse of a different color for us to just blind ourselves to gross wickedness in front of us and say it doesn’t matter. That’s where Josh fat was. So we have to be careful.

The Bible says, Ye that love the Lord hate evil. It’s not just in the positive sense, our reaction to the evil in life of Ahab matters too. Right? How we view sin when we see it, the most important place is in our own self. But is it not true that we also observe it in others? In their works, not motives, but their works? Yes, we do. And that doesn’t mean that we come across with a with a critical spirit trying to fault fine because that’s obviously, that’s not spiritual.

But the other extreme is all is is also one that is outside the scripture. You see, Jehoshaphat played ignorant and nice, but the Lord did not buy it. He was trying to be nice to Ahab, but actually the Bible says, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather, what does it say? Reprove them. Ephesians five eleven, right? Was he doing that? No, he was not doing that.

If we say, that’s not fire and it’s not hot, does that prevent us from getting burned? And that, here’s the concluding lesson from Jehoshaphat. Is on a moral level before the Lord, was the Lord displeased with his self blinding to get close to a man that the Lord really was judging? Yes. On a moral level, that was wrong. He was he was not doing the will of god but on the practical, he was in danger.

He was in danger. Don’t you see? It was harmful to him too. The fact that he was blinding himself and refused to call wickedness wickedness. That was a danger to him too because the Bible says, evil communications corrupt good manners. It does affect us. It does affect us and this is one of the reasons why the Lord wants us to be discerning. Not critical, not cynical, not fault finding, not attempting to judge the hearts of others.

But he does want us to be discerning and to be willing to call a spade a spade and to be willing to side with what the lord says and how the lord judges. Amen. Works. Yeah. And that’s for our own relationship to God, which in this case was there was a breach, but also for our own protection.

Let’s pray together.