Okay, we're good. Well, good evening. There is a word I'm about to share with you that can send shudders down your back. In Christian circles, it's sometimes only whispered. It can be avoided, much like he who is not to be named in Harry Potter novels. It's a loaded word, scary, can even be ugly, and it comes full of drama. Are you ready for it? Can you guess what it is? Legalism. Legalist or legalism. Man, that's a heavy accusation when that gets thrown around. It's like a serious disease. It's exactly what we cannot ever admit to, right? It's much like cancer. Dreaded, awful, lethal. And if it gets thrown at you, it almost certainly comes from wayward, carnal, disloyal Christians. But what's the reality? You know, I've noticed in my own life, I've noticed many around, being in churches and around Christians in different settings, I've really noticed we all really trend toward legalism. Our flesh, something within us as inherent as human beings, we really have an internal bent towards some rules and restrictions and by ways we can evaluate. We can evaluate others through some standards and things. We can evaluate ourselves with God. Really then legalism, since we all kind of contend to be prone to it, it isn't cancer at all. It's really more like a common cold. And hopefully we kind of go in and then out, and the spirit of God pulls us out. And we all sniffle a little in our Christian lives. And we all can even get a little legalistic in our thinking. It's pretty common. Even when there's good grace teaching, we just tend to go that way. So maybe it's not such a heavy word. But then there's another term that gets tossed around. It's also very accusative, it's also bad. It's another label you really want to avoid. It's a term that can cause you to shudder as well and recoil, and it's a heavy one. Also sometimes just for whispers. But obviously, it's usually not just whisper. This one gets used pretty loudly. This one gets shouted and yelled at. It comes also with full drama, and I think you know what it is. What is this term? Worldliness. You're worldly. Worldliness. Now these two terms and these accusations, they get thrown around with some frequency in our churches, unfortunately, in churchianity. It seems like those who are more on the legalistic side of the spectrum are quick to toss out the worldly accusations, just like those more on the worldly side of the spectrum are quick to toss out the legalistic accusations. And so the tension mounts. And then we gather together and let's sing and let's pray, right? While we have tension sometimes. But worldliness is definitely something that your generation, the millennial generation, the Z generation Z, is something that you hear a lot about and often gets thrown at you. And I just would suggest that getting defensive about that is a bad idea. Instead, I'd always encourage us, let's hear it out. And let's, as unto the Lord, let's just walk with Him and relate to Him and allow Him to keep us on the right track, to work in each of our lives for that emphasis that He wants us to have. So our first study tonight is going to give us a really good storyline to see worldliness and to how it sneaks into a believer's life and that hopefully we can really learn and just learn to trust the Lord in our own walk and avoid it. So our study tonight is on a guy named Jehoshaphat. Before we get there, we need to define our terms a little bit. What is worldliness? So we'll see that worldliness is a state of mind where you develop your norms and your standards, your values from the world rather than from God. And what we really want to note is it's a way of thinking. Now, if you look it up in a dictionary, you know, your English dictionary, it would give us two shades of meaning. The first one is the quality of being sophisticated and experienced. He's a worldly person, well known. So worldly is actually seen in a positive light in that sense. But the other definition, the other shade of meaning in your English dictionary is very similar to what the spiritual, the biblical meaning is. And that is concern with material values or ordinary life rather than spiritual existence. Worldliness can sometimes be said we're very devoted to a material world. Worldliness in the thinking means we're going to emphasize material, physical over spiritual. Our thinking is going to be more occupied with the here and now and time rather than eternity and the future. And we're going to have a focus on outward versus inward. But please remember, worldliness is a way of thinking. Okay? Now what you have is, I'll repeat that, right? Worldliness is a way of thinking. It's up here. And it's a way of thinking we're going to see that really kind of pushes out God as we approach life without that knowledge or wanting that knowledge. Secondly, we're going to see that the Greek word for worldliness, is kosmos, and it's translated world, it means, just in the Greek, order and arrangement. An order or an arrangement. It refers to this present order of things when the scripture is using this term in this way. So, it's something that's an order, an arrangement, something that's very ordered, and it's in opposition to the kingdom of God. That's why if you'll open your Bible to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, tonight, 2 Corinthians chapter 4. We're going to look at what Paul says to these Corinthian believers who often got slapped the tag of being worldly. He said in verse 3, But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds, notice their mind, it is the God of this age has blinded. And they do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. Notice in verse four, who is it that's actively blinding the minds? What is the title? The God of this age, the god of this world, there's our term, cosmos. So he, we see, is the one who's doing the arranging and the ordering, actively ordering and arranging the current culture, the stream of thought, with a purpose, that people would just be blinded to the glorious gospel and the message of Jesus Christ, namely the grace of God and the purpose of Christ. That's why verse 5, Paul says, we don't preach ourselves, we preach Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves as bondservants, because verse 6, it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So we see it is God that's going to shine grace into this world, into this world that we're all part of and occupied with and managing and getting by, this physical, temporal world we're in. And God wants to invade it with this message of grace, this message of a glorious gospel, this message of a savior, this message of a free gift offered to sinners like you and I. A message of love, a message of forgiveness. based on Jesus Christ. And this is God's appeal to all of us. He's the light wanting to draw us to the grace of God. And this is a thinking that we never find in this world system. Grace is of God. Grace is otherworldly. Grace is divine. And it's a message of love and of opportunity, of salvation, of forgiveness, of cleansing, free, not based on what we do for God, but based on the work of Jesus Christ. And so you see, Satan is opposing this message. He wants to blind the minds of the world. He wants to give counterfeits. Alternative facts, we could say. He likes to put those out there. He'll tell you truth is not truth. You need to listen to me and the way I spell things out. And in doing so, he's blinding the mind. And in fact, 1 John 5.19 tells us, we know we are of God and yet the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one who wants to divert the world away from grace and away from the truth of God. Does it make sense? So who's the one who's kind of orchestrating and managing the world system and the messages and so forth to have a negative impact on the world, the people of the world? It's the god of this age. It's the god of, it is Satan. Now this worldliness is going to show itself in our lives in two ways, morality and immorality. You see, morality surprises us. Usually when we think of worldly, we think of, you know, people that are smoking and drinking and doing this and that or whatever it is comes to your mind, but it's usually in some sort of activity. But that's not it at all. It's in your thinking, which means you can be extremely moral. and very worldly, because worldliness is just a way of functioning through life without really having much regard for God, as we'll see. It can look very respectable. In fact, it can just covet what society likes and look good, and therefore it can include religion, because religion is also a message that doesn't like grace. They go opposites. So religion, sometimes we can be really religious, which is just being very worldly because we're not really having regard for what God says, as we're just promoting good behavior and being grace resistant. And then, of course, it can show up as immorality, which is obvious. We don't have to talk about that, right? Doing all those bad, nasty things, right? People do. And we call that worldly as well. But it's a thinking that we really want to remember that's driving the bus behind that. So, it's good to remember this then, fourthly, the opposite of worldliness is godliness. We're just trying to put some principles down and some things to help us get a good understanding of worldliness. So the opposite is godliness. And godliness is simply taking God seriously. Godliness is having a proper regard for God. Okay? So where does that occur? In your actions? No, it starts where? and you're thinking, and then it carries out, it shows itself horizontally in your actions. So godliness is including God in your thinking, processing his word, taking it seriously. Faith is obviously a key component to godliness. Now, worldliness would be the opposite of that. Not having regard for God, ignoring God, or just not including him. And it really is interesting to see if we go back to 1 Corinthians 3 now. Turn a little bit to your left. 1 Corinthians 3. And we will see what Paul says here in verse 18. On this idea, in 1 Corinthians 3.18, he says, let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool, but he may become wise. See, there's a wrong kind of wisdom. Let's shake that. In fact, verse 19, the wisdom of this what? Everyone, the wisdom of this world is what? Foolishness with God. runs contrary to him. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, for it is written, he catches the wise in their own craftiness, and again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile. And so worldliness, without a regard for God, it's a wisdom that's not of God, and it's a foolishness before God, and yet godliness is taking these truths of God seriously, applying them, believing them. And the issue comes down to foolishness. Foolishness. Now I'll go back to chapter one for a minute, and let's just note this in verse 18. We'll get to Jehoshaphat soon, we're getting there, hang on. But this should help us there. In verse 18 of chapter one, Paul says the message of the cross is what? Foolishness. to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it's the power of God. Here's a message that God has. It is a specific message of the cross. The cross, as we know, is the place of Jesus Christ and his death and his burial and his resurrection. And that message is foolishness to those who are perishing. but to others they see it, you and I, hopefully, as the power of God. So it is written, verse 19, God says, I'll destroy the wisdom of the wise. I'll bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know him, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who, what? To save those who? believe. And so God has a message, the message, verse 18. It's a specific message. We call it the gospel. It's a message how God has invaded our world with hope and of good news. It's a message, though, that runs contrary to human wisdom, to human worldly desires, etc. It's a message that drips and reeks with grace, undeserved favor, undeserved kindness. And so God wants to bestow upon you and I an extraordinary gift of eternal life, an eternal existence in a paradise that we don't deserve. Even though we're guilty, even though we're sinners, even though we've broken His standards, in spite of ourselves, God has sent His Son into this world, has demonstrated His love at Calvary. And when he cried out, it is finished, the full payment of our sin landed upon him as he absorbed the wrath of God on our behalf. What an amazing message. That means that all that stands between us and God and the condemnation that we deserve has now been put on Christ and we have free access. God says, I will give you now. my stamp of approval, I'll give you eternal life, I will label you as mine, and it's yours, and it's free, if you simply, what is the end of verse, was it 20, say, for those who what? It's for all those who believe, verse 21. That's it, that's it, you don't do a thing, you don't lift a finger, you don't make a promise, you don't make a pledge, you don't perform a ritual, you don't go to church, no church can save you. You don't do anything. And you know what the religious person or the natural man does when they hear that? That's foolishness. But the Spirit of God will work on you until you come to a point when you see that's the power of God. I could never do enough. I could never be good enough. I could never really pay this debt. Praise God that he loved me and sent his son to die for me. And he has now paid that penalty, has resurrected, and gives life to anyone who believes. I hope you see, friends, that's not foolishness. That's the power of God. And that's the difference, how we observe things. The godly person is saved, has the Spirit of God, understands and appreciates the Word of God and regard for God, the person of Christ, the truth that's there. But we, even as believers, as you know, we can get distracted and find ourselves barking up a different tree. Ever been there? Today, right? We've been there. It happens. And when that happens, we subtly shift in our thinking. We start having our mindset adapting different viewpoints, opinions, all orchestrated by the world. This brings in the contrast then between godliness, its dependence. while worldliness is independence. Godliness finds that in order for me to have eternal life, I have to depend on Jesus Christ and for God to give me this through faith. Godliness says for me to live a Christian life that's pleasing to the Lord and to enjoy this relationship with Him, I depend on God to provide for me and to stand faithful to His word. Worldliness says I'm independent. If I want something, I'll just go get it. If I need something, I'll just figure out a way to do it, right? It's like Jacob. Remember in the story of the Old Testament, Jacob wanted some things. He wanted Leah, or Rachel, rather. So anyway, he was a conniver, right? He was changing his, wearing costumes, doing all sorts of stuff to figure out his plan to get what he wanted. That's independent. So worldliness is going to have a lot of independence with it. Godliness is going to have dependence on the Lord. And so finally, we turn to James chapter 4, if you would. One more verse before we look at Jehoshaphat. So turn with me to James chapter 4, just another strong verse, reminder, teaching for us about the world. God has a lot to say about it. We're not even going to look at all that, much of it tonight. but hopefully through some discussion we can. But James chapter four, God says some things pretty point blank for us. In verse one, he'll say, and this is to believers, people who are saved, where do wars and fights come from among you? Has that ever happened amongst you guys? Ever? No. But if it did, where would it come from? They come from our own desires for pleasure, and we warn our members. We have lusts that we don't have. We crave in things. We don't have what we want. And so we murder and covet. You cannot obtain. You fight and you war, and you do not have because you do not ask, and you don't ask, you don't receive. And because you ask amiss, you may spend it on your pleasures, so we're self-consumed, we're selfish." This is obviously a lot of worldly thinking, because verse 4, he says, we're spiritual adulterers and adulteresses. What a kind term, huh? Spiritual whores! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy. of God. And so here's a strong reminder now that God says, look, we can't have it both ways. When Jesus is after you, he wants it all. A Christian caught up in the world finds themselves really in the enemy's camp. We're at the basketball game wearing the other team's uniform. And it happens. We find ourselves disloyal. rubbing elbows with the enemy, fraternizing with the world. So we can hear the complaint, can't we? You young bucks, you. This is criticism now, that you, here it comes. Listen to the music you listen to. Look at the clothes you wear. Look at the hair you have. Look at the tattoos you're getting. Maybe the alcohol you're consuming. Look at your friendships. Look, even what you study, what you want to keep hearing about. And you hear these rants. This is what you're all about. This isn't what Jesus is. This is coziness with the world. This is what your generation does. You're out running with the devil. Sometimes that's how we think it sounds, even though it might just be some genuine concern and a genuine bump. But I would encourage us to stop and think. All of those are actions. Worldliness is not in what you do. Where is it again? It's what you're thinking. It's in the mind. And if it's in your thinking, then it's also in your relationship with Jesus Christ. which could be strained, because obviously if you're wearing the enemy's uniform and you're on the enemy's side of the fence, that's kind of a detriment to a close relationship with Jesus Christ. So it can show itself obviously in actions, but it's in the thinking that starts there. And don't worldly Christians often compromise and chase after and mimic the world? We know that's true, both morally and immorally. But here's what we want to look at before we go to Jehoshaphat. How do you really know where your fellow believers are at? Can you really tell where their heart's at and what's going on by their iPod? Can you really tell where they're at by their haircut? Can you really tell what's going on? You don't really know, do you? So what would be good if you're concerned about someone that might be chasing after the wrong things? Since you don't know for sure what's going on, you don't know for sure where they're really at, why not let's stress the relationship we can have with Jesus Christ? Why not talk about good news and truth and things that stand the test of time? And why not try to encourage one another in that direction and learn to be gracious with one another in the meantime? Because you don't really know where they're at. And you know, perhaps, If the generation is seemingly running astray and running with the devil, let's pause and reflect. Lord, is it true? That's always a good place to start. And then pray for others and allow grace to prevail. And so my point would be, before we look at Jehoshaphat, is of course any of us could be worldly. Of course any of us could be distracted. Of course, these things can be there. But what really is gonna address that and the hope we're gonna have and victory over whatever those kinds of things are, is our relationship with Jesus Christ and our walk with Him. And so pointing ourselves there and thinking there is the best way to approach our thinking. Otherwise, we can get stressed. about things we don't need to be stressed about. Even if we're wanting to do what's right. Maybe you have good intentions. Maybe someone tells you you need to dress appropriately at church. What does that mean? What's that? I guess I should wear clothes. The scriptures do say things about modest, so we know there's a modesty thing coming in, but that's pretty subjective. Modesty is really just kind of not sticking out, not really standing out. So on a Sunday morning, if you wear a shirt, I mean, before, I wasn't into it at all. I was looking forward to coming and just, you know, being around some leaders and human truth and whatever, and now I'm all stressed out about it. So let's be careful. How we, what we impose and whatever, because worldliness. can come both in the moral realm and in the immoral realm. And shifting your focus away from God, and instead of just saying, well, Lord, I'm so looking forward to coming out here in the word of God, and you just dress in whatever that sense that you're thinking and you're gonna go and enjoy that, instead of that, we can shift away and now put a spotlight on something, not really sure what that means, now I got stress, now I gotta compare, gotta evaluate, gotta try to figure this out. You know what's best is, Just enjoy the Lord, right? Just enjoy the Lord. And do what we do is unto Him, and we'll learn as we go. So hey, we can be honest, we can be real. Any one of us, definitely, we could be worldly. It happens, just like legalism happens. There's no better way to learn that and from the loving hand of the Lord Himself, who will use the Word of God to teach and show you who He really is, how He is, and how what He's all about is so much better than the world and what it offers. And if you sit and learn and you take that in, then these kinds of issues, horizontally, get straightened out. And so our lesson tonight, we're gonna see that. As we're gonna see a man named Jehoshaphat, we're gonna see him in two chapters. The first one is a positive one, that's why it's titled on your handout, a doer, no, I'm sorry, a man of the word, in 2 Chronicles 17. So let's go there, King Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles chapter 17. Now, you'll notice your handout, we have it on two sides of the paper, so you can compare, well, it makes it easier to compare. On the left will be chapter 17, basically, and on the right will be chapter 18. And let's look how things go for this king. And we're gonna look at it in some sections, so first we'll look at verses one through five. Verse one, Jehoshaphat, Oh, I didn't give you this last one, number five, it was off of James four, I'm sorry. The Christian worldliness carries with it confusion of identity. Friendship with the world, enemy of God, that's a total twisted confusion identity mix up that's caused by worldliness and a love for the world. Okay, so then we get, so that was number five. Okay, so now we're in Chronicles, we're looking at Jehoshaphat, And verse one, by the way, Jehoshaphat and his son reigned in this place. Excuse me, Jehoshaphat, his son reigned in this place. And he strengthened himself against Israel. Now it's important to know that under David and Solomon, Israel was one. One nation, united, it was their golden era. After Solomon died, there was a split, there was a division. We have the 10 northern tribes came to be known as what, do you remember? Ten northern tribes were known as Israel, and the two southern tribes which occupied Jerusalem were known as Judah. And they each then had their own king and their own king system, even their own religious system as they worshipped at a different mountain in Israel and so forth. Now each of them had approximately, I can't remember the exact number, but 20 kings. And for Israel, they were 0 for 20. They didn't have a single good one, not a single one that had regard for God. All of them were spiritual bombs. And Judah, I can't remember the exact number. Does anyone know? I think it was maybe seven good ones, or I don't know, something. They had some good kings. And Jehoshaphat is the king of Judah. And he, of course, Judah and Israel became, at times, in conflict and had warfare. And they were enemies. So Israel, the 10 tribes, and Judah, the two tribes, aren't on good terms. enemies. So verse one, notice, he strengthened himself against Israel. This is a really helpful thing. Jehoshaphat knew who his enemy was. And he takes precaution. He takes, in this case, this is physical, some military type, whatever, ways of strengthening himself against the neighboring country to the north, Israel. And that's why even as believers, it's really helpful for us to know that we in the spiritual realm have enemies. We have three enemies that are really, we tend to learn from the scriptures in the New Testament. What are they? Do you remember? The flesh, which is the sin nature, the world, and the devil, Satan. The flesh, our sin nature, the world, and Satan. We have three definite enemies that are listed. And it's good to know who they are. Flesh, the world, and the devil. Isn't that interesting? The world is actually that which works negative for the believer. I've often illustrated like a radio owner, owns a radio station. You know, I can still use this illustration, although hardly any of you listen to the radio anymore, right? But, you know, in the day, there's a radio station. And that radio station would project itself with different programming, different kinds of music or different shows that would be appealing to people to, hey, tune in here, listen to our advertisements, make us money. And then there's individuals in their homes with their little radios tuning in, right, listening in. So the flesh, the world, the devil. Those are our three enemies in that illustration. Who are they? The devil would be the radio station owner. He's got the orderly arrangement. He's going to make his appeals for his customers. He's going to determine whether it's going to be country music or hip hop or polka. He's got something for everybody. So that's the devil, the equivalent and the analogy, right? The airwaves, putting out the music and all that stuff would be what? The world, the orderly arrangement, the advertisements, this is what you need to buy, look at this great song, right? Everyone jump up and dance and then wear this T-shirt, right? There it is, the world, this orderly arrangement. And then the flesh would be your little transistor, you, tuning in, right? to hear the messages that then appeal to you. I gotta have this, I gotta wear this, I gotta listen to that. Okay, so who's your enemies? Three of them, ready, who are they? The flesh, the world, and the devil. What else did he do, though, in verse one? He strengthened himself against Israel. Oh, by the way, I wanted to show you 1 Peter 5, 6 through 8. We're to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. Remember, godliness is related to dependence or humbling. So he can exalt you. Cast all your care upon him because he cares for you. And then be sober, vigilant because your adversary, your enemy, the devil, he walks around like a roaring lion seeking whom he can scare. It's not what it says, right? Seeking whom he can devour. Just imagine like you're watching a nature show, right? You got veins, blood squirting out. This is an ugly, brutal scene. But that's what God puts in front of us. This is brutal. Satan hates you. This is real. Okay, I knew this was probably gonna happen. I'm having problems with my clicker, which suddenly doesn't wanna work, so we'll... Okay, if you do that. He took his enemy seriously. He took his enemy seriously. He fortified against it. He took active measures because he knows who his enemy is. He doesn't think it's just, you know, a guy with a pitchfork going boo. He takes it seriously and he fortified. And this is good. In fact, we're told to do this. In Ephesians 6.11, we're told to put on the whole, actually, I wanted to go here. Ephesians 4.27, be angry and do not sin. Don't let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. That'd be a way you fortify against your enemy. Gee, my roommate drank my milk again. I don't want to use that illustration. It's old, bad, whatever. Roommate drank my milk again. Maybe I'll try to get that straightened out before I go to bed and dream about their demise. Because then I'm giving place to the devil. That's why Ephesians later says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. So I encourage you to write those references down just to think about that. Put on the whole armor of God. Take it seriously. This is serious. So there's an actual spiritual battle going on, there's characters involved, and let's fortify, so to speak. Back to chapter 17, you're going, holy smokes, we just did verse one. Verse two, he placed troops in all the fortified cities of Judah, and he set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa, his father, had taken. So we see he walked in the first ways of King David, as we see in verse three. Now the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the former ways of his father, David, and he did not seek the bales. Verse two, by the way, was how he fortified. I'm sorry, we should have read verse two. It goes with number two. He took his enemy seriously. He set his troops. He made plans. He was fortifying. set garrisons in the land of Judah, et cetera. Verse three, he walked in the former ways of his father David and he didn't seek Baals. Baals were a form of idol worship. He didn't go after false gods or idolatry. So this is a compliment. He walked in the first ways of King David, which is really interesting because King David You know, what were his later ways like? Good, right? A little adultery, a little murder, a little counting of the people, a lot of problems. And yet, God doesn't say, well, because of that, you're done, you're through, you're off the charts, I don't remember you anymore, you're just a big loser, and we just vanish from Scripture. No. He still acknowledged the first ways of King David. They were excellent. And Jehoshaphat's going after that good pedigree. He walks in the way of King David. What else does he do? He doesn't seek the bales. So you can see he recognizes false teaching, and he separates from it. The bales, that's wrong, that's idolatry. And therefore, I'll slam my... I dropped it. Two batters there. Thank you, ma'am. See if you can fix that one. But notice, he doesn't seek it. So when it comes to the Baals, oh, look at that. Thank you. I'll try not to spike it. So he separates from it, he doesn't seek it. Instead, verse four, he sought the Lord of his father, and he walked in his commandments, not according to the acts of Israel. So this is a desire he has, he sought the Lord. Isn't that great? This means, this is a choice. And really, you choose what you want. We tend to do what we want. We tend to pursue what we want. He wanted the Lord. He sought the Lord. It meant something to him. He's taking God seriously. Here's dependence. And number six, he walks according to the Lord's ways. He's walking in those commandments. The vertical is affecting his horizontal. His walk is his regenerate life. And it's different than the people around him. James 1.22 reminds us, in the New Testament, this is a good principle, be doers of the word. And not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. As we take God seriously, as we hear his commands, as we hear what it is he's about and who he is, et cetera, we take it seriously. We desire him, we seek those things. And it affects us even in our horizontal walk. as we walk in unison, in like-mindedness. And that is, notice the end of verse 4, he was now walking not according to the acts of Israel. So his actions differed from the world around him. There's some difference here. He had different values. He had some different standards. He has a different way of thinking and seeing things. And this is really supernatural. It's reflected in his relationship with his Lord. And so notice we see then in verse five, the Lord established the kingdom of Judah in his hand, and all Judah gave presents to Jehoshaphat. And he had riches in honor and abundance. This is an honor-shame culture. Honor's really, really a good deal. So he's clearly blessed, and he receives honor, much honor. The people of Judah say, here, here's some gifts. Yeah, I can live with that. They respect him. They bring gifts. This is going well. He's blessed. Notice, his thinking has regard for God. This is good. And so we see verse six, his heart took delight in the ways of the Lord. And moreover, he removed high places and the wooden images from Judah. Before we did that, I want to point one more thing out here. Notice all these things, he's honoring the Lord, he's seeking the Lord, his word is coming out in his life. Notice the promise Joshua 1.8, whom Jehoshaphat would have read and would have been familiar with. Here the Lord says to Joshua and to the Jews at that point, the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, you'll meditate in it day and night, you'll observe to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. Why don't you say Jehoshaphat verses 1-5 is a living fulfillment of that right there? Why don't you say God was faithful to that right there? And again, when he's dealing with his covenant people of Israel, he's now talking about a physical blessing for them, in light of obedience to a physical law that was part of their dispensation, so we know that that's an emphasis there. But in general, Jehoshaphat believed God, had regard for Him, had a godly perspective, and he's established. He's having success. Number nine, he took the light in the ways of his Lord. We see that in verse six. And he's just supposed to come in one by one. Now you can just run wild. He was aggressive against false religion. He went after the orchards and the places where they would carry out their Bale worship and he removed the high places and verse 7 and the third year of his reign. He sent his leaders a bunch of names but notice he sent them at the end of verse 7 to teach and and the cities of Judah. And then with them he sent Levites," and we see a bunch of names, verse 9, "'so they taught in Judah and had the book of the law of the Lord with them. And they went throughout all the cities of Judah and taught the people Jehovah God.'" Why? He sent them. He had a vision for his people. He had a vision for the people around them. He was aggressive in seeing the word of God get out and have people hear it and learn of it. He was aggressive against taking down the worship places of false teachers. All of this was because of his delight in the Lord. And so we get to verse 10. And we see things are going quite well. This is an encouraging verse, a chapter. The fear of the Lord fell on all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah, not just Judah, but around him, so that they did not make war against Jehoshaphat. In fact, some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and silver and tribute. Seriously? Philistines? Remember, they're the ones that gouged out Samson's eyes? Remember, they were the perpetual nemesis and enemy Israel. And now they're sending presents. Here, have a goat. And the Arabians brought them flocks, 7,700 rams. I don't know. What would you do if that was today, you know? Where do I put them? 7,700 male goats. The Arabians, they are the descendants of Ishmael, if I'm not mistaken. Ishmael, the Bible says in Genesis, was a wild man, like, has really a troubled neighbor. You didn't want Ishmael to be your neighbor. But here he is sending, you know, his descendants, 7,700 goats. So all of his enemies around him, they're sending him gifts. There's peace in the land. Something goes wrong, I think, in the battery. Thanks. So we see the first, he had a tremendous positive influence on many lives. There's peace in his land, his kingdom benefits, and he's respected by even his enemies. And we continue to see how he's very prosperous and very successful. Isn't that good? When you have good leaders, people benefit from that. They benefit from this godly king. And again, he's fulfilling chapter one, verse eight of Joshua. And we see that he became, verse 12, increasingly powerful. Increasingly powerful. And he built fortresses and storage cities. There is extra now in Judah. He had a lot of property in the cities of Judah. The men of war, mighty men of valor were in Jerusalem, and these are their numbers. And all the way down to verse 19, it's just all the different tribes and numbers of men. So we end our chapter. What do you think? Good guy, good story. Can you see, hopefully, how he took the Lord seriously? Can you see, hopefully, how he had regard for God? How he had regard for the Word of God? He wanted to see people benefited by the Word of God. We see how he knew who his enemy was. He properly fortified and defended against it. And you can see how he was successful. Even his enemies now were sending him gifts. People in the kingdom were sending him gifts. And he had a lot of honor. And just close our Bibles and let's call it a night. Wouldn't that be good? Good story. Faithful man. God is honoring his word. But the story is going to take a turn. Jehoshaphat is going to switch. Looks better over there, right? Jumping. So we're going to see chapter 18, the negative side, Jehoshaphat, a man of the world. Let's try this. What happens is it's like the light, no, it's not the light, it's like something with a battery. The light goes and then it, I don't know. All right, we'll just walk up and switch it. Verse one, chapter 18. Jehoshaphat had riches and honor and abundance. Stop, just let it stop there, please. But the word and, by marriage he allied himself with Ahab. Ahab, seventh king of Israel. Seventh king of Israel. Remember who's Israel? Israel is his, Hey, I think I'll have my daughter marry his daughter, because those were political alliances. Marriages were often done, you know, to show allegiances to each other and so forth. I think I'll make an alliance with my enemy. Daughter of Ahab. What do we know about Ahab? 1 Kings 16.33, Ahab, who was the king of Israel, the 10 northern tribes, Made a wooden image, Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. He is not a good guy in the spiritual realm. He does not have a heart for the Lord. In fact, who's his wife? Ah, Jezebel. She's not really someone you're going to read about in a character study of godly women. Right? We usually don't see Jezebel studies. She wasn't too interested in the Lord either. How did this happen? How did this happen? Verse two, after some years, it gets better, right? Oh, he went down to visit Ahab. Now he's hanging out in Samaria. And Ahab killed sheep and oxen in abundance for him and the people who were with him, bunch of people go with Jehoshaphat. And Ahab persuaded him to go up with him to Ramath Gilead, a city where he wants to do battle with the Syrians. So he's in an alliance. Next he walks in and enjoys enemy territory. Hey, this is a nice place. Should have come here more often. You Israelites are okay. And many go with him. Look at the influence that he used to have. Now look at the influence he has. So now he's got his little entourage. They're hanging out in Israel. And he sees total commonality with his enemy. How do we know that? Because notice, chapter 18, he says, verse 3, Ahab, king of Israel, said to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, will you go with me up against Ramoth Gilead? Come on, let's go. Take a puff. Come on, let's go. Peer pressure. And he answered him. He said, now catch this, I am as you are, and my people as your people. We will be with you in the war. Yes, I have total commonality with you. I am as you are. What change, drastic change. And now he's willing to join his enemy to fight for his cause. Let's go. Can you see a change here? This is quite the opposite. That's why, hopefully, if you compare it to some of the points on the other side of the page, he's not having this positive influence. He doesn't have this understanding of who his enemy is. He says, I am as you are. He has lost his identity. Remember, worldliness causes us, as Christians, to even get confused in our identity. There used to be some difference here. Ahab has no regard for the Lord. Hey, buddy. That's a nice place you've got here. Let's hang out." So what happens in verse 4? Also, Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, please inquire for the word of the Lord today. This is ironic, because what did he say at the end of verse 3? I'm there. Let's go. And then as an afterthought, hey, let's ask the Lord. So he brings in the Lord in his thinking as an afterthought. But at least it was still there. And so, verse five, the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, 400 men, and said to them, shall we go to war against Ramoth, Gilead, or shall I refrain? And they said, go up, for God will deliver it into the king's hand. Yes, yes. Yes, go, you'll have victory. Hmm, verse six. Jehoshaphat, though, said, huh, is there still a prophet of the Lord here that we may inquire of him? I mean, these are all like your false prophets, right? I remember now, I forgot, that's why we're different, okay? But I can barely detect false teaching. Oh yeah, now this isn't right. Isn't there actually a real prophet? So notice there's still some semblance of his old there, but it just barely is able to come out. but he sure loves the pomp and the circumstance as he's there with his other king. So he asked that. And the king of Israel, verse seven, said to Jehoshaphat, there's still one man in whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him. He never prophesied good concerning me, but always evil. He is Micaiah, the son of Imlah. And Jehoshaphat said, well, let not the king say such things. Oh, stop it. I didn't mean it like that. I mean, but he's not, it just doesn't, it's just like, where was your perspective? Where did it go? And now when the king gives you an obvious, is it working? When the king gives him an obvious clue, oh, there is this one prophet of the Lord, but he never tells me what I want. right? What does Jehoshaphat say? I'm out of here. That's my wake-up call. Nope. Instead, oh, don't say such a thing. And why is he so kind? Well, the next verse tells us, the king of Israel called one of his officers and said, bring Micaiah, the son of Imlot, quickly. And the king of Israel that's Ahab, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, clothed in their robes, sat each other on his throne, and they sat at a threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets prophesied before them. What fun, right? I love this pomp, I love this outfits, I love this, oh, this is just great seeing people are here, right? He's just caught up in this. So they're still prophesying, go, you'll be victorious, I'm sure. Verse 10, now Zedekiah, who's the one who had to go get Micaiah, the son of Chananiah, he made horns of iron for himself and he said, thus says the Lord, with these you shall gore the Syrians until they are destroyed. With these, this is your victory, right here, these very horns. And all the prophets prophesied, saying, go up to Ramoth Gilead and prosper, for the Lord will deliver into the king's hand. Well, we'll get to that in a minute. So he loves this pomp and this circumstance. So what happens? We see verse 12. The messenger who had gone to call Micaiah spoke to him saying, now listen, the words of the prophets with one accord encouraged the king. Therefore, please let your word be like the word of one of them and speak encouragement. So he went to get this prophet and he tells him ahead of time, look, if you know what's good for you, agree with all the other prophets. And Micaiah, verse 13, said, well, as the Lord lives, whatever my God says, that I will speak. So now they get to the kings and the pomp and the circumstance. He came to the king, verse 14, and the king said to him, hey, Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain? And he said, go and prosper, and they shall be delivered into your hand. And the king said to him, how many times shall I make you swear that you tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord? He knows he's being facetious. He knows that he wasn't telling him what he was supposed to say. And he's mad about it. You think he would like that? Oh yes, lie to me more. Right? Now he gets upset. How many times? Why are you doing this? So he said, Correctly now, verse 16, I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, These have no master. Let each one return to his house in peace. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Didn't I tell you he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil? Look, he's mad either way. Isn't that true of someone who just doesn't have regard for the Lord? He's mad either way. So he's unreasonable. And so Micaiah tells him, yeah, you'll have a leaderless country. That's what I see, no king. And so Jehoshaphat, or excuse me, Ahab is petulant and gets upset. Then, verse 18, Micaiah said, Therefore, hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the hosts of heaven standing in his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, Who's going to persuade Ahab, king of Israel, to go up, that he may fall at Ramath Gilead? Who's going to make him go? So one spoke in this manner and another spoke in that manner. Notice, by the way, this account now, Micaiah is saying this is as if this is what happened. This is all done from a human perspective side so we can kind of get the idea of why this is happening. So a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, I'll persuade him. And the Lord said, in what way? He said, I'll go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets. And the Lord said, you shall persuade him and also prevail, so go and do so. And therefore, look, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these prophets of yours, and the Lord has declared disaster against you. So he's just a storytelling way of explaining how all of his prophets are lying, because they're not of the Lord. And they don't have their foolishness. Remember in 1 Corinthians, this is worldliness. So Micaiah tells this fun little story that's really quite insulting of all the prophets. They're all just a bunch of liars, king. So verse 23, Zedekiah, the son of Chanana, went near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, which way did the spirit from the Lord go from me to speak to you? As he smacked him. And Micaiah said, indeed, you shall see in that day that when you go into an inner chamber to hide, The king of Israel said, take him away. Return him to Ammon, the governor of the city of Joash, the king's son, and say thus, says the king, put this guy in prison and feed him with bread and affliction and water of affliction until I return in peace. And Micaiah said, if you ever return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me. And then he said, hey, all you guys, take heed as he's being hauled out the door. Hey, if the Lord has spoken by me, this is going to happen. All of you, Take heed. Beware. So if you caught all that was going on here, we see that this guy, Jehoshaphat, he doesn't defend Micaiah at all. Remember, Zedekiah, the guy, whatever, was it Shanan or whatever, slapped him across the face. This prophet of God, no aggressive attempting to spread the word of God here or protect it, And finally, he doesn't take heed at all to the Lord's word or his warning. Through Micaiah, there's a specific warning. Everyone here, by the way, that's you Jehoshaphat as well, take heed. Now that's pretty direct, that's right in front of him. And Jehoshaphat, you'd think would say, well, time for me to go home, it's getting late, sun's coming up, better get going. Gotta home and get, you know, eat my hummus. But he doesn't. Verse 28, we go to verse 28, 34, the end of the chapter now. What happens? The king of Israel, Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up to Ramath Gilead. Off he goes, doop, doop, doop, doop. And they go together. Now, you want to think this guy, when you're worldly and you're kind of not too sharp, catch this one, verse 29. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I got an idea. I'll disguise myself to go into battle and you put on your robes, I'll put on your clothes, and you put on my clothes. So the king of Israel disguised himself, and they went into battle. Jehoshaphat says, okay. I mean, he's got a big target on him, right? You're not coming home tomorrow, Micaiah said. You're gonna lose. And Ahab's smart. Oh, I know a way I can get around that. Here, you wear my clothes. Okay. And he did. So, what happens? He foolishly agrees to take on the full identity of his enemy, in spite of God's Word. Remember, worldliness really causes identity problems. That's one of the problems with worldliness as a believer. We get confused. We forget who we are. And that's why one of the great remedies is just convince again, from the Word of God, who you are. You are a Christ one. You belong to Him as a believer. That's your identity. And we get distracted, we forget it. So here he is, they're in battle now, the king is dressed as Jehoshaphat, Ahab is, and Jehoshaphat's dressed as Ahab. Wow. So verse 30, what happens? The king of Syria commanded his captains and his men who were with him saying, fight with no one small or great, but only with the king of Israel. In other words, we want Ahab. So he's put himself in a position of great peril. Remember we looked at James 1.22? It said, be a doer of the word, not hearers only. It went on to say, if anyone's a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. He observes himself and then goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. Can you see how that describes Jehoshaphat here? He just totally forgets who he is. He's totally confused in his identity. The word of God is just coming off of him like water on a duck's back. What a change from where he was in the past. He puts himself in a position of great danger. The Syrians are only looking for Ahab, and he's dressed up as Ahab, as the enemy, in the enemy's backyard, fighting the enemy's battle. This is one of those where you wake up, and we all have these moments, right? Finally, sometime we finally wake up and go, how did I get here? How did I get here? and he's in great danger. Well, look what happens finally. Verse 32, it was when the captains of the chariot saw that it was not the king of Israel, they're ready to kill him. Oh, it's not actually him. They turned back from pursuing him. Oh, I'm sorry, I skipped a verse, a big one. Verse 31, it was when the captains of the chariot saw Jehoshaphat, they said, it is the king of Israel, get him. Therefore they surrounded him to attack, but Jehoshaphat cried out, presumably to who? He cried out to Baal? And I cried out to the Lord. We can imply that. And the Lord helped him. And God diverted those Syrians from him. And it was when the captains of the chariot saw it was not the king of Israel, they turned away from pursuing him. And here's how God does it. Remember Ahab? The prophet said, you're not coming home. A certain man drew a bow at random. Well, I think I'll just shoot here. Shoots it at random and strikes the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. And he has to say to his chariot driver, turn around, take me out of the battle, I'm wounded. And the battle increased that day. And at the end of the day, the king of Israel was propped himself up on his chariot and he died. Just like it had been said. In the meantime, before that, Jehoshaphat cried out and the Lord was right there, right on the spot. You know what I really like about that? It doesn't say God hesitates. It doesn't say, Jehoshaphat, we need to have a little lecture here. You need to show some fruits of repentance here. I'm not jumping in on your behalf just yet. Show you're real. This is immediate salvation, physical deliverance. He doesn't even confess his sin. He just is quickly depending on the Lord when finally he's got his back against the wall. Lord, help me. Well, that was quite a day. Chapter 19, we just pick up a few more verses and we'll be about done. Verse 1, Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, returns safely to his house in Jerusalem. It's not the grace of God. And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer, he went out to meet him. And he said to King Jehoshaphat, should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Therefore the wrath of the Lord is upon you. Nevertheless, good things are found in you and that you have removed the wooden images from the land and you have prepared your heart to seek God. So Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the mountains of Ephraim and brought them back to the Lord, the God of his fathers. I haven't, this was made by Ahab. He was immediately delivered by the Lord. And then in chapter 19, he gets a rebuke from the Lord. He gets a strong rebuke from the Lord from Hananiah. What is the issue? What is Ahab's, what's the issue the Lord brings out? Can you see it? Verses one and two, what's the issue? Someone will read it. The light will go on. Nice guess. What is it specifically? You love those who hate the Lord. You love your enemy. You love the world. The issue is, is love for those who hate the Lord. That's the problem. James chapter four, verse four, we already read that, reminds us. First John 2, 5, 15 through 17, we won't turn there, reminds us, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, because everything in the world has no future. So he's rebuked for the issue of his heart, he's rebuked for the status of his mind, he's rebuked for his desires have shifted from the Lord to the world and the things around him and his enemy. But as we finish, he responds in faith. He responds in faith. He jumps back. He jumped over. Guess what? He jumps back by faith. And not only that, the story starts to get better again. He not only returns to the Lord in his own thinking, in his own mindset, but he also brings others with him. Obviously he must be a pretty influential or, you know, a leader type personality. He jumps back. Isn't that awesome? The Lord saw in his heart. There's good in your heart. There's faith there. I'll use that. Where's his chastisement? He comes back and now he's starting to walk with the Lord again. There's no stated chastisement. But you know it's there. You know where his chastisement is? Two things. Number one, he's rebuked. Don't take that lightly. Someone was right in front, God is in his face, very clearly saying, you were wrong. How well do we take that? Tony, as a pastor, I've seen working in marriages or different counseling situations. People will go to their death without admitting that sometimes. It is so bad. That rebuke, if we don't want to hear it, if we're not really going to be open to the word of God, the godliness factor, it's going to churn you up. It's the chastening hand of the Lord. In this case, though, he took it. Where else is the chastening? Where else is the chastening? Well, there's consequences. He lost a lot of time. He spent a lot of time in the enemy's territory. He spent a lot of time. In fact, he lost his good robes because Ahab was wearing them when he got killed. Lost his outfit. But you know what I'm saying? He lost time. He lost spiritual progress. That's a bummer. He has to start again, kind of get the wheels turning. You kind of get to a point where you forget. What's next, Lord? Ever been there? Ever wake up, what's next, Lord, what's next? And we often, when we're in a situation like Jehoshaphat, we're not really saying what's next. I don't really wanna know what's next because I know that I'm not doing very well. In fact, I've pretty much forgotten you, Lord, so I don't really wanna know what's next because I'm pretty sure it's not gonna be good. That's how we tend to think, but Jehoshaphat, when he sees the hand of God, He can respond by faith again, wakes up and back in Jerusalem, and he can say, what's next, Lord? Well, we're going to have you start returning to me and leading these people back to me. You see, spiritual maturity, sometimes we think it's in our actions, but I really think maturity is when we can learn to start over again. We just can learn to lick our wounds and start over again. Take the rebuke, realize where we're at, say, what's next, Lord? Start over. It's not easy to do when there's an element of pride. But if there's dependence, the Lord can use that and see good in that. So there was chastisement there. He had to take that rebuke. He had to deal with consequences of what he had, time that he had lost or riches he had lost, et cetera. But he goes back. Before we end the story, just look in chapter 19. If you have a Scofield Bible, which most of you might, I don't know, just notice the italic headings, because I don't want to spend all this time reading it. Jehoshaphat, turning, excuse me, trusting in the Lord makes judicial reforms. Right above verse four, do you see that? Or verse five? So he's starting to have positive effect in his land again. Chapter 20, Judah is now going to be invaded by the Moabites. Verse three, Jehoshaphat's prayer. And he lays this all out before the Lord. You're gonna hear something similar to that later. Notice above verse 14, the Lord answers Jehoshaphat's prayer through Jazaziel. I don't know if I'm pronouncing these right. I'm sure I'm butchering them. Verse 20, above that, Jehoshaphat and the people praise the Lord. Enemy armies destroy one another. Another tremendous supernatural victory. The people are praising the Lord. The people are enjoying the Lord. There's been great victory. Notice above verse 26, triumphant return of Jehoshaphat and the people to Jerusalem. Awesome. Notice above verse 31, summary of Jehoshaphat's reign. And then above verse 35, chapter 20, what does it say? An alliance between the kings of Judah and Israel. What does Jehoshaphat do? He starts all over again. And he makes another alliance with the king of Israel. He jumps back again. What? Seriously? But then we realize, in our Christian life, haven't we done this kind of thing? Haven't we done a lot of jumping ourselves? Maybe even recently? Is it possible we're more worldly than we realize? Sure it is. Maybe there is some encouragement here in this account, some truth here we can consider. Wouldn't it be great if having considered the story of Jehoshaphat and seeing how he jumps back and forth, but the Lord is faithful in it all, that we take the Lord more seriously in our own thinking, in our own heart, in our own life? Wouldn't it be great if we move toward him with an honest heart and say, Lord, show me, show me where I'm off. Show me if there's like Psalm 139, if there's any of this in me. Jumping. Wow. What is it that's with this God who keeps forgiving and blessing such fickle people? Here we are, we are jumpers before Him, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, from faithfulness to foolishness, from faithfulness to dumb decision, from taking Him seriously to forgetting His name practically. What is it about us? We go back and forth, back and forth. We do that. We know we're disloyal. And this God keeps loving us. He never leaves. He never stops being faithful. What is it here that doesn't stop us or prevent us, hopefully, from just saying all eyes on Him, all praise to Him. And by the grace of God, may we even collectively jump back to Him and find ourselves relishing that here's a God who was always willing to restore us and forgive us and we can start over. What's next, Lord? We can always say that. What's next? And so, it happened to Jehoshaphat pretty subtly, didn't it? What a contrast, chapter 17 and the positive, to where he is in chapter 18. How does that happen? It's not because he's some loser and some bad egg and some guy we can just beat on and shame. No, he's just like any of us. a little dullness of hearing, an alliance here, something happens there. And so may we be encouraged as we learn from these characters that what we have in the Lord is so much better. And may the Spirit of God even just touch our heart and convince us, Lord, all praise, to you. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this first character, this first account. We can just see ourselves hopefully in the positive and the negative here, Lord. We just know that it's in our thinking, isn't it? Just teach us to be godly in our thinking, to have regard for you, to take your word seriously, to learn where we can learn, and just search us and know our hearts, Father, and weed out that which doesn't need to be there. May we not be defensive, but instead just know that a close walk with you will surely carry forth in our horizontal. So as we study and learn and continue to fellowship and hang out here this weekend, may we just be encouraged with you and our walk with you. So we trust you'll use these things now, and we pray and ask in Jesus' name, amen.