Well turn to 2 Chronicles we looked at chapter 20 or nearly all of chapter 20 this morning. We're going to go back and look at beginning chapter 18. Now 2 Chronicles the story of Jehoshaphat begins in chapter 17. And we'll look at a few verses in chapter 17 as we begin in a moment but we're going to read our text from chapter 18 and then we're going to go to the end of chapter 20. and read a couple of verses there. Chapter 18, verse 1, the Bible said, Now Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor, and he made a marriage alliance with Ahab. After some years, he went down to Ahab in Samaria, and Ahab killed an abundance of sheep and oxen for him, and for the people who were with him, and induced him to go up against Ramoth-Gilead. Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, will you go with me to Ramoth-Gilead? And he answered him, I am as you are, my people as your people, we will be with you in the war. And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, inquire first for the word of the Lord. Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, 400 men, and said to them, shall we go to battle against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain? And they said, go up, for God will give it into the hand of the king. But Jehoshaphat said, is there not here another prophet of the Lord of whom we may inquire? And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, there is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil. And Jehoshaphat said, let not the king say so. And then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, bring quickly Micaiah, the son of Imlah. Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, were sitting on their thrones arrayed in their robes. And they were sitting at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria. And all the prophets were prophesying before them. And Zedekiah the son of Chanaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, thus says the Lord, with these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed. And all the prophets prophesied so and said, go up to Ramoth Gilead and triumph, and the Lord will give it into the hand of the king. And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them and speak favorably. But Micaiah said, as the Lord lives, what my God says, that I will speak. And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth Gilead to battle or shall I refrain? And he answered, go up and triumph. They will be given into your hand. But the king said to him, how many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord? And he said, I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, these have no master. Let each return to his home in peace. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil? And Micaiah said, therefore, hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, who will entice Ahab, the king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? And one said one thing and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord saying, I will entice him. And the Lord said to him, by what means? And he said, I will go out and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, you are to entice him and you shall succeed. Go out and do so. Now therefore, behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these, your prophets. The Lord has declared disaster concerning you. Then Zedekiah, the son of Chanaanah, came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, which way did the spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you? Micaiah said, behold, you shall see On that day, when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself, and the king of Israel said, seize Micaiah, and take him back to Ammon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king's son, and say, thus says the king, put this fellow in prison, feed him with meager rations of bread and water until I return in peace. And Micaiah said, if you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me. And he said, hear all you peoples. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up to Ramoth-Gilead. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself, and they went into battle. Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of his chariots, fight with neither small nor great, but only with the king of Israel. And as soon as the captains of the chariot saw Jehoshaphat, they said, it is the king of Israel. So they turned to fight against him and Jehoshaphat cried out and the Lord helped him. God drew them away from him. For as soon as the captains of the chariot saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. But a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, turn around and carry me out of the battle for I'm wounded. And the battle continued that day and the king of Israel was propped up in his chariot facing the Syrians until evening. Then at sunset, he died. Let's read a verse or two out of chapter 19. Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, returned in safety to his house in Jerusalem, but Jehu, the son of Hanani, the seer, went out to meet him and said to him, should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this, wrath has gone out against you from the Lord. Now go to the end of chapter 20. We went down to verse 30 in chapter 20, I want you to see this little addition to the story of Jehoshaphat at the end of chapter 20. After this, verse 35, after this, Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, joined with Ahaziah, which is the son of Ahab, king of Israel, who acted wickedly. He joined him in building ships to go to Tarshish, and they built the ships at Isaiah and Geber. Then Eliezer, the son of Doduvahu, of Marisha prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because you have joined with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what you have made. And the ships were wrecked and were not able to go to And we'll stop there and we're going to look at a few little things in these verses for a little while tonight. Well, I said this morning that we were going to spend the day looking at the life of King Jehoshaphat. We're not going to, of course, look at every text because there's a couple of chapters that tell of seasons of reform and renewal and revival. that he led the people in. It's interesting to me what an influence a king could have over a people. I've always debated, is it true that the king is a reflection of the spiritual condition of the people in the land? Or is it true that the king is an influence on the spiritual condition of the people in the land? I mean, what I'm saying is, Is an ungodly king the fruit of an ungodly society or is an ungodly society the effect of an ungodly king? I think it's probably a little bit of both. I think that naturally godless people would be drawn or gravitate to godless leaders. I think we have witnessed a lot of that, a change in that in our own society where There are things that we accept much more than we once would have. I also think it's true that probably there have been very few of our presidents that have been truly born-again Christians. But a lot of things were hidden years ago that are not hidden now. A lot of things were secret years ago that are not secret now. But when you look at the kings in particular, you just see that an evil people would Invariably have an evil king and an evil king would invariably have an effect upon the spiritual condition of the nation because I guess they would unleash things upon the people that the people would eventually fall into. Now we know that's true just from the story of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. Jeroboam introduced idolatry into the northern kingdom and there's just this terrible steep trajectory in which they went away from God and he is the one that did that. It was his own scheme. It wasn't their scheme, it was his scheme to try to keep them from going down into the southern kingdom and eventually wanting a return to the Davidic kingdom. You know, we can't deny the effect that the king had upon the people, but we also can't deny the fact that sometimes the leaders that are given to a people in the providence of God also may be you know, correction from God, or they may be the judgment of God in some sense because of the spiritual condition of the people. But this man, like I said, he led the people in times of reform and renewal and revival. And I'm sure we're not told everything about his reign. We know that he reigned for 25 years. He was 35 years old when he began to reign. And the text that we looked at this morning, I tried to communicate this. I don't know how well I did. Probably if you'd went to him at the beginning of chapter 20 and said, what do you think about what's happened? He'd say, this is the darkest day of my life. And if you went to him at the end of chapter 20, he would have said, man, this has been the greatest victory of my life. You know, just God turned it. around through his brokenness, you know, his humility, his brokenness, his dependence, his honest confession of his need, his lowliness. God just, you know, like I said this morning, he turned his weakness into strength. So if you would have come to him when he got the report of this alliance that was coming against him, he would have probably said, this is the greatest calamity of my life. And then if you would have went to him when the story was complete that we looked at this morning, he would have probably said, this is the greatest victory of my life. This is the greatest blessing of my whole tenure as being the King of Judah. But I said this morning, that's not all the story that there is that's told us about Jehoshaphat. He was By a lot of standards, he was a good king. He was a good king, and compared to many of the others, he probably would have been considered a good man. We can't deny, and I want you to look at three places with me. We can't deny what the Bible says, the positive things the Bible says about him. We can't deny those things. Look back at chapter 17, and look at verse three. The Bible said the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the earlier ways of his father, David. He did not seek the bales, but sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments and not according to the practices of Israel. Therefore, the Lord established the kingdom in his hand and all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat and he had great riches and honor. His heart was courageous in the ways of the Lord. And furthermore, he took the high places and the Asherim out of Judah. Now that is quite a testimony, isn't it? It's a testimony of a man who's turned away from idolatry and turned to God. Go to chapter 19. Now chapter 19 is after what we just got done reading. When he comes back, after nearly being killed at Ramoth Gilead, when he comes back, God sends a prophet to him to rebuke him. for what he's done. And we read part of that a moment ago. But look what it says in verse three. 19, three, nevertheless, some good is found in you for you destroyed the Asherahs out of the land and have set your heart to seek God. Jehoshaphat lived at Jerusalem and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and brought them back to the Lord, the God of his fathers. So that's another positive thing that the scripture tells us about his life. And then in chapter 20, look at verse 31. Thus Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was 35 years old when he began to reign. He reigned 25 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azuba, the daughter of Shilhi. He walked in the way of Asa, his father, and did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the eyes, right in the sight. of the Lord. So those are three places in this section of chapters that tell us about the reign of Jehoshaphat and we can't deny that those are true. They wouldn't be in the Bible if they were not true. So the Bible does tell us that in large measure he was a good king and he was a blessing to his people and he sought to lead them to God and away from idolatry. And you've heard me say this, I'm sure, a number of times here, yet the story of Jehoshaphat, as wonderful as it is in chapter 20 and as wonderful as these texts that we just read, as wonderful as the story of the great reforms in chapter 19 and in chapter 17, we can't just bypass chapter 18 and we can't bypass the end of chapter 20. because the true record of his life reveals he had one great glaring weakness and one great glaring failure. Now, these things puzzle us, or they puzzle me. You know, you come to me and say, if you were to come to me and say, what's the one book of the Bible you struggle most with understanding? I'd say probably the Song of Solomon. I struggle with the language and one person speaking at one time, and I understand that the idea is it's a love poem, but I really struggle with understanding a song of Solomon. But if you were to come to me and say, what one story of the Bible most makes you scratch your head and puzzles you, it's the story of Samson. Because this man's a mess. I mean, honestly, he's just a mess. And yet God uses him. God's hand is upon him. God is merciful to him. It's obvious God has chosen him, and God is working his purpose through him. But I preached a message on Samson years ago, and I entitled the message, The Weak Strong Man. Because he was strong in one sense, but he was terribly weak in other senses. It was kind of the undoing of him. It was the ruin of him, you know, and eventually ended up costing him his life. But who can deny the grace that was shown to him by God? You know, you can't deny that God was working through him and that God had chosen him. So his story puzzles me. But to a lesser degree, This story a little bit puzzles me because we have this man that God tells us so many positive things about, you know, that he led the nation in seasons of reform and revival and spiritual renewal. And then chapter 20, what we looked at this morning, he comes to God with such honesty and such simplicity and such brokenness, and God hears and responds and works this miraculous deliverance, and he witnesses this. And you see this great mountaintop experience in his life, and that's what makes this glaring weakness, sin, and failure that much more puzzling to us. And that's the aspect of his life that we want to think about for just a few minutes tonight. Now this weakness, and you already know what it is, was his willingness to join in with wicked people that he had no business joining in alliances with or ventures with, you know. Now we immediately, I was thinking as I was walking to my truck tonight, I was thinking about the New Testament verses that our mind would go to as we thought about this, you know, well here's one that I thought of. Evil associations corrupt good behavior. You know, that's a New Testament verse. Which is something we try to teach our children, right? You gotta be careful who you're hanging around with. because evil associations corrupt good behavior. I think the King James renders that evil communications corrupt good manners. We would also think of this verse, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. You know, a little bit of leaven will work its way through the whole lump. until the whole lump of meal is leavened. Another verse we might think of is, come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and then I'll receive you and be God to you. And that's that quote from the Corinthian letter where, you know, we're told that, you know, what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? You know, what, what, what, how can we be in agreement? How can we drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils? You know, that's the language of the New Testament. Now we don't, and I'm not trying to be, you know, I'm not, I don't know everything and I know I don't know everything, but that's something we've let drift away from us in the modern church is we're not nearly as serious about associations as we once were. I don't think we're nearly as careful about the influence of others upon us as Christians once were in the past. I think that's true personally. I think that's true in our family life. I think it's also true in our church lives. In our church lives, a lot of churches fall in with other groups that are not teaching and preaching the gospel. And if we're not careful, a little leaven will leaven the whole lump. And we do it personally. And just think about it this way. Is it or is it not true? Isn't it true that there's some people, if you're around them, they are a negative influence upon your life? I know that's true in my life. There are people that, I know there are people that are around me that make me want to be more obedient and honor Christ more and love Him more and serve Him more faithfully. And there's other people that their language or their negativity or their attitude, it begins to kind of rub off upon me. And this is, you know, you say, well, that's a small thing. It's not necessarily a small thing. But now we have this picture drawn for us from history, from the word of God, of a man who had this one great weakness, and that is that he couldn't say no to people that he had no business being affiliated with or associated with. He was in alliance and in agreement with two of the most wicked kings in the Northern Kingdom, one of them being Ahab, who is He's the gold standard of wicked kings. I mean, he is the wicked king by which all other wicked kings are judged. The Bible said nobody had sold themselves to do evil like Ahab and his wife Jezebel. And then his son, Ahaziah, and I was doing a little background studying and It doesn't tell us this in the account here in 2 Chronicles in chapter 20, but back in the Kings, we're told that he was an apple that fell directly from the tree of his dad and mom, and he was just as wicked and idolatrous and godless as they were. And yet we have this account of Jehoshaphat, this man that so many positive things are told us about in scripture, that he is in alliance and in agreement at different times with each of these two wicked men. So let's think about it. First of all, we have to acknowledge the fact that this happened in spite of the clear evidence of their wickedness. He couldn't be that dumb, could he? I mean, he honestly could not be unaware of what these people were like. He couldn't have been unaware. Here's what we're told about Ahab. Ahab was, he followed the sins of Jeroboam, which means that he was all in with the worshiping of the calves that Jeroboam set up in the northern kingdom. But here's the way the Bible says it, and if that wasn't enough, that's the way the Bible puts it. If that wasn't enough, he went and marries, he goes and marries Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbel, the king of the Zidonians. And the Bible said he went and worshipped Baal. He followed after her and her family, and he went and worshipped Baal. So these are the things that were told about Ahab, and these are the things that were told are true of his son. He couldn't have been clueless about this. I mean, he couldn't have been in the dark about this. Their idolatry was no secret. I mean, their idolatry was really a national sin, wasn't it? It was not a secret sin, it was not a hidden sin of the heart. Surely he had enough evidence to know better. Surely he had enough information to know these are not the kind of people I need to be, number one, marrying my offspring off to. But number two, these are not the kind of people I need to be making agreements with and alliances with. But he did it anyway. Now let me ask you a question. Is there something in people, have you ever witnessed it in people, that somehow think that all the rules of God's justice and God's judgment, that somehow, that what God has said He will do in response to wickedness, that somehow it doesn't apply to them? That's in the human heart, isn't it? A lot of other people might have made this choice and ended up in disaster, but not me. A lot of other people may have went down this path and it may have brought about their ruin, but not me. And you know, we don't know what was going on in his mind. We're not given access to his thoughts or his reasoning or anything like that. But we have to scratch our head and say he had to have known what kind of Men these were that he was making agreements with and alliances with he had to have had that kind of information He had to have known better. Now. You got to understand what we're reading in chapter 18. He's he's not in Jerusalem He's in Samaria. He's there in the midst of all of the You know the the royal court of Ahab and there would have been all kinds of evidence of the idolatries so he did this in spite of the clear evidence of of these men's wickedness. Now it's possible that we can be deceived by someone, right? It's possible that we cannot know what, you know, another person really is in their heart. But when God gives us light and lets us see that their heart is not with God and that they are rebellious against Him, we would do well to give them a wide berth. We would do well to not join in with him. You've heard me tell the story of this preacher. He was kind of a wild guy up in Ashland. I heard him stand up. I was there the night he stood up in front of the church. He said, if you marry an unbeliever, don't be surprised when you have trouble with your father-in-law. He's talking about the devil. And there's truth in that. You know, When you know, you need to act according to the truth that you know. And if you know someone's not right with God, that they'd have no heart for God. So we're gonna start a business and the person that wants you to start a business with them is just a godless, wicked person. You'd be wise to not do that. You'd be wise not to enter into that. Marriage, the Bible could not be clearer about that in regards to marriage. But there's so many other things in which that is true in life. Now, another thing I think that is fair to think and assume out of this text is that he did this seeking security and prosperity. When we're told in chapter 18, verse one, that he made a marriage alliance with Ahab, The reason that these marriage alliances were made were, I think, primarily for two reasons. Number one, security, but also prosperity. If I marry my son off to his daughter, or if we marry our, we were talking here the other night that a lot of people, a lot of people are not aware of the fact that a lot of the carnage of World War I the result of all of the nobility of the European countries, they were offspring of Queen Victoria. They were offspring of Queen Victoria, and they were all related. Not that the marching of the armies was because of cousins and everything, but they were all related, and why were they all related? Why did they do that in Europe? Because it was a system of keeping alliances And it was a system of hopefully bringing about, number one, security, but also prosperity. If my daughter's married to the King of France's son, well, naturally our countries are going to be friends and we're going to trade and we're going to be in a military alliance, hopefully bringing about the security of both nations. And he had to have done this, I think, because he was hoping that this alliance would be to his advantage. You know, most people do things out of self-interest, don't they? They do things hoping that it will be to their own advantage. I'm sure that he did this. You know, here you've got what? You've got the Northern Kingdom on your border, and I'm sure the thought must have went into his mind, if we enter into this alliance that will secure my border, surely he wouldn't invade family. If we're joined by a marriage alliance, he wouldn't invade us, and he would be a buffer between other nations who would come down from the north to invade us, and plus we can trade and do business. It was a fleshly scheme that he hoped would bring advantage. And all fleshly schemes reveal at their core a distrust of God, because he had a choice to make. And the choice would have been, here's a godless man. I need to obey God and keep my distance from him and his system of religion and his whole operation. He's a godless man, he's a wicked man, he's an idolater. God has made clear that I'm to give him a wide berth, I need to stay away from him, and I'm gonna trust God for my security and I'm gonna trust God for our prosperity. The other choice was, well, maybe I can scheme around and work this out and it'll make us more rich and it'll make us more secure. So it reveals, as all fleshly schemes do, a measure of distrust in God. Another thing that you can see from this text is that this occurred with a measure of flattery and manipulation. Did you notice those first few verses of chapter 18? Ahab throws him a big party. And then it says he induced him. induced him to go up against Ramoth Gilead. In other words, he was kind of manipulated and tricked, not tricked in the sense that he was not cognizant or that he did not make a choice, but he was manipulated and kind of flattered by the king of Israel and Ahab played him. to use him, didn't he? He played. And by the way, that's what wicked people do. Wicked people manipulate and play other people so they can use other people for their own desires and their own wicked ends. You know, there's something in the human heart that just, I mean, I know it's the sinfulness of our hearts and our fallen condition, but you know, Just for a man or a woman or anybody, just to be straight up open and up front and not to have some ulterior motive is really a rare thing, right? Because most people, they're looking out for themselves. And you've heard me say, I used to listen to this preacher and he would say, some preachers use people to build churches when they should be using the church to build people. You know, and he was talking about how that people can be manipulated so that a ministry or a church can be built and a preacher's name be elevated as some great something, you know. And that's completely backwards. That's completely backwards. And it's a subtle, wicked thing. But, you know, you can just see Ahab playing this man so that he could use him. He needed his army, right? He needed his army, he needed his forces. And he thought, you know, if I work this right, I can, you know, get him to come with me to this battle and we can enter into an alliance and it'll be to my advantage. And what he was doing, he was playing him. He was playing him kind of for a fool. He was led into this through flattery and manipulation. You have to be careful. Wicked people are tricky. They are, they're tricky. They'll act like they love you, and they'll act like they've got your best interest at heart, and they'll act like they would never ask you to violate your conscience or disobey God, and they'll lead you right into a trap, and the trap will snap closed on you. You have to be careful. Another thing. Doesn't this reveal a terrible lack of judgment and discernment on this man's part? The man who had enough discernment to lead the people in spiritual reforms. The man who had enough discernment that when he heard the news of the invasion of the three nations that he calls the people together to fast and seek the Lord. And yet here he has this glaring lack of discernment and judgment. First of all, the alliance itself, the very existence of the alliances between himself and these other kings in the Northern Kingdom reveals a glaring lack of discernment and good judgment. But the greatest evidence that he has no discernment and judgment in this matter is when Ahab talks him into wearing his royal apparel into the battle, which was like putting a big bullseye on him and saying, shoot me, shoot me, shoot me. when Ahab won't do it. It's not, you know, I can see him in bravado or foolishness saying, let's put on our robes and let's go out like kings and fight with our heads held high. You know, I can see Jehoshaphat going, looking over and seeing Ahab in his royal apparel and going, yeah, I can see him being carried away with that. But when the other king is hiding, trying to conceal his identity, and he talks you into going out there not concealing your identity, man, it reveals a terrible lack of discernment and judgment. Another thing about this is he did this in spite of clear warnings from God. And I was reading through the text There are three times that God rebukes him or warns him about this. First of all, in chapter 18, Micaiah should have been a warning to him. I don't fully understand that story. You've got 400 prophets and they all tell the king Ahab what he wants to hear. But there must have been something about their testimony that Jehoshaphat at least had enough discernment to question. Because he asks for another voice, doesn't he? He asks for, is there yet a prophet of the Lord that we can inquire of? And I love, you know, I love that story because I love that, I love when Ahab says, well, there is another one, but I hate him. He always has something bad to say. You know, he always is rebuking me for this or rebuking me for that. I hate this man. And then when he sins for him, The person that he sins says, well, everybody's telling him it's good to go. You need to tell him the same thing. And he says, as the Lord lives, what my God says that I will speak. And then he goes and he, I think with an, best I can understand with an air of sarcasm, he goes, yeah, it's all good. Yeah. You want to hear that's what you want to hear. Yeah, go. And Ahab says, tell me the truth. He tells him the truth and he turns to Jehoshaphat and said, didn't I tell you, he never has nothing good to say to me. So when Micaiah gets done prophesying, you would think Jehoshaphat would say, whoa, hey, I better back away from this, but he doesn't. Then he goes down, he nearly gets killed. Then when he comes back to Jerusalem, he's rebuked by Hanani. In chapter 19, the Bible said, I'm sorry, Jehu, the son of Hananiah, the seer, went out to meet him and said to him, should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this, wrath has gone out against you from the Lord. Then the last time was in chapter 20. At the end, when Eliezer came and said, because you have joined with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what you have made. So three times he was rebuked by God or warned by God, and in spite of these clear warnings from God, he pursues the policy anyway. Now I'll tell you, whenever the word of God is clear, and whenever the voice of God is clear on a matter, And people put their head up and say, I'm gonna do it anyway. The best thing you can do is stand back. Because I'm telling you, they're headed for trouble. Whenever the will of God is clear, whenever God has spoken clearly, and they set themselves against God, that's folly upon folly. And he did this in spite of clear warnings from God. Now, as we've already said, this was a repeated folly. This wasn't something he did once, which was a terrible lack of judgment, and then he didn't do it again. He does it again later. He does it in his alliance with Ahab, and then he does it in his alliance. But now think about it. His alliance with Ahab was a marriage alliance. So you can't just shut that off like turning off the lights, can you? You've got family connected to family. So the hooks were in. And it would have been wise for him to say, I don't care if my family is involved, I'm not gonna go on these ventures and I'm not going to continue with these agreements and these alliances. But He refused to do that. It was a repeated folly. He did it in the days of Ahab, then he did it in the days of Ahaziah. Now, two more and I'm done. These ventures only brought judgment, failure, and loss. That's all they brought. Number one, the first venture nearly cost him his life. because the army of Syria was hot on his heels, close to killing him when he cried out to God and God showed him mercy. The second one cost him his fleet. The Bible said he had made this agreement to build ships and to go on some kind of venture with Ahaziah. And the Bible said, The message was the Lord will destroy what you have made and the ships were wrecked probably by a storm you would think by the language of that and were not able to go to Tarsus. Now we can't deny the fact God judged him for this didn't he? God judged his sin. God rebuked him in not only in word but God rebuked him in providence for These ventures only brought him loss. They only brought him failure. They only brought him judgment. Now, the other side of that is what we looked at this morning. He didn't turn to anybody there but God, and what did that bring him? Blessing and victory. I mean, he didn't try to call Ahab. It may have been because there wasn't time, I don't know, but he didn't try to call anybody but God. And God wonderfully and miraculously worked and gave blessing and victory. But in these two instances that the Bible records for us, his alliances and agreements with the ungodly only brought judgment upon him, failure, and loss. He built, we don't know how many or how large or small it was. He built a fleet of ships, lost them. Took his army into battle, lost the battle and nearly lost his life. Now the last thing is that even in this, which is this great thing that runs throughout the Bible, even in this, God demonstrates his mercy and grace, doesn't he? I mean, God was gracious to him in spite of this. I mean, his deliverance in chapter 18 proves that God, you know, he's where he shouldn't be with who he shouldn't be with. And the, you know, the army of Syria is hot on his heels getting ready to slay him. And the Bible said Jehoshaphat cried out. and the Lord helped him. Isn't that just like the Lord? We won't listen to him, we won't obey him. We get ourself in situations we shouldn't be in and everything begins to come unraveled and we cry out to God and God helps us. His wonderful deliverance in chapter 20 proves this as well. And this speaks of something that, if we're honest, we know is true of all of us. And that is our lives are made up of a mixture of obedience and failure. Right? I'm not, we don't excuse our failure, but our lives are made up of times of great victories and obedience and submission and dependence and faith and times when we get off track. And that's not just an Old Testament record, that's a New Testament record too, isn't it? Peter made some mistakes, didn't he? I mean, Peter's denied the Lord. In the midst of that, God takes a weak, frail human timber and works out his perfect purpose and builds an indestructible church. So you've got Jehoshaphat one day with Ahab in Emmaus and God has to graciously intervene to spare his life and then God sends a messenger to rebuke him and then you have him one day standing in front of the nation broken and crying out to God and God saying, I'm going to do something amazing here. And that's kind of our lives, isn't it? I mean, there's a picture there. You know, we have these great seasons of blessing and faith. And then we have these times when we're just kind of stumbling and God just has to keep picking us up, straightening us out, dusting us off and correcting us and helping us to go forward. So, you know, I don't, my intent in teaching this was not to slam Jehoshaphat, but to point out how much, how human he is, how real he is, you know, and how gracious God is. Well, let's pray. Father, we love you. We love your word. We love how it speaks to us, illustrates principles and truths and gives us light in the darkness. Help us, Lord, to be careful who we associate with, who we join with in every context of life. And help us, Lord, to honor you and to glorify you and to trust you and to walk the path of obedience for your glory. Amen.