There are no notes tonight for you, no handout. We're just going to be here in one area. We're not going to have to turn. I thought it would have been more of a distraction to you than a help. We've been looking at the Old Testament prophets of God, and we've looked at some well-known prophets as well as some not-so-well-known prophets. We're going to be in 2 Chronicles 19 tonight, so if you go ahead and turn there while I'm talking, 2 Chronicles 19. Though some Bible characters might be unknown or little known to us, we need to see that their stories are significant in God's plan and purpose in history. God used them and they yielded themselves to God to be used, and He accomplished His purpose through them. And the last message, we saw that truth in the prophet Micaiah, who only had just one brief prophecy recorded in the Scriptures. Now, I'm sure he probably prophesied more than that, but the Lord only chose just one prophecy to record. And as he prophesied to Ahab, king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, concerning going to battle with Syria for Ramoth-Gilead. Now, we know how that turned out. We know that Ahab lost his life. Jehoshaphat escaped with his life. We're going to see it tonight. Only by the grace of God, And the purpose of these three prophets that come to him, the very first prophet was to reprimand him, was to get on to him for embracing such one as Ahab and joining in alliance with Ahab. And we see the message here, we're going to see three more Prophets actually are going to see four. One of them is the dad of one. We're going to go back and look a little bit at his dad. You understand that his dad got locked up for prophesying. He had to be a strong young man to say, well, they may lock my dad up, but I'm still going to do what the Lord told me to do. And so we're going to see these three, Jehu, Jehaziel and Eleazar, who prophesied to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. And we're going to be in 2 Chronicles 19, verses 1-3, and we see the message from Jehu to Jehoshaphat. It says, And Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. As I said, that's only by God's grace, and we'll see that in just a minute when we go back to the previous chapter. But Jehu, the son of Hanani, the seer, went out to meet him. So Jehu, the son of one that was a prophet too, Hanani, said unto King Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord? Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord. Nevertheless, there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God." So Jehoshaphat returned safe and uninjured from the war which Ahab had lost his life, but it was only by God's grace. If you look back in chapter 18, verse 31, look at what it says here. It says, And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of Israel. Therefore they compassed him to fight. But Jehoshaphat cried out, notice this, and the Lord helped him. and God moved them to depart from Him. So, like I said, it truly was the grace of God that saved his skin right there. And we know here that on his return in peace, notice how it says he returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. On his return, the seer Jehu, the son of Hanani, met him with a reproving word. Now I understand Jehu could have been reluctant to reprove Jehoshaphat because his own father, Hanani, had been thrown into stocks for reproving the previous king, King Asa. Remember King Asa started out as a good king and then he got to a point here, we're going to see, look at chapter 16 for just a minute. And we're going to see this incidence in Asa's life and also Jehu's dad's life, Hanani. It says in chapter 16 verse 7, it says, And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hands. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubams a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen. Yet because thou didst rely on the Lord, He delivered them into thine hand." He's reminding you there was a time when you would have just trusted the Lord. and the Lord would have given them over to your hand, but you went and relied on somebody else rather than relying upon the Lord. Look at verse 9. It says, For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him. Herein thou hast done foolishly. Therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. Asa's reaction in verse number 10. And Asa was wroth with the seer. Boy, anger can get the best of you. He got the best of Asa here. And put him in a prison house. For he was in a rage. That's uncontrolled anger there. He was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time. And behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. And Asa, in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, was diseased in his feet until his disease was exceeding great. Notice this. Yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. He didn't learn anything. And we know that he wound up dying right there. He just did. So, that was Jehu's dad, and he might have been reluctant to be a prophet, be a seer himself, but he wasn't. Jehu reproved Jehoshaphat for having helped ungodly Ahab. Now, think about this thing, if you think about it from a human reasoning, As a matter of just mere human reasoning, which is not what we're supposed to do, right? We're not just supposed to reason within ourselves. I know God gives us good sense, but sometimes we use that to the exclusion of thinking the right way. And as a matter of mere human reasoning, one might think that the conduct of Jehoshaphat in joining Ahab against the Syrians was kind of justifiable as a wise and maybe a prudent thing to do. And that's because the Syrians, if the Syrians defeated Israel, guess who was next? Judah. Okay? Now looking at it from that standpoint, you'd think, well, you know, it wasn't too bad for Joshua to get involved in that. But from God's standpoint, Ahab was an idolater. and had introduced into his kingdom a false religion of a new and most degraded type, and that alone should have led Jehoshaphat to reject becoming his ally. Military success could only come from the blessing and protection of the Lord. That's the only way it comes. Our country needs to learn that. It's only going to come from the blessing and protection of the Lord. When you turn your back on Israel, forget it. You're not going to have the blessing and protection of the Lord. Ahab was not in a position to receive God's blessing or protection and Jehoshaphat should have recognized that. told Jehoshaphat that the wrath of the Lord was upon him. That's what he said there in those first three verses. Now, Jehoshaphat had already had a taste of God's wrath when in the battle for Ramoth-Gilead the enemy pressed upon him. He probably thought, OK, what have I got myself into here? You know, have you ever been in one of those situations where you thought something was going to go one way and it started to turn against you in a hurry? And you say, oh boy, I've got myself in trouble here. But the Lord did bail him out. At a later time, he would have further experience of wrath, partly during his own life when the enemy invaded his land there in 2 Chronicles 20 verses 1 and following. We'll take a look at some of those verses here a little bit later. But Jehu told Jehoshaphat that there were some good things found in him. Now, let's look back at chapter number 17 and verses 3 through 6 to find out a little bit about Jehoshaphat. And this is how he started out. It says in verse 13, the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Balaam. That's good, right? But sought to the Lord, God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel. Therefore, the Lord established the kingdom in his hand, And all Judah brought Jehoshaphat presents, and he had riches and honor in abundance. And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord. Moreover, he took away the high places and groves out of Judah." So he had taken away the groves out of the land and had at least prepared his heart to seek the Lord. That was what Jehu had said. So we see a very simple message and a warning to the King of Judah from Jehu. Now, let's look at the message from Jehu working in Jehoshaphat's life. We see that at least for a period of time, Jehoshaphat allowed God's message to sink in. Let's pick up in 2 Chronicles 19 verse number 4. And it says there, and Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem and he went out again through the people from Beersheba to Mount Ephraim and brought them back unto the Lord God of their fathers. That's a good thing to do, right? Bring them back to God. So he brought people back to the Lord God of their fathers. Another good thing, look at verses 5-7. And he set up judges in the land throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city. It's a pretty wise thing to do. And said to the judges, take heed what you do, for you judge not for man, but for the Lord who is with you in the judgment. Wherefore, now let the fear of the Lord be upon you, and take heed and do it. For there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts." So we see here He set up and instructed these judges in the land to truly be judges of the Lord, judges for the Lord. Now we see in verse number 8-11, we see He set up and instructed Levites, the priests, and the elders of Jerusalem. Look at verse number 8. It says, Moreover in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set up a set of the Levites and of the priests and of the chief of the fathers of Israel for the judgment of the Lord and for controversies when they returned to Jerusalem. And he charged them saying, Thus shall you do in the fear of the Lord faithfully. and with a perfect heart. And what cause soever shall come to you of your brethren that dwell in their cities between blood and blood, between law and judgment, statutes and judgments, ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against the Lord, and so wrath come upon you and upon your brethren. This do, and ye shall not trespass, And it says, And behold, Ammariah, the chief priest, is over you in all matters of the Lord. And Zebediah, the son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah, for all the king's matters. Also the Levites shall be officers before you. Deal courageously and the Lord shall be with the good. What a wonderful thing for him to do there. I mean, we can tell God's Word is working in his life again. Look at chapter 20. We see here he humbled himself. And chapter 20, "...and set himself to seek the Lord, and even proclaimed a fast throughout the land." Look at verse number 1. Chapter 20, verse 1, "...and it came to pass after this also that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, with them, other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria, and behold, they be in that place right there. Okay, I'm not even going to attempt it. Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord. That's a good thing to do. and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together to ask help of the Lord. Even out of all the cities of Judah, they came to seek the Lord. It's good. And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court. and said, O LORD God of our fathers, art thou not God in heaven, and rulest that not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham? thy friend forever. And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, If when evil come upon us as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house and in thy presence, for thy name is in this house, and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help. And now behold the children of Ammon, and Moab, and Mount Seir, whom thou wouldst not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not. Behold, I say, how they reward us to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. And it says, O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us. Neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon Thee. And all Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives, and their children. That's a great thing. Humble yourself before the Lord. When we humble ourselves before God, God takes notice. He does. We see the message of God working there from Jehu. That message was working in Jehoshaphat's life. We see the message from the second prophet found in verse number 14. And this prophet's name is Jehaziel. And he's also speaking to Jehoshaphat. Look at verse 14. N15, it said, Then upon Jehaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, and the son of Mattaniah, the Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation. And He said, Hearken ye all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou King Jehoshaphat. Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's. Okay, so here this message is don't be afraid. You know, you don't be afraid or dismayed by the greatness or the size of the enemy. Listen, you know, we may not fight flesh and blood enemy army, but every day We have Ephesians 6.12 that comes into play, the reason why we just had the series taking on the whole armor of God, because we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places. Theirs was a flesh and blood battle. Of course, it went deeper than that, but it was showing itself, manifesting itself there. Now we see the Lord said something else here. Verse number 16, and Jahaziel is continuing on here. He says, "...tomorrow go ye down against them. Behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz, and ye shall find them At the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel, ye shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord will be with you. Now, you know, they've been told in verse number 15, hey, the battle's not yours, it belongs to the Lord. And we need to remember as believers that we have God's Spirit in us. And if we yield ourselves to God and ask for God's help when we face struggles, God will fight for us. And God always triumphs. God never loses. God always triumphs. And how do we let God fight for us? Well, we do that by realizing the battle is not ours, but it's God's. And by recognizing our human limitations, allowing God's strength to work through our fears and weaknesses. By making sure that we are pursuing God's interests and not just our own selfish desires. And by asking God for help in our daily battles. Well, they had to ask the Lord. here and God gave instructions for them to obey there and they were obedient. We see the message from Jehuziel working in Jehoshaphat. He's delivered his message now and we see in verse number 18 and 19, first of all, he humbled himself and worshipped the Lord and all of Judah did the same. Look at verse 18 and 19. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. And the Levites of the children of the Koathites and of the children of the Korites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high." What a wonderful thing, amen. And we see in verse 20, he consulted with the prophets. He consulted with the people to believe in or obey the Lord and His prophets. Look at verse number 20. It says, And they rose early in the morning and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa. As they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God. In other words, if God said you ain't got to fight, You just stand still and seek salvation, alright? And He said, Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established. Believe His prophets, so you shall prosper. So the way to prosperity was through what? Through obedience. We see He appointed singers to sing and to praise the Lord. That's a good thing to do. Always a good thing to do. Look at verse number 21. When He consulted with the people, He appointed singers unto the Lord. that should praise the beauty of holiness as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord, for His mercy endureth forever. And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, which were come against Judah, and they were smitten. And then we see God gave them the victory. Then in verse 23, for the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, only to slay and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, everyone helped to destroy another. And when Judah came toward them, toward the watchtower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped. And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them an abundance, both riches with the dead bodies and precious jewels, and they stripped off for themselves more than they could carry away, and they were three days in gathering of the spoil. It was so much. The Lord took care of them, didn't He? He gave them the victory. They blessed the Lord. Look at verse 26. And on the fourth day, they assembled themselves in the valley of Berekiah. And there they blessed the Lord. Therefore, the name of the same place was called the valley of Berekiah to this day. And that means it's a valley of blessing. That's what that word means. Verse number 27 and 28, we see that they joyed in the Lord. They not only blessed the Lord, but they joyed in the Lord. Verse 27-28, Then they returned every man of Judah and Jerusalem and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them to go again to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them to rejoice over their enemies. And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of the Lord, And what a wonderful thing. They're full of joy. And we see that the Lord gave them peace in verse 29 and 30. And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for His God gave Him rest round about. Praise God. In verse 31, When we get down here, we see Jehoshaphat's downfall. In verse 31-33, it says, Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was 30 and 5 years old when he began to reign. He reigned 20 and 5 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah, the daughter of Shiloh. And he walked in the way of Asa his father, and departed not from it, doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord, howbeit the high places were not taken away. For as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their fathers." And so we see he had some unholy alliances as well, verse 34. It says, Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Jehu, the son of Hanani, who is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel. And after this did Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, join himself with Ahaziah, king of Israel. Now you would have thought he would have learned after his debacle with Ahab. But here he is going back up to the north with Ahaziah, king of Israel, who did very wickedly. And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarsus. And they made the ships in Isaiah and Ezekiel. And then Eleazar, the son of Dovah, of Mariach, prophesied against Jehoshaphat. Here's Eleazar's prophecy against. And it was just one line saying, Behold, thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken thy works, And the ships were broken, and they were not able to go to Tarshish. And then we see, out of this prophecy, the ships were broken up, and the next thing we know, Jehoshaphat died. Verse number 1, chapter 41, verse 1, Now Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers, and deceived David. And Jehoram his son reigned in his stead. We see these three prophets of God who faithfully delivered God's message to Jehoshaphat. God also has a word for this generation that we live in. And the message is found in the word of God. It's the word of God that we're supposed to be delivering. And we must be faithful to proclaim God's word in our day, amen, to those of our generation. And God's the one that will give the success in His word, amen. Alright, that's our Bible study for this evening. Let's pull back our prayer list, we'll pray for the needs, and we'll be dismissed with this prayer.