So our hope and trust doesn't lie in the arm of the government. And this is what God is trying to get the kings of Israel, the kings of Judah, to understand. That however political you are and charismatic and diplomatic you can be with enemies, if God is against you, you're still gonna be attacked. In 2 Kings chapter 14, follow along with me here as I read. The second year of Joash the son of Jehoahaz king of Israel reigned Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah He was 20 and 5 years old when he began to reign and reign 20 and 9 years in Jerusalem And his mother's name was Jehoadad Jehoaddon of Jerusalem and he did that which was right in the sight of Lord yet not like David his father he did according to all things as Joash his father did how be it that The high places were not taken away, as yet the people did sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places. And it came to pass, as soon as the kingdom was confirmed in his hand, that he slew his servants, which had slain the king, his father. But the children of the murderers he slew not, according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein the Lord commanded, saying, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers, but every man shall be put to death for his own sin. He slew of Edom in the Valley of Salt 10,000, and took Sila by war, and called the name of it Jokthiel unto this day. Now in this, Amaziah was the ninth king of Judah, and the son of Joash. Joash, or Jehoash, meant the boy king, who in his later years would turn away from the Lord. He killed God's prophets and was himself assassinated, 2 Chronicles 24. He made an excellent beginning. But he later abandoned the Lord. He saw to it that the men who had killed his father were killed. He says, listen, I don't want there to be a rivalry in this kingdom and the men who murdered God's appointed king, I need to get rid of them because their heart is rebellion. And Deuteronomy 24, 16, which we also find here in the scriptures, written in the Book of the Law of Moses, in verse six, the fathers shall not be put to death for the, you know, for the, the fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers. So there is, there's a personal accountability. You do the crime, you pay the time, right? And in this unbelief, look with me at verse eight in following. Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face. Jehoash, king of Israel, sent to Amaziah, king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife. There passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon and trod down the thistle. Now, let's go to 2 Chronicles chapter 25. Kind of another recount of the same event. Verse 5 of 2 Chronicles 25. 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles. All these historical books all together. And 2 Chronicles 25, verse 5. Moreover, Amaziah gathered Judah together and made them captains over thousands and captains over hundreds according to the house of their father throughout all Judah and Benjamin. And he numbered them from 20 years old and above and found them 300,000 choice men able to go forth to war that could handle spear and shield. He hired also 100,000 mighty men of valor out of Israel for 100 talents of silver. But there came a man of God to him saying, O king, Not the army of Israel go with thee for the Lord is not with Israel to wit means to know With all the children of Ephraim, but if thou wilt go do it be strong for the paddle God shall make thee fall before the enemy for God hath power to help and He cast down and Amaziah said to the man of God, but what shall we do for the hundred talents? Which I've given the army of Israel the man of God answered the Lord is able to give thee much more than this then Amaziah Separated them to wit the army that was come to him out of Ephraim to go home again where for their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in great anger. And Amaziah strengthened himself and led forth his people and went to the Valley of Salt and smote the children of Seir 10,000. Another 10,000 left alive, did the children of Judah carry away captive and brought them into the top of the rock and cast them down from the top of the rock. They all were broken in pieces. But the soldiers of the army which Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah from Samaria even into Beth Horon and smote 3,000 of them and took much spoil. And Messiah decides to attack the territory of Edom that had been lost. And the venture was a good one. But the way he went around it was wrong. Now, when you're going into battle, or you're going into a conflict, or into a difficult situation, who you have with you is unbelievably important. Amaziah, he says, I need Israel. And God says, listen, you've asked them to be essentially your mercenaries because you've hired them to help you go to battle, but you never came to me to ask for help. His faith was in numbers. If we have a greater army than them in numbers, we will win. But that's not the case. 300,000 men, but instead of trusting the Lord, he hires 100,000 mercenaries, 400,000. But he grabbed people that were idolaters in golden calves. This whole idea of idolatry and this golden calves that we find today is analogous or similar to people whose lives are given to materialism. Money and materialism is the idol of these golden calves. It's all about wealth. It's all about money in my bank account. No, there's not necessarily anything wrong with having money. But if that is your highest trust, then you have a golden calf. There's idolatry. And that's exactly, he allies himself, he connects himself, and God calls us. Don't be equally, unequally yoked. You're yoking yourself up with those who are idolaters. And the ramifications of this, the consequences of this, is that these idolaters get angry at Judah, who says, oh, we messed up, let's follow God, and now they cause harm against you. You've yoked yourself up with those who aren't believers in God. They're idolaters, and you will suffer. But it says here, verse 8 of 2 Chronicles 25, but if thou will go, do it, be strong for the battle. You might win and eat them, but you're gonna still be falling in battle. You lost 3,000 people. You thought you trusted in numbers, you trusted in money, you trusted in material resources, but you didn't just trust God. You didn't go to God for the situation. Is it a good idea or not? The prophet here is a bit sarcastic as he's talking to the king, but he makes his point. One of the recurring problems in Israel's history as a whole is forming alliances. And alliances with those who are ungodly. If you're gonna start a business and your partner in business is an unbeliever, you're gonna have a different worldview. If you enter into a marriage with someone who's not a believer, and you know you're not, you know, I understand sometimes someone gets saved in a relationship and then the other isn't saved. I'm not saying separate, you have to stay together. But if you're entering into a relationship and the other person is not a believer and you know you are, you're entering into an unequally yoked situation. And I guarantee you will have a lot more heartache. This is what God calls us to do. I don't want to enter into putting myself under the authority of someone in a covenant or an alliance who is not for God, who is not faithful to God. Sometimes it might be a person who is a professing Christian, but their direction from God is away from God, and your direction is toward God, and I guarantee you they're going to help pull you down. We think, well, I'm pretty strong. I can handle this. It's very hard when the wave, have you ever gone out in the ocean or into a big, and there's waves coming in? You might even be on a big boat, and you're out on the water. I mean, I remember one time, I mean, this is very, maybe a minuscule, but there's times you can be on some of the lakes around here, and that wind picks up, and man, there's some swells. Nothing like on the ocean, but there's some big swells. And you might be on a decent-sized boat, but that boat is getting rocked around, tossed around like it's nothing. And I guarantee when you yoke yourself up with the ungodly, you're going to get rocked around. Solomon married heathen wives, 700 wives, 300 concubines, and it tells us that they took his heart from God. King Ahab marries Jezebel, a Phoenician princess and worshiper of Baal. And that would bring great shame. And King Jehoshaphat would ally with Ahab. to fight the Syrians and he was almost killed. Jehoshaphat also entered into business partnership with King Ahab. What happened here? His son married Ahab's daughter, creating an alliance with unequally yoked and wickedness that would nearly extinguish the seed of the Messiah. I want you to look with me at this 2 Corinthians 6.14. You know what, I've heard it often said, well, they're such a nice person. They're such a good person. They have such good motives. But I want you to understand, their trust is not your trust. Is there not a God in heaven that gives us wisdom when we need it? If God has called me to a task, God will give me what I need for the task, without yoking up with an ungodly person. In 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14, be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness? Verse 15, and what concord hath Christ with Belial? What part does Christ have? If their father is not the same, if their father is Satan, and your father is God, how can you bring those together? You can't. And what agreement hath the temple of God? Your body is the temple of God. What agreement can the temple of God have with someone who's an idolater? We're in their mindset, their trust, everything. I'm reading in Jeremiah now. And you wanna know something? I mean, it has been unbelievably, I mean, it's been so enriching here in Jeremiah. And I wanna show you something here in Jeremiah as a mindset of what Jeremiah is preaching. In Jeremiah chapter six, this is a little outside of my lesson here, but I think it ties in very well. Someone who is an idolater has put their trust in something that is not real. Something that can't satisfy. Something that can't make me all that I was made to be. You see, the idol only takes. Sure, you might get a little momentary pleasure and satisfaction. When someone's into an addiction, they're into an idol, they're into idolatry. Because they're saying this, I've heard people say, well, I needed this because I needed a little bit of pleasure. I needed a little bit of relief. And God's called me, come to me for your refuge. Come to believers that'll help lead you to Christ for hope. You see, addictions and whatever else we put in our lives is an idol saying this is gonna solve my problems, or this is gonna numb my problems. But it's an idol, and the idols will always have negative consequences every time. Jeremiah 6, 19. Here, O earth, behold, I will, this is Jeremiah 6, 19, behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened in my words or to my law, but rejected. He's saying, Israel and Judah, you've rejected my thoughts. I'm gonna send evil, and I'm gonna send the fruit of your thoughts. Hey, this whole mental health decline, a nation, of mental decline because we're idolaters. We have said, I'm going to yoke myself up. I'm going to make myself wealthy and comfortable, and I'm going to have a good life here, but I'm not going to trust the almighty God who created this earth, the almighty God who made me, the almighty God who gave me abilities and strengths. No, I'm going to trust in the wealth and the structure and all of the comforts of life here. And every time we do that, every time you see this in scripture, this unequally yoked, it's always pain, always. It's only a matter of time. It's not by imitating the world and uniting with the world, but by indifferent from the world that we manifest the power and the grace of God and accomplish his will. 2 Chronicles chapter 25. I found that amazing as I read that this week. I was like, whoa. I said, the mental health decline we have in our nation is not some chemical thing. There's a very real spiritual problem. 2 Chronicles 25 too. He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart. I'll follow God until. I'll follow God if. He does this. You see, you have some conditions for your following of God. And my problem is if you follow God with conditions, then God is not the true God of your life. The king was unwilling to send the mercenary home because it would have meant forfeiting the 100 talents of silver. Maybe you're in a situation And you said, maybe I've messed up. There's a lot of money at stake. Maybe I need to get out of it. I've made a mistake. I can't get out of it, because look at all the money I'm going to lose. So I better just go forward with it. Yes, there might be some loss of funds. But if you're out of the will of God, continuing to try to save that money, you're saying that money is the God of your life. God can replenish money. God, you can't replenish the years that idolatry, and as the scriptures say, that the locusts have eaten. You can't replenish those. You can't get those back. Matthew 6.33, seek ye first the kingdom of God, his righteousness, all these things will be added unto you. The prophet wisely replied that God could give him much more if he would only trust God and obey his will. If we would seek the Lord's will before we rush into disobedience, we would avoid a great deal of trouble. Now, you might change your mind, decide to obey the Lord. There's still some consequences. Unfortunately, in this situation, the soldiers return to Israel and they're really angry. He paid us, and we want to kill. They're bloodthirsty. They're idolaters. They don't have any desire for the things of God. They wanted money. They got it. And they wanted blood. And they couldn't get it. So they're going to get it their own way. That foolish king, he just stood us up. You know in Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, trust in the Lord with all thine heart, in all thy ways acknowledge, you know, and lean on to thine own understanding in all thy ways, let me, I'm messing it up, I don't know why this morning, I know that verse. But anyways, let's look at Proverbs 3. My mind right now is, anyways, it's good. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not on thine own understanding. Amaziah trusted his own understanding This is gonna make me wealthy. This is gonna make me comfortable. This is gonna put me in a right position The people these another thing these mercenaries lost was the opportunity to get the spoils of battle We could have gotten more money From destroying this nation We could have taken their money and their wealth and their riches and their comforts and use them and we would have made ourselves even better off If you take away the financial capability of an idolater, better beware, they're gonna get really angry. So if you yoke up with an idolater, you're gonna have some anger against you. But there's still a God in heaven that can still protect me. Yes, you might have some anger in vocal words that might hurt you and stab you in the back. Now these warriors are sent home empty-handed. If you send home someone who's an idolater empty-handed and don't make them look good, you're gonna be hurt. And maybe they would be declared unclean and they're gonna suffer face. If they are scorned by society because they were failures in battle, you're gonna be a byproduct and they're gonna come after you. So they kill 3,000 people and they take the spoils as compensation of attacking Judah. It would have all been avoided had Amaziah not said, I want to hire you. 300,000 people that were willing to go to war of his own. You know, if God and I, if I'm with God, that's the majority. Then we find a little further in this passage of scripture here, looking at 2 Chronicles 25. I just turned back. 2 Chronicles 25, staying there. Verse 14. Now it came to pass, after that Amaziah was come from the slot of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense in them. Wherefore, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent unto him a prophet, which said unto him, Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people out of thine hand? Very good question. And it came to pass, as he talked with them, that the king said unto him, Art thou made of the king's counsel forbear? Why shouldst thou be smitten? Then the prophet forbear, and said, I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done it, and hast not hearkened unto my counsel. A very, very good question. Why in the world would I take the idols of a nation that I just destroyed? I mean, if you want to be on the losing side, go on the side of those who have no God fighting for them. Now, I understand this. There are times where Christians have gone out and done God's will, and they're killed for the faith. Does that mean the God of the Bible is false? No. God has allowed it. So, but in this very, why would I establish a religious system, an entire system, that doesn't give hope, that doesn't give peace, that doesn't have power, that only brought darkness, why would I set that up? because now I'm in control and not God. It's silly, some of the decisions we make. I mean, they killed 10,000 people in the Valley of Salt where David won a great victory. They destroyed the 10,000 prisoners of war by casting them down from the heights of the city of Selah, Petra. It was cut right out of the mountain, Obadiah chapters one to four. And Amaziah renamed the city Jocthiel, which means God destroys. And then here in verses 14 through 16, you know, we read the Bible many times and you just shake your head. What in the world? You know, if we were to write our stories, people would say, what in the world? My daughter sometimes, I don't know why I say that, that colloquialism, but anyways, that common saying. My daughter picks up, what in the world? You know, it's pretty cute when she says it, but I'm like, oh, I guess I say it too much, you know? And anyways, our children are sponges to follow us, and not always. Anyways, the saintly Scottish minister, Andrew Bonar, he said, let us be as watchful after the victory as before the battle, an admonition that King Amaziah desperately needed to hear and heed. And it is true. You have those days and God answers prayer and you're just like, woohoo, thank you, Lord. You better beware right after that. Satan's coming after you. He wants to knock, have you ever played that King of the Mountain or whatever they call it? You're on, I mean, you could be on a little log that you're walking on and you're walking forward and you're trying to knock the other person off and you're trying to play King of the Mountain. You're trying to be the top I guarantee Satan's gonna try to knock you off. God gave a tremendous victory. And Amaziah picks up the gods of the defeated enemy. The very gods that paralyzed this very nation. Israel had been taught there's only one God, Deuteronomy 6, 4 and 5, here is the Lord our God is one Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might. It was a direct violation of Exodus chapter 20 where we find the 10 commandments. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. I mean, it is clear. He violated this. And then something in this, he decides, when the prophet says, listen, what are you doing? He says, I'm gonna destroy you. God allows Amaziah to destroy himself instead. It's amazing when you try to talk to someone who's, as a believer, and maybe they've made some idols in their life, or an idol, or idols, and their heart is given to these idols, whatever they are, and you try to talk to them, and you say, hey, I'm just praying for you, I'm really concerned for the direction you're going. If their heart is given to that idol, they're not gonna receive your words with, oh, I'm so thankful you care about me. They're not gonna do that. You hope and pray that there'd be a brokenness that they would listen, but the idol has pierced their heart. Coming back. Verses 17 through 24, Amaziah does something, and I'm gonna have to finish there for the sake of time this morning, but we find that there was pride. Christian, when we are yoking ourselves up with other people, a spouse, work, Now I understand just working at a workplace, you're gonna work with unbelievers. I understand that, okay? But if you're starting a business, you don't wanna start it with someone of an unbelief. Because Sunday's not gonna be as important to you. Worship and service to the Lord, that's not gonna be important. they might at first be quite acquiescing or quite accommodating. You're like, this is a great agreement. Wow, we get along. They don't know God, but this is a great agreement. Man, but I guarantee there will come a point, maybe down the road, a year, two years, five years down the road, and something happens and those worldviews collide. In addition, If you yoke yourself up with unbelievers, their unbelief will have an effect upon your children, if you have children. Because you're saying to your kids, it's okay to make my most intimate friendships with those who don't love God. And that's exactly what happened with Jehoshaphat. He was friends with Ahab, and then as you hang out with friends, those kids begin to hang around these unbelievers, And their idolatrous ways will steer the heart that God isn't good, but the world is good. I'm not saying that we need to engage the world and we need to tell people about Christ and we need to be friendly. But there also ought to be some separation between light and darkness. And I'm not saying we're living in a little, I'm gonna protect myself from all the, That's not what God's called us to do. He didn't call us to be hermits in some little cave. He told us, you know, be in the world, but not of the world. Watch your associations and fellowships. And I guarantee, if we will just take the principle, God, I'm gonna, I wanna be in fellowship with believers, I wanna be in fellowship with you, Please help protect me from associations that will steer my heart and the heart of my children away from the God who bought my soul for eternity. As you think on these truths this morning, I trust there may be any associations in your life, and you're like, maybe I've messed up. You need to ask God for wisdom. And maybe it's a financial thing. It'll cost me a lot. You know what? We can all make mistakes. We can learn from those mistakes. And we'll say, God, I don't know how you're going to repay, but I'm just going to trust you. One last illustration, I'm done. As I was in the military, and I had an engineering degree, and every year that I went to school, I owed $15,000 that the school would pay a year for my private school where I was at. And every year they paid, I was supposed to, if I didn't go into the military, I was supposed to pay them back. And anyways, I did four and a half years. And so they paid four years of that. And God had called me in the ministry and I said, Lord, I don't know how I'm going to get out of this. This is a lot of, this is like 20 something thousand dollars. That's a lot of money to owe. And, but anyways, I said, I know God's called me to the ministry. Man, God was just making my life miserable. I knew he wanted me in the ministry and I was fighting it. I didn't want the rules of Bible college. I didn't, I mean, I was like, God, are you kidding me? I can work a good job. I can make good money. And then he finally got to me the place of such despair. I said, God, I don't care whatever I have to do, but I'm sick and tired of being miserable. I just want the peace of God back on my life. And you know what? I gave up. And I said, OK, I'm going to apply to get out. And they were downsizing. And they said, OK, we're going to wipe away that debt. You don't have any more debt. I got out a year and a half early and paid nothing back. Didn't have to. They expunged it. And you know what, there was a joy that returned when I just gave in and I stopped fighting the Lord. Went from making a really good job to $8 an hour. I made $8 an hour after I left the military. It was pretty humbling. Working some really crazy long hours, very little sleep. But you know what, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I realized how good God is. God always provided. I would have never known the closeness of God had I not given that up my own will. It's worth it to serve God. It's worth it to put him first. Don't yoke yourself up with those that don't love the Lord. And you might say it makes sense right now, but down the road, the heartache that comes, it's not worth it. Christian. Let's not lean to our own understanding. Let's simply trust the Lord. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I just yield this day to Thee. I thank you for your grace and I thank you for the power of God's word. Lord, I want to thank you for the troubles and struggles you put in my life to steer me away from my own folly. Lord, I didn't deserve it. I'm so thankful for the love that you had to make life miserable to bring me to the place of brokenness, where then you could say, now I can do something with you. Father, I yield this morning to thee. I love you. And I pray as we come into the 11 o'clock hour, we again speak on prayer, that Father, our hearts would realize how much I just need you. God, you take over and we'll follow. Thank you for your grace. In Jesus' precious name, I pray. God bless you.