743 2 Kgs.3.1-27 The Lord Hears His Own
Notes
Transcript
America had a civil war between the Unionists and the Secessionists. Eleven southern states banded together against the northern states desire to unite the entire country under one federal government. During the war, you could imagine a man having friends on both sides but refusing to be on one side or the other. Instead, he decides to wear gray pants representing the Southern confederates and a blue jacket representing the Unionists. In the end, however, he ends up getting shot in both parts of his uniform
In Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, he talks about a man called Mr. Facing-both-ways. A man who likes to stay neutral, who refuses to take sides. Mr. Facing-both-ways can never be happy, having never broken with the world
The apostle James said that a double-minded man is “unstable in all his ways” and “like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind” (James 1:8, 6).
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- In this passage today, we are confronted by a king who plays both sides of the fence
- But his efforts are not hidden from the Lord
- Ahab & Jezebel had a son by the name of Ahaziah
- He had a freak fall that brought about his death
- In this passage, the throne is passed on to the 2nd son, Jehoram
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- The evil Jezebel was still living &, no doubt, controlled Jehoram to some degree
- Jehoram is addressed this way from v.2 “He did evil in the sight of the Lord” & “that he clung to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat...he did not depart from them”
- That's a sad description of a man who was influenced by his evil parents
1. When a Little Good Is Not Good Enough
1. When a Little Good Is Not Good Enough
- Moab is a nation on the east side of the Dead Sea
- Abraham's nephew, Lot, fathered two sons, who went on to be the Moabites and the Ammonites
- But when Israel was given the land east of the Jordan, the Moabites had to be conquered
32 These are the territories which Moses apportioned for an inheritance in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan at Jericho to the east.
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- David went on to thoroughly conquer the Moabites & they became subject to Israel's rule
- With Solomon's rebellion against God & the split up of the nation, Israel lost control over them
- But then gained control again through Omri
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- In today's passage, however, they are rebelling again against Omri's grandson, & who is Ahab's second son, Jehoram
- When you consider what it is costing you, you can see that rebellion is probably not a bad option
- 100,000 lambs & the wool from 100,000 Rams - per year
- At that rate, you would be working just to survive
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Q. But since, Jehoram is too weak to bring Moab back into the fold, what must he do?
- Think about it for a minute – you have a mandate from God, and you also wanted the prosperity from the alliance
Q. How do you reign in the Moabites?
- You go to war
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Q. Now I have asked myself the question: why does it say here that he put away the statue of Baal that his father erected? And that he did evil, but not as bad as his father & mother?
- That's good isn't it! - But he still did evil
- So what does that mean?
- I think it means that when it comes to God, a little good is not good enough
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- Some people think it is
- That they can give the Lord, say, 1/3rd of my love, my loyalty & my faithfulness & yet I can retain the other 2/3rds
- But you can only come unstuck with that kind of approach
Q. Imagine that working in a marriage?
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- When enough is enough as we have seen in Brexit, the election of Donald Trump and of the rise of Pauline Hansen, a little bit of good does not cut it
- It takes a radical turnaround & strong stand – we are starting to see people do that now in the political scene
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- On one occasion a man came up to Jesus & said, “what must I do to obtain eternal life”?
- Jesus told him to keep the commandments & he responded with the fact that he had done that since he was a boy
Q. What more is required? Jesus said to sell everything he has & to follow him
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- With that, the man walked away sad because he had much wealth
- He wanted eternal life badly, but not badly enough, to surrender all up to Jesus
- Now God doesn't ask this of every person, but it is there in Scripture because every person who comes to Jesus should come to Him in that attitude of total surrender
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- Jehoram did some good & we really don't know why he did this
- It is possible that he is trying to convince the godly Jehoshaphat that he is reforming &, therefore, that he should join him in battle against the Moabites – perhaps!
2. When to Call on the Lord
2. When to Call on the Lord
Karl Faase writes: I often wonder why people reject God and treat Christian faith with disdain. There are many and varied reasons for this, but one is that many people don't feel that there is any need for a belief in God. They feel that their life is going well, they are in control and that their future looks good. Yet I believe most of us fail to understand that we are all just a heartbeat away from being lost.
Recently, a friend went into work only to be told his job was finished. Another had his wife walk out and another discovered he was suffering from a serious medical condition. People who think they are set for life financially and relationally regularly find themselves lost when their money disappears or relationships fail. We regularly take our health for granted but that can change overnight. We can go from self confldent to lost in a heartbeat.
We don't control the future. We can't even be certain how tomorrow will turn out but if we can recognise that we are all just a heartbeat from being lost, we may be more ready to turn to God and seek eternal security.
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- One of the issues we find in the working of these kings of the OT is that they often decided on a course of action & came to God for help when it had gone wrong
- But that is life, isn't it!
- We are fine & dandy when all of life is good
- It's when we are in trouble, that we call out to the Lord
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- What we have now in v.6-14 are 3 kings & their troops going off to war
- They travel south & go around the bottom of the Dead Sea, much like a fish hook & come out near the capital of Moab, Kir-hareseth, on the east side
- But they run into a problem – they have been through an area of no water & they have been 7 days without water – this is a serious crisis!
- Either it was not planned well, or God decided to do a little testing
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- I tend to think that the Lord is doing some testing here & this testing certainly reveals what is going on in the thinking of the king from Judah, Jehoshaphat & the king from Israel, Jehoram
- Jehoram is the faithless one – he complains that the Lord brought them out to give them into the hand of Moab, much like Israel did during the Exodus
5 The people spoke against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food.”
- One thing Jehoram does confess, is that it is the Lord who is in control, but he does so, by assigning bad motives to the Lord
- On the other hand, you have the godly Jehoshaphat, who, instead of assigning bad motives to God, seeks to call on the Lord instead
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- Enter, Elisha – what is he doing so close by? Perhaps the Lord brought him here for this very purpose
- Now Elisha does not mince his words
- He straight out says to Jehoram, “what do I have to do with you”
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- These are interesting words, because they are similar to what the demons say to Jesus
29 And they cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”
- They are so different in purpose & direction as to be incompatible
- If Jehoram wants to rely on the prophets of his father & mother, go to them
Q. How strange, however, because he confesses to Elisha that he knows it is the Lord who has withheld water from them
- I don't get him, do you!
- If he knows this, then why not be loyal to the Lord in the first place
- Obviously, he isn't, because Elisha said that if it were not for Jehoshaphat, he wouldn't even be talking with him
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- The lesson here is that, although, we do need the Lord in times of trouble & it is right to call out to him in these times, make sure that you are with the Lord in the good times as well
- Don't let it be said of you that you are so fickle in faith that the Lord would not want you in His presence
3. God Answers Those Who Seek Him
3. God Answers Those Who Seek Him
There was a henpecked husband whose domineering wife made his life miserable. Even when he was drafted during World War II and found himself on the battlefield in Europe, her nagging letters followed him. One day he had taken her abuse long enough, and he wrote her a scorching reply: “Leave me alone so I can fight this war in peace!”
- Those two terms: war & peace are contradictory
- A person with a divided heart, a divided allegiance cannot be at peace
- To the Laodician church, Jesus said
16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
- Were it not for Jehoshaphat, Elisha would not have regarded Jehoram at all
- But the Lord answers those who are true in their search for Him
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- Elisha not only says that the Lord will provide for the army and animals, but that He will give them victory as well
- Accepting the word of Elisha, they dig trenches in the dry dirt
- In the morning, they are filled with water
- For Jehoshaphat, this would not be such a surprise, but for the king of Israel & the king of Edom, what would they make of it
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- We don't hear of any repentance from the King of Israel, but he is still able to witness this miracle
- Most likely, he witnessed the miracle on Mt. Carmel when Elijah called to the Lord to answer by fire & the fire from the sky came & consumed the offering & all the water in the trench
- The miracle in today's passage was not as spectacular as that, but you would think that the king of Israel would have known that his obedience was the most important thing to God
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- But this is why faith is so unique – some believe & some don't believe
- They can see the same things, but some are drawn to God while others feel repelled
- To feel repelled is certainly contrary to God's will, for He wants all to be drawn to Him
- The fact is, that it comes down to the age old battle between “my will be done” & “your will be done”
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- The other interesting thing here is how a musician was brought in to help
- Music was used, we could say, to open up ministry from God
- Soothing music was used to help Saul with his depressive anxiety
- We use music to help us communicate the word of God and to worship God
- It creates an atmosphere which warms us to the presence of God who is with us
- The music opened Elisha up to spiritual inspiration
- That musician probably never realised how important he was in the victory of Israel
- So too, you musicians should realise how important you are to the life of the Church
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- No doubt, there was a lot of disorganised bedlam with thirsty men & animals splashing about in the water that now fills the trenches
- They would have been filling up animal skins with the fresh water & splashing around in the pools with happy excitement
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- From the fortress of Kir-hareseth, they are looking east first thing in the morning, to where the sun rises & they see men as if they are fighting each other & the early sun makes the water look red which they interpreted as blood
- These men playing in the water, as if they are at the beach, is interpreted as them fighting one another & their blood being spilled all over the ground
- They put 2 & 2 together & came up with 5
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- They leave the safety of the huge stone-walled fortress on the high ground to get to the spoils of war
- When all of a sudden, they realise their massive error & are vulnerable on the open plains to the coalition army
- By then, it is too late & the coalition of 3 kings gives them a hiding
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- They then turn their attention to besieging the fortress
- Their massive stone fortress could not easily be penetrated so they bombard it with massive stones they call here, the slingers
- The Moabites try, unsuccessfully, to break through to the king of Edom by sending out an elite group of fighters
- Edom was subject to Judah & had nothing to gain from the war, so they are the weak point
- Yet, they fail in their attempt
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- All that is left is a desperate attempt to turn the war in their favour & the King of Moab does a despicable thing
- He takes his firstborn son & sacrifices him on the wall of the city for all to see
- This actually works & Israel leaves
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Q. What are we to make of this?
27 Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their own land.
- It is a really difficult verse to understand
Q. What does it mean by wrath & whose wrath?
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- Some have maintained that the wrath has come from Chemosh the god of Moab
- Others maintain it is God's wrath, but why
- Still others maintain it is the wrath of the Moabites themselves
- But there is also another possibility
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- Wrath has been translated in other Scripture as “indignation”
Q. If “indignation”, then it would be “indignation” that came over Israel that human sacrifice has been carried out? Were they so disgusted that they packed up & left?
- It makes it difficult, because you have only one Bible in front of you, but there are other translations that write it differently
27 Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their own land.
- Terrified that the Moabites would gain renewed enthusiasm & fight harder – not convinced of that one
27 He then grabbed his oldest son who was to be the next king and sacrificed him as an offering on the city wall. The Israelite troops were so horrified that they left the city and went back home.
- Because human sacrifice was so forbidden to Israel & so repugnant in nature that they packed up & left
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- Let me give you one more Bible version that was written 300 yrs prior to the coming of Christ – it is called the Septuagint or LXX & it was written by Greek speaking Jews living in Egypt
27 He took his firstborn son, who reigned in place of him. He offered him as a whole burnt offering on the wall. Great regret came upon Israel, and they departed from him and returned to the land.
- Regret or repentance that the punishment they inflicted brought about this act
- While these give us alternatives, it is not at all certain as to how we are to understand this
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- It is terrible to think that people actually practised offering their sons & daughters up as a sacrifice to the gods
- Some have criticised God for asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac
- I see a distinction here, however, because God clearly had no intention of Abraham carrying it out
- Israel did, at times, become so worldly & superstitious as to copy the other nations & carry out human sacrifice
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- Recently, I spoke to you about the Jerusalem rubbish dump which is called Gehenna & that Jesus referred to it as a picture of hell
- Gehenna is the place where Israel's disobedient kings would offer their sons & daughters to the gods – it is located in what is called the valley of hinnom
31 “They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind.
- It gives you a clear picture of why Jesus chose this place to give a living picture of what hell is like
- Hell is the most noxious & unclean of places & is at the opposite end of the spectrum to God & His will for man
Conclusion
Conclusion
- We have seen how God desires wholehearted devotion from His people
- A little good is not good enough when it comes to a relationship with God
- You cannot give the Lord a 1/3rd of my love, 1/3rd of my loyalty & 1/3rd of my faithfulness & think that God will be impressed
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- We've seen how God listens to His people, but those who continue in a pattern of wilful defiance, He will not respond to
- And we've seen how God answers those who seek Him
- We see in this passage that Yahweh, the Lord, reigns & Elisha is His prophet
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- Let us consider the challenges to our own attitudes that come from this passage & let's begin to make any amendments necessary so that we might honour our Lord in the days ahead