2 Chronicles 20:1-12

[0:00] 2 Chronicles 20. Most of us, if not all of us, should know about this king named Jehoshaphat.

[0:15] ! His account actually begins in 2 Chronicles 17.! Jehoshaphat is actually a righteous king over the land of Judah.

[0:30] And he does well. He's the son of Asa. And he steps into the position of the throne of the king over Judah.

[0:41] And he does well, does so well that God blesses his position, blesses the kingdom. The people of the kingdom bring him presents. He grows very prosperous as far as riches and wealth.

[0:56] And his rule is just wonderful. And then he, like so many of the rest of us, makes mistakes and sins and goes against God.

[1:10] And when he done this, you can read about this in the next chapter, when he forms an alliance or an affinity, as the Scripture calls it, with Ahab. And, of course, this was a bad move on his part.

[1:26] But, thankfully, he repents. And God blesses again. But Jehoshaphat, his account again begins in chapter 17.

[1:37] You can go back for time's sake. We won't go through all of that this evening. But it begins in chapter 17 and actually ends in chapter 21 with his death.

[1:48] So there's only just a few chapters there. And there's much that the church can learn from Jehoshaphat. We're going to read several verses tonight.

[1:59] Verses 1 through 12 here. Really, I'm going to read verses 1 through 4 just for context of the message. Verses 5 through 12 here in 2 Chronicles 20.

[2:10] So the first verse, it says, and it came to pass after this also. So after what? After Jehoshaphat has repented of what he did of helping an evil king and joining an alliance with this evil king.

[2:29] And God has begun blessing again because of that. And, folks, it's the same way in my and yours life. God has a hard time blessing people if they're not walking with Him.

[2:41] Whether they be His or whether they're not His, God has a hard time blessing people if they're not walking with Him. That's why repentance is a daily thing. That's why we mortify the deeds of the flesh.

[2:52] That's why we crucify the flesh on a daily basis. We repent of our sins daily. There's many people, and it's taught in many churches, you come forward one time, you make a confession of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior one time, and you are good to go.

[3:06] Folks, that is not scriptural. It is not scriptural in the least. We repent and we believe. Y'all heard me preach that over and over and over again. It is repent and believe.

[3:18] That is the way unto salvation. I understand that to confess Jesus Christ with thy mouth and believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, and thou shalt be saved. I get that. But, folks, that's the belief part.

[3:30] If you confess something you don't believe, you're a liar. Right. So, yes, we need to confess Christ, and, yes, we need to believe that God has raised Him from the dead. Yes, we believe the Christ of the Scriptures.

[3:43] And I agree with what Brother CJ was talking about this morning, that many people still got Christ in the manger, and many people still have Him on the cross or in the tomb or whatever the case is.

[3:55] But, folks, Jesus is the ruler. He is the maker. He is the master of this entire universe. And He reigns supreme. And He reigns righteously.

[4:06] And He is holy in everything that He does. And He is just in everything that He does. Y'all heard me say not too long ago that people, whether they like it or not, and whether they believe it or not, they will glorify God for all of eternity.

[4:20] You'll either glorify God burning in hell for all of eternity, because that will bring to fruition the Word of God, that people that did not repent and believe will go to that awful place, or you will glorify God forever in a place called heaven for all of eternity.

[4:35] But either way, you're going to glorify God for all of eternity. And that's something that a lot of people don't like to hear, is that they're going to glorify people in hell, will be glorifying God.

[4:46] But folks, I mean, the Scripture teaches that we're a sweet savor in the nostrils of God, and we're also a savor in the nostrils of the lost, for that matter.

[5:02] Whether it's sweet or not, folks, there's a fragrance there. And the Gospel is there. And the Gospel remains true whether people believe it or not, and whether people accept Christ or not.

[5:13] So all that being said, 2 Chronicles 20, beginning at verse 1, it says, And it came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.

[5:32] 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 Hazazan Tamar, which is in Gedi.

[5:47] And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together to ask help of the Lord.

[5:57] Even of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. 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 not thou God in heaven?

[6:15] And rulest 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.

[6:26] 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?

[6:36] And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein, for thy name, saying, If, when evil cometh 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.

[7:00] 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.

[7:13] Behold, I say, how they reward us to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. O our God, wilt thou not judge them?

[7:25] 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. Again, back to verse 1, we'll read verses 1 through 4 one more time.

[7:39] It came to pass after this also that the children of Moab and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.

[7:49] 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 Hazazam Tamar, which is in Gedi.

[8:03] And Jehoshaphat feared and sent himself to seek the Lord 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.

[8:16] Verse 5, And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah in Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court. So, here in these first few verses we have, we've read it twice now, we have this threat that is against against the people of Judah.

[8:33] It's against the king himself, but it's against the people of Judah. There's a great multitude according to the Scriptures that is coming against God's very own people. It's coming against those that are in covenant relation with Almighty God.

[8:47] It's people that we read later on in the Scripture. It's people that as they went into, as they were going toward the promised land, as they were on their conquest to the promised land, God forbid them to attack these people.

[9:02] He forbid them to do anything with them. We have the Ammonites and some others, the people from out here, which are the Edomites. We have people here that God strictly forbid the Jews to attack, but these people, these same people that God showed mercy to.

[9:21] Keep that in mind. These same people that God showed mercy to by not allowing Israel to attack them and by God Himself not snuffing them out of the way. There are several times within the Scriptures that these people were actually in the way of the children of Israel getting to the promised land, but God did not do anything to them.

[9:41] The Israelites were not allowed to do anything to them, but these people are on a conquest to Jerusalem, to Judah, to cast these people out of the land, folks.

[9:53] You and I, as Christians, we are in a constant warfare. We are in a constant battle with sin. We are in a constant battle with the flesh. We are in a constant battle with the devil, himself, and every demon that knows that hell is home.

[10:07] We are in a constant warfare with all of these things. We are in constant warfare with ourselves, with our flesh, with this stuff that we wear on our outside because the flesh, it drives us to dress.

[10:19] The flesh, it drives us to want to do things that the Spirit knows that we should not be doing. We know that the Spirit is strong, but the flesh is weak according to the Scriptures, according to what we can read in the New Testament.

[10:34] We know what we should do. We know because the Spirit of God dwells within the people of Almighty God. The Spirit of God lives inside of us. We are the temple of the Spirit of Almighty God.

[10:47] Therefore, we are the temple of God. Now, I'm not taking away from the New Testament where it says that Jesus Christ or teaches that Jesus Christ is the true temple. I understand that, but folks, if the Spirit of God dwells within us, that means God Himself dwells within us.

[11:04] the Father, the Son dwells within us by way of the Holy Spirit of Almighty God. Hallelujah. And I thank God for that because if that were not the case, folks, I would still be roaming around out here lost.

[11:18] I would still be roaming out here lost if I did not have the Spirit of God in me. Paul wrote in Romans in chapter 8, without the Spirit of Christ, ye are none of His. Folks, on the flip side of that coin, if we have the Spirit of Christ, we are indeed Christ Jesus.

[11:35] We belong unto Him. We belong to God. We are His child. We can go unto Him such as Jehoshaphat did here. We can make our petitions and our supplications known to the Most High Father, known to the very Creator of everything that we know.

[11:49] Who else do we have to go to? Who else do we have to cry to in time of trial, in time of tribulation, in time of suffering? Who else can we go to other than God?

[12:01] No one! We can go to our wives. We can go to our husbands. We can go to anybody that we want to. We can go to pastors. We can go to deacons. We can go to all these people and folks, they can do so much.

[12:14] But God can do it all. And God does do it all. I praise God that He not only hears the prayers of His people, but He also acts on behalf of the prayers of His people.

[12:27] And that's exactly what Jehoshaphat is asking here. In this account that we just read, He is asking Almighty God to act on behalf of Judah. To act on behalf of Jehoshaphat Himself.

[12:41] He said there towards the end of this, and we'll get to it here in a little while, He said, we have no mind. We have no mind. We don't even know what to do. He says, we know not what to do, but our eyes, our eyes are upon Thee.

[12:53] We'll get to that here in just a little while. Again, verse 5, And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court. Wherever is He at here, folks, this is very significant to this passage as far as where Jehoshaphat was.

[13:08] He stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord. Folks, He was in the same place that Solomon was when the temple was dedicated. He was in the same place that the priests were when they offered the evening and the morning of Galatians, when they brought the lambs before God and they slaughtered Him.

[13:27] And folks, you and I, every time that we pray, every time that we come unto God, every time that our prayers enter into the throne room of Almighty God, it is only by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that that is made possible to us.

[13:42] It is only by His blood that we have access to the Father when He was crucified and the veil was written in twain, the way was made that we could have direct communication through Jesus Christ, our high priest, unto God the Father.

[13:59] Hallelujah! So, when He's here in this place, when He's here in this place, when He's here in the temple, He is in the same place where the lambs were slain.

[14:11] He's in the same place where the offerings were made. And every one of those offerings pointed forward to the ultimate offering, to the ultimate sacrifice, to the consummation of all of the Old Testament sacrifices, the burnt offerings, the free will offerings, the meat offerings, all the offerings that you can read about.

[14:32] You begin in Leviticus chapter 1, you read through Leviticus chapter 7, and there's many other offerings that are talked about throughout the Old Testament. Every one of those offerings, every innocent animal that never committed any sin, every one of them that were offered pointed forward to the sacrifice and the offering that Jesus Christ made of Himself.

[14:53] Hallelujah! And I'm glad that He did. I'm glad that Christ did that for us. So here's Jehoshaphat in the temple of the Lord. It says He was before the new court.

[15:04] Verse 6. And said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not Thou God in heaven, and rulest not Thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in Thine hand is there not power in my, so that none is able to withstand Thee.

[15:21] Pay attention to how He begins His prayer here, folks. He doesn't begin it with self. How many of us are guilty of that? I am. How many of us, as soon as we run to God, we say, God, I need this.

[15:32] God, I need that. God, this is happening in my life. God, that is happening in my life. How does Jehoshaphat, knowing that the enemy is coming, knowing that the enemy is all but at His very front door.

[15:44] How does He approach God? He approaches God acknowledging the supremacy of Almighty God. He acknowledges Him here. He says, O Lord God of our fathers, He approaches God, and He appeals unto the history that God has with the Israelite people to the covenant promise that was made to Abraham, made to Isaac, and made unto Jacob.

[16:07] He is appealing to this side of Almighty God. He is appealing to the promises that God made to Abraham that, hey, you promised us this land. You promised us reprieve.

[16:18] You promised us rest, God. Not that God needed reminding, but here Jehoshaphat is doing just that. He's praying history to God. He's praying Scripture to God.

[16:31] I'm all about some Scriptural prayer. Hallelujah. I'm all about it. Not that God needs us to remind Him what His Word says. God is all-knowing. He is omniscient. He is all-everything.

[16:41] He doesn't need to be reminded, but I think He likes to be reminded by His people. I think He likes to hear from His people and know that His people have been in His Word.

[16:53] When we pray Scripture unto God, and we pray history unto God, God, I know You delivered me way back in 1990. I know You delivered me back in 1995. I know You delivered me in 2001.

[17:05] I know You delivered me last week. Therefore, I know that You have got this for me this coming week. Hallelujah. However long ago it's been that You've been delivered, remember that and pray that unto God.

[17:19] He appeals to history here. O Lord God of our fathers, art not Thou God in heaven? He's also appealing to the transcendency of God.

[17:30] Art not Thou God in heaven? I know Your throne, O God, is in the heaven. I know that You're way up there and that You are watching over Your people. I know that You rule the cosmos.

[17:42] I understand that. And God, I appreciate that. Folks, this is almost the same way that Jesus Christ teaches us in the Sermon on the Mount in the model prayer how we are to pray when He says, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.

[17:55] He is appealing to the supremacy of God. God is all supreme in all of this universe. He says, O Lord God of our fathers, art not Thou God in heaven? And rulest not Thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen?

[18:11] Not only do You rule over the cosmos, not only do You rule over the universe, do You rule over all the planets and all the stars and You know them all by name. Not only did You set the sun in a perfect position so that it didn't scorch us or so that we weren't freezed here on planet earth.

[18:26] Not only do You rule the moon, which serves as an instrument as far as the gravitational pull of the earth is concerned. Not only do You rule over all these things and rule over Your chosen people, but You rule over the heathen as well.

[18:42] This shows, this shows the power of God. People don't like to hear that. Lost folks out in the world don't like to hear that. Just like I said earlier, people glorify God one way or another in hell or in heaven for all of eternity.

[18:59] People don't like to hear that. They don't like to hear that someone, one being, has got control over it all. But folks, that is what the Bible teaches. And I will go with the Bible.

[19:10] I will put the world to the side. They'll try and justify it. They'll try and make it scientific. They'll try and do this and do that. But folks, thus saith the Word of God, He rules it all.

[19:23] Plain and simple. Do not back down from that. No matter what kind of convincing argument someone has you remember, what thus saith the Word of God. So here's Jehoshaphat praying this prayer.

[19:36] He says, O Lord of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven, and rulest 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.

[19:50] In other words, God, you can do something about this. Jehoshaphat realizes, I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble. There's nothing I can do here. This is a formidable army that is coming my way.

[20:03] Three different nations. Three different nations are coming His way. The Ammonites are coming. The Edomites are coming.

[20:14] That's the folks from Mount Seir. They're all coming. In Moab, they're coming. Now, if you remember in your biblical history where these nations come from, the Edomites are from Esau.

[20:31] You can read more about that in the book of Genesis. God makes it very clear that Esau is Edom and Edom is Esau. You read about that in Genesis 36.

[20:43] Makes it very clear that that's the case. And we all know that the Israelites had issues with the Edomites and the Edomites had issues with the Israelites.

[20:54] We should all be well familiar with that account. But folks, the Edomites hated the Israelites. Why? Because Esau hated Jacob. That's why.

[21:06] That's why. And they had issues all throughout biblical history. Now, I tell people all the time, this is just a side note. if you want to read what God thought about Esau, if you want to read in Scripture what God thought about Edom and the Edomites, read the tiny little one chapter book of Obadiah.

[21:25] That explains it all. It explains it all. Why? Why did God feel about them the way that He did? Why is it said in the Old Testament and quoted in the New Testament by Paul in the book of Romans?

[21:40] Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Why do these things happen? Why are these things in Scripture? Read Obadiah. Read Obadiah. I think there's 24 verses in that one chapter book in the Old Testament.

[21:55] And that will open your eyes to a lot of things. Esau helped the Babylonians as they come in to race Jerusalem to take them into captivity.

[22:06] This is the equivalent of Jacob's brother helping the enemy to come in and ransack the city that had God's name on it.

[22:18] Again, read that little book of Obadiah. That's just a little side note. In verse 7, art not thou, art God, wait a minute, I didn't, I'm talking about these people that are coming against Judah here.

[22:33] We covered Edom. We covered Esau. But we've also got Moab and we've got Ammon. We know where those come from, right? Y'all remember the account of Lot coming out of Sodom?

[22:46] Lot escaped out of Sodom with three other people. His wife and his two daughters. Or two of his daughters. But we all know that his wife turned around and turned into a pillar of salt.

[22:57] We also all know that Lot went up into a mountain with those two daughters. Those two daughters got him drunk. had relations with him. And two sons were born of that.

[23:08] One named Ben-Ami, which is where the children of Ammon come from. And one was named Moab, which is where the children of Moab come from. These are the people that are coming after them.

[23:20] And this is why God said, don't harm them. You read about it in Deuteronomy chapter 2. God telling them, don't harm them when you're going into the land. Don't touch them.

[23:32] I've given them an inheritance. I've given them the land that they have. Why? Well, folks, it's no different than Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac was the child of promise. Ishmael was not the child of promise.

[23:45] Ishmael was a product of Abram and Hagar. He was not the child of promise though, but it was not Ishmael's fault that he was conceived, let alone born into the world.

[23:56] So God blessed Ishmael. And God blesses Ishmael to this very day. We know that as the Arab nation. And he's continuing to bless them. Why?

[24:06] Because it wasn't Ishmael's fault that Abram and Hagar and Sarah, Sarah had her part in it too, got the cart before the horse, so to speak. But anyway, that's the people that are coming against Jehoshaphat and Judah here.

[24:21] Verse 7, 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.

[24:32] So in the verse preceding this, he's appealed to God, he's appealed to the covenant by saying, are you not the God of our fathers? He says, and you rule in the heavens and you rule the kingdoms of the heathen as well.

[24:45] And here he says, Art not thou our God? Aren't you our God? Aren't you this God that I just described in verse 6? Aren't you our God?

[24:55] 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. He's asking a question here, but folks, it's a rhetorical question.

[25:10] Jehoshaphat, well aware that Jehovah God knows who he is, what he has done for the Israel nation, but again, Jehoshaphat is simply reminding God of what he has done and who he done it for and what the purpose was that he did it.

[25:26] Here in this verse, he says, Art thou not our God? Of course, this is the same God. Of course it is. But he says, He drove out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend forever.

[25:46] You gave us this land forever. This is part of the covenant promise that you made with Abraham. Folks, I have a covenant promise with Almighty God. That covenant is in Jesus Christ.

[25:58] It is in his shed blood. It is in the sacrifice that he made. It is in the suffering that he endured. On my behalf, it should have been me that are on that cross. It should have been me that was scourged.

[26:09] It should have been me that was humiliated and spit upon and flogged and everything else. But Christ done that on my behalf. And when God sent his Spirit to show me exactly who I was and exactly who he is and I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, the Spirit of God moved in me and I came into covenant with God through Jesus Christ.

[26:36] Praise God! I'm in a covenant with God as well. But it's a new covenant. And I praise God for the new covenant. I praise God for the testator of the new covenant that the writer through the Hebrews talks about.

[26:49] I praise God for Jesus Christ who is the testator of that covenant. He was the writer of it. Folks, he's the author and the finisher of our faith, is he not? He was the writer of that covenant.

[27:01] He's the one who thought of it to begin with before the foundation of the world was ever laid. This was put into play. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not plan B. It is not plan C or D. It's been plan A from the very get-go.

[27:15] God knew that his creation would rebel against him. And yet, in Jesus Christ, he made a way that his creation could be reconciled back unto him, could be brought back into his family.

[27:26] We are sons and we are daughters through adoption and through blood. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! For the gospel of Jesus Christ. Verse 8, And they dwelt therein and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, So, who is the they here?

[27:43] This is the people of verse 7 that he's talking about. He says, again in verse 7, And gavest it. Gavest it. Gavest it. Gavest it. Gavest it. Gavest it. The land. Gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend forever.

[27:54] And they, the seed of Abraham, those that have come since Abraham, and they dwelt therein and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name.

[28:05] He says, We have done what you wanted us to do. We have inherited this land. We came in. You read about it all throughout the book of Joshua, how they went in and they got the people out of the way.

[28:18] They got the people of the land. They got the Canaanites out of the way. They went in and done just as God told them to do. And God gave them that land. And you read about the divisions of the land. You read about the inheritances that each tribe received of the promised land.

[28:35] You read about all these things. He says, You gave us this land. We have dwelt therein and have built you a sanctuary. Therein for thy name. We've done all these things for your name.

[28:47] For your name. Folks, we need to remember this as the church that whatever we do, however good a service we have, whatever good messages are preached, whatever good songs are sung, whatever good spirit that we may have in the church, folks, it is all in the name and for the name and by the name of Jesus Christ.

[29:10] We have nothing without Christ. We have nothing without Him. That's a hill that I will die on. Jesus said it Himself. He can do nothing without Me. He said that to His disciples.

[29:22] To people that have been following Him around in His ministry. You can do nothing. Without Me, you can do nothing. And folks, if He could say it to them, people that heard Him preach with their own ears, people that saw Him work miracles, people that heard His teaching, people that slept with Him, people that ate with Him, people that done all of these things, if He could tell them, without Me, you can do nothing.

[29:44] Folks, it applies just as much to us. There are too many Christians. There are too many Christians that think, I'm doing this all on my own. Look at what I have done. Look at the church that I have built.

[29:55] Look at the congregation that I have. Look at the messages that I have. Look how many likes I have on Facebook. Look how many follows I have on Instagram. You can do nothing without Jesus Christ.

[30:06] Nothing that lasts for any eternal good anyway. You might be able to get the backpats of man in this life. But folks, in light of eternity, that amounts to nothing that will all be burned up like wood, hay, and stubble.

[30:21] Verse 9, And when evil cometh 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.

[30:36] and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help. He says, when evil comes upon us, when evil comes upon us, then He lists different ways that evil may come upon them.

[30:49] He says, we will stand before you in this house. Folks, they were looking at a stone building. And folks, that was exactly where the presence of God was at during this time.

[31:03] Folks, the presence of God, I thank God again for the New Testament covenant, for the promise that we have that the Spirit dwells within each and every person that has been born again, each and every person that has been reconciled back unto God, each person that has plead the blood and only the blood for the forgiveness of their sin, the Spirit dwells within them.

[31:26] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. But these people here, they saw the presence of God at the temple and at the temple only. Now, God has always been omnipresent.

[31:37] Always. It's not something that just started happening when the Spirit fell in the book of Acts. God has always been omnipresent. But the pouring out of the Spirit of God on the people of God, now that's New Testament.

[31:52] That is New Testament. But God has always been omnipresent. He has always been everywhere. He's always known everything that was going on in every corner of this universe. One of my favorite things, one of the favorite things R.C. Sproul ever said was there is not one rogue molecule in all of this universe.

[32:10] God knows about it all. And I say amen, praise God, and hallelujah to that. There's not one molecule, there's not one atom, there's not one speck of dust floating around out in the cosmos that God is not aware of.

[32:25] And that's the God that saved me, and that's the God that I serve. Hallelujah. What have I to fear serving that God? If when evil cometh upon us as a sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house and in thy presence, again folks, we stand before God in the presence of God through Jesus Christ.

[32:48] They stood before God in the temple or outside the temple or in the temple courtyard or whatever the case was, somewhere around the temple was the only presence of God that these people felt that they had.

[33:00] Now, was that the case? Not if God's omnipresent, not if God is everywhere. Folks, Daniel didn't pray in the temple, but he prayed. He prayed. Hallelujah.

[33:12] So, but that's the mindset that these folks had. And it says, in thy presence for thy name is in this house and crying to thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.

[33:24] Folks, this is not a statement of arrogance. In fact, all he's doing here, all Jehoshaphat is doing, you flip back to 2 Chronicles 6 and the dedication of the temple that Solomon gave.

[33:36] Really, he's citing what Solomon said in that dedication. And then you flip over to 2 Chronicles 7, that verse that we are all so familiar with of my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and so on with that verse.

[33:52] God affirms in chapter 7 what Solomon prayed in chapter 6. And that's what he's citing here. That's what Jehoshaphat is citing here. He says, then thou wilt hear and help.

[34:04] If we come to you, God, if we come to you in the time of our trial, if we come to you in the time of our affliction, if we come to you as we do now with these three nations coming against one tiny nation that has no might of its own, if we come to you, God, you will hear.

[34:22] And not only will you hear, but you will help. You will help. Again, I praise God that He not only hears, but He acts. He acts on behalf of His people.

[34:34] Verse 10. Folks, He's been praising God since verse 6. What we have read here. He has been worshiping and acknowledging who God is.

[34:50] Then in verse 10, He finally gets to the problem. He finally gets to the whole reason that He's beseeching God to begin with. Because these nations are coming.

[35:01] Do we pray like that? Do we pray? Or do we do like I've already said? Do we go to them immediately saying, God, I'm in trouble. Help me! No.

[35:11] We recognize who God is. We praise God for what He's done. We praise God for the day that He has blessed us with. Praise God for the air that is in our lungs right now. For the blood that is flowing through our veins.

[35:23] For the mind that we have. That we can read the Scriptures. That we can understand the Scriptures. We can understand the goodness of Almighty God. We praise God for all that He has done. Then we go to God.

[35:35] Then we go to God and make our petitions. That's exactly what Jehoshaphat here has done. And now behold the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt but they turned from them and destroyed them not.

[35:53] Behold I say how they reward us to come to cast us out of thy possession which thou hast given us to inherit. Notice what he says here. He says these nations are coming against us.

[36:05] you wouldn't let us touch them. You would not let us attack. You wouldn't let us meddle with them. You would let us do nothing. And nor did God do anything to them.

[36:16] But he says behold in verse 11 behold I say how they reward us to come to cast us out of thy possession. Jehoshaphat praying to God and he says they've come to cast us out of thy possession your possession God.

[36:34] Hey folks when the people of God I'm talking to New Testament Christians now when the people of God when they cry out to God when they are suffering trial when they are suffering tribulation when they've got a health crisis when they've got a financial crisis when they've got relational crisis whatever is going on in their life and we cry out to God as a suffering people it is not a cry like an abandoned orphan we are crying to a God that sees us as a treasured possession belonging to him and him alone.

[37:08] Hallelujah. We are his possession. God God you bought us you bought us through the blood of your precious son we belong to you we are your church bought by your blood for your glory for your honor arise and do this thing for your name hallelujah.

[37:34] Amen. That's the kind of prayer the people of God need to be praying. Behold I say how they reward us to come to cast us out of thy possession it's your land God that you gave unto us but he but Jehoshaphat here still says it's God's land it's God's land it's just on loan to the Israelites folks if you've got a house if you've got a car if you've got money in your bank account you've got food in your pantry you've got clothes in your closet it's all on loan from God every bit of it is on loan from God those are blessings that come from God those are that's part of every good thing that comes down comes down from the father of lies those are good things that God has blessed his people with hallelujah which thou has given us to inherit verse 12 and we'll be done 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 again our God now if you remember over in verse 7 he begins that line with that verse with art not thou our God again folks that's a rhetorical question

[38:55] Joshua knew the answer God certainly knew the answer but here in verse 12 he says oh our God wilt thou not judge them vengeance is mine saith the Lord I will recompense there's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God is the words of the scripture wilt thou not judge them folks if you notice here Jehoshaphat when he stood in verse 5 when he stood there in the temple in the house of God and he was standing in the midst of all of Judah all these people other people were around here remember he had called a fast and we read in the first four verses there that all Judah gathered and they were they were all going to beseech God for his intervention in this matter so here's Jehoshaphat in the temple pleading unto God he says oh our God wilt thou not judge them wilt thou not judge them will you not do something God but he but he tells us why in this prayer he tells us why he says

[39:58] God wilt thou not judge them wilt thou not do something in this matter won't you do it and what is the reason that he gives for we have no might against this great company that comes against us Christians we have no might if if the church were to stand in her own strength if the church were to do anything in her own strength and in her own might we could do nothing I've already said it Christ said without me you can do nothing we couldn't sing one song to the glory of God we couldn't even pray to God outside of the spirit of God outside of the power of God outside of the might of God and we certainly could not convert one single soul we can't do that now but we couldn't convince someone of their need for that conversion either in our own strength but in the strength of

[40:58] Jesus Christ in the strength of God Almighty folks we can do it all we can do anything that God sets us out to do because it's for His glory it's for His glory and it's for His exaltation we could not advance the gospel in our own strength but in the strength of Christ with the power of the spirit of Almighty God we can do these things and this is the charge that is given unto the church to go into all the corners of the world and preach the gospel to every living creature teaching them and baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost but we cannot do it in and of ourselves we can go dump people out in the lake all day long but outside of the power of God folks it ain't gonna do any good it will do no good oh our God wilt thou not judge them for we have no mind against this great company that cometh against us folks I'm talking about!

[42:00] He's talking about a large army of three nations that is coming against one tiny nation what he's talking about but folks I'm magnifying that and say we can do nothing we can do nothing but with God Christ said it himself he said it himself over in the gospels with man it is impossible but not with God for with God all things are possible all things are possible we have no mind against this great company that comes against us neither know we what to do this is what the church needs to grasp a hold of this is what those that have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ need to grasp a hold of and cling to neither know we what to do why is it that we don't know what to do because the church has neglected the word of God the word of God gives us the instruction of what we are to do yes

[43:00] I am thankful for the guidance and the instruction of the Holy Spirit in my life the folks when coupled with the word of God the church of Jesus Christ is an unstoppable force they've been trying to snuff it out for centuries now they've been trying to quash the Christians they've been trying to quiet the Christians they've been trying to burn and get rid of the Bible they've been trying to get rid of Jesus Christ but they have not succeeded because of the power of Almighty God and that is the only reason it has not happened is because of the power of God but Jehoshaphat realizes and confesses two things here we have no might of our own and we don't know what to do God that's why we are beseeching you because you have might and you have power and no one as we read a few verses ago no one can withstand the power of Almighty God we can fight against it folks I fought against the power of

[44:01] God when God was trying to save my soul for a long time but when it comes down to the matter when it comes down to the matter folks no one can truly withstand the power of Almighty God and that's why Jehoshaphat is seeking God on behalf of Judah and of course himself we have no might against this great company that comes against us neither know we what to do and I love this but but our eyes are upon thee our eyes are upon the one who has all wisdom our eyes are upon the one that has all might and has all power in church I encourage you keep your eyes fixed upon Jesus Christ Delbert Gillette missionary in Romania that I'm very good friends with the very dear brother in Christ he says every time we're getting off the phone keep your eyes on the prize brother Spencer keep your eyes on the prize and I encourage you to do the same keep your eyes on the prize the prize is

[45:02] Jesus Christ the prize is not heaven itself the prize is the crown jewel of heaven which is Jesus Christ now as I normally close I don't know everybody's heart here I don't know who's saved and who's lost you and God know that and you and God alone!

[45:25] I don't know for sure but folks this applies just as much to a lost person as it does to Jehoshaphat here who was part of the covenant promise he was part of the very elect of God the apple of God's eye according to the scripture but it applies to lost people too you have no might of your own you have no might to save yourself you have no power to save yourself and unfortunately there's many people out there that teach that you can do that there's denominations that teach that you can do that that teach a works based salvation folks the only work that will save me is the finished work of Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross 2000 years ago that is the only work that I can rely on that I do rely on for salvation so if you are here!

[46:23] all have sinned and come short of the glory of God we have all like sheep gone astray we have all gone our own ways and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all all that sin that everyone has committed was laid upon Jesus Christ you have no power to save yourself but Christ saves He and he alone!

[46:44] Neither! know you what to do outside of the scripture to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is that not what was told to the jailer when he asked Paul about that what must I do to be saved believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house again we can quote Romans chapter 10 confess Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead and thou when anyone who called upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered anyone whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered you have no might to save yourself and you have no knowledge to do so outside of scripture scripture tells us how to be saved scripture tells us how and what to preach and if we preach the gospel of Jesus Christ we preach that man is a sinner and God is a marvelous Savior somebody can get saved

[47:46] God bless y'all that's the message for the Savior