2 Kings 3

And open your Bible to 2 Kings chapter 3, but we're really beginning the ministry of the prophet Elisha in earnest beginning tonight. And as we get into chapter 3, we're going to deal with a little political rambling because you'll remember last time we studied here in 2 Kings, that king Ahab had passed away. His son Ahaziah had taken over as king, but it didn't last that long before he died. And now his brother, Jehoram, is king. And it starts here in verse 1 by saying,

It's an interesting deal here. This is the second son of Ahab to reign in Israel and for some reason or another he did not cling to his mother's religion of Baal worship, and even went so far as to tear down that element of focus of worship for Baal, that pillar that was set up in honor of Baal. And he, him personally did not involve himself in any worship related to Baal. But it says that "he clung (however) to the sin(s) of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,…" Now, you remember Jeroboam was the first king of Israel in the divided kingdom. Remember Jeroboam? We talked about him in this last week. He's the one who, upon becoming king, was fearful that the people of Israel in his kingdom would eventually leave because they were required to go down to Jerusalem in Judah to worship from time to time for the various feasts of the Lord. And Jeroboam was concerned that he would basically lose all of his people so he created a religion of his own that had the focus of the idol of a calf. And it was essentially a perversion of the worship of YAHWEH. And it says here that Jehoram clung to that religion that Jeroboam basically put together, but he rejected Baal worship. Interesting. What caused that exactly?

We don't know, but it tells us here that in the switching of kings, that some other political movement was going on. It says,

And when it means he rebelled, it simply means he threw off the taxation that had been placed upon him by the king of Israel. And you know how those things work. You basically conquered a king and then you attached a levy or a taxation to that country and said, hey, listen, we won't bother you as long as you pay us so much, and they could set the price. And because the king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and apparently sheep were a big thing at that time, in the kingdom of Moab, he said, hey listen, as long as you annually deliver "100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams," we'll leave you alone. And the king of Moab had capitulated to that, up until the point that Ahab died. Ahaziah, his first son that reigned, apparently didn't do anything about this rebellion of the king of Moab. But Jehoram, when he took the throne, decided, you know what? The king of Moab stopped sending his annual requirement. What do you say, we're going to take care of this situation. And by the way, just again, a little bit more background. The Moabites, you'll remember, were a people that had come out of the family of Lot, the nephew of Abraham. And so they were distantly related to the Israelites. It says in

Stop there for just a moment. You remember that Jehoshaphat's been on the throne for a long time. He was there when king Ahab, Jehoram's father, was on the throne in Israel. And he also went along with Ahab into war. Personally, I think it was a bad decision on his part, but he had done it at that time as well. Jehoshaphat was a wonderful king who loved God, but we mentioned this before, he lacked discernment as far as the people he connected with. Do you know the type? ---

There are some wonderful Christian people who seem to hang with the wrong crowd and they will yoke themselves unequally with individuals in many different scenarios, unwisely, and will invite all kinds of challenges and difficulties into their lives because of it. We're going to get into this a little bit here as we go on tonight about this very difficult issue about when to withdraw. When to withdraw from someone in your life whose life is such that it is necessary for you to make a discerning decision related to your ongoing participation in their life, in their business, or whatever the situation may be. We'll get into it here a little bit more as we go. "Then he said, (this is a Jehoshaphat asking the question) "By which way shall we march?" And Jehoram answered, "By the way of the wilderness of Edom." Now, if you know the area of the Middle East in your mind, you know that it would have been much easier for Israel just simply to march across the Jordan and go over to Moab and attack Moab that way. But what he's wanting to do is he's wanting to march south, down through Judah, and around up on the other side. He wants to basically take Moab from the backside, if you will, because he probably figures the king of Moab would be expecting some kind of an attack based on the fact that we're no longer paying his tax requirement. And so the king of Israel wisely, frankly decides he wants to bring some a surprise attack. And by the way, while they go, he's going to pick up an army in Edom as well. And that's exactly what they do. "So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. And when they had made a circuitous march of seven days, there was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them." Now that sets up the next statement in "Then the king of Israel said, "Alas! The Lord has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab." Isn't that an interesting statement? They get out into this march, which, by the way, it was his idea. Right? He decided not to go straight over to Moab, across the Jordan. He decided to make that long, circuitous, march around the backside and to come up and attack from below and so forth. That was his idea. And yet, they get into this wilderness area and there's no water for the soldiers. There's no water for the animals. There's no water. There's, presumably no food. And the king of Israel makes this statement and says, oh, now see, the Lord is going to give us into the hands of the Moabites. And he's just totally negative and figuring, this is probably it. Isn't that interesting? Have you ever, have you noticed the type? People who don't walk with the Lord, and don't really care to walk with the Lord, like Jehoram, but when something bad happens, boy, they're quick to blame Him. They'll talk about God as long as it's in the negative. As long as there's somebody to shift the blame to for their life and to what's happening in their life currently. Which I said, by the way, it was His idea to go to war, and it was His idea to walk down through that area. To march the entire army with all their animals, his idea, but now it's God's fault because there's no water. Oh, I guess God's going to give us into the hands of the Moabites. Now, I want you to notice how Jehoshaphat responds to the lack of water. "And Jehoshaphat said, "Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the LORD?"" Isn't that a great godly response? What do you do when you have a difficult situation in your life? Do you blame God or do you go to God for the solution? Therein lies the difference. I mean, you can complain all day long, it's not going to do you any good. Why don't you go and beseech the Lord? Why don't you take your need and issue it to God?

--- And a response comes back here in the middle of verse 11. "…one of the king of Israel's servants answered, "Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah." Now this is really interesting. Remember what we said last week? Elijah was a man who would give the word of the Lord and he'd go off and then be in the wilderness. I'm pretty sure he was a loner, that loner type of person who just really didn't like to be around people all that much, but Elisha's different. He has been living in Samaria and it looks as if he's actually marched out with the army to go along with them on this campaign because one of the servants of the king says, well, Elisha's here. And notice how it describes him as the one "who poured water on the hands of Elijah." Which is a very humble form of service and it's an expression of his servitude toward Elijah. But somebody says, hey, Elisha's here. And, "And Jehoshaphat said, "The word of the LORD is with him."" He was known far and wide. Even though Elisha and Elijah's ministry was predominantly up in the northern kingdom of Israel, and that's where they did their work and prophecies and miracles, still, Jehoshaphat knows of him. And he goes, yeah, he's a godly man. He's…, the Word of God is with that man. And "So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him." This is a change too. Normally when you've got a king and they want to talk to somebody, they send out their servants and they bring that person back to them. And they usually sit on their thrones or whatever. Makeshift though they may be during a time of war, and people are brought to them. But this is how desperate they are feeling. They actually go to Elisha, and they're going to bring their need to him. And now I want you to notice what goes on in this exchange, because this is going to bring us back to that issue of discernment that I talked about a little bit ago. "And Elisha said to the king of Israel, "What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother." But the king of Israel said to him, "No; it is the LORD who has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab."" He's still complaining, you notice that there. ---

"And Elisha said, "As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you." Stop there for just a moment please. I promise you we’ll continue on. This pretty strong stuff. Elisha doesn't have time for the king of Israel. And when he first is approached by these 3 kings, remember, this is the campaign that belongs to the king of Israel. He's the one who's working to get back this revenue that he's lost from the king of Moab or the kingdom of Moab. And Elisha knows that. And when he lays eyes on the king of Israel, his first response, which is a Hebrewism, but he simply says, what do I have to do with you? In other words, what do we have in common? It's an interesting statement. It's an interesting question. It's basically his way of saying, why are you coming to me? What business can we possibly have together? You don't care about the God of whose I am. You don't care about Him. You don't care about seeking the Lord. All you want to do is complain when you don't get things the way you want. When you march down here and you run out of water, the first thing you do is say, oh, look what God has done now. He's delivered us into the hands of moment. You don't care about knowing the will of my God or doing the will of my God. Why have you come to me? Why don't you go to one of the prophets of your gods? Why don't you speak to them? Why don't you ask them what you should do? Why are you coming to me? I got to tell you, over the years, I've felt like saying that a couple of times. You got to be very careful, obviously. I haven't said it, I'll tell you that right now. But I felt like it. Because sometimes people will come and will ask things, and you want to say, you don't care about my God. You don't care about being obedient to my God. Why are you coming to talk to me? And many times people will come for advice and that's all they want. And frankly, if they could, they'd spit in your God's face, but they're just in need. And it's a momentary temporal need. And, it is what it is. And you have the very real understanding, you know that you're being used at that particular moment in time. You know it. I mean, there's no question about it. You are being used and you will never see this person bow the knee to Jesus Christ. But sometimes that's what the Lord calls us to do, is to do that anyway. But there's an interesting sort of a thing here that when Elisha says to the king, king Jehoram. When he says, listen, if it hadn't been for Jehoshaphat's presence right here in this place, I wouldn't have even taken notice of you. He's not being rude. He's simply saying what needs to be said. You don't care and I know it, and you know it, so let's not play games. But since Jehoshaphat is a godly man, and he does regularly inquire of the Lord, I'll talk to you guys, but only because of that situation. So when exactly is it a time that you and I should back away from a situation? When is it that we should withdraw? Let me show you a couple of passages. First of all, I want to show you something from the Psalms. It's in the very first Psalm, and it says this,

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. I think Elisha was aware of this sort of a mentality or this idea, this principle, that I am not to hobnob… Frankly, Jehoshaphat shouldn't have been going to war with Jehoram He shouldn't have gone to war with his dad either, with king Ahab. He shouldn't have done it because, blessed is the man that doesn't walk in the council of the wicked. Jehoram was a wicked king. There never were any good kings of Israel after the split. And Jehoshaphat lacked discernment and should not have gone to war together with him on this military campaign. He shouldn't have done it. But again, he did it because of a crazy sort of a sense of camaraderie or connect. I mean, they were obviously all Jews, even though they're living in two separate kingdoms. But you remember how Jehoshaphat responded, hey, my people are your people, my horses are your horses, my chariots are your chariots. He felt a bond with the northern kingdom of Israel even though the northern kingdom of Israel was apostate. They had departed from the worship of the one true God. They'd left the path. They'd gone off on their own."

Now, you can see the connection here between you and someone else. And here you are and you're a believer, and you're walking with God. And somebody comes to you and says, hey, join with me in this endeavor. Join with me in this situation. Join with me in this marriage. Join with me in this relationship, this venture, or whatever the situation might be. Or maybe just invites you to hang with them. Spend time. We've got to be careful. We use that word fellowship to describe the time we spend with other believers, and that's a good word to use because fellowship is a real time... It's a word that speaks of sharing. I mean, sharing one with another, give and take sort of a thing. But what happens when you start fellowshipping with the people of the world? And I mean closely, intimately. The Bible says that bad company corrupts good character. (1 Corinthians 15:33) So here in the Psalms, it says, don't stand in the way of sinners. Don't sit in the seat of mockers. It's a poetic way of saying, don't hang with them. There's a time to withdraw. Listen, you hang with a fool, you're going to start acting like a fool. This whole issue became, it blew up in, in the New Testament church because Paul had written to the church in Corinth, and he told them to be very careful about the people they hung with. They misinterpreted what he said in their particular case to mean that they should have nothing to do with anybody ever. And Paul wasn't saying that. He was talking in his particular context about people who claim to be believers, but are actually living a lifestyle that is very opposite of the lifestyle of a believer. And we see that a lot in the United States of America. It's some incredible amount of number of people in the United States who claim to be Christians. And yet we see in their lifestyle, and in their belief, something very other than the Bible. Here's what Paul said when he wrote to the church in Corinth and he told them, "I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat." I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. (and so they were they interpreted it at as, don't ever have any you can't even go to the store and buy something from some guy who isn't a believer. I mean they took it into this, just really long distance sort of an interpretation, he says no, no, no, no) But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother (and that was the way they referred to believers) but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. (and he said) With such a man do not even eat. So between this Old Testament passage in Psalms, which says, be very careful not to hang and fellowship. To sit in the seat, means that close association. And then we have 1 Corinthians that talks about be careful when you're hanging around people or spending a lot of time with people who say, I'm a Christian, but their lifestyle is completely opposite to that. We can see that there are times as believers that we have to withdraw for our health, and safety, and to make a statement to the other person in this case here. Paul went on in this letter to confront them about a situation that they actually had going on in the church at Corinth, where a man had Paul had taken his father's wife, obviously his stepmother, and was now having a relationship with her. And what Paul called them to do was to withdraw from the man. To withdraw in such a way as to communicate to him that this is just completely contrary to the Word of God. And to the morality of the work of the Spirit in our hearts and our lives that He's doing there. There comes a time. But see, this takes discernment. This is not an invitation for you and I to be self- righteous and to look down on everybody who's struggling in life. That's not what Paul is telling us to do. It's not what this Psalm is informing us about. He's not saying that you and I are supposed to look like at anybody that might possibly be sitting and going, okay, well, you're off my Christmas list because I saw the way you talk to so and cut you off just like that. It's not what he's saying. Listen, we operate in grace. The reason we operate with grace is because we need grace. We need forgiveness. But we're talking about somebody who says, I'm a believer and there's this completely unrepentant, blatant lifestyle. Now I am personally, the Bible also tells us elsewhere that if your brother's caught in a sin, you're to go to that person, and you're to confront them, and you're to talk…, in love, right? Speak the truth in love. You're to go to that individual and say, hey, I love you. I mean, I love you big time, but this lifestyle that you're involved in, this is not only unbiblical, it's destructive. It's hurting you. Do you know that this is hurting you? And this can't be good for your walk with God. It just can't because it is completely contrary to the Word of God. Now I love you and I want to continue to have a relationship with you, but this situation, I got to just tell you, this is coming between us and you need to make a decision for the Lord here. You need to put this thing behind you. You need to turn your back on this lifestyle, or this activity, or whatever the situation may be, and you need to return to the Lord with all your heart. And if that person refuses to listen, I think it's a good idea to take somebody with you again and maybe give it another shot. But the point is we make every effort, and we pray for these people, and we don't stop loving them. But there is a point when after that confrontation, loving, respectful confrontation, and when that individual continues to portray a stubborn, unrepentant heart in the matter, there is a point where we withdraw for our sake as well as theirs. It just, that's what Paul's saying here. I mean, that's what I see him saying here. One of the problems of just carrying on like nothing's wrong is that eventually we affirm them in their sin. If we never say anything. If I got a brother in the Lord, who's living out of wedlock with his girlfriend and I know they're living like a married couple, but they're not married. And if I continue to have this open relationship with his brother, and I never talked to him about it, and I never respond to this situation in any way. What are you going to think about how I feel about that particular sin? You're going to assume that I'm okay with it and see that's responsibility is on me because, and on you, because people are looking at you, your life too, and they're looking to see. Like it's true, you are the only Bible some people might ever read, and they're looking to you to see what loving response or what response at all you're going to have to the situation. And there are times as painful as those times are. And believe me, they are very painful. And the more you love the person, the more painful they are. But there are times that we have to just lovingly take a step back and say and communicate to the person, listen, I love you so much, but this is killing you. And I have talked to you about this and you seem completely unwilling to do anything about it. And it's time for me to make a decision based on your unwillingness to change. Now, I want you to know if this situation ever changes, I am here for you. And in the meantime, I'm going to pray for you every day. I'm not going to stop praying for you and I'm never going to stop loving you, but I am going to stop associating with you because I can't communicate to the world around me to my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that this is okay. And that's what I would be doing if I stay on. Boy, that's hard. You guys, that's called tough love and there are some personalities in the body of Christ who are just so repelled by the whole idea of tough love. And they are basically the people who have gifts of compassion. And if you have a gift of compassion, you are probably recoiling inside at what I'm saying right now. You probably are like, oh, I hate this. But in your heart that there's some truth to it. You got to just go with the Word of God. And this is what Paul is saying. Read through 1 Corinthians. See what Paul says about how, what he tells the church to do related to this brother who's just unrepentant and living in this immoral lifestyle. See what Paul says. Don't t take my word for it. Okay, let's move on. I want you to notice Elisha now, he's going to give a word to the Lord to these people. But look what he says in "But now bring me a musician." And when the musician played, the hand of the LORD came upon him." Here, this is really interesting to me because this is the prophet Elisha. This is the guy who has the double portion of God's Spirit that had been given to Elijah his predecessor. And yet, in the midst of this situation where these 3 kings come to him and say, we want to hear from the Lord as regards, this desperate situation we're in with no water, and so forth. He says, Alright, "bring me a musician," and let him play. And he wasn't going to, he wouldn't bring a guy to play some hoedown music or something like that. This guy is going to come play some worship music. He's going to, he's going to sing and play to the Lord. This is the stuff that David used to do. But I want you to notice that Elisha uses or is going to use this music to draw near to the Lord and to hear from God. To be ushered into His presence and to make that connection with God. People, do you understand the important role that music plays in our spiritual connection with God? Do you understand that when we get together here on a Wednesday night, or a Sunday morning, or any other night, or evening, or day, or whatever, and when we start with music, we're not just starting with some songs for the people who are late, so they don't feel so self conscious when they walk in late. That's not why we do it. We are, we begin with music to lay down a carpet, if you will, to use a metaphor of connectedness with God, the Holy Spirit, that we might create this path, if you will, this walkway this connection to Him, that we might hear from Him. That we might be tuned to Him. I love worship and I love what it does in my life. I got to be completely honest with you. I find worship sometimes challenging. And I'm one of those people that the more people I'm with, the more challenging I find it to worship God. How about that? Sorry to admit it, but it's true. But that doesn't change the role that music plays. Music is an enormous, enormously important vehicle in that process of making that connection with God the Holy Spirit, and allowing us to tune our direction, our spiritual vision, and so forth to His voice. Boy, don't underestimate it. Nothing breaks my heart more. Boy, can I just be honest with you? Okay, that's an exaggeration to say. Nothing breaks my heart more. Sue has been telling me not to, be careful. It breaks my heart to see people chit chatting around here when worship is going on. It does. Because there are people in here communing with the King of the universe. I mean, they're connecting with the King of the universe. And you know what? If some political dignitary, the president of the United States or something like that was up here on this platform talking, they wouldn't be chit chatting in the back. They'd be listening. And yet when the King of the universe is majestically present in this place, there's people who ignore it, and they're walking around talking to each other. It's like, wait a minute, guys, God is here. We are opening our hearts collectively. And even though I do, I admitted you a moment ago, I find collective worship to be a bigger challenge than solitary worship. I love collective worship. Let me just say that too. I find it more challenging to enter in because I'm so easily distracted and that's the reason, but I love it when God's people come together and worship together. I love it. That's what we ought to be doing. I mean, when the music plays, that's our vehicle. Let's jump on it. And let's ride it right to the throne of grace. And let's talk to God.

And, you understand, don't you, why we turn the lights down? It's for me, okay? It's to help eliminate distractions. Seriously. Seriously. And. I hope that it helps you too. We've been criticized. I'll be honest with you. We've been criticized for turning the lights down during worship. Why do you make it such a show up on the platform? Has nothing to do with making it a show. We're trying to do to eliminate distractions for the people so they can enter in, so they can connect with God. Because when you've got all these things going on in your peripheral vision, it's very, very difficult. It's just very challenging, right? But it's something we need. I love that. Elisha said, hey, let's bring a worship band in here and let's strike up the music because I need to hear from God. And it says, "the hand of the LORD came upon him."

Boom! That's the God of the universe. Can you guys get this? He says, they're dying! In the wilderness. There's no water. There's no water to be found. You got to know that when you're desperate for water, you send out scouts in all directions. Well, you came one direction, you don't have to go back that way. But we're going to send out scouts. They're going to look for water. They come back. These guys come back from their scouting mission. No water, sir, so they're desperate. Okay? So they bring in Elisha. Elisha gives this word from the Lord. He says, here's the deal. You're not even going to hear the sound of wind or rain. And yet tomorrow, at this time, water is going to fill this area. You're going to see water all around you. These stream beds that are all dried up, they're going to be filled with water. And, this is no big deal for my God. Huh! Isn't this great? It's really, truly amazing. "Oh, and by the way, he even told them, and by the way, God's going to give the Moabites into your hand.

And so of course they came up with an assumption, which is always a dumb thing to do, but they did it.

You know, it's interesting, isn't it? That God supernaturally provides this water in response to their petition before the Lord. For them it's a lifesaver but for the enemy, it's their doom because they see this water as the sun is rising and they're looking at the water and the sheen of the water and somehow it looks red to them. However, it happened, we don't know. But it they did and they made this assumption, that's blood. These guys must have turned on each other during the night and the blood is flowing. All we need to do is walk in and just scoop up their junk. Yeah, that's all we, so let's go. And so they're just, having at it, let's go. And as they get closer and closer to the Israelite army, the Israelites see them coming, rise up against them with sword and shield and basically strike them down, send them into a panic. It goes on to say in

In other words, to break through the lines opposite the king of Edom. Remember the king of Edom had come out in conjunction with Israel and Judah, but it says he couldn't do it. It wasn't enough. Even these 700 swordsmen wasn't enough. And so what does he do? Well, like any good pagan, he decides the sacrifice is in order. But this one's, this one is tragic because it says,

This last verse is a very interesting one, is it not? Because he mounted this final attempt to break through the lines of the army against him, and he failed to do so, he decided that he needed to offer a sacrifice to his god, his pagan god. And so he took his son, his own son, who was meant to reign in his place, and he offered him as a burnt offering. And the very act of this sacrifice drew such horrible responses from his own army, that there, it says, "there came great wrath against Israel." And Israel responded by withdrawing and they returned to their own land. And didn't bring the Moabites into subjection once again. In other words, they went to battle and there was no real resolution to the battle at all. They, everyone was so horrified by what this man had done to his own son.