Have Faith

Pastor John Talcott
Christ's Community Church

(7/30) Welcome back to part two of our message series Divine Direction. We’re going to look at a story in the life of King Jehoshaphat where he found himself in a difficult place. Our passage today comes from second Chronicles, chapter 20, where Jehoshaphat was facing a crisis and didn’t know what to do. Like many of us, wondering what God’s will is, wondering what to do, or wondering what direction to go, Jehoshaphat had the wisdom to seek the Lord and stand firm.

We are talking about decision-making, and this is incredibly important because the decisions we make today determine where we will be and what we will be doing tomorrow. And yet, today it has become increasingly difficult to make decisions because there are so many options. And so, how can we know what God wants us to do in any given situation?

Well, I wish I could tell you exactly what he wants you to do so that there doesn’t have to be any doubt in your mind. But the truth is that God doesn’t always give us all the details, and so we don’t know, we don’t understand, but what we do know is that the Bible tells us,

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps" (Proverbs 16:9).

In other words, we discover God’s will step-by-step, by walking in faith, because as we discovered last week, God’s will is first and foremost about who we are becoming. And as we are being conformed into the image of his Son Jesus Christ, growing in faith and obedience, we will find the Lord leading us to do the right things.

And so, you may be praying, wondering what to do, and God may not always show you what to do, but instead he will give you the wisdom to decide. In other words, you may be looking for God to show you specifically what to do, but instead the Holy Spirit tells us,

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault" (James 1:5).

And so, God will give you the wisdom to discern, the wisdom to know right from wrong, the wisdom to make decisions that would honor God.

"Therefore," the Holy Spirit tells us, "Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding" (Proverbs 4:7).

In other words, don’t diminish the value of wisdom because you may be wanting Divine Direction and God may not show you what to do but he will give you the wisdom to decide.

As we look at the example of King Jehoshaphat in second Chronicles, chapter 20, we must first recognize the importance of walking with the wise. You see, the truth is that he didn’t always walk with the wise. I know we always want to act like we always have the wisdom to seek the Lord, praying before making an important decision, but the truth is we don’t always respond that way. We don’t always lift our hands in worship, we don’t always pray in tongues, and the truth is that Jehoshaphat had made some really poor decisions in the past.

The Bible tells us in Proverbs chapter 13,

"He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm" (Proverbs 13:20).

And that’s exactly what happened when Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahab king of Israel by marriage (2 Chronicles 18:1). They formed an ungodly alliance, they went out to do what seemed right, because…

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads to death" (Proverbs 16:25).

And so, even though the Lord warned him not to, Jehoshaphat hooked up with Ahab, he began fighting Ahab’s battles for him, and what seemed smart almost got him killed. Fortunately, the Bible says,

"Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him" (2 Chronicles 18:31).

Jehoshaphat made it out, but Ahab wasn’t so lucky, he was killed in the battle.

When Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned safely to his palace in Jerusalem, Jehu the seer, the son of Hanani, went out to meet him and reprimanded the king (2 Chronicles 19:1-2).

He said, you should have listened because you were fighting a battle that you were not supposed to fight.

That’s why as believers we don’t always need to share our opinion on every cultural issue, because there comes a point when you have to recognize that it’s not my fight. In other words, we need to vote and it’s good to be involved, but the Bible tells us,

"If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone" (Romans 12:18).

And so, we don’t need to be wasting all of our energy fighting battles that are not ours. In fact, if there is anything that the United States has learned in the past 247 years it is that you can’t legislate morality. In other words, they’re going to do who they want to do, smoke what they want to smoke, drink as much as they want to drink, because laws will never change anyone’s heart, only Jesus can do that.

So, going back to Jehoshaphat, the kingdom of Judah had been experiencing a time of spiritual renewal, everything was going well, but that was all about to change. Because the Bible says in second Chronicles, chapter 20,

"The Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came to make war on Jehoshaphat. Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, "A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Sea" (2 Chronicles 20:1-2).

In other words, they were only a day away, sneaking up around the other side of the sea. And so, Jehoshaphat was caught off guard, like when you get that phone call or text message in the middle of the night. He doesn’t have time to make any plans or develop a strategy because he’s got to deal with this right now.

What do you do when the devil drops off something on your doorstep that you didn’t order, it didn’t come from Amazon, you didn’t cause it, you didn’t choose it, and you definitely weren’t expecting it?

That was the situation here, Jehoshaphat didn’t see it coming, and he was "alarmed" because the enemy "was already in Hazazon Tamar" (that is, En Gedi)" (2 Chronicles 20:2). And so, verse three says,

"Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord…" (2 Chronicles 20:3).

You see, there is one thing about a surprise attack, it will drive you to seek God. Jehoshaphat had the wisdom to inquire of the Lord before sending out a reconnaissance team, before asking anyone’s opinion, and not only that "he proclaimed a fast for all Judah" (2 Chronicles 20:3).

In other words, he called upon all the people, the priests, and the Levites to fast and pray. He didn’t have a plan, because he didn’t see this coming, but he had the wisdom to surround himself with all the right people. And so, verse 4 says,

"The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him" (2 Chronicles 20:4).

Because this was bigger than anyone could have imagined. And Jehoshaphat knew that they could fight one nation, but there were three of them coming and they were sneaking up behind them.

And so, he gathered all the people of Judah together to seek the Lord and "he stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard" (2 Chronicles 20:5).

In other words, this was Solomon’s Temple, this was the same one where God had promised,

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14).

And so, Jehoshaphat began to pray, reminding God of what he said, reminding him of what he has already done, not that God needed to be reminded. But he is shifting the focus of the people from the enemy coming against them to the Lord who reigns above them. And he prayed in verse 6,

"O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel…" (2 Chronicles 20:6-7).

And so, he says, did you not do it before? Did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land…

"…and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?" (2 Chronicles 20:7).

In other words, since you did it before, since you drove out the inhabitants and gave it to us forever. Since you have promised this to us, we stand firm as the children of Abraham your friend, believing that no enemy from Ammon, Moab, or Mount Seir can take it away.

And now, we, the descendants of Abraham, "have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, 'If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us" (2 Chronicles 20:8-9).

And so, now he says, great and mighty God that you are, "here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them" (2 Chronicles 20:10).

When he says this, on one hand he is praising God, but on the other he is blaming God. He’s like, this isn’t my fault, the whole reason this coalition of enemies has come up to fight us is because you told Moses not to drive them out. And so, Jehoshaphat says,

"See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance" (2 Chronicles 20:11).

In other words, when Moses led Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land, God would not let the Israelites drive out somebody that was a descendant of his friend Abraham. You see, the Moabites and the Ammonites were descendants of Lot who was Abraham’s nephew. The Meunites, called the people of Mount Seir, they were the Edomites, who were the descendants of Esau the son of Isaac. And so, even though Esau traded his birthright to Jacob, even though he wasn’t Isaac’s favorite son, he was still the grandson of Abraham.

And so, Jehoshaphat says, you wouldn’t let us drive them out and now this is your responsibility, because now they’re trying to drive us out of the possession you gave us.

"O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us" (2 Chronicles 20:12).

In other words, he’s like, God, I need you to fix this, this is your problem, your responsibility. And so, Jehoshaphat’s like it’s not even about how much power you have, it’s about us stewarding something that God gave us to possess. In fact, you are ultimately God’s possession, because the Lord has declared,

"This day that you are his people, his treasured possession…" (Deuteronomy 26:18).

And so, if you are God’s possession, you yourself are stewarding something that he gave you to possess. And so, it’s not about your ability, it’s not about how much power you have, or even how big your enemy is. But when you realize that you are his treasured possession, that you’re his son or his daughter, you’re his friend because,

"Those who believe are children of Abraham" (Galatians 3:7).

And so, that should give some of you great confidence when you see an enemy bigger than you sneaking up behind you. But Jehoshaphat said,

"We do not know what to do" (2 Chronicles 20:12).

And if you are here today and you don’t know what to do, you don’t know how to fight, you don’t know how to fix it, do what Jehoshaphat did. He said, "But our eyes are upon you." Fix your eyes on Jesus, focus on the author and perfecter of your faith, because when you stop looking at how big the enemy is, how big the problem is, and start praising God for how big he is, everything will begin to change.

"All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the Lord. Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly" (2 Chronicles 20:13-14).

"He said: "Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's" (2 Chronicles 20:15).

He said, Jehoshaphat this isn’t even about you, it’s too big for you, so don’t back down, and don’t try to figure it out. In other words, don’t get it in your head that you’ve got to fight this in your own strength, because you can’t handle it.

Some of you have been looking at an enemy that is coming against you, you are outnumbered, but you need to remember,

"He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4, ESV).

You see, we often say, "The battle is the Lord’s," but then we stress and worry like the battle is ours. We waste all of our time and our strength worrying when we should have been worshiping. And that’s exactly how we’re going to win this fight, and so we’ve got to quit trying to do God’s job for him. We’ve got to give him the battle back, because Jahaziel said,

"The battle is not yours, but God's. Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel" (2 Chronicles 20:15-16).

"You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem" (2 Chronicles 20:17).

In other words, he said, "March down against them, get in position, not so that you can fight, but so that you can see the deliverance the Lord will give you." Now, that sounds really good, but it feels really stupid as the enemy is advancing toward you. But the prophet said,

"Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you" (2 Chronicles 20:17).

So, you’re not going to have to fight this battle, because you’re going to experience victory in his strength because,

"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:4).

And so, the people of Judah focused on the goodness of God, and it says that Jehoshaphat in verse 18,

"Bowed with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord. Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel with very loud voice" (2 Chronicles 20:18-19).

In other words, the Levites, the priest, the singers, and the praise team all lifted their voices praising God loudly. You see, when you worship you are waging war, when you worship you are saying that it is too big for me, and God is going to fight for worshipers, fighting for his people, fighting for his praise and so they’re going to worship their way through it.

"Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful" (2 Chronicles 20:20).

He says, God wants you to have faith. God wants you to trust him as you face the enemy. Trusting him to fight the battle, and sometimes it takes more faith not to fight, it takes more faith to get over your pride, to get over yourself, than to let him fight your battles.

And so, what they did next was amazing, it was a strange strategy, considering that the enemy was standing right in front of them. But the Bible says that, "After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord…" In other words, he said I want you to look past your enemy and sing to the Lord, it doesn’t matter whether you can carry a tune, but I want you to "praise him for the splendor of his holiness" (2 Chronicles 20:21).

Suddenly I realized that this wasn’t even about the music, it was about worship, it was about their focus. And the Bible says, "As they went out at the head of the army, saying: "Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever" (2 Chronicles 20:21). You see, this is about focusing on God, instead of the size of the enemy. Focusing on what is good about God, instead of what is wrong with your life. Focusing on the faithful love of the Lord, instead of the battle you are in. Because when you focus like that, looking past what is standing in front of you, you are able to recognize that God is so much bigger than the enemy in front of you.

I wonder if there are any of you ready to worship as a strategy for the battle that you are in? "As they began to sing and praise," magnifying the Lord in the midst of the battle, the Bible says in verse twenty-two,

"The Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah" (2 Chronicles 20:22).

"And they were defeated" by the angel armies of God. The tribe of Judah was worshiping, and the Lord declared an ambush against their enemy. He fought against what they could see by sending something they couldn’t see.

"The men of Ammon and Moab rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another" (2 Chronicles 20:23).

That’s what happens when you let God fight your battles. He’s going to use everything that came against you. He’s going to use everything that the enemy meant for evil for your good. You see, Jehoshaphat knew that he didn’t stand a chance, he could fight one, but there were three of them. And so, he knew this was bigger than he could handle and it had come sneaking up behind him.

As we close, I was wondering if there are any of you who have ever been in that position, maybe that’s where you are today, when you’ve got something bigger than you coming up behind you?

Jehoshaphat had three different armies, and in the same way the Bible says we have three different enemies.

"For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world" (1 John 2:16, NKJV).

In other words, these are the values of this world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the boastful pride in possessions or accomplishments. These are the tools of the devil that oppose the purpose of God that he uses to entrap us and keep us in bondage.

That’s why we’ve got to worship like we do, because I can fight one, but how do I fight the devil when I am fighting my own flesh? How do I fight the world when there is part of me that wants to be like the world? I could fight one, but I can’t fight them all, they’re bigger than me, and now they’re coming up behind me.

Some of you are facing something that snuck up from behind, you didn’t see it coming, it’s bigger than you, and you don’t know what to do. But the problem is that often we don’t understand the nature of the battle, because we are always busy fighting an enemy that we can see, but the Bible says,

"Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 6:12).

And so, when we fight on the physical level, fighting to protect our ego, fighting to protect our pride, we will end up losing the battle because we are more concerned about ourselves than we are about God’s glory.

We learn from Jehoshaphat that it takes more faith to just let God be God than to fight back. The problem is that when we get our hands in it, when we try to manipulate and control our situation, we just end up messing it up. That’s why Jesus said, be careful and don’t just start pulling weeds, because

"While you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them" (Matthew 13:29).

And so, maybe you’re trying to help, trying to do something good, but you going to cause more damage than you are good. You see, sometimes it takes more faith just to let God be God, to let God sort it out, so that you don’t lose the battle.

That’s why we have got to get the worship right, because the battle is not ours, it’s God’s. And so, we’ve got to get the right focus and the right strategy for the battle because you can’t do it in your own strength. You can’t overcome an addiction with willpower.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s an addiction to alcohol, cigarettes, pornography, overeating, or overspending, it’s not a matter of willpower, it’s a matter of worship. The enemy is sneaking up in your life and trying to meet needs that only God can meet, and so you can’t win this fight with willpower, you’ve got to fix the worship problem. That’s why the apostle Paul says,

"My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19).

Life is all about decisions, but we’ve got to get this one right, we’ve got to have wisdom so that we can be faithful in the next step. We need to ask God for wisdom, we need to walk with him, walking with the wise, surrounding ourselves with people who are worshiping Jesus. And as you worship and serve him in this moment God helps us to become who he wants us to be and do what he’s called us to do.

Read Part 3

Read past sermons by Pastor John Talcott