Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20031130.htm

1 AND 2 KINGS: ENJOYING GOD'S BLESSINGS IN AN APOSTATE ERA
Part XXXIII: Blessing In Letting GOD Educate Less Holy Parties On Holiness
(2 Kings 3:1-27)
  1. Introduction
    1. Hebrews 5:13-14 claims an immature believer has less discernment of good and evil than does the mature.
    2. Now, such a difference can create a tension between the mature and the immature: the mature may want to pull back from an evil third party or entity where the immature will feel free to unite with him or it. This disagreement can created a tension in how the mature and immature relate to each other!
    3. Elisha shows the mature, discerning party is to be gracious with the immature, letting God educate him:
  2. Blessing In Letting GOD Educate Less Holy Parties On Holiness, 2 Kings 3:1-27.
    1. Though to a lesser degree, Israel's Jehoram still walked in the evil ways of his forefathers, 2 Kings 3:1-3.
    2. Thus, when he needed help with the insubordinate nation of Moab and sought an alliance with Judah's relatively good king, Jehoshaphat, this led to an awkward tension for the holy Elisha, 2 Kings 3:4-13a:
      1. Idolatrous Jehoram experienced insubordination from the puppet nation of Moab, so he sought to ally himself with Jehoshaphat, the relatively good king of Judah to attack Moab from the south, 3:4-7b, 8.
      2. We have already learned that Jehoshaphat habitually made errant unions with godless kings like Ahab and his son, Ahaziah, so he understandably agreed to help Jehoram fight the Moabites, 2 Kings 3:7c-8.
      3. As it happened, even Edom joined Israel and Judah in this circuitous march in a wilderness route to attack Moab from the south where Moab was less fortified, 2 Kings 3:9; Bib. Kno. Com., O.T., p. 542.
      4. Yet, in so doing, the three armies ran out of water, so wicked Jehoram blamed God for the trial, claiming God was planning to deliver Edom, Israel and Judah into Moab's hand, 3:9b-10! [Making this statement revealed the inability of Jehoram's false idols to help him against Judah's true God!]
      5. Jehoshaphat suggested they seek advice from a prophet of God, and when one of Jehoshaphat's men claimed Elisha who had served under Elijah was available, Jehoshaphat agreed to hear him, 3:11-12.
      6. However, to speak to all three kings at once, a mix of evil men with the relatively good Jehoshaphat, Elisha felt great tension as he wanted no ties with the apostate king of Israel in Jehoram, 3:13-14:
        1. As the three kings approached Elisha for advice, Elisha initially stated he wanted nothing to do with Jehoram, and told Jehoram to seek the advice of his parent's pagan prophets, 2 Kings 3:13a.
        2. Jehoram responded by claiming Elisha had to deal with him since God (as Jehoram alleged) had caused the water shortage that the three kings faced, 2 Kings 3:13b.
        3. At this response, Elisha explained that were Jehoshaphat not present, he would not have any dealings with Jehoram, that he would not even acknowledge Jehoram's presence, 2 Kings 3:14!
    3. Nevertheless, in graciousness toward Jehoshaphat, Elisha called for a minstrel to quiet his nerves before the wicked Jehoram so Elisha could heed God's gracious advice for Jehoshaphat's benefit, 3:15a.
    4. Accordingly, Elisha gave the prediction God would miraculously send water, and so left Jehoshaphat with God to handle though Jehoshaphat was leagued with wicked Jehoram and the king of Edom, 3:15b-25.
    5. At this point, GOD did the rest to disciple Jehoshaphat by letting a tension arise for Jehoshaphat so he would want to avoid close ties with Jehoram: the battle came at the cost of the Moabite king's horrendous public sacrifice of his own son to his pagan god, Chemosh; this atrocity led to great anger being directed at Jehoram's men from Israel who had started the fight, and that not only from the Moabites, but from the Edomites and Jehoshaphat's men, 3:26-27! This led to the withdrawal of the invading armies and a dampening of the alliance Jehoshaphat had with Jehoram! (Ibid., p. 543).
Lesson: Though the holy Elisha knew he should have no ties with the evil Jehoram, he GRACIOUSLY ministered BEFORE Jehoram for the sake of the UNDISCERNING Jehoshaphat, hurturing his own heart in ministry, leaving JEHOSHAPHAT with GOD to train to LESSEN his ties with evil Jehoram!

Application: (1) If God has led us to DISCERN our need to avoid ties with an unholy entity, but if an undiscerning believer unites with the ungodly, we should be GRACIOUS with the undiscerning, letting GOD teach him more discernment! (Jude 22-23 NIV) (2) That usually takes special nurturing of our own spirit to handle this tension as it did for Elisha in 2 Kings 3:15a! (3) If GOD lets US face a trial where we see we should end close ties with a godless entity, we should DO so for growth, Heb. 5:13-14!