Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20040222.htm

SAMPLING GOD'S "FEAR NOTS"
Part VIII: God's Victory Over Overwhelming, Untouchable Foes
(2 Chronicles 20:1-30)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Almost every week, at least one believer communicates to me his or her concern about seeming humanly insurmountable THREATS to our way of life as Bible-believing Christians:

(1) For example, Dr. James Dobson, in a recent letter to supporters, reported that Mel Gibson's movie, "The Passion of the Christ" that is set to be released Wednesday is not being promoted by the large film movers due to its alleged "anti-Semitic" features.

Now, Mr. Gibson has only tried to present a Biblically accurate account of Christ's death. However, in reflecting the Matthew 27:24-25 scene where Pilate washes his hands to indicate his innocence at the shedding of Christ's blood, and the Hebrews present say, "His blood be on us, and on our children," Mr. Gibson's movie has the Hebrew High Priest making that statement to the objection of various American Jewish leaders.

So, under fire, Mr. Gibson has cut the English script from the scene: the High Priest speaks these words, but in the original Aramaic.

Remarkably, the New Testament AUTHOR, Matthew who WROTE those words was HIMSELF a HEBREW -- HE was NOT "anti-Semitic"; Matthew was merely recording the FACTS as he saw them as a HEBREW disciple of Jesus of Nazareth! In a recent circular, Christian leader James Dobson has thus expressed dismay at the implication that Matthew's Gospel is "anti-Semitic", a charge that counters the divine inspiration of that Gospel!

Thus, we may wonder HOW do we stand up to the seeming politically insurmountable lable of "anti-Semitism" that has been leveled against GOD'S WORD in the Gospel of Matthew?

(2) Nearly every week someone communicates with me about the "encroaching" gay movement; this week, we all heard of the rash of gay weddings that occurred in San Francisco in opposition not only to California State law, but contrary to the Biblical teaching that holds marriage exclusively to be a union of a man and a woman.

What are we to DO about this encroaching sin that we do not seem to be ABLE or BIBLICALLY JUSTIFIED to "fight" when this movement is so UNGODLY that GOD DESTROYED Sodom and Gomorrah for practicing it? (cf. Jude 7; Genesis 19)



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "I face a crisis with an overwhelming foe OR with one whom I biblically SHOULD NOT fight.' What should I to DO about it?!"
  1. In king Jehoshaphat's day, a large force of Moabites, Ammonites and an Arab tribe, the Meunites who lived in Edom tried to invade the land of Judah, 2 Chr. 20:1 NIV, ESV and Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. to 2 Chr. 20:1; Bible Know. Com., O.T., p. 634.
  2. Such a force created a special challenge for Judah, for it was both an OVERWHELMING force and one against which Judah was NOT BIBLICALLY PERMITTED to FIGHT (as follows):
    1. Jehoshaphat faced an enemy force he was humanly unable to defeat:
      1. Being told the invaders were great in number, Jehoshaphat saw the invaders were too strong for him to defeat, 2 Chr. 20:2b; 20:12b.
      2. Jehoshaphat heard about the invaders after they were camped in Engedi on the western shore of the Dead Sea just 25 miles from Jerusalem, 2 Chr. 20:2c; Ibid. Ryrie Study Bible , "Map 4: The Twelve Tribes of Israel." Since Engedi was a military stronghold once used by David for protection from Saul, Jehoshaphat knew he was dealing with a force that was so positioned in the land that he could not easily remove them, The Macmillan Bible Atlas, p. 62.
      3. Indeed, Jehoshaphat even told God he did not know what kind of battle plan to compose to thwart this enemy, 2 Chronicles 20:12c.
    2. Besides, this invading force consisted of people Judah was biblically not SUPPOSED to destroy (as follows):
      1. The entire enemy force was related to Judah: (a) the Moabites and Ammonites had descended from Lot, Abraham's nephew, Genesis 19:30-38 and (b) the Arab tribe from Edom came through Abraham by way of wives he had besides Sarah, Genesis 16:1-11; 25:1-6.
      2. Thus, God had not let Israel attack such relative nations when Israel first entered Canaan; He let these relatives of Israel possess the lands they inhabited, 2 Chr. 20:10b; Deut. 2:2-8, 18-22.
      3. Jehoshaphat recognized his biblical accountability not to fight these relative nations, even mentioning in 2 Chronicles 20:10 his awareness that God did not let Israel fight them in Moses' day.
  3. Lacking GOD'S PERMISSION to fight these foes and being UNABLE to DEFEAT them, Jehoshaphat and Judah PRAYED for God's intervention with the invading force, 2 Chronicles 20:3-13:
    1. Jehoshaphat was afraid, and so called for a national fast and gathering of the whole nation of Judah to pray for God's help, 2 Chr. 20:3-4, 13.
    2. In doing so, Jehosphaphat sought God's help by obeying the Law re: seeking God's help at the temple site, cf. 2 Chronicles 20:8-9; Deuteronomy 12:2-5 and 2 Chronicles 6:20; Deuteronomy 28:1, 10.
  4. GOD in response DELIVERED Judah while the people of God did NOTHING but partake of the enemy SPOILS in PRAISE to God:
    1. When Jehoshaphat led Judah in prayer for God's help, the Holy Spirit came upon the priest, Zechariah, causing him to predict Judah was to "Be not afraid"; the battle was God's to fight. Indeed, Judah was to go out to meet the enemy armed only by their praise to God and there "stand still" to "see the salvation of the Lord," 2 Chr. 20:14-17, 19-21.
    2. Jehoshaphat and Judah believed God's Word, worshipped Him and obeyed this directive by Zechariah, 2 Chronicles 20:18, 19-21.
    3. The moment Judah started to praise Him as they traveled out to meet the enemy, God arranged for the enemy force to kill itself off so that Judah arrived only to take the spoils of the battle, 2 Chr. 20:22-25a.
    4. So great was this spoil, Judah took three days to haul it away, 20:25b!
    5. On the fourth day, the people of Judah gathered to bless God in the valley where this great divine deliverance had occurred; they named it the Valley of Berachah, or "Valley of Blessing," 2 Chronicles 20:26.
    6. In joyful procession, the people of God returned to the temple site from this Valley of "Blessing," praising God along the way, 20:27-28.
  5. In hearing of this deliverance and in accord with God's promise for such obedience under the Law (Deut. 28:1, 10), other nations were afraid to attack Judah in Jehoshaphat's reign, 2 Chr. 20:29-30.
Application: If facing an overwhelming, destructive foe that we ALSO may not have the RIGHT to FIGHT, (1) become a child of God by faith in Christ for salvation from sin (John 1:11-13) so as to QUALIFY to seek God's SURE help by PRAYER. (2) Then, as a BELIEVER, (a) ALIGN our LIFE'S ACTIONS with GOD'S BIBLICAL WILL and (b) PRAY for His help SO WE CAN DO His WILL. (3) Based on 1 John 3:22, God will deliver us for His glory: like the people of Judah, we will enjoy God's help and be able to PRAISE Him as we LIVE for Him!

Lesson: When Jehoshaphat and all Judah faced an overwhelming foe that they also had no divine right to destroy, they sought God's help in a righteous way, and SINCE it was GOD'S WILL that an OBEDIENT JUDAH rule over her enemies, GOD HIMSELF conquered the foe so His people could only PRAISE the LORD and GATHER their foes' SPOILS!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 During the American Civil war of 1861-1865, nearly two in every one hundred Americans died from battle or of infections caused from battle wounds or from disease, accidents and other like things, cf. Edward McNall Burns, Western Civilizations, p. 781-782. That would be like witnessing 42,000,000 Americans die in a war today!

In this "horrible" time as historian Edward McNall Burns puts it (Ibid., p. 781), two men on opposite sides of the conflict called attention to the importance of intercessory prayer :

(1) On the side of the north, representing the Union, the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln was reported to say: "I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for that day." (The DeMoss Foundation, The Rebirth Of America, p. 182)

(2) On the other side of the war, heading up the Confederate army, General Robert E. Lee said: "Knowing that intercessory prayer is our mightiest weapon and the supreme call for all Christians today, I pleadingly urge our people everywhere to pray. Believing that prayer is the greatest contribution that our people can make in this critical hour, I humbly urge that we take time to pray -- to really pray.

Let there be prayer at sunup, at noonday, at sundown, at midnight -- all through the day. Let us all pray for our children, our youth, our aged, our pastors, our homes. Let us pray for our churches.

Let us pray for ourselves, that we may not lose the word concern' out of our Christian vocabulary. Let us pray for our nation. Let us pray for those who have never known Jesus Christ and redeeming love, for moral forces everywhere, for our national leaders.

Let prayer be our passion. Let prayer be our practice." (Ibid., p. 183)

It is doubtless because of the prayer of godly believers in the Civil War that we were ALLOWED by GOD to have a "free" American nation that SURVIVED out of the HORRORS the Civil War tragedy so we could even LIVE as Christians in our land.



Let us then in our CURRENT era PRAY -- "really pray" as Robert E. Lee put it; GOD will deliver us from insurmountable challenges we face so we can DO His WILL in OUR generation!