for a short time this morning to 2 Chronicles, the chapter that we read in 2 Chronicles chapter 17. 2 Chronicles chapter 17. We may take the first verses, the opening verses of this chapter for our text. And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead, and strengthened himself against Israel. And he placed forces in all the fenced cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken. And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the ways, the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim, but sought the Lord God of his fathers, and so on. we have been looking at the kings of Israel and of Judah from the time of Rehoboam and the time of Jeroboam. Rehoboam, the king of Judah, and Jeroboam, the king of Israel to the north. Israel is the ten tribes to the north, sometimes called Ephraim, sometimes called Samaria, but generally called Israel, where the two tribes to the south are referred to as Judah. Now we have seen over the last while, the back end of last year, we have been looking particularly at the kings in Israel. We began with Rehoboam and then looked at Asa. But you find that in the Judah to the south, there is one King Esau, and he reigns for 41 years. He's a godly king. And during his 41-year reign, in the north, in Israel to the north, there are several kings. some of them lasting very short time, others lasting for a longer period of time. But the one thing that characterizes the kings of the North, the Northern Territory, is that they are all godless. From the time of the division, there is no good king in the North. They are all bad kings. Culminating, as we saw in Ahab and Jezebel, The kings after them are going to fall away as well, but it culminates in Ahab, a godless king, along with Jezebel, his wife. That was a godless time. In the south, however, you have Asa, who is a godly king, 41 years. But like all these kings, he comes to an end. He dies. And he is succeeded by Jehoshaphat, his son. And Jehoshaphat is equally a good king. You read that in the chapter that we read in 2 Chronicles. We've gone to Chronicles because you get more about Jehoshaphat in Chronicles than you do in the Kings, the book of the Kings. The last time, if I remember right, we saw how God was good unto all men, even to Ahab. The sun rises upon the just and upon the unjust. The rain falls upon the evil as well as the good. God was good to Ahab, even though he was a godless king. And we saw at that time how Jehoshaphat makes an alliance with him. he goes with him. That was a big mistake that Jehoshaphat made later on in his life. But we see in Chronicles here how Jehoshaphat the king is a good king. How he doesn't follow the idols of the day. Now you might think to yourself, when we come to think upon the likes of a king like Jehoshaphat, we can then apply that to the king that we have. We can apply that to King Charles, but that's not the case. We, on New Year's Day, spoke about how King Charles and our nation is falling away. Even the address that he gave betrayed the fact that he is not at least publicly, he is not a king that follows the Lord at all. But we're not going to do that today with Jehoshaphat. Because with Jehoshaphat and the kings of the Old Testament, you don't just apply them to the kings of our own day. Because there are more kings in this nation than King Charles. We are told that every believer is a king. Every believer is a priest, able to offer up sacrifices unto God. And every believer is a prince. Every believer is a king. We are priests and kings unto God through Jesus Christ. So that you might not in the Old Testament apply what Jehoshaphat does to the individual, but you can apply what Jehoshaphat gives us as an example of a king, you can apply that to every believer, because we are all kings and priests unto God. Now, what do we then see? with us, and it's one of the wonderful things that you see the uniting together of the Old Testament and the New Testament. We do not believe in the dispensationalism of Darby or the Schofield Bible or the Primary Brethren or the dispensationalism that you get in America, that somehow the Old Testament and the New Testament, there are seven different dispensations culminating in Christ returning. and ruling in Jerusalem once again. Jesus says, my kingdom is not of this world. But we believe that there is one covenant of grace covering both the Old Testament and the New Testament. There is no separation between Israel of the Old Testament and the church in the New Testament. They're one and the same. They're one and the same, and you see that because they both, the Old Testament saint and the New Testament saint, are saved by the same way, faith in the same Savior, Jesus Christ. The same way of salvation, faith in Jesus Christ. Paul, when he wrote to the church at Corinth, he says, these are given as examples unto us. The Old Testament church is but an example unto the New Testament church, so that when we see a king, we can apply the principles of that king to ourselves today, not just to someone else, not to a King Charles or princes, but to ourselves. Because the Bible says the believer near kings and priests unto God. What do we see with Jehoshaphat then? Well, there are three things that I want to look at today. His wisdom. His wisdom. A king ought to have wisdom. Jehoshaphat as a king had wisdom, godly wisdom. And every king, every believer ought to have godly wisdom. Secondly, a godly what? Jehoshaphat had a godly walk. He was a king, but he was a king who had a godly walk. And thirdly, he had godly wealth. Could you see when you can get three points that all begin with the same letter? His wisdom, his walk, his wealth. But you've got a fourth one, and that is his ways. There are four things, actually. His wisdom, his walk, his ways, and his wealth. Four points to begin with, W, so that we can maybe remember them. It's good when you get them beginning with that because it helps you to remember. What then do we say about Jehoshaphat? Well, he has godly wisdom. You see that right at the beginning of the chapter when he's introduced to us in this chapter. We are told that Asa slept with his fathers, he died in the previous chapter. Now we are introduced to Jehoshaphat, his son. And what wisdom Jehoshaphat has right at the beginning. How do we say that he has wisdom? Because Jehoshaphat, we are told, fortified himself and his nation and his people against Israel in the north, against Ahab to the north. He didn't go in and attack the north. Ahab at this time and Israel in the north was strengthening itself, but it was strengthening itself in idolatry. It was strengthening itself in the worship of Baal and various different idols of the day. And what does Jehoshaphat do? He strengthened himself against Israel. He placed forces in all the fenced cities of Judah. He sent garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa, his father, had taken. In other words, he's fortifying himself against the idolatry of the day, against Israel. And my friend, is that not what every king should do? Is that not what every believer should do? He who is a king and priest in the Lord Jesus Christ needs to fortify himself against idolatry. Paul mentions that, does he not? When he writes in 1 Corinthians, he is warning the church at Corinth against idolatry. Meats offered to idols. Meats offered to idols. He says, you believer, you have liberty. But he says you need to be careful because these meats are offered to idols. And he says in verse 14, wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak to you wise men. I speak to the spiritual men in Corinth. When we come, we have fellowship with Jesus Christ at the Lord's Supper. We partake of the bread of the Lord. He takes them to the Lord's Supper, and he says, the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Jesus Christ? When we partake of the bread, do we not partake of Jesus Christ? We have fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you not, he says, is that not where your fellowship is? I say the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice it to devils and not to God. You see, even in the idols, there is fellowship. You think the idol is nothing. Paul says the idol itself is nothing. But there is a fellowship in idolatry. He says, and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. If you have idolatry, you have fellowship with devils. But the believer's fellowship is with Jesus Christ. Do you not sit at the Lord's table and is that not your fellowship? Fortify yourself, he says, flee from idolatry. Whatever the idols we may have, we have to flee from idolatry. from the idols that we raise up in our hearts, the things that we worship in our hearts, the things that we bow down before in our hearts. Just flee from it because your fellowship is not with the devil or the world, the flesh, and the devil. Your fellowship is with Jesus Christ. It's wisdom on the part of Jehoshaphat that he flees from idols. that he fortifies the people and Israel against idolatry, the idolatry of Israel in the north. We live in a day that's full of idols, isn't it, don't we? And when we think of idols, we think of the Buddha. We think of that, we think of the stones, but we've got idols in our own lives that we need to be careful about. He says, flee from idolatry. Flee from idolatry. The idol itself is nothing. But he says, flee from anything that will replace or anything that you will bow down before and worship before you worship the Lord Jesus Christ. Jehoshaphat showed godly wisdom in fortifying himself and his people against the idolatry that was in Israel in the north. Many may have said, well, You know, Israel is, you know, we were all one at one time. We were all God's people together. And Israel in the north, it has a pedigree, does it not? Well, it may have, but it's full of idolatry. Many people today might say that about Roman Catholicism. Is there not a pedigree there? Is there not much there? Yes, but it's full of idolatry, flea idolatry. It was Jehoshaphat's wisdom that he fortified against the idols of Israel in the north. But secondly, his walk. He walked, we are told, in verse three, and the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the ways of his father, David, and sought not unto Baalim. David is the great standard, isn't it? David, the king. King David, he's always the standard. David was a man after God's own heart. He was the great standard to which they all had to aspire. And Jehoshaphat walked unto the standard, walked in the ways of his father, not Esau, but his father David. He was a son of David. As you find in the northern kingdoms, as we have said, the line there of the kings is polluted. They're not kings of David or anything. They're departing from that. It's whoever could kill the previous king became king. But in the south, in Judah, the line is there. That's the standard of their father, David. But notice here it says, he walked in the first ways of his father, David. He walked in the first ways of his father, David. Not in the second ways of his father, David. Because David fell, didn't he? David, in his first days, he's the sweet psalmist of Israel. He's the shepherd out looking after the flock. He's standing against Goliath, slaying Goliath. He's a king to whom all the godly came. They were in the cave. He was God's anointed. That was the first ways of David, but David, sadly, when it came to the end of it, sinned with Bathsheba. His second ways failed. That's why you can't make King David ultimately the great standard, can you? And you can't make Jehoshaphat the great standard. Good a king as he is, even he falls at the end of his, he doesn't fall, but he makes a bad move when he ultimately goes with Ahab and joins forces with Ahab. Ahab is slain in the battle. Jehoshaphat, you can say he got home from the battle by the, in modern day terms, he got home with the skin of his teeth. He got back to Jerusalem in peace, but he had made a mistake, you see. So you can't make King David your template. You can't make Jehoshaphat your template. You can't even make the Apostle Paul your template. Remember what Paul says, be followers of me. We're to be followers of Paul, but only so far as Paul is a follower of Christ. Be followers of me as I also am of Christ. So you're to make no man your template, but one king. That's King Jesus. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Jehoshaphat walked according to the first ways of David, but my friend, if we are to apply that to ourselves today as kings, then we are to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. who is the only sinless king that ever was. Adam was a king in the Garden of Eden. But when he fell, he became a mock king. We've said often, didn't we? Adam became a mock king. Man is a mock king. Christ took that to himself when he was mocked as a king. He took our place. When they mocked him, they put a wreath on his hand and a crown of thorns upon his head. He was a mock king. He took our place as a mock king. But he is the only sinless king, and he is the one, be ye followers of me as I also am of Christ. In other words, that walk that Jehoshaphat had, he was David's son, But that was only a stepping stone to David's greater son, who would one day come, and who would be the sinless son of God, and who would say to his disciples, come and follow me. Remember how he came to Matthew and he said, follow me. And he says to all his people, come and follow me. I am the good shepherd, follow me. I am the good shepherd, come and like the sheep of the flock, come and follow the Lord Jesus Christ." It's wisdom that we flee from idolatry, but it is the godly walk when we follow the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we need to do. Look at what he says here, also in the third year of his reign, he walked in the ways of the Lord. But he sought the Lord, verse three, the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the ways, the first ways of his father David and sought not to and to bail him. And in verse six, and his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord. His heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord. There are two ways in which the heart will be lifted up. Lifted up. The heart will be lifted up by self. The heart will be lifted up in pride, when you trust in self, in which case you will be cast out. or the heart will be lifted up because it's humble and following the Lord. He that is cast down, he will lift him up. The Lord will lift him up. His heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord, not in his own ways, but in the ways of the Lord. Your heart will either be lifted up in your own ways, in your own pride, or it will be lifted up in the ways of the Lord. Jehoshaphat's heart, was lifted up in the ways of the Lord. The lowly heart will be lifted up in the ways of the Lord. And so it was that he walked a godly walk. But the third thing is, that wisdom in rejecting the idols of Israel and fortifying his people against that, And his walking in the ways of the Lord, and walking in the way, it then brings you to godly ways. And you see that in Jehoshaphat. You see it in Jehoshaphat. Think of Jehoshaphat sending out teachers to all the corners of Judah. Also in the third year of his reign, he sent to his princes, even to Ben-Hail, and to Obadiah, and to Zechariah, and to Nethaniel, and to Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah. Here was a king that not only fortified against the idols of the day, that's one thing, not only walked in the ways of David, his father, but here is one whose ways reflected that in that he sent out teachers to all the ends of Judah. And what was it that they were going out with? Well, in verse 9, and they taught in Judah and had the book of the law of the Lord with them. In other words, they took with them God's Word and sent it out to all the ends of Judah. What a wonderful picture you have here, don't you? You have a king, Jehoshaphat, and the princes of the land, and you have the Levites, the church, if you like, joined together in one thing, teaching God's word. It's a wonderful picture, isn't it? We believe that that's what we would love to see in our own land, a proper establishment of the true religion, where you have the princes of the land, where you have the king and the government and those in authority uniting together, not one lording it over the other, but together coming and teaching the people the Word of God. There are four different views in that. You see there is the Roman Catholic view, which indicates that the Pope lords it over the state. That's one of the reasons why when priests get themselves into bother, they're never reported to the state. Why not? Because the church is higher than the state. And the priests are not accountable really to the state, they're accountable to the church. They don't say that, but that's the reason why you have priests who have committed vile acts and they're never reported to the state because the church is higher than the state and rules over the state. It's called ultramontanism. Ultramontanism. Then you have the other, which is the episcopal position, which is the reverse of that. It's the state that rules over the church. That's called episcopacy. That's what you get in England, where you have the king is now the head of the church. It's no longer the pope that's the head of the church. It's not the church ruling the state. It's now the state ruling the church. The pope is the head of the church. The king is the head of the church. The voluntary position is for there's no relationship whatsoever. They're both separate. But we don't believe in any of these three, do we? We believe in the two together. Under the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the head of the state. Christ is the head of the church. And together they both support each other. The state supports the church. The church prays for and advises the state together, and together they seek to teach the people the word of God. Isn't that wonderful? That's what the Covenanters gave their lives for. That's what the Covenanters gave their lives for. Not that the church would rule and force people to become Roman Catholics, or that the state would force people to become Church of England or anything else, but that by teaching the people the word of God, the people would willingly come and worship God. And that's what Jehoshaphat did, isn't it? He sent out the princes and the Levites together to teach the people the word of God. What wonderful blessings it would be to our land if, once again, a true establishment was set up, where people would be taught the Word of God, where people would be encouraged to come to church on the Lord's Day rather than go to a football match next door to us here today, that they would be encouraged to come to God's house, to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, What a wonderful day that would be in Scotland. Because look at the final thing here. It's not just that his wisdom, his walk, and his ways as a king. It's the wealth that that brought. The wealth that it brought. You see here how even it says that even some of the Philistines respected Jehoshaphat because the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms round of the lands that were round about Judah. The fear of the Lord fell upon them. What wealth there was, what blessings there were to Judah. when she turned to the Lord and sought to teach the people to flee from idolatry and to learn the word of God. My friend, what's true of that king is true of God's people who are priests and kings unto God. What spiritual blessings accrue to God's people The fear of the Lord fell upon the people. I've said to you before how one man in Skye saw a godly man coming up the glen. He used to hide from him because he feared him. He wasn't a godly man himself, he was a godless man, but he feared God's people. The devil fears God's people. One thing the devil fears, God's people. And even the nations round about saw Jehoshaphat and his worshiping God and his following in the footsteps of his father, David, and even fear fell upon them. The Lord established the kingdom in his hand and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat's presence and he had riches and honor in abundance. These were temporal blessings. But we today enjoy the spiritual blessings given to us from the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. Spiritual blessings. Who can compare the wealth of the believer who may come to the end of his days and have nothing of this world's goods but enters into the glory of the Lord, has a pearl of great price that is beyond riches to know the Lord Jesus Christ, you may have nothing of this world's goods. You may be like the man that's lying at the side of the road, the good Samaritan comes to him. My friend, there's only one good Samaritan, that's as we said before. When you look at the parable of the Good Samaritan, the parable of the Good Samaritan is not telling you this is how the Christian should live. What it's telling you is the Christian can't live that way. It's a man of the law that came to him and said, tempting him, and who is my neighbor then? He's trying to justify himself. That's what it says. It's all about justification. Jesus says, you want to justify yourself? Then you go and do this. And he tells him the account of the good Samaritan. And who can fulfill the good Samaritan? Nobody. He did everything for that poor man, lying by the side of the road. Gave him his own horse, took him down, paid for everything. Paid even for, even when he would go, he left him in the inn. When I owe it, I'll pay it all. And he says to this lawyer, you go and do the same thing. My friend, can anybody do that? To any person that comes across your path that is needed, only the Lord Jesus Christ can do that. And you might be like that, that beaten up man lying there at the side of the road, and the Lord finds you. He does everything for you. He takes you back to to the inn and he pays everything. He says to the innkeeper, whatever it costs and however long he's here, you see he's okay and I'll pay it when I come back. And the Lord Jesus is the only one that's able to do that. That man was rich above measure. Why was he rich above measure? Because he did all the goods of this world? No, because he had a friend. like the good Samaritan. And the believer has such a friend. He may not have the goods of this world. He may fail in so many ways as even Jehoshaphat failed, even as David failed. But the believer is rich above all measure. Why? Because Jesus Christ is his friend. Jesus Christ is the elder brother, and you have everything that you ever needed in this world when you know Jesus Christ and you trust in him. He's the real true Samaritan. It doesn't matter what anybody else thinks they can do. That lawyer, when he was told, if you're going to fulfill the law, you go and do the same. You know what the lawyer would say? I can't do that. That's just beyond me. but it's not beyond the Lord Jesus Christ, who came into this world and gave himself for his people, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. What a wonderful Savior. What wonderful wealth. Jehoshaphat brought wealth to the nation and to himself, but that is nothing in comparison to what the Lord Jesus Christ brings to his people. He brings glory itself. Heaven itself opens up to God's people. Jehoshaphat, therefore, had wisdom. He rejected the idolatry of Israel, fortified the cities against it. He had wisdom. He had a walk, according to his father, David. Even there, At the end of his days, he even there failed. But he had the ways whereby he established the true teaching of the Word of God throughout Judah, and God blessed him for it. Farewell. My friend, do you today have wisdom? Do you walk in the ways of Jesus Christ? Do you know the ways of Jesus Christ and his work? And do you know what it is to have the wealth of faith that faith brings? Faith. God bestows so many blessings and has bestowed many blessings over us in the past year. He's given you many blessings in the past year. And what does he demand? Does he demand that you do penance? Does he demand that you do X, Y, and Z? Do you know what he demands? Faith in his son, Jesus Christ. He bestows it freely, without money and without price, all to be found in Jesus Christ the Lord. Do you know the wisdom all following and trusting in Jesus Christ. Let us join together in prayer. Let us pray. We thank thee, O Lord, that thy people are able to, and by the new birth they're given wisdom which is from above. It is not the wisdom of this world. It is the wisdom to discern the idolatry of the day. We thank thee that Jehoshaphat was a wonderful example of one who came to have the wisdom which was from above. And he was one who walked in the ways of David, his father, who walked as David, his father, had first done. David, who had the heart of the Lord. We pray that we would walk after the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that We would have the ways of loving the word of God, praying that that word would go forth into all the corners of our land. Loving God's word, loving God's day, loving the Lord Jesus Christ. We bless thee for the blessings that accrue to Jehoshaphat, the wealth that he had. So it is that all who are kings and priests unto Jesus, they are rich beyond measure. Bless us now, undertake for us in all that we would seek to do, pardon us all our sin, for Jesus' sake, amen.