turn with me, if you would, for a short time this morning to 2 Chronicles chapter 18. 2 Chronicles chapter 18. 2 Chronicles chapter 18. We're looking through some of the kings of the Old Testament. But as we see, as we have continually noted, there are good kings in Judah, but there are no good kings in Israel in the north. They degenerate until you come to Ahab and Jezebel. But in the south, you do have good kings and Jehoshaphat, is one such king. He was a good king. But even Jehoshaphat himself had his own sin. And we see that the seeds of sinfulness entering into the throne are sown in the life of Jehoshaphat. I believe the seeds are already sown for a falling away of the throne, even in Judah. And we will see something of that today, where the seeds of that falling away are sown in the throne in Judah, how easily it is. But there are three things that I want to do something that I don't often do. In fact, I'm not sure I've done it very often before. And that is take three texts out of this one chapter. Because there are three points that I think are brought before us in this chapter. And the first point is God's people. God's people. And the text that we want to take for that is verse three. Ahab, the king of Israel, said unto Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, wilt thou go with me to Ramoth Gilead? And he answered, I am as thou art and my people as thy people, and we will be with thee in the war. God's people. Now I want to take for our text the words that we have. I am as thou art and my people as thy people. And we will be with thee in war. So that's God's people we want to look at the first point. The second point is God's word. God's word. And you see that brought out the text that we want to take for that is verse 17. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, did not I tell thee that he would not prophesy good unto me, but evil? He is referring there to the prophecy of Micaiah, God's prophet. And there the king says, did I not, that he would not prophesy good unto me, but evil. So we want to look at God's people. Am I not like you? We want to look at God's word, the word of Micaiah, who brought, according to Ahab, an evil prophecy. And the third thing we want to look at is that God's providence. God's people, God's word, and God's providence. And we want to look at that in verse 33. And a certain man drew a bow at a venture and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness and so on. A certain man drew a bow at a venture and it slew the king of Israel. And in that instance, we want to look at God's providence. So we want to look at these three things. God's people, God's word, and God's providence. Let's then look at the first of these three points. And we take for our text verse three. And he, that is Jehoshaphat, answered him, that is Ahab, I am as thou art, and my people as thy people, and we will be in the war. Jehoshaphat is identifying himself with Ahab. Now at the beginning of this chapter, you see how Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance. we see how the Lord had blessed him because he had done that which was right in the eyes of God, in the eyes of the Lord. He's one of these good kings. And Jehoshaphat was indeed a good king, but he made one big mistake. And you see that verse one, and he joined affinity with Ahab. He joined affinity with Ahab. He joined with a godless man. Ahab was one of the most godless kings that you could come across. Jeroboam, when there was the division of the nations, Rehoboam in the south, Jeroboam in the north, Jeroboam said, I'll worship God, but I'll worship in my way. I'll worship God, I'll worship Jehovah, but I'll worship Jehovah the way I think he should be worshipped. Ahab never said that. Ahab said, I'll not bother worshipping Jehovah, I'll worship the gods of Baal and of the Phoenician gods that Jezebel brought with her. So he was worshipping totally different gods altogether. You see the way he treated Elijah. and all that these false prophets there. Ahab was a godless man. And yet here you find Jehoshaphat having an affinity with Ahab. It's even worse than that. Because Jehoshaphat's son, Jehoshaphat's son, Shuram, marries the daughter Ataliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. They marry, his son marries the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. That's why I say there are the seeds of the fall of Judah. You find it in chapter 21. in verse six, and Jehoram was 32 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem, and he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of Ahab, for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife, and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord. You see, this affinity between Jehoshaphat and Ahab even ended up in the marriage of his son, to Ataliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. And there you discover that he worshipped the way the gods of Israel worshipped, not the way Jehoshaphat, the kings of Judah, but the ways of the kings of Israel. You see, when Jehoshaphat here says, I am as thou art, and my people as thy people, how wrong he was. They weren't the same. He was the king in Judah. He was the descendant of David. He was the one who had the promises given to him and the throne that had the promises given to him, that this throne, from this throne would arise a great king, a sinless king, a king who would reign forever, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're reminded once again that there is only one king who ultimately is without sin. Even David himself sinned. Jehoshaphat sinned. But this affinity between Jehoshaphat and Ahab and Israel in the north, whatever arguments he may have made to justify this, maybe he thought to himself that he would bring the two nations once again together Perhaps he thought that he could influence Ahab. My friend, it doesn't happen. It doesn't happen. It didn't happen in Jehoshaphat's time, and it doesn't happen today. It reminds us that whoever, especially young people, when you look for someone that you want to someday spend the rest of your days with, make sure it is someone that is within the church. Make sure it is someone who worships the God of your fathers. And not worshiping some false God, not worshiping idols, because just like Jehoshaphat, you will not bring them up, they will take you down. It reminds us that of this God, that there is a distinction between God's people and the world. there was a great distinction between Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah and Israel in the north and Ahab. God's people. Why it is that Jehoshaphat should ever enter into an agreement with Ahab to go to war against the Syrians is a great mystery. Why did he do it? Why would he take such a proposal? Whatever arguments he may have had in his own mind, they were false. He should have steered clear of Ahab. He should have rejected any proposals by Ahab, because ultimately he was going to be in a union with someone that was godless. And my friend, that's a serious thing. That's serious. Because darkness and light don't go together. Light and dark don't go together. Christ and Belial don't go together. How wrong Jehoshaphat was in his thinking when he thought that God's people were just like Ahab's people. There was no difference. There is a great difference between the world and the church. God's people. And it was that he would go up and take Ramoth Gilead. Ahab would go and take Ramoth Gilead. Ramoth Gilead didn't belong to Ahab. It belonged to Jehoshaphat. Ramoth Gilead was about 40 miles from Jerusalem. And it belonged to the rightful king of God's people. But here was Ahab coming in, and he was going to take it. He was going to come in and go off with Ramoth Gilead at the expense of what? Why it was that the Jehoshaphat should ever go in such an enticing expedition with such a man. But notice how Notice how Ahab deals with Jehoshaphat. He makes a great feast for him. He went down to, it wasn't simply that he had this, it says here, and he joined affinity with Ahab, his son marrying his daughter. He himself went down to Samaria and Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance. How the world would seek to see Jehoshaphat going down with Ahab and how Ahab and the people that were with him persuaded him to go up with him to Ramoth Gilead. How enticing it must have been for Jehoshaphat to have had such a reception from Ahab. Perhaps he's flattered. Perhaps he thinks this is wonderful. Now he have and him can have a joint venture together. You know when Jehoshaphat, and you see at the end of this Jehoshaphat, his life is spared just by the goodness of God. When he comes back, Hananiah meets him. As he comes back, you don't have it written here, but in this chapter, But when Shehoshaphat comes back to his own home, Hananiah goes out to meet him and he says, Shehoshaphat, why did you do that? Why did you go and have an affinity with Ahab? He rebukes him for it. And that's why we need to be very careful in the affinity. that we have, whatever union, whatever coming together, whatever enterprise, it's not with the godless, it's with the godly. There is a great difference that Jehoshaphat fails to recognize when he said, I am as thou art, and my people as thy people. How foolish that is. and how foolish we are when we think that the church is just the same as the world. It's not, it's a great difference. God's people. But there's a second point that we also want to bring out here, isn't it? And that's when we come to verse 17. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, did not I tell thee that he would not prophesy good unto me, but evil? Here you have Micaiah, a true prophet of the Lord. And what have you got against him? 400 prophets. 400 to one. But the one difference was that Micaiah was bringing God's word. The 400 were false prophets. They were false prophets. Micaiah, almost, when he comes out, they encourage him to say simply what the king wanted to hear. When the officers came to him and said, now, all the 400 have prophesied that when he goes to battle, he'll beat the Syrians. You say the same thing. So what does Micaiah say? Go then, and you'll win. It was almost mocking. sarcastic, and they recognized it. The king recognized it. On you go, you'll win. The king says to him, I've told you before, tell me the truth. So he tells him the truth. He tells him the truth. That if he goes to battle, he'll be defeated. He'll die. And the Lord had revealed that to Micaiah. Strange, isn't it? This one man says, God will never be in the presence of evil. That's untrue. Because there's an evil spirit even there in heaven, that the Lord allows to come into his presence. Who will go and will speak these words to the king? Soft words, this evil spirit comes, I'll go. And the Lord says, on you go then. And he puts it into the 400 false prophets. See what one evil spirit can do. Into the mouth of 400 false prophets, one evil spirit. Evil spirits in one man can end up going into 3000 swine. Causing 3000 swine to go into the sea. Evil spirits in one person. And this evil spirit puts evil in the mouth of these 400 prophets, lying prophets, Zedekiah, a lying prophet among them, lying prophets. And there you've got one man coming with the word of God. The king doesn't want to hear him. Why? Because he doesn't just tell him what he wants to hear. I think you see some people come to church and they don't like it when the minister is faithful in preaching about sin and our self-righteousness. Don't like it when you speak about hell and judgment to come. Tell us good things. Tell us nice. Oh, that's wonderful. We'll be the best and the most glorious news of all to pronounce to you, my friend, that Jesus Christ has come into this world and sinned a savior and suffered and died in the room instead of sinner. Most glorious news of all. But my friend, you also have to give the bad news. You're a hell deserving sinner and without Christ, you're on your way to a lost eternity. Micaiah preached that which the king Ahab, he didn't want to hear it. He preferred to listen to the 400 prophets. But why would Jehoshaphat? You see, Jehoshaphat's sitting there when the 400 prophets come in. How weak Jehoshaphat really is, isn't it? Jehoshaphat, it was Jehoshaphat says, will thou go with me, Tarmitha? And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, inquire, I pray thee, of the word of the Lord today. Here in verse four, he recognized the importance of acknowledging God in whatever he did. He recognized that. He said to Ahab, is there not a prophet of the Lord here that we can inquire of him? How do we inquire of the Lord today? Well, we do so by prayer, casting all our burdens upon Him in prayer. We do so by searching the scriptures. We do so when providence, when providence perhaps nudges us and gives us a direction, we seek the mind of the Lord. But there is Jehoshaphat. And therefore the king gathered together of the prophets, 400 men, and said to them, shall we go to Ramoth Girid? And they said, yes, go up, for God will deliver you into the king's hand. There is Jehoshaphat sitting, listening to these 400. And all he says is, is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides them that we might inquire of him? You see, even though Jehoshaphat is a good man, yet he doesn't stand up at that point and tell these 400 false prophets to get to go. Let us only listen to the word of the Lord. He says, is there not one of the Lord's prophets here besides us? We ought to listen to him. See, he is a weak man. He's a godly man. But he has this weakness. Ahab is surrounded by the worst kind of man and of prophet. He's surrounded by the worst kind of prophet when he's surrounded by mere men pleasers. Those who will only speak things that tickle the ears. and are men-pleasers. My friend, you go to funerals today, funerals today are rife with men-pleasers. Men-pleasers. You never hear about sin. You never hear about hell, judgment day. If you say that, you're the bad one. The worst kind of profit that Ahab could have had were the 400 that were simply there to flatter him. Want me to tell you something? I bet you today, King Charles is surrounded by many flatterers. Many who will flatter him because of who he is. Micaiah wasn't that kind of prophet, was he? He was the one prophet that the king should have listened to. He was the one that the king should have opened his ears and said, Micaiah, What have you got to say? Micaiah says, well, I was lifted up into heaven. I saw this in heaven. My friend, you don't need to have a minister today who's lifted up into heaven. All you need is a minister today who listens to, who preaches the word of God. Preaches the truth. Preaches the truth. The faithful Micaiah, as opposed to the 400 false prophets. We should be thankful today that we've got the Word of God, don't we? We should be thankful that when the Word of God comes and tells us that we are needing to be humbled under the mighty hand of God, we are needing to be casting off everything of self and trusting alone in the Lord Jesus Christ, we ought to listen to that. So we have God's people, a distinct people, We have God's word uttered in the view of Micaiah. And notice how Micaiah, when he brings that word, he says, if it doesn't come to pass, then that will prove that I'm not a true prophet. You get prophets today in the charismatic movement, and they make prophecies, and these prophecies don't come to pass. My friend, that's not a true prophet that's got it wrong. That's a false prophet. And you shouldn't listen to them. You shouldn't listen to these false prophets, the so-called prophets to these, the charismatic movement. Micaiah says, if it doesn't come to pass, if it doesn't come to pass, then I am not a true prophet. And poor old Micaiah is cast into prison. They hate him. Ahab hates him. Ahab has no time for Micaiah. He's got all the time in the world for the 400 false prophets, no time whatsoever for Micaiah. But Micaiah says, if it doesn't come to pass, then I'm a false prophet. But it did come to pass, didn't it? Because that brings us then to the final point. You've got God's people, you've got God's word, but you've got God's providence. Here is this Syrian, his bow, and he's probably shot these arrows for quite some time. The king of Syria had commanded the captains of the chariots that fight not the small or the great, save only the king of Israel. They were only to go after the king of Israel. Probably Ahab has heard this. He's probably heard the rumor it's him they're after. So he disguises himself. They're not going to get him. He's wise. King Jehoshaphat, You wear the crown today. See how deceitful Ahab is. He's quite happy for Jehoshaphat to be slain. It's probably been part of his plan all along that Jehoshaphat will be riding as the king, the Syrians will kill him, and here's Ahab set free. Wonderful plan, isn't it? It's a great plan he's got. The difficulty is there's one thing that he doesn't take account of, and that's the Lord and the Lord's competence. There is Jehoshaphat, and he's surrounded by the Syrians. They're going to kill him. What does he do? There's no one there to save him. What does he do? He cries out to the Lord, and the Lord hears him. They saw that Jehoshaphat, they said, it is the king of Israel. Therefore they compassed him to the fight, and the Lord helped him. The God moved them to depart from him. See how the very heart of these Syrians is in the hand of the Lord. It's not the king of Israel, so they depart. Jehoshaphat is saved by the Lord. He calls out to the Lord. But you still get the other half, haven't you? You have Ahab. And Ahab isn't even looking like a king. There he is in the midst of the back. And you've got this Syrian who's pulling bows and shooting his arrows all day long, and he's probably fed up. He's been shooting arrows all day long. But look what it says here. When the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back again from pursuing Jehoshaphat. And a certain man threw a bow at a venture." That's lucky, isn't it? And not only did this certain man draw a bow at a venture and smote the King of Israel between the joints of the harness, here is an arrow that went right in between the very joints of the, that's a lucky shot, isn't it? That's nothing to do with luck. Nothing to do with luck. That's God's rich competence. God's competence. Here is this man, you don't even know who the man is. It's a man, a certain man. It's not the captain of the host of Syria or some great, just some insignificant man. And he throws his boat, eventually he's not even aiming at the king of Syria, at Ahab, the king of Israel. He doesn't even know who that is. He's dressed up. He's not dressed up as a king. So he just takes it at a venture. Off goes the arrow. And it just so happens that arrow So it's in between the harness, and it's the arrow that kills Ahab. That's what the world, as I said, would say, well, that's a pretty lucky shot. Nothing to do with love. Ahab's time had come. He thought that he would come back from that venture alive. He probably thought that Jehoshaphat would be dead. But instead of that, Jehoshaphat comes back alive and Ahab is dead. Ahab is dead. What wonderful providence God has in looking after his own people. Jehoshaphat simply cries out to the Lord. And those who were surrounding him, chasing him, they realize that it's not the king of Israel. They turn and go away. So Hoshef is safe. And Ahab, who's hiding among all the army, he's safe by his own way of it. But death catches up with him when he least expects it. The arrow from a certain man who fires a shot at a venture, maybe he'll hit something, hits none other than Ahab, the king of Israel. God's arrow has found its mark. And Ahab, in a moment of time, that evening, he dies, and there's peace. King of Syria, he backs off. Jehoshaphat, he goes home. Everything is well. God's arrow has found its mark. My friend, is that true? What a fearful death that would have been. He's fatally injured. He stays in the chariot until the evening. and about the going down of the sun, he dies. Facing eternity with the blood of Naboth on his hands, with all his sins at his feet, accountable before a holy God, a God who had shown him many good things. We, I think two or three weeks ago, preached on God is good unto all men. He was even good to Ahab in giving him peace at a certain time. But yet, Ahab leaves this world when he least expects it by a means that he never even thought would take place. and he will leave this world and go into eternity to give an account before his maker. What a beautiful death. God's arrow. He may be thought that he could bypass death. He may be thought that his time would go on further than this day. And he could have defeated the Syrians. He could have had Jehoshaphat put to death in the midst of the battle. He could have been victorious over all his enemies. That day, if it weren't for one thing, God's providence caught up with him and his sins would find him out. And that's true, my friend, of all the workers of iniquity. God's people are different people. God's word, a unique word, on God's providence overruling even the kings of this world and the kingdoms of this world. That tells us, does it not, that when you look at God's people being unique, God's word, and God's providence, it all points us to one thing, doesn't it? God's people are pointed to one person, Jesus Christ, the only king that we can put our trust in, and in whom there is the victory. Jehoshaphat, even his son, marrying Ahab's daughter, he falls away. There's only one King to save God's people, Jesus Christ. God's Word, the Word that was spoken by Micaiah and all the Word of the Old Testament pointing forward to him who is the Word, who is the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, pointing us to Jesus Christ, the King, and to his Word. And his providence, remember how it is said that the Lord Jesus Christ, all power in heaven and on earth has been given into his hands. He today rules not just over Jerusalem, not just over the king of Israel or of Jerusalem. He rules over all the kingdoms of the world. The devil is now restrained. His kingdom is coming. His kingdom is coming today. His kingdom comes and the kingdom of the devil is defeated every day. He's restrained. Providence is in his hands. That's why today we should trust in Jesus Christ alone. Trust in him alone because he has a people. and he will save his people. His word is the word that we listen to. And he knows that whatever providence the Lord's people have, even when they leave this world, it's a providence, it's a blessing. But his providence belongs to him. Do we trust in him? Do we trust in his word? Do we trust in him, his person? He's the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. May it be that we today would set our trust in the Lord. Let us join together in prayer. Let us pray. Most gracious and ever blessed Lord, we thank thee that thy people are a unique people. They are called by thy name. We bless thee that thy word is a word that is, even as the word of Micaiah, a word that could be trusted because it was the word of the Lord. And even when it rebukes us, yet it is a blessing to us. And providence belongs to thee that in all that takes place, even the bow and the arrow that flies, it finds its mark, because thou, O Lord our God, it is thy hand that directs the arrow that slew Ahab. We pray that thou would bless each one of us today with a knowledge of thee. May thou give us grace to look to thee, pardon us all our sins, for we ask it all in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen.