All right, let's go to the book of 2 Kings. 2 Kings in chapter number 3. I'm sure that all of you have heard the saying before, you can't have it both ways. We know that James says a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. God also says in Isaiah 42.8, I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise degraven images. When we study the history of the children of Israel, we understand that's their problem. They were double-minded. They were unstable in all of their ways. They tried to have it both ways. They wanted to serve their idols, but they wanted to keep in the good favor of Yahweh. But you can't have it both ways. You can't be double-minded. God will not share His glory with another. When Elijah was on Mount Carmel and he challenged the prophets of Baal to call down fire from heaven on the top of Mount Carmel, before he went to Call down fire from heaven. He made this challenge with the children of Israel and Elijah came unto all the people and said how long halt you between two points or two opinions if the Lord be God follow him but a veil then follow him and the people answered him not a word and So we know that the children of Israel were divided in their allegiances That was their problem throughout their history. And remember, we've been looking at Kings and Chronicles and understanding that the writer of Kings and Chronicles are answering a couple of questions. Number one, while they're in Babylon, while the children of Israel, because of their sin, they were moved into captivity in Babylon. And if they ask the question, why are we in Babylon? All they have to do is look back at their history, look at the history of the kings, look at the history of the nation of Israel, and they'll understand they're in captivity because of their sin. Also, they're looking for the promised Messiah. The one is to come. And we get the history of the kings. Their sins and their failures allow us to see, yup, that's not Him. They'll still be looking forward to that One who is going to come, going to sit on the throne of David, and is going to rule forever in righteousness. So those two things are being taught to us in Kings and Chronicles. You're in captivity because of your sin, and that King that you're following, that's not Him. Keep looking for the Messiah that is to come. So now we come to Jehoram. And Jehoram is double-minded. Throughout his time as king, he attempted to worship Yahweh publicly, Baal privately. It didn't work out for him. You can't have it both ways. You can't try to have one political position publicly and another privately. It just doesn't work that way. And Jehoram found that out. So 2 Kings chapter number 3, beginning reading verse number 1, Now Jehoram the son of Abab began to reign over Israel and Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years. And he wrought evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like his father and like his mother. For he put away the image of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless, he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin. He departed not therefrom." So that introduction to a king should be becoming familiar to you as each one of the kings are kind of Described for us in this way Did they follow in the footsteps of David or did they follow in the footsteps of Jeroboam in this case? Jehoram kind of followed after his father Ahab, but not exactly but he did follow Jeroboam so here we get this King Jehoram and as you read through the book of Kings and Chronicles and There might be a difficulty for you in following who those kings are. And I gave you this chart of the list of the kings to kind of help you understand that. I don't know what I did with my chart. I think I gave it to Ken. But anyway, one of the things that you'll notice on that chart is that If you follow down on the left-hand side, there are the kings of Judah. You'll notice, hey, there's Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat. Then if you go over on the kings of Israel, you go down there a little ways, you'll see there's Jehoram, the son of Ahab, but he followed after Ahaziah. You'll also notice that Jehoram and Judah And Jehoram and Israel, the king of Judah and the king of Israel both had to name Jehoram at one time. Also you'll notice following Jehoram and Judah is the king Ahaziah, who was the king in Israel before Jehoram. Ahaziah. So you have these kings, two different countries, so to speak, with the same name. And so there's difficulty there. Also, when you're reading the Kings and Chronicles, the name of Jehoram is spelled without the H. and it's just called Joram, and there's no reason, like, why is he Joram or why is he Joram? How is he, why is he known as that? It doesn't go into any description, so you don't, it's, when you read Joram, are you talking about Joram? And so there's some difficulty there. Also in 2 Kings 5, the king is not mentioned by name, he's just called the king. And so when it says in 2 Kings 5, if you're not doing a study on Jehoram, and it just says the king, you would know that it's referring to Jehoram. Again, this is one of the places where having a good commentary to read will help you. So these are some reasons why you might have difficulty in following which king they're talking about. You have to do a little bit of reasoning to say, okay, this is talking about Jehoram, the king of Israel. Oh, this is talking about Jehoram, the king of Judah. And this is talking about Jehoram, even though he's not named. So those are some difficulties that you find as you are reading. But here's what we know. Jehoram, the king of Israel, is our main topic today. He is the man that was double-minded. And he was king after Ahaziah. Of course, Ahab and Jezebel are his parents. So what do we know about Ahab and Jezebel? Are they good godly people? You know, they're some of the most wicked, right? That ever was in charge in Israel. So do you think that Jehoram had a good godly upbringing? And the answer to that is no. And so the upbringing of Jehoram is going to have an impact in his life. He was double-minded. It tells us he was evil, but not like his father. He put away the image of Baal, He's trying to start some type of reform, but his reform was not complete because he followed the ways of Jeroboam. That means that he continued to worship the golden calves that Jeroboam set up. And it tells us that in verse number 3, that he cleaved under the sins of Jeroboam. It's not a simple oversight by Jehoram that he just left the golden calves there. It's not like I'm going to start reform in Israel and I'm going to remove the image of Baal and I just forgot to remove the golden calves. No. He knew full well what he was doing because he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam. The sins that he committed, the sins that Jeroboam committed, were a part of the life of Jehoram. And the sins of Jeroboam and where he caused Israel to sin, they continued during the days of Jehoram. So we get right up front that he's a guy that tried to do good sometimes, And he wanted to remove the prophets of Baal, but he just couldn't get away from those little pet sins that he liked to commit. He was double-minded. And I think if we're honest with ourselves, we all face those times. We try to do better, we try to reform ourselves, but we still struggle with some things. That's where Jehoram was. So Jehoram, we're going to look at a few of his battles that he faced. His life was full of battles, and it tells us in verse number 4 of 2 Kings 3, and Misha, king of Moab, was a sheep master and rendered unto the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and 100,000 rams with wool. And so we understand that Moab had been a tribute to Ahab, And what did they pay as their way of tribute? 100,000 lambs and 100,000 rams. And that continued until Ahab died. But when Ahab died, Moab was like, OK, we're going to get rid of this tribute that we have to pay to Israel. We're going to rebel against the king of Israel. And so they're going to try to throw off and not pay their tribute. And so Jehoram says, all right, You don't want to do it voluntarily? I'm going to make you pay your tribute." And so he goes down to Jehoshaphat, who is now the king of Judah, and he says, hey, Misha's trying to rebel against me. He doesn't want to pay his tribute. Will you go down with me and help me take my tribute? Jehoshaphat said, yeah, let's go to battle and fight against them, and they get the king of Edom to go along with them, and on their journey, We find their journeying through a desert place and in verse number nine It tells us so the king of israel went and the king of judah and the king of edom And they fetched a compass of seven days journey and there was no water for the host And for the cattle that followed them. So here they are. They're find themselves. They're trying to go to battle, but there's no water And joel horam is like, okay god brought us out here in the desert to kill us He's going to destroy us but jehoshaphat Being a more godly king says, hey, isn't there a prophet around that we can go to and ask about what we ought to do? And so they send for Elisha. And Elisha, as he comes up, he goes to Jehoram and he says, Jehoram, what do I have to do with thee? Why don't you get to the prophets of your father and your prophets of your mother? Why don't you ask them? In other words, hey, Jehoram, why are you coming to me for? You don't want to follow me with your whole heart. You don't want to follow God with your whole heart. You want to try to follow the prophets. You want to worship the golden calf. So listen, why don't you go back to Israel and consult your own prophets? Why are you coming to me for? Actually, that's a good word for us, that you can't just call on God when you're in trouble. You can't just call on God when things start to go wrong with you, and all of a sudden, oh, I got this problem, so I'm going to pray to God. God, why don't you hear me? Why don't you take care of this trouble? God may tell you, just like He told Jehoram, hey listen, why don't you go to the things you trust in every day anyway? What are you coming to me for? Are we double-minded? Do we only call upon God when we are in trouble? Do we only call upon God when we need Him? Elisha tells Jehoram, if it wasn't for Jehoshaphat, I wouldn't listen to you. But I got some respect for Jehoshaphat, so I'm going to listen to Jehoshaphat, and God's going to provide for them a miracle, verse number 16. And he said, thus saith the Lord, make this valley full of ditches. And so God told him to make the valley full of ditches, and he says, listen, you're not going to see it, you're not going to hear it, but I'm going to provide for you in a miraculous way. God is going to move, and He's going to fill all those ditches with water. That's the way God often moves. God often moves in our lives in ways that we cannot see. If we have to know what God is doing, if we have to see God move, we probably won't. God moves in ways that we cannot see. And God's provision is a light thing. Elisha goes on to say, listen, this is a little thing for God to do. What's God going to do? He's going to do more than just give you water. He's going to defeat the army of the Moabites for you. The next morning, the Moabites get up, and they look out to the valley, and they see all of that, the reflection of that water in the ditches, and it appears blood red. And they say, oh, those three kings have turned upon themselves, and they've fought against one another, and they've slain one another. To the spoiled Moab, they say. And when they get down there, they find out, uh-oh, We've run right into enemy territory and they were defeated miraculously. See, God defeats the Moabites for the children of Israel. The miraculous provision and deliverance that God gave to Jehoram. How's that going to impact his life? Will it be enough for Jehoram to say, you know what? You're right, Elisha. I should follow God wholeheartedly. I shouldn't be following the sins of Jeroboam. I should forsake the way of Ahab and Jezebel. God, you provided for me in a miraculous way. You gave me water when I was thirsty, and you defeated my enemies. Yes, I'm going to leave all of those things behind, and I'm going to follow you wholeheartedly. What Jehoram should have done, yes. Is that what Jehoram did? No. But what about you? When God moves miraculously in your life, When God provides for you, when God answers prayers, when He moves in ways that you cannot see, when He opens doors for you, when He closes doors, when God works in your life, does it draw you closer to Him? To being more faithful to Him? How does it affect you? Jehoram, it did not draw him closer to God. So, God's not done yet in showing Himself strong on behalf of Jehoram because in 2 Kings 6a, the captain of the Syrian army has come down against Israel in verse number 8, and it was so when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou..." I'm sorry, 6-8, sorry. "...then the kings of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp." And so the king of Syria is coming down against the king of Israel, and God tells Elisha, Hey, Elisha, the king of Syria is coming down to fight against Jehoram, but listen, this is where he's camping. And so God's going to provide for Jehoram again. Now, the king of Syria should not come down against Israel because just before this, you have the captain of the army of Syria, Naaman, coming down into Israel and being healed, but we've kind of skipped over that. But three times, Elisha warns Jehoram of the campsite of the Syrian army. And it's told the king of Syria, who's like, okay, who's betraying me? Who is the snitch? Who is the Benedict Arnold of my Syrian army? And over in chapter, in verse number 12, it says, and one of his servants said, none, my lord, O king. Hey, there's no Benedict Arnold among us. But listen, Elisha, the prophet in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber. King, when you're all alone and you're talking to yourself, Elisha knows what you're saying. God is telling Elisha the thoughts of the king of Syria. Amazing what God has done. Big story here, we're not reading the entire thing, but eventually they chase after Elisha and they're going to surround him. And this is where they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And God strikes the army of the Syrians with blindness, and they come down to Elisha's house, and Elisha says, Okay, the king's not here, but I'm going to take you to where he's at. And he leads him right down into the middle of the city of Samaria. And he opens their eyes, and they find out they're in the city of Samaria. So once again, God delivers the enemy directly to the king. Question verse 21. And the king of Israel said unto Elisha when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them? Shall I smite them? In other words, you brought the enemy to me. What do I do with him? Do I kill him? And Elisha says, don't kill them, let them go. Verse 22, and he answered, thou shalt not smite them, wouldst thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? Set bread and water before them that they may eat and drink and go to their master. And he prepared great provision for them. And when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel." Why do you think that was? God delivered the enemy into the hands of the king of Israel, Jehoram. And the king asked, should I kill him? And Elisha says, God says, no. Feed him. and let them go free. Why do you think that was? I think that God is saying, Jehoram, this is exactly what I'm doing for you. When you deserve judgment, when you deserve because you have rebelled against Me, when you are double-minded in all of your ways and you're trying to serve Yahweh publicly but bail privately, When you're trying to set reform, but you still won't get rid of the sins of Jeroboam, you're cleaving under the sins of Jeroboam, you deserve the justice of God. But what do I do? I keep giving you grace. I keep providing for you. He's trying to get Jehoram's attention to understand the grace and goodness of God to him. so that maybe Jehoram will see it and he'll turn from his wicked ways. You see, we all need to be thankful that God is gracious to us. Will this display of graciousness be sufficient to encourage Jehoram to turn from idols? And the answer is no. God could be saying, OK, Jehoram, look what I've done for you. Two times I've delivered your enemy's army into your laps. Hey, Jehoram, what's Baal done for you lately? Hey, Jehoram, what have the golden calves done for you lately? They've done nothing for you because there are no gods. Look, I'm Yahweh. Serve me wholeheartedly. Maybe that's what He's doing. Jehoram should get the message, but he didn't. Do we get the message when God is gracious to us? Do we get the message when God delivers on our behalf? Do we get the message when God blesses us? Do we see the futility of trusting in the things of this world? Why don't we singular worship God with all our hearts? Why don't we trust Him in the difficult times? Why aren't we thankful for His grace and His goodness? We should learn like Jehoram should have learned. that there is no place for divided loyalties. There's no place to serve God and man. We shouldn't be trusting in the things of this world. We should not be going down to Egypt for chariots. We shouldn't be trusting in the things of the world, the financial institutions, the governments of this world. Any of those things, we should not be trusting in. Our trust should only be in the Lord. And we should turn away from following the things of this world. So here once again, twice, we see the enemies of Jehoram delivered into his hands. And it seems after this that the Syrians, who had been a problem from Jehoram, they kind of ceased for a period of time. Jehoram feels less threatened, and so he became less dependent upon the prophet, and he returned to his idolatry. So guess what? here comes Syria again They don't let anything come in. They don't let anything go out. They stop off the rivers of waters. There's no water. And so before long, what happens to a city when it's under siege is famine sets in. There's no food. There's no water. Where does Jehoram lay the blame? And you go on and down and read a few verses. Verse 31. Then he said, Go, do so, and more also to me, if the head of Elisha, the son of Shaphat, shall stand on him this day. Instead of looking at his life and saying, You know, God's been so good to me. God's been gracious to me. And now I'm facing this trouble. Maybe there's something wrong with my heart. Maybe there's sin I need to repent of. Instead of looking at his own heart and saying, hey, maybe I have sin in my heart, what's he do? Elisha, it's your fault. Isn't that the way so many people do in life? When things are going to good, they want to say, oh, look what I've done. I've worked so hard and look at all of this that I've got. And then when struggles in life come, what do they want to do? God, why did you let this happen to me? Isn't that the way we are sometimes? It is, isn't it? That's what Jehoram did. When things were good, I don't need God. But when things are bad, God, it's all your fault. Such is the life of a double-minded person. The next day, Elisha eventually prophesied that the next day the famine is going to be over, that 2 Kings 7-1. And everybody says, there ain't no way. Even if God would open up the windows of heaven, there's no way this famine could be over. God is going to cause once again look verse number six for the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear of noise of chariots and the noise of horses Even the noise of a great host and they said one to another lo the king of Israel hath hired Had hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to come upon us once again God delivers the army of Israel he delivers Jehoram in this case without fighting Without fighting, God provided for them in a miraculous way that the prophecy of Elisha, of the plenty that God would provide, was found to be true. So think about it again. God just continues to bless Jehoram. But what's Jehoram do? He never learns! Jehoram will not Follow God wholeheartedly. 2 Kings 8 verse 4 tells us that there's a city by the name of Ramoth Gilead that he goes down and fights against. That's a contested city. sort of on the border between Syria and Israel. It sort of put us in mind of the Gaza Strip. Today, it's always contested. There's always fights going on, and that's the way Ramoth Gilead was. And there, he goes down to fight against it, and he's wounded in battle, and he goes down to Jezreel to heal. Ahaziah, the king of Judah, comes down to Jezreel to check on his uncle to see how he's doing, and Jehoram is killed and Ahab is killed, both are killed by Jehu. That's why, if you look at that chart, at the end of Ahaziah, king of Judah, and Jehoram, king of Israel, they both end on the same line. That's because they were killed at the same time by a man by the name of Jehu. In other words, throughout the life of Jehoram, he never learned the lesson. He never wholly served God with his whole heart. So God brought his life to an end. Another little piece of information you find during this is that Jezebel is not dead. Jezebel is still an influence during her son's reign. Her influence even extends over to Ahaziah, the king of Judah. If you look there in chapter number 8 and verses 25 through 27. it tells us in the 12th year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, did Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, began to reign. Two and 20 years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Athaliah, the daughter of Amorai, king of Israel. And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the Lord, as did the house of Ahab, for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab. Jezebel and Ahab's influence even extended over into Judah. If you read and study, Jezebel's going to meet her prophesied end. The dogs are going to lick her blood out of the streets. She is going to suffer for her wickedness. What do we learn from that? The wicked eventually come to face their wickedness. There is a reward for wickedness. So what do we learn about Jehoram here? No matter how often God delivered Jehoram, He would not depart from His double-mindedness. We must remember what we read in the beginning, where God said in the book of Isaiah, I will not share My glory with another. Our loyalty cannot be divided. We cannot serve God in the world. We cannot serve God in Mamma. Will we learn a lesson as we look at the life of Jehoram? Or will we still try to serve God and serve the world? It didn't work for Jehoram, and it won't work for us. So do you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? Or are you trying to love the world and love God? Or are you trying to worship God on Sundays and worship yourself Monday through Saturday? Or you try to come to church to put on a shiny image and say, look at me, and then your heart is still far away from God. Listen, it doesn't work. It does not work. Only single, wholehearted devotion to God is what works in this world. And so today, learn from the lesson of double-minded Jehoram. Double-mindedness does not work. serve God wholeheartedly. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the ability we had to worship you today in spirit and truth. Encourage us to serve you with your whole heart today. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.