is taken from 2nd Kings chapter 3 and we'll begin reading on page 573 and we'll begin at verse 10. What, exclaimed the king of Israel, has the Lord called us three kings together only to hand us over to Moab? But Jehoshaphat asked, Is there no prophet of the Lord here that we may inquire of the Lord through him? And an officer of the king of Israel answered, Elisha, son of Shaphat, is here. He used to pour water on the hands of Elisha. Jehoshaphat said, The word of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. The word of the Lord. May we pray. Help me, Lord, as I expound on this text today. Open our eyes to truth in a practical way for the sake of Jesus. Amen. Now I want you to notice something here. This is in a context of war, and we notice here that descendants of Abraham and Isaac have all joined together. because Edom is Esau, and he is of course along with Isaac. Esau is here along with the two children of Jacob. I'm sorry, let me back up. So we have Israel and Judah who are descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And then we have Edom, who is Esau, who along with Jacob, is descended from Isaac. So these folks have kinship, but they also have kinship with the person against whom they're going, and that is Moab. You may recall that Lot, who was Abraham's nephew, had two daughters, and the name of the one's children was Moab, and the name of the other one was Ammon. And so what it is, you have the Ammonites and the Moabites. Why did they name their children that? Because they got their daddy drunk, They got Lot drunk. Remember that Lot was a righteous man, we're told in the book of Jude, whose soul was vexed daily by the wicked things he saw in Sodom. But this righteous man had a vulnerability. And guess what? Every single person here, from the people in the farthest back to the people right up here, all have vulnerable spots that can be exploited by Satan. And you know what? Alcohol is one of those spots. And when people drink, they often drink to excess. And when they drink to excess, they will do things they would never do otherwise. Can you imagine? A man got drunk and produced grandchildren by his own daughter. Moab. Moab literally means from daddy. Mo-ab. Av is the Hebrew word father. And Ammon refers to my people, Ammon. So he produced a child by the other daughter. And those are the Ammonites. Now, here you find that these sons of Isaac have gathered together, that is, Israel and Judah and Edom, Esau. And notice they've gone out to war. Why are there wars? There's one reason. I want what you've got. Think about that for a moment. If you look at the history of warfare, except for wars that are fought purely defensively, all wars in history are, I want what you've got. That's what it is. Where do wars and fightings come from? Says the Apostle James. They come from the conflicts you have inside yourself. You lust and covet, you want and you fight in war. And so look at that. War always is rooted in lust, except for purely defensive wars, and it leads to chaos. And I'm struck here, as these three kings have joined together to go against Moab, they've run out of water. And it reminds me of something that happened during the Crusades at the horns of Hattan when the Muslims got the Crusaders who ran out of water, and they utterly defeated them and routed them. And I think about the Crusades that I've studied intimately in history, and that is the Crusades were a foolish, foolish thing that God did not bless, and it brought about terrible destruction. Do you know that the Crusaders burned down the synagogues of Jewish people, burned down the worship centers of Christians from the East, They were violent men. Wow. And they are defeated when they ran out of water. So you need to make sure you've got plenty of water when you go to war in a hot desert climate. So they're in big trouble. And they begin to talk among themselves. And that's where you see here in verse 9. So the king of Israel set out with the king of Judah and the king of Edom after a round About March of seven days, the army had no more water for themselves or their animals with them. So they're in big trouble. What are they going to do? Well, they find out that the prophet Elisha, who used to pour water on the hands of Elijah, was there. Why was Elisha there? Because he loved God's people. He had a very difficult task. He was the successor of Elijah. He said he poured the water on his hands. It meant that someone, when you wanted to wash your hands in ancient times, you didn't have running water. They would hold a pitcher and they'd pour the water on your hands. And that was partly for ritual purity and partly also for general cleanliness. So they call for him. They don't call for him. What do they do? They go down to him. They're hat in hand. You know, most of the time that's the total reverse. Politician says something to a preacher and the preacher's like a dog that just suddenly saw a treat in his hand. And the preacher's there groveling and wanting to lick the hand of the politician and get in his good favor and graces. But here's the different thing. These people knew that Elisha was a man of God. They knew he heard from God and they were at their wit's end because they're going to die. Along with all their animals and soldiers. It's all going to be over for them. And so they go to him hat in hand. And I want you to notice. When in verse 13, Elisha said to the king of Israel, now remember the king of Israel is the son of Ahab and Jezebel. But unlike his brother who died as a worshipper of Baalzebub, the lord of the flies, Unlike his brother, this man had put away the idolatrous practices of his mama and his daddy, and he was a better man than his brother, but he still did not repent of the sins of the northern kingdom under Jeroboam. And so, there he is. And look at what Elisha says to the king of Israel. What do we have to do with each other? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother. Did he still have the prophets of his father and his mother? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. They had the court prophets who prophesied and they always told lies. Don't you want to hear a liar? I mean, come on, let's be honest. Don't you want to hear somebody who will say to you, listen, life is great? You've got your best life now, and it's going to get better and better and better. And if you just do what I tell you to do and give me money, life is going to even be better. You're going to have more money and more health and so on. Don't you want to be lied to? I mean, deep down inside, don't we want to hear words of encouragement rather than words that are true? What are true words? True words give us God's word so that we will humble ourselves before God and seek His face because our prosperity doesn't depend on our labor or other people, it's in the Lord. Now notice what the king of Israel answers there. No, the king of Israel answered, because it was the Lord who called us three kings together to hand us over to Moab. The man had discernment. Sometimes God gives spiritual discernment to political leaders, and this political leader had spiritual discernment. He said it was Yahweh, it was the God of Israel, the God of the Bible, who called us here to deliver us into the hand of Moab. And then look at verse 14. Elisha said, as surely as the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, I would not look at you or even notice you. You think that Elisha would be the kind of preacher that would be invited to the White House throughout the entire history of the United States? What kind of person wants that? King George III, he wants somebody preaching the truth to him? No, people want to hear Good things about themselves. You're such a fine king, King George, even though you end up going crazy. And he lost the Americas. Just look at it. And so he says at this point, notice that next word in verse 15. And this is the key to where we are today. But now, bring me a harvest. I want to meditate on that with you for a while. Bring me a harpist. Why did he need a harpist? Have you ever been in combat? Some people here have. David has. Been in combat, you know what combat's like. Combat is chaos. Combat is fear and bravado in the face of fear, trying to stir up your courage. It's all of the physiological things that happen to your body when you are terrified. It's all of those things. And then the rising up of a lust to kill your enemies. In other words, Elisha is in a place of violence and rage and fear and terror and chaos. And he said, bring me a harpist. Why? Why? Because he needed to get in the presence of God. And this is a very practical lesson for you and me. Every single day of our lives, we need to have music that brings us in the presence of God. Music affects you profoundly in your soul. Your soul is your mind. It affects you. It stirs your emotions. It stirs your will. It stirs you so that you are able to choose to do things you would never choose to do otherwise. How important music is. Elisha said, bring me a harpist. In other words, he needed to get in the presence of God. And while the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha, and he said, this is what the Lord says, make this valley full of ditches, for this is what the Lord says, you will neither see, you will neither you will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle, and your other animals will drink. This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord. He will also hand Moab over to you." And that's interesting. So in other words, you want to hear from God? Do you want God to direct your life? God speaks to us fundamentally, but not exclusively, from the Bible. Fundamentally, but not exclusively from the Bible. He also speaks to us by words that are taken from the Bible and applied by the Holy Spirit to our hearts. Do you believe that God can direct you in your daily life to make decisions that would be good and beneficial and helpful to you and to others? Yes, I believe that. I believe that God takes His written word as we hide it in our hearts and He brings it out as we begin to pray to Him. Lord, guide me. Lord, direct me. What do I need to do? Do I need to go here? Do I need to go there? Do you believe that God will guide you?" Well, yes, I believe that, and I've experienced the supernatural guidance of God in my life so many times as I meditated on His Word and said, Lord, show me. What do you want me to see here? Now I want you to think about singing with me for a moment. If you would turn to the book of Ephesians chapter 5, Ephesians chapter 5, and that's on page 1823, page 1823, and it's got a parallel in Colossians 3. He says, speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So God says here through his apostle Paul, that we are to use scripture and songs to encourage each other. We sing songs. You know, when we sang, as the deer pants, where did that come from? That's taken from a psalm. As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you. And so as we think about these things, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Well, it's pretty clear what psalms are. That's the book of psalms, by and large, but there are other passages of scripture that have psalms besides the book of psalms. The word psalm comes from the Greek word psalo, which means to strike. Why would you think of the psalms coming in the Greek word for psalo, to strike? Because when you have a harp, You strike it with your fingers. You play it by strumming or striking the strings. So that's what a psalm is. What are hymns? You'll find that there are hymns in the book of Psalms. One psalm in the Greek Septuagint is also a hymn and a song. And then when you think about songs, you have to think about the book of Revelation that is so full of songs about Jesus. Now I want to make a comment, if you will turn with me to the right, to the letter to Timothy, and that's this. And he says, in 2 Timothy 1, he says, Gracious. I had this just before I'm having an elderly moment, and he says here, that yes, there it is, I need to mark these things. He says in chapter one and in verse eight, let's get it in context, do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord or ashamed of me, his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ before the beginning of time. Verse 10, that's the critical verse. But it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. I want us to focus on that for just a moment. I want to attack The doctrine of exclusive psalmody. What do I mean by exclusive psalmody? There are Christians, and many of the Christians involved in founding the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, that we should only sing the book of Psalms. What's wrong with that? You know what's wrong with that? It is pre-Christian. It is before the resurrection of Jesus. And you read certain Psalms, the psalmist is in total despair and never has anything but despair. In fact, some of the Psalms imply that we don't survive death. Why? Are they inspired by the Holy Spirit? Yes, they are. Do they give an expression to things that people feel at times? Sometimes I feel like a motherless child. Why do I feel so bad? In other words, the Psalms give us God-inspired human sentiment that people feel at times. But if you only sing the Psalms, you're not singing about Jesus Christ explicitly as the book of Revelation makes plain when the songs that are there, when the hymns that are there, focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, the whole Old Testament, including the whole book of Psalms, is an imperfect, not in the sense of having error, but an imperfect revelation from God. What do I mean by imperfect? I mean it hasn't yet reached the point where Jesus has come and appeared and died on the cross and risen from the dead. And so how can a book that does not mention Jesus explicitly How can a book that does not, where David looks ahead and foresees the resurrection of the Christ, but he's not explicit about it, how can it be that some of the writers of the Psalms end their Psalms in complete despair? I'm glad that there are Psalms that end in complete despair because sometimes people need to think that way and feel that way. But exclusive psalmody that fails to take into account how these words are used in the New Testament that reflects life and immortality brought to light in the gospel. In other words, The writers of the Old Testament, including David and Moses and other writers of the Psalms, Asaph, did not yet have that proof of life after death and the resurrection of the body that's there when Jesus rose from the dead. Life and immortality to light. And so if you turn with me for just a moment over to the book of Revelation, you see these songs and how clearly they speak about the Lord Jesus Christ. And you see there, for example, in Revelation 5, page 1919, you're worthy to take the scroll. Who is that? That's the Lord Jesus Christ. To open the seals because you were slain and with your blood you purchased men for God. from every tribe and language and people and nation, and have made them be a kingdom and priests and serve our God, they will reign on the earth." In other words, it's about Jesus. And then look down at verse 12, "...worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power." and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise. And then you look down at the bottom of the page, verse 13, singing to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. In other words, the doctrine of the Trinity is revealed in the Old Testament, but somewhat cryptically, somewhat obscurely, it comes out in its full force. In the New Testament, when the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, submits to water baptism, and when Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist, the last Old Testament prophet, the greatest man of the Old Testament, when he's baptized by John the Baptist, what happens? A voice speaks from heaven, this is my beloved Son, hear ye Him. And then the Holy Spirit manifesting in the form of a dove. The Holy Spirit is not a dove, but he took on the appearance of a dove as he flew from the throne of the Father in heaven and lighted on the head of the Lord Jesus Christ. You have this profound revelation of the Holy Trinity. One God in three persons. The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. The Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Holy Spirit. One God, three persons, profoundly there. Father speaking in heaven, the Spirit coming from heaven to earth to baptize Jesus, and Jesus baptized with the Spirit and comes up out of the water in the power of God, because the Holy Spirit is the power of God. So we see these things here, and if you were to go further, you would see that. Turning back for just a moment to what we read there in 2 Kings chapter 3. It's important that Elisha has a harpist, somebody who can solo, who can strike the chords of the harp, because that brought him into the presence of God. Now it's interesting, and I will continue this sermon, God willing, in two weeks when I return from San Antonio and that area. But the point I want to make is, that when Elisha was able to get into the presence of God, he was able to hear from God. I want you to think about your life with me for a moment. If you're like me, your life is filled with a cacophony of confusion. A cacophony of confusion. I like alliteration. What do I mean by a cacophony of confusion? Television. Television. Television brings you bad news all the time. All the time. Radio, most radio, particularly talk radio, just brings you confusion. This radio speaker has one idea and this one has another idea. And look at America today. If there is ever a phrase that I would use to describe modern America in 2024, it is, we are full of a cacophony of confusion, competing voices. If you believe what certain people say, like CNN, you believe certain things. If you listen to Fox News, you believe other things. Which one's right? I don't know. He said, well, of course you've got to know, Bob. Well, that cacophony of confusion keeps us all so confused, so we can't talk about things in reality with each other. It's all propaganda. And what's the propaganda for? It's to make you confused. It's to have you just thinking, I don't know what to do. I don't know how to think. I don't know how to vote. I'm going to tell you this. Voting in this election is not that important. What is that important? Praying. Praying. If you allow the hatred that is so much a part of modern America, and it is, with the cacophony of confusion, to get in your heart, you can't speak in an intelligent way to people who disagree with you. And dear ones, I assure you, if your family's like my family, There are children who can't talk to other children at times about anything related to politics because they are so consumed in this cacophony of confusion. It's not unlike the three kings who are there and they call by going down to see Elisha and ask him to give them a word from the Lord. What is important? in this election, that you keep a heart that loves your enemies. If you cannot pray for Kamala Harris with a good heart, you're in sin. If you can't pray for Donald Trump with a good heart, you're in sin. He said, I can't believe you're telling me this. Sandy and I had the beautiful privilege this past week, we received a DVD from Voice of the Martyrs, and it's the story of Richard Wurmbrand, who was tortured by the Russians, by actually the people from the Soviet Union, those soldiers who invaded Romania, and he was a Lutheran, and they tortured him. They beat him on his feet. They sent his wife to prison. She was shoved into a canal when she was having forced to dig a canal. All these things happened. And you know what Richard Wurmbrand's plea to God was constantly? Lord, please help me to love the Russians. Lord, please help me to love the Russians, to love my enemies. He wanted to show them the love of Christ. That was what was consuming to that Lutheran pastor, Richard Wurmbrand, and he and his wife and their son eventually had their freedom bought by people, I guess, Well, they weren't from Romania and they were able to get out of Romania and they came to the United States. What a beautiful story. So what is most important in this cacophony of confusion where you can't even think straight? In this cacophony of confusion when you can't hear from God? In this cacophony of confusion when you don't know what to do? Does God have a specific will for your life to direct you moment by moment in decision-making? I believe that He does. But you miss out on it when the TV's blaring, when vile music is playing, and all those things. What do you need? I don't know about you. David, bring me a harpist. Let's pray. Lord, we pray that you would bless these thoughts as we ponder the need of the hour in the middle of so much confusion, the confusion of war, how we need to be still before God, how we need to be quiet before God, how we need to meditate on your word, how we need to listen to the Holy Spirit who will take your written word and guide and direct us, not only out of the book of Psalms, but out of other songs in the Torah and in the prophets and in the New Testament, particularly in the book of Revelation. May our mouth be full of praise to you, the one true and living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.