The Power In Worship

2 Chronicles 20:1-4 KJV  It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.  [2]  Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi.  [3]  And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.  [4]  And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

2 Chronicles 20:22-26 KJV  And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.  [23]  For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.  [24]  And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.  [25]  And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.  [26]  And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the LORD: therefore the name of the same place was called, The valley of Berachah, unto this day.

I.                    INTRODUCTION

A.    Contrasts

-The Bible delights in contrasts.  In fact, that is one of the most powerful aspects of the Word in that it will take something that may be negative and turn and oppose it with something positive and powerful.

·        Cain and Abel.

·        Jacob and Esau.

·        David and Saul.

·        John and Judas.

·        Paul and Nero.

-Now at the center of this story, another character that is full of light and righteousness is compared to one who is not.  Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, and Ahab and his sons, kings of Israel.

-Ahab and his ilk tried to destroy the worship of the true God in Israel and Jehoshaphat “sought the God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel.”

-Jehoshaphat was one of the most righteous and godly of the kings of Judah and on this day, God would fight his battle for him.  But it did not appear to be that way in the beginning.  He found himself in the place of great chaos.

B.  God in Chaos

-Whether or not most are willing to admit it or not, much of God’s doings always occurred in the midst of chaos.  If you are looking for the hand of God to move in a particular place and time, you probably need not look to a place of serenity and peace but rather where things are seemly out of kilter.

-It started that way and it will end that way.  You see the pattern from Genesis all the way to Revelation.  In Genesis, the seedbed of the Bible, out of chaos we find creation and this seems to be the way a pattern develops in and around anything that God is doing.

·        Light coming to pierce the darkness.

·        Land merging out of the tossing sea.

·        Water coming from a Rock in the wilderness.

·        Manna falling from heaven in the wilderness.

·        Victory coming from a jawbone.

·        Salvation coming from a scarlet cord.

-No matter how difficult it may seem, God is always going to bring something out of the chaos.

II.                  LESSONS FROM THE TEXT

-While I have not read the whole chapter of 2 Chronicles 20 in our hearing, the whole chapter is really evidence that God works in special ways for those who are in trouble.  There are some principles that can help us to see the hand of God in every situation that we face.

-In a nutshell, Jehoshaphat finds himself in a vulnerable position of having to defend himself on two fronts.  He is trapped in an ambush between the children of Moab and Ammon on the one side and the warriors of Mount Seir on the other.

A.     A Battle Caused by Someone Else’s Mistakes—2 Chronicles 20:1.

-The first thing that stands out to us is that the warriors who are attacking Judah and Jerusalem came from an old mistake from generations prior to Jehoshaphat.  Moab and Ammon were the products of an incestuous relationship that Lot had with his daughters after they had fled from Sodom and Gomorrah.

-All of the years had passed and they have continued to agitate and provoke both Israel and Judah at every opportunity.

-All through the Bible we find that trouble had to be constantly fought because of someone else’s mistakes:

·        Abraham’s mistake with Hagar is still troubling us today.

·        A lost axe-head.

·        A cart carrying the Ark.

·        A fire that went out on the altar.

-How many times have you had to fight with battles because of someone else’s mistakes?  You weren’t even involved until you were drawn in by their foolish choices.  That is the way it is with many difficulties of life, cleaning up after somebody else.

-Don’t take it personal, just be a saint and watch God bring deliverance.

B.    It Led Jehoshaphat to Fear—2 Chronicles 20:3.

-Because of the looming attack, Jehoshaphat began to fear.  In fact, he was eaten up with it.

-The devil always has and always will have a heyday with our fears in the midst of difficulty.  If he can cause us to fear, it has a way of killing our faith.

·        Fear of defeat.

·        Fear of failure.

·        Fear of losing everything.

·        Fear of backsliding.

·        Fear of some illness.

·        Fear of a spouse leaving.

·        Fear of children not serving the Lord.

·        Fear of temptation.

-But a real man of God cannot let his fears master him.  He can say that he can see the situation and he can see his resources but he also can see his God.

-Even though his fear almost blinded him, Jehoshaphat knew that this danger could overpower his throne and take over the nation, he could not believe that his enemies were stronger than His God.

C.     It Led Jehoshaphat to Pray—2 Chronicles 20:5-12.

-To revisit the idea of the contrasts of the Bible, consider that even though in deep fear, Jehoshaphat found a place to prayer.  It was not a perfect prayer, in fact it started with questions, but it was the nature of the questions that Jehoshaphat let build his faith.

-There are times in prayer that our questions need to become a revelation of who God is and not of what He is going to do!

·        Aren’t You God of Heaven?  (v. 6)

·        Don’t You rule over all the kingdoms of Heaven?  (v. 6)

·        Isn’t power and might in Your hands?  (v. 6)

·        Isn’t it true that no one can withstand You?  (v. 6)

·        Aren’t you our God?  (v. 7)

·        Didn’t You give the land to our father Abraham?  (v. 7)

·        Didn’t they build You a sanctuary for Your Name?  (v. 8)

·        Isn’t it true that if evil manifests itself through a sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine that we can stand in this house?  (v. 9)

·        Isn’t it true that we can cry out for our affliction and You will hear and help?  (v. 9)

·        Can’t You see Ammon and Moab who You would not let invade our land?  (v. 10)

·        Can’t You see we had an opportunity to destroy them before but we did not and held our restraint?  (v. 10)

·        God, can’t you see that they are trying to cast us out of a possession that you gave to us in the past?  (v. 11)

·        God, won’t You judge them?  (v. 12)

·        Lord, can’t You see that we only have Your arm, Your power, Your strength to lean on?  (v. 12)

·        Lord, we don’t know what to do. . . but You do!  (v. 12)

-This is a way that devil never wants you to discover to pray.  Instead of the questions leading to doubt and discouragement, the questions started recharging the faith of Jehoshaphat and the people.

-It is not wrong to question just make sure that the questions are moving in the direction of the Lord and not the direction of the devil.

D.    It Led a Preacher to Preach—2 Chronicles 20:14-17

2 Chronicles 20:14-17 KJV  Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the LORD in the midst of the congregation;  [15]  And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.  [16]  To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.  [17]  Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.

-The faith-filled prayer started turning something over in the whole nation and it caused the Spirit to move in the midst of the congregation.

-Our prayers do not define God, they merely cause Him to reveal Himself to us through the chaos of the situation.

-There is a hermeneutical (the science of interpretation) principle that is used when one studies the Bible.  It takes into consideration all sorts of things like the context, the historical tone of the passage, the time constraints involved and a lot of other varying tools to help sharpen the focus of a passage of Scripture.

-One of the principles is referred to as the “like/as” rule which allows Scripture to say that God or man is like something or that God or a man is as something to give a definition of things.  There are times when the description of God comes about that the writer will use human figures and analogies to help us to see who God is or what He may be doing.

-For instance, consider the following Scriptures:

Psalms 72:6 KJV  He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth.

Psalms 78:65 KJV  Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.

Psalms 104:2 KJV  Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:

Jeremiah 23:29 KJV  Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

-This is just a few of the many examples of this principle but there is another one that God identifies Himself with:

Isaiah 42:13 KJV  The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.

-God is going to fight the battle!  Don’t be afraid or dismayed by this great army that you see in front of you, the battle is not yours because it belongs to God!

-After they heard the Word of faith come from the preacher, they fell before the Lord, worshipping!

-How many times have you walked in weary, tired, beat-up, and ready to quit and a preacher started preaching the Word and it built your faith to such an extent that you said, “I can make it another day!”?  All of us have had this to happen!

-Jahaziel just reminded the people that the battle was not theirs’ it belonged to God. . . If you can ever see that, it totally changes the picture of your situation.

Doug Stanton writes in a book entitled Horse Soldiers about a group of the Special Forces who were dropped into Afghanistan just a few weeks after the Trade Center towers were bombed in New York.  Their mission was to work with some of the Afghan war lords in an attempt to wipe out the Al Quaeda and Taliban terror network.  Amazingly these highly trained Special Forces soldiers ended up have to ride horses into the mountains to defeat some of the terror cells.

Shortly after they arrived they met up with one of the Afghan chiefs who led them into the mountains in search of the Taliban.  After a couple of days of travel, they finally reached a huge canyon thousands of feet above sea level.  When the Special Forces commander asked the chief where the Taliban was, the war lord pointed across a canyon about 1000-2000 yards away from them and said that they were in the caves.  There was great hesitation on the SF to simply begin to bomb these spots because they had no idea really who was inside.  It could have been innocent people whom the Afghan chief had a grudge against or it could have been the Taliban.

Finally the SF commander begin to explain that he did not want to start firing off bombs into these caves because he was not sure the Taliban was really in there.  So the Afghan chief pulled out his walkie-talkie and begin to utter all sorts of profanity, insults, and intimidation and the air waves on about of dozen of the other Afghans walkie-talkies lit up!  The Taliban responded to their insults with their own little line of profanity.  The Afghan continued to harass them and finally told them to step out so he could see them.  To the amazement of the SF commander, at the mouth of some of the caves on the opposing canyon wall, the Taliban begin to appear and were waving their arms and making obscene gestures to the Afghans and SF soldiers across the way. . . The Afghan chieftain with a little smile on his face looked at the SF commander and said, “See, Taliban!”  Then he said, “America bomb Taliban!”

So then the SF soldiers pulled out their fancy little equipment bags and begin tracking with the GPS and lined up the coordinates and called the jets that were thousands of feet above them the numbers.  The Afghans took all of this in with a bit of skepticism because they had no idea what was about to happen.

When the coordinates were called in the SF just sort of sat back and began to watch the sky.  The Afghans looked at them as if they had lost a few marbles and then the pilots started calling in to the SF. . . Thirty seconds. . . Twenty seconds. . . Ten seconds. . . and suddenly the whole mountainside burst into a sound of fury and massive explosions.  The caves were obliterated with the use of SMART bombs that had been guided in by the GPS tracking systems.  After about 10 seconds of stunned silence, the Afghan warlord started jumping around and saying, “America bomb Taliban!  America bomb Taliban!  America bomb Taliban!”  Then his 20 or so men all started doing the same thing.

From their point of reference, the battle was no longer belonged to them but rather to the Americans.

-See the devil doesn’t want you to know this either. . . he does not wanting you building your faith with your prayers nor does he want you using a spiritual GPS system to wreak havoc on his little party.

-How often have you come into the house of God and started. . .

·        To sing until inspiration began to flow.

·        To worship until the power of God fell.

·        To pray until something happened.

·        To speak out things in encouragement until your soul was full.

-We could go on and on with this list. . . But I am longing to encourage you by saying that what happens in the house of God has a big impact on what goes on beyond the four walls. . .

·        Backsliders can be convicted. . . while you worship!

·        Healing can take place. . . while you worship!

·        Evangelism can come to pass. . . while you worship!

-I almost want to say (with some theological accuracy). . . “God bomb devil”. . . and know that the Lord is fighting my battle!

E.     It Led Them To Sing and Worship Before the Victory—2 Chronicles 20:22

2 Chronicles 20:22 KJV  And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.

-It is easy to worship the Lord after the victory has taken place. . . but the real question is can you worship Him before victory takes place.

When the Spartans marched into battle, they went forward singing songs because they were willing to fight.  When the Persians entered the battle, you could hear the regiments being urged forward by the cracking of the whip and the curses of the officers as they were almost driving cowards into a battle.  It is no wonder that the Spartans fought like lions in the middle of a pack of sheep and the Persians withered to their deaths.

-Jehoshaphat did not resort to the first weapon, catapult, army, or chariot and horse, he simply began to sing and worship the Lord.  What utter foolishness that it seemed like for them to resort to such things and expect a victory. . . but this is how God spends the majority of His time working. . . .

What a mighty God we serve, What a mighty God we serve, Angels bow before Him, Heaven and Earth adore Him, What a mighty God we serve. . . .

III.               CONCLUSION  —  THE MIRACLES OF THE LORD

Isaiah 53:1-2 KJV  Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?  [2]  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

-You can’t figure Him out. . . . Look to the miracles of the Lord. . .

·        A miracle wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger.

·        The man at the pool of Bethesda thought his miracle was in the water when it was really in Jesus.  (Take up your bed and walk!)

·        It did not matter that the disciples had fished all night long, drop the nets one more time!

·        We don’t need wine, just fill the waterpots and wine will pour out of them!

·        Lazarus, come forth!

·        Tear the roof off and let the man through!

Psalms 24:7-9 KJV  Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.  [8]  Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.  [9]  Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.