so in first kings chapter eight we have our second kings chapter eight rather we had this really
interesting story right at the beginning where two of these old uh these characters that we've
met previous chapters are brought back up that being the shumanite woman and Gehazi the servant
of the man of god if you remember was you know banished pretty much who who actually ended up
getting the leprosy of Naaman when he went after Naaman we remembered the story from a couple weeks
ago but let's just jump it right into it there it says in verse one then spake Elisha unto the
woman again this is the shunammite from chapter four whose son he had restored to life saying
arise and go thou and thine household and sojourn wherever thou can't sojourn for the lord hath
called the famine and it shall come also it shall also come upon the land seven years so he's coming
here and saying hey there's going to be this famine you need to go find somewhere else to live
in the time being and again this shows us that you know Elisha had developed probably some kind
of relationship uh you know some kind of a friendship with this woman and her family this
was somebody that he was a little bit more endeared to and really another great thing
i'm kind of getting my head of self head of myself here is that in this chapter we really see the the
humanity of Elisha that he wasn't just some hard-nosed you know rough around the edges guy
that he had a heart for people that he loved people and they actually had a tender heart and
i believe it's also shown here we'll see it again later because of the fact that he's going to this
woman and telling her hey you need to get out of land you know he's having compassion on her
and it says there in verse two and the woman arose and did after the saying of the man of god and she
went with her husband and sojourn in the land of philistine seven years and it came to pass at the
end of seven years that the woman returned out of the land of the philistines and she went forward
to cry into the king for her house and for her land so she's coming back and she's been gone
away from her house she's been gone away from her land you know it's been overgrown or other people
have been you know taking from it so she's going to the king to try to get back what was once hers
after these seven years and she finds the king here in verse four talking with Gehazi the servant
of the man of god and says in verse four and the king talked Gehazi the servant the man of god
saying tell me i pray thee all the great things that Elisha hath done and you know there's a lot
that can be said here just about this and i'll talk about it a little bit here in a minute but
it's interesting that you know the king is talking to Gehazi about something that somebody
else did you know this is not how we want to live our lives and you know we want to be people that
are doing things ourselves Elisha or excuse me Gehazi here is kind of living vicariously
through Elisha in a sense he's out there just kind of you know glorying in the good old days
when he used to run with the man of god and you know this is something that you see a lot of times
in ministries you know you'll hear these preachers and things get up and they'll tell you about the
good old days they'll sit there and just go on and on about how you know they rallied at some
capital in the 70s and they fought some law or passed some statute it's just like okay well what
have you done lately you know we don't want to be people like Gehazi who are just kind of living in
the past you know we always want to be people that have something going on now we want to be working
for the lord here and now of course we know what took him out of the the fight was covetousness
but we'll get in that minute so that's you know these two characters that are showing up here
that we've heard from previously the Shunammite woman and Gehazi and notice the story goes verse
five and it came to pass as he was telling the king how he restored a dead body to life that
behold the woman whose son he had restored to life cried to the king for her house and for her land
so you know what a coincidence right of course this is probably all very providential that god
you know puts it in his heart to speak these things to tell him this very story about the
very woman who's coming back you know seven years after she's been gone to make a request of the king
that he's talking to it's all very providential and Gehazi said my lord oh king this is the woman
and this is her son whom will i should restore to life he's saying you know i'm not just making this
up you know these are the you know what a coincidence here's the lady here's her son
and this is this is them and when the king asked the woman verse six she told him she said yeah
it's true so the king appointed unto her a certain officer saying restore all that was hers and the
fruits of the field since the day that she left land even until now so she's getting repaid
everything that she lost when she left and went into the land of the philistines and what i want
to do for just a second here in the beginning is really contrast these two characters okay because
they're being brought up very specifically here and we see the the woman the shunammite woman and
Gehazi and what we see with the woman is that the woman was somebody that was blessed right she's
being continuously blessed every time we come upon this woman in in the story you know she's
being she was barren and then elisha comes and tells her that she's going to have a son and she
does and then that son dies right and she goes again to the man of god elisha comes back and
raises that son to life even years you know later after that child's grown have been restored elisha
is coming to her and warning her about a famine she's leaving she's surviving her in a household
she's coming back you know she's just being blessed over and over and over again continually
she keeps getting blessed even when she gets back from the famine you know it just so happens that
the servant of the man of god who cares about her is there telling the exact story about the miracle
that god had wrought in her life and she has all you know she just comes back into the land not
knowing how things are going to turn out for her you know she's crying under the king and all of a
sudden everything that was hers has given back to her and everything that she missed out on while
she was gone all the fruits of those lands are also restored under her you know she just comes
back and walks right into this blessing after leaving uh you know the the land of the philistines
so she's just being continually blessed but what is it that led to her just being blessed all
through her life every time we see her well it's her obedience you know it's her obedience the fact
that she has faith she's somebody that is obey obeying uh the lord first of all you know when
we want to go back to you know the miracle with her son if you would keep something there but go
to ephesians chapter two you know what was it that brought her son back to life well it was faith
wasn't it it was her faith you know we talked about it then in chapter four when she went to
the man of god you know her husband said you know it's neither new moon or sabbath like how are you
going to find him she just trusted that she was going to be able to find him and she just knew
that if she could just get elisha to come back here that everything would be fine right so it
was faith that brought her son to life right you know and it's the same way with us you know faith
is what restores us spiritually faith is what brings us back to life isn't it our faith in
lord jesus christ is what is what revive us revives us the bible says that we are buried
with him by baptism to death that like as christ was raised up from the bed by the glory of the
father even so we also should walk in newness of life you know our faith in christ gives us that
newness of life as it says in ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 for we are his workmanship uh created
in christ jesus unto good works which god hath before deemed that we should walk in them you know
we are his workmanship you know god has made a new creature out of us in christ our faith has
brought us up much like you know the should and might woman's faith brought back her son to life
so our faith restores our life spiritually right we're not going to die and go to hell
we have eternal life in heaven so but is that that's where it starts though isn't it you know
but so many christians that's the beginning and end of their christian life right there
that's all the further they go with god and praise god that they go that far because obviously
without that everything else is for not you know you can't even you know all the blessings of god
are are meaningless if you don't have salvation right that's the most important thing to have
salvation but often what happens is that christians get salvation and then that's it
and then they they end up just not living for the lord the rest of life you know what they're doing
is they're missing out on all these other blessings they you know a lot of times they
just fall out of church they never get into church they never follow through in the christian life
they're saved they're on their way to heaven but they don't walk in newness of life they don't walk
in those works that god has before ordained that they were to walk in as ephesians says they don't
do that and as a result they aren't blessed but why is it they don't do it because they sit there
and they think about oh all the things they want to do in the flesh all the sin they want to get
involved in all the thing all the bad habits and wickedness and all the things that they're
involved in they don't want to give up they they don't want to give all that up for the blessing
of god they think that they're actually better off in a sense by not serving god but the truth is
is that they're missing out on the blessings of god you know i don't sit around and lament you
know all the sin that i could be getting into you know i don't wake up every morning oh you
gotta read my bible again oh i gotta pray again i gotta go to church again boy i could be doing x y
and z i could be out there getting involved and whatever i don't i don't live my life that way
you know the christian life for me isn't just this long drudgery that i just endure and hopefully
that's not the case for anybody in this room hopefully nobody has to go through that you know
hopefully everybody in the room wakes up and every day and lives for the lord because they
understand the joy that's involved the blessings that come as a result of it that's where it begins
though is that that raising up to life keep something in ephesians and go over to chapter
actually go to ephesians chapter three we're going to be in ephesians several times tonight so just
keep something there but you see people start out in the christian life they have that life restored
so to speak but then you know they miss out on all these other blessings is that what this woman
did can we say that out the schoonemite no it was her faith her ob that obviously brought life back
into her life you know raised up her son but then after that it was her obedience to the man of god
it was her doing that was which was spoken by the man of god right isn't that what it says there uh
in here in a chapter where i was it says she obeyed she did after the saying of the man of
god right verse two she did after the saying of the man god she was told hey this is what you need
to do and she went and did it right and notice what she did she left everything oh what famine
elijah you know there's some famines coming you know you know chicken little the sky's falling
elijah he's saying no this is what's going to happen and again faith obedience caused her to
just leave everything because she was a great woman she had wealth she just leaves all that
leaves the fields leaves the reapers leaves that business leaves it all and goes and sojourns in
a foreign land but when she comes back which is she's one she's been spared spared of the famine
two she gets everything restored back under her why because it didn't just end with life being
restored to her she also followed that up with faith she followed that up with obedience and as
a result she inherited many more blessings along the way the bible says in philippians chapter 4
my god shall supply all your need according to his riches in christ jesus now unto god our father be
glory forever and ever amen you see we are to walk in newness of life after we get saved god
has provided uh you know certain things for us in the christian life and it's up to us whether or
not we want those things those things aren't just going to come in and of themselves this woman
decided to listen to the saying of the man of god she walked by faith and what happened she
was provided for in difficult times look we're all going to go through difficult times we're
going to have hard times in life that's when we're going to need god most look god will be there for
us if we're walking with him if we're being obedient to the word of god go to ephesians
chapter 3 where you are actually verse 20 it says now unto him that is able to do exceedingly
abundant above abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us
think about what the bible's saying here paul's saying now unto him that is what able to do
exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think you know there's nothing that's impossible
to god you know that doesn't mean that we can we're going to get turned into some name it claim
it kind of crowd around here what's like well praise god give me an escalator you know god can
do it you know all above all that i ask or think you know where's that leer jet you know i'm going
to wake up tomorrow and have millions to make that's that's not what he's talking about right
obviously god gives us those things that we need you know if we we if we if we receive not because
we ask and miss right because we that we may consume it upon our lusts if we ask anything
according to his will that we know that we have the desires that that we ask of him the petitions
that we ask of him but god is still you know those are still things that we need god is exceedingly
abundant above all that we ask or think able to give us those things according to the power
that worketh in us the power that's already in us look it's the power that that is already in you
god has already done a great miracle in your life it's like we get saved and we just think like well
yeah that's small potatoes god's you got saved and that that's like the greatest miracle that's ever
going to happen in your life there's nothing greater than that that you understood and
comprehended and believed the gospel that christ came and laid down his life that's the greatest
blessing that god could give us you know and that power that already works in us you know
but there's still other things that god is able to give us he's he's able to give us above all
that we ask or think the problem is is that we don't bother to ask the problem is is that we
don't bother to think we're not like the shunammite woman you know we don't always just we don't go to
the king and cry to the king you know for the things that we eat the things that we want she
did you know she went in faith to the king and asked what she needed and it was restored
unto her wasn't it it was again faith that restored all that she she had back to her
you know and this is the thing you know if we live like this woman because again we're contrasting
the shunammite with you know gehazi if we live like this woman a woman who not doesn't just stop
when life is restored doesn't just stop at salvation but actually chooses to believe
and obey the word of god then you know we are going our latter end is going to be blessed
isn't it by who by the king right god will bless us even if it's not in this life you know and that
again that requires faith doesn't it even if not in this if it's not in this life if we're not if
we don't have you know all that we could ask or think restored to us in this life we know that
we have you know an inheritance incorruptible reserved in heaven for us that there's an eternal
weight of glory that's waiting for us for those that walk by faith that live by faith that obey
the word of god the problem is is that a lot of times christians they lean more towards
the gehazi side of the story they're not like the shunammite woman who is taking going beyond just
you know the life being restored but is actually obeying and walking the lord going to the king
for the things that she has need of asking those things in faith receiving those things in faith
a lot of times what we do is we're more like a hay's eye where we just kind of live in the past
yeah i got saved it was pretty cool and that's about all i can tell you about the christian life
because i haven't bothered to do anything else i haven't bothered to live for the lord i have not
bothered to obey the saying of the man of god i haven't bothered to obey what the bible actually
says so we don't really have anything to talk about we really don't have any blessings
we have stories about other people maybe we could tell you could end up being more like a gehazi
who's just living in the past just rehearsing the accomplishments of somebody else perhaps but we
don't have anything of our own because we haven't had that walk that faith that obedience like the
shunammite woman you know again this this is something that comes up over and over again
in scripture is not to be taken out by covetousness and this is something that
you know i i feel like i talk about it a lot but you know and i don't plan on stopping anytime
soon because covetousness especially in the world that we're living in today is a major sin it's
prevalent and it's one of those sins that just creep into our heart creeps into our hearts
and is there and we're coveting after things and we don't even realize it we're wanting more than
we need we're ungrateful for the things that we already have we're always wanting more and we're
just we end up chasing after things that have no eternal value this is what covetousness does to us
that's what happened to gehazi isn't it gehazi saw naman's reward watched elijah turn it down
and take not nothing from him and said well i'm going to go after him and i'm going to get you
know make up some story i'm going to go ahead and you know get me some silver i'm going to get me
a couple changes arraignment right and what did elijah say is it a time to receive right this is
where you know again we're contrasting these two characters the shunammite woman and gehazi
we want to end up on the on the shunammite side of things we want to be like this woman
you know who lives by faith is obedient and isn't like a gehazi who covets after the things of this
world you know just wants some position just wants to rub shoulders with the king or whatever
and the bible again i know what i bring it up a lot but the bible just hammers covetousness over
and over again jesus said in the parable of talents in matthew 25 his lord sent him well
done thou good and faithful servant thou has been faithful over a few things i will make the ruler
over many things enter down to the joy of the lord but we want to be faithful over the things
in this life so that we can be made faithful over many things in the world to come right that's our
latter end being blessed if we become covetous in this life we end up being more like a gehazi
it's going to end up costing us everything and this maybe we might get a lot of things in this
world we might have a lot of material things we might have a lot of stuff we might have had a
you know a lot of pleasure in this life we might have a lot of comforts but what are we going to
have to show in glory right because we're not taking those things with us and this is something
that jesus just hammered you know and just said you know lay not up for yourselves treasure upon
the earth where moth and rust are corrupt but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where
you know moth and rust don't corrupt and what these don't break through and steal you know
that's where our treasure ought to be why because where your treasure is there will your heart be
also you know this is something we have to stay on guard on in our life is guarding against
covetousness because if we don't you know we're going to be a gehazi in life you know we might
have some cool stories to tell they're not our own you know we got leprosy you know but hey you
know we also got some silver out of it too right you got to take his goods with him and go put on
his fresh garments to cover up his leprosy but you know what there's no there's no reward he's
not being restored everything by the king he's getting not getting you know all this blessing
just poured upon him because he went and asked something of the king it's the shunammite woman
that's getting that because she's the one that's walking by faith she's the one that's obeying
saying she's the one that is receiving as a result covetousness at the end is going to cost
us everything that's why we should learn to be content and not to be like a hay's eye who
coveted that's why jesus again warned it gets hammered take heed and beware of covetousness
for a man's life consists consists if not and the abundance of the things which he possess it
the abundance of the things which he possesses he didn't say you know take heed and beware of
covetousness because it's not a lot about making you know being a multi-millionaire you know i
know i mentioned this you know a few weeks ago you know we we today we think oh i'm not covetous
because you know i'm not donald trump you know i'm not elon musk after all you know i'm not i'm
not pursuing some great wealth look we are the rich folks you see who the rich of this world are
you're looking at them you say well no no no we're i'm not because i only have one car and
i only have a three-bedroom house and i only have my ac unit is 12 years old it's not brand new and
i only have 150 channels on my television not 200 do you hear what you're saying do you hear the
words coming out you're rich right well i don't have the latest and greatest you know smart device
you know this this watch on my wrist isn't the newest one you know that's why i'm not rich no we
are wealthy beyond measure with things right but look we need that's why that's why it has to be
preached because we're living in a materialistic world we're living in a society that's all about
consumerism and money and getting things and wealth and just piling up more toys and more
toys and more toys and none of those things end up satisfying anyway and jesus told us to take
heed and beware of covetousness because a man's life does not consist in the abundance of the
things which he possesses i mean is that what makes is that who we are my iphone the car i
drive look and people get wrapped up in these things this becomes their identity you know i'm
the car i drive i'm the kind of clothes i wear i'm the name brand whatever they think that they
use these things to identify themselves to create an image that's pretty vapid that's a pretty
shallow existence isn't it that's like a hay's eye kind of life to sit around and just think
your life's about silver and clothes and just things right that's not what i i'm not interested
in that you know i i don't want to have my reward here on this earth you know i want to be more on
the shunammite side of the scale right well you know what it might mean i have to walk away from
some earthly things from time to time it might mean i just might be willing to have to say you
know what well then i'll just leave it all you know but at the end my latter end the king
eventually is going to restore me everything everything that i thought i gave up in this life
for christ's sake you know it's going to be restored to me through the king the lord
jesus that's that's the picture that i see there that's the analogy let's uh let's move along here
in the story it says in verse 7 elijah came to damascus and ben hadad the king of syria was sick
and was told him saying the man of god has come hither and the king said to hasael take a present
in hand and go and meet the man of god and inquire of the lord by him saying shall recover of this
disease so hasael went to meet him and took a present with him even of every good thing of
damascus 40 camels burden and came and stood before him and said thy son ben hadad king of syria
had sent me to thee saying shall i recover of this disease and elijah said on him go and say
on him thou may certainly recover so he's like yeah you're gonna you're gonna get better
howbeit the lord has shown me that that he will surely die right so i believe this is probably
something elijah's kind of receiving this information in the moment he's like yeah you're
gonna get better but i also know that you're gonna die so it's like i got good news and i got bad
news you're not gonna desire that disease you're gonna die from some other means right because he's
seeing we get from the story here he he knows what's about to take place with hasael the ben
hadad servant but notice verse 11 he gives him this bad news and it says and he settled his
countenance steadfastly until he was ashamed and the man of god wept and again this goes back to
us saying earlier about the humanity that we see in elijah that he's not just some cold-hearted
you know rough guy that he had still has a tender heart because he understands what hasael is going
to do and all the things that hasael is going to do you know to the people of israel it says there
you know hasael asks him why weepeth my lord he answered because i know the evil that thou will
do unto the children of israel their strongholds will not set on fire and their young men will not
slay with the sword and dash will dash their children and rip up uh women with child and
saying i know the horrific things that you're going to do you know and it shows us that you
know we don't want to become calloused to the sin in this world you know we we can we can just be so
inundated with all just bombarded with just all of the bad news that's out there we're constantly
hearing at the point where we just kind of become calloused to it you know these things should
bother us you know and i don't want to spend a lot of time on this part of the story this really
could be a whole sermon in and of itself but i would point this out is that you know elijah here
is a man that's in the ministry he's a leader right and i kind of sympathize with this a little
because you know what i've seen what little bit i've seen the mystery is that and we all get a
taste of this to some degree but when you're in the ministry especially or in any situation where
you're dealing with people a lot you start to see the ugly side of people and you could not not you
know you could start to see when people can kind of get nasty right people can be quite mean-spirited
at times and this is something that you know i think elijah is kind of seeing about this guy
he's going to hazale but then he's kind of having to deal with a pretty nasty person isn't he
hazale's not a good guy right he says look what what my weeping he says uh he goes out and says
is thy servant a dog you know like am i am i some kind of reprobate am i some kind of
son of milial here yeah because even him by his own admission is like that's the kind of person
you have to be to do everything you just described it's like well but that's exactly what
you ended up doing and that's the kind of person that elijah has to deal with right and you know
that's that's just kind of comes with the territory you know that's just you know if
you're going to be in ministry that's just kind of something you're gonna have to deal with
you know and and i've had to deal with it i've had to seen other you know pastors deal with it
you know people are two-faced people turn on you people start to do bad things to you and
family you know it's hard to watch but that's part of kind of what comes with the ministry that ugly
side of of people not everyone obviously there's always good people but it's just part and parcel
with the ministry the other thing i'd point out too is that you know it says there he in verse 11
he settled his countenance steadfastly so as i you know as i kind of understand this what i think is
going on is that he's kind of telling his ale but giving him the message you know he's going to
recover he's going to surely die he's kind of seeing what's going to happen he understands
what his ale is going to do so he settles his countenance steadfastly he's trying to hold this
in right but eventually it says until he was ashamed and i think what it's just talking about
until he just he couldn't take it anymore and he kind of just dropped his head you know because
the bible talks about how women are being you know uh to to adorn themselves with shame-facedness
sobriety you know it's a it's a kind of count like a it's talking about their countenance it's
talking about how they carry themselves and he's i think that's kind of going on there he's just
kind of ashamed right and then it says in the man of god wept so the other thing you know it might
be more helpful on your end is to understand that people who are in ministry are human
and they have their limits too and when you know when you see enough of the nastiness people can
get bad enough to where it can push even men of god to limits you know to their breaking point
i don't want to spend a lot of time on that obviously the the crux of this
this these passages here is just kind of moving the story along giving us these things but i
thought it was interesting you know elisha's reaction to this there's a little bit of
application there but notice verse 13 it says well what is thy servant a dog that he should do this
thing this great thing and elisha answered the lord has shown me that thou shalt be king over
syria so he departed from elisha and came to his master who said to him what said elisha to thee
he answered he told me thou should have surely recovered is that all he told him there's a
little bit more of that story huh how convenient he didn't leave out the part about but you're
going to die right so he told me you're going to recover and it came to pass tomorrow that he took
a thick cloth and dipped it in water and spread it on his face so he died and hezael reigned in
his stead so he suffocates his own master and in the fifth year of joram the king of ahab king of
israel jehoshaphat then being king of judah jehorah and the son of jehoshaphat king of judah
began to reign now i'm just going to take a minute here and kind of explain what's going on because
this can kind of confuse people a little bit because it's it's talking about a jehoram and
then a uh a uh a jor a joram and then there's two jorams and you kind of you can get confused
basically what's going on here is that joram and jehoram are the same name okay so there's a joram
up in israel in the northern kingdom right the son of ahab but then there's jehoram who's
reigning in judah who is also called joram okay you say that's kind of confusing well you know
there's some things that we can learn from this but first of all you know you say how can that be
well just think about in a modern example today you know there's some people are called james
right is there another name that we call people who have the name james we call them jim right
and there's other examples we could think of like my brother-in-law his name is james but we all
call him jim right sometimes people have a name but they go by something else so that's what's
kind of going on here i think he was called you know he was named jehoram but they kind of shortened
that to joram and it just so happened that there's another joram that's reigning in israel so don't
let that confuse you you say well what's the proof of that how do we know it's not talking about that
guy well because it says there in verse 19 yet the lord would not destroy judah for israel
his servant's sake as he promised to him to give always a light into his children in his days eden
revolted from the hand of judah so it's talking about what's going on with judah right because
this this is how you determine that the joram and jehoram the same person it's the context
of how this how the story plays out it says that jehoram in verse 17 32 years old was he when he
began to reign and he reigned eight years where in jerusalem and jerusalem's where in the southern
kingdom right and he talked about jehoram walked in the ways of the king of israel and as did the
house of ahab for the daughter of ahab was his wife right and he did evil in the sight of lord
it talks about judah then verse 21 so joram went over to zayer and all the chariots with him and he
rose by night and smote the edamites who were rebelling against who judah right so he just had
to slow down and think about it you just have to think follow it through right he reigned eight
years in jerusalem he who's the he there jehoram right he's reigning in jerusalem which is in the
southern kingdom and he walked in the ways of the kings of israel right because he had married you
know we'll get into that in a minute verse 19 yet the lord would not destroy him right and then in
his days we haven't changed here the person that we're talking about we're still talking about
jehoram right in his days edom revolted under the hand of judah and made a king over themselves so
joram went over to zayer with all his chariots with him and he arose by night and smote the
edomites which compassed him about and the captains of the chariots and the people fled
in their tents yet edom revolted from the other hand of judah unto this day and the rest of the
acts of joram and all the acts that he did are they not written the books of the chronicles of
the kings of judah right so who's jehoshaphat he's the king of judah but here it's calling
him joram it's just there's two jorams it's really not that complicated and joram slept
with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of david right so that's that's all
a reference to judah so you have a joram in northern israel and you have a joram who goes by
in the beginning jehoshaphat it can be a little confusing you say what's you know what can we
get out of that well some practical application you know when it comes to interpretation you know
there's certain rules if you're going to interpret things if you're going to form a doctrine if
you're going to make some kind of a dogma you have to do it in the context of the scripture
people get all kinds of trouble when they start just lifting things out of the bible and they
don't read things in context this is a very simple example that if you just follow the story through
and read it in context by the time you get to the end you say oh it's it's just another it's joram
is also called joram it's not that confusing but you'd have to get that by reading the context
okay by reading the whole story another more practical application to be is when you're
reading your bible you have to pay attention okay and believe me we're all guilty of this we all
have our we're faithfully reading our bible every day you know and then we're about you know however
long into it and then we read a whole page and go what did i just read because you were busy
thinking about wonder what someone if they did they like my post on facebook is the coffee done
you know or whatever you just had you're just you're just thinking about things you're thinking
about your day other things you have to do you know who knows what all kinds of weird things
you might just run through your head just trivial nonsensical things while you're sitting there you
know you have to actually focus you know and there's a lot of different things you could do
one thing i like to do this let me just be practical is actually hold your bible like this
you know get it up in front of your face you say what's that going to do well it helps
lift your head up there's this whole reaction with holding your head up your eyes
helps you to concentrate more instead of being head down eyes down where you start to that's
right before you fall asleep right that's when you fall asleep you don't fall asleep like this
you know typically you do this right so that's just like a physiological response just you know
if you hold it up and maybe stand up or whatever but you know hey that's the example here if you
pay attention while you're reading this you're going to get it if you slow down and actually
just consider the context and pray or uh pay attention you're going to come to the same
conclusion that Jehoram and Joram are the same guy because the Jehoram of is of Judah
and the Joram in the latter end there is talking about Judah a king of Judah okay
anyway let's just move on here it says in verse 25 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 ways 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 now I want to point something out here about this guy Ahaziah
and of Joram slash Jehoram is that both of these guys married into the house of Ahab
if you remember Ahab from first kings very wicked guy remember Jezebel's husband
Jezebel was very wicked these guys are marrying into that house into a wicked house this is the
southern kingdom of Judah that's marrying into you know the the family of those that are reigning
you know the king in the northern kingdom of Israel right and we all know that the northern
kingdom you know was given over to idolatry they were worshiping all kinds of you know
false gods and things like that eventually it's not much longer and they're going to just be
completely wiped out and carried captive by the Assyrians and all of that they're they're on the
brink of destruction they're they're fast approaching it in the meantime the southern
kingdom that God had like we just read that God had promised to always leave a light for David
is marrying intermarrying with this wicked house now Judah and the kings there obviously had their
issues but it does show us that the person that you marry has a very profound effect on your life
because notice in verse 18 the walk and he walked in the ways the kings of Israel as did the house
of Ahab the daughter of eight for the daughter of Ahab was his wife so it says that he walked
in the ways of the kings of Israel and did as did the house of Ahab right that's what's talking
about Jehoram there or Goram that's what the southern the king from Judah Ahaziah's father did
he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel which was not good that was wicked but then explains why
he did that for the daughter of Ahab was his wife say why did he do that because the daughter of
Ahab was his wife okay that's not just he's not got that's there for a very specific reason God's
trying to show us something that this woman that he married had a profound effect on his life
the spouse had a profound and he did evil in the sight of Lord same thing happened with his son you
know there's a whole nother application right there you know fathers need to be careful about
what they do because their sons will follow in their footsteps they will not do what you say
they will do what you do and if they see you getting into sin they're probably going to get
into sin because after all it was good for daddy it must be good for me and he walked in verse 27
and he walked in the ways the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the house of inside the
Lord as did the house of Ahab just like his dad why for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab
so what's the reason why they're doing evil because of the women that they married which
tells you this that the person you marry is going to have a huge impact on your life I mean how
couldn't it how couldn't it the person that you're going to be spending the rest of your life with
you know that's a huge decision they'll have a profound influence on your life so what's the
first application if you kept something in fusions go to chapter five again keep something there
a couple more times we're going to go back well the first application is this right there on the
surface don't marry unsafe people you know there's a lot of young people coming up that are thinking
about marriage obviously that's and that's great you know that's a natural next step into adulthood
is you know you grow up you get married right nothing wrong with that's good but don't just
go marry anyone you need to be careful about the people that you're going to spend the rest of your
life with there's no other relationship that's going to have more influence on you than who you
marry not your mother not your father not your siblings not your preacher nobody nobody will have
a bigger impact on your life than the person that you marry mark it down for better or worse
the things that you know the things that come about because of marriage will affect you for
the rest of your life for better or worse for the rest of your life marry the wrong person
falls apart get divorced that's going to affect you for the rest of your life it's a huge decision
you know and it's and we want to be careful about who we're going to marry okay you know it had a
profound influence on these kings of juda they're doing evil because in the bible very specifically
says because they were married to the daughters of ahab wicked wicked women so don't marry an
unsafe person we know ephishians chapter 5 verse 11 it says and have no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove no fellowship right we shouldn't have fellowship
with the with the fruit of unfruitful works of darkness let alone marry it i mean what greater
fellowship could you have than marrying somebody that's the most tight-knit closest relationship
you'll ever have in your whole life is marriage the person you marry it's better not being
somebody that's you know considered uh you know of the works of darkness go to ephishians chapter 2
it says in 2nd corinthian 6 be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers i mean marriage
is a yoke that you're getting into with somebody you're saying hey we're going to share this yoke
in life we're going to work together we're going to labor together we're going to raise
a family together we're going to do everything together you're that's like getting in a yoke
with someone right just make sure that person's not an unbeliever this is like step one you want
to get married to somebody are they saved if they're not saved don't marry them the relationship is
over okay because and you have to preach this because because people get in their heads like
oh i know they're not saved but i'm going to change them i'm going to get them saved
you know and this is especially well i'm getting ahead of myself but you you got to make sure they
check that box is are they saved we're not to be unweekly yoked with unbelievers for what fellowship
hath righteous with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness and look
everyone every single one of us at one time walked in darkness you know maybe if we got saved at a
young age we didn't walk that long you know maybe maybe the darkness we walked in as we pushed our
brother and sister around a little bit when we were little i don't know well we you know we all
grew you know if we unless we got saved earlier we've all spent time in the lust of the flesh
right that's what it says in ephesians 2 look at verse 1 and you had to quicken who were dead in
trespasses and sins and the times past you walked according the course of this world according the
prince of the power here that spirit that what now worketh in the children of disobedience that
unsaved person that you just think is so handsome that unsaved girl you think is just so pretty
is going to make such a great spouse that person that unsaved person is a child of disobedience
they're walking in that same spirit that we used to walk in they walked in according to the course
of this world they're not walking after the things of god they're not interested in the things of god
if they're not saved how why would they be verse three among whom we all had a conversation times
past lust of the flesh fulfilling the desires the flesh and the mind unsaved people that's what
their life's about fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind that's all they care about
that's all they have to live for folks fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind that's what
the average unsaved person has to live for in this life you know and that is not what we are supposed
to be living for as christians you know per the first half of this sermon we are not to be like
a Gehazi chasing after covetousness and lust you know we should desire to be like the Shunammite
woman who is trying to live a godly life and obedient life you know the Gehazi's eyes of this
world do not mix with the Shunammites of this world okay the saved and the unsaved should stay
apart we should not be unequally yoked with them so obviously that's a pretty easy box to check
right if we're when we're considering a spouse to just say hey married or excuse me saved if
they're married definitely don't marry them okay that's another that one was for free but you know
if they're if they're unsaved nada ain't gonna happen right but here's the other thing you don't
want to just go oh well they're saved so i'll marry them you know and then just overlook all
these other things you know make sure the person you marry is spiritual too don't marry an
unspiritual person you know and this is especially true and go to proverbs 21 proverbs 21 this is
especially true i think for young ladies because here's the thing if you as a young lady are going
to want to fulfill your god-given role as a wife and mother you're going to have to submit to your
husband and follow his leading aren't you and that's what the bible says wives submit to your
husbands as unto the lord the bible teaches us that so a young lady should probably want to marry
up in terms of spirituality she should probably be looking for somebody that's more spiritual than
her that's going to challenge her to be a more a better christian right and and if you're the guy
and you're trying to marry a girl who's more spirit you know she's not going to be the one
that's leading you you should be the leader you know so if i you know my advice to young ladies
especially when it comes to this idea of marrying somebody that's spiritual make sure they're more
spiritual than you you know make sure there's somebody that's doing the soul-willing that doing
that knows the bible that's doing the bible reading that goes to church that cares about
the things of god if not as more than you at least as much because you're going to trust that
person to lead your house spiritually and to lead you spiritually but if they're yeah they're saved
you know they check that box praise god for that but if they don't have a spiritual bone in their
body it's going to be a long life you know you're going to start wanting to take the kids to church
they're just going to want to sit at home and watch the game you're going to want to raise the
kids in the nurture and animation of the lord they're not going to really care you're going to
want to stay home and take care of them and not be away from your babies and raise them up right
and he's going to want to put a hair net and a name tag on you and shove you out in the workforce
and make you go be subservient to some other man i mean that does that well that would never happen
that happens all the time out there that's what the world does that's what the the people who
walk according to the course of this world do every day in mass the vast majority of people
do it that way you know so marry don't just marry someone who's saved marry someone saved
and actually has some spiritual depth to them that actually cares about the things of god
and especially if you're a young lady you know looking to find a godly husband make
sure it's somebody who would actually challenge you to be a better christian you know i i my wife
didn't just marry me for my looks obviously and you know i didn't and she didn't she sure didn't
be married for my money right she didn't marry me because i looked so good in that tweed suit that
didn't match and my khakis that were too small right she didn't and that poofy hair and my
untied shoe you know she had her reasons but you know one of the things that drew me and my wife
together was the fact that we both saw one another serving in the ministry you know we saw one
another you know in the bus route going to church you know you know obviously there were other
things i found very attractive about my wife but i was going to give her the time of day if she
wasn't you know interested in the things of god because i'm not just looking for somebody who's
saved i want somebody who's saved and actually cares about the things of god that actually cares
about spiritual things that cares about souls that cares about the ministry the work of god that's
what i'm here to do look if that's not what you're here to do if you're here to just play fun and
games then by all means go marry some unspiritual saved person go ahead go do that because you'll
get everything you want out of it but if you actually care about the things of god about
serving god you know saved isn't enough of a box to check it needs to be saved with some actual
spirituality has a genuine walk with god that's the other thing you should be looking for
you know especially guys too they should definitely want to marry you know a spiritual
woman you know if you're going to want to fulfill your role as a husband obviously you're going to
want to marry some a lady who is going to want to fulfill you know her role as a woman look at
proverbs 21 verse 9 it is better to dwell in the corner of a house top than with a brawling woman
in a wide house you would rather go up and pitch a tent on the roof than live with a brawling woman
in a white house marriage and when life will become very long when it's just nagging and
fighting and scrapping and just bickering and going back and forth and resentment look married
their people get married and they're in love and then you know the honeymoon ends and if there's
no spirituality they can get to a place where they hate each other they hate each other they
can't even stand i can't stand to watch him chew his food i can't stand to hear her breathe
it's funny but it's true you know that's not what you want you know and it's you know this is the
reality about marriage that people have to think about and it's kind of hard to do when it's all
you're just looking at it through the the the rose-colored glasses of being in love
you know where it's all just you know puppy love and emotions look those things are important they
should be there you should be attracted it's great to be excited about the person that you
you're falling in love with but i'm telling you that's going to come to an end it's not going to
be one long honeymoon at some point it's we're going to have to learn to get along and play nice
and you know and put up with one another from time to time and deal with each other's you know
problems and faults and everything else it's going to take a spiritual person to do that it's going
to take a spiritual person to be able to look past you know all the you know all the the faults
and shortcomings of another individual and understand that they have their own you know
prideful people can't do that people that don't have any humility can't do that people who don't
you know care about the things of god they're probably not going to do that it would be better
to dwell in the corner of a house top i'll say this it would be better to not marry at all than
to marry wrong it'd be better just live your whole life single and never get married than to marry
the wrong person marry the wrong person somebody who's not spiritual it's just going to make your
life long and miserable and there's plenty of people out there that could testify to that
you know that's anyway i don't want to spend a lot of time on this but i got to make this point
because it's interesting that that's what the bible is showing us right that you know these
men these kings of juda these two kings you know went astray and we did wickedly for the sight of
lord and it was directly related to the fact that they married an ungodly spouse
you know there's other things that marriage to agree upon besides salvation
you know don't marry just a safe person marry something spiritual you know that's why before
anyone gets married there should be some serious conversations about child rearing about you know
roles about you know all kinds of things because there's a lot of other things in life to agree on
besides just do you believe in the lord jesus christ you know i think a great example of that
i think a great example of this is solomon right and here's the thing you know i preach this and
i say this from time to time and i've heard other people preach it but people will still get in
their heads like oh no that's not not me i'm i'm miles away from doing anything that dumb
well solomon was the wisest guy ever he was the smartest he's the he had more wisdom than any
other man outside of lord jesus christ right but what happened to him at the end his heart was
turned from the lord and he literally worshipped like devils i won't take the time turning there
but second king first kings 11 i'll remind you solomon built a high place for kimosh the
abomination of moab in the hill that is before jerusalem and for molec i mean they they sacrificed
children to molec this is what he did solomon who built the temple for god who had god appear to him
twice the abomination the children of ammon and why did he do these things and he did likewise
for all his strange wives which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods you know and if
we and what did he what was solomon's sin ultimate is he ignored the word of god because the bible
told him in deuteronomy 17 that the king should not what multiply wives to himself that his heart
turned not away that was in the law like solomon knew that and he disregarded the word of god
you know and he thought well i'm after all i have all this wisdom you know i'm sure i'll be i'm
different i'm different than you know i don't listen to the preacher i don't hear what i'm
listening to what the bible says because i'm different and what happened to him he ends up
having his heart turned and he was warned and look and that's what i'm saying to you tonight
because i'm warning you right now young people that are considering marriage or will be considering
marriage you know you want to find somebody that's not just saved but it has some spirituality
otherwise life is going to be long okay huge decision if you're nor god's word you're stupid
okay when you say when you you read the end of solomon's life you're not like oh very wise
you know you go this guy's an idiot that was pretty stupid solomon even people who should
know better make really dumb decisions don't they it's dumb to ignore the word of god so don't
you know marry uh hastily or for carnal unimportant reasons you want to marry
for the right reasons you know yes love yes attraction all of that you know love and
attraction isn't really that hard to come by to be honest you know it's people are you know
especially the the physical attraction you know that's not something that's that hard to find it
with anybody you know of the opposite gender that's not something that's necessarily you know
obviously you want to be attracted to person you want to have that love and affection
there's got to be more to it than that there's got to be some you know uh some depth to that
person spiritually on both ends look at uh now verse 28 i'll just wrap basically verses 28
through 29 you know it's just setting it up for next week and if you know anything about
chapter nine you'll be here next week because that's the whole reason why i'm preaching this
book no i'm just kidding chapter nine is awesome though the next couple chapters are some of the
best you know i guess i get to the best my personal opinion you know they're some of my favorite
chapters in the bible because there's just so much action i mean people are getting slain chariots
are being driven furiously women are getting thrown out of windows people are getting trampled
under horses blood's getting sprinkled dogs are eating them it's sword fights and battles it's
yeah it's some good stuff coming up but what can we learn from this chapter tonight is that you
know from the shunammite if we want god's blessing in life we have to do things god's way right and
his ways are not a mystery solomon right it's not like god's hiding from us what what would make us
help us to live a good life god's written right here his ways are not a mystery if we want god's
blessing we have to do things his way that's why god has made his way very plain to see
you know he's he's manifested you know so pay attention to it you know that's the other thing
we got there from the middle of the chapter you know with the whole jehoram joram thing is that
god isn't god has given us word that if we'll obey it you know we will have the blessing from
the word of god so pay attention to the word of god let's go ahead and pray