(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

all right so in 2nd Kings chapter 3 let's jump right in here verse number 1 the Bible says now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel and Samaria the 18th year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah and reigned 12 years so if you remember that Ahab was king you know he he lived and he died extremely wicked king he was married to Jezebel and it was prophesied against him that his posterity would be cut off and you know all the the house of Ahab basically was going to be killed so we haven't gotten to the completion of that prophecy yet because he had Ahaziah his son took over in Ahab's stead and ruled for a short time but then he was killed now we have Jehoram because Ahaziah didn't have any children Jehoram his brother another son of Ahab is ruling in Ahab's stead so this is going on during the reign of Jehoshaphat of course Jehoshaphat is the king of Judah and Jehoshaphat was a righteous king he's a godly king he's doing basically the right things we see him he's made a couple mistakes but he's he's overall known as a king that did right in the eyes of the Lord and is doing a good thing and we see here that now Jehoram is reigning verse number two says and he wrought evil in the sight of the Lord but not like his father and like his mother for he put away the image of Baal that his father has made so he's still a wicked King he still does evil but he's not quite as bad as Ahab and Jezebel because it says that he didn't worship Baal now but then it says nevertheless verse three he cleaved under the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which made Israel to sin he departed not therefrom if you remember you know Jeroboam was the I mean that was kind of the turning point for Israel they could have been doing well especially when when the house of David screwed up when Solomon screwed up and ruined things for for the kingdom of it the whole kingdom of Israel before it got split up Jeroboam son of Nebat had a really good opportunity to kind of take the torch and start doing right for God and be the righteous nation and he just blew it he made the the images the golden calves and he said one in Dan and one in Bethel and just said hey you know worship here is the Lord he didn't he didn't make up a new God he just created these idols which then just led the people away and he instituted different things he was saying you know these be thy gods so it's not I mean it wasn't the Lord clearly I mean he did you know create a false God but he was still like saying that this is the same God you know he wasn't completely departing from what they supposedly had known to be God as the Lord but he was changing everything and obviously just just committing abominations I mean it was horrible to build these these idols and set them up so we have Jehoram now Ahab son he's not quite as wicked as Ahab. Now Ahab was real wicked and we see the progression Jeroboam has always looked at as like man he's a real evil king but then you start getting to the points we're at now and it's like these kings are getting progressively worse and worse and worse it's like they had done worse and all the kings before him they had done worse and all the people and Ahab was one the last one where he's just done worse than like all the kings that were before him. Extremely wicked kings and Jehoram is still an evil king he's just not quite as bad as Ahab his father but he's still into this idolatry this idol worship because even though he's not worshipping Baal that specific false god it says that he cleaved under the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which made Israel to sin so he's still cleaving to that idolatry he's cleaving to these false gods clearly he's not interested in the Lord we see that in the story later when when you know Elisha when they're looking for a prophet and Jehoram just seems to have all the answers anyways and doesn't care Jehoshaphat's the only one interested in seeing what God has to think about any of this stuff but anyway let's keep reading here verse number four so he's a wicked King verse number four and Misha king of Moab was a sheep master and rendered under the king of Israel and a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand rams with the wool but it came to pass when Ahab was dead that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel if you remember last week too we saw another king and I don't remember which one it was they were they were rebelling you know we start to get more rebellion now that Ahab's dead Ahab seemed to have a pretty solid reign when it comes to his enemies and and kind of having people subdued now you've got more and more trouble for Israel there's more instability in the throne because you already have your Ahab died and his son died and now you've got Jehoram reigning and they're they're facing all this stuff they're facing now more rebellion basically what Moab was doing is they were just paying tribute to him by way of all of the sheeps and goats and wolves you know they're sending him all of that stuff to satisfy them it's like their taxes basically they're saying okay we're we're subduing you and you owe us this and and everything will be fine they said they finally said you know what not gonna pay him and really what is extortion I mean that's that's all it is when you know and these these nations are kind of just controlling them it's like well you pay us or else we'll invade you and you know and in have war and cause you all kinds of problem to kill a bunch of people or you pay me there's an extortion is all it is but but I mean it's the way of the world thankfully we're not of the world but that's that's the way of the world and that's the way things go and now they have trouble because Misha king of Moab is rebelling against them so verse number five it says but it came to pass when Ahab was dead we read that verse number six and King Jehoram went out of Samaria the same time and numbered all Israel so Jehoram's not gonna take it he said oh okay you're not gonna you're not gonna pay us well now and that's the whole reason he goes in numbers what says he numbered Israel what he's worried what he's concerned about he's saying how much of an army can I raise how many people can I raise to go and fight this battle that was the purpose of their census you go number Israel okay how many people it's usually the males from 20 years old and upward because that's who they would use to fight in their battles so he needs to say okay well I got an idea of what the forces of Moab are I need to count my forces and see if we're gonna go in and win this battle now what we see here the way that Jehoram acts this is the way of the world this is someone who does not believe in the Lord this is not the way that a believer should be acting someone who who believes in God when faced with a problem or faced with a challenge I mean especially in this situation there's no you know this is ridiculous they're not they didn't even have like you know Moab it was a whole nother nation I mean it's not like it's not like the people that the Jebusites the Parizzites the Hivites you know all the all the nations that were in the land of Canaan that were in the promised land that God gave to them I mean this is a whole nother nation of Moab that you know yeah they might have wars with each other but they had no reason to just continually be oppressing Moab but regardless of the reason and this is being an act of aggression now against him just because he's not being paid which again is another thing that's wrong with what Jehoram's doing here but he numbers his real and then he goes and looks to recruit even more help so he looks to the king of Judah Jehoshaphat to try to bolster and get more troops to go fight with them to fight his battles with them and this is the mindset of the world this is the way that you would think if you don't have God as your defender if you have God to look to to fight your battles for you you notice he has nothing to do with God at all he's just saying well I'm gonna say count my troops I'm gonna go get some help but we're gonna fight this battle and that's what happens and look at verse number seven he says and he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah saying the king of Moab hath rebelled against me wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle and he said I will go up I am as thou art my people as thy people and my horses is thy horses keep your finger here look at 2nd Chronicles chapter 19 I've already pointed this out in 1st Kings but it's worth pointing out again because you would think that Jehoshaphat would have learned his lesson I've already mentioned Jehoshaphat it goes down in history as being a righteous king but this he had a real strong problem with and it was getting involved in fights he shouldn't have been getting involved in and helping out the ungodly he was already rebuked because Ahab came to him with a similar problem Ahab it went when during Ahab's reign he came to Jehoshaphat and saying hey are you gonna help me out in this fight I got to go to battle can you you know can you join forces with me what do you say buddy what do you say son-in-law you're gonna come with me and fight with me and he gave him the same answer yep you know what my people is thy people my horses is thy horses and now you have this other situation with Moab and it's like why are you going first of all why are you going to help Israel why are you going to help wicked Jehoram okay yeah he wasn't quite as bad as Ahab but he's still following the son of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and he's still going to extort from Moab which okay so they're rebelling against him so what what does that have to do with you Judah king of Judah you got no business with them but no he goes off and in 2nd Chronicles 19 verse 2 this is where he's rebuked it says in Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him this is after the battle where Ahab was killed where Ahab recruited Jehoshaphat and he's met on it once he gets back he's safe at home Jehoshaphat Jehu the son of Hanani the seer so a prophet comes to rebuke Jehoshaphat and said to King Jehoshaphat shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord this guy prophesied wrath from God for going and helping the ungodly now I don't know how many times Jehoshaphat probably heard that in his life especially because he was doing so much good for the Lord you know he's getting rid of the sodomites out of the land he was fighting the Lord's battle he was he was worshiping God and seeking out prophets of the Lord and here he gets a rebuke however many years earlier and then it's like you're gonna go out and repeat the same exact thing and do the same mistake what is wrong with you Jehoshaphat we need to be sensitive to God's Word and the point where if you get a stern rebuke and if you find that you hear something in your life thus saith the Lord you know don't do this this is this is this is bad this is a sin you're gonna be under wrath of God don't turn back to that stuff again I mean you hear that you'll be able to receive it because I don't know I don't we don't know how this played out in Jehoshaphat's life exactly I do know it wasn't good for his son and I'm actually not sure if 2nd Kings goes into Jehoshaphat's line that much because we're going more through Israel than Judah but I think it might I'm not I'm not too positive about that there's in Chronicles we should for sure though we see that and he pays a dear price in his future generations in his posterity for making these mistakes and we could see how strong of an influence that it's made that he made affinity with the house of Ahab when he married into Ahab's family I think that is the reason he just could not break that bond and say no to that household that wicked household that wicked family and just say no either for his wife's sake or whatever he thinks is honorable I don't know but it doesn't matter and we need to be able to make the stand while we're standing with God over family now look I am a big proponent of standing with your family I think it's important to have a strong family and and to be there for your family and honor your mother and father and and to support one another and do what you can to really help out your family but when it comes down to an issue where you're gonna be wrong with God by standing with your family you need to stay right with God above all Jehoshaphat chose his family over saying no I'm not gonna help you because you're ungodly and wicked now don't be confused you know people getting family arguments and fights over a lot of things big and small right we don't want to blow up into you know make a mountain out of a molehill with our family and oh I'm not staying with you and you know and like there's a difference between a wicked person and having disagreements or fights or whatever with your family members so we don't need to just constantly be pushing away our family necessarily but at the same time when you know when you know someone's wicked you don't need to be going and helping in their battles that they're trying to fight you know whatever that may mean individually like in in various situations and I'm talking about because Ahab was a wicked person extremely wicked Jehoram was a wicked person I mean you see at the end of the chapter how wicked Jehoram is he sacrificed his own son as a burnt sacrifice unto a false god that is wicked as hell anybody who's gonna do that stuff yeah you should have anything to do with them I don't care if they're family or not you avoid them put them away and have nothing to do with them because that is wickedness you don't go and say yeah I'm gonna I'm gonna offer up the lives of the young men in my nation to go help support your wicked cause that's what our nation's doing our wicked politicians are wicked men in charge that are ruling and saying oh yeah we'll send all these families sons and daughters off to go fight and get killed in some war to make some money to profit to go extort some nations for their their natural resources or whatever go over to Moab and and oh you're not gonna pay us we're gonna send in troops and when it boils down to it a lot of these skirmishes and battles and wars and fights and stuff they're going on in Middle East and elsewhere that's what it boils down to they're gonna lie to you and say oh no we're trying to liberate these people as you go in and kick down their doors and and smash them in the face with our freedom and hold their curfews and hold them under gunpoint yeah looks looks real free to me and you wonder why there's so many people becoming terrorists and anti-american and be like oh they must just hate us for our freedom they don't have for our freedom you they hate us for the freedom that you're bringing to them under the the muzzle of a gun and terrorizing their families they say if that's freedom we hate that we have nothing to do with that it's wicked as hell but we see Joshua fat just he's too yoked up he's too tied in with that family to be able to say no you know we all need to learn how to say no sometimes say no I'm not gonna do that have conviction stand on God's Word have some integrity and say you know what I'm gonna refuse to do that it may make people mad it may make people uncomfortable but I'm gonna stand up and say you know what God's more important to me than what you think about me and if you have any respect for me you'll respect my decision but if not then whatever because I care about how God thinks about me more than what any other man thinks about me and it's not easy to make that stand it's not to be honest with you you know some people can make that stand and make it look easy but it's not easy just be prepared for it though you have to determine in your heart and in your mind what is important to you who do you care about more you decide that priority God demands that the priority be him it's up to you to make that decision Joshua did many good things but he was still falling into the wrath of God because of his decisions to disobey and to not stand with the Lord and to help out the wicked let's keep reading here in 2nd Kings chapter 3 verse number 8 so now he's uh he's agreed he's agreed to go to the battle so Jehoram is asking him well which way shall we go up how are we gonna do this how do you think we should invade Moab verse number eight he said which way shall we go up and he answered the way through the wilderness of Edom says oh we're gonna go through Edom and we'll attack him that way we'll come in through the wilderness and kind of surprise him that way so they got Edom involved now it says so the king of Israel went and the king of Judah and the king of Edom and they fetched a compass of seven days journey so they're going through the wilderness now the wilderness especially in that area doesn't necessarily mean like like why I think of wilderness it depends on where you grew up from wilderness is out in the wild but for many people and myself included when I want to hear the word wilderness I'm thinking like forests and what you know just like this different type of terrain but literally where this is in the Middle East it's probably the desert I mean that's what the wilderness is it's more like you know you go down Arizona Central Arizona Southern Arizona and will the wilderness is all desert and usually almost anywhere you go wilderness is not necessarily hospitable and it's definitely not when you read wilderness in the Bible it's not a hospitable place it's not easy to go through so they chose a way that maybe strategically would be a good a good route to go but what happens is is that they go by the way of the wilderness and there's no water for them there's no supplies and these are things you got to think about when you got these three armies right joined together to go fighting a battle and it's taking you seven days to journey and they don't have a supply line and there's no resources in the land so now it's like we're going to invade and we're just gonna die here in the wilderness before we even make it to the fight because we've got nothing to drink and our resources are spent the animals aren't gonna be able make it we're not gonna be able make it this is the predicament they find themselves in already poor planning and then so that's where they decide to go verse number nine says so the king of Israel went the king of Judah and the king of Edom and they fetch a compass of seven days journey and there was no water for the host and for the cattle that followed them verse 10 and the king of Israel said alas that the Lord hath called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab what a arrogant pompous man anyways look at look at how now he makes reference to the Lord he doesn't follow the Lord he doesn't believe in the Lord but when things are going bad he's like oh look the Lord has brought us all together just to destroy us just to deliver us into Moab this is why the Lord brought us here and first of all I would think that why even arrogant to think that God is bringing you three kings together anyways as if you're doing the right thing the Lord's called us three kings together the Lord didn't say anything about it you didn't go ask him about it that's for sure and that's another problem with Joshua bet he didn't go and get seek counsel of the Lord before making his pact with them and going out and deciding to go to battle see that was what King David had done when King David was decided to get in a battle he would go and ask God first hey God should I fight these people are you going to deliver him into my hand or should I for bear should I go somewhere else should I run away should I do what should I do God and God would tell him yep go fight him I'll deliver it in nope go this way nope hey you go over here and here's what I want you to do and and whatever he did David will listen to him Josh if it's doing that but only to a point he only he only does it like when he gets into trouble we need to be seeking God's counsel before we get into trouble we need to be seeing advice from the beginning because that would save Josh if I had a lot of heartache and a lot of headache by going to God first and saying God okay what do I do but you know what I think he probably already knew God was gonna say don't go because he already heard it before don't go help the ungodly but he was stiff-necked just want to do it anyways because of his I assume because of his affinity with the house of Ahab I've seen no other reason for him to do that especially with the way that his actions were in the rest of his life it seems to be the only logical reason that he would even do anything so the king of Israel Jehoram is just like oh man what we're gonna do the Lord's gonna deliver us in the hand of a of Moab verse 11 but Jehoshaphat said is there not here a prophet of the Lord that we may inquire of the Lord by him he's like isn't there a prophet here that we can at least ask God and one of the king of Israel servants answered and said here is Elisha the son of Shaphat which poured water on the hands of Elijah so he's saying well we got Elisha here and if you know who Elijah was Elisha is the guy that was his minister he's a servant he's pouring hands on the end so Jehoshaphat see one thing that's good about Joshua he's able to recognize a prophet he knows when they're you know the same thing what they have when they had all these prophets of the Lord that will tell them how great he was oh yeah go up God's gonna deliver him in your hand you've got you know Jehoshaphat's like is there a prophet of the Lord besides these guys you know besides these clowns can we get like a real man of God here and he did and that's when he saw Elijah and that's when Elijah prophesied but now we have Elisha and it says in verse 12 and Joshua said the word of the Lord is with him so the king of Israel and Joshua and the king of Edom went down to him and Elisha said unto the king of Israel what have I to do with thee I love Elisha's response here and the way it is basically tells off Jehoram and the boldness that Elisha has to do so he says what have I to do with thee get thee to the prophets of thy father and the prophets of thy mother and the king of Israel said to him nay for the Lord hath called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab see again he's telling the prophet of the Lord what God's doing this is what the Lord's doing no no you don't understand the Lord brought us here to deliver us into Moab it's like why did you think why didn't even go to the Prophet the reason is because Jehoram didn't even want to go to the Prophet he's going because Jehoshaphat wanted to go he agreed to go but he's already got it made up in his mind he doesn't want to go and listen verse 14 Elijah said as the Lord of hosts liveth before whom I stand surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah I would not look toward thee nor see thee the only reason that you are even hearing my voice right now is because I have respect on a Jehoshaphat because he actually is a righteous guy he actually serves the Lord if it weren't for him I wouldn't even looking at you let alone talking to you I noticed that Elijah was not honored to be in the presence of the king of Israel going oh it's so nice to finally meet you I knew your dad I knew Ahab huh yeah I remember talking to him that you didn't do that that wasn't the attitude he had as well you're throwing up some phony front because he's in the presence of the king of Israel look I don't care who you ever meet someday don't throw away your integrity and be fake and phony and pretend to like somebody because they're famous because they're popular you meet some rock star that's wicked as hell and and turning all kinds of people to sin and iniquity and doing the work of Satan and be like oh you're so great I love your music don't have respect to persons like that especially for the wicked people have a backbone have a spine and say you know what I don't want to look at you you think you're so big and powerful and whatever I don't give to I don't give a rip about you doesn't matter who you are because I know that you're wicked I don't have anything to do that we want look at you get away from me stupid wicked people you ought to be able to tell that to their face you know there's it's one thing that matters but it's another thing when you have a known wicked person especially you know like Obama or something you know imagine like Obama come tell I'm not gonna be honored and say oh thank you receive some reward or whatever like that that like that would ever happen anyways I don't have to worry about that but you know what I mean I mean you're in a chance situation you're at a restaurant somewhere it's like I'm not gonna go get his autograph I want to look at him makes me sick and that's that's the that was the godly attitude Elisha had so I'm not gonna be honored by you I'm not gonna respect the person of the wicked just because you have a you have a position of power and and don't be afraid to just call them out to their face you know anything that you should you could say about somebody you know you ought to be able to say it to their face anyways so if you're calling somebody you know this person's really wicked this president this governor or whatever this this rock star if you're able if you're gonna stand there and say man I can't believe how wicked they are you better not be two-faced and turn around and just start talking all pleasant nice to them when you see him say it to their face people need to hear that stuff people need to finally hear wow I'm glad somebody's saying I'm glad someone's standing up to the wickedness verse number 15 so Elisha is gonna prophesy but it's not because of Jehoram it's because of Elisha or it's because you miss because of Jehoshaphat king of Judah verse 15 now bring me a minstrel and it came to pass when the minstrel played that the hand of the Lord came upon him now a minstrel is someone he called for that's gonna play some music and this is really interesting it's only one verse but you know nothing in the Bible is there by coincidence or accident or just like you know there's no information given that's just unnecessary it's all necessary and what I find interesting here is that he calls for some music and it says that it came to pass when the minstrel played so once the music is being played the hand of the Lord comes upon him that's when the hand of God comes upon him and one of the things that I see here and and I find this throughout the Bible and I'm gonna park it on this issue for just a little a little bit is there's a power to music that we need to be aware of music is extremely powerful and it's not even it's sometimes it could be hard to articulate how powerful it truly can be but we can see a few instances like this in the Bible and and music can be used for great things I think it's used in a very great way here that the that the hand of the Lord comes upon Elisha when the minstrel plays the music we use music to praise God to glorify his name to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs of praising the Lord and that's a great thing and music is used throughout the Bible in many great ways you know Moses delivered a song unto the children of Israel in order for them to still be able to remember the Word of the Lord even when they turn and forsake God they still have this song that's kind of embedded in their minds and carried with them and and can stay with them from generation to generation to generation because they have this music they have this song that they've learned and that they've memorized it's it's it could be very powerful in a good way and we're admonished in the New Testament in Colossians 3 16 just to sing psalms hymns and spiritual songs has let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord it is it is a phenomenal thing is a glorious thing praise God for music I love music I love that we're adding more music to our service here it really adds a lot to the praises and the glory that we're giving God it really does and it's more it's it adds again like I said it's hard to articulate it there's a feeling there's a spirit added through the playing of the music and that is a good thing but we have to recognize this underlying power to music turn if you would the first Samuel chapter 16 we're gonna see another instance where music is being used to affect somebody and that person is is Saul King Saul is using music as an instrument as a tool to affect the the evil spirit that is that is plaguing him from the Lord and to make that evil spirit go away I believe this is good godly music that's all it's using just like Elisha is using with the minstrel you know this isn't the world's music he's playing something that is that is pleasing to God that is glorifying the God when the hand of the Lord comes upon him as a result of this music 1st Samuel 16 look at verse number 14 the Bible says but the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him and Saul's servants said unto him behold now an evil spirit from God trouble they recognize the problem with Saul they say look you're being plagued by this evil spirit from God and what Saul does instead of getting right with God as would be the solution because look when you're being plagued and troubled by God there's a good reason for that he wants you to correct a problem not bury your head in the sand and try to find some other way so you just don't feel the problem anymore but when you sin you ought to be convicted of that sin then what you don't want to do is just try to push that feeling away of guilt and remorse and just be like no I just want to keep on doing what I'm doing and just pretend like everything's great so I'm gonna take this pill this drug listen this music whatever to make me feel better so I don't feel so bad because I'm in sin that is the worst thing that you can do but that's what's all did here so he says look you're being plagued by an evil spirit of God so he says in verse 16 let our Lord now command thy servants which are before thee to seek out a man who is a cunning player on an harp and it shall come to pass when the evil spirit from God is upon thee that he shall play with his hand and thou shalt be well and Saul said unto his servants provide me now a man that can play well and bring him to me then answered one of the servants and said behold I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite that is cunning and playing in a mighty valiant man and a man of war and prudent in matters and a comely person and the Lord is with him wherefore Saul sent messengers and the Jesse and said send me David thy son which is with the sheep jump down to verse number 23 Bible says it came to pass when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul that David took in harp and played with his hand so Saul was refreshed and was well and the evil spirit departed from him the music had the power for that evil spirit that was plaguing Saul to depart to leave now I'm not saying what he did was right but the purpose of even showing you this is to demonstrate the power that is in it that is involved with music there is a like an unseen power that definitely has an impact on people and on things around us and spiritually especially there's an evil spirit from the Lord plaguing Saul and that spirit departed when that music was played and this is what's so dangerous about this is that listening to music when you're not right with God is is could be disastrous Saul should have been vexed in his soul because he was in rebellion to the Lord instead he wants to be able to continue doing what he's doing and not admit to being wrong and to feel good about himself but even that only works for so long look at chapter 18 first Samuel 18 verse number 10 the Bible said it came to pass on the morrow that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul and he prophesied in the midst of the house and David played with his hand as at other times and there was a javelin in Saul's hand and Saul cast the javelin for he said I will smite David even to the wall with it and David avoided out of his presence twice so there came to a point where he just like even the music wasn't enough because he's being plagued so much and then basically the same thing happens in chapter 19 we need to be aware turn to Ezekiel chapter 28 we need to be aware of this power of the power that is in music inherently because there especially when you when there's a good reason for you to not feel right with God don't mask it and not fix the problem by listening to whatever makes you feel good there's I was I was having a conversation with somebody quite a while ago about the issue of music when I for when I first started hearing preaching good preaching right preaching on on music and and what we should be and shouldn't be listening to or singing or whatever and I heard preaching against the the Christian contemporary music and how it's just modeled after the world where it's really you're just taking the rock and roll all the styles all the genres that the world's putting out there today and just slapping Jesus in it and but the same exact music you're just three years using spiritual language and calling that godly music now everybody's a little bit different my wife is completely different than I am especially when it comes to this matter my wife couldn't care less about music in general she doesn't notice when it's on like I notice it everywhere we go you can't go anywhere without music being played so I mean you go to restaurants you go to gas stations you know it's like there's just music music music okay you go to the grocery store you go to Walmart your work it doesn't matter where you go it's like there's this music playing everywhere she doesn't notice it doesn't bother her doesn't affect her the way that affects me I was trying to explain this to her just this week I was saying you know what honey music is like a drug it really is like a drug and if you understand it that way you could understand some of the power involved in music music can I mean for me music gives me a feeling deep inside like a drug can give you feeling you start getting high on alcohol or on drugs you start to get tingly you can have these different feelings and that's what's attractive to it right that's what the attraction is of that sin of getting involved in smoking dope or or getting drunk or whatever because you get these feelings and they feel good well just because something feels good in your body doesn't make it right actually a lot of things that are really wicked to do will make you feel good and music can do the same thing which is what makes it even more difficult see when it comes to drugs and alcohol it inherently has bad side effects and it's not that hard to see the the the downside of getting drunk right because you get drunk and then and you feel these great feelings or whatever but you do all these stupid things and you act really wickedly and then the next morning though you have a hangover right so it's like oh yeah well here's the the flipside of that or you do drugs same thing I mean you you have you have some some type of balancing out of like yeah this really isn't good and then people getting involved in the fights and the arguments and everything else that goes along with getting involved with those things music is more subtle now it gives you that feeling that that you know it for most people I know for me especially very very strong I love music I still got love music I have I've had to change the music that I listen to and love to be the right music godly music because I listen to all kinds of music I listen to country I listen to rap I listen to metal I listen to rock I listen you I mean you name it I listen to all kinds of different music and I loved it and I would listen to music from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to sleep practically I would have the headphones in everywhere I went I mean I remember even on in high school on the sports teams I brought my boombox on the bus and we just let you know I was that guy the guy playing the music all the time loved it and man it's whatever it is that does you it's it's literally like a drug but it impacts you it impacts the way that you think and just because you get a feeling from it does not make it okay or good you have to get that through your head music has power one of the things that I know is when I started getting right with God and going to church you know I could realize I've heard sermons completely dedicated against worldly music and and getting that garbage out of your head and in out of your life and and you know I would I destroyed my whole music collection but there were times when I start to backslide and just like you know because you hear it all over the place and it's so readily available on the internet and on the radio and wherever you are it's like it's so easy to just listen to some music listen to the rock and roll listen to whatever and I noticed this person in my life when I gave in to my flesh to just oh man I like I like this song and just and just feel this music I would always get into some other sins in my life that I had no desire at all to want to get into and it's this attitude of allowing yourself this this appetite to the flesh and and the power of the music I believe giving you a bad spirit and and and leading you to do other because that's what the music is you know the worldly music of today and it's the worldly music in Germany it the message that's bringing forth is not a good one it's not a godly one by any means it's it's Antichrist if anything it promotes fornication adultery drugs alcohol it promotes all the worst things everything that's against God you look at the at what is actually being transmitted through this through the words and the lyrics of the music they're trying to get into your head and the music itself has power the music has its own spirit and this is true the music that is that is like the rock and roll style that if you even if you eliminated the lyrics that is gonna give you a spirit of rebellion because that's what rock and roll is that's why all the the the metal bands and rock bands all the men have long hair why because they're rebelling against the head Jesus Christ like 1st Corinthians 11 says they're dishonoring their head and just the music alone makes you want to you know you're driving a car you want makes you want to drive fast and do you know and just just break every rule and do everything rebellious that you can I bet people get you into the drugs oh you know it's the rebel you know it's why revolution like the 60s and the 70s it's a rock and roll revolution because they're revolting against what's decent and moral and upright and it was done through the power of music and drugs and other things and you know but it's but but music was a driving force into that revolution you think about other genres in do other things to your spirit to your soul the the the rap and the hip hop makes you want to grind and move your body to in a certain way and a dance it you know like an improper dancing with with other people whatever like they it's this forces of powers behind this music and we need to recognize this and you need to recognize that it's not just all harmless and there's actually something evil behind it the world's music I believe this firmly look at Ezekiel chapter 28 we're gonna see here some attributes of Satan verse number 13 Ezekiel 28 the Bible says thou has been in Eden the Garden of God every precious stone was thy covering the sardius topaz and the diamond the barrel the onyx and the Jasper the sapphire the emerald the carbuckle and gold Satan was created as an angel Satan was created as a beautiful angel an angel of light and it yeah I mean all these precious stones is how God created the devil because he wasn't evil from the beginning sin was found in him he became evil but when God created him he was beautiful he was magnificent he is a glorious angel look at the next the next part here that the same verse the workmanship of thy tablets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou was created his tablets and his pipes is referring to you know the way that he speaks is referring to his vocal cords referring to them in the way that that you know musically tablets and pipes he says thou art the anointed cherub that covereth and I have set thee so thou was upon the holy mountain of God that was walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire Satan was was created a beautiful creature and I believe was created to have very musical ability oh very great musical abilities and talents and they were designed to worship the Lord and sing beautiful songs unto God but we see in the way that he was created he was given this gift he was given this ability through his tablets and his pipes Satan knows people Satan knows the desire of sin Satan I mean there is not a right way within him I believe that Satan is behind the world's music and and knows its impact on us as people and is trying to pervert the godly music the way that God intended music to be played to steer us away from God and to drive us down that wrong path music can affect people like a drug and it could be just as addictive and powerful and it can also ruin lives if you're looking involved in the wrong music I know this for I am very passionate about this subject because of how much I know I mean we should be able to take everything for face value from the Bible but I know from personal experience on this subject how powerful music can be and how much it can lead you down the wrong path and you start backsliding you start listening in the world's garbage junk music it is going to impact you in more ways than one you may not even be able to realize that you might not be able to draw the connections together but like I've done it in my life I know that it's a fact you might think you could just oh this is this is fine this is not that bad and this is the problem with the you know the Christian contemporary answer and this is where I let in everything with was the conversation I was having with a close a close relative of mine that said no I love this music you know it makes me feel so close to God when I listen to this music and that was his arguments I don't see how this can be bad or wrong because I feel so close to God I guarantee you but he was listening to this stuff where it's just like rock and roll just Christianized right it's more than just the lyrics I gig I could practically guarantee you without me I mean as much as I can know the feelings that he was feeling I felt through just the world's rock and roll music this uplifting feeling oh man this is so great oh I feel so good oh what a great day is you know these feelings that you get it doesn't make you close to God necessarily I mean the Mormons rely on a feeling that they have when they're trying to seek out the truth be aware that many things that are sinful provide a feeling that can be perceived as a good feeling I wasn't a drinking and drugs you know what it felt good I'm not gonna lie to you when I was under the influence those things that was the whole point of doing is because it felt good gives you a funny feeling but the wicked is hell and it is destroy your life and their sin and you shouldn't begin ball with it at all I was so curious about the feeling but why because I was so focused on me and oh I'm just gonna do what feels good that's not a right way to live I know that the music can make you feel good if you want to grow spiritually you need to get it out of your life you need to under you need to recognize the power of music what it's capable of doing and I think we have a great example here multiple examples in the Bible just to just to lay the foundation you know what music has power to it whether it be the right music or the wrong music if you love music I'm with you I love music to get the right music in your heart because that stuff stays with you know I it's a shame it really is I it's a plague more than a shit it plagues my mind regularly I have albums upon albums CDs right now said nine mp3s whatever whatever technology right I'm talking about albums you know that's going back but regardless you know what I'm talking about I probably have hundreds hundreds of complete songs memorized where I know every single word to every single song for hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of songs because it's powerful it sticks in your head I wish I didn't have that in my head I wish I could go out somewhere and just be like wow like it doesn't even mean anything because I never even heard it before because I never really got into it that's not the case all the more reason be more on guard to not let it creep in because as soon as you start allowing that especially when you know it's wrong and you start allowing that you're gonna I mean you open up the door you open up the door that the devil a crack he's gonna kick it wide open let him that thing if he's staying to take heed lest he fall watch out for that power in the music it will ruin and destroy your life I mean literally I'm not even exaggerating here I'm not just trying to scare you into not doing something like that like it's the the power is there and and it the the worst part is how subtle it is and and how damaging it can be without you necessarily be able to make the connection let's keep reading it's going let's continue in the chapter here first 2nd Kings 3 2nd Kings chapter 3 verse number 16 so Elisha now he had the minstrel play the hand of the Lord came upon him as a good music godly music and it and it and it helped his spirit and now he's receiving a word from the Lord you know I listen to the good music too it does help my spirit when my spirits and in a bad spirit or if I'm you know like things are going wrong or bad or just frustrated or angry sometimes I could just listen to the right hand or sing the right hymn to God and just like that it changed I mean that's that is part just another illustration of just the power of music and a lot of you see a lot of people not in their heads you know exactly what I'm talking about so the same way the good music does that bad music does that too but the bad music is pumping something into your head that that you don't want there verse number 16 and he said thus saith the Lord make this valley full of ditches for thus saith the Lord you shall not see wind neither shall you see rain yet that valley shall be filled with water that you may drink both ye and your cattle and your beasts so this is a miracle I should say and you know what you need water God's gonna provide you water and you know what there's not gonna be wind there's not gonna be rain because they're thinking well what's God gonna do is he gonna send rain nope always gonna be wind nope just dig ditches in this valley right here dig ditches here because God's gonna provide you some water and I like the next verse he says verse 18 and this is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand so you see he's gonna tell me I mean miraculous just give him some water anything oh yeah in this this is nothing you know the Moabites being delivered in your hand that's nothing that's a light thing I mean what God's doing with this water is a greater thing than just being able to deliver the Moabites in your hand is what he's saying he's saying see this with the water and in providing the life for you is way greater than God taking care of your enemies seek God for your life because that's what he's providing with them with the water verse 19 and you shall smite every fenced city and every choice city and shall fell every good tree and stop all wells of water and mar every good piece of land with stones and you know I don't know exactly why God decided to do this I mean God has his great plan on these different things because it wasn't right for Joshua to go and help him we know that and I don't even necessarily think you know this wasn't a righteous battle either for Israel but of course God uses people and uses nations use wicked nations to judge other wicked nations and all and you know and all his other stuff but what I think is is still cool about this is that he's just completely made Jehoram look dumb anyways because Jehoram the one who kept saying oh the Lord brought us here to deliver us them all oh the Lord's gonna deliver us to the Moabites and God just comes through and just and just saves them miraculously so Jehoram looks pretty dumb look at verse number 20 and it came to pass in the morning when the meat offering was offered that behold there came water by the way of Edom and the country was filled with water it's amazing it doesn't even say exactly okay I just this water came in I assume it just kind of rushed in from who knows what a dam broke something you know some coincidence right that other people would chalk it up as something else water comes flush again so it fills up their ditches with water so they have water to drink and to survive by they verse 21 it says and when all the Moabites heard that the Kings were come up to fight against them they gathered all that were able to put on armor and upward and stood in the border so they got wind of this that they were gonna come and invade through the wilderness so they get their troops ready they're standing there good to go verse 22 and they rose up early in the morning and the Sun shone upon the water and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood so this value that they're in it's not like there wasn't normally water there they dug the ditches one so they could drink but then two now they're looking at this water in the morning and who knows if the Sun was still like real red shining on it whatever the optical illusion was whatever they were seeing when they looked out there or it was still just part of miracle of God whatever they're looking out there and instead of just seeing water they say wow this must be their blood like their blood is just just flowing through this valley they must have turned on each other because they knew that you know Edom was yoking up with Israel and Judah and that they must have just fought amongst themselves and they just had this great battle and there's that's why there's all this blood in this field so it says in verse 23 and they said this is blood the Kings are surely slain and they have smitten one another now they're for Moab to the spoil so saying cool they all kill each other we're just gonna go in and get all their stuff now we're gonna spoil you know everything grab all their their resources and and that was pretty easy verse 24 and when they came to the camp of Israel the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites so that they fled before them but they went forward smite the Moabites even in their country so they show up they're just thinking like they're not ready to battle at all I mean is went in there thinking like cool we're gonna find whatever stuff we can spoil all the the things they left behind from the battle just assuming they're all dead and they just show up in the camp of Israel and Israel is just like starts killing them just picking them off and then they and then not only did they fight him there because then Moab retreats it says in verse 25 and they beat down the cities and on every good piece of land cast every man is stone and filled it and they stopped all the wells of water and felt all the good trees only in Kir hareseth left they the stones thereof how be it the slingers went about it and smote it so I mean they're going through and they're just destroying Moab not only are they destroying them literally like in battle but then they're stopping up their wells they're ruining their land they're cutting down the good trees there I mean they are just decimating Moab and that's what God told him to do by the way that was that was part of it verse 26 and when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him he took with him 700 men that drew swords to break through even under the king of Edom but they could not so his last ditch ever saying you know what we're not gonna win this battle but at least I'm gonna go and just try to kill the king of Edom if I can't do anything else I'm just gonna try to kill him couldn't do it even with 700 men with a with a pointed attack wasn't able to do it lost that verse 27 says then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall and there was great indignation against Israel they departed from him and returned to their own land so Moab was was destroyed here so much to the point where I mean we see this this wicked king of Moab and excuse you know what I just realized I think I misspoke in the beginning of the sermon about Jehoram Jehoram didn't offer up his son on the wall if I said that or implied that I am I totally misspoke by that Jehoram is a wicked King he didn't do this and then I knew that I'm completely misspoke so I'm gonna correct that right now I believe I said that now I'm just like wait a minute Moab was the one that took his eldest son and it was that king of Moab that should have reigned in his stead and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall and that is extremely wicked obviously offering up and in a burnt offer your own son can you imagine doing that now it was you know what's interesting is that people who want to attack the Bible will call that perverted or disgusting about God offering up Jesus Christ because they'll look at that and they'll say well how barbaric how you know how can you look at this guy and say that's wicked when the Lord did that with Jesus Christ but they're completely different and you say oh how could they be completely different Jesus Christ came and and served a sentence and paid a punishment one Jesus did it willingly also I highly doubt that this guy's son was was offering himself up willingly but regardless Jesus did it willingly he he knew what needed to be done he offered up himself he was without sin and he was offering up himself as a sacrifice to pay the sins of world see there is a there's a punishment that needed to be paid for our sins it needs to be paid I mean that's that's the way it is and you know this guy wasn't wasn't paying any punishment for sins he couldn't do it he has his own sins Jesus offered up himself and and God allowed it to happen to to pay for the sins of world because he loves us so that the sin can be satisfied and that the whole world can receive eternal salvation there is no benefit or result out of this sacrifice at all it's completely vain and useless and God is not looking for us to make this human sacrifice to please him God sacrificed for us to be saved we are not the ones that are supposed to be making the sacrifice in order to to receive salvation from God and I mean there's there's on so many levels that's just it's just completely wicked it's nothing like what Jesus did for us it really isn't Jesus offered himself voluntarily to pay for the sins of the whole world but anyhow let's borrow as ever word of prayer do you have any father Lord we thank you so much for the instruction that we could receive from your word God I pray to please just speak to our Lord help us to retain the the truths after tonight when we leave today help us to make the proper applications in our life dear Lord that we can continue to serve you and and to just be better followers better disciples of yours dear Lord I pray to you please help us to have a backbone and a spine like Elisha had and not not to to back down to anyone or to change our behavior just because we're in the presence of a king or of some honored person in this world dear Lord if they're wicked God help us to to have the the courage and the right spirit to just stand on your word help us not to treat even family members above how we should be standing and walking with you that that we wouldn't choose to sin against you and to help the ungodly that we wouldn't choose them over over you and our integrity to serve you dear Lord's in Jesus name we pray amen