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