Transcript of God's Victory, 2 Chronicles 20:17 - Pastor Chuck Smith - Topical Bible Study

this morning we'd like to draw your attention to 2 Chronicles chap 20 and verse 17 2 Chronicles 20 17 King Jehoshaphat has called upon the Lord for help God answers him through the prophet jhazel and through the prophet the Lord said You shall not need to fight in this battle set yourselves just stand still and see the salvation of the Lord with you oh Judah and Jerusalem fear not nor be dismayed tomorrow go out against them for the Lord will be with you when Jehosaphat be became the king over Judah he walked in the ways of the Lord he instituted certain spiritual reforms and God blessed Judah and God blessed Jehosaphat and the nation was strengthened under his Reign however they are now faced with a tremendous threat the three nations to the east have confederated together have joined forces and have sent their armies to destroy Judah and so they have already crossed the Dead Sea they are in the area of engedi ready to make the charge of up the valley of Jehosaphat in their attack of Jerusalem and in their destruction of Judah hearing the word that Moab Aman and the people of Mount sir are invading his land he realizes that Judah is no match at all for these combined forces they are facing an enemy that is stronger and more powerful humanly speaking there is good as gone any one of these nations would make a formidable difficult foe combined together there is no way that they could stand against them it's an impossible situation sooner or later in our lives we are going to come to those situations that are beyond our capacity to deal with them or to cope with them we come to situations that are impossible for us where it seems like defeat is the only assured thing where the enemy is so strong and so powerful the forces that are against us are so great that there is no human way out of our dilemma the Bible tells us that as Christians we are faced against the forces of the World the Flesh and the devil these are formidable foes any one of them constitutes a real problem for us as Christians but combin together there is no human way that we can know victory for the powers and the desires of our flesh attracted to the Fallen World and these pressed on by Satan are enough to destroy any of us what do you do when you know that you're over your head when you know that you are drowning when you know that the situation is Beyond Your Capacity to deal with it how do you save yourself at this point in life many people turn to the bottle they try to escape the problem by escaping into a mind that is fuzzed and fogged by the alcohol and they feel that that's the only way they can cope with it is to drink they cannot face the realities of life and so they drink in order to cope but so often by turning to the bottle you are not solving the problem only creating new problems which many times are greater than the first the same is true of drugs many people take the cruel and the selfish way out by committing suicide it's extremely cruel because it leaves the friends and the family so totally devastated Jehosaphat the king took the prayer way out of his situation he called upon the Lord at jehoshaphat's prayer is recorded for us beginning with verse 6 and the first thing we note is his address of his prayer and I might say that the address of the prayer is probably one of the most important things about your prayer who are you addressing your prayer to he addresses his prayer to the god of our fathers The God Who dwells in heaven that is to the true and the Living God now when a person cries out my God you never know who they are talking about they might be talking about the bottle because that's the god of many people they might be talking about a fancy little sports car that they have that is the master passion of their lives more important to them than anything else they might be addressing their bank account for that has become the god of many people on the other hand many times a person is just addressing his own desires his own lust when you say oh my God to whom are you referring who is your god it's very easy to observe a person's God by just observing their lives and soon you can see what is the controlling passion of that person many people address their prayers to their friends rather than to God they turn to their friends for help and many times your friends are only able to give you sympathy and they won't give you that very long if you keep bugging them with your problem they'll begin to seek to avoid you and when they hear that you're on the phone they'll say tell them I'm busy and uh they they just have too many problems of their own to have you constantly laying your problem on them but Jehoshaphat addressed his prayer to the god of our fathers The God Who dwells in heaven you're the one that we're calling on for our help and then he said and he recognized in your hand there is power and there is might Lord we're calling on you because you have the power and you have the might to to help us no one he said is able to withstand you it's important as you pray to recognize that God is sufficient we don't have the strength Lord we don't have the power to go out against these combined armies but you have the power you have the might and no man can withstand you you are greater than our foes and then he went on to say you drove out the Nations that were in this land and you gave this land unto our fathers because of your promise to Abraham your friend and you promis to give them this land forever so Lord we come to you because you have the strength and the power and the might to deliver us and you've promised us this land because of Abraham your friend and then we have built this Sanctuary to your name now when he was praying he no doubt was standing in the temple that Solomon had built the multitudes of the nation the leaders of the of Judah had gathered together with him there in Benjamin and as he is standing there in the sanctuary praying he said Lord we've built this place this Sanctuary to your name and when it was built Solomon as he dedicated it and prayed said father if the sword or judgment or pestilence or famine comes upon us and we stand before this house and cry unto you then hear from your place in heaven and deliver your people so Lord here we are just like it says we have the sword that's come against us we've got a a plague Lord we've got a problem and so we're standing here in the temple calling unto you Lord crying out to you and as Solomon said when they do that Lord hear from from heaven and deliver and Lord we need your help and then he made an all important confession he said Lord we have no might against them and we don't know what to do he confessed his own inability his own weakness lord I can't do it Lord we can't do it we just don't have it it's so very important when faced with serious problems that we come to that acknowledgment that I cannot do it I just don't have the power to do it in the Alcoholics Anonymous program that is one of the important initial steps to confess that you have a problem and to confess that you don't have the ability to solve your problem and that is what forces you to seek a higher power for your help I've come to the acknowledgement that I can't do it and now I'm forced to seek the help of God in this situation you see so often a person who has problems with drinking or problems with drugs they become tremendous con artist they con their families they con their friends and they know every trick in the book and they have every excuse and every Alibi and they are so geared towards this position of conning people that tragically they ultimately con themselves which only causes the problem to just continue on it isn't a solution they say I can quit any time I want I'm in control I'm know that I am got a problem here but I can handle it I I can just stop any time I wish and and they've conned themselves into believing that and thus their problem is perpetuated rather than Salt now for years I knew I was out of shape and I kept conning myself saying I can get in shape anytime I want I can just you know start punching the bag again and jumping rope and and jogging and I I can just shape up anytime I want now I'm facing reality and just man I'm out of shape and there's nothing I can do about it having to face the truth about my condition but it it's interesting how that so often people won't acknowledge that they can't do it and they're constantly looking for one more method one more way one more formula that I can put into action and I can then solve my situation and we're always looking looking for that secret that will bring me success rather than just honestly confessing God it's gone too far it's beyond me there's nothing I can do and where I am forced to seek the help of God and so in his prayer he acknowledges the power of God and he acknowledges the weakness of himself he calls to God for help and God answers God sent the prophet jhazel with a message the message is This Be not Afraid or dismay now it says that he was filled with fear so God says okay now don't be afraid and he said he confessed I don't know what to do I'm dismayed God said don't be dismayed God's first words often to us are Don't Be Afraid or fear not when we're faced with these kind of monumental problems our hearts usually are filled with fear that's an environment that is difficult for Faith to work in so God's first first words are often Don't Be Afraid in fact 54 times in the Bible God said Don't Be Afraid over 60 times God said fear not these are words that are important to us and so God said now look don't be afraid and don't be dismayed God said the battle is not yours but God's what a comfort it is when you seek the help of God to realize that God will fight the battles for you God said you will not have to fight this battle just stand still and Watch God's salvation the Lord will be with you so this is God's word in God's promise the armies of Moab Ammon and mount seir had gathered in the area of the Dead Sea in fact they were at edti the Dead Sea is in what is known as the Sero African Rift a great valley that has been created they think by a earthquake at some time in history the floor of the valley well the Dead Sea is at 12200 ft below sea level and on the sides of the valley are these sheer Cliffs some 2,000 ft to 2500 ft above the area of the Dead Sea these sheer Cliffs going up and in the area of edti up behind there are these these Cliffs that just are are rock Cliffs and on the top of them are these PLS and you can come and then you can look down into the valley and you get a tremendous view of the Dead Sea uh of the Jordan Valley and all from from the top you can just look right over the edge and see everything that's going on down below you and the Lord said to Jehosaphat now just bring the troops down past tocoa and bring them to the edge that they can look down and just stand still and watch the salvation of the Lord for the battle is not yours but God's I wonder what they felt at the promise of the Prophet you see when we call upon God for help we're usually looking for God to give us a formula something that we can do to help oursel out of this mess I want God to give me 10 steps out of my problem give me something to do Lord show me what to do and so often God says do nothing just stand still and let me work stand still and see the salvation of the Lord this battle isn't yours it's God's the reason why God so often wants us just to stand and let him work completely is that if God would lay out the formula for me whereby I could get through this problem then I'll be wanting to Market my formula yes I know your problem I had that problem but I found these 10 steps and for $100 I'll send you the 10 steps you know and you too can be a thinner you and we're looking for some new program something that I can do so that when I come out Victorious I can say well now I had that problem too friend I know what you're going through well let me tell you how I did it you know and and I'm wanting to boast in in my efforts and in my abilities but God doesn't allow me that option of boasting he says look you just stand back and watch me work so that the net effect of that is when it's all through I can only give glory to God I can't go around bragging what I am or what I have done all I can do is say oh thank God he saw my helplessness he saw my hopelessness and he reached down and he helped me and he delivered me to God be the glory great things he has done so that's what God said to them look you're not going to have to fight this battle Don't Be Afraid don't be dismayed you just go down and watch me watch what I do having received the message King Jehoshaphat fell on his face before the Lord and worshiped God the people followed the king also falling on their faces and worshiping God and the priests stood there praising the Lord because his Mercy endures forever they accepted the word of God and they began to praise the Lord because of God's promise of Deliverance here is a real key to Faith number one don't be afraid fear is an environment in which faith cannot operate number two believe the promise of God and begin to praise the Lord and true belief will praise true Faith Can praise the promise the enemy's still there the enemy is still preparing to advance up the valley and to attack to destroy Judah but here we are praising the Lord we're still outnumbered we're still outmanned it's still hopeless as far as humanly speaking is concerned but God has promised that he's going to fight this battle and deliver the enemy oh praise the Lord and begin to praise the Lord for his promise of help and deliverance for you and so the next morning Jehoshaphat went out leading the troops of Israel but they set before the armies these men to sing praises unto the Lord and so as they came through the area of takoa just south and east of of Bethlehem that Valley that goes down around the herodian towards the Dead Sea as they were going down that way to where they could get the view of the valley below and of these forces of the ammonites and the moabites and the they were being led by these men just praising the Lord and singing praises unto the Lord songs of Victory and praise and so they came to the the edge of the cliff and they looked down and they saw those armies down there ready to attack them but instead of attacking them there came a disagreement and the armies of Moab and Ammon began to attack the armies of Edom and the armies of Moab and and Adam Ammon wiped out the killed them all and having killed the then the armies of Ammon and Moab began to fight each other and they destroyed each other and they watched that battle all day long as the armies destroyed each other until finally there were nothing but all these corpse lying out there in the plain below them everyone was dead they wiped out each other and then they went down and began to take the spoils grab the Shields and the Spears and all of this and it took them three days to haul off The Spoils of God's Victory tremendous God worked in an impossible situation in a very interesting way God has so many interesting ways to work out our difficulties and work out our problems how important it is when we are faced with those dilemmas those difficult places in life where we don't know the answer where we have no solution where it looks like it is hopeless how important that we reach out to God that we pray and when we pray that we pray to the Eternal true and living God the creator of Heaven and Earth and that we realize that he is powerful and he is sufficient he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think and then when God speaks and assures of his victory that we then begin to Just Praise the Lord as we let God work and then we can just step in and take the spoils we can enter into that victory that God has wrought and we reap the benefits of what God has wrought for us there's the key to experiencing God's victory in those problems that you face in life shall we pray father help us today to recognize our own limitations and to confess our inabilities in order Lord that we might rely upon you knowing that you are able that you are sufficient that you can do it and Lord we Rejoice today in your promise of Help For unto us are given exceeding rich and precious promises and by these we are made partakers of your divine nature help us today Lord in Jesus name amen as I look at the problems of our society today so often I'm prone to say oh man there's just no way out there's nothing we can do about these gang problems in La you know put a bunch of police out there but still the problems exist what can we do about this what can we do about that and you're prone to just say oh you know hopeless oh that we would learn to pray seek God now some of you today have come because you have a problem that you reading don't know what to do with and a friend has suggested well why don't you try God and so you're here today for that purpose just to well it's sort of desperate don't know where to turn to try God I'm Glad You Came because God is able to help you and God will help you if you'll call upon him and I'd encourage you to go back to the prayer room and there just call out to God for his help for God will deliver you and you can receive that Assurance today that it's in God's hands and you can just go your way and just trust in the Lord and watch God begin to work as God takes up your cause and takes up the issue and begins to work in your behalf maybe you don't have any problems maybe life is just so smooth and you really just have it made and you know you're just well one day sooner or later you're going to be facing a problem that you're not going to have the answer you're going to come to the end of your own resources and capacities and you're going to need to call upon God and I just encourage you to sort of Mark this place down in your Bible so you'll have something to look to when that day comes and you'll remember the keys of God's victory in your life may the Lord be with you and bless you as you walk with him this week may he keep you by the power of His spirit may he strengthen You by his spirit in your inner person that you might become all that God wants you to be his servant trusting him living in his victory