1. One of the greatest kings of Judah was King Jehoshaphat. While he made some mistakes, such as aligning himself with Ahab, the wicked king of Israel, nevertheless, he was a man "who sought the Lord with all his heart" (II Chron.22:9).
2. Jehoshaphat was the son of King Asa, who was also one of the better kings of Judah.
3. King Jehoshaphat took a stand for God in a day of terrible apostasy. "He took away the high places and groves out of Judah" (II Chron.17:6).
4. In addition to removing the idolatry, he also sent out certain princes, priests, and Levites, to go through all the cities of Judah, teaching the people the Word of God (II Chron.17:7-9).
5. Further religious and civil reforms are mentioned in II Chron.19:5-11.
6. Then, the Bible says: "It came to pass after this also that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle" (II Chron.20:1).
7. Intelligence reports indicated that the invaders had already crossed the Red Sea and were in Hazazon-tamar, which is in En-gedi" (20:2).
8. This is the background to today’s message. The Bible says that King Jehoshaphat "feared" when he heard this report. I have to admit to you that I felt fearful when the Nazarene pastor called me few years back and told me we had to move.
9. I even felt fearful when the owner of the building on Meacham Avenue told me he had changed his mind about selling us the building.
10. King Jehoshaphat faced a crisis. Perhaps someone here today is facing a crisis. Or maybe you will soon be facing a crisis. In any event, this portion of Scripture should be an encouragement to you as we see how King Jehoshaphat faced the crisis, and how God gave him the victory.

I. GOD’S PEOPLE STARTED TO FAST AND PRAY (20:1-13).

1. The first thing Jehoshaphat did was "set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah" (20:3).
2. In the Bible, sometimes, fasting is an admission of guilt (cf. I Sam.7:6; Joel 2:12-17), but not always.
3. But it is always an act of self-humiliation (20:3-5).
4. King Jehoshaphat’s prayer cast the nation upon God’s sovereign power. God is the God of heaven, who rules over all the kingdom of the world (20:6).
5. God drove out all the inhabitants of the land and gave it to Abraham and his descendants "for ever" (20:7).
6. This same God – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the God of King Jehoshaphat – is the same God that we serve, and He can remove all obstacles, defeat all enemies, and solve all our problems.
7. I heard a story about an old lady who was very poor. She kept praying, "Dear Lord, please send me a side of bacon and a sack of corn meal." An unsaved neighbor heard about her prayer and decided to play a trick on her. He climbed up on her roof and dropped a side of bacon and a sack of cornmeal down her chimney while she was praying. Jumping to her feet, she exclaimed, "Oh, Lord! You have answered my prayer just like I knew you would!" Then she went all over town telling everybody how God heard her prayer and sent her the food. The knave who dropped the food down her chimney started ridiculing her and said to her: "God did not answer your prayer; I did!" The old lady replied: "Well, the devil may have brought it, but God sent it!"
8. God heard King Jehoshaphat’s prayer. And he hears our prayers. And He knows what we are going through. He is in complete control (20:9-11).
9. An important aspect of prayer is confessing that "we have no right" (20:12), and admitting that we don’t know what to do (20:12).
10. Jehoshaphat said: "Neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee" (20:12b).

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.
              — Helen Howarth Lemmel

11. You may recall that Jehoshaphat’s father, King Asa, found himself in a similar situation, and he reacted the same way – he prayed too (II Chron.14:9-12).

II. GOD STARTS TO MOVE (20:14-21).

1. King Jehoshaphat did not know what to do, but his eyes were on the Lord, waiting for God to do something, and He did (20:14,15).
2. "If the battle is God’s and we are on God’s side, we may be certain of shortly being made more than conquerors through Him that loved us" – Keith L. Brooks.
3. We need to always remember that the battle is not ours, but God’s (20:15). This is His church, His ministry. He will work out the building problem, the various other problems we run into – with our school, or looking for a Spanish pastor, or people in the church who stir up trouble, etc.
4. It’s God’s battle and He will give us the victory.
5. The Holy Spirit, through Jahaziel, described exactly when the enemy was to be encountered and defeated. It would be the next day – "To morrow" (20:16).
6. They would "not need to fight in this battle" (20:17). Fighting would be unnecessary; they would only have to stand still and "see the salvation of the LORD" (20:17; cf. Ex.14:13,14).
7. Notice they began worshipping God immediately (20:18,19).
8. They knew that God had heard their prayer and would deliver them. They had faith.
9. The next day they arose early in the morning and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa, with King Jehoshaphat encouraging them to believe in the LORD (20:20).
10. An atheist opened a brewery close to a church. The church began to pray that God would close it down. One day the brewery was struck by lightning and destroyed. The owner of the brewery sued the church but the church claimed no responsibility, insisting that their prayers had nothing to do with the brewery getting hit with lightning. The judge said: "This is the strangest case I have ever seen. The atheist believes that God answers prayer but the church members do not!" King Jehoshaphat believed that God was going to answer his prayer and encouraged the others to believe also (20:20b).
11. King Jehoshaphat appointed singers to advance before the army, praising the LORD in "the beauty of holiness" (20:20; cf. Ps.29:2; 96:9; 110:3).
12. "For His mercy endureth for ever" (20:21b; cf. Ps.136).

III. GOD GIVES THE VICTORY.

1. "When they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir (Edomites, 20:22).
2. In the ensuing confusion, their enemies quarreled among themselves and fought and killed one another (20:22b-24).
3. When the men of Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked and all they would see were dead bodies (20:24). It took them three days to gather up the spoils (20:25).
4. Isaac Watts, the great hymn-writer wrote:

"Before Jehovah’s awesome throne

Ye nations, bow with sacred joy;

Know that the Lord is God alone;

He can create; and He can destroy."

5. After this great victory, they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah ["blessing"] (20:26).
6. They returned with great joy to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the temple (20:27,28).
7. The word got out quickly that "THE LORD fought against the enemies of Israel" (20:29; cf. Joshua 5:1) and the fear of God was on "all the kingdoms" (20:29).
8. This is the biggest problem we face today – there is absolutely no fear of God – in our leadership, in our churches, in our schools and universities, etc.
9. After all this "the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for God gave him rest round about" (20:30).

CONCLUSION:

1. When the Civil War broke out, a supporter of President Lincoln told him that he hoped the Lord would be on the side of the North. Abraham Lincoln replied: "About that I am not at all concerned; but only that we should be on the side of the Lord."
2. Let’s make that we are on the Lord’s side and then we can be confident that He will give us the victory.