Ungodly Alliance

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. Wherever two or three are gathered together in My name, Jesus said, there am I in the midst of them. To those of you who love Him in truth: mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. (Jude 1:2)

Amen Father! We just praise you and thank you for this day. Thank you Father; you are the God of all flesh; every knee shall bow to the name of your Son Jesus and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord! to your glory Father, in Jesus’ name. Lord, bless this program; bless everyone reading Father, I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Today’s program is called Ungodly Alliance. Let’s turn to 1 Kings 16:29, In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel; and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him. 

And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. 1 Kings 21:25, But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up. And he behaved very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. 

2 Chr 17:3, Now the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the former ways of his father David; he did not seek the Baals, but sought the God of his father, and walked in His commandments and not according to the acts of Israel. Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah gave presents to Jehoshaphat, and he had riches and honor in abundance. And his heart took delight in the ways of the Lord; moreover he removed the high places and wooden images from Judah. 

Chapter 18, verse 1, Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance; and by marriage he allied himself with Ahab. After some years he went down to visit Ahab in Samaria; and Ahab killed sheep and oxen in abundance for him and the people who were with him, and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramoth Gilead. So Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Will you go with me against Ramoth Gilead? And he answered him, I am as you are, and my people as your people; we will be with you in the war. Also Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Please inquire for the Word of the Lord today. Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, and said to them, Shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain? So they said, Go up, for God will deliver it into the king's hand. But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not still a prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of Him? So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is still one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord; but I hate him, because he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil. He is Micaiah the son of Imla. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say such things! Then the king of Israel called one of his officers and said, Bring Micaiah the son of Imla quickly! Verse 14, Then he came to the king; and the king said to him, Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain? And he said, Go and prosper, and they shall be delivered into your hand! So the king said to him, How many times shall I make you swear that you tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord? Then he said, I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, These have no master. Let each return to his house in peace. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell you he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil? Then Micaiah said, Therefore hear the Word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of Heaven standing on His right hand and His left. And the Lord said, Who will persuade Ahab king of Israel to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead? So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. The Lord said to him, In what way? So he said, I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said, You shall persuade him and also prevail; go out and do so. 

Therefore look! The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these prophets of yours, and the Lord has declared disaster against you.

2 Chr 18:28, So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and go into battle; but you put on your robes. So the king of Israel disguised himself, and they went into battle. Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of the chariots who were with him, saying, Fight with no one small or great, but only with the king of Israel. So it was, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of Israel! Therefore they surrounded him to attack; but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him, and God diverted them from him. For so it was, when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. Now a certain man drew a bow at random, and struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. So he said to the driver of his chariot, Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am wounded. The battle increased that day, and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot facing the Syrians until evening; and about the time of sunset he died. Chapter 19, verse 1, Then Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned safely to his house in Jerusalem. And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to King Jehoshaphat, Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Therefore the wrath of the Lord is upon you. Nevertheless good things are found in you, in that you have removed the wooden images from the land, and have prepared your heart to seek God. 

In 2 Chr 18:1, we read that Jehoshaphat joined affinity with Ahab. The word means, a relationship by marriage. In the Hebrew: …and by marriage he allied himself with Ahab. What was the marriage? Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram married Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, most likely to bring about an alliance between Judah and Israel. 1 Kings 22:44,  Also Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel. 2 Chr 21:5, Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 

And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for he had the daughter of Ahab as a wife; and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. If Jezebel stirred up Ahab to do evil, it is probable that Athaliah stirred up Jehoram to do evil as well. And when he became king, he killed all his brethren, the sons of Jehoshaphat, who were better than him.

2 Cor 6:14, Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion has light with darkness? And what concord has Christ with Belial? or what part has he that believes with an infidel? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? for you are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be  separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Chapter 7, verse 1, Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

This was a great error on Jehoshaphat’s part: to seek alliance with Ahab the king of Israel; the most wicked of all the kings of Israel; a worshiper of Baal, not of the Lord God. He almost lost his life, and the resulting marriage of his son Jehoram to Athaliah, Ahab and Jezebel’s daughter, brought much evil upon the kingdom of Judah. She was as wicked as her mother Jezebel, and upon the death of her son, by the hand of Jehu, she arose and killed all the royal seed in Judah, and took over the throne and reigned in Judah for seven years, until Jehoiada the priest stood up against her and raised up Joash, the son of Ahaziah, her son, to be king, and he had her killed. So this alliance that Jehoshaphat made with Ahab had long lasting evil consequences.

So, we all need to examine our own lives, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ: do we have any alliances with evil people?; people who hate the Lord and are involved in idolatry; people who practice sin in their lives? Ask the Lord to show you, and if so, you need to deal with them , as He leads you, and forsake every evil alliance. There are many people in the so-called Church these days, even preachers, who practice evil in their lives, and if you are allied with them, they will bring evil into your own life, which could result in great destruction.  The Apostle Paul said, in 1 Cor 5:9, I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore put away from yourselves the evil person. Paul was talking about people in the Church who call themselves a Christian, a brother or a sister, who practice evil; this includes preachers! We are supposed to put them away from among us. Of course we have to deal with people in the world who are wicked; the whole world lies in wickedness. That is totally different from entering into an alliance or covenant with them. Do not be unequally yoked together with an unbeliever, or with anyone who practices evil, for what communion has light with darkness? It’s the yoke!, or the communion with them that is wrong, and will bring evil and destruction to you, and very possibly to many other people. Should we help the ungodly, or love those who hate the Lord? 

Thank you for reading this message from 15 Minutes With Jesus at robertyhaymes.com . May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you who love Him in truth, Amen. (2 Cor 13:14)