1. Elisha & the Three Kings 2 Kings 3:13-15 09/21/2008 Dr. Dane Boyles

2. Elisha & the Three Kings
We pick up our story in 2 Kings 3 with the 3 kings in a real predicament.
But remember, this was the result of not taking God seriously and consulting Him concerning their plans.

3. Elisha & the Three Kings
So ultimately, the greater enemy was not the Moabites, but their own failure to seek God’s direction.
The LORD didn’t create the universe to function that way.

4. Elisha & the Three Kings
The Word from the Lord.
Elisha rebukes the kings.

5. Elisha & the Three Kings
13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What do we have to do with each other? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.” “No,” the king of Israel answered, “because it was the LORD who called us three kings together to hand us over to Moab.” (2 Kings 3:13)

6. Elisha & the Three Kings
14 Elisha said, “As surely as the LORD Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at you or even notice you. (2 Kings 3:14)

7. Elisha & the Three Kings
Elisha was a man who refused to show favoritism even a moment.
Because he took God seriously because he was willing to trust the Lord regardless of the outcome, like Elijah, he could stand fearlessly and declare the truth.

8. Elisha & the Three Kings
“What do we have to do with each other?” (v. 13)
Elisha was saying, what do we have in common, why have you, an idolater, a rejecter of the commandments of God come to me?

9. Elisha & the Three Kings
“Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of our mother” (v. 13).
This is probably a reference to his grandparents, Ahab and Jezebel.

10. Elisha & the Three Kings
All they had to offer were the false and deceptive and satanic visions.
Elisha, then, was telling Joram to be consistent.
Elisha was being ironical.

11. Elisha & the Three Kings
Can’t your present religious system and your present way of life deliver you?
Elisha would never have spurned the genuine requests of a repentant man

12. Elisha & the Three Kings
God often engineers defeat, failure, and frustration, seeking not only to get our attention, but to teach us our futility in order to draw a confession from us hoping to bring us to repentance.

13. Elisha & the Three Kings
In verse 13b we see the king of Israel’s admission that the false prophets cannot help.
13 “because it was the LORD who called us three kings together.” (2 Kings 3:13)

14. Elisha & the Three Kings
Elisha’s rejection of Joram illustrates the concept of unanswered prayer and God’s refusal sometimes to bring deliverance because of the spiritual condition of the heart.

15. Elisha & the Three Kings
Now in verse 14 we see Elisha’s reply to Joram.
This is an implied rebuke to Jehoshaphat and an encouragement to the good king.

16. Elisha & the Three Kings
This was an unholy alliance and a failure to take the Lord seriously in all areas of his life.
This was pure grace.

17. Elisha & the Three Kings
Preparation to Minister the Word.
15 But now bring me a harpist.” While the harpist was playing, the hand of the LORD came upon Elisha. (2 Kings 3:15)

18. Elisha & the Three Kings
Elisha had been agitated by his confrontation with Joram and bothered by the alliance of Jehoshaphat.
Still his heart and mind needed to be prepared by the Lord to be able both to hear God’s Word and to give it.

19. Elisha & the Three Kings
Here is an important lesson for us.
The heart needs to be prepared that we might be in a condition to hear and respond to the Lord.
Failure to prepare the heart can lead to unfaithfulness (Ps. 78:8).

20. Elisha & the Three Kings
8 They would not be like their forefathers—a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him. (Psalms 78:8)
Conclusion

21. Elisha & the Three Kings 2 Kings 3:13-15 09/21/2008 Dr. Dane Boyles