Jehoram: The King Who Chose Poorly (2 Kings 8:16-24)
“Jehoram: The King Who Chose Poorly”
2 Kings 8:16-24
Having ended the section that focused on the ministry of Elisha,
We now return to our systematic study of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
This morning it can be a little confusing
For we come to our second king named Jehoram.
The first Jehoram we saw was Ahab’s son, and he reigned as king over Israel.
This is a different Jehoram. This is Jehoshaphat’s son and he will reign as king over Judah.
But it is very interesting that as we end the section on Elisha,
This is the first king we deal with.
For you should remember that the main point of the section on Elisha
Was to clearly portray the difference between
The blessed life and the cursed life.
TO PUT IT CLEARLY THERE WERE TWO OPTIONS FOR MANKIND.
Even Moses made this clear.
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
Moses clearly spelled out two options that Israel would have.
They could choose to love, seek, and obey God which would result in the life of blessing, also referred to as “life”.
Or they could choose to reject and disobey God and serve foreign gods which would result in the life of the curse, also referred to as “death”.
They had a choice.
And time and time again as we studied the ministry of Elisha
We saw the choices of people ring true.
Well this morning we see it again.
We see Jehoram: The King who Chose Poorly
And this morning I want you to see yet again
The dangers of failing to choose God.
Now, all that being said,
I do wish to give some balance to this sermon this morning
By saying that I wholeheartedly believe in the sovereignty of God.
I also fully believe in God’s sovereign election.
That means that ultimately it is God who is responsible for our salvation
And not we ourselves.
I believe ultimately the choice is God’s and not ours.
You can see this with Israel:
Deuteronomy 7:6-8 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
You can see this with the disciples:
John 15:16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.”
You can see this with the church:
Ephesians 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.”
And there are many other passages we could turn to
If our desire this morning was to prove the sovereign election of God.
But I merely remind you of that this morning because this morning
We are going to examine the other side of the coin,
WHICH IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF MAN,
And I do not want you to develop a lop sided theology.
Mostly I want you to remember that salvation is the work of God,
And it is far more than just a choice of mankind.
However, in a way that cannot be fathomed in the human mind,
The sovereign God who has chosen His elect
Somehow leaves a choice open to mankind.
We call this “Man’s Responsibility”.
And the point to that is this.
That while God is sovereign, and He chooses and predestines
And foreordains His elect for salvation and glory,
That in this divine mystery, those who are saved have also in their life had to come to the place where they also chose Him.
This is the basis for all invitations in Scripture.
It is on this basis that Jesus would say, “Come to Me all you that are weary and heavy laden…”
It is on this basis that Jesus would say, “Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you.”
It is on this basis that Peter would say at Pentecost, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
It is on this basis that Paul would tell the Corinthians, “…we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
And so while it is true that God is the author and the offerer of salvation,
And that no one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws them,
There also seems to be a balance in Scripture
In which at that point, mankind must make a conscious choice
To leave sin and embrace Christ.
And at that moment is really the conflict of salvation.
It is that moment where we choose who we will serve,
And the consequences of that choice are nothing short of eternal.
If you choose God, you inherit life and blessing.
If you choose sin, you inherit death and the curse.
And every man must choose.
That is why after Moses turned the reigns over to Joshua
He also exhorted the people.
Joshua 24:15 “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
It is the choice you also are faced with.
The tragedy is that most people make the wrong choice.
Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
The reality is that most people choose the easy life
Apart from obedience to God and therefore inherit judgment.
Most people make the wrong choice.
Luke 13:23-24 “And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”
Even as I speak this sermon, there are some in this room
Who have never made a choice to follow Christ.
And the emphasis this morning is to beg you
To rethink that choice, and to choose Christ.
For this morning I am about to show you a man
Who chose the wrong path and paid dearly for it.
This morning, let’s look at Jehoram.
4 divisions to our text.
#1 HE LIVED IN DECEPTION
2 Kings 8:16-18
Here we see the beginning of Jehoram.
While Joram was king in Israel in the north,
Jehoram became king in Judah in the south.
“He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.”
So he had a relatively short tenure as king in Judah.
And then the appraisal of this man.
(18) “He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab became his wife; and he did evil in the sight of the LORD.”
This king was no good.
2 Chronicles 21:1-6 “Then Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Jehoram his son became king in his place. He had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azaryahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel. Their father gave them many gifts of silver, gold and precious things, with fortified cities in Judah, but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram because he was the firstborn. Now when Jehoram had taken over the kingdom of his father and made himself secure, he killed all his brothers with the sword, and some of the rulers of Israel also. Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab did (for Ahab’s daughter was his wife), and he did evil in the sight of the LORD.”
So here we have an extremely wicked man.
Not chosen because of his worth, but chosen because of his age.
And a man who chose the wrong path for himself.
Instead of choosing to walk in the shoes of his father and grandfather, (Jehoshaphat and Asa)
Men who for the most part loved and honored God.
He chose to walk in the footsteps of Ahab, who was the most wicked man Israel had ever seen.
Jehoram chose to be a murdering, idolatrous, tyrant, just like Ahab.
And we even see why he did this.
(18) “for the daughter of Ahab became his wife;”
We do cut him a little slack her initially, for he did not choose her as his wife. This marriage was arranged by Jehoshaphat to ally himself with Ahab.
But we do fault Jehoram for listening to her.
We have just studied the past three weeks on Sunday nights
The role of men and women, and it is extremely clear what Paul said.
1 Corinthians 11:3 “But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.”
God has called men to be men, to walk in authority, and to be strong.
It is obvious, that like Ahab, Jehoram did not.
He allowed his wife to influence him…
He allowed his wife to manipulate him…
He allowed his wife to lead him…
And it caused him to end up on the wrong path.
His life is characterized as a man who made the wrong choice,
And began walking down the wrong path.
He lived in deception
#2 HE EXISTED IN DENIAL
2 Kings 8:19
I chose to take a moment and look at this verse
For it speaks volumes about our great God,
But also gives insight into the reign of Jehoram.
Despite his wickedness, and despite God’s anger towards him,
God did not immediately destroy him, or wipe out his lineage.
The reason is because God is faithful,
And God had made promises to David.
But in regard to Jehoram, this reveals that he lived in denial.
Surely he thought that he maintained his throne by his own ability.
Certainly he assumed that his reign was secure because of his own worth.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
The only reason he was king was because
He was living on the blessings of his ancestor David.
And this is crucial to understand in regard to the choices we make.
There are many in this world today who have chosen not to accept Christ,
And have chosen not to take up His cross,
And have chosen to walk their own path.
And today, because they are still alive,
And because they have a job, and because they have a family,
They suppose that the decision they made was fine.
But if they make that estimation they are living in denial
Of why they are doing ok and where they are headed.
Jonathon Edwards preached about such vain denial by men.
“All wicked men’s pains and contrivance which they use to escape hell, while they continue to reject Christ, and so remain wicked men, do not secure them from hell one moment. Almost every natural man that hears of hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it; he depends upon himself for his own security; he flatters himself in what he has done, in what he is now doing, or what he intends to do. Every one lays out matters in his own mind how he shall avoid damnation, and flatters himself that he contrives well for himself, and that his schemes will not fail. They hear indeed that there are but few saved, and that the greater part of men that have died heretofore are gone to hell; but each one imagines that he lays out matters better for his own escape than others have done. He does not intend to come to that place of torment; he says within himself, that he intends to take effectual care, and to order matters so for himself as not to fail. But the foolish children of men miserably delude themselves in their own schemes, and in confidence in their own strength and wisdom; they trust to nothing but a shadow. The greater part of those who heretofore have lived under the same means of grace, and are now dead, are undoubtedly gone to hell; and it was not because they were not as wise as those who are now alive: it was not because they did not lay out matters as well for themselves to secure their own escape. If we could speak with them, and inquire of them, one by one, whether they expected, when alive, and when they used to hear about hell, ever to be the subjects of misery: we doubtless, should hear one and another reply, “No, I never intended to come here: I had laid out matters otherwise in my mind; I thought I should contrive well for myself — I thought my scheme good. I intended to take effectual care; but it came upon me unexpected; I did not look for it at that time, and in that manner; it came as a thief — Death outwitted me: God’s wrath was too quick for me. Oh, my cursed foolishness! I was flattering myself, and pleasing myself with vain dreams of what I would do hereafter; and when I was saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction came upon me.”
As he noted, men do not exist in comfort and ease
Because they have somehow outwitted God
And carved a life of comfort in spite of His promise against it.
They live in ease for some other reason.
For Jehoram it was because God regarded David.
And for the countless lost today it is because of another reason.
2 Peter 3:9-10 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.”
Men who choose wrong and think they are safe
Are living in denial of the truth,
And there are countless examples of such people in Scripture.
The biggest that come to mind are the Pharisees.
Matthew 3:7-10 “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘ We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. “The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
They thought themselves to be safe, but it was an unwarranted thought.
In reality they were a tree unaware of the axe man
Who was about to topple it.
So many today are in such a predicament.
They have chosen death by rejecting Jesus,
And do not even see the axe about to chop them down.
They suppose they live in peace and safety
When in reality they are in great danger.
So it was for Jehoram.
Lived in Deception
Existed in Denial
#3 REIGNED IN DEFEAT
2 Kings 8:20-22
Here we learn that because of his rejection of the LORD,
Things did not go great with him.
It is bad enough that he was an immoral king,
But he wasn’t even a good king.
Some men in the past have been immoral, yet suitable in matters of national defense, or national economy.
Jehoram wasn’t even suitable in those areas.
We initially read that Edom revolted under his watch.
Edom had been subject to Israel since the days of David,
And now they have had enough.
While he did go and win a battle against them,
He was still unable to bring them back into subjection.
Furthermore he lost Libnah.
WHO WAS LIBNAH?
Joshua 21:13 “So to the sons of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasture lands, and Libnah with its pasture lands,”
Libnah was a city in Judah that was designated as a priestly city.
And this city basically succeeded from the union.
Obviously this city full of priests could not stomach
The blatant idolatry of Jehoram and so they revolted.
So now, not only has Jehoram lost a foreign slave,
But even his own country is unraveling before his very eyes.
The writer of Chronicles gets more specific as to the problem.
2 Chronicles 21:8-11 “In his days Edom revolted against the rule of Judah and set up a king over themselves. Then Jehoram crossed over with his commanders and all his chariots with him. And he arose by night and struck down the Edomites who were surrounding him and the commanders of the chariots. So Edom revolted against Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time against his rule, because he had forsaken the LORD God of his fathers. Moreover, he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot and led Judah astray.”
The writer of Chronicles reveals that his trouble was a direct consequence of having forsaken God and for engaging in idolatry.
He was allowed the throne because of David,
But he had no blessing upon his life.
He Lived in Deception He Existed in Denial He Reigned in Defeat
#4 HE DIED IN DISGRACE
2 Kings 8:23-24
Now in those two verses we don’t get much insight into his death.
However this writer did not have to include that info
Because it is readily available somewhere else.
He said, “The rest of the acts of Joram and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?”
So let’s see the rest.
2 Chronicles 21:12-20 “Then a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet saying, “Thus says the LORD God of your father David, ‘Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father and the ways of Asa king of Judah, but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot as the house of Ahab played the harlot, and you have also killed your brothers, your own family, who were better than you, behold, the LORD is going to strike your people, your sons, your wives and all your possessions with a great calamity; and you will suffer severe sickness, a disease of your bowels, until your bowels come out because of the sickness, day by day.'” Then the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabs who bordered the Ethiopians; and they came against Judah and invaded it, and carried away all the possessions found in the king’s house together with his sons and his wives, so that no son was left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons. So after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable sickness. Now it came about in the course of time, at the end of two years, that his bowels came out because of his sickness and he died in great pain. And his people made no fire for him like the fire for his fathers. He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years; and he departed with no one’s regret, and they buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.”
And what we find is that Jehoram died in great pain and in disgrace.
There is nothing favorable in his life.
There is nothing worthy of honor.
He chose the wrong path and it led him to destruction.
And let me assure you that the same awaits
For all those who choose the wrong path.
TURN TO: PROVERBS 1:20-33
And we could continue.
Take the Rich Young Ruler who chose the wrong path.
Take the Rich man in Hades who chose the wrong path.
Take Zaccheus who chose the right path.
And throughout Scripture it immerges time and time again.
That while God is most certainly sovereign over salvation,
There will come a day when you must choose who you will serve.
And let me assure you.
It is not a decision to take lightly.
Nor is it an insignificant decision.
It is a decision to completely and totally forsake this life
For the sake of the next.
That is why Jesus always told people to count the cost.
Luke 9:57-62 “As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
TURN TO: LUKE 14:25-35
And my point is this.
This is a decision that all men must make,
But do not assume you can cheat the system
By making some sort of half-way decision.
You are either all in or all out for Jesus.
You have either died to self or you haven’t.
You have either taken up the cross or you haven’t.
You have left a life of sin or you haven’t.
Salvation is all the work of God.
It is He who is the Savior.
It is Jesus who died and paid the penalty for sin.
And it is He who must offer it.
But when that offer comes your way, according to Scripture,
You must choose the path you will walk.
This morning I am asking you to choose to follow Christ.
I am asking you to die to self and to take up the cross and live for Jesus.
His way is the HARD way, it is the NARROW way,
It is the UNPOPULAR way, but it is THE way to life.
Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
