2 Chronicles 19:1-2
When Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned safely to his palace in Jerusalem, Jehu the seer, the son of Hanani, went out to meet him and said to the king, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, the wrath of the LORD is upon you!”
It is happy when pious children rise up in the places of their parents, and, unmoved by the sufferings which their fathers have experienced, dare to tread in their steps with fidelity and zeal.
Hanani, the father of Jehu, had been cast into prison for faithful reproof which he administered to King Asa, 2 Chronicles 16:7-10; yet does Jehu give a similar reproof to Asa’s son and successor, Jehoshaphat; and as he was enabled to temper his reproof with seasonable commendation, he succeeded in convincing the monarch of his fault, and in stirring him up to a more becoming conduct.
The conduct here blamed, was Jehoshaphat’s uniting himself with Ahab against the king of Syria; but the terms in which the censure was conveyed, are of more general import, and may be applied to all alliances with the ungodly. We will endeavor therefore to improve them, by showing,
I. What is that intimacy with the ungodly which God forbids.
We are not to suppose that all connection with them is forbidden; for then, as the Apostle says, “We must needs go out of the world,” since the necessities of our nature constrain us to keep up some sort of interaction with them. Moreover, there is an attention to them which compassion itself demands, and which our blessed Savior himself manifested to such a degree, as to incur the reproach of being “a friend of publicans and sinners.” Nor are we to forget, that courtesy is one of the most amiable and important of Christian graces. “Be pitiful, be courteous,” is the command of God himself; and those who are grossly deficient in relation to this duty, as too many professors of religion are, have greatly mistaken the true genius of Christianity, which is, in every possible modification of it, a religion of love.
Yet there is a very broad line of distinction to be drawn between the extremes of unmeasured union with the world, and a contemptuous abstraction from it. Though the righteous are not to despise the ungodly:
1. Believers are to carefully avoid marriage to the ungodly.
Under the law, all intermarriages with the heathen were strictly forbidden; and under the Gospel the same law applies to the ungodly; the Apostle’s direction respecting those who are seeking a matrimonial alliance, is, “Let them marry, but only in the Lord, 1 Corinthians 7:39.” In many places of Scripture are the evils arising from unequal marriages of believers with unbelievers, strongly marked, Genesis 6:2-3 and in Jehoshaphat’s own son; 2 Chronicles 21:6; we must not wonder then that such contracts are expressly forbidden, 2 Corinthians 6:14-16.
2. Believers are to carefully avoid a conformity to the ungodly.
They who are of the world, both speak of the world, and act agreeably to its dictates; they have no higher objects in view, than “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.” But these are wholly unsuited to the Christian’s state; they are in direct opposition to that holy and heavenly course which he is commanded to pursue, 1 John 2:15-16; and therefore he is enjoined “on no account to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of his mind, that he may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God, Romans 12:2.”
3. Believers are to carefully avoid intimate companionship with the ungodly.
We should not choose them as our intimate friends and companions; for “how can two walk together, except they be agreed?” We almost of necessity imbibe the spirit of our associates; and therefore we should select for our acquaintance those who will help us forward, and not those who will retard us, in our heavenly course. We can never too attentively consider that instructive declaration of Solomon, “He who walks with wise men, will be wise; but a companion of fools will be destroyed! Proverbs 13:20.”
That such intimacy with the ungodly is not prohibited by God without reason, will appear, while we show,
II. Why intimacy with the ungodly is so displeasing to God.
God was greatly offended with Jehoshaphat, and severely punished him for his fault. It was in consequence of his alliance with Ahab that his eldest son Jehoram slew all his younger brethren, 2 Chronicles 21:4, and that all his grandchildren were slain by Jehu, 2 Kings 10:13-14 and especially 2 Chronicles 22:7-8. And in every instance, such intimacy with the ungodly is offensive to him”
1. On account of the state of mind it implies.
It is evident that any person professing godliness, and at the same time desiring the society of the ungodly, must be in a very degenerate state. Such a state of mind indicates in a very high degree:
a lack of love to God,
a lack of aversion to sin,
a lack of self-knowledge,
and a lack of common prudence.
How low must be his love to God! Would any man who loved his parents and his family select for his intimate friend a man that was the avowed enemy of them all? Yet the character of the ungodly is, that they are “haters of God! Romans 1:30; Romans 8:7;” how then can anyone who truly loves God, take such a person for his bosom friend, or maintain, except from necessity, any interaction with him?
And small indeed must be his aversion to sin, when he can find pleasure in those who belong to “a world that lies in wickedness,” and whose whole life is a continued and voluntary course of sin.
His self-knowledge too must be at a very low ebb, if he thinks that he can frequent such company without having both his principles and his practice greatly vitiated.
Even to common prudence, he is almost an utter stranger; for would any man on the brink of a stupendous precipice go unnecessarily to the utmost edge of it, where it was exceeding slippery, rather than pursue a path which was comparatively both safe and easy? Yet this is his conduct, who chooses to mix unnecessarily with a tempting and ensnaring world; and the absurdity of it is strongly marked in the expressions of our text, where an appeal is made to the common sense and reason of mankind, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD?”
2. On account of its pernicious tendency.
We often form very erroneous calculations on this subject. We are ready to think that we shall ingratiate ourselves with the world, and recommend religion to their favorable acceptance. But the very reverse is the case; we lower ourselves in their estimation, and make them think better of their ungodly beliefs than they would otherwise do. They take for granted that true religion sanctions all that conformity to their customs that they see in us; and consequently that they are much nearer to the standard of true religion than they really are. Nor are they a whit more reconciled to those practices which they do not choose to follow, and which, in spite of all our efforts, they will account over-righteous, unnecessary, and absurd. It will be found almost invariably that little, if any, good accrues to the ungodly from such sacrifices, and that great injury is sustained by those who make them.
In the chapter preceding our text, we may see the experiment fairly made. Jehoshaphat having joined affinity with Ahab, paid him a friendly visit, and was hospitably received by him, 2 Chronicles 18:1-2. Presently Ahab proposed to him a union of their forces in an attack on the king of Syria; to which proposal Jehoshaphat, unwilling to refuse him, accedes; but, being a pious character, Jehoshaphat recommends that an inquiry should be first made of God for his direction. To this Ahab apparently agrees; but consults none except his own idolatrous prophets, 2 Chronicles 18:3-5. Jehoshaphat, not quite satisfied with their advice, asks if there is not a prophet of Jehovah by whom their inquiry may be made? Ahab acknowledges that there is; but that he hates that prophet, because he never prophesied good concerning him, but evil. This aversion Jehoshaphat tries to soften; and for a moment prevails, 2 Chronicles 18:6-8; but, as soon as Micaiah has delivered his message from the Lord, Ahab is filled with rage against him, and orders him to be put in prison, and to be fed with the bread and water of affliction; and Jehoshaphat, contrary to God’s revealed will, proceeds with Ahab to execute the plan proposed, 2 Chronicles 18:16-17; 2 Chronicles 18:25-28.
Now here is an exact representation of what generally takes place in such connections: the compliances that are required by the ungodly, are too faintly refused; while the barriers interposed by the godly, produce no adequate effect. The two parties may fitly be compared to people pulling against each other on a steep declivity; the one who is on the more elevated site, may think he shall prevail; but a moment’s experience will suffice to show him, that his adversary draws against him with a ten-fold advantage, both as it respects the comparative force which he is able to exert, and the greater facility with which a descending motion may be produced.
Thus it is between the godly and the ungodly, when too intimate a fellowship exists between them; the conscience of the one is ensnared and violated, while the other retains all his principles, dispositions, and habits!
3. On account of its opposition to God’s revealed will.
Nothing can be plainer than God’s declaration respecting friendship with the world; it is actually a state of “enmity against God;” yes, the very desire to possess its friendship is constructive treason against God himself; and actually constitutes treason, as much as the holding of forbidden interaction with an earthly enemy constitutes treason against the king, James 4:4.
It is in vain to dispute against such a solemn declaration as this, or to think that we can ever reconcile such opposite interests as those of “God and Mammon.” We must hold to the one, or to the other; and if we choose friendship with the world, then must we expect to be dealt with as the enemies of God. If we are intimate friends with the goats in this world, it is in vain to hope that we shall be numbered with the sheep in the world to come, Matthew 25:32-33.
ADDRESS.
The character of Jehoshaphat was on the whole good, “good things were found in him; and he had prepared his heart to seek God, verse 3.” Now it is to people of this character more particularly that our subject must be addressed; for the ungodly, when mixing with the world, are in their proper element; and the established Christian feels but little temptation to go back to worldly pleasures, or to worldly society.
But the temptation to young and inexperienced Christians is great. Be it remembered however by all, that the true disciples of our Lord “are not of the world, even as he was not of the world.” They cannot say to an ungodly man, “I am as you are;” for they are as different from him as light from darkness. “By the cross of Christ, they are crucified unto the world, as the world also is to them, Galatians 6:14.”
Let me entreat you then, brethren, not to “be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, but to come out from among them, and be separate, 2 Corinthians 6:14; 2 Corinthians 6:17;” and endeavor to be in reality, what all the Lord’s people are by profession: “a city set upon a hill,” and “lights shining in a dark place.”
Charles Simeon