From Faith To Fear
Pastor Matt Bell
Sermon Summary
In this exposition of 2 Chronicles 20, Pastor Matt addresses how believers can transition from paralyzing fear to active faith when facing overwhelming circumstances. Drawing from the historical account of King Jehoshaphat facing the combined armies of Moab, Ammon, and Mount Seir, the sermon identifies a biblical, four-step framework for confronting anxiety and impossible odds. Rather than relying on human military strategy, Jehoshaphat immediately models seeking the Lord. The sermon breaks down this response into practical applications: beginning with honest and structured prayer (praising God, reciting His promises, presenting the problem, and petitioning for help), anchoring the soul in the objective truth of God’s Word rather than cultural negativity, stepping out in worship as an active demonstration of faith, and gathering with the covenant community for strength. Ultimately, the message encourages believers to let God fight their battles by resting in His sovereignty.
Sermon Transcript
Introduction
If you do have your Bibles, I invite you to open with me to the book of 2 Chronicles, chapter 20. We're in a series together as a church, a year-long series, where we're working through the whole Bible together. We call it "The Year of the Bible." If you're new to Christ the King Church, a year-long series is actually a short series for us. Sometimes our series last multiple years, but this year, we're only doing one year, and we're reading through the whole Bible together as a church. Every Sunday, I'm taking one of the passages that we read the previous week and using it to preach through the Word of God through this year.
This week will begin two books of the Bible called Ezra and Nehemiah. I would encourage you, if you have been or if you haven't been reading through the Bible with us, jump in with us this week. In your handout are the chapters. Read with your church community, and let God's Word work in your life.
The Reign and Crisis of King Jehoshaphat
Before we read this chapter, I want to give you a little bit of background on what has been happening in the previous few chapters. In chapter 20, we're dealing with a king named Jehoshaphat. As a kid, I was fascinated by this story in 2 Chronicles 20. I think probably half of my fascination came because the man's name was Jehoshaphat, and anything that had the word "fat" in it, I thought was hilarious. I still think it's hilarious. It is quite an interesting name.
He was a good king, the Bible has told us up to this point. We began reading about him in chapter 17, and it tells us that he was a good king because he walked in the ways of David, the previous king of Israel and Judah. He was faithful to the Lord. He was faithful to the Lord's word. In fact, he had brought reformation to the nation and had sent out priests as preachers to go to all the cities of Judah and to teach the people the law of God. I don't know of any other king that did a reformation in that way, sending out the priests to teach the people throughout the whole nation God's law. Though he wasn't perfect—and we read in some of the previous chapters about some of his imperfections as he entered into some questionable military alliances—nevertheless, up until this point, his report card has been overwhelmingly positive.
Which brings us here to chapter 20. There's a big problem. Three of the nations that surround Judah—which was a very small nation; there had been a split, and the ten northern tribes, the majority of the nation, had forsaken the Lord, resulting in a period of civil war with this one tribe of Judah—now three surrounding nations gang up, enter into a military league, and bring their armies to destroy Judah. That's what they're facing. They are hopelessly outnumbered, and there is no amount of military might, maneuvering, or skill that will save them. They are facing, as a people, complete, total, and utter destruction.
As we read this passage, I want us to be thinking about this question: when we face hardships in life, when we face difficulties, when the future doesn't look good, when we've received word that is very alarming and very troubling, where do we turn? What do we do when we are afraid? What do we do in moments of great difficulty and fear?
The Reading of God's Word
With that, let's turn to the Word of God. I invite you to stand with me. We're going to read the passage here together. It is a little bit of a longer passage, but we'll read through it, and then we'll walk through it. In 2 Chronicles chapter 20, it says:
After this, the Moabites and the Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, Engedi). Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.
And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, and said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, ‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you willhear and save.’
“And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy—behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
Meanwhile all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God's. Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”
Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.
And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.” And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say,
“Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed. For the men of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction, and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another.
Father, we do thank you for your Word. It is precious to us. Lord, I pray that through our time in your Word that you would produce faith in our hearts. Lord, we may have come in here this morning afraid. We may have come in here this morning with many worries, many fears, many anxieties. Lord, I pray that you would help us through your Word to move us from fear to faith. Lord, that we would be people who would believe your Word, who would stand on your Word, who would take all of our cares to you, and that we would see you move on our behalf, because you are the God who fights our battles for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
You may be seated this morning.
The Reality of Fear in the Believer's Life
The beginning of the passage lays out for us the circumstances that they are facing. They are dire circumstances. These three surrounding nations have aligned themselves against Judah, and they've come in with their armies to destroy them. This word comes to the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, and it says in verse 3 that Jehoshaphat was afraid.
Jehoshaphat was afraid, and rightfully so. He was facing the total annihilation of his people. The threat he was facing wasn't imaginary. It was very real, and he was powerless to do anything to stop it. There was nothing that he could do in and of himself that could secure the victory for his people, so he is afraid.
Fear is an awful emotion. It's something that we have all faced, from the youngest to the oldest. We've all been afraid. We've all faced things that have caused great fear in our hearts. Fear comes because we are uncertain about the future. It's an uncertainty about what will happen in the future that manifests in the present, and in the present, it robs us of our joy.
There are all kinds of things that cause fear in our hearts. We see what caused fear in Jehoshaphat's heart, but when we look at our lives and in our world today, there are many things that we could be afraid of. In fact, a lot of our culture traffics in fear. The news, of course, is infamous for trafficking in fear—selling fear, using fear to hook people into watching what is going on in the world. There is no lack of things that would cause fear in our hearts today.
There's economic uncertainty. Because of wars and rumors of wars, we don't know what the future is going to hold. We don't know how this war with Iran is going to develop, or the war in Ukraine and Russia, the war with Israel. It's just wars and economic uncertainty that looms on the horizon, especially if we're tuned in constantly to the drumbeat of every day. Very rarely on the news is there ever any good news. You notice that? It's always bad news, because we have this insatiable desire for negativity. It's bizarre.
But that's not the only thing. There are personal things in our life that can cause fear. We go to the doctor, and there's a negative health diagnosis. That causes us great fear. There are relational conflicts that we have where we don't know how things are going to turn out. They're saying now that AI is going to take all of our jobs in the next three years. We're all going to be jobless; we're not going to have any way to make money and provide for ourselves because AI is going to take over. That could cause fear in our hearts. It's because the outcomes in our mind are not certain, and we think in these negative outcomes that rob us of our joy by producing fear in our hearts.
This fear paralyzes us. It torments us with these worst-case scenarios of what might be in the future. When we are afraid, we feel stuck. We feel trapped. This is where we find Jehoshaphat: filled with fear, stuck, trapped, not knowing what to do.
Yet, at the very end of this story, he's not afraid. At the very end of this story, fear has been replaced with something far more powerful. Jehoshaphat has been moved from fear to faith. His fear has been replaced with faith, and he is filled with so much faith in God that when he rallies the people to go face this army, he doesn't send forth his most mighty and powerful warriors. Instead, he sends the choir out front to go sing the praises of God to their enemies. That is how much faith he is filled with.
How does this happen? How did he move so quickly from being filled with fear to being filled with so much faith that he sends the choir to face the army? That's what we're going to look at here today, because all of us will face things in our life that will cause us to fear. If you came in here this morning afraid of what the future holds, that's okay. Jehoshaphat was afraid. But I want you to know, God has something better for you than fear. I want to show you the process that God took Jehoshaphat through to move him from fear to faith, that we all too might move from that place of fear and move into a place of faith. That, of course, is the title of my sermon this morning: From Fear to Faith.
Step 1: Turn to Prayer First
What's the first thing that he does when he sees this army? When he sees the odds that he is up against, what's the first thing that Jehoshaphat does? Does he rally his generals? Does he rally his military leaders and say, "We got to get a plan together. We got to get a strategy together." Is that what he does? No. The first thing that he does is that he prays.
When we find ourselves afraid, we must pray. This is what he does—not as a last resort, but the first place that he turns. We read it in verse 3: Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord.
Where do you turn when you are afraid? Where do you turn when you receive bad news? Where do you turn when things are not going in the direction that you thought they would go, that you would hope that they would go? For the people of God, our first place must be God. Let us turn to God first. Let us turn to God often. Let us go to the Lord in prayer, taking our cares to Him.
I want to show you four things in Jehoshaphat's prayer that teach us how to pray. You might say, "Well, I don't know how to pray. What do I say? I try to pray, but I don't know what to say. It doesn't really flow out of my lips. It's kind of clunky. It's sort of hard. As soon as I try to pray, I'm so distracted." Jehoshaphat's prayer is a model prayer for us. I want to show you the four parts of his prayer that will help you in your prayer.
First, he begins with praise. Then he moves to reciting God's promises. Then he tells God his problems, and then finally he makes a petition.
1. Praise
He begins by praising God. In verse 6, he says, "God, you rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. And in your hand are power and might so that none is able to withstand you." He begins by exalting God. He begins by putting his eyes on the Lord and elevating God over his problem. This is the first thing that we must do when we go to God in prayer: we must exalt God. We must recognize that God is above whatever problem we are facing. Whatever issue is at hand, God is above it. God is over it. God is sovereign. This is what Jehoshaphat begins by doing—recognizing God's power over these enemies that he's facing. Listen, if God's not above your problem, there's no point in going to God. So we must begin by praising Him: "Lord, I'm facing this, but this is who you are. You are the all-powerful God. You are the almighty God. You're the God who hung the stars in the sky. You're the God who rules the nations. I'm coming to you, the sovereign King of all."
2. Promises
Then he moves on to reciting the promises of God. The covenant promises of God. He says, "God, you promised to place your people in this land. You've placed us in this land. Lord, you've promised to hear our prayer when we assemble here at this temple." Lord, you have made these promises to us. When we come to the Lord in prayer filled with fear, we begin by praising the Lord, but then let us recite the promises of God. "Lord, your Word says that you will never leave us, you will never forsake us. Lord, your Word says that no weapon formed against me will prosper. Lord, your Word says that you will supply all of my needs according to your riches in glory. Lord, your Word says that by your stripes I am healed." This is what people call pleading the promises of God—taking them before the Lord, reminding God of His Word.
3. Problems
Then he moves on to his problem. "Lord, we've got a great issue. We've been surrounded by these people." Notice he is even saying, "God, this isn't fair. This is not right. Lord, when you brought us out of Egypt, we passed through these other nations, and you told us that we couldn't fight with them. You told us not to destroy them, so we didn't. And now they're repaying our good with evil. God, this is not fair. God, this is not just."
There are all these bad ideas that sometimes people have about prayer. One of them is that you should never complain to God. Another one is that you should never question God. I don't think that's a biblical thing. Jehoshaphat is complaining to God, saying, "God, we did what was right. They're repaying us evil for our good. This is unjust. How are you allowing this to happen?" If you read the book of Psalms, which is a songbook and a prayer book for the people of God, it's filled with complaints. It's filled with questions. This idea that you shouldn't bring your complaints to God is an unbiblical idea. If we don't bring our complaints to God, you know what we do? We take them to everybody else. The first place we should not go is online to blast everybody and vent. If we're going to vent, we vent to the Lord. We leave it with the Lord.
4. Petition
And then he makes his petition in verse 12. It's such a beautiful thing that he asks the Lord to do. He says, "O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you." When you're faced with fear, let this be your prayer: "God, I don't know what to do, but my eyes are on you. I'm putting the situation in your hand. I'm asking you to move, to intervene, and I'm going to trust in you to do so."
In Philippians chapter 4, Paul tells us this: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." And he says if we will do this, "The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." What a beautiful promise. Are you facing fear, worry, anxiety, trouble? Go into your prayer closet. Bring it before Him. Be honest with the Lord. You don't have to pretend. You don't have to start talking in King James English, like you're Shakespeare. Be real with the Lord. Why? He already knows what's in your heart.
First Peter 5:7 says, "Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." We have a God in heaven who cares for us. What is it that you're facing today? God cares about it. God never gets tired. God never sleeps. He truly is that friend that sticks closer than a brother. We must recover this lost art of prayer. When the fear and the anxiety comes, take it to Jesus. Where's the first place that you turn? Is it ChatGPT, or is it Jesus Christ? We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.
Step 2: Feed on the Word of God
The second thing that God uses to bring Jehoshaphat from fear to faith is He uses the Word of God. In verses 13 through 17, it tells us of the prophet Jahaziel who arose in the midst of the assembly and proclaimed the Word of God to them. Thus says the Lord: "Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God's."
This word that came from God built faith in their hearts. When you are faced with things causing fear, you need to take it to the Lord in prayer, and then you need to get into God's Word. You need to remind yourself that this battle you're facing is not yours, but it is the Lord's. In verse 17, he says that we will not even need to fight. We only need to stand firm—to stand firm in our faith and to trust in the Lord.
We need our souls to be filled with the Word of God, and we need this Word every single day. Because every single day that we live in this life is some kind of a battle. The three enemies that we face on a daily basis are the world, the flesh, and the devil. No matter who you are or where you live, you have to contend with them. And what is it that we fight with? We must fight with the Word of God. It is our weapon. Jesus said in Matthew 4:4, "It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’" Jesus is saying that just as we need natural nourishment for our natural lives, so every day we need spiritual bread. Where do we get that? We get it from the Word of God.
When we come to the Word of God, we have a choice on whose report we're going to believe. I'm either going to believe my fears and the negative things being said around me, or I'm going to believe the Word of God. What are you feeding your soul on? My algorithm on social media is finely tuned to my preferences. I get served up Christian content regularly. But it is amazing to me how much of the Christian content that is served to me is still negative. Scandals, this thing, that thing—even though it's Christian, it's not building my faith. We must fill our souls with the Word of God so we might feed on things that build our faith. Romans 10:17 says, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."
Step 3: Worship as an Act of Faith
The third thing that we see in this passage is that Jehoshaphat moves into worship. He gathers the people of God, they pray, they receive God's Word, and then they bring their worship to the Lord. In verse 18, it says he bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord worshiping.
Then in verse 21, this really interesting thing happens: he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise Him in holy attire. They got their choir robes on—not their breastplates, helmets, and swords, but their church clothes, their Sunday best. He sent this choir out in front of the army to sing, "Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever."
From a natural standpoint, if you're only looking at military strategy, they would be slaughtered. But in verse 22, it says, "And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed."
There are two realities that we live in. The reality we are most familiar with is the natural world—our five senses. But there's another reality, and that's the spiritual world. When we come to Christ in faith, our spirits are made alive, so that now we live in both of these worlds. Jehoshaphat goes to battle first spiritually. He trusts God so much, he believes the Word of God so much, that he sends the choir first to proclaim the goodness of God over their enemies. As he begins to worship, God intervenes on their behalf and turns the armies of one against the other so that they destroy themselves.
I want you to see this: praising God is an act of faith. Faith is believing what we don't see with our natural eyes. Faith is saying, "God, Your Word says this. I don't see it with my natural eyes, yet I'm choosing to believe You, and I'm choosing it so deeply that I'm actually going to put it into practice." Worship is an act of faith. We sing His praises in spite of the challenges we're facing in our bodies, in our marriages, in our country, at our workplace. When we come in and freely worship the Lord, something begins to happen in the spiritual realm, and God will begin to fight your battles for you.
Step 4: Rely on Christian Community
The fourth and final thing woven throughout this whole passage is this aspect of community. In verse 4, King Jehoshaphat gathered the whole assembly to seek the Lord. In verse 13, it says all Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives, and their children. He didn't just seek the Lord on his own, but he brought the people of God together to do it together.
Likewise, when we face challenges, obstacles, and opposition that would cause us great fear and worry, we need to not isolate ourselves. We need to gather together with the people of God. When things are not going well, the first thing that should come to your mind is, "I need to get among my brothers and sisters in Christ because I need the strength and encouragement that only comes through fellowship." When you are being attacked by the enemy, it doesn't make sense to isolate yourself. What makes sense is to rally together with other people who can face the enemy with you.
We at Christ the King Church have many wonderful ways of building community, like our life groups. But you don't even have to do it through an official church program. You can call up a brother or sister, get together, share what's going on, and believe God together in prayer.
Conclusion
These are the four things that God uses to move Jehoshaphat from fear to faith: prayer, Word, worship, and community. I know this is not rocket science. Sometimes we make things so complicated, when really it is the simple truth of the Word of God that we need in our lives.
What are you facing today? Have you taken it to the Lord in prayer? Have you steeled your heart with the promises of God? Have you given yourself to the Lord in worship, surrendering and trusting in Him? And are you practicing community, not doing it on your own strength, but with the strength of the brothers and sisters in Christ that God has placed around you? I believe if we will do those things, God will move us from fear to faith, that we would stand for the Lord, and that we would see Him move on our behalf. Amen.