← Cornerstone Chapel - Audio Podcast
Loading summary
Transcript1 lines
- [00:00]
A
Second Chronicles 15 is where we're going to be picking it up. Last week we looked at a lot of second Chronicles 14 and we've been going through all these kings. And so in here, where I'm going to kind of look at is I'm going to backtrack just a tiny bit on where we're at in terms of the kings and the dates and all that. So if you're taking notes on the screen, this is the, the slide that Pastor Gary was using. I'm going to just continue using this on where we are on the map in regards to Israel and Judah. Now remember, this is a divided kingdom again. And even, even me, I've been studying, you know, the Bible for a long time. I always forget which one's the north with one's the south. Israel's the north, Judah's the south. Okay. And it's going to be like this for a long time. And where we left off, if you. Right here, Second Chronicles 14 got ahead of myself. Second Chronicles 14, King Jeroboam was the king of Israel. And we are introduced to King Asa. And King Asa is what we're going to look at for the rest of tonight. We're going to look at 2nd Chronicles 15 and 16. And he reigns over Israel, I'm sorry, Judah, the south for 41 years after King Jeroboam is done. Asa and Jeroboam, they're contemporaries for a little bit, but Asa is going to out reign several kings. And so on the slide, if you're taking note, we've got King Jeroboam, he's done and so his son takes the throne. And I put on the screen, if you look in the left hand corner, 1st Kings 15, you will only find that in 1st Kings 15 you got to compare Kings and Chronicles to get most of the context together. So it's harmonious. So First Kings 15 is where we find Jeroboam. Son Nadab only reigns for two years. He reigns over Israel and he's killed in a way. He's assassinated by this next guy that we're going to look at going back to second chronicles 16, King Basha. And he is going to reign for 24 years. All the while, King Asa is reigning in a totality of 41 years. He reigns for a long time. But King Basha is what we're going to look at in chapter 16. But just to give you kind of a glimpse of again all the kings that were kings of Israel when Asa was king, you've got also up here on the screen, if you're taking notes. You can find this in 1st Kings 15 and on, or 2nd Chronicles 16 and on. But you've got Jeroboam Nadab, who's killed by Baasha. After Baasha is Elah. And after Elah is Zimri. What's interesting about Zimri is you can read it. He was literally king for seven days. And it says he committed suicide. So you can read about that. But seven days, this guy was king. After him was Omri. And after Omri is Ahab. We're pretty much familiar. Hopefully we're familiar with Ahab. He's one of the wickedest kings of all time in Israel. And Asa is contemporaries with all these kings. Asa and Ahab, they. They co. Reign, you know, they. They coincide just. Just a little bit. Asa is on his way out and then Ahab comes in. And we're familiar with Ahab because of Elijah and all that. You can read about that later. But all those kings were contemporaries with Asa. And I wanna pick it up in 2 Chronicles 15. And as we go straight through the Bible on Wednesday nights, we're just gonna see different applications that we're gonna look at. I wanna read just up until verse five. Let's go to verse seven and then I'm going to talk about who Asa is. Chapter 15, verse one. Now, the Spirit of God came upon Azariah. You can highlight or circle his name, the son of Oded. And he went out to meet Asa and said to him, hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin, the Lord is with you. While you are with him, if you seek him, he will be found by you. But if you forsake him, he will forsake you. For a long time, Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest and without law. But when in their trouble, they turned to the Lord God of Israel and sought him. He was found by them. And in those times, there was no peace to the one who went out, nor to the one who came in. But great turmoil was on all the inhabitants of the lands. So nation was destroyed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every adversity. But you be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded. What he's talking about here kind of gives us a precursor of who Asa is. And in a way, it's an encouragement, but also a warning that this man Azariah comes to deliver this message. He was a prophet and he delivers this message to Asa. And he kind of gives a history lesson when Israel was without the Lord, and they didn't seek him. Turmoil happened, but when they sought him, he was found. But the things I want to look at Asa before we even get jump into more of this text. Asa, you can see the bullet points on the screen. Asa is actually a sigh of relief. A pretty good king. And again, they were rare. We don't read about a lot of kings of Judah and Israel that were good. And Asa is actually one of them. And you have to compare 1st Kings also with 2nd Chronicles 15. But it's great to remember. Asa is found in 1st Kings 15. He's found in 2nd Chronicles 15. Okay. It says in 1st Kings 15 that he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Okay, that's great. Whenever you read that, a part of a king that you know that's a good king, the opposite of that is this king did evil in the sight of the Lord. And it kind of just leaves it at that. We don't get a lot of details with some of these kings. It's only what the Holy Spirit needs us to hear that he'll write in those details. But we just get a glimpse, a general statement that he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. That's good. He also removed idolatry and banished evil. When you read 1st Kings 15, 12 through 13, what he did there. Let me just read it real quick. First kings. I'm sorry, second kings 15, or first kings 15. Look what it says in verse 12. And he banished the perverted persons from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. He's removing idolatry, but he's doing something else. And only First Kings tells us this. That he banishes. It says the perverted persons in the Hebrew, it's the word kadashim, and it literally means those practicing sodomy or prostitution and ritual rights. And he banishes all these people, whether you want to call it homosexuality or prostitution or whatever this was sexual sin that was happening. And he says, enough's enough. All my forefathers let this happen. I'm getting rid of this. And he banishes it. He says no more. Now, what's twisted? Also look at verse 13 of 1st Kings 15. It's also found later in 2nd Chronicles 15, 16. You can read ahead. But it says he banishes also. He removes Ma, his grandmother, from being the queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. And Asa cut down her obscene image, burned it by the brook Kidron, and he does away with it talk about a gross grandma. If you want to dig deeper in the Hebrew, be my guest. But it pretty much sums it up. This was, in a way, phallic symbols that the grandmother allowed to happen. And people were worshiping it. And he says, you got to go, Grandma. And he removes grandma, kicks grandma out, and he cuts down that idol and obscene image for Asherah. BAAL and Asherah were always sexual deities, a God and goddess, and it was wicked. And Asa says, grandma, you're gone and I'm kicking you out. And he removes and cuts down that image and burns it in the brook kidron. And I kind of like that application. If there's sexual sin in your life, you got to get it, get rid of it. You got to cut it out, you got to remove it, you got to be done with it. Whether that's pornography, whether that's sexual sin outside of marriage, whether that's sexual sin before marriage, we got to get rid of that stuff. And the Bible's not going to be, you know, beating around the bush. The Bible's making it clear, it's making a statement. Holy Spirit is saying, you got to get rid of this stuff. And it was lingering in Israel for too long and in Judah. And Asa says, enough's enough. I'm done with this. He removes idolatry and banishes evil. And he says, enough, gets rid of it. His heart, though. I love what First Kings 15:14 says. His heart was loyal to the Lord all his days. That's a very, very special statement. I don't know if that could be said about me or you, but to read about that, that. That's someone that inspires me. His heart was loyal to the Lord all his days. Loyalty is so important to the Lord. You can read about loyalty a lot in Proverbs and in Psalms. God is looking for men and women who are loyal to him, who are staying with him through thick and thin, who's not some fair weather fan. Whereas I'm just gonna jump on the bandwagon of God and everybody else is doing it, so I'm gonna get on that. I don't like that, even in sports. I've been a Redskins and Commander's fan my whole life, and all of a sudden, when they start doing well, everyone jumps on the bandwagon. But when they start doing bad, ah, let's go back to it. Rooting for the Cowboys and the Patriots. All right? You weren't even a fan to begin with. I don't even want you on the bandwagon. So get Off. All right. I'm gonna ride it through thick and thin. And Jesus is looking for people like that. Who's gonna stay loyal to me? Who's gonna be with me through thick and thin? And then in 2 Chronicles 15:19, it says that there was peace for his first 35 years as king. No war. So if you look back at our text in 2nd Chronicles 15, it says in verse 19, There was no war until the 35th year of the reign of Asa. There's peace. So this man is following after the Lord, doing well, getting rid of evil. And he says, we're going to have, in a sense, a revival in this land. And what he's doing, it just speaks volumes to me. But I want to pick it up again. In verse 1 of 15, it tells us, in this very interesting statement, you can even underline this sentence. It says, now, the Spirit of God came upon Azariah. There were only a certain amount of times that the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, came upon men or women in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit did not indwell inside mankind until after Pentecost. So when the Holy Spirit comes upon a certain person in the Old Testament, a righteous person, that's. That's a big deal, because the Holy Spirit really didn't do that that often. It was not that it was rare, but it was just not the way God prescribed in the Old Testament, New Testament. Now you get saved, you instantly receive the Holy Spirit. And that's when the Holy Spirit fell on the men and women in the upper room in Acts, chapter two. But we see here the Spirit of God comes upon this man Azariah and has a message for Asa. So you know this is from the Lord, clearly from the Lord. He's speaking with the power of the Holy Spirit. And he says, hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. And I love this. If you don't have this highlighted, you should. The Lord is with you while you are with him. Amen. Lord is always with you, whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not, he is always with you. And if you stay true to him, that intimate relationship is going to be like none other. And he says, the Lord is with you while you're with him, and if you seek him, he will be found by you. A lot of verses in the New Testament should be popping up in our minds. That sounds familiar. Of course it does. It's because when we read James, chapter four, verse eight, Satan says, when you and I draw near to the Lord, he draws near to us. It's One of my favorite verses, James 4:8. When we come closer to the Lord, he doesn't grow distant, he comes even closer. He's like, I don't meet you halfway, I'm coming. I'm coming all the way. If you're coming to me, I'm coming after you. And I love that. And that's the first thing I want to look at. These principles that we look at as we go through the Bible on Wednesday nights from 2 Chronicles 15. Number one, seek the Lord and you will find him. However, there was a flip to that. Did you catch it? It says, if you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. So the flip side is, seek the Lord and you will find him, but seek self. You actually deny him. When we are seeking after the Lord, there's something special that the Lord does. It's in a way, like a magnet. He just. We are just gravitated to him and he can't help but draw closer to his children. The moment we read our Bibles, the moment we have Bible study, we come to church. The moment we seek him in prayer, he is always, always going to seek after us. However, it is clear and true that it says, if you forsake him, he will forsake you. Now, the word forsake in the Hebrew or. And even in the Greek, it has the same meaning where it means to actually loose something, to loose like a bind or to leave something. You're. You're losing this relationship or you're. You're walking away and leaving something. And that's what Asa is being told by Azariah. He's saying, look, if you seek him, you'll always find him. Always. God will not hide from the hearts that seek after him. God is not a God who plays hide and seek. It's not like he's hiding. And you got to go seek after him. You got to find him. And it's taking hours. All right? Everyone knows the game hide and seek. Everyone's played that game. But God is not the one who is hiding. And you gotta go find him. I don't know where he is. No, you go seek him. He's just gonna say, I'm right here. All right? That's how sometimes kids will play that game. You know, I've got four kids now. I've got three daughters and one son. And we'll play hide and seek. But my two year old will sometimes not understand the rules to hide and seek. Pretty. It's pretty simple. I don't know why she doesn't get it. I know she's 2, but she needs to understand hide and seek. And she. She'll think she's hiding, you know, if she kind of just shuts her. Close her. Closes her eyes or stands, like, in a corner. But then I'm like, oh. And I'm just, you know, as the dad, I'm sure dads, you've done this too. It's like you act like you don't see them. Oh, I wonder where they are. But you know they're there. Hmm. I wonder where they. And then she'll just be like, I'm right here. I'm like, oh. And then my other kids are like, hey, Dan, you're supposed to let him find you. So it's not as if God is hiding any. And he, you know, he'll never be found. If you seek him. That's what God's going to do. I'm right here. You don't have to look far. And that's what Asa is told by Azariah. When you seek him, you'll find him. However, when you seek self, Asa, and we're going to find out in chapter 16, unfortunately, he does for a moment, seek self. He doesn't seek after the Lord. And when we seek self, we technically deny him. What do I mean by that? Well, James, chapter 4 8, tells us, when we draw closer to the Lord, he draws near closer to us. However, Titus 1:16. Everyone needs to understand Titus 1:16. The whole book of Titus is amazing. But Titus 1:16 has been profound in my life because it actually talks about, in a way, fake Christians. Titus 1:16 is very explicit that Paul says. He says, titus, you need to be ready for those that have consciences that are corrupt. It says, they claim to know God with their lips, but they deny him by their actions. And that's a very strong verse and it's been very foundational for me. I never want to be a part of fake Christians. I never want to be a fake Christian myself. Or I just say all the right things. I have all the good Bible verses, and I claim to know him by what I say, but I completely and utterly deny him by the way I live. I never want to be like that. And that's what Asa tends to do in chapter 16. He. He does have a loyal heart to the Lord, but he has one mistake. We all make mistakes. But Asa is warned. He says, look, if you seek the Lord, you'll find him. But if you start to seek yourself, you will technically Deny him by the way you live. You're gonna deny that you know him, and you're gonna deny that you need him. You're gonna deny that you have a relationship with him. That's why Paul says to Titus, look, you're gonna have people that come into your church, Titus, you need to be ready for that. Say the right Christian things, but the way they live is totally opposite to what they say. We have people like that today. Sadly, we have a lot of people that are like that in the church. They claim to know Jesus. I don't care if you claim to know Jesus. I want to watch how you live. You can say all the right things. You can quote Bible verses. You can say, yeah, I've got a great relationship with the man above. Celebrities say that all the time. When celebrities are talked about, you know, or pro athletes and they mention God, I'm always hesitant. I'm like, okay, but if they say, I love and have a awesome relationship with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that's different. That speaks volumes. And I want to watch how they live. How do they. How do they act on social media? How do they interact with the public? We can deny Jesus even though we claim to know him and love him, we can ultimately deny him by the way we live, if it's totally opposite of how we're supposed to live. And so it's. It's really good for us to know. Seek him. You're going to find Him. You start seeking self, you're going to ultimately deny him. Let's keep reading. He says, now pick it up in verse eight. And when Asa heard these words. So Azariah, filled with the Holy Spirit, gives Asa this encouraging and warning and all the same time and. And then a little history lesson of Israel. And it says in verse eight, when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet. Okay, other translations just means Oded. You know, Azariah was the son of Oded the prophet. It says he took courage. And then he does what it says, he removes the abominable idols from the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities which he had taken in the mountains of Ephraim. And he restored the. The altar of the Lord that was before the vestibule of the Lord. Meaning quote, AKA he's taking action. He hears what Azariah says. That's from the Lord. And it doesn't say that he twiddles his thumbs or thinks about it. He says, got it. I'm going to do this. And I love that. So number Two, if you're taking notes, don't be only hearers of God's word, but doers. Where do we hear that? Talking about James. This is like another James Bible study, James 1:22. James says, I don't want you to just be hearers of the Word, I want you to do what it says. And I took note of that. Asa is a man who's proactive in his faith and we need men and women who are going to do that. Asa says, I hear these words and it says, he took courage and he takes action. He's not just a hearer of the Word, but he does what the Lord says and I love that. He says he removes the unabombable idols. It says, verse 9. He gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those who dwelt with them from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon, for they came over to him in great numbers from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. So he's gathering all the peoples, they're going to have a sacrifice. And Asa is saying, I'm not just going to hear what God says, I'm going to do what he says. And I pray more and more that Christians would be proactive in their faith. They wouldn't be secretive, they wouldn't be lethargic or lazy or indifferent or compromise. But they would say, I'm not just going to hear God's word, I'm going to do what it says. Now, God may not be calling you to full time missions, but he might be calling you just to speak to your neighbor down the road. God wants us to be proactive in whatever he calls us to do. We're not gonna be able to reach hundreds of thousands of people, but God will always put that one person in your life who he wants you to seek. So he says, I don't want you to just hear my word. I want you to obey what it says. Jesus says, my true disciples, they follow me and they obey what I say. There's fruit there. There's fruit and it's active. We're not to be passive Christians. We're not just to stand on the sideline and cheer everybody else on. God wants us all in the game. There's no cheerleaders, there's players. We're all players in the game and we're all helping each other. But I am always encouraged by this. And I've read the Bible so many times and I've read James so many times and that verse always sticks out to me. He says, I don't want you to just be hearers of the Word. I want you to do what it says. I want you to be doers of the Word. And I love that of what asa does. Verse 10. They gathered together at Jerusalem in the third month in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. And they offered to the Lord at that time 700 bulls and 7,000 sheep from the spoil that they had bought. And then they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul. This is an awesome scene that is happening. They're sacrificing so many bulls and sheep to the Lord, and it says they're seeking him with all their heart and with all their soul. Verse 13. And whoever would not seek the Lord of God, of Israel was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. All right, well, thank God we live under grace right now. Okay, this is Old Testament, but Asa is kind of saying, hey, if you don't seek the Lord with all your heart and soul, I'm gonna kill you. All right, that's. This. This is pretty explicit, but he's. He's being serious about. About his faith. He's saying, look, whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel was be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. So Asa is. He is just on a mission right now. Verse 14. Then they took an oath before the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting and trumpets and rams horns. This is like a great revival. Verse 15. And all Judah rejoiced at the oath. Remember, he's reigning in Jerusalem, southern kingdom of Judah. For they had sworn with all their heart. I think this is a verse that needs to be highlighted. And sought him with all their soul, and he was found by them. The Lord was meeting the people, and it says, and the Lord gave them what rest. I love that verse. You seek the Lord, you're not only going to find him, he's going to give you rest. There was peace that passes all understanding. God gave them rest. There was revival. Remember, Asa was a man who was seeking the Lord. He did what was right. He removed all the idolatry and the evil that was in the land. He removed people that should not have been there in the first place, that were not seeking the Lord at all. He gets rid of all this stuff, and then there's revival. And they're seeking the Lord with all their heart and soul. God meets them, and then God says, I'm gonna give you rest. And I think that's Just application right there. That's not one of my bullet points, but that's application right there. You get rid of the things that are detestable in your life. In my life. And you seek the Lord with all your heart and your soul. Jesus would add to that heart, soul, mind, and strength. You'll find me. He says, you'll find me, and I'm going to give you rest for your souls. And again in verse 16. We already read this in First Kings 15, but we'll read it again. He removed Maacah, the mother of Asa, the king. It's really his grandmother from being the queen mother. That's. That's. That's. Think about that. She's the queen. She's the queen mother. He says, I don't care. Dirty Grandma's got to go. I mean, just think about that. The family dynamics. He's like, I'm sorry, but, Grandma, you're. You're sick, twisted. You're out of here. You need. You need the Lord, he says, no more queen mother, no more grandma, because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. He's like, this is sick. It's twisted. And Asa cut down the obscene image, crushed it and burned it by the brook. Kidron. Now, it does say this, but the high places were not removed from Israel. Now, remember, he reigned in Judah. The high places were still left in Israel. But nevertheless, the writer is making it clear. The heart of Asa was loyal. All his days, he was loyal to the Lord. Verse 18. He also brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated and that he himself had dedicated. Silver and gold and utensils. And there was no war until the 35th year of the reign of Asa. 35 years. There's peace, no war. Now we jump into chapter 16, and this is where it gets interesting. I. I do lean toward that. We will see Asa one day in heaven. But every Christian that's ever lived has made mistakes, and Asa is going to make a mistake. But it gives us a little bit of hope and a glimpse that he was still faithful to the Lord. He just made this foolish mistake, and we can't point fingers and be like, man, Asa. I would never have done that. Who are we to judge? We are going to make mistakes all the time. And that's why God says, my grace is sufficient for you. We're not to point fingers. All of us need grace from the Lord. Whether we've sinned greatly or just a little. We all need that grace. So let's pick it up in chapter 16, it says, in the 36th year of the reign of Asa. Remember, he reigns 41. So it's coming to a close. Baasha, the king of Israel came up against Judah and built Rama. And if you remember, Basha again reigned over the northern part of Israel. And it says he came up against Judah and built Ramah. Now, Ramah is just north of Jerusalem. So it's. It's where that line met between Israel and Judah. And it says, verse 2. Then Asa brought silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king's house and sent to Ben Hadad, the king of Syria. Okay? Take note of him. Syria is above Israel. Or some translations might say, Aram, who dwelt in Damascus. And this is what Asa says. Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. See, I have sent you silver and gold. All right, Silver and gold. All right, let's keep moving on. Come. Break your treaty with Basha, king of Israel. He's like, break your treaty with the man who's in Israel, he says, so that you can. So that he will withdraw from me. What is happening right here is that it says in verse one, Basha, king of Israel, came up against Judah and built Rama, that he might let none go out or come in to Asa, king of Judah. He's building in a way like this iron curtain, this. This dividing wall, saying, I don't want anyone coming in my land, and I don't want anyone coming to Judah. And because Asa's doing great things, he might steal the hearts of the people. And I don't want. I don't want that to happen. I'm dividing this, okay? And Asa, in a way, he's being smart. He sends a message to the king of Syria, Ben Haddad, and says, I have money for you, but I also have this request. Hey, break the treaty that you have with. With Basha and come, let's. Let's be buds, let's be pals. Let's serve each other and let's attack them. And he actually agrees with it. And he says here in verse four. So Ben Haddad heeded King Asa and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. Okay, so they're attacking Israel now. They attacked AI, John, Dan, Abel, Mayim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali. Naftali was in the northern part of Israel. And now it happened. When Basha heard it, he stopped building. Rama stopped building, like this fortified wall and ceased his work. Cause he's like, oh great, we're getting attacked. What's going on? Why are they attacking us? The work ceases. They go to help. And it says in verse 6, then King Asa took all Judah and they carried away the stones and timber of Rama which Basha had used for building. It's like, we're going to crush this. We're going to take all this and be done with it. And with them he built Giba and Mispa. But to pick it up in verse seven, here's where it gets interesting. And he says, and at that time, Hanini, the seer. Now again, the seer, similar to a prophet, but God sends this guy Hanani to Asa. So you've got two men in ASA's life who were following the Lord and who spoke truth to him. Again, you've got people, wise counsel for kings, all right, Kings, presidents, everyone in leadership still needs wise counsel from the Lord. And Asa had two of them, Azariah and now Hanani. And it says he comes to Asa, king of Judah and says to him, because you have relied on the king of Syria. Okay, but this is not, this is not good encouragement. This is a rebuke because. Because you have relied on the king of Syria and have not relied on the Lord your God. Therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand. And he says, were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? And that's back in second Chronicles 14. We've already read about that. He's basically saying, was that not enough God? You, you relied on God, then He helped you. Why, why aren't you doing, why aren't you relying on God? Now he says, yet because you relied on the Lord. He delivered them into your hand. That's back in chapter 14, verse 9. Everyone needs to highlight this verse in their Bible. Verse nine is a very, very foundational, important verse. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him. That's a great verse. And it's from a no man, like a no name guy, Hanani. No one talks about this guy, but he has one of the most important verses in all the Bible. Notice he says, for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth. And he says it's to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him. And I love this. If you're taking notes again, one of the points that I see in chapter 16 is the Lord is always seeking to help those who are dependent on him. Found in verse nine, I put in a parenthesis, Lamentations 3:25. Write that down. Lamentations 3. 25. It says, the Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for Him. In a way, Asa at this moment was not loyal to the Lord. He made a mistake. He messed up. Lamentations is a great reminder that the Lord is good to those who depend on him. And at this point, Asa, you know, he's 36 years into his reign, and for once he says, ah, I'm going to kind of take matters in my own hands. And he seeks to make alliance with the king of Aram and Syria and says, hey, let's do business, because Israel's bugging me, and we got to figure this out. But he doesn't rely on the Lord, not once. And this seer says an amazing verse. The eyes of the Lord are going throughout the entire earth, Asa. He doesn't need you. He will find other men and women to do his bidding and to strengthen those who are loyal to him. And right now, Asa, you have not been loyal to the Lord this one moment. God knows you're loyal. Because in other verses it says, he was loyal to the Lord, he was faithful. But at this one moment, God had to send this prophet to rebuke him gently. And saying, you have not relied on Him. But it's good application for us that the Lord is always seeking to help those who are dependent on Him. Are you dependent on the Lord Jesus? Do you depend on him with everything that you are? Maddie? Sorry, Mahdi. Mind, body, soul and spirit. Are you all dependent on Jesus? Because if you're not, the Lord's saying, I'm going to find someone who depends on me. I'm scanning the entire earth constantly. God is actively looking for men and women who he can strengthen because they're loyal to Him. Again, loyalty is something that is so underrated in our culture right now, but it's very precious to the Lord. The Lord is seeking loyal men and women who are going to always rely on Him. Do what he says, whether it makes sense or not. Trust in Him. Loyalty is something that I. I'm challenged by. I'm always asking the Lord, and as I was studying this, I'm thinking, lord, am I loyal to you? Am I. Am I constantly fixing my gaze on you and trusting in you with every fiber of my being? Then if I'm not Lord, then maybe you have to find somebody else. The Lord's Always actively searching. The Lord knows. He knows, but he's scanning and he's convicting, Asa. And look at. Keep reading. At the end of verse nine. And this you have done foolishly, Asa. Therefore, from now on, you shall have wars. Okay, Remember, he had peace for 35 years. Now he says, asa, you're going to have wars. Because this one thing that you did, it displeased the Lord. You did not rely on him. And it's. It's interesting that we can build a reputation 35 some years seeking the Lord with him, but he squanders it in just one moment. And God took notice of that. And God is saying, asa, I. You need to set the standard. And he says, there's now going to be wars. Now look at verse 10. And it just tells you the heart of Asa again. I still believe that we're going to see him in heaven. But he has a moment. He does not do what David does, where he says, I have sinned against the Lord and I'm going to surrender to him. He does the opposite. And it's quite sad, but in a way, it speaks that he's human. Verse 10. Then Asa was angry with the Seer and put him in prison, for he was enraged at him because of this. Oh, boy. And it says, and Asa oppressed some of the people at that time. Not a good moment with Asa. He doesn't like what the Seer has to say. Hey, I can't get to God, but I'm gonna. I'm gonna. I'll disrupt his prophet, then I'm gonna throw him in prison. I'm angry. I'm angry at what you just said. How dare you come and tell me I haven't relied on the Lord? Don't tell me what to do. I'm the king. I'll do what I want. You can just imagine, Asa. I've been doing 35 years of loyal service to the Lord, and now you're telling me that the Lord is searching everywhere to find someone else who's loyal. And now I'm gonna have wars. Yeah, you're gonna go to prison right now. I don't want. I don't want to hear what you have to say. He's angry. Why? Because I think there's some pride that's built up. There's pride. There's no humility here. He's not bowing the knee. He's not surrendering, saying, God, I am sorry. Forgive me. I think of Moses, also. Moses, one of my favorite characters in all the Bible. And yet he messed up just once, Just once. And it's almost like I feel like God is. Isn't that. Wasn't that justifiable, what he did? He had been leading the Israelites for 40 some years, and they were complaining and grumbling all the time. And Moses was sick and tired of it. And he beats the rock with his staff. He's like, get water out of this. He has a moment. Have we all had moments? He had a moment. And God says, moses, Moses, you can't do that. And Moses was not allowed to go in the promised land. I don't know why I'm getting emotional with this. It just hit me. He wasn't supposed to lead them into the promised land anyway. He was a type of the law. And the law can't save us. So Joshua takes him in. And Joshua is a type of Jesus. I get that picture and it's beautiful. But I think I feel for him where he messed up just once. And God says, moses, I need you to set this, the tone. And you messed up, Moses, you can see the lamb, but I'm not going to let you go in. But you know, the Bible is so. Oh, man, the Bible's so good. It says that he had such a close relationship with the Lord, he got to see the Lord on that mountain. Not face to face, but his back. He could see. And no one else has seen that before. And God, in a way, Moses had the privilege of God being the one to bury him. And I think that's just so sweet and tender. But the reason I say all this is because Asa, he had been so good. And it's challenging for me because I never want to be that man who builds this wonderful reputation. And then I just. I mess up because one time, and this is challenging for me, the Lord is seeking to help those who depend on him. And Asa didn't. Didn't do that at this point. And God says, they're going to have wars, Asa. And it's sad to hear what the rest of the story says. In verse 11. We'll close with this note that the acts of Asa, first and last, are indeed written in the book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. But it says in the 39th year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet and his malady was severe. Yet in his disease, he did not seek the Lord. But the physicians. This is not anything to say negative stuff about doctors. What it's trying to say is he did not seek the Lord at all. He sought after man. That's the picture that The Holy Spirit's trying to paint for us. Doctors are great. But I do tell people all the time when it comes to sickness, and we're going to be having a prayer time service, and if you have sickness, I will tell you all the time, I want you to seek the Lord first before you go to any doctor. I have to do that as well. I think doctors are great, and I love modern medicine, and I know God can use doctors. But I think sometimes in our society, even as Christians, we get so worried, we rush to the physician rather than going to the great physician who can do healings and miracles. And it just. Actually, it just shows a dependency, a trust that I'm seeking the Lord first. And if the Lord doesn't do anything, then, you know, we. We can take action and say, okay, I'm going to seek help through medicine. And it just shows us right here, the. The point of the matter is he didn't seek the Lord and he has this disease in his feet. And it says he's going to die two years later. We don't know what this disease really was, but something that crippled him, and he does not seek the Lord at all. I mean, how low does Asa have to get? And it doesn't say that God miraculously healed him. It says, Asa, verse 13, rested with his fathers. He died in. In the 41st year of his reign. It says they buried him in his own tomb, which he had made for himself in the city of David. And they laid him in the bed, which was filled with spices and various ingredients, prepared in a mixture of ointments. And they made a very great burning for him. Asa was one of the greatest kings that we see. But he had a moment. And before I pray, I just want to make sure that we all know sometimes it just takes a lifetime to build this wonderful reputation, but it just takes a moment to squander and mess it up. And God is looking for those who are constantly and consistently dependent on the Lord. Yes, we make mistakes, and God has grace for that. But God is also looking for men and women to set the tone in the church, to be the hands and feet of Jesus, to be salt and light so that people see that. And not to be hypocritical, but to be dependent and loyal for all our days. I have confidence we'll see Asa in heaven, but it's good for me to see this and to have the Holy Spirit rebuke me and encourage me saying, look, Tyler, this. This could be. You continue to depend on the Lord throughout all your days. Don't depend on man, don't depend on self. Don't deny him by the way you live. Commit your ways to the Lord and he will be with you. Amen. I'm going to pray. And then after we pray, we're going to close and we'll have a time of prayer. And I'll give further instructions for the last part of it. But let's all just bow our heads and give this to the Lord. Lord, you have heard our hearts. Lord, I believe Asa is a picture of all of us. We want to seek you all our days. We want to remove any idolatry from our lives. We want to have that title of being such a loyal, faithful servant all our days. But, Lord, there are going to be times. And sadly, we have known of great men and women of the faith who made one mistake and it wrecked a lot. Lord. There's consequences for our sin, Lord, but your grace goes even deeper and we thank you for that. Lord, I pray for all these men and women and young people that are listening right now that they would not just be hearers of the Word, but doers. They would remain loyal to you all the days of their life. They would have this dependency on you. Lord, there's revival in the land that Asa had in his earlier years. Sacrifices and praise and worship and idolatry removed. It was wonderful. But, Lord, when Asa got comfortable in his reign and you had someone who gently rebuked him, Lord, he got angry. Help us not to be like that. Help us to learn a lesson from this. God, we don't want to be angry with you when you challenge and correct us. We want to bow the knee and be humble. We want to be men and women of prayer who seek you first. Then all these things will be added unto us. God, you are seeking and scanning the entire earth right now, looking for those whom you love to strengthen because they are loyal to you. God, I pray that is us. God, we thank you for your word that it not only corrects and challenges, it encourages us and even rebukes us gently, all at the same time. Lord, we pray for this, this time. Now as we enter in a time of prayer for some of us. Lord, bless us as we go back home or to our separate ways. Bring us back safely next time we pray in all these things in Jesus name, Amen.