Address—B. Prost
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
So ask the Lord's blessing.
Would you turn with me, please, to the 14th chapter of Second Chronicles?
Second Chronicles, chapter 14.
What I have before me this afternoon is to look briefly at the life of one of the godly kings of Judah, a man by the name of ASA. We don't have the time to examine his life in detail, but I would like to look at some of the highlights of it. In meditating upon it, I believe that his life has a voice for us today.
Let's read the first verse together.
Second Chronicles 14, verse one.
So Abide just slept with his fathers and they buried him in the city of David, and ASA his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet 10 years.
Might be interesting to reflect who ASA was. ASA was the grandson of a man by the name of Rea Bolton, the great grandson of Solomon.
We know that it was in Rio Balms Day that that sad division had occurred in Israel.
That division that split the Kingdom you'll remember into two factions.
One the 10 tribes whom we know forsook the true God of their fathers.
Forsook the place where Jehovah had said his name, and forsook God's rightful king.
And under Jeroboam they went their way. But then Reabome, we read that the House of Judah, or the tribe of Judah clave unto him and to their king. And so we find that the Kingdom goes on from there. But sad to say, if we read how Rehoboam conducted himself, it's very, very clear that he was not in himself, in his soul, a man of God. He had, it's true, I believe.
A real heart for the place where the Lord had set his name, and He valued the fact.
That God center was there in Jerusalem, but it's recorded that the idols and much of the.
Things that many of the things that had occasioned the division were not dealt with in his own life. Well, we find his son Abijah reigned only three years. And Abijah was not characterized in one sense as being a man of God. It's true that he trusted in the Lord God of his father's, and we can be so thankful for that. And we find that he won a great victory over Jeroboam when Jeroboam came against him, but he reigned only three years.
00:05:03
But then we find here ASA comes to the throne and it's beautiful to see here in the end of verse one, in his days the land was quiet 10 years. Oh, how we like that. I love to read that in the history of the people of God that the land was quiet 10 years.
But what kind of a king was ASA? Oh, let's read the second verse. And ASA did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. For he took away the altars of the strange gods and the high places, and to break down the images, and cut down the Groves, and commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment also. He took away out of the cities, out of all the cities of Judah, the high places and the images.
And the Kingdom was quiet before him. Oh, how good to see that here was a man who had the energy of faith to go out.
And to do that which it seems his father and his grandfather had not done, there were evidences of idolatry even in the land of Judah. It's true that the 10 tribes had gone to excesses, as we know, and had gone from bad to worse in setting up golden calves and false worship.
But here we find right in the land of Judah there was that which was a dishonor to the Lord.
And I say to your heart, as I say to my own heart, how needful it is for us to examine our own hearts.
We had somewhat of that brought before us in these meetings. It is one thing to know the truth of God. It's one thing to have a clear understanding of it in our heads. But oh, how much more important is is it that it get down into our hearts so that it forms our walk and our character and our pathway down here? Well, here we find ASA did that which was good in the in right in the sight of the Lord. And you know, it's noteworthy that he did that during that period of time.
When there was rest for 10 years. 10 in Scripture speaks of human responsibility, but it speaks of responsibility before God. And we find further down here in the end of verse six, it says the middle of the verse, for the land had rest and he had no war in those days because the Lord had given him rest.
Oh, sad to say we find amongst the people of God in the Old Testament that.
Life was characterized by periods of rest, and then periods of war, then a period of rest, and then another period of war. Why was that? Oh, sad to say, because when God gave them rest, it seems, for any length of time, it didn't take very long before their hearts were turned away from the Lord God of their fathers, as Scripture tells us, and they turn to idolatry. They forgot the Lord, and the Lord had to allow trouble and difficulties to come in in order to recall them to Himself.
Is it not true in your life and mine?
We would love to have rest and peace throughout our lives, and I bless God for the periods of rest and peace that you and I can have individually.
And collectively. But sad to say, there's often the need to be. And I speak most of all to my own heart.
For the periods of unrest and the difficulties that the Lord allows in order to recall our hearts to Himself.
But oh, there's something else that ASA does during that time of rest.
Notice what he does here in verse 6.
And he built fenced cities in Judah, for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years, because the Lord had given him rest.
Therefore he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about the walls and towers and gates and bars, while the land is yet before us, because we have sought the Lord our God, we have sought him, and he hath given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered.
All I would say to each one of our hearts, but I look particularly, if I may be permitted to do so, at our dear young people here and particularly the young brothers here. Oh, if there is a period of rest in your life, if there is a period of time, we'll say collectively amongst the people of God, oh, may we be exercised as ASA was, to use the time profitably. ASA could have said, well, we don't have to worry too much about things now.
There's a period of rest. Things are going on quietly. Let's just enjoy ourselves.
00:10:04
But Oh no, Isa said. We need to use the time while the land is before us.
To build those fortifications up because we never know when there will be more war.
Oh, he didn't say there is going to be more war. He didn't say there has to be more war in Paris. The thought that we should think that way.
But all how needful that we should have this precious book before us. How needful that we should be before the Lord to use the time profitably. To me, those fortifications speak of having the truth clear in our souls, of having this precious book before us.
So that we read and meditate in it and on top of that.
May we use that good ministry that God has seen fit to give us. Was talking to a dear brother just in the interim between lunch and this meeting. I don't think he'll mind my mentioning this. And we were Speaking of how needful it was to have the word of God before us. We were Speaking of how the enemy would seek to take away everything that God would seek to bring before us. How he would pick away all of what God would seek to give us.
And how needful it was to enjoy these things in our own souls. Oh, may we be found using that time profitably.
Dear brethren, the time is short, you know that, and I know that. And ASA felt the urgency. 10 years. It's not very long in order to build those cities up in case they needed fortifications and gates and bars.
But then there's something else here in verse 8. And ASA had an army of men that bare targets and Spears out of Judah 300,000 and out of Benjamin that bare Shields and drew bows, 204 score thousand. All these were mighty men of valor.
You and I might read those verses and we might say, oh.
How can there be such a thing today? Mighty men of valor with targets and Spears. You know, a target I believe in Scripture, is not what you and I would immediately think of. When I think of a target, I think of something that we set up with concentric circles at which you shoot in order to improve your aim. But I don't believe that's the thought here. A target was that, I believe, which sat on the shoulders, which sat, you might say, with a bit of a breastplate on it and back.
And it sat on the shoulders for protection.
I know I believe the target would speak of our eternal security in Christ and nothing can ever take that away.
If you read the history of Rehoboam, the grandfather of this man Isa, you find that the king of Egypt, Sheshak, came and took away the golden Shields that Solomon had made. Says he even took away all. But oh, they were targets that Solomon had made. And there's no record that the king of Egypt ever took those targets away. Why? Oh, because that was something he could not touch. He couldn't touch those targets. He could take away the Shields.
And here we find these men had targets, but they also had Spears.
If you go back in the history of Israel, you find the time of Saul and Jonathan that the Philistines had conspired in such a way.
That there was number Smith in the land of Israel, and as a result there was number spear or sword in the hands of anyone but Saul and Jonathan. Oh, the enemy would want to deprive you and me of those Spears. Thank God he can never take away the target, but he wants to take away those valiant men who have targets.
And Spears.
I say to our beloved young brothers this morning, it's possible today to have a spear as well as a target. You may say I thank God that I can have my eternal security and that nothing can take that away. But all the Spirit of God is still here. The Word of God is the same. That precious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the same, as it says in Hebrews 13 yesterday and today and forever. And ASA wasn't dismayed by the fact.
Although no doubt he was burdened by it.
That the Kingdom had been split, that there had been division amongst the people of God. Oh, I'm sure it burdened his heart.
But nevertheless, he has an army here, a sizable army too, far bigger than the army that his father had had.
When he went out against Jeroboam.
And there they were, with targets and Spears. Well, it doesn't take very long for that army to be put to use, does it? It doesn't take very long for those fortifications that had been built to be put to use. Notice what happens in verse 9.
00:15:19
And there came out against them zero the Ethiopian, with a host of a thousand 1300 Chariots.
And came unto Marisha. Then ASA went out against him. And they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephytha at Maresha. And ASA cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many or with them that have no power. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God.
Let not man prevail against thee.
I think this is so beautiful. Here comes the king of Ethiopia, I suppose, era, and he has a huge army, 1000 thousand. That's a million men, almost twice as many as ASA could muster.
Does ASA say, well, I've got a good army, we've got Spears, we have targets?
We've spent the last 10 years fortifying ourselves. We can handle it.
Oh no, Oh no. He goes directly to the Lord and he says.
Well, we read it here. It is nothing with thee to help, whether with many or with them that have no power.
Oh, I speak to my own heart. This is our proper spirit and attitude in the day in which we live.
We never read of a David of David going out to battle with words like this.
No, but it was a different day when ASA lived. Failure had come in. It didn't mean that he neglected the fortifications on the one hand.
It didn't mean that he neglected the mighty men of valor, or the targets and Spears on the other, but when it came down to a difficulty, all he recognized, humanly speaking, that all that he had done was no match for the enemy. And so he says those wonderful words. We rest on thee, and in thy name we go.
Oh, there's a hymn that has been written about those words. Maybe some of you know some of it.
Some of us are old. Old enough to remember when those five young men as missionaries to the Elk Indians in Ecuador Ecuador were murdered back 40 years ago.
And to him they sang. Just before they went forth was the hymn based on those words. We rest on thee, our shield and our defender. We go not forth alone against the foe. Strong in thy strength, safe in thy keeping, tender we rest on Thee.
And in thy name we go.
We rest on thee, our shield and our defender. The last verse goes, Thine is the victory. Thine shall be the praise when meeting thee up there. Inglorious splendor victors, We rest with thee through endless days.
Oh, I say to each one here this afternoon, that can be your portion in mine, but we have to take the low place. We have to take the place of saying, Lord, we rest on thee and in thy name we go. We have to be willing to say we are those that have no power or no might. And then what happens? Oh, it's wonderful here in verse 12. So the Lord smote The Ethiopians before ASA and before Judah and The Ethiopians.
Lead and notice what happens here verse 13 and they send the people that were with them pursued them unto Girard, where was Girar Girar. Girar was way down in the land of the full steins. You'll remember that that was the place to which Isaac went when he sojourned in the land of the Philistines. It didn't belong to The Ethiopians. They came from further away than that, but they pursue them to gear are and what happened? Notice verse 14.
And they smote all the cities roundabout Girar for the fear of the Lord came upon them. And they spoiled all the cities, for there was exceeding much spoil in them. Oh, the Philistines, and we don't have time to dwell on us, speak of those who were right in the land of Israel. They were right within that part of the territory that God had given to His people. And I believe they speak of those who would take away from us right where we are.
00:20:02
That which is rightfully ours in Christ. And those Philistines you'll remember all through Israel's history.
Were a constant thorn to the people of God. And here we find that there was no particular quarrel at that time between the Philistines and Israel. We don't read of it at least, but in pursuing those Ethiopians we find that they come to Girar, and the Lord sees fit to deliver the inhabitants of that area into their hands. Why? Oh, it says, the fear of the Lord came upon them.
Why was that? Oh, because they didn't pretend to be anything. They didn't pretend to be something they were not. And you know, it tells us concerning ASA in another place, that his heart was perfect before God all his days.
What does that mean? Perfect. Does that mean he didn't make a mistake?
Oh, no, because we're going to read in a little while of a mistake or two that he didn't make. But I believe that word perfect. I took the trouble to look it up. It's the same word as is used back in Genesis concerning Abraham when the Lord says to him, Walk thou before me, walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I believe it brings before us the thought that Abraham understood the mind of God for the time in which he was living. He understood what God was doing.
In if we could use the expression, the dispensation in which he lived, and in that sense his heart was in tune with God's heart.
Is yours and mine, Is your heart and mine. And I say this humbly, I trust in tune with what God is doing in this time, with the fact that God in this world today is calling out of people from this world to be a heavenly people. A people that are in this world but not of it. A people whom, as we were reminded yesterday, are looking for the Lord to come. A people who belong to heaven and not to earth.
And yet whom God has been pleased to send back into this world. To do what? To be living witnesses to the grace that brought them to himself. Do we understand that? Oh, we say yes we do. We have heard that for many years. We have heard that ministered to our hearts. Those of us who have been privileged to grow up gathered to the Lords name. We have heard that for many years. But all I say, does it sink down into my heart? So that is the present living reality with me. And so that at any moment I'm looking for the Lord to come.
Well, I believe that's what it means in the context of the day in which you and I are living.
Well, our time is going. Let's go on here.
15th chapter.
And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah, the son of O Dead, and he went out to meet ASA, and said unto him.
Hear ye me, ASA, and all Judah and Benjamin, the Lord is with you while ye be with him. And if you seek him, he will be found of you. But if he forsake him, he will forsake you. Oh, isn't it blessed to see that now God is pleased to send ASA practical encouragement. Oh how we love to have someone come up to us, a brother or a sister, and be an encouragement to us. And I am so thankful for those over the years who have come to me in that capacity and spirit and who have been able to be a real encouragement.
All we thank God for that and I trust that each one here this afternoon.
Is conscious of how much we can be either an encouragement or a discouragement to others.
But notice the order here. The encouragement comes after ASA had first of all relied on the Lord himself.
Oh, I've said this before, pardon me if it sounds repetitive, but it has meant much to my own soul. May we never put any person, no matter how much help they can be to us, between ourselves and the Lord. May we never put any dear brother or sister between ourselves and the Lord, otherwise we're in danger. And here we find that ASA gets the encouragement from this prophet Oded.
Or Azariah, the son of Oded.
But when does he get the encouragement? Oh, it's after he had already won a great victory by relying on the Lord Himself. And I would encourage each one here to live directly in communion with the Lord Himself. Get out this precious book and read it for yourself and let it speak to your heart.
Get on your knees, as we were reminded previously in these meetings, and be in prayer before the Lord.
00:25:04
Not just when you're in trouble, not just when you have a need, but simply to.
Ask the Lord for His grace and help in living to please Him and at the same time to let Him speak to you.
Verse 3.
Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law. But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them. And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in. But great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries, and nation was destroyed of nation and city of city, for God did vex them with all adversity.
That's rather a sad comment. Why does the Prophet bring a remark like that in?
Oh, I suggest to you and to my own soul that these comments are a reference back.
To the times when the judges ruled, you read the book of judges. And I don't think there's a sadder book in the Old Testament than the book of Judges, where several times over it is said every man did that which was right in his own eyes. And we find there that that whole book is filled with just this description that we have here. All kinds of difficulties and problems. No peace to him that went out or him that came in.
Great vexations and so on. And more than that, the Lord allowed it. The Lord allowed it. It says God did vex them with all adversity. Why was that? Oh, because God wasn't given his rightful place. And may I say to my own soul, as I say to each one here, may we never seek to do that which is right in our own eyes. May we have this precious book before us. But if I could say this without being misunderstood.
We need not merely this precious book, but this precious book with God, with God.
A dear brother in the last century once wrote to a young man who had written to ask him some serious questions about Scripture.
Which he answered most ably in the letters that he subsequently wrote to him. But in his final letter he made a remark like this, and I'm not quoting it accurately, but this is the sense of it, he said. I fear you have been studying your Bible too much and not reading it enough.
Interesting, Mark, isn't it studying your Bible too much and not reading it enough? And he said I wouldn't in any way want to dissuade you from reading your Bible or even studying your Bible. But he said, I want you to learn to study and read it with God.
With God. Oh, to study it without the Lord is to build the fortifications.
To have the sphere and the target, and yet not to rely on the Lord himself. And I believe this prophet was giving a submittable warning here. He recalls a time previously when Israel had been in desperate straits and when there had been all kinds of problems.
And you and I know full well that the condition of things described here exists today.
Sad to say, it exists amongst your believers in the Lord Jesus Christ where there seems to be no peace to him that goes out or comes in, where there's great vexation of spirit, nation destroying nation, figuratively speaking, and city destroying city, and we recognize the Lord's hand behind it. Oh, how sad it is. But then what does it say here in verse 7? Be strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak.
For your work shall be rewarded.
O beloved brother and sister in Christ, this is an encouragement for your heart and mind today.
Do we feel weak in ourselves? ASA did. He didn't have any confidence in his own strength to meet the enemy. But after he had trusted in the Lord, the Lord comes to him and says, Be strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.
But remember, the reward may not come down here.
In Second Timothy 2IN connection with carrying on in a day of failure, we get these words, and I'm going to quote it as it is in J&D translation. Remember Jesus Christ of the seed of Abraham raised from the dead. According to my Gospel, that says to my own soul that the reward and the vindication for a life of faithfulness may have to wait for that day.
00:30:03
You may have to wait for that day in the glory. The Lord Jesus Christ has never been vindicated in this world.
But up there in that coming day, he will be vindicated. And if you and I are faithful to that Blessed One, then I believe there will be vindication in that day. And so your work shall be rewarded. Do you not see much fruit for your work? Humbling, isn't it sometimes, dear brother? Harry Hayhoe used to remind us, though he'd say, Brethren, don't ever count your converts before the glory. You won't count nearly enough.
I believe that to be true, not that we should in any way be puffed up in pride know.
When we get up there in that day, any crown that the Lord will be pleased to give us, we know we will only cast at His feet.
Well, we have to go on here.
Verse nine. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and the strangers with them out of E Freeman Manasseh, and out of Simeon.
For they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.
What is it that attracted those from the 10 tribes?
Steeped in idolatry.
Gone.
Things that ended up in a most horrible mixture of truth and error.
What attracted them?
I don't want to comment any further than this than to say when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.
That's what's going to attract hearts to Christ and to the truth connected with that Blessed One, if they see that the Lord is with us.
May we be exercised that that would be seen.
That that would happen.
Verse 10. So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month and the 15th year of the reign of ASA, and they offered unto the Lord the same time of the spoil which they had brought.
700 oxen and 7000 sheep, and they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul.
They had a covenant with God already.
But it had lapsed, it had been forgotten about, idolatry had come in and as a result there had been difficulties, many difficulties.
An ASA gathers all Judah and Benjamin together, and these others, as it were, come along and say, we're with you, we see that the Lord is with you, and they too enter into this solemn covenant. And it says with all their heart and with all their soul. We've heard that already in these meetings, haven't we?
Oh, I say to each one of us, as I say to my own soul, God wants all of my heart and all of my soul. He doesn't want half measures.
And that is what we see sometimes, if I could be permitted to speak of it amongst some of our dear brethren in what we are pleased, perhaps unwisely, to dub Third World countries. We know what we mean by that term, and I use it myself, but I confess I don't like it.
Because in spiritual things, I sometimes think that we are the third world and they are the first world.
Because as you go among some of those dear brethren, you see a heart and an energy in the soul for Christ.
That I covet for myself. You see an energy to use the little bit that they have, and it is a little bit compared to what we have totally for the Lord. Oh, I don't mean there isn't failure. I don't mean there aren't things that need to be addressed. But you see an energy and a zeal for the Lord and a joy in the Lord that I covered for my own soul. And as a result, you see a liberty and the freedom for the Spirit of God to work that's, sad to say, seems to be lacking in these favored lands.
But then there's a negative side to this too. God doesn't mince matters. Notice verse 16 and also concerning Mayaka, the mother of Ace of the King. He removed her from being queen because she had made an idol in a Grove. And ASA cut down her idol and stamped it and burnt it at the brook Kedron.
00:35:01
It seems, if you read the history carefully, that Mayaka was not really his mother. The general term is sometimes used. She was really his grandmother. She was the wife of A or the mother of Abijah and the wife of Riabel. And where did she come from?
She was a daughter of Absalom, a daughter of Absalom, and it shows how far reaching the consequences sometimes of a marriage that isn't of the mind of the Lord can go and here we find that way down the line.
This daughter of Absalom.
Finds her influence in her grandsons court. But ASA was a faithful man and you can see how difficult it would have been for him to deal with the situation when it concerned a woman who was probably older, a woman who was his grandmother, a woman to whom he perhaps looked up.
And yet, what does she do? She builds an idol in a Grove, and ASA deals with the matter.
In a very decided manner. Oh, I speak to my own heart. Made personal affection and family ties.
Never stand between me and the Lord. He removes her from being queen, lest her influence toward idolatry have an adverse effect on the people of God and her idol equally. He deals with it ruthlessly, stamps that it says, burns it.
At the Brook Pedron.
We don't have time to consider it, but I suggest each one here. It's a very interesting meditation to go through the Word of God and look at the various references to the Brooke Kedron. It culminates in the New Testament with that Blessed One, the Lord Jesus going over the brook Kedron. The Brooke Kedron, you know, ran down in the Kedron Valley there on the east side of Jerusalem, and in order to get to the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane, you had to go across it.
I understand that there is no real brook there anymore, but you can still see the Kedron Valley, so-called, and I believe it brings before us on the one hand the pathway of total rejection, but on the other hand the total having done with that which is not according to the mind of God. And there were other things that happened at the Brook Pedron which we don't have time to enter into. Let us remember to be faithful.
But our time is nearly gone.
And I wish that the history ended here. I wish that the history ended here because it says in the last verse of this chapter in verse 19. And there was no more war unto the five and 30th year of the reign of ASA. Oh, how blessed to think God gave him 10 years, you might say, as a test to see how he would react under responsibility. And we find that ASA was faithful in the way that he used that time. And as a result, that victory over The Ethiopians paves the way.
For 25 more years of blessed peace.
Oh, May God grant that to us.
But the Spirit of God records as well as faithfulness, the failure of His servant, and notice what happens. We'll just deal with it very briefly in the next chapter. Verse one of chapter 16, in the 6th and 30th year of the reign of ASA, Baisha, king of Israel came up against Judah and built Raima to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to ASA, king of Judah.
Oh, the enemy never lets us alone, doesn't he? And here was a threat now from another quarter.
It wasn't from a heathen nation like The Ethiopians. It wasn't from without. Here again, once more.
It's a threat from those 10 tribes now headed by a different king. Jeroboams household had perished as God said it would, and another king sits on the throne totally unrelated to the House of Jeroboam, and he's going to do something once more to try and make trouble for Judah. You notice that he doesn't come at Judah in the same way though, as Jeroboam had done, and the enemy doesn't always come at us in the same way.
Jeroboam, if you'll remember, went out to battle with Abijah, the father of ASA, and it looked like an easy fight because Jeroboam. We read and we won't turn to it, but you can read it. Jeroboam had 800,000 men and Reabon, or rather Abijah had only 400,000. And humanly speaking, you would have said odds of two to one. There's no contest But Abijah, even though he wasn't strictly speaking a godly king in every aspect of his life.
00:40:11
He relies on the Lord God of his fathers, and as a result he gets the victory.
There's a side note that I'll mention in it though that humbles me and bows my head.
And that is that the single greatest slaughter of men in battle.
By far recorded in the Old Testament.
Was the slaughter of men where Israelites fought with Israelite?
500 chosen men 500,000 chosen men, I should say, fell in that day slaughter between Israelite and Israelite. What a commentary. What a commentary.
Biasha doesn't make that mistake again. But he says I'm going to build a city here. I'm going to stop all going out and coming in from ASA. No direct threat.
And what does Isa do? Oh, Isa was a godly king. ASA loved the Lord. It tells us that his heart was perfect with the Lord his God all his days.
But then what does he do? Notice what happens?
Then ASA brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the House of the Lord and of the King's house, and sent to Ben Heydad, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying, There is a league between me and thee, as there was between my father and thy father.
Behold, I have sent thee silver and gold. Go break thy league with Beasha, King of Israel, that he may depart from me.
The end of the previous chapter, ASA was characterized by bringing silver and gold into the House of the Lord.
Now he takes it away. What does he do? He goes and he says to the king of Assyria, an ungodly king, a Gentile king. He says you come and help me. You've got a league with Bayasha, but you come on my side.
He maintained.
Shall we say it?
The place that he had in the energy of the flesh, and by fleshly means.
Instead of relying on the Lord as he did with The Ethiopians, instead of looking to the Lord and saying Lord, work out this situation.
I don't know. I don't want to read into this what is not in Scripture, but perhaps ace of thought. I don't want to see another battle like that. I don't want to see Israelites fight with Israelite again. I don't want to see thousands of men slain. Our dear brethren.
Was it ever God's mind that that should happen? Of course not. Would God have worked it out so it didn't happen? I rather believe that he would have, but poor ASA resorts to fleshly means.
Well, it seemed to work, didn't it?
Notice what happened verse 5 and it came to pass when Ben Haydad heard it.
Or Biasha heard it that he left off building of Raymond, let his work cease. Then Ace of the King took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof were with Basha was building, and he built therewith Giba and Mizpah.
It might seem to have worked.
Not only did Beyasha go away, but he went away in such a hurry that he left all the building material behind. And immediately ASA and the men of Judah are able to go and get hold of it, and they build more fortifications. And no doubt they were very satisfied with what they had done.
Oh, I say this to my own heart. May we never seek to maintain what God has given us in the energy of the flesh and in the wrong way. Instead of trusting the Lord, he said, I'm going to build some more fortifications.
As if somehow that would work and I don't care how I get the material, even if I have to hire an ungodly king.
But he compromised to do it. He gave up some of the treasures of the House of the Lord in order to get that help.
And it seemed to work. But notice what God says in verse 7.
And at that time Hanini the Seer came to ASA, king of Judah, and said unto him.
Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria and do not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.
Notice that. Notice that it doesn't say the host of the king of Israel.
It doesn't say the host of Beyasha escaped out of your hand. The host of the king of Syria. What does that tell us? I believe that tells us that God would have looked after Beyasha if ASA had the exercise. Lord, I don't want to see another war like that. I don't want to go to battle in that way again. Lord, here, he's coming and building a city that's going to prevent my going out and coming in. Lord, show us what to do. I believe firmly in my own soul the Lord would have come in.
00:45:24
Who was the real threat? The king of Syria? Who is the real threat, beloved brethren?
It's worldliness. It's the devil.
The threat may come via.
Shall we say it those who do not value the truth, but the Spirit of God, I believe in this chapter cuts through all that and points out where the real threat is and he says, ASA, you've let not be Asha, but the king of Syria escape out of your hands. All I say to my own heart, pardon me for being explicit in this. I fear in my own soul a danger of letting the king of Syria escape out of our hands. And ASA couldn't seem to see the point.
How does he react?
I know we're leaving some of this, but let's read verse nine for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth.
To show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.
It tells us that Ace's heart was perfect all his days. The Lord as it were, saying, ASA, you could have called on to me. The Lord is going forth to and fro throughout the whole earth. And I say to each one here this afternoon, if you're discouraged, if you're having difficulties, this verse applies today in principle. The eyes of the Lord are running to and throw, throw throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on the behalf of him whose heart is perfect toward him.
And then what's the result? Herein Thou hast done foolishly. From henceforth thou shalt have wars.
ASA, those fortifications aren't going to keep you because you got them in a wrong way and in a wrong spirit.
And as a result what happens Oasis character is brought out. Then ASA was wroth with the seer and put him in a prison house for he was in a rage with him because of this thing and ASA oppressed some of the people the same time.
What was needed rather than hiring the Syrians? Self judgment. Self judgment. I don't believe that this happened suddenly in Aces life. You'll pardon me, brethren, I'm going a minute or two over, but let me just finish this thought.
What was the problem? I don't believe it happened in a hurry. There's nothing much said.
About those 25 years of Aces life. But I believe that gradually ASA got complacent.
Asa's heart no doubt got away from the Lord. It didn't happen all of a sudden. And when the Prophet came to him this time, not to encourage him as as Ariah had done previously, but to bring before him something that he needed to deal with, he lost his temper. And the words are pretty strong. A rage says a rage, and he oppressed some of the people at the same time. Oh, he asserted his authority, all right, He said. I'm going to bring everyone into line.
The Lord wasn't with him and as a result, poor ASA, what happens?
Says in verse 12. And ASA in the 30 and 9th year of his reign was diseased in his speech, until his disease was exceeding great, yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. And ASA slept with his fathers, and died in the one and 40th year of his reign. Why does it mention Ace's feet here?
Oh, I believe because I it speaks of our own walk and I speak, I trust most of all to my own heart.
But here was a man who was much used of the Lord, and whom the Spirit of God delights to record was faithful, and whose heart was perfect all his days. But here, at the end of his reign, we find.
That he loses his temper with one who sought to be a help to him. He loses, you might say, his control of himself, and as a result he's diseased in his feet.
I don't know whether he was a godly man or not.
But I'm reminded of a prayer that an old English sea captain in the 16th century used to pray.
Something like this, oh Lord God, when thou giveest to thy servants to endeavor any great matter.
00:50:02
Give us also to know that it is not the beginning, but the continuing of the same until it be thoroughly finished.
That yieldeth the true glory. Well, we know that all glory belongs to that Blessed One.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, may you and I have the grace to follow Him and Him alone. May these things that the Spirit of God brings before us in His Word be examples to us for our learning, that we may follow that Blessed One. In the little while that we are going to be left here, let's just close in prayer.
Blessed God, our love.