Address—J. Brereton
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Mike, we open our meeting this afternoon.
By singing hymn #242.
Sing aloud to God our strength.
He has brought us hitherto.
#242 Some brotherhood started for us.
He will bring us all my friends.
This Lord.
Amen.
I would like to turn this afternoon to.
To second Chronicles chapter 13.
Beginning with verse one.
Now in the 18th year of King Jeroboam.
Began A Bija to reign over Judah.
He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Mechaya, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah, and there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.
And Abed just set the battle in a ray with an army of valiant men of war, even 400,000 chosen men.
Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him, with 800,000 chosen men being mighty men of valor.
And the bee just stood up upon Mount Zemarium which is in Mount Ephraim, and said.
Hear me, Thou Jeroboam, and all Israel.
Art ye not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the Kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons, by a covenant of salt?
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Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon, the son of David, is risen up, and hath rebelled against his Lord. And there are gathered unto him, vain man, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tender hearted, and could not withstand them. And now ye think to withstand the Kingdom of the Lord in the hands of the sons of David.
And ye be a great multitude, and there are with you golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods.
Have ye not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of other lands, so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young Bullock and seven Rams the same may be a priest of them that are no gods. But As for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him. And the priests which minister unto the Lord are the sons of Aaron.
And the Levites wait upon their business, and they burn unto the Lord every morning, and every evening burned sacrifices and sweet incense.
The showbread also set they in order upon the pure table, and the Candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening. For we keep the charge of the Lord our God, but ye have forsaken him, and behold, God himself is with us for our captain and his priests, with sounding trumpets, to cry alarm against you.
All children of Israel, fight ye not against the Lord God of your Father's.
For ye shall not prosper.
What? Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them, so they were before Judah.
And the ambushment was behind them. And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind.
And they cried unto the Lord, and the priest sounded with the trumpets. Then the men of Judah gave a shout. And as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smote Jeroboam. And all Israel before Abijah and Judah and the children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand. And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter. So there fell down, slain of Israel, 500,000 chosen men.
Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed.
Because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers.
You will recall, dear young people, perhaps, the circumstances in which this chapter.
Comes to pass if we had taken the time to read the previous chapter.
We would find that Obedience Father was reopened.
And Rehoboth was one of the.
2 Kings The the son of Solomon who reigned over Judah, and who was reigning at the time when the Kingdom was divided, and 10 of the tribes followed. Jeroboam in rebellion against the House of Solomon and the House of David.
Well, it struck one in meditating on this chapter.
To find that once Rehoboam had died and Abidja had come into the place of reigning in Rehoboamstad as the king over the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin.
That the test came and the nation of Israel, the 10 tribes under Jeroboam, made war with Abijah and came up against him.
And when he came up, he came up with a great army, as we notice in the end of the third verse, the battle in a ray against him with 800,000 chosen men, being mighty men of valor. And in the first part of the verse we were told that a beaches army consisted of 400,000 men of valor.
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Now, dear young people, in a circumstance like this.
Here was a battle about to be fought.
The lines were drawn as it were.
And here was Abijah with his army.
And he was about to do battle against an army that was twice as strong as he was.
And it was at a time.
When, as far as outward things were concerned, the Kingdom was all split up and divided.
Someone could very well have said to Abidja, at that time Abijah, there are only two tribes left with you.
Why don't you enter into some kind of an agreement with Jeroboam? After all, he's twice as big as you are, his army is twice as strong, and as far as the Kingdom is concerned, it's all divided and broken up anyway.
But we find dear young people.
Our most amazing, at least to one's own soul. A most amazing declaration by King Abijah to the armies of Israel to those who were his enemies at this time 800,000 strong.
Surely at such a time, the thing to speak to your enemies about?
Would be perhaps about all the wonderful arrangements he had made in training his army.
What great machines they had, perhaps how strong they had, how experienced they were. But instead, dear young people, we notice in the 10th verse.
The Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him. And the priests which minister unto the Lord are the sons of Aaron.
And the Levites wait upon their business, and they burn unto the Lord every morning, and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense. Can you conceive of such a picture of a king facing an army twice as big as he, twice as large as his?
Outwardly.
The king over a very small portion of the land of Israel, and he stands there dear young people. And what he witnesses to that army of Israel, is that they had sought to keep what God had laid down in his word for all Israel, for all Israel.
To talk to those who were thee.
Soldiers ready to do battle and say to them.
We have burnt unto the Lord every morning, and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense. The showbread also set they in order upon the pure table, and the Candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening, for we keep the charge of the Lord our God.
But ye have forsaken them.
Beloved young people.
You and I, if we are going to go on for the Lord here, we are going to face a great enemy. We are going to find that the forces arrayed against your going on in faithfulness to Christ are gigantic. They are very, very large.
But beloved young people, the first lesson we learn from Abijah.
Is that the pathway of victory?
Lay in obedience to the Word of God, not in the size of the army.
How impressed do you think Jeroboam was by the fact that Abe just said we put the bread, the showbread, on the pure table? How impressed was he with the fact that they offered the burnt sacrifices every morning and every evening?
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All beloved young people. If he had been going on with God, he would have been impressed.
It would have been a voice to his conscience, but instead he finds no source of strength in this.
He finds nothing that should give him any cause for fear.
And the fact that Obja points out to him that what they sought to do.
Judah and Benjamin was to go on in obedience to the word of God.
In spite of the fact that it was a day of weakness and it was a day of ruin, and it was a day when the Kingdom was divided, it was a day when those could, the enemy could say to Abijah, you're just a small company compared to us but beloved young people. There was a pathway. There was that laid down in the word of God.
And what obedience pointed out was that it was their exercise. What they sought to do was follow in that path.
Well, we see how impressed Jeroboam was. Because all he seeks to do is to lay a trap. He sets an ambushment he arranges so that he gets Judah and Benjamin caught between his superior forces numerically.
And we find when we come to the.
14th verse.
Judah looked back. Behold, the battle was before and behind. And they cried unto the Lord, and the priest sounded with the trumpets. Then the men of Judah gave a shout. And as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smoked Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.
You know what? I have been meditating lately, as I'm sure many of my brethren have from time to time.
On the amazing fact.
That Satan so often defeats himself.
And the things that he does.
Surely Satan would never have endeavored to have the Lord Jesus put upon the cross if he had realized that at that cross he was going to meet his eternal defeat.
I thought of it in connection with.
Paul and Silas being in prison.
Surely Satan would never have endeavored.
To have Paul and Silas cast into that prison if he had known that when Paul and Silas walked out of that prison, they were going to take the Philippian jailer with them.
When the Lord Jesus was with his disciples going across the Sea of Galilee, and that great storm came up, I have no doubt that it was an effort by Satan to destroy the Lord Jesus if he could. But two things happened as a result of that storm. The first thing was.
That when the Lord Jesus was awakened, he showed his power over the storm and the disciples learned something about the Lord Jesus that they hadn't known before.
But the second thing was we find that when there was a great time and they were immediately at the shore, where had the storm brought them? It had brought them to the very point, the very point on the shore, where they could meet the demoniac, the man that was possessed with the legion of devils.
And the Lord Jesus could there cast out those demons out of ashore that I understand was 14 miles long.
The storm, as it were, brings the Lord Jesus to the very point.
Where the one that needed him was there to meet him, and so we find it is here.
That Jeroboam with his army sets a trap for the children of Judah and Benjamin. But what is the effect of the trap? What is the effect of this plan of Jeroboam? It gives Judah and Benjamin. It gives Abijah and this company with him.
To cry unto the Lord to give a great shout. And the Lord is the one who comes in and gives them the victory. All beloved young people, you're going to find, if you haven't already in your Christian pathway, that there are going to be obstacles and trials and difficulties that are going to come into your personal life. They're going to come into your assembly life if the Lord tarries, but beloved young people if the result.
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Of those trials and difficulties is that we cry to the Lord.
If the result is that we turn to him and count upon him, and shout not the cry, not the whimper of defeat, but the shout, the realization, beloved young people, that God is for us.
God is for you. Then, beloved young people, you're going to enjoy what it is to see God bring victory into your life. This is what happened with Abijah. When they cried, the priest sounded with a they cried to the Lord, and the priest sounded with the trumpets.
And the men of Judah gave a shout. Then it says God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Ibiza.
Then notice the 18th verse. Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed.
Because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers. There was the victory. There was where the victory came from. They relied upon the Lord God of their fathers. It wasn't a question of any other source of strength, but and beloved young people. This is the voice to one's own heart, one's own conscience.
What a bee just brought out in his address to the armies of Israel under Jeroboam was that Abijah and Judah and Benjamin sought to go on in obedience to the word of God, to keep what God had laid down in his Word as that which was pleasing to him.
In spite of the fact.
That those who kept it were now just a small part.
Of the nation of Israel, there was just a small company of them left compared to the whole nation of Israel.
But it didn't change for one moment.
The fact that God still sought for His people to go on in obedience to what He has laid down in the word, in spite of the weakness, in spite of the opposition, and where there was the going on beloved young people, and are relying on the Lord.
The Lord gave the victory. Now would you notice the next chapter?
The 14th chapter in the first verse so obedience 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, and they said, 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 in the high places, and breakdown 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 all the cities of Judah, the high places and the images.
And the Kingdom was quiet before him. 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 them 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 had given us rest on every side. So they built and prosper.
And ASA had an army of men that bear targets and Spears out of Judah 300,000, and out of Benjamin that bear Shields, and drew bowls 204 score 1000. All these were mighty men of valor, and there came out against them Zara the Ethiopian with a host of a thousand 1300 Chariots, and came unto Maresha. Then ASA went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of.
Zefratha at Maresha and ASA cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help.
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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. So the Lord smote The Ethiopians before ASA and before Judah, And The Ethiopians fled, and ASA and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerard. And The Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves, for they were destroyed before the Lord and before his host, and they carried away very much spoiled.
Dear young people, we find here that now another generation has arisen, Abijah and those with him faced.
They face the trial, they face the difficulty. They face the attack that came in their generation. But now another generation has arisen. ASA has enjoyed peace and quiet for quite a few years. But the fact was that ASA could not go on indefinitely, could not go on indefinitely without being tested himself as to whether he.
Also.
Relied on the Lord God of His fathers. We notice a number of things about ASA here.
He was a man of God.
He sought to go on to please the Lord.
As Abijah his father had done. Another thing we noticed was that what he did prospered. The Lord gave him peace, and the result was that he occupied himself in the things that were pleasing to the Lord. He built up the land, he built cities. And it noticed In the seventh verse it says, let us build these cities and make them with both them with walls and towers and gates and bars, while the land is yet before us.
ASA made all the preparations that he thought Judah might require.
If there should come a time when the testing time would come, ASA was making preparations in advance. He was preparing the land while it lay before them. The next thing we notice is that his army had grown stronger. If we had noticed in the 13th chapter, the army of Judah and Benjamin was 400,000 men. When we come to the 14th chapter and the eighth verse, we find that now the army of Benjamin and Judah.
Is 580,000 men. So here we find Judah and Benjamin under ace of their king. They have made preparations for a time when the attack would come. We find that their army was larger than it was before.
And as anticipated, the attack did come. And beloved young people, Satan is not going to leave you and I alone. He's not going to leave you and me to go on without seeking.
To come against us, to turn us aside from any pathway of obedience to the Word of God.
Well, we find here that Ethiopians came and they came with an army of a million men.
And 300 Chariots, it tells us in the ninth verse. Now beloved young people, here's the test again for ASA. With all these preparations, he could look at his cities and say, see what I've built. He could look at his army and say, see what we've accomplished and beloved young people, how thankful we can be when the Lord does give us to prosper. How thankful we can be when the Lord does give us to see those who belong to Christ, gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ and seeking to go on for him.
How thankful we are when the Lord does give us to see blessing in the gospel.
To see Saul saved, to see Sunday school work carried on, and the young children coming to know the Lord Jesus as their savior. We can be thankful for this. But beloved young people, our resource is not in the blessing, it is not in the numbers, it is not in the enlargement of the company. All I can remember when we used to come together for conferences like this, when there might be two or three hundred that came together, and we were so thankful for that.
And now we come together, and perhaps there are 7 or 800 that come together, and we are so thankful for that. But beloved young people, if we get our source of strength, if our confidence comes from our numbers, we're on our way toward defeat. We find that when the attack came.
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ASA in the 11Th verse 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. So the Lord smote The Ethiopians before ASA and before Judah, and The Ethiopians fled. So we find that the test has come for the next generation.
And their resource was exactly the same as the beaches. They turned to the same one who had given victory to Abijah. They turned to the same one that had defeated the 800,000 man army of Israel. And now they find that for him to defeat the 1,000,000 Man army of The Ethiopians presented no greater problem.
All beloved young people.
What I covet for you and for myself is that we might lay hold of Indiana, our souls, the resources that God has given to us, the fact that God is for us. We come together. And sometimes, and I don't mean this to criticize anyone, but I fear sometimes we come together at a company like this and we find ourselves talking about the problems and the difficulties that be faced, the people of God.
Instead of talking about the God who is over the problems.
You remember how there was a time when the enemies of God's people said God is a God of the mountaintops?
But he is not a God of the valleys. He can't handle the battle in the valleys. All beloved young people.
He is a God of the mountains, and he's also a God of the valleys, whether it's 800,000 or 1,000,000.
Whether it Ethiopians or whether it's Israelites, whether it's any kind of enemy at all, from within or from without, regardless of where the attack comes from in your personal life or in your assembly life or in your family life or wherever it comes and it will come, it will come, beloved young people. God is going to see to it that you and I are tested, as we'll notice if we have the time in a moment or so in connection with ASA again.
God does indeed allow that to come into your life and mind That tests us.
As to whether our resource is God, or whether we are relying upon numbers or friends or natural resources, well, the test came in aces life after 10 years of his reign and at this point in time beloved young people. How lovely it is to see that ASA turns and cries not to his fence cities, not to his great cities, not to his great army.
But to the God of Judah and the God of Israel, and he finds again.
That God is able.
God is.
Able regardless of what the magnitude of the problem.
Of the attack may be now would you go on to the 16th chapter?
In the 6th and 30th year of the reign of ASA, Basia, King of Israel came up against Judah and built Rama to the intent that he might let none go out or come into ASA king of Judah. 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 Haddad, 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 Basha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. And Ben Hayden hearkened unto King ASA, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. And they smote he, John, and Dan, and Abel, Mayam, and all the store cities of Naphtali. And it came to pass, when Basia heard it, that he left off building of Rama, and let his work cease.
Then ace of the king took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Rama and the timber thereof.
Wherewith Basia was building and he built there with Giba and Misbah. And at that time Hanani the seer came to ASA king of Judah.
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And said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy God.
Therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.
We're not The Ethiopians and the Lubans, a huge host with very many Chariots and horsemen.
Yet because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thine hand.
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. Herein thou hast done foolishly. Therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. 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.
And behold, the acts of ASA first and last. Lo, they are written in the book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
And ASA in the 30 and 9th year of his reign was diseased in his feet.
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.
They might well think ASA has passed his test.
The time came and Ace's life after he had been reigning for 10 years, and he faced up to the test that was put to him, and he relied on the Lord God of his fathers, but beloved young people.
The test came again. We find approximately 25 years have passed.
And now, into aces life again comes a test this time.
It's the same test as was faced by his father.
Be sure the King of Israel.
Now it's the Israelites again, the 10 tribes that come up against him with an endeavor to shut him in.
To restrict his liberty because we find in the previous chapter in the 15th chapter, if we'd taken the time to read it.
That because there was blessing in Judah, there had been those that were coming from Israel, coming to Judah and identifying themselves with ASA, the king of Judah, because they had seen that the Lord God of Israel was with him. But now the test comes and beloved young people again this has been a voice to ones own heart. But we find the test does come how often I have spoken and heard my brethren, my older president, talk about the troubles and difficulties that have beset the people of God in times past.
Brethren, the fact that a problem arose 25 years ago, and the Saints of God went to the Lord about it, and the Lord in his wonderful mercy and grace delivered the Saints of God and preserved the testimony gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That does not mean that we are going to be exempted until the Lord comes. We find instead that the trial comes again, the time of testing comes again.
And in the case of ASA, it came again, but this time this time beloved young people. Sad to say, ASA turn to the wrong source of help. We find that when he saw that Israel Basia, the king of Israel, had come against him, instead of crying to the Lord God of his fathers, he turns to the king of Syria and goes to the king of Syria for help. And you notice the first thing that he has to do.
To get the help of the king of Syria.
In the second verse, an 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 Haydad, 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 base of the king.
In order for him to get the alliance, to get the help of the king of Syria, he had to give up beloved young people some of the treasures of the House of the More. It was such a costly thing in order to get the help.
From the king of Syria he had to take that which was precious from the House of the Lord and give it up.
Turn it over to the king of Syria. And so it is dear young people. If you and I are going to seek, if the people of God, the Saints of God, are going to seek to find their help from the world or from the people of the world, or the customs of the world or the practices of the world or the wisdom of the world, there's only one way it can be done, and that is by first giving up.
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Something.
Of the precious things that God has given us to see that we don't belong to this world at all.
So it was with the children of Judah and Benjamin. So it was with ASA. He first of all gave up something of the treasures of the House of the Lord. And then he got his alliance. The king of Syria came to his help, and it seemed to prosper. It seemed to prosper. You notice it says in the sixth verse. Then ace of the king took all Judah and they carried away the stones of Rama, and the timber thereof were with Basia was building. And he built there with Giba and Mispa.
You could very well have said.
To ASA, did it work? Was it successful? And ASA could say, I can prove it to you. There are the results. Look at the city right there. You can see what was accomplished by doing what I did. And so it is beloved young people that there are times when those who are truly the Lords make an alliance with the world and it seems to prosper. It seems to prosper. It seems to outwardly be a success.
But what is the Lord's evaluation? Hanani comes along and in the seventh verse he says.
Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria and not relied on the Lord thy God.
Therefore, is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand all out. That struck me very much in meditating upon it. When you read this chapter, you say to yourself, the enemy is the nation of Israel. The enemy is Basha and the 10 tribes that are associated with him. But the Lord says through Hanani the seer. He says because you relied on the king of Syria, the king of Syria is escaped out of your hands.
Beloved young people, we cannot. And I say it to my own heart more than anyone's.
We cannot overcome the world by making an alliance with it. We can't overcome the world by joining hands with it. Here was the king of Syria allied with Basha and God was ready to deliver not only the nation, not only the King of Israel and his armies into the hands of ASA, but God was all ready to deliver the king of Syria into his hands too. And because he made the alliance, because he joined up with the king of Syria.
Two things. The blessing that God had for ASA was lost.
The king of Syria has escaped out of his hand, he said. And the second thing is?
As we notice at the end of the.
Ninth verse herein thou hast done foolishly, therefore for henceforth thou shalt have wars. But notice, dear young people, the ninth verse, 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. Beloved young people, I say to you, and I say to myself.
Perhaps I should change that, say to myself 1St, and then to you The Lord sees all. There is no circumstance that can possibly come into your life that the Lord didn't see and allow. You know, sometimes I I trust I can say it reverently, but sometimes we seem to feel as if somehow or other, something got past the Lord that he didn't see.
Some problem or difficulty in my personal life, or in my assembly life or amongst the Saints of God arises, and the natural heart is the Lord couldn't have seen that. He'd never surely have allowed that beloved young people, the eyes of the Lord, run to and fro throughout the whole earth. There is nothing gets by, there is nothing that his eye doesn't see, and he's ready.
He's ready.
Do you have a trouble right now? A problem in your life? The Lord knows all about it.
He's seen it and he's ready, tells us, ready to show himself strong in the behalf of them.
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Whose heart is perfect toward heaven? All beloved young people. Not the king of Syria. Not the world and its wisdom. Not the world and its successes. Not the world and its deliverances. But God the Lord is the one to whom we can turn and find beloved young people find that he knows all about the problems and the difficulties, and he's ready. He's waiting.
For us to turn to him, To turn to him.
To those whose heart is perfect before him, turn to him beloved young people. It's not a question of boasting or perish the thought. It's not a question of us bragging, as it weren't saying. We're the ones whose hearts are perfect toward him. But the Lord is there, and he's waiting. Waiting for us to turn to him, waiting for us to cry to him, waiting for us to count upon him, waiting for us to call.
And we'll find beloved young people.
We will find that he has the victory ready to give when we turn to him. But the testing time came, and aces life again, and he did foolishly. All beloved young people, may the Lord keep you and I from doing foolishly. May we not, like ASA, turn to the king of Syria.
But instead.
Find ourselves doing as he did the first time, crying to the Lord, and finding in the Lord all the strength, all the power, all the wisdom, all the deliverance that he could need. Even though the enemy was a million strong. I would just point out one thing. Our time is gone, but to me it's a very solemn thing. You notice it says in the.
10th verse.
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 a so oppressed some of the people at the same time.
And the 12Th verse. And ASA in the 30 and 9th year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great. Yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians beloved young people.
ASA had authority. He was the king.
He had the authority to put this man, Hanani, the seer, the one who spoke for God. He had the authority to put him in the prison house, and he did. It was an abuse of the authority that he had, but the authority was his but beloved young people. ASA also had a master. ASA was the king.
But ASA had one that he had to account for too. ASA had one that he had to account to.
And a time was given to ASA to repent, but then his Lord had to deal with him. I submit to you, beloved young people, and I submit it to myself, and I submit it to.
My beloved brethren that the answer when such a time comes like in the case of ASA.
Instead.
Instead.
Of going to the Lord he acted.
In a rage when he imprisoned one who was seeking to speak faithfully to him.
The answer was not to attack the authority of ASA as the king, but to submit the matter to the Lord.
And leave the matter with him.