1 00:01:03,310 --> 00:01:07,070 After a prayer we'll sing that doxology, Ascribe 2 00:01:07,070 --> 00:01:09,010 Greatness to Our God the Rock. 3 00:01:09,090 --> 00:01:12,050 His work is perfect and all His works, 4 00:01:12,450 --> 00:01:14,650 His ways are just, that's 18 in Songs 5 00:01:14,650 --> 00:01:15,370 of Fellowship. 6 00:01:15,370 --> 00:01:16,310 But first a prayer. 7 00:01:17,110 --> 00:01:19,210 Father we do just bring to you this 8 00:01:19,210 --> 00:01:20,150 service today. 9 00:01:20,830 --> 00:01:22,470 We thank you for who you are and 10 00:01:22,470 --> 00:01:24,030 for what you've done for us and the 11 00:01:24,030 --> 00:01:27,470 possibilities of the Lord's day as God comes 12 00:01:27,470 --> 00:01:30,350 amongst His children and speaks through His word 13 00:01:30,350 --> 00:01:33,530 and later in the day enables us to 14 00:01:33,530 --> 00:01:35,970 remember the death of our Lord Jesus. 15 00:01:36,270 --> 00:01:38,990 Now whoever we are and whatever's brought us 16 00:01:38,990 --> 00:01:41,930 into this lovely sanctuary this morning, we pray 17 00:01:41,930 --> 00:01:43,250 that you will meet with us. 18 00:01:43,250 --> 00:01:46,730 We commit ourselves to you, the ministry of 19 00:01:46,730 --> 00:01:49,150 today amongst boys and girls and young people, 20 00:01:49,730 --> 00:01:52,170 the fellowship over at Maybridge and all the 21 00:01:52,170 --> 00:01:54,850 communities of Christian people in this town. 22 00:01:55,330 --> 00:01:57,370 Will you bless and get honor and glory 23 00:01:57,370 --> 00:02:00,730 to your name for Jesus' sake, Amen. 24 00:02:01,630 --> 00:02:03,290 Now Ascribe Greatness. 25 00:02:03,290 --> 00:06:23,260 Son of God, 26 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:28,720 not just the cross, also His mighty resurrection. 27 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:31,840 Likewise you can make, you can never make 28 00:06:31,840 --> 00:06:32,700 too much of that. 29 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:38,420 Go then to 2 Chronicles in chapter 14. 30 00:06:38,660 --> 00:06:41,920 We'll not read all these three chapters. 31 00:06:42,060 --> 00:06:44,040 I'll give you a synopsis in terms of 32 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:47,200 the readings and try and fill in, in 33 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:48,500 my attempt to address. 34 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:52,960 Verse 2, chapter 14, 2 Chronicles. 35 00:06:54,380 --> 00:06:56,420 Asa did what was good and right in 36 00:06:56,420 --> 00:06:58,000 the eyes of the Lord his God. 37 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:00,380 He removed the foreign altars and the high 38 00:07:00,380 --> 00:07:03,340 places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down 39 00:07:03,340 --> 00:07:04,440 the Asherah poles. 40 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:07,720 He commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the 41 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:09,840 God of their fathers and to obey his 42 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:10,800 laws and commands. 43 00:07:11,580 --> 00:07:14,140 He removed the high places and incense altars 44 00:07:14,140 --> 00:07:16,520 in every town in Judah and the kingdom 45 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:17,900 was at peace under him. 46 00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:20,900 He built up the fortified cities of Judah 47 00:07:20,900 --> 00:07:22,540 since the land was at peace. 48 00:07:22,740 --> 00:07:24,940 No one was at war with him during 49 00:07:24,940 --> 00:07:27,420 those years, for the Lord gave him rest. 50 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:30,140 Let us build up these towns, he said 51 00:07:30,140 --> 00:07:32,520 to Judah, and put walls round them with 52 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:34,060 towers, gates and bars. 53 00:07:34,460 --> 00:07:36,380 The land is still ours because we have 54 00:07:36,380 --> 00:07:37,860 sought the Lord our God. 55 00:07:38,140 --> 00:07:39,760 We sought him and he has given us 56 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:43,540 rest on every side, so they built and 57 00:07:43,540 --> 00:07:45,200 prospered. 58 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:48,540 Verse 9, Zerah the Cushite marched out against 59 00:07:48,540 --> 00:07:50,280 them with a vast army and three hundred 60 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:52,660 chariots and came as far as Marisha. 61 00:07:53,460 --> 00:07:55,280 Asa went out to meet him and they 62 00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:58,020 took up battle positions in the valley of 63 00:07:58,020 --> 00:08:00,860 Zephathah near Marisha. 64 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:04,240 Then Asa called to the Lord his God 65 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:07,360 and said, you've got the NIV, read this 66 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:07,780 with me. 67 00:08:07,780 --> 00:08:11,460 Lord, there is no one like you to 68 00:08:11,460 --> 00:08:13,980 help the powerless against the mighty. 69 00:08:14,660 --> 00:08:18,120 Help us, O Lord our God, for we 70 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:21,360 rely on you and in your name we 71 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:23,800 have come against this vast army. 72 00:08:24,500 --> 00:08:26,960 O Lord, you are our God. 73 00:08:27,460 --> 00:08:30,680 Do not let man prevail against you. 74 00:08:31,679 --> 00:08:33,380 Now we'll go on with me reading into 75 00:08:33,380 --> 00:08:34,440 the fifteenth chapter. 76 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:36,860 The Spirit of God came upon Azariah, son 77 00:08:36,860 --> 00:08:37,659 of Obed. 78 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:40,140 He went out to meet Asa and said 79 00:08:40,140 --> 00:08:42,059 to him, listen to me, Asa and all, 80 00:08:42,179 --> 00:08:44,580 Judah and Benjamin, the Lord is with you. 81 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:46,700 When you are with him, if you seek 82 00:08:46,700 --> 00:08:48,420 him, he will be found by you, but 83 00:08:48,420 --> 00:08:50,480 if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 84 00:08:50,700 --> 00:08:53,700 For a long time Israel was without the 85 00:08:53,700 --> 00:08:55,740 true God, without a priest to teach and 86 00:08:55,740 --> 00:08:58,540 without the law, but in their distress they 87 00:08:58,540 --> 00:09:01,440 turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, 88 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:04,940 and sought him, and he was found by 89 00:09:04,940 --> 00:09:05,340 them. 90 00:09:05,940 --> 00:09:08,060 In those days it was not safe to 91 00:09:08,060 --> 00:09:10,320 travel about, for all the inhabitants of the 92 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:12,640 lands were in great turmoil. 93 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:15,780 One nation was being crushed by another and 94 00:09:15,780 --> 00:09:18,880 one city by another, because God was troubling 95 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:20,920 them with every kind of distress. 96 00:09:21,740 --> 00:09:25,920 But as for you, be strong and do 97 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:29,140 not give up, for your work will be 98 00:09:29,140 --> 00:09:29,620 rewarded. 99 00:09:29,620 --> 00:09:33,440 When Asa heard these words and the prophecy 100 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:37,760 of Azariah, son of Obed the prophet, he 101 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:39,380 took courage. 102 00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:43,720 Verse 7 of chapter 16, another prophet features 103 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:44,980 on the scene. 104 00:09:45,100 --> 00:09:48,340 Hanani, the seer, came to Asa, king of 105 00:09:48,340 --> 00:09:50,720 Judah, and said to him, Because you relied 106 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:52,220 on the king of Aram and not on 107 00:09:52,220 --> 00:09:54,020 the Lord your God, the army of the 108 00:09:54,020 --> 00:09:56,260 king of Aram has escaped from your hand. 109 00:09:56,260 --> 00:09:58,860 Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty 110 00:09:58,860 --> 00:10:01,440 army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? 111 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:04,380 Yet when you relied on the Lord, he 112 00:10:04,380 --> 00:10:05,900 delivered them into your hand. 113 00:10:06,060 --> 00:10:09,440 For the eyes of the Lord reign throughout 114 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:11,740 the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are 115 00:10:11,740 --> 00:10:12,800 fully committed to him. 116 00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:15,260 You have done a foolish thing, and from 117 00:10:15,260 --> 00:10:16,860 now on you will be at war. 118 00:10:17,500 --> 00:10:19,480 Asa was angry with the seer because of 119 00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:19,760 this. 120 00:10:20,140 --> 00:10:21,600 He was so enraged that he put him 121 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:22,060 in prison. 122 00:10:22,060 --> 00:10:25,220 At the same time, Asa brutally oppressed some 123 00:10:25,220 --> 00:10:25,740 of the people. 124 00:10:26,380 --> 00:10:28,560 The events of Asa's reign from beginning to 125 00:10:28,560 --> 00:10:31,020 end are written in the book of the 126 00:10:31,020 --> 00:10:33,100 kings of Judah and Israel. 127 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:35,700 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, 128 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:38,000 Asa was afflicted with a disease in his 129 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:38,380 feet. 130 00:10:39,180 --> 00:10:41,660 Though his disease was severe even in his 131 00:10:41,660 --> 00:10:44,200 illness, he did not seek help from the 132 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:46,300 Lord but only from the physicians. 133 00:10:47,060 --> 00:10:48,880 Then in the forty-first year of his 134 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:54,840 reign, Asa died and rested with his fathers. 135 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:57,780 I want to address you in this series 136 00:10:57,780 --> 00:11:03,340 from 2 Chronicles on when success turns to 137 00:11:03,340 --> 00:11:03,920 failure. 138 00:11:04,620 --> 00:11:06,980 I'm using the overhead projector because that will 139 00:11:06,980 --> 00:11:08,800 help us at least this morning with such 140 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:13,560 a large span of Scripture to just home 141 00:11:13,560 --> 00:11:16,460 in on the main points. 142 00:11:19,270 --> 00:11:21,310 There are three or four snapshots that you 143 00:11:21,310 --> 00:11:25,550 get of Asa, this king of Judah, in 144 00:11:25,550 --> 00:11:26,570 these three chapters. 145 00:11:27,350 --> 00:11:29,270 You get the snapshot when he's right at 146 00:11:29,270 --> 00:11:30,870 the beginning of his reign, verse 2 of 147 00:11:30,870 --> 00:11:31,750 the fourteenth chapter. 148 00:11:31,930 --> 00:11:34,870 Asa did what was good and right in 149 00:11:34,870 --> 00:11:37,950 the eyes of the Lord his God. 150 00:11:37,950 --> 00:11:42,190 You get another snapshot in his fifteenth year 151 00:11:42,190 --> 00:11:46,650 when we read in the fifteenth chapter that 152 00:11:46,650 --> 00:11:52,630 Asa was determined to do those things which 153 00:11:52,630 --> 00:11:55,930 were pleasing to the Lord. 154 00:11:56,650 --> 00:11:59,430 Look at the fifteenth verse of the fifteenth 155 00:11:59,430 --> 00:11:59,870 chapter. 156 00:12:00,010 --> 00:12:03,210 They sought God eagerly and he was found 157 00:12:03,210 --> 00:12:05,390 by them, so the Lord gave them rest 158 00:12:05,390 --> 00:12:08,690 on every side, a comment that refers to 159 00:12:08,690 --> 00:12:11,050 the king and to the benefits of his 160 00:12:11,050 --> 00:12:11,570 reign. 161 00:12:12,330 --> 00:12:16,030 But then in the thirty-ninth year of 162 00:12:16,030 --> 00:12:18,510 his reign you discover things start to go 163 00:12:18,510 --> 00:12:24,950 somewhat off course, and Asa does not respond 164 00:12:24,950 --> 00:12:28,190 to what he knows to be the will 165 00:12:28,190 --> 00:12:29,370 of the Lord. 166 00:12:29,370 --> 00:12:32,590 Thus the prophet Hanani in the seventh verse 167 00:12:32,590 --> 00:12:36,610 and onwards chastises him, and in the ninth 168 00:12:36,610 --> 00:12:38,670 verse says, The eyes of the Lord range 169 00:12:38,670 --> 00:12:41,390 throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts 170 00:12:41,390 --> 00:12:42,610 are fully committed to Him. 171 00:12:42,910 --> 00:12:44,770 You have done a foolish thing. 172 00:12:45,590 --> 00:12:49,090 And the last snapshot, in the forty-first 173 00:12:49,090 --> 00:12:52,110 year of his reign, we read in the 174 00:12:52,110 --> 00:12:56,730 thirteenth verse, Asa died and rested with his 175 00:12:56,730 --> 00:13:00,770 fathers, and just prior to that we're told 176 00:13:00,770 --> 00:13:03,470 that though he was ill and his disease 177 00:13:03,470 --> 00:13:07,810 was severe, verse twelve, he did not seek 178 00:13:07,810 --> 00:13:10,130 help from the Lord. 179 00:13:11,310 --> 00:13:13,170 It's not a word that's in the English 180 00:13:13,170 --> 00:13:15,470 dictionary because it's slang, but it's a good 181 00:13:15,470 --> 00:13:15,770 word. 182 00:13:15,870 --> 00:13:19,350 It's the word stickability, and it's a word 183 00:13:19,350 --> 00:13:22,150 that's basic, I think, to the teachings of 184 00:13:22,150 --> 00:13:25,290 the Old Testament and the New Testament in 185 00:13:25,290 --> 00:13:27,430 terms of what God wants from you and 186 00:13:27,430 --> 00:13:28,870 from me, my dear friends. 187 00:13:29,090 --> 00:13:31,970 We're looking into the book of Chronicles not 188 00:13:31,970 --> 00:13:35,390 because we've got a particular fascination for Old 189 00:13:35,390 --> 00:13:40,230 Testament history, but simply because God has ordained 190 00:13:40,230 --> 00:13:44,250 that records of men's lives be encapsuled in 191 00:13:44,250 --> 00:13:46,990 these Scriptures so that you can learn from 192 00:13:46,990 --> 00:13:50,090 their strengths and also from their weaknesses. 193 00:13:51,970 --> 00:13:53,970 Now our Lord Jesus, when He was on 194 00:13:53,970 --> 00:13:59,150 earth, talking about ideal discipleship, makes reference to 195 00:13:59,150 --> 00:14:00,730 the man who puts his hand to the 196 00:14:00,730 --> 00:14:02,430 plow and doesn't look back. 197 00:14:02,890 --> 00:14:04,370 Such a man is fit for the kingdom 198 00:14:04,370 --> 00:14:04,850 of heaven. 199 00:14:05,150 --> 00:14:07,370 He gets the congratulations of the Savior. 200 00:14:08,330 --> 00:14:10,450 He also says, He who endures to the 201 00:14:10,450 --> 00:14:11,850 end shall be saved. 202 00:14:12,770 --> 00:14:14,410 And all that has a lot to do 203 00:14:14,410 --> 00:14:15,630 with stickability. 204 00:14:15,630 --> 00:14:18,530 So, here's a rating, one to ten. 205 00:14:19,070 --> 00:14:21,990 One, no stickability at all. 206 00:14:22,290 --> 00:14:24,030 I'm not talking about perspiration. 207 00:14:24,170 --> 00:14:25,850 There's a lot of stickability in the congregation 208 00:14:25,850 --> 00:14:27,830 at this point in that area. 209 00:14:28,430 --> 00:14:30,290 Ten, high stickability. 210 00:14:32,060 --> 00:14:33,550 Where do you rate yourself? 211 00:14:34,650 --> 00:14:35,810 Where are you? 212 00:14:36,990 --> 00:14:39,570 Have you been at point ten and slipped 213 00:14:39,570 --> 00:14:40,790 back to point five? 214 00:14:41,430 --> 00:14:43,910 Are you at point five and possibly slipping 215 00:14:43,910 --> 00:14:45,110 back to zero? 216 00:14:45,890 --> 00:14:47,970 Well, that's the sort of challenge from the 217 00:14:47,970 --> 00:14:50,230 Word of God for you this morning as 218 00:14:50,230 --> 00:14:54,710 we discuss this business about turning success into 219 00:14:54,710 --> 00:14:55,410 failure. 220 00:14:55,950 --> 00:14:58,290 Generally we think people learn from their failures 221 00:14:58,290 --> 00:15:00,670 and move to success, but in this instance 222 00:15:00,670 --> 00:15:03,510 it was the reverse order, unfortunately. 223 00:15:05,210 --> 00:15:07,810 Now from the second verse, or if you 224 00:15:07,810 --> 00:15:09,330 please, from the first verse down to the 225 00:15:09,330 --> 00:15:13,030 eighth verse of the fourteenth chapter, you find 226 00:15:13,030 --> 00:15:18,210 that Ezra exercises, when he becomes king of 227 00:15:18,210 --> 00:15:20,290 Judah, a surprising prudence. 228 00:15:21,610 --> 00:15:23,210 Prudence means discretion. 229 00:15:24,350 --> 00:15:27,170 Surprising, well, if you check the twenty-first 230 00:15:27,170 --> 00:15:29,350 verse of the thirteenth chapter, you'll discover that 231 00:15:29,350 --> 00:15:31,310 his granddad did not exactly help him. 232 00:15:32,090 --> 00:15:36,990 I mean, he had fourteen wives, and twenty 233 00:15:36,990 --> 00:15:39,010 -two sons, and sixteen daughters. 234 00:15:40,630 --> 00:15:43,830 And if you drop down the chapters to 235 00:15:43,830 --> 00:15:47,330 the fifteenth chapter, you'll discover that his grandmother, 236 00:15:47,730 --> 00:15:52,350 Nacah, she also wasn't very helpful to the 237 00:15:52,350 --> 00:15:55,550 young Esar as he developed, as he grew 238 00:15:55,550 --> 00:16:00,330 up, because she had made some obnoxious idol, 239 00:16:01,190 --> 00:16:04,530 she'd placed it in the temple area, and 240 00:16:04,530 --> 00:16:08,050 this obscene thing became the focal point of 241 00:16:08,050 --> 00:16:08,410 worship. 242 00:16:09,870 --> 00:16:12,510 So when I tell you that when Esar 243 00:16:12,510 --> 00:16:16,450 became king he exercised a surprising prudence, that's 244 00:16:16,450 --> 00:16:17,470 what I have in mind. 245 00:16:18,570 --> 00:16:21,270 He like many of us was perhaps enthused 246 00:16:21,270 --> 00:16:23,210 when he was called into the service of 247 00:16:23,210 --> 00:16:26,610 God, and a clean sweep occurs, as in 248 00:16:26,610 --> 00:16:29,410 the fifth verse, he removes the high, he 249 00:16:29,410 --> 00:16:33,370 removes the high places and incense altars in 250 00:16:33,370 --> 00:16:34,810 every town of Judah. 251 00:16:35,650 --> 00:16:37,090 You see, there there was a great deal 252 00:16:37,090 --> 00:16:40,730 of idolatry, and idolatry is something that's offensive 253 00:16:41,450 --> 00:16:42,790 in the eyes of God. 254 00:16:42,970 --> 00:16:44,930 And idolatry didn't start with the Old Testament 255 00:16:44,930 --> 00:16:46,870 or the New Testament, it's still with us 256 00:16:46,870 --> 00:16:47,490 today. 257 00:16:48,710 --> 00:16:51,030 There are people who make their bank balance 258 00:16:51,030 --> 00:16:52,890 their idol, their television their idol. 259 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:58,790 Anything that takes priority over against God is 260 00:16:58,790 --> 00:17:00,390 in effect your idol. 261 00:17:00,930 --> 00:17:03,890 But Esar sweeps these things on one side, 262 00:17:04,710 --> 00:17:07,130 and he is given ten years rest. 263 00:17:08,030 --> 00:17:11,150 Look at the sixth verse, as he becomes 264 00:17:11,150 --> 00:17:15,210 the king of Judah, the Lord gave him 265 00:17:15,210 --> 00:17:18,089 rest because of his prudence. 266 00:17:19,030 --> 00:17:21,410 I think that one of the missing factors 267 00:17:21,410 --> 00:17:24,770 in the lives of many people today is 268 00:17:24,770 --> 00:17:26,790 entering into the rest of God. 269 00:17:26,910 --> 00:17:28,830 That doesn't mean having a snooze on a 270 00:17:28,830 --> 00:17:31,430 Sunday, even when somebody is preaching. 271 00:17:32,430 --> 00:17:35,690 What it means is being peaceful in your 272 00:17:35,690 --> 00:17:37,910 heart, being able to cope, as some of 273 00:17:37,910 --> 00:17:39,950 those dear Russian people I was with, with 274 00:17:39,950 --> 00:17:43,390 Rowena last Sunday in a church almost packed 275 00:17:43,390 --> 00:17:47,370 with basically older people, being able to rest, 276 00:17:47,450 --> 00:17:49,310 though many of them had run seventy years 277 00:17:49,310 --> 00:17:52,230 on this earth and had known the horrors 278 00:17:52,230 --> 00:17:55,090 of two world wars and the problems of 279 00:17:55,090 --> 00:17:59,050 communist philosophy being worked through in their society. 280 00:17:59,610 --> 00:18:01,490 And yet you discover that they had entered 281 00:18:01,490 --> 00:18:05,370 into the rest that God grants. 282 00:18:06,070 --> 00:18:08,890 Now when you feel restful, when you feel 283 00:18:08,890 --> 00:18:11,750 peaceful, that's a time to stock up on 284 00:18:11,750 --> 00:18:15,570 your spiritual reserves as politically Asa used the 285 00:18:15,570 --> 00:18:18,970 opportunity to make himself stronger militarily. 286 00:18:19,130 --> 00:18:21,650 Verse 8, Asa had an army of 300 287 00:18:21,650 --> 00:18:25,210 ,000 men from Judah equipped with large shields. 288 00:18:26,110 --> 00:18:28,290 He decided that he would use these ten 289 00:18:28,290 --> 00:18:32,230 years of tranquility to make the land as 290 00:18:32,230 --> 00:18:35,450 firm and as strong as it could be. 291 00:18:35,870 --> 00:18:37,830 The land is ours, he says, verse 8, 292 00:18:39,130 --> 00:18:42,190 because we have sought the Lord our God. 293 00:18:42,190 --> 00:18:44,610 Verse 7 rather, We sought him and he 294 00:18:44,610 --> 00:18:47,270 has given us rest on every side, so 295 00:18:47,270 --> 00:18:50,590 they built and prospered. 296 00:18:50,970 --> 00:18:53,450 One of the things I thank God for 297 00:18:53,450 --> 00:18:54,970 was that when I was a kid my 298 00:18:54,970 --> 00:18:57,270 parents sent me to Sunday school and in 299 00:18:57,270 --> 00:19:00,090 our Sunday school you had to learn the 300 00:19:00,090 --> 00:19:03,090 good old authorized version of the Bible. 301 00:19:03,250 --> 00:19:05,330 Not all of it by heart, but chunks 302 00:19:05,330 --> 00:19:05,750 of it. 303 00:19:05,750 --> 00:19:09,910 And I've never forgotten those earlier days and 304 00:19:09,910 --> 00:19:12,930 the memory that I still have of the 305 00:19:12,930 --> 00:19:17,070 authorized version as built into my mind and 306 00:19:17,070 --> 00:19:20,270 hopefully worked through in degree in my personality 307 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:27,110 were the truths of Scripture, build and prosper 308 00:19:27,110 --> 00:19:32,090 during days of calm and tranquility. 309 00:19:32,090 --> 00:19:35,370 That's what Asa will teach us in terms 310 00:19:35,370 --> 00:19:37,170 of our Christian discipleship. 311 00:19:37,550 --> 00:19:40,450 He exercises a surprising prudence. 312 00:19:41,430 --> 00:19:45,310 But then I argue he demonstrates a recurring 313 00:19:45,310 --> 00:19:45,990 principle. 314 00:19:46,310 --> 00:19:47,050 Now what is that? 315 00:19:47,170 --> 00:19:49,930 Well, when things have been going quiet for 316 00:19:49,930 --> 00:19:52,590 a while, God in His grace, even though 317 00:19:52,590 --> 00:19:54,450 you perhaps don't think it is grace at 318 00:19:54,450 --> 00:19:58,130 that point, allows things to come that completely 319 00:19:58,130 --> 00:20:01,430 ruffle the surface, that cause the sea that 320 00:20:01,430 --> 00:20:04,710 was at calm, that was becalmed, to become 321 00:20:04,710 --> 00:20:05,810 tempestuous. 322 00:20:06,190 --> 00:20:08,430 Now you'll remember that with the disciples of 323 00:20:08,430 --> 00:20:09,010 our Lord. 324 00:20:09,410 --> 00:20:12,190 On occasions they had this particular problem to 325 00:20:12,190 --> 00:20:12,750 cope with. 326 00:20:13,010 --> 00:20:14,330 What was He training them for? 327 00:20:14,570 --> 00:20:16,050 Well, the day when He would be removed 328 00:20:16,050 --> 00:20:16,810 from them. 329 00:20:17,330 --> 00:20:19,130 When they wouldn't have the sort of rest 330 00:20:19,130 --> 00:20:21,830 and calmness of knowing the physical presence of 331 00:20:21,830 --> 00:20:23,870 Jesus and things got tough. 332 00:20:24,470 --> 00:20:26,830 Well, our Lord teaches them on two or 333 00:20:26,830 --> 00:20:30,150 three occasions during His public ministry that as 334 00:20:30,150 --> 00:20:33,170 the sea gets, and the waves get high 335 00:20:33,170 --> 00:20:36,690 and the winds come in strong, so the 336 00:20:36,690 --> 00:20:38,810 man who is called to belong to Him 337 00:20:38,810 --> 00:20:41,650 is still to cope and to be able 338 00:20:41,650 --> 00:20:44,930 to persevere during difficult days because of those 339 00:20:44,930 --> 00:20:48,050 blessings that He has harnessed and taken into 340 00:20:48,050 --> 00:20:51,790 the fiber of His personality during the days 341 00:20:51,790 --> 00:20:55,830 of calm and ease and quietness. 342 00:20:55,950 --> 00:20:57,690 Now, for Asa the problem was a man 343 00:20:57,690 --> 00:21:00,550 who boasted with the name of Zerah, Zerah 344 00:21:00,550 --> 00:21:03,090 the Cushite or Ethiopian, verse 9. 345 00:21:03,610 --> 00:21:06,890 He was the bully of the Middle East. 346 00:21:08,250 --> 00:21:10,390 In fact, here is, if you like, a 347 00:21:10,390 --> 00:21:12,690 sort of anticipation, or to put it another 348 00:21:12,690 --> 00:21:14,690 way, what you've had during these past few 349 00:21:14,690 --> 00:21:17,250 days with Kuwait and Iraq is a replay 350 00:21:17,250 --> 00:21:17,910 of this. 351 00:21:18,930 --> 00:21:22,730 Zerah comes into the land of Judah and 352 00:21:22,730 --> 00:21:24,150 he's got a vast army. 353 00:21:24,970 --> 00:21:27,150 If you check the NIV's footnote at the 354 00:21:27,150 --> 00:21:30,490 bottom, you will see that the army actually 355 00:21:30,490 --> 00:21:31,430 numbered one million. 356 00:21:32,410 --> 00:21:34,650 Whether that's a literal number, I think perhaps 357 00:21:34,650 --> 00:21:34,970 not. 358 00:21:35,070 --> 00:21:36,650 I think it's perhaps hyperbole. 359 00:21:36,910 --> 00:21:40,930 In other words, it's used symbolically to describe 360 00:21:40,930 --> 00:21:43,750 that it was a mammoth number of people 361 00:21:43,750 --> 00:21:47,430 that Zerah brings into the land of Judah 362 00:21:47,430 --> 00:21:50,970 and threatens Asa the king. 363 00:21:52,630 --> 00:21:55,850 And the bottom line is this, how will 364 00:21:55,850 --> 00:21:56,390 he cope? 365 00:21:57,410 --> 00:22:01,110 How do you cope when difficulty comes your 366 00:22:01,110 --> 00:22:01,530 way? 367 00:22:02,330 --> 00:22:04,850 When like Pastor Lamb in Canton, you don't 368 00:22:04,850 --> 00:22:07,710 know whether the next day will bring news 369 00:22:07,710 --> 00:22:10,110 that you are going to be executed or 370 00:22:10,110 --> 00:22:10,490 not. 371 00:22:10,490 --> 00:22:12,470 Not many of us are tested like that, 372 00:22:12,650 --> 00:22:14,030 but we are tested, aren't we? 373 00:22:14,910 --> 00:22:17,170 Sometimes it may be defection in our family 374 00:22:17,170 --> 00:22:17,710 circles. 375 00:22:18,530 --> 00:22:22,150 Perhaps our dearest and most loved leaves us 376 00:22:22,150 --> 00:22:23,910 or plays fast and loose with us. 377 00:22:25,310 --> 00:22:28,190 Perhaps the whole of our world seems to 378 00:22:28,190 --> 00:22:32,590 collapse in terms of materialism and the loss 379 00:22:32,590 --> 00:22:34,930 of goods and jobs and so forth. 380 00:22:35,010 --> 00:22:36,250 Many of you have known that. 381 00:22:37,190 --> 00:22:38,470 Now here is the challenge. 382 00:22:38,470 --> 00:22:40,770 How do you cope in that situation? 383 00:22:41,070 --> 00:22:42,690 Well, how does Asa cope? 384 00:22:43,890 --> 00:22:46,290 Now it's interesting that Asa has good theology. 385 00:22:46,950 --> 00:22:47,770 Look at verse 10. 386 00:22:48,030 --> 00:22:50,430 He doesn't just sit in a rocking chair 387 00:22:50,430 --> 00:22:52,590 and allow Zerah to come in. 388 00:22:53,470 --> 00:22:56,130 He knows the nature of the problem, but 389 00:22:56,130 --> 00:22:57,510 he goes out to meet him. 390 00:22:57,710 --> 00:22:59,990 And I like this next expression, they, the 391 00:22:59,990 --> 00:23:02,690 king and the people, took up battle positions. 392 00:23:04,250 --> 00:23:07,090 But realizing the enormity of the problem, verse 393 00:23:07,090 --> 00:23:10,650 11, Asa comes towards the Lord and he 394 00:23:10,650 --> 00:23:13,230 cries and here is a little bit of 395 00:23:13,230 --> 00:23:17,590 intercession squeezed into the narrative, which is actually 396 00:23:17,590 --> 00:23:20,090 one of the finest prayers in the whole 397 00:23:20,090 --> 00:23:21,330 of the Old Testament. 398 00:23:21,550 --> 00:23:23,290 Thank you brothers who helped us in prayer 399 00:23:23,290 --> 00:23:24,510 earlier on. 400 00:23:24,610 --> 00:23:26,910 Prayer can be brief and sometimes it can 401 00:23:26,910 --> 00:23:27,590 be prolonged. 402 00:23:27,890 --> 00:23:29,670 Well here is brevity if you please. 403 00:23:29,670 --> 00:23:32,990 Lord, there's no one like you to help 404 00:23:32,990 --> 00:23:34,890 the powerless against the mighty. 405 00:23:35,790 --> 00:23:39,490 Help us, O Lord, our God, for we 406 00:23:39,490 --> 00:23:44,890 rely on you, and in your name we 407 00:23:44,890 --> 00:23:46,650 have come against this vast army. 408 00:23:46,790 --> 00:23:49,210 O Lord, you are our God. 409 00:23:49,630 --> 00:23:53,230 Do not let man prevail against you. 410 00:23:56,170 --> 00:24:02,370 This king has sized up a political problem 411 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:06,680 in terms of a theological dimension. 412 00:24:07,780 --> 00:24:09,700 You say, there you go again, using your 413 00:24:09,700 --> 00:24:10,180 big words. 414 00:24:10,220 --> 00:24:10,740 What do you mean? 415 00:24:14,170 --> 00:24:20,450 Seventy years ago, the British Museum, Karl Marx 416 00:24:20,450 --> 00:24:21,610 is pushing his pen. 417 00:24:22,890 --> 00:24:25,170 He gives the world das Kapital. 418 00:24:27,730 --> 00:24:30,030 Lenin is influenced by what he has to 419 00:24:30,030 --> 00:24:30,410 say. 420 00:24:33,830 --> 00:24:38,910 Vladimir Ulyanov, the Russian name of Lenin, talks 421 00:24:38,910 --> 00:24:42,630 about religion being the opium of the people, 422 00:24:45,060 --> 00:24:46,920 looks for a day when religion will be 423 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:52,030 taken from the surface of the world, and 424 00:24:52,030 --> 00:24:53,670 he seems to harness all power. 425 00:24:55,550 --> 00:24:58,080 And the microscopic church in Russia has to 426 00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:01,480 say, O Lord, you are our God. 427 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:07,480 Do not let this man prevail against you. 428 00:25:08,580 --> 00:25:11,220 You see, the problem is not just political. 429 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:14,100 Neither is the one with Kuwait and Iraq 430 00:25:14,100 --> 00:25:15,860 and the whole of the Middle East theater. 431 00:25:17,060 --> 00:25:18,080 Don't you understand? 432 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:21,440 Are you so simplistic as Christian people that 433 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:23,780 you've got no conception of this great sovereign 434 00:25:23,780 --> 00:25:25,940 God working out His plan and purposes? 435 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:29,640 You'll have the nations as the dust in 436 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:30,260 the balance. 437 00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:33,540 He will have these proud men as grasshoppers 438 00:25:33,540 --> 00:25:35,620 before Him, says the prophet Isaiah. 439 00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:40,520 And here is this King Esau demonstrating this 440 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:43,660 recurring principle in his life that when God 441 00:25:43,660 --> 00:25:47,000 brings testing, it enables a man who has 442 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:49,880 become mature to rise to the heights of 443 00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:52,840 his maturity and to relate his problem to 444 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:54,280 the sovereignty of God. 445 00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:56,580 Work through your Christianity, my friends. 446 00:25:58,630 --> 00:26:01,250 You ask why on a hot Sunday we 447 00:26:01,250 --> 00:26:02,750 look into the Word of God? 448 00:26:03,210 --> 00:26:07,570 Because here is basic wisdom without which you 449 00:26:07,570 --> 00:26:09,810 will be impoverished in your life. 450 00:26:10,730 --> 00:26:13,910 Here are principles bound up for those who 451 00:26:13,910 --> 00:26:18,790 have zeal in unpackaging them that will bless 452 00:26:18,790 --> 00:26:22,330 the ones who make these discoveries through time 453 00:26:22,330 --> 00:26:24,550 and on into eternity. 454 00:26:26,970 --> 00:26:29,550 Esau exercises a surprising prudence. 455 00:26:30,330 --> 00:26:32,190 He demonstrates a recurring principle. 456 00:26:33,270 --> 00:26:37,670 God was involved in this problem, in this 457 00:26:37,670 --> 00:26:39,090 political difficulty. 458 00:26:39,450 --> 00:26:42,090 God did come to the aid, and this 459 00:26:42,090 --> 00:26:47,450 magnificent army of zero was routed by the 460 00:26:47,450 --> 00:26:49,070 force of the living God. 461 00:26:50,170 --> 00:26:57,390 But then Esau experiences, along with the rest 462 00:26:57,390 --> 00:27:01,490 of the children of Judah, a sensational reversal. 463 00:27:02,150 --> 00:27:03,030 You say, what do you mean? 464 00:27:03,210 --> 00:27:04,610 Well, you've got to get the back cloth 465 00:27:04,610 --> 00:27:06,870 of history before you can really come in 466 00:27:06,870 --> 00:27:07,870 close to this point. 467 00:27:08,130 --> 00:27:10,750 Drop into verse 3 of the 15th chapter. 468 00:27:13,030 --> 00:27:14,770 In fact, I think we'll go on further 469 00:27:14,770 --> 00:27:18,430 to verse 5, which discusses the economic conditions 470 00:27:18,430 --> 00:27:19,790 of the world in these days. 471 00:27:19,930 --> 00:27:22,690 If the Times or Independent or Guardian or 472 00:27:22,690 --> 00:27:25,150 what have you, newspapers, have been about in 473 00:27:25,150 --> 00:27:26,850 those days, this is the sort of comment 474 00:27:26,850 --> 00:27:27,750 that they would be making. 475 00:27:27,890 --> 00:27:29,370 In those days it was not safe to 476 00:27:29,370 --> 00:27:30,010 travel about. 477 00:27:30,650 --> 00:27:32,330 All the inhabitants of the lands were in 478 00:27:32,330 --> 00:27:33,050 great turmoil. 479 00:27:33,190 --> 00:27:35,410 One nation was being crushed by another, one 480 00:27:35,410 --> 00:27:36,230 city by another. 481 00:27:36,970 --> 00:27:40,410 The reason for this anarchy, this international disorder, 482 00:27:40,610 --> 00:27:44,110 is again theological, because God was troubling them 483 00:27:44,110 --> 00:27:46,030 with every kind of distress. 484 00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:49,290 You see, that was the sort of situation 485 00:27:49,290 --> 00:27:50,890 prior to Esau coming to the throne. 486 00:27:51,750 --> 00:27:54,090 So if ever a man needed to be 487 00:27:54,090 --> 00:27:57,430 informed of and commit himself to the belief 488 00:27:57,430 --> 00:28:00,010 in the sovereignty of God, it is Esau. 489 00:28:02,660 --> 00:28:05,580 What is the most desperate situation that can 490 00:28:05,580 --> 00:28:06,600 ever hit a nation? 491 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:11,340 Well, it's not the stock market plummeting downwards. 492 00:28:12,300 --> 00:28:15,980 It's not the freezing of oil supplies. 493 00:28:17,780 --> 00:28:21,700 The most difficult situation for any nation to 494 00:28:21,700 --> 00:28:24,120 deal with is when God goes silent. 495 00:28:24,980 --> 00:28:25,840 Did you hear that? 496 00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:29,700 Martin Luther, on an occasion when he was 497 00:28:29,700 --> 00:28:32,880 very troubled, he said, be not silent before 498 00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:34,240 me, O my God. 499 00:28:34,360 --> 00:28:37,220 Send me swords, send me pestilence, send me 500 00:28:37,220 --> 00:28:39,800 disease, but God be not silent to me. 501 00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:45,040 When God is silent, the world is in 502 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:45,440 trouble. 503 00:28:46,580 --> 00:28:49,660 Verse 3, chapter 15, for a long time, 504 00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:52,780 Israel was without the true God, without a 505 00:28:52,780 --> 00:28:55,900 priest to teach, without the law, without God, 506 00:28:56,220 --> 00:28:58,360 without a preacher, without the Bible. 507 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:01,540 I argue that that is the most serious 508 00:29:01,540 --> 00:29:05,300 condition that any nation can find itself under. 509 00:29:08,310 --> 00:29:10,190 But the teaching is this, that when a 510 00:29:10,190 --> 00:29:11,930 nation comes to the end of its own 511 00:29:11,930 --> 00:29:15,190 resources and turns to the Lord, they discover 512 00:29:15,190 --> 00:29:18,330 that God is prepared to turn to them. 513 00:29:18,810 --> 00:29:21,150 It's what one theologian calls the mirror theology. 514 00:29:21,490 --> 00:29:23,270 Here is a man turning to the Lord, 515 00:29:23,470 --> 00:29:25,150 here is a people turning to the Lord, 516 00:29:25,330 --> 00:29:27,510 and they discover as they look in the 517 00:29:27,510 --> 00:29:29,470 mirror that that's always been the attitude of 518 00:29:29,470 --> 00:29:29,870 God. 519 00:29:30,230 --> 00:29:33,890 They seek out God and are found by 520 00:29:33,890 --> 00:29:34,250 God. 521 00:29:34,250 --> 00:29:39,730 The last part of verse 4, do you 522 00:29:39,730 --> 00:29:43,020 know what, now some of you don't know 523 00:29:43,020 --> 00:29:44,700 me at all, others of you do, and 524 00:29:44,700 --> 00:29:47,240 I address my remarks basically to the latter, 525 00:29:47,980 --> 00:29:50,980 because you have twenty years here at the 526 00:29:50,980 --> 00:29:51,980 tab to judge me by. 527 00:29:52,580 --> 00:29:54,580 If I was not the pastor of Worthing 528 00:29:54,580 --> 00:29:56,820 Tab, but just was a resident in Worthing, 529 00:29:56,900 --> 00:29:59,760 do you know as a Christian person what 530 00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:00,780 I would look for? 531 00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:04,940 It would be Sunday by Sunday to come 532 00:30:04,940 --> 00:30:07,200 into a church, I'm not necessarily saying the 533 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:09,720 tabernacle, though I would choose the tab inasmuch 534 00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:12,100 as I always delight to hear my colleague 535 00:30:12,100 --> 00:30:13,420 Tim Saunders preach. 536 00:30:14,460 --> 00:30:17,120 I would want a church where I was 537 00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:21,760 constantly being reminded and sometimes disturbed by the 538 00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:23,420 Word of God. 539 00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:26,120 Let me illustrate my point. 540 00:30:26,180 --> 00:30:27,960 A young couple that I married years ago, 541 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:29,820 I remember wrote to me, this is my 542 00:30:29,820 --> 00:30:31,180 London days, they wrote to me when I 543 00:30:31,180 --> 00:30:33,020 was down in Worthing telling me a little 544 00:30:33,020 --> 00:30:34,620 bit as to what had happened in their 545 00:30:34,620 --> 00:30:36,780 lives, and the girl went on to say, 546 00:30:37,020 --> 00:30:40,200 we are being stretched under the ministry of, 547 00:30:40,820 --> 00:30:41,840 and I named the pastor. 548 00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:47,100 Now that's a good old-fashioned phrase, to 549 00:30:47,100 --> 00:30:48,620 be stretched under the ministry. 550 00:30:49,540 --> 00:30:51,260 You see I congratulate this young woman, she 551 00:30:51,260 --> 00:30:52,740 was about twenty-five at the time of 552 00:30:52,740 --> 00:30:53,400 writing to me. 553 00:30:53,740 --> 00:30:55,920 She wanted herself and her husband constantly to 554 00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:58,620 be brought face to face with the living 555 00:30:58,620 --> 00:31:00,060 Word of the Lord. 556 00:31:00,260 --> 00:31:01,560 You do need that my friend. 557 00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:05,200 You do need to try and concentrate to 558 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:07,400 the Word of God being proclaimed and then 559 00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:10,620 to modify your behavior as a result of 560 00:31:10,620 --> 00:31:12,180 hearing that proclamation. 561 00:31:13,260 --> 00:31:15,760 That's why you need to be consistent in 562 00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:18,760 church attendance and listening to men who are 563 00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:20,840 prepared to take the Word of God in 564 00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:22,940 the Old Testament and in the New Testament 565 00:31:22,940 --> 00:31:24,580 and blow the critics. 566 00:31:24,980 --> 00:31:27,820 Say this is God's Word for the twentieth 567 00:31:27,820 --> 00:31:30,020 century and it is so important that you 568 00:31:30,020 --> 00:31:32,740 hear it as individuals and the nation hears 569 00:31:32,740 --> 00:31:34,060 it as a whole. 570 00:31:35,220 --> 00:31:36,920 Well you see here's the great reversal. 571 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:41,020 Israel for a long time had been without 572 00:31:41,020 --> 00:31:44,580 the true God, without a priest to teach, 573 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:50,280 and without the law, but, verse 1, the 574 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:52,980 Spirit of God comes upon Azariah son of 575 00:31:52,980 --> 00:31:53,540 Oded. 576 00:31:54,540 --> 00:31:56,420 He goes and he talks to Asa. 577 00:31:57,220 --> 00:31:59,080 And as a result of hearing the Word 578 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:02,720 of God, verse 8, the king takes courage 579 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:05,700 and the reforms that he has instigated he 580 00:32:05,700 --> 00:32:09,840 now deepens so that his reformation begins to 581 00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:13,520 affect the fabric of Israel society, of Judas 582 00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:17,360 society, to the extent that even his grandmother, 583 00:32:17,660 --> 00:32:19,160 or mother if you're reading it in the 584 00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:24,420 authorized version, Maka, is castigated by her son 585 00:32:24,420 --> 00:32:29,680 or grandson because of this obnoxious, obscene idol. 586 00:32:32,030 --> 00:32:35,070 The Word of God comes and there is 587 00:32:35,070 --> 00:32:40,650 a reversal in the whole life pattern of 588 00:32:40,650 --> 00:32:40,970 Judah. 589 00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:44,940 And that's what I would love to see, 590 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:46,060 wouldn't you, in this country? 591 00:32:47,420 --> 00:32:49,020 Oh, I do hope you'll come out this 592 00:32:49,020 --> 00:32:51,760 evening because I want to tell you of 593 00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:55,020 a country the like of which I've never 594 00:32:55,020 --> 00:32:55,960 been in before. 595 00:32:57,000 --> 00:32:59,120 And God knows in His grace and with 596 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:02,860 your kind permission, I've traveled in many areas 597 00:33:02,860 --> 00:33:08,180 of this world, but never, never come across 598 00:33:08,180 --> 00:33:13,140 a land so ripe for the gospel. 599 00:33:14,620 --> 00:33:15,860 Asa takes courage. 600 00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:18,960 He repairs the altar that had broken down 601 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:21,220 in front of the portico of the Lord's 602 00:33:21,220 --> 00:33:22,360 temple, verse 8. 603 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:24,700 He gets things right, not only in his 604 00:33:24,700 --> 00:33:26,880 own life, but throughout the nation and in 605 00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:28,000 his family life. 606 00:33:28,260 --> 00:33:30,560 And that is so marvelous, and no wonder 607 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:37,680 that Asa is so acclaimed by God and 608 00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:41,440 by Israel at that point in his ministry. 609 00:33:42,100 --> 00:33:44,280 And we read in the nineteenth verse, there 610 00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:46,580 was no more war until the thirty-fifth 611 00:33:46,580 --> 00:33:47,840 year of Asa's reign. 612 00:33:49,140 --> 00:33:53,740 Asa experiences a surprising prudence, demonstrates a recurring 613 00:33:53,740 --> 00:33:58,900 principle, experiences a sensational reversal, and now, and 614 00:33:58,900 --> 00:34:02,280 sadly, portrays a tragic decline. 615 00:34:04,990 --> 00:34:06,730 Chapter 16 will tell you all about it. 616 00:34:07,570 --> 00:34:11,610 I don't understand how men can preach the 617 00:34:11,610 --> 00:34:14,310 gospel of God around the world and suddenly 618 00:34:14,310 --> 00:34:15,889 in their old age defect. 619 00:34:16,210 --> 00:34:17,870 It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. 620 00:34:19,310 --> 00:34:23,570 Some of you remember Don Hattersley, the man 621 00:34:23,570 --> 00:34:25,949 who most impressed John Macara when he first 622 00:34:25,949 --> 00:34:26,850 came to this church. 623 00:34:26,929 --> 00:34:30,650 If I remember John's testimony right, John said, 624 00:34:30,730 --> 00:34:33,050 I want to be like that man. 625 00:34:34,389 --> 00:34:37,389 Now, he was a man who maintained an 626 00:34:37,389 --> 00:34:38,130 enthusiasm. 627 00:34:38,429 --> 00:34:40,550 From one to ten, he hit ten and 628 00:34:40,550 --> 00:34:41,070 stuck. 629 00:34:42,630 --> 00:34:44,929 But there is a possibility, I speak tenderly 630 00:34:44,929 --> 00:34:48,010 to all the people, there is a possibility 631 00:34:48,010 --> 00:34:49,949 that at the end, because the devil has 632 00:34:49,949 --> 00:34:54,570 special pressures for older people, that you can 633 00:34:54,570 --> 00:34:58,350 retreat and drop back from the position that 634 00:34:58,350 --> 00:35:00,770 you had known earlier in your life. 635 00:35:01,010 --> 00:35:04,410 It was around the thirty-ninth year of 636 00:35:04,410 --> 00:35:07,350 the reign of Asa that he got himself 637 00:35:07,350 --> 00:35:08,110 into trouble. 638 00:35:08,890 --> 00:35:10,930 And if you want to analyze his problem, 639 00:35:11,090 --> 00:35:13,350 well, really it's quite absurd. 640 00:35:13,820 --> 00:35:15,630 You see, from the first verse of the 641 00:35:15,630 --> 00:35:18,090 sixteenth chapter, you've got spelled out the fact 642 00:35:18,090 --> 00:35:20,710 that he has a difficulty similar to what 643 00:35:20,710 --> 00:35:23,070 you discovered in the eighth verse of the 644 00:35:23,070 --> 00:35:27,010 fourteenth chapter, namely a foreign army came into 645 00:35:27,010 --> 00:35:30,490 Israel and he was afraid, into Judah and 646 00:35:30,490 --> 00:35:31,150 he was afraid. 647 00:35:32,210 --> 00:35:35,870 Now, the incredible thing was that the temptation 648 00:35:35,870 --> 00:35:39,530 to be afraid earlier in life was much 649 00:35:39,530 --> 00:35:42,210 greater because the numbers were far superior. 650 00:35:43,570 --> 00:35:47,030 You see, this is like comparing a whale 651 00:35:47,030 --> 00:35:51,190 to a small fish. 652 00:35:52,270 --> 00:35:54,930 He's not been afraid of the major, then 653 00:35:54,930 --> 00:35:56,610 why should he be afraid of the minor? 654 00:35:58,250 --> 00:35:59,930 Now, some of you older friends will know 655 00:35:59,930 --> 00:36:01,490 this, and as I say, I speak with 656 00:36:01,490 --> 00:36:02,770 tenderness in my heart. 657 00:36:03,630 --> 00:36:07,090 Sometimes as the years go by, the problem 658 00:36:07,090 --> 00:36:09,730 that you could have coped with last decade 659 00:36:10,530 --> 00:36:13,630 and got into proportion now seems to be 660 00:36:13,630 --> 00:36:14,470 mountainous. 661 00:36:15,890 --> 00:36:17,810 This is why we need to pray for 662 00:36:17,810 --> 00:36:21,890 older friends as we beseech their intercessions on 663 00:36:21,890 --> 00:36:22,890 our behalf. 664 00:36:24,290 --> 00:36:28,810 And so Asa, he uses the ingenuity of 665 00:36:28,810 --> 00:36:31,330 the years, but it's a secular ingenuity. 666 00:36:31,330 --> 00:36:33,950 It's not something that has been given him 667 00:36:33,950 --> 00:36:34,770 by the Lord. 668 00:36:35,110 --> 00:36:37,290 He does a treaty with another king and 669 00:36:37,290 --> 00:36:37,750 so on. 670 00:36:37,790 --> 00:36:40,450 The historical details are really quite irrelevant. 671 00:36:41,090 --> 00:36:44,490 The principle is this, that eclipsed in the 672 00:36:44,490 --> 00:36:47,430 mind of the aging Asa is the God 673 00:36:47,430 --> 00:36:49,330 who has been faithful yesteryear. 674 00:36:50,450 --> 00:36:51,570 So what does God do? 675 00:36:51,670 --> 00:36:54,070 Well, in His mercy He sends a prophet 676 00:36:54,070 --> 00:36:55,610 to speak to him, verse seven. 677 00:36:57,750 --> 00:37:01,650 And unfortunately, Asa becomes the first king of 678 00:37:01,650 --> 00:37:05,370 Judah ever to incarcerate a prophet because he 679 00:37:05,370 --> 00:37:07,370 didn't like what the prophet had to say. 680 00:37:08,090 --> 00:37:11,650 The eyes of the Lord, verse nine, reigns 681 00:37:11,650 --> 00:37:13,870 throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts 682 00:37:13,870 --> 00:37:15,390 are fully committed to Him. 683 00:37:15,630 --> 00:37:18,030 You have done a foolish thing, and from 684 00:37:18,030 --> 00:37:19,850 now on you will be at war. 685 00:37:20,150 --> 00:37:21,610 So what does Asa do? 686 00:37:21,890 --> 00:37:24,010 He increases his foolishness. 687 00:37:24,010 --> 00:37:25,730 He's angry with the seer. 688 00:37:26,050 --> 00:37:27,010 He's enraged. 689 00:37:27,070 --> 00:37:28,350 He puts him in prison. 690 00:37:30,630 --> 00:37:32,070 Do away with the dreamer. 691 00:37:32,230 --> 00:37:33,410 You get rid of the dream. 692 00:37:34,290 --> 00:37:36,910 That was the folly of Jacob's brothers, of 693 00:37:36,910 --> 00:37:37,990 Jacob's sons. 694 00:37:38,190 --> 00:37:39,410 Here is Joseph. 695 00:37:39,890 --> 00:37:41,110 Let's put him in prison. 696 00:37:41,270 --> 00:37:42,810 We'll not bow down to him. 697 00:37:43,050 --> 00:37:45,010 What he says of the Lord is untrue. 698 00:37:45,410 --> 00:37:48,010 Silence him and you'll silence the revelation. 699 00:37:48,470 --> 00:37:49,270 Isn't that absurd? 700 00:37:49,990 --> 00:37:51,790 You cannot silence the Word of God. 701 00:37:51,790 --> 00:37:55,510 You cannot chain the Word of God. 702 00:37:55,590 --> 00:37:56,550 You couldn't do it in China. 703 00:37:56,690 --> 00:37:58,410 You can't do it in Russia. 704 00:37:58,550 --> 00:38:01,330 You can't do it in Israel or Judah. 705 00:38:02,630 --> 00:38:03,810 So Asa is angry. 706 00:38:05,010 --> 00:38:07,210 But God in His mercy, and I use 707 00:38:07,210 --> 00:38:10,710 that word advisedly, He allows a sickness to 708 00:38:10,710 --> 00:38:11,590 come to Asa. 709 00:38:11,970 --> 00:38:14,050 God will sometimes chastise His children. 710 00:38:14,690 --> 00:38:16,710 I have no truck with the theology that 711 00:38:16,710 --> 00:38:18,390 says that God does not punish. 712 00:38:18,530 --> 00:38:19,330 He does punish. 713 00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:22,230 But He doesn't punish as though He's a 714 00:38:22,230 --> 00:38:25,650 tyrant or a savage, wanting to inflict pain. 715 00:38:26,090 --> 00:38:30,070 He causes difficulties to come into life often 716 00:38:30,070 --> 00:38:32,670 in order to get His children back into 717 00:38:32,670 --> 00:38:33,250 line. 718 00:38:34,190 --> 00:38:36,870 So this Asa has diseased feet. 719 00:38:38,510 --> 00:38:41,370 And instead of going to the God who 720 00:38:41,370 --> 00:38:45,810 can heal every disease, He turns to physicians, 721 00:38:46,830 --> 00:38:48,370 probably just quackery. 722 00:38:49,330 --> 00:38:53,750 In those days, He did not seek help 723 00:38:53,750 --> 00:38:59,630 from the Lord, but only from the physicians. 724 00:39:01,050 --> 00:39:05,110 Then in the 41st year of His reign, 725 00:39:06,230 --> 00:39:10,570 Asa died and rested with his fathers. 726 00:39:11,830 --> 00:39:15,740 Success turning to failure. 727 00:39:17,100 --> 00:39:20,500 But it's no, there is no reason why 728 00:39:20,500 --> 00:39:22,900 it had to be like that, nor why 729 00:39:22,900 --> 00:39:25,180 it has to be like that for you. 730 00:39:26,700 --> 00:39:28,620 I preached an address which is a balance 731 00:39:28,620 --> 00:39:31,660 on this one some two years ago at 732 00:39:31,660 --> 00:39:32,060 the time. 733 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:34,760 Change but not decay. 734 00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:38,240 And I brought to you Israel, Jacob, the 735 00:39:38,240 --> 00:39:41,240 final moments of his life as he recovered 736 00:39:41,240 --> 00:39:41,780 his spirituality. 737 00:39:42,720 --> 00:39:44,520 And as he went out into the brightness 738 00:39:44,520 --> 00:39:47,420 of God's tomorrow, as a man full of 739 00:39:47,420 --> 00:39:48,000 faith. 740 00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:52,680 Revelation 21 talks about the overcomers. 741 00:39:53,620 --> 00:39:55,360 This is what God wants you and me 742 00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:55,980 to be. 743 00:39:56,740 --> 00:39:58,440 Those who will overcome. 744 00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:00,640 How do you overcome? 745 00:40:00,900 --> 00:40:03,420 How do you remain in faith? 746 00:40:04,580 --> 00:40:07,120 By taking heed to the word of the 747 00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:07,380 Lord. 748 00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:10,620 By listening to the prophets and to the 749 00:40:10,620 --> 00:40:11,180 preachers. 750 00:40:11,500 --> 00:40:14,140 By coming before the Lord and making Him 751 00:40:14,140 --> 00:40:15,780 the priority of your life. 752 00:40:15,940 --> 00:40:19,580 By cleansing yourself continually of those idols which 753 00:40:19,580 --> 00:40:21,680 would otherwise infest you. 754 00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:25,400 I'm not saying that Asa wasn't saved. 755 00:40:26,140 --> 00:40:27,440 I think he was. 756 00:40:28,580 --> 00:40:30,540 But I think that he left an unhappy 757 00:40:30,540 --> 00:40:34,080 testimony right at the end. 758 00:40:34,940 --> 00:40:37,620 So let's learn from this negative example. 759 00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:40,600 Seize onto what was good in the earlier 760 00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:42,140 years of his life. 761 00:40:42,820 --> 00:40:45,240 And for us and all the people especially, 762 00:40:46,020 --> 00:40:50,260 may the last part of your life be 763 00:40:50,260 --> 00:40:50,840 the best. 764 00:40:52,820 --> 00:40:56,100 As one poet once said, speaking of old 765 00:40:56,100 --> 00:41:00,100 age, all the sugar is at the bottom 766 00:41:00,100 --> 00:41:01,640 of the cup. 767 00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:03,420 Let's pray. 768 00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:16,480 Loving Father, we thank you for your word 769 00:41:19,900 --> 00:41:22,440 tucked away in the dusty corners, and for 770 00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:27,400 this sterling truth for us to live by. 771 00:41:29,900 --> 00:41:31,580 Bless everyone here, Lord. 772 00:41:31,740 --> 00:41:33,620 Some folk have had a rough ride in 773 00:41:33,620 --> 00:41:36,940 the last few months, maybe years. 774 00:41:38,480 --> 00:41:42,380 Some, Lord, have perhaps felt guilty at times 775 00:41:42,380 --> 00:41:44,140 where they've been in the tab because it's 776 00:41:44,140 --> 00:41:46,920 been pointed out that you did a lot 777 00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:49,560 in early years and middle years and now 778 00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:51,820 they're letting go somewhere. 779 00:41:52,940 --> 00:41:56,000 Lord, may the word not just come as 780 00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:57,220 discipline, but as balm. 781 00:41:57,820 --> 00:41:59,900 Because you show in your mirror theology that 782 00:41:59,900 --> 00:42:01,820 when a man seeks for you, he discovers 783 00:42:01,820 --> 00:42:03,060 that you've been seeking for him. 784 00:42:03,720 --> 00:42:04,880 You're always waiting. 785 00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:07,440 You're always the God of Asa, ever wanting 786 00:42:07,440 --> 00:42:10,480 Asa to return, ever wanting us, however crippled 787 00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:12,820 our feet, however diseased our hearts, to come 788 00:42:12,820 --> 00:42:13,520 back to you. 789 00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:18,020 We thank you that you're a gracious, compassionate 790 00:42:18,020 --> 00:42:21,800 God, the Father of all mercies. 791 00:42:22,720 --> 00:42:27,180 We, your humble servants, entreat you for your 792 00:42:27,180 --> 00:42:31,440 forgiveness and ask that as for us, the 793 00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:33,380 following days of our lives may be lived 794 00:42:33,380 --> 00:42:36,680 in such a fashion that when eternity dawns, 795 00:42:37,820 --> 00:42:41,060 we'll hardly notice the difference as we pass 796 00:42:41,060 --> 00:42:44,560 out from this world into the immediate beautiful 797 00:42:44,560 --> 00:42:47,460 presence of our Lord God. 798 00:42:48,420 --> 00:42:51,320 Grant it and throughout eternity to you be 799 00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:53,960 all honor, praise, and glory. 800 00:42:55,040 --> 00:42:55,600 Amen. 801 00:42:57,360 --> 00:42:59,160 Let's stand and sing the Lord's Prayer.