Asa Seeks the LORD

[00:00:00] Let's turn to the book of Second Chronicles in the Bible, Second Chronicles in the Old Testament, chapter 14, 2nd Chronicles, chapter number 14. [00:00:37] I want to look at the. I just want to do kind of an overview of the life of one of the kings of Judah. His name is Asa. [00:00:46] And Asa was third in line after David. So David was the greatest king of Israel. And then you have Solomon. Solomon was David's son. And after Solomon was a man named Rehoboam. And Rehoboam, during his reign, the kingdom split into Israel in the northern part and Judah in the southern part. And they each had separate kings and separate lines. And then after rehoboam was Abijah, which is in chapter number 13. And after Abijah was Asa. And so I want to just look at the highlights of his life, and especially in chapter 14 and 15 this morning and this evening when we come back, I want to look at chapter 16 and see, toward the end of his life, what happened there. So let's pray together, and then we'll begin in chapter 14, verse one. Our father, thank you. [00:01:43] Thank you for the kids and the labor that goes into to helping them to learn, to spending time with them and showing them love and grace. Thank you for them. And, Lord, I pray for those kids, Lord, each one, that as they grow older, that they would seek you with their whole heart, and that you would, as you did in the time when you were upon the earth, that so you would put your hands upon them and bless them. [00:02:11] And, Lord, we pray for our study in your word this morning. We pray that you would be the master, the Lord, of everything that's said and done, both what I speak. But also please help everything that's heard, that it would be heard with the right spirit and the right attitude and disposition towards your word. And, Lord, we pray that you would bless our time together, and that your spirit would have his way and his will, that everything that's done would be glorifying to you and to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:02:42] So, Lord, we confess we have no power, that we are resting and leaning upon you. [00:02:50] And so we ask for your help in Jesus name. Amen. [00:02:54] The Bible says in verse number one, so Abijah. [00:03:00] So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa, his son, reigned in his. In his days, the land was quiet ten years. 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 break down the images and cut down the groves. Now, the key is in verse number four. What we're going to talk about this morning begins in really in verse number four. And commanded the Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers and to do the law and the commandment. And he took away out of all the cities of Judah, the high places and the images, and the kingdom was quiet before him. So Asa, the kind of the hallmark, the life of Asa, the reign of Asa, has two aspects that you see in chapters 1415 and 16. The first one is that Asa was a man who sought God. Who sought God. Now, the reality is that God is not far away. [00:04:15] God is not far away. But, you know, it's amazing, though God is not far from any of us, the scripture says that very clearly in acts 17, though God is not far from any one of us, do we not have such a hard time finding him? [00:04:31] We often have such a difficult time finding God, even though he's near. You know, I can't help it, Sister Amy. But yesterday, Sister Amy was having just the fit of her life trying to find Airpods that she had lost. [00:04:49] And she was on the find my app, and so she was. You all know that have the right kind of phone. You. You all know the find my app, and it shows you the map and the little circle, the little radius where the. The Airpods were last detected. And so we were looking at that, and I was trying to help her find it. And. And they were. They were. The last time that they were found was in this, in the parking lot out here. And that's where she had parked when she came in to do some cleaning. And so we were looking. We looked at. We looking in that dumpster. She was in different places around the church building and stuff, and she could not find it. She could not find it. [00:05:27] But what she didn't know is that the Airpods were much closer than she thought they were, because they were in her car the whole time, at her feet. They had just fell, fallen down and slipped behind something. She couldn't see. She couldn't see the Airpods. But the reality is, though she was looking, they weren't far away. They were near. They were near her. She just couldn't find them. [00:05:48] Do you know why we often cannot find God? Is because, number one, we're not looking for him. We're not seeking him. Or if we are seeking him, we're not seeking him with a perfect heart. [00:06:03] And here's the truth of the matter. The Bible says very clearly that originally and at the beginning, we do not seek God as a matter of human nature. We come out of the womb. We are not people who are, by default, inclined to seek God. You might say, well, you know, I was brought up in church, and, you know, I really had a heart for God, you know, and really wanted to know God and follow God, but that was only because of the influence that God had in your life from the very beginning. If you listen, if you take a person and a child and you just let them go, just let the leash off and they just go off, they have no influence. They will not seek after and follow God. That is not our nature. [00:06:48] God says that very clearly. [00:06:52] So sometimes we don't find God because, well, we're not inclined to seek him. And sometimes we seek him in a way that is not sincere. Not sincere. [00:07:06] And because of our nature, if God doesn't reveal himself to us, we'll never find him. We will never find God. We will never find him. Even though he's close, we won't find him because our heart is so disinclined to the Lord. [00:07:21] We are, you know, and if there was any question about that, think about Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. What did they do immediately after they had sinned? Did they go seeking out the Lord? No way. You know what they did. They fled from him. They fled from him. [00:07:38] And so, really, in all honesty, it is God who seeks us at the beginning, right? And we. Anything that we do, any response to that is really just an answer to what God has already been. He's been coming after us, and I'm thankful, I thank the Lord that God came after me. [00:07:57] When I wasn't looking for him, he was looking for me. [00:08:03] So many people do not find God, though he's close, because they are not looking for him. Or perhaps they're afraid of finding him, and so they're not really seeking God with a pure heart. In other words, often we want to appear that we're seeking the Lord, but we're really in our heart of hearts. Our heart is not really set on that. [00:08:25] Asa was a man whose heart. [00:08:29] Just note in verse number three, verse number two and three. And verse number four, Asa as an individual, his heart was set to seek God, and then he commanded Judah to seek after the Lord. But notice in verse number three, he took away the altars of the strange gods and the high places and break down the images and cut down the groves. And that reminds us, before, before Asa got to the point where he was seeking God with a pure heart, there were some things in his life that had to be turned away from. In other words, you and I, it is impossible for us to seek God sincerely as long as there are open sin. There is open sin in our life that we are coddling and that we are keeping and that remain. Now, none of us is without. None of us is without sin. Even. Even when we repent of our sin and we turn away from it, there's still residual sin that we're not even aware of. [00:09:31] But there is no way to seek God unless we first deal with our sin. What is sin? Sin is violation of God's law. [00:09:45] It is a violation of God's law now, as we keep reading here. [00:09:52] And he built fenced cities in Judah, for the land had rest and 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 us 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. Notice that. Because we have sought the Lord our God, we have sought him. And he hath given us rest on every side. So they build and prosper. So he says, because we sought God, God has given us peace. Okay, so because we have peace, we're going to do some things. We're going to use our prosperity to get some things done. Verse eight. And Asa had an army of men that bear targets and spears out of Judah. 300,000. Out of Benjamin that bare shields and drew bows. 200, fourscore thousand, that's 280,000. And a total of 580,000 soldiers at his command. These, all these were mighty men of valor. [00:10:53] So here's what I want you to see from this. Asa was a man who, number one, he dealt with the sin that was in his life, that he knew of, right? He dealt with that. And really, the thing we need to take away from this is there is no way that we can come to God. I'm talking about somebody who is not a believer, who does not know God. There is no way that that person can come to God and seek him out aright without turning from the sin that he loves. [00:11:28] This is the doctrine of repentance. [00:11:31] We cannot come to God and seek him with our suitcase of sin in tow and expect God to receive us completely with our sin, with our heart wrapped around it and intertwined into it. It's not a matter of. Listen, if you or I think that we have hope, that we can think that we can just put. Just stop sinning so that God will receive us it's not like that at all. If we have no hope whatsoever, that we can ever stop sinning, forget that. [00:12:01] But our heart toward it must change. We must detach our heart from it. In other words, let go of the suitcase so that we can come to God and seek him. Because when we arrive with the Lord, he says, lord, you got to accept me along with all these other things that I love, that you hate. God says, no, you're not seeking me. Right? You see, that's what Asa did. He first dealt with sin, and then he sought the Lord. And here's the next thing. And then he commanded those under his authority and under his influence to seek the Lord as well. He led those around him to seek the Lord. I'm thinking of parents. I'm thinking of those. I'm thinking of those that have positions of authority, positions of influence. [00:12:50] It's not good enough that we seek God. We also have to lead others, lead those over whom we have influence to also seek the Lord. But as a result of that, there was prosperity. But the question is this. It is easy to seek God when things are well and often, you know what seeking God produces? [00:13:10] Joy and peace and happiness. You know, in your family, if you are seeking God, your marriage will be better. [00:13:20] If both mom and dad, husband and wife, are seeking God, the marriage will be better. [00:13:25] The family relationships will be better. Your work situation will be better. Because all those vices that cause us so much pain and suffering will not be there to cause that pain and suffering. [00:13:38] So there is a certain level of prosperity. That's not why we seek God. We seek God no matter what, which is what we're about to see. [00:13:45] He sought God, and God prospered him. God gave him peace. There was no war. [00:13:51] But what is he going to do when there is trouble? [00:13:55] Verse number nine. So he has this huge army at his disposal. Notice what verse nine says. And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian, with a host of 1000. That's a million and 300 chariots. And there they and came unto Marisha. [00:14:12] Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zerk. [00:14:19] I'm going to have a hard time here, Zephatha. There we go. Thank you. At Marisha. 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 notice this phrase, 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 Gerar. 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 spoilt. And they smote all the cities round about Gerar, for the fear of the Lord came upon them. And they spoil all the cities, for there was exceeding much spoil in them. And they smote also the tents of cattle and carried away sheep and camels in abundance and returned to Jerusalem. Notice. So Asa is prosperous. He's seeking God, and that's the right thing to do. He's dealt with sin, and now he set his heart to seek God in sincerity. God gives him peace. But now that peace must be tested. [00:15:42] It is easy for us to seek God when things are well. But what about when things are not well? When things are hard, when there is trouble. [00:15:54] See, at that point, many people stop seeking the Lord. [00:15:59] They seek God when things are well, but not when things are not well. [00:16:05] You know what it demonstrates? It demonstrates that their sincerity is a problem. [00:16:11] They're not serious about it. [00:16:14] They're not serious about it. Testing always does that. Testing does that with faith. It does it with patience. You know, we ask for patience, but, you know the way you get patience, difficulty. That's the way you get it. That's the way you get it. [00:16:29] You get patience by difficulty. So. And if we go through difficulty and we come out without patience, then that means we never had patience. [00:16:38] And so it is with seeking God. I just want to ask you a question before we go any further. [00:16:44] Are you seeking the Lord right now? We're going to see what that looks like in just a minute. But I just want to ask you, are you seeking God in your life with sincerity and truth? Now, I'm not really at this moment, I'm not really asking you whether you're a born again child of God or not. [00:17:07] You see, if you are outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm not talking about members of church being baptized. I don't care anything about that. [00:17:16] I'm talking about if you are without the Lord Jesus Christ right now. [00:17:22] The Lord has called out to you to seek him and to seek him now and to seek him today. [00:17:33] But in order to seek the Lord, you're going to have to take a hard look at all the sin in your life that you love that is hateful to God. [00:17:44] You're going to have to look at it. [00:17:48] There's no way to come to God except we repent. [00:17:51] But say you are a believer. You do know the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:17:57] Are you seeking God? Now? [00:18:00] There are hosts and hosts of people who know God, who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, but aren't seeking him, that are not seeking him with a pure heart. [00:18:13] Many, many people, in fact, it's actually a feature of the days in which we live. People are withdrawing from the Lord. You might say the scriptural word, which you'll see in a minute, is the word forsake pulling away. [00:18:31] Now, when I say we should seek the Lord, like Asa, I am not referring to our sentiment and our feelings about God. [00:18:43] Seeking the Lord involves action. [00:18:46] Seeking the Lord is not the way you feel seeking the Lord, it might involve some sort of feeling, but ultimately it produces fruit. That is obvious and evident in your life. In my life, seeking God has a product. [00:19:01] It's not just feeling good. I'm convinced, listen, I grew up around here. I'm convinced that most people's religion is about their emotions. That's the bottom line. Their faith, their whatever is about the warm feeling they get when someone talks about God in a way that they agree with, and that is the sum total. [00:19:23] But whether there's something actually behind it, something beyond emotion, that's real, that's a question. That's kind of an outstanding question, but let's keep reading. So, Asa, in prosperity, he sought God in difficulty. Notice, in this war in which he was outnumbered almost two to one, he cries out to God. So even in his trouble, because he's been walking with God, and because he's been seeking the Lord, and the Lord has been revealing himself to him, he instinctively turns to God in difficulty. [00:19:59] He instinctively does that because he's been seeking God the whole time. And that's what he's learned to do, and that's what we must do if we are not seeking God. When things are easy, then what we'll find is when things get hard will not instinctively turn to him. [00:20:17] Now, look at chapter 15, verse one. And the spirit of God came upon Azariah, the son of Oded. And he went out to meet Asa and said unto him, hear me, Asa. Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin, the Lord is with you while ye be with him. [00:20:33] And if ye seek him, he will be found of you. But if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. Notice, seeking God and forsaking God are contrasted in this verse. You say, well, I'm not really seeking the Lord. But I'm not really forsaking the Lord. It seems like everybody wants to be right there, right on the fence, right. [00:20:57] I'm not really following and looking for the Lord. But I'm also not really walking away from the Lord. Well, you're mistaken, because it is one or the other. This idea that we can be in this no man's land, this void place where we're not really. [00:21:15] We're not really following the Lord. But we're not pulling away from God. No. What is happening? What you have to understand is you're standing. You're on a raft in a river. There is a current and it is going away from God. And there is nothing in the world you can do about that. And if you think you're standing still, the problem is you're looking at the raft. But if you look at the riverbank, everything's going by because you're going downriver and you don't even know it. [00:21:41] If you're not seeking the Lord, you're going away from him. [00:21:46] That's our natural tendency, and that is exactly what we do. [00:21:55] Verse three. 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. [00:22:12] You know, sometimes God brings trouble. No. Often the Lord brings trouble into our life. To get us to seek him. When we would not otherwise. [00:22:27] Because we're so self sufficient. [00:22:32] We think we've got it figured out. And we think we have strength for the moment. And so until God sends a million man ethiopian army into our life. And we finally realize, oh, I probably should seek God. But the reality is, the entire time we needed God. We should have been seeking him the whole time. We just didn't know it. [00:22:53] So he sends trouble into our life. To awaken us out of this deluded stupor. That we got everything figured out, because we don't. And listen, if you're a child of God, please hear me now. You don't have it figured out. You must seek him. [00:23:09] You must seek him. [00:23:16] Notice what it says? [00:23:18] But when they, in verse four, when they in their trouble. Did turn unto the Lord God of Israel and sought him, he was found of them. [00:23:30] As I said, God is not distant. God is not lost. [00:23:36] But if you're going to seek God, what do you do? Sister Amy, what did you do when you lost your airpods? [00:23:42] You went to look in the places where, you know, they would have been right. She thought about the places she had been that day, and so she went back to the. Retraced her steps and went back to that place. Is that not what exactly seeking God is all about? [00:23:59] It's about you going to those places where you know God is and you going to those places with a pure and sincere heart. It's talk. It's about, and I'm going to show you this in just a minute. It's about. It's about going to God in prayer. [00:24:18] It's about making your prayer life if you're a believer. It's about making your prayer life a priority. [00:24:25] It's about seeking God in his word, spending time and hearing what it says. And you know what the other thing it's about? It's about the people of God. We call it the church because in those three places in particular, and there are others, but in those three places, those are places we know God is. He is there. Well, I've been to churches now, I didn't think God was in that church. Yeah, they exist. There's counterfeits. There's wool parading around his sheep. Yeah, that exists. But that doesn't negate the fact that there's the real thing, because there are counterfeits. There must be the real, the genuine article. And there are. [00:25:01] But where are you going to find God? If you're not seeking God, where are you going to find him? The same place he was all along, in the places that you know he can be found. [00:25:12] Prayer, his word, his people. [00:25:19] Verse six says this, a nation was destroyed of nation and city of city. For God did vex them with all adversity. Be ye strong, therefore, and let not your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded. Now, this is the first of two prophecies that God is going to send to Asa. And in this prophecy, Asa receives this prophecy positively. [00:25:44] And it really, to be honest with you, this prophecy encourages Asa to such a degree that it launches his seeking of God from kind of an elementary stage to he is giving it everything he's got. After this, God encourages him through this prophecy, even though God says in verse number two, if ye seek him, he will be found of you. But if you forsake him, he will forsake you. Some might take that as a threat, but Asa didn't. He took it as an encouragement, and so he sought God all the more. [00:26:20] You know what? [00:26:23] When you're confronted with the truth and with the duty to seek the Lord with all your heart, where your heart is at that moment, will determine how you respond to that message. [00:26:41] It will determine how you respond to that message. Asa gets two messages at two different points in his life. [00:26:49] The first message, his heart was seeking the Lord, and so he received it as an encouragement. But the second time around, when his heart is no longer seeking the Lord, it was a very different story. [00:27:03] Look at verse number eight. [00:27:05] And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of oded the prophet, he took courage and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin and out of the cities which he had taken from Mount Ephraim and renewed the altar of the Lord. That was before the porch of the Lord. Now pause here a second. So remember, Asa has already sought the Lord, right? He's already dealt with sin that existed in the kingdom. He's already dealt with that, repented of it, gotten rid of it, and now he's seeking God with all of his heart. He's faced some trial. He's shown that his seeking of God is sincere, and now he's been encouraged. So what's happening now? Asa is a man. Listen, Asa represents a believer, a child of God who is already seeking God. All right? [00:27:54] So what does he do now? He gets serious. Listen, now, please. [00:27:59] As a child of God, he gets serious about the sin in his life. [00:28:08] You know, often christians have learned to adapt to sin. [00:28:13] Miss Judy knows what I'm talking about. [00:28:15] Christians have learned to adapt to sin. They let it remain, and they just learn to drive around it. [00:28:25] They allow it to stay in their life. They know it's, the Bible says they regard iniquity in their heart. In other words, it's there. They're aware of it. I'm not talking about sin. Maybe that takes you by surprise, but something in your life that you know right now is displeasing to God, and you have allowed it to stay, and you have fertilized it, and you've cultivated it, and it's bearing fruit in your life, and that's not good fruit, and you haven't done anything about it. [00:28:55] There's a problem with your seeking of God. Right there. Right there. [00:29:00] You're not seeking God with sincerity, because the person who is seeking God with their whole heart, the first thing, as you can see with Asa, what does he do? He starts rooting stuff out. He starts going crazy, pulling up, pulling it, sent up by the roots in his life. I want to ask you a question. Is there something, are there things in your life that you have decided that you're just going to let them stay and you know very well that your father is not pleased with them. [00:29:27] But you decide. You know what? I'm not fighting that fight. I'm just gonna let it stay. [00:29:34] A result of seeking the Lord with a pure heart will be. You will take aim at those things. [00:29:46] And it says this at the end of verse number eight. And renewed the altar of the Lord. That was before the porch of the Lord. What had been happening to this altar? Those of you that had been here on Wednesday night know what we're talking about. We're talking about the brazen altar in front of the temple. Why hadn't they been using it? [00:30:04] Why is it in disrepair? [00:30:07] You know why. Because they haven't been seeking God. [00:30:12] What about your family? [00:30:14] Believers. Child of God, born again Christian. [00:30:19] Are you worshiping God? Are you fellowshiping with God? Or has that gone silent? [00:30:28] A renewal of seeking the Lord afresh and anew will renew your worship. And I'm not talking about public, I'm not talking about a worship service. I'm talking about your private. Nobody knows but you. And God worship it will renew your worship. It'll renew your relationship to God. [00:30:48] Verse nine. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh and out of Simeon. And they fell to him out of Israel in abundance when they saw that the Lord, his God, was with him. [00:31:01] So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in 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. Notice that it affected their money. [00:31:19] It affected their money. [00:31:22] Once they started seeking God, all of a sudden, the things that they cherished financially, materially, they had a less of a grip on it. And they thought, you know what? It would be better if I use that instead of using it for. For things that profit nothing. [00:31:39] Right. Things that in eternity will make no difference. And to seek with those things that which is above, that which is eternal. [00:31:52] This is what happened. Because Asa sought that all of a sudden. That's affecting what they're doing with their wealth. Verse twelve. And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul that whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. And they swear unto the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with cornets. Now, here's what I want you to see. [00:32:19] So they're renewing. He's encouraged by what the prophet has told him. He's encouraged by his seeking the Lord. And what is he doing? He's making a commitment, a covenant, a vow, if you will. He's making a commitment. [00:32:41] You see, when our heart is inclined to God, when we are truly seeking the Lord, we're not only see, when we're unwilling to make a commitment and we're tentative like that, do you know why? [00:33:00] Often it's because we want to keep the way back open. [00:33:08] That's why people don't get married, people that are already living in sin. And it is, listen, it's still a sin. [00:33:19] Committing fornication before you're married is still a sin. [00:33:23] And often people that live in that situation, they don't commit to marriage because they want to leave that door open so they can always get out of it. [00:33:31] But when you're seeking God, you know what you do. Listen, even when you commit. Do you think these people kept this covenant forever? Do you think they were faultless from here until the day they died? No. Have you been faults at you that are married? Have you been faultless in your covenant commitment to your spouse in every way? Forget it. If you say you are, I don't believe you. You have not been faithful to everything you committed to your spouse when you got married. You have not, and I haven't either. But that doesn't mean we say, well, forget it. I'm not going to commit to it. No, no, no, no. We acknowledge that even after we commit to the Lord that we're still going to falter and fail. But that does not mean that we should not commit. [00:34:18] And when someone is sincerely seeking God, they want to commit. They want to bind themselves to him. [00:34:32] My wife knows that I have failed, failed her as a husband. She knows that. [00:34:39] But like the Lord, she despite my failure and I will fail later. [00:34:48] No question about that. [00:34:51] Despite my failure, she still wants my commitment. [00:34:57] And for someone who's seeking God, I'm talking about now a child of God who's kind of standing on the fence between am I all in or am I just kind of tentative? I'll do this a little. Don't want to get, you know, don't want to commit myself too much. I might not be able to fulfill it. The Lord says, I am God. [00:35:19] I am the one who died for you. [00:35:22] I love you. I want you to commit to me. [00:35:28] I want you to make a covenant with me. Bind yourself to me and then I will help you. I will not leave it to your strength. To fulfill. I will help you fulfill it. [00:35:46] And that's what they were willing to do. [00:35:49] So a result of seeking God with sincerity. Was commitment to God. Verse 14. [00:36:02] And they swear unto the Lord with a loud voice. And with shouting and with trumpets and with cornets and all. Judah rejoiced at the oath. For they had sworn with all their heart. And sought him with their whole desire. There's no mixed motives. [00:36:19] They wanted God and God only. [00:36:22] They were looking for God and God only. [00:36:30] And he was found of them. You notice that? You see that? [00:36:34] When was God found of them? When all of their heart was set to seek him. That's when. [00:36:41] Because you got to remember. [00:36:44] Even though God is not far from us. Just like those pesky Airpods. They're not far away. But it's almost like those airpods are waiting for the moment. When you finally look hard enough. [00:36:54] They're like, I'm here. [00:36:57] The Lord is trying our heart and motives and sincerity. To see if we're going to seek him in good and in bad. If we're going to seek him no matter what. If we're going to commit to living for. Listen, I'm talking to a child of God now. I'm talking to those of you in here. That have professed to know the Lord Jesus Christ. That you're in the family of God. [00:37:18] Are you standing on the fence. [00:37:23] Or are you seeking God with your whole heart? [00:37:32] But these people, after they had committed notice, they rejoiced. There was joy over being bound. After I got married, December 16, 2000. We walked down that aisle. I got a picture of my office. How many of you seen the picture of my office. And my wife trying to kiss me? [00:37:54] That was right back there in that foyer. [00:37:58] We were bound together at that moment. But we weren't regretful about it. [00:38:05] It wasn't a forced covenant or anything like we rejoiced in the fact that we were bound. And we were bound to one another. Forsaking all others, we rejoice. And so it is. Listen, if you are. If you are a child of God. And you're standing on the fence of living for God or not. I want to tell you something. You think you're here. You think you're living in this place where your conscience is constantly bothering you. About where you are with the Lord. And you have open sin in your life. And you're not living for God like you know you should. That conscience, that. That constant nagging. Is not fun to live with. But on the other hand, if you seek God and you like that commitment. Give that whole commitment to him. What you'll find is on the other side of that is joy. [00:38:51] It's joy. [00:38:53] These missionaries that came through the other week, were any of them sad that they gave up everything to go to the mission field? [00:39:00] No. [00:39:02] No. [00:39:07] Verse 16. This is the second round of testing now. Now that they've sought the Lord, they're committed. [00:39:12] Now there's going to be some testing. And also concerning Maakah, the mother of Asa, the king. He removed her from being queen because she had made an idol in a grove. [00:39:24] And Asa cut down her idol and stamped it and burned it at the brook. Kidron. No relationship was allowed to interfere with their seeking the Lord. [00:39:36] See that? No relationship was allowed. Well, my mom, you know, my mom's doing that. I don't want to. [00:39:44] But what happens is that's the inroad to bring sin into the life and to cause us to stop seeking the Lord. [00:39:56] But the high places, verse 17, were not taken away out of israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. [00:40:04] I want to say this. I'm done. But I have just a couple things I want to say. First of all, to those of you that know the Lord Jesus Christ. I just want to ask you what Asa did and his seeking the Lord, does that characterize your life right now? Not what you hope to do, not the way you feel about God. But are you really seeking the Lord with your whole heart, looking for him in the places where you know he is? [00:40:34] Are you really committed to him, bound to him? [00:40:41] Look at chapter 14 to close. [00:40:47] I'm going to speak to those in our among us that might not know the Lord Jesus Christ and might not be certain that your sins are forgiven and you have eternal life. [00:41:00] Verse eleven. [00:41:01] In the midst of that battle, the Bible says 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. Here's the key, for we rest on thee. [00:41:18] Interestingly enough, I read a quote as I was preparing for this, and it said, this rest in the finished work of the Lord Jesus and put all your reliance upon him as crucified, risen, and pleading for his people. [00:41:35] You know, if you're not born again, the Lord doesn't have a ten step plan and a set of works that you have to do. He has done it. [00:41:49] He has done it. When that savior went to the cross, he died for sinners. [00:41:57] He died in the place of sinners. [00:42:00] There is no hope. And when I met Brandon yesterday and got a chance, me and Ari and Mary Lynn had a chance to talk to Brandon. That's what we told him, right? [00:42:11] If it was up to you and up to me to keep all the rules and all the laws and all that thing, all that kind of thing, we would have no hope whatsoever. God knowing we were without hope. You know what he did? He sent a savior to die in our place. And what he and that savior died as a sinner for us, was buried and rose again the third day. He is a living savior. He is alive. You know what he says? What? He says you just kind of give me a head nod and you still get baptized. No, no, no. He says, rest. [00:42:47] Rest on the savior. [00:42:52] To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is to simply rest in what he has done. [00:43:00] I have no other plea. If that's not. If that's not enough, I'm not going. [00:43:07] It's that simple. That's what it means. Lord, there's a million men that have come to kill us all. If you don't help, we're toast. [00:43:18] That's what Azen did. But in the matter of salvation, we say, lord, you sent your son to die for me. He took my sin. That's what you said. And if that's not enough, I'm toast. [00:43:31] That's what it means to rest on the Lord Jesus Christ. We say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. To trust in him. Have you trusted in him? If you haven't trusted in Christ, and you are not resting in him, I invite you during our invitation to come down, and we'll show you from the Bible how you can come to rest in Jesus and have eternal life. Let's pray.