Seeking God, Finding Rest (Community Bible Church 07.16.2023)
Lessons from OT Kings • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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How to finish well.
How to finish well.
Elvis movie (watched on a flight to Sierra Leone) Elvis started off super well..... but didn’t finish well… honestly it was really hard for me to watch. I had to watch a little bit… and then take a break… and then come back and watch a bit more… By the end of the movie, Elvis found himself a victim of his own lyrics.... he had no rest… and was able to find no real peace. He was caught in a trap… and he couldn’t get out. --- For those of us who know the Lord… and wholeheartedly seek Him… we are never stuck in a trap… there is always a way out.... There is always a pathway that leads to peace and rest......
Today, we are going to continue the Summer with the Kings series… as we look at the life of King Asa. We are going to see what God’ s Word has to say about faith, influence, and about finishing well.
As you open your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 14-16, I’d like to share an observation with you that will help us as we look at the account of King Asa. (Joel may have already shared this…)
In the Hebrew Bible, Chronicles is the last book. The writer is re-telling these events to an audience that has come through the exile and captivity in Assyria/Babylon/ Persia.... has been returned to the Land.... and is anticipating the coming of the promised Davidic King.
We have to keep in mind that while the Chronicler gives accurate information, he is writing from the perspective of elevating/ highlighting the house of David in anticipation of the One who would eventually come to sit on David’s throne forever… Even when the kings of Judah fail, the Chronicler is pretty kind to them by still recognizing them as “a good king… and revered/ respected leader”.
As you come to the end of the book of Chronicles… the writer has led you through this anticipatory list of kings.... leading us to ask.. is this (Solomon) the promised King? No… he failed..... Is this (Rehoboam) the promised king?.... no. ..... As the writer progressed through Israel and Judah’s history… the reader is left hanging with this heavy sense of anticipation..... with unanswered questions… such as... Who is this King? When will he come?
That is how the OT ends..... with the audience back in the Land.... looking forward for when the promised Davidic King will come....
Little do they know that it will be another 400 years before the answer to those questions are finally provided.
I have found this very helpful to keep in mind when studying through 1 & 2 Chronicles.
As we look at King Asa’s life and reign, let me remind you where he falls in the order of the kings.
David — Solomon — Rehoboam (Judah/ Benjamin remain loyal) — Abijah — Asa
As you read about the lives and reigns of each of these kings a pattern seems to develop. — When the Kings seek the Lord… the nation is provided with rest.
As we look at King Asa, we’re going to see that same truth presented… and illustrated. (As we read through the passage together pay attention to how many times the concept of rest or peace is mentioned.)
I think you will see this truth lived out: Seeking the Lord is the pathway to lasting peace and rest. (one of the melodys that flow througo out the book)
In Chapter 14, we are introduced to King Asa.
Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land had rest for ten years. And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He took away the foreign altars and the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment. He also took out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him. He built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, for the Lord gave him peace. And he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the Lord our God. We have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side.” So they built and prospered.
Asa did what was right in the sight of the Lord his God. (v. 2) — Asa starts our really well. Did you notice that in those 7 verses, the writer mentions that the nation had “rest/peace” at least 5 times?
In verses 8-15 we are told that a Cushite army (Ethiopian)out against Judah.... 300 chariots. — this is a pretty big campaign. Not a global strike force, but it is a significant battle. 300 chariots and all the men, horses, and battle gear that go with it is nothing to disregard.
Asa is faced with a pretty daunting task as a leader… what does he do? He seeks the Lord.
And Asa cried to the Lord his God, “O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.” So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.
Notice that in Asa’s cry to the Lord that it is all focused on God. It is God that the nation is to rely on… it is God to whom they belong… It is God that man cannot prevail against....
Verse 12 tells us:
So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.
So far in Asa’s reign, he is doing pretty well. He has sought the Lord and has been provided with peace and rest. Now as we look at chapter 15, God sends a prophet to Asa and pretty much verbalizes what Asa has lived out and practically experienced in chapter 14. The prophet Azariah will reveal the reality that every action has its consequence. First we’ll see that reality lived out in a positive way as King Asa embraces faith… and finds rest.
1. Embracing Faith and Finding Rest. (2 Chron. 15:1-19)
As you read through the Bible… the narrative of Scripture, it is neat to see patterns emerge. From Genesis from Revelation there are several patterns that we can see… one of them is found here in 2 Chronicles 15 and 16. God gives revelation — Man responds (either in faith or rebellion.... and unfortunately sometimes both)
a. Revelation: Promise
The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded, and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.
This is a pretty amazing promise! I underlined it in my Bible. “The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him he will be found by you, but if you abandon him, he will abandon you.”
This is a fundamental theological understanding of God. All those that seek God, will be enabled to find God. The Hebrew word translated as “he will be found by you” could also accurately be translated as “He will let himself be found by you”.... This fits in well with the theological truth the prophet is revealing.
When we seek the Lord… when we wholeheartedly devote our life to Him.... we will find him… He will let himself be found by us. He will welcome us into an intimate relationship with him.
But, the opposite is also true. Those who do not diligently seek Him.... those who do not wholeheartedly devote their lives to Him… will not be allowed to find him. Unfortunately, we see this repeated time and time again as you study through the events that take place during the divided kingdom.
And… unfortunately, most of us could also tell of a time when we have personally experienced this reality as well.
That is why in verse 3-7, the prophet gives an example of (what is probably) the time of the Judges when the nation would go through a repeating cycle of rebellion, affliction, repentance, and deliverance. Every time the nation drifted away from the Lord and His Law… the turmoil and distress they experienced was as if the Lord had abandoned them. Remember, God never abandons his children… but often we abandon Him.
God has given revelation: “The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him he will be found by you, but if you abandon him, he will abandon you.”
How does King Asa respond?
b. Response: Faith
As soon as Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded, he took courage and put away the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was in front of the vestibule of the house of the Lord. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. They were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. They sacrificed to the Lord on that day from the spoil that they had brought 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep. And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns. And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around.
Even Maacah, his mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. And he brought into the house of God the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels. And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.
King Asa does well. He responds in faith… and his actions reflect the reality of his faith response. He and the nation believe God… and their actions prove it. There is a national revival
Asa led in the reform and revitalization of Judah’s national worship. He emphasized the importance of worshipping Yahweh and relying on Him for victory.
Removed idols/ pagan worship centers (no matter who they belonged to… even his own Grandmother)
Made sure people know that the worship of Yahweh was to be taken seriously… and God rewarded the nations faith response with rest.
And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.
Seeking the Lord is the pathway to lasting peace and rest.
Remember the Chronicler is pointing the reader to look for the One True king who would one day come and sit on the throne of David and provide true rest. So when we look at Asa… we wonder… is this the One? Is this the Promised King? As we read, we will find out that Asa is not… but what we do see is that each time a king seeks the Lord and leads the nation in faithfulness to the Lord… God provides peace and rest.... a glimpse of what life will be like once the Promised King actually does sit on the throne of David forever!
This event brings out an important truth for us to remember:
God shows himself strong to all those who are wholeheartedly devoted to him!
As I was reading this a thought kept coming to my mind related to this truth. —> Every action we take produces a consequence that must be lived through by us as well as others.
King Asa (and the nation) are faithfully resting in the Lord… and the consequence to their actions are… that they have found rest.
So far the Promise of God from 15:2 is being lived out by King Asa and the nation in a positive way…
2 Chronicles 15:2 (ESV)
… The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.
I wish that we could just say Amen… and that the story ends there. But it doesn’t. It keeps going....
So far we have seen the benefits of Embracing Faith and Finding Rest. As Asa and the nation respond in faith, they find the benefits of peace and rest.
Next, we will see the flip side of the coin as we are shown the reality of what happens when faith is abandoned and rebuke is found.
2. Abandoning Faith and Finding Rebuke. (2 Chron. 16:1-14)
In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king’s house and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, “There is a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.”
Basically, what is happening is that Asa finds himself in a situation where he needs to make a decision. He has an enemy, King Baasha of Israel coming against him. As King, he has a decision to make. The core decision is this: Should I seek the Lord for help… or can I handle this myself? Should I rely/ depend on the Lord for my needs? Or, should I rely/ depend on my own skills and ingenuity?
King Asa chooses not to seek the Lord.... but to attempt to solve the problem on his own… by his own strength, smarts, and ingenuity.
Verse 2 tells us that he takes a bunch of silver and gold from the Temple treasury and sends it to Aram’s (Syria) King Ben-hadad. Unfortunately, what is happening here isn’t just Asa sending money to a neighboring king to buy their help....
What Asa is doing is actually sending this tribute to the King of Syria stating that Judah would submit to their sovereignty and become their vassal.
A vassal is a person or territory that receives protection from someone else (another country). In return for the protection, the vassal pays homage to the person/ country that protected it. Basically, the vassal becomes the slave of the protector/ lord and submits to the protector by becoming dependent on them. — Seems like the exact opposite of what God had called His people to do… God’s people are to be dependent on Him.... not on pagan kings and kingdoms.
Asa takes the treasures of the temple (God’s temple) meant to be used in the worship of the Lord, and sends them to a pagan king to promote his worship.
See any problems with this plan? Remember the promise God gave to Asa and the nation?
2 Chronicles 15:2 (ESV)
...If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.
Asa is not seeking the Lord at this point… but instead trusting in his own ingenuity, craftiness, and strength to solve the problem on his own. He is no longer wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord…
From a human perspective, Asa’s plan works. Israel is drawn away… the cities that the King of Israel were building to isolate and starve out Judah were captured and torn down… and then those very materials were used to build cities for Judah that would help insulate them from any attack from Syria to cash in on Asa’s offer that Judah would become part of Syria’s kingdom.
Again we are given the account where Revelation is given by God… and Asa and the nation will have an opportunity to respond. This time, instead of it being an encouraging Promise from God… Asa is delivered a word of rebuke from the Lord.
Revelation: Rebuke
At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”
So far as we’ve read through the account of King Asa there has been a context of rest. Asa wholeheartedly sought the Lord… and was provided with rest and peace for the nation. Now, Asa leads the nation in seeking the help of a pagan king instead of the Lord.... and is confronted by God. The Lord reveals that Asa has sinned. God tells Asa that He is looking for those who have a heart that longs to be close to the Lord… that God will provide strength and support to those whose heart diligently seeks after God.
Asa stopped seeking the Lord. Why? The same reasons that stop us from seeking the Lord.
Comfort, Complacency, Prosperity, Entitlement....
— We get used to prosperity and peace… and forget the source… we forget what was done to provide the blessing.
Asa has become comfortable is the prosperity God has provide, familiar with the blessings given by God, complacent in his need to seek the Lord, and has developed a sense of entitlement that he will be victorious because of who he is… God is rebuking King Asa!
The Revelation has been given.... God is rebuking Asa (and the nation). Now we will see how Asa Responds.
Response: Rebellion
Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.
The acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but sought help from physicians. And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. They buried him in the tomb that he had cut for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier that had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer’s art, and they made a very great fire in his honor.
King Asa started out great!… but did not finish very well. Asa stopped seeking the Lord.... at some point in his reign he started believing his own hype.... he no longer thought he had to diligently seek the Lord and be wholeheartedly devoted to Him!
Remember God’s Words to Asa:
2 Chronicles 15:2 (ESV)
...The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.
Asa stopped seeking the Lord.... and ended up forsaking the Lord. Asa stopped seeking the Lord… and that led to his rebellion against the Lord.
Friends, there is a lesson to be learned here… and a warning to be heeded.
Remember, there is a consequence for every action.... King Asa started well. He sought to the Lord. But King Asa finished poorly… “…he did not seek the Lord”.
Man… what a sobering statement. “He did not seek the Lord.” As you consider your life… and your response to the Lord… and the influence you are leaving..... I hope that this statement can never be said of you.
“Joel… did not seek the Lord.” — Carl… did not seek the Lord.” “Ashley… did not seek the Lord.”
You want to start and finish well? Seeking the Lord is the pathway to lasting peace and rest.
Asa and the nation learned this valuable truth:
Comfort and complacency quickly lead to self-sufficiency and rebellion.
It is so easy to become comfortable in all the blessings and rest provided by God. It is so easy to become entitled and believe that just because God has blessed us in the past automatically means we are immune from hard times and suffering in the future.
It is so easy to become complacent and self-reliant in our faith that we think we no longer need to wholeheartedly be devoted to the Lord… and diligently seek Him! It is so easy to coast on auto-pilot and deceive ourselves into thinking that we are the reason we succeed....
Application/ Conclusion:
Let’s always remember this main idea from today’s text : Seeking the Lord is the pathway to lasting peace and rest.
I also want to remind you of a few key truths that flow from this main idea today:
God shows himself strong to all those who are wholeheartedly devoted to him!
The Lord is found by all those who truly seek Him — — Those who seek the Lord will find Him! (Peace & Rest)
(opposite is also true: The Lord will not be found by those who reject/ abandon him) — Those who abandon the Lord will not seek Him! (will be lost…. Be abandoned by God 15:2) (War & Unrest)
Consequence for every action…
Comfort and complacency quickly lead to self-sufficiency and rebellion.
Let me also share with you a few ways that we can respond to those truths:
Sincerely seek Him!
Be close to the Lord!
Wholeheartedly devote your life to Him!
— Don’t get comfortable.... don’t become complacent.... don’t forget… don’t coast....
— Rely on Him more than our own strength and ingenuity..
How do you not finish well?
Abandon God… and be abandoned by Him…
Seek everything else that you think will satisfy you and bring your peace…. And be frustrated and exhausted by the experience of a life without peace/ rest.
Asa found himself caught in a trap of his own making. He felt like he had gotten himself into a situation where he was stuck… and he chose to respond in rebellion. — He didn’t have to… he could have responded in repentance and faith.
If you feel like your stuck… like you’re caught in a trap of your own self-reliance… or rebellion..... Let me encourage you today with this truth...
Those who seek the Lord will find Him.... God will show himself strong to those who wholeheartedly seek Him! It’s not too late…
How do we finish well?
Continue to diligently, intentionally, and passionately seek God…. and enjoy His peace & Rest.
Now… even though Asa did not really finish well.... there is an encouragement to be found in his story. As we close today, I want to share with you an encouragement from the life of a man (Asa) who did not finish well…
The encouragement comes with this insight about his life. Yes, Asa failed to remain faithful to the Lord. Yes, Asa did not finish well. But, by God’s grace, what he did during the faithful years of his life helped to lay the foundation for an influence that would last.
Asa’s son Jehoshaphat becomes king… (2 Chronicles 17-20)
As the Chronicler records the events of Asa’s life… it seems like he could be writing from the perspective of wanting to report what happened in Asa’s life (faith and failures) but also lay the groundwork for Jehoshaphat’s reign…
See 2 Chron. 20:32…
He walked in the way of Asa his father and did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord.
(When we seek the Lord…) He can even use your faulty (failing) faith (i.e. Asa) to leave a godly legacy! (i.e. Jehoshaphat)
You want to finish well?
You want to leave a lasting legacy?
Seeking the Lord is the pathway to lasting peace and rest.