2 Chron. 14-15
1-4-15
Today is the first Sunday of a new year, the second Sunday of this church and I would like to talk with you a little bit about why we’re here and where we hope to go from here. I have been pastoring for over 30 years and during that time I have come to one crucial conclusion. If anything of any eternal value gets done in the work of the Lord, it will be done by the Holy Spirit through His people. Without the Holy Spirit we are absolutely nothing. Without abiding in the Vine, as Jesus put it in John 15, we have nothing to give. God is the source. Our ingenuity, our best efforts, our plans and our schemes may produce something that impresses people (I’m sure the Tower of Babel was quite impressive)—but our goal is not to impress people—our goal is to be faithful to our God. So the one crucial thing I have concluded is this: Zech 4:6 “…’Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' Says the LORD of hosts.”
When Jesus launched His Church, He gave one “how to” instruction to His followers. “Behold,” (Luke 24:49) I send the Promise of My Father upon you (the promise of the Holy Spirit that He had already discussed with them in His upper room discourse before His death—John 14-16); but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." I’m giving you the One thing you need in order to succeed. It’s not money, it’s not talent, it’s not oratory, it’s not networks; it’s not political influence, it’s not organizational savvy—One thing, One thing, the Promise of My Father—the 3rd person of the Trinity—the Holy Spirit. He alone can lead you into all truth. He alone can empower you to truly help people. He is all you need and He is everything you need. “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD.”
So those disciples did what Jesus told them to do—they tarried in Jerusalem prayerfully waiting on the coming of the Holy Spirit. Looking back we know that was a ten-day wait. On the Day of Pentecost, ten days after Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father, the Holy Spirit was poured out. Acts 2:2-4
“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Don’t discount the possibility of a “suddenly” in your life. Don’t discount the possibility of a “suddenly” in the life of this church. “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven.…” For the first nine days nothing significant happened. They just kept praying in obedience to the command. God has His suddenlies planned for your life. He has suddenlies planned for this church. Just because it’s not happen right now, doesn’t mean it won’t.
The only thing they had to do was obey His instruction, so that they were positioned to receive the Promise. There were probably (based on 1Cor. 15:6) 500 or more people who heard the instruction to “Tarry” (wait) in Jerusalem for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. On the Day of Pentecost there were 120 who by their obedience positioned themselves to receive that sudden breakthrough. Where were the other 380? The Bible does not tell us. They were no doubt busy doing something else. But 120 people heard the command, obeyed the command, and received the Promise of the Father.
I think that is a biblical pattern for every church launch. Of course, Acts 2 is the unique event when THE CHURCH was launched. But the dependence upon Holy Spirit empowerment is not unique; it is the pattern for how God works. We see that throughout the book of Acts. When the church came under persecution in Acts 4, what did they do? Did they try to debate the issues? Did they develop strategies and plans for success? No, they got down on their knees, sought the Lord for His help, and He gave them a fresh dose of the Holy Ghost. That was God’s answer for their problem.
We got lots of problems in the American Church—more than most Christians realize. Pastors are running to and fro to seminars and conferences all over the country trying to find some answers. There is only one answer—we must have an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We in this room, must have a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit, if we are to show our generation what church is really about. Church is not about games and entertainment and good clean fun. Church is supposed to be about meeting with God Almighty, Hearing His voice, and going forth with an anointed message of the good news of Jesus Christ. The good news is not that you can live the American dream. The good news is that you can be delivered from your sin, cleansed by the power of the blood of Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirt to go about doing good and introducing others to the salvation of the Lord. The good news is that you can be so fundamentally changed by the grace of God that you will not only spend eternity in heaven, but you will enjoy being there.
Jeanie asked me the other day, what would you really, really enjoy. I didn’t even have to ponder an answer. I immediately said, “A genuine move of God.” I honestly can be happy with nothing less. I’ve tasted and seen that the Lord is good. I’ve experienced enough revival in my lifetime to know the difference between that and what we generally call church today. I have no interest whatsoever in building another church down the street (large or small) that just does the churchy, mechanical steps of religion. I must have the sweet presence of Jesus; I must have the power of the Holy Spirit. I am looking for people of like faith! I am looking for people who want the real thing bad enough to Seek the Lord with me.
What is our plan for 2015? We will Seek the Lord; we will invest time in His presence; we will meditate on His word night and day; we will obey His voice as He directs to take the good news to others. That’s our plan for 2015; that’s our plan for 2016; in fact, that’s our plan until the trump of God sounds and we are all called to glory.
I understand the practical side of planning. I did that in the corporate world. I’ve done a lot of it in the church world. And it has its place. But we do not plan and strategize as a substitute for seeking and hearing God. Sadly that is happening a lot more in churches than you might think. First & foremost: We will seek the Lord! We will bend our knees and bend our ears toward heaven, and to the very best of our ability do what He tells us to do. (Isa 55:6) “Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.”
It’s an enlightening study to examine the ups and downs of the nation of Israel. When they sought the Lord He gave them success. (It was not always a trouble-free path, but He gave them victory.) And when they did not seek the Lord, any success they had was short lived.
I want you to turn to 2Chron. 14 and let’s see what “seeking the Lord” looks like. It’s nice to say we will seek the Lord, but exactly what do we mean by that?
Asa has become king of Judah—verse 2 “Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.” Now we come to one aspect of seeking the Lord found in:
Vs 3 “For he removed the altars of the foreign gods and the high places, and the broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images.” If any group of people decides to seek the Lord, they must at the same time turn from everything in their lives that is displeasing to the Lord. An idol is anything we let gets in the way of our pure serve to our Lord. Colossians says “covetousness” is idolatry. That’s something we have to deal with in our hearts. Is there anything I want more than the favor of God? If there is, it’s an idol. Anything that occupies our thoughts, our desires, our time, our purposes more than Christ can be a real problem—even if it is socially acceptable. Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” So our priorities must be established. If we are to turn our hearts toward Christ and seek Him, then that automatically means we turn from anything that He tells us to turn from. “This world is not my home, I’m just a passin’ through, my treasure is laid up somewhere beyond the blue.” Asa removed the idolatry from the land.
As a part of seeking the Lord, this is something we do as well. It is fundamental to seeking the Lord. I’m not saying we always do it perfect. We’re all work in process. But from our hearts we must be pursuing holiness, without which no man will see the Lord. It’s a deception to think that we could keep the idols and also seek the Lord successfully at the same time. God made this promise in Jer 29:13 “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” “For the eyes of the LORD (2 Chron 16:9) run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him….” NIV says, “…whose hearts are fully committed to him.” So. Yes, we stumble at times, we make mistakes, and there are humbling experiences along the way—but in the depths of our hearts we are not playing games—we are whole hearted, not double-minded. We are fully committed to pursuing our God. That may have been what separated the 120 on the Day of Pentecost from the other 380 that saw the resurrected Christ.
So here in vs 4 is Asa’s plan, the strategy Asa had for Judah.
“He commanded Judah to ‘seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandments.” Jesus said (Jn 14:15) “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” It is not legalism to simply obey God and do those things that are pleasing to Him. The motivation of legalism is fear, dread, maybe even manipulation. In legalism a person does what he really does not want to do. But the motivation Jesus gives in John 14:15 is love. We keep His commandments because we love Him and don’t want to dishonor or displease the Lord. And why do we love Him? Because He first loved us. He has won our love and obedience.
Here is a mark of a godly leader. That person will command, not only verbally but by his or her example, others to ‘seek the Lord’. A leader that does not do that, should not be followed. Paul said “Follow me as I follow Christ.” Any legitimate authority any of us have must originate from our relationship with Christ. In fact, you and I will only have spiritual authority to the extent we have loving intimacy with the Lord and keep His commandments in our own lives.
So Asa’s strategy is that they would “seek the Lord.” That resulted in some positive, constructive action in the next few verses. But then they encountered a problem in the latter part of ch 14. An Ethiopian army came up against them. Don’t think you can seek the Lord and have no opposition. Look at Jesus’ life, look at Paul’s life, David’s life. We saw it last week in Daniel’s life. “…all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” ( 2 Tim 3:12 KJV).
So here is Asa and all of Judah vastly outnumbered by the enemy. Asa had about 580,000 soldiers and the Ethiopians had a million men plus 300 chariots. It looked hopeless. They could have murmured and complained about all the trouble that came their way. Here they were seeking God, trying to serve the Lord and then this happens. It’s not fair. That’s not what Asa did. Verse 11-12. “And Asa cried out to the LORD his God, and said, "LORD, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O LORD our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!" 12 So the LORD struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.”
Don’t you love the way Asa put that in his prayer, O LORD, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!” That’s how you position yourself when you seek the Lord with all your heart. Then the battle is not yours but the Lord’s. The enemy will not prevail against the Lord our God—and we have joined ourselves with Him. So we win!!!
Follow as we read 2 Chron 15:1-7
Now the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded. 2 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.
3 For a long time Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law;
4 but when in their trouble they turned to the LORD God of Israel, and sought Him, He was found by them. 5 And in those times there was no peace to the one who went out, nor to the one who came in, but great turmoil was on all the inhabitants of the lands. 6 So nation was destroyed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every adversity.
7 But you, be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded!"
Here is a word for you this morning: Vs 7 “But you (you, you, and you), be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded!” Seeking the Lord does not mean there will be no work to do. It means God will strengthen you to do it by His grace and it will be fruitful—it will be rewarded. “Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that comes to God must believe that He is and that (what?) He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Yes, we have work to do. There are souls to lead to Christ, there are Christians who need to know the word of God and be committed as disciples of Jesus, there are multitudes that need to encounter the Holy Spirit in such a way that they are gloriously ruined from religious routine. If we do those things in the power of the Spirit, lives will be eternally changed. Your work shall be rewarded!”
In vs 8—11 Asa took encouragement from that word, restored the altar of the Lord, gathered all of Judah and many had come from northern kingdom and they covenanted to seek the Lord.
Vs 12 “Then they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul….vs 15 “And all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and sought Him with all their soul; (now get this—this is the real reward) and He was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around.” When a group of people seek the Lord and find Him—marvelous things happen—history is rewritten—people are delivered from darkness and evil—and God is glorified.
That is why we are here and that is where we are going!
