THE SECRET OF SPIRITUAL STRENGTH
2 Chron. 16:9
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: HE’LL BE THERE WAITING
1. A preacher who had suffered extremely strained relations with his congregation was finally appointed chaplain at the state prison.
2. Excited to be rid of him, the people of the congregation came in great numbers to hear his farewell sermon.
3. The preacher chose as his text, “I go and prepare a place for you…that where I am, there you may be also!”
B. TEXT
14:2 Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. 3 He removed the foreign altars and the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. 4 He commanded Judah to seek the Lord and to obey his laws and commands. 7 “Let us build up these towns,” he said to Judah, “and put walls around them, with towers, gates and bars.” 8 Asa had an army of three hundred thousand men from Judah, equipped with large shields and with spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand from Benjamin, armed with small shields and with bows. All these were brave fighting men. 9 Zerah the Cushite marched out against them with a vast army and three hundred chariots…. 10 Asa went out to meet him. 11 Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us…we rely on You… don’t let mere mortals prevail against you.” 12 The Lord struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah. 13 Such a great number of Cushites fell that they could not recover; 15:8 Asa…removed the detestable idols from the whole land….He repaired the altar of the Lord… 9 Then he assembled all Judah and Benjamin and….11 they sacrificed to the Lord….12 They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord….16 King Asa also deposed his grandmother Maakah… because she had made a repulsive image for the worship of Asherah. 16:1 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign Baasha king of Israel …fortified Ramah [for war against Asa]. 2 Asa then took the silver and gold…and sent it to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. 3 “Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me.”4 Ben-Hadad [attacked Baasha]. 7 Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. 8 Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. 9 For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”
10 Asa was angry with the seer because of this…he put him in prison [and] brutally oppressed some of the people. 12 Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. 13 Asa died. 2 Chr. 14:2-16:13.
C. THESIS
1. Tonight we’re looking at a key concept, that the secret of spiritual strength and of God’s aid for us all depends on our commitment to the Lord.
2. The example we’re looking at is King Asa. The title of tonight’s message is “The Secret of Our Spiritual Strength.”
I. ASA STARTED OUT ON FIRE! 1-8
A. PUT DOWN YOUR IDOLS!
1. King Asa started strong. He first got rid of the false gods and the places of worship for them. Not since the time of Solomon had anybody done that.
2. Altars, idols, and groves were pulled down. AN IDOL IS ANYTHING THAT USURPS THE PLACE OF GOD IN YOUR HEART!
3. Asa pulled them down because he knew they were a provocation to a jealous God. We can’t allow sin in our lives: it makes us susceptible to God’s judgment.
4. HUMOR
a. A lot of us treat our sins like the psychiatrist who wanted to go play golf.
b. He had a patient come to his office. When the receptionist asked about his problem, the patient said he thought he was invisible.
c. When the receptionist told the doctor about the strange condition of the patient, the doctor rolled his eyes, looked at his watch, and said, "Tell him I can't see him."
B. REINITIATED THE TRUE WORSHIP OF GOD
1. Not only did Asa stop the negative things they’d been doing, He started doing the positive things.
2. Some people think that if they just quit the major areas of sin, they’ve arrived. But did you know we’re supposed to start showing kindness, forgiveness, mercy, compassion, love, generosity, good deeds?
3. We not only need to “put off” the fallen nature, but “put on” Christ.
4. Asa found his reforms didn’t generate as much opposition as he feared. There was rest in the land.
5. "When we please the Lord, He makes even our enemies to be at peace with us" Prov. 16:7. When we obey the Lord, we’ll be rewarded by Him.
C. PROSPERITY NOT A TIME FOR REST, BUT PREPARATION
1. Asa thought peacetime was the prudent time for improvement.
2. When things are going smoothly in your life, it’s not time to kick back & relax. You're supposed to take advantage of the opportunity to improve.
3. To deepen your spiritual life: pray, study the Word, prepare for spiritual warfare, dig into the Spirit, etc.
4. Good times aren’t a time to stagnate, but get closer to God; not time for excess, but improvement.
5. A person who’s fired up recognizes their opportunities to gain ground with God.
II. INVASION BY THE ETHIOPIANS 9-15
A. PURPOSE WHY GOD ALLOWED IT
1. Revival had broken out at Jerusalem, then here comes this invasion. What’s up with that? God wants them to rise to a higher level of trust & experience.
2. This invasion challenges their faith; it gives God an opportunity of doing greater things. How’re you going to know what a Mighty God you serve, unless you face an impossibility?
3. It’s no different for us. God never said we wouldn’t be attacked or be in battle; but what He did say was, IF we’d allow Him to fight our battles, He’d give us the victory!
4. The Hebrew says "thousands and thousands,” which means 1000 X 1000 = 1,000,000! That’s big! Asa had prepared for the battle, but he didn’t trust to his preparations, but to the Lord.
5. The Bible says the Lord struck them with "terror." They were utterly defeated and plundered.
6. Bible says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he WILL flee from you!” God will fight our battles if we’ll depend on Him!
B. COMMENDED BY GOD 15:1-7
1. THIS LED TO A NATIONAL REVIVAL (8-19).
Asa grew more bold for God. Victory is a powerful motivator for further obedience. His new steps were:
a. DESTROYED ALL IDOLS throughout his kingdom.
b. REPAIRED THE ALTAR/ TEMPLE. It had been 35 years since Solomon died. In all that time, there have been no repair made to the Temple, until now.
c. CALLED A SOLEMN ASSEMBLY. He brought all of the 10 tribes in his territories together. They came because they "saw that the Lord his God was with him." People can see it when you're walking with God!
d. A RENEWAL OF THE COVENANT. They entered into a covenant with God. We’re already obligated, but making a new commitment to God strengthens us to go farther.
"They swore to the Lord:" not secretly, as if they were ashamed, but with a loud voice! The bride and groom make their pledges in public. We should too!
e. EXPOSED SIN IN HIS OWN HOUSE. Asa deposed his grandmother Maakah. We can’t point out sin at other people’s houses and let sin stay in our own house!
2. God told him; “… be strong and don’t give up, for you work will be rewarded.”
III. ASA’S SHIFT IN DEPENDENCE
A. A NEW CHALLENGE TO FAITH AROSE, 16:1-6
1. How did he respond? Asa took the silver and gold of the house of the Lord for the purpose of bribing Ben-Hadad.
2. Was it right to rob God's house to cover meet a perceived emergency? Robbing God compounded his problems; it was a sign of unbelief.
3. Asa hired an enemy of God to attack his brothers in Israel! That was bad in itself. Then Ben-Hadad plundered and killed Israelites all across the north. Asa was partially responsible.
4. Sin aways takes you farther than you wanted to go,
makes you stay longer that you wanted to stay, and pay
more than you wanted to pay!
5. It reminds me of what Pete Smith said; “What do you call 10 rabbits marching in reverse?” “A receding hare-line.”
B. REBUKED BY GOD’S PROPHET, vss. 7-14
Hanani the prophet rebuked Asa for 4 things:
1. WHO HE’D RELIED ON…on the king of Syria, not on the Lord. He thought that God couldn’t or wouldn’t help him; he must help himself. He distrusted the Lord.
2. HE ACTED AGAINST HIS EXPERIENCE. Hadn’t God helped him before? Then why not trust him now? The Ethiopians had been more numerous than the Army of Baasha, yet God had defeated them.
3. HE WAS ACTING AGAINST THE NATURE OF GOD, HIS PROVIDER. God isn’t blind or surprised by what comes. God by nature wants to provide our needs. Just ask.
4. ACTING AGAINST HIS OWN INTERESTS. In aiding Ben-Hadad, He lost the opportunity of shrinking that king’s power, which later would come back on his nation.
C. A GREAT TRUTH REVEALED
1. “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him” 1 Chron. 16:9.
2. God is searching the earth, diligently, to strengthen certain people. Who? Those whose hearts are fully committed to Him!
3. This attitude of the heart is the most crucial requirement for divine aid. It’s a component of faith and trust. It explains why Asa succeeded the first time.
4. When we don’t rely on God, it’s displeasing to Him and the result is that God starts letting us fend for ourselves, instead of Him handling our problems. That’s why Asa was constantly at war after relying on Ben Hadad instead of God.
D. AN AWESOME BEGINNING BECAME A SAD ENDING
1. Two years before he died he was diseased in his feet (v. 12). He had put the prophet in the stocks; so his punishment answered his sin.
2. This was his sickness, but his sin was that he sought only to the physicians. In this way he snubbed God and missed the opportunity God would have given him for healing!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: EVERYTHING WE NEED AND MORE
1. English author and artist G.K. Chesterton was once sitting out in the countryside and exploded with laughter.
2. Just minutes before he had been miserable. He was sketching a landscape on brown paper using colored chalk.
3. He looked through all his chalk colors and was amazed to discover there was no white chalk, which he considered essential to his work.
4. It was a long way back to his studio in the city and he was staggered that his work could be stopped by so small a thing – the lack of a piece of white chalk!
5. But suddenly joy and laughter struck him as he realized he was atop the “White Cliffs of Dover” – potentially millions of tons of white chalk!
6. Then he remembered the scripture, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life” 2 Peter 1:3. God really does richly provide all the things we need! [Daily Bread, July 9, 2016]
B. THE CALL
1. Do you want to be stronger spiritually than you are now? The secret is to be completely committed to the Lord.
2. Are there any areas where you haven’t surrendered to God? Is there any room for growth in your closeness to God? Do you really treat your relationship with God as the most important thing in the world which must be kept close by constant maintenance?
3. “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him” 1 Chron. 16:9. Prayer for commitment and love for Jesus.
