Download II Chronicles 14 - Finishing Strong

Finishing Strong
II Chronicles 14, NASV
Kevin Koop, Cornerstone Bible Church, Britton, SD
September 6, 2009
Go ahead and turn to II Chronicles, chapter 14. I’m going to try and breeze through a large portion of
scripture to highlight a couple of major points. The title of today’s message is “Finishing Strong.”
“Finishing Strong.” Chapter 16, verse 9 in your Bibles says this: For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro
throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. For the eyes of the
Lord . . . picture His eyes . . . move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those
whose hearts are completely His. He is looking for people who will stand and let Him chisel away—not to
destroy or tear down, but He’s looking throughout the earth for those people that He may strongly support
with His mighty right arm, those who are wholly devoted to Him.
Let’s just pray. Father, this morning as we look at this passage of scripture and we talk about the topic of
finishing strong and we recognize that it’s not how you start out, it’s how you finish, I ask for You to
impart Your grace in a way that we don’t comprehend or understand; and I pray that Your grace would
empower us to be what You called us to be and that You’d give us the endurance to finish strong in this
Christian race that we are in. May we not stop short. May you have all of our heart. As You’re looking to
and fro throughout the earth looking for those whose hearts are fully Yours, may Your eyes divert to
Britton, SD, and may You see an individual, a couple, a pastor and some elders, and a congregation whose
hearts belong to You, O God. For those of us that are in this room today that Your eyes would look over
because our hearts haven’t belonged to you, draw our hearts. Turn our hearts toward you, O God. Let this
Word come alive today. Anoint our ears to hear what Your Spirit is saying. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
That verse, II Chronicles 16:9—For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may
strongly support those whose hearts are completely His—is one of my favorite verses. It’s been one of my
favorite verses for a long time. My first exposure to this verse came through a song written by Steve
Camp. How many of you know who Steve Camp is? I love Steve Camp. My wife’s the only one that
raised a hand—and Daniel does, my son. If you guys haven’t listened to some Steve Camp music, you’re
missing out. But he’s got this song entitled “Living Dangerously in the Hands of God.” And in the middle
of this song, he quotes this verse just as I memorized it. But in another part of the song, he writes this—this
is part of the lyrics—he says: “To live dangerously is not to live recklessly but righteously. And it is
because of God’s radical grace for us that we can risk living a life of radical obedience for Him.” Radical
obedience because of radical grace. Radical obedience because of radical grace.
A lot of people talk about grace like it’s the big cover up. A lot of Christians live their life no different
from the rest of the world as though God takes this giant, massive paintbrush, dips it in this substance
called grace, and brushes over our life to cover up our sin. That’s not the way it works. How many of you
have ever tried to paint a wall that had permanent marker on it? Or some other stain. What happens? You
can paint, and you can paint a second coat, and you can paint a third coat, but that stain is coming back
through. You need something called Kilz stain remover or something like that—something that’s a little
more potent that’s going to cover up that stain and blot it out. I can tell you that the only Kilz stain
remover that God has is the blood of Jesus Christ, and it can wipe out any stain. But without that blood of
Jesus Christ, it’s like this view of God and his dipping the giant paintbrush into this grace and covering you
over, but our sin comes back out. Our sin shows through. Eventually our true colors come through unless
God goes to work in another way.
That’s why the Apostle Paul wrote the New Testament in Romans and I Corinthians and II Corinthians and
Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I and II Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus—every single one of
his books, he ends it saying may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Why? These people are
saved. These people have already received the grace of God. Why do they need God’s grace? Because
it’s grace that gives you power to say no to ungodliness in your life. And even if you’ve been saved for
forty years, you need God’s grace in your life to be able to say no, so that God’s chisel can go to work on
our bodies and our character can be molded into the image of Jesus Christ. We need God’s grace even if
we’ve been saved a long time. We need God’s grace. Those aren’t just my words when I say that God’s
grace is what tells us that we can say no or gives us the power to say no; it comes from Titus 2, verses 11
and 12.
Now I want you to think about Titus. Paul was writing to Titus. Titus was a man that Paul sent to a place
called Crete. Crete—have you ever heard of Cretans? They are well known and renowned for being
despicable people. And Paul sent Titus there and this is what he wrote to Titus. He said: For the grace of
God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly
passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age. In other words, Titus, right
where you are in the midst of those people, the grace of God will enable you to say no to ungodliness and
worldly passions right where you’re at, in that despicable place amongst despicable people—God’s grace is
enough, God’s grace is enough, God’s grace is enough. If you get one thing out of this message this
morning, you need to understand that God’s grace is enough for you. Anybody believe me? Amen. I’m so
glad I’m not alone in that. That’s a good thing. We need grace.
II Chronicles, chapter 14—follow with me as I read this passage. Amazing passage of scripture. It says:
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. And Asa
had an army of 300,000 from Judah, armed with large shields and spears, and 280,000 men from Benjamin
that carried shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valor.
What do you know about this man Asa? This man Asa becomes king and he decides that he’s going to lead
the people to serve the Lord. He is a godly king. He gets rid of the idols and the false worship and all the
instruments of false worship and he gets rid of them and he commands the people to serve the Lord. And
he commands them to keep the law and the commandment—and the word “commandment” is singular.
Did you notice that? It’s in verse 4. “Keep the law and the commandment.” Why didn’t he say
commandments? I believe the context tells us why. In this context we see this commitment of Asa to get
rid of false worship and to worship the one true God only—to trust only in God. And it’s in that context he
says I want you to follow the commandment. And the commandment, number one, is what? Love the
Lord your God.
In Exodus, chapter 20, where it begins the Ten Commandments, and He comes and God is speaking
through Moses and He says I AM the God who brought you out of Egypt. I AM the one that took you out
of slavery in that land. You shall have—what? No other gods before Me. Now I memorized the Ten
Commandments when I was a kid and I used to think “no other gods before Me”—that means no other
gods that are more important that You. That’s not what it means. It means no other gods in My presence.
No other gods before Me is no other gods in My face. Where’s God’s face? Where’s God’s presence? Is
there any where that we can go to hide from God? No. Not to have any other gods at all. Even if they are
second to God is to disobey the scripture.
And that’s the context in which Asa is expressing as he says I want you to keep the law and the
commandment. He makes it a rule for the people. And then it says that God gave him great prosperity.
Gave him peace and rest. Imagine this, folks; imagine peace in the Middle East for ten years. Hello? Has
that ever happened? Probably not. Not very often. Here it did. The Antichrist is one day going to come
and he’s going to promise peace to the Israelites for seven years and he’s only going to be able to fulfill it
for three and a half. But here God gives them rest for ten years. And later He gives them rest for a total of
twenty years. Peace on all sides. And this great military—300,000 men from Judah and 280,000 men from
Israel. Okay? Now let’s see what happens.
Verse 9: Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and
came as far as Mareshah. And Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up their lines of battle in the Valley
of Zephathah at Mareshah. And Asa cried to the Lord his God . . . He’s got 580,000 men and he’s going
against a million man army. What does that say to you? I would challenge you that no matter how long
you’ve been serving the Lord, no matter how strong you may be in the knowledge of God’s Word, the
enemy’s army—Satan. When Satan comes against you, hold on—his army’s bigger than yours. Every
single time his army’s bigger than yours. And every single time we need to do what Asa did and cry out to
the Lord our God, and if we don’t we’re going to suffer defeat. If we trust in our knowledge, if we trust in
what we’ve learned, if we trust in our background and our religious experiences, we’re going to fall. We
can’t trust the army of those things that we have built. We’ve got to cry out to the Lord.
Asa did that. And Asa cried out to the Lord his God—verse 11: 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. Asa and the people who
were with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell until none remained alive, [Wow] for
they were broken before the Lord and his army. The men of Judah carried away very much spoil. And they
attacked all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the Lord was upon them. They plundered all the cities,
for there was much plunder in them. And they struck down the tents of those who had livestock and carried
away sheep in abundance and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.
Now, that is a great victory. You’re outnumbered two to one and yet you cry out to God and God gives a
great victory. But I want you to look at chapter 15. Look at this. It says: The Spirit of God came upon
Azariah the son of Oded, and he went out to meet Asa and said to him . . . [This is in the wake of this great
victory, in the wake of having destroyed this enemy that came against you with a million men to try to wipe
you out, you had this great victory because you cried out to the Lord your God, and you’re on your way
back to Jerusalem and look what happens. The Spirit of God comes on Azariah, who is a prophet. And
listen to what he said.] 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.
How many of you are bothered by that? How many of you are quoting in the back of your mind “I will
never leave you nor forsake you.” Hmm? How does that fit? I memorized that verse. “I will never leave
you nor forsake you.” It’s what God spoke to Joshua. It’s what the writer of Hebrews quoted in chapter
13, verse 5. He quoted that verse to the Hebrew Christians in the New Testament. “I will never leave you
nor forsake you.” I’ve memorized that verse and have used that in many situations to say no matter what I
do, no matter where I go, God’s going to be with me all the time. And then I come to this verse and this
is—remember this is not just Azariah, some guy. This is Azariah, as the Spirit of the Lord moved upon
him, speaking. And he says 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. That makes you scratch your head.
We sang a song this morning about how God is always the same, He never changes, as He always was He
always will be, He’s the same. Anybody feel this tension? Anybody feel the conflict? You shouldn’t.
What’s the problem? What’s the issue? Hebrews, chapter 13:5, when it quotes that verse about God
speaking to Joshua as he’s going into the Promised Land saying I will never leave you nor forsake you, it’s
not a promise that no matter what you do God’s going to be with you. That is not what that verse means,
but we have taken it out of context and assumed that that’s what it meant because we like what that sounds
like. That sounds like I can go and I can do whatever I want to do and God will be with me.
There was a woman in our church in Santa Rosa. She taught Sunday School in our Sunday School class for
our kids. She walked away from God. She walked away from her husband and from her kids. And one
day when I was talking to her in the parking lot at Santa Rosa High School next to her bus, ‘cause she
drove a school bus, I talked to her about where she was going and what was going on in her life; and she
used that verse. And she said God has promised He will never leave me or forsake me. He goes with me
no matter what. No matter what kind of sin I’m in, it doesn’t matter ‘cause God is always with me. She
pulled that verse right out of scripture and used it to say something it didn’t mean.
The interesting thing is if you study the book of Hebrews and you come to that verse where the writer is
using it and he quotes it from Joshua 1:5 and he says “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” the whole
context of the book of Hebrews is a challenge to the Hebrew Christians not to give up, not to fall back, not
to shrink away, and not to stop living the Christian life. And it’s a warning of God’s judgment if they do.
And a promise that if they don’t turn away, and if they will continue to seek Him, then God’s presence will
be there. It doesn’t mean that He will be there no matter what. It means that as you seek Him it doesn’t
matter what enemy comes against you, you’re going to battle not just with what you can muster, but with
God’s power behind you. If you are seeking Him and submitted to Him, He is with you and He is with you
in great power. Some of you don’t like that, but that’s what it means and you can study that out on your
own in Hebrews, chapter 13. Read the whole book in one sitting.
The prophet speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit said these words and then he continues
speaking and says: For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and
without law, but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was
found by them. In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for great
disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by
nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress. Did you catch that? For God
troubled them with every sort of distress. We don’t like a God like that, but that’s the God that is described
in scripture. Because God wants us to have a personal relationship with Him that’s not broken by sin and
He’s going to do whatever He can, whatever He needs to do, to make us uncomfortable in our sin so that
we will come back to Him. Amen? ‘Cause as we said in the last couple of weeks, God is much more
interested in your character than your comfort. And so He will make you uncomfortable to build your
character. He’ll take the chisel and He’ll start to remove things from your life that don’t fit and don’t
belong.
Verse 7: But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded. Look at
Asa’s response. He hears this great Word of the Lord. Verse 8: 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 I’m reading
this thinking wait a minute, didn’t he already do that? We already read about that earlier on in the previous
chapter. What does that tell me? No matter how much I clean up my life, no matter how much I get the
gunk out of my life, no matter how far I think I’ve come, no matter how pure I think I am, the more the
Lord God comes close to me, the more impurities are revealed inside; and I gotta get rid of more. There’s
more stuff I gotta get rid of until I get down to where that image of Christ is in the mirror. Until I get down
to where when people see me down the street they don’t see me anymore they see Jesus. We may think
we’ve all gotten it taken care of, but as we come closer to the Lord, the light shines in areas it didn’t shine
before and the darkness is exposed.
Verse 9: 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. What is this talking about? The whole nation of Israel, God’s people, the Jews, had
divided into two kingdoms. There was a northern kingdom called Israel and there was a southern kingdom
called Judah. Judah was primarily made up of the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, but here it said
that there were some from other tribes—Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon—who defected from the northern
nation of Israel under his headship as king of Judah. They defected because they had heard that the Word of
God—or they had heard that God was with them.
Verse 10: 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.
What does that mean? This is all the spoil that they got from their victory with Ethiopia, the million man
army that they had just defeated. And some of the spoil was oxen and sheep and they offered sacrifices.
What a bloody day—700 oxen and 7,000 sheep, it says. Whew. The priests say, “good.” You know they
got to get some of that. That’s how the people would take their offerings there and they would take care of
God’s priests that served in the Tabernacle and their families. They could eat part of that. They had a
feast. Certain parts of it were to be burned up on the altar, completely consumed.
Verse 12: 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. That’s an oath. Can you imagine that kind of oath in America
today? We’re going to make an oath to seek the Lord our God with all of our heart, all of our soul, and all
of our strength, and whoever doesn’t do it dies. Whew. Can’t imagine that flying very well. After all,
faith is just an individual thing. It’s a personal relationship with God, not corporate. Yeah, maybe.
There’s some truth to that. It is personal. I can’t make you follow the Lord and you can’t make me follow
the Lord. And I can pretend and do religious things in front of you, but that doesn’t make me right with
God, and you can pretend and do it in front of me and that’s not going to make you right with God. It is
personal, but there’s something about a corporate coming together saying we’re going to serve God. And
this is our choice to band together and serve God. And they did that at this time.
Verse 14: 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. Now, I want to
tell you something. This was not just an oath that didn’t cost them something. This oath cost Asa
something.
Take a look at the next verse: 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. Israel, that’s the northern kingdom.
He’s not king over Israel; he’s only king over Judah. So there’s a contrast being made here. Somebody
came to me just recently and was talking about relationships. If I’m serving God and wanting to serve God
but I’ve got this relationship that I can’t break away from, what would God want me to do? This guy
deposed his mom; don’t tell me you can’t. God’s grace is enough. Don’t tell me you’re not able to be
good. As the video said, “I made you good—be good.” Don’t tell me you can’t cut off relationships that
are hurting you spiritually. God’s grace is enough. Don’t tell me you can’t cut off relationships or
friendships that are going to lead you down a path to unrighteousness. God’s grace is enough. If you want
to serve God with your whole heart, it will cost you something; but if it costs you something, God will
stand with you. Pay the price; it’s okay. Do that.
Verse 17: 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. No
more war—peace. And as I mentioned, the title of this message is “Finishing Strong.” It’s not how you
start that counts. There’s a contrast here. They’ve got the nation of Judah and a godly king over that nation
that gets rid of all false worship and is wholly and totally devoted to God, in contrast to a nation in verse
17, the nation of Israel, that did not get rid of their idols. Do you see the contrast?
Now I want you to take a look at chapter 16, verse 1: In the thirty-sixth year [right after all of this stuff
takes place, right after he deposes his mom, thirty-sixth year] of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel [the
northern kingdom, the one that didn’t get rid of their idols] 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. And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies
against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of
Naphtali. And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. Then King Asa
took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been
building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah. Now, what’s happening? He’s been righteous, he’s
been serving God, he’s tearing down false idols. There’s a king up in Israel call Baasha, and Baasha
doesn’t destroy all the idols, and the nation is filled with idolatry. And this king from the north comes
down to the kingdom of the south and builds a place called Ramah, which is like a rampart. It’s a siege
work; it’s to close off traffic going in and out of Judah and the capital city in Jerusalem, and it’s stopping
that. But notice the difference. There was a million man army a chapter and a half ago, and Asa cried out
to God. And this time his neighbor and his cousin from another tribe of Israel comes down and builds a
siege work and what does he do? He goes to the well; he goes to the treasuries of the Tabernacle, and he
goes to his own personal treasuries, and he sends money to another king further north in Syria, in
Damascus, and says hey, we need your help. What does that mean? Is that important? If Asa had cried out
to God, God would have given him victory; but he goes and he makes a deal with another king to the north.
That king goes and attacks some of the Israeli cities and takes some of those cities and it works! His plan
works! Baasha and his army moves Ramah, and they go back home. And then King Asa goes to the place
of Ramah and takes all the timbers from that place and he built two cities out of it. And we’re thinking
wow, God’s really blessing his effort. God’s working on his behalf. God’s answering his prayer. No, He’s
not. Take a look a little bit further.
Verse 7, God sends another word. It says: At that time Hanani the seer [which is another word for
prophet] 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. [Then there’s that verse.] 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. [That’s only half the verse as I
memorized it. The other half goes on.] You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.
[Now, there’s nothing wrong with having bank accounts. There’s nothing wrong with saving money and
planning to pass on a legacy to your kids. But when troubled times come and you believe and trust in your
bank accounts to save you instead of God, that then has become your God. There’s nothing wrong with
having health insurance, even if it’s universal health insurance and universal coverage that the
government’s talking about all the time. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with having that. But if we
start putting our faith and trust in that instead of God. We’ve replaced God, we’ve created an idol, we’re
worshipping a false God. Asa, who was so faithful in trusting God in the beginning, now begins to trust the
blessing instead of the blessor. We can’t trust the blessing; we have to trust the blessor. Who’s the
blessor? God. He’s the one that gives us everything. And we’ve got to continue going to Him no matter
what resources we have, no matter what road we’ve walked down, He’s the one that’s trustworthy, not the
stuff He’s given us. Make sense? Okay.
Now, take a look a little bit further. I want you to look at Asa’s response, verse 10. Remember last time?
Azariah spoke under the Spirit of God and he received that word and he called the people to commit. In
other words, God spoke through this man and he received it and said okay, I’m getting down to business
and I’m making a commitment. Look at his response this time: 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. Instead of receiving the Word of God, he gets mad at the messenger
and then starts taking his anger out on the people and probably kicking their dog, too.
Verse 11: 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. Charlie’s a great guy and there are times
when I can go to him and he can help me out, but I can tell you I don’t put my trust in him. He’s a
physician, for those of you who don’t know; he’s a chiropractor in town, and he’s got great knowledge.
But I don’t want to put my trust in him. My trust has to be in the Lord. God can use him to speak into my
life or to educate me, but my trust can’t be in him. My trust can’t be in my doctors; my trust has to be in
the Lord. Same with you.
And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. They buried him in the tomb. What
am I getting at? It’s not how you start; it’s how you finish. It’s not how you start; it’s how you finish. So
how do you apply this? God is actively looking and seeking for those whose hearts belong to Him so that
He can strongly uphold you. So that He can give you the strength that you need to live that godly life. If
you sell out and you make that commitment, God’s going to help you with it. But if you take all the things
He’s blessed you with and given you and you start putting your trust in those, you’re in trouble.
Let me give you another thought. Compare the two responses. Asa liked what he heard from the first
prophet and made a commitment. He didn’t like what he heard from the second prophet so he got angry.
Sometimes God’s going to speak things to your life that you don’t like to hear. He’s going to speak those
things through not—maybe it’s not going to be a scripture reference. Maybe it’s going to be a man or
woman or God who’ll give you some counsel and some advice. You need to be careful to listen to the
people that speak into our life. Now, if they’re saying something contrary to scripture, it’s okay to say you
know what, I’m going to go and rely on God’s Word instead of this person. But if there’s an authority that
God’s put in your life and they’re speaking wisdom in your life, you have one of two things you can do.
You can either receive it as Asa did the first time, or you can reject it as Asa did the second time. But the
consequences are often similar. Be careful to receive what God speaks to you.
How does God speak into your life? First and foremost He speaks by this [Bible]. Secondly, He will help
you understand this by His Holy Spirit. Thirdly, He speaks to us through Godly leaders and authority—
pastoral teaching, a Sunday School teacher, a godly couple that’s going to give you advice, or for young
people He’s going to speak through your parents. God will speak through those sources and we’d better be
careful to listen to those things unless they’re going against what this Word says. If they’re following what
this Word says, we’d better receive it. For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that
He may strongly support those whose hearts are completely His. He is looking for people to support.
When He looks down on Britton, does He see you and say, “That’s My child. They are wholly committed
to Me. I’m pouring out My strength in them. I’m not going to just whitewash over the sin; I’m going to
give them a stain killer. I’m going to cover it and make it whiter than snow—pure and holy and clean.”
Would you stand with me? I’m going to have Dawn come up and lead us in song. The title of the song is
“Your Grace is Enough.” Your grace is enough. If you don’t know this song watch carefully the words as
we put them up on the screen. If you do know this song, sing this song. But whatever it is, recognize the
truth that God’s grace is enough for you. Alright?
Father, this morning I pray that You would take the truth presented today from Your Word and You would
apply them to Your people in a way that You see fit. In Jesus’ name. Amen
YOUR GRACE IS ENOUGH - Words by Matt Maher
GREAT IS YOUR FAITHFULNESS, OH GOD.
YOU WRESTLE WITH THE SINNER’S HEART,
YOU LEAD US BY STILL WATERS INTO MERCY,
AND NOTHING CAN KEEP US APART.
SO REMEMBER YOUR PEOPLE,
REMEMBER YOUR CHILDREN,
REMEMBER YOUR PROMISE, OH GOD.
CHORUS:
YOUR GRACE IS ENOUGH,
YOUR GRACE IS ENOUGH,
YOUR GRACE IS ENOUGH FOR ME.
GREAT ARE YOUR LOVE AND JUSTICE, GOD.
YOU USE THE WEAK TO LEAD THE STRONG,
YOU LEAD US IN THE SONG OF YOUR SALVATION,
AND ALL YOUR PEOPLE SING ALONG.
SO REMEMBER YOUR PEOPLE,
REMEMBER YOUR CHILDREN,
REMEMBER YOUR PROMISE, OH GOD.
(CHORUS 2X)
SO REMEMBER YOUR PEOPLE,
REMEMBER YOUR CHILDREN,
REMEMBER YOUR PROMISE, OH GOD. (CHORUS)
Thank you, Dawn. Alright, let’s just close out our service. Father, thank You for Your grace—undeserved,
unmerited, unearned. We can’t earn it; we can’t do enough to obtain it. It’s Your gift. Bestow it upon us
in increased measure, God. Fill us with Your power that we can say no to ungodliness and worldly
passions right where we are, even in a decadent American society today. Give us your strength. Father, for
those who haven’t been walking in obedience to You, I pray, Lord God, that their commitment and their
dedication would go beyond that of Asa and that from now until the end of their days they wouldn’t shrink
back. Thank You for what You’re going to do. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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