LutheranLectionary.org

Series A – Second Wednesday in Lent – Wednesday, March 01, 2023 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:22	A reading from
0:29	second Chronicles chapters 14 15 and 16.
0:35	abhija slept with his fathers and they buried him in the city of David and ASA
0:41	his son reigned in his place in his days the land had rest for 10 years then ASA
0:49	did what was good and bright in the eyes of the Lord his God he took away the foreign altars and the high places and
0:57	broke down the pillars and cut down the ashirim and commanded Judah to seek
1:03	Yahweh the god of their fathers and to keep the law and the Commandment he also
1:09	took out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the incense altars and
1:14	the kingdom had rest under him he built fortified cities in Judah for the land
1:20	had rest he had no war in those years for the lord gave him peace and he said
1:26	to Judah let us build these cities and surround them with walls and Towers Gates and bars the land is still ours
1:34	because we have sought the Lord our God we have sought him and he has given us
1:39	peace on every side so they built and they prospered and ASA had an army of
1:45	three hundred thousand from Judah armed with large Shields and Spears and 280
1:52	000 men from Benjamin that carried Shields and Drew bows all these were Mighty Men of Valor Zara the Ethiopian
2:01	came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots and came as
2:07	far as Marisha and ASA went out to meet him and they drew up their lines of
2:12	battle in the valley of zephathah at Marisha and ASA cried to Yahweh his God
2:19	oh Yahweh there is none like you to help between the mighty and the weak help us
2:25	o Yahweh Our God for we rely on you and in your name we have come against
2:31	this multitude o Yahweh you are our God let not man Prevail against you so
2:39	Yahweh defeated the Ethiopians before ASA and before Judah and the Ethiopians
2:44	fled ASA and the people who were with him pursued them as far as gerar and the
2:50	Ethiopians fell until none remained alive and they were broken before Yahweh
2:55	and his army the men of Judah carried away very much spoil and they attacked
3:01	all the cities around Gerard for fear of the Lord was upon them they plundered
3:07	all the cities for there was much plunder in them and they struck down the tents of those who had livestock and
3:14	carried away sheep in abundance and camels and then they returned to Jerusalem
3:20	the spirit of God Came Upon Azariah the son of ODed and he went out to meet ASA
3:26	and said to him hear me ASA and all Judah and Benjamin Yahweh is with you
3:32	while you are with him if you seek Him He will be found by you but if you
3:38	forsake Him He will forsake you for a long time Israel was without true God
3:43	and without a teaching priest and without law but when their distress but in their distress they turn to Yahweh
3:50	the god of Israel and sought him he was found by them in those times there was
3:56	no peace to him who went out or to him who came in for great disturbances
4:01	Afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands they were broken in pieces nation was crushed by nation and City by city
4:08	for God troubled them with every sort of distress but you take courage do not let
4:13	your hands be weak for your work shall be rewarded and as soon as ASA heard
4:19	these words the prophecy of Azariah the son of ODed he took courage and put away
4:26	the detestable Idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities that he had taken in the Hill
4:32	Country of Ephraim and he repaired the altar of Yahweh that was in front of the vestibule of the House of Yahweh and he
4:40	gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those from Ephraim Manasseh and Simeon who were residing with them for great
4:46	numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that Yahweh his God was
4:52	with him they were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the 15th year of the reign of Asa they sacrificed to
4:58	Yahweh on that day from the spoil that they had brought 700 oxen 7 000 sheep
5:05	and they entered into a covenant to seek Yahweh the god of their fathers with all
5:10	their heart and with all their soul but that but that whoever would not seek
5:16	Yahweh the god of Israel should be put to death whether young or old man or
5:21	woman they swore an oath to Yahweh with a loud voice and was shouting with trumpets and with horns and all of Judah
5:28	rejoiced over the oath where they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire and
5:33	he was found by them and Yahweh gave them rest all around even his mother
5:40	King ASA removed from being queen mother because she had a detestable image for
5:46	Ashira ASA cut down her image crushed it and burned it at the brook Kidron but
5:52	the high places were not taken out of Israel nevertheless the heart of Asa was wholly true all of his days and he
5:58	brought into the house of God the sacred gift of his father and his own sacred gifts silver and gold and vessels and
6:06	there was no more war until the 35th year of the reign of Asa
6:11	in the 36th year of the reign of Asa the king of Israel went up against Judah
6:19	and built Rama that he might permit no one to go out or to come into King Asic
6:25	to ASA king of Judah then ASA took silver and gold from the Treasures of
6:31	the House of Yahweh and the King’s house and sent them to Ben Haddad the king of Syria who lived in Damascus saying there
6:38	is a covenant between me and you and there was between my father and your father behold I am sending to Silver and
6:44	Gold go break your Covenant with baasha the king of Israel that he may withdraw
6:49	from me and Ben Haddad listened to King ASA and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel and
6:56	they conquered ishan Dan Abu maim and the store cities of naphtali and when
7:02	Basha heard of it he stopped building Rama and let his work cease then King
7:08	ASA took all of Judah and They Carried Away the stones of Rama and its Timber with which by Asha had been building and
7:16	with them he built Gaba and mizpah at the time
7:21	hanani The Seer came to ASAP king of Judah and said to him because you relied
7:28	on the king of Syria and did not rely on Yahweh your God the army of the king of
7:34	Syria has escaped you we’re not the Ethiopians and the libyans a huge army
7:40	with very much chariots and Horsemen yet because you relied on Yahweh he gave
7:45	them into your hand for the eyes of Yahweh run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support to
7:52	those whose heart is blameless toward him you have done foolishly in this for
7:57	from now on you will have wars then ASA was angry with the Seer and put him in
8:02	the stocks in prison for he was in a rage with him because of this and ASA
8:08	inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time the acts of asaph from the first to the last are
8:14	written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel in the 39th year of his Reign ASA was diseased in his feet and
8:22	his disease became severe yet even in his disease he did not seek Yahweh but
8:28	sought help from Physicians and ASA slept with his fathers dying in the 41st
8:34	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 beer
8:40	that had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer’s art and they made a very great fire in his
8:48	honor O Lord have mercy on us in the name of Jesus
8:53	Good Start bad ending right let this be a warning to us all that each and every
9:00	one of us are capable Even in our in our aging years of wandering from
9:07	faithfulness to God you’ll note that Asa has really started well but in chapter
9:14	15 there are the seeds of his undoing and I’ll explain why in fact this was a
9:21	tough nut of a text one of my favorite Old Testament Scholars kind of puts it
9:27	this way when it comes to the Old Testament he his suggestion is turn it keep turning it turn it again turn it
9:35	again there’s a lot of deep meaning in here you have to kind of dig it out and sometimes if you can’t really see it at
9:41	first if you just keep at it you’ll you’ll get it so think of it this way all right we we learn that God gave King
9:49	ASA something unique in his day and that was p peace all right back in his day
9:56	that was that was a very uncommon thing and of course where Israel was situated they were between Syria and Egypt and
10:04	they were constantly getting as Mr miyagu would say getting squished right they were just in the middle of the
10:09	whole mess and and of course God had torn Israel apart torn it into two
10:16	pieces in northern kingdom and the southern Kingdom and the northern kingdom was always kind of well
10:21	harassing the southern Kingdom there was always little tensions and frictions between them and then when they were
10:28	getting along it didn’t take too long before they weren’t getting along anymore it’s kind of like sisters and brothers you know they just sometimes
10:34	they get along and they love each other and then next thing you know they can’t stand each other and they and it’s it’s just awful right
10:42	but let’s see if we can figure out what went wrong with Asa why did he all of a
10:49	sudden go from seeking Yahweh to not seeking him it’s kind of an interesting
10:55	interesting idea so here’s how the text unfolds ASA began to Reign after his
11:02	father abijah died and for 10 full years the land had rest and ASA was a very
11:09	busy King very early on he did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh his God he
11:15	took away the foreign altars the high places broke down the pillars cut down the ashirim and commanded Judah to seek
11:21	Yahweh the god of their fathers and to keep the Torah and the Commandments and he also took out of the cities of Judah
11:26	the high places the incense altars the kingdom had rest under him I mean he
11:32	built fortified cities in Judah and the land had rest he had no war and during the time when he had no war did he sit
11:38	on his Laurels and do nothing playing Candy Crush on his eye iPhone all day no
11:44	okay he was Bill busy building up and fortifying the cities because you’ll
11:49	note this that a good time to prepare for bad times is during the good times right that’s kind of how it goes if
11:56	things are going well for you right now stockpile start to work things out get ready build a nest egg because you don’t
12:02	know when the day of Calamity will come that’s exactly what he did and so we learn here he had an army personally in
12:10	Judah of 300 000 soldiers and a Benjamin which was still part of the Southern Kingdom 280 000 so between the two
12:18	tribes not quite 600 000 men but that’s a pretty sizable amount of people right
12:24	but then well the day comes when things go bad all of a sudden Zara the
12:31	Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and how in Antiquity you would feed a million-man
12:39	Army on an expedition is beyond me me I mean this had to take some doing he only
12:45	had 300 chariots but I mean with a million men he could have come at Israel with rakes and you know and would have
12:51	done okay at least you would seem right they came as far as Mata Shah and ASA went out to meet him which was his duty
12:57	as king they drew up their lines of battle in the valley of zephathah at Marisha and ASA cried to Yahweh his God
13:05	and this is a great prayer oh Yahweh there is none like you to help between the mighty and the weak help us O Lord
13:12	our god notice he doesn’t decree doesn’t declare he doesn’t command and control
13:18	he he pleads he asked God humble supplication humble prayer it’s a good
13:24	one and so he prays and he says you are Yahweh Our God let not man Prevail
13:31	against us and verse 12 says very definitively Yahweh defeated the
13:37	Ethiopians before ASA and before Judah who won the battle it wasn’t a uh it was
13:43	Yahweh Yahweh can take a million-man army and Whittle them down to nothing in
13:48	fact he can cause them to be terrified in their needs to knock him for them for the flea the battlefield for no
13:53	particularly good reason except for that he’s the one who brought fear upon them you don’t want to fight against Yahweh
14:00	so Ace and the people who were with him pursued the Ethiopians as far as garage and the Ethiopians fell until none
14:07	remained alive that was a terrible cataclysmic end for an expedition
14:13	they were broken before Yahweh and his army the men of Judah carried away very
14:18	much spoil and they attacked all the cities around Gerard for the fear of Yahweh was upon them they plundered all
14:24	the cities there was much plunder in them they struck down the tents of those who had livestock and carried away the
14:30	sheep in abundance and camels and then they returned to Jerusalem and then yes
14:35	Luke Skywalker and the Ewoks were all celebrating it was a big deal right okay in fact they were planning a Christmas a
14:42	special after this it was just amazing okay I
14:48	I got the response I was looking for that’s all that matters yup yup anyway
14:57	so chapter 15 then recounts what happens in the immediate
15:03	aftermath of Yahweh defeating the Ethiopians and so first person to show
15:10	up is a prophet of God by the name of Azariah the son of ODed and he went out
15:16	to meet ASA and said to him now hear me ASA and all Judah and Benjamin Yahweh is
15:21	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 for
15:30	a long time Israel was out without the true God and without teaching priests and without law but when in their
15:37	distress they turned to Yahweh the god of Israel and sought him he was found by them in those times there was no peace
15:44	to him who went out or to him who came in for great disturbances Afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands they were
15:50	broken in pieces nations were crushed by Nation City by city for God troubled
15:55	them with every sort of stress but you take courage do not let your hands be
16:03	weak for your work shall be rewarded and this is a true prophecy that was
16:09	given by Azariah and words of encouragement from Yahweh prompting them
16:15	to what to continue to trust in God to hear his words and recognize that even
16:21	if God seems like he’s not around here seek him you will find him he desires to
16:28	be found by you so take heart trust his words and do as he has said now as soon
16:35	as ASA heard the words of the prophecy of Azariah the son of ODed he took
16:40	courage and he goes on a reform binge a good one right getting rid of all of the
16:46	things that are contrary to the Ten Commandments especially that first commandment he put away the detestable
16:52	Idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities that he had taken in the Hill Country of Ephraim
16:59	repaired the altar of Yahweh that was in front of the vestibule of the House of the Yahweh we also learned from First
17:06	Kings that he got rid of all of the male cult prostitutes praise God right so
17:12	he’s he’s really doing exactly what he should be doing he gathered all of Judah
17:17	and Benjamin and those from Ephraim Manasseh and Simeon who were residing with them for great numbers had deserted
17:24	to him from Israel when they saw that Yahweh was with him a little bit of a note here think of it this way there was
17:30	a little bit of an exodus taking place in the northern kingdom uh the northern kingdom is marked by rank idolatry rank
17:38	idolatry and what has happened is that the faithful up in the northern kingdom
17:43	when they see that Yahweh is with King Asa they decide to leave their inheritance in the north and come down
17:50	and live in the southern Kingdom a little bit of an exodus think of it similar to what’s happening with
17:56	Californians leaving California and going to Texas although it’s not for Godly reasons it has more to do with the
18:01	facts that they well they elected a bunch of people who taxed them to death and so they’re hoping that Texas will be
18:06	a little more more merciful tax wise as long as they don’t elect the same kind of officials should be okay right but
18:12	the idea here is is that there’s a there’s a Exodus a flood of people leaving the northern kingdom which is
18:18	going to strengthen Ace’s hand and weaken the northern kingdom
18:23	but here’s where things are going to begin to get a little sketchy all right
18:30	here’s what happened next all of them were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the 15th year of the reign of
18:36	Asa they sacrificed to Yahweh on that day from the spoil that they had brought
18:42	700 oxen 7 000 sheep so this is still in the aftermath of the war with the
18:47	Ethiopians and they entered into a covenant to seek Yahweh the god of their
18:52	fathers with all their heart and with all their soul but whoever would not
18:57	seek Yahweh the god of Israel should be put to death whether young or old man or
19:03	woman now on the surface this might seem good
19:08	but it’s not let me explain this is not merely a renewal of the
19:14	Mosaic Covenant this is adding to the Mosaic Covenant
19:20	and you’ll note throughout the scriptures when we see prophets arise
19:25	and they call Sinners to repentance those who have been Faith less those who
19:31	have committed the sin of idolatry or other sins God always calls them to
19:36	repentance and assures them of his forgiveness but this Covenant that they cut this
19:44	covenant’s different and basically says You must seek Yahweh with all your heart
19:49	all your soul or I kill you you dead who’s going to enforce this
19:58	what’s going to be the um the standard for evidence
20:03	is this really the kind of Covenant that God has made with Israel
20:09	No in fact a good way to think of it is this this is a covenant that is all law
20:18	and no gospel and a covenant that is all law without any gospel in it how long do you think
20:26	they’re going to be committed to keeping that thing you know I always like to talk about my
20:31	time as a Nazarene don’t dance drink smoke chew right and you can always tell the nazarenes in the liquor store
20:37	because they never look up they always you know make sure not to make eye contact right but the thing is is that
20:42	you’ll note that that kind of approach when it comes to God leads to rank
20:49	hypocrisy it legitimately does where they’ve set a standard that not
20:55	even God has kept because the purpose of the law is to show us our sin that’s its
21:02	primary purpose it also shows us what a good work is but to sit here and say well you are going well thank you
21:08	Azariah for your prophecy so we’re going to make it a new we’re starting a new covenant we’re making a new pact with
21:13	God if you don’t seek God with all your heart you’re dead it doesn’t matter who you are if you’re young or older
21:19	whatever yeesh right and here’s the thing you do this
21:24	and it’s just a matter of time before you are caught by your own standard
21:32	and that’s the problem and I would note that people wither away their faith
21:39	isn’t built by such legalistic standards their faith is oftentimes hurt and
21:44	impaired by it you’ll note that if there’s a funny thing that happens when you have a generation that goes hard
21:50	into legalism a form of pietism that is not exactly the piety of scripture and
21:56	they rigidly demand that people obey that standard the generation that grows up underneath that they swing hard to
22:04	the left and they and what do they end up doing they basically end up abandoning God altogether and making
22:10	things far far worse but both errors are wrong legalism pietism not piety
22:18	legalism pietism is one extreme and on the other side you have liberal licentiousness both of them are errors
22:25	and that requires us to consider the scripture teaches us to hold law and gospel intention you cannot break this
22:34	tension and this is where ASA is going to go off the rails now you’ll note
22:39	right out of the shoot after they make this Covenant ASA even goes after one of the most
22:46	privileged women in all of Judah his own mother the Queen Mother he deposed her
22:53	took her out of her job why because she made a detestable image for Ashira ASA
22:58	cut down her image crushed it burned it at the book Brook Kidron and the but the
23:04	high places were not taken out of Israel that’s the northern kingdom he had no say about that nevertheless the heart of
23:10	Asa was holy true all of his days but the thing is you can see he’s drifting he brought into the house of God the
23:17	sacred Gifts of his father his own sacred gift silver and gold and vessels he gives gifts gives tithes and
23:24	offerings to the temple good thing but there’s well something gonna go wrong
23:30	here and then there was no more war until the 35th year
23:35	of the reign of ASAP and this is where peace then disappears
23:42	and you can see what’s happened so all of that Covenant was done in the 15th
23:48	year of his Reign we fast forward to the 35th year of his Reign 20 years later
23:58	and in the 36th year of the reign of Asa ba Asha the king of Israel went up
24:03	against Judah and built Rama basically think of it this way this is an early attempt at Trump’s wall and the whole
24:11	goal here is to keep people from leaving the northern kingdom and coming down to the southern Kingdom to keep them
24:16	bottled in and use Rama strategically as a fortress City that he can then harass
24:21	and maybe even launch an attack against the southern Kingdom so that he might permit no one to go out or to come to
24:28	ASA the king of Judah then ASA took silver and gold and
24:34	watched the word from from the Treasures of the House of
24:41	Yahweh and the King’s house he took it from where he went into the into the the Temple’s
24:49	bank account and decided he was going to empty it
24:56	um isn’t that stealing and isn’t that stealing from you know
25:03	God that’s kind of the point what what what what about this Covenant that you made
25:10	back in the 15th year of your Reign anybody who doesn’t seek Yahweh with all of his heart shall be put to death
25:17	doesn’t matter if they’re young or old right well I would say that stealing from God is um is is the opposite of
25:25	well seeking the Lord right we’re just going to take from God
25:31	okay so he took all the silver and gold took
25:37	it and sent it to the king of Syria his name is Ben Haddad and he said there’s a
25:43	covenant between me and you as there was between my father and your father behold I’m sending to Silver and Gold you go
25:49	break your Covenant with Basha the king of Israel so that he may withdraw from me then Ben Haddad listened to King ASA
25:56	and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel and they conquered ejean Dan Abu maim and the
26:03	store cities of naphtali and when Bashar heard of it he stopped building Rama and let his work cease then King ASA took
26:11	all Judah and They Carried Away the stones of Rama and its Timber with which had been building and with them he built
26:18	geba and mizpah and there’s ASA go on yes job well done we’ve achieved our
26:27	objectives but there’s a problem here
26:32	and that’s a big problem remember that Covenant that you made that you needed to seek the Lord with all your heart
26:39	um so God sends a prophet a Seer by the name of hanani and he came
26:46	to ASA the king of Judah and said to him because you relied on the king of Syria
26:53	and did not rely on Yahweh your God the army of the king of Syria has escaped
27:00	you we’re not the Ethiopians and the libyans a huge army with very many chariots and
27:06	Horsemen yet because you relied on Yahweh he gave them into your hand for
27:13	the eyes of Yahweh run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support to those whose heart is
27:18	blameless toward him you have done foolishly in this for from now on
27:24	you will have wars whoops
27:30	now remember when David was confronted with his sin I can’t remember the whole Bathsheba Uriah the hit type thing
27:36	murder adultery it’s uh still makes the headlines if you think about it when he was confronted by Nathan the prophet
27:42	what did what did David say I have sinned against Yahweh that’s all he said
27:49	that would have been the right thing for him to do but here’s the thing Hypocrites can’t
27:56	Hypocrites can’t ever admit that they’ve done anything wrong it’s like dealing
28:04	with a theological Karen okay it’s a bad bad space to be in and so Hypocrites
28:11	they never do anything wrong they deflect they project they punish it’s
28:17	just a mess and so what did Asa do when he was confronted by God’s prophet
28:23	hanani it says ASA was angry with the Seer and put him in stocks in prison for he was
28:30	in a rage with him because of this which means hanani
28:37	is now being persecuted for speaking the truth
28:44	so note ASA didn’t repent instead he put hanani in prison and put
28:53	him in put him in the stocks which means his hands and his feet were probably
28:59	fettered because you’ll note ancient prisons were not exactly the greatest of places right I’m sure he wasn’t playing
29:06	basketball and lifting weights at the lunch hour out in the out in the playground okay something very different
29:12	so and ASA then also inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time
29:20	and what’s the problem here again he has taken the word of God and
29:28	turned it all the way up to 11 on the law but doesn’t understand how mercy and
29:33	forgiveness repentance and God even forgiving of sins rather than confessing
29:40	he’s now punishing the one who spoke the truth to him and then we learn that God well
29:46	not only took peace away from Judah at this time but very shortly after this
29:52	ASA gets sick and his sickness is kind of a Poetic Justice if you think about it the acts
29:59	evasive from the first to the last the written in the book of the kings of Judah and that so in the 39th year of his Reign just a few years later ASA was
30:06	diseased in his feet and his feet became and his disease became severe
30:12	one has to wonder is this an undiagnosed form of what diabetes maybe that we’re
30:18	dealing with here losing his feet and if you think about it it kind of makes sense he put hanani in prison in the
30:26	stocks fettered his hands and his feet well guess whose feet now are going to be punished as well you see God when he
30:33	punishes he’s very meticulous about how he does it now important to note here the scriptures say very consistently
30:39	that that ASA always had faith in God that is not the problem here ASA here is
30:47	now being disciplined by God because he’s theologically and morally in the
30:53	wrong and as a result of it he’s being stubborn and pig-headed just like Hypocrites are prone to do and so God is
31:02	allowing him to suffer in the hopes that he would repent that he would see his
31:08	wrong and that he would ask God to forgive and maybe even ask Kanani to
31:13	forgive him for doing what he did it says this though terrible words yet even
31:19	in his disease he did not seek Yahweh but he sought to help from Physicians now we have to tear this one apart a
31:26	little bit here in the ancient world the Physicians didn’t exist like the way we
31:31	know them okay so you go to Altru you make an appointment with the doctor right you go in and they run tests and
31:37	things like this and then they they do an MRI Cat Scan they do blood work all this kind of stuff and then they come
31:43	back and say Here’s what’s here’s what’s wrong with you Physicians back in asa’s day were a little bit more in the camp
31:50	of like soothsayers and there was Witchcraft and thing you know things like this involved and this is not a
31:58	good thing so it’s important to note here that this is not telling us that we are sinning if we go to the doctor and
32:06	you’ll note as Christians when we run into the inevitable bodily breakdown
32:12	what do we do we pray right we pray for a lot of people here every single Sunday
32:18	we pray but in praying do we then not seek the help of doctors and Professionals of course we don’t we do
32:25	we go and we see our doctor and if the doctor says here’s what’s wrong with you and prescribe something in a medical
32:31	treatment and it works what do we say thank you Lord for healing me how did he
32:36	heal you through his doctor through your doctors right but here’s the thing
32:42	Asa didn’t seek Yahweh at all
32:47	when faced with his own mortality
32:53	he didn’t even cry out to God at all
33:00	what is that I would say that’s a bad and foolish and faithless thing to do
33:09	because God allows and God brings in inflicts things on people for the hope
33:15	that they would seek Him and repent so ASA slept with his fathers dying in the
33:22	41st year of his reign and what did we learn from this well
33:29	number one peace is one of those things that comes from God but also War
33:35	conflict difficulties pain and suffering these are all brought on by God for our
33:42	good in whatever it is that he sends these things and then we also need to
33:48	recognize this and that is is that Asus story truly is a warning to us a warning
33:54	to us that each and every one of us are capable of falling each and every one of
33:59	us even if we’re ha we had a good start in our lives we can end well we cannot
34:05	rest on The Laurels of our faith from yesterday but we must continue to believe Christ is the one who endures to
34:12	the end will be saved but endures in what legalism no
34:17	endures in penitent Faith In Our God who is the one who has brought us peace if
34:24	you were to think about it this way the one who ended up having to die for Ace’s foolishness for Aces like ridiculous
34:33	stubborn refusal to recognize his own sin and that had to be his great great
34:39	great great grandson Jesus Who Bore his sins on the tree and you’ll
34:44	note that unlike ASA Jesus never pillaged and plundered the temple of God
34:50	or stole its money in fact he was quite zealous because there were people who
34:55	had turned the temple of God into a money-changing venture and Jesus made a whip of cords and drove them out get out
35:03	of here right and also Jesus he humbly humbly continued to seek
35:12	the father even in the face of his own death and he cried out Lord God my father if
35:20	it’s possible let this cup pass for me but again not my will but your will be done where ASA ended poorly Christ never
35:30	ever faltered and this is good news for us because each and every one of us we
35:37	do have seasons in our lives when we do falter lent is a time for us to again
35:42	consider the different ways in which we have fallen short and maybe one of the ways that we have fallen short is taking
35:50	the gospel for granted and somehow putting our faith on a while autopilot
35:55	by by letting the law just can continue to be the thing that we focus on rather
36:00	than both law and gospel but Christ is the one who has bled and died for us and
36:07	he has promised us because he is the Prince of Peace that we now are
36:12	reconciled to God the Warfare is ended and that because of what he has done and
36:18	we and we now trusting in Him because he’s given us the gift of faith we have nothing to fear from God even if there
36:25	be war or difficulty or prison in our lifetime or whatever it is that faces us
36:30	but all of this he’s assured us that we have a right standing before God because he has gone to the Cross borne your sins
36:38	and mine even sins of King Asa so as we again consider this Lenten time
36:46	a time of repentance it’s good to look back on our life as
36:51	Christians and ask the question have we slipped into quite innocently
36:57	and yet very deadly have we in any way slipped into a form of legalism
37:05	a form of pietism that masquerades as true piety
37:11	when we are confronted with our sins do we get annoyed and want to punch the pastor in the face of the person
37:16	delivering the message or do we recognize that it’s true that we have fallen short right are we hypocritical
37:25	and claiming that we have a covenant with God and a right standing with him while all the while doing the very
37:31	things that that Covenant says that we ought not to do right you’ll note that in biblical
37:38	Christianity there is no room for hypocrisy none at all because in biblical Christianity all have sinned
37:45	and fall short of the glory of God you and I all of us together and there is no place for us to look down on any other
37:51	person because we’re all down on the same level the level of Sinner saved by
37:56	grace through faith so may God grant us to end well
38:03	to run our course well and to finish well unlike King ASA whose story stands
38:10	as a warning to us of those who trust in their good works rather than in God In
38:16	The Name of Jesus Amen

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