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So you're there in Second Chronicles chapter 14 and we are continuing our study through the kings and we are just getting started really with the kings of Judah. So we did Rehoboam and then we did Abijah. So if you remember Rehoboam reigned for 17 years and then Abijah only reigned for three years but it was an interesting story with Abijah even though he only reigned for three years there was definitely a cool story with him but Asa reigned for 41 years so he's got a big chunk here and Asa is a really good king and so with these kings it seems like every really good king has some fault that's brought up there's something that they do and it's usually at the end of their reign they just fall off the wagon for some reason that happens with Asa it happens with Josiah and those are like two of the big kings it happens with Hezekiah and just things that they're really good kings but then at the end of their reign they just can't finish off their life without doing something stupid or messing up somehow. But let's go first of all let's go to First Kings chapter 15 because there is stuff said about Asa in First Kings but most of the stuff actually chapter 14, 15, and 16 is all about Asa in Second Chronicles so they're not super long chapters but they are chapters that are just dedicated to things about Asa and we see in First Kings things that are brought up about him more on the negative side and that's usually the way it goes in Kings is you see more of the negative side of them and then Chronicles usually gives the good side and the unseen side to these kings but so I want to get into the First Kings first of all in First Kings chapter 15 verse 9 it says and in the 20th year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Asa over Judah and 40 in one year reigned he in Jerusalem and his mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalem and Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord as did David his father and he took away the Sodomites out of land and removed all the idols that his father's had made and also Maacah his mother even her he removed from being queen because she had made an idol in a grove and Asa destroyed her idol and burnt it by the brook Kydron but the high places were not removed nevertheless Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days now some interesting information here first of all Maacah is Rehoboam's wife okay so that would make this his grandmother so sometimes in the bible it'll say father but it's talking about a grandfather same mother it'll be talking about a grandmother so it's still true it's his mother but it's a you know obviously grandmother right and so we see that he removes her from being queen he takes out the Sodomites now that's not mentioned in the Chronicles but that's one thing that's brought up here is that he takes the Sodomites out of the land and you know that's something that his father or his grandfather Rehoboam didn't do okay go back to first King chapter 14 verse 22 dealing with Rehoboam because it makes a point to say that the Sodomites are there in Rehoboam's day and if you think about it Abijah only arranged for three years so there's not that big of a space between Rehoboam and Asa right it's kind of this short little three year period between those two reigns anyway so you can almost look at Asa as being like coming in right after Rehoboam anyway but that also has to do with how old Rehoboam was 41 years old when he began to reign so he's already a little older when he started he didn't start as a kid or anything like that and so but anyway so going into this in verse 22 so first Kings chapter 14 verse 22 it says in Judah did evil on the side of the Lord and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed above all that their fathers had done for they also built them high places and images and groves on every high hill and under every green tree and there were also sodomites in the land and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel so notice that the sodomites are mentioned here and if you look back into the law as far as Leviticus when it talks about sodomy and it talks about men with men and all that stuff it talks about how it pollutes the land and how they did all these abominations and it goes through a list of all kinds of things not just sodomy but like bestiality incest you know all these different things murder all these different things that are going on and how it pollutes the land and during Rehoboam's reign he didn't do anything about it you know they built these high places they allowed the sodomites to be in the land well Asa steps up and just gets rid of the sodomites and then Jehoshaphat his son spoiler he gets rid of the rest of them right it's like Asa didn't he missed a couple and he gets rid of them then fast forward hundreds of years you get to Josiah and he breaks down the sodomites houses like houses that sodomites lived in that were near the house of God so you can kind of see this progression as far as they're like all right we got him out of land we got every last one of them out of land and by the way we're gonna rip down their houses and get that out of our face you know so you know Asa is you know obviously a righteous King and notice that it says he did right in the eyes of the Lord in chapter 15 and verse 11 and he took away the sodomites out of land okay so it's not like well he did right inside Lord but he took the sodomites out of land that displeased the Lord you know now that'd be ridiculous to say anything like that but all that to say is that there's something interesting here though when I was studying through this is that notice in Rehoboam's day they had they built these high places well when we were reading 2nd Chronicles 14 it looked like he got rid of all the high places well in 1st Kings chapter 15 and verse 14 it says but the high places were not removed so that's interesting you know go back to 2nd Chronicles chapter 14 and this is just my thought process on this because this is like I said when you look at those so-called contradictions you got to look at every word right now there's a couple theory there's a couple thoughts with this it could be the fact that well at that time you know he didn't take away the high places but eventually he did because we're gonna see that there comes a point he's gonna have rest for 10 years and then and then he's gonna make this covenant you know basically they're gonna follow the Lord so it could be that before that he didn't take away the high places but then he makes this covenant to where he's like alright now we're getting serious about it we're getting rid of everything right and that's when he got rid of all the high places so it could be just a matter of like when in his reign did he get rid of the high places or it could be the fact that it's specifically telling us that he got rid of the high places in the cities of Judah but there was also Benjamin that was a part of that kingdom and it could be stating like okay Benjamin still had high places in it though he took care of Judah but he didn't get rid of Benjamin so there's a couple ways to look at this but if you look at 2nd Chronicles chapter 14 and verse 1 it says so Abijah slept with his fathers and they buried him in the city of David and Asa his son reigned in his stead and in his days the land was quiet ten years and Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God for he took away the altars of the strange gods in the high places and break down the images and cut down the groves so notice he's taking away the high places and commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers and to do the law and the commandment and also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images and the kingdom was quiet before him and he built fenced cities in Judah for the land had rest and he had no war in those years because the Lord had given him rest so it could be that you know basically before this is when he had the high places and then he made this covenant you basically said okay we're gonna get serious about this and all that so there's different ways to look at that but to me I I side towards the that basically the beginning is rain he got the sodomites out but he left the high places there but then you know eventually he decided okay it's time to get rid of all these high places everywhere or he could just say well it was just in Judah that he got rid of them but in you know Benjamin maybe they didn't or something like that so but I tend to believe that he eventually just got rid of all of them okay so he had rest for ten years and then there's this this Zara the Ethiopian that comes out to meet him and in verse nine we're gonna see that verse nine it says and there came out against them Zara the Ethiopian with a host of a thousand thousand and three hundred chariots and came unto Marisha now what's a thousand thousand a million okay so that's why when you're in the when you're in Revelation when it says there's an army of two hundred thousand thousand what is that two hundred million okay so you just look at it as a thousand times a thousand you just add the zeros together okay that's the easy way of doing it just put all the zeros together and then put the one in front of it there you go but yet a million and three hundred chariots okay so that's a huge army now their army because before that it numbers Judah's forces and Benjamin's that's why I was saying that there might be a split there with the high places because it is splitting up Benjamin and Judah as being like these two forces that are a part of that southern kingdom but Benjamin Judah had had three hundred thousand and Benjamin had two hundred eighty okay so they pretty much had about the same but basically five hundred eighty thousand so they had a force but I mean that's almost half not quite but it's almost half the forces of zero and so you can definitely see this it's kind of like the Abijah thing if you think about it right Abijah had Jeroboam coming against them how much did Jeroboam have? Jeroboam had eight hundred thousand men and Abijah had four hundred thousand so it's kind of like history repeating itself where you have this force that's almost double you coming at you and so in this case the Ethiopian it's a foreign invader but this is where Ace is gonna trust in the Lord so we kind of see Ace's assault here now he already had decided he says he was perfect before the Lord like David his father so he's already said it in his heart he's gonna seek the Lord and all this but we really see where it hits the road here and where it really matters is where he's gonna trust in the Lord and verse 10 there says then Asa went out against him and they set the battle on array in the valley of Zephthah at Moratia and Asa cried unto the Lord his God and said Lord it is nothing with thee to help whether with many or with them that have no power help us O Lord our God for we rest on thee and in thy name we go against this multitude O Lord thou art our God let not man prevail against thee so this is a great passage in this this phrase here as far as it is nothing with thee to help with whether with many or with them that have no power now a phrase like this has been mentioned before go to 1st Samuel chapter 14 1st Samuel 14 now is this not the truth when you look throughout the whole Testament or just in the New Testament to that how God has done great things with a few number of people and so this idea of well we don't have a lot of people or you know how are we gonna do anything against this great multitude that is is pardon the expression but that's God's bread and butter right there being that's what that's what he does and that's what he's saying here is it is nothing with thee to help whether with many with them that have no power but you know what you know what it actually is more so on the side that I believe God would rather work with them that have no power with them that are a few numbers because he gets the glory for it because in Gideon's case that was the whole reason because Gideon had more people than 300 but God had them sent he sent him home said that's too many guys you'll think that maybe we could we did it on our own but when he had 300 people against the million no one's gonna say yeah you know we did it on our own it was just because we're that good right you had to know at that point that it was God that did it but this is in 1st Samuel chapter 14 and verse 6 this is Jonathan so another great Bible character but Jonathan uses the same language but this is the one I usually think of honestly when I think of this phrase is what Jonathan says here it says in verse 6 it says and Jonathan said to the young man that bear his armor come and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised it may be that the Lord will work for us for there is no restraint to the Lord to say by many or by few and so that is as true as the day is long that God can deliver no matter how many you're going against and or how many you have on your side because God can deliver you out of that and you just need to trust in him and Asa knew that and he's crying out to the Lord we said he's you know I know that you can help whether with many or with them that have no power and that's that's kind of like he's kind of just expressing what it means to have few meaning that you don't have power you're powerless but that's where the wicked flee when no man pursueth but the righteous are bold as a lion it talks about how ten thousand shall flee at you know a hundred of you right one man shall flee or a thousand men shall flee at one man it talks about and talking about the righteous compared to the wicked and when God is on your side that's the number you should be dealing with kind of one to a thousand right and so I just think of Jonathan here and just think of how Asa just is trusting in the Lord and notice that it doesn't say we trust in me it says we rest on me and so that's just kind of another way that you're just basically resting on him and isn't that like salvation when it comes to getting saved you're just resting on the Lord you're just kind of just falling into his arms you know fall you know leaning on the everlasting arms if you will to bring you through you know when it comes to getting saved to go to heaven when it comes to just life but when when the forces are against you you just need to rest on him because it's time for him to work you know it's time for him to do it and that's what isn't that what Jonathan says it says it may be that the Lord will work for us and he knows that it doesn't matter what number the number is so that's what we need to be thinking about but going on with verse 12 there and second chronicles chapter 14 that God obviously delivers him out of the hand of this Ethiopian it says so the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa before Judah and the youth Ethiopians fled and Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar and Ethiopians were overthrown that they could not recover themselves for they were destroyed before the Lord and before his host and they carried away very much spoil and they smote all the cities round about Gerar for the fear of the Lord came upon them and they spoiled all the cities for there was exceeding much spoil in them they smote also the tents of cattle and carried away sheep and camels in abundance and returned to Jerusalem so not only did God deliver them it out of their hand meaning that he saved them from this but he also made them rich and got all the spoil with it and so just kind of a double you know you can't think of the double cure so to speak saving us from wrath you know making us pure but also just the fact of saving us from hell but also we get rewards in heaven for the work that we do for him and just all that that goes into serving the Lord and that it'd be enough if he just saved us from hell wouldn't it that would be enough but God is obviously above and beyond gracious to us and gives us more than we can ever even think of but but going on from there so go to 2nd Chronicles chapter 15 so at this point ace is a really good king right he's you know getting rid of all the high places he's he's uh you know trusting in the Lord and notice that they have rest they have rest from their enemies when people trust in the Lord but it doesn't mean that there's never gonna be a battle right because it doesn't say like ace because most of the time let's just be honest most of the time when you're reading through here the king messes up and then God brings a battle upon them right is that what happened with Solomon Solomon had peace and then he delve into all those stupid strange gods because of his wives to where God's like alright well now you're gonna have war and same thing with every king seems like well they mess up they don't follow God they're in prosperity and then God's like alright you're not gonna have peace anymore time to go to war but in this case he just had rest and he was following the Lord so just because you're following the Lord doesn't mean you're not gonna have some battles here and there but notice the difference in the battles they didn't get decimated they completely destroyed their enemy and they were made rich by it but that comes with trusting in the Lord and listen it's not trusting I've heard you ever hear this you know it's not brave to beat up someone you know you can beat up you know when it comes to like if you're in a fight and you're like I know I can destroy that person that doesn't take any type of courage at that point the courage is when you're going up against somebody that be and be thinking that person could probably take me out but I'm still gonna have to fight him I've still got it I still got to go go for it right that's real courage is when you don't think you could actually win but you're gonna do it anyway okay and that's when it comes down to trusting in the Lord it's easy when it's you know you just know that I can beat this battle but let's just face it most of the time when you're dealing with persecution as God's people you're it you're against the world the world is against you and you're always always the minority so it's always gonna feel that way it's always gonna feel this matter of like a million against one or you know like it's two to one against you and it's always gonna feel that way but that's when you need to trust in the Lord and so but in second Chronicles chapter 15 there's gonna be a prophecy that's given to Asa and it's basically it most of the time you know like I said you know when you're dealing with this stuff it's usually like they did something wrong and then the Prophet has to come and review them right and this is like one of those cases where it's not that way like the Prophet comes to tell them something good now at the end of aces life we're gonna find that that happens he's gonna have a rebuke and he doesn't take it well but in this case it's more so the Prophet comes to him and just kind of given him proposition saying listen if you'll follow the Lord and do this and so let's let's see what the Prophet says here it says in verse 1 there it says in the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded and he went out to meet Asa and said unto him hear ye me Asa and all Judah and Benjamin the Lord is with you while you be with while you be with him and if you seek him he will be found of you but if you forsake him he will forsake you now for a long season Israel has been without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law but when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel and sought him he was found of them and in those days and those times there was no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries and nation was destroyed of nation and city of city for God did vex them with all adversity be strong therefore and let not your hands be weak for your work shall be rewarded so he's kind of it's almost like a exhortation of like keep it keep keep doing what you're doing and just remember this that when the children of Israel were without the true God and they were going after these other gods that God vexed them for it so it's kind of like this reminder it's kind of like a cautionary sermon prophecy that he's giving to him because Ace is not being rebuked here he's just basically saying listen be strong let not your hands be weak for your work shall be rewarded this is usually not the sermon you get in the Bible right this is this is kind of an anomaly when it comes to when reading through especially since we went through all the kings of Israel and they're all bad and gee here you're like oh okay finally someone to hold on to nope no he ends up not being that good in the end anyway I mean he was okay right but he still did evil inside of the Lord to a certain extent but then you get into this and you're like okay here's a king that is doing right and a prophets coming to him and he's just kind of saying just keep doing what you're doing but remember that if you do this this is what happened to them and I believe what he's saying here because you can look at this to be like was he talking about the northern kingdom you know they're without the true God I believe this is like basically a perpetual thing that had been going on since the beginning of Israel's you know inception right meaning that if you look at the book of Judges it's just this this revolving door of them being in captivity and then being delivered captivity delivered captivity delivered captivity delivered it's just over and over again that they get delivered then they get fat and sassy they get prosperous and then they forget the Lord they start worshipping other gods start doing other things and then they get taken into captivity they're vexed they're in adversity and then they come back to the Lord and just this over and over and over again I believe what he's doing here is he's just reminding him of that that you know there was times where Israel's without the true God God vexed them for it and then they got right with God right and it's just this revolving door but you need to be reminded of that especially when you're in times of peace you know when it comes to when I preach on certain subjects and you're like well is anybody dealing with this no but we don't want to deal with it right it's better to have a cautionary sermon of a rebuking type to just say hey we're not in this right now we're not dealing with this but let's not get there okay let's not get comfortable let's not get fat and sassy to where we're like well we want all these people to Christ let's just take it easy no we need to keep pressing forward we need to be strong and let not our hands be weak because it says that our work shall be rewarded and so we need to be constantly moving forward and this is the kind of sermon I see coming from Azariah and you know and Asa is gonna bite on him and he goes even further from that and we're gonna see what he says here he thinks it's to an extreme to a really big extreme as far as following the Lord to the point that if you're not following the Lord you're gonna be put to death that's where he puts it okay listen the doors are open here okay if you don't want to follow the Lord you know that is not our you know like I'm not saying that necessarily what he commands here was like out of the mouth of God or anything like that but he took it to an extreme right he's basically okay okay you tell me to seek the Lord all right anybody in our in our in our nation that doesn't seek the Lord you're gonna be put to death and you know that's extreme that's an extreme stance but you can just see his zeal for the Lord in that now what's interesting about this passage and I just noticed this when I was studying this out is that in verse 1 there notice what it says it says the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded but then look at verse 8 because verse 8 is where we see where we see Asa's response it says in verse 8 and when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet he took courage and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin and out of the cities which he had taken from Mount Ephraim and renewed the altar of the Lord that was before the porch of the Lord there's a couple things here I'm gonna get to the Oded thing but this could be the case where there was still some high places still some idols and they eventually got taken out so second chronicles is just stating that he eventually got rid of all the high places all the idols but it just didn't happen all at once at the beginning okay but notice that it says Oded the prophet it starts off saying that's Azariah the son of Oded now first of all know this that Oded there's another Oded okay so there's an Oded that's like 175 years later when you're dealing with Ahaz the king which is Hezekiah's father okay so that's like a hundred and some years almost 200 years ahead that there's this other Oded so don't get this confused with that Oded because Oded is a very major character in the Bible so you're like who's Oded anyway but but all that say is that there is two different Oded but this is an interesting thing where I saw this as far as the fact that in one place it says Azariah the son of Oded and then here it says Oded the prophet that's all I got I don't know now I'm just kidding I'm gonna tell you my thoughts on this it's interesting because this phrase the sons of the prophets is brought up in second Kings a lot dealing with you know like Elijah and Elisha and it says you know the sons of the prophets sons of the prophets and this could be the thing basically there was Oded the prophet who got this prophecy and he sent his son to go tell the prophecy does that make sense and because I'm just kind of trying to logic through this because I believe both right you know Oded prophesied this and Azariah his son prophesied that I mean that's just what the Bible teaches there right but I believe Azariah his son was the person that was the feet on the ground giving the prophecy right it'd be kind of like if if Oded saw the vision God talked to him and said here's the prophecy to give to Asa right and then he says son Azariah go and tell Asa this prophecy right that's legitimate but it also kind of answers this sons of the prophecy like what is this sons of the prophets you know like why do you keep saying sons of the prophets okay and it could be this that you know you basically had prophets and then they would send their children like that were prophets as well but they kind of sent them as the Aaron the messengers to go send off these messages because a lot of times you'll see that you know one of the sons of the prophets came over and said this and one of the sons of the prophets came over and said this and this could be one of those cases where you had Oded the prophet and then Azariah his son which would be a son of the prophet that went and actually told Asa this prophecy okay and that's something that you know I'm just gonna be honest with you and this is not the first time I read through Second Chronicles but I've never caught I never caught that I never caught that in one place it says Azariah the son of Oded and then it was the prophecy of Oded okay and so just little things like that people are gonna be like oh it's a contradiction in the Bible close it up you know that's ridiculous okay like I said I think it's very clear that they both prophesied it but it's probably the case that Oded got the prophecy from God and he sent his son Azariah and Azariah was filled with the Spirit right the Spirit of God came upon him and he prophesied it to to Asa right so it doesn't say that Oded it just says that he heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet doesn't say that Oded was there speaking to him right Azariah was there speaking to him but it was the prophecy of Oded okay so anyway you're like who cares no I I care about those type of things because those are the type of things that people will bring up and when I'm reading through there I constantly want to reconcile those type of things and you know I think that stuff's interesting anyway but I just automatically thought of the sons of the prophets when I was when I was thinking about that because that's a phrase you're probably a whole sermon on the sons of the prophets be like what is this talking about why is it keeps saying like the sons of the prophets this and the prophets that I'll say this they're not single men in a dormitory yeah it's not the school of the prophets by the way you know and that's what you know these Bible colleges they'll take that phrase sons of the prophets be like well this is where they had dormitories and it was all single men now actually when you see it it's talking about like the the wife of one of the sons of the prophets so yeah that doesn't seem to mesh up with your dormitory like single men rooming up together and and all this other stuff so anyway I just thought that was interesting but Asa you know he hearkened unto this and like I said this could be the case where remember he had 10 years of rest then he had this battle with Zara the Ethiopian and then this prophecy comes to him and then he's talking about like taking out like these abominable idols and it's like wait a minute I thought all that was gone well what I think is going on is at the beginning of 2nd Chronicles it's basically kind of telling you everything that he did at the very beginning before it even happened because actually it talks about how he took away Maacah his mother which be like his grandmother from being Queen but it doesn't happen until after he makes this vow here so it's kind of like he tells you all this information up in front and then then you get into the details of when it happened okay now going on from verse 9 there it says and he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh and out of Simeon for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance when they saw that the Lord his God was with him now that's interesting to notice that you know his zeal and following the Lord and adversity and all that had caused other people from Ephraim Manasseh and Simeon to come down to him now we know that with Rehoboam that the Levites all came in right the Levites left their suburbs and came down into that southern kingdom and then there was other tribes that from every tribe there are people that came down but with Asa even more came in right and so they're just like he has the true God God is with him we're gonna follow him so it's basically like this dispersion from the northern kingdom after this battle and just seeing that God was with them because Asa started reigning at the very end of Jeroboam's reign if you you know it was like in his 20th year and Jeroboam reigned for 22 years so basically Asa was coming in at the tail end of Jeroboam and he reigned for 41 years so he reigned through a lot of the stuff as far as all the conspiracies that were going on up there so you can imagine that Jeroboam Israel is in a mess right because after Jeroboam dies his son only reigned for two years and that's just like conspiracy after conspiracy after conspiracy they burned down Tirzah like all these things are going on and you kind of just look at Asa down there is like this rock that's trusting in the Lord and he's making this covenant with God they're prosperous they're in rest they're not having any war and you just imagine people are just like yeah we're going down there you know you need to get your house in order up here so but that just shows you that the stability of being someone that trusts in the Lord you know you're not tossed to and fro you're not into all these you know problems that come with being against the Lord and so where was I at with that I lost my place oh yeah verse 10 so they gathered yeah so they gathered themselves together in the third month in the 15th year of the reign of Asa okay so now we know where we're at when this happens right so they had rest 10 years but we don't know again was the first five years you know when you know he was kind of getting rid of the sodomites but he didn't get everything out then 10 you know that marker we had dressed for 10 years that's when he got rid of all the the high places again I'm just trying to answer where in one place that says he didn't and then one other place that says he did but in the 15th year of the reign of Asa is when this happened and they offered unto the Lord at the same time of the spoil which they had brought 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep so big offering here kind of reminds you of Solomon a little bit in like all the offerings that he did says that whosoever would not I'm sorry yeah they and I'm sorry in verse 12 there and they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul that whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death whether small or great whether man or woman this is intense right here and so this is this is you know they're taking this covenant and and I'm not I'm not exactly for this meaning like this is intense I'm not saying like taking the covenant is is inherently sinful but it's not exactly the smartest thing to do okay so I just swear not at all right because you don't know whether you're gonna be able to perform these vows all that stuff so taking a vow or making this type of covenant where it's like we're gonna do this or die I think you should in essence like say hey I'm gonna serve the Lord till the day I die do or die right that should be your mentality but to sit down and say God I'm gonna do this and if I don't you know kill me it's like good night you know that's because we're all we all make mistakes and and as soon as you do that now you're kind of putting God against the wall to say hey you told me to do this right you made the Covenant and so but it shows how serious Asa was right I mean he loved the Lord and he wanted to follow God and you know he is a great King and so in verse 14 there says in there and they swore unto the Lord with a loud voice with shouting and with trumpets and with cornets and all Judah rejoiced at the oath but they had sworn with all their heart and sought him with their whole desire and he was found of them and the Lord gave them rest round about and also concerning Maacah the mother of Asa the king he removed her from being Queen because she had made an idol in a grove and Asa cut down her idol and stamped it and burnt it and burnt it at the brook Caidron but the high places were not taken away out of Israel nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days so again this high place is not being taken away it says in Israel so I don't know like I said when it when you're dealing with these high places are you dealing with because they took out you'll see in other places where they got some of the stuff up above with the Asha and as far as Bethel and stuff like that so I don't think it's in Jew I think what it's basically stating is that Judah they got rid of all those high places and all that stuff but they're just with some places they didn't get rid of those but again it could be the timeline of when he does it but going on from there in verse 18 it says and he brought into the house of God things that his father had dedicated and that he may himself had dedicated silver and gold and vessels and there was no more war unto the fifth and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa so really think about this reign right because he reigns for 41 years and he had rest for 10 years then at this 15 year mark so at some point between that 10 years and this mark where where they're gonna have rest again they had this battle with Zerah right the utopian I don't know how long that battle lasted or how long that went on for but you know they had one big war that God delivered him out of and then rest for the rest so he pretty much had rest for 35 of those years that he reigned except for that one battle and he only rains for 41 years so we're gonna see as he goes on with his life here that he ends up making a mistake in the next year so he had rest up to the 35th year of his reign but then going on to chapter 16 there so again 14 15 and 16 is all about Asa and I'm just taking you step by step through this reign so just some interesting things but this is where he messes up and what it comes down to is he tried to get rid of this problem without God okay he didn't rely on the Lord like he did before and in verse 1 there it says in the sixth and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah and built Ramah to the intent that he might not that he might let I'm sorry they might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the king's house and sent to ben hadad king of Syria that dwelt at Damascus saying there is a league between me and thee as there was between my father and that and thy father behold I have sent thee silver and gold go break thy league with Baasha king of Israel that he may depart from me and Ben hadad harken unto king Asa and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel and they smote I John and Dan and Abel Ma'am and all the store cities of Naphtali and it came to pass when Baasha heard it that he left off building of Ramah and let his work cease then Asa the king took all Judah and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timber thereof wherewith Baasha was building and he built there with Geba and Mizpah and if you know what's going on here is that basically Baash is king of Israel and so Israel is up north and you have Judah that's down south and Baash is coming down trying to take out Judah and he's building this Ramah okay so he's basically building this fortress type city that's basically be able to come into Judah well what Asa does the higher Syria which is above right north of Israel and has him come down and start taking out Dan and all those so Dan remember Dan's the north the most northern part of Israel from Dan to Beersheba that's always I remember from Dan to Beersheba so Dan's north Beersheba is the southern portion the most southern portion and so basically he brings out this two front battle and he and so as he hears about this stuff in the north Baash has to go up there and deal with that and he leaves off building and that's where Judah comes in and takes over that whole area and you know deals with their fortress that they're trying to build there so that's pretty much what happens there and so you can see that he wasn't trusting in the Lord here he was basically trying to deal with a foreign foreign power to help him out here and he's gonna get rebuked for it okay so remember he got the sermon that was like the good exhortation and like keep up the good work well when he's getting it remember he's down what at the 36th year of his reign so he's getting kind of to the end of his life here and to the end of his reign and he's just kind of falling off the wagon it just seems like every King does this every good King just kind of falls off the wagon at the very end of it but in verse 7 there we're gonna see the prophet coming it says and at that time Hanadi the seer came to Asa king of Judah now Hanadi the seer now remember when we went through Saul or talked about Saul I think we were talking about this that Samuel was called the seer it says is the seer here but it says in time past they called him a seer but now the seer meant a prophet okay so that's what that word means you know it says the seer it's just saying Hanadi the prophet okay it's just another way of saying the same thing but Hanani this is interesting too because Hanani's son is gonna rebuke Asa's son okay go to 2nd Chronicles 19 I just want you to see this because it's just interesting how these prophets work how the father will be prophesying against the one king and then the prophet's son will be there to prophesy against that king's son and it just kind of goes down the line with generation to generation Jeremiah's father was there you know prophesying against Judah before Jeremiah was there you know and you just see this correlation of these prophets and their sons the sons of the prophets so but but in 2nd Chronicles chapter 19 verse 1 and we're gonna get through this obviously with Jehoshaphat but it says in verse 1 it says in Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned to his house and peace to Jerusalem and Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord so you see Jehu the son of Hanani rebuking Jehoshaphat and then you see Hanani rebuking Asa which is Jehoshaphat's father okay so just kind of see I just like seeing those correlations where you see okay there's Hanani you know that's why you've brought up in conversation there because you could just said Jehu the prophet came to him but so anyway back in the 2nd Chronicles chapter 16 we see what he says and so in verse 7 there it says because thou hast relied on the king of Syria and not relied on the Lord thy God therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host with very many chariots and horsemen yet because thou didst rely on the Lord he delivered them into thine hand for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him herein thou has done foolishly therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars so notice that it gives you a little more information too about God and just his thought process we kind of knew this from all the stories in the Bible but his eyes are going to and fro to show himself strong right to show himself strong on the behalf of those whose heart is perfect right so that you just imagine is that God is just looking for the man that has his heart perfect toward him to show himself strong that's what he's just searching for it just trying to find him trying to find those that are following God and I want to follow him and want to be strong in him and saying let me show myself strong on that person and so it's just interesting to see that is not only just up there like hearing our prayers but he's actually looking for it he's on the offense looking for someone that wants to rely on him and trust in him and so we need to be like that now Asa didn't like this okay so in verse 10 there then Asa was wroth with the seer and put him in a prison house for he was in a rage with him because of this thing and Asa oppressed some of the people the same time so Asa just kind of has his downfall at the end of his reign and it you know it's all because he got I mean he just got his toe stepped on right he messed up what he should have said yeah you're right I what was I thinking but instead he gets mad at the messenger and throws him in the prison okay so Asa who's a fantastic King this is the king that was saying listen let's seek God and follow him and if you don't you're gonna you should be put to death and then over here he gets a weak moment where he's just like I'm gonna get I'm gonna get Syria to help me in this this Avenue right and then he gets mad at the Prophet for pointing out the obvious and puts him in the prison and he oppressed some of the people at the same time so you can think that just because he got his toes toe stepped on he took it out on the people of God and you know when he should have just fessed up to the problem and so you can match this is where the typical this is the sermon you were looking for right the sermon where it says you messed up now you're gonna have wars the rest of your life because that's just the the broken record of the Kings right is that they don't follow God and he said I would have given you rest you would have been in prosperity now you're gonna have wars no more rest and so you know it's just that broken record that happens with them and and it also shows you too that it doesn't matter how good of a king or how good you were in the past it does not mean that you can't mess up and get into this pit of you know God's punishment coming up on you so you can't look at your past look at all the great things I did and all the stuff we did in the past no what are you doing right now you know and it talks about this in Ezekiel when it talks about the fact that you know the righteous man and all his righteousness but if he commits iniquity he's gonna die for that iniquity meaning that it doesn't matter how much righteousness you did over here if you do this wickedness over here you're gonna get punished for it and so you need to be thinking about that as far as just being faithful until the end and I know we usually talk about that and be like well you we're usually trying to tear down the whole like endurance at the end be faithful until the end because we're trying to tear down people that say you got to do that to be saved where that's not what we're talking about obviously salvation is eternal life you don't have to hold out faithful until the end you don't have to live a godly life to the to the end or at all for that matter to go to heaven but we should be thinking about the fact that we should be faithful unto death and we need to be thinking about I want to go out saying like I was fighting to the very end for the Lord and that's how I went out I want to go out like this and what happens with Asa at the end of his life is just kind of sad he was this great King that did these great things then he messed up he got mad at the seer and he's gonna have wars the rest of his reign but then notice that he gets this disease in his in his feet and so in verse 23 there it says the rest of the all the acts of Asa and all his might and all that he did and the cities which he built are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah never to let I'm sorry you're in a different chapter so I'm reading first Kings chapter 15 you're probably like where in the world are you at so you're in second Chronicles 16 I want to read this I'll read this in first Kings chapter 15 because it says nevertheless in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet that's what it says in first Kings 15 verse 23 but go to the second Chronicles chapter 16 verse 12 sorry sometimes these things blend together as far as which book I'm in here so in second Chronicles 16 verse 12 it says an Asa in the 30 and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet so notice that's his old age he reigns to the 41 he reigns 41 years so he's at the last two years of his life when this starts happening so the last two years of his reign he has this disease in his feet and going on from that it says until his disease was exceeding great yet his disease he's yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord but to the physicians and Asa slept with his fathers and died and what in the one and fortieth year of his reign and they buried him in his own sepulchres which he had made for himself in the city of David and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and diverse kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries art and they made a great a very great burning for him okay so obviously you know he was a great king and even though he messed up in the end you know he was still by and large a good king and that it doesn't say that he did evil inside Lord says his heart was perfect toward the Lord okay did he mess up with you know not seeking the Lord and not relying on the Lord yes did he mess up by putting the seer in prison in the prison house you know because he's mad at him and all this stuff yes he messed up there did he mess up not seeking the Lord to get his feet healed right yes but he didn't go after other gods you know he didn't start seeking other gods or enchantments or anything like that you know his heart was perfect to Lord just like David David messed up too you know he wasn't perfect in the sense of never messing up he committed adultery had he had your riot killed he numbered the people when he shouldn't have numbered them or he messed up and how he did it right and you know all that stuff that David did but ultimately Asa was a good king that did right in the eyes of Lord and his heart was perfect before him but he did at his old age it's just interesting that once he stopped trusting in the Lord he just stopped all together he's just like I didn't trust in the Lord to take care of this problem with Bay Asha and then it's just like I got this disease in my feet I'm just not gonna try to get a hold of God about this I'm just gonna trust in these physicians okay now disclaimer here I'm not against all physicians okay I'm not against doctors like all in general but let's just face it there's a lot of things that doctors can't they're not miracle workers here okay you know they don't know everything and actually there's a lot of you know sometimes I use doctors like where did you come from did you go to American Express last night is that like how you got this job and I'm talking about like Med Express you go in there they're like googling so I was like I could have googled that you know I true story okay I had this vertigo problem where I was uh I was getting dizzy and I literally the room was spinning I couldn't stand I couldn't walk and what it was is that my my inner ear got inflamed from an infection and like basically the fluid in your ear just wasn't flowing right all this stuff right so really all I needed was what they gave me eventually was like a steroid which is what brings down inflammation right and took care of the problem all that right so basically is an infection but I went to I'm going to like the WVU Express or whatever it was and they're like I was telling them what the problem was and they're just like oh that's interesting you're like I'm gonna have to go look that up like what are you looking it up on who's like all we Google you know I'm like what do you mean I'm like I could have done that you know like I looked on there said I had cancer I was gonna die you know like like what that's not gonna change anything so anyway they didn't know what the problem is they're like how they may never may never get it right I'm like I'm gonna kill myself then because there's no way I can live like that where I can't even stand up at all right so I'm telling you a story because that those people knew nothing like and then I will go to like an actual doctor knows what he's talking about they're like yeah I know exactly what this is you know and they told me exactly what it was and but then you got this plethora of people that knew nothing about the problem and they were just like throwing stuff on the wall to see if it would stick right and when I see it like physicians of no value you know like job talks about that he says you're physicians of no value you know I don't want you to throw out the baby with the bathwater meaning like say well all doctors are horrible they don't know anything okay but know this that there are some that are dumb there are some that were on the bottom of that totem pole when they got out of med school and they don't know that much they you know and or they think they know a lot anyway but all that say is that listen there are things that I do believe that if you went to a doctor they can help you out with they can you know take care of the problem but there's some things that are out of their hands it's just something that you know they're not gonna be able to fix there's not a pill for everything and there's not something that they even know what's going on and this is where you really need to rely on the Lord and I know this is hard and you know it's easy for me to say and you know I said because everybody has different issues that they're dealing with but this is really where you need to trust the Lord I went go to Matthew chapter I'm sorry mark chapter 5 and and there's some things where you know where it's just like Paul where he had an infirmity and he besought the Lord thrice about this infirmity and and Jesus just said you know my grace is sufficient for you and he just and he just had to deal with it you said all right and my weakness I'm gonna be strong in the Lord and God you know basically was using that infirmity on Paul to kind of keep him relying on the Lord because if you had everything and everything that you didn't have any struggles in your life you didn't have any infirmities you didn't have anything for dealing with and you're on cloud nine at all times you're gonna end up not following the Lord because those type of things are what keep us in check those are the types of things that keep us on our knees and keep us praying to God keep us trusting in the Lord if I had a million if I was a millionaire right now I didn't need to work that would be horrible and I'm just I'm just saying meaning that you know the work where's my work ethic I end up being a lazy bum that doesn't do anything and then just just lives life or whatever and so I'm not saying I want to be financially strapped at all times right there's always extremes to that spectrum but I want to be able to work you know work a normal day get money be able to pay the bills and not be like worried about my finances all the time but I don't want to be rich either give me neither poverty nor riches the Bible says and so but the same thing goes with infirmities meaning that you know sometimes sicknesses you know I'll get sick and then I'll get better I'm like man this feels fantastic it's almost like this weight this reminder of like how how good it is to be healthy you know and not be sick and so anyway I'm kind of saying that because everybody's sick right now no not everybody but you know a lot of people deal with especially around this time everybody gets sick and all that stuff I'm not against medicine I'm not against doctors and I preface that with certain types of medicine right but but all that I want to say is that there are physicians that don't know what I'm talking about they're of no value and you really need to ultimately in every case be trusting in the Lord and not just be like well I'm just gonna go to this position they're gonna help me and I'm not gonna seek the Lord in this that's foolishness okay in Mark chapter 5 verse 25 it says and a certain woman which had an issue of blood 12 years and had suffered many things of many physicians and had spent all that she had was and was nothing better but rather grew worse so get get what happens here you know this woman has this issue and she's been going to physicians she spent every bit of her money on these physicians and she's actually gotten worse and then she comes to Jesus right and it says in verse 27 it says when she had heard of Jesus I'm sorry when she had heard of Jesus came it came in the press behind and touched his garment for she said if I may touch but his clothes I shall be whole and straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague now obviously this is a miracle that happens here with Jesus I'm not saying like you know you pray to God and it's just gonna like take care of that disease or whatever but let's not discount the fact that God still heals people and that God can still do this type of stuff meaning that if you're really if you want to trust in the Lord this is where you need to be go to James chapter 5 because James chapter 5 touches on this issue too when it comes to infirmities and sicknesses and stuff like that and I do believe that this is more so dealing with things that are like life-threatening okay meaning that if you have a cold we're not gonna call the elders of the church together and anoint you with oil and say please help Johnny's cough over here okay I believe we're dealing with a major thing like if someone found out they had cancer or someone found out they had some terminal disease that they need prayer over then that's where we're getting into this realm does that make sense where it's this is serious matter and we really want God to get in there on it that's not saying that you shouldn't pray for Johnny's cough okay or you know pray for these minor things too but this case in James chapter 5 I believe is dealing with serious matters okay and so in James 5 verse 13 it says is any among you afflicted let him pray is any Mary let him sing Psalms is any sick among you let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much and so you know if you're ever in that case where you just have this infirmity or you have this issue you know don't be afraid to come up and say hey listen I'd really like for James 5 to be the case you say do you really get yeah we'll use oil I mean that's what the Bible teaches here and you're like oh we're getting Catholic here no that's what the Bible teaches okay I'm against stupid you know Catholic things and stupid things with all that stuff but listen if the Bible explicitly says that you're gonna take oil and anoint them and pray over them guess what I'm gonna do I'm gonna take oil and I'm gonna pray over you and I'm gonna do what the Bible says but I don't believe this is like a blank check to say well whatever infirmity you have he's gonna heal you of it because that would negate like Paul's circumstance like where God said my grace is sufficient okay but I I would not take this out as far as this being something that would be if you really want to get a hold of God obviously prayer and fasting is a way to go with this because you may look at Asa and say well what could he have done to you know go you know trust in the Lord and deal with this stuff what could he have done well there's a lot of things you could have prayed he could have fasted you got a hold of God and seen if God would have taken care of I believe that if he if he delivered a million you know that army of a million out of his hands that he could have taken care of his feet too and so and listen I'm not Benny Henn up here I'm not saying like hey listen come up to me we'll pray and you know all your firmities will be gone what I'm saying is that let's not take away from what God can do and if God if God forebears and God forebears on it you know all we can do is just ask all we can do is do what he says that we should you know he's got some options there right he says hey if you're sick or whatever then come up to the elders of the church unless I'm the pastor right no other elders but but if we were a big enough church where we had multiple pastors or whatever or even deacons and stuff like that then then we could do that but all I'm saying is that in the end don't you want to say hey I've done everything God told me to do when it came to asking about this it's in his hands right I prayed about it I fasted about it I even asked you know I did what James chapter 5 says and I'm talking about serious issues too you know but you know brother Charles hopefully don't mind me it's the same but you know like brother Charles had cancer and and I believe pastor Huggins did that same thing and you know and he went to doctors and he did therapy and all this other stuff and and it's in remission and all that stuff and praise the Lord for that but I will not take out the fact that God was in that that what if what if what if Charles hadn't done that you know it hadn't asked you know pastor Huggins to do that would we be in that same case I don't want to know yeah I mean I don't want to know like that it would have been different and besides the fact of just knowing that how you know that God was gracious in that but what I'm saying with that is that you need to take advantage of all the opportunities you kind of think of where that buys you with the Trump blowing the trumpets what if they wouldn't have blown the trumpets and taking advantage of that promise that God said that hey you know the army's coming against you blow those trumpets and I'll come deliver you what they took advantage of it you know if I was one of these kings I'd be like I'm going to start taking advantage of that right where's the trumpets at give me the praise blow those trumpets when the army's coming against me and you know it doesn't mean that there's this blank check to mean that God will definitely heal you like I said so I'm not up here this prosperity Benny hand like come up here I'll like hit you in the head and like you're healed but what I'm saying is that God has done it before he can do it again he's the same God that we see in this chapter dealing with Asa that we see in James chapter 5 that is to the New Testament Church James chapter 5 and this isn't a whole sermon on that subject it's just something that I was thinking about when I was dealing with when I was thinking about Asa and at the end of his life and if he just would have sought the Lord you know I don't know if that disease killed him I'll say this I'm sure didn't make the last two years of his life very pleasant okay and so there's a lot to learn from Asa we see his zeal for the Lord we see how he was seeking the Lord but there's definitely things to learn about the fact that hey you can start off strong and you can have a really good life when it comes to that but why not do it to the end why not just be faithful until the end why not just trust in the Lord to the end and that's something that you know wherefore let him that thinketh he stand to take heed lest he fall and many generations have done this where they started off good and I think of like the IFB movement and how they had this good push with their soul winning and doing all this stuff and then it's just like at the end they're just they they're just like ah we're just gonna give in to this stuff it's like why are you stopping now and that's where another generation has come up and be like no we're gonna do what we should be doing and and then starting off strong but let us not be like that let us not fall off like that let us not compromise let us not just end our old age you'd be like well you know I've run my course time to get liberal you know what I mean it's like why would you start at the end of your life to get liberal and all that when you're so close to the end you know and I don't know maybe Asa just didn't know when he was gonna die you know but if he knew if Asa knew he only had like four years left and why wouldn't he just been like you know what I'm just gonna just keep trusting in the Lord till the very end and you know that's just the sad part when I see these kings and I know they've been gone for a long time you know but I read these stories and I'm just like why couldn't you just hold off to the end why can't you be that one king they'd be like that was the best king there was nothing bad said about him but it's just like every king every good king there's something that they do wrong it comes down to obviously no one's perfect but you know I I just that's what I want my life to be I want it to be that I did it to the end and I didn't just give up I didn't stop trusting in the Lord and all that and we need to just be reminded of that so but that's King Asa he reigns for 41 years so he's a big chunk a big chunk of that that time of Judah there and he reigns all the way past into or into Ahab's reign so like I said you know he kind of goes through all these conspiracies and people being killed and all that stuff on the northern side he's kind of like that foundation down there and then Jehoshaphat is gonna be a good king too so we have some good kings coming up or at least that one then we're gonna go through some bad ones good ones bad ones good ones bad ones so but anyway let's end with the word of prayer. Father we thank you for today and thank you for the souls that were saved today and Lord just pray that you would be with us throughout this week and with our work help us get everything we need to get done especially as we were taking a retreat Lord just pray that you would be with us and be with us in our fellowship and time of leisure help it to be restoring or basically just a refreshing to just have this little vacation and then we can hit the ground running again for another year there you know here at Mount Baptist Church and just help us to always be trusting in you to rely on you to rest in you and not to falter in that and Lord we love you and pray all this in Jesus Christ's name Amen