Asa - Fading Faith

Introduction

I began to name this the ‘Bible Person Study’, but chose to go with the ‘Bible Character Study’. I hesitated to name it that, as I don’t want to diminish the fact that these are real people we’ll be examining. But the reason that it’s named the Bible Character Study is because we’ll be focusing on the person’s character throughout. But don’t forget that these were real people, with real lives that made real choices that had real consequences.

I. Asa’s Nature

((What is their History / Background?)

Third (3rd) King of Judah

Of course, after the kingdom had split

Son of Abijam, Grandson of Rehoboam

Great-grandson of Solomon

Great-great grandson of David

Reigned for 41 years (1Ki. 15:10)

A Long reign - a year longer than David or Solomon

During the Israeli Reigns of:

Jeroboam; Nadab; Baasha; Tibni; Omri; Ahab

(Show the chart)

II. Asa’s Notoriety

(What they are known for?)

His Faith Brought a Cleansing (2Chr. 14:1-4; 15:1-16)

At the onset of his kingship, we see that Asa set about to rid the land of false idol, false gods, false worship and immorality (in the form of sodomy)

So he began his reign by cleaning up some of the mess he inherited, going back to the days of Solomon.

He obviously did that because of his faith in the God of Heaven: 2 Chronicles 14:4 “And commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment.”

His Faith brought a Cleansing to the Nation

His Faith Brought Peace (2Chr. 14:5-7; 15:19)

Notice that the land ‘had rest’, no wars as the LORD gave him rest.

Because of his faith in the LORD and obedience - and using his office to honor the LORD, the LORD gave him a time of peace.

His Faith brought a peace

His Faith Brought Prosperity (2Chr. 14:7b)

But not only did they have peace, they experienced a time of prosperity - they were able to build instead of break.

In Ch. 15, we see this great chapter where the prophet Azariah comes to Asa and lays out this conditional blessings upon him: 2Chr. 15:2-7. We see Asa’s response:

He put away idols & renewed the altar of the LORD (v8)

Asa was strengthened by them seeing God upon him (v9)

They sacrificed unto the LORD (v11)

Notice 2 Chronicles 15:12–13 “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.”

Asa told his momma what for: (v16)

He gave unto the House of God (v18)

His Faith brought Prosperity

His Faith Brought Victories (2Chr. 14:8-15; 16:8)

Next we have an account of where a great Ethiopian army came against Asa & the Kingdom of Judah.

We see a breakdown of battle-ready forces in v8-9

580,000 out of Judah & Benjamin

1,000,000 men & 300 chariots for the Ethiopian army

More than double! Also, throw in 300 chariots - the ‘tanks’ of the olden days and you have a nation far outnumbered in strength!

BUT GOD MAKES THE DIFFERENCE!

We see this great plea of Asa in 2 Chronicles 14:11 “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.”

Notice again the cause & effect: 2 Chronicles 14:12 “So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.”

We’re also told of other victory we have no details of in 2Chr. 16:8.

His Faith brought Great victories

His Lack of Faith Brought Turmoil (2Chr. 16:1-9)

In Ch. 16 we see a turning though…

From Ch. 15 to Ch. 16, 20 years pass - and Asa has changed. As Bane said ‘Victory has defeated you’.

When trouble came, Asa didn’t trust in the LORD.

Baasha went to building up Ramah to besiege Judah - and instead of trusting in the LORD - as he did in the past - he trusted in the king of Syria. He took out the treasures of the House of God and made a bribe unto Benhadad to bring war from the north, to get Baasha from the south.

We see the consequence in that in 2Chr. 16:7-9

His Lack of Faith Brought Sufferings (2Chr. 16:12)

Then over the last couple years of his life, he suffered in his feet - what it was exactly, I don’t know. What I do know is that he went to the doctors, but not to the LORD.

His Lack of Faith brought Sufferings

III. What Makes Him Noteworthy

(What Lessons we can Learn from them?)

Everything Hinges on Faith

As we see through the life of Asa, everything - our successes and failures - hinges on our faith or lack thereof.

As we know and have been studying on through the book of Galatians, Salvation is by Grace through Faith.

Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Romans 3:22 “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:”

John 3:15–16 “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

We know that Salvation is faith-dependent, church but what I hope you either know or desire you to know is that the lives we currently live is completely and totally faith-dependent as well.

Have you considered that, ever decision we make we make through the lens of faith?

Asa trusted God - and God brought the victory

Asa trusted in flesh, and - IN THE LONG RUN - suffered greatly for it (he and his people).

Paul was speaking to the church in Corinth, and declared: 2 Corinthians 5:7 “(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)”

Faith is trusting God for your protection, provision & production in every aspect of life. And when we trust Him, good things happen, when we don’t - bad things happen… MAYBE NOT AT THE ONSET - but they do show themselves eventually.

Everything Hinges on Faith

Tearing Down Idols is Good and Right in the Eyes of God (2Chr. 14:2-4)

One the first acts mentioned is Asa’s willingness to cleanup the ungodly worship going on in his nation. This was not a problem that happened overnight - (Read 1Ki. 11:1-8)

Solomon himself was responsible for building up these places of worship for false gods!

So, (presumably) in the latter years of Solomon’s life, he was beginning to pollute the nation with high places.

Rehoboam reigned 17 years

Abijah reigned 3

Over 20 years idol worship had grown in the land - and infected the kings household… And Asa said ‘enough of this’! And started tearing them down.

And guess what - God said it was good!

Now, before I go further, I want to parse this out in two different ways:

Personally

It’s good and right in the sight of God for you to tear down the idols & high places of your life. You know that, right?

If you would do a thorough self-examination and identify those idols in your life, and begin tearing them down - God would be pleased. Because it’s good and right.

And every blessing that the nation experienced from that, you can experience personally.

Peace

Prosperity

Victories

If you want those in your life, get rid of the idols that pollute the land.

It applies Personally, but also Nationally

Nationally

I’m going to say something some would consider controversial… Let me ask this question: Do you think it would be good to outlaw, condemn and tear down the ‘high places’ in America? The Catholic & Mormon churches - the Kingdom Hall’s and the like? It was right in the sight of God in that day, and I believe He’d be pleased with it today!

Do you know what else should be torn down? All these ‘cafe’s’ and ‘hot spots’ and such. Worshipping the god of money!

Go ahead and add the vape shops and pot houses worshipping the god of pleasure!

I believe God would bless the cleansing of the land such as that! He did in Asa’s day!

But in our day, we have this ‘live and let live’ mentality - not understanding that the sin of others rubs off on our neighbors & children - EVEN OURSELVES!

(Ill.) The McKaymee’s sings a song called ‘Getting used to the dark’. The premise is that Christians instead of being the lights we’re supposed to be, we’re just ‘getting used to the dark’ness around us. Even now, we think very little like God does!

Isaiah 55:6–9 “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, Call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts: And let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Asa knew that God was not pleased with how his nation had given themselves over to idolatry and false religion - AND GOD IS NOT PLEASED WITH HOW AMERICA HAS DONE THE SAME!

Asa was in a position to do something about it - and he did! He didn’t let family or popularity deter his decision. ‘Oh, momma goes to church there? NOT ANYMORE!

Tearing down idols is good and right in the sight of God - both personally, and nationally.

God Condones the Outlaw of Sodomy (1Ki. 15:11-12)

Not only was God pleased with the ridding of the idol worship, but he was pleased with the outlawing and deportation of the sodomites from the land as well.

(Side note - God is in favor of walls & deportation… and I have several more Scripture to back up that fact)

Church, speaking about ‘getting used to the dark’, our nation has grown in favor of sodomy tremendously over the last 15-20 years - with the avalanche effect happening over the last 10. BUT WHILE AMERICAN CULTURE HAS CHANGED, GOD HAS NOT!

Do you know that sodomy used to be against the law in America? (Same for adultery) AND THEY STILL SHOULD BE TODAY!

Listen, I understand that they need Jesus… but I’m ok with giving them a choice - either repent from that wickedness or here’s a plane ticket. Take that mess elsewhere - maybe Gaza, they like queers over there it seems.

God condones the outlaw of Sodomy

God Blesses the Nation who’s Dedicated to Him (2Chr. 14:6-7)

We see that the land enjoyed the blessings of God because of their repentance. They turned (at the behest of Asa) from their wicked ways, and God’s blessings came down upon them.

Psalm 33:12 “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; And the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.”

There’s a reason why America ascended to superpower status within the world in less than 100 years. It’s because this country was founded upon the God of the Bible.

Consider these quotes:

George Washington: “ It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and Bible.”

Benjamin Franklin: Constitutional Convention of 1787 | original manuscript of this speech “God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel”–

John Adams and John Hancock: We Recognize No Sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus! [April 18, 1775]

Church, this is the attitude that permeated our nation - starting from the pilgrims who left England and braved a voyage at sea which saw a high percentage not survive just for the opportunity to worship God in Spirit and in Truth! THE AMERICAN SPIRIT WAS MADE ALIVE BY THE HOLY SPIRIT!

And so God blessed this country in a mighty way. But we’re not the same country we were.

The truth is, neither was Judah - but they saw revival! And it’s not beyond America to see revival with the right attitude, leadership and mindset!

God blesses the Nation who’s Dedicated to Him

God is Big Enough to Fight your Battles (2Chr. 14:8)

Here we see how outnumbered the COI were… but it didn’t matter. God was on their side, and that gave them the only advantage they needed.

They could have been fighting with pitchforks and spades and conquered that enemy!

Consider Shamgar: Judges 3:31 “And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.”

Gideon: A pitcher with a light in one hand and a trumpet in the other - 300 destroyed the multitude

Joshua: Marching and the walls come down

Church, we must consider just how big our God is!

Our God spoke the world and everything in it into existence in 6 days

Our God ‘made the stars also’ as an after thought (how many stars are there, btw?)

Not only that, but Our God loved us enough to die on a Cross for our sins - this proves His love for us that He’s willing to die for us, GUESS WHAT? HE’S WILLING TO FIGHT FOR US AS WELL!

Whatever your problem, God is big enough to work it for your good and His glory!

God is Big Enough to Fight your Battles

When you Trust the Flesh, you Rob God of Glory (2Chr. 16:2; 1Ki. 15:18)

All’s Not Well that Ends Well (2Chr. 16:1-6)

Following the Flesh has Consequences (2Chr. 16:9)

It’s Foolish to Fault the Preacher (2Chr. 16:10)

And Demonstrates a Backslidden State

If you Don’t Recall what God’s Done, you’ll Forget that God Can Do (2Chr. 16)

Principles for Prayer and Physicians (2Chr. 16:12)

Nothing wrong with Seeking Medical Help

Nothing wrong with Praying for Self

God can Help!

Prayer Shouldn’t be Neglected

Conclusion