Complete Dependence
2 Chronicles 16:7-10,12-13
At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. 8 Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. 9 For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.” 10 Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison. At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people. 12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians. 13 Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his ancestors.
King Asa was the great, great grandson of King David and the 5th king of Judah. The Lord had promised David that he would never fail to have a descendent on the throne and Asa was a part of that promise. For 35 years, Asa ruled in a way that would be considered quite well. He served the Lord with all his heart and led the people of Judah to do the same. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and God was with him and gave him great success as a result. He worked hard at reform, stamping out idolatry and building up the nation as God fearing people.
In the 36th year of King Asa's reign however, he made a serious mistake. Baasha, king of Israel went up against him and began to block him in not letting anyone in or out of the territory of Judah. King Asa took some sent some gifts to King Ben-Hadad of Aram who was ruling in Damascus and set up a treaty with him to have him help to fight off Baasha. Ben-hada agreed, Israel was run off and Asa fortified his position...problem solved. Now on the surface there really doesn't seem to be anything wrong with King Asa's actions. In fact, he had nothing but good intentions. Some might say he was being a wise leader not allowing Israel to move in and disrupt what he had worked so hard to build.
The mistake King Asa made was this: He had relied on his thinking and on another king instead of relying on God. He didn't need any help from any other source because he had the Lord almighty on his side. The Lord's arm had never in the history of leading His people been to short to bring deliverance no matter what the odds were or no matter how the situation looked. All that was ever needed was complete trust and dependence on Him. God was actually offended that there was even any tiny bit of concern over a situation which wasn't addressed by simply relying on His greatness. Remember when David displeased the Lord by simply taking a census of the nation just to find out how many able bodied men he had to be able to fight? He was rebuked harshly and punished because he didn't need to concern himself with that. With 1 or 1 gazillion, it didn't matter because they were under God's care and He was all that was needed. David learned a valuable lesson, repented and never made that mistake again.
Now Asa was making a similar mistake. Like David, he did not mean to sin, they both had good intentions and while what they did would not be thought of by most as necessarily wrong in and of itself, it was foolish and the Lord saw it as not trusting Him. Also like when David made his similar mistake, the Lord sent a prophet to rebuke and declare judgment on Asa for his folly; Asa, who had experienced 35 years of peace in his reign would be at war the rest of his days as king. Unlike David however, Asa did not have a repentant and broken heart for what he had done. In fact this great king took a turn for the worse. He became angry with the prophet...so much so that he put him in prison. He also began to brutally oppress the people. This great king's heart began to grow cold and instead of turning to the Lord in repentance, he moved farther and farther in the wrong direction. His anger would not allow him to humble himself and return to complete dependence on the Lord. His pride kept him trying to handle things in his own strength, with his own ideas and certainly without the help of God.
Many religious people today are operating in this way today. by attempting to earn a right standing with God with dependence on a set of rules, regulations or even (or especially) old covenant commandments, they are not relying on the only thing that is needed and indeed the only thing that can bring the desired result at all. That is the simple divine Grace and Favor of God and His love for his New Covenant people. It is simple dependence on Him and nothing else. Not Him plus anything else...nothing at all that we contribute. We can't earn it. We don't deserve it. And it is an offense to God to try to arrive at a justified state with Him by any way other than His perfect way which is through the blood of Jesus and His finished work on the cross. Any effort of our own, including attempting to be justified through the law (the ten commandments) fails (see Galatians 2:16). That law or code was only put into effect to show us our utter inability to keep it and lead us to throw ourselves to the mercy of God...which is right where we find Jesus. When we are at the end of ourselves and all our striving with nowhere left to look but up, we see Jesus and the finished work of the cross that beckons us, "Come, and believe in me...and you shall be saved." Glorious Grace of our Lord! That's too easy you say? I must have a part in it. I'm not good enough, I have to get it all together before I can come. Or a thousand other excuses that the enemy keeps people from coming to Him, too often spoken from the mouths of religious legalists. But the beauty of our Savior is that it truly is that simple. It is He who has paid our sin debt for us making us free from the penalty of death. It is His righteousness that is given to us as our sin was transferred to Him in the divine exchange that took place when He was our sacrificial lamb.
His way is the one and only true way. If salvation is to be found at all, it must be by His method and no other. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths". The prophet Jeremiah also warned, "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord.6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. 7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.8 They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” 9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" King Asa was never able return to an attitude of complete dependence upon the Lord again. Within three years he was afflicted with a severe disease of his feet but even in this he would not seek help from the Lord. He became determined to seek help according to natural ways. He only sought help from doctors, he had lost his way and the ability to believe trust completely in God for the impossible. Two years later, King Asa died. We must continue to preach the pure unadulterated and un-mixed Gospel of Grace and point people to the beauty of Jesus Christ and His finished work of the cross. Without "Grace Saturation" there is always the temptation to fall back into works righteousness whether from guilt from the enemy or condemnation from religious legalists.
This calling of Freedom Church is to be true to the preaching of the truth of the Gospel of Grace! As watchmen on the wall we will declare the truth of the Gospel in an effort to see souls saved and also to protect believers from going the way of Asa making a good start then steering off course. Shake off the chains of bondage to legalism and experience the glorious freedom that comes through the true Gospel of grace. Heed the warning if applicable to the Church in Ephesus, "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God".
.png)
Pastor Tony,
Freedom Church, USA
No comments:
Post a Comment