Thank you very much.
Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the faith supported at this church. Great to see you all here for our Thursday evening service.
In all things, have a seat. We have a hymnal. I open up those hymnals to the song of 70.
You can begin to sing the service by singing the song of 70, will Jesus find us watching.
Will Jesus come soon before his servants, when the wind will blow down?
They call him in, will they find us watching, with the lips of trim and dry?
Oh, can we say we are ready, ready for the storm's arrival?
Say, will they find me? Will we be still watching, maybe, maybe when the Lord is sure to come?
In the night that dawned on the early morning, we took all our sorrows.
Then, to the Lord, we restored our talents, yet we had so many crowds on board.
Oh, can we say we are ready, ready for the storm's arrival?
Say, will they find me? Will we be still watching, maybe, maybe when the Lord is sure to come?
Have we been true to the trust he left us? Could we seek to do our best?
If we obey the Lord God lets us, we shall then be truly blessed.
Oh, can we say we are ready, brother, ready for the storm's arrival?
Say, will they find me? Will we be still watching, maybe, maybe when the Lord shall come?
If we obey the Lord God lets us, we shall then be truly blessed.
If he shall come at the dark or midnight, will he find us watching there?
Oh, can we say we are ready, brother, ready for the storm's arrival?
Say, will they find you? Will we be still watching, maybe, maybe when the Lord shall come?
Song number 162, To God be the glory.
Song number 162.
To God be the glory, great grace he hath done,
So loved be the world that he gave us this son,
Real in his life, in the children for sin,
And of faith the life made that all may go in.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice.
Oh, come to the Father, where Jesus the Son,
And give him the glory, great grace he hath done,
Oh, come to the Father, where Jesus the Son,
And give him the glory, great grace he hath done,
Oh, come to the Father, where Jesus the Son,
And give him the glory, great grace he hath done,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice.
Oh, come to the Father, where Jesus the Son,
And give him the glory, great grace he hath done,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice,
And give him the glory, great grace he hath done,
Oh, come to the Father, where Jesus the Son,
And give him the glory, great grace he hath done,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice.
Oh, come to the Father, where Jesus the Son,
And give him the glory, great grace he hath done.
Amen.
That's how we go over the announcements.
Immediately following, we'll be singing song number two,
but if you're not, we'd like to turn it around.
All right, great to see everybody out tonight.
Thanks for coming.
We've got our service times there listed on the inside,
on the upper left hand.
We've got Sundays at 10 30 a.m., again at 5 30 p.m.,
Thursdays at 7.
We're going to be in 1 Kings.
We'll be in chapter 15 tonight.
We've got the salvation and baptisms listed below that.
Go ahead and count up salvations going back to Monday.
Monday, Monday, Monday.
Tuesday, I can't remember if we got anything on Tuesday.
We didn't.
And then what about Wednesday or today?
Anything for the group today?
Is this a no?
Okay, this is a zero.
This usually means one.
When you move it like that, I guess that means no.
Anyway, happy birthday to everybody
celebrating in the month of May.
We've got the annual Mother-Daughter Tea Party
coming up next Saturday, a week from this Saturday.
So if you're planning on attending that,
please be sure to sign up on the back.
And then also below that, the FWBC Tucson's
small town, quote unquote, soul winning trip
because Sierra Vista really isn't that small.
It's smaller than Tucson, but that's not saying a lot
because this is a fairly larger city.
But we're going to go out and knock those doors
Saturday, May 21st, if you care to join us
for a day of soul winning out there.
We'll be here in the morning.
Probably have some form of something edible.
I don't know that it's going to be a full blown breakfast,
but I'm sure I can scratch up some donuts
or something for you, coffee.
And then we'll definitely feed you out when we're out there.
We'll get you lunch, we'll get you dinner,
and hopefully we'll get some soul saved while we're at it.
So come on out for that.
And then on the back, we've got
the weekly Bible memory passage.
So those that are going to memorize this,
the children and young people you've got until this Sunday
to get that done, who's already got it done?
You already got it done.
Did you already get your ice cream?
All right, good.
Who's going to get it done?
All right, even better.
Below that, there's the Hopi Reservation mission trip.
That's something that's going on up in Tempe.
If you want to go to that, please just speak with me.
Don't forget Mexico Monday is coming up.
You can also speak with me for details regarding that.
Please let me or my brother Segura know if you're going.
And then the other upcoming events below that,
the men's preaching night and the church camp
is right around the corner.
I'm excited about that.
I'll have more details about that shortly,
but that is going to do it for announcements.
We'll go ahead and sing one more song tonight.
Let's sing it tonight.
Oh, Jesus is my Lord.
Oh, the sunshine, blessed sunshine.
When the rains fall, happy moments flow.
When Jesus shows his smiling face,
there is sunshine in the shore.
There is vision in my soul today.
A carol to the king.
And Jesus is singing in the songs that never sing.
Oh, the sunshine, blessed sunshine.
When the rains fall, happy moments flow.
When Jesus shows his smiling face,
there is sunshine in the shore.
There is springtime in my soul today,
for when the Lord is with me.
The heart of all peace is in my heart.
The fires of grace appear.
Oh, the sunshine, blessed sunshine.
When the rains fall, happy moments flow.
When Jesus shows his smiling face,
there is sunshine in my soul.
There is madness in my soul today.
And hope and grace and love for blessings which he gives me now.
For joys that ought to abide.
Oh, the sunshine, blessed sunshine.
When the rains fall, happy moments flow.
When Jesus shows his smiling face,
there is sunshine in my soul.
Amen.
At this time, if that's the author of the play,
as the play goes around, let's turn around to 1 Kings 15.
That's 1 Kings 15.
As always, we'll read the entire chapter.
Please follow along silently as Brother Gabriel
reads to us from 1 Kings 15.
1 Kings 15.
2 Kings 15.
1 Kings 15.
off. Even if things aren't exactly right in our lives, even if we're not doing things
exactly as we should, or if we find ourselves in some kind of sin, the answer is to get
right. The answer is to recognize that and to get the ball rolling in the right direction.
And I think that's what you see here with the Bijam. He's someone who kind of comes
in to his reign after his father Rehoboam and Judah is in a really bad spot spiritually.
And rather than just going full tilt over to idolatry rather than just completely forsaking
the Lord, he tries to get that ball rolling in the right direction. Now did he do everything
he should have done? Of course not. I'm not championing him as some great king here. But
I think the lesson is that at least he had enough integrity to try to start getting things
going in the right direction. That's what I believe. And of course, again, he's done
a lot of wicked things. I mean, look at verse three, it says, he walked in all the sins
of his father, which he had done before him. And his heart was not perfect with the Lord,
his God. So he's walking in the sins of Rehoboam and we already went over that. All the things
that Rehoboam was guilty of, all the things that Rehoboam had done, all of the sin that
he committed, very wicked. So this is continuing on. This is still something that's taking
place. But his problem is that his heart was not perfect with the Lord, his God. It wasn't
that he completely forgot the God of his fathers. He didn't forsake the Lord. It's just that
it wasn't perfect. It wasn't complete. It wasn't whole. He wasn't wholly given over
to the Lord. And that's a situation we can find ourselves in if we're not too careful.
Because we still have the inward man. We still have the old nature. We still have a spirit
that dwells within us, that lusts at the envy, that wants to do bad, that wants to do wrong,
that wants to forsake the Lord. And what we need to learn to do is, even if perhaps we've
lived a life of sin or we have some things in our lives that ought not be there, we need
to learn to do what Abidjan did and try to get that ball rolling in the right direction.
If not for our own sake, at least for our prosperity, those that are going to come after
us. So again, the problem here is that he allowed these sins to continue. And the reason
why those sins were allowed to continue is because of the fact that his heart was not
perfect with the Lord, his God. And here's the thing. We could look at Abidjan and get
real critical about him. But what we really ought to do is examine our own hearts and
say, well, is my heart perfect with the Lord my God? Am I desiring the things of God? Do
I want to serve God? Or is there a part of me that wishes I didn't have to have anything
to do with the Lord? Is there a part of me that wants to just get away from God and forsake
God? Because if you don't recognize that, if that's in you, there's a good chance that's
exactly what you'll do. And it's interesting here, it goes on in verse 4, it says, Nevertheless,
for David's sake did the Lord his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son
after him, and to establish Jerusalem. So it was for David's sake that the Lord gave
him, meaning Abidjan, a lamp in Jerusalem. He said, I'm not just going to completely
snuff you out. I'm not going to just extinguish this flame. I'm not just going to take the
lineage of David and do away with it. It was for David's sake that he gave him this
lamp in Jerusalem to set up his son after him. So the Lord is saying, look, I know I'm
not going to get all the way there with you Abijah, but Asa is going to be the one that
I'm going to use to really bring Judah back around. And it's interesting too, because
in verse 5 it says, it's because David did that which is right in the eyes of the Lord.
So God, these several generations down the line, is still remembering what David did.
And this should be an encouragement to us that we can have a very profound influence
on the generations to come. That's what we should seek to do. I'm not just looking to
raise my kids and then just be like, okay, well, I'm done now. I did my part. I want
to raise my children and then also be such an influence on them that I'm an influence
even unto my grandchildren. Even unto people that will come after them. Through the preaching
of the word of God, maybe they won't know me or know who I am exactly, but my influence
that I've had, the life that I've lived, the way I've conducted myself in this life will
have a profound impact on my children and that I'll get the ball rolling in the right
direction that it'll carry momentum into the generations that come. And maybe I didn't
do everything I should have done in this life and maybe my life wasn't everything it should
have been. Maybe we find ourselves a little bit like at Abidjan tonight, but there's
an Asa that could come up after us. And we might not be perfect with our heart in every
way, but you know what? We should concern ourselves with the generations to come. And
we could also even go so far as to say, well, I want to be like a David. I want to be somebody
that has such an influence that even my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren are still profiting,
are still blessed of God because of the life that I lived. You say, well, what was so special
about David? Why does David get to have this influence? Why does David get to have the
Lord still for his sake looking out for his grandchildren and great-grandchildren? Well,
verse 5, because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. So look, if
you want to bless your children, you want to be a blessing to them, you want them to
be a blessing to you, you want them to carry on in your footsteps, you want them to serve
the Lord, you want them to raise godly children, you want to keep this godly heritage going,
well that's not just going to happen because you want it. Look, it's one thing to want
that, it's another thing to make it happen. You know, it's one thing to know these things,
but what does the Bible say? Happy are ye if you do them. If you know these things, happy
are ye if you do them. Just because you know that's the way it ought to be doesn't mean
it's going to be that way. You have to do these things, right? David had to do that
which is right in the Lord in order to procure this blessing, not just for himself, but also
for those that would come after him. He had to do that which is right in the eyes of the
Lord. It's the same with us. If I want to be that influence, if I want to make that
impact on my family, this church, this community, for generations to come, then we have to do
which is right in the eyes of the Lord. And we'll see here in a minute that that comes
at a price sometimes, that that isn't always as easy as we'd like it to be. He said he
did that which is right in the eyes of the Lord and turned out aside from anything he
commanded all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. And of
course we know that story about the sin with Bathsheba, the adultery and murder that was
committed there. And that's, you know, forever a black eye on David. Because here it is,
coming up again. You know, otherwise it would have been a perfect record for David, except
for that little, that one little incident, you know, where he killed a man and committed
adultery with his wife. You know, other than that. So those things are still haunting him.
But all in all, you know, he was a righteous man. He was a man after God's own heart. He
did that which is right. And his influence, his impact, you know, is still, even in the
days of Abijah, you know, still being felt. It's still influencing God. God's saying,
well for David's sake, I'm going to make sure that I, you know, I'll preserve Abijah.
He's not perfect with me. But I'll go ahead and preserve him. And I'll set up his son.
And I'll, you know, set him up after him to establish Jerusalem. Now look at verse 6.
It says, and there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. Now
the rest of the day, excuse me, the rest of the acts of Abijah and all that he did were
they not written in the books of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. There was war between
Abijah and Jeroboam. And Abijah slept with his fathers and they buried him in the city
of David. And Asa, his son, reigned in his stead. And of course, you know, we're going
to read about Asa here. I'm not going to have time to get to this week. You know, there's
just so much here when you start to look at all the parallel passages. You know, we're
just going over some things very quickly in this passage. But, you know, I'll be honest.
I'm not in any rush to just get through the word of God. You know, I heard somebody say
and it really clicked with me as a preacher. I heard another preacher say, you know, if
I can get more than a few sermons out of one chapter, I'm going to get more than a few
sermons out of one chapter. You know, because I'm going to be preaching for the rest of
my life. So having to come up with three sermons every week, you know, if I can squeeze a few
more out of here, you know, bear with me. All right. I'll try to make them edifying
while we go. But I want to just focus tonight just on Abijam. You know, the temptation might
be to just blow through this thing and make an application, but I think there's a lot
here. And what's interesting is when you actually look at the parallel passage, if you want
to keep something there in 1 Kings 15 and go over to 2 Chronicles 13 and actually read
about, you know, some of this war that took place between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. It's
actually an amazing story. And you actually learn, you know, that although Abijam did
continue in the sins of his father and his heart was not perfect with the Lord, that
there was still some good things in him. And I believe what we will see in 2 Chronicles
13 is that, you know, Abijam for all his faults was at least somebody that didn't just completely,
you know, throw in the towel with the Lord. And that because of that, that really got
the ball rolling for Asa. That was something that really helped in the generation to come.
Okay. It wasn't perfect, but you know what? It helped his son live a better life. It helped
him come up and be the man that he was able to be. Now it says there again in verse 1,
it says, now in the 18th year of King Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah. He reigned
three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Mayakah, the daughter of Uriah of
Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. And Abijah, so now we're going
to get the details of this war. Okay. Abijah set the battle in a reign with an army of
valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men. That's a lot of men. Yeah, but
Jeroboam also set the battle in a reign against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men,
being mighty men of valor. So he's going to war, Abijah, with half the amount of troops
that Jeroboam has. Now I don't know about you, but if I showed up to fight a guy, right,
not that I'd ever do this, no striker, not greedy, not filthy of lucre, not a brawler,
patient, understand? Okay. Doesn't say anything about grappling though, does it? Just kidding.
But, you know, just, you know, hypothetically speaking, if I was going to go, you know,
have it out with some dude in the parking lot, and I've got there and he was literally
twice my size, I'd probably rethink things. You know, I'd probably just want a selfie
with him. I'd probably say, hey, you're really tall. Guys, get a picture. No one's
going to believe this, right? But I wouldn't certainly, I wouldn't be like, alright,
now it's on. You know, take it out, roll everything up and say, okay, I got you, bring
it on. Let me get a ladder. You know, but here's, that's what's going on here.
These guys showing up to an army with 400,000 men, you might be feeling like, yeah, he's
rolling deep, right? He's got his 400,000 men with him. And then you look across the
battlefield and there's an army twice the size. And it's not just, you know, I know
that Jeroboam was in the habit of just ordaining the lowest of the people, but when it came
to his army, it says there they were being mighty men of valor. So these weren't just,
you know, a bunch of guys that didn't know what they're doing. These were mighty men
of valor. Just every bit as experienced, every bit as capable as Abijah's army. But Abijah,
he didn't turn around. You know, if I ran into that guy in the parking lot, I'd say,
I'd just call him sir and walk away, right? Not Abijah. Abijah, it says there in verse
five, stood up upon Mount Zomerim, which is in Mount Ephraim, and said, hear me, about
Jeroboam and all Israel. So he's like, what is this guy? He's got a Napoleon complex
or something, right? Now he's going to get up on the mount and just start letting him
have it. It's like, did you not see how big the army was, right? He says, ought you not
to know the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him
and to his sons by a covenant of salt? Yet Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, the servant of
Solomon and the son of David is risen up and have rebelled against his Lord. Now you
got to remember when you're reading this, that this is just Abijah speaking. This is
his perspective, okay? Because we know that Jeroboam had the opportunity to be a righteous
king, that God would have established him, even as David, we read that. And that it was
of the Lord that all this happened. And you know, I don't want to spend a lot of time
trying to pick this apart. Is this a political, is he just trying to cause unrest over there?
But just keep that in mind as you're reading it. He's not trying to just break ranks on
the other side with this speech or something. I don't know. Maybe he is, but we got to remember
this is just him from his perspective. It says, yet Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, the
servant of Solomon, verse six, the son of David has risen up and hath rebelled against
the Lord, against his Lord, meaning David, and they're gathered unto him vain men and
the children of Belial and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam, the son of Solomon.
Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted and could not withstand him. So he's kind of giving
him, hey, this is how your leader came into his throne. And now you think to withstand
the kingdom of the Lord and the hand of the sons of David and you'd be a great multitude.
So he's recognizing it. And you guys, there's more of you than us. So it's not just that
Rehoboam is just stupid. Like he gets it. He sees how things are stacking up. And he
said, and there are with you golden calves, which Jeroboam hath made you for God. So now
he's going to start pointing out, you know, the, you know, the, what's wrong with them.
He's going to start saying, oh, you guys are worshiping false gods. But it's like, well,
wait a minute. That's what you're doing. You're doing the same thing. So there's a little
bit of hypocrisy here. So again, you can see Abijah. I'm not, I'm not saying Abijah's this
great guy. He's, he's a hypocrite, you know, and, and he's, uh, he's not right with God,
but he's not somebody that just quit on God either just because he wasn't everything that
he should be or needed to be. He got the ball rolling. He says there, uh, you, he says,
I see what you, uh, you have the golden calves with you, which Jeroboam had made you God,
made you for gods. Verse nine. And you have cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons
of Aaron and the Levites and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of
other lands so that whosoever cometh to concentrate himself with the bullock and seven rams. The
same may be a priest of them that are no gods, but as for us, the Lord is our God as well
as several others. He's, he's conveniently leaving out the fact that they're worshiping
all these other foreign idols that his son is going to take care of in, in, in a little
bit. He says we have a, he says, and we have not forsaken him. The priests which minister
on the Lord are the sons of Aaron and the Levites wait upon their, their business. So
you kind of get this idea that, you know, or you, I wonder when I'm reading it, you
know, because this is not entirely true, he's kind of leaving out some facts, isn't he?
I mean, is it true that they still have the Levites and sons of Aaron and there's still
worship taking place? Yeah, that's still there, but he's kind of conveniently leaving
out the fact that they've got their own idols too. All right. And you kind of wonder because
he just keeps going on. Like who are you really trying to convince at this point that you're
the one that's right with God, right? Because he starts talking about he's got the Levites
and there's Aaron and we're worshiping the Lord and they're doing their business in verse
11 and they, and then he goes into some of the detail, right? Like they forgot, like
they don't know what goes into worshiping the Lord. And they burn in the Lord every
morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense and showbread. They also
set an order upon the pure table and the candlestick of gold and the lamps thereof to burn every
evening. For we keep the charge of the Lord our God, but ye have forsaken him. So he
was saying, hey, you're better because we're still doing all these things. Now I read that
and I wonder is this, who's he trying to convince? To me, it's kind of comes off as a need to
persuade maybe more of himself. I don't know, but it's interesting that he's mentioning
the candlestick of gold and the pure table. Whereas in first Kings chapter 14, it talks
about how Shishak came up and took all the treasures of the house of Lord. So they took
all of them. Now, whether or not it included these things, I don't know exactly, but it's
kind of makes me wonder, is that even true? Do you even have these things to do all that?
Now he probably did, but he might make it out like they're just so righteous and so
holy that you guys should just all come back over to our side. You should just leave now
and not fight and admit that we're better. He says in verse 12, and behold, God himself
is for us, excuse me, is with us for our captain and his priest are sounding trumpets to cry
alarm against you and children of Israel. Fight ye not against the Lord God of our fathers.
He shall not prosper. So, you know, you kind of see a little bit of the character of this
guy Abijah and what he's like. And obviously we know he walked in the sins of his father,
that his heart was not perfect like David, but maybe he's even paying just a little
bit of lip service to the Lord here. He's not really, you know, giving the full truth
about everything that they've got going on, but you can see some good things. You could
see that, you know, one, he's somebody who's willing to put himself out there. You know,
when he's stacked himself up against the army twice his size, you know, he might not be
everything he's supposed to be, but he's still trying to do something. He's still saying,
hey, I'm still going to go fight this battle. I'm still going to go in the name of the Lord.
We're still going to get the priests and bring the trumpets and we're going to still go and
God, if he's for us, will still defeat this army because, you know, as bad as we might
be, we're not as bad as them, right? At least we don't have the golden calves. We might
not have some idolatry, but we still have the Lord with us too. So he's still willing
to put himself out there. And this is what I'm trying to get across is that you have
to get the ball rolling sometimes. You know, even just in your personal life. You know,
when you find yourself, you know, if you find yourself backslidden, if you find yourself
out of sorts with God, you know, the temptation for a lot of people when they get in that
position is just to say, well, I quit then. What's the point? You know, they'll commit
one sin and then they'll just say, well, I already committed one sin, you know, I might
as well just commit the rest of them. Look, that's the wrong attitude. That's not right.
That's not Abijah. That's not what he did here. He had some serious sins, didn't he?
But he didn't just double down on those and say, well, let's just go full tilt and just
forsake the Lord completely. You know, he's at least somebody who's still willing to put
himself out there and to step out in faith and try to start doing what's right and to
do what? To get the ball rolling in the right direction. You know, we have this tendency,
at least some people do, is that once they kind of start sliding in the wrong direction,
you know, they just, they figure, well, I might as well just hop on a sled and get this
thing going and just go downhill as fast as I can. And the next thing you know, they're
just, they've just completely ruined their life to where now it's going to be even harder
to get that ball rolling back in the right direction. You know, he might not have always
been doing what was right, but you have to admit in this story that he counts on God
when it counts the most. When he sees that he's outnumbered two to one, that he's got
an army across to him that's every, has just as valiant of men, just as men is just as
good at fighting and there's more of them. You know, he's still, rather than turning
tail and just saying, well, you know what, let's just go worship our idols and forsake
the Lord. Let's just, you know what, let's just join them. Looks like we can't beat them,
guys. Let's just go over to their side. You know, let's go, let's go see what this calf
worship's all about. Let's just go over there and just carry on with them. What's the point?
No, he stood his ground. It wasn't perfect, but you know what, he stood his ground. But
notice it gets worse here. So he gives him this speech and it says in verse 13, but Jeroboam
caused an ambushment to come out behind them, so they were before Judah and the ambushment
was behind them. So Jeroboam hears this speech and is like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then they
just surround him completely. And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before
and behind and they cried unto the Lord. And the priest sounded with the trumpets. So when
things are at their worst, when it counts the most, they still counted on God. He didn't
cry out to all the false idols they had back in their land that shouldn't have been there.
He didn't cry out to them. He didn't, he didn't surrender. You know, they, they cried out
unto the Lord. And then notice what happens. And the men of Judah, verse 15, gave a shout.
And as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel
before Abijah and Judah. So God shows up. Look, God is showing up for a guy that we
just learned, you know, is still walking in all the sins of his father, whose heart is
not perfect with the Lord as David, his father's was. Who's still got some serious problems,
some serious issues to deal with. God's still showing up and fighting for this man. You
know, and we shouldn't be so quick to give up on ourselves. And I think people do this.
You know, they've got some serious issue in their life that really they do need to deal
with. But then they think, well, you know, if I'm this way, if I have this problem, you
know, if I'm just a, you know, a product of the generation that came before me and I'm
just always going to have this problem, then what's the point? That's what a lot of people
think. Well, why should I even bother them? It's the wrong attitude. And you know what,
if that's your attitude, you know what, then go ahead and throw in the towel. If you're
going to quit on God, then yeah, God, why would God show up for you then? But, you know,
if you find yourself in a situation like Abijah here, you're not what you should be, and the
enemy has got you outnumbered and surrounded, and it looks like it's the end of you, that's
the time to cry out unto the Lord. That's the time to sound the trumpet. That's the
time to cry and rely on God the most, to count on God when it counts the most. Because that's
when God is going to show up. You know, God, you know, is long suffering and merciful,
full of tender compassion. You know, God is the God of the second, third, fourth, fifth,
sixth chance. You know, God is far more forgiving with us than we are of our own selves. And
it says there that God smote Jeroboam in all Israel before Abijah and Judah. I mean, can
you imagine being those people at that point? I mean, just how quickly their perspective
must have changed, their emotions must have changed. I mean, it's one thing to get up
on the mountain and start talking all big and putting them down and saying, we're coming
in the name of the Lord. And then the next thing you know, you're surrounded and you're
outnumbered. And then you cry out unto the Lord, and then what? God smites your enemies
before you. God makes a path. God makes a way. I mean, they've gone from despair, crying
out, not knowing what to do, to seeing God show up and fight upon their behalf. And if
you find yourself, you know, overcome, surrounded by some sin, weighed down, defeated, looking
like, you know, you're about to be taken out, if you cry out unto God, you know, God will
make a way. God will make a path. You know, He's not going to give us more than we're
able to bear, but with the temptation of what? Make a way to escape that you may be able
to bear it. And it says in verse 16, that the children of Israel fled from before Judah
and God delivered them into their hand, and Abijah and his people slew them down with
a great slaughter, so they fell down, slain of Israel 500,000 chosen men. I mean, they
slew more men than they came with. 100,000 more. He showed up at 400,000 and they killed
500,000. He didn't show up with 400,000, defeat a few hundred thousand and win the war. I
mean, he cut their forces, their numbers more than in half. And it says, and thus the children
of Israel, verse 18, were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed.
Why? Because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers. Was it because they were
perfect in every way? Because they had all their ducks in a row? Because they didn't
have any sin? Because they were brought up the right way? Because they were just such
great Christians? No, it's because when it counted, they relied upon the Lord God. And
he goes on and talks about Abijah pursued after Jeroboam. Jeroboam, you know, he doesn't
recover strength in the days of Abijah, and eventually God strikes him dead, and he dies.
So Abijah, you know, for all his faults, was at least somebody that didn't just quit on
God when things got tough. You know, and I understand he had some issues, but he didn't
quit on God when things got tough. And look, I mean, I like to think, you know, I've been
through a few things, you know, but I've never been surrounded, I've never had my life on
the line. And it's just, I always just wonder when people, when they quit on God over just
the smallest things. You know, they're like what we preached about this Sunday. They're
like that, you know, that stony ground. When persecution arises because of the word's sake
by and by, they are offended. You know, a little bit of persecution comes their way.
Just a little bit of inconvenience comes their way. It's like, well, I can't do this. And
they just throw in the towel. I mean, they didn't even have, they don't even have the
problems like in Abijah. Maybe their lives aren't wracked with sin. Maybe they don't
even have a lot of issues. Maybe they're generally good, upstanding, moral people who have, you
know, all, you know, by and large lived a good life. But when things get tough, see
you. I'm out of here. And they quit on God. So, you know, at the end of the day, who really
is better? The person who's got it all together, but can't take a little heat? Or the person
whose life isn't perfect in every way, but counts on God when it counts the most, and
sees God come through for them? To me, it's the latter. It's the guy that, you know, doesn't
have it all together, that isn't perfect, but is willing to just put himself out there
and stand on God's word and trust God that God's going to come through. That's the guy
that God's going to show up for. Not the person who's just got everything right, and they've
got the right look, and they've got, you know, everything's just, life is just, just, just
right for them. And good, I'm glad. They also need to be able to stick it out when things
get tough. They also need to be able to be willing to do what someone like an Abijah
would do, and put themselves out there, in spite of their flaws, in spite of their shortcomings.
He counted on God when it counted most. The other thing too, if you notice there, is,
you know, you see a little bit about the fact that he cares about God's people. You know,
he's kind of in this speech imploring them, like, why are you fighting against us? Why
are you fighting against David's heritage? Why are you fighting against the people of
the Lord? Why are you making us fight? We're brethren. That's kind of what he's saying.
And you get a sense of that there. In verse 12 he says, And behold, God himself is with
us, is with us, for our captain and his priest sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you,
O children of Israel, fight ye not against the Lord God of your fathers, for ye shall
not prosper. So Abijah, in my, you know, from what I read, Abijah just says, you know,
Jom, excuse me, is not a completely wicked person. I wouldn't just write him off as a
bad king. You know, he definitely had his flaws, right? He definitely had some things
that he needed to get right in his life once and for all, and get over, and unfortunately
never does. And we could sit here and pick him apart, and criticize him, but you know
what? He's somebody who still cares about the people of God. He feels bad about the
fact that, you know, they're going to war. It's not something he wants to do. He's still
somebody who is, when it counts, he's going to cry out to God, and count on the Lord to
deliver him, and not just throw in the towel and quit, because after all, I am Abijah,
and I've got issues. So why should I even bother serving God with all the issues I got?
That's the wrong attitude. You know, don't write yourself off, and by the way, don't write
other people off either. You know, we should never have that attitude. And this is important
because of the fact that we're going to come across people like this all the time. You
know, when you're a soul winning church, when you're reaching out to people, and people
find you and come on their own accord, you know, people are going to come to this church
with issues. You know, and I'm fine with that. You know, that's what we're here for. We're
here to help. You know, and we should never get this high and mighty attitude with people
and just look down on people who aren't as good as us, whatever that means. You know,
we should always understand that people are going to be coming in here at all different
stages of growth in their Christian life, from all kinds of different backgrounds, that
they're going to have different issues that maybe we don't have. You know, but maybe they're
a person who's willing to stick it out a little bit further, someone who's willing to go through
a little bit more. They just got some things they got to work out. You know, we shouldn't
write ourselves off if that's us, and we should never write other people off that might be
in that position. Because, you know, all those people sometimes are trying to do in life
is just get the ball rolling. They're just saying, man, this thing's going to crush me
if I don't push back and at least get it started in the other direction. You know,
Abijah here, Abijam, he's got Rehoboam for his father. He's not exactly coming from this
great godly house. Rehoboam is a wicked man with a wicked mother. You know, at least he
recognizes it. At least he's saying, look, we're not perfect, and I can at least push
back and start getting things going in the right direction, and maybe I won't get all
the way there where I would like to be, but if I keep pushing and pushing and getting
this ball rolling in the other direction, then maybe my son, my children, those that
come up after me will get to where I wish I could have been. But that will never happen
if you're somebody who just, instead of pushing back and trying to get the ball rolling in
the other direction, just says, well, just flatten me. Who just lays down and lets it
just roll right over you. And look, people do that. People do that. They just say, what's
the point? I've got a pass, I've got this sin, I've got these temptations. It just seems
like it would be a lot easier for me to just lay down and just let this sin just roll me
right over and just crush me. And you know what? In some ways that would be easier. In
some ways it would be. Because the Christian life is a fight. It's a fight to resist the
flesh. It's a fight to try to do right. It's a fight to try to get that ball rolling in
the other direction. It's a struggle. And sometimes it is easier to just lay down and
just let sin have its way and not put up a fight. That's always a temptation. In spite
of the consequences that we know are going to come. Well, it's not going to be that hard
now. I know later I'll regret it. But right now I want to just lay down and let this just
roll me right over. And that might be easy in the moment. But you know what? There's
not going to be an Asa. What about Asa? We love the story about Asa. You're like, come
on Deacon. Enough about this guy. Let's get to Asa. But what I'm saying tonight is that
without an Abidjan, there's no Asa. Without somebody who's willing to just stand up and
say, you know what? I know I'm not perfect, but I'm going to get this thing going in the
right direction, there is no Asa. And look, we need the Asas. Desperately. We need that
generation that's going to take it to the next level. But they're never going to come
if we don't get as far as we can. You know, we need to get to the next level. And then
pull them up and let them pull us up. Or pull the next generation up. But if we just stay
down here, that's where we're all going to stay. You just go read their history. Eventually
you get one wicked king and it's just wicked king, wicked king, wicked king, good guy,
wicked guy, wicked guy, good guy, good guy, captivity. In the case of Israel, it's just
destruction. They're just done away. Eventually they're just gone. Carried off with the Syrians.
They don't exist anymore. This is what I'm trying to drive home tonight. This idea, instead
of just reading about Abidjan and just saying, yeah, he doesn't sound like a very good guy.
He had his issues, no doubt. But you know what? He represents a type of person. And
probably to some degree represents all of us in one way. That we need to resist sin
even when we're in sin. Even when we are backslid. That's not the time to quit on
God. That's not the time to quit on God. That's not the time to quit on God. That's
not the time to quit on God. Now if you would, go over to James chapter 4. This is a real
familiar passage, I know, but we're going to look at it. This is what I'm trying to
get across tonight. Like Abidjan, you need to put yourself out there. I'm not perfect.
I didn't have the upbringing somebody else had. So what? So what? Abidjan didn't.
Yeah, you know what? And it caused him some things. He had some issues. But without him
at least doing what he could have done, we wouldn't read the story of Asa. You go to
James 4. Look at verse 4. I know we know this. He says,
He adulterous and adulterous is, knowing not that the friendship of the world is enmity
with God. Whosoever therefore shall be a friend of the world is the envy of God. Do you think
that the scripture saith in vain that the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth envy? But
he giveth more grace. You know, God doesn't look down and see all the spirit in us that's
just lusting to envy, that just wants to do all these wrong things. And maybe even
sometimes doesn't. He says, no, he giveth more. God doesn't look down and say that
and say, oh, you worthless scum. He could never use you. Don't ever ask me for anything.
Don't ever cry out on me. Don't ever rely on me for everything when you're walking
around with that spirit that lusteth envy. I mean, isn't that what he says there? The
scripture saith, do you think it says in vain, the spirit that dwelleth, not dwelled,
dwelleth in us lusteth envy. We still have this. You know, that's why you got to feed
the new man. That's why you got to put on the Lord Jesus Christ every day and make no
provision for the flesh. That's why you got to crucify the old man. That's why you
got to do like Paul did and die daily and bury your cross because that old man, you
know, he's itching. You know, he wants to, he wants to do his thing. That spirit still
lusts to envy. And God knows that about us. And he looks down and he sees a bunch of,
you know, bijums and he doesn't just write them off and say, well, I can't, I'm not
going to do anything for you. No, he says he giveth more grace. He giveth more grace.
Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. You know,
God, you know, a broken and contrite spirit, God will not refuse. You know, if we're,
if we look at ourselves and say, I, you know, I can kind of relate with the bijum a little
too much tonight. You know, some of these verses you're quoting are kind of striking
home. I, I don't feel like, I feel more like an a bijum than an Asa. Well, you know
what you can, what you got going for you is humility. And that can go a long way with
God. I mean, we'll read about other kings, wicked kings like Ahab who did really, really
bad things. I mean, murdering people, you know, bearing false witness. I mean, just
the worst sins, all kinds of things. And then they repent a little bit and God says, well,
I'll spare him for a little while. I'll put it off until his son's days. Because
the guy, he just, this wicked man had just a shred of humility. Humility goes a long
way with God. When people are willing to just be honest about who they are, where they're
at, you know, God and, and humble themselves, you know, God will give grace. God will give
mercy. He said, God resisteth the proud, but he giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves
therefore to God. Submit to him. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Resist the
devil and he will flee from you. You know, and that's not a one-off. A lot of people
think in the Christian life they just resist the devil one time. Well, I'm glad I never
have to deal with that again. You know, they resist some sin one time and say, well, that's
over with. That's not how it works. But you're like, well, wait a minute. It says,
but he says he will flee from you. Yeah, but it doesn't say he'll never return. It
doesn't say you'll never show up and say, well, let me try this lure. Well, let me show
up and see if I can push his buttons today. You know, he flees when he sees it's a waste
of time. Is that because he's scared? He flees because, you know, he's like, I got
other people I can go, I got to get to. You know, I've got other people I got to go call
on. I got other people I got to go visit and see how they're holding up. See if they're
going to still resist. You know, this is the Christian life. What? Submitting ourselves
to God and resisting the devil and resisting the devil and resisting the devil. He says
in verse 8, draw an eye to God and he will draw an eye to you. This is a promise. And
there's no, there's no like, well, but you've got to be this way or you got to have that.
No, you know what you need to have is humility. What you have to have is humility. What you
have to be willing to do is submit and draw an eye and God will draw an eye to you. I
mean that's what I read in the story of Abijam. He looks like somebody who had some humility
got himself into a hard situation and cried unto the Lord and God drew an eye and showed
up and wrought a great victory that day. He said draw an eye to God and he will draw an
eye and draw an eye to you. You know, if, if, if you've got issues, if you've got problems,
if you've got things that you need God to help you with, this is the formula right here.
But you know, this is what we want is the magic wand. We want God to just go, right?
We got God to just pull out some, some dust and go and just fix all our problems. That's
not how it works with God. You have to put effort into it. I mean Abijam, he had to go
out there, get an army and show up and fight for God to show up. He had to go out there
and fight the enemy and he was outnumbered and he had to trust in God. That took some
faith, that took some humility, that took some effort, that took some drawing an eye
to God. We want God's help but here's, ok great, but here's how you do it. You, what?
Cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double minded. Be afflicted
and mourn and weep. You know, all those things that we just don't want to do. I mean, who
puts that on their calendar? Oh, I see you're taking some time off from work. Are you going
on vacation? No, I'm going to afflict myself and mourn and weep. That's not something that
we look forward to doing. But look, if you, if you know, we've got things that we want
from God and we are in a habit of not resisting the devil, we want God's help. You know what?
There's some humility, there's some resisting and there's all these other things that our
flesh doesn't want to do. The purifying, the cleansing, the afflicting, the mourning, weep.
Let your laughter be joined to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in
the sight of the Lord and He shall lift you up. I mean, we love verse 10, don't we?
I mean, we wish we could just go from verse 6 right to verse 10. We just want to skip
all these other verses in between verses 6 and 10. He giveth more grace, wherefore he
saith, God resisteth the crowd that giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore
in the sight of the Lord and He shall lift you up. Oh yeah, I can do that. I can, I can,
I can be humble. Well, here's what humility looks like before God and not before man.
Go over to, go over to 1 Timothy, I'm almost done, I know I'm going a little long. 1 Timothy,
and I'll wrap up here. 1 Timothy chapter number 1. You know, I'm just trying to encourage
people tonight with this story about a bigem. Because, you know, maybe we're not even,
what could relate to a bigem. You know, but if we live life long enough, maybe one day
we will. Maybe we will make some mistakes. Maybe there will be some things in our lives
that shouldn't be there. Maybe we'll find or we'll wake up one morning and say, man,
I'm a bigem this morning. I thought I was Asa. But it turns out I'm a bigem. And I'm
not what I'm supposed to be. That's the time to not quit. Like so many people and say,
what's the point? I had, Rehoboam was my daddy. I mean, I just can't stand a chance. How am
I supposed to live a Christian life? Because look, the Christian life is a life of discipline.
It is. It's a life of discipline and doing hard things. I mean, why do you think so few
people want to do it? Because it's easier to, it's a lot more fun to just live in the
flesh. I mean, that's a whole other sermon. It's got its own issues, believe me. You know,
you don't get the fruits of the Spirit that way. You don't have the love, the joy, the
peace, the long-suffering, the gentleness, the goodness, the faith, the meek, the temperance,
all that. You don't get all those things. You know, but those things come when you walk
in the Spirit and not in the flesh. That doesn't mean it's easy. So a lot of people, if they
wake up and they find themselves, hey, well, you know, I'm kind of in this state, I'm
kind of in a bigem, you know, I don't think I could pull that off. I think I should just
quit. Because after all, who am I? You know, that's not the attitude, for all, by his
fault, that was the attitude that he had. Well, my dad was wicked. I guess I'll be
wicked too. I had Rehoboam for a dad. You know, I had Amorite for a mother, or an Ammonite.
I guess I might as well just continue on and just completely forsake the Lord. I'm outnumbered.
There's more of them than me. They look like they're just as good, they're just as valiant,
I might as well just join them. No, that's the time to resist. But I can't do it. Don't
write yourself off. You know, I always think about the Apostle Paul. He says in verse 16,
well let's back it up. He said in verse 12, and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath
enabled me for that he counted me faithful, put in me in the ministry, who is before a
blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious. I mean, those are some pretty, that's all
true. It's not just, you know, just trying to be self-deprecating here. That's true.
He was a persecutor. He was injurious. He was a blasphemer. I mean, when they crucified
Stephen, it was his feet that they, that he was, he consented unto it. He was there. He
watched it happen. It says in verse 14, in the grace of our Lord, but it says, it goes
on at the end there, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorant on belief, and the
grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. Now
was that, is that the case? Is God exceeding abundant in faith and love? Is the grace of
our Lord exceeding, exceeding and abundant with faith and love in Christ Jesus just for
Paul? No, it's for everybody, because that's the nature of God. God is exceeding abundant
in grace and love in Christ Jesus, towards all of us. He said, this is a faithful saying,
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came in the world to save sinners of whom
I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might
show forth all longsuffering. And then he tells you why. He did this to me first to
show a pattern for all longsuffering so that everybody could look at me and see how great
I am and how much God loves me. The apostle Paul, because I'm special. Is that why he
did that for Paul? No, he said for a pattern as an example to them which should thereafter
believe on him to life everlasting. That's us. He said, look, God used me as an example
for the rest of you so that you could look at a blasphemer, you could look at something
that's a persecutor and injurious, and I could be an example to you of the grace and
love of God in Christ Jesus. That's why. So that's what I'm getting across tonight.
That's what's available to us. So rather than having this defeated attitude, rather
than just saying, well, you know, I might as well just throw in the towel, emulate Abhayajam's
better quality here that we looked at tonight. That he was somebody that stuck it out when
God's worst act against him, when he wasn't coming from the godliest background, he cried
out unto God, unto the God who is exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in
Christ Jesus. That still applies today. And as a result, he was able to get the ball rolling
in the right direction. You know, you can do that in your life. You can do that for
the generations to come. Say, well, I want to be Asa. You know, some of us, Asa is just
not going to be in the cards. But that doesn't mean that we can't influence and create
an Asa or at least try to get there, at least get the ball rolling in that direction rather
than just laying down and just giving up like so many people do when they're outnumbered
and when they're not everything they need to be. You know, God is still exceeding and
abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. He still wants to show his hands
strong towards them that love him. You know, that's what we need to learn to do tonight.
Love God, trust him, and don't quit. Don't just give up on God when things get tough
or, you know, when you find yourself in sin, if you find yourself backslidden, if you find
yourself not right with God, you know, go to James 4 and read the formula and do it.
It's not going to be fun, but, you know, joy cometh in the morning. You know, weeping
may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. You know, James 4 doesn't have
to be the rest of your life, but it might need to be a season. There might have to be
that season of weeping and mourning so that we can get, what? So we can get the ball
rolling in the right direction. Let's go ahead and pray. Dear Lord, again, thank you for
your grace and your love that extends beyond even salvation, Lord, that it's available
to us every day. Lord, that if we confess our sins, you're faithful and just to forgive us
our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And, Lord, that we can have mercy
from you anytime we want it. We can have the wisdom and the knowledge of God at our
fingertips, Lord, if we would approach you with a humble attitude. And, Lord, if we'd
be willing to just admit our shortcomings, our failures, Lord, that you would extend
grace and mercy towards us. And, Lord, I pray you'd help us to do that, Lord. And I pray
that you would raise up a generation of ASAs that whatever we manage to accomplish in our
lives as your people, Lord, that there would be another generation that comes up behind
us and does even more and takes it to the next level. And, Lord, we just pray that you
would bless us as we go now. In Jesus' name, Amen. Alright, we'll go ahead and sing
one more song before we get into the preaching tonight.
Let's turn our handles to song 397.
Song 397, a little as much when God is in it.