The title of the sermon this evening is Finish Strong.
And this is a phrase that I've been thinking about lately.
And it's something that, as I was reading the scripture,
I see this with this guy, Asa.
This was somebody who started out doing really well,
but ended up not finishing strong.
And we'll see more detail about that.
And as I was reading through and reading about his life,
I thought, this guy is a perfect example
of not finishing strong.
And really what we want to use him as,
as a warning and use him as an example
of what it takes to finish strong.
And I mean, in any endeavor in life,
you know, whether it's as a parent,
whether it's as a church member,
whether it's as at your job,
there's so many different areas
you could apply this phrase to, to finish strong.
And especially when it comes to the Christian life,
we all want to get to the end of our Christian life,
at least we should, and say like, Paul,
I have finished my course.
You know, I've kept the faith.
That is the goal for every Christian.
You know, that's the goal that I have
as somebody who's preaching to a body of believers.
That's what I desire to see for every person in this room,
is that when they get to the end of their life,
they can look back and see a life of service to the Lord God
that they can say, hey, I finished my course like Paul did.
So I wanted to look at Asa tonight
and just look at some of the things that he did well,
but also some areas where he failed
that caused him to not finish strong.
Now, if you notice there in First Kings chapter 15,
you know, he did a lot of things right,
but it says, nevertheless, in his old age,
he was diseased in his feet.
You know, and that was a curse that came from God.
And we'll see here, we're going to get into it,
but if you would go over to Second Chronicles chapter 14.
Actually, I'm sorry, keep something there.
Let's look at First Kings 15 first.
Okay, it says there in verse nine,
in the 20th year of Jeroboam, king of Israel,
reigned Asa over Judah,
and forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem,
and his mother's name was Maacah,
the daughter of Abishalom,
and Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord,
as did his father.
So this guy starts out right,
and he's doing the right thing.
He was a good king.
He was a good man, I believe that.
I mean, look at some of the great things that he did.
I mean, verse 12, right?
Amen to this.
And he took out away the Sodomites out of the land,
and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
So he's getting rid of all the idolatry.
He's getting all the wicked abominations out of the land.
And he says, even here in verse 13,
you know, that's, verse 12, it's kind of easy for us.
You know, easy to just kind of,
oh yeah, well who wouldn't want to get rid of the Sodomites?
Who wouldn't want to tear down all the idolatry
and abominations in the land?
But verse 13's kind of maybe a little bit harder.
Maybe we couldn't all say like Asa
that we'd be willing to go this far.
You know, he was no respecter of persons,
because it says, and also Maacah, his mother,
he removed her from being queen.
He's saying, sorry mom, you gotta step down.
You're fired, you know?
Because she made an idol in a grove,
and Asa destroyed her idol,
and burnt it by the brook Cai-dron.
You know, everyone's always worried about
knocking over mom's vase or whatever
when she comes home, or her favorite lamp or something.
I mean, he's going in there and taking her favorite idol
and just smashing it, you know,
and burning it at the brook Cai-dron,
and saying, too bad mom, no apologies.
I'm not gonna get you another one.
So, Asa, I mean, he's doing so well, you know, in his life,
and I want to kind of mention this,
because this is worth mentioning that,
is that he did so well that he was,
that God was even willing to look over
some of his shortcomings.
You'll see that a lot with the kings.
They'll say, you know,
he walked in all the ways of his day with his father,
you know, he did that which is right,
his art was perfect before the Lord,
except for this or that.
And I'm not saying that's an excuse
for these people to have sinned or done what they've done,
but, you know, it's this principle in scripture
that, you know, if we're doing the right thing,
even if we have a sinful past,
even if we've done things wrong in the past,
you know, the Bible says that the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanses us from all our sin.
You know, if we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I wanna just throw that out there tonight,
because that's something that we need
to be reminded of as well.
But it says here in verse 14,
but the high places were not removed.
Nevertheless, Asa's heart was perfect
with the Lord all his days.
And he brought in the things which his father dedicated,
and the things which he himself dedicated
into the house of the Lord, silver and gold and vessels.
So he was so right with God,
he did so many things that were pleasing the Lord,
that even in the few things that he kind of fell short,
God was kind of willing to kind of overlook that.
God was gracious unto him.
So Asa, he starts out right.
He starts out a good man,
and go over to 2 Corinthians chapter 14.
But unfortunately for Asa, he didn't finish strong.
And that's what we wanna do tonight.
We wanna look at Asa and see where did he fall short?
What caused him to not finish strong in his life?
Well, first thing, before we get into that,
I wanna just point out some other good things about Asa.
If you're there in 2 Corinthians chapter 14,
you know, Asa took advantage
of the opportunities that were given him.
When he had opportunity to do things,
he took advantage of it.
It says there in verse one,
So Abijah slept with his fathers,
and they buried him in the city of David.
And Asa his son reigned in his stead.
In his days, the land was quiet 10 years.
So when Asa first takes over the throne from his father,
it says there that the land was quiet 10 years.
And Asa, you know, he takes advantage
of this time that he has, not to please himself,
not to just be at ease, not to just get relaxed,
but to actually, you know, prepare for what was ahead.
He took advantage of the opportunity that God gave him.
God gave him a land that was quiet for 10 years,
and look at verse two.
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
and the high places and break down the images
and cut down the groves,
and commanded Judah to seek the Lord,
the God of their fathers,
to do the law and the commandment.
So he's teaching the word of God,
he's breaking down the idols.
You know, he's seeking, he's doing that which is right
and good in the eyes of the Lord
while he has this time of peace.
And it says in verse five,
and he took away out all of the cities of Judah,
the high places and images,
and the kingdom was quiet before him.
So he's doing all these right things, you know,
he's taking advantage of the opportunity
that's given him by teaching the commandments of God,
getting people right.
But not only that, you know,
he was like a wise man which foreseeeth the evil
and hideth himself, as it says in Proverbs.
You know, he prepared for the battle in a time of peace.
He didn't really, he realized,
and this is a principle that we could all learn well,
do well to learn rather,
is that in times of peace, you know,
don't, just take it to the bank
that that's the calm before the storm.
You know, but it seems like every time,
you know, there's three stages in life.
You know, you're either in a storm,
coming out of a storm or heading into the next one.
And when you're coming out of that storm, you know,
when things seems peaceful and calm,
that's when we should be preparing
and, you know, putting down our roots,
getting in the word of God, memorizing the word of God,
getting ready for the storm that's going to come,
the next persecution or tribulation
or whatever it's going to be.
And that's what Asa did here.
You know, he took advantage of the opportunity
that was given him.
He prepared for battle in a time of peace.
Look at verse six.
And he built fence cities in Judah,
for the land had rest.
And he had no war in those years
because the Lord had given him rest.
Therefore, he said unto Judah,
let us build these cities and make about them walls
and towers and gates and bars,
not those kinds of bars, folks,
while the land is yet before us,
because we have sought the Lord our God,
we have sought him,
he had he hath given us rest on every side,
so they built and prospered.
So when he has this time of rest, you know,
he's not just sitting on his laurels,
he's not just lollygagging, you know,
he's actually taking the time to build some defenses.
You know, that's something that we need to do our life.
If we're going to finish strong, you know,
when we have a time of rest and there's a time of peace,
that's not the time to back off on your Bible reading.
That's not the time to back off on prayer.
That's not the time to back off on Bible memory
or getting to church.
That's the time to take advantage of the peace
that you have, the opportunity that you have to go to church.
I mean, come on, after what you just went through
with this coronavirus, you know,
who knows when they're going to shut that all down again.
You know, that's the time to go and take advantage
of what's available to you.
That's the time to build the walls and the towers
and the gates and the bars
is when things are going well.
You know, when the enemy comes,
if you haven't taken the time to get in the word of God
and put down your root and really, you know,
build yourself up in the faith, you know,
you're probably not going to put much of a resistance.
I mean, think if they decided, you know,
instead of building all these things, they said,
well, let's just go outside and plant some trees
and build a splash pad and, you know,
put up a roller coaster.
I mean, when the enemy finally came,
they would have just said, man, these people are defenseless
and it's just blown right through them, right?
And he started with a good defense.
You know, he's putting up all of these walls and towers
and gates during this time of peace.
You know, that's a good time during the,
when things are going well, that's a good time
for you to get the sin out of your life.
You know, when everything's going well,
I mean, that's, you know, that should be our natural,
you know, response.
When everything's are going really well,
kind of be the kind of person
who's expecting the bubble to burst.
You're like, man, things are going so well,
what's the catch here?
I mean, that's the time to say, you know,
let me not take this for granted,
but actually examine my heart and my life
and see if there's any sin and get it out.
You know, and also, you know, he didn't forget the offense.
It says in verse eight,
Asa had an army of men that bear targets and spears.
Out of Judah, 300,000.
And out of Benjamin that bare shield and drew bows,
204 score thousand.
All these mighty men of valor.
So he's got all the defense made, you know,
during the time of peace,
he's putting up the bulwarks and the towers
and the gates and everything,
but he's also got the offense.
And that's a good time for us to get in the word of God,
get the sword of the spirit, you know,
get that thing sharp, get that, you know, ready to go
when things are going well,
because the battle is sure to come.
Look there in verse nine.
I mean, he gets all this taken care of just in time.
And there came out against them Zirah the Ethiopian,
Ethiopian with a host of a thousand thousand
and 300 chariots and came unto Marisha.
Okay, so math quiz.
How many is a thousand thousand?
Come on, who knows that somebody knows it.
That's right, it's a million.
See, I knew somebody knew it.
I should have waited for me to offer something,
you know, like a piece of candy or something, right?
That's a million people.
And he says, and 300 chariots and came unto Marisha.
So he's outnumbered.
You know, he's got 300,000 out of Benjamin
and he's got 204 score thousand.
So, you know, he's got what about 500,000 people.
So he's outnumbered two to one basically
by these Ethiopians.
But you know what, he did that, which is right.
You know, he started out strong by building a defense,
by building an offense.
So when the enemy showed up, he was ready.
He wasn't scared.
He wasn't gonna get run off.
He didn't back down from a fight.
Look here in verse 10.
Then Asa went out against him and they set the battle
in a ray in the valley of Zephathah at Marisha.
And Asa cried unto 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 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.
He didn't back down from a fight, folks.
He went out there with faith and took on this enemy
that outnumbered him two to one.
It reminds me of when David went out against Goliath
who just towered over him when he was just a lad
with his shield and his sword and his spear
and the guy was just armed to the teeth
and all David had was a few rocks.
But where did he go?
He went in the spirit of the Lord God,
in the name of his Lord, of the Lord God.
And that's exactly what Asa's doing here.
He's going out against this great host
that outnumbers him with all these chariots,
but he's going in faith.
And why was he able to do that?
Because during the time of peace that he had,
he prepared himself.
He was getting the sin out, he's getting the spirit in.
He's putting up the defense and he's building the offense.
And that should show us too that all these defenses
that he built, all these weapons that he had,
they're nothing without God.
They're nothing without God.
Why was he so bold to go out against a company
that had him outnumbered almost two to one?
Because he went in the power of the Lord God.
Like he said there, it is nothing with thee to help
whether with many or with them that have no power.
Help us, O Lord God, for we rest on thee
and in thy name we go against thy multitude.
No, he wasn't putting his confidence in all this preparation.
He wasn't putting his confidence
in the actual physical weapons.
He was putting his confidence in the Lord God.
That's what we need to do.
Now look here in verse 12.
He said, so the Lord smote the Ethiopians
before Asa and before Judah and the Ethiopians fled
and Asa and the people that were with them pursued them.
So now they're putting them to flight
and they're chasing them down
unto Gerar and the Ethiopians were overthrown
that they could not recover themselves
where 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 the cattle.
So it wasn't just enough that they defeated all the enemies.
They go ahead and they get after the cattle too.
They're even picking on the animals.
And they carried away sheep and camels in abundance
and returned to Jerusalem.
So Asa here you see is a guy that's starting out very strong.
He's doing everything right.
He's getting the sin out of the land.
He's no respecter of persons.
He's telling mom to step down, breaking up her idol.
He's taking advantage of the peace
that's given him in his days
and he's building up the defenses.
He's building up the offenses.
And more than that, he's trusting in the Lord is God
above everything else.
So when the enemy came, he was ready.
He started out very strong,
but unfortunately for Asa, he didn't.
Now go over to Second Chronicles,
he didn't, excuse me, finish strong,
but go over to Second Chronicles chapter 15,
Second Chronicles 15.
So he has this great victory.
Everything's going great.
He's starting out strong.
And after this, he's also even encouraged further
by the preacher.
The preacher then comes to him
and also offers him this encouragement.
Look at Second Chronicles chapter 15 verse one.
It says, and 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 the Judah and Benjamin.
The Lord is with you while ye be with him.
And if he seek him, he will be found of you.
But if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.
Now that's something that Asa
should have really laid to heart.
That's something he really should have stopped
and thought about because unfortunately,
this was his undoing.
It says in verse three, now for a long season,
Israel hath been without the true God
and without a teaching priest
and without law, but when they in their trouble
did turn to the Lord God of Israel and sought them,
he was found of them, and in those times
there was no peace to him that went out
or nor to him that came in, but great vexations
were upon all the inhabitants of the country,
a nation which destroyed of nation and city of city,
for God did vex them with all adversity.
So he's basically lifting up Jerusalem
because remember, it's Jerusalem and Jerusalem
and Jerusalem and Judah at this point.
You know, the kingdom has been divided.
He's saying, look, God will bless you guys
if you seek him, he'll be with you.
He'll bless you if you do his commandments.
You know, he's going to, he's not going to forsake you
if you do not forsake him.
And he says, don't be like, now he's lifting up Israel
and saying, look what's happened to Israel.
You know, they've been without the law,
they've been without the true God,
and all these bad things are coming upon them.
So he's encouraging them, this preacher,
Azariah, but he's also warning him too,
saying, look, you could turn out just like Israel
if you're not careful.
Be ye therefore strong, he said in verse seven,
and let not your hands be weak,
for your work shall be rewarded.
Now, the most important part of this message
that Azariah delivered unto Asa was this, in verse two.
The Lord is with you while ye be with him.
And if ye seek him, he will be found of you.
You know, if you want to finish strong
in the Christian life, you need to keep that in mind.
You want, because it's going to take the Lord.
Because, you know, the Ethiopians are going to come
with their thousands and thousands,
and they're going to bring their chariots,
they're going to try to bring you down.
You know, the devil's going to try to get you out of church,
the devil's going to try to get you out of reading the Bible,
he's going to tempt you, he's going to try to draw you away.
The world and the flesh, even your own flesh,
is going to fight you every step of the way
in this Christian life, and if you aren't prepared,
you know, he's going to get you, and more importantly,
if you're not with, if you don't have the Lord
on your side, you will fail.
Jesus said, without me, you can do nothing.
He said, abide in me.
And he said here, look, the Lord is with you
while you be with him, and if you seek him,
he will be found of you.
If you want to finish strong, you have to have God
on your side every step of the way.
I mean, Asa just experienced that for himself.
He knew this was true.
I mean, he's seeking the Lord in those 10 years
when he has all this peace, he's, you know,
he's teaching the people the law and to do right
and breaking up all the idols and getting all the wickedness
out of the land.
He understands this.
He gets it.
This isn't just some abstract notion to him.
He gets this.
He's like, yeah, that's right.
Amen.
He's amen and probably amen-ing this preacher.
And this experience that he has, this preaching,
this experience, you know, it really inspires Asa's zeal.
And I'm just pointing out the fact that, you know,
Asa started out very strong.
Asa could have gone down as one of the great kings
in the Bible.
Now, of course, you know, he was buried with his fathers
and the sepulcher of David, which is an honor
in and of itself.
You know, so he did do a lot of good things right.
But unfortunately, you know, people tend to remember
the worst things about people.
People always tend to remember the worst things in life.
And people tend to remember the last things that you did.
You know, so if we don't finish strong, you know,
we'll be like Asa.
We'll remember, and we'll say, remember,
what was that king back in 2 Chronicles and 1 Kings,
what was his name?
Asa, what was that about him?
Oh yeah, the guy with the diseased feet.
That's what people typically remember.
Not the guy who ran out the Sodomites
and break down the idols.
You know, he started out really well,
but he didn't finish strong.
And he has all these great things going for him.
And you know, he even, his zeal that he has at this point
even inspires all these other people.
Look at verse eight.
And when Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Obed
the prophet, he took courage and put away the abominable
idols out of the land and of Judah and Benjamin
and out of the cities which he had taken from Ephraim
and renewed the altar of the Lord that was before
the porch of the Lord.
And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and the strangers
with him out of Ephraim and Nasseh and out of Simeon,
for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance
when they saw that Lord his God was with him.
I mean, he's starting out so strong, he's doing things
so well that even people in, you know, neighboring Israel
who they were often at war with is saying, let's go back.
Let's go back and worship the Lord with this guy Asa.
Look what's happening now.
There's this revival was taking place.
So they gathered them together, verse 10,
at Jerusalem in the third month and the 15th year
of the reign of Asa and they offered up unto the Lord
the same time the spoil which they had brought
700 oxen and 7,000 sheep, and they entered into a covenant
to seek the Lord their 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.
I mean, this guy is just on fire.
People are coming to him, flocking him,
they're having this huge sacrifice to the point where,
hey, if you're not gonna get right with God,
you're gonna meet him, you know.
They're ready to just start slaying people who are not,
who wanna go worship Baal and these other gods.
They're done.
This is a revival taking place.
Asa started out so strong.
It's tragedy the way he finished his life.
And they swear unto the Lord their God with a loud voice
and with shouting, with trumpets and with cornets,
and all Judah rejoiced at the oath,
for they had sworn with all their heart
and they 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 burned it at the book Caidron.
But the high places were not taken away out of Israel.
Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.
And he brought unto the house of the God
the things that his father had dedicated
and that he himself had dedicated,
silver and gold and vessels.
Verse 19, and there was no more war
unto the fifth, five and 30th year
of the reign of King Asa, of Asa.
So he goes through this great battle.
The preacher come and tells them all this,
hey, you be with the Lord, he'll be with you.
Don't forsake him, he won't forsake you.
This great revival takes place
and then there's even more peace.
And he has experienced, so in his days,
Asa experienced these two periods of peace.
When he first came on the scene,
those 10 years he had peace, he fights this battle
and it says, I'll remind you of,
well, you already know that the land was quiet 10 years.
And God gives him all the time
to prepare for the battle of the Ethiopians.
Zira and God delivers this message by Oda the prophet
and that just inspires his zeal.
It leads to the second period of peace
that lasts about 25 years.
But despite how well Asa started,
he failed to finish strong.
I mean, we see all these great things going for him,
but you know what, his life didn't end up,
well, he did not end up finishing strong.
Are you there in 2 Chronicles chapter 16?
It says in 2 Chronicles chapter 16, verse one,
in the sixth and 30th year of the reign of Asa,
the reign of Asa, Beishe, king of Israel,
came up against Judah, so here comes another enemy,
and built Ramah to the intent that he might
let none go out or come in to Asa, king of Judah.
Then Asa brought out the silver and gold
out of the treasures of the house of the Lord
and of the king's house and sent them to Beheded,
king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus,
saying, there is a league between me and thee
as there was between my father and thy father.
Behold, I have sent thee silver and gold.
Go break the league with Beishe, king of Israel,
that he may depart from you.
What's he doing here?
Who is this?
It's like a different person.
Where is the Lord in all this?
I mean, he's taking the stuff out of the house of God.
Verse two, he's bringing out the silver and the gold
out of the treasure of the house of the Lord
because of this guy that comes up against him
out of Jerusalem, this king, Beishe.
And it's like a different person.
This time goes by, then all of a sudden it's like,
it's like you're reading about a completely
different person.
He's not gonna finish well.
And Ben-Hadad hearkened unto king Asa
and sent the captains of armies against the cities of Israel
and they smote Aijon and Dan and Abilium.
And all the store cities of Naphtali,
and it came to pass when Beishe heard it,
that he left off building Rehama and let his work cease.
Then Asa, the king, took all Judah
and they carried away the stones of Rehama
and the timber thereof wherewith Beishe was building.
And he built therewith Geba and Mizpah.
Now it sounds like everything turned out okay.
This enemy flees, he takes the timber
and he goes and builds more of his kingdom.
He goes and he builds Geba and Mizpah.
But who was he trusting in at this point?
Was he trusting in God?
Look, when you're taking the silver and gold
out of the temple of God to buy mercenaries,
you're not trusting in God, you're trusting in man.
And this was the beginning of the end for Asa.
A guy that we just read all these great things about
that had this huge revival, which started out so well,
but failed to finish strong.
And what was the beginning of the end for him?
He put his trust in man rather than God.
He put his trust in his own strength, his own wealth,
his riches, rather than putting his strength in God.
I mean, it's like a completely different guy.
When the Ethiopian comes up, yeah, he had all the defenses
and the offenses built, but he prayed and said,
"'O Lord God, it's nothing with thee to help,
"'whether by few or by many.'"
But here, there's no prayer.
It's just, oh, there's trouble?
Well, let's just go get the silver and gold
out of the temple of God and see if we can get some people
to fight and run these people off.
And that was the beginning of the end,
when he put his trust in man rather than God.
Look at verse seven.
"'And at that time, Hanani the seer came to Asa,
"'king of Judah, and said unto him,
"'because thou wast relied on the king of Syria,
"'and hast not relied on the Lord thy God,
"'therefore is the host of the king of Syria
"'escaped out of thine hand.'"
I mean, he could have been like the Ethiopians
that they chased down and took all their animals from.
Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubams a huge host
with very many chariots and horsemen?
"'Yet because thou didst rely on the Lord,
"'he delivered them into thine hand.'"
He's trying to remind him,
don't you remember when you were outnumbered two to one
all those years ago?
And God delivered them into your hand?
Because why?
Because you relied on the Lord and not your own strength.
Look at verse nine.
"'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.'"
Now, that's a promise that we still have today.
God hasn't closed his eyes, friend.
They're still running to and fro in the earth.
And if we'll be like the Asa of old, where we rely on God,
God will still, to this day,
show himself strong in our behalf,
if we trust in him and not in man.
"'Herein thou hast done foolishly,
"'therefore from thence thou shalt have wars.'"
He says, oh, you're so concerned with peace,
you're so worried about the enemies,
you're so worried about things going wrong in your life.
Well, you know what?
Since you're gonna go ahead and rely on yourself
and rely on man and rely on your own riches,
now you're just gonna have nothing but trouble
from here on out, because you didn't rely on God.
Now it's just gonna be wars for you
for the rest of your days.
And of course, Asa, he takes it so well, right?
You would expect at this point,
many other, there have been other people in scripture
that when they would have heard that,
like David, thou art the man, I have sinned.
He would have just confessed if you had any humility.
But what does he do instead?
He turns on the preacher.
He doesn't like the message that he's hearing,
so he turns on the preacher.
And Asa was wroth with the seer
and put him in a prison house.
Said, who are you to talk to me like that?
Don't you know who I am?
I'm King Asa.
And he locks up the preacher,
for he was in a rage with him because of this thing.
He doesn't like the news that he's getting.
You know, that's a good lesson
for anybody who wants to preach.
The people you preach to might not like the message
you have to tell them.
And they might feel the same way.
I don't know, maybe you guys will shove me
in the closet someday and lock the door and run out, right?
Say, how do you like that, Brother Corbin?
I'm just kidding, but you know,
that is the reaction that some people give.
So this guy, he started out so strong.
He started out so well.
He had so much going for him.
But you know what, things were going pretty well,
and it just goes to show you that prosperity and peace
sometimes aren't the best things for us.
Sometimes it's always good to have a little conflict,
to kind of keep us on our toes,
to keep us relying on the Lord.
He thinks, oh, it's 20, you know, 25 years,
go back and just kick back.
It's peace in my kingdom.
And then when an enemy comes up,
he's totally forgotten about God.
You know, he relies on man, the Lord curses him for it,
says, you know what, it's gonna be wars
from here on out, buddy.
He sends his preacher,
and then he just locks up the preacher.
And not only does he turn on the preacher,
he also turns on the people.
Look there at the end, it says,
Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.
Name of the people that sided with the preacher.
You're like, you know, hey, Asa,
did you hear what the Hananayi, the seer, said to Asa?
Yeah, amen to that.
We agree with him.
And maybe they would have said,
Asa, you should probably listen to the preacher.
Oh, you're on his side?
I'm gonna lock you up too.
I'm gonna press you as well.
So what he's doing, what is he doing here?
He's hardening his heart.
And this is just this downward spiral
to where he just, you know, he ends his life very poorly.
Started out strong, started out a great man,
a man that did a lot of great things for God,
had a lot of potential going for him,
but then, for whatever reason, just blows it all at the end.
He hardened his heart, he doesn't learn his lesson.
Look at verse 11.
And behold, the acts of Asa, first and last,
lo, they have written the book
of the kings of Judah and Israel.
And Asa, in the 39th year of his reign,
was diseased in his feet,
until the disease was exceeding great.
Yet in his disease, he sought not to the Lord,
but to the physicians.
He continued to rely on man.
It's like some people don't get the message.
When he's even diseasing his feet.
I mean, don't you think,
wouldn't any normal, rational person connect the dots here?
I mean, do you think Asa was stupid?
No way.
Of course he understood where that disease came from.
I mean, he's saying, well, I wasn't able to defeat
the host that came against me, they got away from me.
The Hananayi, the seer, comes and preaches against me
and tells me it's gonna be wars.
And now I've got this disease in my feet
that becomes exceeding great,
meaning it's like taking over his body.
Don't you think at some point,
you would have got right with God?
That he would have said,
hey, let me seek unto the Lord in all this.
Let me get my act together.
No, he hardens his heart and he didn't learn his lesson.
And it ends up, Asa slept with his fathers, verse 13,
and died in the one and 40th year of his reign.
And what does Asa go down as?
The guy with bad feet, right?
The guy with diseased feet.
That's how his life ends.
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 for the apocryphal art,
and they made a very great burning for him.
So he throws this huge funeral for himself.
He sees the end coming.
He's like, well, let me get my sepulchre built.
Let me get all the odors together.
And by the way, when I go,
there's better be a very great burning for me
because I was such a great king.
But he ended very poorly, didn't he?
I mean, he's locking up the man of God.
He's oppressing the people.
He did not finish well.
And it just goes to show us
that it's not how you start the Christian life.
It's how you finish.
And there'll be ups and downs along the way.
The Christian life isn't just this rocket-propelled,
linear growth, just I'm just better,
better every single day.
The Christian life is ups and downs.
Some of us, they're a little more severe,
but over time, they start to pan out.
It's not so wavy of a line over our life.
It's not how you start the Christian life.
It's how you finish it that counts.
And there's so many examples of this in Scripture.
Let's just look at some New Testament ones here.
I mean, Esau's a great example of somebody
who started out great,
but because of the hardness of his heart
before him getting away from the Lord,
because he forsook God, God forsook him,
because of all that, he ended up not finishing strong.
The example of Demas in Scripture,
go over to, where am I gonna have you go?
2 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Chapter 4, 2 Timothy, Chapter 4.
Demas is an example of somebody who started out good,
but finished bad, just like Esau.
You know, the Bible says in Colossians 4,
Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you.
I mean, Demas is somebody who was right there with Paul,
right there with the other, the apostles,
right there with the other servants, Timothy, Luke.
And the Bible says in Philemon,
yea, brother, let me have joy of thee, and the Lord,
refresh my bowels, and the Lord,
having confidence in thy obedience, I wrote unto thee.
And he says there in the end of verse 23,
there salute thee, Apaphras,
my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus,
Marcus Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellow laborers.
I mean, he's counted as a fellow laborer alongside Paul.
Demas started out really well, didn't he?
But did he finish well?
Because that's what counts in the Christian life,
how you finish, finishing strong.
He said in 2 Timothy 4, verse 9,
do thy diligence to come shortly unto me,
for Demas hath forsaken me.
You know, I've only run into one kid named Demas.
Only one, and when I found out that's what they named him,
I was kinda like, why did you name him that?
I didn't say that, but I'm thinking,
you know, are you gonna name him Asa?
Is his middle name Asa by any chance?
You know?
You might wanna get him some, what's that,
the athlete's foot or whatever, the spray or whatever,
what do they call it, I don't know.
Get that spray for his feet, I don't know.
But Demas, he started out great, right?
Fellow laborer, he's right there,
rubbing shoulders with Paul, all these other men of God,
but what does he go down as being known as?
The guy who forsook Paul, having loved this present world,
got tired of the battle, tired of the fight,
and decided, you know what, I'm just gonna love
the present world instead.
Now, on the complete opposite, you have the example of Mark.
Go over to Acts chapter 15, Acts chapter 15.
It's how you finish the Christian life, folks,
that counts, not how you start.
Even if you get off to a bad start.
You know, some people, they get in church,
you know, they start living for the Lord,
and they really, they're new to it,
they really don't know what they're doing,
they make some mistakes,
if they say things they shouldn't,
they do things they shouldn't,
they have to, you know, repent,
they have to say they're sorry,
whatever, they have ups and downs.
All that can be glossed over,
all that can be forgiven and forgotten,
but you have to be able to finish strong
in the Christian life.
It's how you finish, not how you start.
He says there in Acts chapter 15,
this is a great, Mark is a great example of this,
look at verse 35, Paul also in Barnabas
continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching
the word of the Lord with many others also,
and some days after Paul said to Barnabas,
let us go again and visit our brother in every city
where we have preached the word of the Lord
and see how they do,
and Barnabas determined to take them with him,
John, whose surname was Mark,
but Paul thought not good to take him with them,
with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia,
kind of like Demas, he departed from Paul already,
early on, right, and went not with them to the work.
So here's another guy, just kind of, you know,
got tired of the work,
got tired of being around this Apostle Paul guy,
some men of God are just a little,
you stand too close, you pick up a little heat yourself,
and they said, you know, I'm just kind of getting over it.
I'm not gonna go with you guys.
So when Barnabas is saying,
well, hey, let's take Mark with us,
Paul's like, well, don't you remember
what happened in Pamphylia?
Yeah, we didn't want to go to the work.
Said, no, let's not take him,
and Mark is a guy who's starting out
the Christian life bad.
Look, when the man of God is saying,
no, we don't want that guy, that's not a good sign.
That's when the man of God is, you know,
when the seer is coming and warning you,
when the man of God is saying,
we're not gonna take you with us,
you've got some things to figure out,
you've got some things to work on,
you know, that's time for introspection.
Why?
Because you can still finish strong.
Because you're just starting out in the Christian life,
you still have the opportunity to finish strong.
And look, I mean, Barnabas, you know,
it says in verse 39 that he was like insisting,
and the contention was so sharp between them
that they departed asunder one from another,
and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed on to Cyprus.
So, you know, credit to Barnabas here.
Maybe he saw some good thing in Mark,
and was like, look, I know Mark messed up,
I know he's made some mistakes,
but there's some good things in him.
Yeah, he's starting out bad,
but he could still finish strong.
So he takes him with him.
Now look at 2 Timothy chapter four,
I should add, keep something there,
I'm gonna have you go back there again later too.
Sorry about that, go to 2 Timothy chapter four again,
verse nine.
He says in verse nine,
do thy diligence to come shortly unto me,
for Demas hath forsaken me.
Example of a guy who started out great,
he's mentioned as one of the fellow laborers,
but later, you know what, what happens,
he has forsaken me, having loved this present world,
and is departed in Thessalonica,
Cretans to Galatia, and Titus to Lomatia.
Now I don't think Cretans and Titus,
he's just saying, they're not with me.
I don't think they for still come having loved
the present world, they're just out doing the work.
That's my opinion.
But let's look at verse 11.
Only Luke is with me, and now who is he asking for?
Take Mark and bring him with me.
Now Paul is saying, hey, will you get Mark,
will you bring Mark here?
For he is profitable to me from the ministry.
So here's Paul, in the beginning,
had said, no Mark, sorry Barnabas, not happening.
The guy is lazy, the guy didn't wanna go to the work,
the guy's just not up to the task.
If he goes, I'm not going.
But now, fast forward, after Mark's been hanging out
with Barnabas, doing the work, getting things right,
he's able to finish strong to the point where now,
at the end of his life, Paul's saying, bring Mark to me.
He's profitable for the ministry.
Look, Mark's an example of somebody who finished strong.
Yeah, he started out bad, but he didn't go full Asa.
He was able to pull out of that nose dive that he was in
and level off and make something of himself
for God's work.
And notice he says that he's profitable for the ministry.
Now you wanna finish strong?
Finish strong in God's work.
I mean, people, they put a lot of effort
into finishing strong in things that have no eternal value.
Finish strong in the Lord's work, in the ministry.
And by the way, it doesn't have to be this ministry.
Notice what Paul said there.
He said he is profitable to me for the ministry, right?
This isn't the only, this church is the only place
that's in the ministry.
You can be in the ministry in other places than just here.
But what matters is, no matter where you are,
whatever ministry you're part of,
that you finish strong for God.
So the charge here, look there again
in 2 Timothy 4.
This is what Paul wants for everybody,
and this is what any preacher wants
for any people that he preaches to.
Anybody that he's pastoring over is that they finish strong.
And let me tell you, you don't have to be around very long
to see people who just fall out all the time.
People just throw in the towel and quit,
and they just go deep, they pull a demus,
and they just go full back into the world.
I'm not saying they're not saved,
I'm not saying you're not gonna see them in heaven,
but you know what, they're not gonna finish life strong.
They're not gonna get to heaven
and have the rewards that they could have.
And Paul gives Timothy a charge here to finish strong.
Look at 2 Timothy 4, verse 1.
I charge thee before God and Lord Jesus Christ
who will judge the quick of the dead
at the appearing of his kingdom.
Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season,
reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering doctrine.
For the time will come when they do not endure
sound doctrine, but after their own lust
shall they keep to themselves,
having teachers having itching ears.
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth
and shall be turned unto fables,
but watch thou in all things endure afflictions,
do the work of an evangelist,
make full proof of thy ministry.
He's saying, make full proof of thy ministry.
What is he telling you here, to finish strong,
to do all of it, make a full proof of it,
complete the work that has been given to you.
And in the process of doing that,
if you're gonna finish strong, look at verse 5 again,
you're gonna have to watch thou in all things.
You know what else you're gonna have to do
to finish strong?
Endure afflictions.
It's not gonna be easy.
I mean, if it were easy, everybody would finish strong.
There would be no themuses in the world if it were easy.
It's not easy.
The Christian life isn't easy.
Let me just break it to you right now
if you haven't figured that out yet.
It's not the popular way to live your life.
The world's not gonna embrace you over it.
There's gonna be afflictions that come
and they're many fold.
They're gonna come in all different forms
from all different sources over the course of your life.
Yeah, there'll be seasons of rest like Asa had,
but there'll always be that next enemy
that's gonna come and bring affliction
and just mark it down.
You wanna finish strong, endure afflictions,
not only that, do the work of an evangelist.
That's the charge that he gave Timothy.
He said, look, I want you to make full proof
of thy ministry.
I want you to complete it.
I want you to do the whole thing.
Do the work of an evangelist.
You know, that's a work we can all do.
Not everyone's gonna get up and preach.
Not everybody needs to.
Nope, but everybody can do the work of an evangelist.
And if you're gonna finish strong in the Christian life,
you're gonna get to heaven
and have actual rewards in heaven,
you know, silver, gold, precious stones,
you need to do the work of an evangelist, folks.
You need to go out and win souls to Christ.
Or at the very least, just preach the gospel.
You know, some people, they go out,
and if we don't get anybody saved, it's just like,
why did we even go?
What was the point of that?
It's so hot.
Well, is the command to win, or is the command to go?
It's to go.
You know, whenever, even if I go
in the most unreceptive neighborhood,
and come back and no one's gotten saved,
I feel great, because I obeyed the commandment to go.
I did the work of an evangelist.
I'm making full proof of the ministry.
I know that I'm going to finish strong
if I keep doing the work of an evangelist,
if I keep enduring afflictions.
That's the charge that Paul gave to Timothy,
and that, you know, and he walked the walk, folks.
It was the example of Paul, too.
Look at verse six.
He said, for I am now ready to be offered,
and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have fought a good fight.
I have finished my course.
I have kept the faith.
Now, again, I'll point that out.
Part of finishing the course and keeping the faith
is what?
Fighting a good fight,
because there are many adversaries.
There's a great door open and effectual,
but there are also many adversaries.
You know, the devil has a roaring lion walk about,
seeking whom he may devour.
We have an adversary.
We have an enemy.
Spiritually speaking, and he's crafty,
and there's gonna be some fights along the way,
and if you wanna finish strong in Christian life,
you better get ready to fight the devil,
and be ready for afflictions,
and be ready to do the work of an evangelist
if you're going to say, like Paul,
I've finished my course.
I've kept the faith.
And what did he say in verse eight?
Henceforth there is laid up for me
a crown of righteousness.
Look, what in this world is gonna compare
to the crown of righteousness in heaven?
Nothing.
Not a thing.
What are you gonna lift up in this world?
What did Demas go after that was so much better
than the crown of righteousness?
That he said, yeah, you know what, it's not worth it.
The love of the world, you know,
having the cares and the riches of this world,
they're so much better than the crown of righteousness.
Sorry.
That's not finishing strong.
And he's gonna regret it.
You know, Demas is up there right now
probably kicking himself.
And he's like, oh great, another Demas sermon.
You know, I'm afraid as a preacher
sometime when I get up there,
some of these guys are gonna take me aside
and be like, hey buddy.
You know, while you were watching me,
I was watching you and I noticed a few things too.
You know?
You might take it out on my hide
while I get up there, right?
So I'll be careful, you know?
But hey, you know, these things are in the scripture
for the reason Demas started out strong.
But you know what?
Where's his crown of righteousness?
Is it even there?
He didn't do what Paul did.
He didn't finish the course.
He didn't keep the faith.
What is it that keeps people from finishing strong?
Trusting in man.
But ultimately it's this, peace and prosperity.
When people just, all they're concerned about
is just making life nice and comfortable.
And they just want everything to be
exactly the way they want it.
A lot of times that's people's undoing.
And it causes them to not finish strong.
Asa had peace, right?
He had 35 years of peace in his life.
He didn't finish strong.
Demas loved the world.
And he goes down as, you know, Demas the defector.
What keeps us, what's gonna help us finish strong?
Suffering, toil, conflict.
That's what's gonna keep us in the fight.
Not peace and safety.
I mean, Paul had his fair share of that.
You know, and he was following it, if you would,
just one last place.
John chapter 19.
Why was Paul willing to endure all that?
Why was Paul willing to endure afflictions
and go through all the things that he went through
in order just to finish the course,
just in order to finish strong?
Because he was following the example of Christ.
Look at John 19, verse 28.
This is, of course, the crucifixion.
It says in verse 28, after this,
Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished.
I mean, Jesus finished his course.
Jesus went all the way to the end.
He finished strong.
He said, all things were now accomplished
that the scripture might be fulfilled, said I thirst.
In other words, set a vessel full of vinegar
and they filled a sponge with vinegar
and put it upon a hyssop up to his mouth.
When Jesus therefore received the vinegar,
he said, it is finished, and bowed his head
and gave up the ghost.
Those were his last words.
It is finished.
You know, and that's what Paul was able to say.
I've kept the faith.
I've finished my course.
I've fought the good fight of faith.
Because he was following the same exact example.
Are we gonna be able to say that at the end of our life?
Or are we gonna be more like Demas?
Or are we gonna be more like Asa?
And at the end of life, all we've got are diseased feet.
If we wanna finish strong,
you have to stay in the good fight for the faith.
Let's go ahead and pray.