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All right, let's go over to song number 137 in times like these, song number 137. Song 137. Sing it out. Song 137. Sing it out. Song 137. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. It's like this, I have a savior, It times like this, I have an anchor, I'm very sure, I'm very sure, My anchor holds, It lifts the solid road. This rock is Jesus', This he's the son, Jesus, the only one. I'm very sure, I'm very sure, my anchor holds, and brings us all in front. I have a word of prayer. Lord, again, thank you for this time that we have together for the preaching of your word, that you would again meet with us this evening, and you would help services to honor you and ask in Christ's name, amen. All right, we'll go to song number 165, Worship the King. Song 165. Song 165. Song 165. Oh tell of his life and sing of his grace Whose home is the life, whose temple he space His share has come and won him the bloodless morn And what is this hope for all things from the storm? Like a simple care, what time can we shine? When faith's in the air, it shines in the light When strength's on the hills, it be sent to the grave And sweetly his tears will grow to reign the grave When children of dust, and people as rare, will be to rejoice, not finally to fear Thy mercy's out in good efforts in the end Thank you for joining us today, it's been a pleasure to meet you, it's been a pleasure to meet you, it's been a pleasure to meet you, it's been a pleasure to meet you, it's been a pleasure to meet you, it's been a pleasure to meet you, it's been a pleasure to meet you, it's been a pleasure to meet you, it's been a pleasure to meet you, it's been a pleasure to meet you, it's been a pleasure to meet you, it's been a pleasure to meet you, it's been a pleasure to meet you, it's been a pleasure to meet you, it's been a pleasure to meet you, it's been a pleasure to meet you, it's been a pleasure to meet you, it's been a pleasure to meet you, it's been a pleasure to meet you, it's been a pleasure to meet you, it's been 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Like a man like Asa. And quite frankly, Asa was a very righteous man early on. Asa did a great work for God. He's running out the Sodomites set of land, he's destroying all the altars, all the idols, he's even removing his mother from being queen because she built an idol. He's cleaning house as we talked about last week. But even a man like Asa who did many great works early on is still not exempt from the punishment of God. And that's what we need to understand. That's the lesson that we can learn from this tonight. Is that no matter what we might do in our lives, no matter how many souls we might say, how many times we read our Bible, how righteous we've lived of a life, no matter what we've accomplished for the Lord in this life, if at some point we decide that we're not going to do those things anymore and that we're just going to turn our back on God, we can mark it down that we will be punished by God to some degree or another. I believe the disease that of Asa's feet was a very, I mean it's a very obvious punishment. I don't think that God always chastens his children in a very obvious way. I think a lot of us could probably be under the chastening hand of God and not even, nobody else even really know about it. We could have problems and things that nobody else knows about but we know that it's between us and God and that it's God dealing with us. And if we're on us we can look at what's going on, we can look at our situation and I'm not saying always, I understand there's situations in life and not every time you get a sniffle or get sick or something that you have to, you're being punished by God. It's always a good idea to check and see maybe if that's the case. But what I'm saying is you know a lot of times when God punishes his people, nobody else really knows. But when you have a leader, when you have a man like Asa who you know was very, had a very public ministry so to speak, he was got leader of God's people when he starts to turn, someone who once had a great testimony among his God's people and among the world and somebody that was looked to as a righteous man, when he begins to turn because he had a public ministry, you know his punishment's a little bit more obvious isn't it? I mean being diseased in your feet isn't exactly the easiest thing to hide. And there's a lot of other things we can hide. You know we can we can injure some other you know part of, we could injure a hand, we could have back pains, you know we could there's other things that could happen. We could have other physical ailments that other people might never know about. But man you get one little you know goat head in your foot, right? We all know about that. You get one little sliver in your foot, you have one little problem with your foot. I mean everyone knows because everything is relying on your feet. I mean it holds up the rest of your body and it's real obvious. And I think it would have been real obvious that Asa was being punished by God, that people would have seen, boy he's diseased in his feet, he can't get around. I mean maybe it was even the point where he couldn't even walk. And the reason for that, why it was so public and why it was so obvious, is because he was a very, had a very public you know ministry if you want to call it that. You know in 2 Timothy, you know Timothy was told by Paul in chapter 5 that you know to against an elder receive not an accusation before two or three witnesses, then that sin rebuked before all. And I believe what he's referring to though is that the elders that do sin, those that where an accusation is brought by two or three witnesses and it's found out to be true, those that do sin rebuke before all that others also may fear. And I think it's a biblical thing for an elder to be publicly called out if he's if he's involved in a very you know public sin. Of course every person, every man of God, every layperson, everybody has you know sin in their life, no one's perfect. But I'm saying when a man of God, when a spiritual leader is getting involved in some very serious sins, it's appropriate, it's right, it's biblical to call that out. Why? So that others also may fear. So that other elders would look at that and say well you know let's let's make sure I'm gonna keep my nose clean, I'm gonna make sure I'm on the straight and narrow because I don't want to bring a reproach upon Christ. You think about David. What was it that grieved God so much when he committed the sin with Bathsheba? It was because he had given God's enemies what an occasion to blaspheme the name the Lord of God. And that's what happens when a leader, when a pastor, when a preacher, with somebody who is supposed to be held in reputation of honor you know gets into some sin. What it causes is all of the atheists and all the God haters just to say look they're hypocrites. So I believe that's why Asa was punished in that way. But again you say well I'm not a preacher you know I'm not a spiritual leader you know I'm not I don't have a public ministry how does this apply to me? Well you can at least take away the fact that God does punish his people. It doesn't matter how righteous you are. It's not like you get to just you know God's some kind of vending machine where if you just put in enough you know you know holy quarters you can pull out some sin and go do what you want. You have to stay right with God. You know I won't take the time to turn to all the passages tonight but I mean there's passages that talk about him. We talked about you know in Revelation chapter 3 where he's speaking to you know the church of Laodicea. He says as many as I love I rebuke and chasten. He's saying look because I love you I rebuke and I chasten you. He said in Hebrews 12 and we could all turn them we know the passage that that we have you know he says you have a forgotten the exhortation which speaking unto children my son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and every there and for whom the loveth he chasteneth and scourges every son who receiveth. And he goes on he talks about how though no chastening be for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness. You know the reason why God chastens his children because he wants us to get right. Just like any father any parent does with their children. They don't just let them run amok you know and it's not just for their own sanity. Like he said in Hebrews hey you know for verily for a few days they chastened us after their own pleasure. You know sometimes mom and dad just have to be able to operate a household and there needs to be some order and people need to be given some rules and there has to be consequences. But you know beyond just that that's you know that chastening is also not just for mom and dad it's also for those that are being chastened so that they would learn that there are consequences for misbehavior and not just from your parents. You know and also from the Lord. You know a lot of times young people get in their heads well you know I'm under mom and dad's watch right now but when I get old enough and I could do my own thing I'm gonna be my own man I'm gonna be my own woman I'm gonna just do whatever I want and get away with it and they're not gonna be able to touch me. Yeah but you forgot about somebody else. You forgot about God and God can get you wherever you go. So that's what we can learn from that you know is that God punishes his people. You know we say well what about the wicked they're the ones that really deserve it yeah and they'll get it one day. It seems like they're getting away with it they're not being punished. Yeah but the Bible says in Psalm 37 the Lord shall laugh at him for he seeth that his day is coming. The wicked got it coming too and it's gonna be a whole lot worse than anything you and I have ever suffered on this earth. But let's talk about why Asa was punished. Okay first of all we could see that you know Asa was punished and he was punished quite publicly I believe and that it was a very debilitating disease that he had it was one that you know I'm sorry but if you have a your feet are diseased you know anyone who's ever had foot trouble knows that that's you can't go out throughout your day without thinking about it. I mean I know I've had for a while there I had a plantar fasciitis or however you say it some kind of tendon or something in the bottom of my foot that for months was bad and it's and I mean from the time I woke up and put my feet on the ground until the day until it until I got my feet the other day it was it hurt all day and you think about it all day you know that's the way it is with God God will chase in us in such a way that he's gonna get our attention. But why was Asa punished? Well I believe first of all it's because he stopped trusting in the Lord. We remember from last week how he was when he was outnumbered two to one when there were the the millions that came against his half million of the Ethiopians how his first instinct was to cry to God and he ended up being answered of God and God brought a great victory and he went and spoiled those same people. So then you read about this later on in the chapter when he's when he's dealing with Ben Haydad and it's like what in the world's going on here? I mean who's Bayasha? I mean he's just building some fort somewhere and you're losing your mind. He's not even coming against you with millions a million people he's just just building a fort and not suffering people to go in and out he's just trying to keep people you know from from making commerce or whatever. He's not threatening to take the kingdom away and then all of a sudden he's just robbing the house of God and paying some heathen kings to protect him. It's like he lost all face he stopped trusting in the Lord. I believe that's why he was punished because he set a very bad example for the people that followed him. It says in 2nd Chronicles 16 where we are in verse 7 at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said unto him because thou hast relied on the king of Syria and not relied on the Lord thy God therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. He said look they're gonna they're gonna be a pain in your neck. He's saying look the reason is because you relied on somebody else you did rely on the Lord and you know we need to learn this lesson because here's the thing God is going to allow trials to come into your faith into your into your life to test your faith. You know not everything not every hard thing not every trial that comes into our life is a punishment from God. It's not always chastening and life itself is is full of its own challenges and God is gonna allow things to happen in your life to test your faith. I believe that. You're gonna go through trials you're gonna go through tribulations you're gonna have hardships and God is gonna watch how we react to those trials. God's gonna test this church. God's gonna test every one of us individually and test our faith. He allows those things to happen. He lets you know the Beashers come into our lives and he lets the Ethiopians and the Eubens come in and and test us and see how we react. Are we gonna cry out to God? Are we gonna rely on him and let him do a great work in our lives? Are we gonna sell out and quit on God? Quit having faith and be a poor example to the people that are watching and mark it down the people around you are watching. Your co-workers your unsafe family members your children everybody is watching how you handle trials in your life and God allows those those trials to come in and look if we fail there's gonna be consequences. I mean this is all throughout the scripture I won't you know forsake a time turn you there but in James 1 it says my brethren count on all joy when you fall into diverse temptations saying count of joy when you come into diverse temptations and you come into a trial and you come into testing knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience. Why would God do that? Why would God allow diverse temptations to work patience in our life but let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing you know we have to go through these things we have to be tested we have to go through hard times you know so often people ask you know it's like I get we get emails probably almost every other day I don't know how frequently but quite often and you hear this a lot as people say well why does God allow this happen why did God allow this person to suffer why did God allow this person to go through that and why does God allow these things and why did good people go through bad things you know one of the best answers I've ever heard is that God allows those things to happen so that will turn to him I mean isn't that what he's saying here with Ben with with Ben Haydad and with Asa and he's saying why did you trust in the Syrians you've relied on them and you've not relied on me that's what upset God is you you took things out of you took the gold and the silver out of my house and are relying in the strength of man and you Asa of all people should know that if you would cry out to me that I would deliver you because I've done it we need allowed patience to have its perfect work its complete work its entire work not just go through I mean it's all for naught and we go through all these trials early on in our life and our Christian life and we see God answer prayer we see God come through for us and then later on we just say well not anymore and we quit that's why I believe Asa was being punished is because when God allowed a trial to come into his faith into his life and test his faith he failed and there's consequences for failing he backslid from being a great man of faith if you look there in verse 8 of 2nd Chronicles 16 it says we're not the Ethiopians and the Lubens a great host a huge host with very many chariots and horsemen he said not were there not only was there many of them you they were also better armed than you went over that last week yet because thou didst not didst rely on the Lord he delivered them into thine hand say look you you've been through this Asa you know that God is able to defeat your enemies you used to be a great man of faith but now we find you in your older age not wanting to fight that battle not wanting to trust in God think well it's just easier to just hire just to rob God and just take this gold and silver that no one really cares about anyway and just sell it out and just have man to fight our battles for us because if you remember Asa you know in that earlier battle against the Otheo he still had to show up and fight now he's just getting lazy now he's just saying well I don't even want to just just pay somebody else to fight our battles look we can't rely on other people to fight the battles that are intended for us you know we as God's people can't expect the world to fight our battles they're not gonna fight them we can't expect we're not you know I'm not sitting here holding my breath waiting for the world to start to you know decry the abomination that's that's in our land decry all the sins that are in our land all the abortion and the sodomy and and the adultery and the fornication and the drunkenness and everything and the idolatry and everything that's just running them you know rampant in our land I'm not expect the world can't be expected to fight those battles and we can't just cop out on God and just say well let's just let the world take care of that let's let the Syrians take care of this this this problem we have I've fought enough battles I'm not interested anymore that's that's selling out you know that's that's a that's backsliding that's failing God's testing you know God expects us to fight all of the battles that he allows to come into our lives and to rely on him and not man but again the temptation is what to get lazy you say well I'm tired of fighting that battle you know let let somebody else fight that nobody else can fight that battle we're the only ones that can we're the only ones that know the Word of God that have the Spirit of God nobody else can go out and win the souls you know the Jehovah Witnesses aren't going to win the souls the Mormons aren't going to win the souls they're they're the enemy they're they're preaching a false gospel you know we need to take heed to this and and understand as we're warned in 1st Corinthians 10 let him that think if he standeth take heed lest he fall say well I fought that battle early on that's it you know I'm I'm all done here no there's another battle coming you know I'm glad you had this great victory Asa I'm glad you had peace after that battle that you had a great spoil but you know don't get too comfortable because there's another battle that's gonna have to be fought and you're the only one who could fight it that is the Christian life you know this is something that I I've learned being a member at Faithful Word Baptist Church you know being associated with you know the new IFB being associated with churches who have preachers and have people in it who stand for the whole counsel of the Word of God that suffer persecution one thing I've just learned is that they're just gonna be another battle there's you know we get over one we see God rate or work a great victory we see a church go through a trial come out on the other side better than ever we rejoice and they well I'm glad that's over no it's not there's another one around the corner and as I you know I mentioned Thursday you know that's one of the pressures of the ministry not knowing when it's coming next I mean I don't know about you but I think about that that's something I think about often that's something that you know a lot of pastors get up and they wonder well when's the next one's coming what is it gonna be my turn you know that's that's one of those pressures that people don't often think about but it's something we have to think about because the fact is we might go ahead and defeat the Ethiopians today and God might we might rely on him and say a great victory but you know what there's another battle right around the corner and it's gonna come again after that and after that I mean I saw Faithful Word go through some things I thought I remember thinking myself well that'll never happen again and then it happened again well twice now I mean these guys you know twice now these people there have been people that have been heretics uh you know more than once we've had protesters a surely that's all over with surely that we're just not going to be any more battles and then another group of people rise up and try to split the church and then another group of people rise up and split the church and then you see this church go through and then this church go through a trial and I'm just I've just you know learned and just said to myself well it's just never going to stop but you know what that to me that's exciting at least the Christian life isn't dull I mean it's not a I'll admit you know it's not it's not a roller it's not a you know a roller coaster every day of your life it's not like it's just this the most exciting but that's life you know we got things to do but you know the battles make at least make it interesting you know and there's so much scripture on this and you can go to first Peter if you wanted to but you know he just talks about how we are to greatly rejoice in first Peter chapter 1 verse 6 though now for a season if need be our heaviness through manifold temptations and you have Christians and they say well you know if you're going through hard things you know maybe you just you're just not right with God you just need to name it and claim it brother and get that victory and you know if you have problems you know if there's Oh God's not you're not God's never gonna put any of his people through anything hard that's how we know we're all getting raptured out of here and yet you read all these scriptures or he's saying look you're gonna go through manifold temptations he said in first Peter chapter 4 beloved thinking not a strange thing concerning the fiery trial which and which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you you know we shouldn't be surprised by the Ben Haydads we should be surprised by the Ethiopians we shouldn't be surprised by the battles that God brings into our life as Christians because often those very things are the things that God is allowing to test our faith let's say why would God need to test our faith I'll tell you why God will test our faith so that we can rely on him and watch God show up and brought right work a great work in our lives that's why so we allow so when something comes in and we say you know what I'm gonna rely on God we end up rejoicing because we saw God move I guarantee you when they got done I mean we read it last week Asa after they robbed that great victory they went back and they held a great feast and they sacrificed and they made a proclamation that everyone should seek the Lord and nobody and anybody who didn't want to got put to death and all Israel rejoiced or Judah rather they all said they mean they were there playing the trumpets they broke out the instruments they they shouted they said yes there was rejoicing but what had to come first the battle the testing the time of you know the the fiery trial that they had to go through and they had to be proven worthy of having God to come and work in their midst you know that's I believe one probably the main reason that Asa was punished but I believe another reason because if you read the story you know this happens and then it's like the last three years of his life that is diseased in his feet so this is I you know that comes after these events I believe you know he's being punished because of the way he handled this situation it wasn't that he was diseased in his feet and then he did these things no he did these things and then he was diseased in his feet the one that he did to deserve that punishment was the fact that he stopped trusting in the Lord he backslid for being a great man of faith not only that but he handled correction poorly look at first 2nd Chronicles 16 verse 9 this is Hanani the seer continues on it says 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 you know God wants to show himself strong towards people God wants to move in the midst of a people you know and I think sometimes people think that well God working in my midst that just means that he's gonna show up and just you know just bless me beyond measure I mean people just they associate that with financial gain they suppose that gain is godliness and what they really are is destitute of the truth you know the truth is is that God wants to show himself strong so he does it says oh let's test these people let's put my people through let's bring a test let's put a trial let's bring a persecution and let's see how they react let's see if they are people of faith let's see if they cry out to me and then I will move the Lord the eyes of Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward him here in thou hast done foolishly I love this guy I mean I love these Old Testament prophets they're so bold and so many preachers today they're there they're so afraid to preach anything hard from their pulpits they're afraid of you know little miss so-and-so making a nasty face they're they're afraid of mr. money bags in the back you know they don't want to upset anybody here you got Hanae and I walking up to the king saying that was done foolishly he doesn't know how it's gonna turn out I don't know I don't know how ace is gonna handle this but you know what this is what the Word of God says this is what you did and you're gonna get told exactly what you did wrong Isa here and now it's doing done foolishly therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars well you wanted to sell out on God you wanted a you wanted a you know skip out on the battle you want to play hooky from serving God you know what you could just have more of it you can just have more war instead since you're since you know you're so against fighting God's battles you know what here just have some more some war war have more of what you don't want and you could fight him yourself and that's he's telling them notice verse 10 though after he gets put in his place after the man of God comes and says it like it is then Asa was wroth with the seer and put him in a prison house for he was in a rage with him because of this thing I mean he's triggered he comes and he gets told and everything that and then I said was right and he says you know what you're gonna get more war you're a fool for what you've done I mean he's not like David David when he got told by Nathan that thou art the man he just said I have sinned and David said that's or the the Nathan said thou shall not die you know nevertheless there was punishment we know that but Asa instead of hearing that and being humbled is so proud that he gets and he gets Roth right angry he's filled with wrath with the man of God the seer and put him in a prison he locks the man of God up and again you know this is just a great testimony to Hanae because you don't really read anything after that he's just kind of like he gets locked up and the story just moves on it's like did he die in there did he ever get let out what happens when he locks him up in a prison house and he was in a rage with him because of this thing that's handling correction poorly isn't it look either the best thing if you ever do something wrong is just admit it that's another lesson you can take from this when someone comes to you and just points out the facts and says look you did wrong you've done foolishly you know the wrong reaction is to get upset and mad at that person the bible says faithful are the wounds of a friend open rebuke is better than secret love and somebody has the guts to come to you and say hey look you've done you've done wrong here you got to thank that person you got to be glad that they that they came to talk to you about that rather than just lock him up put him out of your life ruin that relationship he was in a rage because of this thing and a suppressed some of the people the same time there's probably some other people that were questioning his authority questioning his leadership skills at this point questioning whether or not he still up to the task and you know he just can't handle criticism anymore you know let me just you know mention this since we're kind of touching on it here is that you know he does this because that's his job it is the preacher's job to call out sin it's the preacher's job to correct with the Word of God I mean I'm not saying it's a correct the preacher's job to come be nitpicky and you know examine every aspect of your life and under some magnifying glass but look if you've done foolishly you know don't let it surprise you when the preaching the Word of God you know hits you right where it counts and I mean that's one thing I've noticed in the short time I've been preaching is I'll get up just preach things and I I mean I don't know what anybody's up to but then people just get all bent and you just get all bent out of shape and angry and it's like I didn't I didn't know you were doing that I don't know sorry I guess you must have forgot that the eyes of the Lord go throughout the whole earth to and fro that the eyes of the Lord go out there I'll be holding the evil and the good I guess you must have forgotten that you know this is a supernatural book that this is a Holy Spirit filled preacher that we have up here that's just preaching whatever God lays on his heart you know if I if I get up and say something to the effect that thou has done foolishly that the last thing you want to do is get a stiff neck the last thing you want to do is get bent out of shape and get get Roth and get in a range and you know shut the church out of your life you know proverbially lock me in a prison somewhere out of your sight well I'm never going back there I mean I don't know how many times I've had my face ripped from pulpit and it wasn't even that the preacher was trying although there have been services where the preacher was specifically trying to rip my face but I mean that there was plenty other services where I was just like oh man she's even following me around this week how did he know he didn't know he's just preaching the whole counsel of God you know would have been a really bad reaction for me you say I'm never going back to that church and just get Roth and and and and get a hothead and just say it get in a rage because the it's the preacher's job to correct you know it's the parents job to come and correct you it's the bosses the supervisors job to come out and say you're doing it wrong and not so they can belittle you and make you feel stupid but because you can look so that you can learn to do it right that's always the purpose behind correction so that you'll quit doing it wrong and start doing it right because no you know I know we're living in a world where everyone gets a trophy for everything well you're in last place you know there was a time where they'd say hey second place is the first loser you know I mean the word competition is a dirty word now here's the thing you know when we correct people when people get corrected it's because they want you to succeed people that correct you want you to do better so you don't live your life like a fool so you don't ruin things like like an ASA it's the preacher's job it's it's those that are it's their job to correct it's their job to call us and don't be like a so I mean this is why I believe he gets punished he spends his last remaining years diseased in his feet and everyone knows why everyone saw how he handled the ASHA everyone saw how he handled the man of God when he got corrected and plenty of people are saying now look at him laid up can't even stand up he's a cripple and he still any and he goes to the to the grave in his pride the Bible says in Proverbs 26 I'll just read it to you see is thou a man wise in his own conceit there is more hope of a fool than of him there's more hope in a fool than of a person who's already got all the answers somebody's already wise in their own conceit they're so proud and puffed up and lifted up and they're just a big know-it-all and they think they just got it all figured out and they've been around so long and they know so much more than so but everybody else and they can never be corrected they can never be criticized you know what there's more hope in a fool than of that and look and that's not saying that's not that's not lifting up the fool that's not saying so be a fool you know that cut that contrast that comparison is there to show you that how serious you know conceit and pride is because there's not a lot of hope for a fool either you know the Bible says in Proverbs to be better to meet a bear robbed of her whelps than to run into a fool in his folly I know I'm paraphrasing but I don't know about you but I don't want to run into a bear robbed of her whelps that's the most dangerous bear there is you know I'd rather run into the bear that's well fed it's just thinking about hibernating it can't be bothered to chase me you ground into that mama bear looking for a cubs you know you're going down and the Bible says it'd be better to run into that than a fool in his folly so this isn't lifting up being a fool it's just saying that if you're wise and you're open seat you're worse than that look at verse 12 of 2nd Chronicles 16 and this is Asa I mean he messes up it's obvious he's getting called on the carpet by the man of God and it says in verse 12 and Asa and the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet until his disease would exceeding great I mean just spreads and just takes over I don't know if they had to cut him off or what yet notice this in his disease he sought not to the Lord but to the physicians he didn't learn his lesson you know I don't think it's cuz he's stupid I don't think it's cuz he's a fool I think it's because he was wise in his own conceit I think he was stubborn and stiff-necked and hard-hearted and he was just somebody you know and people react this way don't they and we have to watch ourselves that we don't react like this when someone comes to us says hey you're doing this wrong you're making a mistake what you're doing is foolish oh I know what I'm doing who are you telling me anything I'm just gonna keep right on doing what I'm doing I'm just gonna keep doing that way well that's fine keep doing it the way but you're you know you're a fool for thinking you're gonna get a different result if you keep doing things wrong and you keep getting the wrong results should be pretty obvious what the problem is Bible says in Proverbs 29 he that being offered I know we know this he that being author improved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy and that's King Asa and he's being reproved it's got the man of God coming in man of God come and said gets in his face and says you've done foolishly don't you know God is looking to prove and show himself mighty on behalf of those whose hearts perfect toward him you used to be that guy what's wrong with you and then he locks him up and throws him in jail gets all man and presses somebody anybody else that has anything to say it otherwise and he's different and then he gets disease in his feet do you think it's because Asa was just stupid he couldn't figure it out you know it's because he was proud because he was he was wise in his own conceit and he was stubborn and he was stiff neck hey Asa you know the physicians aren't doing anything for you you know take two in the more and take two of these they call me the morning isn't working the disease is getting worse there might even been some people that came to said maybe you should humble yourself and apologize to hey night honey night maybe you should seek the Lord and quit doing so foolishly quit being so stiff neck no no I'm not gonna do it and it sounds crazy but people do that all the time people you'll go say well I you know I got problems you know I have some issue in my life you're like well here's what the Bible says about it here's what you need to change I mean you can get specific and say you need to change this and you need to quit doing this and you need to start doing this this is what the Bible says and if you start doing it you know you're standing on the promise of God and people will go yeah that's is what the Bible says but I'm not gonna do that mm-hmm well then prepare to be destroyed in that without remedy then just go to your grave with some diseased feet Asa and well actually I want to talk about we talked about why he was punished how he was punished but I want to talk just very briefly and I'm almost done the significance of his feet being diseased because God could have diseased anything but he chose the feet right and I think it's because of the fact that you know Asa was somebody who stood for the Lord at one time he was somebody that what walked by faith and that's what we're to do we walk by faith not by sight the Bible talks so much in the New Testament about our feet doesn't it when you think about it throughout the scripture you know the feet are very it's a very symbolic you know part of our body we could talk about you know you know the the beautiful feet of the one that brings the glad tidings of God we talk about in Ephesians how we are to you know have our feet shod with the gospel of the preparation of peace you know but if we don't walk by faith if we stop standing for the Lord if we you know don't follow them who have spoken unto us the Word of God how do you follow somebody with your feet if we don't follow their faith and consider the end of the conversation you know we're gonna be in a figuratively speaking we're gonna end up diseased in our feet we're not going to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil because here's the thing you say why did he disease his feet because he didn't eat them because apparently Asa thought I don't need my feet I don't need to stand for God anymore I don't need to follow the Lord anymore I don't need to have my feet shod I don't need to go out and fight the battles I don't need my feet anymore I'm old let somebody else fight that battle God says oh you don't need your feet so much let me just show how much you don't need them and disease them and punished him now I believe that's the significance there you know showing us that you know we need to stand for the Lord we need to follow the faith of others who've spoken under this Word of God we need to you know walk by faith and not by sight we need to have our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace and we need to stay that way and not later on after we fought those battles and done that all those things later on say well that's enough of that no you need to do it all the way to the end you got to keep your feet all the way to the end don't be like an ASA who starts out great you know started out real well you know he didn't maybe have the best upbringing whatever but he had you know some faith he had some boldness he had some zeal and he was willing to take a stand for God started out great but what happened later on he has a lap you know just gets lazy I don't know it's decides he doesn't want to fight anymore rather just take the vessels out of the house of God and pay somebody else to fight his battles said my feet are tired my feet are old I've stood and up my ground plenty I don't need to do anymore well you know what that's a good way to get punished isn't it in the same way with us you know if we as a church I mean that's we'll close with that example what if we just decided you know man we've stood for the King James Bible we stood on this book we've stood for this book for decades let's say 30 40 years from now this church says you know what but I'm tired of fighting that battle God might just disease the feet of this church and just say well you know what let's just close the doors on that and I'll find somebody else to go down there to that city and finish my work you know that's just an example of this church of you but you know what you can apply that in your own life if you're somebody that starts out well finish well and if somebody comes to you and corrects you you know that's not the time to develop a bad attitude that's not time to say look the people are doing this out of love for me because they want to see me go all the way to the end and don't forget that you know that God punishes us that God will chasing us chasing us if we ever just get this attitude of well it doesn't you know I can do whatever I want or I've done enough in the past that now I can behave everyone that's not the case God chases his children even great men like Asa who at one time stood boldly for the Lord you know because of what the heat how he behaved and handled himself in his latter years went to the grave very uncomfortably I can't imagine that was a pleasant way to die I don't know exactly what it means by diseased in his feet but it doesn't sound pleasant to me you know I just joked about it the other night you know I want to pass away quietly like everybody you know in my sleep I just want to go to bed seemingly in perfect health and just never wake up you know later not tonight you know maybe God'll you know maybe God will grant me that maybe I'll be able to just yeah maybe I'll live till Jesus comes I don't know but I don't want to go out bad I don't want the last thing you know the last part of my life to be me getting mad at them at the Word of God mad at the man of God oppressing God's people selling out on the Lord and they're being punished by God you know an Asa serves as a great warning to the rest of us that it's not how you start it's how you finish that matters and you know what you could ruin a great life of living for the Lord by just getting a real bad attitude and getting lazy in your old age so let's heed that warning you know you say I don't want to be diseased my feet good I don't want you to either I don't want to be but you know what that means when the temptations and the trials and the battles come we have to be relying on the Lord we have to stand by faith we have to be willing to fight those battles and be people of faith and go through those trials and those temptations so we can see God work on our behalf and that we can be perfect and entire wanting nothing let's go and pray your Lord again thank you for the example of Asa Lord thank you for the good that he did in his life thank you for the good example that he set or by being a man who stepped out in faith and and stood for God and stood for you and and fought your battles and and and rock great works and Lord thank you for the the bad example that he serves as a warning to us that or if we if we develop a bad attitude if we lapse in faith at any point in our life for that we can expect to be punished that we can be expect to be dealt with because you love us and Lord I prayed help us just to love those that correct us Lord in our lives and most of all you Lord we know that that you're a God who chastens his children Lord I pray that we would never be a stiff-neck people when it comes to your chasing and Lord whatever shape it takes in our lives and would help us to be people that are ready willing and able to stand by faith and fight the battles that we know are going to come into our lives as individuals and as a church we ask in Christ's name amen all right we're gonna sing one more song before we go we'll sing song number 327 higher ground Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh That's right