May it please God to bless us
together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
second book of the Chronicles and chapter 15 and we'll read
verse two. The second book of the Chronicles,
chapter 15, we'll read verse two. And he went out to meet
Asa and said unto him, hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you while ye
be with him. And if ye seek him, he will be
found of you. But if ye forsake him, he will
forsake you. Lord in his great goodness and
mercy saw fit to send this prophet I suppose Azariah and the son
of Obed to speak to Asa as he came and come back from that
great victory against the Ethiopians. And we know that Asa was a king
that sought unto the Lord. We read in the second verse of
the 14th chapter, and Asa did that which was good and right
in the eyes of the Lord, his God. Well, it's a great blessing
for that, and it's a great blessing if that can be said of us, that
we do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord, our God. And we're told that 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 God of their fathers and to do the law and
the commandments. Well, that was a great blessing
for a king to do such a thing, to command Judah and Benjamin,
indeed, to seek the Lord God of their fathers and to do the
law and the commandment. Well, the blessing for us today
is that the Lord God has not changed. And you and I still have the
gracious word of God to encourage us to seek unto him. how important it is that we seek
him. Now, of course, Israel in those
days more specifically sought him to grant the victory against
the enemy. We still need to do that today.
Of course, we're in the current situation. We need God to arise. We need God to appear. We need
God to hear prayer. no doubt there is. So a little
prayer by comparison as it would have been on that time in the
history of Judah and Benjamin, especially to have a king that
commanded them to do such a thing. Well at present time of course
we don't have a king or we have a queen who commands that, nor
does our government. In actual fact they seem to be
totally happy to ignore such a need and yet we can realize
that we still have a God who is gracious, we still have a
God who hears and answers prayer and yet there is of course a
much greater need that we have and that is to seek the Lord
with regard to our soul's well-being. This is truly a need that we
all have constantly and how necessary it is that God does hear, and
God is gracious to us, and God indeed does bless us. Well, Azariah says to Asa and the people, hear ye me. It was words that were to be
heard, not words which have been dismissed and forgotten. And the words were these, the
Lord is with you. Well, that was a wonderful statement. The Lord had been with them.
There was no doubt about it. And therefore this is true. The
Lord is with you, but then he is qualified. That statement
is qualified. And it should be good to realize
that the word of God is so often qualified. in the statements
it makes and the qualification on this occasion was while ye
be with him and if ye seek him so the word was the lord is with
you the qualification was if while you be with him and if
you seek him and clearly the opposite is true and that is
really confirmed because regardless that if you seek him, he will
be found of you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. So the word of God is very balanced,
is it not? And what a wonderful thing it
is to consider that we have a great God in heaven who rules and reigns
today with the same power that he had in the days of Asa. And what a blessing, therefore,
if you and I know that in a natural way, but more importantly, that
you and I know it in a spiritual way. How relevant it is. As we go through the Word of
God, we can find there are many examples of the Lord hearing
the prayer of his people. They sought him and he heard
and he answered their prayer. It's a wonderful thing to think
how kind and gracious God is. And when the apostle Jeremiah,
or rather the prophet Jeremiah wrote, he wrote these words in
the 29th of Jeremiah in the 11th to the 13th verses, these words,
for I know the thoughts I think toward you, saith the Lord. Now the Lord thinks of us. I wonder today what his words
or his thoughts are toward us. I wonder what they are. For I know the thoughts I think
toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to
give you an expected end. We have a great God. What a mercy
of God thinks upon us with thoughts of peace and not of evil to give
us an expected end. And then he says, then shall
you call upon me and you should go and pray unto me and I will
hearken unto you. What a blessed occasion that
was, what a blessed time it was what a blessed period it was
when Jeremiah who lived in exceedingly dark day the Lord was able to
influence Jeremiah to speak such words so that his people might
be awakened to the need to pray unto the Lord and that is so
today as a nation and as individuals prayer What a vital ingredient
it is in our spiritual life to pray unto God. Oh, how needful
it is. And yet, how negligent we are
in prayer, individually. How negligent we are, indeed,
as a nation. And so he says, then shall ye
call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will
hearken unto you. And then he says these wonderful
words, and ye shall seek me and find me. Well, I wonder today
whether each one of us is seeking the Lord. Are we seeking the
Lord? Or are we just seeking to follow
our own pursuits, to follow our own way, to follow our own plan,
rather than to be found seeking the Lord. Well, that was the
words of Jeremiah. And you shall seek me and find
me when you shall search for me with all your heart. So that wasn't a divided heart,
was it? He wasn't having, as it were,
one foot in the world and the other foot in the things of God
and wanting to enjoy all the pleasures of sin for a season.
yet also on the other hand to enjoy the blessings of God. Well, what a mercy today if you
and I are blessed with that grace to seek unto the Lord with all
our heart, wholeheartedly, not half-heartedly. Perhaps we expect
God to hear us when our prayers are half-hearted, when our prayers
are very casual, Perhaps the reason is that we don't recognize
our need. Well, there was a great need
in the days of Judah and Benjamin. The enemy was before them. And
the Lord heard and answered their prayers. Today, we have a similar
situation nationally with regards to this virus, which is prevalent. We also have a situation with
regard to our spiritual needs. And what a blessing it is for
us today if the Holy Spirit shows to us something of what we are
before a holy God. Now remember, God is holy. God the Father cannot look upon
sin. He is a holy God. And that's
why we need blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, to stand
between us and a holy God in garments dyed in blood. What a blessing it is then if
the Holy Spirit, and it is the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit,
to convince us that we do have a great need because of our sin. May sin indeed not appear something
irrelevant. It may appear a great obstacle
in our time of blessing, a great obstacle which separates between
us and our God. How often we fail to realize
there is the separation that's caused through sin. So what a mercy today if God
gives us that grace to recognize the truth of this great word
that this prophet Azariah brings to Asa and tells him the Lord
is with you while ye be with him and if you seek him and he
will be found of you if but if you forsake him he will forsake
you and again perhaps we can look into our lives perhaps we
can solemnly recognize that God has forsaken us perhaps we don't
enjoy the things of God like we did enjoy them perhaps we
have forgotten to seek him perhaps we have not sought him with all
our heart perhaps we've been very half-hearted, perhaps we've
been very lukewarm. We know of course what the Apostle
John was blessed with on that view by the Spirit on the Isle
of Patmos, when he was blessed with the word spoken to the seven
churches and come into the Last church, the church in Laodicea,
and they were condemned because of their lukewarmness. And the Lord said he would spew
them out of his mouth. They were not acceptable in that
condition of lukewarmness. And we find ourselves today,
individually as a church of God and as a nation, lukewarm in
the things of God. Well, may we be found then truly
hearing these words of Azariah, hearing the words of Jeremiah,
and also hearing the words of the blessed Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. Surely we cannot have a more
powerful word than that which Jesus brings before us. You may be familiar The Lord
did speak to the multitudes on that occasion that we call the
Sermon on the Mount. It occurs in the Gospel of Matthew,
chapters 5, 6 and 7, when the Lord speaks wonderful truths.
It's very good to read those chapters again and again and
to absorb the things that the Savior sets before us. And in the seventh chapter, the
seventh and eighth verses, he speaks about seeking, and this
is what he says. And it shall be given you, seek,
and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
For everyone that seeketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth,
and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. is the great words of the Savior. But the problem is today there
is not that seeking, there is not that true desiring for the
blessing of God. With all our heart it's a very
lukewarm situation and condition that we find ourselves in. You may remember that in Ezra's
day. Ezra and Nehemiah was a day when
God brought back Judah and back into the land
of Israel, back into Jerusalem and it was a time of favor. But the Lord instructed Ezra
and instructed Nehemiah in those days and Both cases, Ezra and
Nehemiah, were under no disillusionment of the evil of the situation
which they found themselves in. And in Ezra's little book, in
the eighth chapter, we read this, we're told, 21st verse, Then
I proclaimed a farce there at the river of Ahavah, that we
might afflict ourselves before our God to seek of him a right
way for us and for our little ones and for all our substance. For I was ashamed to require
the king, a band of soldiers and horsemen, to help us against
the enemy in the way, because we had spoken unto the king,
saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek
him, but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake
him so we fasted and besought our God for this and he was entreated
of us what a blessing God was entreated now we have the same
God today that God who is alive forevermore that God who does
not change but a God who has said he will be inquired of by
the house of Israel to do these things for them and therefore
we can believe the words that Azariah spoke to Asa in these
days when he said the Lord is with you but there is this great
qualification while ye be with him it's easy to just assume
Well, of course, God is with us and therefore we can just
carry on. God is with us if we follow his way, if we follow
his commands, but if we forsake him, he will forsake us. Perhaps some of us look back
in our lives to days perhaps when we have forsaken him, we
have followed our own devices, what a mercy then if the Lord
has not dealt with us as our sins deserve. God tells us about this forsaken
him and in an earlier book in the Word of God in Leviticus,
which often is quite a hard book to actually read and to absorb
and understand, it goes through the sacrifices, but it also goes
through a number of laws which Moses was given and Moses was
able to write out and to bring before Israel. And of course,
it's still there for us today. And very often, of course, we
forget and we pass over books like Leviticus. I mean, I wonder
if I was to ask you today. So when was the last time you
read Leviticus? Well, we might not get many hands
to go up at all, might we? We might not find that, and perhaps
it's a long time ago. But nonetheless, there are words
of instruction in Leviticus should not be overlooked. And therefore,
you and I should read Leviticus. We should read all the word of
God. And not say, well, I'm not reading that, that's not very
interesting. It is still the word of God. My friends, God
can apply his word from any part of it to our souls for our eternal
good. So do not just turn, as some
people do, to the New Testament and the Psalms. There is much
instruction from the whole Word of God. In Leviticus 26, there
are just a few verses that I will read to you which direct us to
the rightness of hearing God's Word and to following God's word
and to walking in accordance with it. And in Leviticus 26
and from verse 21, this is what we read. And if ye walk contrary
unto me and will not hearken unto me. Well, those are straightforward
words, aren't they? Again, we always need to not
look around and think, well, that applies to him and that
applies to her. We should always take the word
of God to ourselves and to examine ourselves. That's a great instruction
in God's word. If ye walk contrary unto me and
will not hearken unto me, I will bring seven times more plagues
upon you according to your sins. Well, that's a great condemnation,
isn't it? You see, we have a plague at
the present time, a plague in our nation. And yet, you see,
there's not a hearkening unto the Lord. And we're walking contrary
to our God, and therefore there is this statement of judgment. I will bring seven times more
plagues upon you according to your sins. I would also send
wild beasts among you. which shall rob you of your children,
and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number, and your
highways shall be desolate. And if ye will not be reformed
by me, by these things, but will walk contrary unto me, then will
I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven
times for your sins. You see how solemn the word of
God is when he says, then will I also walk contrary unto you
and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. So we should
not think that we can therefore take lightly the things of God. We should realize how important
they are. Well, here are these words then.
from Azariah to Asa. The Lord is with you. Why do
you be with him? And if you seek him, he will
be found of you. Well, this morning, I wonder
how we respond to that great statement. If we seek him, the
Lord knows whether you and I are seeking him or whether we are
not seeking him. And there was in the life of
the Apostle Paul a wonderful determination for the blessing
of God. And what a mercy that is so in
our lives. And they're familiar words. You
may remember the words that he wrote to the Corinthian church
of his determination. This is what he said, the second
chapter in the second verse, for I determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. See the blessing of that is,
if the Lord in his sovereign will and purpose for us comes
and blesses us as we seek unto him, that he would indeed save
us and that we might know the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. You may say, well, what is the
relevance of that? You young people may say, what
is the relevance of that? The relevance of that is very
simply this, you and I as sinners of the earth, you and I as hell
deserving sinners of the earth, vile and black sinners of the
earth. We need to be freed, delivered
from our sin. And you and I cannot take it
away ourselves. We cannot remove it. We have
no ability to remove it. And that's why we are encouraged
to seek the Lord. because the Lord can remove it.
And what a mercy then, if we seek him and be found of him. And if we're found of him, we're
found of him as this crucified savior. Because through his death,
through that sacrifice that he made in giving his life, That
sacrifice was an acceptable sacrifice to almighty God, an acceptable
sacrifice which removed the sin of all his people. And the word
of God is very beautiful when it says, and the blood of Jesus
Christ, God's son, God's son frees us indeed from all sin. all sin. The only begotten Son
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, was so willing to come into this
world to die for us. Well, you and I would only really
appreciate this. You and I would only really bless
God for it, if in seeking to our God, The Holy Spirit convinces
us of our need of this great and glorious Saviour, a crucified
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. So that this scene at Calvary,
which no doubt we read of, no doubt we thought about, yet the
day comes when the Holy Spirit applies this scene, this scene
of matchless grace to direct us to the wonderful favour of
having that realisation that it was done for us, cleansed
from all sin, no sin remain, every sin taken away. And that
is the blessing that God grants to us if we seek unto him You
know, in Romans, the 11th chapter, the apostle speaks indeed to
the church at Rome. Wonderful, really, when you think
of that. Rome was a long way from Jerusalem. And of course,
we know the apostle Paul was imprisoned in Rome. We see the
sovereign grace of God in these things. In the 11th chapter of
Romans, this is what he says. I say then, hath God cast away
his people? God forbid! For I also am an
Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God
hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew. Watch ye not
what the Scriptures saith of Elias, how he maketh intercession
to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets,
and digged down thine altars, and I am left alone and they
seek my life well the wonderful blessing is
of course that God has not cast away his
people he's not cast away his church and what a blessing it
is to know that he's not cast away you and cast away me There's no natural reason why
the Lord should not cast us away. The only reason is, it's because
he's loved us with an everlasting love. And that love was so great that he's found us. He found
us in a desert land, in a waste town in wilderness, just like
Jacob. led him about, he instructed
him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. Well, has the Saviour
found you and found me, wandering perhaps far from God? The hymn
writer says as far from God as sheep can run in an opposite
direction. And yet you see God gives us
grace to seek unto him with all our heart. becomes a needy condition,
becomes an urgent condition. And what a mercy then to hear
these words, the Lord is with you. Why do you be with him? And if you seek him, he will
be found of you. It's a great gospel word, isn't
it? Oh, may you and I be found seeking
him. and indeed not forsaking Him. What a terrible thing it is to
be forsaken of our God, but to be indwelt by the blessed Spirit
of God. If God has given us grace to
seek Him, then to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, that's a
very humbling position and very wonderful position. and very
true position. And the Apostle in the second
epistle to the Corinthians speaks something of this when he says
in the sixth chapter and the verse 16, And what agreement
hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God, as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk
in them, and I will be their God. and they shall be my people. Now, can we bless God today?
God has given us that grace to seek him, to hear his word, to
hear his gracious commands, and to seek him. And in seeking him,
to be found of him, because there is a finding. Seek and ye shall
find the work of the Saviour, the words of the Saviour. My
friends, if we think we've sought and do not find, is it because
we've not sought him, not seeked him in a right way? See, we need
to come to God rightly, confessing our sins. We can never come to
God without confessing our sins. without falling down before him,
without bowing our knee before him as our Lord and Master. Let us be concerned that we have
a great God who is our Lord and our Master, one who we do deserve
to obey and to truly follow. You see, we read, didn't we,
all of these words of Asa and Commander Judah. to seek the
Lord God of their fathers and to do the law and the commandments. It was indeed that which he commanded
Judah and Benjamin to do. And as we read the word of God
this morning, may the word speak to our hearts. May it not just
be something irrelevant. May it be very relevant to us.
You and I are passing through life very speedily. Soon we must
stand before our maker, Soon we must stand before the judge
of all the earth. And would it be true that we
have sought him? And would it be true that we
found him? Or would it be that we are numbered
amongst those who have forsaken him, and therefore he's forsaken
us? Oh, friends, what a solemn truth
it is, and what a solemn word it is, and how necessary it is
that we are favoured to understand the wonderful blessing of the
Lord toward us in mercy. You cried for mercy. You saw God for mercy. The publican
did, didn't he? It wasn't a big flash, long prayer,
was it? So just a few words, few words. God be merciful to me, a sinner. He was seeking God. Oh, my friends,
he sought God. What did the Lord say? I tell
you, this man went down to his house justified. That means he
was just with God. Oh, the Lord had heard his prayer. The Lord had accepted his prayer. And he was just with God. And
how you and I need to be found in that condition to be able
to recognize the Lord is with us. The Lord is with us. Why do you be with him and have
the evidence that God is with us? Oh, may we be found truly
seeking him with all our heart and to be found of him. The great words aren't they really? This word of Azariah as he spoke
to Asa. And Asa was wonderfully blessed
for many, many years until down to near the time of his death,
the last three or four years, weren't the same as they'd been
previously, but God had blessed him. And of course, after he
passed away, King Jehoshaphat reigned in his stead, again,
a king who truly sought the Lord. How we need today to be found
seeking the Lord, He will be found. Let us not forget that. Let us not be discouraged. Let
us seek the Lord with our whole heart. Indeed, let us give him
no rest. Let us pray that he will reveal
himself to us as our saviour, that one who has died for us
to take away our sins. So we have that humble confidence
that it is well with our soul. because of what Jesus has done
in that wonderful sacrifice upon Calvary all those years ago.
Yes, he kept the law of God, he made it honourable, he did
all that was necessary to redeem our souls. My friends, everyone
for whom he died is eternally safe, in the arms of Jesus. Well, may each of us have the
evidence, my friends. We do need to have the evidence.
We don't want to just carry on in a, well, I hope it will be
all right. We need to pray urgently seeking
God that he will make known to us in a very personal way that
we are one of his children. and that therefore when we come
to pass out of time it will be to go and to be with Christ which
is far better. Well may the Lord condescend
to instruct us from these words that we may indeed hear the words. Azariah says to Asa, hear ye
me and may the Holy Spirit enable us to hear God's Word today,
that these words are true with us. The Lord is with us while
we be with Him. And may we seek Him and may we
be found of Him. But let us not forsake Him. And let us not, therefore, endure
God forsaking us. Amen.