Five evidences of Asa's faith

And before the help of the Lord, I direct your prayerful attention to 2 Chronicles chapter 14, and reading through our text, verse 11. 2 Chronicles chapter 14, verse 11. And Asa cried unto the 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 our 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. 2 Chronicles chapter 14 and verse 11. I want to notice in this verse five evidences of Ace's faith, his sowing of faith in our first hymn.

But before I do, there is four other points that I wish to make mention of in the lead The first is this, Asa and Judah were here faced with a great need. We are told the number of Asa's army, numbering just 300,000 out of Judah, and that bear shields and drew bows, 204,000 from Benjamin.

And yet they had against them a host of a million and three hundred chariots. A great disproportional battle. Many times in the history of Israel and Judah this happened. We think especially of Gideon and how his army was reduced to just three hundred men. against all the Midianites.

God doing that purposely so that man did not take the credit for what he'd actually done. And so we need to remember this that often God does bring about those situations that when we look at it naturally we would say there is no hope. We would say the possibility of Asa and Judah prevailing against that multitude, if we sat down and calculated it, we would say they couldn't possibly do so.

We need to remember that in our lives as well. There will be those things that in a natural way we would say, this is impossible, it can't be done, or We cannot defeat our adversaries or we cannot achieve what we want. We need to remember the situation that is here with Asa and Judah. They had this great need come upon them, but then there is another thing. We are told here that Asa he called upon the name of his God. Asa cried unto the Lord his God. Asa already had his God. It wasn't a case of this multitude come and he had to seek who was their God and who would they turn to. It was the same with the case with Daniel He was already crying unto His God, seeking, serving His God, before that He was accused and told not to and ended up in the lion's den.

It is good that over and against or before those times of trial come, we already know our God. in the best preparation for days of persecution is to have a consistent worship and approving our God in the smallest things. David was a keeper of the sheep and he proved his God when the bear came, when the lion came. when it came a much much greater threat with the Philistines against Israel and David wasn't even in the army but he obeys his father he goes he sees how they do and there is Goliath and he's been challenging Israel to find a warrior for 40 days 40 days is a 40 is a time of trial, 40 years in the wilderness, 40 days the rain was on the earth in Noah's day and 40 days Jonah was to tell the Ninevites the city was to be destroyed. 40 is a testing time, 40 from the time our Lord rose from the dead to when he ascended up into heaven, appearing to his disciples. And so with David he comes and he's able to acquaint that his God that delivered him from the poor of the lion and poor of the bear, he would deliver him out of the hand of Goliath and the Philistines. And we might think this is disproportional, this is a shepherd boy How can he compare the lion and the bear with this man that from a youth has used his armour and his skills?

But David did, and it is a real lesson for us like Asa, when a great trouble comes he already has his God, he already has a God to go to. He already is established who He is. And so I draw your attention to this, where our text begins, Asa cried unto the Lord his God. Already he had his God. And how many of us here, we can say, we have got a God to go to. We have proved Him in that which is least. We know that we can trust Him in that which is greatest. And sometimes, like with Asa here, these trials, they come so quickly, so unexpectedly, so, it's a great thing. But, like Asa, what a mercy that we have a God to go to, and, at this time at least, he turns to this God.

So then, through this verse, we have Asa's faith that is evidence remember faith that long list in Hebrews 11 and each one that is mentioned the faith is evidenced in a different way they didn't all build arcs they didn't all go out from where they were to a place unknown to them but God would provide for them there was that which was unique, but each one faith was evidenced in some way. Certainly from verses 13 to 16 in Hebrews 11, we have that which is common to all those of faith. They saw the promises afar off, they embraced those promises, they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth, and in doing so they testify that they saw the city yet to come. But faith needs to be evidenced. The power of God needs to be evidenced.

It is like the electricity in this building. You cannot, we cannot see electricity, but when you connect it to a light or to a heater or to air conditioning or to an organ, It's evidence because it is actually being used and you can tell that there is power there. But the bare wires with nothing plugged into it is the potential is there. It's all wired up, it's all connected to the grid, but you cannot see it.

And so it is with God with his people where he gives faith. And may we be very clear on this, his faith does not come from man himself. It is the faith of Jesus Christ. It is given by the Lord. He is the author and finisher of our faith. And he speaks of faith being tried, the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth though it be tried with fire. And it is in that trial of faith that it is actually seen. But it's good to be able to recognize what that faith is, to actually see it and trace it back to its source, so that where we are concerned, we are able to see the Lord has given us faith, He's tried that faith, and He's proved it, has come from Himself.

Remember with Peter, Peter said, Though all men forsake thee, yet will not I. And the Lord said to him, Peter, Satan hath desired to have thee, and to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Now the Lord didn't pray that Peter would not deny him, that he wouldn't do what he actually did, but he prayed concerning Peter's faith. And you might say, well, Peter's faith, it failed because he did deny the Lord three times.

But it's good that scripture is on record, that is not the failure of Peter's faith. We may have times, we doubt, we're ashamed, we fear before man. We say things like Peter. But the important thing is, when Peter came out of that trial, the other side of it, unlike Judas, he was still a believer. He still followed the Lord, he still loved the Lord. Lovest thou me? The Lord had assured him three times, because we know that we love him because he first loved us. And the Lord drew that forth from Peter. There's really a profession of Peter's faith that was still there, not destroyed. And that is what I want to look at this verse regarding Asa, to pick out those things that actually are his profession of faith or how faith is evidenced.

Now before we come to those points, I want to draw attention also to the sad last days of Isa. This we are told in the earlier part of his kingdom and first years, but then they had some 20 or so years that passed and were to go on at rest, at peace. And then there came another adversary. And we have the sad record of this in chapter 16, when we have Bayashe, king of Israel, came up against Judah. A civil war, as it were, between brethren. And what does Asa do? He goes to Syria, an enemy of Judah and of Israel, and yet he makes a league, and he sends silver and gold, and Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, comes out, and he helps him, and it works, and they defeat Israel.

But then they have one of the prophets, the seers, come to him and said, because thou hast relied on the king of Syria and not relied on the Lord thy God, he's still saying the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. And he reminds him about the Ethiopians, were not they a huge host with very many chariots and horsemen. Yet because thou didst rely on the Lord, He delivered them to thine hand." And so the prophet said from the Lord from that time forth he would have wars.

But Asa didn't receive that very well. He was wroth with the seer, put him in prison, was in a rage and oppressed some of the people of that time as well. and in the end of his life he's deceased in his feet and again he doesn't seek unto the Lord but seeks unto physicians and yet in the portion that we read we read that Asa in verse 17 of chapter 15 nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days we might question We may question when we see those of our brethren, early on life, strong in faith, strong for the Lord, trusting in the Lord, and then in the eventide of their lives, it seems that goes wrong, and they're not trusting, they're looking to another flesh. We might be tempted, maybe they're not the Lords, why are they not relying now? And yet we have these characters like Asa, to remind us the Lord looks at the heart. And God's people, they can make errors, they can do wrong, and like the Lord did with Asa, the Lord chastens them, corrects them. In Asa's case, diseased in his feet, afflicted, friend, sad end, and yet one of God's people So on to look at this time when Asa's faith was really evidenced.

Our text says, And Asa cried unto the 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 our 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. The first thing is that Asa could testify and say this concerning his God. it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many or with them that have no power."

That is faith, to look at a situation and to testify that this is not too hard for the Lord, that there is nothing for the Lord to do, He can so easily do it. Faith doesn't look at sight of the actual things, but it looks to the Lord and what the Lord is and what He is capable of and what He has performed in the past. Some will say, if you've got to say that something is faith, then it's not evidence-based. But faith is evidence-based.

I often think of how the God of the Bible is set forth as the God of Israel. And when you say the God of Israel, then you gather together all what the Lord had done for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, for Israel in Egypt, bring them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, into the Promised Land. Those things that even Rahab said to the spies that they remembered what had happened 40 years before, how that God brought them through the Red Sea. And so faith, like we said about David, is looking back to real things that have been done.

And so Asaph, he brings this before the Lord. It's a good principle with us to remind the Lord of what he has shown himself to be to us. and what our faith believes concerning Him. On one side we have this great army, and then we have Asa crying unto the Lord his God, and saying, Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many or with them that have no power." Wording is very important.

You know, the children of Israel in the wilderness. They had been given manna from heaven. They had been given the water out of the rock. And they said that the Lord has given us bread from heaven and the water out of the rock. Can he give flesh also? And the Lord looked upon it as provoking. it was tempting the Lord. How different it would have been if they had said, the Lord has given us bread from heaven, He has given us water, if we need it, He will give us the meat also.

But it's put in that way of doubt. We have a similar situation when the angel appeared to Zacharias instead of the birth of John Baptist. And the words that Zacharias used, how shall this thing be, seeing my wife is barren, and the way the angel interpreted it was that he did not believe that God could do it. And so he was done for all that time.

With Mary, when the angel appeared to her, the wording that she used, she believed it, but didn't know how it would come to pass. So she asked the Lord, or asked the angel, how that it could come to pass. And she was given the answer, the Holy Ghost shall overshadow thee, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

Whether it is a belief, or unbelief, or whether faith, it is told by how we phrase what we are saying. Sometimes it might seem very similar, but one has got a real doubt and unbelief in it, the other is making a very clear statement that we do believe. And Asa was like this, he says, it is nothing. with thee to help, whether with many or with them that have no power. So may we have the faith like Mary, like Asa, like those that have believed that the Lord was able to do these things.

One of the miracles the Lord performed was when he asked the man that was to be healed, dost thou believe that I am able to do this? And they seem to be able to testify that we do believe. Or maybe like the man with the son that cast into the fire and into the water, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. And his son wants to know. Though it might have been viewed as a shaky faith, yet a real faith. So this is the first drawing of faith that we draw from this with Asa, and to ask ourselves in our professions, in our coming to the Lord, do we come with a clear statement of belief, what the Lord is able to do? And if we can't be with full assurance, then confession, and Lord help my unbelief. A confession of our faith in what the Lord can do. The one thing that was said against the children of Israel, they limited the Holy One of Israel. They limited Him. They thought about those things that He could not do. Dear friends, don't limit our God.

I speak as much to myself as any of you. The second point of faith, and this is what drew me to this text, is that Isa and his people rested on the Lord. He says, Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on Thee. Rest on Thee. I felt that a lovely attitude, a spirit to be in. Again with Asa, his great multitude, and he's laying it before the Lord and just resting it, resting on the Lord.

And I've felt with many things in my life, whether it is like at this time with arranging ministers for another year, arranging engagements, whether it is our children and their buying houses or moving houses and what shall be, or whether it is making plans for holidays or travel, and we can get, like our Lord says, so careful, so troubled about many things, but to be able, not in a fatalistic spirit. Some people will say, well, what will be will be, and they just seem to not have a care, they just take anything that comes. But if we have what Asa had, the faith to rest upon the Lord, Sometimes it is in just simple things, you might be in a hurry to go somewhere and suddenly this slow car ends up in front and our first idea is that we're all uptight and we want to get past him and wonder shall we get to engagement on time or where we're going on time. But to be given a real quietness and think there's a purpose for this, there's a reason, the Lord wants to hold me back a bit, what's up? what's ahead that I don't know and to be able to rest in the Lord he knows what he's doing he's ordering my life he's ordering my journey and that just resting on the Lord you know some eight or so kings later we have the godly king Hezekiah and they had Sennacherib coming against them, a great multitude.

And Hezekiah, he exhorted the people that they should trust in the Lord, that they should rely on him, the Lord would help them, the Lord would appear for them. And we read in that portion that the people they rested themselves on the words of Hezekiah. the words that he was saying.

I think it's a few chapters on 2 Chronicles 32 that we read of him. Verses 7 and 8. And so the words that Hezekiah said to his people, Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him, for there be more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.

Godly King, one of the descendants of Asa, very similar situation, a great multitude, and we read this at the end of that 8th verse, and the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah, King of Judah. Very similar to here, Asa, we rest on thee, and if we rest on the Lord. We rest like Hezekiah did, resting on the words of the Lord. Thou sense I will surely do thee good. Or this text, or Hezekiah's text. And we're leaning on it, resting on it.

You read in Hebrews, there remaineth a rest to the people of God. Then one way, That means a keeping of Sabbath. There is still, one day in seven, a Sabbath. On another way, it means that there is a heaven, a rest above, that is waiting for the people of God.

Another, it is that rest in the Lord Jesus Christ, in a perfect knowledge and understanding that He has come to fulfil the law, make it honourable, He has satisfied the law. and that we may rest upon what the Lord has done. We may trust that He has paid the debt. You know, someone said to us, if we had a big debt, and someone said to us, look, I have paid that debt.

If we had any doubt that they had paid it, we would not have rest. We'd be worried. Have they paid it or not? Will I go and check with the firm, see if the balance is zero? But if we really had faith and we really trusted and believed that person, we would not have any more work. We'd rest on their words. They said it was settled. They said it was done.

And the Gospel sets forth the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. that He has paid the debt, He has endured the wrath of God for His people, He has laid down His life, He has taken it again, and what is set before us in the Gospel is that we might believe the record of His Son, that He has finished that work, that He has satisfied the demands of justice. And we rest on that word, resting on the Lord.

There's a lot of aspects of this. When Isa says we rest on Thee, when we have afflictions, when we have trials, when we have operations, when we have uncertainties, to rest on the Lord. many aspects that it comes into I think of many times in my life similar times like this 20 years ago my own wife had her fourth open heart surgery I still remember her going down for that surgery and then coming back but it was a resting on the Lord His overruling hand at such a time. And then we come into fresh times when maybe you need more operations, or we need more things attended to, and we must not forget what the Lord has done before, and the helps that He's given us before in that way, and to rest on the Lord. This is a wonderful aspect. Remember we said faith comes from God. We cannot give it to ourselves. If we're trying to give it to ourselves, we've got to support it. It doesn't support us.

I used to think of it when going to Bethesda, and you see one of the old pilgrims there, and they're walking down the corridor with their walking frame. But they're holding it up. They're lifting it. They're carrying it. I mean, you'd be better off without the frame at all. It's a burden to you. Then you see another one, they've got a frame as well. But it's pushed hard on the floor and they're leaning their whole weight upon it and they're pushing this along. And I thought, that's like the faith that God gives. We lean on it. But the faith that we try and work up, it's a burden to us. We've got to support it.

And when the Lord gives faith, I remember years ago when I had secular employment from Australia when I first came over here, and then when I lost that employment, I remember I was on the first day, I was sitting at my desk, and the Lord gave such perfect peace, I could just rest in what the Lord was doing. And in fact, I asked the Lord, Lord, why this perfect peace? I've lost my main source of income, the large mortgage and everything. Only just drop the word in there will keep them in perfect peace. Whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. If someone had asked me, do you really trust in the Lord? Are you really leaning on the Lord? I'd say, I hope so.

I couldn't say with certainty, but the Lord gave me the peace and the rest, and then told me why. The next day, the Friday, a job came in the paper, just described me, I applied for it. On Tuesday I was called in for an interview, on Wednesday I started the job. In less than a week, the Lord had provided for us. A remarkable way. And when I asked the the employer on the Tuesday. Will I have to work? I don't want to work on the Lord's Day.

He turned to me and said, Do you believe in Providence? When you get a new employer, you don't know, and he suddenly asks you that, and I said, I most certainly do. He says, Well, he said, application was first on my desk. He said, I believe the Lord's telling me to employ you. He said, I'm the warden at the local church of England. And so that was my employer. And the Lord did that, but he gave me the rest, he gave me the job, he gave me the quietness that I didn't work up.

And here at Acer, we rest on Thee. Those are, I can't work that out myself. A fresh trial, a fresh thing, I can't bring it back. But I can't forget what the Lord did at that time. And the quietness and the rest. And sometimes it is when we attempt anything, well that wasn't really the Lord. So the Lord gives us another trial. And instead of having quietness and rest, we're all in turmoil and trouble. And we're anxious, and we feel they have no faith at all. And the Lord in that way proves for the first time that was faith given by Him. It wasn't us that is wanted.

And of course, thinking of Asa in the latter part of his life, you'd say, if the Lord gave him faith, why doesn't he exercise it now? Why has he got it now? Well, he should have remembered, but he didn't. and yet his heart still was right with the Lord. But we need that from the Lord, and so here that resting on the Lord was an evidence of faith given to him.

The third thing is this, that it is in the Lord's name that they are doing battle. He says, and in thy name we go against this multitude. How many things we might face in life and yet we are not clear and certain in whose name we go. Sometimes we may be ashamed of the Lord. We think of Ezra when he was bringing the golden vessels back from Babylon to Israel.

He said that he was ashamed to ask of the king horses and soldiers to help them in the way. The reason was he had testified to the king that the Lord was able to preserve and to keep those that trusted in him. So Ezra had made this profession and now he thought, I can't ask for the king, the king will turn around and say, hang on a minute, You said your God would help me, now you want my soldiers, my horses. So it stopped him from asking or doing perhaps even what Asa did later on in his life.

But he'd done the right thing, the Lord did bring them safely through. But he'd made the clear profession. We go in the name of our Lord. He is able, He will help us. And We shouldn't hide our light under a bushel. We shouldn't make out that we are not the Lord's people, we're not relying on Him. But that should be forefront. As Asa says here, that in Thy name we go against this multitude. The name of the Lord is forefront. His banner is over us. We are under His standard.

We are fighting As it were, his battles, his honour is at stake and we're not hiding this. Sometimes you might think, well, if we're in a hospital or if we're in a work situation, do our colleagues, do those round about us know where our hope is? Where our expectation is? Or is it so buried that they have no idea? that we're looking to the Lord or trusting in Him at all.

This people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise. And it's right, Asa didn't say, in my name will we come back from the battle, when we've had the victory, then we'll do it in my name. And now he says, in thy name we go against this multitude. And if you go forward a couple of generations, no, one generation to Joshua, his son, then we have with him great multitude. Neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee.

And through the prophet, the Lord said that they would not need to fight in that battle. And they went forth praising and blessing God, and the Lord sent ambushments in front of them. So it's a good principle as well, not afterwards, but as they go forth they are professing the name of the Lord. The fourth thing is that, again, it's a profession that the Lord is their God. Verse 11 at the end, O Lord, thou art our God. In the beginning we read, Asa cried unto the Lord his God. So it's stating what the Lord, what he is doing.

But we have a profession. And we would remember that a profession of faith is just that. It is profession of our faith in the Lord. When someone is baptized, they're baptised on profession of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. When the eunuch desired to be baptised, Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest, he said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That was his profession of faith. This is Asa's profession of faith.

O Lord, thou art our God. And may we also have a profession of faith. In Romans 10 we read that with the heart man believeth, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Whosoever believeth in God shall not be ashamed. So this again is an evidence of the faith of Asa.

The last is his very prayer, really in the beginning he cries unto the Lord, but then at the end he has it as well, let not man prevail against thee. There's one thing that was said of the Apostle Paul, behold he prayeth, a praying soul, one that is calling upon the name of the Lord. These whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." And his prayer here was, let not man, this great multitude, prevail against the Lord.

He doesn't say, let not man prevail, let not the Ethiopians prevail against us. He's joining himself with the Lord, identifying his people with the Lord. If they fall, It is the Lord that will, shall we say, bear the shame, or that man has then prevailed against the Lord, not just prevailed against Judah or against Benjamin, but prevailed against Thee, because, O Lord, Thou art our God. He is the captain, He is the one going before.

It's a very bold prayer, but it's a prayer of faith. and always where there is faith there will be prayer, there will be cries to the Lord, there will be seeking and often like these very specific prayers so that when they're answered then there can be specific praise and thanksgiving and identifying that those prayers have been answered and that faith has been well founded, faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. Asa joins those in Hebrews 11 of those by faith and you can tell from times like this how his faith was actually evidenced. May the Lord grant us that same light, precious faith in our Lord Jesus Christ Trust for our souls that He has put away our sin and blotted out our transgressions, and faith and trust that He will bring us through this life, through one trial after another, may we be brought forth as more than conquerors, and to His honour and to His glory. Amen.

Five evidences of Asa's faith

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Five evidences of Asa's faith

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About Rowland Wheatley

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