Fully Committed To Him (Pt.2) Series

“Fully Committed to Him (Pt.2)”

Sermon – 15 August 2004

Last week I began a new sermon series entitled “Fully Committed To Him”. In that sermon we looked at the Life of King Asa – a King of Judah who was noted for being fully committed to God but in the end turned from the Lord in several ways.

We specifically discussed three things that Asa did that culminated in his coming under judgment and ultimately dying as a man who was no longer fully committed to the Lord.

I just want to briefly review the three points that we covered last week.

1. Rejected God’s Rule – 2 Chron 16:2-3

2 Asa then took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the LORD’s temple and of his own palace and sent it to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. 3 "Let there be a treaty between me and you," he said, "as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me."

Asa willfully rejected that which he knew to be God’s clear law for His people. It is important to remember that this rejection began as a seemingly minor point of compromise.

2. Rejected God’s Representative – 2 Chron 16:10

10 Asa was angry with [Hanani] because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison. At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people.

Now Asa has come to the place where it has become necessary for God to send His representative because Asa refuses to respond to the Word of God.

3. Rejected God’s Remedy – 2 Chron 16:12

12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the LORD, but only from the physicians.

The culmination of Asa’s slide from grace is the point where God has sent judgment on him and he refuses to go to the Lord and instead goes to the pagan doctors for his help.

This morning however, I want to back up a little in the story of Asa. Last week we took a sort of overview of Asa’s reign, focusing in on a few points.

Today I want to zero in a little bit more and look at what it was that made Asa a man who was fully committed to God.

Now, we know what came of his life and what brought him to that point but for a long time he was still known as a man fully committed to God.

Main Text: 2 Chronicles 15:1-19

Chapters 14 and 15 record a very good time under the reign of King Asa. There were reasons that Judah enjoyed such good times…

1. He Sought only the Lord – 2 Chron 14:7

7 "Let us build up these towns," he said to Judah, "and put walls around them, with towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the LORD our God; we sought him and he has given us rest on every side." So they built and prospered.

In our main text Asa was told by the Lord through Azariah son of Oded to seek the Lord. In fact, he was specifically warned not to forsake the Lord for if he did, Asa would be forsaken.

I believe that this was more than an encouragement but also a prophetic warning.

But here in 2 Chron.14:7 we see that Asa had led the people of Judah in seeking the Lord and because of that the Lord had given them victory over their enemies and they had a time of rest.

It is interesting to note that God’s people are the ones who are exhorted to seek the Lord.

So often we think of seeking the Lord as it relates to those who do not know the Lord. And that is true, unbelievers must also seek the Lord.

In this text the word “seek” means to “seek with care, to inquire”

We must seek the Lord.

Jeremiah 29:13

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

We often quote this verse when witnessing to people about Christ but, this verse is speaking to God’s people in captivity in Babylon.

There is something else interesting in 2 Chron.14:7, and that is the result of their seeking the Lord.

The land is still ours, because we have sought the LORD our God; we sought him and he has given us rest on every side."

Because they sought the Lord he preserved their hold on the land and gave them rest.