Royal Hardheads (Part C)

Now, he's going to turn to a Gentile king, to the Assyrians, and this is going to cause the problem. And there's the lesson. Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect in the flesh? You started out trusting God. You had a successful childhood trusting the Lord. God is blessing you. Then you encounter some beast on the road, and now you're not going to trust God.

Now you're going to trust something else. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 1 Kings.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of 1 Kings chapter 15 as he continues his message, Royal Hardheads. Verse 13, also he removed Maacah the grandmother from being queen mother because she had made an obscene image of Ashtoreth, and Asa cut down her obscene image and burned it by the Brook Kidron. If we were in Chronicles, we'd be going more into detail on these things, but there it is.

Write out what these were not, you know, little pictures of the moon and the sun and their orbit. These had everything to do with licentious immoral behavior. Either he's a cruel grandson or he is a righteous man and she's a wicked woman, and that is the fact.

There's no sweeping it under the rug. She's a wicked woman. Brings to mind the words of the Lord, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father, mother, wife, children, brother, sisters, yes, even his own life, also he cannot be my disciple. When Jesus used that word hate, everybody's attention was, he got everyone's attention. And the thing is, by comparison, I love God so much compared to everything else, I hate those things.

It is hyperbole, but it is intentional. The Lord is, of course, not telling anyone. He preached love.

You got to hate your parents. The first commandment is you shall honor your mother and father. But if that love for your children or your whatever else in life begins to eclipse your love for God, you have a really big problem. And the solution is, because I know, some say, I know, I'm working on this because it's emotional.

But you're working on it. That's what God is looking for. So, this sexual perversion and idolatry, they go together. Because once the fence of the law is taken away, what's to stop the human being from doing whatever they want to do? The missionaries, they're the ones that stopped cannibalism in the South Pacific.

And had they not shown up there, it would probably still be going on. This fence of the law is what they brought to these places. You can't be eating your neighbor. I mean, there are just some sins that it's an absolute no.

There are no exceptions. There's not a time where it's okay to eat somebody. I mean, it's just not right. There's no justice. Well, we were starving. Well, you should have died. You're going to die anyway. Just don't ever put some, don't do it.

Don't put somebody on the plate. Anyway, Aser cut down the obscene image and burned it at the brook Kidron. This event here is 15 years after his initial reformation. We get that from 2 Chronicles 15. We find that out.

In fact, maybe I'll just read it. 1510. So they gathered together at Jerusalem in the third month in the 15th year of the reign of Asa, and then it begins to itemize what they did, which is what is recorded here. The historian in Kings doesn't bother with that.

He just gets to the point. And verse 14, but the high places were not removed. Nevertheless, Asa's heart was loyal to Yahweh all his days.

Big statement. The high places were not all removed. And again, that's the verse I used to look at. So why, why not?

Because I was naive as a new believer. I thought that, you know, righteousness would reign and well, it will when Christ comes. But right now it's just, it's knock down, drag out, fight to the end of this difficulty of eradicating and bedded sin from a culture. Look at some of the other countries. Look how many, how much money has been poured into Haiti.

And has it made, on an individual level, there are those that get saved, but overall the country is just, just, man, where's the solution? But again, we do succeed, the missionaries, with the eradicating cannibalism is one example. We are told that his heart was perfect as was that of his father. As we read in verse 11, Asa did right in the eyes of Yahweh as his father David. These are not little things because when we start coming across the kings where it never says this about them, we are very disappointed.

So you say, well, how is it that he's a hard-headed or a royal hard-head? Well, the way he, we'll get to that in a little bit, but he worked to preserve Judah for a time. The divinic dynasty held on for three hundred and fifty years.

The nine or so dynasties to the north, different families, you know, exchanging power over the north, about two hundred and fifty years. So you've got hundred year difference, Judah held on. Verse 15, He also brought into the house of Yahweh the things which his father had dedicated and the things which he himself had dedicated, silver and gold and utensils.

Well, he's going to misuse this and that's, it seems, well let's just pick it up, see, go forward. Verse 16, Now there was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel all their days and Baasha, verse 17, king of Israel, came up against Judah and built Ramah that he might let none go out or come in to Asa, king of Judah. Ramah's where they made the noodles, the ramen, okay, not true. Anyway, just five miles north of Jerusalem, so it's in his neighborhood, he's bringing in, he's taking territory, it's in Benjamin's territory and Benjamin sided with Judah when the kingdom split and he makes, puts up a blockade to control the freedom of the people and the trade routes, that's the important part right there.

Follow the money. The writer was dating this event from the time that the kingdom was divided, 36 years at this point when this event is taking place because after Jeroboam, his son Nadab becomes king, well the writer skips over that for now, he's going to come back to it. Baasha kills him, so he skipped the king, the writer of, the historian of 1 Kings 15, but at the end he comes back to it, sequence is all out of place and this is again why the Old Testament is very difficult to really button down so much stuff. Anyway, you have 17 years of Rehoboam's rule, 3 years under Abi Jam and Asa's 16 years and you have the 36 years since the split of the kingdom. So here comes King Baasha from the north, he's fortifying Ramah, Asa realizes Jerusalem is in danger and he's got to do something and what he's going to do, and this is where the split comes between him and God, in previous events he turned to the Lord, we're going to read some of those in a little while, those very wonderful things that he said, but now he's going to turn to a Gentile king, to the Assyrians and this is going to cause the problem and there's the lesson, having begun in the spirit, are you now being made perfect in the flesh?

You started out trusting God, you had a successful childhood trusting the Lord and God is blessing you, then you encounter some beast on the road and now you're not going to trust God, now you're going to trust something else, I mean there are things that God has ordained and sanctioned, here's an example of somebody taking this kind of teaching and twisting it, so I'm not going to go to the doctor because I'm going to trust God, see that's not the Bible does not support that, I think it's very much intentional that Luke is referred to as the physician, it's the New Testament saying we use doctors, we use them, thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God, cast yourself down from this pinnacle, because it is written he shall give his name, see that's manipulating the scripture and there are people that do that, I believe, I know people have died waiting for God to help them, when I was a beginning Christian again I got a migraine headache and I'm just going to trust God, I will never do that again in my life, not trust God, I don't mean that part, that part I'll trust God, I'll trust him to work through the Tylenol and if it doesn't work then I'll trust him anyway, just went through that with COVID actually, fine Lord I remember sitting up, I couldn't sleep, just Lord fine you don't want to kill me from this I'll just sit here and take it, but I you know it was wrong, bad theology, putting God in that space, where else do you do that, do you do that, I'm not going to hit the brakes Lord, I'm just going to keep hitting that gas pedal and trust that you'll just have everything out of my way, this is stupidity, anyway, but Satan's sneaky, he knows how to try to redirect it, verse 18, then Asa took all the silver, the gold that was left in the treasuries of the house of Yahweh and the treasuries of the king's house and delivered them into the hand of his servants and king Asa sent them to Ben-Hadad, the son of Tabarimam, the son of Hezian, king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying, and before we get to what he's saying, the treasures that he has also, whatever was left over from Shishak, the king of Egypt that came out and stole the golden shields from Rehoboam, and then of course Asa put more in, and well this is the treasure and these things were kept at the house of God and dedicated to Yahweh and what he is going to do is he is going to defund God and enrich Syria and these are the lessons that we are supposed to contemplate so that when it's our turn, we can think through it. Verse 19, let there be a treaty between you and me, this is what he is saying to the king of Syria, and there was, as there was between my father and your father, see I have sent you a present of silver and gold, come and break your treaty with Be'asha, king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me. Loyalty goes to the highest bidder, which makes it not loyalty. He is trying to get him to break his agreement.

I think there's been a problem with that. People getting a contract on a house and the person just breaking the contract for the higher bidder and really creating a legal hornet's nest, anyway they were loyal to power and its wealth. Verse 20, then Benhaddad heeded king Asa and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. He attacked Aijan, Dan, Abel, Beth, Maacah, and Kineroth with all the land of Naphtali. Again, more trade routes. This is going to also enrich the Syrians. Kineroth, the harp, that's Galilee, and if you look at Galilee on a map, it looks like a harp.

The Romans are the ones that gave it the name Galilee, the Sea of Galilee, but the Jews, they still call it the harp in the Jewish language. Anyway, verse 21, now it happened when Baasha heard it, that he stopped building Ramah and remained in Terzah. So he abandons the project because he can't fight the south and the Syrians coming down and then he's got Asa coming at him and so he just abandons it and Asa does a smart thing. Verse 22, and King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah, none was exempted, and they took away the stones and the timber of Ramah, which Baasha used for the building, and with them King Asa built Geba of Benjamin and Nizba. So he says they've abandoned, the word gets back, they've abandoned it, and he says this is a major priority project, let's go steal all the construction materials and redirect them to other cities and fortify ourselves, and that's what he does. He turns the tables on Baasha's blockade.

This was vital. The problem was he didn't go to God. That is the problem. So yeah, it is a problem, I think, if you go to the doctor as a Christian, you don't pray.

I don't know, maybe you forgot, I'm going to talk about that. But if you just think that prayer is not going to work, now you do have a problem, and I know we don't do that. I mean, we activate the prayer line, we pray for people, we don't take any chances with unbelief. We want God always center.

No good gift comes except through the Father, says James, and other places of the Bible. Anyway, the design, the plan to buy the mercenaries from Syria worked, and Asa prospers, but God is not pleased, and Hanani, the prophet, is going to confront him. Second Chronicles 16, verses 7 through 10. At that time, now after he's been, Hadad has come and helped him, at that time Hanani, the seer, came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on Yahweh, your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand, meaning God had other plans that Asa messed up. Now, when the Ethiopians came against him, they were a million man army, and God helped him.

Well, God brings it up through the prophet. For the Ethiopians and the Lubim, not huge, not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen, yet because you relied on Yahweh, he delivered them into your hand for the eyes of the Lord. Now, here's one of the great verses of the Bible. The eyes of Yahweh run to and fro throughout all the earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him. In this you have done foolishly, therefore from now on you shall have wars.

And Asa was angry with the seer, that's Hanani, and put him in prison, for he was enraged at him because of this, and Asa oppressed some of the people at that time. Well, there's going to be more to the story, but I can know in my life, I've quoted that, for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout all the earth to show himself strong. Where are you, Lord?

Well, after that problem passed, here I still am. So evidently, he has answered that prayer. Answered prayer sometimes is, no, you've got to suffer through this one, you've just got to go through it, for reasons that we may never know in this life, and we won't care when we get to the next life. I'm not going to get to heaven and say, Lord, why did you take so long? Who's going to be that?

I don't think any of us will be. It's like, yeah, yeah, whatever, look at this, just thinking carnal that way. Verse 23, the rest of the acts of Asa, all his might and all that he did and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age, he was diseased in his feet. So the mention of him being stricken in his feet is a footnote to his self-will.

It really is. Oh, by the way, I'm going to put this right here because God's displeasure. Here's a proverb that fits Asa like a shoe. Proverbs 29, he who is often rebuked and hardens his neck will suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. And not that he was damned because he was, again, he never went into idolatry, but God made his statement for future generations, which some didn't get.

Very, very, just a big deal. This is not the best finish to an otherwise brilliant reign. He was that close to the finish line and he drops the ball. Verse, well, I know you don't run, they don't carry the baton. Verse 24, and Asa rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, his father. Then Jehoshaphat, his son, reigned in his place. Well, we won't get to Jehoshaphat until chapter 22 is one of the kings that is part of the story. And Asa, though he behaved foolishly in the end, he did not become an apostate and that is big news. I wanted to take another verse from his speech and I don't want to spend the time looking for it.

But you can go through 2 Chronicles 13 through 16 and find, now I know this verse by heart and I'm not going to try to stumble through it, but I want to. You know, Chuck Smith could pause during his sermons. So long you'd reach to turn the thing off because you'd think he was done. I can't do that. I can't have what's called, I guess, a pregnant pause. That silence kills me.

Anyway, we'll just move forward. Verse 25, now Nadab the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year of Asa, king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. So now he goes all the way back to the beginning of Asa's reign, completely out of chronological order from the last 24 verses we looked at, and the historian now turns his attention to the kings of Israel and that's where he will stay throughout the rest of the book. Verse 26, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father and in his sin by which he made Israel sin.

So he continued with the gold calf worship for the short period of the two years that he was on the throne. And what we're getting, of course, is politicians, they will be held accountable. Some who are righteous and great, many of them who are not. Verse 27, and Baasha, son of Ahijah of the house of Ishikar, conspired against him and Baasha killed him at Gibethon, which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibethon. So this was a Levitical city, Gibethon, in the territory of Dan, but the Philistines, you know, while Israel's going through her drama and problems, they crept in and they took this territory. So Nadab, he's going to, he raises a force, he's going to take this territory back. Well, while the siege of this area is underway, Baasha kills him and takes the throne in the northern kingdom. Verse 28, Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned in his place.

And remember, so Baasha's going to then move towards Rama and that's where we get Asa cracking under the pressure and sending to Ben-Hadad for help. Verse 29, and it was so. When he became king that he killed all the house of Jeroboam, he did not leave to Jeroboam anyone that breathed until he had destroyed him, according to the word of Yahweh, which he had spoken by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite, verse 30, because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he had sinned, and by which he made Israel sin because of his provocation with which he had provoked Yahweh, God of Israel, to anger. And so this was a judgment on his house and its fulfilled prophecy yet again. And so moving forward, we look at verse, I want to make sure there's really nothing else to say there.

He thoroughly eliminated any political competition. Verse 31, and the rest of the acts of Nadab and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel, which we don't have. Verse 32, and there was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, all their days. In the third year of Asa, king of Judah, Baasha, the son of Ahijah, became king over all Israel in Terzah and reigned 22 years, verse 34, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord, that's Baasha, and walked in the ways of Jeroboam and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin.

So 24 years he persisted in the same course of evil as his predecessors. Again, as mentioned Sunday, God's people sometimes preach like Nahum, we bring out the judgment because of the love of God in us, and because we hate the evil and the inhumanity, we despise the cruelty and the wickedness, and that's why we sometimes preach these judgments and we're watching them unfold here to the kings. And our disappointment with the dominion of evil in the hearts of the Hebrew rulers is because we side with God. So when we read these and we're disappointed, we side with God. That's why we're disappointed. And like when we read the Gospels and we come to the crucifixion, I think it's emotional, you know?

I don't mean we break down necessarily crying in our latter years as we've read the story so many times, but we still feel it because we side with God. Let's pray. Our Father, all these things, may they be useful to us so that we can serve you better, and we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Thanks for joining us for today's teaching on Cross-Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.

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