Prepare Your Heart

Well, good afternoon, everyone. Good to see you all here this afternoon. Thank you, choir, and really, all the special music. Hasn't all the special music been very good this face? Why don't we?

I know the hours and the time that the choir and the special music coordinator have put into everything, and I know it's very pleasing to us to hear the results of it, and choir and men's vocal group and the soloists. You have done an outstanding job and have added quite a lot to the feast this year, and we thank you for that. Well, you know, as we're here at the Feast of Tabernacles, we look forward to a time when God is going to change the world.

When He returns, His Spirit will be on earth. Satan will be put away, and one of the things that God is going to do is put a new heart into mankind. You know, as we read through the Bible, there's a lot about the heart that's written, and a lot that God wants us to change about our heart for those of us who He has called today that live His way of life. He talks about, He tells us many times in the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, don't harden your heart.

Keep it open. Seek God. Look for what He is teaching you and always grow in understanding. Don't harden your heart as people in the past did, and they never were able to enter the Promised Land. As people today, sometimes harden their heart and just simply refuse to believe what God is telling them to do. As He calls us, He tells us to guard our hearts. And He writes His law and His Spirit in our minds and on our hearts so that we live what we believe. And we do the things He tells us to, but it becomes part of us as He writes those on our hearts.

As we grow and as we live the way of life, He tells us to guard our hearts. We live in an evil world, a world that was always looking to see how it can come in and disease our hearts. Guard them, He says. Keep them pure. As you go through life, let God's Spirit purify your heart.

And we know that we're called so that we become more and more clean and blameless and pure in His sight with each passing year. There's never a time, we all know, as long as we live, that God won't teach us something. That is, each year goes by, He won't show us something in our heart that needs to be taken out and replaced with the truth.

All those things about the heart that we read about and we talk about. And we look forward to the time when mankind will have a new heart. And in the kingdom, when Satan is put away, mankind will begin to understand what God has to say.

They will begin to understand and put into practice. And as a result of living his way of life, everything that we've been picturing the last six days will come to pass. There will be a time of peace. There will be a time of plenty. There will be a time of worldwide harmony under the rule of one righteous King, who is King of kings and Lord of lords. But as we look at our hearts, there's one more thing that we want to do with our hearts that we have to do every for the rest of our lives. Turn with me back over to 2 Corinthians. I'm sorry, 2 Chronicles. I want to look at a King this morning with you here.

And as you look at the kings that are recorded in their reigns in the two books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, we're going to be over in 2 Chronicles 14, we can learn a lot from those kings of Judah and those kings of the house of Israel. You know, as the kings of the house of Israel separated from Judah, there wasn't one good king that came after the tribes were split. We can learn from those kings, though, and learn how to not do things. But of the kings of Judah, there were some evil kings, and there were some kings that were very good.

Let's look at one such as the good kings here, and look and see what he did with his life, because he's a good example for us. And as we go through this, I want us to identify with this man and portray him or project him into our lives today, because these things are set as examples for us. He was a king, but every single one of us is being trained to be a king and a priest. Every single one of us has a dominion in our lives that we control. And God is looking to see how do we handle what we're doing?

How do we handle what the truth that he's given us? Let's look at 2 Chronicles 14. Well, you're right there on the same page. 2 Chronicles 13, verse 21 gives us a little bit of insight into this man's father.

So, Zebijah grew mighty. Boy, whenever someone gets mighty, whenever they begin to look at themselves and think that they have the answers, we know that's a trouble sign, isn't it? That's something we want to guard our hearts against. Abijah, his father, grew mighty. Married 14 wives, begat 22 sons and 16 daughters, and the rest of his acts are recorded. But in chapter 14, verse 1, his son, Asa, becomes king. And it says, Asa, his son, reigned in his place. In his days, the land was quiet for 10 years. A time of peace. A time where things could grow, if he was looking at it that way.

And he did, verse 2, what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.

Here's someone we can pattern our lives after. For he removed the altars of the foreign gods and the high places, and he broke down the sacred pillars, and he cut down the wooden images. You know what he did? His father before him didn't do that. His grandfather before him, Rehoboam, didn't do that. In fact, under his grandfather, Rehoboam, some of these high places and some of these things were put into place in Judah. And they just let them be there. As Asa began to control, as he acceded to the kingship of that land, as he understood and he looked around him, he saw things that just weren't so. He just didn't do things the way that his father did. He just didn't do things because that's the way it's always been done. He looked into the law of God, and as he looked around the landscape of Judah, he realized these are not things that please God. As we came to be called, as we responded to God, we did the same things. We looked into our hearts. We looked in the pages of the Bible, the Word of the God, and we saw things that we were doing in our lives, and we realized that can't happen anymore. That practice, gone. That observance of that holiday, gone.

That way of doing things that didn't measure up with what the way things were written in the Bible, gone. We did that. First-generation Christians did it a little bit different than second-generation Christians did. Second-generation Christians had to go through the same process because no matter whether we were raised in the church or not, there are things in our minds, things the way we learn to do or we begin to do because we follow our own ideas in some cases, that we have to look in the Word of the Bible and we have to be ready to just pitch them and tear them down. That's what Asa was doing here in verses 3 and 4. Verse 4, he says, he commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers and to observe the law and the commandments. The people that he had control over, he taught them the law and he expected them to keep the law of God. The same thing that we do in our homes, the same thing that we do in our lives, and the things that we are king over, that we have dominion over, we live by the law of God, the whole law of God. Verse 5, he removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah and the kingdom was quiet under him.

God was pleased with what he was doing and God gave him a time of rest. Now, we can look at Asa and we can say that as he learned what he was doing wrong, he repented. And yes, he did repent. And part of his repentance was putting those things out and then seeking and putting into place in Judah the law and expecting that the land that he had control over, the family that he had control over, that they were going to worship God. And he was going to be first place in their heart. So there was something else that Asa did. Let's go back a couple chapters to chapter 12 of 2 Chronicles. We'll take a glimpse at Rehoboam, Asa's grandfather. You remember Rehoboam? He was the son of Solomon.

And after Solomon died and Rehoboam became king, he decided he was going to enact his own way. On Israel and under him, the kingdom was split. The tribes of Israel, the northern ten tribes, split off into their own kingdom. And the two and a half tribes remained as part of Judah. And Rehoboam was their king. Chapter 12, verse 1. It came to pass when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself that he forsook the law of the Lord and all Israel along with him. Now, this is the time before the split. He took command and they just forgot about God. They just decided to start doing things their own way. And under him, if you read back in the parallel account in 1 Kings, you find that under him, high places were erected and all the things that Asa was tearing down. It happened in the fifth year, verse 2, of King Rehoboam, the Shishak. I'm sure I'm pronouncing that wrong. If I was Shishak, that's how I pronounce it, though. King Rehoboam, the Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem because they had transgressed against the Lord. You see that? Rehoboam wasn't commanding his house right. Now a trial's coming. Now you've got an army coming against them. And God says, records for your forests, because they had transgressed against God. And he came against them with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen, people without number who came with him out of Egypt, with Lubim and the Succim and the Ethiopians. And he took the fortified cities of Judah and came to Jerusalem. Trouble on the horizon. Not obeying God, forsaking God, and now there's a real problem at their doorstep. Verse 5, Shemea, the prophet, came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who were gathered together in Jerusalem because of Shishak. And he said to them, Thus says the Lord, you have forsaken me, and therefore I have also left you in the hands of Shishak. You want your own way? You want to do things your way? Then this is the result of your way of life, and now you've got someone who's ready to take your kingdom. They listened to the prophet, to their credit. They heard what he had to say. And in verse 6, it says, the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves. And they said, the Lord is righteous. They humbled themselves. They looked at what they were doing, and they realized that they were trying to be mighty before God. It says in verse 1, Rehoboam strengthened himself. He was looking at his own numbers. He was looking at his own army.

And he patted himself on the back and thought, we have a pretty secure kingdom. To his credit, he humbled himself. And they said, God is righteous. God knows what he's doing.

When the Lord, verse 7, saw that they humbled themselves, Shemaiah came saying, they've humbled themselves. The word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, they have humbled themselves. Therefore, I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance. My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.

See how God operates? He liked and he responded to their humbling themselves. Whenever we approach God, whenever we want to please Him, we always have to have humility. It always has to be there. God doesn't respond to arrogance. God doesn't respond when we are having faith and displaying faith in ourselves and forgetting to have faith in Him. It always has to be there. And even though Rehoboam had forsaken God's law, God responded to this humbling that they had done and he relented from that army that was on their doorstep. Found in verse 13, we find that it happened again. Verse 13 says, Thus King Rehoboam struck, well, verse 12, let's pick up on when he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him so as not to destroy him completely, and things went well in Judah. Thus King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. There was a pattern that was developing here. He would humble himself. God would back off. And then once God relented, he would go right back into the pattern again of strengthening himself. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king, and he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother's name was Nehemah and Ammonitris, and he did evil. That's his epitaph. He did evil. Not a good king, not someone we want to be like. He did evil because he didn't prepare his heart to seek God. He didn't prepare his heart. He wasn't there looking to please God. He knew some of the things that God would respond to, humbling. And he did those things and thought that if he just did some of those things, that God would respond. We can find ourselves in the same trap. We can find ourselves in the time of trial.

And we can humble ourselves. We can pray to God earnestly and beseech him day and night. We can fast. We can study. We can meditate. We can make the changes in our lives and ask God, you would hope with our hearts, what am I doing wrong? What needs to change? Reveal to me what's in my heart that needs to change. And then God lets the trial pass. What do we do when that happens? When the times come in that are not full of trials, what do we do during that time? Reable them went back to his old way of doing things. God said that was evil. He didn't prepare his heart to seek God. He wasn't doing what it needed to seek God all the time. He didn't repent and he didn't work on his heart. And he didn't make a choice to choose God and seek God in every single event in his life. You've heard of this feast, that we make choices. We choose to follow God. We chose when we were called to follow him. We make choices unconvinced every single day of our life. Every single day of our life, we need to choose God. Choose his calling. Choose life rather than death. Choose to follow his way. Choose to seek him and all that that means.

Not just doing things and feeling that we've done it all and we've got all the answers. As soon as we think we've got all the answers, then we know we surely don't. Because as long as we live, God is expecting we will choose him. We will have open hearts. We will have minds that are growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

We will prepare our hearts. Asa did prepare his hearts. Let's go back to Asa.

When we last left him in chapter 14 here of 2 Chronicles, he'd been clearing the landscape. He'd been taking away those things that he came to understand were no longer or weren't what God wanted him to have there. And he found himself at rest, that God gave the land peace at that time. Let's pick it up in verse 7 of chapter 14.

Therefore he, Asa, said to Judah, let's build these cities and make walls around them, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us. Let's do it. Not let's just not rest on our laurels. Let's go to work. Let's start building what God wants us to build. Let's start growing, we might say, in this day and age in grace and knowledge, and not feel we've got it all, but that we look to God to continually open our minds, continually purify our hearts, continually add to us, and show us what it is we need to do to become like him, so that we can become part or be part of this kingdom that this feast of Tabernacles represents. And he took the time that weren't filled with trials, that weren't filled with wars and battles, and he said, let's build those walls. Let's build this land. Because, he said, we have sought the Lord our God. We are seeking him. We are seeking his truth. We are looking to see what he wants us to learn. We have sought the Lord our God. We have sought him, and he has given us rest on every side. Let's take this time, and let's build our lives. So they built, and so they prospered. They grew, we might say, in grace and knowledge. They took the time, and they put oil in their lamps, as we might read in Matthew 25 about the ten virgins. They didn't just sleep during a time of rest. They were doing things so that when a time of trouble came, they had oil left in their lamps. And Judah, under Asa, was ready when trial came. Verse 8, and it surely came. Asa had an army of 300,000 from Judah, who carried shields and spears, and from Benjamin 280,000 men, who carried shields and drew bows. These were mighty men of valor. 580,000 men. Quite a sizable army. But, in verse 9, zero of the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men.

580,000 versus a million. The yards aren't good when you're looking at it from a physical standpoint, and he had 300 chariots, and he came to Marisha. So Asa went out against him, and they set the troops in battle array in the valley of Zarephath at Marisha. 580,000 versus one million.

But Asa did something that we can all take note of here in verse 11. As that battle started, as he looked out, and he knew the numbers of what was out there, it says in verse 11, Asa cried out to God and said, Lord, it's nothing for you to help, whether with many or with those who have no power. Before the battle began, as he looked out there, he sought God. He looked to him and he knew if the battle was going to be won, it was going to be because God gave him the power, because God would give him the victory. And Zephaniah, it says, not by our might, not by our power, but by your spirit, is how we gain the victory. After 10 years of peace in the land, Asa was still seeking God. He was still preparing his heart. He was still looking to God, and during that time, and he knew the time would come that they would be tested. He was ready for that time. He had prepared his heart for that time, and when the time came, the first thing he did was seek God and say, God, it's nothing for you to deliver the sent of me into my hand. It's nothing for you. They had faith in God. He was ready for this time. Lord, it says in verse 11, it's nothing for you to help, whether with many or those who have no power. O Lord our God, for we rest on you, and in your name we go against this multitude. You are our God. Don't let man prevail against you. What tremendous words those had to be in God's ears as he heard Asa say that. And he knew that those words came from his heart. They weren't like Rhea Bohem's humbling. Those were words from his heart because Asa believed it. He was close to God. He was choosing every day to rely on God. He was choosing every day to trust in God. He was choosing every day that when the time came of trouble, he would be ready. And who he would look to was God. And in verse 13 or verse 12, God did deliver the enemy into his hand. The Lord struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and they fled. And Asa and the people who were with them pursued them, and they were overthrown, and they couldn't recover. For they were broken before God and his army, and they, Judah, carried away very much spoil. God gave them that victory. God gave them the triumph over the enemy that faced them. A formidable enemy. A formidable trial.

Had Asa relied on himself, had he patted himself on the back and trusted in his men, had he trusted in himself and relied on his chariots, we know what the outcome would have been.

After 10 years, though, 10 years of peace, Asa was ready. We saw where he repented, and we'll see in a minute that as God opened his mind more and more things, he was ready to put out of Judah's environment. The great men of God, the men, the women that he has called today, he's look—excuse me—he's looking for us to repent, certainly. He's looking for us to choose him.

But, you know, repentance isn't one thing that we do only one time in our lives. Certainly when we're called and certainly when we begin to walk with God, there's a deep and a heartfelt repentance.

Asa prepared his heart. Other men like him prepared their hearts. I won't turn to all the scriptures, but you can go back and you can look at Ezra. As Ezra returned to Jerusalem and they were beginning to build—or think about building Jerusalem back, the temple—they prepared their hearts to seek God. When Daniel was carried captive over to Babylon—you can read in Daniel 1 verse 8 or verse 9—and he was faced a young man with the greatest king of that time, the world-ruling emperor. Before he got there, he prepared his heart, it says. He prepared his heart so when he was faced with eating foods that were not in keeping with the dietary standards and laws that God established, he refused to do it.

Shadrach, at Meshach, and Abednego found themselves, as Daniel did later, faced with a mighty king, a mighty kingdom, staring at them and saying, if you don't bow down to this king, if you don't refrain from praying to anyone except this king, you face death.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego never even wavered.

Was it just because they at that moment thought, I'll do this?

Or rather, throughout their lives, were they preparing their hearts? Were they facing what was going to come? So when the time came, they had made their choice, and God had prepared their hearts as they made the choice day after day, we will not yield to this power.

Jesus Christ was faced with the temptation and with the death that we can't even imagine what he went through. As he faced the great temptation, he prepared his heart for that monumental battle. He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, seeking God, seeking his strength, because he knew as a man he wasn't going to be able to withstand Satan. He needed the strength from God, and he sought him. How many times, when he was talking to the disciples as he walked those three and a half years with him, did he remind them, the Son of Man is going to be crucified, and he's going to be raised up in three days? It went right over the heads of the disciples.

But Jesus Christ was preparing his heart. He knew what was going to come, and he wanted the disciples to understand that as well. There is a time coming, this three and a half years, that we're walking together, that we're learning, that we're growing, this time of rest, if you will, even though there was a lot of controversy with the Pharisees and the Jews at that time who simply didn't want to accept what he had to say, he was preparing his heart that when that time came, he wouldn't waver, he wouldn't falter. And he had hoped that the disciples would do that as well.

Asa did that. Asa continued to seek God, and here we have the results of that. Asa stood against a foe that was more formidable than them, just as we face a foe every day that's more formidable than us. And if we ever think we are going to stand against Satan and win without having chosen God, without having prepared our hearts, and are one with him and a choice that we make continually, then we will surely fall. In chapter 15 of 2 Chronicles says, The Spirit of God came upon Azariah, the son of Oded, and he went out to meet Asa. And he said to him, Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin, The Lord is with you while you're with him. If you seek him, he'll be found by you. But if you forsake him, he'll forsake you.

As long as you continue with him, he'll be with you. But whether it's one year down the road, ten years down the road, thirty years down the road, if you ever forsake him, he'll forsake you. It's a continual seeking of God, a continual yielding to him, a continual process throughout our lives that God calls us to, a continual time of growth, a continual time of repentance, a continual time of preparing our hearts to do what God wants us to do. Verse 3, For a long time Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest and without law. But when in their trouble they turned to the Lord God of Israel and sought him, he was found by them. God will respond when we seek him. Seek him while he's near, James tells us. Let him purify your hearts. Let him help you or lead you into following him with singleness of purpose, singleness of mind, the same mind that the people in the kingdom will have, that they will come to have as they follow God. Down in verse 8, When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded, the prophet, he took courage, and he removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities which he had taken in the mountains of Ephraim, and he restored the altar of the Lord that was before the best of you of the Lord. He had already done that once. Did you notice that? When he first took over command, he removed all those things. But now, at his tier, 10 years later, he sought God. The prophet has been with him, and Judah, Orasa, is looking around. And he sees more things that are not there, not pleasing to God. Every year, when we keep the Passover, and every year, I hope that only, that we are examining ourselves throughout the year, and not only a Passover, every year we find more things in our minds, in our hearts, that have to be pitched, that have to be torn down, that have to be hauled out to the trash. And if we're not finding anything year by year, then we really better be examining ourselves. Because none of us are perfect, and none of us are even close to it. God knows what we need to do, and year by year, just like he did with Asa here, he will ask us. He'll reveal to us and ask us remove those things from our lives. Asa did it. Asa was encouraged as he worked with God. And then he gathered all Judah, in verse 9, and Benjamin, and those who dwelt with them from Ephraim, and Asa, and Simeon. For they came to him in great numbers from Israel, when they saw that the Lord God was with him. Because it was evident that God was working with him. And so the people wanted to be with God. They gathered together at Jerusalem in the third month and the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa, and they offered to the Lord at that time 700 bulls and 7,000 sheep from the spoil they had brought. And they entered into a covenant. A covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul. Well, I thought they had already done that. They already had been seeking God. And here, after 10 years, here after a battle, they're still seeking God. They're still seeking his will. They're still seeking his involvement in their lives. They're still seeking him. And they're still looking to him to guide and correct and instruct and to purify their hearts and purify their minds.

They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul. And whoever wouldn't seek the Lord God of Israel was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

They would show no mercy to those who wouldn't seek God, who wouldn't let God lead them, who wouldn't let God cleanse their minds, grow them, and enable them to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. They wouldn't tolerate in their household those things that would complicate, not complicate, but compromise the way of life that God had called them to.

They simply put them out. Because when we compromise with God, when we allow those things in our lives that Jesus Christ and God will show us don't belong there, we limit Him. We limit Him.

When we have those things in our lives that we are just hesitant to throw out, because they seem so familiar and they seem so fun. And we kind of hold them dear to our heart, and it's hard when God shows us some of the things that we do and that they're not in keeping with the way of life that He has called us to, the way of life that will be in the Kingdom. It's hard to separate. But if those things are there, the one talent He gives us isn't going to grow into two talents. The five talents that He gives us isn't going to grow into ten talents. The people who have their talents multiplied are ones who are working at seeking God and His will every day and are preparing their heart every day, choosing God every day, and realizing and committing to when God shows them that something isn't in keeping with His way of life, they are ready to leave it behind. Asa did that. Asa kept doing that. Verse 14, They took an oath before the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting and trumpets and ram's horns. Judah was happy. Any time we're walking in concert with God, we're happy. We're joyous. Joy marks the people of God, even in times of trial. Love, joy, peace, long suffering. When you're looking for the people of God, look for those elements and look in your lives and see if they're there. And if they're not, ask God to show you where the idols, the high places, the sacred pillars need to be torn down and choose Him and get on your knees and tell Him you choose Him and tell Him that over and over and mean it in your heart. All Judah rejoiced that the oath where they had sworn with all their heart and sought Him with all their soul what He showed them they were willing to do. Not resting on laurels, not resting on anything, but ready to put it behind them. And He was found by them and He gave them rest all around. Verse 16, He removed Mecha, the mother of Asa the king, from being queen mother because she made an obscene image of Asherah. And Asa cut down her obscene message, her image, and crushed and burned it by the brook Kidron. He even got to the point where his own mother, he realized, that wasn't in keeping with what God had said. What she was doing was wrong. And so he took the very difficult step of removing her from being queen mother. Do you remember what Christ said back in Luke 14 verse 26?

If any of you are going to follow Me, and if you don't love less, mother, father, brother, sister, wife, relative, whatever it is in your life, then you're not worthy to be My disciple.

If you're going to follow Him, then you follow God first. And no matter what others in your life say, you follow Him first. You read it in the Bible, the whole Bible, and you follow Him. And if you don't follow Him, you won't be in the kingdom of God. It's as simple as that. It's the people who choose God, who seek Him with all their heart and with all their mind and are willing to do away with the things in their life, no matter how dear, no matter how precious. If you're not willing to do that, and there have been plenty of people down through history who weren't willing to do that, plenty of people we know in our lives who simply weren't willing to give up certain things. In Christ's own lifetime, He was the Messiah, speaking to the people of His time who said they were waiting for Him to come, and they rejected Him. They didn't want to hear what He had to hear. They didn't want to listen to what He had to say. They wanted to just keep doing things their own ways. Whenever we're doing things our own ways and not God's way, we don't have to worry about being in the kingdom of God. We choose Him. We seek His will. We seek what He wants, and we seek this word, and we do what's in it. That is if we want to be in the kingdom of God that we're picturing here today. Well, Asa sets a very good example for us to follow. At this point in Asa's life—I'll even make a point here in verse 17—you notice even after he did all this, it says, the high places weren't removed from Israel. There were still things that had to be cleaned up in Israel. God hadn't done it all. Just like in our life, He doesn't do it all in the first year, or the first two years, or the first 10 years, or the first 60 years of our lives.

Little by little, He shows us. Year by year, we grow. Year by year, we recommit. Year by year, we seek Him. Year by year, day by day, we choose Him. And we choose what He wants us to do to follow His will. Asa—very good example at this point in his life. Here's a man whose talents were increasing, who was walking and following God. Here's a man who had oil in his lamp, because what he was doing and the heart that he had before God—and that was what was leading him to do that—he was there. But in chapter 16, we find a different Asa later on in his life.

In chapter 16, verse 1, it says, in the 36th year of the reign of Asa, Beisha, King of Israel, the other ten tribes of Abraham's descendants, Beisha, King of Israel, came up against Judah and built Ramah that he might let none go out or come in to King Asa of Judah. Asa brought silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king's house, and he sent them to Ben-Hadad, King of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying, Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. See, I've sent you silver and gold. Come, break your treaty with Beisha, King of Israel, so that he'll withdraw from me.

What is Asa doing? When he had 580,000 men up against a million, what did he do?

He sought God. He told God, This is going to be your victory. I look to you. I trust in you. Look what he's doing years later. Asa, what are you thinking?

He doesn't think about going to God this time. Instead, he decides he's going to make treaties and relationships with the world to save him from what is facing him. And so he takes wealth, and so he takes it, and he says here, You fix this for me.

Asa, what happened to you from the time that we saw you back in chapters 14 and 15? When did you stop relying on God and start trusting in your wealth?

When did you, Asa, stop preparing your heart to seek God? What happened in your life, in those times of rest, in those times of relative ease, if you will, that you forgot God and you forgot that it's him who delivers you? Who delivers you? And so he made a treaty.

It happened in verse 5, when Beisha heard it that he stopped building Rama and ceased his work. And king Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones and timber of Rama, which Beisha had used for building, and with them he built Geba and Mesa. Verse 7, At that time, Hanani the seer came to Asa, king of Judah, and said to him, "'Asa, because you've relied on the king of Syria and haven't relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand.' Not going to win this battle, Asa. They're escaping from you. And he reminds Asa of what his life used to be like when he was preparing his heart, when he was repenting, when he was seeking God. Verse 8, he says, "'Were the Etheom, the Ethiopians, and the Lubim.'" Remember that million-man army? "'Weren't they a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on God, he delivered them into your hand.' Back then, you knew what to do. Your heart was ready. You, when you were faced with that trial, you immediately went to God first. You didn't trust in wealth. You didn't trust in allies. You didn't trust in—another thing here we'll see in Asa in a few minutes—you trusted in God first. And he knew it was in your heart. And it wasn't just words you were saying. He knew what was in your heart because you had prepared your heart. You were ready for when those times came.

And God had put in your mind, and you allowed him to put in your mind, you trust God first. And you were doing things as God worked with your heart that showed him your heart was in the right place. Verse 9, "'The eyes of the Lord run two and four, through and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him.'" He's there to help. He will always be there to help. Jesus Christ says in Hebrews 13, verse 5, He will never leave us or forsake us. And there are times when we may think that He has, but He never does. And when times and trials don't pass as soon as we think, God is working with us. He's preparing us. He's teaching us patience. He's teaching us reliance. He's teaching us to trust in Him whether the answer comes that second, or whether it comes a year, two years, five years, three and a half years later. Trust in Him. Wait for Him. Never, ever, ever give up faith in Him. Choose Him daily. Prepare your heart daily.

You would think that as Asa heard these words, that he would have looked at Hanani and hoped, we would hope, that he would say, you're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. But look what he did in verse 10. Asa was angry with the seer and put him in prison. He didn't want to hear what he had to say.

No longer had Asa been preparing his heart. Now he had hardened his heart. You are saying something to me I don't want to hear. I don't want to do that anymore. And so seer, so prophet, so Word of God, I'm going to simply shut you up. I'm simply going to shut my ears and I'm not going to listen to a word you say. Asa. Asa, what has happened to you? There will be people at the end time who God called 10. Well, start with one. One, two, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, maybe seventy or more years at the time that Christ returns. During the early years of their lives, they sought God. When he showed them something that was wrong, they were willing to put it out of their lives and follow him, every word of the Bible, because we live by every word in it.

But some began to rest. Some began to slumber. Half of the virgins and those who were part of that proposed bridal party slept, and there was no oil left in their lamps. It simply went out. They simply got too casual during the times, the times that were not, so trying. Times like we live in now, where we don't face persecution day by day.

We still may face hardships on jobs because of the choices that we make to follow God, but we live in a peaceful time in world history where we can worship the way we want.

The time is coming, but that may change.

Strike that. The time is coming when that will change.

Some, it says in Matthew 24, won't be ready. They'll have buried their head in the sand and say it simply isn't so. I don't want to hear it. I don't believe it's happening right now.

For those, when they see it happen, the Bible says there will be weeping. There will be gnashing of teeth. That's something you and I never want to face.

We never want to experience that. Yet some will, because some along the way will become like Asa became in his later years here. Happy with himself. Looking back to his prior relationship with God and thinking that he had done it all, and that certainly based on those earlier merits, God would always be with him. Yet the prophet had told him, back a chapter earlier, as long as you seek God, as long as you prepare your heart to seek God and his will, as long as you stay close to him, he'll be there. But when you forsake him, when you forget him, when you leave him behind and start trusting in yourself, and doing things your own way and forgetting what God said, even when it's painful to our families, to ourselves, to do things the way God says, when we try to stop doing that, God won't be there anymore.

Verse 12 of chapter 16. Asa didn't want to hear the seer what he had to say.

He didn't stand in the trial that he was faced with by seeking God. He relied on himself, and the battle was lost. In verse 12, it says, in the 39th year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe. He was sorely ill. Yet, in his disease, he didn't seek God, but he sought the physicians instead. Even when God afflicted his body, he didn't seek God first. He relied, instead, on the physicians. Asa. Asa, Asa. When will we learn what he had to learn the hard way? We rely on God. First and foremost, and the first thing in our mind is, we rely on God.

The only way we do that when severe trials occur is if we're choosing God every day.

If we're looking to God every day. If we're preparing our hearts so that when a trial comes, the first thing we think is, God can take care of this. God will deliver us. And then afterwards, doing what we need to do. Taking the treatments what we need to do. God knows what's in our hearts.

God knows whether we're seeking him first or whether we're seeking alliances first.

Treaties with the world first. Looking for ways around what his will is first. The key, brethren, is seek God first. Those are the people that will be in his kingdom.

Do you want to be there? Seek God first.

I'm going to give you two Psalms. I'm going to quote them. You can write them down. Psalm 63, verse 1, says to seek God early. And we've all done that. We wouldn't be sitting here if we hadn't sought God and his will early. Psalm 105, verse 4, says, seek God and his face forever more. Forever more. For the rest of our lives. For the rest of eternity. Seek God's will. It's not something we do just once in our life. It's something we do down through our lives right until the time we draw our last breath.

Turn with me back to Revelation. Revelation 2.

As we've been talking about these things, it may remind you of a church and an attitude that can be in God's church that is addressed here with the first one in the church of Ephesus.

In verse 3—in verse 4, Revelation 2, verse 4, as he's speaking to the church in Ephesus, he says, nevertheless I have this against you. You've left your first love. Remember, therefore, he admonishes them. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen. Remember those things. Just like an anani was telling Asa, do you remember what you were like when you first called in? Do you remember how thrilled you were to know the truth? Do you remember that you relied on God? Do you remember that he delivered you through those things? Do you remember how he filled your mind with the truth? Remember from where you've fallen. Think back on those things because it can happen again, but it only happens if we seek God. Repent, he says. Repent. Turn back from the way, even if it's one year, ten year, fifteen years from there. Repent and turn back to him and do the first works. Part of those first works is preparing your heart to seek God, choosing him daily, preparing your heart so that when times of trouble comes, it's him you turn to, that you rely and you know him. Repent and do the first works or else I will come to you quickly and I'll remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Know that God is God. Know what he says is going to happen. Believe what he says is going to happen is going to happen. He promises us a kingdom that will last forever and ever and ever. We've talked about that. We've enjoyed it. We've experienced a foretaste of it and it will surely come. But he also says in Matthew 24 and many other prophecies throughout the Old and New Testament, there is a time of trouble coming before that.

We may want to bury our heads in the sand and say, no, it won't happen. We may want to bury our heads in the hand and say, God will take us away before that time happens. He'll whisk us off to a place of safety and we're not going to have to endure any of those things. Don't bury your head.

Prepare your heart. We heard Mr. Cowan talk on the first holy day about the things that people have gone through, the things that the Bible says are going to happen in our lifetime. To people in this country, to people around the world, as the great tribulation comes, Daniel said and Christ himself said, a time rather before it was on the earth and never again will be. A horrific time. We cannot even imagine what the people of this world are going to go through.

And in several places of the Bible, it says it comes suddenly. One day they're eating and giving in marriage and the next day, sudden destruction. Will you be ready? When that time comes, will you have prepared your heart so that you seek God and you know who he is?

If you haven't prepared your heart, you may well be, like Peter was back in Matthew 26. Matthew 26, verse 34.

Let's begin in verse 31 of Matthew 26.

Jesus Christ, who spoke with his disciples often about the time that was going to come at the end of his three and a half year ministry, the time that he was going to be offered as a sacrifice for all mankind. Jesus said to them in verse 31, All of you will be made to stumble because of me this night, for it is written. I'll strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.

But after I've been raised, I'll go before you to Galilee. Peter, with the right heart, answered and said to him, Even if all are made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble.

He believed that. I believe that Peter meant that.

Jesus said to him, Assuredly I say to you this night, Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.

Those had to be hard words for Peter to hear. You'll deny me three times. Peter, your words don't mean anything.

Because when the time comes, when you see me arrested, when you see me before the Sanhedrin, when you see me being accused of things not done, and you fear for your own safety, you will deny me three times. Peter, who walked with Jesus Christ for three and a half years. Peter, who later wrote epistles to us that we learn a lot from. Peter, who was a fixture in the early New Testament church, and who worked with Jew and Gentile alike, and learned the way of Jesus Christ, did deny Jesus Christ three times in that one evening. When that third rooster crowed, and he looked around and he realized what he had done, he wept bitterly. He wept bitterly. Perhaps a weeping that you and I have never really established when he re- or experienced. But when he realized what he had done, it was a terrible feeling. Why did that happen to Peter? How could that happen to Peter, who later on in life was crucified, if we believe the accounts that are out there, crucified upside down?

He didn't prepare his heart for that time.

He didn't look straight ahead at that day and ask God to make him ready. And he didn't choose day by day. I will not forsake you. I will not deny you. Give me, God, the strength to stand in that day. And it would never come from his own power, his own might. It only comes from the Spirit of God as we have yielded to him, and as we have sought him, and as we have allowed him to work in our lives, guarding our hearts, purifying our hearts, cleansing our minds, doing the things that he wants us to do, living the life that will be lived in the kingdom of God, living the life of the firstfruits that he's called us to be, where there is no guile in their mouth, no deceit found in their heart. They have the testimony of Jesus Christ. They keep the commandments of God, and they keep them in spirit and in truth. Peter learned his lesson. When Peter was called on later in his life, he prepared his heart. He repented of what he had done here, and he prepared his heart for the next time that he was going to be faced with a trial that was going to face him. What about us? Over in Revelation. Revelation 13.

We know of the time when the beast power will be on the earth, and the beast power will derive its power from Satan, not from God. And it will be against and it will hate the people of God. The people of God, the nations of Israel, the nations of Judah, the people in the church of God, who God has called and made him part of spiritual Israel today. It will hate them. It will want them dead. We know that. We've heard it. Those of us who have been in the church for many years, we've heard it over and over and over again. And we know that there's a time coming that even on the face of the earth, this beast power will command such power over us that we won't even be able to mark, to buy, or sell. Over here in Revelation 13 and verse 15. Now, let's start with verse 14.

He deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do, speaking of the beast power and the prophet, in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. See that? To be killed.

Not to be roughed up a little bit. Just the same thing that Chad, Jack, and Meshach and Abednego faced. If you won't bow down to this beast, we're throwing you into that fiery furnace. They didn't hesitate. They simply said, be it known, O King, we will not bow down before you.

They had prepared themselves for that minute, that day, that hour of their trial. They were ready because they didn't bury their head and think it can't happen. They faced it head on, but they weren't afraid because they relied on God. He causes all, verse 16, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, that no one may buy or sell, except one who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.

What will you do in that day? When you're faced and you have little children or family starving, and the beast power says, unless you bow down, you're not eating. You don't have a house. And if you don't bow down, you're going to die. What will you do?

If we haven't prepared our hearts, God knows the answer. Prepare your heart so that in that day, you will not bow down.

To a beast power. That you will be willing to give up your life because you understand this life is just the beginning of eternity. Just the time that God is preparing us, looking to see and to develop in us the mind, the spirit, the character, to be ruling with him in his kingdom and teaching people that nothing is more important than following God. Nothing is more important than seeking him. The Christ's words spoke in Matthew 6 and other places when he says, seek first the kingdom of God, they really took it to heart. They really knew what he was talking about, and they lived it.

And as he develops our hearts, as we prepare our hearts, as we guard our hearts, as God purifies our hearts, he'll develop in us, as we heard earlier in the feast, that perfect love that defines him, that perfect love. And over in 1 John 4 verse 18, we find that that perfect love casts out one more thing that cripples us and holds us back today. 1 John 4 verse 18, there is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear.

Tough times are coming.

Better than the tough times is the kingdom of God that comes after that. All of us want to be there. All of us want to experience that. And as Peter, or I guess as Paul said, no, it was Peter, that the sufferings that we have in this day and age don't compare to the glory that God will reveal in us. You want to be there. I want to be there. Do all those things. Prepare your hearts and continually seek God every day for the rest of your life.