Better Than We Deserve

Disclaimer: This transcript is AI-generated and may contain errors. Please refer to the original audio for the accurate information and meaning.

Quick Summary

A look at the life of King Asa from 2 Chronicles 14–16, exploring how despite a righteous beginning and a deeply flawed ending, Asa is still remembered as a good king because of the unimaginable grace of God, pointing us to the ultimate perfection and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Key Points

• The Divided Kingdom: After Solomon’s reign, the people of God split into the Northern Kingdom (Israel) and the Southern Kingdom (Judah). King Asa was one of the few good kings to rule over Judah.

• The Good: For the first 35 years of his reign, Asa relied heavily on the Lord. He sought God’s help to defeat a massive Ethiopian army and led his people in renewing their covenant with God.

• The Bad: In his final six years, Asa turned away from God. He relied on a foreign king during a civil war, imprisoned a prophet who rebuked him, and refused to seek the Lord even when afflicted with a severe disease.

• The Unimaginable: Despite Asa’s bitter end, scripture declares his heart was “wholly true” all his days. This paradox illustrates the Gospel: because of Jesus’ perfect life and sacrifice, God looks at our broken lives and credits us with Christ’s perfect righteousness.

Sermon Transcript

Introduction and Prayer I am Colby Brewer’s brother, and also uncle to these three girls and one young man, as well as brother-in-law to Angela, and former campus minister to Amanda Cooper at Penn State University. So that’s really my claim to fame if I were to have one.

I wanted to say I am so sorry about Drew’s passing. That has been really sad for me. I was at the University of Missouri doing campus ministry with RUF, and in 2003, I was called to come here to start the RUF campus ministry at Penn State. The guy who called me was Andy Phillips. He was the head of the committee, and he recruited me to come back to the East and start the RUF at Penn State. Andy was wanting me to get connected to the Presbytery, so he said, “You’ve got to meet my good friend, Drew Darith.”

One of the first meetings that I had moving back from Missouri to Pennsylvania was to have coffee with Drew. Drew was a real friend to me. I was here for five years in the Presbytery at Penn State. He’s very kind and would get together with me on occasion, and I think he even did some stuff with RUF at Penn State. I appreciate Drew and our time that we had together, but what I really appreciate about Drew most is that he is such a good pastor to Colby, Angela, my nephew and nieces, and to Coop. I know he was to you, too. So I am sorry for your loss. I knew that was going to happen.

Let me pray for us, and then I’ll tell you what we’re going to look at this morning.

Lord, it is good to be here with these people who I know about from Colby, and I get to pray for. I am glad to be here. Lord, I do pray that you would lift them up. I pray that they would feel your care. Lord, I pray that you would be with the session, be with Noah as they lead without Drew being here. Lord, lift them up, remind them that you are for them. Would you even use the sermon, your scripture this morning, to do that? I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Divided Kingdom This morning, we’re going to look at the story of Asa. Asa was a king in the Old Testament. Asa is a name that’s become pretty popular with Christian families naming their sons Asa. When I was a campus minister at the University of California, Irvine, I had an Asa in my group. I have an RUF International campus minister that I oversee; he has a son named Asa. I believe there’s even an Asa here in this church.

The name Asa comes from a king in the Old Testament, and he was a good king. Now, this is important: the people of God were divided. You had a Northern Kingdom and a Southern Kingdom. Still Israelites, still the people of God, but now they are divided. In the Northern Kingdom, which was called Israel, you had 19 kings. All 19 kings were not good kings. The Bible says they were bad kings, unfaithful to the Lord.

Then you have the Southern Kingdom, which was called Judah. In the Southern Kingdom, you had 20 kings. Eight of those 20 kings were good kings, and one of the better kings out of those eight was Asa. So we’re going to look at his story this morning.

If you are feeling a bit stuck in your relationship with the Lord, I think the story of Asa could help you this morning. If you feel like it’s been a while since you’ve seen or even been reminded of the kindness of God, I think the story of Asa could be helpful for you. If you have been frustrated or even angry with the Lord, I think the story of Asa could be helpful. If you feel disappointed with the Lord, or maybe if you feel like the Lord is disappointed with you, I think the story of Asa could be helpful to you this morning.

We’re going to be in 2 Chronicles, chapters 14, 15, and 16. The life of Asa is recorded in these three chapters. I’m not going to read the whole chapters, though I will reference it if you want to open up a Bible, but I am going to read a few parts for you. I want you to look at, as we are reading, what God says about Asa and how he celebrated Asa.

The Good: Relying on the Lord Second Chronicles, chapter 14: Abijah, who is the father of Asa, slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa, his son, reigned in his place. In his days, the land had rest for ten years. And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He took away the foreign altars and the high places, broke down the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment. He also took out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him. He built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, for the Lord gave him peace.

Now to chapter 15, verse 16: Even Maacah, his mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image for Asherah. Asa cut down her false image or her idol that she was worshiping, and he crushed it and burned it in the brook Kidron. But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. And he brought into the house of God the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels. And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

Now we come to the end of Asa’s life, 2 Chronicles chapter 16, verses 13 and 14: And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. They buried him in the tomb that he had cut for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier that had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer’s art, and they made a very great fire in his honor.

Did you hear those statements that I read? First in chapter 14: And Asa did what was right and was good in the eyes of God. That’s a statement of who Asa was and where he stood with the Lord. Then verse 15: The heart of Asa was wholly true all the days of his life. And then finally in chapter 16, you see the people of Judah celebrating Asa and his life there in Jerusalem after his death.

There are wonderful things said of Asa. But we will see this: the end of Asa’s life was not so wonderful. I want us to look at three things this morning: the good, the bad, and the unimaginable.

The good starts in chapters 14 and 15. What we have are the first 35 years of Asa and his reign. Theologians believe he began his reign as king somewhere in his late teenage years—ages 15 to 20. So we have his first 35 years, and here, Asa is at his best. I want to look at a war, a rebuke, and a covenant during these two chapters.

First, a war. The king of Ethiopia, Zerah, invades Judah. The army that comes from Ethiopia to Judah is an army of one million men, and this army has 300 chariots. It’s like having 300 tanks today. The army of Judah had 580,000 men and no chariots. They were significantly outmatched by the army of Ethiopia. Here is King Asa, preparing for battle, looking at the Ethiopian army, knowing he is overmatched. He begins to call out to the Lord, and he says, “Oh Lord, you are the God who helps the weak. That is who we are. Lord, we are here fighting in your name. We need your help. Now more than ever, would you, for the sake of your glory, deliver a victory so that the world might know that you are King?”

Asa prays that prayer, depending on the Lord, and the Lord defeats the army of Ethiopia, which was significantly stronger than the army of Judah. Asa in Judah is growing in wealth, growing in prosperity, growing in strength.

The second thing we look at is a rebuke that comes to Asa in chapters 14 and 15. After this time of thriving, there is a man of God, a prophet of God named Azariah. He comes to the Lord and says, “Asa, you’ve taken your eyes off of the Lord. If you will seek the Lord, you will find Him. If you forsake the Lord, know this: the Lord will forsake you.” Asa hears those words, and as soon as he hears them, he takes courage and begins to put away the detestable idols. In other words, his focus was not on the Lord like it had been, and now Azariah is calling him back to the carpet: You need to change your ways, King Asa.

Asa responds quickly and positively. He hears the words, repents, realizes it is true, and begins to change his ways. He puts away the idols and makes God a priority in his life again, even though God may have been slipping away for a bit of time.

That brings us to a covenant. A covenant is a promise you make with someone else—like when you get married. Here, Asa is calling all the people of the nation of Judah to gather in Jerusalem so they can make a covenant with the Lord. Asa is leading his people into putting God first in their lives again. So you have a war, a rebuke, and a covenant, and Asa is doing the same thing every time: he is seeking the Lord.

He seeks the Lord when there’s a war. He seeks the Lord after he’s been rebuked by Azariah by acknowledging he hasn’t been living for the Lord, and he turns his face back in a different direction towards God. And he seeks the Lord by making Him first in his life through this covenant.

In the Old Testament, we are told to seek the Lord some 30 times. First Chronicles 15:11 says, Seek the Lord and his strength. Seek his presence continually. Isaiah 55 says, Seek the Lord while he may be found. The measurement of whether a king was faithful and good to the Lord was if he would seek the Lord. Then we come to the New Testament, and we’re told to seek the Kingdom of God and all of His righteousness.

What does it look like to seek the Lord? During the war, Asa sought the Lord through prayer. He was depending on the Lord; he called out in prayer for help. During the rebuke, Asa responded by seeking the Lord through repentance. He turned his face a different direction, towards the Lord. And with the covenant, he seeks the Lord by making Him first in his life. We do that by prioritizing worship, opening up His word, and considering who He is.

The Bad: Turning Away The good in Asa’s life is when he is seeking the Lord. But now we come to the bad in chapter 16. In chapter 16, we have the last six years of Asa’s life and his reign as king. This is where we see Asa at his worst. He is not seeking God at this point in his life. All the good that Asa had accomplished in those first 35 years, he begins to undo.

Let’s look at the bad through a war, a covenant, and a rebuke—the same words, just a slightly different order.

Now there’s a different war. It’s a civil war. The king of Israel is preparing to fight Judah. He sets up a fortified city called Ramah on the border. He blocks off the main transportation route to bring goods from the north into Judah, effectively cutting off trade. People from the Northern Kingdom were also moving into the Southern Kingdom because it was thriving under Asa, but the main road into Judah is now blocked.

It’s time to go to war again, and Asa begins to call out. But this time, he calls out not to the Lord, but to the King of Syria. He says, “Would you come and help? I am desperate, I need help.” So he asks a foreign king—a king who did not serve the Lord God—to come and rescue him. Last time, he asked the Lord to rescue. This time, it’s the King of Syria.

That moves into a covenant. Asa reaches out to the King of Syria to make a covenant, this time not with the Lord, but to renew a covenant with the King of Syria. He says, “Do you remember our fathers, who were both kings before us? They had a covenant. I am saying that covenant still stands, so you must come and rescue us.” The King of Syria comes, beats the nation of Israel, and then Asa takes the silver and gold he had put into the temple during his first 35 years—dedicated for worship—and pays Syria with it.

Finally, we come to a rebuke. This time it’s a different prophet named Hanani. He comes to Asa and says, “Asa, you have done something terrible. Don’t you remember years ago when there was a much stronger foe in Ethiopia, and you cried out to the Lord, and He delivered you? But now you have this battle, and you don’t even think to cry out to the Lord, and you get the King of Syria involved. Asa, you should not have done that. You’ve sinned against the Lord.”

Asa hears these words, and his response is to throw Hanani in prison. He throws a prophet of God, with the words of God, into prison. After this, it says that Asa continued to inflict cruelty on his own people.

Then it ends with this story: Asa is feeling disease in his feet. It was very painful. And it says he did not seek the help of the Lord, but he only sought the help from physicians.

Why don’t people seek the Lord? God calls us to be a people who seek Him in prayer, in hearing true words that often make us turn and repent, and in putting Him first. I think sometimes we don’t seek the Lord because we’re disappointed with Him. We feel like He’s failed us, and we’re angry. I think sometimes we don’t seek the Lord because it feels like He hasn’t done enough for us. We’ve asked and prayed, and He hasn’t moved in our time. Now we’re frustrated and upset, and perhaps we don’t seek Him like we once used to.

Maybe you’re in a season of life where you remember those days when you were alive in Christ, and that walk with the Lord was so special and beautiful to you, and now if you’re honest, you look back and feel like you’re not where you were. I encourage you to seek the Lord if that is true. It may be that we don’t seek the Lord because we’ve underestimated just how good He is. We’ve underestimated all that He has done for us.

The Unimaginable: Grace and the Gospel That takes us to the unimaginable. Remember those verses about what God said regarding Asa? Chapter 14: Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord God. Chapter 15: The heart of Asa was wholly true all his days.

That is not true of Asa. Asa’s heart was not wholly true to the Lord all his days. He didn’t always do what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord. It wasn’t that he just had six bad days, six bad weeks, or six bad months. Asa had six bad years. It was as if Asa had forgotten the Lord. He was wrestling deeply with sin, and yet God can somehow say about Asa, he was good and right in my eyes, and his heart was wholly true all the days of his life, and his life was worthy of celebration at the end.

Is this a mistake? Does God have it wrong here? No. The only person this could truly be said of is Jesus. Jesus’s life was always good. It was always right. It was wholly true unto the Lord. It is the only life worth celebrating completely and fully.

And the unimaginable here is for the person who looks to Jesus Christ to take away their sin. For the person who looks to Jesus on the cross, seeing that He is on the cross because He is paying for your sin—to break the power of sin in your life and to make a way forward with God. For the person who believes that, they are credited as good, as right, as wholly faithful, and worthy of celebrating. Not because of what you have done, but because of what Jesus has done for you. This is what Asa believed.

Have you ever driven through North Dakota? Some of you have. Everything is named Theodore Roosevelt in North Dakota. Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Theodore Roosevelt Expressway, the library. Do you know why? Because when someone of great significance says something of significance about you, it matters a great deal. Theodore Roosevelt said of North Dakota, “I would not have been President had it not been for my experience in North Dakota.” That means so much to the people of North Dakota.

The greatest person of significance, the King of Creation who made this world, says about you: You are good and right in my eyes. For the person who belongs to Him, you are wholly true all the days of your life. Why? Because it’s not your record, your standing, or your status. It is Jesus’s. That’s what we rest in. With that statement—if it’s true, if the King of Creation says that about you—we stake our life on it, and we seek the Lord.

If you are not there yet, I encourage you to give your life to Jesus. Let’s pray.

Lord, thank you for the life of Asa. We relate to it. We long to do good, and sometimes we do, but often we don’t. Yet your grace is better than we can imagine. Your kindness in Jesus helps us to believe it, to stake our lives on it. Thank you for loving us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.