Well, good evening. It's good to have you with us as we come to the scriptures and find our encouragement in the Lord. We're going to begin with a word of prayer. Let's pray together. Father, we do thank you again that we have the opportunity to come to call upon your name and to learn of you. We thank you for the encouragements of your word that you give us what we need for life and godliness. And so we ask, Lord God, that you would give us strength to walk accordingly and to put into practice the things that you teach us. And so we thank you, Lord God, that you do not leave us alone, that you've sent your spirit to help us understand and apply the things of Christ. We ask for your help and strength, and that in everything your name would be exalted. So we thank you, Father, for this time together this evening. Please encourage us and help us as we seek to live out our lives for your glory and praise throughout this week ahead. Help us to be able to endure whatever trials come across our path, and help us, Lord God, to continue to put our trust in you. So we do thank you and praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. We want to begin tonight with the great hymn, Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine. This is the glory divine, heir of salvation, virgins of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, perfect delight, Visions of rapture, the birds of my sight, angels descending, This is my story. This is my song. With submission, all is at rest I am my Savior, and happy and blessed Watching and waiting, looking above Filled with His goodness, lost in His love This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long Scripture reading tonight is found in 1 Kings chapter 15. 1 Kings chapter 15. And we're looking tonight at the reign of three kings in the southern kingdom of Judah. Abijah, the son of Rehoboam, and then his son Asa, and his son Jehoshaphat. So 1 Kings chapter 15, starting at verse one. Now in the 18th year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, reigned Abijam over Judah. Three years reigned he in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Meaca, the daughter of Abishalam. And he walked in all the sins of his father, meaning Rehoboam, which he had done before him. And his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God as the heart of David his father. Nevertheless, for David's sake, did the Lord his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem to set up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem. Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. Now the rest of the acts of Abijam and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam, and Abijam slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and Asa his son reigned in his stead. And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, reigned Asa over Judah. And forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Meaca, the daughter of Abishalam. And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father. And he took away the Sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. and also Mayaka, his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove, and Asa destroyed her idol and burnt it by the brook he'd drawn. But the high places were not removed. Nevertheless, Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days. And he brought in the things which his father had dedicated, and the things which himself had dedicated, into the house of the Lord, silver and gold and vessels. And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures 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 Tabiron, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying, there is a league between me and thee, and between my father and thy father. Behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold. "'Come and break thy league with Bayashah, King of Israel, "'that he may depart from me.' So Ben-Hadad hearkened unto King Asa, and sent the captains of the hosts which he had against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijun and Dan, and Abel, Beth, Mayaka, and all Sinneroth with all the land of Naphtali. And it came to pass when Bayashah heard thereof that he left off building of Ramah and dwelt in Tirzah. Then King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah. None was exempted, and they took away the stones of Ramah and the timber thereof wherewith Bayasha had builded. And King Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah. The rest of all the acts of Asa and 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? Nevertheless, in the time of his old age, he was diseased in his feet. And Asa slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, his father. And Jehoshaphat, his son, reigned in his stead. Well, may the Lord help us to understand this reading of his holy word. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you that you are the God who is over all. You are the God who sets up kings and takes down kings. And we thank you, Lord God, that we can be confident that you are Lord of all history, that you are the sovereign God who rules everything according to the counsel of His will. We thank you, Lord God, that you do all things well, and that we can find in the Lord our strength, our salvation, even our song of praise and gladness. We ask, Lord God, that you would strengthen us, that it might be said of us that our heart was set on the Lord, that we were devoted to the Lord all the days of our lives, Help us to learn from these kings what we need to watch out for so that we might be safe. Help us to understand where we need to apply ourselves, to make every effort, to be diligent, to be found in the Lord. Help us, Father, to apply the tools and the resources that you give us, to depend upon you, to be people of prayer, Lord, our God, I pray that you would mold us and shape us so that we would walk worthy of our calling. And Lord, we pray that as you cause us to grow, as we mature through the work of your spirit by the scriptures, we pray, Lord God, that our ability to testify to the gospel of the grace of God would grow and flourish, that our lives would be more consistent with what we believe, so that others might not only hear what we say, but see in us the fruit of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. We pray, Father, that you would help us to adorn the gospel in all that we do and say, the way that we live. May it bring glory to your name. We would ask, Holy Father, that you might have mercy upon us, that you would give us courage in the face of trial, that we would still hold fast to the Lord. And we ask, Father, that you would give us wisdom and discernment so that we would be able to make wise choices and be on our guard against that which would undermine your purposes and plans for our lives. Holy Father, we pray this, particularly in a time of trial and affliction, that you would strengthen our heart and build us up, that we would not lose heart, that we would not grow weary in well-doing, but rather we would pursue the ways of the Lord and that we would grow in grace. Father, we pray for the work of our missionaries. We thank you for them. We thank you for what they are doing. We know that some of them have faced health challenges over this time. We pray that you would restore them and build them up. Others, Lord God, have been restricted, as have we, in the things that they have been able to do. We pray that your word would nonetheless run and have free course. We pray, Lord, when temptations come, when their hearts grow discouraged, we realize we may never hear of this, but they may be downcast, and I pray, Lord, that you would truly lift them up and give them grace and strength. May there be much fruit for their labor, and we pray that our God would be greatly glorified. in all that they set out to do. So, Father, be merciful towards us. Give us comfort and strength and grace that we might follow you. And we ask, Father, that you would help us as well to understand your word so that we would be able to encourage one another in the Lord. So Father, thank you for meeting with us tonight and help us as we seek to understand the lessons you have for us, that we would learn much from you and walk worthy of our calling. We thank you for Jesus' name's sake. Amen. I want to continue to look at the book of First Kings and some of the lessons that we learn along the way from this. This section of Kings, after a bit of a period of turbulence, is especially marked by King Ahab in the north and King Jehoshaphat in the south. Now, in the book of Kings, the emphasis falls on the northern kingdom. We're going to hear a great deal about Ahab and his family and the things that flowed out of his very wicked reign in the north. We're going to learn about two prophets, Elijah and Elisha, that had a great deal to say in the days of Ahab and his immediate successors. The book of Chronicles covers some of the same history, but does it the reverse way. We almost never hear about Ahab, except as he has an impact on the reign of Jehoshaphat particularly, but we have a great deal of chapters and attention paid to Asa and Jehoshaphat, much more than we have in Kings. The Book of Kings seems to have, among some of its lessons, the warning about this decline into apostasy. How did it happen that both these kingdoms that separated after the death of Solomon end up going into captivity? The Northern Kingdom much sooner because of its greater wickedness, but the Southern Kingdom eventually follows exactly the same path. What is it that leads us into such difficulty? Perhaps that's one reason why these very commendable kings, Asa and Jehoshaphat in the south, receive less attention. Because under their reign, the Lord is given his proper place. Prophets are listened to. While in the north, we go through multiple kings, several different ruling families, and even some murders along the way. The way that Kings is structured is that it alternates between the North and the South, and generally what it does is it finishes the story of the king that it's working on in the North or the South, and then backtracks to what was going on in the other kingdom while those things were happening. A good example of how this is set up is in 1 Kings 22, where we find the account of the reign of Jehoshaphat at the end of that chapter. We learn in verse 37 that King Ahab died and was buried in Samaria. And then in verse 41, we are introduced to Jehoshaphat. However, we discovered that Jehoshaphat began reigning in the fourth year of King Ahab. And so really their reigns overlapped. But rather than telling the stories at the same time, it does one and then the other. Jehoshaphat shows up in the earlier chapters because of the interactions that he had with Ahab. So what we want to focus then on tonight is the reign of these three kings, Rehoboam's son. So it's David, then Solomon, then Rehoboam, and then Abijah with an H in Chronicles with an M in 1 Kings, but the same person. Abijah reigns for three years, his son Asa reigns for 41 years, and then his son Jehoshaphat for 25 years. So it's a fair chunk of time, especially between those two kings. 66 years. During that time there were eight kings in the north, well more accurately seven kings plus one who tried, and one of those seven only reigned for a week. So it gives you some of the sense of the turmoil in the north. Now, along the way in our studies, we've been using 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 11 as a kind of theme verse. How are we supposed to treat these passages? What are we supposed to learn from history? And that verse says, all these things happened unto them for examples, and they're written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. Paul is stating a couple of things there. One is that he's stating that the end of the world has come in his day, meaning, of course, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of the plans and purposes of God. We're now living in that age of the last days. In fact, those who believe in Jesus are already a new creation and don't come into condemnation. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean that we ignore everything that went before. As a matter of fact, we're supposed to listen very carefully to it, and it's for our warning, our admonition, so that we don't fall into these same kinds of traps. So generally speaking, that's a theme verse for our studies in Kings, but particularly tonight in the reigns of these three Kings, I find it especially fitting. The context seems to match up quite nicely with 1 Corinthians 10. So later on, when we come to apply some of the things that we see here, we'll go back to that chapter in a little bit more detail. First of all, then, we want to talk about some of the tests of our faith here that come about when we seek to live for the Lord. For what all of these kings are showing us is that a life faithful to the Lord is not a life free of trouble. Even though you have those kings who are not living after David's heart, those who come under a more severe judgment, the reigns of Asa and Jehoshaphat are not untroubled. They too face challenges. Faith is going to be put to the test. When we think about the short reign of King Abijah, I borrowed a sentence from Hebrews 5 to describe him. He was dull of hearing. If we wanted to talk about Abijah in the language of the marketers of computer programs, we might say that Abijah was Rehoboam 2.0. The main thing that Kings teaches us is that he carried on Raobom's policies and patterns. He too had a heart that was not perfect with the Lord. And as far as Kings is concerned, that's really all we need to know about him. Now, Abijah is coming following this history of Solomon and Rehoboam. Both kings had come under God's judgment for the very kinds of policies that he maintains. In other words, he's not learning from what went before. In the Northern Kingdom, Jeroboam's line started with great promise, but fell apart on exactly the same problem of idolatry, not being true and faithful to the Lord. Nevertheless, the text that I read to you earlier at the beginning of chapter 15 says that for David's sake, the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem. In other words, Abijah's reign was enough for David's line to be wiped out according to the standards applied to Jeroboam, but God did not do that because of his promise. This is one of the important points in the book of Kings, that God is faithful even though his kings were not, even though there is this sin that keeps creeping into the nation. By the grace of God, David's line is preserved, not by merit, by grace, so that the son of David ultimately will reign on the throne. This is part of Paul's contention in 1 Corinthians 10, although he was referring to the wilderness years, not to the kings. But his contention is that the Old Testament was designed to lead us to Christ, to bring us to the Lord Jesus. But as far as Abijah is concerned, he learns nothing from history. He learns nothing from his father's experience. And therefore, as Hebrews 5 puts it, he was dull of hearing. Remember, Hebrews challenges its readers that they have the truth, they've heard the gospel, they've seen evidence of what God can do, and yet, they still need to go back to kindergarten and start all over again. They should be teachers by now, but because they are so dull of hearing, they have learned nothing. Abijah is an example of that. King Asa, we can summarize what chapter 15 tells us about him by saying that he was devoted to reform. Now, in our studies, I am doing my best to stick with Kings. I want to see how this book particularly seeks to teach us its lessons. Nevertheless, in connection with A. Sanjay Hashifat, it's hard not to dip into Second Chronicles since there are fully seven chapters written on these two kings. And so we're going to tuck that into the back of our minds and make a couple of references while we try to focus still on the record here in Kings. What we learn about Asa is that he made the first real attempt, since Solomon started this trend towards idolatry, to actually deal with it, going so far as to depose his mother, who had set up a grove, it's the language of idolatry, worshipping Asherah or Ashtoreth, a Canaanite goddess. And so he tries to deal with idolatry to the extent that his mother is deposed from whatever official position a queen mother had at the time. And so he earns the verdict of doing what's right in the eyes of the Lord. Unlike Solomon, unlike Rehoboam, and unlike Abijah, he turns to the Lord and seeks to set things right. The highest praise that can be given to a king in the south is that he was in the eyes of the Lord like David. He had a heart like David. He had done like David had done with the exception of the high places. Verse 14 says, nevertheless Asa's heart was perfect. with the Lord all his days. Language that is distinctly contrasting Rehoboam and Abijah in verse 3, his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God as the heart of David his father. So Asa is devoted to reform. He is going to do what is right. Now, taking that little look into Chronicles that I mentioned, during his day, there was a huge war with an Ethiopian army that vastly outnumbered Asa's army. And yet, they won because they trusted entirely in the Lord. But, as time went on, there were more and more border skirmishes with the northern kingdom that had split. We're told that he and Bayasha, who was then the king in the north, were at war all their days. And they were really border skirmishes. It seems what was happening was that because Asa's reign was so much better than what was going on in the north, the people had a natural tendency to migrate south. Bayasha wanted to stop that that flow of people into the southern kingdom, and so he was building some guard cities on the border. In other words, it was not a real great threat to the land, not like the previous war had been, and it seemed like a fairly easy solution. He made a treaty with Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, who was to the north of the northern kingdom, so creating an irritant on that border so that Bayashah would have to go deal with that and would leave Asa alone, and his technique was successful. The problem, of course, as we'll see in a moment, is that he made a treaty instead of trusting the Lord. Kings only hints at this, Chronicles is much more critical. He had a long reign. By and large, the verdict is, as we read it here, his heart was perfect before the Lord, except at the end of his life, he was diseased in his feet. And again, Chronicles helps us to understand that even then, he refused to seek the Lord. He helps us understand this challenge of remaining faithful to the end, of finishing that course. And then we have King Jehoshaphat. We can say about him that he was dedicated to the Lord, not even just to reform, although he was that. He followed Asa, his father, in that regard. But he was particularly dedicated to the Lord himself. He followed his father's way but without the lapses as his reign went on. He too was an example, according to Chronicles again, of trusting the Lord against great enemies. We also learn in Chronicles that he did much to promote wisdom and justice in the land. He had an army of Levites who were devoted to going through the land and teaching the law of the Lord. He was very much concerned that this be a grassroots thing. So often in Kings, it's just at the level of the Kings that the heart is either for the Lord or against. We very rarely hear much about the people. But Jehoshaphat made a concerted effort that the people themselves would know the law and would love the Lord and would follow it. The one thing about Jehoshaphat, though, that we learn in both Kings and Chronicles is that he wanted to try and fix the relationship with the northern tribes. We can understand this a little bit. As a faithful Israelite, as a king who loved the Lord, he would long to see at least some measure of reconciliation. Even if they didn't actually formally become one kingdom again, at least they could stop the endless wars that had been going on since the days of Rehoboam and Jeroboam. The strong feelings at the time of the breach perhaps had faded a little bit, and he wanted to see what he could do to heal that breach. This meant, of course, that he would work with Ahab. Tragically, of course, Ahab was one of the worst of the northern kings. The ideal might have been good, but he failed to reckon with the overt idolatry in the north under Ahab. It very nearly resulted in his own death, Jehoshaphat's death. It did result in some costly failures of joint projects and it left a horrible legacy of Baal worship in the southern kingdom that almost destroyed the line of David under Athaliah, a daughter of Ahab who seized control of Judah's throne because she had been married to Jehoshaphat's son. But there is one thing further to say in his favor. He never stopped seeking the Lord. When he was rebuked, he took those rebukes as received, even if he was a little bit too inclined to repeat his mistakes. So that's essentially the history of this time. We see three kings, two of whom reign substantial lengths of time, trying to walk faithfully before the Lord. But doing that in a wicked world surrounded by enemies is a challenge, just as it's a challenge for us. And so, borrowing that language from 1 Corinthians 10, as we mentioned earlier, We want to think a little bit about what we can learn from these kings to take heed lest we fall. Let me read to you the paragraph that includes verse 11 that I quoted earlier, but what follows that text. 1 Corinthians 10 verses 11 through 14. Now all these things happened unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore, here's his application, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer or allow you to be tempted above that you're able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. Idolatry was tripping up the nation and would continue to be an issue for the rest of its history until those days of the captivity. And so let's think a little bit about what we can learn about what Paul calls here these temptations that are common to man. In light of the history that we've been talking about, what do we see as being potential issues for ourselves? Let me suggest three things, one for each of these kings that we've been reading about. The first temptation that I think we need to watch out for and that are common to men is complacency. What do I mean by that? Well, Abijah seems set on maintaining the status quo, not making any real big changes. Now, we noted last time that Rehoboam had a heart issue, so that even when he did reform, it was always half-hearted. Rehoboam was motivated more by crisis than by conviction. Now, Abijah, his son, could have concluded that Rehoboam managed to last 17 years muddling along like this, and so there really wasn't that much urgency to change anything. But it's not uncommon in kings that God's patience with the next generation is short. Rehoboam might have muddled along 17 years. Abijah was only given three. You see, we are expected to learn from history. Abijah had the example of the late years of Solomon and God's judgment by dividing the kingdom. He had the example of Rehoboam and God's obvious displeasure and the prophets who dealt with that king. And yet he comes to the throne and he sees nothing wrong. Nothing that really needs to be changed, or at least nothing that needs to be changed with any speed. One of the lessons that we learn in the Bible is that of contentment. Christians are to be content. As Paul wrote about his trials in Philippians 4, I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. Whether he abounds, whether he's abased, he does all things through Christ who strengthens him. So there is a very real sense in which we are to be content. But many of our misconceptions are when we distort true things. It's not always that we deny them, but we distort them. So doesn't contentment mean that I should be satisfied with the status quo? Well, no. That's complacency. It's contentment misapplied, contentment distorted. Be content with the Lord always. Be content with the circumstances into which the Lord places us, knowing that he's promised not to forsake us. But don't be content with the extent of our growth in dealing with our sinfulness in growing as the Lord would have us. Paul applies his testimony in Philippians 3, where he says that he lost everything in order that he might gain Christ, be found in him, have that righteousness which is of Christ. His application of that was to press toward the mark. If it was worth losing everything in order to gain Christ, then pressing toward the mark is the logical conclusion of this. I want, therefore, to know Christ more. I want, therefore, to be running the race with diligence. I want to leave the things that are behind and press on to what is before. In practice, this means to apply the means of grace, fellowship with other Christians, the reading and memorizing and meditating on the scriptures, the role of prayer, relying upon the Spirit, and so on. In 2 Peter 3.18, he says, we are to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Abijah teaches us about this temptation common to man of being complacent, of thinking that there's no real urgency to deal with those things in our lives that we may have this niggling sense that they're not exactly good or not exactly the best. Don't be content with that. Don't be complacent, but press toward the mark. Deal with what needs to be dealt with, and don't give in to this temptation. When we look at King Asa, there's a temptation of self-confidence, maybe over-confidence, self-reliance in the lesser things. When he was faced with an obviously overwhelming trial, Asa trusted God. One more dip into 2 Chronicles. Listen to this prayer of Asa. This was brought to my attention years ago and has stuck with me. What a prayer he makes in 2 Chronicles 14. He knows his army is outnumbered. And in verse 11 it says, Asa cried unto the Lord his God and said, Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many or with them that have no power. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, Thou art our God. Let not man prevail against Thee. That prayer is worth memorizing and using in our own lives to teach us what it means to trust God. Asa won a great victory. But then when a border skirmish with Israel came along, as we looked at earlier, a political solution presented itself and Asa went with it. Apparently, no prayer at all, at least no evidence of any recorded prayer. He can, by the help of Syria, the problem disappears. End of story. But it's not end of story. Trusting God is to be applied, obviously, when we're stretched beyond our limits. Very few of us need to be taught that. But do we understand the Christian life as one of walking with God? It's a pilgrimage. It's a constant trust in the Lord. And so this imagery of walking with God that's so common, especially in the New Testament, implies a constant reliance on God. And again, in our studies in John, we've seen that blunt statement of the Lord Jesus a few times from John 15 verse 5. Without Him, we can do nothing. This is a continual, ongoing reliance on God. Confidence, yes, but not overconfidence, not self-confidence, not self-reliance. We don't put our trust in princes or in chariots in the language of the Old Testament. We trust in the Lord our God. When we look at King Jehoshaphat, I borrowed a phrase here from 1 Corinthians 10 verse 20, a little bit farther on in the chapter, as Paul talks about the problems with their idolatry. He says, but I say that the things which Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, to demons, and not to God. I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. No communion with devils, as it were. Now, I admit that quote is probably a little too strong for what we're talking about with King Jehoshaphat. Maybe compromise is close, but I don't want it to look like mere weakness. There may be elements of that, but as I suggested earlier, it seems to me that Jehoshaphat had a longing for reconciliation. He's clearly not a weak king. I remember reading a commentary that titled its treatment of Jehoshaphat as the king who couldn't say no. It's not quite accurate. The man was strong enough. He faced battles of great enemies and won. He made a point, as we said earlier, about training the people in the ways of the Lord. He was not a compromiser in that sense. He was committed to the law of the Lord. But his desire for reconciliation with the North was his undoing, and nearly that of the kingdom. It's similar in this sense to 1 Corinthians 10. The Corinthians believed they were being faithful to the Lord. They longed to walk in the ways of the Lord, but they also wanted to live in Corinth as members of society. Jehoshaphat treated Ahab's Baal worship as if it was a character trait to be rebuked, but not necessarily to be rejected. Remember the key application in 1 Corinthians 10 14 that we read earlier is to free from idolatry. This is challenging because cooperation and communication is important. We saw this morning that we are to have a good reputation towards those who are outside. But we are not to be unequally yoked, as Paul also says to this Corinthian church. Remember this passage from 2 Corinthians 6 verse 14? Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with darkness? What concord or agreement hath Christ with Belial? Or what part of he that believeth with an infidel? What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? That could be the slogan over the history of Jehoshaphat. You are my people. I will be your God. You will be my people. Come out from among them. Be separate. Touch not the unclean thing. This is the lesson that Jehoshaphat and we need to learn. Yes, it's challenging, but we must flee from idolatry. And so there are these temptations, we can say, that are common to man. But Paul says something else in that text in 1 Corinthians 10. He says, God is faithful. We face temptations. It's a challenging world in which we live, but God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted above that you're able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. What are some of the things then that God gives us to help us escape? Let me suggest four things that we might think about. First of all, learn to accept correction and rebuke. Again, glancing at Chronicles, we learn that like Solomon, Esau was angry when he was rebuked by a prophet and lashed out at the prophet, trying to silence them. Jehoshaphat, on the other hand, seemed more ready to accept what the Lord had to say through his prophets. We need to be like that, because the Bible is honest with us. We are going to stumble. There will be times when we sin against the Lord. After all, as John wrote, if anyone says he has no sin, he's a liar. When God disciplines us, though, how do we respond? Do we get angry? Do we try to shoot the messenger? Or do we listen and do we learn? Nothing gets better when we get angry with the messenger. We need to learn to accept correction and rebuke, because at least sometimes it will be legitimate and we need to hear it. A second thing in learning these ways to escape, we need to acknowledge that we really are in a conflict. There was an interesting case Paul addresses in 2 Corinthians 2. There had been a man who had been guilty of sin, and the church finally, perhaps belatedly, had taken steps to deal with this. In the course of doing that, however, they were not backing off, even though the man was starting to show some signs of genuinely repenting. They were slow to forgive the man. Paul says, don't be like that, because it will only cause division, and division is one of the tools in the devil's toolbox that will undo us. And he adds this line, we are not ignorant of his devices. As many have pointed out, although the devil may use a show of great force at times in his battle against us, he much more frequently works undercover by means of deceit. Paul is here touching on a fairly common New Testament exhortation, beginning with Jesus, that we need to watch. Be on your guard. Watch. Recognize the dangers that are around us and use the scriptures to be alert. Connected with this, we need to be constantly on the advance. We need to persevere to the end. There's a danger in stopping too soon. We need to press toward the mark, as we noted from Paul in Philippians 3 earlier. Now, I want to underline that we do need to be careful about becoming paranoid of seeing conspiracies everywhere, recognizing that there's a battle going on, and identifying it in every case is not always the same thing. But there is a danger when we fail to realize that there's any war at all. Remember Ephesians 6, put on that spiritual armor so that we are able to withstand in the evil day. I'm beginning to realize that people at my stage of life need to be particularly vigilant. Circumstances of life may change. You may not be required to do all of the things that you once had to do, what we might call retirement. But we never retire from this warfare. We do not stop running until we cross the finish line. We saw that this morning in the Apostle Paul, that he would finish his course. He wanted to complete the task that he had been assigned. And then the fourth thing. that I wanted to mention, we need to apply the faith comprehensively. I want to share three passages with you as we think about what I mean by this. And I'm thinking particularly of Asa, who managed to handle the big things, but fell apart in the little things. I wanted to think about these three passages that specialize in the word all. The first one concerns prayer in Ephesians 6 verse 18. And notice the all is underlying in everything, comprehensively. Paul writes, praying always, so there's your first all at all times, with all prayer and supplication, all kinds of ways of making our requests in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Comprehensive prayer about everything on behalf of everyone we know, especially the believers that we know who are facing trials and difficulties. We are to be doing this always. It's to be part of our daily routine. We are to be making our requests known to God. We are to be people who are marked by prayer. And so apply the faith comprehensively means always be praying about everything and for everyone as far as they come into our field of view. The second text that emphasizes this theme of comprehensive uses, it doesn't use the word all the same way, but it's still comprehensive language from 1 Thessalonians 5 verses 16 through 18. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Think about that. Always rejoice. Always be praying. Always, in everything, be giving thanks to God. This is His will, when our whole life is seen under His hand. The third text that I wanted to share with you, I just put under the general category of sufficiency, that God is able to meet every need that we have. 2 Corinthians 9 verse 8, as part of that pair of passages that deals with giving to the need in Jerusalem, He underlines this, God is able to make all grace abound toward you that you always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work. This is what I mean by apply the faith comprehensively. Think about the everything and the alls in these passages and make sure that we understand that we have all that we need to abound in all good works. This is what you see also in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. It's true without him we can do nothing in John 15, but we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. 2 Peter 1, he has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. God does not skimp on our resources in order to do what he calls us to do. And so, we need to take stock. We need to recognize that our faith is going to be put to the test in a world such as the one in which we live. there are going to be temptations because people have always faced temptations like complacency and self-confidence and even communion with devils. But understand that this is not necessary. There's a way to escape when we listen to the correction and rebuke of the Lord through other Christians, through His Word, by the Spirit. When we acknowledge that we're in the midst of a conflict, when we set our goal and always seek to advance towards it, always growing in that grace, and when we apply our faith comprehensively through all the resources that God supplies. God makes a way of escape that we may be able to bear it. He is faithful, and that is our hope. May God help us take heed lest we fall. Let's pray together. Our Father, again, we want to thank you for knowing that we are dust. You know our frame, and yet you have mercy and compassion upon us, and you supply what we need. Our hope is not found in our abilities or our merit. Our hope is in Christ alone. In Him, we put our trust. Lord, may we not be ashamed. Help us to recognize that it's nothing with you, whether we have great strength or no strength. Help us, O Lord. Be our God, and for your name's sake, deliver us. Let not man prevail over you. O Lord, we thank you that victory is secure when victory is in Jesus. We thank you in his name. Amen. More love to Thee, O Christ, comprehensive and growing. More love to Thee. Lord, love to thee, O Christ, Lord, love to thee. Hear now the prayer I make on bended knee. more love to thee God's earthly joy I crave, sought peace and rest. Now he alone I seek, give what is best. His all my prayer shall be, more love, O Christ, to Thee. more love to Thee, more love to Thee. Let sorrow, through its words, end grief and pain. Sweet are Thy messengers, sweet their refrain. when they can sing with me, more love, O Christ, to Thee, more love to Thee, more love to Thee. Then shall my native's breath whisper Thy praise, This be the parting cry my heart shall raise, This, till this prayer shall be, More love, O Christ, to Thee, More love to Thee, More love to Thee. Lord, may this truly be our prayer, more love to Thee. Thank You, Holy Father, that You hold us fast. O Lord, our God, thank You. You will never leave us or forsake us. Thank You there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Knowing this, may we press toward the mark. May it motivate our confidence in You. And may we apply this in every area of our life. so that we might in everything give thanks, that we might always be rejoicing and always praying without ceasing. Thank you, Lord, for Jesus' name's sake, amen.