How to Succeed After You Succeed

(Training message for House Church and individual use: preached 5/30 – 6/5/2021)

“And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.”

(2 Kings 13:19)

Introduction

Who was King Asa?

He was the great-great-grandson of King David, who (so clearly with God’s help) slew a giant and then never lost a battle again.
He was the great-grandson of King Solomon, to who God had sent down fire and filled the temple with his presence unto none could enter in.
He was the grandson to Rehoboam, who (relying on himself instead of God) had lost all but two of the twelve tribes of Israel.
And he was the son of King Abijah, to whom God had given miraculous victory against a an army that was exactly twice as big is his: 400,000 against 800,000 – impossible odds… until God stepped in.
- His life is given to you as an example of what it looks like to start out well for God, then succeed even more for Him later on, and finally, what it looks like to fail in the end… being unfaithful unto death. Disappointing, yes; and yet both a warning of potential defeat and a guide to certain victory in Jesus – if you will follow Him in faith!

“Then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it.”

I. How to Start Well?

“And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.” (2 Kings 13:19)

In the 14th chapter of 2 Chronicles, Asa

“So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years. And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God: For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves: and commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images: and the kingdom was quiet before him. And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because the Lord had given him rest.” (2 Chronicles 14:1-6)
“And Asa had an army of 300,000 from Judah, armed with large shields and spears, and 280,000 men from Benjamin that carried shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valor.” (2 Chronicles 14:8)
“Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. And Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up their lines of battle in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. And Asa cried to the Lord his God, ‘O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.’ So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. 13 Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell until none remained alive, for they were broken before the Lord and his army.” (2 Chronicles 14:9-13a)
- “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer:” (Revelation 2:10a)

“Then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it.”

II. How to Succeed Wonderfully?

Asa’s Religious Reforms (2 Chronicles 15)
1 The Spirit of God came[a] upon Azariah the son of Oded, 2 and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 3 For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, 4 but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. 5 In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. 6 They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress. 7 But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.”
8 As soon as Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded, he took courage and put away the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was in front of the vestibule of the house of the Lord.[b] 9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. 10 They were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11 They sacrificed to the Lord on that day from the spoil that they had brought 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep. 12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, 13 but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. 14 They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns. 15 And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around.
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 image, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. 17 But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. 18 And he brought into the house of God the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels. 19 And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.Read also in the entire 15th chapter of 2 Chronicles of how Asa was encouraged by the words that God spoke to him through the prophet Azariah. Of how he fervently he responded by removing the idols (and demoting his idolatrous queen grandmother for her idolatry) and calling the people back to a purer worship of the Lord God.
- “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried;” (Revelation 2:10ab)

“Then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it.”

III. How to Stagnate Weirdly?

“And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thine hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.” (2 Chronicles 16:7-9)
“Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time.” (2 Chronicles 16:10)
“And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.”
- “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death,” (Revelation 2:10abcd)

Conclusion: How does it end for you?

Farewell, King Asa!

“And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign. And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had made for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries’ art: and they made a very great burning for him.” (2 Chronicles 16:13-14)

Farewell, Martin Luther! Were you faithful unto death?
Farewell, Charles Wesley! Were you faithful unto death?
Farewell, Billy Sunday! Were you faithful unto death?
Farewell, dear preacher…

“Then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it.”

“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” (Revelation 2:10abcde)

OUTLINE:

How to Succeed After You Succeed

(A Message to the Ministers in the Body of Christ)

I. How to Start Well?

II. How to Succeed Wonderfully?

III. How to Stagnate Weirdly?

“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” (Revelation 2:10)

WORSHIP:

Did You Think to Pray?

How to Succeed After You Succeed

You shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and you shall be a witness unto Jesus in the city that you live in, and in all the areas around you, and throughout the nation, and unto the uttermost part of the Earth. (Acts 1:8 applied)