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for us to have Dr. Conrad Mbewe,
pastor of the Kabwata Baptist Church and the Chancellor of
the African Christian University in Lusaka, Zambia. He will be
speaking at a conference this week. There's information on
our back table if anybody is interested in picking that up
and attending that conference. But as I said, it's a great privilege
to have our brother here with us this evening. This evening, yes. I'm processing
it because it's so bright outside. Where I come from, this would
be in the middle of the afternoon. This is my first time, I think,
to preach in two countries on the same day, so I'm still having
to process my mind whether I'm in the USA or Canada. but it's
a great joy for me to be here and I was looking forward to
the fellowship which I trust we've begun having and will also
have as we will be coming to the end of the service. Please stand with me to 2 Chronicles
and chapter 24. 2 Chronicles and chapter 24. As you do so, I will mention
that I'm dealing with a message entitled, Is Yours a Borrowed
Faith? is yours a borrowed faith. And it's from the angle that,
as you would anticipate, if you've been a Christian long enough,
you know that there are quite a number of individuals who you
began the Christian race or the Christian life together, at least
outwardly speaking. But somewhere along the lines,
they have utterly abandoned the Christian faith. And when it's
someone you have known very close, it's a source of heartache and
pain. Because for you, the Christian
faith is something you would gladly give your life for. It is your summum bonum, your
highest good. And to imagine that anyone for
a morsel of bread, for something cheap, would throw it all away
is hard for you to process. And often when we see things
like that, we begin to wonder whether these were individuals
who really knew the Lord to begin with. Thankfully, in this passage
of scripture, we have a king by the name of Josh, and as we
will be reading from the first verse, you will notice that there
was a lot to commend him. to you as a true believer in
Yahweh. But as we come to the end of
this chapter, you soon see that, in fact, his was a borrowed faith. And all I want us to do is to
examine ourselves in the light of the narrative that we are
looking at here. And to do so, primarily because
if you find yourself to be on the wrong side of this question,
it doesn't mean that you should be cast away. It's really, in fact, an opportunity
for you to seriously seek the Lord. to seek to ensure that
this time round, yours will be a living faith. So let's read beginning from
verse 1 about Josh. We are told there, 2 Chronicles
24 and verse 1. Josh was seven years old when
it began to rain. And he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah
of Beersheba. And Joash did what was right
in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Joahadah the priest. And I want us to particularly
bear in mind this gentleman, Joahadah the priest. Jehoiada
got for him two wives and he had sons and daughters. After this, Jehoash decided to
restore the house of the Lord and he gathered the priests and
the Levites and said to them, go out to the cities of Judah
and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God
from year to year and see that you act quickly. But the Levites
did not act quickly, so the king summoned Joiada and the chief
and said to him, why have you not required the Levites to bring
in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax levied by Moses, the servant
of the Lord, and the congregation of Israel for the tent of testimony? For the sons of Atalia, that
wicked woman, had broken into the house of God and had also
used all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord for
the bowels. So the king commanded and they
made a chest and set it outside the gate of the house of the
Lord and proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem. to bring in for the Lord the
tax that Moses, the servant of God, laid on Israel in the wilderness. All the princes and all the people
rejoiced and brought their tax and dropped it into the chest
until they had finished. Whenever the chest was brought
to the king's officers by the Levites, when they saw that there
was much money in it, the king's secretary and the officer of
the chief priests would come and empty the chest and take
it and return it to its place. Thus, they did day after day
and collected money in abundance. The king and Joiada gave it to
those who had charge of the work of the house of the lord and
they had masons and carpenters to restore the house of the lord
and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of
the lord. So those who were engaged in
the work labored and the repairing went forward in their hands. And they restored the house of
God to its proper condition and strengthened it. And when they
had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the
king and Joiada with it. Rather, and with it, we made
utensils for the house of the Lord, both for the service and
for the burnt offerings, and dishes for incense and vessels
of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings
in the house of the Lord regularly all the days of Jehoiada. And now 15 to 19, where I seek
to bless my sermon. But Jehudah grew old and full
of days and died. He was 130 years old at his death
and they buried him in the city of David among the kings because
he had done good in Israel and toward God and his house. Now, after the death of Jehoiada,
the princes of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then
the king listened to them. And here's the bad news. And
they abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers,
and saved the Asherim and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah
and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. Yet he sent prophets
among them to bring them back to the Lord. These testified
against them, but they would not pay attention. What a glorious beginning this
passage has been, but what a sad ending that someone who was clearly
passionate about restoring the temple of God should end up worshipping
idols. What can we learn from this passage
concerning the question I have asked, is yours a borrowed faith? Well, there are at least three
lessons and I think it's fairly evident from verse 15 to verse
19. First of all, it is that we all
benefit in our spiritual lives from godly role models who are
there around us. They are the ones who spur us
on to be the kind of individuals who we are. either through the
context of the church directly or perhaps through reading Christian
biography, but by and large we must all accept the fact that
we are what we are today because of others who have ministered
into our lives. Well, we find the same with respect
to Johash and in his particular case, it was this man called
Joiada who is referred to in verse 15 and verse 16. You cannot miss the fact that
he was indeed a hero of the faith. In fact, the very reason why
he was buried among the kings. He was not a king. He was but
a priest. We are given the reason why in
the words at the end of verse 16, because he had done good
in Israel. and toward God and his house. In order for us to appreciate
something of what this man did, in fact, we need to go backwards
and begin from chapter 17 of 2 Chronicles. where we have the fourth king
of Judah, one of the greatest kings of Judah, and that is Jehoshaphat. He covers 2 Chronicles 17, 18,
19, and 20. He reigned over Judah for 25
years and was a faithful man. Often later on, reference would
be made to the period of his reign as a good solid example. In fact, you may remember the
prayer that he made when he was being threatened by a number
of kings together, and that's found in chapter 20 of 2 Chronicles. The prayer that ended with the
words, we know not what to do. but our eyes are upon thee."
Those words have echoed across history as words that many of
us would have prayed to God, not because we had foreign armies
coming against us, but because we are in situations where we
don't even know what to think. and consequently we have borrowed
these words of Judah, rather Jehoshaphat. After him, There
is 16 years of a downward spiral in the life of Judah. The king who took over from Jehoshaphat
was Jehoram, who reigned for eight years. He was Jehoshaphat's
son, and in securing himself, he murdered all his brothers. so that there would be no one
that may possibly take over from him. The Bible describes Jehoram
as one who followed the ways of Ahab. Now, that in the Old
Testament would be the equivalent of Judas Iscariot in the New. So whenever this gentleman is
referred to King Ahab, he was bad news. He basically sold Israel
to Jezebel and the Baals, and that's what is spoken about concerning
Jehoram, wicked in every sense. Well, he reigned for eight years,
and after him came Ahaziah, who only reigned for one year, and
in the process he was equally wicked, and he also is referred
to as one who followed the ways of Ahab. He was killed, and we
find that story in chapter 22. That wasn't the worst. His mother took over. She wasn't
in the line of the kings, but she basically removed any that
ought to have been there. She killed all the sons of Ahaziah
except one. One little child survived, the
very last born. How did he survive? Well, that's
where Joyada comes into the picture. It was his wife who got this
little child together with the nurse and hid them in the home
of Joyada and was there for six or seven years, hidden there,
being nurtured, being groomed until We enter into chapter 23
now and we're getting fairly close to seeing the heroic acts
of this individual. Let's just read chapter 23 and
verse 1. We read there, And in the seventh
year, Jehoiada took courage and entered into a covenant with
the commanders of hundreds. Azariah, the son of Jeroam, etc,
etc. Verse 3, And all the assembly
made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And Jehoiada
said to them, behold the king's son, let him reign. In other words, by his courage,
This wicked woman, Atalia, was overthrown. In fact, in the process,
she was even killed. Now, pause for a moment and imagine
the danger that this person had put himself through, his family
through, for a good six to seven years. All it needed was but
one person to spill the beans. and he would have been wiped
out together with his entire family. Imagine what he now did in coming
out, speaking to all these commanders and saying to them, the king
is actually here, he's been in my home. Let's go for it. Again, as you know, it only needs
one unfaithful person And again, you've had it. But no doubt,
Joyada was a hero, risking everything. Hence the phrase there, he took
courage and entered into covenant with the commanders of hundreds
and so on. And again, bear in mind, it was
after 16 years of religious corruption, of idolatry
in Judah, of a situation going from bad to worse. This priest almost single-handedly
brought Judah back to its rightful position before God. with the
right king on the throne. Well, what we read, we're now
in chapter, towards the end of chapter 23 and verse 16, was
that Jowada immediately entered into religious reforms, breaking
down the altars and the images of the Baals, tearing down everything
there that was supposed, in fact, to be removed so that God, Yahweh,
might be worshipped. So this is the individual that
had entered into the life of Joash. So we notice, for instance,
in chapter 24 and verse 2, that Joash did what was right in the
eyes of the Lord all the days of Joadah, the priest. In other words, this was his
partner. This was his working companion. And even when He commanded that
tax should be collected and the leavers were not doing their
job. You will recall, Jehoash summoned Jehoada and said, come
on man, get to work. We need to repair the house of
God. Characters like this, an asset to the Christian church. That's what, for instance, the
Reformation was all about. It was individuals who said enough
is enough, who swam against the tide, who risked dearly Some
of them died for it in the process, while others had the privilege
to see the sun finally rise over the horizon. It's exactly the
same in our lives. As you sit there this afternoon,
this evening, you ought to accept the fact
that you are what you are because of individuals like this. Perhaps
it was a godly grandfather or grandmother whose faith stood
before you like a major immovable mountain, and consequently you
were encouraged in the paths of righteousness. Or perhaps
it was a father or mother, or even a blood brother or sister. And as this person's faith was
visible before you, you, as it were, came out of your lukewarmness,
your compromise, and you too stood firm for the things of
God. Let me ask, are you able to look
back and see such godly influences? in your life for whom you are
truly grateful that there were such individuals that have consequently
helped you to be who you are today? This is good. It's a blessing. It's how God
intends his faith to be passed on generation after generation. In fact, all of us ought to aim
to be such good role models to a younger generation that is
coming behind us. Cursed is that generation that
has lukewarmness and compromises as the main characteristic of
those that are older in the faith. We ought to be grateful if some
human face on the canvas of the memory of our minds challenges
us about our prayer lives. about engaging deeply in Christian
doctrine, reading the Bible, living a life of love, being
a godly husband, a godly wife, and in business, standing firm
as you think of such an individual that was there in your life and
may still be there, what a blessing. Some of these individuals have
since gone to their reward, leaving us blessed memories. Blessed memories. Like Jehoiada,
because he had done good in Israel and towards God and his house. Blessed be God for such individuals. There's a second lesson that
we learn from this passage of scripture. And it is the fact
that despite this reality, it is possible for you to follow
such role models with a borrowed faith. Hence the question, is
yours a borrowed faith? And often this manifests When
you part ways with such an individual, suddenly the values that this
person ought to have instilled in you go up in flames and you
go downhill. And that's what we see here with
Joash. And this time it is verse 17
and 18 in 2 Chronicles and chapter 24. Verse 17 and 18, what a sad
narrative. Now after the death of Jehoiada,
the princes of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then
the king listened to them and they abandoned the house of the
Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the
idols. And wrath came upon Judah and
Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. What a sad account. It's almost difficult to appreciate
because if you remember when the Levites were taking rather
long to get into action to repair the temple of God, You almost
sense impatience in the voice of Joash as he summons Joad and
says, what's going on man? What's the problem? Get your
guys working quickly. We need to ensure the Lord's
house is repaired. Now, princes come and visit him. We're not told the content of
what the discussion would have been all about as they paid homage
to him, but clearly they were pointing in the direction, away
from Yahweh, in the direction of idols. And this man, who appeared
jealous for the glory of God, abandons the temple of God, abandons
God himself, and begins to save idols. And as a result of that, judgment
falls upon the people of Judah. How sad. But as I said at the beginning
of my message, you only need to have been a Christian for
a number of years to realize that that did not end with Josh. Every generation will have individuals
who for all we could see were promising they could preach their
way through any situation to the honor and glory of God. And
then they've abandoned all that altogether. And how painful it
is. Even as I speak about this, my
own mind recalls a young man who had been in my own church
and from all I could see, we had a future great Christian
leader and preacher. Then he left town to go and work
in another city. And that was it. It was a downward
spiral. Efforts to find out what on earth
is going on. There was no adequate answer
being given. And as I speak now, he's more
of a scarecrow than anything else. But this is not just something
that happens to individuals at that level, sometimes it's to
actual pastors and church leaders, who somewhere along the line
begin to speak in very vague terms about what at one time
they were very, very clear about doctrinally and morally speaking. And some along the line, it's
a complete disaster. Perhaps the most common is when
young people leave their parental home and go on to college or
move to work in another town or city. And we have the phenomenon
of the number of young people who, it is said, lose their faith. And I think we need to honestly
ask, have they lost their faith? Or were they initially surviving
on a borrowed faith? And it's something, while we
are still with the jihadis of our lives, while we are still
there, it's something that we need to ask ourselves. Is my current faith the real
thing? Or am I following dad and mom? Am I simply admiring these older
individuals in my life? Because if we don't ask ourselves
these questions now, It might be too late by the time
we do so because we'll be gone and the very people who would
have helped us would not be there. So even as you sit there today
listening to this, ask the question and answer it. Is your faith a borrowed faith? Do you really believe in God? That he is your creator and consequently
you owe your everything to him? Is he real to you? Do you honestly believe in this
God as one who rules the universe today. That in all the details
of life, he is involved. That nothing happens to you by
chance or accident, nothing. And that with his love, Whatever
comes into your life is deliberate on his part. Do you believe that? Or are you
an individual who in the midst of trials, some failure of an
exam, an illness, an accident, the death of a loved one, a robbery
or whatever else it might be, you become bitter on the inside. If there is a God, why should
he allow such things to happen to me or to my family? So you may still be in church,
but in your soul doubt is beginning to grow concerning the reality
of a God who is involved in history. Do you believe in the Bible's redemption story? That God became man, perfect
man, lived an absolutely perfect life, and then took upon himself
our guilt, the guilt of our sins, in order to stand in our place
and pay the full price for our sin and that he so paid it all
that God raised him from the dead and now he's seated at the
right hand of the majesty on high speaking to God interceding on
our behalf. Is this real? that you are able to say from
the depth of your heart, I need no other argument, I need no
other plea, it is enough that Jesus died and that he died for
me. Is redemption real to you? Do you honestly believe that this God who is there will
one day summon you to appear before him, to give an account
to him for everything that you have done in the body, whether
good or bad. Do you really believe this? When you are alone in your bed
at night, the lights have been switched off, and your mind is
free to wander wherever it pleases, is there that consciousness that
even this, I have to give an account to the living God one
day? You see, too many people don't believe Too many people
have all kinds of doubts but they hide them in the soul because
it will not look right to begin to express my true self here. They continue following others
until those others get out of the way or they themselves get
out of the way of others. And then their true colors show. The unbelief that was in the
soul pours out. And we say they have lost their
faith. They haven't lost anything. It
was a borrowed faith. It was the stamina, the courage,
the godliness of Jehoiada and not that of Joash. What you now
have is the true Joash. And sadly, many individuals who
take that route destroy themselves, destroy their families, destroy
so much around them. Even the localized body of God's
people is scandalized. Is yours a borrowed faith? The third lesson that we learn
here is the grace of God, the amazing grace of God. He deliberately puts barriers
along the way of unbelief so that individuals don't just
go that way. without prickings of conscience. He hooks into their flesh. They literally have to tear themselves
away in order for them to go downhill. And that's what we
see here in Joash's case. Look at verse 19, 2 Chronicles
24 and verse 19. The Bible says that yet He sent
prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord. This testified against them,
but they would not pay attention. In case you want to hear one
of them speaking, verse 20, Then the Spirit of God called Zechariah,
the son of Jehoiada, the priest, and he stood above the people
and said, Thus says the Lord, Why do you break the commandments
of the Lord so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken
the Lord, He has forsaken you. That's the God of grace. When
an individual in unbelief begins to go the wrong way, the conscience
is not silent. God often sends providential
circumstances and individuals to speak in that person's life.
What tends to happen is a hardening of the heart, a hardening of
the heart. In fact, such individuals become
very irritable and they'll tell you in no uncertain terms, don't
talk to me about this, leave me alone. Is that how human beings are
supposed to live with one another? Shutting yourself away from voices
of love, voices that care, Voices that challenge you about where
you're going. Asking you in all honesty, who
do you know who's gone that way and now has vibrancy and peace
and joy and love? Who? Tell me. And instead of
answering honestly, It's a bad temper that comes out in the
process. God is love. He reaches out to
the backslider. He provides various ways in which
the conscience should finally say to the person, stop! This is the way of death. But as I said, often the response
is different. Am I speaking to someone in here
today? Perhaps you've already begun
to be overgrown with doubt on the inside concerning these Christian
verities. But you won't address the matter
now. You're somehow hoping this thing
will just go away. Perhaps you've already begun
to wander away from God in secret sins. But you know that every so often
light has broken through. Every so often a message has
scratched where you are very uncomfortable. Don't consider
that mere coincidence. It's God who's knocking on your
conscience. It's God who's saying, where
you are going is self-destruction. Turn back. Turn back now. Perhaps God has brought me all
the way from Zambia. Can you imagine? All the way
from Zambia. To come and prick that conscience
today. Again, simply showing you His
love. Saying, address the issue of
your faith now. It's for your own good to continue
in this downward route is to bring yourself into judgment
soon. Turn back, turn back now. Well, let's ask that question
again. Is your faith a borrowed faith, or is it a
living faith? that only the Holy Spirit is
able to produce in you through the work of regeneration? Only you can answer that question.
Only you can do so. But my appeal is this. If you
have already begun to notice secret doubts, Don't wait until
the Jewahadahs in your life have moved on or you yourself have
moved out of town. Don't. Raise it now. Say to your church leaders that
I'm battling with unbelief. Help me so that this matter is
addressed now. Isn't that often the problem
that causes us to die? You are feeling unwell, you are
in the midst of medical people, but you keep saying, I'm fine,
I'm fine. Hi, how are you? Good. Until the pain is unbearable,
and by the time you are seeking medication, the doctor is saying,
where have you been? I mean this couldn't have begun
last night. But all because you were trying
to pretend this thing would just go away. It won't go away. Seek help and seek help now. while you still have godly role
models around you, that's the best time to be helped. Because
the Christian faith, trust me, is real. Very real. And you can be helped. to find
solid ground for your faith so that you too can say, I believe
from the depth of your heart. Or perhaps it's already happened. As you're sitting in here this
day, you're saying to yourself, it's too late. I've already messed
up big time. I wish I had heard this sermon
five years ago. I wouldn't have reached where
I have reached. Remember where we ended. Our
God is a God of grace. While you still have breath,
it's never too late. He measures in repairing souls,
in saving lives, in putting together that which is broken. Yours,
even today, is to simply go to Him just as you are. To borrow a phrase, someone else
said, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. You can cry that way
to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why He came. He came as
Savior in order to deal with you where you are. He's not asking you to first
of all sort out your mess and then come to Him. No. come with
all your brokenness to this Saviour and say to Him, just as I am,
without one plea, but that your blood was shed for me and that
you are bidding me to come to you, O Lamb of Entrust yourself to Him and see
how He can turn you around altogether. And you will be the one testifying
in due season that He doesn't just save sinners, He restores
backsliders too. And that He has restored me. Oh, I plead with you. Do not
allow yourself to continue with a borrowed faith. wrestle with
the issue, go to Christ and see what he can do with your life. Let's pray. Eternal and gracious God in heaven, we are here in your presence. Lord, you show us individuals
like Jowada that we may be grateful to you for such individuals in
our lives, and that we may seek to be like him for those that
come behind us. Oh God, help us. But you also
help reveal individuals like Joash, that we may see the reality,
the painful reality and possibility of living with a borrowed faith. Oh God of heaven, help us to
be honest with ourselves, to see whether what we have is
the genuine whether we truly believe. Given faith by your spirit so that spiritual realities are
as real to us as physical realities. Oh God, search us today. And grant, oh God, where we find
ourselves failing, not to run away further from you, but to
draw near to you, that you might repair those broken walls in
our lives. That we may come away from such
cordial and close dealings with yourself, a better people. genuinely served and being sanctified
by you. O Lord, how we pray that any
individuals among us that may have begun to slip away quietly
in the soul may be arrested today. that they might be pulled back
from the precipice, that their walk with you might
be restored through the cleansing blood of your Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. O Father, help us, we pray. Thank you for
your word. Thank you for your spirit. Thank
you for The Gathered Church. In Jesus' name, Amen.
