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.
Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 24
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.
Reading of 2 Chronicles 24
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.
Introduction
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.
Godly Role Models Spur the Faithful
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.
Jehoiada: Hero of the Faith
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.
Role Models in Every Generation
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.
The Danger of a Borrowed Faith
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.
Joash Abandons God After Jehoiada
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.
Every Generation Has Its Joashes
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.
Searching Questions for the Soul
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?
God's Grace Warns the Backslider
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.
Application: Turn Back Now
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.
Appeal to Living Faith in Christ
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.
Closing Prayer
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.