[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] well please turn with me in your Bibles to the prophet Micah for our scripture reading this evening we're in Micah chapter 4 as I've mentioned in our readings of this particular book he was a contemporary of the prophet Isaiah in fact if you compare Micah 4 and Isaiah 2 you will see great similarity both prophets of course looking forward to the Messianic age specifically the new covenant era wherein our Lord Jesus Christ would come into the world to save his people from their sins beginning in Micah chapter 4 at verse 1 now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and people shall flow to it many nations shall come and say for many nations shall come and say come and let us go up to mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob he will teach us his ways and we shall walk in his paths for out of zion the law shall go forth and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem he shall judge between many peoples and rebuke strong nations afar off they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning pruning hooks nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war anymore but everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree and no one shall make them afraid for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken for all people walk each in the name of his God but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever in that day says the Lord I will assemble the lame I will gather the outcasts and those who might have afflicted I will make the lame a remnant in the outcast a strong nation so the Lord will reign over them in mount zion from now on even forever and you oh tower of the flock the stronghold of the daughter of zion to you it shall calm even the former Dominion shall calm the Kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem now why do you cry aloud is there no king in your midst has your counsellor for pangs have seized you like a woman in labor be in pain and labor to bring forth o daughter of Zion like a woman in birth pangs for now you shall go forth from the city you shall dwell in the field and to Babylon you shall go there you shall be delivered there the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies now also many nations have gathered against you who say let her be defile and let our I look upon Zion but they do not know the thoughts of the Lord nor do they understand his counsel for he will gather them like cheese to the threshing floor arise and Thresh o daughter of Zion for I will make your horn iron and I will make your hooves bronze and you shall beat in peace as many peoples I will consecrate their gain to the Lord and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth amen was I set a prophecy along with the prophet Isaiah concerning the latter days and when we saw in acts 2 Peters sermon on the day of Pentecost he applies that language of last days or latter days to what was occurring on that day of Pentecost in other words the prophets looked forward they wrote concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and when he comes to save his people from their sins we see the fulfillment of that it's a great blessing to have as Paul says the knowledge that Christ is indeed the yay and Amen of all the promises of God and what we find here concerning that that latter-day Glory that messianic age was inaugurated at the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ we read specifically in verse 2 many nations shall come and say come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob he will teach us his ways and we shall walk in his paths what a most blessed privilege is ours to be taught of God Almighty to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to have the written word of God so that we may indeed walk in the paths of the Lord God Most High we ought to praise Father Son and Holy Spirit for so great a salvation you ought to praise Father Son and Holy Spirit for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ had preached in Surrey this morning and I mentioned a few brethren afterward that I was really looking forward to the singing tonight because I knew he'd have more people because we have a guest speaker and I have not been disappointed it's good to lift up our voices to God Most High and to sing his praises and to rejoice and his goodness and in His mercy and in his kindness for he has saved us from our sins he has brought us out of darkness into marvelous light and it's through the doing and the dying and the rising again of our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ well let us pray our Father we thank you for the prophetic word and we thank you for its fulfillment in our Lord Jesus we thank you for his current session at your right hand we ever lives to make intercession for his people and we do look forward to his coming again in glory to judge the living in the dead and how we thank you that on that day we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ that on that day we will hear those words well done good and faithful servant not because of our goodness or our faithfulness but because of the goodness and the faithfulness of the servant of the Lord we ask that you would continue with us again we pray that you'd bless our brother with the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit so that he may preach Christ to us and we ask in Jesus name Amen well please turn with me for our final him before the preaching to number 295 hymn number 295 again we'll stand as we sing together [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] it's a privilege for us to have dr. Conrad Bob a way pastor of the Cobb wata 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 is this evening yes I'm processing in because 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 with them 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 began having and we'll also have as we will be coming to the end of the service please turn with me to second Chronicles and chapter 24 second 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 they are quite a number of individuals who you you began the Christian rests 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 it's a source of heartache and pain because for you the Christian faith is is something you would gladly give your life for it is your Summum bonum your your highest good and to imagine that anyone for a muscle of bread for for something cheap would throw it all away is is is hard for you to to process and often when we see things like that we we begin to to wonder whether these were individuals who really knew the Lord to begin with thankfully in this passage of Scripture we we have a a king by the name of George 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 his this chapter you soon see that in fact his was a board faith and all I want us to do is to examine ourselves in the light of the the narrative that we are looking at here and 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 a a cast away it's really in fact an opportunity for you to 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 this one about George we we are taught there second chronicles 24 and verse 1 Josh was seven years old when he began to reign and he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem his mother's name was z-bo of Beersheba and josh did what was right in the eyes of the lord all the days of joy yada the priest and i want us to particularly bear in mind this gentleman Joe add the priest Joetta got for him two wives and he had sons and daughters after this Josh 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 Joey odda 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 Italia 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 and 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 and empty the chest and take it and returned to return it to its place thus they did day after day and collected money in abundance and the king and Joey odda gave it to those who had charge of the work of the house of the Lord and they had muscles and capitals 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 laboured 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 Joey odda with it rather we and with it we made utensils for the house of the Lord both for the service and for the burnt offerings and dishes for instance and vessels of gold and silver and they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord regularly all the days of joy yada and now 15 to 19 where I said to base my salmon but Joe hada grew old and full of days and died he was a hundred and thirty 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 Giada the princess 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 asharam and the idols and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this of years 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 is sad ending that someone who was clearly passionate about restoring the temple of God should end up worshiping idols what can we learn from this passage concerning the question I have asked is yours a borrowed faith well there are just three lessons and I think it's fairly evident from verse fifteen to verse 19 first of all it is that we all benefit in our spiritual lives from godly role models who are they 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 Joe Hodge and in the in his particular case it was this man called Joe ADA 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 a sixteen 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 second chronicles where we have the fourth king of judah one of the greatest kings of judah and that is Jehoshaphat he he covers second chronicles 17 18 19 and 20 he reigned over Israel 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 the prayer that he made when he was being threatened by a number of Kings together and that's found in chapter 20 of second chronicles the prayer that ended with the words we know not what to do but our eyes are upon thee it's it's those words have occurred across history as 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 rather jehosophat after him there is 16 years of a downward spiral in the life of Judah the king who took over from Jehoshaphat was jwharam who reigned for eight years he he was Josaphat 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 G harem as one who followed the ways of a hub now that in the Old Testament would be the equivalent of Judas Iscariot in the noon so whenever this gentleman is referred to King Ahab it's he was bad news he basically sold Israel to Jezebel and the bowels and that's what is talking about concerning Jew harem wicked in in every sense well he reigned for eight years and after him came a Hagia 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 AHA 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 of the kings but she basically removed any that ought to have been there she killed all the sons of Mosiah ex one one little child survived the very last born how did he survive well that's where Joey ADA comes into the picture it was his wife who got this little child together with the nurse and hid them in the home of jehoiada and was there for six or seven years hidden they being nurtured being groomed until we enter into chapter 23 now and we're getting very close to seeing that heroic acts of this individual let's just read chapter 23 and verse 1 we read it and in the seventh year Joey otter took courage and entered into a covenant with the commanders of hundreds Azariah the son of Jarama etc etc verse three and all the Assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God and Jared I said to them behold the king's son let him read in other words by his courage this wicked woman Italia 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 you'd have been wiped out together with his entire firm imagine what in now deeds in coming out speaking to all these commanders and saying to them the king is actually he has 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 Joe ADA was a hero risking everything hence the phrase day 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 interrupted it was the end of chapter 23 and verse 16 was that Joe had immediately entered into religious reforms breaking down the altars and the images of the bowels 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 George so we noticed for instance in chapter 24 and verse that joyous did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Giada 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 Levites were not doing their job you recall Joe was summoned Joe hadn't said come on man get work we need to repair the house of God characters like this and I said to the Christian Church that's what for instance the Reformation was all about it was individuals who said enough is enough who swung against the tithe 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 move about mountain and consequently you were encouraged in the paths of righteousness Oh 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 two stood firm for the things of God let me ask are you able to look back and see such godly influences Jo where does 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 or to aim to be such good role models to a younger generation that is coming behind us first 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 her prayer life about engaging deeply in Christian doctrine reading the Bible living a life of love being a godly husband a godly wife and and and in 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 world living 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 second lesson that we learned 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 board 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 down hill and that's what we see here with Joe add rather with Jewish and this time it is verse 17 and 18 in second chronicles and chapter 24 verse 17 and 18 what is 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 asurim and the idol and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of there's what is sad account it's almost difficult to to appreciate because if you remember when the Levites were taking rather long to get into action to repair the temple of of God you almost sense impatience in in the voice of Josh as he he summons your hand 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 princess 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 I don't and as a result of that judgment falls upon the people of Judah 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 George every generation will have individuals who for all we could see way promising they 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 I 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 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 is 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 began to speak in in very victims about what at one time they were very very clear about doctrinal 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 to honestly ask was if they lost their faith or were they initially surviving on a borrowed faith and it's something while we are still with the directors of our lives while we ask you there it's something that we need to 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 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 you sit there today listening to this ask the question and I said is your faith a board do you really believe in God that he is your Creator and consequently you all you 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 in the midst of trials some failure of an exam and 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 change but in your soul doubt is beginning to grow concerning the reality of the God who is involved 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 his Rael very real to you 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 his Redemption do you honestly believe that this God who is there will one day Simonne 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 when you are loaning a bed at night the lights have been switched off and your mind is free to wonder wherever it pleases is there that consciousness that even this I have to give an account to the Living God one you see too many people don't believe too many people have all kinds of doubts but they 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 toes out and we say they have lost their faith they haven't lost anything it was a bored faith it was the stamina the courage the godliness of jehoiada and not that of George what you now have is the true George 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 board faith the third lesson that we will learn here it is the grace of God the amazing grace of God he he deliberately puts barriers along the way of unbelief so that individuals don't just go that way without pricking 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 Josh's case look at verse 19 the second chronicles 24 and verse 19 the Bible says they yet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord this justified against them but they would not pay attention in case we want to hear one of them speaking verse 20 then the Spirit of God closes a Cariah the son of jehoiada the priest and he stood above the people and said that says the Lord why do you break the commandments of the Lord so that you cannot prosper because you have for second 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 came voices that challenge you about where you go 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 their response is different speaking to someone in here today perhaps you've already began to be overgrown with doubt on the inside concerning these Christian verities but you won't address the matter now you somehow hoping this thing would just go away perhaps you've already began 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 mayor 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 carry magic all the way from them 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 so turn back turn back now well let's ask that question again is your faith a borrowed vein 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 that GOI does 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 offend the problem that causes us to die you are feeling and well 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 began last night but ro because you were trying to pretend this thing will just go away it won't go away seek help and seek help then 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 a from the depth of your heart Oh perhaps it's already happened as you are sitting in here this day you you saying to yourself is too late I've already messed up big time I wish I had heard this seven 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 majors 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 friend 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 is not asking you to first of all sort out your mess and then come to him now come with all your brokenness to this Savior and say to him just as I am without one plea but that your blood was shed for me and that you are bidding to come to you or Lamb of God I can entrust yourself to him and see how he can turn you around altogether and you will be the one testifying in due season that it doesn't just save sinners he restores backsliders - and that he has restored me oh I plead with you do not allow yourself to continue with the board 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 Joe Radha 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 Josh that we may see the reality the painful reality and possibility of living with a borrowed faith O God of heaven help us to be honest with ourselves to see whether what we have is the genuine article whether we truly believe given faith by your spirit so that spiritual realities as real to us as physical realities Oh God search us today and grant O 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 all Lord how we pray that any individuals among us that may have began 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 Oh father help us we pray and thank you for your word thank you for your spirit thank you for the gathered church in Jesus name Amen you
