Our Gospel lesson text this morning comes from 2 Chronicles, and we're in chapter 26, as we've been the past a couple of weeks. We'll begin in verse 1. That's kind of page 324 in the Bible that are in your seat. So I'll give you a moment to find that so that you can read along as you hear this God's Word being read. 2 Chronicles, chapter 26, verses 1 through 15, this is God's Word eternally true. Then all the people of Judah took Isaiah, who was 16 years old, and made him king in place of his father, Amaziah. He was the one who rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after Amaziah rested with his fathers. Isaiah was 16 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem 52 years. His mother's name was Jackalaya, she was from Jerusalem. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success. He went to war against the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, Javna, and Ashtad. Then he rebuilt towers near Ashtad and elsewhere among the Philistines. God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabs who lived in Gerbal and against the Mianites. The Ammonites brought tribute to Isaiah, and his fame spread as far as the border of Egypt because he had become very powerful. Asiah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, at the valley gate, and at the angle of the wall and he fortified them. He also built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns because he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain. He had people working his fields and vineyards in the hills, and in the fertile lands for he loved the soil. Asiah had a well-trained army ready to go out by divisions according to their numbers as mustered by Gael, the secretary, and Maasaea, the officer under the direction of Hannoniah, one of the royal officials. The total number of family leaders of the fighting men was 2,600. Under their command was an army of 307,500 men trained for war, a powerful force to support the king against his enemies. Asiah provided shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows and slingstones for the entire army. In Jerusalem he made machines designed by skillful men for use on the towers and on the corner defenses to shoot arrows and hurl large stones. His fame spread far and wide for he was greatly helped until he became powerful. Herein's our reading this morning of God's word. Let us give thanks to the Lord for giving us this word, your responsive thankfulness is printed for you and your bulletin. The word of the Lord, let's pray. Our God and Father, we are thankful for this year word that you inspired by your Holy Spirit through your prophets and apostles. We thank you that you direct our lives by it, that its truths are timeless and we are glad that the one who has built us, the one who has created us and knows our frame, knows our frailties, inward and outward, physically and in our souls, that it is you who instruct us, knowing what is best for us, help us to hear your word, help us to understand your word here, that we might live by it and thereby live with peace in our souls, enjoy in our hearts. We ask Jesus that you would preach to us by this year word, by your spirit, being living in active, by your word and in our souls. We ask Jesus in your name. Amen. We've been talking the past two weeks and now this week about success and we spoke first of all a couple of weeks ago about how it's important to as we start at the topic of success to ask God what his definition of success is and what we spoke about two weeks ago and last week is in this passage what's revealed to us is that to be a successful human being. That is to come to the end of your life and to say, you know, despite all the stuff that's happened or in view of all the stuff that's happened my life is a success because these three things are true of me. These three things may not be the only three things of our lives that determine whether it's a success or not but certainly these three things are contained in this passage. God teaches us in this passage that these three things are to be true of any person who would call his life a success during his life and at the end of his life and these are all review points here and if you'd like to fill out blanks in an outline you're welcome to do that or you can just listen either as fine. But success what is it the first blanks you have in your outline there first of all it means that we have you have as an individual human being power that's number one power and this is not the Anthony Robbins kind of power where you have a good tan and a nice. Straight part and banana fingers if you're a fan of the movie shallow how which I am powerful presence and getting in your helicopter to leave Maui to pop over to the next island not that kind of power personal power that Anthony Robbins talks about but rather power over Satan's mastery that its scripture gives very clearly that human beings have this problem with power. We have weakness in terms of temptation and so we follow temptation into various sense that get us in all kind of trouble and if we don't have power over temptation that our lives haven't been very successful we're doing things that harm ourselves and harm those whom we love because we don't have power over temptation. But Jesus comes along and by his spirit gives us power and if a person has Jesus and has Jesus spirit thereby he has power over temptation but also power over death and we as human beings in and of ourselves don't have power over death we cannot resurrect ourselves. But again Jesus our king comes along and just like Azaya had power and it meant blessing to the people because he was greatly powerful this is a preview of Jesus what he does is king for his people. Jesus has power over temptation and does not send her into his life and he gives us that power that power the spirit to overcome temptation but Jesus also has power to overcome death. And though Jesus dies on that cross yet he lives again three days later he rises up and then he rises up to heaven to be at the right hand of the father. This is the kind of power that we need if we live our whole lives and have all the possessions of the world but yet do not overcome death and hell ultimately fundamentally our life has been a failure. We have not overcome the chief obstacle for human beings which is death. And so God is as Jesus has king grants to his people power by his spirit giving us new life spiritual life so that's the first thing that terms whether human being is successful whether he has power that has come to him by King Jesus. Second thing we talked about already security security and this is spoken of in this passage Azaya builds up an army and he provides them with the weaponry that they need. Even new inventions new weaponry that goes up on the towers perhaps and spoken of this probably talking about certain kinds of catapults that throw things and when I was in college we had a sun deck up on the third floor and some guys some older fraternity brothers of mine I'm not condoning this but it is funny. They stole from the chemistry lab these these you know the Bunsen burner the tubes the rubber tubing that takes you from the gas line you had this in science class and in high school and it takes that to the Bunsen burner you know it's real stretch of tubing this old tubing in the huge funnel from the science from the chemistry lab and so they would they would pull back they'd have two guys staying at the edge of the the sun deck on the third floor and two guys staying there and they would aim toward the courtyard in front. They were toward the courtyard in front of the library which was you know a block down you know that mom a block down there and and and try to hit people with water balloons. Well they got caught for that and and they ran out of water balloons one day I was up there and so they went down to the kitchen to see what they could find and they were doing oranges and and they ran out oranges and they they were doing the Pop Tires that was the funny if they made it across to the sidewalk across the street. But as I have provides for his people his king security this large standing army and and towers around the nation that are these fortifications and and he rebuilds these these walls that had been broken down around Jerusalem. So God's people at security and that's what Jesus is King does for us. He provides for us security from judgment. All our sinners all of us here are sinners and so we stand before God we owe him every obedience and a perfect life of obedience and we have not given that to him. And so we need protection and security from our enemy Satan who would have us pay for our sins into all eternity. But Jesus protects us not by towers but by his blood and his blood covers our sins he dies to pay the penalty for our sins and by this death by his blood our sins are covered and his death is good enough and that gives us security. We don't have to be insecure about our eternity if we've come to believe in Jesus because his death was good enough. His payment for sin was big enough to cover all our sins and the New Testament spends great lengths showing that it was good enough. So to be a successful human being we need security for our eternity and then thirdly this passage to find success for us as human beings as being people who have abundance that's your third blank there. And the Old Testament talks about abundance typically in terms of physical harvest. Fertile soil we saw that here good crops God sends enough rain all that kind of stuff and these were signs things that were signs of God's blessing. But in the New Testament it takes all this harvest language all this language of fruitfulness and it turns it onto the spiritual realities of a Christian. And it says that if you are successful as a human being that you have fruit of the spirit evident in your life that you're a patient person that you're kind person that you're person who's faithful to your word and to God and to other people that you're a person that is gentle instead of harsh toward the people around you. You're a person who has peace personally in your soul and not disorder and chaos and trouble inside. And in addition to this kind of abundance personal spiritual life abundance scripture talks about us having abundance as the people of God in the church and that people are coming to know Christ. Each person who comes to know Christ is a spiritual that's a funny to a spiritual fruit now you're not a spiritual fruit. But you are fruit on the vine so to speak Jesus say if you live in me if you abide in me you will bear much fruit people will come to faith in Christ because of your life. Because of both your words to them about Jesus and your deeds your love your patience your care for the non believers around you that will be something that God uses to bring spiritual fruit out of your life. So power security and abundance is these things mark our lives our lives are successful the question is how do we get these things what is it that enables us to come to the end of our lives and mark our lives at any point in our lives and say my life is successful. My life has these things here power security and abundance and two things that are drawn out here mostly at the front of this passage the back of this passage speaks to the abundance and the power and the security that God's people have. But the key reason that the people experience these things this success comes to us early early in this passage in verse five look at verse five there in verse four we'll pick up with verse four. Isaiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord just as his father Amaziah had done he sought God during the days of Zechariah who instructed him in the fear of God as long as he sought the Lord God gave him success. This is the caption for the chapter as long as he sought the Lord God gave him success now why did he seek the Lord what caused him what inwardly was he convinced of that caused him to seek the Lord and to have success the first thing is this and this is your point number one. As a believer me and you we need to have this thought firmly in our head this belief firmly in our hearts and minds this I need we need to say to ourselves we need to firmly believe I need to be led I need to be led now this is very much in contrast to the world's picture of success if you're a success in the world you're doing the leading. John Belushi to find successes successes being where you want to be whenever you want to be there and he ended up being not where he wanted to be and not when he wanted to be there as his life into tragically but very much the world's picture of success I'm leading I'm doing what I want I'm telling people what to do but God says the key to success here in verses four and five is not me leading. Not me being king of my kingdom but me recognizing that there's a greater king and that I serve as a Christian his kingdom Jesus is my king and I serve Jesus in his kingdom and if I want to experience abundance and power and security I need to be led. We see even Isaiah here being led don't we there's this fellow here and we don't know whether he's a prophet or a priest sometimes there's even a crossover between the two but this man named Zechariah and Zechariah instructs King Isaiah in the fear of the Lord. You've never been in a group where you've got some kind of group project coming people hate group projects okay you know group project but there's no leader or maybe there's a sign leader and that's just not their giftedness it's okay somebody doesn't have the gift of leadership but you know how that is being in that group maybe it's your boss maybe your boss is not a great leader in the frustrating you know the goal and you just want to at that point. Just leave the group and do it yourself well one of you was talking with I was talking recently or hearing you talk and you said you don't like when you know you're having to work with other people you just want to tell the other person get out of here I'll do it and that's how you feel sometimes when there's not leadership but in Christianity we're told that as Christians we need to be led and the good news is this. The gospel for us in this is this Christians are led by Jesus that's your blank Christians are led by Jesus he's our king he's our Isaiah who establishes you know builds up the walls and makes our lives secure he gives us eternal security he gives us abundance is his power by the power of the spirit that we have spiritual fruitfulness in our lives. And unlike Isaiah and this is good news Jesus is a perfect leader it doesn't falter at all second line for you here Jesus is our king. We want to recognize the fact that all through the gospels Jesus is saying the kingdom of God is here and when he's asked if he's the king of God's people he says I am this means for us is Christians that we have a king we have a leader we have someone who's leading us in our lives. We are not sovereign king he is sovereign king so to get success next line for you as God defines it we say to ourselves I must follow Jesus. If I want success if I want to experience abundance spiritually if I want to experience security against judgment if I want to experience power over death and over temptation I need Jesus to be my king and to get success is God defines it I must follow that's your blank I must follow Jesus that is put another way just a succession of things here for you in your outline he not I that's a little blank for you he not I. God's people receiving the book of second chronicles had returned from an exile in Babylon they had been captured and taken away from their homeland of Israel and taken into what's today modern day Iraq basically and they had been returned now into the promised land into Israel and they were in Jerusalem and they were reading second chronicles and that the temple was probably still not. They still didn't have a king over them raining and they had profits who were beginning to come on the scene and the question is is it okay to just figure it out ourselves is it okay to just do it our way do we even need a king again seems like the king's unfaithfulness back a hundred years ago got us into exile in the first place. Do we need a king do we need to be led is it okay to just figure it out ourselves or do we need to listen to a zekariah do we need to follow an asiah in order to have success and the answer here from this passage is that we need a king it's not okay here's your blank it's not okay to figure it out myself. That is as Christians bringing this to today as Christians whatever circumstances in which we find ourselves we don't first try to figure it out ourselves. The first thing we do is we say in our minds and in our hearts does God's words say anything about this does God's word inform me as to how I respond here as to what I do here. That's the first place we go we need to be led Jesus my king determines my steps it's not okay for myself to figure it out I need to be led. Now in a practical way how does Jesus lead us today how does Jesus lead us and we read about that and what Larry read for us this morning first Timothy 517 and second Timothy 417. God leads me today here's your next blank by elders in the church. God doesn't tell Timothy and Titus to put elders in the church just because he wants one person to be lifted up above another person. In fact there's no partiality in the church Paul's very clear about that it's not for a person's own honor that he's given a place in the church. God has a function for elders and he reveals that to us in first Timothy 5 and that function includes two things. Ruling the church those who rule well he says in first Timothy 517 and those who teach or devote themselves especially in addition to ruling that they teach. If you've been through the new members class here in our church you know we spent some time on this. Why does God have elders and deacons we're talking about elders now though why does God have elders in your church it's for your benefit. It's not for their accultation it's for your benefit. When you have a question in life when you have circumstances in your life you've got a group of people elders that Christ is ordained by spirits through the manifestor affirmation of his people through other officers that are already in the church they are dain these men to help you. In order for these men to be ordained in the church they need to know the scriptures. They need to know what the Old Testament and the New Testament all together says about all these various issues and if they don't pass that test of knowing the scriptures, knowing the theology of scripture they don't need to get brought before you by the elders of the church to be voted upon to be an altar. This is a great resource for you in the church. Maybe I'm having trouble in my work or the way I think about this certain thing or something with my son or my daughter or something with my mom or my dad or something with my wife or my husband. I'm having trouble in these areas or I don't know quite what I should do and how I should think about this and what I should say. At the time where God gives us elders people who have known the scriptures enough that the other people in the church have said these people should be in leadership and who vote these people in who say these are the ones. This is a great resource for God's people. The way just like in Old Testament times God was king over Israel but he placed the king a human being over his people to guide them in the laws of Moses. Today we don't have kings in the church we have elders people that God puts in place Jesus is our king but there are these little not always little but people who are under Jesus who communicate for Jesus from his word the Bible so that you have direction and leadership in your life because you need to be led. We all need leadership I remember one time when we were moving things from Betsy's dad's house we had spent the summer in Colorado and we were in between a move from Cincinnati to a Bloomington Indiana and we had some folks from our workplace in Cincinnati helping us move stuff out and Betsy and I have we still have it today. This oak file cabinet is two file drawers that pull out and it was a cheap little thing but it's real oak panels or real wood panels and it could not be lifted with stuff in it because you know as one of those put together yourself and glue the little knobs and all that kind of thing. I looked up and I saw my friend Dave and he was trying to pick that thing up with all the files in it and I said Dave you can't pick that up with the files in it. I said that thing will explode and he said no no I think I got it and I said no Dave really I'm not a no Dave really kind of guy but I said actually no Dave really that thing will break apart if you try to carry it with all that stuff. Now what he heard was I don't think you're strong enough to carry that unfortunately that's what he heard and within five seconds he picked that up and the whole thing exploded. I mean there was wood flying everywhere we were able to glue it together and it's in our den today but you can see the lines there but David needed leadership. He didn't know what that file was about our lives we don't know what life is about and we need leadership in our lives so key for us in success and this is another blank for you. We don't say to God no I got it I got it God I got this problem with my son or my daughter I got it God I don't need to listen to you. When God said something to us we listen and so it's key for us this is your next line. Seeing myself as a person who needs to be led led is again your blank is critical for me to be a success as God defines it and this requires gospel humility. The gospel comes to us first and foremost and says your life is a mess you're not acceptable to God and you need Jesus. And from that we say okay well that's not a far stretch than to say I need leadership in my life. My best ideas are sometimes very stupid I think they're great ideas at first but I find out that those ideas like Dave with Betsy's Oak file tend to be stupid. So we need to see ourselves as people who need to be led and we need to be people who use elders for leadership that's your blank leadership in our lives. One time in about I think it's a winter of 94 I had a good conference and it was in Columbus Ohio so rather than stay at the hotel with the conference was that I stayed at my parents' house which is about 25 minutes away from this where this conference was being held. My dad cleared out the garage and it was in the middle of January as very cold as always one week it seems like in Ohio that's very very cold and this was that week. I mean low low temperatures up there my dad cleared out the garage and told me I could park or on the civic and in the garage that night. So John I got the garage cleared out for you can pull it in so that when you leave in the morning you know you're ready to go. And I said no dad that's okay I'll just you know scrape the windshield and so I didn't and so I was driving down to Columbus Ohio and and 15 20 minutes in the trip the heater was still not warm. Now anyone who knows mechanics which I don't knows that when the heater is not warm after 20 minutes of driving it means you're the valve that lets heat out of your engine and into your into the cabinet your car essentially that's very layman's terms is stuck. It's frozen thermostat was frozen and and so it was cold inside cold inside until I'm on three 15 and around Columbus and and out of the out of the front hood is all this smoke coming there and the actual tube like from the radiator or whatever it is had actually exploded because the heat had become so so intense there. I needed my dad's leadership but I didn't take it. Second thing we have to have in our mind a humility that we need to be led we also need to have in our mind this I need to be taught I need to be taught verses four and five. I know Zachariah teaches Isaiah he's there beside him teaches him the fear of the Lord teaches him to obey God's commandments and what God's commandments are you know men they don't ask for directions when they're lost I am I'm past that I guess I'm a I guess I'm a femme when it comes to asking for directions I'm just past the point in my life that I want to waste any time going someplace. It drives me crazy to drive to two miles in the wrong direction. Yeah I had to get some books for Larissa for her. She has a statistics class and they had to get these extra books and so I walked into Barnes and Noble but trying to triangle town center what do I do that places huge. I'm going to write to the counter and I said I need these two books and guess what someone comes up and helps me and takes me right to him and pulls him up the shelf I'm in and out in five minutes. I'm just tired of not being taught I don't want to do things wrong that bothers me and that should bother all of us. We should be people who say I need to be taught I need to understand life I need to understand how I how I treat people I need to understand how I think about God and worship. I need to be taught and we have that Larry read that for us this morning there are elders who are called pastors people like me and this is not whatever this is not to build me up. This is wherever you are that's for the rest of your life God gives you pastors people whose work is especially teaching and preaching because you need to be taught. It's helpful for you you will save a lot of heartache in your life if you're a person who says I need to be taught if you're a person who's who's teachable who recognizes I don't understand all the scriptures yet and I'm not going to until maybe I will when I'm in heaven but not in this lifetime there's always something that I can that I can learn. And so Paul tells Timothy and second Timothy for preach the word in season and out of season approve correct and struct why because God's people us Christians we need to be approved and corrected and instructed and taught. One of the things Stewart and I are if you don't know Stewart or former associate pastries to talk about is when we are away in in another church you know we're pastors and there we are and we're listening to other pastors and regardless of where we are regardless of what kind of church we're in we used to encourage each other in the discipline of being taught. Not saying oh this is how I would preach this or this is that but just sitting there and listening listening to the preach word and being being humble and that's the what we all strive for is Christians and our gospel humility we say you know I need instruction I need to be taught or put this way just because you should line just because I'm Christian doesn't mean I know everything that I need. Just because you're Christian doesn't mean you know everything you need to know just because you can drive a car it doesn't mean that you know how to replace the spark plugs just because we have Christian on our name doesn't mean we know everything we need to know. I was talking with a friend of mine Jeff Smith who's at our mother church and someone we elders see at our Presbyterian meetings but I was telling him about my wife Betsy got me these four CDs that are full of beetles trivia interviews and all kinds of stuff about the beetles I'm a big beetles fan and there's this interview I was I was listening to on Tuesday as I drove to a lunch appointment as George Harrison and he at one time had somebody who was maybe doing a biography of him or the beetles that kind of thing. George was helping him sort out what was important and what wasn't and George said well you know everybody doesn't need to know all the minute details about our lives and what we did that's kind of boring stuff and I'm a beetles fan I said just we do you know I want to know all that stuff you know I don't know where they went and I just find it fascinating Betsy sent to me a picture of the the one flat that's what the British people call apartments the one flat that all four beetles lived in for a while it's up for sale. And you know if anyone has six six million pounds whatever that is I give it to me and I'll buy it but I just I see that kind of you know does that help my life know it doesn't know my life but I'm interested I think wow that would be cool if I was on the street across there's a picture of it as a cross from this place and I saw the four beetles walk on the sidewalk and go up go up the steps and go up into that apartment that's great but that's the way we should be about God his word is there and for us to know and say I don't know everything there is to know about God I can't exhaust knowing God God is immense and I will continue to learn of him over and over again more and more throughout my life and so that's something we need to realize as his people the good news is that Jesus is the great teacher that's your next blank Jesus is the great teacher that we need Jesus came to the earth and he reveals Jesus to reveal the father to us at next line force we were created by God and he knows that we were created to be of his character for lives to be at peace. In other words if we want peace in our lives our frames our constitution the way we're created psychologically socially physically every way that can be described about it God made us and so when God teaches us about how we're to respond various situations how we're to treat our wife or husband how we're to treat our boss or our employee or whatever the situation is God knows our friends and so he instructs us in how we're to be and when we walk in that instruction there's peace in our souls we were created as God we were created to be like God and character not to be doing things that God would never do but to be doing things that God would do if he were in our shoes and that's called being God's like that's your next blank. Being God lays being like God in character we are created to be Godly like him and character and how do we get to be like him and character by looking at by knowing by reading by hearing his word preached God reveals his character to us in his word and so we say I need to be taught I need to be taught so that I can be like God and character said I can be Godly in my life. I need to be taught. Thus we need to know the next blank. He has all about God for our lives not to get jammed up so to speak. How does Jesus teach us we've talked about this a little bit Jesus teaches us through pastors that's your next blank through men he ordains to teach his people and from their teaching you can teach others. It's not that nobody teaches God's truth but a pastor that's not the case but pastors are what God uses to instruct his people looking at God's word and preaching God's word teaching God's word then you're able as a believer to help fellow believers out. So like we said with leadership we say this with teaching seeing myself as a person this your next line seeing myself as a person who needs to be taught it's critical for me to be a success as God defines it. That is it's not okay to figure it out myself to figure out truth to figure out what God is like. It's not okay to figure it out ourselves we figured out by God's word. Okay so you read your own Bible that's fine but we figured out as God instructs us through pastors when Isaiah turns away when he's not being instructed verse 5 when he's not being instructed by Zechariah he doesn't have success it's as long as he sought the Lord that God gave him success. You know we've talked about this before in here it's never okay to say but I just think but I just think means I will figure it out myself. There's any issue in life we never say when we catch ourselves saying it we say oh but I just think you know I I don't care what I just think I really don't what I just think is often very stupid what we care about is Christians is what God just thinks. I've been in too many conversations as a pastor with people where I've shown them from scripture what God says on an issue and rather than I'm fine to have them say but how do we deal with this other thing in scripture that says this that's great we search the scriptures and we want to come up with the best thing but when I hear and I've heard it too many times I give them the biblical viewpoint on this certain topic and they say but I just think. They're headed for pain and you know it's clubber laying right my prediction for the fight my prediction. Pain you know rocking three fans out there if not a smart thing for us to do to say but I just think we don't argue with scripture if what we thought was the truth is proven wrong by the Bible and we have somebody who teaches the Bible who's been ordained in this position to say you know what the Bible says on this is this and we become actually convinced that we can't out Bible this viewpoint. We need to say I am a person who needs to be taught thank you for teaching me thank you for protecting me from this pain from this hardship that I would have headed into had I just followed what I just thought. This all speaks to our personal repentance as believers when God's word says something different than what we wanted to say we say out but I will follow the Lord as long as I seek the Lord God gives me success verse five.
So seek out this your last blank here seek out the teaching of pastors and you folks are good at this you really are just last week someone came up to me and and asked me something they said John I said this earlier is that okay for me to say. That's a great application of this you know I said this I think it was true I think it was a right and okay thing to say. But he came and he checked with me is that this was that prideful was that humble is that okay and that kind of thing and you folks are good at that you come to me with questions you email me with questions that kind of thing that's what I'm here for to help you to know to know God so to be successful be led and be taught in the church see yourself as a person who needs to be led who needs to be taught let's pray. Our God and Father we are grateful to you that you don't leave us as orphans as fatherless wandering about trying to figure out things for ourselves but you have given us your word to guide us and Jesus you leave us and you have given us your word to teach us and Jesus you teach us and you you do this Lord through elders in your church who guide and direct us according to your word as far as your word speaks and hopefully not far as you speak. And you give us elders and pastors in the church Lord to teach us thank you for the pastors that you have given me in my life and brother pastors that still continue to teach me help us all look toward men that you have ordained to be teachers in your church that we would be directed and taught so that we could be more God-like in character. So that our lives would reflect you we pray Jesus in your name. Amen.