Spiritual Lessons from Kings who had diseases — Stanley Wells

2 Chronicles 16. I have three brief readings with you. To get the full import you need to read the chapters, but I'm going to give you the bottom line. Verse number 12 of 2 Chronicles 16. Here's the subject.

Diseases and Spiritual Lessons from Three Kings

Spiritual lessons from the kings of Judah. Verse 12. And Asa in the thirty-ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceedingly great. Yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to physicians.

And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign. Chapter 21 now for the next reading at the end of this chapter. 2 Chronicles 21. Verse number 18. And after all this, the Lord smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease.

And it came to pass in the process of time, that at the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness. As he died of sore diseases, and his people made no burning for him like the burning of his fathers.

Now if you don't know who we're talking about, in verse 9 of this particular chapter, it's Jehoram. Now verse or two please in chapter 26 to conclude. Chapter 26 of 2 Chronicles. This is the story of Uzziah.

We'll break in at verse 19 for sake of time. Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead, because in the house of the priests of the Lord, from beside the incense altar, Anasariah the chief priest, and all the priests looked upon him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead.

Notice verse 21. And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper, for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. And the Lord will bless what our brethren have been telling us, and the holy scriptures of truth.

Our brother Alec here, one of the statements he made that we believe is 100 right, we are reliving today, in assembly life, the history of the nation of Israel. I have read to you about three kings, who because of adverse circumstances in their life, they received diseases, and their story would break your very heart.

The Church's Faithfulness in a Broken World

I want to give a balanced ministry to start this session, and to go on with what we have heard. We have heard of the New Testament assembly, the church of God. Remember, it's only as effective as the members that are in the fellowship of each golden lampstand.

We want to pause a moment. We want to think of the world that we live in. The contemporary society that is worldwide would break your very heart. But you see, we are in the world, but we are not of it.

It has already been prayed at this conference, that preservation would be the order of the day, and we would like to see the assemblies established to the glory of Christ, preserved and kept, until Jesus comes.

Reading Chronicles as Spiritual Commentary

I have three simple lessons to learn from these three men, and let me introduce the subject this way, a number of younger folk here. It's that part of the Bible that sadly many in assembly life are not reading.

If you want to understand the New Testament, you need to understand a little about the history of the Old Testament. Here's a suggestion for you. 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings are the facts of history in the nation.

1 and 2 Chronicles is the comment of the Holy Spirit on those facts of history that took place. And if Ezra wrote 1 and 2 Chronicles, he has this in mind, that when the 70 years are up in captivity, the people from Judah are going back to the place of the name, and he wants to give them encouragement and help as they move forward to conditions in Jerusalem.

I've been reading in 2 Chronicles recently, and I want to give you a bird's eye view of that second book. Here's three simple divisions to 2 Chronicles. Maybe you haven't read it for months. Oh, I know there's other parts in the Bible, but we need to know a little about this part.

You see, here's division number 1 from chapter 1 to chapter 9. That's the reign of Solomon that is described for us. Absolute dignity to the glory of the God of eternity. See, when you come to chapters 10 through 12, it's the reign of Rehoboam, his son.

Division. Now, you can develop all of those in your own thinking. I don't want to take time to do that right now. You see, from chapter 13 to chapter 36, and we have read from this section, here in the kings of Judah, the reign of Abijah to Zedekiah, deterioration.

See what our brother has told you? We are reliving the history of the nation of Israel. And we thank God from our hearts for the positive in everyone that's moving for the pleasure of the God of eternity, the dear saints of God.

In the big picture today, I have to be honest, we're losing ground. We would like to challenge our hearts today, on my own included, that we might understand a little of what this is all about. Now, here's the bottom line.

Asa's Diseased Feet and a Wrong Walk

These men were mature. These are kings, monarchs in the nation and in the Judah kingdom of the nation. Things happened in their circumstances that would break your very heart. And I want to notice Asa, number one.

He was diseased on his feet. He went wrong in his walk. See this man, Jehoram? He had a dreadful disease in his bowels. And the New Testament shows that it speaks of affection. And he went wrong in his affections for the true God of heaven.

See this other man later down the road, Uzziah? He went wrong in his intellect. He became a leper to the day of his death. That's Isaiah chapter 6. Those are fantastic connections. But I want to illustrate very carefully and quickly to you these three things.

I didn't read the New Testament, but I'll quote them to you. See this man, Asa? He was on the throne for 39 years. And because of circumstances, he became diseased on his feet. He could no longer walk.

And two years later, he's gathered to his fathers. Now this audience will likely know a little about 2 Timothy. You see, Paul writes to Timothy in the second letter and he says to them, Timothy, all they of Asia have turned away from me.

Many more likely believers than the Lord Jesus Christ that he saw said. What happened to them to use our idea? They got diseased on their feet. They went wrong in their walk. On the negative side, since I was here the last time, dear people, that we used to labor and toil with in the work of God, at assembly level or whatever level, today they've gone wrong in their walk.

They're diseased on their feet. They're no longer effective in the testimony. Pause a minute. Doesn't matter what somebody else has done. We could do the very same or maybe worse, if desire and opportunity meet.

Jehoram's Affections and the Love of Self

Now I want to develop that another way in a minute or two. I want to think of this man, Jehoram. He lost the ability to love. He went wrong in his affections. See, that's 2 Timothy chapter 3. Here are people, and in the last days where we're right here, these are people that are lovers of self more than lovers of God.

Their affections have been redirected to other things. Materialism has come in the order of the day. Another passage is there, 1 Timothy 6, for example. They're lovers of silver and lovers of pleasure and all the rest of it.

I want to tell you something. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Dear people, we're saved by the grace of God. Thank God. We love the Lord Jesus. But I want to tell you something.

The pressures out there today of 2016 are amazing. And we could get our affections misdirected in other ways. Please learn the lesson. I want to think for a minute of this other individual. Very, very successful.

Uzziah's Pride and Doctrinal Error

Uzziah rose to the very top of the nation. He assumed one day to come into the holy place in the temple in Jerusalem. And he desired to move into the office of a priest. And he never was fitted for it.

What a sad day when the struggle was over. He was the one in charge of the nation. And God smote him right there in the holy place. Became a leper to the day of his death. These three men, if you look at their history, were useful.

They were effective for God. They had a tremendous testimony in their own right. But things happened. You see that 2 Timothy chapter 3. Our brother was referring to it this morning. Here are people, I take it, in assembly life.

And they went wrong in doctrine. They said the resurrection has passed already. See, they didn't deny it. But they misplaced truth. They went wrong in their intellect. My dear saints of God. It's very, very possible, easy to go wrong in our doctrine.

Let me pause a minute. I don't know conditions in these parts, but I know it in other parts. And since we have got the internet and the computer. And it's tremendously helpful in all walks of life. And I surf the net myself every day.

But I want to tell you something. The rising generation, and maybe older ones too, are surfing the net every day. And they're learning things from the internet that won't stand the test of the Holy Bible.

Somebody says, that's terrible, I didn't know about it. Well, I'll give you a simple example. And that didn't happen in the U .S. But there's a surge amongst younger married couples and intellectual younger people.

And we're not decrying in any way education. We all need it. But I know personally that quite a number have gone wrong in their prophetic truth. The surging has come up again. Resurgence of the church going through the tribulation.

No future for Israel. No millennium reign of Christ. Now that's a misunderstanding of divine truth from the Holy Bible. So I would suggest all of us, whatever we are imbibing from these other locations, and whatever we're reading, we need to test it by the Bible.

How are you getting along? How's your walk? How's mine? How are your affections for the person of Christ? How's your intellect? Are you being effective in the testimony where your lot is cast? Are you being useful in the sphere that God has brought us into?

Christ as the Pattern for a Faithful Walk

Days are dark out there. That's all the negative side. I want to go up now for a minute or two on the positive side. Somebody says, is there a cure to all of this? I would like to suggest, absolutely.

Take a look at our Lord Jesus Christ. Sinless, spotless, stainless, Lord Jesus Christ. He has left us an example to follow His steps. Somebody says, well, how should we walk? Well, right away you think, for example, of 1 John 2.

We ought to walk as He walked. How are we walking? Are we moving in close with the Lord Jesus Christ? There are examples in the Holy Bible. Right away you think of Enoch. He walked with God for 300 years.

And one day he disappeared, translated into eternity. So it doesn't matter what the conditions of the contemporary society in our day, as it was in his day in the antediluvian world, it's possible to walk with God.

How are we walking? Dear people, those that know us best, do they understand and realize there's a person saved by the grace of God and they're different? You can expand it if you want. I won't take time to expand it further.

There was nobody walked like the Lord Jesus Christ walked. In fact, He walked on water. Matthew chapter 14 says, and by the way, Peter walked on water as well. We need to stay close. I want to spend a minute on the affection side of things.

Loving Christ and the Church

Really, dear saints of God, whatever age group we're in, what do we really love? Look at the outstanding example, the Lord Jesus. I'll just quote you one or two of the verses. He loved the church and He gave Himself for it.

The Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. The upper room, John 13. Having loved His own, which were in the world. He loved them to the end. I want to suggest to this audience that in the big picture, we're losing ground because our affections are being misplaced.

I was reading recently about Hiram. First Kings chapter 5. Do you know what it says about him? He was ever a lover of David. His affections were right through all the ups and downs of life. None of us know what's ahead.

But we would like to stay close. Do you really love the Lord Jesus Christ today? People say we don't like rules and regulations. But I want to tell you if you love the Lord Jesus and you appreciate the one that died on the cross and give us all gladly, we'll do what his own heart would prize.

Isaac, what's him? We're the whole realm of nature, man. We're an offering far too small. Love so amazing, so divine. Demands my heart, my life, my all. I want to challenge your heart today as I would to my own.

Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ better today than this time last year? Would you do more for him today than you did at that time? These are very practical observations from the history of the nation of Israel.

The Cure: Christ's Mind and Sound Doctrine

And by the way, I should point out to you that none of these three were recovered. They died undesired. We don't want that. There is a cure. Focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. See this other person. Isaiah that went wrong in his intellect.

Is there a cure for that? An antidote? Absolutely. Philippians 2, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. And you know all the story right down the different verses there. How's your doctoring today?

We're hearing awful strange things. Even from conference platforms. You heard a dear man saying not too long ago. He says, you know, Solomon is not in heaven today. The way he got on. And I said to him nicely.

Do you think that the Lord would allow an unbeliever to write three books in the Canon? What do you think about that? What about our doctrines? Very, very important. If our doctrine is right, our walk will be right.

Converse is the same thing. I was reading Psalm 73 this morning along this lane. See that man Asaph. He looked all around him. Mind you, his thinking wasn't right. His intellect was wrong. But when he got into the sanctuary, he got adjusted.

And he understood their end. But dear saints of God. These are very practical observations. I know several on the negative side. And their walk has gone wrong. Their affections have been misdirected. Their intellect has been anti-scriptural.

The Lord store our hearts. Whatever little time we have left between now and the coming. That we will walk as he walked. We will love as he loved. And we'll appreciate divine truth as he did. Now, all kinds of other things could be said.

But we have to leave the other things for another time. Somebody's asking now. I've forgotten what you talked about. Let me tell you again before I sit down. Have you read that history? Of these three men that went wrong.

Physically and intellectually. He was a king. He got diseased on his feet. That's physical. But we learn the spiritual lesson. Jehoram. He went wrong in his affections, his bowels. He died undesired. Uzziah.

Went wrong in his intellect. It's recorded in the Holy Bible. God help us today. On the days that remain until the Lord returns. When the last step is taken. That we will be very, very careful. And keep short accounts with the God of heaven.

Relative to our walk. Relative to our affections. And relative to our intellect. Thank you very much.