The King Who Beat a MILLION-Man Army with FAITH | 1 Kings 15 & 2 Chronicles 13-16 Bible in a Year

[00:00:02][music] >> Abijah was king of Judah.

[00:00:11]He wasn't a great man, but one day he got something right. Jeroboam came against Judah with twice the army.

[00:00:19]Abijah was outmatched, surrounded, trapped. But Abijah stood on a mountain and shouted across THE VALLEY.

[00:00:27]>> JEROBOAM, HEAR ME! YOU HAVE GOLDEN CALVES, WE HAVE THE LORD. YOU HAVE PRIESTS, AND WE HAVE THE SONS OF AARON.

[00:00:36]DO NOT FIGHT AGAINST THE GOD OF OUR FATHERS.

[00:00:40]>> Jeroboam laughed. He sent troops around to ambush [music] from the rear.

[00:00:44]Judah was surrounded.

[00:00:47]And they cried out to the Lord. The priests blew their trumpets. The men >> [music] >> shouted a war cry that sounded more like worship.

[00:00:56]God himself routed the [music] army of Jeroboam.

[00:01:00]500,000 men of Israel fell that day.

[00:01:03]Jeroboam [music] never recovered his strength. Listen closely.

[00:01:07]The world groans for a king who would seek the Lord, >> [music] >> who would never trust gold over God.

[00:01:15]That king is coming.

[00:01:27]>> Abijah inherited a broken kingdom. His father Rehoboam had compromised with idols, idol worship. The nation was divided, but when war came, Abijah stood on a mountain and declared God's faithfulness to David's line. He didn't claim personal righteousness. He claimed the covenant of God. He claimed the promises of God.

[00:01:49]And when Jeroboam's army surrounded them, Abijah and his men cried out to the Lord. And God routed Israel. 500,000 men fell. Then Asa took the throne. And this is where hope enters. Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and it's always right to do what is right [music] in the eyes of the Lord. He tore down the foreign altars and idols.

[00:02:12][music] He smashed the sacred stones. He cut down the Asherah poles. He even removed his grandmother from her position as queen mother because she'd made an idol.

[00:02:23]Asa's heart was fully committed to the Lord all of his life. And as a result, God gave the people of Judah peace.

[00:02:31]Can one generation reverse the damage of the previous one? Can faithfulness to God break the power of sin? Of course.

[00:02:39]We know this is true because the gospel gives us the hope of the future that we have in Christ. Jesus broke every cycle.

[00:02:47]He broke down the power of sin.

[00:02:50]And while human kings wavered, Jesus stood firm. And where David's line stumbled through compromise, Jesus walked in perfect obedience. And because of him, you're not trapped by your father's lies and legacies or your grandfather's sins. The cross of Jesus Christ shattered every sin and every curse.

[00:03:11]The book of Romans says that where sin increased, grace increased. You don't have to repeat your family's mistake.

[00:03:17]You don't have to live in the past. In Christ, you're a new creation, and you have a future with him. The old is gone, and everything has become brand new.

[00:03:25]So, stop believing the lie that you're doomed and damned to repeat the past.

[00:03:30]God is calling you to be like Asa in your own family, to rise up and be different, to be a man a woman of God.

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