I Kings 15:12

"And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols tha this fathers had made."



Asa is described as a good king that followed the ways of David until the end of his life. His father, Abijam, had reigned only a short time and then Asa came in to rule. But let us look upon this text for what it reveals about the situation of that day and compare it to our own. David and Solomon had reigned for 80 years and primarily, except for the collapse of Solomon at the end, they worshipped and taught the people to fear God. But after the division of Rehoboam and the short reign he had, during his days we read in chapter 14 that sodomites lived in the land. How quick does the wicked rise up! But again, it is always a progression. We see Solomon bring in the false gods of his wives and then they offer sacrifice. Sin is a breeding groud for more sin. And now the evil spirals out of control toward sodomy. This perversion is one of the worse, for it not only goes against holiness, but against the natural order of creation. And so as quickly as the worship fo the Lord is deferred to other false gods, the evil sets in among the people. Now what is the problem with this? Usually it is not that generation that must deal with the rebuke of the Lord, but the next generation that comes. And now Asa is king, and he must deal with this wickedness and evil that is present and he took away the sodomites out of the land - the best thing is to remove it completely. Our land will not do it. We have become so allowing of anyone and everyone's sin, we will allow anything to go on. And as our society plummets into hell, again, it is the next generation that will reap the whirlwind of our iniquities. How weak and evil we are in our approach of holiness. Just be happy, the world says; but the Lord says, 'Be holy'. and a holy christian is a happy Christian; but just because someone is happy may not mean they are holy. He removed them completely out of the land to restore holiness. Sin must be put away completely in our lives to restore holiness. do not allow for it to linger close at hand, where it will be a temptation and enticement. when Potiphar's wife set her eyes on Joseph and caught hold of him, he cried out, "How can I do this great evil against my God?" and then he ran for his life. Fleeing may need to happen sometimes. Be wise in this, brethern. And removed all the idols that his fathers had made - word study, made; Here is the son and granson, cleaning up the mess of his forefathers. How much will our children and grandchildren need to clean up of ours? WE allow it, we permit it, we encourage it; but when the Lord purifies His church all this will need to be made right. For how can the Lord, Who cannot lie, say to the church, "Well done",if we are not doing well? He must cleanse us before us return, He must prepare His bride. And we read those words in Hebrews, that there will be another great shaking to restore the witness of the church to what God intended anddesired. Cast out, remove, destroy and vanquish the evil, labor to do the works that God called us to. Recognizing the sin is hard in this day for some. We have grown up with a set standard of 'Well we have always done this'. And because we have lived with it, we do not recognize it as sin. We do not know God and therefore, we cannot see as He sees. But His Holy Spirit will teach us the right from the wrong, the holy fromt he unholy and the pure from the defiled. then we must confess and repent and remove the idols of our fathers, taking away the sin that is the lust of the eyes, the pride of life and the lust of the flesh. Pray and seek for the Lord's holiness to abide and sustain His bride. Pray that we be purified and do the work as Asa did to ride the land of evil. Let us remember that if we don't, then somebody has to pay the price of inqiutiy. Already we begin to see the signs of that. Pray, yea, more than pray - Prevail!