1 Kings 15:1-8

 

This morning we are studying a rather unknown King

 

Admit it, If I were to ask you to name past Kings of Israel or Judah, would anyone have remembered this guy?

 

He is the great-grandson of David

The grandson of Solomon

The son of Rehoboam

You would think he would be notable, but he most certainly is not.

 

In fact, this king slips through history

With hardly any recorded information at all.

 

Even our text this morning seems to be lacking.

• We saw David for the whole book of 2 Samuel.

• Solomon got the first 11 chapters of 1 Kings

• Even Rehoboam and Jeroboam intertwined to get in 4 chapters.

But all Abijam gets is 8 verses.

 

And aside from a brief description about his character,

His entire reign is summed up in verse 6 like this:

 

(6) “There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.”

YOU READ IT RIGHT.

Here we are in the section on Abijam, and when recounting his reign,

It isn’t even him, but his father who is listed.

 

He is sort of written in as an afterthought in the book.

WHY?

 

Because he represented nothing that was worthy of history.

He failed to make a mark.

 

In the New Testament I assume he would be described

Much like the church at Laodicea.

 

Revelation 3:15-16 “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.”

 

Abijam was a dud, and he made no difference in the world.

 

Yet you have noticed I have called him THE FORTUNATE KING.

To see why, we examine our text this morning,

To learn a little bit about this almost forgotten king of Judah.

There are three things we see in our text this morning.

#1 HIS FOLLY

1 Kings 15:1-3

 

To give just a little informative background on the boy.

 

He became King “in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam”

 

So while Jeroboam is worshiping his golden calves in the north,

Abijam now takes the throne in the south.

 

Since he only “reigned three years in Jerusalem”

JEROBOAM WAS STILL KING WHEN HE DIED.

 

Another interesting note

He is named differently here than in Chronicles.

 

Here he is “Abijam” which means “father of the sea”

In Chronicles he is called “Abijah” which means “my father is the LORD”

 

And so it is possible that he never lived up to a previous name,

And his name was changed.

 

You will also notice this fact:

“his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom”

 

There are actually two interesting things about this.

 

1) “Abishalom” is an alternative spelling for Absalom.

 

Therefore both of Abijam’s grandpa’s were sons of David.

His paternal grandfather was Solomon.

His maternal grandfather was Absalom.

 

2) The second interesting thing is that Abijam probably only received the throne because of his mother.

 

2 Chronicles 11:18-22 “Then Rehoboam took as a wife Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse, and she bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah and Zaham. After her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom, and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza and Shelomith. Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom more than all his other wives and concubines. For he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines and fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah as head and leader among his brothers, for he intended to make him king.”

 

In other words, Abijam was NOT Rehoboam’s oldest son,

But he was the oldest son of Rehoboam’s favorite wife.

 

HE WAS FORTUNATE TO RECEIVE THE THRONE.

The only problem was that while Abijah did receive the throne,

He most certainly did not act kingly in God’s eyes.

 

For verse 3 gives us significant insight into his character.

(3) “He walked in all the sins of his father, which he had committed before him; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, like the heart of his father David.”

 

Abijam was a chip right off of the old block.

He acted just like his father did.

 

In fact, Abijam practiced “all the sins of his father”

 

WHAT WERE THE SINS OF REHOBOAM?

1) IDOLATRY

1 Kings 14:21-24 “Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put His name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked Him to jealousy more than all that their fathers had done, with the sins which they committed. For they also built for themselves high places and sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and beneath every luxuriant tree. There were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD dispossessed before the sons of Israel.”

You will remember that this idolatry was so bad

That God eventually appointed Shishak, King of Egypt to wipe him out.

 

Of course at the last minute Rehoboam humbled himself

And God only permitted Shishak to plunder Judah, not destroy it.

 

Which of course led to the second sin of Rehoboam.

2) HYPOCRISY

1 Kings 14:25-28 “Now it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house, and he took everything, even taking all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. So King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place, and committed them to the care of the commanders of the guard who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. Then it happened as often as the king entered the house of the LORD, that the guards would carry them and would bring them back into the guards’ room.”

 

It was the hypocritical display of “POLISHING BRONZE”

 

3) SELF-SUFFICIENCY

2 Chronicles 12:13-14 “So King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Now Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. He did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.”

 

Rehoboam was too proud to seek God.

Idolatry, Hypocrisy, Self-Sufficiency

And it says here that Abijah followed right in line.

 

He kept the idolatry going, he kept polishing bronze,

And he also saw no need for seeking God.

 

BUT IN ORDER TO BE FAIR, and to gain more understanding

We need to see the whole story.

 

While Kings doesn’t really tell us much about Abijam,

2 Chronicles does record one incident in his short reign.

 

TURN TO: 2 CHRONICLES 13:1-12

 

Abijam’s argument even makes good sense.

 

Now, if you keep reading, you will find that Jeroboam plotted an ambush behind Abijam and trapped him in the middle of the battle.

 

(READ: 2 Chronicles 13:13-17)

 

There we have a day in which Abijah really appears to get things right.

By that story, he sounds like a warrior for God.

His theology sounds good, and he appears to be a man of faith.

 

Yet the writer of Kings acted like he never really did anything good.

 

That is admittedly confusing.

It is almost like we are not talking about the same guy.

Or maybe the writer of Kings didn’t like him and the writer of Chronicles did,

After all, they did call him by different names.

 

But that is not really the case.

Later in 2 Chronicles, while dealing with the next King: Asa,

Here is what the prophet says:

 

2 Chronicles 15:1-7 “Now the Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded, and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the LORD is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. “For many days Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law. “But in their distress they turned to the LORD God of Israel, and they sought Him, and He let them find Him. “In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for many disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. “Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every kind of distress. “But you, be strong and do not lose courage, for there is reward for your work.”

 

There the prophet is speaking to Abijam’s son and he is recounting

What life was like when he father and grandfather were kings.

LOOK AT SOME OF THE DESCRIPTION.

 

“For many days Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law.”

 

That means that while Abijam gave Rehoboam this great speech

About having the true temple worship

And all the Levites and real devotion to God,

HIS DEVOTION WASN’T AS SINCERE AS HE MADE IT OUT TO BE.

 

Abijam really didn’t worship God any more than Jeroboam did,

It just sounded good before the armies.

 

“But in their distress they turned to the LORD God of Israel, and they sought Him, and He let them find Him.”

 

It is apparent that the only time Abijam truly sought God

Was when his tail was in a pinch.

 

And the only reason God came to their aid is not because Abijam was sincere, but because God was merciful.

 

“In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for many disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. “Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every kind of distress.”

 

So when the writer of Kings said that (6) “There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.” He was correct.

 

PUTTING THE WHOLE PUZZLE TOGETHER WE LEARN THIS

 

Abijam certainly knew all about God,

And that He was a God with power who could deliver.

 

But he never sought God on a personal level.

 

Personally he was an idolatrous, self-sufficient hypocrite,

Who only sought God when he was in over his head.

 

And now you know exactly what the writer of Kings means in

Verse 3, “his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, like the heart of his father David.”

 

ABIJAM WAS A HALF-HEARTED FOLLOWER OF GOD.

He certainly had head-knowledge of God,

For he knew where to turn in times of danger,

 

He just didn’t have any true commitment to Him.

There is a great picture of what Abijam was in the New Testament.

Luke 8:14 “The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.”

 

That is Abijam to a “T”.

 

And God has never accepted that type of commitment from people.

Jeremiah 4:1-4 “If you will return, O Israel,” declares the LORD, “Then you should return to Me. And if you will put away your detested things from My presence, And will not waver, And you will swear, ‘As the LORD lives,’ In truth, in justice and in righteousness; Then the nations will bless themselves in Him, And in Him they will glory.” For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, And do not sow among thorns. “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD And remove the foreskins of your heart, Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Or else My wrath will go forth like fire And burn with none to quench it, Because of the evil of your deeds.”

 

God has always demanded more than lip service.

God has always demanded more than half-hearted commitment.

 

Jesus said, we must be willing to leave everything to follow Him.

You cannot serve God and mammon.

 

Yet that is precisely what Abijam tried to do.

He called on God when he needed God, otherwise God was not a priority.

 

In a lot of ways, he is not that different from Jeroboam.

Jeroboam didn’t need God, until his hand was withered,

And then he was ready for God to heal him.

 

And as soon as God did, Jeroboam returned to his sinful ways.

 

And we know what happened to Jeroboam.

God promised to completely remove his line from the face of the earth.

 

You and I would expect that to happen to Abijam now as well.

But I told you that Abijam was “The Fortunate King”

 

First – His Folly

#2 HIS FORTUNE

1 Kings 15:4-5

 

By all accounts God should have done the same to Abijam’s house

That He promised to do to Jeroboam’s house.

 

But God didn’t. – WHY?

 

“But for David’s sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to raise up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem;”

 

The only reason God didn’t role Abijam up into a tight little ball

And fling him off the planet

Is because God had high regard for Abijam’s great-grandfather.

 

God made a promise to David.

 

DO YOU REMEMBER IT?

Psalms 89:19-37 “Once You spoke in vision to Your godly ones, And said, “I have given help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people. “I have found David My servant; With My holy oil I have anointed him, With whom My hand will be established; My arm also will strengthen him.”The enemy will not deceive him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him. “But I shall crush his adversaries before him, And strike those who hate him.”My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him, And in My name his horn will be exalted. “I shall also set his hand on the sea And his right hand on the rivers. “He will cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.’ “I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth.”My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall be confirmed to him. “So I will establish his descendants forever And his throne as the days of heaven. “If his sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments, If they violate My statutes And do not keep My commandments, Then I will punish their transgression with the rod And their iniquity with stripes. “But I will not break off My lovingkindness from him, Nor deal falsely in My faithfulness.”My covenant I will not violate, Nor will I alter the utterance of My lips.”Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David. “His descendants shall endure forever And his throne as the sun before Me.”It shall be established forever like the moon, And the witness in the sky is faithful.” Selah.”

 

That is why we call Abijam the fortunate king.

By all accounts he should have been blotted out,

And yet he was not, only because God is faithful to His word.

 

Abijam’s life is a testimony

To God’s unfailing commitment to keep His word.

 

This covenant with David will never be broken,

And God proved it by not forsaking David here.

 

This promise saw it’s fulfillment in the birth of Jesus Christ,

And some day Jesus will return and reign upon the throne forever.

 

God made a promise to David & even Abijam couldn’t mess it up.

 

Don’t you rejoice in the faithfulness of God

To know that nothing and no one

Can thwart the predetermined plan of Almighty God!

God made a promise, and He keeps His promises.

 

Now, it is fitting to ask, why David was so special,

For the writer does tell us why God was so pleased with him.

 

Verse 5 tells us THREE REASONS why God made this promise to David.

In the LORD’S SIGHT, David was COMMENDABLE

(5) “because David did what was right in the sight of the LORD”

 

David was a man who generally lived in a way that pleased God.

 

In the LORD’S SERVICE, David was DEPENDABLE

(5b) “and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life,”

 

David was a man that God could count on to obey His word.

 

He wasn’t just a fair-weather Christian,

Or one who only wanted God when he needed out of a jam.

 

In the LORD’S SCORN, David was CORRECTABLE

(5c) “except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.”

 

But even in that case, when God chastised David, he repented, accepted the consequences and even praised God in the midst of the punishment.

 

From that repentance we get the beloved Psalms 51.

 

But you can see why God loved David so much.

David loved God with all his heart.

 

In fact, listen to a couple of David’s prayers

Psalms 86:11 “Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.”

 

Psalms 139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.”

 

The point is that David was wholly committed to God, and that, coupled with God’s faithfulness, are the only reasons

Abijam was not totally destroyed.

 

We have heard the promise before.

Exodus 20:4-6 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.”You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”

 

And we see here that Abijam ought to fall to his knees and praise God

For a faithful great-grandfather who caused his family to be so blessed.

 

He was fortunate that David was his great-grandpa.

 

His Folly His Fortune

#3 HIS FUTILITY

1 Kings 15:6-8

 

Abijam’s life is not summed up by great devotion.

Abijam’s life is not remembered by some great revival.

 

Abijam’s life is remembered by the fact that

There was never any peace at any time when he reigned.

 

“There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. Now the rest of the acts of Abijam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.”

 

We have a word for reign’s like his. FUTILITY

 

WHILE HIS LINEAGE CONTINUED,

HIS LEGACY WAS FORGETTABLE.

 

There would be nothing to show for the reign of Abijam.

He goes down as the King who existed, and that is about all.

 

The only good thing we can say about him is that

At least he was David’s great-grandson.

 

WHAT A PITIFUL LEGACY!

 

NOW IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

The writer of Kings was on a mission in these 8 verses.

 

He wanted you and I to compare the legacy of two men.

 

He spelled it out in verse 3 “He walked in all the sins of his father which he had committed before him; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, like the heart of his father David.”

 

AND THEN THE QUESTION OBVIOUSLY COMES TO US.

WHAT KIND OF LEGACY DO YOU INTEND TO LEAVE?

 

I think we can all honestly agree

That none of us desire to be like Abijam.

And yet many people are.

 

The only source of blessing in their life

Is because of the obedience of others around them.

 

• They are disobedient kids, who benefit from their parents obedience.

• They are disobedient parents, who benefit from their kids obedience.

• They are disobedient husbands or wives, who benefit from their spouses obedience.

• They are disobedient church members, who benefit from their fellow members obedience.

 

There is actually a picture of this in Scripture. (in regard to marriage)

1 Corinthians 7:13-14 “And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send her husband away. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.”

 

And their only legacy is that they were blessed

Because someone else was obedient.

 

Instead, determine to leave a legacy like David.

He loved God so much, and he was so obedient

That God would never let his lamp go out.

 

That is the kind you and I desire to leave.

We desire to leave our mark upon this world.

 

THAT LEGACY IS DETERMINED BY A CONTINUAL DECISION

TO BE WHOLLY DEVOTED TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.

 

Not some sort of Sunday only devotion…

But a devotion that never fades.

 

That is the type of devotion David had, and 3,000 years later,

God still hasn’t forgotten about his devotion.

 

 

 

The lesson is this:

DON’T BE FORTUNATE, BE FAITHFUL

It makes all the difference.

 

Luke 8:14-15 “The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. “But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.”

 

1 Kings 13:33-14:20

 

This morning, we are picking back up

With the life and legacy of Jeroboam.

 

“The King who caused Israel to Stumble”

 

We initially saw him two weeks ago,

As God approached him and said,

I will tear 10 tribes from the son of Solomon and give them to you.

 

If you will follow Me like David did, then I will make you an enduring house, just as I have made for him.

 

But of course, Jeroboam did not.

He was afraid that as long as people continued to travel to Jerusalem to worship, then they would return to Judah’s King (Rehoboam)

 

So Jeroboam built two golden calves.

One in Dan, and one in Bethel, and told Israel that this was their new place of worship. He made priests who were not Levites, and changed the calendar for the feasts.

 

It was a horrible display of rebellion against God.

 

As we saw last week, God was not at all pleased

And so He sent the “man of God” to Bethel

To prophesy against Jeroboam’s altar.

 

He prophesied that some day there would be a King named Josiah,

Who would sacrifice the pagan priests and burn their bones on that altar.

 

Now you may remember,

That Jeroboam was not all that enthused with this sermon.

 

1 Kings 13:4 “Now when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” But his hand which he stretched out against him dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself.”

 

And you may also remember that his tune was changed.

 

1 Kings 13:6-8 “The king said to the man of God, “Please entreat the LORD your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” So the man of God entreated the LORD, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and it became as it was before. Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.” But the man of God said to the king, “If you were to give me half your house I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place.”

 

And at that point, the “man of God” leaves Jeroboam to go home.

 

We are left then, wondering what Jeroboam did with the warning.

THAT IS WHAT WE SEE THIS MORNING.

 

For as we saw last week, the “man of God”

Was deceived by a lying prophet,

He did indeed return and eat bread, and God killed him.

 

And that is precisely where the text picks up for us this morning.

 

There are two main points I want you to see as we close out the life of Jeroboam.

 

#1 THE STUBBORNNESS OF JEROBOAM

1 Kings 13:33-34

 

And really everything in regard to the stubbornness of Jeroboam

Is seen in the first sentence of verse 33.

 

“After this event Jeroboam did not return from his evil way,”

 

• He had built two forbidden high places – he did not remove them.

• He had ordained priests who weren’t Levites – he did not remove them.

• He had changed the feast schedule – he did not cancel them.

 

(33) “After this event Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but again he made priests of the high places from among all the people; any who would, he ordained, to be priests of the high places.”

 

Everything he had done, was offensive to God,

And Jeroboam did not care.

 

The man had preached…

The man had performed a sign…

The man had shown him mercy…

BUT JEROBOAM DID NOT CARE

 

It was overwhelmingly obvious what God wanted and expected,

But Jeroboam did a great job of ignoring it.

WE CALL THAT STUBBORNNESS

Sometimes the Bible refers to it as being “stiff-necked”

 

It is anytime a person refuses to see their sin,

Or refuses to repent of it, when they do see it.

 

There are several classic examples.

Esau was an example:

Hebrews 12:15-17 “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.”

Israel in Jesus day:

Matthew 11:20-24 “Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. “Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon inthe day of judgment than for you. “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. “Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”

 

And in reality, it is seen in anyone who refuses to repent of their sin and confess Christ.

Romans 1:18-23 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

 

They are all just like Jeroboam.

Men who have been warned…

Men who have been told…

But men who loved their sin too much to depart from it.

 

They are stubborn.

And let me just say that God is infuriated by such rebellion.

 

Jeremiah 6:15 “Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They were not even ashamed at all; They did not even know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time that I punish them, They shall be cast down,” says the LORD.

 

Isaiah 3:8-9 “For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen, Because their speech and their actions are against the LORD, To rebel against His glorious presence. The expression of their faces bears witness against them, And they display their sin like Sodom; They do not even conceal it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves.”

 

God has always promised to judge the stubborn.

And so it is not surprising what we see occurring here.

 

First, the stubbornness of Jeroboam.

#2 THE SENTENCING OF JEROBOAM

1 Kings 14:1-20 (read 1-5)

 

After Jeroboam’s rebellion, the Bible says that his son became sick.

 

 

Scripture does not say that God did it,

But there is no doubt the sickness was meant to get Jeroboam’s attention.

 

And so, he contacts Ahijah, the same man who anointed him.

But even then, he does so in an interesting way.

His approach still screams of stubbornness, pride, and rebellion.

 

1) He does not go, he sends his wife

2) He has her dress up, namely because he doesn’t want a lecture

3) He doesn’t request anything of the LORD, he only wants to know the future.

 

This is not a man who is ready to repent of sin,

This is just a man who wants to know the future.

 

He is not humble, nor is he broken.

He is just as stubborn and hard headed as ever.

 

But of course, God was light years ahead of Jeroboam,

And the prophet was expecting his wife.

 

And now we see how God responds to this stubborn king.

 

3 things

1) GOD’S PROSECUTION (6-9)

 

As soon as the woman shows up, the prophet exposes her

And lets her know that the message is a harsh one.

 

The child would die, and God wanted the woman to know why.

 

The child would die because of the extreme rebellion of Jeroboam.

 

(READ 7-8)

Jeroboam had been UNCOMMITTED

 

David served with a whole heart, Jeroboam did not.

 

(9a) “you also have done more evil than all who were before you, and have gone and made for yourselves other gods and moldten images to provoke Me.”

Jeroboam was also UNFAITHFUL

 

Jeroboam was a spiritual harlot.

 

(9b) “and have cast me behind your back.”

 

Jeroboam was also UNINTERESTED

 

He did not care what God thought, and did not care if God was pleased.

Jeroboam carries all the attributes of a bad spouse.

One who seems to enter covenant,

But is uncommitted, unfaithful, and uninterested.

 

When God approached him and offered him the kingdom,

Jeroboam quickly accepted it,

but never intended to keep his end of the bargain.

 

His religion was for show and it was a sham.

All he really cared about was his own personal comfort and glory.

 

He is seen today in those who accept an offer to go to heaven,

But then return to the sin they once enjoyed.

 

2 Peter 2:20-22 “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

 

That was Jeroboam.

Jeroboam was a liar and a fraud,

And God prosecutes him on those very grounds.

God’s prosecution

2) GOD’S PROMISES (10-16)

 

(10) “therefore behold, I am bringing calamity on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every male person, both bond and free in Israel, and I will make a clean sweep of the house of Jeroboam, as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone.”

 

Now if you are one who likes powerful imagery,

The prophet Ahijah gives some to Jeroboam’s wife.

 

Suppose God had a house that He lived in, and it was one that He liked to keep clean. Then suppose God had some animals who were in that house, who pooped on the floor.

 

No, Jeroboam is not the animal.

Jeroboam was the poop.

 

God says, “I will make a clean sweep of the house of Jeroboam, as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone. Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs will eat. And he who dies in the field the birds of the heavens will eat; for the LORD has spoken it.”‘

 

How would you like it if that is how God saw you?

 

And incidentally , it has already begun.

First on the list, is the child you are inquiring about.

 

(12-13) “Now you, arise, go to your house. When your feet enter the city the child will die. All Israel will mourn for him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam’s family will come to the grave, because in him something good was found toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.”

 

This boy had a good heart before God,

And so even though he was a victim of Jeroboam’s stubbornness,

He gets a privilege. After he dies, he will be buried.

 

And that is more than can be said for anyone else in Jeroboam’s line.

 

In fact, God is so angry that He is about to completely remove them all.

 

(14) “Moreover, the LORD will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who will cut off the house of Jeroboam this day and from now on.”

 

To play with the imagery,

God is about to hire a carpet cleaner to remove all the poop from Israel.

 

Back in chapter 11 God said:

1 Kings 11:38 “Then it will be, that if you listen to all that I command you and walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight by observing My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build you an enduring house as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.”

 

That word “if” was a pretty big word.

Jeroboam was stubborn in sin, and God was removing him.

 

THE FIRST PROMISE OF GOD IS THAT HE WILL SWEEP THE POOP

But that is not all that God was promising.

 

READ VERSES 15-16

 

We sort of expect God to be angry with Jeroboam,

But here He is angry also with Israel.

 

God had promised to sweep the poop,

Now God promises to scatter the weeds.

 

The imagery here is of a weed messing up God’s land.

 

 

So God is going to STRIKE IT.

(15) “For the LORD will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water”

 

God is going to STRIP IT.

(15) “He will uproot Israel from this good land which He gave tot their fathers,”

 

God is going to SCATTER IT.

(15) “and will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the LORD to anger.”

 

WHY IS GOD DOING THIS?

(16) “He will give up Israel on account of the sins of Jeroboam, which he committed and with which he made Israel to sin.”

 

God is judging them,

Because they participated in what Jeroboam did.

 

That’s not fair, I thought they were the victims.

Wrong, they were his companions.

 

1 Kings 12:28-30 “So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.” He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.”

 

God was judging Jeroboam for starting it,

And God was judging the people for participating in it.

 

NO ONE CAN MAKE YOU SIN

James 1:13-15 “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”

 

Just because a king or government may make sin legal,

Does not mean you have the right to participate in it.

 

God requires you and I to have conviction,

Even when everyone around us give in to temptation.

 

AND SOME DID

2 Chronicles 11:13-17 “Moreover, the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel stood with him from all their districts. For the Levites left their pasture lands and their property and came to Judah and Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons had excluded them from serving as priests to the LORD. He set up priests of his own for the high places, for the satyrs and for the calves which he had made. Those from all the tribes of Israel who set their hearts on seeking the LORD God of Israel followed them to Jerusalem, to sacrifice to the LORD God of their fathers. They strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam the son of Solomon for three years, for they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.”

 

There were some who would not follow Jeroboam’s sin.

They left Israel and returned to Judah.

 

Sure, they had to leave their houses and pasture lands to do it,

But obedience to God was more important than personal comfort.

 

And it turns out they made the right decision,

For now all those who stayed in Israel were going to be judged.

 

They were like weeds that God was going to scatter.

That was a promise from God.

 

God’s prosecution God’s promises

3) GOD’S PROOF (17-20)

 

This child’s mother never saw her son alive again.

He died just as God said he would.

 

And the next thing we read of is the death of Jeroboam.

Jeroboam was stubborn, and God was serious.

 

SO WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM THIS TEXT?

 

The point is so obvious, you could almost miss it.

 

Being stiff-necked and stubborn

Never leads to success before Holy God.

 

He can break the stiffest neck,

And he can crack the most stubborn mind.

 

I am always reminded of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel’s day.

He was the arrogant king who refused God.

 

God caused him to lose his sanity,

And eat grass like a cow for seven years.

Finally, after 7 years he lifted his eyes to heaven and God had mercy.

 

The final statement he would make after the event was this:

Daniel 4:37 “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.”

 

God can break a stiff neck.

And at the very least God will judge one.

 

Those who persist in iniquity

Will only guarantee judgment for themselves.

 

• Jeroboam was king for 22 years before the judgment played out, but the judgment was never in doubt.

 

• Israel would exist another 200 years before the judgment played out, but the judgment was never in doubt.

 

• There are those today who think that they are getting away with their sin. BUT THEY ARE NOT

 

Judgment is certain, for those who rebel against the Lord,

And if not today, then know that it is coming.

 

THE POINT IS:

DO NOT RESIST THE WILL OF GOD

 

The writer of Hebrews said:

Hebrews 10:26-31 “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

 

Jeroboam was stubborn in idolatry,

Today many are stubborn in refusing to submit their lives to Jesus

 

• They have been warned…

• They see the evidence…

• But they are too stiff-necked and proud to submit to it…

 

Today if that is you,

I want to ask you to quit rebelling against God

And submit your life totally to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Give Him your life, and obey His will.

Don’t end up like Jeroboam.

 

1 Kings 13:1-32 (1-6)

 

Once again the timing of God is absolutely amazing.

 

When we planned to have this commissioning service,

I assumed I would have to post-pone our study of Kings for a week

In order to preach a “missions type” sermon.

 

But that is not the case,

For as we are studying through the book of Kings,

What we find here is nothing short of a missionary story.

 

As you know we are in the middle of studying the Kings,

And last week we began the study of Jeroboam.

 

We learned that Jeroboam committed a great sin before God,

And one that the nation of Israel never recovered from.

 

Instead of sending the people to worship God at Jerusalem,

• He created new worship sites in Bethel and in Dan.

• He then made priests of anyone who wanted to be a priest,

• He re-wrote the sacrificial calendar.

 

WE LEARNED LAST WEEK WHAT JEROBOAM TAUGHT:

God’s requirements are too EXHAUSTING

God’s requirements are too EXCLUSIVE

God’s requirements are too EXPLICIT

 

He led the people into disobedience

And 209 years later when Israel would be destroyed by Assyria,

It would be this sin of Jeroboam that was given as the reason.

 

But none the less, we are in the middle of the reign of Jeroboam.

And next week we will finish our study of him.

 

But this morning, we get a momentary break in the action.

By God’s sovereign will, we have a short narrative story

Inserted into the Biblical record.

 

God has seen fit to include this one incident

That occurred during the reign of Jeroboam.

 

The incident that God reveals is

One of the first missionary efforts mentioned in Scripture.

 

A prophet from the south is about to travel up north

And deliver a message from the Lord.

 

In the midst of this evil kingdom, God has sent forth a missionary.

And interestingly enough, we have no idea who he is.

 

His name is not given, but he does have a simple title.

He is called “a man of God”

 

A title reserved for only 8 men in Scripture:

 

76 times in the Old Testament only given to 7 men:

Moses, Samuel, David, Shemaiah, Elijah, Elisha, and this man here.

 

It is only used twice in the New Testament,

Both times it is a title in which Paul gives to Timothy.

 

It is a title that reveals a person

Whose very identity is bound up in the will of God.

 

He is not a man of this world,

Nor is he a man who is looking out for his own personal interests.

Instead this man has God’s interests at heart,

And his only concern is that God’s will be accomplished.

 

And it is this type of man we see here.

We don’t know his name, we don’t know his tribe,

We don’t know if he was wealthy or poor.

 

All we know is that he is from Judah,

And he has traveled north to Israel in order to fulfill the will of God.

 

“there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD.”

 

He had God’s will on his mind, and God’s message on his lips.

Who he was did not matter,

What he had to say was of the utmost importance.

 

And so this morning, as we send off these 5 missionaries

We study this “man of God” who embarked upon a similar journey.

 

And the main thing we learn is the importance of fully obeying God.

 

Now this is a very self-preaching passage,

But it is necessary to read it all, in order to grasp the entire story.

 

6 things

#1 THE SERMON

1 Kings 13:1-2

 

Now of course you notice that this “man of God” showed up in Bethel.

Which of course is the site of one of Jeroboam’s calves,

and he goes while Jeroboam is there sacrificing.

 

And this man came with a message from God.

(2) “O altar, altar, thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.”

 

It was a short sermon, it was simple sermon

And it was a prophetic sermon.

 

God was angry about what Jeroboam had done,

And vengeance was coming.

 

Incidentally about 300 years later, there would be a King named Josiah,

And he would do this very thing.

 

But we see our missionary traveling to another country

In order to declare the word of God.

It is indeed a missionary effort.

 

The Sermon

#2 THE SIGN

1 Kings 13:3-6

 

This of course is a demonstration of the prophet’s authority.

 

They did not have a copy of the Bible as we do,

And so when a man claimed to be speaking the word of God,

HIS MINISTRY NEEDED SOME VERIFICATION.

 

That verification came in the form of signs and wonders.

We know they are real because they prophesied a sign that came true.

 

And this man’s sign was that the altar would break in two

And the ashes would fall to the ground,

Thus negating the effectiveness of the sacrifice.

 

Now, when Jeroboam heard this,

He was ready to kill the young “man of God”,

 

But God intervened,

Jeroboam’s hand “dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself.”

 

And then (5) “The altar was split apart and the ashes were poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.”

 

And the point here is clear.

What God has revealed through this prophet is certainly from God,

And will certainly come to pass.

 

God’s fingerprint is all over this young man.

 

Not only by his POWER, but also by his MERCY.

In verse 6 Jeroboam asks for healing, and the man of God grants it.

 

There is no doubt now that his message has come from God,

And that what God has declared will come to pass.

 

The Sermon, The Sign

#3 THE SPECIFICS

1 Kings 13:7-10

 

And this is a crucial part of our story.

 

Now you will notice that Jeroboam has a great idea.

His plan is to draw the young man in and eventually corrupt him.

 

Jeroboam offers him what we only seek from God and no man.

(7) “Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”

 

Of course “rest” and “reward” come only from God,

But Jeroboam has a plan.

 

BUT THE YOUNG MAN KNEW BETTER.

 

(8-9) “But the man of God said to the king, “If you were to give me half your house I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place. “For so it was commanded me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way which you came.'”

 

And then the young man leaves, headed for home.

 

NOW, IF THE STORY WERE TO STOP HERE,

We would have a good old fashion example

Of what a missionary is supposed to do.

 

Go where God sends you…

Say what God gives you…

Obey what God tells you…

 

And all will be well.

 

That is certainly the calling of you who are headed to Ethiopia,

But is also the calling of everyone in this place.

 

Just be fully obedient to God.

That is the command for this young man,

And up to this point, all is well in the story.

 

But then something unexpected happens.

 

The Sermon, The Sign, The Specifics

#4 THE SEDUCTION

1 Kings 13:11-19

 

Now it is obvious that we have an old carnal prophet in our midst.

 

The fact that he is living in Bethel and is silent about what is going on

Is obvious that this old prophet has fallen far into complacency.

 

And when he hears that another prophet has come and done his job,

He is intrigued, and wants to know where he went.

 

No one really knows why.

But whatever the reason, he goes after him, and invites him home.

 

But, the young prophet has clear commands from God.

(16-17) “He said, “I cannot return with you, nor go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. “For a command came to me by the word of the LORD, ‘You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there; do not return by going the way which you came.'”

 

This young “man of God” is sticking to the commands of God.

 

And then comes the seduction.

(18-19) “He said to him, “I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.'” But he lied to him. So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water.”

 

This old prophet showed up

And played the classic role of a false prophet.

 

He invented his own story,

And even claimed that it came from God by way of an angel.

 

That is just like the false prophets of old.

Jeremiah 23:16 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; They speak a vision of their own imagination, Not from the mouth of the LORD.”

Ezekiel 13:6-7 “They see falsehood and lying divination who are saying, ‘The LORD declares,’ when the LORD has not sent them; yet they hope for the fulfillment of their word. “Did you not see a false vision and speak a lying divination when you said, ‘The LORD declares,’ but it is not I who have spoken?”‘”

 

That is precisely what this old prophet did.

 

And that is not surprising, we can all expect to have false prophets

Tell us things that they claim to be truth.

Heresy and deception are promised through the Bible.

 

We overcome such heresy by relying not on what they say,

But on what we know that God has said.

 

It is called DISCERNMENT

We take what others tell us and run it through the filter of the word of God.

 

Paul told the Thessalonians:

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.”

 

God had told his people this very thing through Moses.

Deuteronomy 13:1-4 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. “You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.”

 

Don’t get caught up in smoke and mirrors of deception.

 

When God speaks, and we know it is God, listen to it.

But do not get duped by someone who claims to speak from God,

Especially if their message contradicts the word of God.

 

It would have been good if that young prophet

Would have headed those warnings.

 

BUT FAILED TO USE DISCERNMENT

And “he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water.”

 

NOW LOOK, HE’S NOT A CARNAL MAN.

If he were, he would have taken Jeroboam’s offer of a reward.

He’s not carnal, he’s naïve.

 

It is like he didn’t think deception was real.

Deception is real,

That is why we have to make sure we know the word of God.

2 Peter 1:19 “So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.”

 

Learn the word of God

So you won’t be seduced by the devil’s messenger.

 

The Sermon The Sign The Specifics The Seduction

#5 THE SENTENCING

1 Kings 13:20-25

 

Now, we see God shows up.

 

All of a sudden the old prophet is no longer quoting angels,

God actually delivers a message through Him.

(God did the same through the lying prophet Balaam)

 

And the message is because you disobeyed,

You will “not come to the grave of your fathers.”

 

And certainly he did not,

For God commanded a lion to kill him on the way home.

 

We know this is of God, for the donkey and lion are both acting very peculiar. The donkey is running and the lion isn’t eating.

 

God poured out divine judgment on this “man of God”

 

If it sounds a little harsh, that is because it most definitely is.

 

This man had become a public icon.

His message was nationwide,

And his sin was detrimental to the message he preached.

 

When God sends a public messenger

He is concerned about more than just the message he preaches.

All aspects of faithfulness are expected.

And when public spokesmen sin, they are judged publicly.

 

This man forsook discernment, believed a lie, disobeyed God

And found himself in the midst of God’s judgment.

 

The Sermon The Sign The Specifics The Seduction The Sentencing

#6 THE SUMMARY

1 Kings 13:26-32

 

Now you will notice as soon as the traveling men show up with the story

The old prophet immediately knows who it is.

 

And he goes to get the young man’s body and buries him,

Instructing his sons to bury him next to the prophet when he dies.

 

Possibly he felt guilty.

 

But one thing is for certain,

Since God judged this young prophet’s disobedience,

The old prophet is certain that the message he spoke

Was directly from God.

 

(32) “For the thing shall surely come to pass which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria.”

 

And there we see that God will get His point across,

Either by you or in spite of you.

 

AND SO HERE WE ARE TODAY

 

We are about to send 5 missionaries to Africa on mission.

If I could drive home any point to you this morning it would be this.

 

OBEY GOD FULLY

 

Certainly when you preach to others

You will tell them to fully obey God.

Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

 

We know you are going to tell them to obey.

 

THE COMMAND IS THE SAME FOR YOU.

• Be obedient to go.

• Be obedient to proclaim the gospel.

• And be obedient to the gospel that you preach.

 

You may have heard it put differently in our modern terms.

 

“If you are going to talk the talk, you better walk the walk.”

“Practice what you preach”

 

God is not only concerned about you proclaiming His message,

God is also concerned with you obeying His message.

 

 

When you go to this foreign country,

God expects nothing less of you than faithfulness.

 

CHRISTIANS KILL THEIR MINISTRY

BECAUSE THEY DO NOT OBEY THE MESSAGE THEY PREACH.

 

Our world is literally overcome with empty confessors.

Titus 1:16 “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.”

 

James 2:14-17 “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”

 

What this world is desperate to see is a Christian

That preaches truth and follows Christ.

 

BE THAT TYPE OF CHRISTIAN IN ETHIOPIA.

 

BUT I ALSO THIS MORNING WANT TO PREACH TO US ALL.

 

We may not all be going to Ethiopia,

But we are all called on mission.

 

And this morning, I want to encourage you

To learn from this young prophet as well.

 

HALF-WAY OBEDIENCE IS NOT ACCEPTABLE TO GOD.

You cannot preach the message of truth to others

If you will not obey it in your own life.

 

You can’t tell people to repent – if you won’t.

You can’t tell people to submit – if you won’t

You can’t tell people to trust – if you don’t

 

YOUR OBEDIENCE MATTERS JUST AS MUCH AS YOUR MESSAGE.

If you don’t believe me, ask this “man of God”

 

 

 

THESE FIVE ARE FORCED TO COMMIT TO TOTAL OBEDIENCE.

This morning will you stand beside them

And commit to obey God unconditionally as well?

 

Every command has a purpose, and every command matters.

 

James 1:22-25 “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.”

 

1 Kings 11:26-12:33

(Read 1 Kings 12:25-33)

 

This morning you could say that we are moving backward here a little bit,

But that will happen some in this book.

 

What you have is the intermingling history of two different nations.

It is two histories occurring simultaneously

And that lends itself to confusion at times.

 

Last week we talked about “Rehoboam: The Foolish King”

• He was the man who would not seek God.

• He was the man who would not accept wise counsel.

• He was the man who would not face reality.

 

Instead of realizing that he was not gold,

He spent the end of his life polishing bronze.

 

At the same time that Rehoboam was polishing bronze in Judah, Jeroboam was reigning in Israel.

They were both King at the same time.

 

So this morning, let’s back up and take a look now

At the Northern Kingdom’s first King.

“Jeroboam: The King who caused Israel to stumble.”

 

He is not the most wicked to reign, Ahab will grab that distinction,

But Jeroboam is where it all started.

 

He got Israel off on the wrong foot, and she stumbled never to recover.

 

Three things: (the first two rather quickly)

#1 THE SELECTION OF JEROBOAM

1 Kings 11:26-40

 

We studied the beginning of this chapter a couple of weeks ago

As we saw the Problem of Solomon.

 

Solomon had betrayed the Lord by worshiping foreign gods,

And because of that heresy God made a proclamation.

 

1 Kings 11:11-12 “So the LORD said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant. “Nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.”

 

That servant would prove to be none other than Jeroboam.

 

You see the initial Selection of Jeroboam in verses 26-32

READ 1 KINGS 11:26-32

 

And so you see God’s choice.

 

God will even go so far as to tell Jeroboam why He is doing this.

READ VERSE 33

 

So you see as God selects Jeroboam He immediately outlines

The type of behavior that is not acceptable to Him.

 

Beyond that, God will give Jeroboam the type of behavior that He rewards.

READ VERSES 34-36

 

God wanted a man like David who would serve Him with a whole heart

And keep His commandments.

 

And then God gives the charge to Jeroboam.

READ VERSES 37-39

 

So at this point, things ought to be crystal clear to Jeroboam.

 

Solomon’s folly has opened the door for Jeroboam to be King,

And if he will follow David’s example,

Then he will be a great King with a long lineage.

 

That is the selection of Jeroboam.

#2 THE SEATING OF JEROBOAM

1 Kings 12:21-24

 

This is the day that Jeroboam’s kingdom was established before God.

 

Now we are in the middle of the events we talked about last week.

• Rehoboam was a fool, and he split the kingdom.

• The 10 northern tribes departed and followed Jeroboam.

• Solomon gathered 180,000 to try and get them back

 

What we have here is the making of a civil war.

But it was the shortest civil war in the history of the world.

 

BEFORE REHOBOAM COULD FIGHT, GOD SPOKE TO HIM

 

(24) “Thus says the LORD, “You must not go up and fight against your relatives the sons of Israel; return every man to his house, for this thing has come from Me.” So they listened to the word of the LORD, and returned and went their way according to the word of the LORD.”

 

When Jeroboam led Israel away, it was not an act of insurrection,

It was an act of God.

 

Romans 13:1 “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”

 

And here Rehoboam is forced to accept the fact.

 

THE POINT THUS FAR:

God SELECTED Jeroboam and explained to him all that was expected.

God SEATED Jeroboam and made his kingdom firm and secure.

 

You would think that at this point Jeroboam

Would be overcome with the grace and mercy of the Lord.

 

YOU WOULD EXPECT HIM TO FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF DAVID

But that is not at all what he did.

 

The Selection of Jeroboam: The Seating of Jeroboam

#3 THE SIN OF JEROBOAM

1 Kings 12:25-33

 

Now before we get into the specifics of his sin,

Let me first point out that the sin of Jeroboam was no minor sin.

 

In fact, what he does here, Israel will never recover from.

 

Jeroboam became King in 931 BC

Israel would be conquered by Assyria in 722 BC

(a period of 209 years – nearly the age of USA)

 

After Jeroboam, 19 different men would fight for the throne of Israel.

(Some reigned simultaneously)

Of those 19, the Scripture explicitly says that

14 of them walked in “the sin of Jeroboam son of Nebat”.

 

That doesn’t mean the others didn’t, but for 14 of the 19,

Scripture explicitly says that they did.

 

This sin of Jeroboam was a major stumbling block.

 

In fact when Israel would be destroyed 209 years later,

Listen to God’s reasoning why.

2 Kings 17:21-23 “When He had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the LORD and made them commit a great sin. The sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them until the LORD removed Israel from His sight, as He spoke through all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day.”

 

The sin of Jeroboam was a sin that Israel never recovered from,

And it was a sin that eventually led to her destruction.

Now before we see the specifics of that sin,

Let’s look at why he did it.

 

Why would a person who had received such grace and mercy from God turn against God with such a heinous sin?

 

(25-27) “Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel. Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. “If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.”

 

DID YOU SEE THE MOTIVE OF JEROBOAM?

Fear

 

He was afraid that if people kept traveling to Jerusalem to worship,

Then eventually they would turn against him and leave his kingdom.

 

He has completely forgotten

• The HAND OF GOD to pull them away from Rehoboam.

• The POWER OF GOD to keep them away from Rehoboam.

 

And he is afraid that he will lose his kingdom.

 

Now, if this sermon were given to preachers,

I would warn you of the dangers of being too worried

About the numbers in your church.

 

Don’t be willing to altar the word of God

Just to keep people happy and in attendance.

 

Adrian Rogers – “We don’t have to get together. The Southern Baptist Convention doesn’t have to survive. I don’t have to be the pastor at Bellevue. I don’t have to live. But I’m not gonna compromise the word of God.”

 

None the less, you see a very selfish motive here from Jeroboam.

He is not concerned about God, or the people’s relationship with God,

He is only concerned about the people’s loyalty to himself.

 

Now let’s look at what this selfish fear drove him to do.

 

READ VERSES 28-33

 

Instead of sending the people to Jerusalem to worship,

He built two golden calves and had them worship closer to home.

Now obviously we have an issue with the second commandment.

Exodus 20:4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.”

 

Jeroboam had dumbed God down to a likeness of a calf.

That in itself is foolish.

 

Isaiah 46:5-9 “To whom would you liken Me And make Me equal and compare Me, That we would be alike? “Those who lavish gold from the purse And weigh silver on the scale Hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; They bow down, indeed they worship it. “They lift it upon the shoulder and carry it; They set it in its place and it stands there. It does not move from its place. Though one may cry to it, it cannot answer; It cannot deliver him from his distress. “Remember this, and be assured; Recall it to mind, you transgressors. “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me,”

 

Jeroboam attempted to bring God down to his level.

 

And when the Scripture continually says that Israel stumbled over this,

It means that the people never quit worshiping before these golden calves until the day that Israel was destroyed.

 

Israel would never get over this decision.

 

BUT THERE IS MORE HERE THAN JUST IDOLATRY

Jeroboam changed the way Israel viewed the word of God.

 

There are three things Jeroboam taught the people in this heinous act.

1) GOD’S REQUIREMENTS ARE TOO EXHAUSTING (28-30)

 

Jeroboam took counsel and said,

“What can I do to keep the people in my kingdom?”

 

The answer:

Cater to their love of self, and make religion

All about their desires instead of God’s requirements.

 

And that is what he did.

He replaced what God desired

With what he thought the people wanted.

 

(28) “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem:”

 

DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE WAS SAYING?

God’s commands are too exhausting.

It is too much work to try and obey God.

 

After all, it only matters that God is worshiped,

Does it really matter where?

Deuteronomy 12:10-14 “When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security, then it shall come about that the place in which the LORD your God will choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution of your hand, and all your choice votive offerings which you will vow to the LORD. “And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance with you. “Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every cultic place you see, but in the place which the LORD chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.”

 

It mattered to God, and He was clear about it,

But Jeroboam challenged it.

 

“It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt. He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.”

 

Jeroboam said, “God’s requirements are too hard to be obeyed.”

 

DOES IT HAPPEN TODAY?

Sure it does.

 

You don’t have to tell others about Jesus, it’s too intimidating…

You don’t have to tithe, it’s too expensive…

You don’t have to read your Bible daily, it’s too time consuming…

You don’t have to go on mission, it’s too dangerous…

 

Listen:

Jesus had a favorite command for people. “Follow Me”

 

• Leave your mother, leave your father

• Leave your fishing business, leave your tax booth

• Leave your ambition, leave your dreams

• Leave your sin, leave your selfishness

• Be homeless, hated, persecuted, and martyred

 

But still the command was, “Follow Me”

 

Consider what Jesus said to Peter, just before the Ascension.

John 21:18-19 “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.” Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me!”

 

 

Jesus knew God’s requirements were hard,

But that doesn’t mean you don’t have to follow them.

 

Luke 13:24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”

 

It won’t be easy, but it must be done.

 

Whoever gets off telling someone you don’t have to obey God just because obedience is hard?

 

I WAS FACED WITH THIS DILEMMA THIS WEEK.

A woman came in whose husband was beating her and others had told her to get a divorce, but she wasn’t sure, and she asked me.

 

BUT HARDSHIIP DOES NOT JUSTIFY DISOBEDIENCE.

 

That mindset came from Jeroboam,

And it led Israel into a belief that they only had to obey

Those commands that came easy.

 

No wonder Israel wondered away from God.

 

Jeroboam taught them that God’s requirements are too exhausting.

But that is not all he taught them:

 

2) GOD’S REQUIREMENTS ARE TOO EXCLUSIVE (31)

 

He had new worship sites,

So he needed new temples and new priests.

The only problem was that the Levites served in Jerusalem.

 

But that didn’t matter to Jeroboam.

God’s requirements were too exclusive, anybody can be a priest.

 

After all, it only matters that the sacrifices are given,

It doesn’t really matter who performs the sacrifice does it?

 

It does to God.

Numbers 3:40-45 “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Number every firstborn male of the sons of Israel from a month old and upward, and make a list of their names. “You shall take the Levites for Me, I am the LORD, instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the cattle of the sons of Israel.” So Moses numbered all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, just as the LORD had commanded him; and all the firstborn males by the number of names from a month old and upward, for their numbered men were 22,273. Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel and the cattle of the Levites. And the Levites shall be Mine; I am the LORD.”

 

It mattered.

Ask Saul about it.

He was tired of waiting on Samuel, so he offered the sacrifice himself.

 

Look at what Samuel told him:

1 Samuel 13:13-14 “Samuel said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, for now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. “But now your kingdom shall not endure. The LORD has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”

 

Apparently it mattered a whole lot to God.

But Jeroboam thought God was too exclusive.

 

DOES THAT SORT OF THING HAPPEN TODAY?

Of course it does.

 

Like it or not God sets requirements for people.

 

If you want to be a PREACHER, you must be a man above reproach…

If you want to be a DEACON, you must be a tested servant…

If you want to be MARRIED, it must be to a member of the opposite sex…

If you want to get DIVORCED, it must be Scripturally permitted…

If you want to be a CHRISTIAN, you must deny yourself and fully trust Christ…

 

But come on, those requirements are too rigid.

(We are all about loving people)

 

Let anybody preach, it doesn’t matter who they are…

Let anybody be a deacon, so what if they don’t fit the requirements…

Let anybody get married, all that matters is their happiness…

Let anybody get divorced, they shouldn’t have to suffer…

Let anybody claim Christianity, who cares if they really trust Christ…

 

And in doing so we teach people

That God’s holy standard doesn’t matter.

 

That is what Jeroboam taught Israel,

And so they learned to ignore God’s righteous standard,

And they fell into heresy.

 

But that is still not all he did.

He said God’s requirements are too exhausting…

He said God’s requirements are too exclusive…

3) GOD’S REQUIREMENTS ARE TOO EXPLICIT (32-33)

 

In other words,

God gives far too much detail with His commands.

(32) “Jeroboam instituted a feast on the eight month…”

 

Now you go back and read Leviticus,

There are no feasts on the eighth month.

 

Leviticus 23:39-44 “On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the LORD for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day. ‘Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. ‘You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. ‘You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.'” So Moses declared to the sons of Israel the appointed times of the LORD.”

 

God was very explicit about when the feasts were to occur,

But Jeroboam didn’t care.

 

In fact look down at verse 33.

(33) “Then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eight month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart”

 

This was not God’s command, this was Jeroboam’s idea.

 

But what does it matter.

I mean, all that matters is that we have the feast,

It doesn’t really matter when does it?

Of course it does.

 

Obedience matters to God

 

Jeroboam taught people your idea is just as good as God’s.

You don’t have to give God the worship He requires,

Just give Him the worship you want to give Him.

 

That is what Israel started to do, and God was never pleased.

 

No wonder they ended up in judgment.

God’s requirements are too EXHAUSTING – let’s do something easier

God’s requirements are too EXCLUSIVE – let’s lower the standard

God’s requirements are too EXPLICIT – let’s loosen the boundaries

 

And Israel never got over it.

King after King stumbled after Jeroboam,

And 209 years later Israel was destroyed in the exact same sin.

 

SO WHAT IS THE POINT FOR US THIS MORNING?

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH THE COMMANDS OF GOD?

 

Certainly we cannot list every command in the Bible,

But every command is important.

 

Jeroboam was that he had a poor esteem for the word of God.

No command was sacred to him.

According to him all of them could be altered.

 

When he read the word of God, he took none of them serious.

 

“Just get close,

But certainly don’t put yourself out by obeying God.”

 

And that mindset destroys the Church.

 

It is a low view of Scripture, and it is not what God is looking for.

 

James 1:19-25 “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.”

 

1 John 2:3-5 “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:”

 

SO HOW ABOUT YOU?

 

Don’t be a Jeroboam type Christian.

 

• One who rejects anything TOO DIFFICULT…

• One who rejects anything TOO EXCLUSIVE…

• One who rejects anything TOO SPECIFIC…

 

Instead set your heart to know and obey God’s word.

 

John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

 

1 Kings 14:21-31

 

As we study the Kings, one theme continually emerges:

The Importance of Seeking and Trusting God.

 

Throughout these two books, prosperity and blessing

Are definitely linked to how much a person seeks and trusts God.

 

We just came from a person, at least early on, did that very well.

Solomon was blessed because Solomon sought the Lord.

 

BUT MY WHAT A DIFFERENCE

A CHANGE IN ADMINISTRATION CAN MAKE.

 

We are about to leave behind the King who is famous for his wisdom,

And look at one of the most foolish Kings to ever sit upon the throne.

 

We are talking about King Rehoboam.

He was “The Foolish King”

 

In fact, his foolishness was in part a punishment on Solomon.

 

I told you, that Solomon wrote a book of regret at the end of his life.

 

Listen to one of the statements he made.

Ecclesiastes 2:18-19 “Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity.”

 

That passage turned out to be prophetic as Rehoboam was indeed a fool.

 

Rehoboam was 41 when he began to reign.

Solomon reigned for 40 years, which of course means that Rehoboam was one year old when Solomon took the throne, and Rehoboam had the benefit of watching his father’s entire reign.

 

If anything, Rehoboam should have been wiser than Solomon,

But he wasn’t.

WHY?

2 Chronicles 12:14 “He did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.”

 

This was of course just the opposite of Solomon.

 

Solomon sought God at Gibeon and asked for “an understanding heart” Rehoboam never saw the need to seek God at all.

 

It was arrogance…

It was self-reliance…

IT WAS FOOLISH

Psalms 14:1 “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good.”

 

“A person who doesn’t seek God, a person who doesn’t obey God;

That is a person who doesn’t truly believe in God. They are a fool.”

 

And that was Rehoboam, who refused to seek after God.

 

And so this morning, having seen the epitome of wisdom,

Let us now examine what it looks like to be a fool.

 

There are two main events that Scripture tells us about Rehoboam,

That enable us to see his foolishness.

 

#1 HIS FOOLISH DECISION

1 Kings 12:1-19

 

God had already promised Solomon that he would rip the kingdom from the hand of his son, and give it to Jeroboam.

This is how God chose to do it.

 

• When Solomon died, Jeroboam returned from exile in Egypt

• He sent delegates to approach Rehoboam to ask him to lessen the load.

 

Then occurs the first major blunder of Rehoboam.

 

Remember Solomon at the beginning of his reign?

1 Kings 3:7-9 “Now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. “Your servant is in the midst of Your people which You have chosen, a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. “So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”

 

When Solomon felt inadequate…

When Solomon felt uncapable…

Solomon went to God.

 

But Rehoboam did not.

Rehoboam went to men.

Now, for what it is worth, he did receive some good advice from some.

 

(6-7) “King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, “How do you counsel me to answer this people?” Then they spoke to him, saying, “If you will be a servant to this people today, and will serve them and grant them their petition, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”

They gave him some of the same advice that Jesus would have given.

Luke 22:25-27 “And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called ‘Benefactors.’ “But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant. “For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.”

 

These elders reflect in their answer that they indeed

Had learned from Solomon and did possess the wisdom of God.

 

So even though Rehoboam did not seek God directly,

He did at least have God’s wisdom made available.

 

BUT: Rehoboam was foolish.

(8) “But he forsook the counsel of the elders which they had given him, and consulted with the young men who grew up with him and served him.”

He wouldn’t become a servant,

But he would only listen to those who served him.

 

And their advice was not wise.

In fact it was tailor made to suit and please Rehoboam.

 

Their advice is filled with ego, pride, and arrogance.

(10-11) “The young men who grew up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you shall say to this people who spoke to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, now you make it lighter for us!’ But you shall speak to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins! ‘Whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.'”

 

They stroked Rehoboam’s ego,

And of course it was their advice that he followed.

 

And you know the results:

(16) “When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; To your tents, O Israel! Now look after your own house, David!” So Israel departed to their tents.”

 

And of course Rehoboam would try to get them back,

But it was futile, for this was of God.

 

SO WHAT DO WE SEE FROM REHOBOAH?

• He failed to understand true greatness (servant)

• He failed to listen to Godly counsel

• He acted in arrogance, and split the kingdom.

And Solomon’s worst fears came to fruition.

The man who reigned after him was fool,

And most of what Solomon had worked for was stripped away.

 

WHAT DO WE LEARN THERE FROM REHOBOAM?

 

Namely, that wisdom is not automatic.

 

Many people think that wisdom just naturally comes with age,

Or with experience. Some think they naturally have it.

How foolish.

 

WISDOM DOES NOT COME NATURAL TO ANYONE.

 

Psalms 14:2-3 “The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men To see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.

 

Wisdom does not come natural.

You only get it by seeking God.

 

James 1:5 “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

 

You have to seek God for wisdom,

But of course that was the one thing Rehoboam would not do.

 

Those of you who have been with us on Sunday nights,

Know that this was the topic of last Sunday night.

 

If you are to ever be wise, you must first realize that you are not.

Proverbs 4:7 “The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; And with all your acquiring, get understanding.”

 

Paul told the Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 3:18-20 “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is THE ONE WHO CATCHES THE WISE IN THEIR CRAFTINESS”; and again, “THE LORD KNOWS THE REASONINGS of the wise, THAT THEY ARE USELESS.”

 

Wisdom belongs to God, and if you are ever to achieve it,

The first thing you must realize is that you do not have it.

 

I don’t care how financially successful…

I don’t care how educated you are…

I don’t care how much experience you have…

 

None of those things equals wisdom before God.

In fact “The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.”

TO BE WISE, YOU MUST FIRST BECOME A FOOL.

You must first humble yourself before God

And ask Him to show you what you do not know.

 

Bill Parcells, “He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.”

 

It is arrogance to make your own plans without seeking His will.

 

James actually said:

James 4:13-16 “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.”

Those are the ways of a fool.

THOSE ARE THE WAYS OF REHOBOAM.

 

IS THAT YOU?

Do you seek the wisdom of God in His word, before you go forward with your decisions in life?

 

Don’t be a fool. Seek God’s will.

 

So we see His Foolish Decision.

#2 HIS FOOLISH DISPLAY

1 Kings 14:21-31

 

This was of course the passage we read to open the sermon.

Don’t worry about the text we are skipping over,

It involves Jereboam, and we will return to it.

 

But I want to show you one more display of foolishness

From Rehoboam here this morning.

 

At this point, in his ministry, the kingdom has been split.

Jereboam has led 10 of the 12 tribes away from Rehoboam.

 

But Rehoboam went ahead with what he had.

And began to strengthen the nation of Judah.

 

But there was a problem.

Once Rehoboam succeeded in fortifying Judah,

Here is what the writer of Chronicles wrote:

 

2 Chronicles 12:1-2 “When the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and strong, he and all Israel with him forsook the law of the LORD. And it came about in King Rehoboam’s fifth year, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.”

 

Obviously Rehoboam learned nothing from his father’s down fall,

For he is doing the same thing.

 

The writer of Kings gives the details of this defection.

(14:21-24) “Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put His name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked Him to jealousy more than all that their fathers had done, with the sins which they committed. For they also built for themselves high places and sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and beneath every luxuriant tree. There were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD dispossessed before the sons of Israel.”

 

This guy went into full scale idolatry.

 

If you were to go back and read Chronicles

Shishak nearly destroyed all Judah.

Rehoboam humbled himself, and God stopped it.

 

God would not allow Shishak to completely destroy Judah,

But God did allow Shishak to plunder them.

 

And that is where we are back in 1 Kings 14

(25-26) “Now it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house, and he took everything, even taking all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.”

Shishak took all the major treasure of Judah.

In fact, Rehoboam may have even given it to him by way of a treaty.

 

But thanks to Rehoboam’s foolishness, Judah has now been plundered.

 

You would expect now for Rehoboam to be in a state of humility,

And would finally turn to God for direction and guidance.

 

BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT REHOBOAM DOES.

 

(27-28) “So King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place, and committed them to the care of the commanders of the guard who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. Then it happened as often as the king entered the house of the LORD, that the guards would carry them and would bring them back into the guards’ room.”

 

Instead of coming to a point of humility, and beginning to seek God, that instead Rehoboam begins to put on a false appearance.

 

He didn’t have any gold to display, so instead he used brass.

 

Now this is interesting.

Gold and Brass look very similar, but what is the problem with brass?

It tarnishes. You have to continually polish it to make it shine.

 

AND THAT SUMS UP THE REIGN OF REHOBOAM.

He is not a golden king, he is simply polished brass.

 

• His father was genuine, he was a fake.

• His father was wise, he was a fool.

• His father shines the blessings of God, he was stuck polishing brass.

 

Instead of seeking God and trusting God

And maintaining a life of faithful obedience to God,

Rehoboam tried to fake it and look like God was blessing him.

 

WE HAVE A WORD FOR THIS TODAY

HYPOCRISY

 

They don’t really have a relationship with God,

But they try to look like they do for their own personal glory.

 

REMEMBER THE PHARISEES?

THEY DID NOT KNOW GOD.

Yet they prayed in public.

THEY DID NOT LOVE GOD.

Yet everyone saw them fast.

THEY DID NOT SACRIFICE FOR GOD.

Yet what was given, was given for all to see.

 

Instead of being the genuine article,

They woke up every morning and polished their brass.

 

Jesus actually called them fools.

Matthew 23:16-17 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘ Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’ “You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?”

 

Jesus would go on:

Matthew 23:25-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

 

According to Jesus, to put on a display of greatness

When you have no true greatness is foolish.

 

That is what Rehoboam did.

That is what the Pharisees did.

And yet that is what foolish people do today.

Instead of truly dealing with God,

They just put on a show of religion in order to fool men.

 

They don’t have the wealth of the kingdom of God in their lives,

Instead they wake up in the morning and polish their brass

To make it look like they do.

 

It is all for appearance…

It is all for show…

But God is not deceived…

 

AND THAT IS FOOLISH

WHY?

 

BECAUSE YOU ONLY END UP DECEIVING YOURSELF.

GOD IS NOT FOOLED

Matthew 7:21-27 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell — and great was its fall.”

 

REHOBOAM WAS A FOOL.

Not because he deceived others, but because he deceived himself.

 

• Despite his failures…

• Despite his blunders…

• Despite his rebellion against God…

 

Rehoboam convinced himself that he was still great

And that he deserved to look the part.

HOW ABOUT YOU?

It is foolish to fail to seek the Lord.

 

It is even more foolish to fail to seek the Lord

And yet to pretend like everything is ok.

 

I’M HERE TO TELL YOU TODAY,

That if you have never humbled yourself of pride

And sought out the salvation of God,

Confessing your sins and fully surrendering your life to Jesus

 

Then you have absolutely no basis for feeling secure in salvation.

 

There is but one way to be saved and it requires

You denying you and fully surrendering your heart to Jesus Christ.

 

Matthew 16:24-27 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”

 

 

Some day your metal will be tested.

Is it gold, or are you just polishing brass?

 

 

There are many in the world today who try to look like a Christian

Without actually becoming a Christian.

It won’t wash, and furthermore, it is foolish.

 

 

 

This morning, I am asking you to finally quit playing the game.

Humble yourself before God,

Seek His wisdom, and His will,

And be a partaker in His salvation.