[0:00] And turn with me to 1 Kings chapter 11. 1 Kings chapter 11. Today's going to be a little bit different message than what I normally do.
[0:13] Today you're going to feel like Ezra with the children of Israel. There's going to be a lot of scripture reading taking place this morning. But what I'm doing, as you can see behind me, those of you who were with me on Wednesday night, we have been talking about Elijah. And Elijah and Ahab, in there it says that Ahab followed after the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.
[0:40] And I've mentioned that phrase is used like 20 different times in the Bible at least. The sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. So I said we were going to take a look at that.
[0:51] And so that's what we're going to do this week and next week. Today I'm laying foundation and we're going to talk about part of his sin and then we'll talk about another part of it next week. So you've got background for what's taking place here. You've got two kingdoms.
[1:09] Solomon has died and now the kingdom has been split. Jeroboam gets the northern ten kingdoms and becomes Israel. Rehoboam gets the southern kingdom, Judah. And they have two different kingdoms going on at the same time.
[1:29] And Jeroboam was a servant of Solomon. Rehoboam was Solomon's son.
[1:40] The rightful heir. But he only gets the one kingdom. Why is all that? Well we're going to talk about all that stuff this morning as to why all these things happened. And Jeroboam, as much as it's mentioned, the sin of Jeroboam, he was not the worst king Israel had.
[1:59] Matter of fact, those who were getting with me on Wednesday night, we found out Ahab. What did God say about Ahab? He was worse than all the ones before him combined. He was worse.
[2:11] But here's Jeroboam and Jeroboam's going to get them off on the wrong foot. Jeroboam's going to lead them down the wrong path and start them on their journey to being the nation that God did not want them to be.
[2:25] So we're going to start off talking this week about three different things. First of all, the selection of Jeroboam. The selection of Jeroboam. Solomon had betrayed God. By worshipping false gods.
[2:37] Remember the 700 wives, 300 concubines, or whichever, maybe it was the other way around. But anyways, he had a bunch of ladies. And they led him down a path where he began following false gods.
[2:50] And as he did that, he led Israel in the wrong way. And because of this heresy, God made a proclamation. Look with me at 1 Kings chapter 11, beginning at verse 11.
[3:02] And it says, Wherefore, the Lord said unto Solomon, For as much as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee and will give it to thy servant.
[3:19] Notwithstanding in thy days, I will not do it for David thy father's sake, but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. So the servant that's going to get it is Jeroboam.
[3:33] The one that's going to be rended from is Rehoboam. Look with me at verse 26. And Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomon's servant, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow woman, even he lifted up his hand against the king.
[3:57] And this was the cause that he lifted up his hand against the king. Solomon built Milo and repaired the breaches of the city of David, his father. And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor.
[4:09] And Solomon, seeing the young man, that he was industrious, that he was made ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph. And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem that the prophet Ahijah, the Shulonite, found him in the way.
[4:31] And he had clad himself with a new garment, and they too were alone in the field. And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him and rented it into twelve pieces. And said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces.
[4:45] For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to thee.
[4:56] For he shall not have one tribe for my servant David's sake and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. So God's making a choice.
[5:07] He's making a choice to separate the kingdom, and he's going to give part of it to Jeroboam. Let's have a word of prayer, and then we'll talk about why all of this happened.
[5:19] Do you have any, Father? I pray that you would help us today to understand everything that's taking place here, to understand how it applies to our lives. Lord, you have blessed us in so many ways.
[5:32] You have given us so much. And yet so often we take it for granted. So often we allow other things to come into our life and replace you as king of our life.
[5:44] Lord, you have blessed in so many ways, and yet we forget. And we go our own way and do our own thing. Lord, I pray that you would help us today to learn from Jeroboam and the sin that he committed.
[5:58] And Lord, as we go into next week, I pray that you would help us to learn. Father, there are so many things here for us to be aware of. Lord, help us to take it in.
[6:09] Help us to apply it. Help us to grow because of our knowledge of it. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So God had made a choice, and he went so far as to tell Jeroboam why he was doing this.
[6:24] Look at verse 33. Because they have forsaken me and have worshipped Ashtaroth, the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh, the god of the Moabites, and Melchom, the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways to do that which is right in my eyes and to keep my statutes and my judgments as did David, his father.
[6:49] So you see, God has selected Jeroboam, and when he does that, he immediately outlines what is right and what is wrong about ruling a kingdom.
[7:02] He points out to him the behavior there that Solomon did that was not acceptable to him. Then he goes beyond that and he says, okay, this is what was wrong.
[7:13] They were worshipping false gods. Let me show you what's the right way to do it. Verse 34. Howbeit, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him a prince all the days of his life for David my servant's sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes.
[7:32] But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and will give it unto thee even ten tribes. And unto his son will I give one tribe that David my servant may have a light all the way before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there.
[7:50] He says, look, they have chosen to go a different way, but I'm going to let them keep one kingdom and this is the reason, because of David. Because of David and the life he lived.
[8:01] Now David had his problems. We all know David. We all know what kind of life he lived. And he had his problems. But David is also known as the man after God's own heart. Aside from the couple problems that he had, he tried his best to follow God in everything that he did.
[8:17] He wanted to serve God and wanted to have him at the forefront of everything that he did. And he says, because of that, I'm going to allow his offspring, Rehoboam, to keep the one kingdom.
[8:30] But I'm going to give the rest to you because they have not followed me. And so, Jeroboam, when you go out and you're going to become king of these ten kingdoms, here's what you do. You follow the example of David.
[8:41] You live the way he did. You prioritize the way he prioritized. You make his priorities yours. And you follow me.
[8:52] God wanted a man like David who would keep his commandments with his whole heart. Then, God charges Jeroboam. Look at verse 37. And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth, and shalt be king over Israel.
[9:10] And it shall be, if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee, and will walk in my ways, and do that which is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, that I will be with thee, and build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and gave Israel unto thee.
[9:32] And I will for this afflict the seed of David, but not forever. At this point, everything should be crystal clear to Jeroboam.
[9:44] Do not follow false gods. Use David as your example. Keep my commandments and my statutes, and everything's going to go well. Pretty simple outline, isn't it?
[9:57] See, Solomon had messed up by following false gods. And so therefore, he opened the door for Jeroboam to take over.
[10:11] If Jeroboam would follow God's outline, he will have a successful kingdom, he will have a long lineage, he will have a great life. Second thing, the seeding of Solomon, I mean of Jeroboam, the seeding of Jeroboam, God's going to make him king.
[10:30] Look again, chapter 12, verse 21. Chapter 12, verse 21. And when Jeroboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin and the hundred and four score thousand chosen men, 180,000 men, which were warriors to fight against the house of Israel to bring the kingdom again to Jeroboam, the son of Solomon.
[10:53] But the word of God came unto Shemaiah, the man of God, saying, speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying, Thus saith the Lord, ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren, the children of Israel.
[11:18] Return every man to his house, for this thing is of me. They hearkened, therefore, to the word of the Lord, and returned to depart according to the word of the Lord.
[11:30] This day, Jeroboam's kingdom is established. Jeroboam's takes over ten tribes. He has the backing of God to do that.
[11:43] He is all set. And here we have the making of a civil war on our hands. To Israel, Judah, Rehoboam's ready to go after them. He's ready to go and have a civil war.
[11:54] Winds up being the shortest civil war in history because before Rehoboam could even make a move, God says, no, you're not going to do that. You're not going to go out against Israel.
[12:09] He says, you shall not go up, and there in verse 24, nor fight against your brethren, the children of Israel. Return every man to his house. So, when Jeroboam led Israel away from Rehoboam, it looks like, okay, Rehoboam has this part, Jeroboam has this part, Jeroboam's leaving, it's an act of insurrection, it's an act of rebellion, no, it's none of those things.
[12:35] What's happening is an act of God. God put Jeroboam in that place. God said to Rehoboam, no, you're not going up against them. God is in control of what's taking place here.
[12:47] What does it say in Romans 13, 1? That every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God.
[12:58] Here's a good example. God says, Rehoboam, you've got this, Jeroboam, you've got this. And God said, that's the way it's going to be. You know, the day and age we live in, there's so many different things that takes place here and all this that we can apply.
[13:13] God put powers in place. God allows things to take place. It doesn't matter if you're for Donald Trump or if you're for Joe Biden, God is in control.
[13:29] He's got who he wants there for the time. We may not understand, we may not understand why he does things the way he does and things, but God says, the powers that are there is because I put them there.
[13:41] So pray for them and pray that God works in our country. Rehoboam has to accept the fact that God did this.
[13:52] So what are we here so far? God has selected Jeroboam and he's explained to him what he's expecting.
[14:03] No false gods, follow my commandments, use David as your example. He seated Jeroboam, made his kingdom secure and firm. No, Rehoboam, you're not going up against him.
[14:15] You're not going to do that. So you're okay, Jeroboam. So you would think at this point, Jeroboam's going, God has put me in this position.
[14:27] God has kept me from going to war with Rehoboam. God has told me everything he expects. He has told me what will happen if I follow him. I got all the...
[14:37] So you know what? I'm going to follow God. I'm going to do exactly what God says. I'm going to do everything he told me to do because then I'll have a happy life and I'll have a good kingdom and I'll have, you know, honor and all these different things.
[14:54] I'm going to do what God says. Number three, the sin of Jeroboam. The sin of Jeroboam. There in 2 Kings, I mean, 1 Kings chapter 12, look at verse 25.
[15:09] Then Jeroboam built Shechem in Mount Ephraim and dwelt therein and went out from thence and built Penuel.
[15:20] And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David, for this people shall go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem.
[15:32] Then shall the heart of the people turn again to their Lord even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. Stop right there for a second.
[15:43] See how his mind's working? Oh, wait a minute. We're supposed to go to Jerusalem. We're supposed to worship there. My people keep going up to Jerusalem. Rehoboam's going to win them back over and they're going to come back here and they're going to kill me.
[15:56] Hmm. Keep going. He then says, whereupon the king took counsel. He usually turned out badly.
[16:08] He took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto them, it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt.
[16:21] Stop right there. He makes two calves. Have we seen this before? Golden calves being made? And what does he say?
[16:31] The calves brought you out of Egypt. Isn't that where they got in trouble the first time? Thinking a calf brought them out of Egypt? Goes on. And he set one in Bethel and the other one he put in Dan.
[16:46] And this thing became a sin, you think? For the people went to worship before the one, even in Dan. And he made a house in high places. Stop right there. Those of you with me on Wednesdays, we were talking about building the idols and things to Baal.
[17:03] Where did they always put them? High places. Always put them in the high places. And it says, And he made priests of the lowest of the people which were not the sons of Levi.
[17:14] Who was supposed to be the priest? The tribe of Levi. All of those were the priests. Nobody else. Go on. Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month like unto the feast that is in Judah.
[17:31] And he offered upon the altar. Like unto the one in Judah, except for one thing. The one in Judah was on the seventh month, the fifteenth day. Nothing took place on the eighteenth day.
[17:43] I mean on the eighth month. No feast at all whatsoever. But he decided to put it there. Then it goes on. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing on the calves that he had made.
[17:53] And he placed in Bethel the priests in the high places that he had made. So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel, the fifteenth day, the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart.
[18:08] See, the month and the time he set up for the feast, he devised in his own heart. And did you see how many times it's said there that he had made? He's making things. He's making decisions.
[18:19] He's making things. God's not a part of all of this. When we look at the specifics, before we get into the specifics, let me point out a couple other things.
[18:32] This sin that Jeroboam is committing, this sin that Jeroboam is leading Israel in is no minor sin. It is a major, big deal.
[18:46] Because what is it doing? It's taking the focus off of God and putting it on Jeroboam. He's putting everything about him. Oh yes, he's got calves for them to worship.
[18:57] You know, I thought about that for a little bit. Think about making calves the gods that you worship. You know, when you think of the order of things, God, angels, man, animals.
[19:13] So we're going to make calves gods. So you've lowered God down three steps at least, and you've made your God lower than man.
[19:25] So I'm not even exalting a man. I'm exalting an animal. It's like, I went from here to worshiping this down here, and thinking this took care of me?
[19:38] Just amazing to me. Jeroboam's leading them in the wrong direction. He's leading them in a path that they're not going to recover from. Jeroboam took over as king in 931 B.C.
[19:56] 722 B.C., Israel's going to get conquered by the Assyrians. 209 years. After Jeroboam, there's going to be 19 different people who are going to fight for having the kingdom, having the throne in Israel.
[20:13] Of the 19, 14 of them, the Bible specifically says that they committed the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Naboth. 14.
[20:24] It doesn't say the others didn't, but it explicitly says those 14 followed the sin of Jeroboam. He set them on a path that they were going to go.
[20:37] He set them on a path that was going to lead them the wrong direction for the next 209 years. They're going to stumble over this thing that Jeroboam had done until God finally says that's enough.
[20:53] You're going to lose your kingdom. That's enough. You're going to be taken over by others. In fact, he's going to destroy Israel 209 years later.
[21:08] 2 Kings chapter 17 should be behind me. For he rent Israel from the house of David. And they made Jeroboam the son of the bat king.
[21:18] And Jeroboam drove Israel from the following the Lord and made them sin a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did, and they departed not from them, until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets.
[21:40] So was Israel carried away of their own land to Assyria unto this day. He says, I'm taking you out of here, you're going to be held captive in Assyria, you're leaving here, why?
[21:57] Sin of Jeroboam, following false gods, not listening to what I have to say, not following my commandments and my statutes. that sin that Jeroboam committed was a sin that they were never going to recover from, and it would eventually lead to their destruction.
[22:18] Now, why would a person who had received such grace and mercy from God turn against God with such a terrible sin?
[22:32] God's hand was upon him. God placed him in the position he was in. God gave him everything he needed for that kingdom to survive and to thrive.
[22:47] God gave him his position. Why would he go against what God wanted? Well, I don't know.
[23:01] I can't think of why he would do that. What is it? Be honest with yourself. We as Christians, God saved us. Christ came and died on the cross.
[23:13] We just passed the Easter season. Christ came and died on the cross, gave his life for us, rose again so we might have eternal life in heaven with him. He has given us everything we need.
[23:29] How often do we turn away from him? How often do we sin? How often do we go our own direction? So we look at Jeroboam and say, yeah, man, this guy was stupid.
[23:41] How could he do such a thing like that? We do the same thing all the time. We don't listen to what God has to us. We read God's word and we hear things there and we're like, we go and do our own thing.
[23:57] He turned against God. Look at chapter 12 verse 25 again. Then Jeroboam built Shechem in Mount Ephraim. Verse 26, Jeroboam said in his heart, now shall the kingdom return unto the house of David.
[24:14] If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of the people turn again unto their Lord, even unto Rehoboam the king of Judah, and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam the king of Judah.
[24:31] What is Jeroboam's motive for going against what God had told him? Fear. Fear.
[24:44] Don't we do the same thing? Do we fear what people are going to think? We fear what people are going to say? We fear how things will look? Do we fear that there's going to be ridicule?
[24:57] Do we fear? Fear is a mighty weapon in the devil's hands. And he fears for his life. He's afraid the people keep going to Jerusalem. They're going to want to go back to be part of the kingdom there.
[25:10] He, in his fear, had completely forgotten some very important points. How did he get his kingdom? The hand of God handed it to him.
[25:25] Here it is. It's yours. All you got to do is follow. The power of God. Rehoboam, you will not go up against them.
[25:39] You guys will go home, you will stay there, and you will not go. He's got the hand of God and the power of God on his life, and he's had all these things happen, and now he's forgetting all of those things that God has done for them.
[25:52] How often do we as Christians forget what God has done for us? You know, God has supplied and taken care of us in so many different ways, and yet so often we forget what he has done.
[26:12] If I was preaching this beginning of May, I go to a preacher's meeting, and we're hosting it in May, and I have to preach a message to preachers. If I was preaching this message to them, I would remind them, God gave you what you have.
[26:31] As preachers, sometimes we get frustrated. There's a lot of people missing today. For a preacher, it's like, ah. But you know what?
[26:42] It's not about how many people are there. Don't worry about the numbers. Don't be willing to alter the message of the word of God for numbers.
[26:57] One of my favorite preachers to listen to, you've heard me say this many times, Adrian Rogers. Adrian Rogers was part of the Southern Baptist Convention. He was part of the group that he and Charles Stanley and some others, they saw the convention going to the side and not being what it should be.
[27:17] They helped bring it back. And he made his comments, it would be behind me there. I don't have to get, we don't have to get together. The Southern Baptist Convention does not have to survive. I don't have to be the pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee.
[27:32] I don't have to live. But I'm not going to compromise the word of God. See, that should be our attitude. See, the word of God came to Jeroboam.
[27:46] He told Jeroboam exactly, you want to keep your kingdom, you want it to thrive, you want it to be good, this is how you do it. Jeroboam didn't keep the word of God. He didn't follow the word of God.
[27:59] And nonetheless, he did it for a selfish motive. He was not concerned about God and what he wanted. He was not concerned about his people's relationship to God.
[28:13] He was concerned about their loyalty to him. Are they going to stay loyal to me? If I do these things that God wants me to do, I'm going to have to throw out some of these gods and I'm going to have to destroy some of these temples.
[28:29] I'm going to have to do some of these. And he was too afraid of what the people would say. Again, in 20 through 33, he talks about all the different things that he did.
[28:43] setting up the high places, making the priests of the lowest people. You think about the priest. It says he made them of the lowest of the people.
[28:59] Don't you want to go to your priest or your pastor and know that he's an adulterer and a drunk and get help with your problems? I don't think so.
[29:11] But that's what he did. And again, he set up that feast on the eighth month, the fifteenth day, because he divides it in his heart. It'll be something different.
[29:22] People will remember me for it. See, instead of sending people to Jerusalem to worship, he built the two calves. He set up his own feast.
[29:32] He did all these different things. You know one of the things he had a problem with? The second commandment. Look at Exodus chapter 20 verse 4. It should be behind me. Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, than earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
[29:54] He dumbed God down to the likeness of a calf. You know, it's just amazing the fact that he would do that.
[30:07] Listen to what Isaiah said. Isaiah 46, starting at verse 5. To whom would ye liken me and make me equal and compare me that we may be like? Stop reading.
[30:19] God says, who are you going to compare me to? Who are you going to make like me? What's come even close to me? And Jeroboam goes, oh, a couple casts will work.
[30:31] I mean, think about that for a second. It's like, he goes on. They lavish gold out of the bag and waste silver in the balance and hire a goldsmith and he maketh it a god.
[30:44] They fall down, yea, they worship. Now, think about that for a second. Taking gold and silver and things, hand it to a goldsmith, make us a god. Wouldn't that make the goldsmith the god?
[30:56] If he's the one making the god? He's the one creating, he's the one doing the work. Goes on. They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and they set him in his place, and he standeth.
[31:11] From his place shall he not remove, yea, one shall cry unto him, yet he cannot answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
[31:22] Remember this, and show yourselves men. Bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else.
[31:34] I am God, and there is none like me. I am God, and there's no one else like me.
[31:45] And you're going to make a calf, say, eh, that works. It just amazes me how people think. But we do the same things, again. God is God.
[31:57] He deserves our worship. We sang worthy of worship. He is worthy of our worship, and yet, sports can become our God instead of God.
[32:11] It's more important than the time we have with God. Our house, our car, whatever I want, becomes more important to me than God himself.
[32:25] how many things have we found to replace God with? Jeroboam attempted to bring God down to his level.
[32:38] And the scripture says that the sin of Jeroboam, the son of the bat, hindered, caused people to stumble for the next 209 years.
[32:53] The people never quit worshiping those golden calves. You would think somebody would come along. And there were prophets who would come. Usually they wound up killing the prophets.
[33:08] Israel's never going to get over this decision. There's so many things here that Jeroboam did. But idolatry was not the only thing.
[33:21] Idolatry was part of it. Jeroboam's also going to change the way Israel views the word of God. And we're going to talk about that next week.
[33:35] He led them into idolatry. But remember all the things God had told him? He's now going to change the way they look at the word of God.
[33:47] And it's going to continue that sin for years and years and years to come. we'll talk about that next week. God wants us to remember he is the one and only.
[33:59] There is none else like him. When we think God what do you think? It's worthy of worship.
[34:12] It's holy, holy, holy. when I think God his name is wonderful.
[34:25] Wow, what a God we have. What has he done for us? By sending Jesus Christ to die for us so that we might have a home in heaven for all eternity.
[34:41] Is his name wonderful to you? Is he the most important thing to you? God is so great.
[34:56] Take your handbooks and go to page 24. Page 24. If you are going to see the next page of the next page of the next page of the next page of the next page of