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[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Take your Bibles and turn with me to 2 Kings chapter 13.

[0:11] I am wearing a ring on my pinky finger because they measured it by my wedding ring, which is deeply embedded in my flesh. So take your Bible.

[0:22] Yes, glory to God. Take your Bible and turn with me to 2 Kings chapter 13 verse 23. Thank you very much. I am very honored and I really appreciate it. That's very sweet and kind and more than I would ever dream of deserving.

[0:36] So look at 2 Kings chapter 13 and verse 23 with me if you would. This is a tremendous verse that I want to show you. We're going to start in verse 23 and we'll go through the chapter kind of.

[0:49] I want to show you three things. But this verse, God keeps His Word. And I think that if I could get you to underline it, we could honestly, if you go home with this right here, you'll go home with a great Bible lesson.

[1:03] The Bible said, And the Lord was gracious unto them and had compassion on them and had respect unto them. Now, I'll get to it in a second.

[1:14] But what's going on is that people are attacking. The Syrians are attacking. The city has been overwhelmed. The king, who's wicked, apologizes, repents, talks to God.

[1:28] And the king prays. God hears him. And God defeats the Syrians and gets them away from him. And the people go right back to sinning. But I want you to look at verse 23.

[1:40] 23, it says, And the Lord was gracious unto them and had compassion on them and had respect unto them. Look at this. Because of His covenant.

[1:51] You need to underline that. Because of His covenant. That means, do you know why God was good to them? Not because they were hurting. Not because He's just a good God.

[2:03] He is. But He is a God who keeps His Word. Now, that's an important lesson to learn. Because if you were to listen to some Bible scholars today, God will not keep His Word to Israel.

[2:18] But right here, God kept His Word. And God will keep His Word. And the passage of Scripture tonight is going to say to you very clearly, Yeah, He always does and He always will. He'll keep His Word.

[2:29] It's also very important to you because of this. How do you know you're saved? How do you know you're going to go to heaven when you die? Because you can't depend on what the church says because churches change. And truths that churches preach change.

[2:41] And pastors change. And denominations change. And everything gets messed up. And maybe we don't know what God really said. But you have a copy. He gave you a covenant.

[2:52] Right there. He told you what He said. Look at it because of His covenant. Look at it. With Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And He would not destroy them. Neither cast them from His presence as yet.

[3:07] Now you've got to know where we are. Okay, this is all an introduction. But if I don't get to the rest of it, it'll be good. Just know this. You're now in the book of 2 Kings. You've already gone through Saul and David and Solomon.

[3:20] And you're into the boys under those guys after the kingdom splits. The promises were made all the way back in Genesis. So you've got your Bible open. You can open your Bible back to Genesis chapter 12.

[3:33] And that's where he first told Abraham what he was going to do. Way back here. Way back here. And so now the writer of 2 Kings says, I need you to know something. God delivered Israel because God made a promise to Abraham.

[3:47] And He keeps His promises. God delivered Israel because He made a promise to Isaac. And He keeps His promises. God made a promise to Jacob. And He keeps His promises. So you can mark it down.

[3:59] God will keep His word. I don't know if you understand what that means. But that means you can have confidence because you have a copy of the word of God. And you can know what God said.

[4:10] And you can trust it. Now theologians might give you a different idea. And commentaries might give you a different idea. And newscasters might come up with a new thing. And scientists may come up with something new.

[4:22] But if you are anywhere near a Bible believer, you've got to know this. God keeps His word. Father in heaven, I pray you'd work tonight. I pray your name would be glorified and magnified.

[4:32] And I pray you'd help me to make clear what you say and what you've done. And I'll give you glory for all of it. Thank you for this wonderful church. Thank you for what you did yesterday at the ladies' conference, women behind the scenes.

[4:47] Thank you for the jail ministry and the different testimonies that people gave. I thank you because you are good and worthy to be praised and worthy to be thanked. We give you praise. In Jesus' name, amen.

[4:59] So a side note. This is really not in the message. But you've got to have it because I'm moving on. So you look down at verse 21. 2 Kings chapter 13 verse 21. I'm not going to preach about this. And so if I don't mention this and one of you read the Bible, you're going to say, well, he didn't ever tell us that was in the Bible.

[5:14] It's here. Read this verse. Oh, Elisha is dead. And I don't know what it has to do with anything. I literally don't know what it has to do with anything except I don't know.

[5:27] I have no idea. But anyway, he's dead and his body's in the grave and they kill a guy and they throw his dead body in and his dead body touches Elisha and he comes back to life.

[5:39] And he's still back up on his feet. That's got to be a wild story. Look at the verse. It says, Now, that has got to have been the wildest burial service any cemetery or any funeral home ever had.

[6:09] Because they're on their way. They're running. It's like they're scared. And they just got to get a place to get rid of this dead body. And they decide to put it in Elisha's grave. And I don't know. You probably can't.

[6:19] You don't have enough imagination. But I imagine those guys, they put that body in there and they turn to walk out. And here comes their buddy. It beats them back out of the grave. I just think that's funny.

[6:31] Take your Bibles and go to 2 Kings chapter 13 now and verse 2. Now, this is important that you learn this and get this done. And this is important for where we are in the world today. This will actually help you understand all the cults and all the stuff that goes on in Christianity.

[6:45] The Bible says, And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. And he followed the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin. And he departed not therefrom.

[6:58] I want you to underline in that verse this. Number one, and this is not an outline. It's just for the first thing to underline in that verse is this. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. I need to stop right here and I need to think and consider this.

[7:10] You know what's really wrong? It's not what I think is wrong. Not what Americans think is wrong. Not what preachers think is wrong. But what does God think is wrong? And so the question was, it was evil in the sight of the Lord.

[7:22] And then if you'll skip down to the end of the verse, it says he made Israel to sin. But we're going to find out what that was and how he did it. But he made Israel to sin. And so we got a story about this guy named Jeroboam.

[7:33] And Jeroboam, and by the way, he is going to pollute the next six chapters of the Bible. You're going to hear this guy, Jeroboam, Jeroboam, Jeroboam. And you're going to get it up to here with him. And we've already gone through his story.

[7:44] And here's his story. What's the sin of Jeroboam? The kingdoms had split. Now, you know there's 12 tribes of Israel. There's actually 13 tribes. There's 12 tribes of Israel.

[7:54] And the Levites, they don't get to count. So the Levites are a side boat over here. They were a tribe. They're put off. God took them to himself. And he took Joseph's tribe, and he divided it into two. He's from Manasseh.

[8:05] Now he's got 12 tribes. And after David, then came Solomon. And Solomon made a major mistake in his life. And that is he married the wrong woman. He married the wrong women.

[8:16] He married a bunch of women. And women influence you. And those women influenced him not to do the things of God, but to do the things of the world. And he ends up building idols to these false gods and worshiping them.

[8:29] And now, after he dies, the kingdom will be the Rehoboam and Jeroboam and all the Boam brothers. And all the story that goes on here, and the kingdom splits. And you've got the northern kingdom, and you've got the southern kingdom.

[8:40] In the southern kingdom, you've only got two of the tribes. But Jerusalem's down there, and that's where the temple is, and that's where people should be worshiping God. So up in the northern kingdom with those ten tribes, this guy named Jeroboam, he thinks to himself, If I'm not careful, everybody, if they go worship down in Jerusalem, and they go down there and they meet with their brothers and sisters, and they worship God with their brothers and sisters, the next thing I know, they're not going to let me be king.

[9:06] They're going to kill me, and they're going to get back to a united kingdom. And I don't want it to be a united kingdom. And so I've got to figure out a plan. And the best plan he can come up with is a way to make religion will satisfy the people, dumb the people down, and keep the people from doing what God wants them to do.

[9:23] And so we're going to look through that story, if you will. So he's trying to still their hearts. So go with me, if you would, to 1 Kings 12 and verse 26. Go back there and make a note in your Bible so you know what's going on, because you ought to be able to answer, what are the sins of Jeroboam?

[9:38] Look at it, if you would. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David. They'll go back to Judah. They'll go back to Jerusalem. If this people go up and do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord, even unto Rehoboam, king of Judah.

[9:58] And they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam, king of Judah. Now, so you've got a story. We've got a split kingdom. I'm selfish. I'm fighting. I need to act like I'm religious.

[10:09] I need to act like I'm a man of God. I need to split the kingdom. And so I've got to figure out what to do. So go with me to 1 Kings 12, verse 28. So he's going to use religion. 1 Kings 12, verse 28.

[10:20] He made two golden calves. Look at it. Whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto them, It is too much for you to go to Jerusalem. Behold they thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

[10:34] There's so much that would take us forever to look at. But I really want you to consider what's going on in America today as I walk you through this. I really don't want you guys to serve God.

[10:47] Because if you serve God, if you serve, it's the devil doing the talking here. If you serve God, you won't do what I want you to do. You won't follow sin. You won't do wrong. You'll love the God of heaven. And so let me not say don't go to church.

[10:59] Let me make up a false church. I don't want to say don't go to church. I don't want to say don't believe in God. I just want to put a substitute in there. So look at verse 28. He took counsel.

[11:10] I could preach on that one forever, couldn't I? You better find the right people to get you advice from. Then the second thing is look at verse 28. He made two calves of gold. He made two calves of gold.

[11:22] And then it said further down, behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt. You go back to Egypt, y'all remember what happened?

[11:34] Aaron didn't really make a calf of gold. If you remember the story, instead of making a calf of gold, they brought him all the earrings, brought him all the gold. He took all that. He put it in the fire and melted it down. And he didn't mean for it to happen, but a calf just jumped out of there.

[11:46] And there was a golden calf. At least that's what he told Moses. When Moses came down, he said, I didn't do it. He said, people brought me their stuff. I put it in the fire. And there you go. It's what we got out of the fire, which was just like, well, that's a teenager or a good Baptist excuse.

[11:59] I didn't do it. It's not my fault. What they wanted to do was make a, he says, I know y'all need a convenient religion. I really want you to pay attention to this.

[12:11] I know y'all want a convenient religion. So look if you would in verse 28 and underline this. It's too much for you to go to Jerusalem. It's too much for you to go to Jerusalem. You know, it's too much to come to church so many times.

[12:24] It's too much to teach Sunday school. It's too much to disciple. It's too much to give money. It's too much to send mischievous around the world. It's just too much. That's a lot of devil's been telling since the days old Jeroboam.

[12:36] That's what it says right here. So in verse 29, he made two of them. He said, let me get it closer. Let me put it real close to you. So you don't have to go worship the real God.

[12:46] I made you a calf of gold, which everybody ought to jumped up and said, we know Aaron did that, but we know it was wicked and it was horrible and it caused people to die. Because they actually killed 3,000 men that day.

[12:58] It didn't go down to 1 Kings chapter 12 and verse 30. Their sin was worshiping false gods. That's the sin. And this thing became a sin for the people went to worship before the one even unto Dan.

[13:15] I want you to, it wasn't the works that was a sin. It was the worship that was a sin. You ought to think about that a second. It wasn't what they were doing. It was what they were.

[13:26] It was be, do, serve, train. It was, they were not worshiping God. They were not worshiping God. They might have been living moral lives. They might come out of a state where religion is the whole state thing and everybody looks so special and everybody's so holy and everybody looks so wholesome and everybody looks so family-like, like Mormons.

[13:47] And yet, it's a false God. So he said, hey, he said, it's the worship. This became sin, the worship. Verse 31, looks what else he did. And he made a house of high places.

[14:00] Those are convenient. 7-11, on the mountain, prayer places before you get to the place where you're supposed to pray. Those are high places where they put up their demons. And made the priest of the lowest of the people, which were not the sons of God, of Levi.

[14:16] You see that? Where Levi was held to a high standard, they went and said, we don't need preachers that are held to a high standard. There's no 1 Timothy 3 here for you. We just, anybody will do.

[14:29] Anybody will do. Next one, it's really interesting in the story. Look at verse 32. Then he ordained a feast. This is what I want you to learn.

[14:39] I don't know, am I boring you? Are you with me or not? You understand convenience, preachers like you want them, false gods there. Now watch this. It's always the devil's way to make a counterfeit of the real thing.

[14:53] Make it look like the real thing to a degree, but make it counterfeit. Not quite true. And some of you actually believe it's okay. You're honestly like, well, you know, they at least preach some of the gospel.

[15:06] And you accept it. Look at the verse. You've got to read this verse. 1 Kings 12, verse 32. They ordained a feast in the eighth month on the 15th of the month.

[15:16] Underline this. Like unto the feast that's in Judah. Not the feast that's in Judah, but one similar. Now watch this way. You'll say, look here. If I could come up with a good way to have church that looks like the real thing and ain't the real thing, I could get them messed up.

[15:33] If I could start something that looks like church and acts like church, but it's not church. If I could get something where you acted like you were talking about God, but you weren't really talking about God, I could build a whole prosperity gospel ministry.

[15:45] And then verse 32, they were sacrificed unto calves and they had priests of the high places. Now I need to let you know where the religion came from. Understand this. Our church ought not be based on what Austin Gardner thinks or what you think.

[15:58] Look at what it says, if you would, in 1 Kings 12, verse 33. It says, So he offered upon the altar, which he had made in Bethel the 15th day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart.

[16:10] You need to learn that. He had devised of his own heart. He made it up. He made it up. And he offered upon the altar and burnt incense. Now I've got to quit.

[16:21] That's the first point. I want you to look here a second. You will eventually move from our church maybe and go to another church, or maybe you're not like me and you'll decide you want to go to another church or whatever.

[16:32] I tell you, you ought to look real close at what a church is and what it does. You ought to sit down with a church. You don't go to a church because it says Baptist on the sign. You don't go to a church because it says it's independent Baptist.

[16:42] You don't go to a church because it says any of that. You sit down with a church and say, Let me hear what you teach. Let me know what you believe. Let me see what you're really practicing, because the devil has more churches out there than God has.

[16:55] And by the way, they have the same sign on the front door. But they are a works-based church. You must. You must be baptized. You must speak in tongues. You must be faithful to church. You must.

[17:06] You must. You must. That's really not a grace of church. That's a works church. And that's what's preached in a lot of our own churches, just to be blunt and honest with you.

[17:16] You need to be careful where you go. We should notice this. So evil was not works but worship. The sin was loving another God.

[17:28] The sin was following man and the world and not God. The whole purpose of this false worship was to keep them from the true God. I would like you to know that popular religions always have lots of stuff you can do to feel real good about you.

[17:47] They have lots of rule keeping and lots of checklists to make sure you're who you ought to be. Second thing I want you to look at. So the first was the sin. The second is the sin had consequences.

[17:59] Go with me to 2 Kings chapter 13 and verse 3. So the second thing is the sin had consequences. Look at verse 3. It says, There are wicked kings all around Israel and Judah, always wanting to destroy them.

[18:21] And they worship other gods. And God is now, he says, You won't worship me. You don't honor me. You're right here in my country. And I'm the God that you're supposed to serve. But you don't serve me.

[18:31] So I'm going to let your country suffer at the hands of those people. And they became horribly oppressed. Look at verse 4. And Jehoahaz besought the Lord, and the Lord hearkened, for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them.

[18:49] So all of a sudden, their sin brought consequence. When I do wrong, I'm not going to go to hell, but sin has consequence. And I get hurt because I don't do what's right.

[19:01] If I'm a Christian and I'm born again, I may do things all I do. And, you know, God's going to keep on loving me, but you need to understand, sin will burn you bad. The sin got them oppressed.

[19:16] The sin had such a strong hole in their life that they won't leave their sin. They won't leave it. They may make emergency prayers. They may get right with God to get help, but they don't mean it because they love their sin.

[19:30] Look, if you went to 2 Kings 13, verse 6. Nevertheless, they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin, but walked therein. You know what happened?

[19:41] Listen, the king of Syria came down, and he started just whipping them and destroying them and oppressing them. Their lives are bad, and so their king runs and says, God, please get us out of this. And God got them out of it.

[19:52] You know what they did? As soon as God got them out of it, they said, okay, we'll just keep on doing what we were doing before we ever got in trouble, because we never really meant anything we said. How many people at the hospital pray real prayers and at the funeral home pray real prayers, and when the doctor says they have cancer, they pray real prayers.

[20:08] They go right back to the same sin they had before. Look at 2 Kings 13, verse 11. By the way, here's the sad story. I'm flying through this, but I've tried to leave out all the details.

[20:20] My wife told me last Sunday, I said, how was the message, baby? She said, it was real good, except, you know, you kind of got lost in all the details. And she said, it was obvious you was rushing, and the details were tripping you up, so no details tonight.

[20:32] I don't even know what country we're talking about. But anyway, but anyway, I actually do, but I'm trying to leave them out. But anyway, look at this. Isn't it a blessing to be married? Actually, I think it probably helped straighten me up.

[20:46] So, look, you know what happens? That king's gone, and you would hope and pray that after they saw that oppression, after they saw that suffering, that their children that now become the kings would stand up and say, we're not going to mess up like mom and dad did.

[20:59] But they keep doing the exact same thing. Look at 2 Kings 13, 11. The new king did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, but he walked in.

[21:11] You know what the consequences of your sin are? Going to bring problems in your life. You're probably going to go right back to them, and your kids are going to follow right in your footsteps. Number three, time to quit.

[21:23] Number three, God's love is so sweet in this passage. Look, if you would, with me at 2 Kings 13 and verse 4. When they're hurting, he delivers them, even though he knows they'll keep on sinning.

[21:37] Would you look this way just a second? Don't read the verse yet. He's sweet. He's good. He's gracious. He's kind. And even though you're an idiot, he'll hear your prayers, answer your prayers, and love on you.

[21:51] Though he knows you're so dumb, you're going to go back and do it again. Not just you, me and you both. Look at it. Look at this verse. And Jehoahs, verse 4, besought the Lord. That means he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord hearkened.

[22:02] That means the Lord heard. You know why he heard? For he saw the oppression of Israel. He saw the oppression. God looked at him and said, man, my people are hurting. I know they sinned, and I know they did wrong, and they brought this on themselves, but I don't like it.

[22:18] I'm going to help them out. What a God. So in chapter 13 and verse 5, he sent a Savior. That's not to get saved. That's to get a king to get them out of trouble. And God loves his people, and he rescues his people, but they're ungrateful.

[22:31] How many times, if you look back over your own personal life, you'd say, I was doing wrong, and I got in trouble, and my life got messed up, and I needed God, and I got on my face, and I prayed to God, and I really got it right with God, and he answered my prayer.

[22:45] But if I were to be honest, I'm right back where I was when I said that prayer the first time. That's what's going on. Ungrateful. They were ungrateful. The cycle continues.

[22:55] Men going after man worship and not God worship. Look at 2 Kings 13, 23, where we started. Do you know who he is? Don't beat up on our Father.

[23:08] It's us that's dumb. It's us that's doing stuff we ought not do. In 2 Kings 13, verse 23, the Bible says, And the Lord was gracious unto them.

[23:21] Here they are, worshiping calves. Golden calves. Here they are. They've thrown away the Levites and made their own.

[23:32] They're worshiping calves with the wrong preachers and the wrong worship service and a thing they made up. And the Bible still says God was gracious. You should say, hallelujah. Praise God.

[23:42] He is good. Not only was he gracious, he had compassion. He had compassion. He had respect. He felt for them. But he did it because, are you ready?

[23:56] That's just who he is. That's just who he is. If you eat that fruit, the day you eat it, you'll surely die. And they died, but he was there right away, wasn't he?

[24:06] You messed up and he still loves you. Gracious and compassionate and respect. He did that sweetness to them because of his character and his word.

[24:19] We worship that God. We worship that God. This week, you're probably going to mess up. You probably keep messing up. And if you're honest, you know you're not doing all you ought to do.

[24:32] You know what he does? He says, oh, I'm gracious. I hate to tell you, most of the preachers right now, they just like say, yeah, well, he's going to beat you. But this verse is, well, I'm gracious anyway. What a sweet God.

[24:45] You go out and tell people, like, I don't want to go to your church. That God's a mean God. Not the one I'm reading about. Not the one I'm reading about. He didn't turn away from them, and he never will.

[24:56] Look at 2 Timothy 2.13. This is a New Testament verse. This is it. But look at this. If we believe not, yet he abides faithful. Look at this phrase.

[25:09] He cannot deny himself. You know what God said? God said, if you'll trust me, I'll save you. And then tomorrow, you're like kind of weak on my faith. He's like, that's all right.

[25:19] I'm not. I gave my word. You give your word, you ain't too good at it. Boy, I give my word. I just can't deny myself. Hey, Israel. Hey, Judah.

[25:30] You know good and well you're not supposed to worship those false gods. You know good and well you're not supposed to do that. You know that I don't like that. We're going to go do it anyway. Well, you're going to get hurt if you do.

[25:44] But you know I love you so much that when you get hurt, I'll just ask. I'll come running. I'm a good God. I don't know if you can see that. I mean, you ought to be in love with him. You ought to be in love with him.

[25:54] He's so sweet. He's so kind. He's so tender. What a great God. But here's the truth I wish you'd take home. He keeps his word. So how come you don't read the Bible?

[26:06] How come you don't study a book that's so full of how good he is and how he keeps his word? If I knew that there was a God in heaven who said, I am like this and I will keep my word.

[26:17] I'd like to know all about that guy. There's only one place I can learn about him in the word of God. No message I preach does him justice. No sermon books you read do him justice. No commentaries do him justice.

[26:28] No theology books do him justice. He does himself justice in his book. We ought to be people in this book. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia.

[26:39] For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.