1 Kings 12 (Part 2) Bible Study (The Kingdom Divided/Jeroboam's Golden Calves) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

First Kings Chapter 12 beginning here in verse 16.

1 Kings 12 · chapter mention

If you were here last week, then you are fully aware that we took

our time through the introduction of this character

named Rehoboam, who is the six succeeding king to Solomon, his

father, to absorb these life preserving, relationally

flourishing God, glorifying promises that wisdom, biblical

wisdom provides. And unfortunately, it wasn't

through Rehoboam's positive example that we glean much of

these truths and these insights about wisdom, but through his

failures. And unfortunately, the sad

pattern of Rehoboam's thinking is only going to grievously

continue in these next set of verses.

And if that's not upsetting enough, then you and I are also

going to encounter the nation of Israel as a whole, making tragic

decisions to their own harm and injury for generations to come.

And if that's difficult to stomach, I'm sorry, there's even

more. Because we are also going to be

introduced to Jeroboam, not as a character, not as a person in

the Bible, but as the first king of the northern tribes of

Israel. And he too will make

dramatically foolish decisions that will also add to the harm

of the people for generations to come.

All in all, for the rest of this chapter, we're almost going to

get a sense that there's like a competition here.

Who can be the most foolish? There's this foolishness

everywhere, and we know what foolishness will produce in a

life that is unrepentant and unwilling to change and be

humbled before the truth of God. So to introduce a Bible study in

this way, I wouldn't be surprised if it's disheartening

and not the most exciting thing to uncover in the next hour.

But if there's any hope in digesting this together, it is

that this is good for us. This is good for us in that it

will contribute to your personal growth in the area of wisdom.

And so be encouraged in that because the Bible speaks about

what serious observation can produce in the life of a person

who desires wisdom, or who may not even know their need for

wisdom. The verse that comes to mind is

Proverbs 21, verse 11, and here's what it says in the first

Proverbs 21:11

part of Proverbs 21, verse 11. When the scoffer is punished,

Proverbs 21:11

this simple become wise. A scoffer is somebody who has

become stiff necked, who mocks at the idea of correction, who

rejects the idea of counsel, who is set in their own ways even

though those ways are destructive and wrong.

And a scoffer, according to the Bible, through divine

sanctioning or just because of the world today that we live in

that has somewhat of a grasp of right and wrong.

At least it should. A scoffer is susceptible to much

punishment consequences for his foolishness, and here's what the

Bible says following that When a scoffer experiences the outcome

of their own disregard for truth and biblical wisdom, the simple

the simple is not the same as a fool.

The simple can become a fool. But the simple in the Bible

speaks of the naive, the gullible, the uninformed, the

immature. This simple becomes wise.

The simple becomes wise. And seeing, oh, that's what

happens when a person lives foolishly.

Oh, that's what happens when a person lives as a scoffer.

That's what happens when a person implements human wisdom

above God's wisdom. And through that they learn

through what observation you and I are observing.

We're observing what foolishness can produce in a life, not just

in a life in society, not just in society to a nation.

And we are to become more wise as a result of it.

So let's begin here in verse 16. And when all Israel saw that the

king did not listen to them, the people answered the king.

What portion do we have in David?

We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse.

To your tents, O Israel. Look now to your own house,

David. So Israel went to their tents,

but rail bomb reigned over the people of Israel who lived in

the cities of Judah. What's happening here?

Well, you and I learned it last week.

That rail bomb was counseled to approach the people who had a

request and a negotiation. That if they were going to

submit under his leadership, then he would have to lighten up

on the taxes, lighten up on the hard labor that his father

exercised during his reign. Rehab rejected their desire, and

he decided to go the authoritarian approach, You're

not going to mess with me. You think that you can determine

how this nation is going to function.

You got another thing coming. And so he implements an iron

fist and it backfires. As we read here, all Israel now

chooses to disassociate, not just from rehab but from the

dynasty of David. Can I ask you a question?

How many years did it take for both David and Solomon to

establish their monarch? How many years did it take in

total for these two to build this Kingdom so to speak in

honoring of God's covenant with David?

It's very simple. How long did David rule and

reign for 40, So total how many years?

80 with Solomon? 80 years to get to this point,

and he had. The last moments of Solomon's

life were quite shaky, but we can just generally say it took

80 years and after 80 years it took Rehoboam 3 days to

dismantle it. It took this man less than a

week to topple all that was built through the toil of his

father's. Can you imagine that?

We wish it wasn't so, but such is the reality of what our

decisions can do, such as the reality.

And don't worry about that, guys.

If it's not going to operate, don't worry about it.

It's not that bad. So you have here a man who makes

these kind of decisions, very few, but significant enough to

do what? To bring it all down to nothing.

And what we're supposed to take from that is that you and I have

to understand the significance of our choices in life.

And that is not meant to paralyze you in the advancements

that you have to make in this life.

And through those advancements, you have to make major

decisions. It's not meant to cripple you at

all, but what it is meant to do is encourage you to stay near to

God. Stay close to God.

Always be needy before God. Plunge every plan, every desire,

every decision in prayer. Receive the counsel of His Word

continually in the counsel of God's people who submit to this

Word, and you'll be more than safe.

You will actually flourish. This is not a man who innocently

made a mistake. This is a man who blatantly

chose to turn away from God's will, God's Word, God's

provision of guidance through other people, and He's paying

for it. And not just him, but you.

Think about what his Father's invested up to this time and

what will take place following Rehoboam.

And as we look at this, we think to ourselves how?

How did this happen? How is this now Kingdom for the

first time divided? Listen, this is such a calamity

and a stain to Israel's history that the scriptures will even

use this moment as a benchmark to measure future catastrophes

that this nation will face. Let me give you an example of

that and Isaiah 7 verse 17. The Lord speaks to the prophet,

Isaiah 7:17

and this is what he says, and it provides great insight to just

how profound this moment is. In our study of the Old

Testament, says here in Isaiah 7, verse 17, the Lord will bring

Isaiah 7:17

upon you and upon your people and upon your Father's house.

Such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed

from Judah, the king of Assyria, the king of Assyria.

I'm going to release the king of Assyria upon you, Israel, and

you're not going to see these days.

They're going to not even be able to come close to what you

experienced in recent issue. The only thing I can compare it

to is First Kings chapter 12 when Ephraim, which is the

1 Kings 12 · chapter mention

largest tribe of the northern tribes divorcing from Judah.

So this is serious. This is massive.

And we're supposed to feel the weightiness of this?

One man's choice would put a dent in Israel's history and

future now. Israel's severely divided,

right? They expressed this.

We have nothing to do with the House of David.

We're removing ourselves from him, and we see what Rehoboam

will do as a response. In verse 18.

Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was taskmaster, over the

forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stones.

And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to

Jerusalem. This is like it's almost

unimaginable, you would think, if you took the counsel of your

companions and it backfired like this.

The 10 tribes say we we want nothing to do with you.

We're going our own way. You deal with your own tribe.

We're going to deal with our own.

That you would learn and realize that the counsel you received

was way off. You would be humbled by that.

And if you're going to flee to anything, you would flee to the

prayer closet and then return to the drawing board and say, Where

did I go wrong? How can I make this right?

I've learned from my own mistakes.

God, please help me. Instead, what does he do?

He sends a taskmaster, the same taskmaster that was employed by

Solomon. In other words, what this man is

doing is even though the people denied his authority, he double

S down. He double S down.

He still tries to play that tough guy card.

He double S down. Though the system was condemned,

he says no, I'm going to implement it whether you like it

or not. Is this foolishness or what?

How much more of a fool can you be?

And I step back when I read this last night and I study this and

I thought, How can you be so idiotic?

How can you not just see the plane writing on the wall?

How can you not see the fruit of your decisions?

How can you think you know what this needs me to pursue with

greater aggression. How?

And then a verse came to mind. It's in Proverbs 11, verse 2,

Proverbs 11:2

where it says when pride comes then comes disgrace.

But with the humble is wisdom. What is this man illustrating?

A lack of humility. A man who could not admit he was

wrong. A man who could not admit

defeat. A man who could not return to

his former understanding of what the truth was when it was

advised to him and say, this is the way I went the wrong way.

And when you do not have humility, you also forfeit

wisdom. Humility must be pursued and

secured if wisdom is going to be realized.

No humility, no wisdom. And if you don't have humility,

there's no neutrality. There's pride.

And when you have pride, you inherit disgrace.

And the longer you hold on to that pride, the greater the

disgrace will be in your life and in mine.

So why is why is rehab doing this?

It's because he lacks humbleness, and because of that

he forfeited wisdom. Even in the plain sight of the

obvious thing to do, he still was headlong, stiff, necked,

determined to pursue what he saw to be right.

How do I grow in wisdom? Just set the bedrock of humility

in your heart. Express continuing your need of

him and his guidance, and that also includes admitting and

confessing you're wrong so that light can come in and that you

can receive the insight you need to avoid that mistake.

Again, Rehoboam lack that and it came to his own harm.

As we see here, A man died because of his foolishness.

Relationship dies because of a lack of humility.

Ministries die because of a lack of humbleness.

So many things die when humility is not priority.

Look at this common verse 19. So Israel has been in rebellion

against the House of David to this day for the rest of the

landscape of the Old Testament. From this point on, we're going

to see a shift in the terrain of Scripture.

And this is the verse that pivots it, saying what do you

mean? Because from now on, generally

whenever you see the word Israel or Israel being mentioned, it's

not speaking about the entirety of the 12 tribes of the sons of

Jacob. Israel from this point on will

reference the 10 northern tribes, whereas Judah will

represent the southern Kingdom and Judah will not stand alone.

Judah, the southern Kingdom, will also be comprised with and

connected to which other tribe? Benjamin.

Correct. So you have the 10 who represent

Israel, the Kingdom of Israel. That's not the whole nation, the

10 tribes, the northern tribes. And then you have the Kingdom of

Judah, which is Judah primarily, but also Benjamin partnering

with him. And sometimes you'll read about

Ephraim and that's one tribe, but in some context.

Actually in many contexts that tribe represents the 10 northern

tribes you just read it in in Isaiah 717.

Since Ephraim departed from Judah, well it was more than

Ephraim. So Ephraim also in many context

of the Old Testament represents the 10 northern tribes as a

whole. Why?

Why Ephraim? Any idea?

Ephraim is the largest tribe. It's as simple as that.

Ephraim is the largest tribe. Judah out of the two is also

larger than Benjamin. So just a simple way of

identifying these two different kingdoms now and we're going to

see that for the rest of our study in the Hebrew scriptures.

Verse 19 indicates that. But we read on what do we see in

verse 20? And when all Israel heard that

Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly

and made him king. Over all Israel.

There was none that followed the House of David but the tribe of

Judah only. So Rehoboam is not the only fool

in this chapter, Israel. Those 10 tribes are also

foolish. Any idea why this demonstrates

their foolishness? They made Jeroboam their king.

Why is that important? Who is God's chosen king?

Was it just David? Or would it be his descendants

forever? His descendants forever?

So the mark of God's favor was upon David and his descendants.

They were the chosen lineage to operate as monarchs for the

Kingdom of God, the reflection of the glory of God.

And here's this people saying we want nothing to do with David's

line. We want Jeroboam.

Jeroboam, though he was called by God to work in this way.

We also learned that the people here made a drastic mistake in

separating themselves from God's original choice for the king of

Israel. And as we looked at this, we

think to ourselves, well, what is this going to cost them?

What We're going to find out in a moment, and we see here that

the folly of Israel's only met with greater folly, and that's

with this man, Rehoboam once again.

Look at verse 21. When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem,

he assembled all the House of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin,

180,000 chosen warriors to fight against the House of Israel, to

restore the Kingdom of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon.

So Rehoboam now, right? He sends a taskmaster.

He's killed. He learns that what the people

said early on in verse 16 wasn't just, you know, shallow talk.

This was real. They actually said we're cut

off, We're disconnected from you.

They made someone a king, real. One senses the seriousness of

this moment. So what does he do?

Humble himself before God. You know, he wants to declare

war. Round up the troops.

And now we sense there's a boiling point.

We sense the tension now, reaching a breaking point and we

we think to ourselves, this is this is getting ugly, this is

getting horrific so quickly, so fast.

And what's about to take place here is so amazing.

And verse 22. But the word of God came to

Shamaya, the man of God. We haven't seen a prophet in our

study in a long, long time and now all of a sudden appearing on

the scene is this man of God. He flashes on the scene, and he

will be removed from the scene just as quickly.

But what a pivotal moment for him to appear with a word from

the Lord. And this is what he says in

verse 23. Say to Rehoboam the son of

Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the House of Judah and

Benjamin, and to the rest of the people.

Thus says the Lord, you shall not go up or fight against your

relatives, the people of Israel. Every man returned to his home,

for this thing is from me. So they listened to the word of

the Lord and went home again according to the word of the

Lord. What moves you about that?

Peace. But how did peace come about?

OK, the prophetic word, yes, that was the way peace could be

achieved. But was the prophetic word over

ruling? OK, that's another thing that

we're going to look at as well. There's the sovereignty of God

in this. It's very simple.

They obeyed him. Finally, some obedience.

In this downward spiral of rebellion, you see something

that's almost like this cold glass of water to your soul as

you're trying to endure this. What do we read here?

So they listened to the word of the Lord and went home again.

According to the word of the Lord.

It's like a breath of fresh air. Wow.

If only Rehoboam had done this way back when he started out as

a king. Only he prized the word of the

Lord in such a way. All the disasters that could

have been dodged, all the pain that could have been prevented,

all the life that could have been saved, all the unity

perhaps that could have been kept.

But you can't go back, can you? He couldn't have you and I can

either. And so here's the lesson from

these verses. It is never too late to obey

God. It is never too late to step

outside of the lane of disobedience and enter into the

lane of consecrated obedience to the Lord.

You know, I've talked to some people throughout the years and

they've approached me after a message, whether that be on

purity, whether that be on living for the Lord, whether

that be on your prayer life, worship, serving, whatever it

may be. And some people are so convinced

that they are so invested, so steeped into a mindset or a

lifestyle of sin that they don't see any point of escaping it and

living for the Lord. That's a lie.

That's a lie. God is always waiting.

God is always willing to redeem, to reverse, to recycle, even

your failures, what you have done to yourself and to others.

And only is He waiting because he is worthy to receive that

obedience. But He is waiting to also reward

you for that obedience. Do you understand what was

prevented because these people obeyed the word, the Lord.

How many lives again could have been sabotage, could have been

slaughtered if they had just ignored what the Prophet said?

But so many things were prevented, so many things were

avoided. Yes, even if you are on a fast

track, 100 miles an hour away from the will of God, Into

Darkness, into sin, things can stop the moment you and I

repent. The moment we call upon the name

of the Lord, even though we feel like we don't have the strength

within ourselves, even though we feel like the brake pad is

broken, God can intervene and stop you from committing greater

mass, greater tragedy, and to actually more than that, lead

you on a path with greater fruit, greater life, greater

hope. It's never too late to obey God.

That's what we learned from this.

You may feel that it is, but according to Rahel Bohm story,

it's not. And as you read this, you also

see something else. Her brother mentioned it.

The Prophet says here every man returned to his home for this

thing is from me. He's speaking on behalf of God.

So there's something about the sovereignty of God in this

exhortation that also contributed to their willingness

to step back from their ways and to obey God.

Now you read this and you think to yourself, what does this

mean? Well, we know from verse Chapter

11 rather that the prophet Ah Heja prophesied to Jeroboam that

there would be a division and that he would be made king, and

that there would be a tribe preserved for the line of David.

So everything went according to the prophesied script.

We're seeing the fulfillment of that prophecy right here, right

now. But for him to say this thing is

from me is that is that Shamaya here saying that God was the one

who pulled the strings of the moral actions of these different

parties to commit these atrocities, to commit this

rebellion, this foolishness in order to accomplish his will.

Some would say that is the case, but I believe there is a higher

view of God's sovereignty than him playing both sides of the

chess board. I believe that the higher view

of God's sovereignty is that though he has permitted and

granted men to be able to choose and make their choices, whether

that be to surrender to the to God or to live their own way, he

will still have His way. God will still have His purposes

be performed, regardless of the attempts of men to thwart it, to

challenge it, to contradict it. God's way will prevail always,

and men will still be held accountable and responsible for

their decisions. No one can rewrite history.

God himself declares it, and God himself will have His way,

regardless of men's agreement with it.

This thing is from me. I allowed this to happen.

He could have got intervened. Absolutely he could have

intervened. But he allowed these parties to

pursue their foolishness. And through that, the folly

didn't cause things to fall apart.

They fell according to plan. This thing is from me.

I'm in charge here. I'm still in charge here.

And though you think that you're running your own little show,

this is going according to how I desire it to go.

This is you experiencing the consequences of your own sin.

You're going to be held responsible for it.

But don't you worry, I'm still in charge.

That's the view of God's sovereignty in this picture.

So they listen to the word of the Lord because they were

exposed to just how big God is. I'm sure that played a part in

it. But there's a side note here

from this text. I would use it to instruct the

believers, the community of faith, of how you and I can

avoid a civil war. Do civil wars happen in churches

all the time? Christians have really good aim

at shooting other Christians. I wish they were just as good as

picking up wounded soldiers. But what you have here is a

civil war ready to ensue. And there is a language that the

Prophet uses that I believe unlocks another factor that can

help us remain unified and less fearful.

Worrisome that there can be a civil war in our midst.

Let's read it again, shall we? Look at verse 24.

Thus says the Lord, you shall not go up or fight against your

Who? Your relatives?

Other translations? Your brethren?

Your brothers. So even in the way that the

prophet addresses the situation, he reintroduces a lens that is

necessary. Are you actually going to go up

against your own brothers and kill each other?

It reminds me of that verse that I briefly introduced you a

couple Sundays ago. If you were here about love

being the secret ingredient to Christian unity and the verse,

if you remember that I brought forward, I think it's so

fitting. For this moment is Romans 1210.

But I have another verse that I didn't bring up to add to this.

What did Paul say in Romans 1210?

Love one another. With what kind of affection?

Brotherly affection. He could have just said.

Love one another. He says no, love each other with

Philadelphia. Love, the natural affection that

you would feel for somebody who has the same blood as you.

It's something that's almost indescribable, right?

And what I shared on on that evening, on that Saturday

evening with those Romanian brothers and sisters, I share

with you that although there are scrimmages at home, are there

not? Although there are disagreements

at home, although there is war sometimes at home, there is

something that takes place in your heart when something

happens to a loved one. Is it not true?

I can speak as an older brother that I have throughout my

history with my brothers and even my sister.

Spoken to them, maybe corrected them, tried to rebuke them,

instruct them, maybe in my flesh, especially when I wasn't

saved, maybe a little bit more unnecessary approaches.

And as a brother, you feel justified in that to some

regard, right? But as a brother, you know this.

If you're older, if somebody outside of your home is somebody

on the school play field or somebody at work where you both

work, speaks to your sibling in a way that only you should speak

to your sibling, what happens to your blood?

Oh, there's a protective rush that comes through.

You have no right to speak to my brother.

Only I can speak to him like that.

Right. What is that?

That's Philadelphia affection. Or when you hear some some bad

news, some tragedy that happens to your sibling, to your parent,

to your sister, something comes over you.

There's this natural inherited set of feelings that is a gift

from God. But in Paul's language here in

Romans 12/10, he wants you to understand that those natural

affections for your family are translated spiritually with your

family in Christ. In other words, what you

experience with your natural household, you should have a

mirroring set of convictions and longings and passions for those

who share the same spirit. So love with brotherly

affection. You know what that tells me?

Love toward my Christian brethren is more than just duty.

All right, I got to love them. I got to love them.

And all these different personalities and all these

different backgrounds. And you're calling me to love?

OK, I'll love them. Love what?

OK, agape. Love.

Serve them as sacrificial love. There's a higher call to love.

Love with feeling. How is that OK?

You think your challenge there, This is, this is a verse that I

remember reading it at one point, and it shot out like an

arrow and pierced my heart and it caused me to bleed for quite

a long time. So he tells us in Romans 1210.

Love one another with brotherly affection.

That's a high call. Thank God for the Holy Spirit's

help, but look what the Saint Paul says to the Philippian

Church and Philippians. One verse 8.

Brace yourselves, Philippians 18.

Look at this, for God is my witness.

He calls God to bear witness on this.

God is my witness. How I yearn for you all with the

affection of Philadelphia love. Look at the quality of affection

here. The affection of Christ Jesus.

Agape love, sacrificial love. Yes, it's the highest form of

love, but I argue there's a higher thing that we should

achieve, and that's, yes, agape love being the foundation, but

love one another with brotherly affection and we have even a

higher call. Paul exemplifies us.

I love you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

How strong is the love of Christ?

And here's Paul is bearing witness and calling God,

invoking the name of God to the validity of this testimony in

the introduction of his letter to the Philippians.

I love you with the affections that Jesus has, for you can't

call this man a liar. He means it.

Now you can read that and be like, oh, that's why he's the

apostle Paul and I'm not. But you read later on in

Philippians where he says what you've seen in me, what you've

heard in me, what you've seen exemplified in me.

Imitate it. Imitated, I'm called to the high

call of love with the affections of Jesus Christ.

Let's be honest now, don't answer, just answer in your

heart before the Lord. Do I have the qualities of the

affections of Christ for my brethren?

It's very difficult to go to war when you have that pumping

through your veins. So I don't present that to you

to just see this clever connection in the Bible.

I want you to see it so you can feel it.

That is what I am to pursue. And if everybody's convinced

that in a local church, I guarantee you you have heaven on

earth, you have heaven, at least a fragment of heaven on earth.

Every single time we gather, Every time a member is added

loving and yearning for one another with the affection of

Christ Jesus. What would churches look like if

that was in the atmosphere? I can tell you one thing for

certain. There would be no wars, or very

few of them, at least unnecessary wars.

Rehabalm has proven to be more foolish than we imagined, and

thankfully his mention in this chapter ends on a relatively

good note. Israel also foolish.

And we still have Jeroboam. Let's read verse 25 then.

Jeroboam built Shechem in the Hill Country of Ephraim and

lived there, and he went out from there and built Penuel.

So what's happening here? Well, Jeroboam is now the new

crown king of the northern tribes, and he wants to secure

two things. The first first thing that

Jeroboam wants to do is secure headquarters, a commanding

center. And he does so here in Shechem

and also here in Penuel, his palace, his primary abiding

place. And here's the second thing that

Jeroboam wants to protect, and that is the loyalty of the

people. And we see how he's going to do

this in verse 26. And Jeroboam said in his heart,

Now the Kingdom will turn back to the House of David.

If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the

Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn

again to their Lord, to Rehoboam, king of Judah, and

they will kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah.

So Jeroboam understood that the capital city of worship was

where Jerusalem. And he also understood that how

many times out of the year were the Jews supposed to travel to

Jerusalem to honor the feasts? Not all the feasts.

There were seven of them. But how many out of the seven

were they to travel to Jerusalem?

3 three times in the year they were to make way to the House of

God to worship God. This is concerning to Jeroboam

because in his mind he's thinking, well, if you have the

people now travelling there and there in the territory of

Roboam, then perhaps they're more susceptible and vulnerable

to be influenced by Roboam. And so I need to do something to

minimize that possibility. And I also believe that Jeroboam

here is suffering from great fear, not just because of the

obvious, but also because the the, the fickleness and the

vacillating loyalty of the people that played in his favor.

By saying we're divorcing from David, we're going with

Jeroboam. I'm sure he knew that that could

quickly, just as easily turn on him.

And so he wants to again, try to strategize and think of a way to

eliminate as much of that as possible.

And so he comes up with this scheme.

And the scheme here is quite conniving.

It's so destructive to the spiritual state of the nation.

But he could care less. There's so many things to say

about what Jeroboam is meditating on.

But let me make this one comment, and let me ask you this

question. What is the root of this

foolishness that's brewing in his heart?

What is the root of the irrational anxiety?

Notice what he's saying? They're going to kill me.

They'll go back to Robo and they'll turn back on me.

That is an extreme view, but what's the reason for it?

There's something down deep inside, something that you and I

have heard of. Something you and I are warned

about constantly. Any idea this belief is the

right answer? Do you remember what I hate?

I told him in First Kings 11. Let me remind you, go to your

Bibles and turn to verse 38 at First Kings 11.

Here's what the Prophet here's what the Prophet told the same

person. And if you will listen to all

that I command you and will walk in my ways and do what is right

in my eyes by keeping my statutes and My commandments, as

David my servant did, I will be with you and will build you a

sure house as I built for David and I will give Israel to you.

That's a promise from God, And for him to think in this way

shows that he didn't believe God.

Listen. Your heart and mind will never

be short in coming up with sinful alternatives to pacify

our fears and our worries. The only way that you and I can

defeat deceitful thoughts from sucking the life out of our walk

with God is by taking every object of your worry to arrest

it and then to release it into the ocean of God's Word and to

let it drown in it. And I can tell you, as you are

fully aware, that those creeping things will try to crawl back on

the shore of your faith. But it is your duty and mind to

identify it and to restart the process if need be, apprehend it

and launch it back into God's Word, and to submerge it, and to

let it drown under it until it dies.

It has no more life or strength to even visit your heart again

if you fail to be so familiar with the truth, and more than

just familiar, but to believe this truth, your heart will

never be short in stock of coming up with crazy ideas to

try to help you navigate through life or to respond to certain

situations. Unfortunately, this man had no

grasp of the truth. He was told the truth, but he

didn't cling to the truth. He didn't rehearse the promises

of God, and what was he left with?

The scariest thing you can be left with in this life, your

heart, your heart governing your own life is a nightmare.

Who has betrayed you more than you?

Who has lied to you more than you?

Who has convinced you of things only for you to look back and

think an embarrassment? How did I get to that point?

How did I think like that? And so God in his mercy and

goodness, gives us something to chain our hearts and for

something else to instead be the heartbeat behind all that we

say, think, or do His word. This man abandoned all of that.

And So what is he going to do? You know, it reminds me of what

we read in First Samuel 27. Do you remember the story of

David when he thought he would be better off going to the

Philistines? In verse one, it says, And David

said in his heart. Now Saul will kill me, and

there's nothing better for me to do but to go to the land of the

Philistines. You know what David's problem

was? What began in his heart as a

lie, as a temptation, stayed in his heart.

He never brought it and spilled it out before the Lord.

He never sought counsel from people to bring light to it.

He kept it in the chambers of his own thinking, and it led him

into disaster. It led him into backsliding, and

here we see kind of a similar statement, Jeroboam said in his

heart. And now he's seeing all these

crazy ideas, and we're hoping you're not going to stay there,

right, Jeroboam? You're going to do something

about this, bring it to the light, expose it with truth.

And the first few verses of verse 28 bring some kind of hope

to us. So the king took counsel.

Yes, you got it, man, And made two calves of gold.

Hold on for a second. What kind of counsel did you

get? He took counsel, something David

didn't do. But which counselors did you go

to? Do you remember one of the

things that wisdom teaches you from last week?

Wisdom teaches you to seek, not just counsel, specific counsel.

Wisdom is not just being counseled and being open to

instruction. It's about getting it from the

right source. Many people make foolish

decisions because of counsel. Isn't it amazing here that

Jeroboam mirrors the mistake of Rehoboam?

Rehoboam took counsel from his fellow companions, those who

grew up with him and stood before him, and it led him to

this mistake. And now here's Jeroboam

repeating that he took counsel from who knows who, and now it's

going to lead him to making a tragic mistake for generations

again to come. Why is the Bible repeating this?

To get it through our thick heads, that's why.

Be careful who you surround yourself with.

Be careful which voices speak into your life.

Be careful what your source of motivation in his life and how

to frame your view of the world. Especially in this day where so

many people are willing to speak freely with podcasts and ideas

and books and blogs, more voices and more accessibility to voices

than any point in history. So we, you and I, need to be

extra guarded. Extra guarded with the truth.

This man took counsel good. No, not good, and made two

calves of gold. What kind of counsel is this?

When we read on and we see what he's going to do with these two

calves of gold, And he said to the people, you have gone up to

Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who

brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Does this sound familiar to you? Tell me where it's from.

This is from Exodus 32. This is how diabolical this

council is. Whoever gave it to him was very

strategic, satanically strategic.

So I don't know how it happened, but perhaps Jeroboam heard it

this way. You remember the people of

Israel when they first came out of Egypt and how all it took was

a golden calf for them to cut away from their allegiance to

Moses and Yahweh Jeroboam. If it worked then surely it can

work now. And here's how wicked Jeroboam

is. Does he build 1 Golden calf?

He builds 2. He builds 2.

So he's telling himself and he's telling others.

I'm going to make sure that this works, and it almost seems

unimaginable, but remember, Jeroboam here is not operating

under honoring God, is he? You know, he wants to secure and

maintain his throne, his governance, his rule.

And when you put anything, listen so closely to this.

When a man puts anything above God, anything, then he or she is

willing to use God as a means to achieve that thing that they

love more than God. You and I have seen it.

We've seen it with our own eyes. We see it on online.

We see people using the name of God, using the truth of God.

No problem declaring things about their faith in God when

everything about their life contradicts it.

How is a person able to do such a thing?

It's very easy. When you have idolatry in your

life. You're willing to use God to

serve your idol, manipulate God's word to serve your idol,

to trick people about the truth, and with the truth of God to

serve your idol. And this is the horrific thing

about Jeroboam's actions here. But notice what he does in

telling the people what he said. And he said to the people, you

have gone up to Jerusalem long enough, Who here has a New King

James or King James or a new American standard?

Can you read how it reads in New King James?

Because all these other word for word translations spell out

Jeroboam's words slightly differently.

And I think it really captures what's happening here.

Yes, stop. It is too much for you to go up

to Jerusalem. What is Jeroboam doing here?

He is enticing the people and preparing them to compromise in

this way by appealing to what you and I understand.

And that is convenience. There's an allurement here.

There's an attraction here to worship these gods.

And the gateway for these people to remove any hesitation or to

let down their arms of defence is convenience.

It's too much for you to go up to Jerusalem.

You don't want to travel all the way down there.

You don't have to book time off. You don't want to have to bring

your family. You don't have to bring the

it's. I'm about to give you an easier

way to worship. Compromise loves to feed off of

convenience. It's not the only reason for

compromise. But convenience is a seduction,

and much compromise is justified by what convenience can offer.

I mean, it's true for this moment.

It's true for people in the Church today doing what the Lord

asked me to do in this area or not in that area.

It's not convenient. It's not convenient to my

schedule. It's not convenient to my social

life. I know what God is asking of me.

Like basic things of the Christian walk.

But it's not convenient to my career path.

It's not convenient. It's not convenient.

A consecrated life crucifies the nagging of convenience.

Convenience with many other things are nailed to the cross.

When Christ becomes your treasure, the Christian who is

filled with the Spirit is no longer operated by convenience.

He is now under the operation of the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Convenience as a justification to disobey dies when a man or

woman carries his cross. And with all our advancements

today, convenience is a greater allurement to a diluted

Christianity more than at any time in church history.

So this is this is how Jeroboam is tempting the people.

It's easier. It's more convenient.

Oh yeah, we have to think rightly about how we go about

life. We can't be foolishly radical

even in our pursuit of spirituality.

But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about what God

plainly asked of us and for us to look at it.

And then to look at our own lives, look at our comfort, look

at our goals, look at our man made convictions and say this

isn't really convenient to support these other things that

I prize more dangerous way to be a Christian.

So what do we see here? Verse 29.

And he set one in Bethel and the other he put in Dan.

Then this thing became a sin for the people went as far as Dan to

be before 1. So here's the Holy Spirit's

commentary and something that's obvious to us, right?

God doesn't approve of what Jeroboam did.

And why this is mentioned here is because though there is this

division that took place, Jeroboam had no right, no

liberty by disconnecting from the line of David to also

disconnect from the covenantal requirements that he was bound

by as an Israelite connected to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

And so God plainly says this thing became a sin.

This is not right. And notice this additionally,

for the people went as far as Dan to be before one of these

golden calves. And what's mentioned here is

that these people, though initially invited into this

through convenience, we're actually willing to make great

sacrifices to worship one of these false gods.

Do you see that language here? Some of these guys went as far

as Dan. Evidently, Dan wasn't as close

to some of these neighboring tribes, but they were still

willing to go that way. What an accurate example, an

illustration of how idolatry works.

Willing to give more sacrifice, more love, more.

Set your affections on something, more on anything than

what God deserves. That's what it is.

They're willing to go that far to worship a false God, but they

weren't willing to go to Jerusalem to worship the true

God. That's what we're what we're

being told here are the people today who have their investments

and who have their longings and other things more than the Lord

Jesus. You know the answer to that.

I don't have to stay on that point too long, do I?

And it's as old as the story going as far as then.

But when God and his goodness and his mercy and love set some

relational requirements with us, I don't know.

It's not very convenient. But that I'll go as far as I

need to go. This is this is a real

confronting Bible study. Is it not good?

It's good for us. If you thought that this man's

calamity ends here, It doesn't. Verse 31.

He also made temples on high places and appointed priests

from among all the people who are not of the Levites.

So not only this is this man. Establish places of worship to

replace the House of God. He now comes up with his own

line of priests. God had consecrated one line,

Aaron's line to be set apart for the ministerial work in the

temple. Jeroboam thought to himself, You

know what, this is going to be a problem.

So I'm going to make up my own roster of ministers, and he

creates this mixed inclusive group to be ministers under his

self-made religion. Why do you think Jeroboam came

up against the Levites in this way?

I have a hunch. Personally, I'm just curious to

know if you have insight on it. Let me ask you a question in

connection to the golden calf in Exodus 32.

Moses comes down from the mountain and he sees this, this

gross idolatry, this orgy, this, this festival of the flesh.

And he stands at the gate, and he makes one final call before

God's judgment comes. Whoever is on the Lord's side,

come to me. Who comes to him?

Levi and only Levi. Levi, awakened from what was

taking place, was sobered up by the confrontation of a man of

God and pledged their allegiance to the Lord.

And more than just verbally affirming it, Moses puts a sword

in each of their hands. And he says, Now run back and

forth and kill whoever you see on site for this idolatry of

worshipping this golden calf. And they did it without

blinking. I wonder if Jeroboam understood

the history of the Levites. And now that he has these golden

calves on site, he's concerned that these Levites will be up to

no good to his new found program.

So let's get rid of them, not even include them to begin with.

And guess what? He was right.

Look at the parallel accounts in our Bible study in Second

Chronicles. And look here at verse 11,

Chapter 11. Excuse me, verse 16.

We can begin in verse 14 rather Second Chronicles Chapter 11,

2 Chronicles 11:14

verse 14. This is in the same context of

what's taking place in the Kingdom of Israel, and the

Chronicler writes by the Spirit Second Chronicles, 1114.

For the Levites left their common lands and their holdings

and came to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons

cast them out from serving as priests of the Lord.

And he appointed his own priest for the high places and for the

goat idols. So we don't just have calves, we

have goat idols and for the calves that he had made.

Do you see this? Not everybody was pleased with

Jeroboam's decision, though they appointed him as king.

Once he start flirting with idolatry and being very obvious

with it and flaunting it, there was a group that said we're not

going to take place of place in this.

The Levites. No part in this.

And here's a man who persuaded a majority of the people through

convenience. And yet you have a people here

now who did not budget with this request because they were

consecrated. Talk about a cost for being

consecrated. Talk about not being convenient

to them. Look what happens verse 14.

The Levites left their common lands and their holdings.

They moved. They left their familiarity.

They left their their livelihood.

They left their jobs. They left their ministry

positions. They weren't going to surrender

their allegiance to the Lord, no matter how much it costs.

This is the opposite of worshipping through convenience.

This is what consecration looks like, no matter what it costs

me. I want to be where God is

worshipped. I want to be where God is truly

served. I want to be where God

prescribed true worship. And if it means you and I

packing up and leaving. Honey, let's get going, because

we're going to honor God even if it costs us our convenience.

Can I tell you something? This attitude, demonstrated by

the Levites, is absolutely vital and necessary for God to use

you. When convenience dominates a

heart, it's very difficult for the Lord to find somebody to

recruit. But when you have people like

this who are willing to pay any price to honor God, the

possibilities of being used for the glory of God are endless.

Can I prove that to you? You remember this from our study

in Deuteronomy. But let me remind you, in

Deuteronomy 33, verse 8, here is a prophetic declaration that is

Deuteronomy 33:8

made over every single tribe. And in that verse you have the

tribe of Levi, and the tribe of Levi had the honor of being who

they were as Levites priests and ministers and mediators.

Because of what? Let me remind you from

Deuteronomy 33, verse eight and nine, here's what the scripture

says. And of Levi, he said, Give to

Levi your Thummim and your Urim, to your godly one, whom you

tested at Messiah, with whom you quarreled at the waters of

Meribah. Who said of his father?

This is what Levi said of his father?

Who said of his father and mother?

I regard them not. Huh.

I regard them not. He disowned his brothers and

ignored his children, for they observed your word and kept your

covenant. What is that consecration?

What is that? I uphold the word of God above

the opinions and above even the threats of those who are closest

to me. If obeying God in love, yes in

humility, yes in gentle, not in legalism, not in self

righteousness, in genuine good heartedness.

If me obeying God in that regard will cost me, even my brothers,

my sisters, even for my children not to love me, then so be it.

What's their reward? For they observed your word and

kept your covenant in verse 10. They shall teach Jacob your

rules and Israel your law. They shall put incense before

you and hold burnt offerings on your altar.

Because you honor my word above everything and everyone, I'm

going to use you. I'm going to use you in the most

intimate way possible, in closest proximity to my

presence. You will now forever be my

priests and the attitude that the Levites displayed early on

in their history is still alive and well in the days of

Jeroboam. If we have to go away, if we

have to move, if we have to go down to Judah, then so be it.

We will honor God. What a refreshing display of

obedience in a very dark chapter.

But notice this in verse 16 of Second Chronicles.

I hope you're still there. Something else happens.

There's an important lesson here for leaders who are tempted to

compromise, to achieve or maintain something that their

flesh desires or equates with true success and fulfillment.

I want you to see what happens after Jeroboam established these

calves and these high places and his carnally appointed

ministers. Not only did the Levites leave,

what else happens In Second Chronicles 1116, You read it of

another group of people who leave and those who had set

their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came after them

from all the tribes of Israel to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the

Lord the God of their fathers. So it wasn't just the Levites.

You had a remnant of people in the northern tribes of Israel

who had their hearts set on seeking God, who said we're

going with the Levites leaders, especially in spiritual context

and spheres, who attempted to compromise concerning God's

standard, God's protocol for worship, God's blueprint for the

local church in every regard. I never, personally, I never

understood the temptation to bend what God had made so clear.

I never understood that temptation.

Do you know why? Because no matter what you think

you're going to win with compromise, you will always lose

something of true value and substance.

Always. So what do you have here?

You have Jeroboam, who was able to win the northern tribes

allegiance to him by introducing idolatry in the land.

And who did he lose as a result? He lose the true priesthood.

He lost the true priesthood and the people who really wanted

God. You know, the same thing happens

in ministries that compromise today.

OK, who do you win? Who do you win?

When you when you tiptoe around the truth.

Who do you win when you placate and give into what the culture

wants to hear? Who do you win?

Who do you bring in people who want the truth?

No. And what else happens?

You push away the people who want the truth.

You always lose. Never forget the example of

Jeroboam. OK, what did he gain?

But what did he lose? And it's no different today.

I don't. I I'm honest.

I don't get it. Because when you give people the

truth. What's going to happen?

Well, one, you honor God. One, you please God.

But two, you win The people who want the truth, You you win the

people who want all of what God has to say.

Isn't that? Isn't that what you want?

Isn't that what you desire to make up this ministry in the

name of Jesus Christ? I I'm telling you, man, this is

confession time. Maybe I don't get it.

I don't understand. It just doesn't make sense to

me. The loss will be much greater

than whatever you win, and sometimes people don't see it

because they're so intoxicated by different idea of success, as

Jeroboam was. So we come back to our text as

we close. If you thought the compromise

ended there, it didn't. The dagger only goes deeper into

our hearts in verse 32, And Jeroboam appointed a feast on

the 15th day of the 8th month, like the feast that was in

Judah. And he offered sacrifices on the

altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing

to the calves that he made, and he placed in Bethel the priests

of the high places that he made. He went up to the altar that he

had made in Bethel on the 15th day, in the eighth month, in the

month that he had devised from his own heart.

And he instituted A feast for the people of Israel and went up

to the altar to make offerings. There's a phrase that repeats.

What is it he made, he made, he made he made?

This is self-made religion. This is what it is.

But before we get into the ingredients of self-made

religion and our closing thought, what's the other

violation that Jeroboam performs?

He sets up a place of worship where it's not supposed to be

two places of worship. On top of that, he sets up high

places for localized expressions of worship.

He raises up his own priesthood and then he does something else.

Did you notice it? He comes up with his own feast.

You don't do that. God had raised up a calendar

already where several feasts, 7 in particular feasts, would be

honored. Those feasts point to the person

and work of Jesus Christ. Here's a man now who wants to

compete with the feast, because what?

What kind of reason are you going to get people to come to

these places of worship? And so he sets up a feast on the

15th day. Of what month?

Of the 8th month? What's the closest feast to

that? According to the Hebrew

scriptures? How many feasts were observed on

the 7th month? Out of the seven, there was 3.

The last one is what, on the 15th day of the 7th month?

In the Hebrew calendar, it's the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast

of Booths. It was a celebratory feast.

It was the way to sign off on the year.

And that was one of the feasts where the people of Israel would

have to make way toward Jerusalem to celebrate an honor.

And so, in order to compete against that, he sets up a feast

on the 15th day, not on the 7th month, but on the 8th month.

He made, He had made, He had made.

And look at this dangerous phrase here in the month that he

had devised from his own heart. This didn't come from God.

This didn't come from his word doesn't come from a prophetic

revelation. It came from the cesspool of a

heart that is not surrendered to the Lord.

Let me tell you based on this the ingredients of self-made

religion #1. Oftentimes it puts a great

emphasis on convenience. How does this benefit me the

most? Even at the cost of clear

obedience? Convenience is the goal for

self-made religion, but not just that, a disregard for God's

credentials, for ministers and for his standards of worship.

You know worship is about God, right?

What does God want to hear? What does God want us to do?

What does God require? That's worship.

The will surrender to the wishes of God. self-made religion has

no regard of God being the priority aim of our pleasure.

Lastly, though there may be other things we can include,

self-made religion includes the ingredient of a liberty to bend

what God has made so clear in his word.

I want to be worshipped on the 15th day of the 7th month.

We're going to worship on the 15th day of the 8th month.

It's so clear what God has revealed many cases and all

we're called to do is to receive it, understand it and give

ourselves to it. self-made religion does not do that and

we're going to see that God does not tolerate self-made religion

for too long. Let's pray, Lord, we do thank

you from the bottom of our hearts with a difficult chapter

to dissect. Yet we remember how we opened

our time together, that when the scoffer is punished, the simple

become wise. So we believe that you have

instilled in US a greater nourishment in the place of

discretion, in the place of consecration, in the place of

true worship. Thank you, Lord, that week after

week we've come here to know what you want.

And Father, we confess that is our desire more than anything

else. Lord, please fill us with your

spirit. We want to love you more.

We want to love one another more.

We can't do it in our own strength.

And what as we sang tonight, as people see a power working

through us to obey your commandments, may they know that

that power does not come from us.

So inspire this love, this love that Paul could say with

confidence was real in him the affection of Christ Jesus for

one another, inspiring us a ferocious zeal for true worship.

That, Lord, when convenience gnaws at us, and when the heart

devises its own plans contrary to your will, that we would be

quick to take every thought captive with the authority of

Christ, but to declare even in that spiritual warfare in the

heart and the mind trust that you are glorified in it, and

that you are pleased by it. Lord, tonight we afresh declare

that you are everything to us. And Lord, our desire to serve

you and to live for you does not come from a fear of being

rejected by you or fear of being punished by you.

But, Lord, our obedience is built on grace.

You have first loved us. You, the Creator of all things,

extended your heart toward us and invite us to live in it.

Lord, we pray that whatever we need to do, even if we are faced

with the pressures to compromise, what would stimulate

us to stand our ground, and like these Levites, even to make the

moves we need to make, but would encourage us, Is I love my

master more than these? And so, Lord, in this place, in

our homes, in our marriages, in the, in the babies that are

coming through the families of this house, may we reflect the

attitude of those Levites who allow the word of God to be

supreme and who live by that standard for generations.

We pray that that would be true of us.

We pray that would be true of this ministry.

We pray that we would never be fooled by the lies of

compromise. But we remember that we always

win when we stand with you. And for you, Lord, we worship

you tonight, in great honor of your name, in Jesus name we

pray. Amen.

Amen. Let's stand together.