Lasting Repercussions: The Fall of the House of Jeroboam

1 Kings chapter 14.

1 Kings 14 · chapter mention

As we've been going through here, the transitions as Israel's been walking through those things

as we've seen as transitioning from the stability of Saul and David and Solomon.

And then at the end of Solomon's reign, we learned that God had divided the kingdom

between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

And because of Solomon's sin at the end of his life,

and it caused God to allow the kingdom to be divided.

And we saw last week as we began looking here,

we're going to talk this week about repercussions.

Because your decisions always have repercussions.

And those things play out.

And we saw some of those last week even.

Because as we see here, as Jeroboam received a very stern warning from the prophet of Judah.

He had seen his hand withered and then healed.

The altar opened up.

You know, all the things being fulfilled that God had said.

And a warning from God to turn from worshiping those false gods and turn to him.

And we saw last week that was rejected by Jeroboam.

In other words, God did some things that, you know, have you ever read through some of these Old Testament accounts?

And you're thinking, why wouldn't they?

You know, if you saw that, wouldn't it change your mind?

You know what the reality is?

It reveals the hardness of men's hearts.

Even though God is gracious, God is merciful,

the hardness of their hearts still holds on to those things in rebellion against God.

And Jeroboam is a great example.

Because when you consider what, as we saw last week in chapter 13,

something very important to consider,

when it comes to what God was giving the example to Jeroboam of what Jeroboam ignored.

You know, put your finger where you are, but go back into 1 Peter.

Let's go to the New Testament for a moment.

1 Peter chapter 4.

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

Because I want you to realize that what God did here for Jeroboam was give him an example.

Let him see the reality of things.

Because 1 Peter chapter 4, look down at verse 17.

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

As we look here tonight, notice what it says.

For the time has come that judgments must begin where?

At the house of God.

And if it first begin at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Now remember, what happened last week, as we talked about there in chapter 13,

is you had the prophet of God that didn't obey God's word, and God judged him.

Judgment began at the house of God.

And Jeroboam saw it, witnessed it, and said,

if God holds his own to this account, he failed to realize that if God will hold those that are his,

his children to account, God will so much more hold those that have rejected him.

And we're going to see this play out here, because as we saw at the end of chapter 13,

look at that statement here that we see here.

Look at verse 33 of chapter 13 here back in 1 Kings.

It says,

Instead of repenting, we're going to find here that Jeroboam instead doubles down.

You know, the reality is sometimes we can be pretty hard-headed about the things of God,

of what God has told us, what God has instructed.

And we can be pretty hard-headed about things, and we're going to see here tonight

that those things have repercussions when we reject what the Lord has said.

It was not long after that one of Jeroboam's sons became ill.

Because God moved it from just somebody else outside, or even Jeroboam itself.

But I tell you what, if you have kids, things that happen to your children are different to you.

It impacts you differently.

When your children are struggling or things, and it became very personal to Jeroboam at this point.

And this is where we're going to find that it was a short time after that the prophet had seen God's prophet

that had come and prophesied and how God had held him to account.

Because you remember last week about the donkey and the lion?

You know?

And that they were there alongside the road for a while before the other old prophet came and got them.

And the scene that was there, and people were talking.

But we see here, as Jeroboam today, as we're going to begin looking at this,

as his child became sick, and it was a dire illness.

Because you say, how do you know it was a dire illness?

Well, number one, his child dies at the end.

Number two, he thought it important enough that he was going to send his wife to go talk to the prophet.

It tells you it was a pretty tough situation.

And so we're going to look here tonight, as we begin looking here,

that remember that Ahijah had come to him years earlier to reveal the opportunity that God had given to him.

How he would become, Jeroboam become king over the ten tribes of the kingdom that was going to be separated.

And that all the promises God gave to him, there's going to be a lasting kingdom if he would but obey him.

And keep his commandments.

That was God's simple thing.

He says, hey, trust me and obey me, and I will bless you.

Jeroboam had that there.

So let's look tonight, as we begin here at the inquiry that was happening,

as he begins to inquire at these things.

Look here at verse 1 of chapter 14.

It says,

And at that time,

Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, fell sick.

And Jeroboam said to his wife,

Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself,

that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam,

and get thee to Shiloh.

Behold, there is Ahijah the prophet,

which told me that I should be king over this people.

And take with thee ten loaves, and crack nails, and the crews of honey,

and go to him, and he shall tell thee what shall become of the child.

And Jeroboam's wife did so,

and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah.

But Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were set by reason of his age.

So we see here, he sends his wife to make inquiry to the prophet Ahijah,

who had been there.

Jeroboam devises a plan about finding out the fate of his child.

You know, he was concerned, and we can say here,

you know, this is pretty normal parent stuff when it comes to this.

I mean, when you realize he was concerned about

what was going to be the outcome of his son.

But he puts in place a deception.

You think about the deception that he set forth.

As this plays out here,

he knows there's a man of God

that had the ability, because God was with him,

to tell him what he needed to know.

But instead of going, and inquiring, and returning to God,

what does he do? He sends his wife.

He doesn't just send his wife,

because consider what he does,

the deception here,

is that he was going to be rejected,

because he says,

I don't want anybody to know that you're my wife when you go.

He says, disguise yourself.

You know, remember, Jeroboam had rejected

all that God had revealed to him.

He had seen God's plan from Ahijah there,

tell him everything he needed to know

what was going to happen.

How God was going to give him the kingdom,

how those things were going to take place.

He'd seen it all come to pass.

All those things had been put together.

He had seen those things come true before him,

and as we see here tonight,

we see his response was one of deception.

And we understand that he had been,

maybe he was despondent at this point,

because remember,

what got him in trouble the most

was what?

He set up a false religion.

He set up his own gods.

Remember, he built the two calves

that he put at Dan and at Shiloh,

or at Bethel,

to say, here Israel, here's your gods.

And he set up to make offerings unto them.

That was the problem,

the reason the prophet came,

as we saw earlier,

as he met him at that altar there

where he was worshiping false gods,

and his response might have been

because his gods didn't answer.

I imagine he'd probably made many sacrifices

there to his gods for his son.

But he got to a point where he said,

hey, I need to do something different.

And he understood that there was a God in heaven

that might make a difference,

but he wasn't willing to turn to him.

You know, I want you to understand,

you can recognize God is there,

but there's a difference of turning to him

and trusting him

and having a focus upon what he has established.

We don't know all the backstory behind it,

but we do know that somehow now

he decides he's going to send his wife

to get the answer.

I think partly he sends his wife

because he knows he's under condemnation.

He's thinking, well, if I send my wife,

maybe we'll have some mercy from God.

You know, there's a lot of things

we could read into this as people

to understand the implications of what's happening,

and we can definitely empathize with Jeroboam

in the circumstance that he's in.

But he knew because of his wickedness

that God had placed him

and under condemnation

that things were going to happen.

But he sends his wife

and she might not get recognized.

And you say, why did he have her disguised?

Well, he said, well, maybe I can trick God.

If I just do this, maybe I'm in desperate need.

Maybe God will answer this time for something good.

And so we see here that he sends his wife

to deceive Hyjio,

and the account really gives a kind of a,

I think it's kind of like the side humor in it.

He disguises his wife to go to a blind man.

You know?

I sometimes like the irony contained in Scripture.

You know, that he says,

go disguise yourself and go to a Hyjian,

not knowing that a Hyjian couldn't see her anyways.

And so we see here that he also sends her with some things.

He sends her, you might say, with a bribe, you know.

He says, well, I know I need to send something.

So he sends his wife with this modest gift

to the prophet, hoping to gain a positive outcome.

You know, people are the same today.

I've been pastoring long enough that I see people show up.

I know when they show up that something's happened in their life.

Because that's the only time they show up at church.

They'll show up for a couple of months

as they work through a problem

or want God to resolve something for them.

One day I pray that they really get a,

God gets a hold of their heart

or they surrender their heart to the Lord

and say, I need to get serious.

But you know, it's no different today.

People treat God the same way.

They come and they say they're going to make,

they make an offering to the Lord

and they pray and, you know,

we need to get back to God.

And they'll show up for a few months

and things will get smoothed out

and then they'll move on down the road again.

And a year or so later when they show back up,

you say, well, yep, okay.

You think it in your mind,

but in your heart you're thinking,

maybe this time they'll be serious.

Because I want you to understand

that the Lord is never fooled by our actions

because He already knows the thoughts

and intents of your heart.

We can put on a show for everybody else,

but you know, God knows your heart.

God's the one that knows whether you're serious.

We can try to make outward judgments,

but ultimately it's up to God.

You know, I want you to understand

we just can't offer something to Him

to make up the difference

because you cannot feign your love for God by sacrifice.

Remember we talked about this on Sunday.

Look over to Mark chapter 12 again

Mark 12 · chapter mention

where we were on Sunday.

Because remember the scribe that came to Jesus?

Remember His conclusion?

Here in verse 33 of Mark chapter 12,

Mark 12 · chapter mention

notice what He says,

to love Him with all the heart,

with all the understanding,

with all the soul,

with all the strength,

and to love His neighbors Himself

is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

The reality is,

if you don't love God,

giving to God isn't going to buy God's love.

You know, that's a misconception today

that you find with people.

They think if they just give enough,

you know,

if I do good things,

or I give enough,

or I do this for God,

that God will love me,

I want you to understand,

God loves you,

always going to love you right now.

He's already provided everything

that you need for you.

But His wife, we see here,

prepares herself and travels towards Shiloh,

and the Lord is preparing the prophet for her arrival.

Because this is another one of those intriguing things here.

Look down at verse 5 with me tonight in the text,

and look what it says,

And the Lord said unto Ahijah,

Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son,

for he is sick.

Thus and thus shalt thou say unto her,

For it shall be when she cometh then,

that she shall feign herself to be another woman.

You know?

So here it is.

God says,

Hey,

you might be trying to trick me,

but God says,

Hey, Ahijah,

let me tell you what's going to be going on,

even though you're blind and you can't see.

I'm going to give you some spiritual insight

to understand what's happening.

I want you to understand that

while she thought she was coming to plead with him,

the opposite was actually true.

Look at the end of verse 6.

We'll get back to this.

Look at that last line of verse 6 for a moment.

Notice what that says.

It says this,

For I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.

She came to him,

but the prophet says,

Hey,

I've come to you with a message

and tidings from God,

and they're heavy.

And we'll talk about those heavy tidings here

in just a moment

because it was some troublesome information.

You know?

This is information that I don't know.

I guarantee you,

Ahijah,

the prophet wasn't said,

Yeah, let's get him.

I want you to understand

that he was given insight into the situation

and he had empathy towards it.

It was heavy information

that he was about to give.

It was not easy information

about what he was going to tell her.

Because he was going to give some news to her,

and that news was,

Hey,

at the end of the day when you go home,

your son's going to die.

That's heavy information.

We ought not to never rejoice

at somebody else's peril.

You know,

consider what God's Word

has declared to us

because as a believer,

God guides us today.

God helps you understand

things that are going on.

Psalm 25 in verse 9

tells us this.

It says,

The meek will he guide in judgment,

and the meek

will he teach his way.

Psalm 73 verse 24 tells us,

Psalms 73:24

And thou shalt guide me with thy counsel,

and afterwards receive me to glory.

You know,

he was here giving him wisdom

and understanding of the circumstance.

He understood the need

and what was happening.

But you see,

Ahijah did not respond

by how he might feel about the situation.

You know,

we know he had empathy

towards the sick child.

It's natural.

It's good.

But empathy never outweighs truth.

But you can imagine here tonight,

imagine the surprise.

Ahijah is up there

and he hears footsteps coming.

Let's look at the text here

as we see this.

Notice this.

It says in verse 6,

Now think about what happened there.

Because remember,

what's the physical ailment of the prophet?

He's blind.

Now wouldn't it have been something

to be the fly on the wall

to watch her face at that moment?

God used that to make a point

to let her know that,

hey, there's some seriousness here.

There's a reality of these things.

And the Lord has sent me to you,

he tells her.

You know,

as you think about

how do you deliver bad news

to a desperate mom?

Look over for a moment

to Proverbs chapter 24.

Proverbs 24 · chapter mention

Because God gives us wisdom.

He promises to guide us

and direct us.

But I want you to understand

that no matter what happens,

we need to keep in mind

that people are still

human beings and people.

Look here in Proverbs 24, verse 17.

Proverbs 24:17

The Word of God tells us this,

Rejoice not when thy enemy falleth,

and let not thy heart be glad

when he stumbleth.

You know,

I think this is good words

for us today even.

Because we live in a volatile climate

of political dynamics

and people's hostilities get up

and it's almost like,

well, they deserved it.

Biblically,

we need to guard our heart

that we don't get

the wrong attitude

and the wrong spirit

about things.

Because somebody else's calamity,

we ought not to rejoice.

Think about what the Apostle Paul

said over in 2 Corinthians.

Turn over there,

2 Corinthians chapter 7.

2 Corinthians 7 · chapter mention

You know,

when you read through

the book of 1 Corinthians

and 2 Corinthians,

Paul had to deal

with a lot of heavy topics.

You know,

he was dealing with

a lot of things

that we're not comfortable

to deal with.

I guarantee you

made a lot of people

pretty uncomfortable

covering the topics

he had to cover.

And there was some repentance

that took place.

Some sincere change

in people's lives

through it.

Notice what it says here

in chapter 7

and verse 9.

He says,

Now I rejoice

not that you were made

sorry,

but that you sorrowed

to repentance.

In other words,

he says,

I took no joy

into seeing you suffer

and go through those things.

I rejoice

because you repented

and turned to the Lord.

As they went through that,

that's the right spirit,

the right attitude.

You know,

that they were made sorry

after a godly matter

that you might receive

damage by us

in nothing.

But we see here

as he moves on,

notice this,

he says,

I'm sent thief

with heavy tidings.

What he's given to them

and we see the assessment

that he gives.

Notice here in verse 6,

or excuse me,

verse 7,

it says,

Go tell Jeroboam,

thus saith the Lord

God of Israel,

for as much as I exalted thee

from among the people

and made thee prince

over my people.

Think about this,

the assessment

of the situation,

he first talks about

God's promotion.

He says,

Hey,

go tell your husband Jeroboam

that he's there

because I put him there.

You know,

we talked about that

on Sunday.

Governments are what?

God is the one

who established government.

God's the one

that established Jeroboam.

He's there

because God put him there.

God allowed him

to be there.

And he had a responsibility.

He says,

Remind Jeroboam

who put him

in that position.

And the expectation,

look at verse 8,

And he rent the kingdom

away from the house

of David

and gave it to thee.

And yet there has not been

as my servant David

who kept my commandments

and who followed me

with all his heart

to do that only which

was right in mine eyes.

But thou hast done evil

above all that was before thee.

For thou hast gone

and made thee other gods

in molten images

and provoked me to anger

and has cast me

behind thy back.

You know,

the prophet says,

Hey,

go tell Jeroboam

and remind me

of what my expectation was.

God's expectation

of Jeroboam

was really a lot simpler

than other expectations

on other people.

He said,

I simply want you

to obey my word.

He didn't have any

super special thing

for Jeroboam to go do

or he didn't have anything

extraordinary for him to do.

He says,

Trust me

and obey me,

which is the same command

he gives to you and I.

To do those things

and we see here

this expectation

was obedience

to the Lord's command

just as David did.

You know,

as we go through the kings

here in the different transitions,

you'll find

two measuring rods

that you're going to find

here are the kings.

The first one,

they're going to be measured

against David.

Are they a person

with a heart

that's towards God?

Are they going to be

Jeroboams

that rejected God?

You know,

both those men

set a standard.

One we ought to strive for,

the other we ought to

want to avoid

because we see here

that David did right

in the eyes of the Lord.

Now,

when we hear that,

we say,

well,

we know David sinned.

Yes,

he did.

But, you know,

you ought to go read

Psalm 51

and see that David's

response to his sin.

David didn't try to

continue to cover it up.

He said,

I want forgiveness.

I want you to restore

the joy of thy salvation.

He said that he wanted

God to deal

with the circumstances,

to deal with those things.

The difference was

David sinned

and turned to God.

Jeroboam sinned

and said,

let's go sin some more.

That's a difference

of direction

because look at

the end of verse 9.

And has cast me

behind thy back.

Now,

this is another one

of those phrases

that's interesting

because to cast

behind your back

is to say,

I want nothing

to do with it.

It's behind.

It's to be left behind.

Now,

this phrase is also

used in a positive sense

later on in Scripture.

Look over to Isaiah 38

for a moment.

Isaiah 38

and verse 17.

This gives us

the context

for that phrase

when it comes

to Jeroboam.

The context

to Jeroboam

is Jeroboam

put everything

of God

behind his back.

He said,

I don't care

for anything

that God has done.

I'm putting it

behind me.

But look here

in Isaiah 38

and verse 17.

The Word of God

says,

Behold,

for peace

I have had

great bitterness,

but thou hast

in love

to my soul

delivered it

from the pit

of corruption.

And he's talking

to God.

He says,

For thou hast

cast all my sins

behind thy back.

Now,

aren't you glad

that God,

when you're saved,

takes all your sin

and puts it

behind his back?

The phrase is,

God says,

I'm walking away

from those things

that are behind.

I have no connection

with the things

behind me.

At the moment

of salvation,

God takes your sin

and puts it

behind his back.

On the negative,

Jeroboam said,

God,

you've done all this

for me

and I'm putting

it behind my back.

It's the same phrase

with the same picture,

but one is positive

and one is negative.

Ezekiel 23

Ezekiel 23:35

verse 35

says,

Therefore,

soth they

at the Lord God

because thou hast

forgotten me

and cast me

behind thy back.

Therefore,

bear thou also

thy lewdness

and thy whoredoms.

You know,

we have a choice

of what we're going

to do with the things

of God.

We either put them

behind our back

or let God

take our sin

and put it

behind his back.

And that happens

when we come

to the Lord

just as David did.

You know,

think of the New Testament,

1 John.

It tells us here

in 1 John 1, 9

a verse we use

quite often,

but really it's

the application here

of what's the decision

you're going to make.

It says,

if we confess our sins,

he's what?

Faithful and just

to do what?

Forgive us our sins

and to cleanse us

from all unrighteousness.

You know what that verse says?

It's the Old Testament

equivalent of God saying,

if you confess your sins

to me,

I'm going to take care

of those

and I'm going to put

them behind my back.

I'm going to put them away.

But instead of wanting

God to put his sin

behind him,

he says,

I want to put God

behind me.

It's a rejection

of the things of God

and he's describing this.

Now look at verse 10

of God's accountability.

Notice he says,

therefore behold,

I will bring evil

upon the house

of Jeroboam

and will cut off

from Jeroboam

him that pisses

against the wall

and him that is shut up

and left in Israel

and will take away

the remnant

of the house

of Jeroboam

as a man

taketh away dung

till it all be gone.

Him that dieth

of Jeroboam

in the city

shall the dogs eat

and him that dieth

in the field

shall the fowls

of the air eat

for the Lord

hath spoken it.

You know,

the accountability,

the judgment of God

will come.

I want you to understand

it might not be today.

Have you ever noticed

that people try

to brush God off

because he doesn't

hold them

immediately accountable?

God sometimes

has immediate effects

and sometimes

his judgment

is long lasting.

Now remember

the picture last week

that we saw

God healed

the wither hand

and the altar

was cracked open

because he said

that they were going

to burn the bones

of the prophets

of the false prophets

upon that altar later

and God said

first it's going

to open up

and all the ashes

are going to pour out

right now

as a symbol

do you understand

that this other

is going to come

to pass too

and we saw

we read

that it does

come to pass.

It wasn't immediate

but it came to pass.

Just as God said

to the exact person

God said

was going to do it.

God gives them

those things

and we see here

that also notice

as we look on

down through here

on the text

look at verse 14

oh no excuse me

verse 12

arise thou therefore

and get thee

to thine house

and when thy feet

enter into the city

the child shall die.

You know

that was some pretty

heavy news

for the prophet

to give.

You know

as I was thinking

about that

I'm thinking about

you know

even today

as you might

have a doctor

or somebody

come in

and have to

give somebody

bad news

or even chaplains

that come

and have to

knock on the door

and say hey

that's heavy news

to bring to somebody.

The prophet of God

had some heavy news

to bring

he said

to the mom

of a child

he says

but you get back home

when you go in the door

your child's going to be dead.

That's some rough news.

The judgment was set

because Jeroboam

has set his heart

against the Lord.

The reality is

is God's going to

hold people accountable.

Look into the New Testament

for a moment

look into Romans chapter 1

Romans 1 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 1

Romans 1 · chapter mention

look at verse 32

because as we study

through this

you'll find

that God

always

holds to account.

Look at verse 32

of Romans chapter 1

Romans 1 · chapter mention

who knowing

the judgment

of God

that they

which commit

such things

are worthy

of death

not only

do the same

but have pleasure

in them

that do them.

God told Jeroboam

because of his sin

his house

his lineage

everything

was going to be

cut off.

There's going to be

no more.

even the male

descendants

would be put

to death.

He said

all your children

all your descendants

are going to be

put to death.

This happens

just not long

after this

few years

his son Nadab

is on the throne

is overthrown

by Beshag

and Beshag

takes all his

children

and kills them.

Every child

gets killed

and we know

what happens

it says

those that are

in the city

are slain

in the street

and the dogs

come and eat them.

If they're slain

in the field

they're left

to the birds.

That's a very

harsh representation.

Nobody would mourn

for them.

They would not

be buried.

We could talk

a little bit here

about just the idea

of what God

put forth

as the honor

of burying somebody

to memorial somebody

to bury them

and to have that

time is important.

It talks about

the importance

of that person's life

and God says

it's going to be

as if you weren't

even here

because nobody's

going to care.

When we understand

that what's happening

here that

he tells them

these things

and often times

you might read

through this

with empathy

and say

well why did God

kill the little child?

God had mercy

on the child.

Notice what God

tells them

through the prophet

here.

It says

and all Israel

shall mourn

for him

that's the child

and bury him

for he only

of Jeroboam

shall come

to the grave

because in him

there is found

some good thing

toward the Lord

God of Israel

in the house

of Jeroboam.

Now I think

if you study that out

that's God's

having mercy

on a child

that wasn't able

to make a decision.

He was not yet

a participant

in the sin

of his father

and God had mercy

on him.

That's hard

for us to grasp

but it's a reality

of what's taking place.

Notice verse 14

it says

moreover the king

shall raise him up

a king

the Lord shall raise him up

a king over Israel

who should cut off

the house of Jeroboam

that day

but what even now

for the Lord

shall smite Israel

with a reed

is shaken

in the water

and he shall

root up Israel

out of this good land

and he shall give it

to their fathers

and shall scatter them

beyond the river

because they have

made their groves

provoking the Lord

to anger

and he shall give

Israel up

because of the sins

of Jeroboam

who did sin

who made Israel

to sin.

Now the consequences

here we need

to understand

because the consequences

the repercussions

of Jeroboam's decisions

played out

not only in his family

it affected millions

of other people.

You know sometimes

we think our decisions

only affect us

but we have to keep

in mind that

your decisions

have repercussions

that shockwave

out way farther.

The decisions

that you make

the things you do

the consequences

here would be

far reaching

as the ten tribes

will ultimately

be exiled

from the land.

300 years later

you're going to find

that God sends

the Assyrian empire

to put them

in judgment

and God tells them

what's going to

happen here

but the entire time

for the next 300 years

God sends prophets

and others

to call them

to repentance.

You know what they do

with all the prophets

that God sends them?

The same thing

Jeroboam did.

Put them behind

their back.

I want no part

in it.

I want nothing

to do with God

but the Assyrians

would come

and the kingdom

or they're going

to take and conquer

the kingdom

and take the children

of Israel

out of the land

and meanwhile

the kingdom

in the meantime

would have no stability.

You know when you look

and we're going to learn

through here

as we look at

the kings of Israel

the northern tribes

they had very few

times of stability

from this point.

Their kingdom

was always in an upheaval.

You got people

you got armor bearers

and other military men

in charge

killing kings

and setting up

their own kingdoms

I mean you have

all sorts of things

it was shaking

in the reed

there was things

moving all the time.

There was no stability

no matter all these

things happening

they held on

to the false worship

and the abominations

that were in the land

before they arrived.

Look at verse 15

if you've never done

a study on the groves

that's a whole different

dynamic

because it wasn't

good things

that happened

in the groves.

We'll talk about that

a little next week

the groves had to do

with some abominations.

When God calls

something an abomination

it's like

moving up the tiers.

you know

basically you're saying

this

there's things

that God says

are evil

and then you have

things that are

an abomination.

It's like

evil magnified.

In other words

they're beyond

nature

or natural things

that anybody

ought to participate in.

When you look

at the things

that God calls

an abomination

you know

we see here

that as he does this

that they

made their groves

which provoked

the Lord to anger.

Now I want you

to understand

something important here

because sometimes

people say

well God

made them do that.

I want you to tell you

these people

made a decision

to do that.

They chose

the ramifications.

God offered them

mercy and repentance

an opportunity

to come to him.

He offered them

salvation

he offered them

grace

instead they put

them behind his back.

Put them behind

their back.

God gave them up

because their decision

and sometimes

people say

well God

doesn't judge

people immediately

so we shouldn't

have to worry about

and sometimes

that's people's mind

why don't you

put God

behind the back

because it'll

all be okay.

They say

God's talking

about judgment

and accountability

secondary.

Look over

in the book

of 2 Peter

for a moment.

2 Peter chapter 3.

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

I want you

to see here

this plays out

even today

because some

people think

well God's

going to

just give us

a go

we can go

do what

we want

to do.

2 Peter chapter 3

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

in verse 9

says the Lord

is not slack

concerning his

promises

as some men

count slackness.

You know

some people say

well God

doesn't judge

me right away

so it's going

to be okay

and they say

well God

is being slack

so God

will let me

by

but they mistake

it because

it's that God

is long

suffering

to us.

Why is God

long suffering?

because he's

not willing

that any

should perish

but that all

should come

to repentance.

In other words

the reality

is this

why does God

not judge

people immediately?

Because God's

merciful.

If God

judges immediately

we wouldn't

have an opportunity

to turn to him.

God's gracious.

God's merciful

towards us.

You know

but let's look

at the implications

of all this.

Look at verse 17

it says

and Jeroboam's

wife arose

and departed

and came

to Zara

and when she

came to the

threshold of the

door

the child

died

and they

buried him

and all Israel

mourned for him

according to the

word of the Lord

which he spake

by the hand

of his servant

Ahijah the prophet.

You know

the implications

of all this

began to

become a reality

before his wife

could even

return and tell

what was going

to happen

when she

stepped in the

door

the child

died.

That heavy

news that

the prophet

brought

came to

fruition.

The first

part of the

prophecy was

fulfilled

just as it

had been

declared.

You say

why would

God do that?

God said

I want you

to know

that I'm

going to

do it.

But in

the meantime

God's being

merciful to say

hey there's

an opportunity.

there's an

opportunity

there.

There should

be no doubt

as to the

other part

being fulfilled.

If God

fulfilled the

one part

he's going

to fulfill

the other

part.

You know

the reality

comes in

and is

recorded for

us over

in 2nd

Chronicles

chapter 13

where the

king of

Judah

comes

and Abijah

and his

people slew

them.

Verse 17

in chapter

13

a great

slaughter

so fell

down

slaying

of Israel

500,000

chosen men.

Jeroboam

end

was soon

after.

Look back

in our

text there

in 1st

Kings

and it

says in

verse 19

in the rest

of the

acts of

Jeroboam

how he

warred

and how

he

reigned

behold

they are

written

in the

book of

the

chronicles

of the

kings

of Israel

and the

days of

Jeroboam

reigned

were two

and twenty

years

and he

slept

with his

fathers

and Nadab

his son

reigned

in his

stead.

2nd

Chronicles

chapter 13

and verse

20

tells us

that God

struck

Jeroboam

and he

died.

A man

that had

been given

great promises

but from

God

that God

said I'm

going to

set you

to do

great things

you're going

to have a

kingdom

that's going

to be

likened to

David's.

if but

you will

obey me

and Jeroboam

goes no

I'm going

to put

you behind

my back.

We need

to realize

that God's

judgment's

real.

Just because

he gives

grace today

doesn't mean

he's not

going to

hold to

account.

We need

to always

be mindful

of those

things and

we ought

to be

careful that

we don't

put his

promises

and what

he tells

is his

commands

behind our

back.

Hopefully

your sins

are behind

his back

and not

his word

behind ours.

Important

lesson to

be learned

from Jeroboam.

Let's pray.