1 Kings 11 (Part 2) Bible Study (The Lord Raises Adversaries) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

So at this point, meet me in the book of first Kings chapter 11. First Kings chapter 11, where we will complete this chapter together by the grace of God. And before we even begin anything, let's pray, Nasal, Lord, for help. Father, we are fully convinced that if you don't help us, this will be a powerless, a futile meeting. Lord, we know that in everything that we do, even in your name, it requires your help.

And so we look to you with genuine, sincere hearts, fully convinced that, you must be here, and you must guide us through these verses. So we pray with absolute trust and joy knowing that this is a prayer that you are excited to answer, that you will indeed teach us truth so that we can know you and walk with you the way that you've called us to. So, Lord, may we hear your voice in this time, and may we be changed as a result of these things. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

For the rest of this chapter, you and I are going to read maybe painfully of the detailed consequences of Solomon's disobedience. Last week where, we came together to the beginning of this chapter, we learned of the great breach of Solomon's sin and what it violated in terms of God's covenant and his laws to him and the people of Israel. But this evening, we are going to learn and be reminded yet again that sin is not free. Sin has wages. No matter what sin we entertain consciously, there is always a undisclosed price tag attached to it.

And what we're going to learn here in this lengthy portion of scripture is just that. And although the consequences and the repercussions of Solomon's sin are unique to him because he is a king and because he is a descendant of the Davidic line, the overarching reality and the experiences that he will endure are universal are universal. Meaning, the essence of these outcomes are relative to you and I. Because what we have to understand as children of God is that when we even sin, though we have been grafted in by grace and though we have been justified by faith, that does not mean we can pursue this walk, the way we want. No.

There are still rules and regulations, boundaries within this relationship that bless us. And when we violate or veer off, we pay a price to an extent. And that's especially true when we premeditatively and intentionally pursue wrongdoing. And so if there's any way to frame this text and to divide these verses, if there's a title that you can take away from this bible study, it is this. I wanna speak to you tonight about three things that deliberate disobedience will affect in your life.

Three things that deliberate disobedience will affect in your life, and that is illustrated by Solomon's example. And we will begin now in verse nine, and let's read here the verse the first two verses of the portion allotted to us. We read here in first Kings 11 verse nine, and the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing that he should not go after other gods, but he did not keep what the Lord commanded. The first thing that deliberate disobedience affects, if you're taking notes, is this, the pleasure of the Lord. The pleasure of the Lord.

What we read here at the outset of this bible study is something that we don't hear often about, and that is the Lord's anger. The Lord's anger toward someone. And we learned much about the Lord's jealousy last week, and just like the Lord's jealousy, his anger is always justified. It is a holy anger. It is never erratic.

It is never, inexcusable. It is something that is always tied to his righteous character, And that is no different here. We see here that the Lord was angry with one of his servants. And this is important to see especially when you compare it with how we began with Solomon's reign. When you reflect on where Solomon started, it makes this commentary even more heartbreaking.

Turn with me to first Kings three, where Solomon begged the Lord for wisdom as he realized that he has been appointed the throne. And he knew that he could not do this without God's assistance And so he pleads with the Lord for wisdom. And this is the Lord's response to Solomon's heart posture at the beginning of his career in first Kings chapter three verse 10. It pleased the Lord. It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.

So Solomon began with pleasing the Lord, and at the last chapter of his life, he ends up grieving the Lord. He starts by pleasing the Lord. He ends by grieving the law Lord. And I believe that this consequence to sin is especially effective for those who have personal history with God. For the people here who have walked with the Lord, who have worshiped the Lord and enjoyed worshiping the Lord, for those who have prayed and sought answers, for those who even at this time can look back and point to moments where God intervened with his love and his undeserved acts of mercy.

This should this should this should stir us because what we learn from this is that the first thing sin does is it breaks God's heart. It breaks God's heart. This anger here, yes, it stems from a law that has been broken, but read again with me. It says here in the Lord, verse nine, was angry with solemn because his heart had turned away from the Lord. This is a heart thing.

This is relationship. This is this is a longing that God has for our hearts. And most of us in here, I'm sure, cannot be at ease knowing that our inexcusable actions are causing a loved one to be heartbroken. That would disturb us if our conscious has not been completely seared. That would move us.

That would haunt us to a certain degree. And some of you in here have experienced the pain of heartbreak as a result of somebody else's failure in your life. Maybe a friend that you've had many memories with, who has made promises to you, who's even said to you that we will be friends for the rest of our lives. I'm always here for you, and they are doing something that betrayed you and that broke your heart. You know what that feels like.

And I think this is important to put ourselves in the shoes of the Lord, because he's expressing this from a place of relationship. He's not just expressing this from a legal standpoint. This is god's heart being broken because the heart of one of his own has turned away from him. Feel that. Feel that.

And translate that into your life as you are tempted with sin. What will this do to my god, to his heart? I've talked to many people who have found themselves in deep sin, consecutive seasons of sin. And I've been disappointed not because necessarily they are in sin, though that is heartbreaking in itself, but their confession of sin. Many people are more concerned about their reputation, their resources, what their elders might think, what their wives might think, what their and very little people, in my own experience your experience might be different.

My own experience, very little people have confessed, I've broken God's heart. I've broken my God's heart. And the holy spirit gives us text like this to show that his heart is effective primarily. You know, when the lord Jesus spoke through John to the seven churches in Revelation, the first church that was addressed was a church of Ephesus. It was a doctrinally sound church.

It was a church that can sniff a false apostle a mile away. It was a church that worked hard, but it was a church that was indicted for this one thing. Most word for word translations put Revelation two four in this way, you have left your first love. The ESV would say it this way, you have left the love that you had at first. But if you understand it in how most translations put it, you have left your first love, that says something about what god longs from us.

You've probably heard other people. You probably said this yourself. You love god, and you heard people say, I love god. But god's not after just your love. He wants your first love.

God will not settle for second place. He will not. In your heart, God wants preeminence. By virtue of being creator, sustainer, provider, savior, god is worthy of your first love. He does not want any rivals.

He does not want a slot in your heart. He wants the whole thing. And so he tells this church, you've left your first love. Oh, I'm sure they didn't stop loving God, but he was removed from first place. And Solomon here has done much more than just leaving his first love.

This man walked away from God completely, and we're we're learning something about why God was grieved even more. It's at the last part of verse nine. So Solomon turned his heart away from the Lord, and then the Holy Spirit says, the God of Israel who had appeared to him twice. That moved me. We've studied how the Lord appeared to Solomon twice with unique and incredible manifestations of his voice.

You know, you have some people who believe that if they just have these incredible experiences with God, if they just witness certain miracles, or if they experience the Lord in a personal and extraordinary way that they'll be more dedicated to him, Solomon proves otherwise. Here's this man who had two experiences that most of us, if not all of us, would never experience on this side of glory. And despite those experiences, he was still able to turn away from the Lord. Experiences do not automatically mean that you will be faithful. It should cause you to be more faithful.

Because what we learn from this according to what the Holy Spirit reveals is that God takes into account the testimonies and the experiences that he grants us. He remembers it. And the greater our experiences are with God, the greater our responsibility is to God. The greater our experiences are with God, the greater our responsibility is to God. That is true for every individual, and that was especially true for this nation called Israel under the old covenant.

Turn with me to Amos chapter three verse two. You get a lot of people today who are bent out of shape even I'm talking about those within Christendom, about this idea that god has made a covenant with this people called Israel, and that covenant still stands. And one of the arguments is, well, how is it that god can make such a promise to one people group? Yes. We know that in the cross, we know that because of what Christ has done, that wall of hostility is brought down, gentiles have been grafted in.

I don't wanna get into that discussion now, but I wanna make a comment based on what the Lord himself has said that although these people experience certain privileges, with those privileges came responsibilities. Here's what he says in Amos three two. The Lord speaks to these people and he says, you only have I known of all the families of the earth. He's highlighting the privilege of being elected unto a service. You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

Do you see that? Israel, don't get it twisted. Just because you've been selected by me from all the families of the earth does not mean that I wink at your sin. Does not mean that you get to have special treatment from me. No.

No. No. In fact, because you belong to me, because you've been called to a specific role on the earth, you have extra accountability from me. And so I will punish you for your iniquities. So, yes, Paul confesses that this people had an advantage, but we also see in the scriptures that with that advantage came great accountability.

And we look at this and we see this relatable to Solomon as a king in Israel and the people of Israel. Well, no. It relates to us as well. We have different churches represented here, and I pray that every single one of you wherever you come from go to a bible preaching God fearing assembly. And if you do, you should rejoice in that and consider that a gift from the Lord, but with that gift also is a responsibility.

Don't boast too much that your pastor preaches good sermons, because you'll be held accountable for what you hear every week. Now we don't think about it that way. Right? Oh, yes. We want deeper revelation of God's word.

We wanna learn it at a rate that might not be normal perhaps. We wanna depth that most people won't have. Okay. Great. But understand that with what God will show you, he will hold you accountable.

This is not just information. This information demands obedience. It it it demands change. And and so with the degree that he reveals himself and gifts us and gives us experiences comes a responsibility. God appeared to Solomon twice, and he notes that in light of his disobedience.

How could you walk away from God after he had given you these experiences? And so it's a warning even. It's a warning, and this chapter really is a warning. The first thing that our deliberate disobedience affects is the pleasure of the lord, the heart of god. The second thing that our deliberate disobedience affects are the promises of the Lord.

So the pleasure of the Lord, but now the promises of the Lord. Let's read from verse 11. Therefore, the Lord said to Solomon, since this has been your practice other transitions will say it this way, since you have done this. But the ESV says, since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. Yet for the sake of your father, I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.

However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of David, my servant, and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen. So the Lord is repeating something. You've heard me emphasize a word, tear, tear away. And he's telling Solomon, who has enjoyed the the rule over all the tribes of Israel, that things are gonna change now. I'm going to remove a majority of these tribes for the sake of your father David.

I'll keep one I'll keep one for you and the rest of your descendants. But your experience of having the entire nation will now be affected because of your disobedience. This was a promise that God gave to David. He gave to his son and the succeeding kings, and now this promise would not be experienced in its fullness. Contrary to popular belief, not every promise that God gives is unconditional.

Praise God that the significant ones are. But not every blessing is automatic even for those who are walking in Christ. There are certain things that can only be unlocked and enjoyed in the place of conscious obedience to the Lord's word and cannot be known otherwise. And what we need to do as diligent students is realize what it is that God demands of us in the new covenant to know that how we can experience all of his promises in Christ Jesus on this side of heaven. And I think of one example of how this is true.

It's in second Corinthians seven one, where Paul makes this amazing claim and provides this wonderful insight for what our motivation one of our motivations should be in pursuing complete holiness. Second Corinthians seven one reads, since we have these promises, beloved since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. There's so many things I can say about this verse. Let me make one comment before I get to the main point. Okay?

Notice he says bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. Holiness is not a scary word. Maybe in your upbringing, if you came from a legalistic background, you equate holiness as a dirty thing, as a legalistic concept. Holiness is simply health for your spirit. None of you are afraid of health for your body.

You shouldn't be afraid of holiness because holiness is health for your spirit. And he says, bringing holiness to completion. Contrary to what some believe, Paul is not speaking here about sinless perfectionism. You can never know a sinless state consecutively until you get to glory. That's what glorification is all about.

Completion here in the original word simply means maturity. Maturity. Let's bring our holiness to a mature state, and the only way we can arrive to a state of holiness, supreme and heightened health for your spirit. Wouldn't you want that? Power in the spirit, clarity in the spirit, peace in the spirit, joy in the spirit, power again in the spirit.

If you want to arrive there and live there, you're gonna have to do it in the fear of God. This is what this teaches me. If you don't have the fear of God, you'll never know completion in holiness. You can only know completion in holiness if you first understand what it means to fear the Lord. So that's why you have a lot of people in Christendom, a lot of people even in the church who never arrive to a place of maturity spiritually, and I argue in great part is because there's a lack of fear in their lives.

If you minimize the fear of God in your life, whether you realize it or not, you're minimizing your spiritual maturity. K. That's a side point. Here's the main point. What's the motivation for us to pursue holiness and completion?

Paul states in the first few words, since we have these promises. Promises. There are certain promises that Paul just spelled out clearly. Right? His wording here denotes that he just finished explaining certain promises.

And he goes, now that I've given you these promises in the new covenant that are for you, pursue holiness so that you can secure these promises in your life. What are those promises? Well, some translations say, therefore. Right? So he just finished saying something, and all we have to do is look back the first few verses of the last portion of chapter six.

Here's one of them in second Corinthians six sixteen. Here's one of the promises. Paul says, what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God as God said, here's one of the promises, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Quiz.

You like quizzes. Right? Quiz. Is Paul quoting scripture here? Yes.

Who here knows which book of the Hebrew scriptures he is quoting? Leviticus. Leviticus chapter twenty six eleven to 12. Well, the lord is speaking to his people. He's speaking to his people about their holiness under the new covenant, and he promises them, if you hold to this code, here's what I will guarantee you.

I will dwell among you, and I will walk with you. And Paul, by the spirit, takes that promise. There are a lot of things in Leviticus that we don't do. Right? That's why you're wearing a certain fabric shirt, and that's why men, your your hair is trimmed on your sides.

But Paul, by the authority of the spirit, reaches to one of these promises and he applies it to the new covenant. And how do we summarize what this what this promise is all about? It's very easy. Greater intimacy with the Lord. I will dwell among you, and I will walk.

How well, how does that happen now? Do we have a room called the holy of holies? Do we have a tent that we live beside? No. No.

No. It's called the Holy Spirit who lives in you, the new tabernacle. And so he applies this old covenant promise, and by permission of the Holy Spirit, he applies it to the new covenant context. And he says the Holy Spirit, the glory of God that dwelt in that tent around the people now is able to live in you as the new tent of God, which tells me that there is something about this promise that's not just theoretical or theological, it's experiential. Greater intimacy with the Lord.

Here's one of those promises, and he says, since we have these promises, run after holiness. Shut off all the defilement of the flesh and the body. Get rid of all those things that might that might alter and affect this promise. I said, I don't know what can be greater than greater intimacy with the Lord. I don't I don't know.

I have nothing else to offer you. That is the the pinnacle of the promises of God in the new covenant on this side of heaven. And there are other promises and and Paul spells that out elsewhere. So we see this understanding that there are promises of the Lord that our disobedience can rob us from. And remember that as you are standing before the temptation of amusing yourself with sin, whatever that sin may be, because whatever you think will bring that thrill, it will always cost you greater promises and greater fulfillment, greater pleasure in God.

And that's what we see with Solomon. But notice even in this, right, there is mercy. Look back at verse 12 of first Corinthians 11. Excuse me. First Kings 11.

Yet for the sake of David, your father, I will not do it in your days. And then in verse 13, however, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of David, my servant, and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen. Solomon, it's not gonna happen in your lifetime. It's gonna happen with your son, and I'm not gonna take all the tribes. I'm gonna leave one tribe because I made a promise to your father.

You know what this is supposed to do to us as we're reading this text? This is God's declaration of his fidelity in the middle of studying Solomon's unfaithfulness. So even in this dark chapter, we're supposed to feel refreshed. How? Because as I'm studying the colossal mess up of a man who experienced so much, I am confronted with a promise keeping god.

Solomon didn't keep his promise. Solomon could not hold his weight. Solomon could not keep up with what he had said. But you know who does? God.

God. Man will make vows. Man will claim things. Man will say something and end up changing their mind down the road. God is not like man.

So even in this rebuke, even in this chastisement, God is declaring and showing he is unlike man. When I say something, I mean it. I don't let things happening around me. I don't let people around me alter my word. When I say it, I mean it, and I keep it.

This is the God that we serve. So every time you read this book, every time especially you read promises concerning today and promises and prophecies for tomorrow, you can bank your life on this. God said it, so he will mean it, and he will keep it. So I'm refreshing reading this. Thank god my king is not like King Solomon.

Thank god my king is not like King David. He's the king above all kings. We talked about how deliberate disobedience affects the pleasure of the Lord, how it affects the promise of the Lord being experienced in their fullness in our lives. Lastly, let's read a few verses. You probably notice there's a lot more verses here.

And I wanna just highlight a few verses from this next portion, and then we'll dissect them verse by verse. Read with me verse 14 of this chapter. And the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the royal house in Edom. Let's put that aside and come down to verse 23.

God also raised up as an adversary to him, Rezin the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zoba. And lastly, let's come here to verse 26. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zerodah, a servant of Solomon whose mother's name was Zuriya, a widow, also lifted up his hand against the king. So the lord now raises up three opponents, three adversaries against Solomon. Again, what makes us heartbreaking is when we reflect on Solomon's experience when he was walking with the lord.

So we read those three verses. Right? God raising up an adversary. God raising up an adversary. Jeroboam raising up his hand against the king.

Solomon made this awesome confession declaring the goodness of God in first Kings chapter five, and it's so sad to see where it's led to. First Kings five. Look at this in verse four. This is Solomon speaking, and notice what he gladly admits and declares in first Kings five four. But now the Lord, my God, has given me rest on every side.

There is neither adversary nor misfortune. No adversary. Yeah. Listen. We've been studying Solomon's life for quite a few weeks.

Have we read of any significant adversary rising up against Solomon? As long as he was walking with the lord, no. As long as he shunned idolatry, no. But now that he is walking in rebellion, God raises up three of them. Deliberate disobedience not only affects the pleasure of the Lord, not only does it alter the promises of the Lord, some of them, it also affects the peace of the Lord in our lives.

The peace of the Lord. Solomon's reign was characterized by peace, and you and I in Christ have access to greater peace. Solomon could give peace economically, politically, in society. Christ can bring peace internally where peace matters the most. Greater peace.

But what we learned here through Solomon's example is that when we choose to live in sin, not only do we put a pause on the promises of God, but we replace them with problems from God. You put a pause on the promises, and you invite problems, and those problems are allowed by the Lord. Who raised up these adversaries? Satan? No.

The Lord raised them up. The Lord removed the hedge. The Lord opened the floodgates. For all this time, God apprehended these adversaries. He kept them at bay.

And when Solomon kept ignoring the Lord and kept walking away from the Lord, the Lord says, enough is enough. I have to get your attention somehow, and he chooses to raise up these adversaries. For what for what reason? To rouse up a slumbering Solomon in his sin so that he could ultimately repent and turn back to the Lord. So you heard about the mercy of God, how he said what?

That he would not allow all the the tribes to be removed from the kingdom of David, and that it would not happen in his lifetime? I argue that God's mercy is still being displayed here. Saying how? How is this God's mercy? Because God and his love will not allow his child to remain in sin undisturbed.

That's God's love toward you and I. God doesn't just let you go your way. God will chase you, and God will agitate you, and God will signal to you over and over again. He will not give up on you. This is God's mercy in these adversaries coming against Solomon.

One of the worst ways God can judge a people or a nation is when he lets them be in their sin, when he lets them have their idols. But see, god here is pursuing this man. Despite all the shortcomings and all the disappointments, the lord says, I'm still gonna find a way to get your attention. And if it if it needs this, then let it be. There's a profound verse that solidifies this point about how unrighteousness will not provide peace.

Only righteousness, practical righteousness will provide peace. It's in Isaiah 32 verse 17. Isaiah thirty two seventeen. Here's what the prophet says. It's a wonderful insight about how walking with the Lord promises his peace.

Isaiah thirty two seventeen reads, and the effect of righteousness will be what? Peace. The effect of righteousness will be peace. And the result of righteousness oh, I love these two words, quietness and trust forever. That's a verse that America needs.

You want peace, America? You need righteousness. Yes. First, you need the righteousness that is imputed by Jesus Christ, and then from there, you need the practical righteousness that he empowers you to walk in. The effect of righteousness is peace.

No righteousness, no peace. And that's especially true for the child of God who knows better. A lukewarm Christian is the most miserable person on earth. Really. I argue that.

Say how. Because you have enough of God where you can't enjoy the world the way you would hope to, and you have enough of the world where you can't enjoy God the way you're supposed to. You're just, like, in this miserable limbo. And it's so pathetic to watch because there you are just trying to create mud pies and figure out how this whole thing works. It doesn't work until you submit to righteousness.

Consecrate yourself unto the Lord. Can I just be real? Can I just talk? Yeah? Okay.

Aren't you the happiest when you're the holiest? When you're when you're the closest to the Lord, aren't you the happiest? Right? Yeah. I know you try to numb yourself with entertainment, then you try to silence your conscience by doing all these different activities, but you know that you are the most glad when you're the closest to God.

You know that. There's a lightness. There's a strength. There's a confidence. There's a joy to your step because only God provides that.

Just a reminder. The effect of righteousness will be peace. There's no peace for Solomon now. Why? Because there's no righteousness.

So now let's explore these three adversaries separately. Verse 14. And the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the royal house in Edom. For when David was in Edom now we get the backstory of how this man comes on the scene.

For when David was in Edom and Joab, the commander of the army, went up to bury the slain, he struck down every male in Edom. For Joab and all Israel remained there six months until he had cut off every male in Edom. But Hadad fled to Egypt together with certain Edomites of his father's servants, Hadad still being a little child. They set out from Midian and came to Paran and took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who gave him a house and assigned him an allowance of food and gave him land. And Adad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him in marriage the sister of his own wife, the sister of Taphnese, the queen.

And the sister of Taphnese bore him Genubath his son, whom Taphnese weaned in Pharaoh's house. And Genubath was in Pharaoh's house among the sons of Pharaoh. But when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, let me depart that I may go to my own country. But Pharaoh said to him, what have you lacked with me that you are now seeking to go to your own country? And he said to him, only let me depart.

Hadad, where is he from? Where is he from? He's from Edom. Why should that be important for us? Don't go too far.

Consider the context of Solomon's life. I'll give you another hint. Consider the context of the chapter that we're studying. Edom. He's from Edom.

Look at the first few verses of chapter 11. Something should stand out. Very good. Verse one. Now king Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite tell me the third one.

Edomite, Sidonian and Hittite woman. So Solomon, yes, in his lust had all these women, but there was also a hint of political strategy here. He marries into the Edomite clan, the Edomite people. He thought he was clever. He was operating under human wisdom here, thinking to himself, I will be able to promote peace if I have these marriage alliances.

And perhaps for a season, there was a soothing effect of him marrying into this people group. And you know what this teaches us? Because what Solomon did here marrying his foreign woman was a sin. Not because they were foreign, but they were foreign to God. And what he thought would provide him security and prosperity and peace betrayed him.

Now you have a man from Edom who is going to harass you for the rest of your life. Sin always lies to you. It always does. It always lies to you. And again, it seems to bring some kind of relief, some kind of escape, but it will always come back to bite you.

Always. You don't know when, you don't know how, but sin is very clever in finding a way to make sure that you get that check. So he marries into the Edomites and now his enemy, his first enemy is from Edom. And this is what we learned from this man in the beginning of this portion of scripture. But we also notice something about Hadad.

Notice so he he now experiences this massacre. Right? He escapes this war, and he finds himself in Egypt under the care of Pharaoh. And for some reason, Pharaoh shows unusual kindness to them, gives him housing allowance food, and he loves him so much that he even makes an alliance with him by allowing him to marry his sister-in-law. Everything's going well for for Edom.

I mean I mean, for her dad. He could've just stayed there and just lived the the rest of his life in that place. But when he learns that David and Joab are dead, he now comes to Pharaoh and asks for permission to go to his own country for one sole purpose. I will live the rest of my life assaulting and harassing Solomon. What does that reveal about what was in this man's heart after all these years?

Vengeance, bitterness, unforgiveness. This man was harboring these things, and when the opportunity arose, he took advantage of it. And what's so fascinating is that he was willing to walk away from this favor that he experienced. He was willing to walk away from his livelihood, his familiarity, to now live with a campaign to be a thorn in Solomon's side. A brief point, but it's really a sad illustration of what bitterness can do to a man, and what bitterness is willing to lead a man into and lead a man away from.

As much as you feel empowered in your unforgiveness because in your mind you entertain these thoughts towards that person who has hurt you. Ultimately, you're draining yourself of life. Here's this man now walking away from all these things so that he can be an antagonist against the son of David. But now we read about this other man, verse 23. Not much is said about him in comparison to Hadad and Jeroboam, but let's read.

God also raised up as an adversary to him, Rezin, the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer, king of Zobah. He had gathered men about him and became leader of a marauding band after the killing by David. And they went to Damascus and lived there and made him king in Damascus. He was an adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon doing harm as Hadad did, and he loathed Israel and reigned over Syria. The thing that I wanna highlight here is that unlike Hadad, this man here was not of royal birth.

He was, he was a servant to his master. And though this is God recruiting men with evil intent in their hearts, the rule of recruitment is still true for the righteous. God can raise up a man from royalty or from obscurity. He can recruit a man from nobility and a man who nobody knows about. And so that's a positive way of looking at this.

So you have a hadad whom many people knew and was used obviously for, and as an instrument of judgment, and then you have this man, Rezan, where some people might have not known as much and he was still used by God. In a positive sense, this is an encouraging thing. In this context, it's a terrifying thing. You know what you notice here? Is that you have these political shifts, you have the rise and fall of kings, and from a natural standpoint, it just seems political, but there's a spiritual reason behind it.

There's a spiritual component to this. The the real reason for all of this is that there's a leader who's in covenant with God, and he's about to experience God's judgment, and God's gonna use people to bring about that judgment. And so with all that we see in this world, it's very tempting to look at it from a humanistic, natural standpoint, realize that the essence of our universe is that there is good and there is evil. There is a god and there is a devil. And, ultimately, this is about souls entering into one of two places in eternity.

And God knows how to govern the universe even now, not just in the Old Testament. Even now, he is governing nations, and he's dealing with leaders. And one of God's instruments of judgment when a nation has fallen to a place of no return is that he will use another nation to judge that nation. Study the ways of God, and you'll see that that is consistent with his character. And so you have this other man now who is out of obscurity, but the main person out of these three is Jeroboam.

Why is that? Because with Hadad, you had harassment against Solomon from the South. With Rezin, you had an adversary from the North. With Jeroboam, you have an adversary from where? Where is he?

He's from within. He's an Israelite. He's not a foreigner. He's among the brethren. And so this is where most of this text is dedicated to to this man.

And so let's read a few of these verses. We'll stop, and we'll continue. Jeroboam, verse 26, the son of Nebat, and Ephraimite of Zerodah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother name was Zeruah, a widow, also lifted up his hand against the king. And this was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king. Solomon built the millo and closed up the breach of the city of David, his father.

The man Jeroboam notice this. The man Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, he gave him charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph. So Solomon has relationship with this man. Solomon, in fact, hired this man. And when you look at this verse, it's quite interesting because Solomon, we're about to learn, reigned for forty years.

Who else reigned for forty years in Israel? Saul, the first king of Israel. Who else? David, Solomon's father. So the first three kings of Israel reigned for forty years.

Even in verse 28, you can do a comparative study between all those three kings and learn something about each of these kings. When Solomon saw Jeroboam that he was a very able man and industrious man, hardworking, diligent, he recruited him unto himself. It reminds me of the verse of Saul and who he looked for when he hired men into his work. So turn with me. This is gonna be worth it.

Turn with me to first Samuel, and let's look back at who Saul looked for while he was king. In chapter 14 in verse 52, notice what we're told about what Saul was looking for in a man. First Samuel chapter 14 verse 52. There was hard fighting against the Philistines all the days of Saul. And when Saul saw any strong man or any valiant man, he attached him to himself.

So Solomon looked for industrious men, men who really got things done because he was this man who always worked on projects and construction endeavors. When Saul looked for men, he looked for valiant, strong, courageous warriors, and he attached them to himself. Who did David look for? Are we told anywhere the kind of men, the character, the quality of men that David looked for? Any idea?

I'll give you a hint. It's not found in first or second Samuel. What kind of boys did David look for to join in his ranks? I'll tell you where. It's in a psalm.

Psalm one zero one. And look at verse six with me, and you'll get your answer. This is a Psalm of David. And I'll be patient and wait for you. I'll wait till the wrestling of the leaves make no more noise.

Psalm one zero one verse six reads. This is David speaking. I will look with favor on the faithful in the land that they may dwell with me. He who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me. Saul looked for strong warriors.

Solomon looked for industrious men. David looked for God fearing men. That's who he looked for. Another nugget to prove and show why David stood out among the kings of Israel. How David was a man after God's heart.

Not that he was just a worshiper, but the fellowship that he had with certain people indicated the kind of man he had, the kind of heart he had as a man toward his lord. I'm gonna look for those who are faithful, those who are blameless, and those are the guys that I'm gonna hire. Those are the guys that are gonna be in close proximity to me. So you see the spirituality of this man. Saul didn't have it.

Solomon didn't have it. David had it. That moves me. I don't know if it does anything for you. Let's come back to our main text in verse 29.

And at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah, the Shilohite, found him on the road. Now Ahijah had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the open country. Then Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and he tore it into 12 pieces. And he said to Jeroboam, take for yourself 10 pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you 10 tribes. But he shall have one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen of all the tribes of Israel.

Because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh, the god of Moab, and Milcom, the god of the Ammonites, And they have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my eyes, and keeping my statutes and my rules, as David his father did. Nevertheless, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life. For the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commitments and my statutes. But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and will give it to you 10 tribes. Yet to his son I will give one tribe that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, and the city I have chosen to put my name.

Now look at it. This is astounding. Verse 37, and I will take you and you shall reign over all that your soul desires. That may be an indication that Jeroboam actually had it on his heart to be a king. All that your soul desires and you shall be king over Israel.

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, and I will affect afflict the offspring of David because of this, but not forever. Do you see this? Do you see the depth of this promise? How massive this is?

I will build you a house just as I did for David. That is huge. Imagine that. Did Jeroboam take this seriously? We're gonna find out that he doesn't.

The depravity of man is mind blowing. Imagine this opportunity, this covenant that God makes with David. Right? It's unique in many ways. But Jeroboam has this opportunity now to have a name for himself and a name for the rest of his descendants for generations to come, and he blows it.

Just feel how stupid we can be sometimes because of our sin. How foolish we can be. Look at verse 39. And I will afflict the offspring of David because of this, but not forever. That verse confirms what we studied many weeks ago about God's warning to Solomon as descendants for his disobedience.

We we had to make the decision concerning Solomon, the Davidic line, and the people of Israel as a whole. God's punishment toward them. Would it be permanent or would it be temporal? And we agreed that it was temporal, and here's another verse to confirm that. I will afflict the offspring of David because of this, but not forever.

Not forever. Because I keep my word, and there are promises that I still must fulfill to David and to Abraham, so it's not gonna be forever. You're saying that was very long winded. This seems to be drawn out. This seems to be not practical.

It seems very historically necessary, but I'm not sure how it helps me. Well, all that I just read to you is supposed to build up to what we're about to read in verse 40. Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam, But Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon. You would think after God raising up three adversaries, you would think after learning that you're gonna have the 10 tribes removed from you. And somehow I'm sure he had an intelligence agency, he realized that Jeroboam was the guy that was gonna have these tribes, you would think that after all of that, this would cause you to fall on your face and say, god, please forgive me.

And instead, all it does is rev revs him up to pursue further disobedience. I'm gonna kill you. You're the guy that god said is going to take my place. I'm coming after you. Jeroboam learns of this, and he flees the scene.

Not only does sin devastate us. Right? Deliberate disobedience. It can make a person delusional. Delusional.

Saying, what do you mean? It was the word of the Lord that Jeroboam was supposed to be king, wasn't it? Was it Jeroboam's idea? No. It was a prophet.

It was authenticated by a man of God. Solomon knew this, and he could care less. He could care less. God's will? That doesn't matter.

I'm king. I'm coming after the one that God chose. Sin makes us delusional. It makes us think that we can thwart. It makes us think that we can resist.

It makes us think that we can flee from God from God. Saying, how how is the wisest man in the world capable of stooping down to this kind of level of reasoning? You know the Bible actually tells us how? I've mentioned this verse on different occasions in our study of the Old Testament, but we are creatures that require repetition in order to learn. In Hosea four eleven, we are told how a man like Solomon can think this way, and we're almost done here.

Look what the prophet says in Hosea four eleven about two particular sins, and it will all make sense now. We're told here that whoredom, wine, and new wine, which does what? Take away the understanding. So we all agree that being intoxicated by alcohol disarms us from having judgment clear judgment, discernment, reasoning. Right?

But wine is equated with whoredom. They're mentioned together. So there are certain sins of the flesh that have the effect on the mind as alcohol does. It removes your ability to make sound, clear decisions, to interpret things rightly. And one of those things is lust, whoredom.

Did Solomon struggle with whoredom? That's an understatement. Whoredom. So the wisest man in the world gave into whoredom, and here's the consequence according to Hosea four eleven. He was stripped from his understanding.

He couldn't think right. He couldn't think right to what extent that when the word of the Lord went out from a prophet, he thought he could actually stand against it. Sin makes us delusional. Sin makes us stupid. It really does.

Some of us can testify to that when we were in sin. Some of us have witnessed that and other people who have run headlong into sin. But this is how we can make sense of Solomon's actions here, thinking that he can stand in the way of God's purposes. And the way that he could overcome this consequences by turning back to the Lord, and instead, he thought that he can do so by acting in his own strength. Here's the conclusion.

You and I are never gonna study about Solomon directly after this moment, so enjoy this chapter. It's sad, but we still must consider it. Verse 41. Now the rest of the acts of Solomon and all that he did and his wisdom. Are they not written in the book of the Acts of Solomon?

And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place. Most people believe that when Solomon became king, he was in his twenties early twenties. We're told here that he reigned for forty years, making him somewhere around 60 years old. Is that a long life?

Not really. You know why that's important to know? Go back to first Kings three and look at verse 14. Here's what the lord told Solomon at the beginning of his reign. And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments as your father David walked, then I will do what?

Lengthen your days. That happened to Solomon? Not if he started in his twenties. So he even cut himself short of the years that he could have known in life. I believe that.

And this is what makes it so heartbreaking. If you consider the book of Ecclesiastes, then you can make a case that Solomon repented near the end of his life. But if you just stick to first Kings 11, we talked about how sin has the ability to take away understanding. I'm absolutely shocked that at no point in this chapter did Solomon consider what he had himself said to God in first Kings chapter eight when he had dedicated the temple. And through a sequence of request, he made this this passionate plea, Lord, if your people sin against you and they turn toward this place and pray towards this place and plead for forgiveness, will you hear them?

And he gives all these different scenarios. You remember that? And the lord gives him the assurance, I will honor that. And Solomon didn't even take advantage of his own plea. All it would have taken is him to humble himself, turn his face toward the house of God, call upon the Lord, and this could have been a very different ending, But he didn't.

He dies an apostate if we just stick with first Kings 11. It's a sad sight, and it's meant to warn us. It's meant to keep us in a place of dependency on the Lord. Deliberate disobedience affects three things for the child of God. It affects the pleasure of the Lord, it affects the promises of the Lord, and it affects the peace of the Lord that he wants to give us that we can only know in righteousness.

And I hope that what you hear from Solomon's life, what we study about Solomon's life, would encourage you to do one thing, finish well. I don't have many goals in life. Somebody asked me recently, what's your goal for this new year? Look. Goals are important.

It's important to be goal oriented in many ways. Can I tell you the goal of goals that I get to the end and I hear my master say, you know, well done, good and faithful servant? That's what I'm in for here. Well done, good and faithful servant. Oh, what will that do to your heart when you stand before the master, and he looks at you in the eyes, and he says, you did it.

You faithfully served me. You finished well. Enter into the joy of your master. That makes it all worth it. That makes it all worth it.

With all that Solomon had in his life, he died as a pauper, and I don't want that for anybody. I want your funeral and mine to be a celebration. I want you and I to be able to sign off in this life with a smile knowing that we did what the Lord asked us to do. Imperfectly? Yes.

For for sure. But consciously pursuing it in the strength of the spirit. And if you and I even tonight are in a place where we're not supposed to be, and every point that I made made total sense to you, I feel the effect of my sin on the pleasure of the Lord, on the peace of the Lord, on the promises of the Lord. Just do what Solomon said you can do, but it's even better in the new covenant. Because you don't have to turn to some house.

You don't have to visit some city. You don't have to bring some kind of animals. You just look to the cross, and you look to the lamb of God, and you pray in Jesus's name, and everything will be made right in a moment. Oh, sure. You might have some scars because of your sin, because naturally that's what sin does, but at least you've secured your fellowship with the savior.

Lord, we ask tonight that in this difficult challenging chapter that we've taken two weeks to study, our hearts would not be heavy, but we would rejoice knowing that you loved us enough to preserve such a testimony so that we would be preserved from making the same mistakes. We bless you not just in your promises, not just in your proclamations of love, but even in your warnings, we say thank you. Thank you for your warnings. And we ask, Lord, that if there is anything in our lives that we are pursuing deliberately that is clearly wrong in your word, that we would, at this time, through this bible study, say enough is enough. I wanna know the pleasure of the Lord.

I wanna know all his promises, and I wanna know this peace that I've not known since I have lived this way. For those in this place, Lord, who don't know you in a real born again way, may even this Bible study show us and reveal to us the joys that we can know in Christ when we repent and believe and what he has done on the cross. Lord, we stand together tonight concluding this very important chapter in our study and knowledge of the word of God. We say thank you for the first 11 chapters of first Kings. Now prepare us for the rest of this book.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Stand with me. Stand with me.

Let's celebrate. You know why we can celebrate? Because the way you divide first Kings, if I can remind you from the first time we started, the first chapter, is in two part. One to 11, The United Kingdom, from 12 to the end of the book, the divided kingdom. Now we have passed through the threshold of the divided kingdom.

We are now going to study the people of Israel in a way that we have never studied them before. 10 tribes versus two. A Northern kingdom versus a Southern kingdom. So you made it. Thanks for sticking around for the first 11 chapters.

Let's worship the Lord.