1 Kings 12 (Part 1) Bible Study (Rehoboam's Folly) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Meet me in first Kings chapter 12 as we come to a very critical part of the story, God's story, that is being written through a people called Israel that have been elected and chosen by God for a particular purpose through a specific covenant that would lead to a better and greater covenant, the one that you and I are enjoying today by the grace of God in the person of Jesus Christ. One of the most disheartening and disturbing factors of Solomon's descent into apostasy is easily his harem. This harem that has been comprised of 700 wives and 300 concubines. It's just almost unimaginable how that is real, and it is real. And most people know that about Solomon's story, but what I believe most people don't consider concerning Solomon's story in connection to that is that with all the women that he had been with, you only have one recorded son mentioned in all of scripture.

Only one of Solomon's sons are mentioned by name in the Bible. I mean, you would think that if you had 700 wives and 300 concubines, you would have more than one son. And perhaps he did have more than one son, but only one is highlighted in the scriptures. And that is the one that we are going to experience in this chapter, Rehoboam. But Rehoboam is not the only descendant that's recorded in the bible connected to Solomon.

Solomon also had daughters, and two of them are mentioned in the bible. Does anybody know where the daughters of Solomon are mentioned in the scriptures? Any idea? If you know it, you can say it. If you think you know it, you can still say it.

We won't condemn you for trying. Any idea where the daughters two of the daughters of Solomon are mentioned? Well, it's in our study of first Kings. It's in first Kings chapter four. Look at these two verses with me briefly.

When the scriptures highlight the officials of Solomon, we're told of two of them whom who had married one of the two daughters of Solomon. Both are mentioned here. First Kings four verse 11. Ben Abinadab and all. Napathdor, he had Tepath the daughter of Solomon as his wife.

First Kings four eleven. There's one of them. First Kings four fifteen. Ahimaaz in Naphtali, he had taken Basmath, the daughter of Solomon as his wife. So if you collect those verses with what we read in chapter 12 here, we have a total of three of Solomon's children that are mentioned in the script scriptures.

Most people believe that he had plenty more, and you can see why. Again, with that harem with all those women at his disposal. But what I find strange is how very few are mentioned in the bible. And some would argue, well, it's because there's so many of them. Are you gonna mention all of Solomon's children?

Others would say, well, the ones that are mentioned are the most prominent ones, and the other ones are more you know, they're insignificant. They're not worthy of being highlighted in the scriptures, and those are good points to make. But, again, I'm challenged because when you consider Solomon's father what's his name? And when you consider Solomon's son, Rehoboam, they have their descendants mentioned in great detail. David, you see different portions of scripture dedicated to describing his offspring.

And what about Rehoboam? Do we have his descendants mentioned? We do. Turn to second Chronicles. It's not too far from first and second Kings, and look at chapter 11 verse 21 concerning Rehoboam.

Rehoboam loved Maacah, the daughter of Absalom, above all his wives and concubines. Now look at this. He took 18 wives and 60 concubines and fathered 28 sons and 60 daughters. So I find David's descendants, if you wanna see a summary of that, it's in first Chronicles chapter three. I read in second Chronicles chapter 11 of Rehoboam's descendants, no such record is granted concerning the man in the middle, Rehoboam or excuse me, Solomon.

We can just leave it at that and say, well, it's not important for us to know. And we we can again just make an argument based from common sense that surely he had more children than what we see here. Or perhaps we can make another case. It's a very difficult thing to imagine. It's something that's very hard to swallow, but it's necessary to at least entertain as a possibility concerning the silence of his offspring.

Did we forget what Solomon did leading up to his final moments of life? Let me remind you in first Kings 11, and turn with me here to that chapter and look here at verse seven and eight. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, and for Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites on the mountain East of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods. Any light bulbs go off yet?

Yeah? Has it not has it not registered yet? Let me remind you, the first place one of these deities, these false deities are mentioned in scripture, Molech, is in Leviticus. And Leviticus eighteen twenty one, the first time Molech is underscored in the Bible, this is what we're told in Leviticus eighteen twenty one. You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech.

And so profane the name of your god. I am the lord. One of the main ways that these false gods were worshiped is that you would offer your children to them in grotesque, unimaginable sacrifice. And I wonder this is just speculation. I'm not making a definite argument here, but I wonder if one of the reasons why Solomon's children are not mentioned to the extent and with the detail that it deserved is because he participated in these gross acts of false worship.

How many of these children did Solomon give up to Molech and these other false gods? I wonder. You You're saying, well, that's so disgusting. Such is the reality of this man's apostasy. Now perhaps you can feel with the Lord when we're told that he was angry with Solomon.

Not just because his heart turned away from the Lord, be what this heart turn did to the lives of so many others. If this is how they worship gods these gods, then surely Solomon, after being told that he worshiped these gods, participated in this to some regard. And whether Rehoboam was Solomon's only son or was simply highlighted because he would be the successor to the throne, I wonder if Solomon had Rehoboam in mind when he wrote many of the Proverbs. Proverbs is provided in the context and the framework of a father speaking to who? His son.

And he says this in different ways in different places, but the verse that came to mind was Proverbs twenty three nineteen when Solomon said, hear my son and be wise, and direct your heart in the way. Proverbs twenty three nineteen. Hear, my son, and be wise and direct your heart in the way. And the reason why I bring that verse to your attention before we come to this chapter is because Rehoboam will prove to be the exact opposite of the wishes of Solomon. He will not be wise.

He will be a fool, and he will prove his folly at the introduction of his appearance here in the bible. And that's exactly what we're going to be doing tonight in this bible study. You and I tonight are being prepared to explore the theme of wisdom. And not just any kind of wisdom. We're going to look at lifesaving, disastrous, dodging, heart unifying wisdom.

And this is what Rehoboam was sorely lacking, and it would lead to a catastrophe that would change the course of this nation's history. And these first 15 verses of chapter 12 will lay that out for us, a sharpened understanding of such kind of quality of wisdom. And though there are gonna be secondary points made throughout, the way that the sharpening is going to take place in your life and in mine is that looking is we're gonna look at what Rehoboam did right, and we're gonna look at what Rehoboam did wrong. And by looking at both facets, you and I are going to hopefully draw out principles and truths that apply to you whether you're a king or have a throne or not. Wisdom is needed for all.

And so let's read the first five verses because I have four points concerning what wisdom teaches. You wanna title this bible study? What wisdom teaches. Four points. Not limited to these points, but four things in this great treasure chest known wisdom that you and I can experience if we apply it to our lives carefully.

Verse one of first Kings chapter 12. Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. And as soon as Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, heard of it, for he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon, then Jeroboam returned from Egypt, and they sent and called them. And Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, your father made our yoke heavy. Now, therefore, lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.

He said to them, go away for three days, then come again to me. So the people went away. We gotta make a few mentions here before we get to this main point, the first point about what wisdom teaches us. Rehoboam has his coronation service take place where? Shechem.

You would think that it would take place where? Jerusalem, the city of David, the place where the king would rule and reign. This is a detail that we might overlook, but it's an important detail because, one, it's been mentioned, and, two, we gotta consider the implications of it. If you had a map of ancient Israel, and some of you have that in the back of your Bibles I'm not sure how much attention the maps get in our Bibles, but they're there for a reason. And now in the age of technology, you can make a simple search and look for where Shechem is located in the promised land.

Strategically, Shechem is placed in a central place concerning the northern tribes of Israel. So this was a wonderful location for a king to be to hold this inauguration because it would cater to the people, and it would hopefully even appease the people of the North because perhaps Rehoboam is sensing that there is some friction in the air between the 10 northern tribes and the dynasty of David because of Solomon's foolishness. And so Rehoboam is making a political move here. He wants to make his way there instead of holding it in the tribe of his father in the area that he already has allegiance with. He wants to hopefully win the loyalty of this people by parking himself here and acknowledging their presence and wanting to again appease them in some way.

Now Jeroboam, we heard of him last week. Jeroboam was one of the adversaries, one of the three that God raised up to be a thorn in Solomon's side because of his apostasy. God wanted to discipline him, and he raised up different people to bring him to repentance. Jeroboam felt threatened by Solomon because Solomon wanted to kill him, so he he flees to Egypt. He hides, but he hides with a careful eye and a listening ear.

News comes to Jeroboam that Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, is gonna be made king in Shechem, so he returns to home turf. And the northern tribes recognized something in Jeroboam perhaps the way Solomon did. Remember, Solomon noticed something about Jeroboam and hired him to have this governing role in his kingdom and an administrative role. He was an industrious man. He was a very strategic man, a very hardworking man, and it could be that these tribes recognize the same qualities, and he said, you're gonna be one of our spokespersons.

And Jeroboam had no problem with that. So as a representative of these tribes with other leaders perhaps, Jeroboam now approaches Rehoboam, and he wants to make a proposal. He wants to make some kind of negotiation before they pledge their allegiance to him and his kingdom. And this is the summation of what Jeroboam is requesting excuse me, Jeroboam is requesting. Less taxes, less hard labor.

Your dad punished us. Your dad took so much away from us. Your dad was overbearing. And what I find fascinating about this is that these people are experiencing the very thing that the prophet Samuel warned in first Samuel chapter eight when the people originally requested for a king. If you read there in first Samuel eight eight, verse 10 down to verse 18, you get a summary from the prophet who told these people exactly what they could expect if they choose to have a human king over the divine king.

And one of those things is just that taxation. The other thing would be hard labor. You'd be recruited outside of your control to do things in order to promote the prosperity of this human ruler. And now the people are tasting the consequence of their very sin. And what's so sad to see is not them just tasting it, but them tasting it and still not repenting of it.

This isn't repentance. This isn't them looking back and saying, oh, we went wrong. Our fathers went wrong. Why didn't we listen to the prophet, to the man of God who spoke on behalf of God? We need to get back to God.

They didn't do that. They they just wanted the consequences to be lighter. They wanted to make a deal with the consequences of their actions. But pay attention to this. It's more disappointing than that.

Out of all the concerns that the tribes of Israel had at this time, this is your ultimate concern? Taxes and hard labor? Yeah. It makes life difficult. I'm sure.

I understand. But do you remember the scene that Solomon left before Rehoboam would take his place? Are we not told in first Kings 11 verse seven, then Solomon built a high place? He built a high place for Himash, the abomination of Moab, and for Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites on the mountain East of Jerusalem. Solomon didn't just sacrifice to these gods secretly.

Solomon erected these false places of worship near the temple of God. So now Jerusalem, the holy city, Israel as a whole is littered and polluted with not just false worship, but obvious tangible places where these gods could be worshiped. You would think that if these people were truly the people of God, that one of their protests would be Solomon left us idols, and Solomon introduced to our people false worship. We need to clean this place up. Rehoboam, if you're gonna take his place, please do something with your power and your authority to cleanse the land from these false demonic deities.

No such thing. Taxes, hard labor. Obviously, they were not disturbed by the idolatry that was right before them. So why are you mentioning this? Well, remember, early on in Solomon's reign, we discussed and we observed the cracks in the foundation of his faith that ultimately ended up leading him to the disaster that he was in.

I argue that here are some cracks in the faith of the people as a whole who were not disturbed by what was taking place right around them, who are concerned about themselves primarily. And you know your bible well enough to see where this is gonna end up, where this is gonna lead the people for generations to come. It's only gonna get worse and worse and worse. You know, I read that. I thought to myself, lord, let my heart never be undisturbed by sin.

Let me be sensitive to evil. Jesus was anointed with the oil of gladness, not merely because he was rejoicing in righteousness, but because he hated wickedness. You wanna be like Jesus? You're gonna hate like Jesus. Lord, help me love like you love.

Good. Pray that always, but include this in your prayers. Help me hate as you hate. And these people did not care. Flag.

Huge flag. We see here that there is no call for repented repentance, no call for reform, no call for seeking the face of God wrapped up in the natural. And they couldn't even interpret the fact that the consequences of this leadership that was overbearing was a result of their disobedience many books ago. But here is where we see Rehoboam in a favorable light. When he receives his proposal, he asks for time to think about it.

He retracts before he gives an answer. Here is one of the marks of wisdom. Mark number one. Wisdom will teach you to listen closely and think carefully before answering. Wisdom will teach you to listen closely, to think carefully before responding.

In Proverbs fifteen twenty eight, we're told that the heart of the righteous ponders before he answers. One translation says it this way. The heart of the righteous studieth before he gives an answer. So righteousness, wisdom looks like pausing, pulling away before giving counsel, conclusions, explanations. Often people limit how wisdom manifest by identifying somebody who can, at the top of their mind, just right off a whim, give some kind of answer without much preparation, without without much thought.

We tend to crown people with wisdom when they are able to demonstrate such abilities. But broaden your understanding of wisdom because the Bible has a broader view of what wisdom looks like. Wisdom also looks like silence. Wisdom also looks like give me some time. Wisdom also looks like, let me seek counsel from others on this.

Wisdom also looks like, I wanna be careful how I how I respond to this moment and to your need, so give me a little bit of of time to reflect before I give you what you're asking for. That person is just as wise as somebody else who can solve mysteries and can confound others with their brilliance, who don't have to reach over to a shelf and pull up something because of their lack of memory and can say something right there and then. Wisdom can manifest in such a way, but as we see here, wisdom also looks like pondering before you're answering. That is a grace that is especially needed when somebody or some people approach you and based on what you say may contribute to a life altering decision or to establishing a set of convictions and beliefs. So you don't have to ponder absolutely everything that is brought to your attention.

Right? Some people ponder way too long about where they wanna go eat after church. It doesn't you don't need to I need to ponder about this and seek wisdom. No. You don't.

You need to just go somewhere and eat. Okay? But there are decisions in life. There are crossroads. There are moments where you will be approached, especially for those who are leaders or aspiring leaders, where you need to know this grace that wisdom offers, to listen closely, think carefully before responding.

I was reading numbers. I'm in the book of numbers in my personal reading, and I saw this demonstrated in the life of Moses. Moses. Remember Moses back in Exodus, he would have a line of people come to solve a variety of cases. His father ended up saying, look.

You're gonna kill yourself. You gotta set up a different system here where you have the major cases come to you, and then all these other people can deal with the minor case. So Moses is someone who who had a mind, who had the ability to solve things, and yet he was also a man who possessed wisdom in this way. So yet people who are around and touch dead things and the Passover was around the corner in Numbers chapter nine, and so they approached Moses and they say, hey. Look.

Are are we supposed to participate in this feast or not? Because we did this, and we know that we're supposed to be isolated for a time, cleanse ourselves before we engage. And this is what Moses says in in Numbers chapter nine verse eight. It's just one verse that popped out and was able to minister me for that day. And Moses said to them, wait that I may hear what the lord will command concerning you.

Oh, Moses doesn't know. No. Moses is wise. Moses is wise. Give me a second here.

Let me think about this. Let me seek god on this, and then I'll give you a clear answer. So what wisdom does is it releases the pressures of the flesh to try to, for whatever reason, convey or explain or give something right away. That's a pressure of the flesh, and that's an increasing pressure of this culture and the attitude of this generation. Is it not?

People of our day are addicted to reactions. What are the most click baity things on YouTube? One of them at least. My response to the Christian response to oh, I wanna hear what this guy has to say. Everybody wants to know what everybody's responding to concerning an event or a cultural phenomenon.

Right? Response. Response. We wanna hear what people have to say. And the greater the platform, the more we are longing to hear from somebody.

And these people who do have platforms and do have voices, I believe, face that temptation all the time. One, because they're being asked and demanded to give an answer, and two, there is this weird temptation of not just giving a response, but being one of the first to give it. And oftentimes, at the cost of factual and significant content. Some people don't even care about getting their facts right. They just wanna shoot off their mouth and be able to have the most views and the most clicks and the most recognition.

K. You know what the Bible prizes? Pondering, waiting, stepping back, letting things surface, investigating all sides. That's what wisdom teaches somebody. And that's something you and I can use in this day and age where finger fingers are they feel the pressure of posting, commenting, putting this up.

It's not always wise to do that. And I've seen many people in the past four or five years make regrettable statements and realize that only after the fact. When the smoke is cleared and they thought, maybe I shouldn't have posted that. Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Maybe I shouldn't have advised that.

Maybe I shouldn't give I shouldn't have given to that cause. Be slow. Rehoboam is honorable here. Give me three days. Let me think about that.

But here's the second thing that wisdom teaches. Wisdom teaches us not just to listen closely, think carefully, but it teaches us to seek specific counsel. Look here with me in verse six. Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old man who had stood before Solomon, his father, while he was yet alive, saying, how do you advise me to answer this people? So in the pursuit of wisdom, the path that wisdom places you on, which caused you to listen closely, think carefully before responding, you're also in that process going to seek for counsel.

And notice I said specific counsel because we're told that Rehoboam sought old men, not just old men, but men who stood before Solomon. What does that mean? Here's the translation. Men who had experience in the area that Rehoboam was uncertain about. These men had a resume.

These men had history. They had experience. And Rehoboam, again, here is seen in a favorable light. He was drawn to he approached the right people. I know this sounds like common sense, but you'd be amazed to know how many people fail to grasp these life altering truths, life saving truths.

And, at one point, they might have had it, and then they've let go of it for whatever reason. So that's why we need to be reminded of these things. K? If you're gonna seek counsel, I advise seeking counsel from people who are experiencing the place that you're seeking counsel for. If I'm gonna seek counsel concerning ministry, who do you think I'm gonna go to for counsel?

Most likely people who have experience in history in what? Ministry. Right? And that is true for every arena of life. You should be able to identify.

You should be able to look for those who can say and not just say from experience, but have the presentable and obvious character in that moment to be able to give you principles from the experience that they had. Because as we learn years and experience and whatever you've got going on in your life doesn't necessarily equate to discretion and prudence. But if a person has character, a person is trustworthy, a person has fruit with that experience, that's gold. That is gold. And your heart should, with that simple common sense truth, go to peep people say, I seek counsel.

Okay. Look. Wisdom isn't about just seeking counsel. It's about speaking the right counselors. How did you make that decision?

Well, I ask people, who did you ask? It's not just about seeking counsel, but about the right counselors that you're seeking. Proverbs 11 tells us in verse 14, Proverbs 24 verse six, that in abundance of counselors, there is safety. Another translation would say, in abundance of counselors, there is victory. So wisdom teaches you and I to seek specific counsel.

And like the previous misconception mentioned, some people believe that wisdom is proven by one who is a self seeking arbiter. I don't need to ask anybody's advice. I know it. I have my own experience. I have my own ways of looking at this.

I I can figure this out. I can crack the code. And though that might be true in some instances and the experiences you have should be able to arm you to know what to do in particular moments, I say a man or a woman is crowned with wisdom when they have the humility to say, I'm going to pick up the phone and make a few phone calls. That's not you lacking wisdom. That's you possessing wisdom.

And so, again, broaden your understanding of what wisdom looks like. It's not you figuring it all out because you have the supernatural ability to solve things. That's that's one way wisdom can manifest, but God will often cause you to feel the need to get something from someone else. That's the beauty of the body of Christ. You're one member, part of this complex thing.

You're benefiting from others. God establishes church that way. So if you feel the nudge and the urge to seek counsel from specific people, that's not you lacking wisdom. That's you having it. And this is what this man does, and it's worth looking at the advice that they give.

You ready? Here's what they said to them. Verse seven. And they said to him, if you will be a servant to this people today and serve them and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever. So they're they're telling him, look.

If you do something for them, they will do something for you in return. And what did he ask? What did they ask Rehoboam to be? A servant. Rehoboam, you be a servant to this people.

Here's a translation. If you come humbly, if you express that you are for them and you are with them, that you're there to support them, that you're there to come alongside them and to guide them and to empower them, man, you will win their hearts. And they'll get behind you, and they'll walk with you, and they'll pledge their loyalty to you. So Rehoboam, approach them with that kind of loneliness, and you will be rewarded. Bad advice or good advice?

Good advice. Right? And can I tell you why it's good advice? Not because it makes sense, not because there's a fragrance there of humility that most, if not all, people are drawn to, but because it's rooted in the bible. Do you remember what the kings were supposed to do?

We've gone back to this text over and over again, but there's so many details that we miss. In Deuteronomy seventeen sixteen to 20, we're told what the kings were to avoid and what they were to do. One of the things that they were to do was what? Absorb the word of God. Write a copy of it, get it approved by the Levites, and read it and cling it to your breast every single day.

And here is the result, one of the results of these kings doing just that. Deuteronomy 17 verse 20. Look at the fruit of a man who finds himself anchored in the scriptures. And especially as a king, as a leader, this is what god had in mind, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers. So you can argue that the council of these older men is rooted in that.

Rehoboam, as a king, you're not meant to lord it over others. You're not meant to lift up your heart above them. No. Come to them as a servant. Approach them in that kind of loneliness.

This is what god's will is for you. This is what the lord longs for you, and this is what we are translating to you in this particular case. So I argue that these men are hopefully basing it off this truth. And I couldn't help but think about how that's a universal truth for all spiritual leaders of all ages. You know what verse came to mind when I was meditating on this today?

The last verse of second Corinthians chapter one. Second Corinthians chapter one verse 24. You don't have to turn there, but if you want, you can. Listen to this glorious gem of truth that Paul explains as a leader. He says in second Corinthians one twenty four, not that we lorded over your faith.

Look. As an apostle, as a leader of a church, as a church planter, I'm not here to lord myself over your faith. I'm not here to abuse my authority. But what is he here to do? But we work with you.

Not over you. You don't work for us. No. We work with you. And notice what they're working together for, for your joy.

For your joy. Few months ago, we we installed another elder here, and this verse was brought up because we wanted to let the people of God know that one of the reasons you can rejoice when God raises up godly leaders in your life is that it will contribute to your joy. They're there to work with you for real joy, not just theoretical joy, real tangible joy for you stand firm in your faith. So leaders, aspiring leaders of any capacity, understand this. You don't lord it over others.

You work with people, and people should sense that. They should sense that you're there with them. You're a partner with them. And though you may have authority to a certain regard, it's not to abuse. It's not to it's not to manipulate.

It's not to take advantage of. It's to contribute to their joy. This is what Rehoboam received as counsel. Wisdom teaches you to seek specific counsel. I say specific because of the third point.

Wisdom will teach you to identify and reject the wrong voices, the wrong voices. Look at verse eight. But he abandoned the counsel that the old man gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. Make a contrast between the men that he sought originally and the men that he sought here. Originally, he sought old men who stood before who?

Solomon. And now he seeks the counsel of young men who grew up with him. And who do they stand before? Him. So these are close friends.

These are companions. These are contemporaries. And this is where now Rehoboam takes a wrong turn. So the first two points, we thought, Rehoboam, you're headed in the right direction. And though we can even question those the motive of those first two points as we're about to, in principle, they are still true.

But this is where it becomes blatantly flagrant. This man now goes to these men, and he seeks the advice of the wrong crowd. And here's what I wanna say as a side note. Sometimes, wisdom will tell you to seek the counsel or the advice of an outsider. What do I mean by that?

Sometimes, situations will require you to not seek the advice of those in your immediate context and who are familiar with you and who in the familiarity with you might be biased toward you and will lean to defend you regardless, or might have blind spots because they're caught up and entangled in the affairs. So wisdom will whisper to you at times, talk to somebody who is not connected to this situation. Because oftentimes, they can provide a clear assessment because they are not, again, bound to the limitations that the complexity of circumstances might bring one to. Sometimes, not always. And this man, unfortunately, he he draws himself.

He invites those that are very familiar with him, that are biased toward him. And Rehoboam's problem is much deeper than that. Compare his wording here in verse nine to verse six. Let's read carefully, shall we? And he said to them he's speaking to his friends now.

And he said to them, what do you advise that we answer these people who have said to me, lighten the yoke that your father put on us? Absorb that. Digest that. Now look at verse six. Then king Rehoboam took counsel with the old man who had stood before Solomon, his father, while he was yet alive saying, how do you advise me to answer these people?

Anything stand out to you, this comparison? He's talking about me. Very good. Did you catch that? Did you see the inclusive language when he talks to his friends in comparison to him talking to the old men?

Look again in verse nine. What do you advise that we answer these people? And when he spoke to the old man, look what he's asked and how he asked. How do you advise who? We?

Me. Solomon's excuse me. Rehoboam's words here and how he identifies with the younger people shows that his mind is already set on what he wants to do. What do I mean by that? He was simply looking for the counsel that would agree with what he had already determined within himself.

Do people seek advice that way? Yes? Do people hop from one person to the next until they land on somebody who agrees with what they have determined already? Is that wisdom? No.

It's foolish. That's foolish. And so what about him taking that time off? What about him going to the old man? Perhaps this man was just going through the routine and the motions.

Perhaps he was just placating and just giving the the idea that he was somebody who was you know, he's playing politics here. But when he comes to the young men, he says we, proving to us that he already set his mind. And he he was just looking for somebody to agree with him to give him the license to go ahead in the direction that he had determined. That is a deadly way to set up a support system, and I mean deadly. To find people who will never disagree with you, never challenge you, never rebuke you, never redirect you, to find yes men, yes women, to defend you whether you are in the right or in the wrong is devastating to your development, your witness, and your fruitfulness for the kingdom of God.

Such people listen to me. Listen to this might sound harsh, but it's true. Such people don't love you. They don't love you. They love something about you and something perhaps that you offer them, and they're afraid that them taking a stand against you will cost them such so they will never speak up against you.

I need. I love. I am drawn to those that I can tell. Fear God, know God, absorb his word, live by the word, and will speak into my life. Whether I like to hear what they have to say or not, that's wisdom.

That's a safe way to live. That's a true support system. And, unfortunately, this is not what this man had. And I wondered why that was the case. Well, we're not told why they gave this particular life of advice.

Let's read it. They say here, and the young man in verse 10 who had grown up with him notice the repetition there, who had grown up with him said to him, thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us. Thus, you shall say shall you say to them, my little finger is thicker than my father's thighs. And now whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.

Who are these guys? What kind of advice is that? The advice of young, proud, insecure people who don't understand how leadership really works. And, you know, again, you wonder why did they have this kind of approach? Why did they come about with this kind of advice?

And perhaps, again, this is a speculation, they benefited much from the prosperity and the power of their friend, Rehoboam. These are not random young people. These are people who grew up with him, who stood before him. And, again, it could be that in hearing and knowing about the advice of the old man or to comply to the request of these tribes, Rehoboam would be weakened. He would have to give up so much if he let go of the taxation that the father had decided or the hard labor that would generate the prosperity that they enjoyed.

So these friends perhaps connected to the benefits of the king don't wanna lose something themselves. And so in wanting to secure their own enjoyment and their own benefits, they said, don't do it this way. Vamp it up. Go the authoritarian approach. Get aggressive.

Let them know that what they've seen will not even compare to what you will give to them. It's so unfortunate. Whether you like it or not, there will be many voices that will speak into your life, Even voices that were not invited to speak into your life. They will make way to your mind, to your heart, to your ears, directly, indirectly. And wisdom will teach you how to identify and reject the wrong counsel that comes your way.

Here's how Rehoboam could've avoided it. Because this is arrogant. This is selfish, and they took advantage of this moment with their friend to do the opposite of what the crowd asked. And so this is where you and I have to be careful. Number one, under this third point, determine in your heart that you will receive God's counsel no matter what it costs you.

No matter what it will cost you. I've met people who want advice, and when they hear the advice that comes from the word of God, they reject it because they realize how costly it is. It costs your pride. It costs your time. It costs your efforts, your discipline.

And when it isn't, again, like, rule of thumb agree with your standard, you shun it. You gotta determine in your heart, lord, whatever you ask of me in this moment, in this circumstance, with this decision, I will do it. Lord, look at my heart. Please, lord, look at my heart And see that my heart, more than anything else, more than my comfort, more than anybody else liking me, more than how people will praise or condemn this decision, I want you to be pleased. That's gotta be the foundation.

That's gotta be laid out flat and clear undeniably in your conscience. Rehoboam didn't have that. His heart was so polluted. It was so ugly, and he was playing tricks. And he was trying to even convince himself.

I'm gonna go to the old men, hear what they have to say. But he already determined his mind. And when he found the crowd that would speak into his pride, he went with it. The second thing that you must do is this. You have to so familiarize yourself with the word of God that through the discernment that you develop in your engagement and your study of the word of God, you can spot out what is false.

You can spot out what is wrong. You can come to the point in your knowledge of the word of God, listen carefully, where even when a preacher preaches and 99% of it is right, that 1% you'll be able to detect. Something's off here. Something's not right. Everything sounds so good.

There's verses quoted. There are all these footnotes, but there's something not right here. And that's how Spurgeon defined discernment. Discernment, according to Spurgeon, I agree with him, is not determining between what is right and what is wrong, but what is right and what is almost right. It's not difficult to see what is right and what is wrong.

I mean, in this day of age, even in Christendom, it's becoming increasingly more difficult. True discernment is saying, this is right. That's almost right. How do you develop that? The Bible.

It's the supernatural empowerment for discernment. You don't have a rich relationship with the Bible, you're gonna have poor discernment in life. I'm telling you, it's not just knowledge. There's a spiritual impartation that takes place where there's a sensitivity to your ability to discern, to absorb what is pure and holy, and to reject and remove yourself from that which might pollute you and infect you. Here's one of the strongest examples of that.

This came to mind, and you're gonna have to turn to the seat with me. Another leader who is the exact opposite of this man Rehoboam, Nehemiah. Go to chapter six with me very quickly. I want you to see this. This is a wonderful scene to expound upon this truth of what wisdom teaches us.

Look at Nehemiah and go to chapter six. Nehemiah was called by God to build the walls of Jerusalem. Was it an easy task or a difficult task? Turbulence or no turbulence? Turbulence.

Threats or no threats along the way. A lot of threats. Here's one of them. And I want you to see how clever Satan can be. I want you to see the kind of tactics and the depth of his arsenal.

Here it is in Nehemiah chapter six verse 10. Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delia, son of Mehitabel, who was confined to his home, he said, let us meet together in the house of God within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night. So here's this man who's named who invites Nehemiah into his home, and he's confined in his home, perhaps demonstrating his own fears of the enemies of the people of God who who brought many threats throughout this construction project.

And this man now invites Nehemiah into his home, and he says, look. I I got a word here. I got a word from God. I got instruction here. They're coming to kill you, and you need to hide.

And I'm telling you that the best place to hide is in the house of God. The house of God then is not the house of God that we experience you and I every week. It was the temple, and he was told that, and we're being reminded that. It's a temple. Hide in the temple.

Close the doors, and they won't find you. They'll they'll never look in there, and you'll be safe. So this man is coming presumably as a man speaking on behalf of God as a friend speaking in supposed care and compassion. I love Nehemiah. Look how he responds in verse 11.

But I said, should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live, I will not go in. You know, you read Nehemiah six in your devotion and you pick up the Bible app and you see these verses in verse or verses of the day. I don't know how they do it anymore. You say, okay.

Nehemiah is he's he's courageous. He's not gonna hide. No. Nehemiah knows his bible. It's not just him being courageous.

It's him identifying and discerning that though this man speaks in supposed knowledge and care on behalf of God, he's off. He's off. Why is he off? Can anybody tell me why he's off? How how is Nehemiah able to discern this?

Nehemiah was a priest. Nehemiah wasn't a priest. Implying what? Nehemiah had no right to go into the house of God. Only the Levites, only the priest could abide in the tabernacle, in the temple.

And Nehemiah understood his identity. He understood God's requirements and the boundaries. And so when this man speaking with authority, this man speaking as a spokesperson, this man speaking as a supposed friend, he was off. And Nehemiah could sense it because he had a knowledge of the scriptures. And that's how verse 12 comes about.

Look at this. Verse 12. And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. How did he identify that this was a false prophet? How How did he identify that this was a a word not from god?

Because it didn't line up with the word of god. Full stop. It didn't line up with the word of god. And he was able to have not just discernment into this moment, but even discernment into what was going on behind the scenes. This was a hired man.

To do what? Look at verse 13. For this purpose, he was hired that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me. That's wisdom, man. That's discernment, and it is directly correlated to your grasp of the word of God.

Your grasp of the word of God. And that's how deception is going to rank, and that's why you and I are going to see more people bearing the name of Christ as we approach the culmination of the age, turning their back on the truth, getting swallowed up by false teaching and false teachers for this one main reason, they don't know the Bible as they should. This is a terrible time to be lazy with the Bible. Let me say this in love to my brothers and sisters. This is a terrible time because Jesus prophesied that the first sign of the last days is that there will be rampant deception.

And the scary thing about deception you heard me say this once. Let me say it to you again. The scary part about deception is that you don't know you're being deceived. Do you think people who are being deceived know that they're being deceived? No.

They believe they're in the truth. So know the word. Eat the word. Drink the word. Talk about the word.

Familiarize yourself with the word because mark my words. We've seen wave after wave in the past few years. I believe it's gonna only intensify. More and more spiritual tsunamis are on the way that will cause people within Christendom to question what you and I would think is common sense biblically, but because they have forfeited the supremacy and the authority of the word of God, they're susceptible to dangerous teachings. Cling to the Bible.

You want discernment? You wanna be able to see pastor? You want X-ray vision? Get in the word. Cover to cover.

Master it. Hear it. Hear faithful preachers talk about it. These days require it. Wisdom will teach you to listen closely, think carefully before responding.

Two, wisdom will teach you to seek specific counsel. Three, wisdom will teach you to identify and reject wrong voices. Four, wisdom will teach you to be in alignment with God. Let's read here verse 13 down of first Kings chapter 12. Let's begin in verse 12 and conclude this section.

So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day as the king said. Come to me again the third day. And the king answered the people harshly and forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him. He spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men saying, my father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.

Verse 15 is so important to pay attention to. So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about the Lord that he might fulfill his word, which the Lord spoke by Ahijah, the Shilonite, to Jeroboam, the son of Nebath. What's so disappointing about these first 15 verses in first Kings chapter 12 is that verse 15 is the first time the Lord is mentioned. He should have been mentioned much earlier in this story. Say, what do you mean?

Rehoboam was right in asking for three days to ponder, to reflect, to seek counsel. Is there any evidence in here that in and during those three days, he sought God? No. No prayer? No fasting?

Any evidence that he opened his personal copy of the law to seek God's voice and counsel as a king in what to do in this time? No. Nothing of the sort. God is not mentioned. God is absent until the Holy Spirit, as a commentator, brings insight into how sovereignty is at work even in this.

He doesn't seek the Lord. He doesn't inquire the Lord. The Lord's on his mind. The Lord's not on his lips. You think that you're gonna be able to navigate through life that way?

You think you're gonna succeed as a king by excluding God from the equation. Wisdom will teach you to be in alignment with God in every season of life. And we see that this man, the absence of actively seeking God produced the absence of God working in favor for him. What would have been like if he humbled himself before the Lord? So you want the best outcome for your future.

Amen. So do I. Stay close to him. Cling to him. Remain desperate.

Remain desperate for him. And you should never fear what will come if you do that, about where your heart will lead you or how outcomes will direct you when your heart is suddenly pleasing the lord above all else. I am more desperate at 32 years old than I was when I started this journey at 20, and I pray that never changes. And I hope you feel the same way. That as you grow in life, as you grow and advance in years, and more responsibilities come your way, more opportunities are presented to you, that that would only amplify your sense of being a desperate child that comes to his father every moment of the day.

Lead me. Guide me. Direct me. It doesn't have to look like you shutting your door and pounding the your fist against the wall. Some situations might require that kind of seclusion.

But even as you're driving and you're about to meet somebody for a potential contract with that business, Lord, give me wisdom here. Help me see things that I can't see. Don't let me fall for the Gibeonite deception. If there's something here that I don't know about, expose it. Talk like that to God.

He will honor that. He will bless that. He will shepherd you in a way that you cannot even imagine. And when you listen to this. This is the beauty of it.

Because you have people all the time that wonder, how did this happen? How did this come about? Where did things go wrong? And my go to question is this, did you give it to the Lord to begin with? Did you saturate it in prayer?

Did you ask the Lord to go before you? If you did, then you could trust in any outcome, whether it's immediately favorable or not because you did your part. Anxiety should be foreign to the soul that is dependent upon god. Why? Because I did my part.

I put it in the hands of god. Oh, look at that. Didn't didn't result in how I thought, but I did my part. Lord, now teach me what to do with this. That's the way of the Christian.

That's the way of the wise. Wisdom will teach you to remain in alignment with god along the way. You You start doing things without God, you should be scared. You start thinking you're getting smart here now, you're getting clever, you should be afraid. Because here's a man here who is absent and actively seeking the Lord.

And as a result, he was absent in experiencing the favor of the Lord. And all we're we're told here is that the king did not listen to the people, and it was a turn of affairs brought about by the lord that he might fulfill his word. Here's what we're meant to see here. Rehoboam is about to make a decision that's going to that's gonna do some serious damage for hundreds of years to come. And in anticipation of this fallout, we're gonna see the kingdom divided for the rest of this chapter.

The Holy Spirit now wants us to see behind the scenes. He removes the curtain. He goes, hey. Hey. Before we read and before we move on, I want you to be comforted to know that though leaders throughout history, though leaders in your life have caused much havoc and chaos because of their own foolishness, it never escapes God's sovereignty.

That's what we're supposed to see here. Rehoboam is gonna blow it, and the Holy Spirit wants you to see, but god knows it. God's in control of it. And in fact, even through the failure of this man, the failure of this people, it will never throw out the purposes of God. What a word that we need here in this election year.

And for these past many years where we've seen just incompetence and foolishness, news headlines and podcasts and interviews that have caused us to think, how can somebody be so inadequate in making simple decisions, making the average person feel like I can be a better president than this? How? Governors and politicians, how have we stooped so low? How have we how are we left with these kind of options? And I take that verse and I apply it to this particular season in the West, and I see behind the veil, behind all of it.

I don't get overwhelmed by it. I don't get caught up by it. God's purposes are not thwarted. In fact, everything is going according to plan. In fact, he's gonna come out victorious in this.

And you and I are attached to that god. You and I are linked to that god. The safest place to be is close to God. You have nothing to fear because of that. The Lord wants you to be adorned with wisdom.

You don't have to wait till you get grazed like me. Just a little bit here. You don't need gray hairs. You don't need numbers to your years for that wisdom to come. You can, like James one says, ask freely to the Lord, and he will bountifully give you wisdom.

And when you have that wisdom, it's gonna teach you how to listen, how to answer. It's gonna teach you who to go to, who not to go to. It's gonna teach you you can't do this without God. Lord, we thank you for this bible study. We feel enriched because your word is true and because you have given us understanding through the example of this man, Rehoboam.

We thank you that you've included him in holy writ, and you did not delete or remove his story from the scriptures. Lord, at this time, it's obvious what we need to pray for. We as a church, individually, as a congregation, maybe people representing different assemblies in this place ask you for wisdom. We can't do this without you. And many of us here have to make more serious decision than others.

All of us in here will eventually have to make life altering decisions, and we pray, Lord, that you would build in us a discretion and an ability to be navigators through this life in the most successful, God glorifying way possible. So Lord, even now as we sit in our respective places, we pray that you would shower us with heavenly wisdom. Ones that would make us look more like the Son of God. One that would secure righteousness and fruitfulness. One that would help us avoid unnecessary suffering.

And so, Lord, we ask and we believe that you will give it to us. We have no reason to fear. And, Lord, at this time, whatever decision is gnawing at us, if if some here are standing at a crossroads not knowing what to do, would the voice of wisdom be louder than ever? May even leaving this place provide a clarity and a strength that can only come from the spirit. Teach us to listen and to ponder.

Teach us and show us who it is that we need to receive from. Show us if the people around us are speaking into our lives to our own demise. And, Lord, every hour, help us stay close to you. Help us include you in all of our plans to seek you for wisdom, to ask for clarity, to expose deception, and to be at rest. To know that when we have brought it to you, we've done all that we could.

And that no matter what decision, even if it's two good decisions, and we don't know which one is your will, they're both awesome. We can trust that the one that we go for after doing all that we could do, you will redirect us if it wasn't the right path. This is how good you are, Lord. This is how merciful you are. Renew our vision of the goodness of the shepherd of our souls.

And now we give you praise and glory and honor, for you have given us what we desperately need, wisdom to the glory of the name of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Church, it was a joy and an honor. Now let's stand and worship this king.

He is for you. He is with you, and he will guide you.