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

First Kings chapter 12 beginning here in verse 16. If you were here last week, then you are fully aware that we took our time through the introduction of this character named Rehoboam, who is the six succeeding king to Solomon, his father, to absorb these life preserving, relationally flourishing, God glorifying promises that wisdom, biblical wisdom provides. And unfortunately, it wasn't through Rehoboam's positive example that we glean much of these truths and these insights about wisdom, but through his failures. And, unfortunately, the sad pattern of Rehoboam's thinking is only going to grievously continue in these next set of verses. And if that's not upsetting enough, then you and I are also going to encounter the nation of Israel as a whole making tragic decisions to their own harm and injury for generations to come.

And if that's difficult to stomach, I'm sorry there's even more because we are also going to be introduced to Jeroboam, not as a character, not as a person in the bible, but as the first king of the northern tribes of Israel, and he too will make dramatically foolish decisions that will also add to the harm of the people for generations to come. All in all, for the rest of this chapter, we're almost gonna get a sense that there's, like, a competition here of who can be the most foolish. There's just foolishness everywhere. And we know what foolishness will produce in a life that is unrepentant and unwilling to change and be humble before the truth of God. So to introduce a bible study in this way, I wouldn't be surprised if it's disheartening and not the most exciting thing to uncover in the next hour.

But if there's any hope in digesting this together, it is that this is good for us. This is good for us in that it will contribute to your personal growth in the area of wisdom. And so be encouraged in that because the Bible speaks about what serious observation can produce in the life of a person who desires wisdom or who may not even know their need for wisdom. The verse that comes to mind is Proverbs 21 verse 11. And here's what it says in the first part of Proverbs 21 verse 11.

When the scoffer is punished, the simple become wise. A scoffer is somebody who has become stiff necked, who mocks at the idea of correction, who rejects the idea of counsel, who is set in their own ways even though those ways are destructive and wrong. And a scoffer, according to the bible, through divine sanctioning or just because of the world today that we live in that has somewhat of a grasp of right and wrong, at least it should, a scoffer is susceptible to much punishment, consequences for his foolishness. And here's what the Bible says following that. When a scoffer experiences the outcome of their own disregard for truth and biblical wisdom, the simple, the simple is not the same as a fool.

The simple can become a fool, but the simple in the Bible speaks of the naive, the gullible, the uninformed, the immature. The simple becomes wise. The simple becomes wise in seeing, oh, that's what happens when a person lives foolishly. Oh, that's what happens when a person lives as a scoffer. That's what happens when a person implements human wisdom above God's wisdom.

And through that, they learn. Through what? Observation. You and I are observing. We're observing what foolishness can produce in a life, not just in a life in society, not just in society, to a nation.

And we are to become more wise as a result of it. So let's begin here in verse 16. And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, what portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, oh Israel, look now to your own house, David.

So Israel went to their tents, but Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah. What's happening here? Well, you and I learned it last week that Rehoboam was counseled to approach the people who had a request and a negotiation that if they were gonna submit under his leadership, then he would have to lighten up on the taxes, lighten up on the hard labor that his father exercised during his reign. Rehoboam rejected their desire, and he decided to go the authoritarian approach. You're not gonna mess with me.

You think that you can determine how this nation is gonna function? You got another thing coming. And so he implements as an iron fist, and it backfires. As we read here, all Israel now chooses to disassociate not just from Rehoboam, but from the dynasty of David. Can I ask you a question?

How many years did it take for both David and Solomon to establish their monarch? How many years did it take in total for these two to build this kingdom, so to speak, in honoring of God's covenant with David? It's very simple. How long did David rule and reign for? Forty years.

Forty years. So total of how many years? Eighty with Solomon. Eighty years to get to this point. And, yeah, the last moments of Solomon's life were quite shaky, but we can just generally say it took eighty years.

And after eighty years, it took Rehoboam three days to dismantle it. It took this man less than a week to topple all that was built through the toil of his fathers. Can you imagine that? We wish it wasn't so, but such is the reality of what our decisions can do. Such is the reality.

And don't worry about that, guys. If it's not gonna operate, don't worry about it. It's not that bad. So you have here a man who makes these kind of decisions, very few, but significant enough to do what? To bring it all down to nothing.

And what we're supposed to take from that is that you and I have to understand the significance of our choices in life. And that is not meant to paralyze you and the advancements that you have to make in this life. And through those advancements, you have to make major decisions. It's not meant to cripple you at all. But what it is meant to do is encourage you to stay near to God.

Stay close to God. Always be needy before God. Plunge every plan, every desire, every decision in prayer. Receive the counsel of his word continually and the counsel of God's people who submit to this word, and you will be more than safe. You will actually flourish.

This is not a man who innocently made a mistake. This is a man who blatantly chose to turn away from god's will, god's word, god's provision of guidance through other people, and he's paying for it. And not just him, but you think about what his father's invested up to this time and what will take place following Rehoboam. And as we look at this, we think to ourselves, how how did this happen? How is this now kingdom for the first time divided?

Listen. This is such a calamity and a stain to Israel's history that the scriptures will even use this moment as a benchmark to measure future catastrophes that this nation will face. Let me give you an example of that. In Isaiah seven verse 17, the Lord speaks to the prophet, and this is what he says. And it provides great insight to just how profound this moment is in our study of the Old Testament.

Says here in Isaiah seven verse 17, the Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah. The king of Assyria the king of Assyria I'm going to release the king of Assyria upon you, Israel, and you're not gonna see these days. They're gonna not even be able to come close to what we experienced in recent history. The only thing I can compare it to is first Kings chapter 12 when Ephraim, which is the largest tribe of the northern tribes, divorcing from Judah. So this is serious.

This is massive, and we're supposed to feel the weightiness of this. One man's choice would put a dent in Israel's history and future. Now Israel severely divided. Right? They expressed this.

We have nothing to do with the house of David. We're removing ourselves from him. And we see what Rehoboam will do as a response. In verse 18, then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

This is like it's almost unimaginable. You would think if you took the counsel of your companions and it backfired like this, the 10 tribes say, we we want nothing to do with you. We're going our own way. You deal with your own tribe. We're gonna deal with our own.

That you would learn and realize that the counsel you received was way off. You would be humbled by that. And if you're gonna flee to anything, you would flee to the prayer closet and then return to the drawing board and say, where did I go wrong? How can I make this right? I've learned from my own mistakes.

God, please help me. Instead, what does he do? He sends a taskmaster, the same taskmaster that was employed by Solomon. In other words, what this man is doing is even though the people denied his authority, he doubles down. He doubles down.

He he still tries to play that tough guy card. He doubles down. Though the system was condemned, he says, no. I'm going to implement it whether you like it or not. Is this foolishness or what?

How much more of a fool can you be? And I step back when I read this last night. I studied this and I thought, how can you be so idiotic? How can you not just see the plain writing on the wall? How can you not see the fruit of your decisions?

How can you think, you know what, this needs me to pursue with greater aggression? How? And then a verse came to mind. It's in Proverbs 11 verse two where it says, when pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom. What is this man illustrating?

A lack of humility. A man who could not admit he was wrong, a man who could not admit defeat, a man who could not return to his former understanding of what the truth was when it was advised to him and say, this is the way I went the wrong way. And when you do not have humility, you also forfeit wisdom. Humility must be pursued and secured if wisdom is going to be realized. No humility, no wisdom.

And if you don't have humility, there's no neutrality, there's pride. And when you have pride, you inherit disgrace. And the longer you hold on to that pride, the greater the disgrace will be in your life and in mine. So why is why is Rehoboam doing this? It's because he lacks humbleness.

And because of that, he forfeited wisdom. Even in the plain sight of the obvious thing to do, he still was headlong, stiff necked, determined to pursue what he saw to be right. How do I grow in wisdom? Just set the bedrock of humility in your heart. Express continually your need of him and his guidance, and that also includes admitting and confessing you're wrong so that light can come in and that you can receive the insight you need to avoid that mistake again.

Rehoboam lacked that, and it came to his own harm as we see here. A man died because of his foolishness. Relationship dies because of a lack of humility. Ministries die because of a lack of humbleness. So many things die when humility is not priority.

Look at this comment in verse 19. So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. For the rest of the landscape of the Old Testament, from this point on, we're gonna see a shift in the terrain of scripture. And this is the verse that pivots it, saying, what do you mean? Because from now on, generally, whenever you see the word Israel or Israel being mentioned, it's not speaking about the entirety of the 12 tribes of the sons of Jacob.

Israel from this point on will reference the 10 northern tribes, whereas Judah will represent the Southern Kingdom. And Judah will not stand alone. Judah, the Southern Kingdom, will also be comprised with and connected to which other tribe? Benjamin. Correct.

So you have the 10 who represent Israel, the Kingdom Of Israel. That's not the whole nation. The 10 tribes, the northern tribes. And then you have the Kingdom Of Judah, which is Judah primarily, but also Benjamin partnering with him. And sometimes you'll read about Ephraim, and that's one tribe.

But in some context, actually many contexts, that tribe represents the 10 northern tribes. You just read it in in Isaiah seven seventeen. Since Ephraim departed from Judah well, it was more than Ephraim, so Ephraim also in many context of the old testament represents the 10 northern tribes as a whole. Why why Ephraim? Any idea?

Ephraim is the largest tribe. It's as simple as that. Ephraim is the largest tribe. Judah, out of the two, is also larger than Benjamin. So just a simple way of identifying these two different kingdoms now, and we're gonna see that for the rest of our study in the Hebrew scriptures.

Verse 19 indicates that. But we read on, and what do we see in verse 20? And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only. So Rehoboam is not the only fool in this chapter.

Israel, those 10 tribes are also foolish. Any idea why this demonstrates their foolishness? They made Jeroboam their king. Why is that important? Who is God's chosen king?

Was it just David or would it be his descendants forever? His descendants forever. So the mark of God's favor was upon David and his descendants. They were the chosen lineage to operate as monarchs for the kingdom of God, the reflection of the glory of God. And here's these people saying, we want nothing to do with David's line.

We want Jeroboam. Jeroboam, though he was called by God to work in this way, we also learned that the people here made a drastic mistake in separating themselves from God's original choice for the king of Israel. And as we look to this, we think to ourselves, well, what is this going to cost them? Well, we're gonna find out in a moment. And we see here that the folly of Israel is only met with greater folly, and that's with this man Rehoboam once again.

Look at verse 21. When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, a 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against the house of Israel to restore the kingdom of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. So Rehoboam now. Right? He sends a taskmaster.

He's killed. He learns that what the people said early on in verse 16 wasn't just, you know, shallow talk. This was real. They actually said, we're cut off. We're disconnected from you.

They made someone a king. Robo senses the seriousness of this moment. So what does he do? Humble himself before God? Yeah.

He wants to declare war. Round up the troops. And now we sense there's a boiling point. We sense the tension now reaching a breaking point. And we we think to ourselves, this is this is getting ugly.

This is getting horrific so quickly, so fast. And what's about to take place here is so amazing. In verse 22, but the word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God. We haven't seen a prophet in our study in a long, long time. And now all of a sudden, appearing on the scene is this man of God.

He flashes on the scene, and he will be removed from the scene just as quickly, but what a pivotal moment for him to appear with a word from the Lord. And this is what he says in verse 23. Say to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, thus says the Lord, you shall not go up or fight against your relatives, the people of Israel. Every man returned to his home, for this thing is from me. So they listened to the word of the Lord and went home again according to the word of the Lord.

What moves you about that? Peace? But how did peace come about? Okay. The prophetic word, yes, that was the way peace could be achieved, but was the prophetic word overruling?

Okay. That's another thing that we're gonna look at as well. There's the sovereignty of God in this. It's very simple. They obeyed him.

Finally, some obedience in this downward spiral of rebellion. You see something that's almost like this cold glass of water to your soul as you're trying to endure this. What do we read here? So they listened to the word of the Lord and went home again according to the word of the Lord. It's like a breath of fresh air.

Wow. If only Rehoboam had done this way back when he started out as a king. If only he prized the word of the Lord in such a way, all the disasters that could have been dodged, all the pain that could have been prevented, all the life that could have been saved, all the unity perhaps that could have been kept. But you can't go back, can you? He couldn't have.

You and I can't either. And so here's the lesson from these verses. It is never too late to obey God. It is never too late to step outside of the lane of disobedience and enter into the lane of consecrated obedience to the Lord. You know, I've talked to some people throughout the years, and they've approached me after a message whether that be on purity, whether that be on living for the Lord, whether that be on your prayer life, worship, serving, whatever it may be.

And some people are so convinced that they are so invested, so steeped into a mindset or a lifestyle of sin that they don't see any point of escaping it and living for the Lord. That's a lie. That's a lie. God is always waiting. God is always willing to redeem, to reverse, to recycle even your failures, what you have done to yourself and to others.

And not only is he waiting because he is worthy to receive that obedience, but he is waiting to also reward you for that obedience. Do you understand what was prevented because these people obeyed the word of the lord? How many lives, again, could have been sabotaged, could have been slaughtered if they had just ignored what the prophet said? But so many things were prevented. So many things were avoided.

Yes. Even if you are on a fast track, 100 miles an hour away from the will of God into darkness, into sin, things can stop the moment you and I repent. The moment we call upon the name of the Lord, even though we feel like we don't have the strength within ourselves, even though we feel like the brake pad is broken, God can intervene and stop you from committing greater mess, greater tragedy, and to actually, more than that, lead you on a path with greater fruit, greater life, greater hope. It's never too late to obey God. That's what we learned from this.

You may feel that it is, but according to Rehoboam's story, it's not. And as you read this, you also see something else. Our brother mentioned it. The prophet says here, every man return to his home, for this thing is from me. He's speaking on behalf of God.

So there's something about the sovereignty of God in this exhortation that also contributed to their willingness to step back from their ways and to obey God. Now you read this and you think to yourself, what does this mean? Well, we know from verse, chapter 11 rather that the prophet Ahijah prophesied to Jeroboam that there would be a division and that he would be made king and that there would be a tribe preserved for the line of David. So everything went according to the prophesied script. We're seeing the fulfillment of that prophecy right here, right now.

But for him to say this thing is from me, is that is that Shemaiah here saying that God was the one who pulled the strings of the moral actions of these different parties to commit these atrocities, to commit this rebellion, this foolishness in order to accomplish his will? Some would say that is the case. But I believe there's a higher view of God's sovereignty than him playing both sides of the chessboard. I believe that the higher view of God's sovereignty is that though he has permitted and granted men to be able to choose and make their choices, whether that be to surrender to the to God or to live their own way, he will still have his way. God will still have his purposes be performed regardless of the attempts of men to thwart it, to challenge it, to contradict it.

God's way will prevail always, and men will still be held accountable and responsible for their decisions. No one can rewrite history. God himself declares it, and God himself will have his way regardless of men's agreement with it. This thing is from me. I allowed this to happen.

Could have God intervened? Absolutely. He could have intervened, but he allowed these parties to pursue their foolishness. And through that, the folly didn't cause things to fall apart. They fell according to plan.

This thing is from me. I'm in charge here. I'm still in charge here. And though you think that you're running your own little show, this is going according to how I desire it to go. This is you experiencing the consequences of your own sin.

You're gonna be held responsible for it, but don't you worry I'm still in charge. That's the view of God's sovereignty in this picture. So they listened to the word of the Lord because they were exposed to just how big God is. I'm sure that played a part in it. But there's a side note here from this text.

I would use it to instruct the believers, the community of faith, of how you and I can avoid a civil war. Do civil wars happen in churches? All the time. Christians have really good aim at shooting other Christians. I wish they were just as good as picking up wounded soldiers.

But what you have here is a civil war ready to ensue, and there is a language that the prophet uses that I believe unlocks another factor that can help us remain unified and less fearful, worrisome that there can be a civil war in our midst. Let's read it again. Shall we? Look at verse 24. Thus says the Lord, you shall not go up or fight against your who?

Your relatives. Other translations, your brethren, your brothers. So even in the way that the prophet addresses this situation, he reintroduces a lens that is necessary. Are you actually gonna go up against your own brothers and kill each other? It reminds me of that verse that I briefly introduced to you a couple Sundays ago if you were here about love being the secret ingredient to Christian unity.

And the verse, if you remember, that I brought forward that I I think is so fitting for this moment is Romans twelve ten. But I have another verse that I didn't bring up to add to this. What did Paul say in Romans twelve ten? Love one another with what kind of affection? Brotherly affection.

He could've just said love one another. He says, no. Love each other with Philadelphia love. The natural affection that you would feel for somebody who has the same blood as you, it's something that's almost indescribable. Right?

And what I shared on on that evening, on that Saturday evening with those Romanian brothers and sisters, I shared with you that although there are scrimmages at home, are there not? Although there are disagreements at home, although there is war sometimes at home, there is something that takes place in your heart when something happens to a loved one. Is it not true? I can speak as an older brother that I have throughout my history with my brothers and even my sister, spoken to them, maybe corrected them, tried to rebuke them, instruct them, maybe in my flesh, especially when I wasn't saved, maybe a little bit more unnecessary approaches. And as a brother, you feel justified in that to some regard.

Right? But as a brother, you know this if you're older, if somebody outside of your home, if somebody on the school play field or somebody at work where you both work speaks to your sibling in a way that only you should speak to your sibling, what happens to your blood? Oh, there's a protective rush that comes through. You have no right to speak to my brother. Only I can speak to him like that.

Right? What is that? That's Philadelphia affection. Or when you hear some some bad news, some tragedy that happens to your sibling, to your parent, to your sister, something comes over you. There's this natural inherited set of feelings that is a gift from God.

But in Paul's language here in Romans twelve ten, he wants you to understand that those natural affections for your family are translated spiritually with your family in Christ. In other words, what you experience with your natural household, you should have a mirroring set of convictions and longings and passions for those who share the same spirit. So love with brotherly affection. You know what that tells me? Love toward my Christian brethren is more than just duty.

Alright. I gotta love them. I gotta love them. And all these different personalities and all these different backgrounds, and you're calling me to love okay. I'll love them.

Love what okay. Agape love, serve them, sacrificial love. There's a higher call to love. Love with feeling. How is that?

Okay. You think you're challenged there? This is this is a verse that I remember reading it at one point, and it shot out like an arrow and pierced my heart, and it caused me to bleed for quite a long time. So he tells us in Romans twelve ten, love one another with brotherly affection. That's a high call.

Thank God for the Holy Spirit's help. But look what the Saint Paul says to the Philippian church in Philippians one verse eight. Brace yourselves. Philippians one eight. Look at this.

For god is my witness. He calls god to bear witness on this. God is my witness. How I yearn for you all with the affection of Philadelphia love. Look at the quality of affection here.

The affection of Christ Jesus. Agape love, sacrificial love. Yes. It's the highest form of love. But I argue there's a higher thing that we should achieve, and that's, yes, agape love being the foundation, but love one another with brotherly affection.

And we have even a higher call. Paul exemplifies this, I love you with the affection of Christ Jesus. How strong is the love of Christ? And here Paul is bearing witness and calling God, invoking the name of God to the validity of this testimony in the introduction of his letter to the Philippians. I love you with the affections that Jesus has for you.

Can't call this man a liar. He means it. Now you could read that and be like, oh, that's why he's the apostle Paul, and I'm not. But you read later on in Philippians where he says what you've seen in me, what you've heard in me, what you've seen exemplified in me, imitate it. Imitate it.

I'm called to the high call of love with the affections of Jesus Christ. Let's be honest now. Don't answer. Just answer in your heart before the lord. Do I have the qualities of the affections of Christ for my brethren?

It's very difficult to go to war when you have that pumping through your veins. So I don't present that to you to just see this clever connection in the Bible. I want you to see it so you can feel it. That is what I am to pursue. And if everybody's convinced of that in a local church, I guarantee you, you have heaven on earth.

You have heaven, at least a fragment of heaven on earth every single time we gather, every time a member is added. Loving and yearning for one another with the affection of Christ Jesus. What would churches look like if that was in the atmosphere? I can tell you one thing for certain, there would be no wars or very few of them, at least unnecessary wars. Rehoboam has proven to be more foolish than we imagine, and, thankfully, his mention in this chapter ends on a relatively good note.

Israel, also foolish, and we still have Jeroboam. Let's read verse 25. Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there, and he went out from there and built Penuel. So what's happening here? Well, Jeroboam is now the new crown king of the northern tribes, and he wants to secure two things.

The first first thing that Jeroboam wants to do is secure a headquarters, a commanding center, and he does so here in Shechem. And also here in Penuel, his palace, his primary abiding place, and here's the second thing that Jeroboam wants to protect, and that is the loyalty of the people. And we see how he's going to do this in verse 26. And Jeroboam said in his heart, now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their Lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.

So Jeroboam understood that the capital city of worship was where? Jerusalem. And he also understood that how many times out of the year were the Jews supposed to travel to Jerusalem to honor the feast? Not all the feast. There were seven of them, but how many out of the seven were they to travel to Jerusalem?

Three. Three times in the year, they were to make way to the house of God to worship God. This is concerning to Jeroboam. Because in his mind, he's thinking, well, if you have the people now traveling there and they're in the territory of Rehoboam, then perhaps they're more susceptible and vulnerable to be influenced by Rehoboam. And so I need to do something to minimize that possibility.

And I also believe that Jeroboam here is suffering from great fear, not just because of the obvious, but also because the the the fickleness and the vacillating loyalty of the people that played in his favor by saying, we're divorcing from David. We're going with Jeroboam. I'm sure he knew that that could quickly, just as easily turn on him. And so he wants to, again, try to strategize and think of a way to eliminate as much of that as possible. And so he comes up with this scheme.

And the scheme here is quite conniving. It's so destructive to the spiritual state of the nation, but he could care less. There's so many things to say about what Jeroboam is meditating on, but let me make this one comment. And let me ask you this question. What is the root of this foolishness that's brewing in his heart?

What is the root of the irrational anxiety? Notice what he's saying, they're gonna kill me. They'll go back to Rehoboam and they'll turn back on me. That is an extreme view. But what's the reason for it?

There's something down deep inside, something that you and I have heard of, something you and I are warned about constantly. Any idea? Disbelief is the right answer. Do you remember what Ahijah told him in first Kings 11? Let me remind you.

Go to your bibles and turn to verse 38 of first Kings 11. Here's what the prophet here's what the prophet told the same person. And if you will listen to all that I command you and will walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments as David my servant did, I will be with you and will build you a sure house as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. That's a promise from God. And for him to think in this way shows that he didn't believe God.

Listen. Your heart and mind will never be short in coming up with sinful alternatives to pacify our fears and our worries. The only way that you and I can defeat deceitful thoughts from sucking the life out of our walk with God is by taking every object of your worry to arrest it and then to release it into the ocean of God's word and to let it drown in it. And I can tell you as you are fully aware that those creeping things will try to crawl back on the shore of your faith, but it is your duty and mine to identify it and to restart the process if need be. Apprehend it and launch it back into God's word, and to submerge it and to let it drown under it until it dies.

It has no more life or strength to even visit your heart again. If you fail to be so familiar with the truth, and more than just familiar, but to believe this truth, your heart will never be short in stock of coming up with crazy ideas to try to help you navigate through life or to respond to certain situations. Unfortunately, this man had no grasp of the truth. He was told the truth, but he didn't cling to the truth. He didn't rehearse the promises of God.

And what was he left with? The scariest thing you can be left with in this life, your heart. Your heart governing your own life is a nightmare. Who has betrayed you more than you? Who has lied to you more than you?

Who has convinced you of things only for you to look back and think in embarrassment, how did I get to that point? How did I think like that? And so God in his mercy and goodness gives us something to chain our hearts, and for something else to instead be the heartbeat behind all that we say, think, or do, his word. This man abandoned all of that. And so what is he going to do?

You know, it reminds me of what we read in first Samuel 27. Do you remember the story of David when he thought he would be better off going to the Philistines? In verse one, it says, and David said in his heart, now Saul will kill me, and there's nothing better for me to do but to go to the land of the Philistines. You know what David's problem was? What began in his heart as a lie, as a temptation, stayed in his heart.

He never brought it and spilled it out before the Lord. He never sought counsel from people to bring light to it. He kept it in the chambers of his own thinking, and it led him into disaster. It led him into backsliding. And here we see kind of a similar statement Jeroboam said in his heart.

And now he's seeing all these crazy ideas and we're hoping you're not gonna stay there. Right Jeroboam? You're gonna do something about this. Bring it to the light. Expose it with truth.

And the first few verses of verse 28 bring some kind of hope to us. So the king took counsel, yes. You got it, man, and made two calves of gold. Hold on for a second. What kind of counsel did you get?

He took counsel. Something David didn't do. But which counselors did you go to? Do you remember one of the things that wisdom teaches you from last week? Wisdom teaches you to seek, not just counsel, specific counsel.

Wisdom is not just being counseled and being open to instruction. It's about getting it from the right source. Many people make foolish decisions because of counsel. Isn't it amazing here that Jeroboam mirrors the mistake of Rehoboam? Rehoboam took counsel from his fellow companions, those who grew up with him and stood before him, and it led him to this mistake.

And now here's Jeroboam repeating that. He took counsel from who knows who, and now it's gonna lead him to making a tragic mistake for generations again to come. Why is the bible repeating this? To get it through our thick heads. That's why.

Be careful who you surround yourself with. Be careful which voices speak into your life. Be careful what your source of motivation in this life and how to frame your view of the world, especially in this day where so many people are willing to speak freely with podcasts and ideas and books and blogs. More voices and more accessibility to voices than any point in history. So we you you and I need to be extra guarded extra guarded with the truth.

This man took counsel. Good. No. Not good. And made two calves of gold.

What kind of counsel is this? Well, we read on and we see what he's gonna do with these two calves of gold. And he said to the people, you have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, oh Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Does this sound familiar to you?

Tell me where it's from. This is from Exodus 32. This is how diabolical this council is. Whoever gave it to him was very strategic, satanically strategic. So I don't know how it happened, but perhaps Jeroboam heard it this way.

You remember the people of Israel when they first came out of Egypt, and how all it took was a golden calf for them to cut away from their allegiance to Moses and Yahweh. Jeroboam, if it worked then, surely it can work now. And here's how wicked Jeroboam is. Does he build one golden calf? He builds two.

He builds two. So he's telling himself and he's telling others, I'm going to make sure that this works. And it almost seems unimaginable, but remember Jeroboam here is not operating under honoring God, is he? You know, he wants to secure and maintain his throne, his governance, his rule. And when you put anything listen so closely to this.

When a man puts anything above God, anything, then he or she is willing to use God as a means to achieve that thing that they love more than God. You and I have seen it. We've seen it with our own eyes. We see it on online. We see people using the name of God, using the truth of God.

No problem declaring things about their faith in God when everything about their life contradicts it. How is a person able to do such a thing? It's very easy. When you have idolatry in your life, you're willing to use God to serve your idol. Manipulate God's word to serve your idol, to trick people about the truth and with the truth of God to serve your idol.

And this is the horrific thing about Jeroboam's actions here. But notice what he does in telling the people what he said. And he said to the people, you have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Who here has a New King James or a King James or a New American Standard? K.

Can you read how it reads in New King James? Because all these other word for word translations spell out Jeroboam's words slightly differently, and I think it really captures what's happening here. Yes. Stop. It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem.

What is Jeroboam doing here? He is enticing the people and preparing them to compromise in this way by appealing to what you and I understand, and that is convenience. There's an allurement here. There's an attraction here to worship these gods, and the gateway for these people to remove any hesitation or to let down their arms of defense is convenience. It's too much for you to go up to Jerusalem.

Now you don't wanna travel all the way down there. You don't have to book time off. You don't wanna have to bring your family. You don't have to bring the it's I'm about to give you an easier way to worship. Compromise loves to feed off of convenience.

It's not the only reason for compromise, but convenience is a seduction, and much compromise is justified by what convenience can offer. I mean, it's true for this moment. It's true for people in the church today. Doing what the Lord asked me to do in this area or not in that area, it's not convenient. It's not convenient to my schedule.

It's not convenient to my social life. I know what God is asking of me, like basic things of the Christian walk, but it's not convenient to my career path. It's not convenient. It's not convenient. A consecrated life crucifies the nagging of convenience.

Convenience with many other things are nailed to the cross when Christ becomes your treasure. The Christian who is filled with the spirit is no longer operated by convenience. He is now under the operation of the lordship of Jesus Christ. Convenience as a justification to disobey dies when a man or woman carries his cross. And with all our advancements today, convenience is a greater allurement to a diluted Christianity more than at any time in church history.

So this is this is how Jeroboam is tempting the people. It's easier. It's more convenient. Oh, yeah. We have to think rightly about how we go about life.

We can't be foolishly radical even in our pursuit of spirituality, but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about what God plainly asks of us and for us to look at it and then to look at our own lives, look at our comfort, look at our goals, look at our man made convictions, and say, this isn't really convenient to support these other things that I prize more. Dangerous way to be a Christian. And so what do we see here? Verse 29.

And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Then this thing became a sin for the people went as far as Dan to be before one. So here's the Holy Spirit's commentary, and something that's obvious to us. Right? God doesn't approve of what Jeroboam did.

And why this is mentioned here is because though there is this division that took place, Jeroboam had no right, no liberty by disconnecting from the line of David to also disconnect from the covenantal requirements that he was bound by as an Israelite connected to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so God plainly says, this thing became a sin. This is not right. And notice this additionally, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one of these golden calves. And what's mentioned here is that these people, though initially invited into this through convenience, were actually willing to make great sacrifices to worship one of these false gods.

Do you see that language here? Some of these guys went as far as Dan. Evidently, Dan wasn't as close to some of these neighboring tribes, but they were still willing to go that way. What an accurate example and illustration of how idolatry works. Willing to give more, sacrifice more, love more, set your affections on something more on anything than what God deserves.

That's what it is. They're willing to go that far to worship a false god, but they weren't willing to go to Jerusalem to worship the true god. That's what we're what we're being told here. Are there people today who have their investments and who have their longings and other things more than the lord Jesus? You know the answer to that.

I don't have to stay on that point too long, do I? And it's as old as this story, going as far as Dan. But when God in his goodness and his mercy and love set some relational requirements with us, I don't know. It's not very convenient. But that, I'll go as far as I need to go.

This is this is a real confronting Bible study. Is it not? Good. It's good for us. If you thought that this man's calamity ends here, it doesn't.

Verse 31. He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people who are not of the Levites. So not only does this man establish places of worship to replace the house of God, he now comes up with his own line of priests. God had consecrated one line, Aaron's line, to be set apart for the ministerial work in the temple. Jeroboam thought to himself, you know what?

This is gonna be a problem, so I'm going to make up my own roster of ministers. And he creates this mixed inclusive group to be ministers under his self made religion. Why do you think Jeroboam came up against the Levites in this way? I have a hunch, personally. I'm just curious to know if you have insight on it.

Let me ask you a question. In connection to the golden calf in Exodus 32, Moses comes down from the mountain and he sees this. This gross idolatry, this orgy, this this festival of the flesh. And he stands at the gate, and he makes one final call before God's judgment comes. Whoever is on the Lord's side, come to me.

Who comes to him? Levi, an only Levi. Levi awakened from what was taking place, was sobered up by the confrontation of a man of God, and pledged their allegiance to the Lord. And more than just verbally affirming it, Moses puts a sword in each of their hands, and he says, now run back and forth and kill whoever you see on-site for this idolatry of worshiping this golden calf. And they did it without blinking.

I wonder if Jeroboam understood the history of the Levites. And now that he has these golden calves on-site, he's concerned that these Levites will be up to no good to his newfound program. So let's get rid of them, not even include them to begin with. And guess what? He was right.

Look at the parallel account in our bible study in second Chronicles, and look here at verse 11 chapter 11, excuse me, verse 16. We can begin in verse 14 rather. Second Chronicles chapter 11 verse 14. This is in the same context of what's taking place in the kingdom of Israel. And the chronicle writes by the spirit.

Second chronicles eleven fourteen, for the Levites left their common lands and their holdings and came to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons cast them out from serving as priests of the Lord. And he appointed his own priest for the high places and for the goat idols, so we don't just have calves. We have goat idols, and for the calves that he had made. Do you see this? Not everybody was pleased with Jeroboam's decision though they appointed him as king.

Once he start flirting with idolatry and being very obvious within flaunting it, there was a group that said we're not gonna take place of place in this, the Levites. No part in this. And here's a man who persuaded a majority of the people through convenience, and yet you have a people here now who did not budge with this request because they were consecrated. Talk about a cost for being consecrated. Talk about not being convenient to them.

Look what happens. Verse 14. The Levites left their common lands and their holdings. They moved. They left their familiarity.

They left their their livelihood. They left their jobs. They left their ministry positions. They weren't going to surrender their allegiance to the lord no matter how much it cost. This is the opposite of worshiping through convenience.

This is what consecration looks like. No matter what it costs me, I wanna be where God is worshiped. I wanna be where God is truly served. I wanna be where God prescribed true worship. And if it means you and I packing up and leaving, honey, let's get going because we're gonna honor God even if it costs us our convenience.

Can I tell you something? This attitude demonstrated by the Levites is absolutely vital and necessary for God to use you. When convenience dominates a heart, it's very difficult for the Lord to find somebody to recruit. But when you have people like this who are willing to pay any price to honor God, the possibilities of being used for the glory of God are endless. Can I prove that to you?

You remember this from our study in Deuteronomy, but let me remind you in Deuteronomy 33 verse eight. Here is a prophetic declaration that is made over every single tribe. And in that verse, you have the tribe of Levi, and the tribe of Levi had the honor of being who they were as Levites, priests and ministers and mediators because of what? Let me remind you from Deuteronomy 33 verse eight and nine. Here's what the scripture says.

And of Levi, he said, give to Levi your Thummim and your Urim, to your godly one, whom you tested at Masa, with whom you quarreled at the waters of Meribah, who said of his father this is what Levi said of his father, who said of his father and mother, I regard them not. I regard them not. He disowned his brothers and ignored his children for they observed your word and kept your covenant. What is that? Consecration.

What is that? I uphold the word of God above the opinions and above even the threats of those who are closest to me. If obeying God in love, yes, in humility, yes, in jait ul na, in legalism, not in self righteousness, in genuine good heartedness, if me obeying God in that regard will cost me even my brothers, my sisters, even for my children not to love me, then so be it. What's their reward? For they observed your word and kept your covenant.

In verse 10, they shall teach Jacob your rules and Israel your law. They shall put incense before you and hold burnt offerings on your altar. Because you honor my word above everything and everyone, I'm gonna use you. I'm gonna use you in the most intimate way possible, in closest proximity to my presence. You will now forever be my priest.

And the attitude that the Levites displayed early on in their history is still alive and well in in the days of Jeroboam. If we have to go away, if we have to move, if we have to go down to Judah, then so be it. We will honor God. What a refreshing display of obedience in a very dark chapter. But notice this, in verse 16 of second Chronicles, I hope you're still there, something else happens.

There's an important lesson here for leaders who are tempted to compromise to achieve or maintain something that their flesh desires or equates with true success and fulfillment. I want you to see what happens after Jeroboam established these calves and these high places and his carnally appointed ministers. Not only did the Levites leave, what else happens? In second Chronicles eleven sixteen, you read it of of another group of people who leave. And those who had set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came after them from all the tribes of Israel to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord, the God of their fathers.

So it wasn't just the Levites. You had a remnant of people in the northern tribes of Israel who had their hearts set on seeking God who said, we're going with the Levites. Leaders, especially in spiritual context and spheres, who are tempted to compromise concerning God's standard, God's protocol for worship, God's blueprint for the local church in every regard, I never personally, I never understood the temptation to bend what God had made so clear. I never understood that temptation. Do you know why?

Because no matter what you think you're going to win with compromise, you will always lose something of true value and substance. Always. So what do you have here? You have Jeroboam who was able to win the northern tribes' allegiance to him by introducing idolatry in the land. And who did he lose as a result?

He lose the true priesthood. He lost the true priesthood and the people who really wanted God. You know, the same thing happens in ministries that compromise today. Okay. Who do you win?

Who do you win when you when you tiptoe around the truth? Who do you win when you placate and give into what the culture wants to hear? Who do you win? Who do you bring in? People who want the truth?

No. And what else happens? You push away the people who want the truth. You always lose. Never forget the example of Jeroboam.

Okay. What did he gain? But what did he lose? And it's no different today. I don't I'm honest, I don't get it.

Because when you give people the truth, what's gonna happen? Well one, you honor God. One, you please God. But two, you win the people who want the truth. You you win the people who want all of what God has to say.

Isn't that isn't that what you want? Isn't that what you desire to make up this ministry in the name of Jesus Christ? I I'm telling you man. This is confession time maybe. I don't get it.

I don't understand. It just doesn't make sense to me. The loss will be much greater than whatever you win, and sometimes people don't see it because they're so intoxicated by a different idea of success as Jeroboam was. So we come back to our text as we close. If you thought the compromise ended there, it didn't.

The dagger only goes deeper into our hearts in verse 32. And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made, and he placed in Bethel the priest of the high places that he made. He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised from his own heart. And he instituted a feast with the people of Israel and went up to the altar to make offerings.

There's a phrase that repeats. What is it? He made. He made. He made.

He made. This is self made religion. This is what it is. But before we get into the ingredients of self made religion and our closing thought, what's the other violation that Jeroboam performs? He he sets up a place of worship where it's not supposed to be, two places of worship.

On top of that, he sets up high places for localized expressions of worship. He raises up his own priesthood, and then he does something else. Did you notice it? He comes up with his own feast. You don't do that.

God had raised up a calendar already where several feasts, seven in particular feasts, would be honored. Those feasts point to the person and work of Jesus Christ. Here's a man now who wants to compete with the feast because what what kind of reason are you gonna get people to come to these places of worship? And so he sets up a feast on the fifteenth day of what month? Of the eighth month.

What's the closest feast to that according to the Hebrew scriptures? How many feasts were observed on the seventh month out of the seven? There is three. The last one is what? On the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the Hebrew calendar, it's the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Booths.

It was a celebratory feast. It was the way to sign off on the year, and that was one of the feasts where the people of Israel would have to make way toward Jerusalem to celebrate and honor. And so in order to compete against that, he sets up a feast on the fifteenth day, not on the seventh month, but on the eighth month. He made, he had made, he had made, and look at this dangerous phrase here, in the month that he had devised from his own heart. This didn't come from God.

This didn't come from his word. This didn't come from a prophetic revelation. It came from the cesspool of a heart that is not surrendered to the Lord. Let me tell you, based on this, the ingredients of self made religion. Number one, oftentimes, it puts a great emphasis on convenience.

How does this benefit me the most? Even at the cost of clear obedience, convenience is the goal for self made religion. But not just that, a disregard for god's credentials, for ministers, and for his standards of worship. You know, worship is about God. Right?

What does God want to hear? What does God want us to do? What does God require? That's worship. The will surrender to the wishes of God.

Self made religion has no regard of God being the priority aim of our pleasure. Lastly, though there may be other things we can include, self made religion includes the ingredient of a liberty to bend what God has made so clear in his word. I wanna be worshiped on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. We're gonna worship on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. It's so clear what God has revealed, many cases.

And all we're called to do is to receive it, understand it, and give ourselves to it. Self made religion does not do that, and we're going to see that God does not tolerate self made religion for too long. Let's pray. Lord, we do thank you from the bottom of our hearts with a difficult chapter to dissect, yet we remember how we opened our time together that when the scoffer is punished, the simple become wise. Lord, we believe that you have instilled in us a greater nourishment in the place of discretion, in the place of consecration, in the place of true worship.

Thank you, Lord, that week after week, we've come here to know what you want. And father, we confess that is our desire more than anything else. Lord, please fill us with your spirit. We wanna love you more. We wanna love one another more.

We can't do it in our own strength. And Lord, as we sang tonight, as people see a power working through us to obey your commitments, may they know that that power does not come from us. So inspire this love, this love that Paul could say with confidence was real in him. The affection of Christ Jesus for one another. Inspire in us a ferocious zeal for true worship.

That, lord, when convenience gnaws at us and when the heart devises its own plans contrary to your will, that we would be quick to take every thought captive with the authority of Christ and to declare even in that spiritual warfare in the heart and the mind, trust that you are glorified in it and that you are pleased by it. Lord, tonight, we afresh declare that you are everything to us. And, Lord, our desire to serve you and to live for you does not come from a fear of being rejected by you or fear of being punished by you. But Lord, our obedience is built on grace. You have first loved us.

You, the creator of all things, extended your heart toward us and invite us to live in it. Lord, we pray that whatever we need to do, even if we are faced with the pressures to compromise, what would stimulate us to stand our ground and like these Levites even to make the moves we need to make, what would encourage us is I love my master more than these. And so Lord, in this place, in our homes, in our marriages, in the in the babies that are coming through the families of this house, may we reflect the attitude of those Levites who allow the word of God to be supreme and who live by that standard for generations. We pray that that would be true of us. We pray that would be true of this ministry.

We pray that we would never be fooled by the lies of compromise, but we remember that we always win when we stand with you and for you. Lord, we worship you tonight in great honor of your name. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Let's stand together.