First, Kings chapter 14. I was wrestling over this
chapter today and I'll tell you the main reason why.
I was wrestling over this chapter because I was trying to
determine whether or not we should complete it in one
sitting or we should divide it in two parts.
And I have concluded that we will divide it in two parts.
We could do it in one shot, but I would feel that we would do a
great disservice to this text and that we would have to force
ourselves to ignore certain verses that deserve much
attention. And So what we are facing with
in this chapter is very simple. We are looking at the record of
the final moments of two kings. The first king, the king of
Israel Jeroboam, and his final moments leading up to his death,
and then the king of the southern Kingdom, the king of
Judah Rehoboam. And So what we're going tonight
is do tonight is just look at Jeroboam carefully and see what
the spirit of God has preserved for us in the final moments, the
final glimpse of what we are to know about him before.
He will not be revisited again, at least in an active way.
His name will appear many times throughout kings because
unfortunately, he will be recognized as the worst example
of a king for the nation of Israel.
In the same way, David is used over and over again as the
exemplary king Jeroboam will be. The face will be the name,
measured against those who have not risen up to the standard
that God desired for them. So before we before we begin,
let's pray and ask the Lord to help us with these verses.
Father, it is with our greatest desire and longing that you
would help us by the Spirit of God to understand your mind and
your heart behind this passage. And we ask, Lord, that we would
be renewed in our joy and our affections for you and our
strength to serve you. Lord, inspire us afresh.
We We beg you, Lord, that the Holy Spirit's presence and power
would be recognized in this Bible study.
But whether this place is full or half full or barely full, we
long for your presence to dominate our midst.
And so we desperately yearn for you to captivate us and help us.
Lord, see you above everything else and hear you above anybody
else. We need you, Lord.
Desperately our hearts cry out for your nearness, and we pray
that that would be recognized tonight.
And so, Lord, we pray for your grace and mercy and wisdom to
cloak this pulpit. And we asked, Lord, that our
eyes would see Jesus more clearer than we did before we
entered in Win our hearts, Lord, to You win.
Our hearts are fresh to you, Lord.
And may not this Bible study be done in the power of the flesh
or in the cleverness of the mind.
But through the assistance of the Spirit of God, who's been
granted to us as a gift, we ask these things in Jesus name.
Amen. First, Kings chapter 14.
Let's read the first few verses. At that time Abijah the son of
Jeroboam fell sick and Jeroboam said to his wife.
Arise and disguise yourself that it not be known that you are the
wife of Jeroboam and go to Shiloh.
Behold, Ahijah, the Prophet is there who said of me that I
should be king. Over this people, take with you
10 loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him.
He will tell you what shall happen to the child.
We have been studying Jeroboam for a few weeks, and one of the
things that we notice about Jeroboam is that though he was
walking further and further away from God, God in his mercy
sought His attention, pursued him aggressively, whether that
be through messages or through miracles.
The Lord was relentless and trying to rescue Jeroboam from
destroying himself and destroying the people that were
under His leadership. And we get the impression from
the first verse of this chapter that there's something else,
almost a final attempt to get Jeroboam's attention.
And it was not going to be through Jeroboam directly, but
through his son Abijah. And what we read in verse one is
that at that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.
Now for it to be written at that time is telling us that we are
to connect this statement with the context that we just
finished reviewing. Something happened just before
this that is meant to link it to this news at that time.
What? What time?
We'll scroll back to chapter 13 and look here in verse 33.
After this thing Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but
made priests for the high places again from among all the people.
Any who would he had ordained to be priests of the high places.
So we remember here that Jeroboam shoot away the hand of
God through the the messages and the miracles that he performed
in his life. And he headlong went along with
doing what he was doing before hiring priests, an illegal
priesthood for his false religion.
And then we're told here in verse 34 and this thing became
sin to the House of Jeroboam, so asked to cut it off and to
destroy it from the face of the earth.
So because he was so stubborn he was so diamond hard against God
trying to win him into repentance.
We're told here in verse 34, the last verse of this chapter, that
it has been decided that the House of Jeroboam was to be cut
off and destroyed from the face of the earth.
And verse one of chapter 14 is declaring that the fulfillment
of this judgment is beginning. The House of Jeroboam now is
determined to disappear, and it's going to begin with this
boy Abidja, who fell sick. And this is what Jeroboam is
ready to do. He's ready to do something about
it. But we're reminded that this is
not the first time that someone has suffered, even someone else,
suffering as a result of one's sin, the consequences of one's
disobedience leading to the affliction of another.
This is not foreign to us. We've seen this before.
And who comes to mind? Who is a person who is also a
king, who saw other people suffering because of his
decisions and disobedience? David, David because of his
murder, David, because of his adultery with Bathsheba, saw
that baby that he had with this woman suffer a disease that
would lead to his own death. But the the response of David in
comparison to Jeroboam, who finds himself in a in a very
similar situation, it's quite striking.
What does David do once he hears the news that his boy is
actually going to perhaps die? He repents even more.
He cries out to God. He fasts.
He seeks the face of God, hoping that the Lord would extend mercy
upon this boy. And then we come to Jeroboam,
and we see that his son now is suffering.
And what will he do with the sight of his boy now, who's
showing little sign of surviving?
What is he going to do? Is his heart now going to
finally give up? Is he now going to fall on his
knees and surrender and repent, or at least inquire of God and
brokenness? No.
Instead he has his wife disguise herself to go to a true prophet,
you might think, well, this is kind of good.
He's seeking a true minister to give some guidance about what's
happening here. But why is he sending his wife?
And why is he sending his wife in disguise?
And why is he not going directly?
All these questions arise, and they're legitimate questions.
Any idea why Jeroboam is sending his wife cloaking herself to be
someone else? I'm actually asking if you have
any idea. Doesn't have to be a long
explanation. Yes, he's ashamed of what he is
doing. Any other reason perhaps?
So he probably doesn't want to deal with the prophet
confronting him like that other prophet that man have got from
Judah, right? That's another good answer.
Any other idea why? So he thinks he can trick the
prophet. How silly do you think people
attempt to fool God? They do all the time.
Do you think it looks good for this man who said behold your
gods pointing to golden calves who delivered you from Egypt,
now seeking a prophet of Yahweh for help?
It doesn't look very good, does it?
And perhaps it's a mixture of all those things that he doesn't
want to reveal his lack of faith in his own gods.
But I believe it's more than that.
I believe it's what we heard earlier, that here's Jeroboam,
who is fully aware of how far he has walked away from God, and so
he does not feel confident to approach God's messenger openly.
And so instead, aware that this prophet is old and as we're
about to discover, he has his sight that's impaired.
He would disguise his wife and have her speak on his behalf.
And Jeroboam shows us something here.
He shows us that he's not only distant from God from the
standpoint of disobedience, he is far from God from a
theological understanding as well.
This shows just how out of touch Jeroboam is with the character
and the true nature of the Lord. You know why?
Because if Jeroboam understood who God was, then he would know
that he could approach God directly and freely.
You and I have studied the word of God to know enough and be
convinced that the Lord is always ready to be approached,
that he has open arms for the One, no matter how long they've
been away from God, no matter how far they have distanced
themselves from God. That the Lord is always ready to
receive us and hear us and heal us and restore us.
Jeroboam got it all wrong. He did not perceive the true
purity and beauty and loveliness of the Lord, and so he comes up
with this scheme. But Jeroboam here is not
demonstrating the hesitation of a person who's broken because of
their sin and is unsure of the depths of God's mercy for
idolaters and deceivers. Expectedly, Jeroboam here is
acting cunningly. Jeroboam here is trying to be
smart and predictably. We can see here that Jeroboam is
a picture of people who want God to save them out of their
trouble, but not out of their sin.
Other people like that, other people who are ready to turn to
God when they're in trouble, but not ready to turn to God.
To see God heal them from their sin and bring them into
righteousness and right relationship with God all the
time, all the time go talk to the man of God.
I need some answers for this predicament.
But he's not ready to go to God and say God, I I see and I hear
you now I'm ready to give my life over to you.
And so he does now send his wife, his poor wife.
And we read what happens in verse 4.
Jeroboam's wife did. So she arose and went to Shiloh
and came to the House of Ahijah. Now Aija could not see, for his
eyes were dim because of his age.
And the Lord said to Aija, behold, the wife of Jeroboam is
coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is
sick thus and thus shall you say to her, This moves me.
So now the scene shifts over to Aija, who is this prophet that
we've seen before, who is well advanced in years?
And not only is he advanced in years, he's suffering to some
degree because of his old age. And this is moving because we
don't have to think too long to think about the disadvantages
that physical blindness can bring about someone.
But at the same time, we learn here that this man who is blind
is in a greater position than those who can see but are not
with God. The man who can't see has
greater perception than those who do see with their physical
eyes but are blinded in their hearts.
So this man here, he does not have his eyes, but you know what
he does have? He has God, and you can sense
the tender intimacy that God has.
Here, You read this, and you can see that there's almost like a
friendship going on here, where the Lord now comes to the ear of
his servant. Ah, He John.
He whispers into it, and he gives some insight of what's
about to take place before it even happens.
He gives them a heads up. And so you see this nearness.
You see here again, this companionship of the Lord, and
you see the Lord as a friend, deeply caring for his other
friend. He extends these thoughts that
would give him the grace to deal with what's about to take place
and we would be tempted to think, well, that's the
advantage of a prophet in these times, that they had access to
God's provision and protection in such a way.
And I say no, yes, he's a prophet.
Yes, he could hear God's voice in a unique manner.
But the protective care of God in this moment, the Psalmist
says it's available for a different category of people.
I think of Psalm 33 verse 18 where it says that the eye of
the Lord is on those who fear him.
The eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope
in his steadfast love. You know what I just
experiencing that God is ultimately his eyes.
God is ultimately his ears, and through that perception that is
beyond him. There was protection in his
life. And that's extended to a
different group of people, not just a roster of prophets in the
Old Covenant. But the Psalmist says for those
who fear him, the Eye of the Lord is on them.
What does that mean? For the Eye of the Lord to be on
those who fear him? What?
We're told in Psalm 33, verse 19, that he may deliver their
soul from death and keep them alive in famine.
You know God can do what he did here with a hijah.
He can supernaturally reveal to you the next step.
He can tell you what's going to happen to the stock Stock
market. He's going to.
He can tell you what's going to happen in this election year.
He can tell you anything. If he desires.
He can. He can supernaturally reveal it.
But if he doesn't, there's not one moment in your life where
his careful eye is not on you, if it's not going to be there,
supernaturally manifested, it is always there, providentially,
always there, guiding and leading, pivoting, reacting,
shielding. It is always in our favor.
For for who? For those who fear him.
So you don't have to wonder even for a moment, Can I know such
grace in my life? Can I know such shepherding?
As long as you walk in the fear of the Lord, you win God's eye
on your life until you meet him face to face.
The eye of the Lord is on those who fear him.
I see the eye of the Lord here for a blind man who can't see
for himself, but he's not at a disadvantage at all.
He was prepared for what was to come, because the Lord will not
allow his servants to be overcome by the evil. 1 So the
wife of Jeroboam is now coming, and the Lord says she's coming,
and she's going to inquire of you concerning her son, for he's
sick. So this is what you're going to
say. Let's read what happens.
It says here when she came, she pretended to be another woman at
the end of verse 5 But when Ahijah heard the sound of her
feet as she came in at the door, he said, come in, wife of
Jeroboam, why do you pretend to be another?
Imagine how frightening that would be, for I am charged with
unbearable news for you. So we see here that the man
knew, and then he says something in the middle of this, right,
that you can imagine how jaw-dropping this experience
might have been. Here you are thinking that
you're going to have this advantage over a man who could
not see you have these gifts that makes you seem like a
commoner, right? These loaves and this jar of
honey, and you have everything set up.
And before you even meet the man, you even open your mouth,
the Prophet knows. Come in, wife of Jeroboam.
Let's not play these games now. But he asked this piercing
question. It's a question that applies to
her, and it's a question that applies universally to all men.
Did you see it? Look here again in verse six, he
said, Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be
another? That's a good question to ask
some church people. Wouldn't you agree?
Why do you pretend to be? Why do you feel the need to
masquerade as someone else in the presence of God's people, in
this case, in the presence of God's prophet?
God can't be misled, he can't be fooled.
And the principle here deals with hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy may offer some kind of relief and advantage for a
moment, but its success is never long term.
It never works long term. It may work for a moment, it may
please you for a season. It might gain you some kind of
feat and some kind of accomplishment.
But it never, ever it. Just as the law of gravity is
established in the universe, so is the law of hypocrisy in God's
world. It can never go on without
eventually being exposed. It's a waste of time.
It's a waste of energy. And no matter how clever you
are, no matter how believable you are in God's universe,
whatever is hidden in the darkness will come to light
eventually. And Jesus is the one who defined
that law, not me. This is not me making it up by
inference. No, he says in Luke 12, verse
one and two, he warns his disciples of the leaven of the
Pharisees. What is the leaven of the
Pharisees? Hypocrisy is the leaven of the
Pharisees. He tells his disciples He's not
telling the world, he's telling his own.
He said, disciples, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.
You know what that tells me? That even followers of Jesus
Christ are tempted to pretend to be someone else.
Don't do it, he says beware, be careful.
And then he tells us why in verse two of Luke 12 nothing is
covered up that will not be revealed or hidden, that will
not be known. Why don't we go to verse 3?
Because he just elaborates on that.
Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in
the light, and what you have whispered in private room shall
be proclaimed on the housetops. It doesn't work.
It doesn't. And some disguise themselves to
be as someone else maliciously. Sometimes those people are
wolves. Sometimes those people just want
to impress others, and that's why it's not always malicious.
Sometimes it's out of insecurity.
Either way, just determine in your own heart that God
champions and he prizes authenticity.
God just wants you to be real. He just wants you to be true.
Not just before him in private, but before God's people.
Jesus was moved. Jesus praised Nathanael because
there was no guile in him. That tells me something about
the heart of Christ He loves. When people are simple, what you
see is what you get. This is who I am.
And I I want Jesus to praise my life, not just privately but
publicly. And so we have to understand
here that when we try to pretend to be another, it doesn't work
with God. It may work with others, but it
doesn't work with God, and it doesn't work with those who are
in tune with God. And so this woman tried it, and
it did not even work for a second.
Why do you pretend to be another?
And then verse 7 go tell Jeroboam.
Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, because I exalted you
from among the people, made you leader over my people Israel,
and tore the Kingdom away from the House of David and gave it
to you. And yet you have not been like
my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me
with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my eyes.
But you have done evil above all who are before you, and have
gone and made yourself other gods and metal images, provoking
me to anger, and have cast me behind your back.
I mean, he's not even done yet. This is all in one breath.
Verse 10. Therefore, behold, I will bring
harm upon the House of Jeroboam, and I will cut off from Jeroboam
every male both bond and free in Israel, and will burn up the
House of Jeroboam as a man burns up dung until it is all gone.
I need to breathe. After that, here's what's about
to take place. The charade is now exposed, and
Jeroboam is going to give this discourse.
He's going to lay out in detail the indictment against Jeroboam
and his house. So he does in the first part,
explains why the judgment is coming, and then he explains
what the judgment is going to be.
That's what he does in the 1st 2 verses that we read.
Why? Why is Jeroboam going to
experience the wrath of God? Look again at verse 7.
Because I exalted you from among the people and made you a leader
over my people. The main reason for divine
retribution is because of God's grace being dispensed, but it
also being despised at the same time.
Jeroboam, I took you out of obscurity, Jeroboam.
I let my light of favor shine upon you when you did not
deserve it, and I pulled you up from among the thousands and the
hundreds of thousands and the millions.
And I've elevated you to this privileged place where I could
have secured your dynasty like the House of David, and you have
rejected that. And so we have to understand
here that God's grace was available and experienced by
Jeroboam. But because he did not allow
that grace to humble him and to cause him to adore him and to
stay close to him, he would not be free from guilt because of
that. And we see this in a personal
level, But let me talk about on a global level, You ready for
this? God's grace has been shown
ultimately through the person of his Son, Jesus Christ, and that
grace has been made available to all, right?
We can all, any person can approach the foot of the cross.
You will be held responsible whether you say yes to it or no
to it. And we're told in Second
Thessalonians 1/8 of what will become of those who will not
respond to the grace of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ?
What is prepared for them? We're told there that vengeance
is prepared in flaming fire for those who do not obey the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what Paul calls the
gospel? The gospel of the grace of God.
So on a macro level, what we learn here is true universally,
universally. When man rejects the grace of
God, that has already been expressed and demonstrated, he
will not be guiltless, he will not go free, he will be held
accountable with how he has treated God's mercy.
And that's what we see here with Jeroboam.
And the severity of his disregard for God reaching out
in this way is spelled out in a very particular way at the end
of verse nine. Look at verse 9 again.
But you have done evil above all who were before you, and have
gone and made for yourself other gods and metal images, provoking
me to anger and have cast me behind your back.
Think of that imagery. You've cast me behind your back.
So Jeroboam, while you're going on through life, my grace
crashed on the scene and instead of it bringing to your knees,
you extended your arms. Not so that you can embrace this
grace, but you placed your hands figuratively on my shoulders and
you thrust me behind you and you kept walking as though nothing
had happened. That's the picture.
We're not talking about a friend.
We're not talking about the president.
We're not talking about the most gracious St. that has ever
lived. We're talking about God being
cast behind the back of a person who drank deeply from the cup of
His grace. It's it makes you cringe to
think about it. This is what God is trying to
paint as a picture. You took me and you threw me
behind you and you just kept going your way in life.
And I can't help because David is mentioned in this context.
But think of another verse in David's life that contrast, this
language concerning compromise with faithfulness.
What's the imagery here? What's the language?
You've cast me behind your back. You know what David said about
God in Psalm 16/8. I have set the Lord always where
before me. I have set the Lord always
before me. And because he is at my right
hand I will not be shaken. What a difference.
Jeroboam took God and says you're you're behind me.
David understood God. He says please be before me,
always before me. You know what that says in Psalm
16, eight? It's a daily decision to filter
life with God in view. It's to go through life with God
as your priority, You know, unless you can find a medium, I
can't. There's no neutrality in how one
relates to God. He's either first or he's behind
you. He's either everything or he's
nothing. He's either leading or you're
leading. There's no in between here.
He's either before you or he's behind you.
We everybody has to make that choice.
And there's reward for him being before you and there's
consequence if he's behind you. Jeroboam, you've cast me behind
your back. You're not like David because
David said I've set the Lord always before me.
You know this language of casting God behind our backs,
that that idea of casting behind one's back.
Doesn't that ring a bell of another awesome truth?
Doesn't that ring a bell? Does anybody have an idea of
what I'm referring to? I know I'm being very generally
on purpose. I don't want to give it away.
Casting behind one's back. Thank you, brother.
Did you hear that? Well, if you didn't, that's OK
because I want you to see with your own eyes in Isaiah and
Isaiah 38, verse 17. This is Old Testament, by the
way. This is under the old coven.
That's very true in the New, in the person of Jesus Christ.
But look at what is said in Isaiah 3817 as this is directed
towards the Lord. Behold, it was for my welfare
that I had great bitterness. But in love you have delivered
my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast
all my sins behind your back. And speaking to the Lord, you
know what God's willing to do with His back concerning you.
Take every sin that you've ever committed and to put it behind
him and to never turn his head again.
And you know what some do with this God who's willing to do
that with our sins? This God of grace, of mercy, of
love, this kind of God to say you're going to go behind my
back. The God who's willing to take
all your filth, all your wrong, all your transgressions, and to
throw it behind him and to walk anew with you is the God that
millions and billions of people see and say, I don't want you to
be before me. I want you to be behind me.
And they're willing to keep their sins clung to their bosom
even unto damnation, and reject this God who's willing to take
their damnation, throw it into the sea of forgetfulness, and
embrace you into eternal life. So if you feel a righteous in
nation, good. The God who takes the sins of
humanity, cast them behind his back, is rejected by billions,
and it's cast behind their backs because they left sin more than
the Savior. And that's Jeroboam.
I endeavor by the grace of God to echo David's prayer.
I have set the Lord always before me, and may you have that
same heart cry, and now we're told of what the judgment will
be, he says in verse 10. Therefore, behold, because
you've cast me behind your back, I'm going to bring harm upon the
House of Jeroboam. I'm going to cut off from
Jeroboam every male both bond and free in Israel, and will
burn up the House of Jeroboam as a man burns up dung until it is
all gone. Can you imagine your family and
your dynasty being recognized as dung?
I'm going to take your little empire and burn it up for the
waste that it really is. This is strong language, and for
good reason. But after all that was said,
Aijah addresses the immediate concern of Jeroboam, which is
the fate of his son. So this unbearable news, listen,
it's only going to get compounded more because the
Prophet assures the mother of the sick child that your son is
going to die the moment that you step foot back into your house.
The moment you go back home is the moment your son is going to
give his final breath and live no more.
This would also be a sign that everything else that was
declared would surely come to pass.
And you know, interestingly, with all of this, you get a
fragrance of God's mercy. There's a perfume of his
gentleness. Even in this you're saying
where? Let's read here in verse 11,
anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city, the dog shall
eat. This is, this is, this is
astounding. Anyone who dies in the open
country, the birds of the heavens shall eat, for the Lord
has spoken it. Arise, Therefore go to your
house. When your feet enter the city,
the child shall die, and all Israel shall mourn for him and
bury him. For he only of Jeroboam shall
come to the grave, because in him there's found something
pleasing to the Lord. You're going to go home.
Your child's going to die. But every other male connected
to Jeroboam's name is going to die in the field, and dogs will
chew on their flesh. And if they die in the open
country, the birds will have a buffet with their body.
And if you know the law, then this sounds very familiar,
because in Deuteronomy 28 we're told there in verse 26 that to
die and have your body exposed to the elements and to be
feasted on by the beasts of the air, the beasts of the field is
the result of God's curse upon somebody.
You, you read the Old Testament and you get the impression that
this culture prized and highly valued not just your life, but
how you died and where you were buried.
It was a disgraceful thing for a Jew to die in such a manner.
It was a horrific thing. And yet with all of this, with
the dynasty of Jeroboam, having that faith, we're told about
this one son who's suffering the sickness, who's ready to pass on
from this life to the next, that he will have a proper and
honorable burial, that he'll be mourned and he will be esteemed
in his death. Why you're told exactly why in
verse 13, the last part of verse 13?
Because in him there is found something pleasing to the Lord.
God saw something in this boy. I I don't some people believe
he's an infant. I don't believe he's an infant
for this very reason. There is something in him that
God was pleased by, and we're not told explicitly what it was.
What was it that moved God's heart to extend this kind of
mercy? Perhaps he did not participate
in the false worship of these golden calves.
Perhaps his heart was inclined down.
Deep inside, he knew my dad is a false man, a false God
worshipper, a Pagan. And I know what God's law says,
and I know that the true place of worship is in Jerusalem of
the temple. And I know Yahweh is the true
and living God. We're not told what it was, but
it was enough for God to be moved to say, I'm going to honor
this young man. There's something in him that
pleases me. You know why this excites me?
Because in the midst of this blackness and all this darkness
and corruption in Jeroboam's family, in Jeroboam's Kingdom,
there is this flickering light in Abidja.
And you know what? In this day and age when you and
I are being surrounded more and more by apostasy and idolatry
and satanic worship and blatant and obvious allegiance to evil
and darkness from every front, we have the same opportunity to
offer something to the Lord as this man, young man did.
Who cares? Who cares If you grew up in a
family that hates God, you have a chance to stand out before
God. OK, who cares?
If all your friends want to be lukewarm and worldly and be
corrupt? Determine in yourself that you
will offer something from your heart to the Lord that will
please him. Who cares?
If this nation and this culture wants to abandon God and make
you pay a price for fault, you have an opportunity today to
give something to the Lord that can please him.
Don't get so overwhelmed by how many people are turning their
backs on God and on Christ. I know it should break our
hearts. I know it should cause us to
have tears streaming down our face.
Yet at the same time, you have an opportunity to shine brighter
for Christ. That's how I view it.
That's how I sense it. Lord, thank you for the
privilege that you've dispensed enough truth in my life to know
that I can serve you and honor you in this day of so much
pollution. Let my life be unto you as a
perfume, not concerned with anybody else.
They want to be spiritual skeletons.
Let them be spiritual skeletons. They want to add to the word of
God. Let them deal with that between
them and the Lord. As for me, I want to serve the
Lord. I want to pursue it.
I want my life to be marked by that theme.
He loved his God. He served his God.
He was unwavering to his God. He pleased his God.
And that's what this young man did.
Moved God. You might be thinking to
yourself, OK, that thank you for that.
That was exciting. But where do you see mercy in
this? Where's the grace in this?
Oh, that he wouldn't be eaten by dogs and by birds.
OK. I guess it's better to have a
nice formal funeral. Do you know why we would have
trouble in seeing God taking the life of a young man who had so
much life to live? Because we don't view death the
way God does. That's why to us, death is
always a heartbreaking tragedy, especially for those who had so
much to look forward to. But to God, sometimes death for
the righteous is him rescuing them from unforeseen tragedy and
calamity. So the honor is beyond just what
his funeral would look like. The honor in him bringing him
out of the world that he was in was because of what the Prophet
said would come about for the House of Jeroboam.
This would be so horrific that to witness alone would be so
overbearing and overwhelming. And instead of this young man
being numbered among the other sons and males of the House of
Jeroboam, he would exit this world early and he would be
retrieved, hopefully to be with God.
And if you think that this is a stretch, that is exactly what
the prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 57, verse one and two and
Isaiah 57, one and two, in a context of judgment being
declared an invasion ready to come, the heaping idolatry now
reaching a point that it's going to be dealt with, with God's
wrath. We're told something so
interesting in those first two verses of Isaiah 57.
The righteous man perishes and no one leads it to heart.
Devout men are taken away while no one understands.
For the righteous man is taken away from calamity.
You see what's being said here? Some people don't consider and
are not moved by the fact that the righteous are taken away
from this life, either through persecution or early death or
whatever the case may be. In this context, it's more
persecution from evil men, and the Lord gives a little bit of
an insight for why sometimes that is the case.
You know, it's so funny. Last week we studied a man of
God in First Kings 13 who disobeyed the Lord to such a
degree that he would die because of it.
Remember that God's discipline would be expressed through him
being cut off from the earth. And now we come to this passage
and read of an example of another young man who had
something in him that pleased the Lord.
And according to Isaiah, there's sometimes where the righteous
are taken from the earth. Not because God disciplined
them, because it's an act of mercy that he is going to
preserve them and protect them from enduring and witnessing
calamities that would make death a greater experience in
comparison. That's what's being said here.
So we don't understand the ways of God.
Like in First Kings 13. Sometimes the Lord does
discipline his own and he takes them home early and sometimes
the Lord takes his own home because he is preserving them
from something else. In this life that would be more
horrific than death itself. We don't know the ways of God,
but we do know who God is and he gives us glimpses of his ways
from time to time to reassure us.
You know, we read this and we're reminded something about what
death is in verse 2 for the righteous.
For the righteous man is taken away from calamity.
Verse two he enters into where does it say it?
Peace. They rest in their beds who walk
in their uprightness. That's how the righteous
experience death. That's how God views death for
the righteous. And we see here that this young
man was being saved from something for God to take him in
the way that he would take him. And I think of when I was
meditating on this today, I thought of the words of Balaam
Balaam who try to curse the people of God.
His mouth was overtaken by the oracles of God and he would
pronounce blessings over Israel instead.
And you can't help but see that this man, as he's having these
visions of the people of God and even eventually of the Messiah
that would come through that people group.
He also gets a glimpse of the way of the righteous and the
Numbers 23 verse 10. He says this about not the life
of the righteous, not the promises that they experience
when they are rightly related to God, but even of their death.
Here's what Balaam says in Numbers 2310.
Let me die the death of the righteous and let my end be like
his. So Balaam is seeing something as
he's going through these ecstatic supernatural
experiences and as a prophet he he envisions the death of the
upright and he goes, I want that.
That's how the that's how the upright get to die.
That's what death leads to. I want that.
Can you imagine? We shrink from death and
rightfully so. Got to put a desire in life for
us, for life in US. But this man says something so
strange. I want to end my life in that
way. And you know what?
Balaam desired it so badly that he expressed it in a way that it
was inscribed in Scripture. But you can't have the death of
the upright unless you live the life of the upright.
You can't die the death of the righteous and know the rewards
there, and unless you're willing to live the life of the
righteous. And you can't even begin to live
the life of the righteous unless you first embrace the
righteousness of Jesus Christ that empowers you unto
righteousness. Oh, let my death be like the
death of the upright. And it was only a wish because
he did not die. The death of the upright.
He died as a fool. He died in his apostasy and his
false worship and his Pagan ways.
You know there are a lot of people who have desires, but
it'll never be realized as long as they are there in your heart
and in your wishful thinking has to come to a point where you
say, OK, whatever it costs for me to know this, I will pay the
price. Does anybody know as we come
back to our story in First Kings 14 what the name Abijah means.
Daniel Bennett, You can't answer.
Any idea what that name means? The last part should give
something away. Yeah, There's no J, right?
In Hebrew, there's no pronunciation of the letter J.
Yeah. Jehovah is my father.
That's what this name means. I was trying to think, at what
point did Jeroboam give that name to his son?
Jehovah is my father. I'm not sure, but I hope that
Abijah actually lived up to his name.
I hope the extent of his pleasure offered to God was that
he recognized Jehovah as his father.
And if that is true, then how encouraging is it for those who,
like Abijah, did not have a father in this life, a mother in
this life, a household that they grew up in, that honored God as
such? Because although Jehovah and his
name was his father, Jeroboam was far from an example of what
it means to serve God. You know, you have a lot of
people who blame their perpetual shortcomings, the unwillingness
to completely surrender to the Lord due to their upbringing due
to the lack of example in those who were meant to lead them to
the environment that they were familiar with.
And you can make that excuse all you want, or you can make a
decision and realize that identity in Christ crushes all
of that. Because if there be any man who
is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has gone. Behold, the new has come.
Either this gospel really changes us, or we're just
singing empty words and hearing useless sermons.
If you really do come in Christ, and you have a lot of people
even out there that try to justify this theology of
generational curses, which I don't understand.
Biblically, I don't see it anywhere.
In scripture. You can see patterns being
passed down for generations. But even if that case, even that
was something that was held to, what does the blood of Christ
do? It cancels it anyway.
We have to revisit again in our
gospel presentation, our gospel of faith, our gospel singing,
our gospel living, the power of the new birth.
He changes you. He does.
No matter where you came from, no matter how perverted and
twisted and blasphemous and evil and might have been when you're
in Him, there's true transformation.
A new future, a New Hope, a new trajectory.
No matter how it's been like for centuries.
Abijah here shows Jehovah is my father, and there was something
in him that pleased the Lord despite all the negative evil
examples around him. He was able to stand out.
So can you. So can you.
You just have to make a choice. It's called faith to believe it
for yourself, to believe it through the truth and the word
of God. That's why we're hearing these
things. Oh, if it's possible for this
guy who lived in a household that threatened people that
serve the true God, to serve the true God to some extent, then
let it be so of my life. Jehovah is my father.
Oh, I hope that that was true in a practical way in this young
man's life. It was Matthew Henry.
You said those that are good and bad times and places shine very
brightly in the eyes of God. Yeah, it's true.
So what happens? There was found something
pleasing to the Lord, the God of Israel, in the House of Jeroboam
verse 14. Moreover, the Lord will raise up
for himself a king over Israel, who shall cut off the House of
Jeroboam today. And henceforth the Lord will
strike Israel as a Reed is shaken in the water the and root
up Israel out of his good land, out of this good land that He
gave to their fathers, and scatter them beyond the
Euphrates, because they have made-up their ashram, provoking
the Lord to anger. And he will give Israel up
because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned and made Israel
to sin. So not only now is he dealing
with the household of Jeroboam, he extends the judgment to the
nation of Israel as a whole. Judgment is not just coming to
your family, Jeroboam judgment is coming to the 10 tribes of
the north. And where this is leading to is
an exile, not the Babylonian exile.
The Babylonian exile would come after this one.
This is what kind of an exile from who?
Tell me. The people group that would
exile the the tribes of the north, the Syrians.
The Syrians would come in and would remove these people, these
10 tribes from the good land. And then Judah will follow
through the Babylonian exile, taking them from their land as
well. You know what's interesting is
what we read here. In verse 16, he will give Israel
up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and
made Israel to sin. So because of Jeroboam's sin,
the nation will go into exile. Well, how does that work?
Here's the here's the truth, Here's the lesson.
When we sin, there are consequences for sure.
But when leaders sin, the shockwave is greater.
Don't strive to be a leader in in ministry.
Don't, don't, don't itch for that.
Don't fight for that. Don't push doors open because
yes, there is a great reward in that, but there is a heavy
responsibility and that's what we see here.
Jeroboam sins would lead to Israel being given up over to
the Assyrians. You know, I want to show this
truth, this, this is a truth that was mentioned in the study
of Leviticus. I'm not sure how many, how many
of us remember those lessons in Leviticus, but here is one of
them. Let's turn there.
This is not planned. But why not?
Let's go to Leviticus. I want you to see something.
Look at Leviticus 4. These are the laws for sin
offerings, and we're told of different categories of people
within Israel of what the protocol would be if they
sinned. And the first category of people
is found here in verse 3. If it is the anointed priest who
sins, thus bringing guilt on the people, then he shall offer for
the sin that he has committed A what a bull.
Remember that a bull from the herd without blemish to the Lord
for a sin offering. So if the anointed priest, that
class of ministers that was rarely shared among the people,
that was distinct and separate onto a particular group for
generations. If the anointed priests sins, it
required a bull to be sacrificed.
Then you read on and you see different things.
But look what happens here in verse 13 of the same chapter.
If the whole congregation of Israel's sins unintentionally
and The thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they
do any one of those things that by the Lord's commandments are
not to be done, and they realize their guilt when the sin which
they have committed becomes known.
The assembly shall offer a what? A bull from the herd for a sin
offering and bring it in the front of the tent of meeting.
That doesn't mean much unless you continue to read on and you
see other things. For example verse 27.
Look at verse 27. If any one of the common people
sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by
the Lord's commandments are not to be done and realizes his
guilt or the sin which he has committed is made known to him,
he shall bring for his offering. A what?
A goat, Not a bull, right? What's bigger, a bull or a goat?
A goat, a female without blemish for his sin which he has
committed. And then you read of another
category of people. We won't get into that.
You know what I find interesting?
That when the anointed priests sins, it was the same process
and the same protocol and the same sacrifice as though the
whole community sinned. When leaders sin, there are
different consequences. They're much bigger
consequences. And Jeroboam would sin and it
would cause the people to sin and eventually be LED into
exile. Now let's come back to this
final verses of his life before we finish this study for
tonight. It says here in verse 17.
Then Jeroboam's wife arose and departed and came to Tirza.
And as she came to the threshold of the house, the child died,
and all Israel buried him and mourned for him according to the
word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Ahija, the
Prophet. Now the rest of the acts of
Jeroboam, how he ward and how he reigned, behold, they are
written in the books of the Chronicles of the kings of
Israel. And the time that Jeroboam
reigned was 22 years, and he slept with his fathers.
And Nadab, his son, reigned in his place.
That's how this guy is going to be remembered forever.
That's how he's going to be remembered for the rest of human
history. And when you close this chapter,
at least this part of the chapter of his life can't help
but think, even here at this final moment, what would it look
like if he had just turned to the Lord?
If he had just stopped? And he said, OK Lord, I'm done.
I'm done running. I'm done ignoring.
I'm done rebelling. I need you.
Forgive me. You know, some of us might think
after everything, maybe that wouldn't make any difference.
Maybe that's it. Maybe he had no other choice.
He's gone so far off the deep end that he might as well have
continued in his sin. You know, there's some people
think like that about their lives.
There's some people who think I'm so torn up, I'm so scarred,
I'm such a mess, that I might as well make the most of it.
Let me eat, drink and be married for tomorrow.
I die. I've seen such hopelessness.
I've seen it. You don't see it much in the
church scene. But if you step outside of the
four walls a little bit and tell some people about Jesus who've
never heard the name Jesus or have heard it but don't even
know what the gospel is, you'd be amazed to know the tragedies
that people in your classroom have experienced in your
workplace have experienced. And when you come to the
invitation of them receiving Christ, it's almost, they can't
even fathom it because of how trash their lives have been.
And just recently had a conversation with somebody who
could not even imagine being a Christian because they could not
see themselves living up to the standard of Christianity.
And we just have to revisit what it means to embrace the gospel
of grace. There are people who believe
that, and This is why I was wrestling with this Bible study,
whether they continue into the life of Jeroboam, at least the
final moments of his life. Because when you come to
Jeroboam story, it looks just as hopeless as as Jeroboams.
But then when you look at a different part of the Bible, you
see that Rehoboam made a different decision than
Jeroboam. And it solidifies this truth
that it's never too late to look to the Lord and say please
forgive me, never too late. Even in the final moments of
your life you can turn to the Lord and it can make the
remainder of your life much sweeter than you could have
imagined. And I want to tell you tonight,
because you you might be a Bible study.
You might come every single week.
I don't know what you do after these nights.
I don't know what your life looks like.
I'm not God. But it could be that you are
equally broken and that you feel as though it can't really turn
around. The damage has been done.
The history of my own family is almost prophetic in the sense
that I know where I'm headed. And that's how people talk.
That's how people talk. Their marriage is on the brink
of divorce. And you know what they say?
I've talked to people like that. Oh, well, you know, my my cousin
got divorced. My brothers got divorced.
My sisters just divorce all of my family.
This is just something that I'm going to have to This is just
part of our history. This is part of our family line,
not in Christ. He breaks all of that.
That's the power of the gospel. He plucks you out of any
pattern, any destructive path, and He makes you a new creation.
And he can transform your future and the future that would come
through you. And that's what I want to extend
to you today. You might have come in here
broken, sinful, filthy, heavy, discouraged to the bone.
If you just turn to Christ and give him your heart, you can
leave here a different person with a different future.
It's possible, Lord, I pray, that people would believe.
It's possible, We pray, Lord, that our hearts would be
reminded that even with a heavy chapter like this, your yoke is
easy and your burden is light. Thank you, Lord, that as
Christians we get to shine before you.
We might be despised by the world.
We might be a fragrance unto death by those who love their
sin and hate the truth of the gospel, But Lord, our concern is
what you see and hear. And, Lord, we want to be greater
than what Abidja was. We want to be in greater ways a
pleasing aroma unto you. And we pray, Lord, that you
would give us the strength and the energy to live the remainder
of our days where people are worshipping things and giving
their lives and their allegiance to things that are very similar
to the foolishness of Jeroboam's golden calves.
Help us, Lord, be set apart unto you.
Help us, Lord, please you. It warms our hearts to know that
you see our our inner man, and you can recognize something that
blesses you. And Lord, we want to declare to
you that we love you. We love Your Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. We love Your gospel.
We love your word. We love your church.
We love holiness. We love to sing to you.
We love to obey you. We love to serve you in any
capacity. Lord, we love you, Receive our
worship even now. And Lord, may it be only
stronger and stronger as you lead us from glory to glory.
This is our heart cry, O God, even studying kings, we are more
encouraged to stand out for your name's sake.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Well, do you believe it?
Yeah. Do you desire it?
I hope so. I know Friday nights are tough.
You worked all week, and you have to endure a guy that can't
let go of the microphone so easily.
You made it. Praise God.
Indeed. Thank you for the encouragement.
Let's stand and worship the Lord.
Together we worship a living Christ.
He hears us tonight. And listen, If you really speak
to him and give your heart to him, he will bless you tonight.
Let's do that.