The Kingdom Divides

Transcript

GRS 2-93
1/6/2008
The Kingdom Divides
1 Kings 12
Gil Rugh

We are going to return to our study of the Book of Kings tonight. So turn in your Bible to First Kings Chapter 12. What we are doing as most of you will remember is we are moving through the history of the Old Testament, so we have been considering those Books that move the history along. We have skipped the Book like Leviticus because it doesn’t move the history along. It just relates information of material related to a particular time in Israel’s history, but we have been looking at the Books that move the history along. And so we have come to Kings, and the title makes clear what we are talking about, we are talking about the kings of Israel.

Israel has had three kings, Saul who was of the family of Benjamin, that line does not continue, the next king is David of a different tribe, the tribe of Judah, and the Davidic Covenant is established with David guaranteeing in Second Samuel 7, that someone will sit on the throne of David forever. Solomon is in the line of David, but with Solomon the United Kingdom comes to an end. I should say and most of you are aware that that promise that someone who will sit on the throne of David forever does not mean there will never be a break. We have a break today; no one is sitting on the throne of David ruling in Israel.

But the promise of God is not invalidated by that. He has promised that ultimately a descendant of David who will be the Messiah, the Son of God will sit on the throne of David forever. Solomon succeeded his father David, had a splendid reign. Solomon with the marvelous wisdom that God gave him and then added to that wealth and riches and it was Solomon’s privilege to construct the temple and all the items associated with the temple, and you remember, he used vast amounts of gold and silver was so plentiful they didn’t even consider it valuable in those days.

David had made contribution by stockpiling much of the materials that would be needed for the temple since God did not permit him to build the temple. But Solomon’s reign did not end on a good note, he wandered from faithfulness to the Lord back in Chapter 11 verse 1; now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh, various women and that was something the Lord had warned about, verse 2; his women came from the nations which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel; you should not associate with them nor shall they associate with you for they will turn your hearts away after their Gods.

Solomon held fast to these in love and his emotions overruled the wisdom that God gave him and he turned away from the Lord, he had 700 wives and 300 concubines and his wife turned his heart away. When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other Gods. Now that repeated emphasis and it tells you the worship centers God set up for these pagan Gods, hard to believe that the man to whom the Lord had appeared on two different occasions, down in Chapter 11 verse 9, the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel who had appeared to him twice.

The one who had been privileged to build the temple as the focal point of God’s presence in Israel, the focal point of the worship of the nation and now he has constructed worship centers for Chemosh; the detestable idol of Moab, for Molech; the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon in verse 7, sad ending. As a result verse 11 of Chapter 11; the Lord said to Solomon; because you have done this, you have not kept my covenant, my statutes which I commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant, nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David but I will tear it out of the hand of your son, however I will not tear away all the kingdom, I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem whom I have chosen, for David and Jerusalem

Terrible rebuke to Solomon, not for him, in spite of the fact that he had been given the privilege of building the temple, “I’m not doing this for you Solomon, I’m doing it for your father David”. David stumbled but David never turned away from the Lord to worship other gods like Solomon did. God is going to honor his promise to David, he is going to honor his commitment to Jerusalem, to the nation Israel and Jerusalem as the center of that nation and the problems begin immediately. The Lord raised up an adversary to Solomon and so you are told about the adversaries raised up to Solomon.

Then you come down to verse 26 of Chapter 11; then Jeroboam, the Son of Nebat an Ephraimite of Zeredah, Solomon’s servant, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow who also rebelled against the king and then we are told what brought about his rebellion. God intervened, sent the prophet to Jeroboam and told Jeroboam; you are going to be king over Israel. Verse 29; it came about at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the Prophet Ahijah, the Shilonite found him on the road.

Ahijah clothed himself with a new cloak and both of them were alone in the field, Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which was on him and tore it into 12 pieces. He said to Jeroboam; take for yourself 10 pieces for thus says the Lord God of Israel, behold I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and give you ten tribes, he will have one tribe for the sake of my servant David, for the sake of Jerusalem the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel.

Remarkable that here is a servant of Solomon, capable man as verses 27 and 28 tell us, a capable warrior but a servant. He is going to get ten tribes; the emphasis here is on Solomon’s son who will only get one tribe. You say; well there were 12 pieces, 10 plus one is 11. Benjamin will basically be aligned also with Judah but it is a small tribe and not of great significance but that is the 12th piece here of the 12 tribes. Also the Levites as we will see will come to Jerusalem and be supportive of Solomon’s son, doing this because not only Solomon but the people have turned away; they have followed their leader Solomon.

So we are told in verse 33 because they have forsaken me and have worshipped Ashtoreth, Chemosh, Milcom, they have not walked in my ways doing what is right as his father David did. So evidently the nation has been impacted and clearly it has by subsequent events so thus Jeroboam now becomes the enemy of Solomon because Solomon finds out about the prophecies, prophecy that has been given and so Solomon would like to get rid of Jeroboam verse 40. Solomon sought therefore to put Jeroboam to death.

Jeroboam flees to Shishak, Pharaoh of Egypt where he is saved and there he will marry the sister of Pharaoh’s wife. Verse 42; Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel 40 years. He dies, Rehoboam reigned in his place. Very important chapter, Chapter 12 because it marks the division of the kingdom. Never again will Israel have a man to sit on the throne of David over the United Kingdom until the Messiah does so. The date here is 931/930 BC. The kingdom will split; it will remain divided until 722 when the Assyrians will carry the northern ten tribes that were given to Jeroboam into captivity

Judah will continue as a separate kingdom until 586 when the Babylonians will carry it into captivity. So it is a sad chapter in Israel’s history but a very important chapter. Chapter opens up with events related to Rehoboam, Solomon’s son as he now is king designate. So Rehoboam went to for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. Shechem is about 30 miles north of Jerusalem; it was really the unofficial capital of the northern ten tribes, key city there.

Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim were Shechem, if you remember back in Deuteronomy Chapters 27 and 28, part of the tribe stood at Mount Ebal and curses were announced, part of the tribe stood on Mount Gerizim and blessings are announced. So you have the curses and the blessings at Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim that was at Shechem where God promises curses for disobedience and blessing for obedience. Why Israel gathered here we are not told, it may be concession to the northern ten tribes in a sense and maybe that it is still a natural center for the nation Israel.

Verse 2; when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard they were assembled to make him king, that Solomon was dead and they were making Jeroboam, anointing him has king, he was still in Egypt where he had fled from Solomon, we are told in verse 2. They sent him and called him Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel spoke to Rehoboam for even though Jeroboam has been out of the land, he is recognized among the ten tribes as a leader. Someone they would look to, we don’t know what had spread about his being declared the future king of the ten tribes but they don’t bring that up here, they come saying they are willing to submit to Rehoboam with certain conditions.

So they say to Rehoboam verse 4; your father made our yoke hard now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us and we will serve you, remember Solomon had a splendid reign but he built the temple, he built his palace. People had to do that, so there were hard demands placed on Israel under Solomon’s reign, they would say; we need to have things lightened up, we need to have a little more space, little more freedom, not to be treated so harshly and have such heavy burdens put on us for service to the king.

So if you will lighten our load we will gladly serve you, Rehoboam said; go back to your homes for three days and then come back that will give me a chance to mull over your request, then I will respond. Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father, verse 6 Solomon while he was still alive, and asked them what counsel would you give me regarding this request. They said to him if you will be a servant to this people today, will serve them, grant them their petition, speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever.

In other words, fine, I mean this is what Solomon did, we were councilors and advisors to your father but you are not Solomon, this is a different day. Solomon had a unique role to play, a unique job to do but now we will advise you, lighten up, alleviate the burdens and pressures on the people. You are here to do what is for their good and their benefit, not to make their life hard but to do what you can to be a kind king who serves them. But Rehoboam doesn’t listen, verse 8; he forsook the counsel of the elders which they had given him, counseled with the young men who grew up with him and served him.

I mean, he asked for advice from the older men who had served with his father but those he really opened to listen to are the young men he grew up with; these are my peers, it is their opinion that counts, it is their advice that counts with me. So he said to them; what counsel do you give that we may answer these people who have asked to lighten the yoke which your father put on us, the young men who grew up with him spoke to him and saying; thus you shall say to these people who spoke to you saying; your father made our yoke heavy, now you make it lighter for us but you tell them my little finger is thicker than my father’s loins, whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke, My father disciplined with whips, I will discipline you with scorpions.

And see the young men, the brashness here, the bravado, I mean these are Solomon’s friends and we are not going to comes across as weak, so you come across a king, oh he here is to rule with an iron hand and the idea that you will be greater than your father. He was powerful, I will be more powerful and he put the pressure on you and disciplined you severely, you haven’t seen anything because I’m a lot stronger man than my father was. So they see it is a sign of declaring your strength, so Jeroboam and all the people returned on the third day and the king answered the people harshly because he forsook the advice the elders had given him.

He spoke to them according to the advice of the young men. He told them; my father made your yoke heavy, I will add to your yoke, my father disciplined you with whips; I will discipline you with scorpions. So the king did not listen to the people, now note the reason here. The hand of God is hidden for it was a turn of events from the Lord that he might establish his word which the Lord spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. Now it doesn’t mean that God caused Rehoboam to do something here but in his plan he worked, Rehoboam did what he wanted to do.

Rehoboam did what he wanted to do, Rehoboam what the young men around Rehoboam wanted him to do but the hand of the Lord was in it to accomplish his word, nothing ever frustrates the word of the Lord and so God’s will is done here. When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king saying what portion do we have in David, we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse, to your tents, O Israel now look after your own house David. The ten tribes declared themselves separated from Judah.

And they no longer will submit to the reign of the throne of David, look after your own house David, we are breaking off, there is a split that we are declaring. Interesting, the words they have here, what portion do we have in David. We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse, to your tents, O Israel now look after your own house David. Come back to Second Samuel Chapter 20, an event took place during the reign of David, Second Samuel 20 verse 1; now a worthless fellow happened to be there whose name was Sheba the son of Bicri, a Benjamite and he blew the trumpet an said; we have no portion in David nor do we have inheritance in the son of Jesse, every man to his tents, O Israel.

Now that is a cry for the other tribes to abandon Judah and declare themselves a separate entity. Sheba will die for his rebellion as David musters his armies and you remember; Sheba will be beheaded under the advice of a wise woman and that rebellion comes to an end but we noted there, there is tension already between the tribes and they are not happy submitting to Judah, not totally happy, so it takes the right kind of king. But God is going to use that, so now come back to Chapter 12 and you have a split that will never, until God brings the Messiah to be totally healed.

Israel went to their tents, the Sons of Israel lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them, King Rehoboam sent Adoram, he doesn’t understand how serious this is, so he sends one of his men who was over the forced labor and the Israelites stoned him and he thinks that if they have declared something that is different than doing it. So King Rehoboam has to mount his chariot and get back to Jerusalem. Shechem is in the region of Ephraim that is part of the 10 northern tribes, so he realizes his life is in danger here.

This is a serious rebellion, so he flees to Jerusalem, Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. It came about when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned that they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel, none but the tribe of Judah followed the house of David. Again Benjamin will be joined here and there is some division in Benjamin who are part of that tribe, is influenced by the northern kingdom but generally Benjamin is associated with Judah but doesn’t play major role here.

When Rehoboam gets back to Jerusalem he decides; I have to put down the rebellion that is what his grandfather David had done with Sheba. He sent the army out until that rebellion was put down, the northern tribes have called for Jeroboam to be their king, Rehoboam is ready now to send the armies out and put the rebellion down and assert his authority. He had 180,000 chosen men who were warriors ready to fight against the house of Israel verse 21 and restore the kingdom to himself. The word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God saying; speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, King of Judah, to all the house of Judah and Benjamin and to the rest of the people saying; thus says the Lord, you must not go up and fight against your relatives, the sons of Israel.

Return every man to his house where this thing has come from me, so they listened to the word of the Lord and returned and went their way according to the word of the Lord. Give them credit here, the Prophet Shemaiah comes, tells them that this is God’s plan, this is his will, send the army home, don’t go to war against your brothers, the other tribes, so they listened. In fact for the first three years of Rehoboam’s reign they will listen and then Rehoboam will get off track and become unfaithful, that is a sad state of affairs.

Okay, Jeroboam, you may want to turn over to Second Chronicles, Second Chronicles after Kings, its parallel accounts here, in Second Chronicles 11. Just you have mentioned this but so you see it, verse 1; when Rehoboam comes to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, a 180,000 chosen warriors, so the account in Kings just mentions Judah but here in the parallel account we are told Benjamin is united with them here and part of that but they are very small tribe at this point and don’t get the same attention.

Then you have the word that came to the prophet Shemaiah in verse 2 and so on, get down in verse 13; you are told moreover the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel stood with him from all their districts and in anticipation of the section we are going to look into; for the Levites left their pastoral lands and their property and came to Judah in Jerusalem for Jeroboam and his sons had excluded them from serving as priest to the Lord.

Jeroboam is going to establish his throne now over the ten tribes, the northern tribes, Israel and we begin to refer now to the divided kingdom as Israel and Judah since ten tribes are joined together, we call that northern kingdom Israel generally and the southern tribe Judah along with Benjamin; just it is called Judah. Now we begin to talk about Israel; we will be talking about the Northern Kingdom and Judah; we will be talking about the Southern Kingdom because of the split. Okay, back in First Kings 12; then Jeroboam built Shechem the hill country of Ephraim, remember that is where these significant events took place.

We are about 30 miles north of Jerusalem, so you get an idea here of the proximity. Here we are in Lincoln, Nebraska, Omaha 45 or 50 miles to the north. Well Shechem now, it can be a center for the northern kingdom, is only 30 miles north. So close proximity, Jeroboam lives there, he went out from there and built Penuel. Penuel is on the eastern side of the Jordan across the Jordan, so he establishes and fortifies the city there perhaps because there are some people there that have been favorable and supportive of David like the Gibeonites.

So he have a city there that will be loyal to him and be a military outpost if you will to help establish because the tribes, two and a half tribes that took their portion on the eastern side of the Jordan are also part of the ten tribe confederacy now under Jeroboam’s rule. Verse 26; Jeroboam said in his heart, now the kingdom will return to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord of Jerusalem then the heart of this people will return to their Lord even to Rehoboam, King of Judah, they will kill me and return to Rehoboam, King of Judah.

There were other rebellions, David had rebellions against him but they were put down, Jeroboam’s concern that the people are going to travel to Jerusalem for worship at the glorious temple. They are going to be going up there to worship and they are going to say what are we doing? I mean Rehoboam is Solomon’s son, he is on the throne of David, this is where our worship center is, what are we doing with Jeroboam as the king. So pretty soon I will be isolated and executed and they will all be, so what I have to do is create a new worship center, a new worship system, that way the ten tribes of the north won’t have to come to Jerusalem to worship.

So the king consulted, he talked to the people that now he has who is giving him the input and he made two golden claves and he said to them; it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem, behold your God of Israel that brought you up from the land of Egypt, he set one in Bethel and the other he put in Dan. I’m concerned for you, those days travel was difficult, could be dangerous, arduous, we think 30 miles, we jump in the car and go 30 miles, don’t think anything of it, if you have to walk those 30 miles it is a different thing.

You got family, you have got kids, I mean you don’t need to go to Jerusalem, so he established just two worship centers Bethel which is just a little north of Jerusalem, it is south of Shechem and so that would be in the southern part of his kingdom and then at Dan in the far north. So there is no need to go to Jerusalem. It is too much for you to go to Jerusalem. Behold your Gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt. He is not saying we no longer worship the God who brought us out of Egypt, he is saying we worship the God who brought us out of Egypt, here he is manifested.

He makes two golden calves, they represent God. He puts one at Bethel and one at Dan, so now we can worship God and you see what he does now, we have got a corrupted religion, not worshipping in the place that God has designated that he would be worshipped and making images to represent him which he has forbidden to be done yet still talking about the God who brought us out of Egypt. And so the people are ready to accept this.

Go back to Exodus Chapter 32, Exodus Chapter 32; you remember Aaron when Moses was up on the mountain giving the law from God and in Chapter 32 of Exodus verse 1; the people saw Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, they assembled around Aaron and said to him; come makes us a God who will go before us, as for this Moses the man who brought us out from the land of Egypt we don’t know what has come of him. So Aaron said tear off the gold rings which were in the ears of your wife, your son, your daughter, bring them to me, they bring that gold to him.

Verse 4; he took this from their hands, fashioned it with a graving tool, made it into a molten calf and they said this is your God, O Israel who brought you up from the land of Egypt and then the people verse 6; sat down to eat, to drink and rose up to play. Same thing repeated, that attempt to mix paganism with the worship of the living God and God never accepts the worship of such a mixture, this is one of the most devastating things that happened in Israel’s history. Some say this is the most important section in the whole Book of First Kings because you have established a worship center here and this will go on, it totally corrupts Israel, referring to the northern kingdom.

21 times after this, Jeroboam is referred to as the one who made Israel to sin, 21 times by Jeroboam, he is defined by this action. Jeroboam who made Israel to sin because in establishing this corrupted worship, it permeates the northern kingdom, they never survived, you know there will never in all of Israel kings in the northern kingdom be a godly king, not one. One of the trick questions you put in a bible quiz, how many godly kings were there over the northern kingdom, not one.

There are some over the southern kingdom, not one over the northern kingdom and this corrupted worship permeates Israel. Verse 29; he set one calf up at Bethel, the other he put in Dan, now this thing became a sin for the people, went to worship before the one as far as Dan, in other words you can’t travel to Jerusalem but the people will travel as far as north as -- you can get a map and look, you are up with – far above the sea of Galilee, in the northern part, the northern extent of Israel.

So you have got a center in the southern, very southern portion of the northern kingdom and a worship center in the very northern part of the kingdom. Bethel was significant in Israel’s history, if you remember Genesis, Genesis Chapter 28, Genesis Chapter 35, it was at Bethel where God had appeared to Jacob on those two occasions in Chapter 28 and Chapter 35. So he picked out at Bethel, a place of great significance to Israel, this is the place remember where God appeared to our father Jacob, made him promises.

So you get this mixture and the people of Israel are ready to accept it. But Solomon has prepared the way remember, he has already had been guilty of establishing worship centers for other Gods and the people have already been caught up in this, so they are happy with the set up. Now you are going to have new worship centers not in Jerusalem, you have to have a new priest to it, so verse 31; he made houses on high places, he made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi.

The high places, you have two major centers of worship, then you have this other; we call them minor centers, focal places, the high places where people can worship but for major feast they will come to their center like they would come to Jerusalem, but you can’t have Levitical priesthood because Levitical priesthood is associated with worship at Jerusalem and the temple, so he just makes up his own priesthood. I’m going to appoint priest, I’m the king and I anoint them priest.

They are not of the family of the tribe of Levite, so that is why remember we read in the parallel account in Chronicles; the Levites leave, remember they have been territories spread throughout the tribes so that they would be there to teach the people the word of God and instruct them in the law and so on. Well now Jeroboam doesn’t allow them to function as priests, so the Levites filter in from the lands that had been given to them spread throughout the tribes into the southern kingdom that is why you have a along with Benjamin, you have the Levites here associated with Judah and they will carry on the worship of course at the temple.

So now you have new centers of worship, you have new Gods represented or God represented by new images where by images, there were no images of God in the temple, you have a new priesthood. Now you have to have new feast days, I mean associated with the worship of the temple there are certain feast days that were established under the law. These occurred primarily in the seventh month, Israel’s religious year climaxed in the seventh month, you had the Feast of Trumpets on the first day, the Day of Atonement on the 15th day and the Feast of Tabernacles that ran from the 15th day to the 22nd day following the Day of Atonement. That is in the seventh month, so that is the climax of Israel’s year.

Jeroboam moved the calendar one month ahead further to the eighth month and he establishes feast for his people that will take place in the eighth month, so you see changing the religious calendar, he wants to break the association with the southern kingdom and the worship of God at Jerusalem. You will note in verse 33 how it is put, verse 32 says; Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month on the 15th of the month. The Day of Atonement was on the seventh month on the 15th day of the month.

So interesting, he is clever because he moves things but he maintains an identification for the people, so that you know they have a sense of being connected to their religious past and yet they are disconnected. On the 15th day of the month like the feast which is in Judah. He went up to the altar, thus he did at Bethel sacrificing to the calves which he made. He stationed in Bethel the priest of the high places which he had made, then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the 15th day and the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart, he made it up from within himself, this didn’t come from God.

God had given the instructions in the law concerning Israel’s worship in the seventh month and on the 15th day of the month, the Day of Atonement. Jeroboam came up with this plan, and amazing, the ten tribes of Israel are going to follow him and this will be a worship system that continues down now to the rest of the northern kingdom’s history, sad state of affairs. They went up there to worship, he leads the people. In less than 20 years after God had appeared to Solomon following the completion of the temple complex in First Kings Chapter 9, less than 20 years since God appeared the second time to Solomon after the completion of the temple and in that short time Solomon turned away from the Lord.

The dramatic impact of that unfaithfulness has resulted in the division of the kingdom and a totally new worship system has been established for 10 of the 12 tribes. I mean amazing, we often say it takes a long time, it is relentless to establish something on the word of God and maintain it but overnight things won’t, I mean we can look to our day, churches that stood for the word of God and preached the word of God and we say what happened, in such a short time they were abandoned. In other word; that all of us need to be aware.

So you we need to be aware why, less than 20 years since the events of First Kings 9 and we have a totally new worship system in place with 10 of the 12 tribes committed to this. I listed four things about that, a new focus, 2 calves, a new location, Bethel and Dan and new priesthood, non Levites, a new calendar the eighth month instead of the seventh month. The Devil doesn’t need a long time to implement his plans, he just needs willing people. You know something here, Satan’s plan is always a false religion not no religion.

You know the atheists are getting a lot of press today because of books they put out where they go, Atheism what a threat, atheism is not the threat. Satan’s plan is not atheism because what does he desire, worship. What did he tell Christ in the temptation in Mathew 4; fall down and worship me and I will give you the kingdoms of the world. What will happen ultimately with the ant-Christ, Satan’s false Christ, he will take his seat in the temple showing himself to be God because when the people worship him they will be worshipping Satan, God, small “g” of this world behind him.

Satan is not anti religion, he wants worship, he promotes worship; all the false religions of the world are a result of his doing, in using the sinful desires of men to accomplish his purposes. And we will summarize here what we have done here with the few points and we will finish. Number 1, it is good thing to heed the counsel of wise, mature saints. In Chapter 12 verses 6 to 8, he consulted with the elders, the mature men who had counseled his father Solomon but he didn’t take their advice, now this is different than us old people always getting our way and thinking everybody ought to listen to us and do what we say, I’m being an old man, now almost eligible for Medicare, I can speak from that perspective,

But there is advice, we live in a youth day that is not new, I mean here we are 900 years before Christ and you have a new king on the throne in Israel and he wants to listen to the young men he grew up with. We always had youth culture that is not anything new. We need to be careful, we need to pay attention to wise, godly saints and the experience they have had in walking with the Lord. Secondly even the foolishness of man accomplishes the purposes of God when all said and done God’s will, will be done.

I have to be sure of this that I walk faithfully with the Lord and understand even the stupidity of man does not frustrate the plan of God. So verse 15 say the king did not listen to the people for it was a turn of events from the Lord that he might establish his word. God uses the stubborn, sinful stupidity of man to accomplish his word. So we have not to be frustrated as we look around and say what is going on, what is happening and make sure that I don’t join that foolish stupidity, that rebellion, that unfaithfulness but walk faithfully with the Lord.

Number 3, paganism has no place in the worship and service of God. Down to verse 28 and following; we must on guard against the ungodly mixtures. Satan is brilliant, he is happy to have us worship, he just does not want us to worship in the spirit and in truth and his goal is always to corrupt the worship and encourage it to go on and flourish and prosper. He is happy to have the northern kingdom have two centers of worship, have its own system of priest, to have its own religious calendar, to do all that, wonderful. You think the God of this world does not want to be worshipped? Of course, he does.

So we need to be careful that we worship the Lord in spirit and in truth, his word is truth. And in that context the mixture of truth and error always completely corrupts the truth, when you mix error with truth you now have error, I thought well there is truth here, I mean, he may not have it all right but he has some of it right, I mean let us face it; he wants to worship the God who brought them out of Egypt, that is good isn’t it. Maybe he shouldn’t have the golden calves or maybe he shouldn’t do at Bethel and Dan but at least he is worshipping the God who brought them out of Egypt.

At least he recognized you need priests under this economy. Now you may not have Levitical priest but at least he has priest, right. At least he recognizes that there is a God who needs to be worshipped, right. I mean, didn’t the Devil quote scripture as he encouraged Christ to worship him. I mean, the problem was; it was a misuse of the scriptures he quoted. The problem was when you put error in with truth, you have destroyed the truth. So we need to watch the mixture.

Number five, the corruption of paganism spreads very quickly, as I mentioned less than 20 years after the completion of the temple and palace complex, Israel has replaced the worship of God who has worked so splendidly, that beautiful temple constructed, did for the worship of the living, the only true God. 20 years has gone, I mean 10 of the 12 tribes aren’t even interested in coming to that place to worship the true and living God and as mentioned what starts out seeming to be minor -- can seem to be minor ends up being total.

We will get to Hosaiah the Prophet, we won’t take time but Hosaiah Chapter 8 verses 5 and 6; condemning Israel for the worship of the calves. It just goes on and on, less than 20 years to abandon the worship of the true God and centuries go by and they are still worshipping the false Gods they have set up. It is a relentless task to stay on track with truth and we drift naturally. Even as God’s people we have to be careful because that old nature has not yet been removed and the tendency is to grow lax, to tire of the relentless task of staying on track and that is all the devil needs because as soon as you stop, you begin to drift.

As I mentioned, Satan’s plan is false religion rather than no religion, come to two passages Second Peter Chapter 2 in the New Testament. He understand in that sense certain details have changed but the plan and program of Satan has not changed, and we just touched on that; in our study this morning we will look more at it in our next study. His goal is worship, Second Peter Chapter 2; false prophets also rose among the people just as there will also be false teachers among you who will secretly introduce destructive heresies even denying the master who brought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

But they won’t be successful, nobody will pay attention, no, many will follow their sensuality because of them the way of the truth will be maligned. Now where do they come from, where do they get their hold, there will be false teachers among you, we are not talking about the false prophets that were in pagan lands, we are talking about false prophets that infiltrated Israel, rose among the Israelites and that compares that there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce these destructive heresies that really are a denial of the master who brought them and many will follow their sensuality, the result is; the way of truth is maligned.

In their greed they will exploit you with false words. It is a serious matter, God didn’t even spare angels when they sinned, so nobody ought to think that they slip by and so the warning of Judgment. Then turn over to Jude, just before the Book of Revelation. It was already happening in the days of Jude and you are all familiar with the account. Verse 3; beloved while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saint.

It all goes back to the finality of truth and invariably when we get into these issues, people will tell, well that is your interpretation or we don’t have to divide over these things, we do and we must if we are to be faithful. Why do they have to contend earnestly for the faith, you will say this is the faith once for all handed down to the saints. There are no changes that can take place in it, for certain persons they have crept in unnoticed, already happening, they have crept in unnoticed.

They don’t get recognized for what they are, false teachers, those who were found before and marked down for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turned the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ, how do they get a hearing in the Church, because church is not willing to stand up and do battle, sometimes even within itself. These are ungodly persons, doomed to destruction but they are accepted as believers, how do I know they are not, they are teaching false doctrine.

They creep in unnoticed because they come under the guise like Jeroboam, it is too much work for you to go to Jerusalem, I don’t want that burden to be on you, it is not necessary, we can worship the God who brought us out of Egypt right here. There is somebody who cares about me, knows it is not easy to pack up my family and go to Jerusalem and the further north I get the more difficult it is. Here is a man who cares about me, wants me to worship but care always will come in the way, they can be the nicest people, the most caring people but they are false. So sad state for Israel, we have a divided kingdom now, it will not be united until the Messiah returns and praise the Lord as we have been studying, that will happen.

Let’s pray together. Thank you Lord for your grace, thank you for the history of your people Israel, Lord it is a history of continue rebellion, unfaithfulness and yet you are constantly faithful to your word. You disciplined, you rebuked, you chastened them but you never abandoned them, you are faithful to your promises. Even if the kingdom divides there is a tribe for David because of your promises to him, because of your promises to Jerusalem.

Lord even this day of Israel’s unfaithfulness, you remain faithful. Lord that is a reminder to us as the Church that you are a God who is faithful, how important it is that we walk carefully, obediently examining everything in light of your truth, examining our personal walk in light of the light of your word, and we will be careful as your people in this day to be faithful to truth in order that you might be honored and use us as a testimony for yourself, we pray in Christ’s name, amen.