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1 Kings 14 (Part 1) Bible Study (Prophecy Against Jeroboam/His Death) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  First, Kings chapter 14. I was wrestling over this
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  chapter today and I'll tell you the main reason why.
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  I was wrestling over this chapter because I was trying to
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  determine whether or not we should complete it in one
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  sitting or we should divide it in two parts.
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  And I have concluded that we will divide it in two parts.
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  We could do it in one shot, but I would feel that we would do a
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  great disservice to this text and that we would have to force
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  ourselves to ignore certain verses that deserve much
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  attention. And So what we are facing with
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  in this chapter is very simple. We are looking at the record of
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  the final moments of two kings. The first king, the king of
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  Israel Jeroboam, and his final moments leading up to his death,
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  and then the king of the southern Kingdom, the king of
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  Judah Rehoboam. And So what we're going tonight
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  is do tonight is just look at Jeroboam carefully and see what
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  the spirit of God has preserved for us in the final moments, the
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  final glimpse of what we are to know about him before.
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  He will not be revisited again, at least in an active way.
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  His name will appear many times throughout kings because
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  unfortunately, he will be recognized as the worst example
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  of a king for the nation of Israel.
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  In the same way, David is used over and over again as the
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  exemplary king Jeroboam will be. The face will be the name,
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  measured against those who have not risen up to the standard
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  that God desired for them. So before we before we begin,
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  let's pray and ask the Lord to help us with these verses.
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  Father, it is with our greatest desire and longing that you
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  would help us by the Spirit of God to understand your mind and
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  your heart behind this passage. And we ask, Lord, that we would
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  be renewed in our joy and our affections for you and our
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  strength to serve you. Lord, inspire us afresh.
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  We We beg you, Lord, that the Holy Spirit's presence and power
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  would be recognized in this Bible study.
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  But whether this place is full or half full or barely full, we
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  long for your presence to dominate our midst.
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  And so we desperately yearn for you to captivate us and help us.
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  Lord, see you above everything else and hear you above anybody
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  else. We need you, Lord.
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  Desperately our hearts cry out for your nearness, and we pray
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  that that would be recognized tonight.
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  And so, Lord, we pray for your grace and mercy and wisdom to
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  cloak this pulpit. And we asked, Lord, that our
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  eyes would see Jesus more clearer than we did before we
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  entered in Win our hearts, Lord, to You win.
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  Our hearts are fresh to you, Lord.
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  And may not this Bible study be done in the power of the flesh
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  or in the cleverness of the mind.
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  But through the assistance of the Spirit of God, who's been
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  granted to us as a gift, we ask these things in Jesus name.
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  Amen. First, Kings chapter 14.
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  Let's read the first few verses. At that time Abijah the son of
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  Jeroboam fell sick and Jeroboam said to his wife.
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  Arise and disguise yourself that it not be known that you are the
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  wife of Jeroboam and go to Shiloh.
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  Behold, Ahijah, the Prophet is there who said of me that I
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  should be king. Over this people, take with you
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  10 loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him.
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  He will tell you what shall happen to the child.
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  We have been studying Jeroboam for a few weeks, and one of the
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  things that we notice about Jeroboam is that though he was
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  walking further and further away from God, God in his mercy
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  sought His attention, pursued him aggressively, whether that
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  be through messages or through miracles.
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  The Lord was relentless and trying to rescue Jeroboam from
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  destroying himself and destroying the people that were
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  under His leadership. And we get the impression from
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  the first verse of this chapter that there's something else,
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  almost a final attempt to get Jeroboam's attention.
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  And it was not going to be through Jeroboam directly, but
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  through his son Abijah. And what we read in verse one is
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  that at that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.
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  Now for it to be written at that time is telling us that we are
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  to connect this statement with the context that we just
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  finished reviewing. Something happened just before
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  this that is meant to link it to this news at that time.
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  What? What time?
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  We'll scroll back to chapter 13 and look here in verse 33.
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  After this thing Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but
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  made priests for the high places again from among all the people.
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  Any who would he had ordained to be priests of the high places.
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  So we remember here that Jeroboam shoot away the hand of
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  God through the the messages and the miracles that he performed
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  in his life. And he headlong went along with
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  doing what he was doing before hiring priests, an illegal
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  priesthood for his false religion.
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  And then we're told here in verse 34 and this thing became
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  sin to the House of Jeroboam, so asked to cut it off and to
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  destroy it from the face of the earth.
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  So because he was so stubborn he was so diamond hard against God
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  trying to win him into repentance.
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  We're told here in verse 34, the last verse of this chapter, that
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  it has been decided that the House of Jeroboam was to be cut
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  off and destroyed from the face of the earth.
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  And verse one of chapter 14 is declaring that the fulfillment
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  of this judgment is beginning. The House of Jeroboam now is
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  determined to disappear, and it's going to begin with this
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  boy Abidja, who fell sick. And this is what Jeroboam is
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  ready to do. He's ready to do something about
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  it. But we're reminded that this is
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  not the first time that someone has suffered, even someone else,
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  suffering as a result of one's sin, the consequences of one's
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  disobedience leading to the affliction of another.
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  This is not foreign to us. We've seen this before.
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  And who comes to mind? Who is a person who is also a
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  king, who saw other people suffering because of his
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  decisions and disobedience? David, David because of his
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  murder, David, because of his adultery with Bathsheba, saw
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  that baby that he had with this woman suffer a disease that
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  would lead to his own death. But the the response of David in
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  comparison to Jeroboam, who finds himself in a in a very
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  similar situation, it's quite striking.
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  What does David do once he hears the news that his boy is
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  actually going to perhaps die? He repents even more.
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  He cries out to God. He fasts.
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  He seeks the face of God, hoping that the Lord would extend mercy
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  upon this boy. And then we come to Jeroboam,
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  and we see that his son now is suffering.
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  And what will he do with the sight of his boy now, who's
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  showing little sign of surviving?
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  What is he going to do? Is his heart now going to
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  finally give up? Is he now going to fall on his
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  knees and surrender and repent, or at least inquire of God and
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  brokenness? No.
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  Instead he has his wife disguise herself to go to a true prophet,
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  you might think, well, this is kind of good.
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  He's seeking a true minister to give some guidance about what's
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  happening here. But why is he sending his wife?
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  And why is he sending his wife in disguise?
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  And why is he not going directly?
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  All these questions arise, and they're legitimate questions.
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  Any idea why Jeroboam is sending his wife cloaking herself to be
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  someone else? I'm actually asking if you have
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  any idea. Doesn't have to be a long
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  explanation. Yes, he's ashamed of what he is
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  doing. Any other reason perhaps?
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  So he probably doesn't want to deal with the prophet
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  confronting him like that other prophet that man have got from
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  Judah, right? That's another good answer.
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  Any other idea why? So he thinks he can trick the
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  prophet. How silly do you think people
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  attempt to fool God? They do all the time.
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  Do you think it looks good for this man who said behold your
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  gods pointing to golden calves who delivered you from Egypt,
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  now seeking a prophet of Yahweh for help?
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  It doesn't look very good, does it?
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  And perhaps it's a mixture of all those things that he doesn't
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  want to reveal his lack of faith in his own gods.
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  But I believe it's more than that.
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  I believe it's what we heard earlier, that here's Jeroboam,
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  who is fully aware of how far he has walked away from God, and so
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  he does not feel confident to approach God's messenger openly.
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  And so instead, aware that this prophet is old and as we're
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  about to discover, he has his sight that's impaired.
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  He would disguise his wife and have her speak on his behalf.
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  And Jeroboam shows us something here.
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  He shows us that he's not only distant from God from the
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  standpoint of disobedience, he is far from God from a
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  theological understanding as well.
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  This shows just how out of touch Jeroboam is with the character
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  and the true nature of the Lord. You know why?
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  Because if Jeroboam understood who God was, then he would know
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  that he could approach God directly and freely.
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  You and I have studied the word of God to know enough and be
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  convinced that the Lord is always ready to be approached,
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  that he has open arms for the One, no matter how long they've
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  been away from God, no matter how far they have distanced
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  themselves from God. That the Lord is always ready to
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  receive us and hear us and heal us and restore us.
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  Jeroboam got it all wrong. He did not perceive the true
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  purity and beauty and loveliness of the Lord, and so he comes up
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  with this scheme. But Jeroboam here is not
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  demonstrating the hesitation of a person who's broken because of
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  their sin and is unsure of the depths of God's mercy for
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  idolaters and deceivers. Expectedly, Jeroboam here is
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  acting cunningly. Jeroboam here is trying to be
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  smart and predictably. We can see here that Jeroboam is
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  a picture of people who want God to save them out of their
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  trouble, but not out of their sin.
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  Other people like that, other people who are ready to turn to
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  God when they're in trouble, but not ready to turn to God.
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  To see God heal them from their sin and bring them into
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  righteousness and right relationship with God all the
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  time, all the time go talk to the man of God.
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  I need some answers for this predicament.
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  But he's not ready to go to God and say God, I I see and I hear
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  you now I'm ready to give my life over to you.
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  And so he does now send his wife, his poor wife.
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  And we read what happens in verse 4.
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  Jeroboam's wife did. So she arose and went to Shiloh
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  and came to the House of Ahijah. Now Aija could not see, for his
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  eyes were dim because of his age.
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  And the Lord said to Aija, behold, the wife of Jeroboam is
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  coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is
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  sick thus and thus shall you say to her, This moves me.
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  So now the scene shifts over to Aija, who is this prophet that
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  we've seen before, who is well advanced in years?
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  And not only is he advanced in years, he's suffering to some
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  degree because of his old age. And this is moving because we
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  don't have to think too long to think about the disadvantages
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  that physical blindness can bring about someone.
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  But at the same time, we learn here that this man who is blind
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  is in a greater position than those who can see but are not
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  with God. The man who can't see has
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  greater perception than those who do see with their physical
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  eyes but are blinded in their hearts.
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  So this man here, he does not have his eyes, but you know what
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  he does have? He has God, and you can sense
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  the tender intimacy that God has.
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  Here, You read this, and you can see that there's almost like a
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  friendship going on here, where the Lord now comes to the ear of
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  his servant. Ah, He John.
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  He whispers into it, and he gives some insight of what's
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  about to take place before it even happens.
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  He gives them a heads up. And so you see this nearness.
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  You see here again, this companionship of the Lord, and
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  you see the Lord as a friend, deeply caring for his other
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  friend. He extends these thoughts that
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  would give him the grace to deal with what's about to take place
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  and we would be tempted to think, well, that's the
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  advantage of a prophet in these times, that they had access to
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  God's provision and protection in such a way.
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  And I say no, yes, he's a prophet.
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  Yes, he could hear God's voice in a unique manner.
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  But the protective care of God in this moment, the Psalmist
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  says it's available for a different category of people.
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  I think of Psalm 33 verse 18 where it says that the eye of
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  the Lord is on those who fear him.
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  The eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope
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  in his steadfast love. You know what I just
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  experiencing that God is ultimately his eyes.
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  God is ultimately his ears, and through that perception that is
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  beyond him. There was protection in his
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  life. And that's extended to a
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  different group of people, not just a roster of prophets in the
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  Old Covenant. But the Psalmist says for those
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  who fear him, the Eye of the Lord is on them.
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  What does that mean? For the Eye of the Lord to be on
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  those who fear him? What?
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  We're told in Psalm 33, verse 19, that he may deliver their
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  soul from death and keep them alive in famine.
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  You know God can do what he did here with a hijah.
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  He can supernaturally reveal to you the next step.
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  He can tell you what's going to happen to the stock Stock
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  market. He's going to.
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  He can tell you what's going to happen in this election year.
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  He can tell you anything. If he desires.
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  He can. He can supernaturally reveal it.
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  But if he doesn't, there's not one moment in your life where
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  his careful eye is not on you, if it's not going to be there,
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  supernaturally manifested, it is always there, providentially,
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  always there, guiding and leading, pivoting, reacting,
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  shielding. It is always in our favor.
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  For for who? For those who fear him.
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  So you don't have to wonder even for a moment, Can I know such
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  grace in my life? Can I know such shepherding?
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  As long as you walk in the fear of the Lord, you win God's eye
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  on your life until you meet him face to face.
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  The eye of the Lord is on those who fear him.
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  I see the eye of the Lord here for a blind man who can't see
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  for himself, but he's not at a disadvantage at all.
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  He was prepared for what was to come, because the Lord will not
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  allow his servants to be overcome by the evil. 1 So the
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  wife of Jeroboam is now coming, and the Lord says she's coming,
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  and she's going to inquire of you concerning her son, for he's
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  sick. So this is what you're going to
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  say. Let's read what happens.
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  It says here when she came, she pretended to be another woman at
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  the end of verse 5 But when Ahijah heard the sound of her
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  feet as she came in at the door, he said, come in, wife of
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  Jeroboam, why do you pretend to be another?
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  Imagine how frightening that would be, for I am charged with
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  unbearable news for you. So we see here that the man
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  knew, and then he says something in the middle of this, right,
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  that you can imagine how jaw-dropping this experience
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  might have been. Here you are thinking that
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  you're going to have this advantage over a man who could
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  not see you have these gifts that makes you seem like a
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  commoner, right? These loaves and this jar of
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  honey, and you have everything set up.
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  And before you even meet the man, you even open your mouth,
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  the Prophet knows. Come in, wife of Jeroboam.
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  Let's not play these games now. But he asked this piercing
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  question. It's a question that applies to
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  her, and it's a question that applies universally to all men.
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  Did you see it? Look here again in verse six, he
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  said, Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be
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  another? That's a good question to ask
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  some church people. Wouldn't you agree?
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  Why do you pretend to be? Why do you feel the need to
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  masquerade as someone else in the presence of God's people, in
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  this case, in the presence of God's prophet?
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  God can't be misled, he can't be fooled.
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  And the principle here deals with hypocrisy.
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  Hypocrisy may offer some kind of relief and advantage for a
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  moment, but its success is never long term.
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  It never works long term. It may work for a moment, it may
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  please you for a season. It might gain you some kind of
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  feat and some kind of accomplishment.
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  But it never, ever it. Just as the law of gravity is
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  established in the universe, so is the law of hypocrisy in God's
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  world. It can never go on without
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  eventually being exposed. It's a waste of time.
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  It's a waste of energy. And no matter how clever you
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  are, no matter how believable you are in God's universe,
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  whatever is hidden in the darkness will come to light
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  eventually. And Jesus is the one who defined
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  that law, not me. This is not me making it up by
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  inference. No, he says in Luke 12, verse
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  one and two, he warns his disciples of the leaven of the
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  Pharisees. What is the leaven of the
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  Pharisees? Hypocrisy is the leaven of the
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  Pharisees. He tells his disciples He's not
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  telling the world, he's telling his own.
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  He said, disciples, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.
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  You know what that tells me? That even followers of Jesus
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  Christ are tempted to pretend to be someone else.
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  Don't do it, he says beware, be careful.
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  And then he tells us why in verse two of Luke 12 nothing is
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  covered up that will not be revealed or hidden, that will
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  not be known. Why don't we go to verse 3?
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  Because he just elaborates on that.
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  Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in
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  the light, and what you have whispered in private room shall
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  be proclaimed on the housetops. It doesn't work.
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  It doesn't. And some disguise themselves to
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  be as someone else maliciously. Sometimes those people are
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  wolves. Sometimes those people just want
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  to impress others, and that's why it's not always malicious.
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  Sometimes it's out of insecurity.
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  Either way, just determine in your own heart that God
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  champions and he prizes authenticity.
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  God just wants you to be real. He just wants you to be true.
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  Not just before him in private, but before God's people.
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  Jesus was moved. Jesus praised Nathanael because
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  there was no guile in him. That tells me something about
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  the heart of Christ He loves. When people are simple, what you
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  see is what you get. This is who I am.
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  And I I want Jesus to praise my life, not just privately but
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  publicly. And so we have to understand
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  here that when we try to pretend to be another, it doesn't work
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  with God. It may work with others, but it
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  doesn't work with God, and it doesn't work with those who are
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  in tune with God. And so this woman tried it, and
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  it did not even work for a second.
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  Why do you pretend to be another?
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  And then verse 7 go tell Jeroboam.
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  Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, because I exalted you
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  from among the people, made you leader over my people Israel,
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  and tore the Kingdom away from the House of David and gave it
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  to you. And yet you have not been like
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  my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me
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  with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my eyes.
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  But you have done evil above all who are before you, and have
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  gone and made yourself other gods and metal images, provoking
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  me to anger, and have cast me behind your back.
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  I mean, he's not even done yet. This is all in one breath.
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  Verse 10. Therefore, behold, I will bring
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  harm upon the House of Jeroboam, and I will cut off from Jeroboam
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  every male both bond and free in Israel, and will burn up the
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  House of Jeroboam as a man burns up dung until it is all gone.
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  I need to breathe. After that, here's what's about
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  to take place. The charade is now exposed, and
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  Jeroboam is going to give this discourse.
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  He's going to lay out in detail the indictment against Jeroboam
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  and his house. So he does in the first part,
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  explains why the judgment is coming, and then he explains
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  what the judgment is going to be.
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  That's what he does in the 1st 2 verses that we read.
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  Why? Why is Jeroboam going to
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  experience the wrath of God? Look again at verse 7.
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  Because I exalted you from among the people and made you a leader
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  over my people. The main reason for divine
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  retribution is because of God's grace being dispensed, but it
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  also being despised at the same time.
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  Jeroboam, I took you out of obscurity, Jeroboam.
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  I let my light of favor shine upon you when you did not
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  deserve it, and I pulled you up from among the thousands and the
• 23:36
  hundreds of thousands and the millions.
• 23:38
  And I've elevated you to this privileged place where I could
• 23:41
  have secured your dynasty like the House of David, and you have
• 23:46
  rejected that. And so we have to understand
• 23:50
  here that God's grace was available and experienced by
• 23:53
  Jeroboam. But because he did not allow
• 23:55
  that grace to humble him and to cause him to adore him and to
• 23:59
  stay close to him, he would not be free from guilt because of
• 24:04
  that. And we see this in a personal
• 24:08
  level, But let me talk about on a global level, You ready for
• 24:10
  this? God's grace has been shown
• 24:12
  ultimately through the person of his Son, Jesus Christ, and that
• 24:16
  grace has been made available to all, right?
• 24:18
  We can all, any person can approach the foot of the cross.
• 24:21
  You will be held responsible whether you say yes to it or no
• 24:24
  to it. And we're told in Second
• 24:27
  Thessalonians 1/8 of what will become of those who will not
• 24:30
  respond to the grace of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ?
• 24:34
  What is prepared for them? We're told there that vengeance
• 24:39
  is prepared in flaming fire for those who do not obey the gospel
• 24:45
  of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what Paul calls the
• 24:49
  gospel? The gospel of the grace of God.
• 24:54
  So on a macro level, what we learn here is true universally,
• 25:00
  universally. When man rejects the grace of
• 25:02
  God, that has already been expressed and demonstrated, he
• 25:06
  will not be guiltless, he will not go free, he will be held
• 25:10
  accountable with how he has treated God's mercy.
• 25:14
  And that's what we see here with Jeroboam.
• 25:17
  And the severity of his disregard for God reaching out
• 25:21
  in this way is spelled out in a very particular way at the end
• 25:26
  of verse nine. Look at verse 9 again.
• 25:28
  But you have done evil above all who were before you, and have
• 25:32
  gone and made for yourself other gods and metal images, provoking
• 25:36
  me to anger and have cast me behind your back.
• 25:43
  Think of that imagery. You've cast me behind your back.
• 25:48
  So Jeroboam, while you're going on through life, my grace
• 25:51
  crashed on the scene and instead of it bringing to your knees,
• 25:56
  you extended your arms. Not so that you can embrace this
• 25:59
  grace, but you placed your hands figuratively on my shoulders and
• 26:03
  you thrust me behind you and you kept walking as though nothing
• 26:07
  had happened. That's the picture.
• 26:11
  We're not talking about a friend.
• 26:12
  We're not talking about the president.
• 26:14
  We're not talking about the most gracious St. that has ever
• 26:17
  lived. We're talking about God being
• 26:20
  cast behind the back of a person who drank deeply from the cup of
• 26:25
  His grace. It's it makes you cringe to
• 26:29
  think about it. This is what God is trying to
• 26:31
  paint as a picture. You took me and you threw me
• 26:34
  behind you and you just kept going your way in life.
• 26:39
  And I can't help because David is mentioned in this context.
• 26:41
  But think of another verse in David's life that contrast, this
• 26:48
  language concerning compromise with faithfulness.
• 26:53
  What's the imagery here? What's the language?
• 26:55
  You've cast me behind your back. You know what David said about
• 26:59
  God in Psalm 16/8. I have set the Lord always where
• 27:04
  before me. I have set the Lord always
• 27:09
  before me. And because he is at my right
• 27:11
  hand I will not be shaken. What a difference.
• 27:15
  Jeroboam took God and says you're you're behind me.
• 27:19
  David understood God. He says please be before me,
• 27:23
  always before me. You know what that says in Psalm
• 27:26
  16, eight? It's a daily decision to filter
• 27:29
  life with God in view. It's to go through life with God
• 27:34
  as your priority, You know, unless you can find a medium, I
• 27:38
  can't. There's no neutrality in how one
• 27:40
  relates to God. He's either first or he's behind
• 27:44
  you. He's either everything or he's
• 27:46
  nothing. He's either leading or you're
• 27:50
  leading. There's no in between here.
• 27:52
  He's either before you or he's behind you.
• 27:56
  We everybody has to make that choice.
• 27:59
  And there's reward for him being before you and there's
• 28:01
  consequence if he's behind you. Jeroboam, you've cast me behind
• 28:05
  your back. You're not like David because
• 28:10
  David said I've set the Lord always before me.
• 28:15
  You know this language of casting God behind our backs,
• 28:18
  that that idea of casting behind one's back.
• 28:20
  Doesn't that ring a bell of another awesome truth?
• 28:25
  Doesn't that ring a bell? Does anybody have an idea of
• 28:27
  what I'm referring to? I know I'm being very generally
• 28:29
  on purpose. I don't want to give it away.
• 28:31
  Casting behind one's back. Thank you, brother.
• 28:36
  Did you hear that? Well, if you didn't, that's OK
• 28:40
  because I want you to see with your own eyes in Isaiah and
• 28:42
  Isaiah 38, verse 17. This is Old Testament, by the
• 28:47
  way. This is under the old coven.
• 28:50
  That's very true in the New, in the person of Jesus Christ.
• 28:54
  But look at what is said in Isaiah 3817 as this is directed
• 29:00
  towards the Lord. Behold, it was for my welfare
• 29:03
  that I had great bitterness. But in love you have delivered
• 29:07
  my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast
• 29:12
  all my sins behind your back. And speaking to the Lord, you
• 29:20
  know what God's willing to do with His back concerning you.
• 29:22
  Take every sin that you've ever committed and to put it behind
• 29:26
  him and to never turn his head again.
• 29:30
  And you know what some do with this God who's willing to do
• 29:32
  that with our sins? This God of grace, of mercy, of
• 29:35
  love, this kind of God to say you're going to go behind my
• 29:39
  back. The God who's willing to take
• 29:44
  all your filth, all your wrong, all your transgressions, and to
• 29:47
  throw it behind him and to walk anew with you is the God that
• 29:52
  millions and billions of people see and say, I don't want you to
• 29:56
  be before me. I want you to be behind me.
• 29:58
  And they're willing to keep their sins clung to their bosom
• 30:03
  even unto damnation, and reject this God who's willing to take
• 30:07
  their damnation, throw it into the sea of forgetfulness, and
• 30:10
  embrace you into eternal life. So if you feel a righteous in
• 30:16
  nation, good. The God who takes the sins of
• 30:19
  humanity, cast them behind his back, is rejected by billions,
• 30:23
  and it's cast behind their backs because they left sin more than
• 30:26
  the Savior. And that's Jeroboam.
• 30:31
  I endeavor by the grace of God to echo David's prayer.
• 30:35
  I have set the Lord always before me, and may you have that
• 30:39
  same heart cry, and now we're told of what the judgment will
• 30:45
  be, he says in verse 10. Therefore, behold, because
• 30:49
  you've cast me behind your back, I'm going to bring harm upon the
• 30:52
  House of Jeroboam. I'm going to cut off from
• 30:54
  Jeroboam every male both bond and free in Israel, and will
• 30:58
  burn up the House of Jeroboam as a man burns up dung until it is
• 31:02
  all gone. Can you imagine your family and
• 31:04
  your dynasty being recognized as dung?
• 31:09
  I'm going to take your little empire and burn it up for the
• 31:13
  waste that it really is. This is strong language, and for
• 31:17
  good reason. But after all that was said,
• 31:20
  Aijah addresses the immediate concern of Jeroboam, which is
• 31:24
  the fate of his son. So this unbearable news, listen,
• 31:27
  it's only going to get compounded more because the
• 31:30
  Prophet assures the mother of the sick child that your son is
• 31:33
  going to die the moment that you step foot back into your house.
• 31:37
  The moment you go back home is the moment your son is going to
• 31:39
  give his final breath and live no more.
• 31:44
  This would also be a sign that everything else that was
• 31:46
  declared would surely come to pass.
• 31:48
  And you know, interestingly, with all of this, you get a
• 31:51
  fragrance of God's mercy. There's a perfume of his
• 31:55
  gentleness. Even in this you're saying
• 31:56
  where? Let's read here in verse 11,
• 32:00
  anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city, the dog shall
• 32:04
  eat. This is, this is, this is
• 32:08
  astounding. Anyone who dies in the open
• 32:10
  country, the birds of the heavens shall eat, for the Lord
• 32:13
  has spoken it. Arise, Therefore go to your
• 32:16
  house. When your feet enter the city,
• 32:18
  the child shall die, and all Israel shall mourn for him and
• 32:22
  bury him. For he only of Jeroboam shall
• 32:25
  come to the grave, because in him there's found something
• 32:28
  pleasing to the Lord. You're going to go home.
• 32:32
  Your child's going to die. But every other male connected
• 32:37
  to Jeroboam's name is going to die in the field, and dogs will
• 32:41
  chew on their flesh. And if they die in the open
• 32:43
  country, the birds will have a buffet with their body.
• 32:48
  And if you know the law, then this sounds very familiar,
• 32:50
  because in Deuteronomy 28 we're told there in verse 26 that to
• 32:53
  die and have your body exposed to the elements and to be
• 32:57
  feasted on by the beasts of the air, the beasts of the field is
• 33:02
  the result of God's curse upon somebody.
• 33:05
  You, you read the Old Testament and you get the impression that
• 33:08
  this culture prized and highly valued not just your life, but
• 33:13
  how you died and where you were buried.
• 33:15
  It was a disgraceful thing for a Jew to die in such a manner.
• 33:19
  It was a horrific thing. And yet with all of this, with
• 33:22
  the dynasty of Jeroboam, having that faith, we're told about
• 33:25
  this one son who's suffering the sickness, who's ready to pass on
• 33:29
  from this life to the next, that he will have a proper and
• 33:34
  honorable burial, that he'll be mourned and he will be esteemed
• 33:38
  in his death. Why you're told exactly why in
• 33:44
  verse 13, the last part of verse 13?
• 33:48
  Because in him there is found something pleasing to the Lord.
• 33:58
  God saw something in this boy. I I don't some people believe
• 34:02
  he's an infant. I don't believe he's an infant
• 34:03
  for this very reason. There is something in him that
• 34:07
  God was pleased by, and we're not told explicitly what it was.
• 34:10
  What was it that moved God's heart to extend this kind of
• 34:13
  mercy? Perhaps he did not participate
• 34:18
  in the false worship of these golden calves.
• 34:21
  Perhaps his heart was inclined down.
• 34:23
  Deep inside, he knew my dad is a false man, a false God
• 34:30
  worshipper, a Pagan. And I know what God's law says,
• 34:33
  and I know that the true place of worship is in Jerusalem of
• 34:36
  the temple. And I know Yahweh is the true
• 34:38
  and living God. We're not told what it was, but
• 34:40
  it was enough for God to be moved to say, I'm going to honor
• 34:43
  this young man. There's something in him that
• 34:48
  pleases me. You know why this excites me?
• 34:52
  Because in the midst of this blackness and all this darkness
• 34:56
  and corruption in Jeroboam's family, in Jeroboam's Kingdom,
• 35:00
  there is this flickering light in Abidja.
• 35:07
  And you know what? In this day and age when you and
• 35:10
  I are being surrounded more and more by apostasy and idolatry
• 35:14
  and satanic worship and blatant and obvious allegiance to evil
• 35:19
  and darkness from every front, we have the same opportunity to
• 35:24
  offer something to the Lord as this man, young man did.
• 35:27
  Who cares? Who cares If you grew up in a
• 35:29
  family that hates God, you have a chance to stand out before
• 35:32
  God. OK, who cares?
• 35:35
  If all your friends want to be lukewarm and worldly and be
• 35:38
  corrupt? Determine in yourself that you
• 35:41
  will offer something from your heart to the Lord that will
• 35:43
  please him. Who cares?
• 35:46
  If this nation and this culture wants to abandon God and make
• 35:50
  you pay a price for fault, you have an opportunity today to
• 35:54
  give something to the Lord that can please him.
• 35:57
  Don't get so overwhelmed by how many people are turning their
• 36:01
  backs on God and on Christ. I know it should break our
• 36:04
  hearts. I know it should cause us to
• 36:05
  have tears streaming down our face.
• 36:07
  Yet at the same time, you have an opportunity to shine brighter
• 36:11
  for Christ. That's how I view it.
• 36:14
  That's how I sense it. Lord, thank you for the
• 36:16
  privilege that you've dispensed enough truth in my life to know
• 36:20
  that I can serve you and honor you in this day of so much
• 36:24
  pollution. Let my life be unto you as a
• 36:26
  perfume, not concerned with anybody else.
• 36:30
  They want to be spiritual skeletons.
• 36:32
  Let them be spiritual skeletons. They want to add to the word of
• 36:35
  God. Let them deal with that between
• 36:37
  them and the Lord. As for me, I want to serve the
• 36:40
  Lord. I want to pursue it.
• 36:43
  I want my life to be marked by that theme.
• 36:46
  He loved his God. He served his God.
• 36:50
  He was unwavering to his God. He pleased his God.
• 36:56
  And that's what this young man did.
• 36:57
  Moved God. You might be thinking to
• 37:00
  yourself, OK, that thank you for that.
• 37:04
  That was exciting. But where do you see mercy in
• 37:07
  this? Where's the grace in this?
• 37:11
  Oh, that he wouldn't be eaten by dogs and by birds.
• 37:14
  OK. I guess it's better to have a
• 37:16
  nice formal funeral. Do you know why we would have
• 37:21
  trouble in seeing God taking the life of a young man who had so
• 37:25
  much life to live? Because we don't view death the
• 37:28
  way God does. That's why to us, death is
• 37:34
  always a heartbreaking tragedy, especially for those who had so
• 37:37
  much to look forward to. But to God, sometimes death for
• 37:41
  the righteous is him rescuing them from unforeseen tragedy and
• 37:47
  calamity. So the honor is beyond just what
• 37:52
  his funeral would look like. The honor in him bringing him
• 37:56
  out of the world that he was in was because of what the Prophet
• 37:59
  said would come about for the House of Jeroboam.
• 38:03
  This would be so horrific that to witness alone would be so
• 38:06
  overbearing and overwhelming. And instead of this young man
• 38:11
  being numbered among the other sons and males of the House of
• 38:14
  Jeroboam, he would exit this world early and he would be
• 38:18
  retrieved, hopefully to be with God.
• 38:23
  And if you think that this is a stretch, that is exactly what
• 38:26
  the prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 57, verse one and two and
• 38:30
  Isaiah 57, one and two, in a context of judgment being
• 38:34
  declared an invasion ready to come, the heaping idolatry now
• 38:38
  reaching a point that it's going to be dealt with, with God's
• 38:40
  wrath. We're told something so
• 38:42
  interesting in those first two verses of Isaiah 57.
• 38:45
  The righteous man perishes and no one leads it to heart.
• 38:50
  Devout men are taken away while no one understands.
• 38:55
  For the righteous man is taken away from calamity.
• 39:00
  You see what's being said here? Some people don't consider and
• 39:07
  are not moved by the fact that the righteous are taken away
• 39:09
  from this life, either through persecution or early death or
• 39:13
  whatever the case may be. In this context, it's more
• 39:16
  persecution from evil men, and the Lord gives a little bit of
• 39:21
  an insight for why sometimes that is the case.
• 39:26
  You know, it's so funny. Last week we studied a man of
• 39:28
  God in First Kings 13 who disobeyed the Lord to such a
• 39:31
  degree that he would die because of it.
• 39:32
  Remember that God's discipline would be expressed through him
• 39:37
  being cut off from the earth. And now we come to this passage
• 39:41
  and read of an example of another young man who had
• 39:43
  something in him that pleased the Lord.
• 39:44
  And according to Isaiah, there's sometimes where the righteous
• 39:47
  are taken from the earth. Not because God disciplined
• 39:49
  them, because it's an act of mercy that he is going to
• 39:54
  preserve them and protect them from enduring and witnessing
• 39:57
  calamities that would make death a greater experience in
• 40:03
  comparison. That's what's being said here.
• 40:08
  So we don't understand the ways of God.
• 40:11
  Like in First Kings 13. Sometimes the Lord does
• 40:13
  discipline his own and he takes them home early and sometimes
• 40:16
  the Lord takes his own home because he is preserving them
• 40:20
  from something else. In this life that would be more
• 40:23
  horrific than death itself. We don't know the ways of God,
• 40:28
  but we do know who God is and he gives us glimpses of his ways
• 40:31
  from time to time to reassure us.
• 40:34
  You know, we read this and we're reminded something about what
• 40:39
  death is in verse 2 for the righteous.
• 40:41
  For the righteous man is taken away from calamity.
• 40:43
  Verse two he enters into where does it say it?
• 40:48
  Peace. They rest in their beds who walk
• 40:52
  in their uprightness. That's how the righteous
• 40:59
  experience death. That's how God views death for
• 41:02
  the righteous. And we see here that this young
• 41:08
  man was being saved from something for God to take him in
• 41:13
  the way that he would take him. And I think of when I was
• 41:17
  meditating on this today, I thought of the words of Balaam
• 41:20
  Balaam who try to curse the people of God.
• 41:22
  His mouth was overtaken by the oracles of God and he would
• 41:26
  pronounce blessings over Israel instead.
• 41:29
  And you can't help but see that this man, as he's having these
• 41:32
  visions of the people of God and even eventually of the Messiah
• 41:35
  that would come through that people group.
• 41:38
  He also gets a glimpse of the way of the righteous and the
• 41:41
  Numbers 23 verse 10. He says this about not the life
• 41:44
  of the righteous, not the promises that they experience
• 41:47
  when they are rightly related to God, but even of their death.
• 41:50
  Here's what Balaam says in Numbers 2310.
• 41:53
  Let me die the death of the righteous and let my end be like
• 41:57
  his. So Balaam is seeing something as
• 42:03
  he's going through these ecstatic supernatural
• 42:05
  experiences and as a prophet he he envisions the death of the
• 42:09
  upright and he goes, I want that.
• 42:12
  That's how the that's how the upright get to die.
• 42:15
  That's what death leads to. I want that.
• 42:19
  Can you imagine? We shrink from death and
• 42:24
  rightfully so. Got to put a desire in life for
• 42:28
  us, for life in US. But this man says something so
• 42:32
  strange. I want to end my life in that
• 42:34
  way. And you know what?
• 42:37
  Balaam desired it so badly that he expressed it in a way that it
• 42:40
  was inscribed in Scripture. But you can't have the death of
• 42:43
  the upright unless you live the life of the upright.
• 42:48
  You can't die the death of the righteous and know the rewards
• 42:51
  there, and unless you're willing to live the life of the
• 42:53
  righteous. And you can't even begin to live
• 42:57
  the life of the righteous unless you first embrace the
• 42:59
  righteousness of Jesus Christ that empowers you unto
• 43:03
  righteousness. Oh, let my death be like the
• 43:07
  death of the upright. And it was only a wish because
• 43:10
  he did not die. The death of the upright.
• 43:12
  He died as a fool. He died in his apostasy and his
• 43:19
  false worship and his Pagan ways.
• 43:22
  You know there are a lot of people who have desires, but
• 43:26
  it'll never be realized as long as they are there in your heart
• 43:29
  and in your wishful thinking has to come to a point where you
• 43:34
  say, OK, whatever it costs for me to know this, I will pay the
• 43:37
  price. Does anybody know as we come
• 43:41
  back to our story in First Kings 14 what the name Abijah means.
• 43:44
  Daniel Bennett, You can't answer.
• 43:47
  Any idea what that name means? The last part should give
• 43:52
  something away. Yeah, There's no J, right?
• 43:56
  In Hebrew, there's no pronunciation of the letter J.
• 43:58
  Yeah. Jehovah is my father.
• 44:04
  That's what this name means. I was trying to think, at what
• 44:08
  point did Jeroboam give that name to his son?
• 44:11
  Jehovah is my father. I'm not sure, but I hope that
• 44:16
  Abijah actually lived up to his name.
• 44:20
  I hope the extent of his pleasure offered to God was that
• 44:23
  he recognized Jehovah as his father.
• 44:25
  And if that is true, then how encouraging is it for those who,
• 44:30
  like Abijah, did not have a father in this life, a mother in
• 44:34
  this life, a household that they grew up in, that honored God as
• 44:37
  such? Because although Jehovah and his
• 44:41
  name was his father, Jeroboam was far from an example of what
• 44:44
  it means to serve God. You know, you have a lot of
• 44:47
  people who blame their perpetual shortcomings, the unwillingness
• 44:52
  to completely surrender to the Lord due to their upbringing due
• 44:56
  to the lack of example in those who were meant to lead them to
• 45:00
  the environment that they were familiar with.
• 45:04
  And you can make that excuse all you want, or you can make a
• 45:08
  decision and realize that identity in Christ crushes all
• 45:12
  of that. Because if there be any man who
• 45:15
  is in Christ, he is a new creation.
• 45:17
  The old has gone. Behold, the new has come.
• 45:20
  Either this gospel really changes us, or we're just
• 45:23
  singing empty words and hearing useless sermons.
• 45:28
  If you really do come in Christ, and you have a lot of people
• 45:30
  even out there that try to justify this theology of
• 45:33
  generational curses, which I don't understand.
• 45:37
  Biblically, I don't see it anywhere.
• 45:38
  In scripture. You can see patterns being
• 45:40
  passed down for generations. But even if that case, even that
• 45:44
  was something that was held to, what does the blood of Christ
• 45:47
  do? It cancels it anyway.
• 45:50
  It cancels it anyway. We have to revisit again in our
• 45:54
  gospel presentation, our gospel of faith, our gospel singing,
• 45:57
  our gospel living, the power of the new birth.
• 46:00
  He changes you. He does.
• 46:03
  No matter where you came from, no matter how perverted and
• 46:07
  twisted and blasphemous and evil and might have been when you're
• 46:11
  in Him, there's true transformation.
• 46:13
  A new future, a New Hope, a new trajectory.
• 46:16
  No matter how it's been like for centuries.
• 46:20
  Abijah here shows Jehovah is my father, and there was something
• 46:23
  in him that pleased the Lord despite all the negative evil
• 46:28
  examples around him. He was able to stand out.
• 46:31
  So can you. So can you.
• 46:35
  You just have to make a choice. It's called faith to believe it
• 46:37
  for yourself, to believe it through the truth and the word
• 46:40
  of God. That's why we're hearing these
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  things. Oh, if it's possible for this
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  guy who lived in a household that threatened people that
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  serve the true God, to serve the true God to some extent, then
• 46:54
  let it be so of my life. Jehovah is my father.
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  Oh, I hope that that was true in a practical way in this young
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  man's life. It was Matthew Henry.
• 47:05
  You said those that are good and bad times and places shine very
• 47:09
  brightly in the eyes of God. Yeah, it's true.
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  So what happens? There was found something
• 47:16
  pleasing to the Lord, the God of Israel, in the House of Jeroboam
• 47:19
  verse 14. Moreover, the Lord will raise up
• 47:23
  for himself a king over Israel, who shall cut off the House of
• 47:26
  Jeroboam today. And henceforth the Lord will
• 47:30
  strike Israel as a Reed is shaken in the water the and root
• 47:37
  up Israel out of his good land, out of this good land that He
• 47:40
  gave to their fathers, and scatter them beyond the
• 47:43
  Euphrates, because they have made-up their ashram, provoking
• 47:48
  the Lord to anger. And he will give Israel up
• 47:51
  because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned and made Israel
• 47:55
  to sin. So not only now is he dealing
• 47:58
  with the household of Jeroboam, he extends the judgment to the
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  nation of Israel as a whole. Judgment is not just coming to
• 48:06
  your family, Jeroboam judgment is coming to the 10 tribes of
• 48:09
  the north. And where this is leading to is
• 48:13
  an exile, not the Babylonian exile.
• 48:15
  The Babylonian exile would come after this one.
• 48:17
  This is what kind of an exile from who?
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  Tell me. The people group that would
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  exile the the tribes of the north, the Syrians.
• 48:25
  The Syrians would come in and would remove these people, these
• 48:29
  10 tribes from the good land. And then Judah will follow
• 48:34
  through the Babylonian exile, taking them from their land as
• 48:37
  well. You know what's interesting is
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  what we read here. In verse 16, he will give Israel
• 48:43
  up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and
• 48:49
  made Israel to sin. So because of Jeroboam's sin,
• 48:53
  the nation will go into exile. Well, how does that work?
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  Here's the here's the truth, Here's the lesson.
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  When we sin, there are consequences for sure.
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  But when leaders sin, the shockwave is greater.
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  Don't strive to be a leader in in ministry.
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  Don't, don't, don't itch for that.
• 49:12
  Don't fight for that. Don't push doors open because
• 49:15
  yes, there is a great reward in that, but there is a heavy
• 49:19
  responsibility and that's what we see here.
• 49:23
  Jeroboam sins would lead to Israel being given up over to
• 49:28
  the Assyrians. You know, I want to show this
• 49:32
  truth, this, this is a truth that was mentioned in the study
• 49:35
  of Leviticus. I'm not sure how many, how many
• 49:38
  of us remember those lessons in Leviticus, but here is one of
• 49:40
  them. Let's turn there.
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  This is not planned. But why not?
• 49:45
  Let's go to Leviticus. I want you to see something.
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  Look at Leviticus 4. These are the laws for sin
• 50:09
  offerings, and we're told of different categories of people
• 50:14
  within Israel of what the protocol would be if they
• 50:17
  sinned. And the first category of people
• 50:20
  is found here in verse 3. If it is the anointed priest who
• 50:26
  sins, thus bringing guilt on the people, then he shall offer for
• 50:31
  the sin that he has committed A what a bull.
• 50:36
  Remember that a bull from the herd without blemish to the Lord
• 50:41
  for a sin offering. So if the anointed priest, that
• 50:45
  class of ministers that was rarely shared among the people,
• 50:49
  that was distinct and separate onto a particular group for
• 50:52
  generations. If the anointed priests sins, it
• 50:55
  required a bull to be sacrificed.
• 50:59
  Then you read on and you see different things.
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  But look what happens here in verse 13 of the same chapter.
• 51:05
  If the whole congregation of Israel's sins unintentionally
• 51:09
  and The thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they
• 51:12
  do any one of those things that by the Lord's commandments are
• 51:16
  not to be done, and they realize their guilt when the sin which
• 51:20
  they have committed becomes known.
• 51:21
  The assembly shall offer a what? A bull from the herd for a sin
• 51:29
  offering and bring it in the front of the tent of meeting.
• 51:32
  That doesn't mean much unless you continue to read on and you
• 51:37
  see other things. For example verse 27.
• 51:40
  Look at verse 27. If any one of the common people
• 51:43
  sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by
• 51:47
  the Lord's commandments are not to be done and realizes his
• 51:49
  guilt or the sin which he has committed is made known to him,
• 51:52
  he shall bring for his offering. A what?
• 51:56
  A goat, Not a bull, right? What's bigger, a bull or a goat?
• 52:00
  A goat, a female without blemish for his sin which he has
• 52:03
  committed. And then you read of another
• 52:05
  category of people. We won't get into that.
• 52:07
  You know what I find interesting?
• 52:08
  That when the anointed priests sins, it was the same process
• 52:12
  and the same protocol and the same sacrifice as though the
• 52:15
  whole community sinned. When leaders sin, there are
• 52:21
  different consequences. They're much bigger
• 52:24
  consequences. And Jeroboam would sin and it
• 52:30
  would cause the people to sin and eventually be LED into
• 52:34
  exile. Now let's come back to this
• 52:37
  final verses of his life before we finish this study for
• 52:40
  tonight. It says here in verse 17.
• 52:50
  Then Jeroboam's wife arose and departed and came to Tirza.
• 52:54
  And as she came to the threshold of the house, the child died,
• 52:59
  and all Israel buried him and mourned for him according to the
• 53:03
  word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Ahija, the
• 53:06
  Prophet. Now the rest of the acts of
• 53:09
  Jeroboam, how he ward and how he reigned, behold, they are
• 53:11
  written in the books of the Chronicles of the kings of
• 53:13
  Israel. And the time that Jeroboam
• 53:16
  reigned was 22 years, and he slept with his fathers.
• 53:19
  And Nadab, his son, reigned in his place.
• 53:24
  That's how this guy is going to be remembered forever.
• 53:28
  That's how he's going to be remembered for the rest of human
• 53:31
  history. And when you close this chapter,
• 53:35
  at least this part of the chapter of his life can't help
• 53:38
  but think, even here at this final moment, what would it look
• 53:43
  like if he had just turned to the Lord?
• 53:47
  If he had just stopped? And he said, OK Lord, I'm done.
• 53:52
  I'm done running. I'm done ignoring.
• 53:55
  I'm done rebelling. I need you.
• 53:59
  Forgive me. You know, some of us might think
• 54:05
  after everything, maybe that wouldn't make any difference.
• 54:10
  Maybe that's it. Maybe he had no other choice.
• 54:14
  He's gone so far off the deep end that he might as well have
• 54:16
  continued in his sin. You know, there's some people
• 54:18
  think like that about their lives.
• 54:21
  There's some people who think I'm so torn up, I'm so scarred,
• 54:25
  I'm such a mess, that I might as well make the most of it.
• 54:29
  Let me eat, drink and be married for tomorrow.
• 54:32
  I die. I've seen such hopelessness.
• 54:37
  I've seen it. You don't see it much in the
• 54:40
  church scene. But if you step outside of the
• 54:43
  four walls a little bit and tell some people about Jesus who've
• 54:46
  never heard the name Jesus or have heard it but don't even
• 54:49
  know what the gospel is, you'd be amazed to know the tragedies
• 54:52
  that people in your classroom have experienced in your
• 54:54
  workplace have experienced. And when you come to the
• 54:57
  invitation of them receiving Christ, it's almost, they can't
• 55:00
  even fathom it because of how trash their lives have been.
• 55:08
  And just recently had a conversation with somebody who
• 55:09
  could not even imagine being a Christian because they could not
• 55:12
  see themselves living up to the standard of Christianity.
• 55:14
  And we just have to revisit what it means to embrace the gospel
• 55:17
  of grace. There are people who believe
• 55:19
  that, and This is why I was wrestling with this Bible study,
• 55:23
  whether they continue into the life of Jeroboam, at least the
• 55:25
  final moments of his life. Because when you come to
• 55:27
  Jeroboam story, it looks just as hopeless as as Jeroboams.
• 55:33
  But then when you look at a different part of the Bible, you
• 55:35
  see that Rehoboam made a different decision than
• 55:38
  Jeroboam. And it solidifies this truth
• 55:41
  that it's never too late to look to the Lord and say please
• 55:45
  forgive me, never too late. Even in the final moments of
• 55:49
  your life you can turn to the Lord and it can make the
• 55:52
  remainder of your life much sweeter than you could have
• 55:55
  imagined. And I want to tell you tonight,
• 55:58
  because you you might be a Bible study.
• 56:00
  You might come every single week.
• 56:01
  I don't know what you do after these nights.
• 56:03
  I don't know what your life looks like.
• 56:04
  I'm not God. But it could be that you are
• 56:08
  equally broken and that you feel as though it can't really turn
• 56:14
  around. The damage has been done.
• 56:17
  The history of my own family is almost prophetic in the sense
• 56:21
  that I know where I'm headed. And that's how people talk.
• 56:26
  That's how people talk. Their marriage is on the brink
• 56:29
  of divorce. And you know what they say?
• 56:30
  I've talked to people like that. Oh, well, you know, my my cousin
• 56:34
  got divorced. My brothers got divorced.
• 56:35
  My sisters just divorce all of my family.
• 56:37
  This is just something that I'm going to have to This is just
• 56:39
  part of our history. This is part of our family line,
• 56:42
  not in Christ. He breaks all of that.
• 56:46
  That's the power of the gospel. He plucks you out of any
• 56:49
  pattern, any destructive path, and He makes you a new creation.
• 56:55
  And he can transform your future and the future that would come
• 56:59
  through you. And that's what I want to extend
• 57:02
  to you today. You might have come in here
• 57:03
  broken, sinful, filthy, heavy, discouraged to the bone.
• 57:12
  If you just turn to Christ and give him your heart, you can
• 57:18
  leave here a different person with a different future.
• 57:21
  It's possible, Lord, I pray, that people would believe.
• 57:25
  It's possible, We pray, Lord, that our hearts would be
• 57:28
  reminded that even with a heavy chapter like this, your yoke is
• 57:37
  easy and your burden is light. Thank you, Lord, that as
• 57:45
  Christians we get to shine before you.
• 57:49
  We might be despised by the world.
• 57:51
  We might be a fragrance unto death by those who love their
• 57:55
  sin and hate the truth of the gospel, But Lord, our concern is
• 57:59
  what you see and hear. And, Lord, we want to be greater
• 58:04
  than what Abidja was. We want to be in greater ways a
• 58:07
  pleasing aroma unto you. And we pray, Lord, that you
• 58:11
  would give us the strength and the energy to live the remainder
• 58:14
  of our days where people are worshipping things and giving
• 58:18
  their lives and their allegiance to things that are very similar
• 58:21
  to the foolishness of Jeroboam's golden calves.
• 58:25
  Help us, Lord, be set apart unto you.
• 58:30
  Help us, Lord, please you. It warms our hearts to know that
• 58:34
  you see our our inner man, and you can recognize something that
• 58:39
  blesses you. And Lord, we want to declare to
• 58:44
  you that we love you. We love Your Son, the Lord Jesus
• 58:49
  Christ. We love Your gospel.
• 58:51
  We love your word. We love your church.
• 58:55
  We love holiness. We love to sing to you.
• 58:57
  We love to obey you. We love to serve you in any
• 59:00
  capacity. Lord, we love you, Receive our
• 59:04
  worship even now. And Lord, may it be only
• 59:09
  stronger and stronger as you lead us from glory to glory.
• 59:12
  This is our heart cry, O God, even studying kings, we are more
• 59:16
  encouraged to stand out for your name's sake.
• 59:19
  In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
• 59:22
  Amen. Well, do you believe it?
• 59:24
  Yeah. Do you desire it?
• 59:27
  I hope so. I know Friday nights are tough.
• 59:29
  You worked all week, and you have to endure a guy that can't
• 59:32
  let go of the microphone so easily.
• 59:35
  You made it. Praise God.
• 59:37
  Indeed. Thank you for the encouragement.
• 59:40
  Let's stand and worship the Lord.
• 59:41
  Together we worship a living Christ.
• 59:55
  He hears us tonight. And listen, If you really speak
• 1:00:01
  to him and give your heart to him, he will bless you tonight.
• 1:00:03
  Let's do that.