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How God Deals with Defiance Msg 5 6 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: One of the characteristics of our day is rebellion and defiance.
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Speaker 1: We're aware of it on the national scene as well
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Speaker 1: as the international scene. If a person were to suddenly
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Speaker 1: visit this planet and become aware of our surroundings and
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Speaker 1: watch the proceedings of a divorce court, a courtroom scene,
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Speaker 1: crime on the streets, heartbreak of homes, he could perhaps
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Speaker 1: get the idea that Defiance does pay off. It seems
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Speaker 1: as though those who are defying the law and the
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Speaker 1: truth are getting away with it. Homes are marked by
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Speaker 1: rebellion and intimidation. Children are in control. Parents aren't directing things,
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Speaker 1: the kids are. I don't know if you followed the
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Speaker 1: particular case in Colorado, but a young man has sued
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Speaker 1: his parents for parental malpractice. $ 350, 000 in damages, as he
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Speaker 1: claims they have inflicted him with these things with intentional
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Speaker 1: emotional distress. The court apparently is falling back in favor
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Speaker 1: of the parents' argument that it was not willful and wanton,
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Speaker 1: and they might win the case, but they're not sure.
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Speaker 1: Another characteristic of our times, isn't it? There's a contempt
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Speaker 1: for authority. A man by the name of Talbot writes
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Speaker 1: in his work, The Breaking of Authority. Gordon Talbot says,
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Speaker 1: your chance of becoming a victim of crime has doubled
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Speaker 1: in just 10 years. Your chance of becoming a victim
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Speaker 1: of a violent crime has increased by more than five
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Speaker 1: times in the same period. Today, you have a 1
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Speaker 1: in 20 chance of being a victim of any crime.
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Speaker 1: You have a 1 in 100 chance of being a
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Speaker 1: victim of a violent offense. To make matters even worse,
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Speaker 1: there is this desperate sense of depravity in our midst,
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Speaker 1: and we see it in national calamity. When damages occur
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Speaker 1: across our land, it is amazing how many people are
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Speaker 1: there not to give compassion, but to steal from the victims.
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Speaker 1: Three tornadoes ripped through Omaha, Nebraska in 1975, destroying 500 homes,
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Speaker 1: damaging a thousand others. killing three people and injuring 132.
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Speaker 1: National Guardsmen were called out not to help in the calamity,
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Speaker 1: but to patrol a 3,400 square block area to prevent looting.
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Speaker 1: The Nebraska governor surveyed the area and said it was
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Speaker 1: the worst case of property damage in the history of Nebraska.
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Speaker 1: It's a sad commentary on our modern society that men
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Speaker 1: with guns had to prevent scavengers from helping themselves to
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Speaker 1: things in devastated sections of the city. I suppose the
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Speaker 1: best commentary on the defiance of our times is found
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Speaker 1: not in any book other than the Bible or in
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Speaker 1: any newspaper. Turn to Romans chapter 1, the last four verses,
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Speaker 1: and you'll get a pretty good thumbnail sketch of where
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Speaker 1: we are. Romans chapter 1, beginning our reading at verse 29.
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Speaker 1: being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice.
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Speaker 1: They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful,
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Speaker 1: inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful.
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Speaker 1: And although they know the ordinance of God that those
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Speaker 1: who practice such things are worthy of death, They not
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Speaker 1: only do the same, but also give hearty approval to
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Speaker 1: those who practice them. It reads like an article out
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Speaker 1: of Time magazine or Newsweek next week. It's incredible how
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Speaker 1: that reveals our times in an up-to-date manner. How does
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Speaker 1: God deal with that kind of defiance? What is God's
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Speaker 1: attitude toward rebellion when it occurs, especially in the life
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Speaker 1: of His children? It would be wonderful if we could
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Speaker 1: say that defiance always is sourced in the life of
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Speaker 1: the unbeliever, but that would be false. As a matter
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Speaker 1: of fact, tonight some of you in this very service,
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Speaker 1: some of you hearing my voice at this moment, wrestle
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Speaker 1: with the problem of defiance. It has come out in
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Speaker 1: your home. It has come out in your work. It
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Speaker 1: has come out in your relationship with people. It has
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Speaker 1: come out in church involvements. Defiance and resentment are there.
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Speaker 1: How did God deal with it? What was his attitude
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Speaker 1: in the days of Scripture? On our way to the
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Speaker 1: study of Solomon I want you to stop off in
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Speaker 1: Deuteronomy chapter 21. I'll show you something about God's attitude
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Speaker 1: toward defiance here. Deuteronomy 21 beginning at verse 18 tells
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Speaker 1: us how God dealt with it in the days of
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Speaker 1: the law as it occurred in the life of young
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Speaker 1: men in the home. Now I take it from the
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Speaker 1: way this reads that the person in question is a
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Speaker 1: young man, old enough to live outside the home, perhaps
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Speaker 1: not quite ready for that. He's living under the roof
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Speaker 1: of his parents and there is this incredible sense of independence,
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Speaker 1: this absolute determination to have his own way. 2118, if
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Speaker 1: any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will
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Speaker 1: not obey his father or his mother, And when they
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Speaker 1: chastise him, he will not even listen to them, so
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Speaker 1: it's a case of parents trying to get the boy
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Speaker 1: under control. Then his father and mother shall seize him,
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Speaker 1: that suggests there might be even a fight, physical involvement,
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Speaker 1: and bring him out to the elders of his city
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Speaker 1: at the gateway of his hometown. They shall say to
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Speaker 1: the elders of the city, This son of ours is
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Speaker 1: stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is
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Speaker 1: a glutton and a drunkard. So they give evidence of
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Speaker 1: his lifestyle. Then all the men of his city shall
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Speaker 1: stone him to death. So you shall remove the evil
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Speaker 1: from your midst and all Israel shall hear of it
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Speaker 1: in fear. Remember the first time I read that passage,
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Speaker 1: I was a teenager. I thought about it till very
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Speaker 1: late in the evening, believe me. I'm not ready to
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Speaker 1: debate the issue of the law today. I just want
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Speaker 1: you to see the attitude of God toward insolence and
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Speaker 1: defiance and rebellion. It is severe. It's heavy. There's a
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Speaker 1: finality about the way God deals with it. And there
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Speaker 1: always is. God does not wink at defiance. He deals
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Speaker 1: with it. There's an old king in the Bible called
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Speaker 1: Saul who's the most self-willed of all the kings the
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Speaker 1: people ever chose to rule over him. One time Saul
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Speaker 1: did his own thing and Samuel came with sort of
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Speaker 1: the anxiety of the Lord heavy on his heart and
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Speaker 1: he looked straight at Saul and he pointed his finger
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Speaker 1: at him and he said rebellion is the sin of
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Speaker 1: witchcraft and idolatry. It's quite a statement. The Living Bible
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Speaker 1: says rebellion is as bad as the sin of witchcraft,
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Speaker 1: stubbornness is as bad as worshiping idols. So we shouldn't
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Speaker 1: be surprised when we come to the life of a
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Speaker 1: king who becomes defiant, his name is Solomon, in seeing
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Speaker 1: how God dealt with him. Chapter 11 of 1 Kings
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Speaker 1: is where we have come in our study this time.
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Speaker 1: This is not a young rebellious son living under the
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Speaker 1: roof of his parents, This is a man somewhere between
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Speaker 1: the ages of 45 and 55. See, you can be
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Speaker 1: defiant and be up in years. You can be defiant
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Speaker 1: as a child, a teenager, or an adult. You can
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Speaker 1: carry around with you the resentment, the acid of determination saying,
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Speaker 1: I'm going to get my way regardless. And when that happens,
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Speaker 1: it's time to learn some lessons from the life of Solomon.
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Speaker 1: I hope you had enough time this evening in entering
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Speaker 1: to get a hold of a sheet that we would
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Speaker 1: use for study this evening. If you did, I've given
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Speaker 1: you space there to fill in the spots that I
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Speaker 1: think will help us in reviewing Solomon's life up till
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Speaker 1: this moment. There were some seeds that he planted which
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Speaker 1: began to harvest as he became an older adult. The
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Speaker 1: first seed was compromise. Remember when he had an alliance
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Speaker 1: with Pharaoh and he married Pharaoh's daughter, 1 Kings chapter 3?
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Speaker 1: As a result, he began to compromise in his spiritual walk.
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Speaker 1: the compromise seeds grew into a loss of distinctive. That's
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Speaker 1: what he harvested. He compromised with his stand for the
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Speaker 1: Lord and he lost his distinctive as a distinct Jewish
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Speaker 1: ruler who was not to cohabit or mingle with foreign wives.
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Speaker 1: It was a direct statement in scripture. The seed of
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Speaker 1: compromise led to the loss of distinctive. Later on in
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Speaker 1: his life, he planted the seeds of extravagance. which led
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Speaker 1: to boredom and cynicism. It often does. He lived extravagantly.
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Speaker 1: There were no parameters on his budget. He was able
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Speaker 1: to buy at will and build at will and pay whomever,
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Speaker 1: whatever he wished. So there was extravagance, and we've studied
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Speaker 1: Ecclesiastes close enough to know that that led to seeds
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Speaker 1: that grew into cynicism, boredom, disillusionment. All of that was
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Speaker 1: harvested as a result of the seeds of extravagance. Third,
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Speaker 1: there was unaccountability. Solomon never was willing to be accountable
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Speaker 1: to any of his counselors, any of the prophets that
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Speaker 1: surrounded him. You will never read of Solomon's listening to advice.
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Speaker 1: You read of it theoretically in the book of Proverbs,
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Speaker 1: but later on in life, you don't read of it anymore.
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Speaker 1: He was closed-minded. He didn't give attention to what God
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Speaker 1: was saying through his spokesman. So he was unaccountable, and
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Speaker 1: that led to unchecked independence. Nobody can live free of accountability.
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Speaker 1: After a while, you've got to pay the piper. That's
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Speaker 1: what Solomon did in the later years of his life.
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Speaker 1: One more seed I should mention, and that's the seed
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Speaker 1: of idolatry, which invariably leads led to lust and open defiance.
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Speaker 1: So we find the man in the backwash of this
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Speaker 1: kind of carnality being dealt with by God. You read
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Speaker 1: with me in chapter 11 of 1 Kings, you'll see
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Speaker 1: the scene in front of you. It's very vivid. King
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Speaker 1: Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh.
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Speaker 1: Their name for us as far as their background is
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Speaker 1: concerned in verse 1, it was a direct influence Denial
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Speaker 1: of Scripture, verse 2, defiance always denies Scripture, willfully, not ignorantly,
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Speaker 1: but willfully. And verse 2 closes, Solomon held fast to
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Speaker 1: these in love. He flaunted it. He not only embraced them,
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Speaker 1: he embraced them publicly. He not only married them, he
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Speaker 1: courted them in front of the people of Israel. He
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Speaker 1: held fast to these people in love. And it says
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Speaker 1: in verse 3 that his wives turned his heart away.
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Speaker 1: We don't use those words today. We use the words
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Speaker 1: turned off. He was turned off to spiritual things. The
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Speaker 1: Berkeley Bible says they perverted his mind. These foreign women
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Speaker 1: coming in with their idolatrous plans and heritage brought with
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Speaker 1: them enough ammunition to turn him off spiritually. Solomon lived
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Speaker 1: his later years turned off to God. And he turned
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Speaker 1: this condition into open defiance. Verse 8 tells us he
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Speaker 1: did this, that is building those idols and worshiping them.
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Speaker 1: He did this for all of his foreign wives who
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Speaker 1: burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. The defiance was
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Speaker 1: not hidden, it was open. Defiance is always a tough
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Speaker 1: thing to deal with. If you have a defiant mate,
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Speaker 1: it's a hard thing to live with. Some mates are
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Speaker 1: so defiant that for the partner to bring to their
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Speaker 1: attention wrong in their lives, they've got a fight on
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Speaker 1: their hands. Some children are so defiant that the mentioning
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Speaker 1: of their wrong brings an incredible explosion in the home.
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Speaker 1: Pastors deal with that rather frequently. Some kids are so
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Speaker 1: defiant that absolutely against parental desire and request, they marry.
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Speaker 1: They marry whomever they wish, how often they may wish
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Speaker 1: to marry them. However many they may wish to live with,
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Speaker 1: they continue to do that. Those are signs of defiance,
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Speaker 1: even though some of those are born-again people. Activities of carnality.
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Speaker 1: So we're not talking about something that just bothered people
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Speaker 1: in the days of Solomon. It's going on today and
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Speaker 1: perhaps in some lives represented here tonight. Now let's see
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Speaker 1: what God did. Let's sort of rediscover his reaction. Look
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Speaker 1: at verse 9. There's divine anger, verses 9 through 13.
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Speaker 1: Now the Lord was angry with Solomon. What a refreshing balance.
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Speaker 1: What a nice breath of air this is. And we
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Speaker 1: study the scriptures. We're often hearing of the love and
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Speaker 1: the compassion and the mercy and the grace of God.
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Speaker 1: And we surely should. How seldom we have heard even
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Speaker 1: a mention for months of the wrath and the anger
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Speaker 1: of God. The jealousy of God for his people. It
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Speaker 1: says clearly the Lord was angry with Solomon because his
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Speaker 1: heart was turned off. It makes God mad. I did
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Speaker 1: a study as much as I could this week on
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Speaker 1: divine anger and I was amazed at how often in
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Speaker 1: the concordance I checked the word anger appears related to God.
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Speaker 1: The one word that's related to it more often than
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Speaker 1: any other word is kindled. His anger was kindled. Our
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Speaker 1: English word has in mind the idea of arousing or
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Speaker 1: stirring up or starting to glow, usually related to the
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Speaker 1: kindling of a fire. The Hebrew word translated kindled means
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Speaker 1: to be heated to the point of vexation. It vexes
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Speaker 1: God when he sees his children walk against his plan.
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Speaker 1: It makes him angry. I have an old Puritan book
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Speaker 1: called The Christian Under the Smarting Rod of God. When
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Speaker 1: I read it, this tiny little print, you have to
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Speaker 1: read those Puritan books with a magnifying glass. You could
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Speaker 1: take about two or three pages and wow, you find
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Speaker 1: yourself surrounded by the holiness of God. God stands ready
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Speaker 1: to deal with his people. Modern day teaching notwithstanding, he
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Speaker 1: is jealous for our hearts. And when we walk against
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Speaker 1: his way, he deals with us. The Bible is replete
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Speaker 1: with illustrations such as this. Patient, yes. Loving, yes. Merciful, always.
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Speaker 1: But jealous, absolutely. And when we serve the idols of
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Speaker 1: our own lives, the Lord becomes angry because our hearts
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Speaker 1: are turned off. And he wants them turned on. And
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Speaker 1: the Lord deals severely with his people. Very angry. It's
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Speaker 1: like my folks used to say when I really got
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Speaker 1: their goat. They would finally say, Charles, that's it. Just
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Speaker 1: two words. That's it. I'd look for a place to
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Speaker 1: hide when I heard words like that. I could get
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Speaker 1: out of the way. At times God says to his children,
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Speaker 1: that's it. No more. And he moves right in. Defiance,
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Speaker 1: I find, more often than any other reaction, is the
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Speaker 1: thing that creates God's anger or stirs it up, kindles it.
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Speaker 1: He has a right to be angry. He's broken his
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Speaker 1: holy plan for us. He's burdened that we walk in
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Speaker 1: the light as he is in the light. Now, look
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Speaker 1: at verse 10. He's talking to Solomon and he says,
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Speaker 1: as I commanded you concerning this thing that you should
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Speaker 1: not go after other gods, but you did not observe
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Speaker 1: what I commanded. Verse 11. So the Lord said to Solomon,
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Speaker 1: I will deal with you. Because you have done this
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Speaker 1: and have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which
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Speaker 1: I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom
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Speaker 1: from you and will give it to your servant. Your
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Speaker 1: tendency will be to overlook the most important word, in
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Speaker 1: my opinion, in verse 11. That's tear. T-E-A-R. When you
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Speaker 1: walk in defiance and the Lord steps in to deal
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Speaker 1: with you or to deal with me, it's a tearing experience.
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Speaker 1: It's a ripping away of things that were very, very
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Speaker 1: important to us. Our peace and calm are disturbed. Our
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Speaker 1: diplomatic relationship with people is stirred up. We don't get
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Speaker 1: along with our parents. We don't get along with our kids.
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Speaker 1: We don't get along with our peers as we once did.
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Speaker 1: It's a tearing kind of experience. And the Lord says
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Speaker 1: to Solomon, I'm going to tear that kingdom from you.
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Speaker 1: That thing that means so much to you is no
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Speaker 1: longer going to mean that. Because I'm taking it away. Now,
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Speaker 1: there's mercy here. He says in verse 12, nevertheless, I
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Speaker 1: will be merciful. I will not do it in your days.
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Speaker 1: For your sake, no. for the sake of your father David,
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Speaker 1: but I will tear it out of the hand of
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Speaker 1: your son. However, I will not tear away all the kingdom,
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Speaker 1: but I will give one tribe to your son for
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Speaker 1: the sake of my servant David, not your sake, and
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Speaker 1: for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen. I
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Speaker 1: love Zion. I love that city. I love the people.
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Speaker 1: I love your father. I love you, Solomon, and I
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Speaker 1: know what's best. And I will not raise up any
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Speaker 1: memorial for your defiance. Oh, those are hard words. Defiant
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Speaker 1: people need to hear strong words. Usually we're not listening
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Speaker 1: to the silent or the quiet movings of God. Often
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Speaker 1: has to be very firm. Okay. What does the Lord do?
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Speaker 1: He raises up human adversaries. Look at how he does this.
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Speaker 1: Very intriguing. Get a pencil handy and look at verse
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Speaker 1: 14 and then verse 23. I want you to underline
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Speaker 1: two phrases that are identical. Verse 14, the Lord raised
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Speaker 1: up an adversary to Solomon. Solomon. Verse 23, God also
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Speaker 1: raised up another adversary to him. And then they are named. Hadad,
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Speaker 1: mentioned in verse 14, and then Rezon, mentioned in verse 23.
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Speaker 1: Mark those two lines. He raised up an adversary named Hadad.
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Speaker 1: He raised up another adversary named Rezon. Why in the
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Speaker 1: world would I make such a point out of this? Well,
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Speaker 1: as you're going to see, very, very practical reason. Hadad
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Speaker 1: and Razan were two men who became enemies of David.
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Speaker 1: Perhaps Solomon didn't even know about it because he was
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Speaker 1: a little boy in the days of his father's warfare.
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Speaker 1: He wasn't even born when his father began to clear
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Speaker 1: the deck and clean house, making ready for a new kingdom.
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Speaker 1: But Hadad will never forget it. Read it with me.
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Speaker 1: Verse 14. Follow along. The Lord raised up an adversary
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Speaker 1: to Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was from the of
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Speaker 1: the royal line in Edom. So he was a prince
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Speaker 1: on his way to becoming a king in Edom. For
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Speaker 1: it came about, now we're going way back in the
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Speaker 1: time tunnel, many years earlier, it came about when David
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Speaker 1: was in Edom and Joab, the commander of the army,
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Speaker 1: had gone up to bury the slain and had struck
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Speaker 1: down every male in Edom, parenthesis, for Joab and all
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Speaker 1: Israel stayed there six months until he had cut off
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Speaker 1: every male in Edom that Hadad fled to Egypt. He
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Speaker 1: and certain Edomites of his father's servants with him while
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Speaker 1: Hadad was a young boy. What does all that mean?
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Speaker 1: It means way back when King David took the throne,
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Speaker 1: Joab under David's direction moved into Edom and leveled the place.
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Speaker 1: They slaughtered every male individual except a few that escaped,
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Speaker 1: one of whom was Hadad of the royal line in Edom.
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Speaker 1: He was a king in the making and he fled
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Speaker 1: to Egypt as a little boy along with a few
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Speaker 1: of the servants that escaped and that's all that got
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Speaker 1: out alive. And Hadad remembers from those scarred early years,
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Speaker 1: the incredible slaughter that came along with the reign of David,
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Speaker 1: and he never forgot it. He went to Egypt, he
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Speaker 1: grew up there. In fact, it says in verse 19
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Speaker 1: that he found favor with Pharaoh, so that Pharaoh gave
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Speaker 1: him in marriage to the sister of his own wife.
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Speaker 1: He married the sister-in-law of the Pharaoh of Egypt. Wow,
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Speaker 1: he became quite a man in Egypt. It says in
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Speaker 1: the next verse that they had kids and the little
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Speaker 1: kids played together in Pharaoh's palace. He was very close
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Speaker 1: to the top man in Egypt, but he never forgot David. Never.
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Speaker 1: I think Solomon probably knew nothing of Hadad. He was
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Speaker 1: an Edomite, a former king, king in the making. He
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Speaker 1: never made it. He's a forgotten man. Not to God.
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Speaker 1: You see, when the Lord saw the defiance in Solomon's life,
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Speaker 1: the Lord began to whistle for the adversaries. As you
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Speaker 1: would for bad dogs to take over. Hey, dad, sick them.
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Speaker 1: All of a sudden, hey, dad, God word that David
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Speaker 1: was dead. Look at the verse. Verse 21. When he
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Speaker 1: heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers and Joab,
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Speaker 1: the commander of the army, was dead, he said to Pharaoh,
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Speaker 1: let me go back. Send me away that I may
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Speaker 1: go to my own country. There's a little argument as
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Speaker 1: to whether he should go or not. And Hadad wins out. Nevertheless,
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Speaker 1: he says, you surely must let me go. And he does. Now,
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Speaker 1: what he does there later on is revealed. Just remember Hadad.
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Speaker 1: The way this man chronicles the story is sort of intriguing.
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Speaker 1: He just keeps you waiting. What does Hadad do? Just
22:14
Speaker 1: wait a minute. There's another adversary the Lord rose up.
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Speaker 1: Look at the next verse. God raised up another adversary. Rezon,
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Speaker 1: the son of Eliadah, a man you'll never hear about
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Speaker 1: again in Scripture. A no-name. It says that he fled
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Speaker 1: from his Lord, and he gathered men to himself and
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Speaker 1: became a leader of a marauding band. The Hebrew says,
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Speaker 1: men who killed. A killing body of men. So he
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Speaker 1: led a mob that was a murderous group. after David
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Speaker 1: slew them in Zobah, they went to Damascus and they
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Speaker 1: stayed there. So here we've got Rezon who lived in
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Speaker 1: Damascus and Solomon doesn't know anything about Rezon. He's so diplomatic.
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Speaker 1: Everything is great. He's waltzing along the first 20 years
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Speaker 1: of his life, relaxing and things are being built and
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Speaker 1: everything's working great. And he turns against God, knowing nothing
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Speaker 1: about a guy named Hadad or another one named Rezon.
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Speaker 1: But they will never forget David and his crew. So
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Speaker 1: when they hear about it, it says in the next verse,
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Speaker 1: they worked brought havoc in Solomon's life. See verse 25,
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Speaker 1: he was an adversary. This is now Rezan. He was
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Speaker 1: an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon. In context,
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Speaker 1: it would mean all the remaining days, along with all
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Speaker 1: the evil that Hadad did. So there was evil done
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Speaker 1: by Hadad. There was an adversary named Rezan, and he
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Speaker 1: abhorred Israel and reigned over Syria. So I take it
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Speaker 1: that from this time on, These guys began to harass
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Speaker 1: and bother and plague and make life miserable for a
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Speaker 1: king who had known none of that. Talk about practicality, hey?
23:50
Speaker 1: When you defy the living God, when you walk against
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Speaker 1: his authority over your life, he has ways of whistling
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Speaker 1: dogs from all kinds of valleys. You just don't know
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Speaker 1: they're there. And he brings them in. Sometimes they come
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Speaker 1: in the form of a memory. It haunts you and
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Speaker 1: it stays there and it plagues you and it's on
24:09
Speaker 1: top of you and you find yourself restless. You can't
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Speaker 1: get rid of it. It's like a monkey on your back. Stays, plagues, works, harasses,
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Speaker 1: beats you black and blue emotionally. You can't get rid
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Speaker 1: of it. There's this incredible sense of defiance and you're
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Speaker 1: going to stand your ground and he just calls more
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Speaker 1: of those dogs out of the alley. Go get him.
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Speaker 1: Work on him. He has a way of doing that,
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Speaker 1: doesn't he? Those of you that right now sit in
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Speaker 1: this place with wayward children, let me encourage you with
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Speaker 1: this thought. Don't think they're as happy as they look.
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Speaker 1: Your kids that have chosen to defy the living Lord,
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Speaker 1: who know the way of God and have chosen not
24:53
Speaker 1: to walk in it, they're walking in their own way.
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Speaker 1: They may give every evidence that things are hunky-dory, just great.
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Speaker 1: You just rest in your hope that you have in
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Speaker 1: the Lord. He has a way of dealing with defiance.
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Speaker 1: He will not give rest to his children that walk
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Speaker 1: away from his will. He will not give them rest.
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Speaker 1: They have their own reasons and hey dads and it's
25:18
Speaker 1: just a matter of time before they break. Now if
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Speaker 1: that isn't a picturesque story, listen to the words of Byron.
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Speaker 1: Lord Byron writes this. The thorns which I have reaped
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Speaker 1: are of the tree I planted. They have torn me,
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Speaker 1: and I bleed. I should have known what fruit would
25:43
Speaker 1: spring from such a seed. Thorns that one plants grow,
25:50
Speaker 1: and they grow to such proportions that they bite and
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Speaker 1: sting and infect us and hurt us. It's all part
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Speaker 1: of the Lord's hand to bring us back in line.
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Speaker 1: He's jealous for our lives. Quickly, there's one more person
26:08
Speaker 1: that you should see, and he brought internal rebellion. These
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Speaker 1: other guys lived outside the country. One was in Egypt
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Speaker 1: and one was in Damascus, and they sort of did
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Speaker 1: skirmishes from the outside. Now here's a man that Solomon
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Speaker 1: trusted whose name is Jeroboam. Jeroboam, verse 26, was the
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Speaker 1: son of Nebat, an Ephraimite, a Zerida, Solomon's servant, whose
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Speaker 1: mother's name was Zeruah, a widow, also rebelled against the king. Why?
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Speaker 1: This was a trusted man. See verse 28? He was
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Speaker 1: a valiant warrior. When Solomon saw the young man was industrious,
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Speaker 1: he appointed him over all the forced labor of the
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Speaker 1: house of Joseph. And Jeroboam went right on up. The
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Speaker 1: old Saint Alexander White in his biography of the Old
26:49
Speaker 1: Testament characters gives this little thumbnail sketch of Jeroboam. It
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Speaker 1: was amid all the terrible oppression and suffering of the
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Speaker 1: day that Jeroboam rose so fast and so high in
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Speaker 1: Solomon's service. His outstanding talents in public affairs, his skillful
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Speaker 1: management of men, His great industry, his great loyalty, as
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Speaker 1: was thought, all combined to bring the son of Nebat
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Speaker 1: under Solomon's royal eye till there was no trust too important,
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Speaker 1: no promotion too high for young Jeroboam. Then to crown
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Speaker 1: it all as time went on, he became the king's
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Speaker 1: personal confidant. Wow, that's Jeroboam. He was on his way.
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Speaker 1: He had won the heart of the king, and right
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Speaker 1: in the middle of this promotion campaign, He turned and
27:37
Speaker 1: rebelled against Solomon. See the verse, verse 26, he rebelled
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Speaker 1: against the king. This was the reason he rebelled against
27:45
Speaker 1: the king. Then there's a colon and it describes Jeroboam's rebellion.
27:48
Speaker 1: By the way, the word rebel means literally to lift
27:51
Speaker 1: up one's hand against, and I take it that he
27:53
Speaker 1: physically fought with Solomon along with the misery that he brought.
27:58
Speaker 1: You know the story perhaps, and there's no reason to
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Speaker 1: go into it in detail. A prophet came to Jeroboam
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Speaker 1: and said, you're going to get 10 of the tribes.
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Speaker 1: He just got greedy early, and he made plans to
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Speaker 1: get the tribes right away. Solomon heard about it, and
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Speaker 1: he was bothered by the disloyalty of this man Jeroboam,
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Speaker 1: and trouble started. So here's Solomon, who months before had
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Speaker 1: known just relaxation and extravagance and delight to the point
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Speaker 1: of boredom, now faced with Hadad and Rezon and Jeroboam
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Speaker 1: right in his midst. The way of the transgressor is hard.
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Speaker 1: You can't defy the living Lord. without misery. David writes
28:44
Speaker 1: in Psalm 32, day and night, thy hand was heavy
28:47
Speaker 1: on me. My vitality was drained away as with the
28:50
Speaker 1: fever heat of the summer. Ever been there? The Lord's
29:00
Speaker 1: better than the FBI. He always gets his man. Always, always, always.
29:05
Speaker 1: He knows where we are all the time. Every waking, sleeping, day, night, moment,
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Speaker 1: his eye is on us. He sees that internal fist
29:17
Speaker 1: that you double up saying, you just watch out. He
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Speaker 1: hears that. Living in a tough situation at home right now?
29:30
Speaker 1: Quite probably. Hey, believe me, God understands. He understands. have
29:37
Speaker 1: difficulty with defiance among those that work under you or
29:41
Speaker 1: minister under you or live with you? The Lord never
29:48
Speaker 1: has met his match. He is never intimidated by defiance.
29:53
Speaker 1: Always on top of it. He just moves so slowly sometimes,
29:57
Speaker 1: doesn't he? Don't you wish he'd get on his horse
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Speaker 1: and ride faster sometimes? That's one of those heretical things
30:06
Speaker 1: you think and never say, but we all think those things.
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Speaker 1: Come on, how long will this have to take? One
30:15
Speaker 1: more thought, verse 40 says that Solomon sought to put
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Speaker 1: Jeroboam to death. But Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt
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Speaker 1: to Shishak, king of Egypt. He was in Egypt until
30:25
Speaker 1: the death of Solomon. Here's personal frustration. I mean, here's
30:28
Speaker 1: the king who ought to be able to kill anybody
30:30
Speaker 1: in the land. He's got an army available. He's got
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Speaker 1: this constant surveillance over the nation, especially right there in Zion.
30:36
Speaker 1: And here's a guy that escapes from his grip. He's
30:39
Speaker 1: so frustrated he can't even put a hitman on Jeroboam
30:42
Speaker 1: and finish him off. His hands are tied. So it
30:45
Speaker 1: is when you're in defiance. Things don't work out. They
30:49
Speaker 1: just don't work for you. Hey, I want to make
30:53
Speaker 1: it really, really practical before we go home. I want
30:56
Speaker 1: to share with you three thoughts that I think are
30:57
Speaker 1: worth remembering. Defiance begins with carnal attitudes. Long before there
31:07
Speaker 1: are carnal actions, there are carnal attitudes. It can happen
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Speaker 1: to adults just as quickly as kids. On the back
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Speaker 1: of the sheet you have, you'll see the downward steps
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Speaker 1: of defiance. I want to suggest these to you. There
31:20
Speaker 1: could perhaps be 10 or 15 more. These are not
31:23
Speaker 1: infallible by any means. They represent perspiration, not inspiration. However,
31:29
Speaker 1: it might help you to get a tag on some
31:31
Speaker 1: thoughts and on defiance. And you'll hear yourself say these
31:34
Speaker 1: things and you'll be able to tag them once you
31:36
Speaker 1: get a hold of them. On the top line, there
31:39
Speaker 1: are little quotation marks where you can fill in the blank.
31:41
Speaker 1: And then below it, a dotted line that gives you
31:43
Speaker 1: the attitude. The first line says, I want my own way.
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Speaker 1: This is the attitude of selfishness. I want my own way.
31:55
Speaker 1: Not your way, not God's way. I want my way.
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Speaker 1: That's selfishness. The second step says this. I won't quit
32:05
Speaker 1: until I get it. That's stubbornness. I want my way
32:12
Speaker 1: and I want it when I want it and I
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Speaker 1: will not quit until I get it. That's obstinance. That's stubbornness. Third,
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Speaker 1: I don't care who it hurts. That's indifference. I want
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Speaker 1: my way, I will quit until I get it, and
32:29
Speaker 1: I don't care who it hurts. Husband, wife, peers, kids,
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Speaker 1: I don't care. I'm going to get my way. That's indifference. Fourth,
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Speaker 1: I refuse to listen to counsel. That's resistance. I know
32:48
Speaker 1: he has something to tell me. I don't want to
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Speaker 1: hear what he's got to say. I know what he's
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Speaker 1: going to tell me. I don't want to listen to
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Speaker 1: what God counsels me. I know what that book says.
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Speaker 1: I don't want to listen to counsel. That's resistance. Fifth
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Speaker 1: and finally, I am not concerned about the consequences. That's contempt.
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Speaker 1: I want my own way. I won't quit until I
33:11
Speaker 1: get it. I don't care who it hurts. I will
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Speaker 1: not listen to counsel. I am not concerned about the consequences.
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Speaker 1: Those are the words of a defiant person. And they
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Speaker 1: can come from our lips just as readily as from
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Speaker 1: a person without Christ. They represent selfishness and stubbornness and
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Speaker 1: indifference and resistance and contempt. Defiance begins with carnal attitudes.
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Speaker 1: Second thing I've learned from Solomon's life is that it
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Speaker 1: leads to personal misery. Remember Hadad and Rezon and Jeroboam,
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Speaker 1: they dealt him misery. The defiant person wants freedom and
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Speaker 1: he finds himself captured. He wants his own way and
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Speaker 1: he finds himself ensnared by the parameters that misery brings.
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Speaker 1: Look at Proverbs 13, 15 and you'll see a pretty
34:07
Speaker 1: good illustration or statement of that kind of misery. I
34:11
Speaker 1: quoted it earlier, but I want you to see where
34:13
Speaker 1: it is in Scripture. 1315. Good understanding produces favor, but
34:21
Speaker 1: the way of the treacherous is hard. Just keep looking
34:26
Speaker 1: at the verse. The word treacherous is from the verb
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Speaker 1: that means to deal treacherously or defiantly. The way of
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Speaker 1: one who deals in defiance is hard. Interesting term, it
34:43
Speaker 1: means to be perpetual, steady, constant, ever-enduring, rugged. In the etymology,
34:51
Speaker 1: it finally led to ruggedness. The way of the person
34:54
Speaker 1: who deals in defiant thoughts and actions is perpetually rugged, hard, miserable.
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Speaker 1: So that tells me that defiance leads to personal misery.
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Speaker 1: While you're in Proverbs, look at chapter 5, verse 21
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Speaker 1: through 23. We'll wrap up our thoughts with this one.
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Speaker 1: Defiance results in inescapable bondage. Not freedom, bondage. Those most
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Speaker 1: defiant are most bound, not freed. Defiance results in inescapable bondage.
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Speaker 1: See verse 21 of chapter 5. The ways of a
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Speaker 1: man are before the eyes of the Lord. He watches
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Speaker 1: all his paths. Hebrews says we are naked and open
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Speaker 1: before the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
35:48
Speaker 1: Doesn't it? Naked and open. But don't stop. His own
35:54
Speaker 1: iniquities will capture the wicked. He will be held with
35:58
Speaker 1: the cords of his sin. Look at that. One's own
36:04
Speaker 1: sin will wrap themselves around the victim and will cause
36:09
Speaker 1: him to die for lack of instruction. In the greatness
36:13
Speaker 1: of his folly, he will go astray. In the margin
36:16
Speaker 1: of my mind, I write Samson, who was literally bound
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Speaker 1: with the cords of his own sin of unconquered lust.
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Speaker 1: You know, I'm most concerned about acceptable defiance a lot
36:35
Speaker 1: more than bold defiance. Because that's what happens in the
36:40
Speaker 1: family of God. We know how to be defiant, but
36:45
Speaker 1: we know how to cover up for it, right? Sure.
36:53
Speaker 1: Leonard Held was a paragon of respectability. He was a
36:57
Speaker 1: middle-aged man. hard-working lab technician who had worked at the
37:01
Speaker 1: same Pennsylvania paper mill for 19 years. Having been a
37:06
Speaker 1: Boy Scout leader, an affectionate father, a member of the
37:08
Speaker 1: local fire brigade, and a regular churchgoer, he was admired
37:12
Speaker 1: as a model in his community until the image exploded
37:19
Speaker 1: in a well-planned hour of bloodshed one brisk October morning.
37:25
Speaker 1: decided to mount a one-man revolt against the world he
37:28
Speaker 1: inwardly resented. A proficient marksman, he stuffed two pistols into
37:34
Speaker 1: his coat pockets, a. 45 automatic and a Smith & Wesson. 38,
37:39
Speaker 1: before he drove his station wagon to the mill. He
37:42
Speaker 1: parked quietly. He gripped a gun in each fist, then
37:47
Speaker 1: slowly stalked into the shop. He started shooting with such
37:51
Speaker 1: calculated frenzy that it resembled a scene out of the
37:54
Speaker 1: old TV program Gunsmoke. He filled several of his fellow
37:59
Speaker 1: workmen with two or three bullets apiece, firing more than
38:03
Speaker 1: 30 shots in all, deliberately killing some of the men
38:06
Speaker 1: he had known for over 15 years. When a posse
38:10
Speaker 1: was formed to capture the man, they found him standing
38:13
Speaker 1: in his doorway, snarling defiantly, come and get me. I'm
38:19
Speaker 1: not taking any more of your Total bewilderment swept over
38:24
Speaker 1: the neighborhood. Puzzled policemen and friends finally discovered a tenuous
38:28
Speaker 1: chain of logic behind his brief reign of terror. Down
38:34
Speaker 1: deep within the heart and soul of Leonard Held rumbled
38:37
Speaker 1: the giant of defiance and resentment. The man who had
38:43
Speaker 1: appeared like a monk on the outside was seething with hatred,
38:48
Speaker 1: murderous hatred within. A subsequent investigation led officials to numerous
38:53
Speaker 1: discoveries yielding such evidence. Several of the victims had been
38:57
Speaker 1: promoted over him while he remained in the same position
39:00
Speaker 1: at the shop. More than one in his carpool had
39:04
Speaker 1: quit riding with him due to his reckless driving. A
39:07
Speaker 1: neighbor had been threatened and struck by him after an
39:09
Speaker 1: argument over a fallen tree. The man was brimming with
39:14
Speaker 1: resentful rage that could not be held in check any longer.
39:20
Speaker 1: Beneath his picture in Time magazine, the caption told the truth.
39:28
Speaker 1: Leonard Heldt responsible, respectable, and resentful. A man of defiance.
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Speaker 1: Your defiance will come out in the most amazing ways.
39:49
Speaker 1: A battered child. A crime of passion. A blistering tongue lashing.
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Speaker 1: Running away from home. An ugly caustic long line of
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Speaker 1: profane words. Domestic disharmony. A ruined testimony. I charge you
40:27
Speaker 1: before God tonight to deal severely with this giant that
40:34
Speaker 1: may be slumbering right now, but not for long. May
40:45
Speaker 1: we bow together, please. For just a few moments, I
40:53
Speaker 1: would like you to think about your life. I'd like
40:58
Speaker 1: you to trace back a few days, maybe you'd prefer weeks.
41:04
Speaker 1: Take a long look at where you are. Signs of
41:11
Speaker 1: defiance there? I want my own way. I won't quit.
41:21
Speaker 1: Until I get it. I don't care who it hurts.
41:27
Speaker 1: I refuse to listen to counsel. I'm not concerned about consequences.
41:36
Speaker 1: A Christian friend, those are dangerous words. You're on a
41:42
Speaker 1: powder keg.
41:43
Speaker 2: It's going to explode.
41:44
Speaker 1: It's going to explode. Tonight I ask you to find
41:52
Speaker 1: the hope of forgiveness in Jesus Christ. He is there
42:01
Speaker 1: and he awaits. You're turning over to him that turmoil.
42:07
Speaker 1: That big puddle of resentment that's turned into an acid
42:12
Speaker 1: that's eating away at you. Defiant spirit. If you've never
42:22
Speaker 1: met Jesus Christ personally, for sure, that's where you turn tonight.
42:31
Speaker 1: He died for that sin. Don't just explain it away
42:37
Speaker 1: and say, well, that's just the way I am. Call
42:43
Speaker 1: it what it is and say, Lord, take it tonight.
42:47
Speaker 1: Take it now. I ask, Heavenly Father, that in a
42:55
Speaker 1: very personal and wonderful way you will bring cleansing and
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Speaker 1: hope into the lives of some of your children and
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Speaker 1: some who don't know you through this message. Replace our
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Speaker 1: selfishness and stubbornness and indifference, resistance and contempt with forgiveness.
43:21
Speaker 1: Release us from the bondage of our sin, God. Help
43:29
Speaker 1: me do a work in my life so that I
43:33
Speaker 1: don't even have a bad memory that I've got to
43:36
Speaker 1: deal with. Just walk down the galleries of my mind
43:40
Speaker 1: and jerk those pictures off the wall that have no
43:42
Speaker 1: business being there. And flood me with your forgiveness, Father,
43:48
Speaker 1: and do that for some who are here. Take away
43:53
Speaker 1: that sting that we're living with on the verge of disaster.
44:03
Speaker 1: Set us on a new course, Lord, in your way
44:07
Speaker 1: with a real burst of encouragement, Father. I ask this
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Speaker 1: through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
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Speaker 2: How God Deals with Defiance, was copyrighted in 1978, 1980, 1982, 1987, 1995, 2008,
44:26
Speaker 2: and 2024, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2024
44:29
Speaker 2: by Charles R.
44:29
Speaker 1: Swindoll, Inc.
44:30
Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
44:34
Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.