Latest / Teachings On This Day On FerventWord / On Oct 04, 2015: 1 Kings 11-14 Obey God Or Else
Transcript
- You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015. Well, this morning as we look at the book of 1 Kings, we'll be looking at a couple different chapters starting with verse 11. And I've titled the message this morning, Obey God... or else. Now, it doesn't really mean to come across as ominous as it sounds. It's not that God is looking for an excuse, you know, to bring judgment. But as I was praying through this and working through this passage this week, the Lord kept reminding me of these signs that we would see in Israel as we were visiting Israel quite a few years back now. We went there and I was really Tripping out over this sign that was just everywhere. It just amazed me. It said, beware or danger minds. And right there, you'd be driving along the road, and then there's three feet, there's a fence with a sign on it. And so there's a minefield right there. You could literally just jump the fence and get blown up. And I'd never been so close to a landmine before in my life. It was very different for me to have that kind of experience and to see that everywhere, especially in the northern region of Israel, where there has been so much war. There was these fields where there was... landmines that they haven't cleared out yet. And so they have these signs. Now, if I, you know, as a crazy, foolish tourist, ignored the sign, jumped over the fence, and then got blown up, You would understand it would be my fault, right? I would see the sign. I would say, yeah, who needs that? I think I'm okay. And I would go anyways. That would be quite foolish. And it would be very devastating to my life and to my limbs to disregard that warning, to disregard that instruction, that sign that is there. And that's the way I would ask for you to consider obedience to God this morning. That as God calls us to obey him, it's not that, you know, he's waiting for you to disobey so that he could strike you, but it's that he knows where the mines are. He knows where the explosions are. He knows where the dangers are. And so he gives us commands and instructions and warnings so that we are kept safe from those dangers that present themselves and that are there. And so this morning, I would encourage you to obey God or else. If you disregard the sign and proceed anyways, well, yes, there is going to be danger. And it's not so much that God's out to get you, but that you're disregarding those things that he warned you against and he tried to keep you safe from. And so we're going to look at three points this morning, looking at three different passages here in 1 Kings. We're going to stay, first of all, in 1 Kings 11. And here, the first point is heed God's warnings. We need to pay attention. When God gives a warning, when he posts a warning sign, there's landmines ahead. We need to pay attention to that and recognize that God knows what he's talking about, and he warns us for a reason. Now the context for what's happening here in 1 Kings 11, we're looking at the life of Solomon and specifically the end of Solomon's life. Now Solomon started out really well. Being the son of David, he really turned the people to worship God. He was, of course, the one who built the temple and it was a glorious temple and it caused people to come together to worship God. And he did much for God in that early part of his reign. But it tells us that later on in his reign, he acquired many wives and his wives turned his heart from the Lord. And he began to worship other gods. And he began to be involved in idolatry that God had warned him about. And so here in 1 Kings 11, verse 9, it tells us, And so notice what it points out here. The Lord became angry with Solomon. The Lord was upset. He was angry about Solomon or with Solomon for a particular reason. Why? Because his heart had turned from the Lord. You can see here that God is holding Solomon responsible and accountable for his own heart. And if Solomon's heart turns away from God, well, that is something that God is going to hold him accountable for because it was his responsibility to keep his heart inclined to God. And the same is true for us. God holds you responsible for your heart. and if your heart turns away from the Lord, well, that's your responsibility and you will have to give account to God for why your heart, why you allowed your heart to turn away from God. It's our responsibility to make sure that that we keep our hearts inclined to God. That is that we keep our hearts pursuing God and submitted to God, that we keep our hearts worshiping God. We are meant to be training our hearts, training our hearts to love God, to walk with God, and to honor God. Proverbs chapter 4 verse 23 says, "'Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.'" Your heart is something that needs to be kept. You need to be training it and managing it and making sure that you keep your heart faithful to God. Solomon didn't do that. And so his heart wandered. His heart turned away from the Lord and it caused the Lord to be angry with him. But notice also here in verse nine, there's another reason why God was angry with Solomon because of his heart. At the end of verse nine, it says, "'Who had appeared to him twice.'" So here's the next part of the problem. Not only did his heart turn away from the Lord, but Solomon had received great revelation from God. So it's not just that, you know, he turned away from the Lord, but he didn't know very much to begin with. He had experienced an encounter with God twice. The first time we find in 1 Kings 3. Where Solomon began to reign, and very early in his reign, God appeared to Solomon. And you might remember the account there where God says, hey, Solomon, whatever you want, I'll give it to you. Just name it. I'll give it to you. And Solomon asked for wisdom. Probably the wisest thing he ever did was ask for wisdom when God offered him anything that he wanted. And God granted him that request and gave him great wisdom as well as an abundance of all kinds of other blessings. But he had this encounter with God where God appeared to him in 1 Kings chapter 3. But then we also see that happen again in 1 Kings chapter 9. And this time it's at the end of the building project. The temple has been built. Last week we looked at Solomon's prayer and he prays this prayer to God, this prayer of dedication of the temple. And after that prayer, God appears to Solomon again. And he says, I've heard your prayer. And I want you to know I am going to have my eyes on this temple, my ears here. I'm going to pay attention to the prayers here. But then he also goes on to give Solomon some instruction about walking with him and also some warnings about turning away from him. And so we see that Solomon had this great revelation here. God had appeared to him twice. He had these two encounters with God that were different, that were unique, that the rest of the population of Israel, they didn't get these kind of experiences with God. But God had given Solomon these great opportunities to see him, to know him, to hear from him. David Guzik says, sometimes we think that spiritual experiences will keep us from sin and will keep us faithful to God. He says, this was not the case with the wisest man who ever lived, and it will not be the case with us also. We can't count on awesome experiences to keep us from turning away from the Lord. It's not the special revelation that keeps our heart It's not the awesome experiences, the mountaintop experiences where God reveals himself and shows himself and speaks so clearly. Those things aren't guarantees that you will be faithful to God. It wasn't true with Solomon. It won't be true with you. You have experienced great things from God. The Lord has spoken to you. Jesus has died upon the cross for you. And so like Solomon, you have experienced great revelation. You've experienced great things from God. And so you have every reason to be diligent in keeping your heart. You need to be diligent in submitting your heart to the word of God, in filling your heart with the word of God, keeping yourself accountable to the word of God, and continuing to submit your heart to the Lord for his purposes and for his glory. Solomon had great revelation, and yet He disregarded the warning that God gave. Check out verse 10. He said, and had commanded him concerning this thing that he should not go after other gods, but he did not keep what the Lord had commanded. So in these revelations, when God appeared to Solomon, he gave him commands. And notice what it says. He commanded him concerning this thing. So God spoke to Solomon specifically about this issue of his heart being turning away from the Lord. God spoke to him specifically about the potential that he had to wander from God with his heart. It was something specific that God spoke to him about. The New Living Translation puts verse 10 this way. He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the Lord's command. That puts it very clear. God had warned him specifically about this issue, and Solomon did not listen to the Lord's commands. Why did Solomon not listen? I think it'd be easy for us to look at this and understand that Solomon probably didn't listen because he didn't think he needed the warning. After all, when God appeared to him and gave him this warning, he just finished completing the temple. And so God says, okay, now make sure you keep your heart in check because there's that potential that your heart's going to turn away from me. And I'm putting myself in Solomon's shoes, maybe kind of imagining how I would respond. I would be like, Lord, come on. I just built you this incredibly awesome temple. I mean, have you seen the temple? I mean, take a look at what I've done for you. Take a look at how amazing this is and how hard I've worked. And we've orchestrated all kinds of things and it's filled with gold and it's glorious. And people are going to come from all over the world just to see this temple that I have built for you. Of course, I'm not going to turn away from you. I would bet that Solomon is convinced. I don't need that warning. That's not something I need to be concerned about. How could my heart ever turn away? Look what I have done for you. Look at how amazing this building is. But God warns for a reason. And so Solomon was convinced that he didn't need the warning, and yet God knew that he did need the warning. I like what Pastor Chuck says. He says, God doesn't waste words. He doesn't waste words. He gave Solomon a warning, not because it was some hypothetical thing that could never happen, He gave Solomon the warning because he needed to hear that warning. And there was that potential of his heart to turn away after other gods. And so God says, I know this about you. I know the temptations you're going to face down the line. And so you need to be careful. You need to make sure that you remain faithful to me. He warned him about this. But Solomon disregarded the warning and his heart turned away from the Lord. Verse 11 says, Here we see the, or else. Heed God's warnings, or else. God said, Solomon, you're going to have this issue. You're going to need to make sure that you stay faithful to me. And if you don't stay faithful to me, which Solomon did it, he said, well, here's the consequences. Here's the repercussions of your unfaithfulness, of your heart turning away because you have done this. I warned you about this. You did it anyways. And because you've done this, your kingdom will be torn away from you and given to your servant. There's going to be consequences upon the whole kingdom. The kingdom now is going to be divided. There's going to be destruction. in your life and in the lives of the people as a result of your disregard to the warning that I gave you. As we consider this example of Solomon this morning, it's an example for us to learn what not to do. And I would encourage you this morning to heed God's warnings. Pay attention to God's warnings. Now we can think about God's warnings in a couple ways. First of all, we could think about the biblical warnings. There's lots of warnings in the scriptures. Because God knows our hearts and he knows what we are tempted by. He knows what we're capable of. And even when we're convinced that we don't need the warning, God would say, I'm telling you this for a reason. I'm posting the sign. There's danger here. There's mines across this line. And if you go past that, there's going to be destruction. There's going to be devastation. There's lots of warnings in the scriptures. There's also personal warnings that That is, you have your own relationship with God by faith in Jesus Christ. And so as you walk with God, God's going to speak to you about your own heart. He's going to. And he's going to give you some warnings. He's going to show you what to watch out for. He's going to give you some advance notice about some of the things that you're going to struggle with so that you can be prepared for the battle that you will face. But so many times we're so convinced that our standing is solid enough Paul told the Corinthians, if you think you stand, take heed lest you fall. The areas where you think you're strong, I would never struggle with that. I would never deal with that issue. Many times, that's the area where we'll find ourselves fallen, where the enemy will be attacking and will be unexpecting and unprepared for that battle. God warns you ahead of time to help you prepare. Consider this warning from Jesus in Luke chapter 21, verse 34. He says, So here's one example of a biblical warning. There's many more, of course, that we could look at, but Here Jesus says, take heed to yourselves. Pay attention to yourself. Pay attention to your heart because your heart can be weighed down with carousing, with drunkenness, or even just with the cares of this life. It doesn't have to be some, you know, incredibly egregious sin that weighs your heart down. Your heart can just get caught up in this world, get caught up in this life, and become weighed down. And then notice what he says, and that day come on you unexpectedly. The end result is you're not prepared for the return of Jesus. And so here's a warning. Take heed to yourselves. Watch out because there's a tendency for your heart to get entangled with this life, with this world, and it leaves you unprepared for the return of Jesus. We need to be ready for the Lord's return. He calls us to be ready. He warns us against being unprepared. Heed God's warnings. Maybe there's some warnings that God has given you specifically and personally. I would encourage you to make sure. Take them seriously. Even if you feel like, I don't need that warning. Maybe even this morning as you're hearing this, this is a warning that God is bringing forth to you. And you feel like, you know, I don't really need to heed that warning. It's not a big deal. Obey God or else. Well, yeah, of course I'm going to obey God. But you know, maybe there's some more things going on behind the scenes that you're not fully aware of. And perhaps God has brought you here and brought me with this message for a particular purpose, because you need to know that if you don't obey God, as you cross the lines that God has set, there are landmines, and you will destroy yourself and your family. You will bring destruction into your life if you do not keep your heart faithful to God. Heed God's warnings. Well, for point number two, we're going to jump now to 1 Kings chapter 13. And here I want to encourage you to follow God's instruction. Sometimes God warns you about dangers ahead. Other times God gives you specific instructions about what to do, how to behave. And as he gives that instruction, we're to be very careful to follow that, to be obedient to what the Lord says. Now the context for 1 Kings chapter 13, what's going on here is that after Solomon died, the kingdom of Israel was split in two. And so you had the northern kingdom called Israel and the southern kingdom called Judah. And they were at odds with one another. There was animosity between them. The northern kingdom rebelled against God instantly, immediately. They turned away from God and began to worship false gods, idols that the king Jeroboam had set up. The southern kingdom throughout their history had some good kings and some bad kings, but that's where Jerusalem was. So those who were faithful to God and would worship God according to his instruction, they would be there in Judah, in Jerusalem, and they would worship God at the temple in the way that he had instructed. And so that continued on. And so there were many faithful to God in the southern kingdom, in Judah. Well, one of those who was faithful to God was a young man. He was a prophet. He's not named. We don't know who exactly he is, but he was sent by God from Judah to Israel. So God speaks to him one morning and says, hey, I want you to go across the border, go into the northern kingdom, and you're going to bring a message for me against King Jeroboam and against the things that are happening in their idolatry. And so this young prophet gets up and he goes and he goes and he prophesies against King Jeroboam, which was a risky thing to do. It could have cost him his life to do that, but he's bold. He's obedient to God. He prophesies against King Jeroboam and then he begins to journey home. Well, as he's on the way home, there's an old prophet living in the Northern Kingdom in Israel who hears about this exchange and what happened. It seems like this old prophet was a backslidden prophet. He hadn't been walking with the Lord for many years. But he hears about this young prophet and the message that he brought and the way that God worked. And he wanted to have him over for dinner. He wanted to spend some time with him. Maybe he was just thinking, oh, man, I remember what it was like to hear from God and be used by him and bring forth a message. And so, man, I want to hang out with this guy. I want to talk to him. Maybe it was something like that, that he just wanted to spend some time with this guy. So he chases after, he pursues this young prophet and he catches up with him. And now he's going to invite him back for dinner. And we'll pick it up in verse 15 here at 1 Kings chapter 13. Then he said to him, come home with me and eat bread. So the old prophet approaches the new prophet, the younger prophet. And he says, hey, come home with me and eat bread. Now the young prophet responds in verse 16. And he said, I cannot return with you nor go in with you. Neither can I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place. For I have been told by the word of the Lord, you shall not eat bread nor drink water there nor return by going the way you came. So the dinner invitation comes and the young prophet says, no, I can't. I'm sorry. I wish I could, but I can't. God gave me specific instructions. He told me when I come up here to give this message that I'm not to go back the same way I came, and I'm not to eat bread in this area, in this region, and I'm not to drink water here either. So I'm not to, you know, hang out, fellowship, you know, talk to different people. Like I'm just go up, give the message, and then come straight back. It was a, you know, specific instruction that God gave to him. But the old prophet, he was really wanting to have this dinner and this fellowship with him. And so he tries again in verse 18. He said to him, I too am a prophet as you are. And an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord saying, bring him back with you to your house that he may eat bread and drink water. But then notice the parentheses there. He was lying to him. So the old prophet now makes up a story. He really wants him to come over for dinner. So he makes up the story. Hey, I'm a prophet too. God speaks to me. And in fact, an angel spoke to me. and told me to bring you back to my house for dinner. He makes up the story, invents a vision, lies to this young prophet, and says, you know, God told me to tell you to disregard what God told you. This young prophet falls for it. Verse 19. So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water. He did exactly what God told him not to do. The old prophet lied and But this young prophet believed him. And he believed him to the extent where he violated the specific thing that God told him not to do. Now, if you're not catching on yet, this is not good. The young prophet is clearly wrong here. He was deceived. He was tricked. But at the same time, God's going to hold him accountable because he gave him clear instruction. Remember Paul writing to the Galatians, He says, I'm really surprised. I'm shocked that you're so quickly turning away from the gospel that I shared with you to another gospel, which really isn't a gospel at all. And Paul goes on to say, look, if an angel from heaven appears and shares with you another gospel, let him be accursed. That's not the true gospel. We need to make sure that we grasp hold of the word of God and hold onto it and believe it especially in the face of some lies and deception that the enemy will definitely try to bring. There's always going to be opposition to the word of God. But when God gives you clear instruction, when he gives you the clear gospel, when he gives you clear instruction about what you're to do, how you're to live, where you're to live, how you're to work, where you're to work, when he gives you clear instruction, it doesn't matter what anybody else says. You need to be faithful to God. And so if Harvey comes to you and says, well, hey, the Lord told me to invite you over for dinner. And God said, don't you dare go to dinner at Harvey's house. Don't believe Harvey. Be faithful to the instruction that God gives to you. Don't let someone else deceive you or else. Check out verse 20. Now it happened. As they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back. And he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah saying, thus says the Lord. Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, but you came back, ate bread, and drank water in the place of which the Lord said to you, eat no bread and drink no water, your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers. So now as they're having this dinner that the old prophet really, really, really wanted to have, so he invented visions and made up lies and tricked the guy to come back with him, Now suddenly, and maybe strangely to us, they're sitting at the table and suddenly this old prophet's called into active duty again. The Lord gives him a message and says, I'm going to have you speak for me. And the old prophet speaks forth against the young prophet. And he says, you disobeyed. You did exactly what I told you not to do. And because you did exactly what I told you not to do, again, here's the or else. Because you've disobeyed the word of the Lord, You had my clear instruction. You disregarded it. Now, because of that, at the end of verse 22, he says, your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers. That is, you're not going to make it home. You're going to die on the way. You just cut your life short by disobeying God. You crossed over into the minefield and a bomb's about to explode. You're not going to make it home because you disobeyed. Now, We can look at this account and very quickly and easily ask, wait a second, why didn't God judge the old prophet? He's the one who tricked him and lied to him and convinced him to come back. As you read on in the account, which we're not going to be able to do this morning, but the young prophet, he leaves from this and he gets eaten by a lion. Why didn't the old prophet get eaten by a lion? He lied. He's someone who's been living in sin for many years and now he's used by God this one time again, but Doesn't make up for what he did. I mean, it was that old prophet's fault, right? He's the one who lied to him and tricked him, but God doesn't see it exactly that way. He says, you know, I gave that young prophet clear instruction and he's accountable to that. It doesn't matter who says something different. He's going to be accountable to what I instructed him to do. Listen to what Dave Guzik says about this. He says, this is an example of an important principle of the way God works. We think that strict judgment should begin amongst the most ungodly, but often God begins strict judgment among his own people. We look at the world around us. We look at injustice around us. We look at situations around us, and we think, well, God should bring judgment to these who are the most ungodly. He should bring judgment to them. That's what we would think. This old guy, he deserves judgment, but he's, Dave Guzik points out, this is important to understand. This is The way that God works, he brings strict judgment to his own people. Why would God do that? Jesus tells us in Luke chapter 12, verse 48, to whom much is given, from him much will be required. Here's the principle God operates by. Yes, there are ungodly people who do wicked things. They have lesser revelation. They have lesser understanding. But those who know me Those who hear my voice, those who speak for me and represent me, they've been given much. And so much will be required. There's a higher standard. There's a higher standard for you because you have heard from God, because you know God, because you have the word of God. There's a higher standard for us because we have so much from God that God holds us to a stricter judgment, a stricter standard. James tells us in James chapter 3 verse 1, he says, my brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. There's a stricter judgment. As you serve the Lord and walk with the Lord, that doesn't mean you get away with more stuff. That means you get away with less stuff. Because you know God. Because you hear from God. And so God holds you accountable for that. And that's why we need to follow God's instruction. When God speaks to you, especially as he gives you some clear commands, some clear instruction, things that he's specifically spoken to you, you need to make sure that you follow that because God will definitely hold you accountable to that. And it's easy for us to be like, you know, the people on the freeway who are like, hey, cop, why'd you pull me over? Other people are going faster. It's easy for us to kind of take that approach with God, right? Well, like, hey, other people are doing worse things. But that's beside the point. That's a different issue. You know exactly what God wants you to do and you disregard it. God will deal with that. You need to make sure that you follow God's instruction. When he gives you clear instruction, make sure that you obey it. And again, we can consider this in two ways, biblical instruction and personal instruction. That is, there are those commands that God gives in his word. And there's an abundance of commands that are given in God's word. And as God gives you those commands, as you read those commands, as you hear those commands taught, as you receive those commands from the Lord, make sure that you follow them. You're now accountable because you know what God has said, what God has instructed. And then sometimes God gives you personal commands. As you walk with him, God gives God goes even into greater detail many times in our lives. And he says, you know, here's how I want you to handle this situation. Here's how I want you to treat that person. Here's how I want you to behave in this way or in this environment. Here's what I want you to do here. And here's what I want you to do there. God will speak to you as you walk with him about your life and about what he wants you to do. He will give you instruction. Now, as God gives you that instruction, here's what you need to make sure. Make sure that you follow it. Again, from this young prophet, we learn the example of what not to do. Don't disregard what God has spoken to you. Even if an angel appears and says something different, don't disregard the word of God. Don't disregard what he has said. You need to follow God's instruction. Are you disregarding any of God's commands? It's important that you really consider that. Is there any area of your life where you know you're involved in things that God does not want you to be involved in? Are you disregarding any of God's instruction in your life, in any part of your life? Listen, God is giving you this opportunity to turn back and repent from those areas in your life. This is an opportunity for you to wake up, to take heed, to realize God's not giving these warnings idly. He's not just speaking words, but you need to pay attention. And it's serious because God deals with with sin in our lives. And he will deal with sin in our lives much faster than with many times those who are outside of the faith, who even do worse things than us. Consider what Peter says in 1 Peter 4, 17. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. And if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Notice what he says. Judgment begins at the house of God. And we might think, well, that's unfair. Well, hey, the rest, he says, those who don't obey the gospel, what will their end be? In other words, God's going to deal with them. They're going to be judged for sin, just like we are. But God's priority is on you. It's on me. And if I'm out of line with God's instruction, God's commands, God's going to deal with that. He's not going to just let that continue. He must deal with it. He's a holy God. And he wants what's best for you. And for you to disregard his instruction is not what's best because there's landmines. You're going to cause damage to yourself and to people around you if you continue down that path. And so God will bring judgment because he loves you so much that he doesn't want you to continue and to get worse and worse and worse and deeper and deeper into those things that will destroy you. And so God brings swift judgment. But you don't have to wait for the judgment of God to experience deliverance. from those things. And that's why I'm making sure that I share this with you this morning. Follow God's instruction. You have opportunity right now by the grace of God, the mercy of God, to turn back. It's not too late. You can turn back and begin right now to follow God's instruction. To start right now. Yes, you've blown it. Yes, you've messed up. Yes, you have those things that you've been involved in and maybe things that you don't even want to talk about because it's so shameful. But you have the opportunity by the grace of God because of what Christ has done for us upon the cross that you can start right now following God's instruction. He gives you that opportunity. It doesn't mean that there won't be any consequences for sin, but it will be much reduced. than if you had continued in your sin. You can save yourself a lot of pain, a lot of heartache, a lot of damage if you will turn now and follow God's instruction. If you disregard his instruction, there will be damage. It's guaranteed. Well, finally, we're going to jump now to 1 Kings chapter 14. Point number three is honor God's blessings. Honor God's blessings. Now, what's happening here in chapter 14? We're looking at the reign of King Jeroboam. And it's towards the end of his reign, Jeroboam became king of the northern part of Israel after it split under the reign of Solomon's son. And so Jeroboam was the first king of Israel, this divided kingdom. And he was king... According to God's word, God told him ahead of time that he would be king, but he immediately turned away from God, and he rebelled against God. But what we see happening here in chapter 14 is him seeking out some insight from God because his son is sick. And so he's concerned about his son. He's concerned about whether or not he's going to live. And so he sends his wife to back down to the southern kingdom, back down to Judah, where there is a prophet of God, the same prophet who spoke to him about him becoming king. And so he sends his wife to the prophet to hear from God about his son who is sick. And God lets this prophet know ahead of time, hey, Jeroboam's wife is coming. Here's the situation. And God gives this prophet a message to send back to King Jeroboam. And here's the message in verse 7. It says, Here's the message for Jeroboam. God says... I exalted you from among the people. I raised you up and gave you this position. I made you ruler of my people. I tore the kingdom away from the house of David. Now, you know how God feels about David. This was a serious thing. This was a meaningful thing as he divided the kingdom in this way. He says, I gave it to you, but you've not been like David. You haven't been faithful to me. You haven't kept my commandments. You haven't done what was right in my name. But notice what he says again in verse 7. So you can see he's building to the or else. You're going to be held accountable for this, Jeroboam, because I did something great in your life. I raised you up and set you as king. Now, we get a little bit of insight about the heart of Jeroboam before he becomes king. Back in 1 Kings 11, let me read to you verse 37. God speaks to Jeroboam through the prophet and says, So I will take you, and you shall reign over all your heart desires, and you shall be king over Israel. So check out the heart of Jeroboam here. He had a desire. He had a desire to reign over Israel. He had a desire to be king. And God says, I'm going to give you your desire. I'm going to grant that to you. I will take you, and you shall reign over all your heart desires. I'm going to give you the desires of your heart, Jeroboam. Now, we can look at Jeroboam and automatically ascribe to him some evil intentions from the get-go. But it very well could be that he started off with the right mindset in that, well, the reason why he wanted to reign, perhaps, is because he wanted to give people relief from from the heavy burden of taxes that they had been experiencing. You can see as you read through the account that after Solomon died and Rehoboam, Solomon's son, takes the throne... And Jeroboam leads a group of people to the new king now and says, hey, your dad really gave us heavy burdens. I mean, he lived in luxury and Jerusalem is filled with gold and there's all this lavish wealth and everything. But it came at a cost. It came at the cost of these heavy taxes upon the rest of the people. And so would you consider, please, reducing the taxes? Grant us relief. I mean, it's a heavy burden for us to bear. And so Jeroboam is kind of like the spokesperson leading, you know, this discussion and saying, hey, this is really hard on us. Would you reduce these burdens? Now, Rehoboam, the new king, Solomon's son, he was foolish. And he said, no way, I'm going to make it worse. I'm going to raise the taxes, not lower them. And so that's what brought about the division of the kingdom. But you can imagine then, coming from that perspective, that Jeroboam's heart wasn't necessarily to be evil and to turn away from the Lord. But what his heart's desire was, he was seeing the people burdened. And he's like, oh man, if only I could reign, if only I could be king and I would reduce these burdens, I would make things so much better for the people and they wouldn't be so weighed down and have these great taxes over them. He had this desire to set the people free from this. He had this desire to relieve them, to be king over them in order to do them good. And God says, I'm gonna give you that desire. I'm gonna set you up as king. He goes on in the next verse of 1 Kings 11. In verse 38, he says, now, if you'll take heed to my commandments and if you'll follow me, he says, if you'll obey me as my servant David did, then I will be with you and I will build for you an enduring house as I built for David and will give Israel to you. This is an incredible promise that God gives to Jeroboam. He tells him, hey, I'm going to give you your desires and I'm going to make you king. Now, here's the thing. If you're faithful to me, I will set you up as a king and your family will be king. It'll be a dynasty like David's dynasty. Like David's reign will continue. Your reign will continue. I'm going to bless you abundantly. I'm going to reward you if you will be faithful to me. I'm going to give you the desires of your heart. I'm going to bless you. Now, if you'll honor me in the things that I bless you, if you'll be faithful to me in what I give to you, I'm going to establish you and you're going to have an enduring house. Jeroboam did not stay faithful to God. In fact, immediately he turns away from God, and he sets up idols for the people to worship because he's concerned. After the kingdom's divided, now he's worried. He's like, okay, I have power. I have the kingdom. But you know, the people are going to continue to go down to the southern kingdom because that's where the temple is. So they're going to always want to go back there. There's going to be this draw that they're always going to want to go back and worship God at the temple. And so he comes up with a plan. All right, I'll set up two golden calves. So that the people have two places to go so that it's more convenient. You don't have to go all the way over across the border down to the south. You can go whatever is closer to you. He sets one up at the north and at the south. And he says, this is your God worship here. And so right away, he leads the people into idolatry. So looking at 1 Kings 14, verse 9. God talks about this. He says, but you have done more evil than all who were before you. For you have gone and made for yourself other gods and molded images to provoke me to anger and have cast me behind your back. Jeroboam, you didn't just not follow me like David did, but you've done much worse in that you've created new gods to worship and you've cast me behind your back. You've just thrown me out. You don't even consider me anymore. You don't even pay attention to me at all. I gave you the desires of your heart. I blessed you incredibly. I raised you up. I did this work in your life that you were desiring, and yet you used what I gave you to turn away from me and to throw me behind you. And so God says, because I exalted you, and yet you've done more evil. Verse 10, he says, therefore, here's the or else. Therefore, behold, I will bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. God says, because... I exalted you and you behaved this way. I gave you the desires. I blessed you abundantly and you behaved this way. I'm going to flush you down the toilet. That's what he says. I'll take, as one takes away, refuse until it's all gone. So even if there's, you know, a little bit of remnants, I'm going to flush again and keep flushing until it's all gone. That's how I'm going to deal with you and your family, Jeroboam, as a result of the way you handled the blessings that I gave to you. Listen, we need to learn from Jeroboam's example. Again, what not to do. Honor God's blessings. Do you know God has blessed you abundantly? As a believer in Jesus Christ, you have incredible blessings. Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. You don't just have a little bit of blessing as a believer. You have every spiritual blessing, everything that you could be blessed with, you're blessed with by faith in Jesus Christ. Every spiritual blessing possible, you have as a believer in Jesus. You have incredible blessing. We've been looking at the book of Romans on Wednesday nights, and we've seen over and over and over again, the incredible blessings of the gospel. Being set free from the law of sin and death. Being set free from the burden of legalism. Being able to approach God. Being able to have access to God. Being able to have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us and guiding us and praying for us. And on and on and on we could go. You have every spiritual blessing. Make sure that you honor those blessings that God has given to you. He's given you incredible access to God. Don't dishonor God. And the things that he's given to you. Don't throw him behind the back and use the peace that God has given to you now to pursue your own thoughts and desires. He pulled you up out of the miry pit. Set your feet upon the rock. Now, don't go wandering off into the wilderness, off back into the mud. Don't use the freedom that God has given to you to then go indulge in things that are not of God. Honor God's blessings. For Jeroboam, it was specifically tied to, look, I did this for you. I raised you up. And yet you've used the power and the authority that I gave to you to do this great wickedness. Listen, here's the thing that we need to understand. The only way to rebel against God is to use the resources that God gives us. There's no other way to rebel against God. You can't rebel against God with your own resources because you don't have your own resources. In order for you to go indulge your flesh, you have to use the body that God has given to you. You have to use your breath that God has given to you. You have to spend the money that God has given to you. In order for you to rebel against God in any way, you are taking God's blessings to you and using them for vile purposes. That's the only way to rebel against God because God is the creator and we belong to him. We are his. And when we rebel against him, it's not just bad in the sense that we take our own stuff and we use it in ways that are wrong. It's that we take stuff that God has blessed us with, treasures that he has given to us, and we use them for vile purposes. God will deal with that, just like he dealt with Jeroboam. Consider what Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 6, verse 17. Not only do we have every spiritual blessing, but God also blesses us physically, materially. Here in verse 17, he says, So here's a command for the rich. And you think, okay, make sure you point out those rich people and tell them to follow these things. I'm sure you've seen the pictures before. I'm sure you've seen and heard many things like this throughout the years. The idea of there's the little cup of rice that the little kid in Ethiopia gets, and then you have this mound of food. That's your daily food compared to their annual food. It's kind of the contrast that is often painted. If you could ask people throughout all of history about our situation, about our condition, they would love to be in our situation. Even the poorest of us here, In the eyes of the majority of humanity throughout all history, we're wealthy, we're rich. So it's a matter of perspective. It's a little bit subjective. You may not be rich in the sense that, you know, you never have to think about money and you have more than you could ever spend in a lifetime. Yeah, maybe you're not rich like that. But you know, God has blessed you with material goods. He's blessed you with financial resources. And notice what he says at the end of verse 17 here. He says... Now, here's the thing to pay attention to, because sometimes you talk about, you know, the little cup of rice versus our amount of food, and, you know, immediately it's like, well, I feel guilty. You know, I should never eat again because, you know, I'm such a terrible person. But listen, God gives you stuff to enjoy. He gives you food to enjoy. He gives you money to enjoy. He gives you material things to enjoy. He richly gives you things to enjoy, right? He wants you to enjoy things. Now, that doesn't mean he wants you to be consumed by something and so overindulge and just constantly let that be the total pursuit of your life. No, no, no. Of course, God needs to be first. But along the way as you're walking with God, it's totally appropriate for you to enjoy God's blessings in your life. But here's the point. You are blessed. You have God's blessings. You should enjoy God's blessings. But make sure that you enjoy God's blessings in a way that honors God. Enjoy the money that God gives you. Enjoy it, but enjoy it in a way that honors God. Use it in a way that glorifies God. It's okay to have enjoyment. It's okay to be entertained. It's okay to have a good time. God wants you to do that. He specifically gives you things. He blesses you for that purpose. but use it in a way that honors God. Honor God's blessing. So obey God or else. Not that God's out to get you, but he's posting up the sign. He says, look, there's some landmines here. And if you don't heed the warning, if you don't pay attention to this alert that I'm issuing, you're going to run into some explosions. There's going to be some damage. God holds you responsible for your heart. He wants you to make sure that you keep it with all diligence. He doesn't warn us needlessly. He doesn't waste words. Remember, Jesus warned Peter, hey, you're going to deny me. Peter was absolutely convinced, no way on earth. I'm never going to deny you. Even if all these guys fall away, hey, I'm not going to deny you. I'm willing to die for you. But Jesus warned him because it was a real issue. He was really going to face it. And a little girl was going to ask him something. And he was going to deny Jesus as a result. He didn't measure up to what he imagined himself to be. None of us do. We need to take heed to God's warnings. And maybe this warning today is something that God wants for you to take heed to. Obey God or else. Follow his instruction and use the blessings that he gives to you in your life to honor him. He wants the best for you. He wants good for you. And that's why he issues the warning. He gives the instruction. And that's why he gives you blessing. But watch out for the landmines. Because like the old prophet, there's going to be those. The enemy's going to bring people along. He's going to put thoughts in your head. He's going to want to try to get you to disregard what God has said. And it will be to your detriment. Obey God. He loves you. And he proved it once and for all upon the cross. And we get to reflect on that this morning as we close the service in communion. And so I'll invite the worship team to come on up and prepare for communion. You know, as we think about communion today, this is... an opportunity. You can come on up. Yeah, go ahead. This is an opportunity for us to put into practice this obedience to God because Jesus commanded us to partake of communion. And he commanded us to partake of communion specifically to remember him. He gave us the bread, which represents his body being broken for us. And he gave us the cup, which represents his blood being shed for us. And he said, Do this, partake, eat the bread, drink the cup. And he says, do this in remembrance of me. And so this is a command. Now, you may not think you need that command. You may not think it's that big of a deal. But listen, God gives you this instruction because he knows you need it. He knows we need to take a moment and to remember what Christ has done for us upon the cross. And so we're going to worship the Lord together. And as we do, I would encourage you to take this moment and remember Jesus. Reflect. upon what he has done for you. Reflect upon the blessings that he has given to you, the sacrifice that he made for you. Make sure you take this time to remember him. Jesus commands you to, and you disregard that to your own detriment. Paul the apostle warned, he says, if we take this bread or this cup in an unworthy manner, we'll be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. It's a serious thing. to neglect this, to disregard the meaning of communion. And so if your heart's not right with God, well, you have the opportunity right now as we worship to get right with God, to call out to him in repentance, and then you can partake with us. But don't partake just to fit in or just to be part of the ritual. Make sure that your heart's really in the place where you say, you know, God, I'm gonna obey you. And those areas I've been disregarding you, I'm gonna stop that. I'm gonna repent and I'm gonna follow you. Make sure you do this in an awe with the understanding of the seriousness of what Christ has done for us, the blessings that you have and the accountability that you have because of all that God has done for you. And so worship the Lord. Get right with God. Come to him in repentance and receive the grace and the forgiveness that he offers by faith in Jesus Christ. They're going to pass out the bread and the cup as they do this worship song. And anytime during the worship, you're welcome to partake on your own between you and the Lord. You make sure you're right, that your heart's right with Him, and you partake between you and the Lord at any time. Let's worship Him together. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.