Latest / Bible in a Year with Jack Graham / The Sin of King Jeroboam

Transcript

The Sin of King Jeroboam · Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: and said unto them, It is too much for you
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: to go up to Jerusalem. Behold thy gods, O Israel,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. 1
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Kings 12.28 Protect me, Lord, from the moments in my
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: life when I want to go back to the golden
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: calves and false idols that held me captive to limited
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: beliefs and ungodly behaviors. I confess that whatever success you've
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: blessed me with isn't a sign for me to take
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: my foot off the spiritual gas pedal and abandon the
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: ways and principles that have elevated my life and brought
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: peace and understanding to everything I do. The sins of
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Jeroboam will not be copied in my life. The rejection
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: from godly wisdom and alignment will not be the action
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: I take when I'm confronted for compromising my standards. When
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: I am faced with tough choices, I will be like Josiah,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: the descendant of David, and I will bring down anything
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: that isn't in alignment with your words or your ways.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: For the rest of my days, I will keep my
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: mind and heart focused on the main thing, and that
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: will forever be you. In Jesus' name, amen. Thanks for
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: making prayer a priority in your life. To hear the
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Bible come to life, stay tuned for the Bible in
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: a Year. Brought to you by BibleInAYear.com.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: The Sin of King Jeroboam In our last story, we
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: witnessed the splitting of Israel. Solomon's sin had caused God
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: to strip him of his legacy. Rehoboam, Solomon's son, used
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: the throne as an opportunity to be cruel. Jeroboam, the
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: son of a widow and old servant of King Solomon,
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: was named king in place of Rehoboam. So Rehoboam ruled
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: over Judah. while Jeroboam ruled over the other ten tribes
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: of Israel. Now we see that even the noble Jeroboam
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: is vulnerable to the traps of sin and idol worship,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: and how God shows no partiality when it comes to
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: taking away kingdoms, inspired by the book of 1 Kings.
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: Hello, I'm Jack Graham with today's episode of the Bible
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: in a Year podcast. But before we begin, I want
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: to let you know about a unique e-book That's yours
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: to download absolutely free today. It's called Breaking Free from Stress.
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: And my prayer is that it will help you conquer
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: the daily tasks and pressures and burdens that bring stress
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: in your life. Download your free copy of Breaking Free
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: from Stress today by visiting jackgram.org slash stress. That's jackgram.org
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: slash stress. In our last time together, we heard how
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: Rehoboam's pride and foolishness cost him most of his kingdom.
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: When given an opportunity to show mercy and kindness to
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: his people, he chose rather to oppress them in an
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: attempt to prove his own strength and gain more power.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: And so Israel became a kingdom divided, with ten tribes
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: of the north serving Jeroboam, a man who had served
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: Solomon and was chosen by God to rule much of Israel. Today,
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: we'll hear how despite being warned by God not to
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: turn away from him and his commandments, Jeroboam succumbs to
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: temptations and sins in the eyes of the Lord. And
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: just like Solomon and Rehoboam before him, his disobedience will
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: prove costly as God will judge him because of his unfaithfulness.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: Let's listen now to the Word of God.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: It had been over 500 years since God led his
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: people out from the grips of Egyptian slavery. Since then,
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: the Hebrew people had learned to wrestle with their own
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: sin and shame. They learned to cling to God through
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: wilderness and hardship. In that time, a wonderful blossoming had
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: taken place in the hearts of every man and woman. However,
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: sin still lurked at the borders of Israel, like a
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: hungry lion seeking whom it may devour. Jeroboam, the new
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: king of Israel, built up a new capital in the
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: city of Shechem. He worked diligently and with much compassion. However,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: his time spent in Egypt had muddied his mind. He
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: had forgotten the history of Israel and its history with
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: golden calves. Jeroboam noticed that people were still traveling to
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: Jerusalem to worship God at the temple. Wary of this,
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Jeroboam thought to himself, Unless I am careful, the people
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: will return to the dynasty of David. They will kill
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: me if they spend too much time over there. So
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: under the advice of his counselors, Jeroboam sought to build
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: a place of worship in the new capital. He amassed
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: fine gold and precious jewels from the storehouses and built
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: a beautiful new monument in the center of the city. There,
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: among the nation of Israel, stood two massive golden calves.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: The very image of ancient idolatry stood in the presence
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: of the people of Israel. Unaware of his ignorance, Jeroboam
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: yelled to the people, Behold, the gods who brought you
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: out of Egypt! Jeroboam was elated at his new project.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: People came from all over to worship the golden calves.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: Jeroboam smiled. However, God was burning with anger. Under the
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: influence of his time spent in Egypt, he also erected
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: pagan shrines and ordained his own priests to tend to them.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: He established religious festivals and parties. Jeroboam led the people
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: of Israel into a time of laughter, revelry, and feasts. However,
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: their hearts drifted away from God. This God would not allow.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: At God's command, a man of God came up from
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: Judah and went to Bethel, where Jeroboam was burning incense
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: at the altar. The sun had set, and the people
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: of Israel were partying down below in the city streets.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Jeroboam lit matches and burned incense when he heard a
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: voice from behind him. O altar, O altar! Jeroboam turned
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: around to see the man from Judah standing a few
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: yards behind him. The man approached him with great force, saying,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: The Lord has spoken, saying, A child named Josiah will
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: come from the dynasty of David. He will come and
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: make sacrifice of your priests and false worship. The words
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: shook Jeroboam, but he did not budge from his idolatry.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: Jeroboam shrugged and continued worshiping. The man struck his staff
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: onto the ground, demanding Jeroboam's attention. The Lord has promised
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: you this sign. Your precious altar of evil will split
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: in half and ashes will pour forth from it like snow.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: King Jeroboam stood up from where he was kneeling, fuming
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: with anger. He turned to his guards who were with
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: him and yelled, Seize that man! Spit fell from his
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: face as he screamed. He pointed to him. but as
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: he was yelling, a jolt of pain coursed through his arm.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Jeroboam fell to the floor holding his right arm. It
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: was paralyzed in a pointing motion. As he fell to
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: the floor writhing in pain, cracks could be heard from
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: behind him. He turned his head and watched his altar
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: split in two. The sound of stone cracking pierced his eardrums,
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: and ash poured out from the middle and flew through
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: the air like snowfall. Jeroboam could barely stand the pain
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: from his arm. He turned to the man and said,
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: Please ask the Lord to restore my arm. He did,
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: and his arm was restored. The king rose to his feet.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Sweat dripped from his whole body. He panted and stared
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: at the broken altar. He gripped his arm and faced
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: the man, saying, Please come to the palace with me
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: and eat. I will give you a gift. The man
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: looked at Jeroboam. He was a pathetic sight indeed. The
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: man turned his back to the king and said, Even
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: if you gave me half your kingdom, I would not
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: go with you. I would not eat or drink anything
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: in this city of darkness. And with that he departed
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: back to Judah. Despite all that Jeroboam just witnessed, his
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: heart did not turn from its corruption. He continued to
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: ordain priests and burn incense at the altar of false gods.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: His idolatry seeped into the hearts of Israel. God would
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: not allow any king to corrupt the hearts of his people.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: Soon he would remove the throne from Jeroboam in order
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: to protect his sheep.
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: Today's scripture begins with King Jeroboam establishing the capital of
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: the northern kingdom in Shechem. The new king showed potential
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: for greatness and he acted kindly and graciously towards his
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: people as David had once done and Solomon after him.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: But within Jeroboam's heart was a seed that lives in
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: all of us, unfortunately. It is the seed of sin
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: that was planted long ago when Adam and Eve turned
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: from God in the garden. God had told him that
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: if he would obey his commands, Jeroboam's kingdom would be established. Yet,
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: Jeroboam followed the seed of doubt and allowed this seed
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: to grow in his heart. As he saw his people
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: travel to Jerusalem to worship God in his dwelling place,
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: the temple, Jeroboam began to fear that he would lose
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: power and sway over them and that Rehoboam would soon
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: have the kingdom once more. In 1 Kings 12, 27,
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: we see what Jeroboam was thinking when he says to himself,
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: this people will turn again to the Lord, to Rehoboam,
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: king of Judah, and they will kill me and return
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: to Rehoboam, king of Judah. So clearly he was afraid
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: of losing power and control. But rather than believing God,
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: he built a place of worship in Shechem. What's worse,
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: he didn't build a temple for the Almighty God. He
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: repeated the mistakes, the terrible sin of Aaron, the brother
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: of Moses, and erected golden calves for people to worship.
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: This angered God and brought judgment 500 years before, and
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: it angers him again when Jeroboam does the same thing.
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: Jeroboam also repeated the pagan practices of the Egyptians among
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: whom he had lived when he was exiled, escaping Solomon's sword.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: He built shrines to pagan gods. The Lord would not
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: allow this to continue. He loved his children too much
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: to watch as they gave their hearts to lifeless idols
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: and forget their covenant relationship with him. So God sent
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: a prophet to Jeroboam to rebuke him and to deliver
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: some very bad news. The kingdom that God had entrusted
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: to Jeroboam would be taken from him. A man named
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: Josiah of the line of David would rise up and
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: destroy Jeroboam's priests and false gods. And he would send
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: a sign. The altar on which Jeroboam made sacrifices to
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: his pagan deities would be split open right before his eyes.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: The king, rather than repenting, became angry and ordered his
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: men to seize the prophet. But God struck Jeroboam down
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: with intense pain. His arm shriveled up. At that very moment,
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: he watched as the altar was torn in two and
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: ashes poured from it. There was no question that this
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: was God's doing, and the king recognized this. He pleaded
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: with the prophet to ask God to restore his arm,
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: and God did just that. But when Jeroboam asked the
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: man of God to stay with him and have a
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: meal so he could give him a gift, the prophet refused,
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: saying he would never remain there with Jeroboam, not at
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: any price. It may seem a small point, but it
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: is a valuable lesson about how we should deal with
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: people who reject God, that we should separate ourselves from
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: worldly idols and people who do not honor God. Genuine
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: biblical separation. This man had given Jeroboam a word from
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: the Lord. He had given witness to God's power, but
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: he was not about to remain in the king's inner circle.
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: He would not allow himself to be seduced by the
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: power and the riches of the king because he refused
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: to turn away from God. So he left, but Jeroboam
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: did not change his ways. He remained unfaithful, and soon
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: the Lord would deal with his unfaithfulness in order to
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: love and protect his own people. Dear Lord, may we
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: never be lured into the sin of idolatry, including the
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: idols that people put in their hearts, the idols of
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: money or prestige or power or even sinful satanic idols
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: that people worship today. God, may we be alert that Satan,
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: like a roaring lion, is roaming throughout the whole earth,
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: seeking whom he may devour. May we always look to you.
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: May we protect ourselves with your armor, the armor of God.
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: And may we pray always, knowing that you will deliver
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: us from evil. For this we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: Thank you for listening to today's Bible in a Year podcast.
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: Before we go, I want to let you know about
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: a unique e-book that's yours to download absolutely free today.
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: It's called Breaking Free from Stress. And my prayer is
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: that it will help you conquer the daily task and
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: pressures and burdens that bring stress into your life. Download
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: your free copy of Breaking Free from Stress today by
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: visiting jackgram.org slash stress. That's jackgram.org slash stress.