Sermon - September 28, 2014 - The Story Week 17 - The Kingdoms' Fall

On the evening of April 14, 1912, radio operators of the RMS Titanic received a message that the ship was heading towards a dangerous ice field. Later, a nearby ship also sent a message via Morse Code that they were approaching an ice field. The radio operators were preoccupied. In a day when there were no cell phones, the radio operators were busy sending messages from the ship’s passengers to loved ones back home. Messages about how they were having a wonderful time on the world’s most luxurious ship. They had such a long list of messages to send that when a nearby ship sent them a warning message, the radio operator responded in Morse Code ‘shut up, shut up, I am busy’. Needless to say they did not listen to the message that could have saved their lives.

So far the people of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms were also to busy doing the wrong things to listen to the warning messages sent by God.

Last week we saw that the Assyrian army came to Israel, the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom, and destroyed it. The Lost Tribes of Israel were spread all over the Assyrian kingdom and were never to return. They repeatedly turned their back on God and He finally let them deal with the consequences. Judah on the other hand fared much better due to the faith of their king Hezekiah. He honored God and restored Judah as a nation that worshiped The One True God. During Hezekiah’s life Judah was spared judgment.

Hezekiah a good king, eventually dies and his son Manasseh takes the throne at the ripe age of 12. Manasseh was not like his father.

2 Kings 21:2-3

“² He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites. ³ He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed and reestablished the altars for Baal. He made an Asherah, as King Ahab of Israel had done; he also worshiped the whole heavenly host and served them.”

Hezekiah loved the Lord; Manasseh turned his back on God. He reversed all the good that his father had done. Altars were built for Baal, he even built altars inside the Lord’s Temple, sacrificed his son in worship to a pagan god, practiced witchcraft, and so much more. Manasseh was an evil king.

Here is a summary of what could be said about Manasseh who did more evil in the eyes of God than any other king.

2 Chronicles 36:15-16

“¹⁵ But Yahweh, the God of their ancestors sent word against them by the hand of His messengers, sending them time and time again, for He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. ¹⁶ But they kept ridiculing God’s messengers, despising His words, and scoffing at His prophets, until the Lord’s wrath was so stirred up against His people that there was no remedy.”

We looked at these verses for the Nation of Israel before Assyria attacked, but these words are also true for the Nation of Judah under Manasseh.

Now I know Manasseh became king at a young age and I know a lot of people might say that was the problem, but I don’t think so. If you look at the last 6 kings of Judah, only Josiah was a good king and he took the throne at 8 years old. Can’t blame Manasseh’s failure as a leader on how young he was, his grandson did a good job and he was even younger.

With five of the last six kings being evil and leading Judah away from God, He cannot continue to bless them. It would send the wrong message to Judah and to the surrounding nations. God sent messenger after messenger and Judah did not listen. God warns Judah of exile, yet through Ezekiel the prophet, God promises to fulfill his purpose that all nations will know God.

Ezekiel 36:23

“²³ I will honor the holiness of My great name, which has been profaned among the nations—the name you have profaned among them. The nations will know that I am Yahweh”—the declaration of the Lord God—“when I demonstrate My holiness through you in their sight.”

Even through all of the evil kings and the judgment coming against Israel and Judah, the main purpose of God in His relationship with Israel is always to demonstrate that He is the One True God and that He wants to be in a relationship with all of us.

Judah went the way of Israel and turned away from God and He does the only thing left to do. God raises up the Babylonians to judge the Southern Kingdom, sinful Judah. These Babylonians are the same ones that Hezekiah showed all the treasure, armory, in short he showed them everything. Isaiah told Hezekiah this was going to happen, and it did.

The Babylonians conquered the Assyrians and destroyed Jerusalem and Judah in 586 BC, taking prisoners into exile.

2 Kings 25:10-12

“¹⁰ The whole Chaldean army with the commander of the guards tore down the walls surrounding Jerusalem. ¹¹ Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, deported the rest of the people who were left in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population. ¹² But the commander of the guards left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.”

Some of the people from Judah were left to tend the land. The fall of the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdome are hard stories but they teach us valuable lessons of faith. We have seen that through faith in the Lord, ‘all things work together for the good of those who love God.’ What we find this week is that in the midst of this horrible judgment and both nations being destroyed that God always offers a promise of hope. Enter Jeremiah, the weeping prophet who was called by God to speak to Judah and its fall.

Jeremiah 1:4-5

“⁴ The word of the Lord came to me: ⁵ I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Can you imagine hearing these words from your Creator? Before you were born, before you were conceived, I knew you, called you, and decided what you were going to do. Those words were spoken directly to Jeremiah, but they are also true for each one of us. God knew you before you were formed in the womb, God knew you before you were born, God set you apart to achieve the purpose you were created for.

Ephesians 1:4-5

“⁴ For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love ⁵ He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will,”

God chose you, before He even created the universe He chose you to be His own. God created every person for a reason, we each have a purpose. The question is, do we let God work in our lives or do we turn away from what we were created to do. Sadly too many turn from God and never know His grace and love. As we keep reading in Jeremiah we see he is looking for an excuse to not do what God created him to do.

Jeremiah 1:6

“⁶ But I protested, “Oh no, Lord, God! Look, I don’t know how to speak since I am only a youth.”

Sadly this is all too common. God calls someone to preach, I don’t know enough or I can’t speak in front of people. God calls us to share the gospel with a friend or loved one, oh I can’t do that I may mess up or they may get mad at me. God may call us to give of ourselves, our money, or our time. That is not going to work for me, I am too busy or I have to go buy a new toy instead of giving. Excuses, just like Jeremiah. Let’s look at how God responded to Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 1:7-10

“⁷ Then the Lord said to me: Do not say, “I am only a youth,” for you will go to everyone I send you to and speak whatever I tell you. ⁸ Do not be afraid of anyone, for I will be with you to deliver you. This is the Lord’s declaration. ⁹ Then the Lord reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and told me: I have now filled your mouth with My words. ¹⁰ See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and demolish, to build and plant.”

God pulled out His ‘SMITE’ button and wiped Jeremiah off the face of the planet.

Wait a minute, that is not what that said. It was more like; don’t doubt yourself for I will be with you. Do not be afraid, I will protect you. He then touched Jeremiah’s mouth and gave him all that he would need to do all that God had called him to do.

If God calls us to something, He will equip us for it. I am sure you have heard the saying ‘God does not call the equipped, He equips those He calls.’ God called Jeremiah and was clearly equipping him for the task.

Matthew 28:18-20

“¹⁸ Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus will be with us to the end of the age, through everything we will deal with, with every challenge we will face, Jesus will be with us. If that was not enough, we get even more help.

John 16:7

“⁷ Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send Him to you.”

The Counselor, the Holy Spirit is alive and well in the world today and is here to help us achieve our purpose.

If God has called you to something, He will equip you for it. If He wants you to preach His words, He will give you the tools necessary. If He wants you to share your testimony with a friend or loved one, He will give you the words to say. If He has called your to do anything, He WILL equip you to do it.

Jeremiah was called to call the people of Judah back to God. Some people would say he failed, but the truth of the matter is that the people of Judah were called to be the children of God and they chose to turn away. Jeremiah did exactly what God wanted him to do; the people of Judah did not.

Jeremiah 2:11-13

“¹¹ Has a nation ever exchanged its gods? (But they were not gods!) Yet My people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols. ¹² Be horrified at this, heavens; be shocked and utterly appalled. This is the Lord’s declaration. ¹³ For My people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.”

Jeremiah spoke boldly, the people of did not listen.

Jeremiah is known as the ‘weeping prophet.’ His heart broke for the people of Judah, but he never gave up hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

“¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Jeremiah’s weeping is found in the Book of Lamentations, his hope for Judah is expressed clearly in these verses.

Lamentations 3:21-23

“²¹ Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope: ²² Because of the Lord’s faithful love
we do not perish, for His mercies never end. ²³ They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!”

Even though the people of Judah did not listen to God’s warning, God was still faithful. He was faithful to return people to Jerusalem, He was faithful to bring the Messiah out of Judah, and He is still faithful and is trying to spend eternity with each and every person ever created.

If we stray from God, His mercies never end. If we falter and fall, He is still faithful. No matter what, God Loves you and is calling you to spend eternity with Him.


Thanks for Reading!

Please pray for our leaders, our troops, that our nation returns to Christ, against Cancer, and for our church.

Thank You and God Bless,

Robert

 

Sermon - September 21, 2014 - The Story Week 16 - The Begining of the End (of the Kingdom of Israel)

In preparing for this week’s message I came across some letters that children have written to God over the years. Here are a handful of them.

Dear God, in Sunday school they told us what You do. Who does it while you are on vacation? Jane

Dear God, Are you really invisible or is that a trick? Lucy

Dear God, Is it true that my father won’t get in Heaven if he uses his bowling words in the house? Anita

Dear God, Instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don’t You just keep the ones You have now? Jean

Dear God, My brother told me about being born but it doesn’t sound right. They’re just kidding, aren’t they? Marsha

Dear God, I read the Bible. What does “begat” mean? No one will tell me. Love, Allison

Dear God, Did you mean for the giraffe to look like that or was it an accident? Norma

These kids felt comfortable asking God their questions, even if it might have seemed a little forward. These examples should remind us that we can approach God with our own questions. What would happen if we did that this morning? What kind of letter would you write to God if we handed out pen and paper? If we did just that and then reviewed the letters, I bet one of the common themes would be ‘God, why do bad things happen to good people?’ I am sure this is something that all of us have questioned at one point in time. If you think about some of the people on our prayer lists, I am sure this question would fit. ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’

If you read chapter 16 of The Story this week, you may have been asking yourself that exact question when reading about the Southern Kingdom, Judah. King Hezekiah was a one of the 5 good kings and bad things were going to happen. Before we look at that lets review a little bit. Over the last couple of weeks we have seen the 12 tribes of Israel turn their back on God and then be torn into 2 different kingdoms. Israel the Northern Kingdom was made up of 10 tribes, and none of the kings that lead the Northern Kingdom were considered a good king. Judah, the Southern Kingdom was made up of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. In a 208 year period God sent 9 prophets whose basic message was ‘Return to the Lord, obey His laws, and beware of His judgment.’

 2^nd Chronicles 36:15-16

“¹⁵ But Yahweh, the God of their ancestors sent word against them by the hand of His messengers, sending them time and time again, for He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. ¹⁶ But they kept ridiculing God’s messengers, despising His words, and scoffing at His prophets, until the Lord’s wrath was so stirred up against His people that there was no remedy.”

For over 200 years God warned His people that they were not doing what they were told. He blessed them repeatedly and continued to give them chance after chance after chance after chance to repent. Prophet after prophet after prophet was sent, but the people refused to listen, and as verse 16 tells us they kept ridiculing them. The people of both kingdoms refused to listen to God and were going to suffer the consequences.

The Northern Kingdom, Israel had zero good kings. If you remember their first king had two golden calves made so the people could worship them instead of God, and it did not stop there. They continued to worship other gods; they took on the religious practices of nations that had inhabited the land before them. Idols, Asherah poles, and Baal took the place of the One True God. They rejected God and His messengers. God warned them and they did not listen.

2 Kings 17:18

“¹⁸ Therefore, the Lord was very angry with Israel, and He removed them from His presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained.”

In 722 BC the Northern Kingdom, Israel fell to the Assyrians. Hoshea was king of Israel and the nation of Assyria attacked. At first the king surrendered and paid a tribute to the king of Assyria. But then Hoshea thought he could find a way out of this and partnered with Egypt. The king of Assyria found out and attacked Israel and threw Hosea in prison.

2 Kings 17:23

“²³ Finally, the Lord removed Israel from His presence just as He had declared through all His servants the prophets. So Israel has been exiled to Assyria from their homeland until today.”

Israel turned their back on God, He let the Assyrians come in take over and from then on the ten northern tribes of Israel were no more. To be clear, the ten northern tribes would never return, they are known as the Lost Tribes of Israel.

If you remember last week we reviewed how God did not need all 12 tribes to fulfill His promises or His plans. All He really needed was one man, but He chose to continue to work through the Southern Kingdom, Judah. Over the 208 years we are looking at Judah had a mixture of good and evil kings. Some followed the same wickedness that the Northern Kingdom was doing and others did what they could to turn Judah back towards the Lord. The king over Judah during the time of Israel’s fall was one of those Good kings. Hezekiah did what he could to honor God.

2 Kings 18:3-6

“³ He did what was right in the Lord’s sight just as his ancestor David had done. ⁴ He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake that Moses made, for the Israelites burned incense to it up to that time. He called it Nehushtan. ⁵ Hezekiah trusted in the Lord God of Israel; not one of the kings of Judah was like him, either before him or after him. ⁶ He remained faithful to Yahweh and did not turn from following Him but kept the commands the Lord had commanded Moses.”

Hezekiah was a good king who trusted in God. As these verse point out, Hezekiah did what he could to get rid of the false gods and idols in Judah. Scripture also tells us that he repaired and opened the temple, reinstituted the sacrificial system, and brought back the practice and celebration of Passover. From what I can tell he was far more than a king, he was also a spiritual leader and was guiding his people back to God. Despite all the good things he was doing, bad things came his way.

It was during the 6^th year of Hezekiah’s reign over Judah that Israel fell to the Assyrians. A handful of years later Assyria sets its target on Judah and attacks and captures a some of its cities. Hezekiah negotiates and believes he pays off the Assyrian king, but the Assyrians came back with a huge army.

The king of Assyria made an offer to Hezekiah and the people of Israel trying to convince them to submit to Assyria without the battle. He offered both Hezekiah and the people of Israel things, prosperity, and peace. He even said that Hezekiah was misleading them when he said that ‘the Lord will deliver us.’ By putting his trust in God, Hezekiah defied the Assyrian king who had already conquered the much bigger Kingdom of Israel. Hezekiah sought the guidance of the prophet Isaiah and we find him praying in verse 15.

2 Kings 19:15-19

“¹⁵ Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord: Lord God of Israel who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are God—You alone—of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. ¹⁶ Listen closely, Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, Lord, and see. Hear the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God. ¹⁷ Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands. ¹⁸ They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but made by human hands—wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. ¹⁹ Now, Lord our God, please save us from his hand so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord God—You alone.”

Hezekiah trusted in the Lord and God intervenes as only He could.

2 Kings 19:35-36

“³⁵ That night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! ³⁶ So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and left. He returned home and lived in Nineveh.”

The Assyrian army was ready to destroy Judah, but due to the nation turning back to God and the faithfulness of Hezekiah, God himself destroyed the Assyrian Army. A bad thing turned good.

While Hezekiah is a good king, like others he made a grave mistake. Visitors from Babylon show up offering gifts. Hezekiah being the good host shows them around. He did not hold anything back; he showed them all the silver, gold, spices, and oil they had. He even showed them the armory; nothing was kept from his visitors. Then Isaiah comes and visits Hezekiah.

2 Kings 20:15-17

“¹⁵ Isaiah asked, “What have they seen in your palace?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen everything in my palace. There isn’t anything in my treasuries that I didn’t show them.” ¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁷ ‘The time will certainly come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord.”

Even though Hezekiah has been a good king looking to God, he is now once again confronted with bad things happening to the nation of Judah.

Bad things happen to good people. I am sure we can find many examples in the Bible of exactly this. Job, he was a righteous man, but horrible things happened to him. Paul who spread the gospel to the gentiles ended up in prison and died a martyr. This is not limited to what we find in the Bible, there was a true movie a few years back about some missionaries being attacked and killed by the people they were trying to reach.

Bad things do happen to good people. Please understand that I cannot fully explain why bad things happen to good people. As we go through life, we do not see all the ins and outs and how each action causes another. Only God can fully understand the impact of bad things happening as He is not limited like we are.

Romans 8:28

“²⁸ We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.”

We need to have faith that what Romans 8:28 is true. We need to trust God, even thought we do not understand and sometimes cannot possibly even begin to comprehend why something is happening we need to have Faith. Faith that God is in control. That is one of the reasons it is so important that we read our Bibles. It is through reading what God has done throughout history that we can see that the bad does not stay that way. Bad events can have a positive impact in the long run, in the Upper Story of God wanting to spend eternity with us.

If we pick up where we left off with the Nation of Judah we find that evil kings follow Hezekiah and eventually Babylon does come and conquers Judah and pretty much destroys Jerusalem. But it does not end there.

Isaiah 14:1-2

“14 For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will choose Israel again. He will settle them on their own land. The foreigner will join them and be united with the house of Jacob. ² The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess them as male and female slaves in the Lord’s land. They will make captives of their captors and will rule over their oppressors.”

Judah will be returned to their homeland, God will bless them once again. As we will see in the coming weeks that this is just one more step in God’s plan to spend eternity with us. Judah will return and eventually our Lord Jesus Christ will be born. God used Babylon to cleanse Judah and put it back on the right path.

Isaiah 49:23

“Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the ground, and lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am Yahweh; those who put their hope in Me will not be put to shame.”

In the long run we can see God’s plan for the bad things that happened to the kingdom of Judah. Hezekiah did not see it, the people who were exiled did not see it, but for the last 2,000 or so years it can be seen.

Bad things do happen to good people. We cannot fully understand why they happen, it is not humanly possible. If we have faith in God and believe what the Bible tells us we will know that in the long run good will come out of it. Remember that no matter what you are going through God Loves You! That is the whole reason we exist and that is why He is trying so hard to spend eternity with us.


We have officially passed the half way mark on our journey through the Bible. It is never to late to join us and study the Bible chronologically and with a focus on God's Plan.

God Bless,

Robert

Sermon - September 14, 2014 - The Story Week 15 - God's Messangers

Have you ever noticed how many warning signs and warning labels there are these days? We see them on food product, personal hygiene items, and just about anywhere. We hear them on advertisements for prescription drugs. They are everywhere and to be honest sometimes it seems to be overkill.

-          On a cup of coffee at McDonalds, warning contents will be hot. – I sure hope so, I like my coffee hot.

-          Under the hood of your car, there is a warning label about inserting your hand in the fan. -  That thing is moving pretty darn fast, I think putting anything in it would be a bad idea.

-          On a stroller, warning: remove infant before folding stroller for storage. - I remember being tired as a parent with a young child, but if I was so tired that I might leave my kid in the stroller I don’t think I would have been awake enough to read the label.

-          A Batman costume had a warning stating that the cape does not enable user to fly. – I am sure most of us know that Batman can’t fly, that’s Superman.

-          An electric fence had a sign that said ‘touching wires causes instant death. Two hundred dollar fine.’ – Great that they warn us about the electric fence, but it is going to be hard to collect a fine from a corpse.

Most of these examples seem almost ridiculous, but there are times in life we need to be warned if we are in a dangerous situation. If you touch that electric fence I mentioned you probably won’t care about the $200 fine, but you really need to know that there is current flowing through it.

In the story this week, God is trying to give a warning to His people.  The question is: ‘Will they respond to God or ignore the warning label?’ The message that God desires to be heard is delivered by special servants called prophets. 

Because the Bible is arranged topically and not chronologically, many people will enter the ‘black hole’ of their Bibles at this point. The Old Testament books are arranged as history, poetry, and prophecy. The story seems to get jumbled up and confusing. With the division of God’s people into two kingdoms, 10 tribes called Israel in the north and two tribes in the south called Judah, and the fall of the north to Assyria and the south to Babylon, many people give up reading their Bibles. Don’t let this happen to you.

When we left The Story, the nation had split into two kingdoms. While in the lower story, this was a conflict between Jeroboam and Rehoboam, in the upper story God was achieving His purpose. The question is, why did God divide the nation?

God divided the nation that He created because His people were sending the wrong message. They had gone from people who committed to do whatever God commanded in the time of Moses to people who ignored God.

God simply wanted His people to be blessed by Him so that others would see that He is God and would be drawn to Him. They went through a time of blessings, followed by rebelling, then blessing, over and over and over again. At this point in time they have continued to rebel from God, disobeying His commands, and worshipping false pagan gods, idols, and who knows what else. They had completely turned away from God.

God wanted them to send a message to the world, but they were sending the wrong message. Instead of saying our God loves us and blesses us, they were saying that they were no different than the rest of the world. God helped us, He called us out of Egypt, He repeatedly freed us from our captors, but we no longer care. Israel was saying, they don’t need God.

If you remember from last week the people of Israel and Judah had grown so engrossed into idolatry that they no longer honored God. They no longer saw God as a part of their lives. Thirty-three of the thirty-eight kings continued to lead the people of Israel and Judah farther and farther away from God.

God divided the Nation of Israel into two nations so that He could purify the message of Who God is. Does God need all 12 tribes to carry out His promises?

Genesis 12:1-3

“12 The Lord said to Abram: Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

God Promises Abraham that He will create a great nation out of his offspring. God does not say He will use 12 tribes to carry out His plan. How about God’s promise to David.

2 Samuel 7:16

“Your house and kingdom will endure before Me forever, and your throne will be established forever.”

Again I don’t see anything that would require God to use the entire nation of Israel. If you remember God only saved one family during the great flood and they repopulated the earth, He could easily accomplish His goals with only the tribe of Judah.

Abraham was an ancestor of David’s; David is part of the tribe of Judah, and it is through David’s bloodline that God will bring the Messiah. God’s promise is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Twelve tribes were not needed to purify God’s message to the world.

While God did not need all twelve tribes, He did send His prophets to the 10 tribes of Israel to call His people back to obedience. In a period of 208 years Israel had 19 kings and God sent 9 prophets to get their attention. Sadly the only prophet that was heard and obeyed in Israel was Jonah. He was heard by the pagan Ninevites, not the Nation of Israel.

God waited patiently for the Nation of Israel, the northern 10 tribes, to come back to Him. He wanted them to give up their idols and pagan gods. He sent prophets from varying backgrounds, noblemen, priests, farmers, and so on. Their methods and background were different but they had pretty much the same message. ‘Return to the Lord, obey His laws, and beware of His judgment.’

One of the most known is the prophet Elijah. God caused a drought in the Nation of Israel and 3 years into it, Elijah challenged king Ahab to a duel.

I Kings 18:19-24

“¹⁹ Now summon all Israel to meet me at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.” ²⁰ So Ahab summoned all the Israelites and gathered the prophets at Mount Carmel. ²¹ Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If Yahweh is God, follow Him. But if Baal, follow him.” But the people didn’t answer him a word. ²² Then Elijah said to the people, “I am the only remaining prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men. ²³ Let two bulls be given to us. They are to choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and place it on the wood but not light the fire. I will prepare the other bull and place it on the wood but not light the fire. ²⁴ Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of Yahweh. The God who answers with fire, He is God.” All the people answered, “That sounds good.”

So everyone gathered at Mt. Carmel, two bulls were chosen, and the 850 false prophets went first. They tried and tried from early morning till late afternoon to get Baal to respond. They prayed, yelled, cut themselves, in a vain attempt to get his attention. Needless to say it was not working. And I think Elijah was having a little fun with it and the false prophets.

1 Kings 18:27

“²⁷ At noon Elijah mocked them. He said, “Shout loudly, for he’s a god! Maybe he’s thinking it over; maybe he has wandered away; or maybe he’s on the road. Perhaps he’s sleeping and will wake up!”

Elijah mocking the false prophets and fake gods, reminds me of the movie Avengers. The Incredible Hulk is fighting an Asgardian, who are kind of like Roman gods with powers. Well the Hulk was fighting this Asgardian Loki and Loki is whining saying I am a god and should be treated as such. Hulk grabs Loki by the ankle and slams him into the ground over and over and then walks away saying ‘puny god’. While Elijah did not physically slam Baal and the other gods around, he is calling them out as puny gods.

After their failure to summon their false gods, Elijah has his turn. He builds an altar out of 12 stones, he had a trench dug around the altar, he arranged the wood, cut up the bull. All was prepared as he said it would be, but then Elijah makes it even harder on himself and God. He has them bring 4 pots of water, not one time but 3 times for a total of 12 pots of water. The bull was soaked, the wood was waterlogged, the altar was wet, and the trench was filled with water. I don’t think anyone could have lit that thing even with a dozen torches. Then Elijah prayed.

1 Kings 18:36-37

“³⁶ At the time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet approached the altar and said, “Yahweh, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that at Your word I have done all these things. ³⁷ Answer me, Lord! Answer me so that this people will know that You, Yahweh, are God and that You have turned their hearts back.”

Then God Answered!

1 Kings 18:38

“³⁸ Then Yahweh’s fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.”

A faithful prophet prayed, God Answered, and for a period of time the people of Israel returned to God. The false prophets were put to death and king Ahab could not wait to get back to his wife Jezebel and tell her what happened. King Ahab was excited and hoped on his chariot and raced home, with Elijah being given power by God to run ahead of Ahab and beat him home.

You can almost picture Ahab bursting through the door excitedly telling Jezebel everything that happened. He probably expected her to be just as excited as he was, but scripture shows us that her reaction was not as expected.

1 Kings 19:1-2

“19 Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. ² So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods punish me and do so severely if I don’t make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow!”

Elijah had just seen God work in a mighty way. He responded to a simple prayer and consumed every ounce of the water soaked altar, and then God gave Elijah the power to run faster than a chariot. You would think he would have laughed at Jezebel.

1 Kings 19:3-4

“³ Then Elijah became afraid and immediately ran for his life. When he came to Beer-sheba that belonged to Judah, he left his servant there, ⁴ but he went on a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. He said, “I have had enough! Lord, take my life, for I’m no better than my fathers.”

Not the reaction I would have hoped for. Feeling defeated Elijah ran, and ran, and ran. He eventually ended up at the Mountain of God, where Moses received the 10 Commandments and God asked him a question.

1 Kings 19:9

“Then the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

What brought Elijah to this point? Elijah forgot who was God. Ahab is not god, Jezebel is not god, only Yahweh is God. This prophet who was mocking 850 false prophets and their fake gods, became fearful when he took his eyes off of God and focused on the things and people around him.

This is a wonderful reminder for us that should help us to remember to keep our eyes on our Lord Jesus. If we focus on our problems and difficulties we lose sight of God and all that He has done and can do in our lives. If we take our eyes off of Jesus our problems overwhelm us and we have a tendency to let them get the best of us.

Hebrews 12:2

“ keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.”

 Keep Our Eyes on Jesus, the Source and Perfecter of our Faith!

Don’t let the troubles of the world take your eyes off of Jesus. Your troubles are just that, troubles and God is God!

Who do you want to put your faith in?

 

 

Thanks for reading, God Bless!

 

Robert

Sermon - September 7, 2014 - The Story Week 14 - A Kingdom Torn in Two

Last week we finished with God being angry with Solomon. He had let the beliefs of others interfere with his relationship with the one true God. Solomon did not follow God’s will and because of that, God would tear his kingdom in two. Solomon’s son would not inherit the entire Nation of Israel. As Solomon was growing older we find that not only was he turning from God, we was not using wisdom on how he was ruling over the Israelites

In the opening chapters of Ecclesiastes Solomon talks about how he got wrapped up in material things. His love and dependence on the things of this world contributed to his troubles. He admitted that there was a time when his heart took delight in material things. He eventually repented, but it did contribute to his downfall. His materialistic attitude apparently spread to his people as well as his lack of dependence on God.

Others gods had crept in at levels of society in Israel. To some those gods were pagan in nature and to others they were materialistic wants. Needless to say we see two major issues when Israel comes together to select its new king. If you remember in our readings from when Saul, David, and even Solomon were selected as kings, people looked to God to pick the new king. God handpicked Saul and David and the prophet Nathan was instrumental in blessing Solomon’s coronation. Things are different when it is Solomon’s son Rehoboam’s turn.

1 Kings 12:4

⁴ “Your father made our yoke difficult. You, therefore, lighten your father’s harsh service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”

Rehoboam goes on to ask his father’s elders and then his own buddies for advice. Not once does scripture tell us that Rehoboam asks a prophet or seeks the Lord’s guidance. Not once do we see the leaders of Israel do either of those things either. Instead the entire discussion is around who is going to get more. No God, only money.

King Solomon turned away from God and focused on material things, so did the Nation of Israel. Everyone was thinking about how they could get more, not about what God has in store for them.

This is an important reminder to each one of us. If we take our eyes off of God, other things will creep in. It may not be money or things, it may even be something that seems like a good idea, but things can take the place of God in our lives. We need to be very careful to God front and center.

Rehoboam received two sets of advice. The elders encouraged him to be humble and willing to soften the burden that his father had placed on the people. His buddies told him to come down hard and put the people in their place, which is exactly what he did.

1 Kings 12:13-14

“¹³ Then the king answered the people harshly. He rejected the advice the elders had given him ¹⁴ and spoke to them according to the young men’s advice: “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with barbed whips.”

God used the sin in people’s lives to accomplish His plan of splitting the Nation of Israel into 2.

1 Kings 12:16-17

“¹⁶ When all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them, the people answered him: What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Israel, return to your tents; David, now look after your own house! So Israel went to their tents, ¹⁷ but Rehoboam reigned over the Israelites living in the cities of Judah.”

1 Kings 12:20

“²⁰ When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. No one followed the house of David except the tribe of Judah alone.”

Solomon’s son Rehoboam had lost all but Judah and Jeroboam who was recently a political refugee was made king over Israel. This is what was foretold through the prophet Ahijah.

1 Kings 11:30-31

“³⁰ Then Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he had on, tore it into 12 pieces, ³¹ and said to Jeroboam, “Take 10 pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I am about to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand. I will give you 10 tribes,”

God honored His word. The line of David was still ruling, but due to not following God’s statutes and commandments, the nation was split into 2. Jeroboam was given some specific directions.

1 Kings 11:37-38

“³⁷ I will appoint you, and you will reign as king over all you want, and you will be king over Israel. ³⁸ “‘After that, if you obey all I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight in order to keep My statutes and My commands as My servant David did, I will be with you. I will build you a lasting dynasty just as I built for David, and I will give you Israel.”

Jeroboam was tasked with the same things the Nation of Israel and its leaders had been tasked with, follow God. No different than when the wandering tribe told Moses that they would do everything that the Lord has said. Follow God and adhere to His commandments.

At this point it would be easy to think that Rehoboam is a bad guy with his heavy yoke and whips and Jeroboam is a good guy coming in to lead Israel away from the oppressive king.  After all God chose Jeroboam to lead the people and promised him a long and happy reign. The catch is that Jeroboam had to stay true to God and follow His commands. Like the kings that came before him, Jeroboam had his own struggles and did not hold up his end of the deal. He was afraid. Jeroboam was afraid that the people of Israel would wake up one day and choose to follow Rehoboam. After all they were one nation, the temple was in Judah, the sacrificial system was tied to the temple, and they celebrated the same holidays. It would make sense that someday the two nations would rejoin and become one; it was Jeroboam’s deepest and darkest fear. It was this fear that drove Jeroboam away from the Lord and to lead the Nation of Israel away from God.

1 Kings 12:28-30

“²⁸ So the king sought advice. Then he made two golden calves, and he said to the people, “Going to Jerusalem is too difficult for you. Israel, here is your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” ²⁹ He set up one in Bethel, and put the other in Dan. ³⁰ This led to sin; the people walked in procession before one of the calves all the way to Dan.”

Aaron made one golden calf and it did not turn out good for the people of Israel, Jeroboam makes two golden calves, do you think it is going to turn out any different?

Of course God saw this and sent a prophet to Jeroboam to point out how he was sinning against God. The prophet said as proof that his words were from God that the false altar would split in two. As Jeroboam reached out to order his soldiers to seize the prophet, his hand shriveled up and the altar split just as the prophet said it would. Jeroboam repented and asked for prayer. The prophet prayed, Jeroboam’s hand was healed, but he continued to lead the people to follow this fake idol worship that he created.

Nothing can take the place of God in our lives. You may be thinking, “of course not, and this is why I don’t have any gold calves at home.” We may not have golden calves in our homes, but today there are many different things that are fighting to be first in our lives. Materialism, power, sports, family, relaxation, work, even ministry itself, are all things that can slip into God’s place in our lives. Anytime anything other than God becomes the focus of our lives, it is idolatry. We may not have golden calves in our homes, but we have other idols that interfere with God working through us.

Jeroboam was not the ‘good guy’ we may have thought he was going to be, but that does not mean that Rehoboam is off the hook either. Rehoboam followed in his father’s footsteps and allowed pagan worship to continue within the borders of Judah.

1 Kings 14:22-24

“²² Judah did what was evil in the Lord’s eyes. They provoked Him to jealous anger more than all that their ancestors had done with the sins they committed. ²³ They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree; ²⁴ there were even male cult prostitutes in the land. They imitated all the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.”

Both of the nations, Judah and Israel, had gotten to the point where they were no better than the pagans who lived in the Promised Land before them.

God’s people in the nation that He created in the land that He gave them, had turned out to be just like everyone else. They were called to be different and to represent God to the rest of the world. Instead they joined the rest of the world in their sin, they let things get in the way of what God called them to do and pursued their own interest instead. 

This all started with Solomon allowing other gods to creep in and not keeping God as number one is his life. Those decision impacted Rehoboam and Jeroboam. The faith of David was not passed down from Solomon to Rehoboam and it impacted the decisions he made. That same faith was not passed down to Jeroboam and he setup idols for people to worship.

For the next 344 years, from 930 to 586 BC, Israel continued to sink lower and lower. There were a total of 38 kings between the two nations and only 5 of them were good kings who followed God’s commandments. Thirty-three of those kings were bad kings, who led people away from God. Because of Solomon’s decisions in Rehoboam and Jeroboam’s past, they were bad kings, doing evil.

When idols are allowed to creep into our lives they have a lasting impact. It is important that we keep God in his rightful spot, Number One in our lives.

When we let things become more important than God, we are headed for trouble.

The question each of us need to answer this morning is, are we going to follow God or let things interfere with our lives?

God created each of us out of Love and He wants to spend eternity with us.

If you already know Jesus this morning, He has called you to be His messenger. He has called you to share His Love and ‘go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.’ Don’t let anything creep in and become an idol in God’s place.

If you don’t know Jesus this morning, God is calling you home. He wants you to be part of His family. He wants you to understand the blessing He has for you. Regardless of anything you have done, your sin can be forgiven. If you feel God calling you, please come forward this morning and I would love to pray with you.

God Bless!

Robert