Through the Bible Study — 1 Kings 14–15

All right, good evening. It's good to see everybody. I'm glad you're here. I just want to invite you to stand with me. We'll pray and we'll get started.

Oh, Lord, I thank you for the day. I just thank you for this time that we can come together, Lord, and praise you and worship you, Lord, and spend some time in your word. So I just ask that you would soften our hearts, Lord God, to receive your word and help us to sit everything else aside and lift praise to you. That's due to you, Lord. Father, we love you and we praise you.

We ask your blessing upon this time. In Jesus' name, amen. He set out last darkness.

Go and have a seat if you like. I searched the world, treasures that faint, satisfied. God, we just thank you, Lord, that gives us new life, that takes us from death to life, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. The eyes of my heart, I want to see, to see.

It's open, Lord, Lord, to see, to see.

It's open, Lord, Jesus. I just pray that you would open up our spiritual eyes tonight, Lord, to see the truth in your word, to see you, Lord Jesus. Lord, give us soft and receptive hearts to hear it, Lord. We love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.

There it is. To the book of 1 Kings, chapter 14. 1 Kings, chapter 14. Well, the last time that we were together, things had gone downhill for Solomon. Sin had crept into his life, particularly through the women that he had married. The commentary is given to us that he had, Solomon loved many foreign women and they eventually turned his heart towards idols.

And so God had to deal with that. And the way God dealt with that was by tearing the kingdom away from him. And as God tore the kingdom away from him, he gave it over to a guy by the name of Jeroboam. Matter of fact, he was a man of God. Matter of fact, the kingdom was divided. Rehoboam, Solomon's son, came to power. And he was very unwise in the way that he dealt with just about everything.

And because of that, the people rebelled against him. And 10 of the tribes went with Jeroboam. And two of the tribes stayed with Rehoboam. They became known as Israel and Judah. And so Jeroboam took over as king of the northern 10 tribes. And unfortunately, he led them into idolatry. His insecurity, his fear, caused him to build two golden calves that would divide them.

And so Jeroboam took over the northern 10 tribes. And he did that in an effort to keep the people from going back to Jerusalem to worship God because he feared that they would get back to Jerusalem, worship God down there, and say, hey, we don't want anything to do with the northern 10 tribes any longer. So he established these idols. And so that kind of brings us to where we are tonight.

And so as we move into chapters 14 and 15, we really start getting into the different kings of both the northern and the southern tribes. Now, that gets really confusing. If you've read through, first and second kings very much, you probably find yourself going, wait, wait, who's he the king of again? So I spent a little time doing a little research this week, and I found a great chart.

I hope you got one when you came in the door. If not, there's some that are still sitting out there that kind of lines up the kings of the northern tribes and the kings of the southern tribes. I found this to be kind of helpful. Maybe you can just kind of keep it in your Bible as you go along because, again, as we go back and forth, especially in first and second kings, you kind of find yourself needing a program to figure out where you are.

So that's what we're going to do. This is what I put together for you. I didn't put it together. I Googled it, found it, printed it off. So that's all I did. There was no actual work, really, that went into that other than that particular thing of me typing in kings of Israel and Judah. So chapter 14, verse 1. At that time, meaning the time when Jeroboam was king,

at that time, Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, became sick. Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise and disguise yourself so that they will not know that you are the wife of Jeroboam and go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there who spoke concerning me that I would be king over this people. Take ten loaves with you, some cakes and a jar of honey, and go to him.

He will tell you what will happen to the boy. Now, we have very little detail about this son or what was wrong with him. We only know that he had a son. That son was sick, and Jeroboam wanted to find out what was going to happen to the boy. And it's kind of an interesting situation that Jeroboam finds himself in. So he goes to his wife and says, I need you to go to the prophet Ahijah.

Now, if we were to jump all the way back to a handful of chapters back, we would find that Ahijah was the one that had come to Jeroboam with the brand new garment on, torn in 12 different pieces, and said, Take ten of these pieces. He said, I need you to go to him, and I want you to find out what's going to happen to the boy. It's kind of interesting because Jeroboam had established this entire religion, if you will, in the northern tribes and established a priesthood. Feast days, all those kinds of things.

But when something went wrong, when his son was sick, he didn't go to any of the priests that he had established. He didn't go to the false religion that he had established. What did he do? He went to talk to someone who was a prophet of God. And Jeroboam's move right here reminds us that oftentimes people want the benefits of knowing God without the commitment to God.

Sometimes we want to have all of the benefits that go along with being a believer in Jesus Christ. We want the benefits, the safety. Basically, we want to go to God when things are bad, but we don't want to be committed to him when things are good. And that's exactly where Jeroboam finds himself. So he goes and says, Take this gift with you. Talk to Ahijah.

Only he doesn't want healing for the boy. He doesn't want a word from the Lord. He wants him to basically be a glorified fortune teller. Tell me what's going to happen with the boy. And so that's what she does. So his wife goes. Notice what it says in verse 4. Jeroboam's wife did so and arose and went to Shiloh. She came to the house of Ahijah. And Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his age.

Now the Lord had said to Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you concerning her, for he is sick. You shall say thus and thus to her, for it will be that when she arrives, she will pretend to be another woman. And when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet coming in the doorway, he said, Come in, wife of Jeroboam, for why do you pretend to be another woman? For I am a woman.

For I am a woman. For I am a woman. For I am a woman. For I am sent to you with a harsh message. Now I love this because she goes in trying to disguise herself. Matter of fact, that's what Jeroboam tells her to do. Hey, you should disguise yourself so nobody knows that you're my wife. And here's Ahijah. His eyesight's gone because he's at that stage in life

where cataracts or whatever had caused it to where he couldn't see any longer. Only he didn't need physical eyes to see because he had spiritual eyes to see, and his spiritual eyes were gone. And God said, Hey, heads up, buddy. Jeroboam's wife is coming to see you, only she doesn't want you to know that's who it is. Go ahead and call it out anyway. And so she comes in the door,

and as she comes in the door, he immediately calls her out. Hey, Jeroboam's wife, why are you pretending not to be Jeroboam's wife? Come on in. And I love this because he says, I have been sent to you with a harsh message. She was coming to him to receive something, but what she didn't realize was he was already being given a message for her. And I don't know about you,

but if I ever walked into the house of an incredibly Godly, Godly person, and the moment I walked in, they said, I have a harsh message for you, that would cause me to step back and sort of sit down and think about things for a minute. Wouldn't it you? And when he says that, he wasn't kidding. Notice what he says. Go say to Jeroboam, thus says the Lord God of Israel,

because I exalted you from among the people, and I made you leader over my people Israel, and I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, yet you have not been like my servant David. Who kept my commandments and who followed me with all his heart to do only that which was right in my sight. You have also done more evil than all who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke me to anger and have cast me behind your back. Therefore, behold, I am bringing calamity on the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam.

I will cut off from Jeroboam. I will cut off from every male person, both bond and free in Israel, and I will make a clean sweep of the house of Jeroboam as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone. Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city, the dogs will eat, and he who dies in the field, the birds of the heavens will eat, for the Lord has spoken it. Now arise and go to your house.

When your feet enter the city, the child will die. And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam's family will come to the grave, because in him something good was found toward God, the God of Israel and the house of Jeroboam. Before we continue on with that, I want to point a handful of things out, and it has to do with this harsh message. Did you notice the first thing that God said?

God told him, I brought you up. I made you a king. I gave you a house that I tore, and I gave you a house that I tore away from David. In other words, you're in the position that you're in because of me. You're in the position that you're in because I graciously gave that to you. But you were not like David, because David had a heart to completely follow me.

Now, two things that I think are interesting about the statement that you're not like David because David had a heart to completely follow me. David did not present to us an example of what it would be possible to follow, right? David had his share of issues. David struggled with sin. David stumbled in areas of the flesh in his life in some of the greatest ways possible,

and yet he is remembered by God as one who followed God with his whole heart. Why? Because the standard that God has for us is a heart that is completely after the things of God. It does not mean that we will not fail in our flesh, because even when David failed, he always came back to God. His heart was repentant. And that's what God is looking for. God is looking for someone who is willing to,

when they're wrong, say, I was wrong, God forgive me. Because that's what a heart completely dedicated to God looks like. A heart that will pursue God with everything in them, and when they fail, will fall back on God's grace. He does not present something that is impossible to follow in the footsteps of. And yet the problem with Jeroboam, and this is what I want to point out to you,

is that his heart was not completely for the Lord. His heart was not completely for the Lord. I believe that if at any point in time, when someone had confronted Jeroboam with the sin that he was in, if he had said, you're right, I've messed up. Tear the idols down. Tear the statues down. Let's get back to worshiping God. Get rid of the priesthood. Get rid of the feast days.

Get rid of the things that are opposed to God. And let's get back to where God wanted us to be. I don't believe the kingdom would have been torn away from him. Because if anything, David presented to us that when you repent, God restores. But he said, but you aren't like David. You didn't follow me wholeheartedly. There's one other thing I would like to point out to you.

Well, two other things. The next one comes in verse nine. He said, you have done more evil than all who were before you. If you're a circling sort of a person, you might circle the phrase more evil than all who were before you. Listen, if there's anything you don't want God to say to you, it's that you have done more evil than anyone else. And I want to point out that he doesn't say more evil

than the kings that were before you. He says more evil than all who were before you. That would make me wonder if he means anybody that's been in leadership in Israel up to that point in time has not done evil to quite the same extent that this guy has done. These are harsh words. When he said I have a harsh message for you, he meant it. But the last thing I want to point out to you is this.

He says, you have made for yourself, same verse, other gods and molten images to provoke me to anger. Pay attention. And you have cast me behind your back. You see, at the heart of everything that Jeroboam did is that phrase right there. He put God behind him. He put God behind him because God was not what he was pursuing. God is what he wanted to forget. God is not what he was going after.

God was what he was running from. He said, you have put me behind your back so that he could never remember God again. He said, and because of that, I have to deal with you. I'm going to destroy your household. And did you notice what he said he's going to sweep it away like? He's going to sweep it away like the dung, right? Like, basically, that's what your household is made of.

And that's the way I'm going to sweep you away. There's only one person in your house that has any sort of good in them, and that's the kid that's sick right now, and he's the only one that will go to the grave. In other words, he's the only one that will have a peaceful burial, one that will be remembered. The rest of you will all be destroyed. It makes you wonder what kind of a kid that was, right?

Like, what was it that God saw in him? Well, whatever it was, God said he still has to die, but he will go to the grave. Jump down to verse 14. It says, Moreover, the Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel. Who will cut off all the house of Jeroboam this day and from now on. For the Lord will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water. And he will uproot Israel from this good land which he gave to their fathers

and will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River because they have made the Asherim, provoking the Lord to anger. He will give up Israel on account of the sin of Jeroboam which he committed and with which he made Israel to sin. And Jeroboam's wife arose and departed. She came to Terza. And as she was entering the threshold of the house, the child died. Did you notice the prophecy that was given in verse 15?

The Lord will strike Israel. He will uproot Israel. And he will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River. God is speaking ahead of time of something that will not come for many, many years down the road, hundreds of years down the road. And that will be the time when the nation of Israel is scattered, something that we will read about at the end of 2 Kings. He says this is what's going to have to happen.

But listen, you need to understand the root of Israel being scattered is the sin of Jeroboam. Brothers and sisters, I think we learned something really interesting from this. Sin has much more far-reaching consequences than we can ever imagine, which is why we cannot allow sin to be something that remains in our life. We cannot be like a Jeroboam who even when sin is pointed out, we say, I get it.

I'm going to keep doing what I want to do anyway. We have to repent while there is still time. We have to repent before the consequences become something that we can't outrun. And so she returns. The child dies. All Israel buries him. Notice what it says in verse 18. All Israel buried him and mourned for him according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke through his servant Ahijah the prophet.

The rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he made war and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. The time that Jeroboam reigned was 22 years, and he slept with his fathers. And Nadab his son reigned in his place. Now from this point on, we're going to put a bookmark in the northern kingdom. We'll come back to Nadab at the end of chapter 15.

And now we're going to jump back to the southern kingdom. Rehoboam is still in power in the southern kingdom. And so we pick up. We pick up with him in verse 21. It says, Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon, we'll call him the not wise guy. Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. And Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king. He reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen

from all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess. Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord. And they provoked him to jealousy more than all that their fathers had done. With the sins which they had committed. For they also built for themselves high places and sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and beneath every luxuriant tree.

There were also male cult prostitutes. Some of your translations may say Sodomites in that. Male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel. So Rehoboam takes over as king. We're given a little commentary on him. His mother's name was Naamah and she was an Ammonitess.

Again, one of the foreign women that Solomon loved. That was his mother and he followed in all the sins that his father had followed in. Now I find this kind of interesting because Rehoboam takes over and most of the kingdom gets taken away from him. And I feel like God makes it pretty clear why most of the kingdom was taken away from him. Because of the sins of his father.

Because of the idolatry of his father. But rather than learning from his father's mistakes, rather than going, I'm pretty sure the kingdom got ripped away because of idolatry, he takes it and runs with it. And continues with the idolatry. And we're told that Judah sins worse than they've ever sinned before. And do you notice one thing at the heart of all of the idolatry

and the sin that the nation of Israel is going through that Judah falls into at this point in time? Do you realize that at the heart of all of this, of all of these sins, is sexual sin? Let me read it to you one more time. It says, Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord and they provoked him to jealousy more than all their fathers had done. They built high places and sacred pillars

and Asherim, which is a sexually charged god, and beneath every luxuriant tree there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. And they did according to all the abominations of the nations that were dispossessed. Now, do you notice that? I point that out because of where we are right now as a culture. I point that out because of where we are right now as a nation.

Because where we are right now as a nation is the same place that Judah was in at this point in time. The same place that Israel was in at this point in time. Sexuality had become the god of the nation. Pleasure had become the god of the people. And because of that, God is now going to be angry. Because they are doing not only like the people around them, but worse than the abominations of the nations that God had cast out.

Why did God bring the children of Israel into the land when he did and give them the command that he gave them? Because he said if you allow the people of the land to stay there, you'll fall into the same sin. Because we tend to fall into the sins of the people around us. Brothers and sisters, I think we need to pay attention to the culture that we're living in right now.

Because the culture that we're living in right now doesn't look a whole lot different than it did when the nation of Israel was living in the land. We're living in the land all of these years ago. And we need to realize that the idolatry of the children of Israel and the idolatry of the people around the children of Israel looks a lot like the idolatry that we're dealing with today. Solomon, in all of his wisdom, in the book of Ecclesiastes, said there's nothing new under the sun.

Everything remains the same. And sin is always sin. And sin will always play to the basest form of who we are. And this is what happens with the people. This is what happens with the land. And so notice what happens. Verse 25.

What happened? God raised up an enemy. God allowed an enemy to come along that would ultimately start to deal with the land. And the enemy that he brought along this time was the king of Egypt. And it's kind of interesting, because you know what Egypt always represents in Scripture? Egypt always represents the world. What sins had the children of Israel given into?

They were given into the sins of the world. And it's almost like God said, Okay, if you want the world, then you're going to be dominated by the world. If you want the sins of the world, then the world is going to be your king. And Shishak comes against them. And according to history, he did a lot to spread the word. He took away the kingdom of Egypt at that point in time,

and he took away so much of the gold that Solomon had amassed. All of the work of Solomon's life, gone. I want you to notice what Rehoboam does. So King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place, and he committed them to the care of the commanders of the guard who guarded the doorway of the king's house. It happened as often as he entered the house of the Lord

that the guards would carry them and would bring them back to the guard's room. What did Rehoboam do when they were out of gold to make shields when the gold shields were gone? He made bronze shields. Now, that's significant for two reasons. Number one, bronze is often representative of judgment in the Bible. So it's kind of an interesting thing that gold, which was a standard of beauty,

a standard of glory, a standard of righteousness, has now been turned into bronze judgment, right? But the second thing is this, and I wrote this down from one of the commentaries that I read. I thought it was kind of interesting. It said, how often do we replace God's glory with something of lesser value? How often do we replace God's glory with something of lesser value?

That which was glorious was gone, but he had to keep up appearances, so he made more shields, but they didn't maintain the same glory that those shields of gold had, because that's what happens to us. You see, when we slip into sin, we have to replace the glory that comes along with God with something that's a little bit less so that we can keep up the show. And that's what Rehoboam does. And so we're told in verse 29, the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written in the books of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

We call them first and second chronicles. And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. His mother's name was Naama the Ammonitess. And Abijam his son became king in his place. So we stay in the southern kingdom. Chapter 15 verse 1 says, now in the 18th year of Jeroboam,

so that's three years before Jeroboam dies, the son of Nebat, Abijam, became king over Judah. And he reigned three years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Maaka, the daughter of Abishalom. And he walked in the sins of his father, which he had committed before him. And his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, like the heart of his father David.

So this next guy that we come to, Abijam, again we read of his mother's name. And I forgot to mention this when we talked about Rehoboam, because it's kind of significant that the mother's names are listed. Because not only in ancient Eastern culture, but especially in Jewish culture, usually the names of the mothers in genealogies are not mentioned. Oftentimes they're completely left out.

It's the son of this guy or the son of this guy. But in this listing of kings, the mother's name is listed. And several commentators that I read pointed this out. I think it's an interesting thing for us to point out. There's almost a really good lesson for us to pay attention to. And I, like John Corson, will say, don't shoot the messenger. But I do think it's kind of interesting

to pay attention to. And that's that it would appear as though a king was only as good as the mother that raised him. A king was only as good as the mother that poured into him. And I think that there's an interesting lesson for us to pay attention to. Because some of them will be mothers, and one of them's even gonna be a grandmother. But we are reminded of the importance

of a mother or a grandmother in the life of a child. Because oftentimes, the godliest of heritage comes from a mother who is constantly pouring into their kids. And I think in this culture, we discount the importance of godly mothers taking time to pour into their kids. In a culture that has told women that being a mother is secondary to everything else that they do, I would tell you that the Bible says the exact opposite of that.

The Bible says that being a mother is one of the most precious and important things that you can do. Because the heritage that you leave behind with your kids is of vast importance. And so we read the mother of Abijam was Maaca, the daughter of Abishalom. And unfortunately, Abijam is another bad king. It says he walked in the sins of his father, which he had committed.

And we're given a little bit more of a commentary on that. His heart was not holy, devoted to the Lord. Now, when we get to 2 Chronicles, we will read a little bit more about this guy. And we do find that though his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord, he was sort of half-heartedly devoted to God. Because we find that in some of the wars that he fights,

he cries out to the Lord. And as he cries out to the Lord, God graciously answers. And I think that there's something for us to pay attention to, and that's that just like Jeroboam, sometimes we're willing to call out to God when we need him, but we're not willing to call out to him to be committed to him. And that's sort of the testimony of this Abijam. And so,

his heart is not wholly devoted to the Lord like his father David, but, verse four, for David's sake, the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem to raise up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem. Because David did what was right in the sight of the Lord. And had not turned aside from anything that God had commanded him all the days of his life, except for Uriah. And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.

I want to point out one thing. I talk a lot about the far-reaching consequences of sin, but I cannot leave out the far-reaching benefits of righteousness. Because while the sins that we fall into can sometimes have consequences that we have no idea about, so are the righteous lives that we live. I don't want to just give us a negative example. I want to give us this positive example.

Because the positive example we see is that God continued to show favor to the house of Judah, not because they deserved it, but because of the heart of David. Because David's heart was to follow God. Even though he had his failures, his heart was to follow God. And the righteous life that David lived had far-reaching consequences. And so I want to remind us tonight

that just like David's life had these far-reaching benefits to where God blessed because of the heart that David had, I want to remind you that maybe you feel like nobody else notices the righteous life that you live. First of all, you're probably wrong. People are watching the righteous life that you live. But the most important person that's watching the righteous life that you live is God.

And the benefits will far outweigh anything that you could ever imagine. And so the lamp continues in Judah because of David, not because of any of the other kings. It says, And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. The rest of the acts of Abijam and all that he did are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?

And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. And Abijam slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa, his son, became king in his place. So in the 20th year of Jeroboam, the king of Israel, Asa began to reign as king of Judah. And he reigned 41 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maaca, the daughter of Abishalom. Really, that would be his grandmother,

was Maaca, the daughter of Abishalom. And what a beautiful, refreshing moment. And Asa did what was right in the sight of God. Like David, his father. Man, it's like an oasis in the desert, isn't it? It's like a cold drink of water on a hot day. You mean finally one of them did what they were supposed to do. Yeah, Asa was a good king. We read that he put away the male cult prostitutes

from the land, and he removed all the idols which his father had made. He even removed Maaca, his mother, from being queen mother, because she had made a horrid image as an Asherah. And Asa cut down her horrid image and burned it at the brook Kidron. The high places were not taken away. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly devoted to the Lord all the days of his life.

This is fascinating to me because of the reforms that he makes. And you'll find this. Every good king that comes along kind of has to undo what all of the bad kings had done before him. Can I say this without getting in trouble? I think I might know what that was. What that would have looked like, right? Like when a bad king's in place and a good king comes along

and starts to make reforms. I think I know what that looks like now, right? You know. That's going to get me in trouble. People probably didn't like it, right? I guarantee some people were like, he's ruining things. I can't believe what he's doing. And then, can you imagine the scandal in the kingdom and all of the reports on JNN, that's Jerusalem News Network,

all of the reports that went around when he deposed his grandmother. New king thinks he can do whatever he wants to depose his grandmother. Don't put 11, right? It would have been an unreal thing for him to do, just kicking rear end and taking names. But listen, if you're going to be serious about walking with Jesus, if you're going to be serious about reforming your life,

it's going to have to hurt. It's going to have to hurt a little bit. And brothers and sisters, I think if there's a lesson that we can learn from this, it would be just that. If you really want to walk with Jesus, sometimes it's going to hurt. Sometimes it's going to make somebody angry. Sometimes it's going to make you angry. Have you ever been, okay, full disclosure,

have you ever been reading the Bible and just gotten a little ticked off at what you just read? It happens to me all the time. Listen, it's my flesh, and I know it's my flesh, but sometimes I read and I'm like, why am I reading this? I don't like that at all. I want to use my black Sharpie highlighter on that one. Just pretend that one didn't exist, right? Because there's some things in there that you're like,

well, that kind of ticks me off. You ever circle things and go, I need more information? I do this all the time, okay? There are certain sections of the Bible that I underline or I just write, need more information later. Some of y'all don't want to come back next week now, but it's okay. I promise, I still love Jesus. I'm still going to do what it says, but I'm going to work through it a little bit

because sometimes God's word hurts so good, right? And that's kind of what Asa does here. So Asa is just going after it. There was one issue that Asa, there's actually going to be two issues that Asa has. The one is given to us in verse 14. It says, but the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless, his heart was wholly devoted to the Lord all of his days.

What does he mean by the high places? Does this mean he left places where idols could be worshiped? No, it meant that there were some places that were still established where they would offer sacrifices to God that weren't in Jerusalem. Those are the high places, and they were supposed to bring their sacrifice to Jerusalem. To the temple to be offered there.

But some people didn't want to make the trip. So they established these high places, almost like these little shrines to the Lord to kind of do things their own way. And he didn't tear those down. And that's one of the things you'll find throughout first and second Kings is the biggest issue that some of the good Kings had is that their reforms were great, but maybe didn't quite go far enough.

But his heart was still wholly devoted to the Lord. And so it says this, he brought into verse 15, into the house of the Lord, the dedicated things of his father and his own dedicated things, silver and gold utensils. And there was war between Asa and Baasha, King of Israel, all their days. We'll get to Baasha in just a moment towards the end of the chapter.

And Baasha, King of Israel, went up against Judah and fortified Ramah in order to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa, King of Judah. And he took all the silver and the gold which were left in the treasury of the house of the Lord, the treasuries of the King's house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants and King Asa sent them to Ben-Hadad, the son of Tabramon, the son of Hesion, King of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying, let there be a treaty between you and me as between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you a present of silver and gold. Go break your treaty with Baasha, King of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.

So Ben-Hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his army against the cities of Israel and conquered Ajon, Dan, Abel, Beth-Maaca, and all Chenaroth besides all the land of Naphtali. And when Baasha heard of it, he ceased fortifying Ramah, remained in Tirzah. King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah. None was exempt. They carried away the stones of Ramah

and its timber with which Baasha had built and King Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah. If there was one other mistake that Asa had in his life, it's that he had a hard time trusting God. This is one of the instances. We'll actually find that there's two instances where he really doesn't completely trust the Lord to handle things when we get into the book of 2 Chronicles.

One of them is he really doesn't trust God to deal with his enemies. Do you think God would have wanted him to make a treaty with a foreign nation in order to protect him from the Northern Kingdom? No. If God's God, he can protect him, right? God could have protected him from Baasha, King of Israel, but he had a hard time trusting God. And again, when we get there,

we're gonna find that he gets confronted by a prophet who says, you know, the Lord searches to and fro for someone who is completely dependent upon him. And then there's an incident later in his life. We'll read in just a moment that he becomes diseased in his feet, and rather than seeking the Lord, he only seeks the medical doctors. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but God wanted him to seek the Lord to find out what he should do about it, and he didn't.

And so if there was one major issue that Asa had, it's that he had a hard time trusting the Lord. And it's easy for us as armchair quarterbacks to sit back and go, kind of a good king, but he didn't trust the Lord. How much do you stay up at night worrying about things? Your heart's wholly devoted to the Lord, but you stay up all night worrying about your finances, or you don't get much rest because you're worried about your health, or you're always trying to scheme and connive to try to figure out how you're gonna make things happen, instead of really just trusting that God's gonna take care of you.

It's easy for us on this side of the Bible to say, I can't believe he did that, when we have our own issues with trusting God. Because at the end of the day, Asa was still known as a good king whose heart was wholly devoted to the Lord. Well, verse 23.

Pick it up on a theme here.

Asa slept with his fathers, was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Jehoshaphat, his son, reigned in his place. We'll get to Jehoshaphat later. Now it's time for us to go back to the northern kingdom. Verse 25. Now Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, became king. See why you need that chart? It gets confusing, because now you're like, oh great, we're like, we're going back in time again.

So, Nadab, son of Jeroboam, became king over Israel in the second year of Asa, king of Judah. He reigned over Israel two years, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin, which he made Israel sin. Spoiler alert, there's no good kings in the northern kingdom. You just need to know that right now. They all do evil.

I think there's like eight in the southern kingdom. There are zero in the northern kingdom. Nadab is one of the zero. He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and then along comes this guy named Baasha. Verse 27. Then Baasha, the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him. And Baasha struck him down at Gibethon, which belonged to the Philistines,

while Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibethon. So Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned in his place. And it came about as soon as he was king, he struck down all the household of Jeroboam. He did not leave to Jeroboam any persons alive until he had destroyed them, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite.

Because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned, which he made Israel sin because of his provocation, with which he provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger, and the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel? So along comes this guy named Baasha, who conspires against Nadab, puts him to death, but ultimately God was behind it, because he will end up putting to death everyone else that was involved in Jeroboam's household, just like God said. Now you would think in this moment, Baasha would become a really good king, right? Surely he just did the work of God.

He just fulfilled God's word. He's gonna be a really good king. But one of the things that we're gonna find in the books of 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, and ultimately the entire Bible, is we find that oftentimes God uses evil men to fulfill his purposes. God uses evil kingdoms to fulfill his purposes. He still deals with the evil. Sometimes God uses those things to fulfill his purposes,

and we have a hard time understanding that. Matter of fact, I think it was, was it Habakkuk? I think it was Habakkuk, that said, God, when are you gonna judge the nation? When are you gonna judge? When are you gonna judge Israel? And God said, oh, don't worry, I'm gonna judge them, but you're not gonna believe who I'm gonna use. He goes, try me. He said, I'm gonna use the Babylonians.

He said, dude, we're bad. They're really bad. Why would you use the Babylonians? And God says, because I use who I use. Because God sometimes uses evil people and evil kingdoms to do his work. This is where we have to learn to trust in a sovereign God. So God uses Baasha, a pretty evil man, we're gonna find out, to do, ultimately, his work. And so we come to verse 32.

It says, And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. And in the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha, the son of Ahijah, became king over all Israel at Tirzah. And he reigned 24 years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord. And he walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin, which he made Israel sin. So a couple things I wanna end with tonight.

First of all, if you notice, whether they're a good king or a bad king, it doesn't seem to matter. They reign for the amount of time God wants them there. Some of the bad kings reign for two to three years and you think, oh, well, if they're a bad king, they don't reign for very long. And then you get a guy like him and he reigns for 24 years. Why? Well, because God's in control

and he knows what he's doing a whole lot better than I do. The second thing that I really take note of is this. Sometimes good kings have bad sons. Sometimes bad kings have good sons. Sometimes good kings have amazing sons. And sometimes bad kings have bad sons. It's almost like everybody ultimately has to make a decision for themselves what they're gonna do with God.

I was reminded today and have been reminded some here recently that at the end of the day, everybody has to make their own decision. Our job is to plant into water. Ultimately, the Holy Spirit brings about the increase. And we can take so much pressure off of ourselves, whether that be in the lives of our kids, whether that be in the lives of our loved ones, whether that be in the lives of our friends that we're trying to minister the truth of Jesus Christ to, all of the pressure's off of me because at the end of the day, it's not my job to make sure that someone gets saved and it's not my job to make sure that someone stays saved.

It's my job to do what God calls me to do, to plant into water. Ultimately, the Holy Spirit does the rest. And it's up to people, the decisions that they make. And we'll see that throughout the books of 1 and 2 Kings. And so it'll be a little bit tough to read because there's a lot of good and a whole lot of evil. But in it all, we are reminded that God sovereignly is in control

and is still weaving his plan of redemption through the entire thing. Amen? Father, we come to you now and just thank you for the time that we've been able to have in your word tonight. Lord, I thank you that you give us these examples to learn from. And Lord, I pray that while we fear, Lord, leaving behind a legacy of sin, Lord, may we embrace the desire to leave behind a legacy of righteousness.

Lord, benefits of righteousness that will reach far beyond anything that we can imagine by the power of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.