Wednesday Night Service 7PM - Rehoboam - II Chronicles 10-12 - Pastor Ryan Nichols

Good evening. I'm glad you're here. It's good to see everybody. If you'll go ahead and stand with me, we'll pray and we'll get started.

Father, we come before you this evening and we thank you for allowing us to be here. We thank you for allowing us to be in your house this evening, Lord. And just as we enter this time of worship, Lord God, may we focus all our energy upon you, Lord God. All of our worship, all of our attention, all of our praise upon you, Lord God. We want to glorify you this evening, Lord. And as always, Lord, may your word go out with power, Lord, and move mightily in Jesus' name. Amen.

You guys can go and have a seat if you like.

We just thank you for who you are. I thank you for your power, Lord, your power to overcome sin, your power to overcome the grave, Lord God. The power to give us new life, Lord, that's in you and in you alone. And Father, this evening is... Pastor Ryan comes, Lord, I just pray that you would speak mightily through him, Lord. Move mightily by the power of your Holy Spirit, Lord.

God, you're a mighty God and we ask in you to do a mighty thing tonight, Lord. We love you and we praise you in your precious name.

Good evening. If you brought a Bible with you, open up to 2 Chronicles chapter 10.

2 Chronicles chapter 10. Well, we now move into the rest of the kings of Judah, if you will. Tonight we will see the... The vision of the kingdom and ultimately the direction that the kingdom ends up going. We will look at the reign of Solomon's son, whose name is Rehoboam. And so we pick up in chapter 10, verse 1, and it says this. Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.

When Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, heard of it, for he was in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon, he said, Jeroboam returned from Egypt. So they sent and they summoned him. When Jeroboam and all Israel came, they spoke to Rehoboam, saying, Your father made our yoke hard. Now, therefore, lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke, which he put upon us, and we will serve you.

He said, Return to me again in three days. And so the people departed. Now, let's give a little bit of a backstory here because the writer of the Chronicles sort of left a little bit, of an out that I think will lend a little bit of light on this particular story. So during the reign of Solomon, because Solomon had given into idolatry and had taken many foreign wives, God had sent a prophet to Jeroboam, the man that fled to Egypt.

And he gave Jeroboam a piece of cloth, and he said, Rip this cloth up and take ten pieces. He says, Therefore, ten of the tribes of Israel will be governed by you, and two will be governed by Solomon's household. Because of your sin, or because of Solomon's sin, I will tear a portion of the kingdom away, but I will always maintain my faithfulness because I made a promise to David, and I intend on keeping that promise. Well, Solomon sort of got word of what was going on with Jeroboam.

Jeroboam was one of Solomon's not only military leaders, but the leader of his workforce. And so he sensed that something was going on, and so he actually tried to kill Jeroboam. And so Jeroboam fled. He fled until after the death of Solomon. And so Solomon's son, Rehoboam, takes over. And one interesting fact that I don't think I realized until I was studying this time,

do you know that out of all of the wives and everything that Solomon had, we only read of one son of Solomon? And his name is Rehoboam. He's the only one mentioned by name in the Bible. And I found that to be kind of fascinating because here Solomon had all of these wives, and surely he had more than one son. You know, you get a thousand wives. Probably a pretty good odds of you having more than one, and yet only one is mentioned.

And we're reminded that, unfortunately, the flesh produces no lasting results in our lives. And so Rehoboam goes to Shechem. Now remember, there was the knowledge that there was a little bit of division between the northern and the southern tribes at this point in time. And so he goes to Shechem, which is in the north, to try to give an olive branch, if you will, to try to unite the kingdom.

And as he shows up, everybody, everybody tells Jeroboam, hey, you should come back here. Feels like we kind of need you for this situation. And so Jeroboam sort of arrives as this kind of rogue leader of the northern tribes, and they make this request of Rehoboam. They say, listen, here's the thing. Under your father, we were taxed heavily and we were worked hard.

And we knew why we were doing it. It doesn't say this here, but this is the indication. They knew why they were doing it because Solomon had cast a great vision. Solomon was a great leader, and they knew that there was purpose in the things that they were doing, but they didn't know why they were doing it. And quite frankly, between the taxation and the heavy workforce, they said, could you give us a break?

Your father was very hard on us. Could you go a little easier on the taxation? Could you make that a little bit easier on us? And Rehoboam starts off with a really wise statement. He says, give me three days because he's going to seek counsel. And listen, sometimes when you have big decisions to make, the best thing that you can do is say, I need some time to think this over.

I need some time to make this decision. And so that's what he did. That's what he does. So he says, give me three days, come back, and I'll give you my answer. And so it says in verse 6, King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father, Solomon, while he was still alive, saying, how do you counsel me to answer this people? They spoke to him saying, if you will be kind and please them and speak good words to them,

then they will be your servants forever. Now, if I'm in the position of Rehoboam right now, I go to the guys that helped counsel the wisest man on the face of the earth, right? Like, this is a good move on his part to start off this way. Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived, and yet he still had advisors. And he goes to his advisors, and he says, what do you guys think about this?

Now, remember, they'd watched Solomon reign. They had seen the example of that wisdom. And so he asked them, what do you think that we should do? How should we handle this? And they say, listen, you should make sure that you are kind to the people. You don't have the same vision as your father. We don't have the same needs that your father had. If you go easy on them, they will love you forever.

If you don't, then they won't. And so he hears that out, and he says, okay, let me think about that. But then notice what it says in verse 8. But he forsook the counsel of the elders. That was his first dumb mistake. He forsook the counsel of the elders, which they had given him, and he consulted with the young men who grew up with him and served him. Which, by the way, in my Bible, underneath verse 8,

I wrote foolish, because that seems like a really bad idea. So he said to them, what counsel do you give that we may answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, lighten the yoke which your father put on us? The young men who grew up with him spoke to him, saying, thus you shall say to the people, your father made our yoke heavy, but you made it lighter for us. Thus you shall say to them, my little finger is thicker than my father's loins, whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke.

I will add to your yoke. My father disobeyed. I will discipline you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions. So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had directed, saying, return to me on the third day. The king answered them harshly, and King Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the elders. Now I genuinely have tried to think, why?

Why would Rehoboam choose to follow the guys that gave him the bad advice? Well, I think that there's two reasons why. One of them is very spiritual. We'll get to that in just a minute, because we're told in the book of Proverbs that God guides the hearts of the kings like the rivers of water, and ultimately God has a plan in this that he's going to use. But I think on the fleshly side of things, apart from the direction of God

because of his judgment on the nation, I think the ultimate reason why Rehoboam was willing to listen to the unwise counsel is because it appealed to his pride. And listen, we always have to be careful about this. We have to be careful about anything. We have to be careful about anything that can appeal to our pride. I'm reminded of that story in Daniel when I believe it was Nebuchadnezzar

who was given the opportunity to be worshipped by all of the people. They came to him. Nope, it was Darius. They came to Darius and they said, we don't like Daniel. This isn't what they said. This is why they did it. They didn't like Daniel because Daniel had become a leader amongst them, and they thought, who's this foreigner that's made a leader? We've got to find something against Daniel.

And they couldn't find anything against Daniel except that he loved his God too much. And so they came up with a plan. Let's tell the king that we should make it to where only you can be prayed to. You're the only God that we can pray to. And anybody that prays to anyone else besides you is going to be thrown into the lion's den. And so they approached the king with this plan.

And you know why they chose that plan? Because it appealed to his pride. And in that moment, he went, huh, it does sound pretty good that people would only pray. That feels right. This feels good. I feel like that's the right thing to do. And we have to be careful about things that appeal to our pride. I always tell people I know when my daughters want something from me

because they start off with, dad, your hair looks really good today. And I always know in that moment they are about to ask me for something I normally would not give them because they're trying to butter me up, right? And any compliment they give me really, but especially that one. And so we have to be careful of those things that appeal to our pride. And I think that's what ultimately happened to Rehoboam.

He was like, you're right. That makes me sound strong. It makes me sound fierce. It makes me sound like I'm the guy in charge. And so that's what he goes with. So he shows up and he speaks to them harshly. And he spoke to them, verse 14. According to the advice of the young men saying, my father made you yokevi, but I will add to it. My father disciplines you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.

So the king did not listen to the people. Pay really close attention. For it was a turn of events. Events from God, that the Lord might establish his word, which he spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. When all Israel saw the king did not listen to them. The people answered the king saying, what portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse.

Every man to your tents, O Israel, and look after your own house. So all Israel departed to their tents. But the sons of Israel who lived in the cities, and the sons of Judah, Rehoboam, reigned over them. Ultimately, the issue is that this was a movement of God. And it's kind of fascinating that even in the worst decision that this king made, God was still in it.

Because listen, God guides the hearts of the kings like the rivers of water. And he guides those decisions. And sometimes those decisions are to bless the nation if the nation is following God. Sometimes those decisions are to judge a nation. If the nation is not following God. I will always hold to the fact that all authority comes from God. I hold to that fact because that's what scripture says.

And sometimes that authority is there to bless a nation. And sometimes that authority is there to judge a nation. And it's really hard to discern the difference until you really start to see the fruit of it. But you can still rest in the fact that God is ultimately in control. Because we can rest in the fact that God's plan is being played out. This is what happens here in this particular situation.

And so the division takes place. The ten northern tribes are going to go with Jeroboam. The two southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin are going to go with Rehoboam. The northern tribes will simply go by the name of Israel. Or oftentimes in scripture it will either be referred to as Ephraim or Manasseh. And the two southern tribes will simply be known as Judah.

And that's who we will follow through the rest of second kings. Is the kings that are over Judah. I want you to notice what it says. Verse 18 it says, So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. Unwisely, which seems to be the direction of the decisions that King Rehoboam is making in this moment. He sends the head of the labor force to sort of broker a deal.

To try to bring a little bit of peace. But unfortunately peace would not be had. So Hadarim shows up and all the people are like, Hey, that's the guy that's going to broker the peace. Let's show him that we really mean business. So they stoned him to death. And in that moment, Rehoboam knew, I better get out of Dodge because this is not going to go well for me.

So he flees to Judah. And that's how we ultimately see the split take place. Now chapter 11 deals with what I call the good part of the reign of Rehoboam. I've just called it the reign of Rehoboam. It says this in chapter 11 verse 1. Now when Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 chosen men who were warriors to fight against Israel,

to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, the son of God, saying, or the man of God saying, Speak to Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel and Judah and Benjamin saying, Thus says the Lord, you shall not go up or fight against your relatives. Return every man to his house for this thing, for this thing is from me. So they listened to the words of the Lord, and they returned from going against Jeroboam.

This is the first wise decision Rehoboam makes in his time as the king. After everything had taken place, he said, I know what I'll do. I'll gather an army. We'll go to war against Israel. I will force peace. If I can't broker peace through a liaison or through someone that I send to them, I will force peace. And I will do it. I will do it in a military sort of way.

So he amasses the army. You can imagine the fear in the people. I got to go to war against somebody that I was just having dinner with two weeks ago. Well, how is this going to hit? How's this going to play out? But God sends a man. And it's one of only two times that we read about this guy in the Bible. And this guy's name is, where'd it go? Where'd that verse go?

But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, verse 12, the man of God. It's one of two times that we read about him in scripture. We don't know anything. We don't know anything else about this guy other than that he was a man of God. And he was willing to be a mouthpiece of God. Listen, to one of the most powerful men in the nation at that point in time. He was willing for a short time to be the one whom God would speak through.

And in that moment, he stopped an entire war because he said, listen, this is the word of the Lord. Don't go to war against your brothers. I did this thing. This thing is of me. You go back and do what I call you to do. And everything's going to be good for you. But don't go to war. And if you're an underliner, you might underline the words. And he listened to the words of the Lord.

If you want to know the wisest thing that you can do in your life, you can follow the words of that verse right there. You can listen to the words of the Lord and then act on them. I find that in our nation right now, if people spend a whole lot more time listening to the words of the Lord, instead of complaining about the halftime show, whichever halftime show you watched, then we would probably get a whole lot farther in our lives. If you would just listen to the words of the Lord, instead of worrying about everything that's going on in everybody else's life, then we would probably make it a whole lot farther in our lives.

If we would listen to the words of the Lord, instead of trying to judge everyone around us as to whether or not they're doing what they're supposed to be doing, if each of us would individually decide to listen and act on the words of the Lord, we wouldn't need all of the referees that we have all over social media right now. We would find ourselves in a much more peaceful situation. But unfortunately, most of the world only listens to the words ringing around in their heads. And they think everybody else cares about them too.

And that's why we have the issues we have today. Because nobody's listening to the words of the Lord. Everybody thinks that they know what God would do in this situation. But they're not really listening to the words of the Lord. They're not really listening. The one wise decision that Rehoboam made was right here. There's going to be a second one he makes, but this is the first big one.

So, peace rules and reigns. Everybody goes about their own way. Notice what it says. Verse 5. Now Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and he built cities for defense in Judah. He built Bethlehem, Etom, Tekoa, Beth-Zur, Soko, Adullam, Gath, Marasha, Ziph, Aduram, Lachish, Ezekiah, Zorah. Eichelon, and Hebron, which are fortified cities, in Judah and in Benjamin. He also strengthened the fortresses and put officers in there and stores of food, oil and wine.

And he put shields and spears in every city. He strengthened them greatly. So he held Judah and Benjamin. Now most of the cities that he is fortifying are in the south of Israel. Interestingly enough, because Jeroboam, when he fled, went to Egypt, which is south of Israel, and had established allies down there. And we're actually going to find that later there will be an invasion from the Egyptians.

And I think Rehoboam knew that. I think he knew that potential because of Jeroboam having come from the south, having lived in Egypt and found sanctuary there for as long as he did. So he fortified those cities. He did everything he could, since they were such a small nation at that point in time, to set up as many barriers as possible to try to protect themselves.

And so, we read in verse 5. Verse 13, it says, Moreover, the priests and the Levites, who were in all Israel, stood with him from all their districts. For the Levites left their pasture lands and their property, and they came to Judah and Jerusalem. For Jeroboam and his sons excluded them from serving as priests to the Lord. He set up priests of his own for the high places, for the satyrs and for the calves which he had made,

those from all the tribes of Israel who set their hearts on seeking. The Lord God of Israel followed them to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of their fathers. And they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and they supported Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, for three years. For they walked in the way of David and in Solomon for three years. Ah, three glorious years in the cities of Judah where they were walking with the Lord.

Now, if you remember when Jeroboam went to the north, he got nervous that people would defect to the south. After all, Jerusalem is where the temple was. And so what he did, instead of conceding the fact that the people, that God had established him in his leadership, which God had told him, I will establish you as king of the northern tribes, and if you follow me with all of your heart, then your kingdom will last forever. God made that as a promise to Jeroboam.

But he didn't believe the promise that God had made to him, and he got scared that the people of the north would defect to the south. So what he did is he established his own religion in the north. He built two golden towers. He built one towards the north and one towards the south, and said, These are your gods, O Israel. Kind of sound familiar? These are your gods.

And he established a priesthood for them of the lay people of that point in time. And as he established this false worship of the true God, and we need to know that, he wasn't trying to establish a different God, just a false worship of the true God. Of course, other idolatry was introduced as well. And as a matter of fact, if you were to go back to the books, the first and second kings, you would find that every king in the north is always compared to Jeroboam, because none of them, as it says, abandoned the sin of Jeroboam, by which he caused the nation of Israel to sin.

And so because of that, first of all, the priests and the Levites had to flee and go down to the southern kingdom. Interestingly, it says that they left their pasture lands. Remember, there was no allotment of land for the Levites, God was their portion. And so there was cities of refuge throughout Israel, throughout both the northern and southern tribes, cities of refuge that kind of belonged to the pasture lands around them, belonged to the Levites.

And so they left behind what little they had and fled down to the southern kingdom. But I also found it interesting that after they fled, because they had to leave, because there was a different priesthood established, notice what it says in verse 16, then from all the tribes of Israel who set their hearts, on seeking the Lord God of Israel, they followed them to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of their fathers. I want to remind you of two things. Number one, I want to remind you that even in the most apostate times in the nation of Israel, there was always a remnant.

There was always a remnant that continued to seek the Lord. And I will tell you that no matter how far gone a nation is, as long as someone has a Bible, there is always going to be a remnant of people, people that continue to serve the Lord. If you study in the times of the dark ages, there was much biblical illiteracy, and yet there was still a remnant of people that were seeking the Lord. And we have to remind ourselves of that.

Because remember what Elijah found himself saying, Lord, it's just me. I'm the only one left. Nobody else is following you. I am so alone. And God said, listen, I get that it's a hard day, but you're not alone. I have reserved an incredible, incredible number of people that still haven't bowed the knee to Baal. Now you go and keep doing what I've called you to do,

because it's not just you. You're not alone. And we have to remind ourselves of that. There's always a remnant. But the second thing that we have to remind ourselves of this is, you have to be willing to flee the world in order to pursue God. They had to leave behind the false worship of God in order to pursue the true worship of God. And all around us right now,

listen, while I don't agree with every single article that's coming out, on social media right now, I do agree with one tagline, and that's that we have to be willing to abandon the American Jesus for the real Jesus. Like we have to be willing to abandon whatever, whatever we've created of religion today, that's sort of a false religion, and get back to what the word of God has to say. And make sure that you're willing to leave the world behind, abandon the world. If you are someone whose heart is set on seeking the Lord, the Lord God, you have to be willing to abandon the world to make sure that you hold on to what the Bible actually says.

And listen, sometimes that's going to mean laying down your pride and saying, you know what, I was kind of wrong about some things for a little while, and it's time to abandon that. Sometimes it's going to mean there's some discomfort or some difficulties in life. But always know that following Jesus is going to be worth whatever stuff you have to leave behind. And so these members of the northern tribes, they leave behind, they go down to, to the southern kingdom.

And for three years, Judah walks in the way of David. Unfortunately, there was compromise in Rehoboam's life. Then Rehoboam took his wife, took as a wife, Mahalath, the daughter of Jeremoth, son of David, and Abahel, the daughter of Eliab, the son of Jesse. And she bore him sons, Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. And after he took Maaka, the daughter of Absalom,

she bore him Abijah, Atai, Zezah, and Shalemith. And Rehoboam loved Maaka, the daughter of Absalom, more than all his other wives and concubines, for he had taken 18 wives and 60 concubines, and fathered 28 sons and 60 daughters. Rehoboam, that's a lot of estrogen. That's all I'm saying. Rehoboam appointed Abijah, the son of Maaka, as head and leader among his brothers,

for he intended to make him king. And he acted wisely and distributed some of his sons throughout all the territories of Judah, and Benjamin, to all the fortified cities. And he gave them food in abundance, and he sought many wives for them. It occurred to me, as I read this, this is now the third king that we've read that amassed wives to himself. David did it.

It was his weak point in his life. Solomon did it. It was an incredible weak point in his life. And now we see, once again, another king do the exact same thing. And as I've pointed out to you before, God's grace is such that he continues to keep his promises in spite of the weakness and the shortcomings of man. But God is so good to show us what this causes in the lives of people,

that when we don't follow God's plan, it causes an immense amount of issues in the lives of people. But I'm reminded of two things, in that he followed the example of his father, right? It almost makes sense. It makes sense that he would amass wives because look at what his father did. Look at the example that was set before him with his father. As a matter of fact, I bet he justified

how many wives he had by saying, at least I'm not as bad as my dad, right? At least I don't have as many wives as he did. I mean, I'm doing a lot better than him. How many of us do that with our flesh sometimes, right? Every politician in the world's doing it right now. Well, at least I'm not as bad as that other guy. And he kind of justified himself. But it's kind of interesting how we tend to follow

in the footsteps of our fathers. And I'm especially talking about I'm talking to us as men right now. We tend to follow in the footsteps of our fathers, right? I think about the sports teams that I'm a fan of. I'm a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs. I'm a fan of the Kansas Jayhawks. And I'm a fan of the Chicago Cubs. You know why? Because I grew up my entire life with my father

watching the Kansas City Chiefs, the Kansas Jayhawks, and the Chicago Cubs. I grew up watching them. People have asked me before, why are you a fan of those teams? I'm like, well, because my dad was a fan of those teams. I followed in his footsteps. I rooted him on. I rooted him on with my dad for all those years. How can I not be a fan of those teams? I just followed the example that was set before me.

And that's oftentimes what happens in father-son lives is you follow in the footsteps of your dad. And sometimes that's a good thing. Sometimes it's a benign thing like teams that you like, unless you like the Oakland Raiders. And then it's just a terrible, actually, I think they're the LA Raiders now. And then it's just a terrible step, footstep to follow in.

That's neither here nor there. But the fact of the matter is, sometimes we follow those examples. And so dads, I just want to tell you something. Set a better example for your sons. Set a better example for your kids. Because they're watching. They're watching everything that we do. They're watching every way that we act. And we have to be willing to set the right example for them.

The right example for our sons and daughters starts with how we live our lives. Because they care less about what you say. They listen less to what you say. And they listen a whole lot more to how you live. And they will mimic what you do more than they will follow what you say. And so set a really good example. But the second thing I will say is this. If a bad example has been set for you,

then you have to be willing to break the curse. Then you have to be willing to start over again. You have to be willing to let the Lord change who you are. You have to be willing to break the cycle of sin in your life. Because I can't tell you how many people I've seen that their great-grandfather was an alcoholic. Their grandfather was an alcoholic. Their dad was an alcoholic.

And now I'm an alcoholic. Or you name it with drug abuse. You name it with taking advantage of women. You name the thing. And they say, well, you just have to understand. This is just what my family is like. And all I can think is, you just have to understand Jesus wants to set you free from what your family was like. He doesn't want you to keep going along in that same cycle.

He doesn't want you to keep going along in that same cycle. He doesn't want you to keep going along in that same cycle. He wants to see you set free. Jesus is in the business of redeeming terrible family histories Jesus is in the business of redeeming terrible family histories and making them brand new again. And so we have to make sure that if a bad example has been set for us,

that we follow the word and we break the cycle. that we follow the word and we break the cycle. Unfortunately, Rehoboam didn't do that. Unfortunately, Rehoboam didn't do that. So here's what we find in the life of Rehoboam. So here's what we find in the life of Rehoboam. Chapter 12, verse 1. Chapter 12, verse 1. When the kingdom of Rehoboam was established When the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and strong,

he and all Israel with him forsook the law of the Lord. forsook the law of the Lord. It came about in King Rehoboam's fifth year. It came about in King Rehoboam's fifth year. Five years because they had been unfaithful to the Lord Five years because they had been unfaithful to the Lord that I have no idea how to pronounce that, so I'm going to do it the best phonetically that I can.

Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. The people who came with him from Egypt were a great number. The Lubim, the Sukkim, the Ethiopians, and he captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. and he captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. And the kingdom was established and strong.

And the kingdom was established and strong. Sometimes the most dangerous thing we can have in our lives is success. we can have in our lives is success. Because it's usually in the place of success that we stumble into the worst of our sins. that we stumble into the worst of our sins. It's rarely in the time of difficulty that we stumble into the worst of the sins of the flesh.

Because when you're in the midst of the difficulty, you're just on your knees all the time praying, Lord, set me free from the difficulty. Like, God, you've got to do a work here because I don't know how to do this. When you don't know how the next meal is going to show up at your house, you're in a lot of prayer because you want the next meal to show up at your house. When you don't know how you're going to make the car payment, you're on your knees a lot because you've got to figure out how you're going to make the car payment.

And you're 100% dependent upon God. But then all of a sudden success starts to happen in your life. And pretty soon when success starts to happen, you get up off your knees and you start to stand. When you start to stand, you start to think you're the one that made you stand. And sometimes when you think you're the one that made you stand, you forsake the Lord.

Oh, it happens slowly. We talked about this last week. It's a slow drift that takes place. Although with Rehoboam, it wasn't all that slow. Five years. That's pretty quick, right? That is pretty quick for that to take place. Five years. But remember, what example had he watched in his dad? The exact same example that he's following. The example of drifting from the things of the Lord.

And probably the whole time holding onto the fact that, yeah, we've got the temple down here. We're not like the northern kingdom. We don't have gods that we've established. We still have the temple down here, except that he had started establishing other gods. The writer of the book of Chronicles doesn't include it, but if you were to turn over to, if you were to turn over to 1 Kings chapter 14,

you might just write 1 Kings 14 in the margin of your Bible. I think it's actually 1 Kings 14 verses 21 through 24, where it says that he began to be, that he forsook the Lord and there began to be specifically male cult prostitutes in the land. Some of the translations, I think the New King James translates it as perverted persons in the land. Kind of reminds me of a halftime show.

There began to be perverted persons in the land because he forsook the Lord. And I think that that phrase in particular, that he forsook the Lord, is really important. And then if you go down to the verse down below that, it says that he had been unfaithful. Some of your translations say that he transgressed against the Lord, but that word transgressed literally means to be unfaithful, to act unfaithfully.

He acted unfaithfully. against the Lord. How did he act unfaithfully against the Lord? By giving in to all of the sins of the people around him. And because he acted unfaithfully against the Lord, God brought against him the Egyptians. Isn't it interesting that the very people that he fortified himself against, the very people that he built fortified cities and put shields and weapons

and soldiers in, the very people that he was trying to be protected against is exactly who God brought against him. And you know what? I will tell you, and I believe this wholeheartedly, had he never given in to the things, had he remained faithful to the Lord, he wouldn't have needed fortified cities. Because God would have been his protection. God would have been the one that kept all of those things from

coming against him. But he forsook the Lord. And so God forsook him. And so, this is what it says. Then Shemaiah, same guy, God's like, I got one more job for you. Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam, the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, thus says the Lord, you have forsaken me, so I have forsaken you

to Shishak. Can I just say that's got to be one of the most drop a brick in your pants statements that can ever be said to you? You've forsaken me, so I have forsaken you. It reminds me of that line with Samson. Remember when Samson kept flirting with the flesh and messing with the flesh and the girl kept saying, well where's the secret of your strength? And he's

given her all these things and every time he lies to her and he pops up and takes out the enemy and then he finally gives in to the flesh. And he says, the secret of my strength is in my hair. If you shave my head, I lose all my strength. I don't know what that says about me, but anyway, that's what it is. The problem is it wasn't a girl. Sorry. Anyway, she cuts

his hair in the middle of the night and he wakes up and there's this one line in that story. It's the most devastating line in the entire story of Samson. It says, but the Lord had departed from him and he didn't know it. You see, he'd gotten so far from God that God departed and he didn't notice that he was gone. So when he jumped up as at all other times,

he had no strength in him. He was just like every other guy. Because the Lord had departed and he didn't even know it. Same kind of line. You forsook me, so I'm going to have to forsake you. Because listen, God will not be mocked. Whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. And again I'm going to tell you, what we're watching take place in our nation right now

is the reaping of what we have sown. What we've watched take place in our nation right now is the fact that we have forsaken God. I don't even know if I can say this out loud. And God is in the process of forsaking us. I really believe that. Do I still believe that there's a pocket of the Bible taking place? 100%. Because God will always have his remnant. God will always have those that are seeking him.

And I love what God is doing in the lives of some young people. I posted a video on my Instagram story last night. And it was of a girl who she put this incredible video together of herself before she came to know Jesus and all of the partying that she did. And herself after she came to know Jesus. And I actually know this girl. She was at fall camp. And was just loving Jesus and praising Jesus.

And I had no idea what God had done in her life. And I love what God had done in her life. That he had rescued her from a life of emptiness and a life of sorrow. That's why I've been posting those stories of God's grace because I want us to be reminded that God is still in the business of saving. But listen, while that's happening in pockets, I think the nation as a whole, we're in

trouble right now. We're in trouble because the heart of the nation has grown cold. Because the heart of the nation has turned against God. And it didn't happen in the last four years. And it didn't happen in the four years before that. And it didn't happen in the four years before that. Do you know when I believe we abandoned God? I believe that we abandoned God.

It was somewhere in the range of 2012 when our current president at that point in time stood up and said we are not a Christian nation. His words. And in that moment I believe that we forsook God. Because from that moment on we have seen a shift in culture that will almost cause whiplash. And that's what happened here. He said you have forsaken me so I have forsaken you to this other king.

But I want you to notice this is the other wise thing that Rehoboam does. So the princes of Israel and the king, look closely, humbled themselves and said the Lord is righteous. And when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah saying they have humbled themselves so I will not destroy them but I will grant them a measure of deliverance and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the means of Shishak. They will become his slaves so that they may learn the difference between my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries. I love in this

moment this one other wise thing that he does is he humbles himself before the Lord. Now unfortunately it's going to be a short-lived revival. We're going to find that in the ultimate encapsulation of his life, the ultimate survey of his life. But in this moment he humbles himself before the Lord. And as he humbles himself before the Lord God withdraws the fullness of his wrath

against Judah. Why? Because remember what Solomon prayed? Do you remember what Solomon prayed a few chapters ago when he said Lord, when we sin and we repent then hear from heaven and forgive. And do you remember how God responded? He said if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and turn from their wicked ways and seek my face then I will

hear from heaven and I will turn to them and I will heal their land. And that's what happened. God kept his promise. He said there still had to be some consequences because they needed to understand the depth of what they've done but they humbled themselves. And God took note of that. It says so Shishak king of Egypt verse 9 came up against Jerusalem and he took the treasures

of the king's house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's palace. He took everything, even took the golden shields which Solomon had made. Then King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place and committed them to the care of the commander of the guards who guarded the door of the king's house. And as often as the king entered the house of the Lord the guards came and they carried them and then brought them back into the guards rooms. It's kind of interesting because

they lost the shields of gold and they were replaced with shields of bronze. And whether you realize it or not there was something very symbolic in what took place there. Because remember the gold represented the divinity of God. And do you remember what the bronze represented? It represented the judgment of God. So he had to replace what was the glory with something that was

lesser just like the fact that there was still sin in the nation because while he humbled himself and God heard there was still sin in the nation and it was replaced with the judgment that came from God. And so in verse 12 it says when he humbled himself the anger of the Lord turned away from him so as not to destroy him completely. And also conditions were good in Judah. So King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and he reigned.

Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king. Or when he began to reign. And 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 Naama the Ammonitess. And he did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord. The Acts of Rehoboam from first to last are they not

written in the records of Shemiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer according to the logical enrollment. And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David and his son Abijah became king in his place. Two things I'll point out to you about the end of his reign. And it's really a contrast

in the reign of Rehoboam. The contrast is this. The contrast is between humbling himself before the Lord and having a heart that did not fully seek the Lord. And you always wonder with those two verses it's almost like a thunderstorm ready to take place with the hot and cold air that's there. Verse 12, when he humbled himself the anger of the Lord turned away.

But he did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord. And I'm reminded that if you don't have a heart that will seek the Lord, then evil is ultimately what's going to come about in your life. Because there can be no half-hearted service of the Lord. There can be no half-hearted pursuit of the Lord. There has to be a whole heart that seeks after the Lord.

Half-hearted pursuit of the Lord is whole-hearted rebellion against God. And yet, when we humble ourselves before the Lord his anger is always turned away. What if? What if we just lived in a place of humbling ourselves before the Lord continually? What if we just lived in that place where we continually humbled ourselves before the Lord? We know that in the prayer

that Jesus gave to his disciples, the model prayer that we don't necessarily have to say word for word all the time, but he gives us the model of what it looks like to pray. You know what one of the big parts of that is? One of the big parts of that is confession. When he says forgive us of our trespasses, forgive us of our unfaithfulness as we forgive those who are unfaithful against us.

I'm reminded that one of the best ways that we can live a life of humility before the Lord is to live a life of confession before the Lord. In the book of Proverbs it says that there is joy in the confession of sin but if you conceal your sin, then destruction is what comes with it. There is great joy in confession of sin. I was just talking to a group of kids about this this morning that one of the most important things you can do in your time of prayer is to take time for confession and I wholeheartedly believe that one of the best things that you can do in your time of prayer with the Lord is when you take that time of confession which by the way you should take every single day you should actually say it out loud.

Now if you've got to be in a room all by yourself that's completely fine because not everybody needs to hear all your business. But there is something powerful about saying out loud what sins you're struggling with. You know why? Because there is a humbling effect to hearing those words out loud. It's one thing to think it in your head because it's easier to justify when you

think it in your head. But when you hear those words spoken when you verbalize exactly what it is, exactly the sins that you struggle with and there is just a humbling effect that takes place in your life because you think oh my gosh that's actually what it is. That is actually what goes on on the inside of me. That is actually what I struggle with in my life.

If anybody knew that praise God they don't. I'm here to tell you right now every single one of us if we knew what was going on in each other's heads all the time, well we'd all be pretty humbled wouldn't we? And maybe that's exactly what we should be. You see when we humble ourselves before the Lord He continues to do His work in our hearts. So confession is a great way for that to

continue to take place in our lives. If only Rehoboam had practiced it we might be reading a much different story in the book of 2 Chronicles. Amen? Father we come before you now and Lord I thank you that you give us so many of these things in the Old Testament to pay attention to. Lord I want to lift up our nation to you right now again. I just continue to see

so much division it feels sometimes it feels hopeless Lord the division that takes place. And Lord in the midst of it all we still have a tendency to miss you. And so Lord would you keep our hearts humble before you. Lord would you deliver us from the judgmentalism that we struggle with. Would you deliver us from the anger that dominates us. Would you deliver us

from the lust that seems to power our culture right now. Lord would you deliver us from the selfishness that dominates who we are. From the materialism that dominates who we are. From the self-righteousness that dominates who we are. Father deliver us from those things I pray. So that we can once again be the people that you have called for us to be. Lord may we be

light to the nations. And may we be close to you. So Father we just thank you and we praise you. In Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.