The Sins of Jeroboam

I. Introduction
A. At least 15 times in 1&2Kings the phrase “the sins of Jeroboam” is used to refer to the fact that the kings who followed Jeroboam continued in the sin that he began (e.g. 2Kings 15:8, 9, 15, 24, 28).
B. Read 1Kings 12:26–33.
II. Explanation
A. Background
1. The religion of Israel was all focused in Jerusalem.
a. That was the location of the temple of God where the glory-cloud, the manifestation of God's presence, hovered above the ark of the covenant.
b. That is where the sacrifices were made to cover the sins of the people.
c. This was where the people came each year to celebrate the Passover and the other feasts as god had commanded.
d. Jerusalem was where the throne of David was, which was where the Son of David, the Messiah, was to rule forever.
e. It was all focused in Jerusalem
2. (This was very different than the way things are now in the NT, of course.
a. Now there is no geographic center...
b. as Jesus said to the woman at the well in John 4:19-24: "Sir," the woman had asked, "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
c. Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.")
B. But then Jeroboam led a rebellion against King Rehoboam and set up another kingdom in the north. SHOW MAP. And things changed.
1. You see, Jerusalem was in Judah, in the south.
2. It would have threatened Jeroboam’s claim to the throne if he encouraged his people to travel down to Jerusalem to worship. It would have been acknowledging that God was with Judah.
3. So, what did Jeroboam do? He invented an alternative religion so that the people would not go down to Jerusalem any more.
4. He set up two golden calves, one in Bethel, one in Dan (SHOW THESE ON MAP), and introduced them to the people, "Behold your gods. O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt." (v.28) And he set up altars at each one, and priests to make sacrifices. And he built temples on the high hills, and instituted feasts. None of this was proscribed by the Lord, but were all counterfeits designed to take the place of the things the Lord had commanded in His word.
5. Where did he come up with all this stuff? v.33 tells us that he “devised it in his own heart.”
6. Religion as God had ordained it threatened Jeroboam’s earthly well-being, so he felt like he had to change it.
7. Hebrews 11:6 says, “Whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Jeroboam didn't believe this. He believed rewards were the result of political strategies and ploys. He thought that blessings came from going out and correctly manipulating things in the world.
C. How did Jeroboam get the people to buy into his new religion?
1. By maintaining enough of the old religion to keep their consciences appeased.
a. Counterfeit religion always keeps some parts and forms of true religion. Otherwise it would not be an effective tool of leading people astray because too many red flags would be raised.
b. They continued the feasts, but in a new form. They continued the sacrifices, but with different altars and different priests.
c. They continued the feasts, but made them local and avoided the long and arduous trek to Jerusalem.
d. They continued the priesthood but no longer limited it to the Levites.
e. They kept locational worship but eliminated the southern focus of it all, which was a transgression against patriotism.
2. And by abolishing the parts they didn't like, by fixing it up in such a way that it seems to them to be an improvement.
D. “The people of Israel walked in all the sins that Jeroboam did. They did not depart from them.” – 2Kings 17:22
1. And things got even worse than this in Israel. Idolatry came to be their defining characteristic.
2. And God’s judgment came upon them through the hand of Assyria.
3. And eventually God sent King Josiah of Judah up to destroy the false altars Jeroboam had set up.
III. Application
A. In each human heart there is a desire to escape from the authority and rule of God.
1. And you can’t understand psychology or history if you don’t know that.
2. I saw a commercial on TV for MySuit.com which said: “There’s a day when you realize that you are the author of you, that you can be anything you want to be without compromising the person you are, And that great rule book of life, it’s yours to write. Start writing!”
a. It even uses Bible/Christian language. Like Ps.2:2-3, people want to cast God’s cords from them!
b. I don’t think it says this because the owners are trying to brainwash us. I think the owners are trying to sell suits. And they will say whatever they think will make them money. If revival broke out in America and everyone was streaming back into church, the commercials would probably be changed to say, “This great God that we worship, doesn’t He deserve our best?”
c. The point is: These commercials are accurate reflections of how people think today.
3. In ancient times, this human resistance was manifested in a number of ways:
a. Those who had no interest in the God of Israel, but embraced other religions of philosophies.
b. Those who went along outwardly with the religion of Israel but did not embrace iu in their hearts.
c. But now Jeroboam introduces another alternative: a recasting of the religion of Israel, a religion which claimed to honor Yahweh, the God of Israel, but did it in a way which directly contradicted His instructions.
B. It is dangerous and ugly when man gets his hands on religion.
1. Men are fully capable of inventing, counterfeiting, or distorting religion and then claiming it is the real thing.
2. Revealed religion vs. invented religion: It makes all the difference in the world!
3. Today the recasting of Christianity is frequently done in light of contemporary notions of morality and justice.
4. And the very gospel is at stake, for there are parts of the gospel which are offensive.
a. Like that there is a God who lays down laws for mankind.
b. Like that mankind is fallen into sin.
c. Like the just wrath of God against sinners.
d. Like the need for a substitute.
e. Like the punitive rejection of Christ by the Father on our behalf.
5. This sin of changing true religion to make it fit with man's interests has been one of the most dangerous foes of true religion throughout history.
a. This is Christianity on man's own terms, amputating the parts man doesn't like, adding new parts, but still using the same words and the names.
b. These distorted versions of Christianity ultimately become just modern secularism dressed in religious garb and religious language.
6. But they are worshiping God in name only. They have abandoned the true worship of God through Jesus Christ.
7. They would dispute that, of course. They don't think they have abandoned Jesus Christ, just like Jeroboam would say his new religion hadn't abandoned Yahweh the God of Israel.
a. But just as Jeroboam made two golden calves and announced: "Behold your god who brought you up out of Egypt." so this distorted Christianity has created a new and (in their minds) improved Jesus Christ, and they have announced, "Behold your god who saved you."
b. But calling the one that they believe in "Jesus Christ" doesn't make him Jesus Christ. You can worship anything and call it Jesus, but unless you are worshiping the true Jesus Christ of the Bible who died for our sins and was raised from the dead and now sits in heaven at the right hand of the Father, you are not worshiping Jesus Christ.
8. And yet the ritual continues.
a. beautiful liturgy
b. gorgeous structures, enough to make us envious
c. music, public speaking, good deed doing,
d. sometimes you even find people caring about each other
9. Only one thing is missing: the truth of Jesus, the truth of God’s word.
a. eternal salvation has been replaced by earthly adjustment,
b. hope for heaven has been replaced by finding earthly fulfillment.
c. human reason has taken the place of Scripture
10. And yet they come each week into their beautiful buildings, beautiful flowers, comfortable seats.
a. It all looks pretty on the outside, but in their hearts they are really worshiping themselves.
b. My friends, the cities and the neighborhoods and the villages of this nation are dotted with churches that look warm and wonderful on the outside, but are spreading only lies.
c. Hell is full of people who were religious, hell is full of people who prayed and people who were very nice and people who spent their whole lives in the church, because they were worshiping a god of their own imagination. The true God made them too uncomfortable.
11. One of Satan's chief ploys is to create counterfeits of the truth
a. If you want to go against the Bible, you can always find some supposedly Christian teacher who, in the name of the Bible, will give you permission to do what you want to do.
b. The purpose of counterfeit religion is to keep you from the true religion of the Bible.
c. Every attempt to water down Christianity is an attempt to avoid Jesus in some way or another: to avoid the things He taught, to avoid the things He required, to avoid the things His death implies about man's sin and need, to avoid the notion that He will one day judge all men.
C. There are some who think that those who believe the Bible put their brains on the shelf.
1. But God gave us our brains to use, and we ought to use them.
2. However, our brains are tools to be used for God’s service. They don’t belong on the throne.
D. My friends, it is not easy to resist the temptation to have our opinions controlled by our own sense of justice or our own preferences or our own emotions rather than by the word of God. But it is our duty.
1. We must love truth more than comfort. We must be willing to look pain and rejection and ridicule in the eye and say, “If this is the consequence for being faithful, so be it.”
2. We must be more afraid of compromising the word of God than we are of our own discomfort.
3. The bottom line is: we must be more zealous for heavenly benefits than for earthly benefits.
IV. Conclusion
A. The very notion of true religion is a problem for many today. They believe that all religions are basically the same. But what is religion and what is it for?
1. If it is all about us, then we ought to have the right to improve it should we deem it useful. We could change it in whatever way makes it most helpful. And this is the way many think about it.
2. For them religion is a means as opposed to an end. It is a means to making people feel better. It is a means to getting along with each other better.
B. And so the real question is: Is there really a God our there? Is there a reality which is greater than us and greater than this world?
1. And if so, does that Reality exist to help us with this reality, or does this reality exist to help us with that Reality?
2. We believe that there really is a God, and that He has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ and through the Bible.
C. And if this is true, we must ask: Do I put my trust in myself or in God? Who do I think is more likely to get it right? Do I put my faith in my own ability to figure things out, or do I put my faith in God’s knowledge and ability to communicate truth to me in His word?
D. As in ancient Israel, true religion is all about the location of worship. Where do we worship?
1. That’s not something that’s up to us. We can’t just worship anywhere we like.
2. In His word, God has told us who He is and how He is appropriately worshiped.
3. According to His word, there is only one place to worship God, and that is at the feet of Jesus Christ. No man comes to the Father except through Him. (John 14:6)
4. And in His name, I call you to come to Him and worship right now. There’s no other place to go.