It is good to see you here this evening. I ask your prayers for me. I've wrestled with the message and tried to set it aside several times and not been able to. God has put this in my path and it's not I pray that it's clear. One thing about Old Testament prophecies and histories, a lot of times you have to explain a lot of things that are taking place before you get to the meat of it. And I pray that God would be gracious to keep our minds attentive and give me the ability to do this clearly and plainly so that Christ is magnified. And so pray that God would open this text to our hearts and minds to see what it is. It is a gospel message. It's an event. It happened. It's real. But in this moment, God was writing by His Spirit a message concerning Christ. And I pray that that is what is brought forth, that Christ is magnified. Pray for those that are sick, remember them in your prayers. The body is weak, so is the mind, the heart. You may not be weak in body, but you may be weak in mind. You may not be weak in mind, but you may be weak in heart. And somewhere in there you're weak. I'm sure that we confess our weakness. fluctuates from thing to thing, but pray for one another. Ask God's mercies on one another. Pray God would continue to give us unity and love. Love for the gospel above everything else. The gospel, which is truly love for Christ. The sum and substance of the gospel is a person, isn't it? It's not a theological dissertation, it's a person. I do pray that God would magnify the Gospel in this place and honor His Gospel, call out sinners to Himself. That would be a glorious sight to see, men saved by the grace and power of God. I pray that God keeps the Gospel here, that God would be gracious to us. as he has been. I tell you, he has been. He surely has been gracious to us. Very merciful. Let us continue to praise him for it. Pray for God's churches as they have no pastors. Some of them have no pastors. And as we go, we see the numbers seem to dwindle even more among God's churches, God taking His saints to Himself. I pray that God would continually add to His church as He sees fit. Again, I'm not here to manipulate people to join churches. It's not our business. We'll see that in just a minute. That's false religion's business. Deceive, dupe people, entice them. No. We have the gospel. What more does a believer need? It's my substance. It's my food. It's my life. It's my hope. And so pray that God would sustain his churches. Let's go to him in prayer. Gracious Father, you've heard our petitions, you've heard our requests. We lay them out before you this evening, unable, incapable of ever performing any of these things that we have asked. Our weakness is astounding. I confess my weakness. I have no power, no ability in myself to preach the gospel. And I know these that have come to hear it have no power in themselves to receive it, to believe it, to trust it, except by the power of the Spirit. And we ask for that this evening. We beg you for that. We plead in Christ's name that you give us those things. And are we not just asking what you've promised? Pleading your promises that you would be with us where two or three are gathered together in your name? Just a promise you made. We're asking you to fulfill your promise. And I know that you will. Father, be with those in body and mind who are sick. Give health. Give strength. If it is for Thy glory and for the furtherance of the Gospel, Lord, I do pray that You would bless Your churches. I pray You would raise up men to preach the Gospel and fill them with Your people. We pray this. In Jesus' name and for His sake, Amen. Alright, take your Bibles and turn with me to 2 Chronicles chapter 13. 2 Chronicles chapter 13. Here we have before us the history of Israel, a kingdom divided. Kingdom divided now I'm entitled this message the gospel of division Here in this gospel. I believe the Holy Spirit sets forth by these two kingdoms The warfare between these two kingdoms he sets forth his church and false religion He sets forth by the kingdom of Jeroboam the kingdom of Jeroboam is a picture of of all false religion, while as the kingdom of Judah is here pictured by this King Abijah as a picture of God's church, a picture of those who believe the gospel of God's grace in Christ. And this kingdom was divided The northern kingdom was ruled by Jeroboam, who was not a son of David. He was a rebellious man. Yet God gave him these ten tribes, and instead of honoring what God said he should do, God said, I'm going to give you these ten kingdoms because of the sin of Solomon, and yet you are not to withhold them from worshiping in Jerusalem. And that's exactly what Jeroboam did. The sin of Jeroboam was a sin of convenience. He was afraid to lose his people, his kingdom. So what he did was, in every city, he set up a temple. In every city, he gave men power to be priests. And he made false gods of gold. And he said, you don't have to go all the way down to Jerusalem. That's just too far. That's inconvenient. I'm just going to set up a temple right here and you can worship God right where you are. You don't have to go down there. It's the end of Jeroboam. And you have the southern kingdom which is represented by this man Abijah. Now his name means a worshiper of God. I don't want to go into the history of this man. I think that this was a man that in Kings it tells that he was a man that did He was a wishy-washy fella. He did somewhat good. I think that's the way it was stated in Kings. And his name was different in the book of Kings. It was Worshipper of the Sea, I think it was. And then in this book it changes. I'm perceiving that somehow along the way maybe this man the Lord had saved him. And then his name was changed. But that's just, I won't go into speculation over that. But this man you're going to see clearly, he is a picture of one who preaches and believes the gospel of God's grace. Now, and so we see that there's a division in Israel, but this division is intended by the Holy Spirit to show forth the division between the true and the false gospel. The true and the false gospel. Now we know the ultimate root of all division is sin. It was sin. This is what separated all of us from our God. Isaiah says this, your iniquities have separated you. And so just as Jeroboam was separated from the gospel, even so that's what happened to us all by nature. Man was made upright and communed and enjoyed God until he rebelled. When our Father rebelled, He brought sin and death and what? Separation. And this separation was manifested by His religion. You know, the first religion was created by Adam, the first false religion. Fig leafism. It was the first religion of man. He found out he was naked and he fled from God. And he covered his nakedness. Tried to make himself acceptable to God by the use of fig leaves. This is what happened to Jeroboam. Jeroboam fled from the presence of God and set up false gods. false gods. He said, you don't need to go down to Jerusalem, I'll make you a god. I'll make you a god to your liking. Isn't this way false religion works? They make a god to man's liking. I don't like that about this god. Well, change it. We'll change it. I don't like the election of God. We'll just tear that out. We'll just throw that away. You see, you can make a God. That's what men do. They fled from God. They make gods of their own. He made a God that would accept their righteousnesses. He made a God that would accept their offerings for sin. But these were truly no gods at all. Even so it is still today, there is a great division today. Men by nature still refuse to worship the only true and living God. It's our nature. It's man's nature to not worship the only true and living God. It is man's nature to make up a God after his own image. So man by nature makes a God of his own imagination, that will accept his works, will accept his offerings. Listen to me, if your God is pleased with your righteousness, your God is not God. If your God is pleased with your religious offerings, then your God is not God. You worship the gods of Jeroboam, which were what? Nothing but idols. Nothing but idols. You're following the gods of Jeroboam, false gods of convenience, gods of your own imagination. Now, when I say that, men will say this. I mean, false religion says this to me. They say, well, I believe what you believe. Look, and I want you to see this. There is a subtlety, there are various degrees of this, aren't there? False religion, there are varying degrees of false religion. Some are just out and out, blatant, you know, like people don't believe that Christ is God, manifest in the flesh. Well, that's just, that's a blatant one. Some believe that you've got to do so many, many works. They're just like, they have a list, and then a litany of books and volumes of traditions that you have to go through. And some are just a few things, and some are even smaller, some are Free will, work, religion, just decision. Some are baptism, but it's even more subtle than that. There are some who say, well, preacher, I believe that Jesus is the Christ. I believe that his blood and righteousness are essential to salvation. We believe that salvation is by grace through faith. What? Well, see, here's the sin of Jeroboam, but If you just stop there, we all agree that'd be great. But, we also believe that you have to obey the law of Moses. Well, what you've done then is now you've moved into the camp of Jeroboam. If you've added anything, now I want you to get this, if you add anything to the offering and the blood of Christ Friends you have moved from the camp of Abijah to the camp of Jeroboam You've made a false God Now this is your hope to be redeemed by Christ now listen. This is this is the big thing that's happening today Well if you want to be redeemed by Christ, but you want to sanctify yourself you have moved over in the camp of Jeroboam You have left the gospel for a false gospel Now, look at Galatians chapter 1. Now the whole book of Galatians has this, the reason for this book is that the children, the people of Galatia, the church of Galatia had moved from the gospel of Jesus Christ. Look what Paul says in verse 6 of chapter 1. This is the reason for the letter. He said, I marvel that you are so soon removed from, who? Him. He didn't say, you moved from the doctrines of grace. You moved from the Calvinistic doctrines. You've moved from this doctrine. No, you moved from Him. You've left Christ. You've left Christ that called you into the grace of Christ to another gospel, which is not another. What was so terrible? What was so horrible that Paul would have to write a whole letter concerning their moving to another gospel? What did they do? They added one thing to Christ. Circumcision. That's it. It is the only, there's a whole bunch of laws back here and they only picked one, circumcision. Notice what he says, but there be some that trouble you that would pervert the gospel of Christ. Now notice, they didn't totally do away with the gospel of Christ, did they? They didn't deny that Jesus was the Christ. They didn't deny that His blood and righteousness was necessary. They didn't deny that salvation was by grace through faith in Christ alone. They didn't deny that. What they did was add something to it. They perverted it. When you pervert the gospel of Christ, you are believing another gospel. That's not me. I didn't make this up. This is so. This is what happened to them. Paul said, though we are an angel from heaven, I don't care. He's making a hypothetical here. He's just saying, look, if you see an angel come down from heaven, and then preach to you something different than I preached to you, you tell that angel to go to hell. That's what he said. Let him be accursed. An angel or anybody else. Why? Because to move from the gospel of God's grace to add anything to Christ, you have moved from the camp of Abijah to the camp of Jeroboam. You have moved from the true and living God to a false god. You have moved from the true gospel to a false gospel. That's how simple it is. And so to add one thing, and they added circumcision, and Paul concludes, look what Paul concludes in chapter 5 of Galatians. If you do this, listen to what the conclusion is. Paul said, Behold, in verse 2, I, Paul, say unto you, if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you what? Nothing. That's a bold statement, isn't it? Now if the apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ not said that, I wouldn't believe that. That's just so. He said, Now circumcision, now Paul actually one time told Timothy, go ahead and be circumcised, remember that? Timothy was going to preach to some Jews, and these Jews, they didn't know God, they didn't know Christ, they didn't know the Gospel, but they wouldn't even hear Timothy unless he was a Jew. And they wouldn't believe you're a Jew unless you're circumcised. So he said, go ahead, it don't mean anything, just do it. What's the difference? These people were believing circumcision was necessary for salvation. Listen, there's a lot of differences in some of God's churches. Some people, you know, we don't pass an offering, play people do, you know? Some people have the Lord's Supper and they take wine, some people grape juice, you know? What is that? It's nothing. It's nothing, is it? Why? We don't believe that has any part to do with our salvation whatsoever! None of it! None of it. And the day we do, is the day we move from Abijah's camp to Jeroboam's camp. The day we say that the Lord's Supper is necessary for salvation. And you've got to do it this way or you're damned. And we've moved camps. We've moved camps. We've moved Gospels. Baptism is vitally important. Our Lord said, ìGo into all the world and preach the gospel, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.î Baptism is important. Why? It is the confession that we make. We make a confession, a public confession that Jesus Christ is my Savior and has washed away my sins. Thatís what Iím confessing to you, what I did it for. I confessed. But the day I say this, that baptism is necessary for salvation, Iíve moved camps. I've changed Gospels. And then what? Christ profits us nothing. See how important this is? How much more than if you add the Ten Commandments? I only added one. What if I add ten? What if the Ten Commandments were necessary for my sanctification? Now, is sanctification necessary for salvation? Is it? You bet it is. Without being sanctified, you can't be saved. Sanctification is just as much necessary as righteousness, as redemption, and faith. It is necessary that I be sanctified. It is necessary that I be made holy before God. Without that, without holiness, no man can serve the Lord. Without holiness. Holiness is necessary. But the day I make sanctification part his work and part my work, I move camps. I move camps. Now why do religion do this? Religion does it for the same reason Jeroboam did it. Jeroboam did it to keep people. He didn't want to lose them. And so what does false religion do? They say, if I don't impose the Ten Commandments, I'll lose them. They'll just go out there and be as wicked and vile people if I don't impose Ten Commandments on them. I read this today, you know, he said, have you ever heard somebody who was healed of a sickness say, man, I can't wait to be sick again? You ever heard that? Have you ever heard a believer say, after he's been healed of his sin, say, man, I can't wait to go back there? Never, never have you heard that. We despise our sin. But they do this to keep people. That's what Jeroboam did. It's the sin of Jeroboam. He said, that's alright, I'm going to make a God of convenience for you. I'm going to make a God that just fits your opinions, your thoughts, your feelings. Therefore, false preachers try to whip the flock and try to entice them But the Holy Scriptures are clear. Just as it was in the days of Jeroboam, the Word of God says this, in Jerusalem was the temple. This was where Jeroboam missed it. God said, I'm going to be in Jerusalem. Jeroboam said, no, he's not just in Jerusalem. Now who's lying? God said, I'm going to be worshipped by my priest and he's going to make an offering acceptable to me. in Jerusalem. What did that temple worship in Jerusalem picture? What was the picture of the priest, the offering, the temple, the tabernacle, the sacrifices? What did all that picture? It pictured Christ, didn't it? Every part of that pictured Christ. It was a picture of Christ, how sinners may approach unto God. This is the gospel we preach. We preach a gospel that tells you how a sinner may come before God and be accepted. That's our message. There's only one way. Just as there was only one temple, just as there was only one high priest, just as there was only one offering that God would accept, even so Jesus Christ is the only offering for sin. This is our message. Our message is a person. Our message is a person. There's only one of Him. There's only one. Jesus Christ. He is the only high priest. He is the only offering for sin. And listen to this. All who come to God by Him shall be saved. That's just simple, isn't it? There's no prequalifiers here. The only thing that is necessary is you be a sinner. Isn't this astounding? That's the only requirement. How bad do you have to be? Bad as you know that you are. I don't know, I mean, as the worst, the worst, I don't care if you're the worst sinner. If you come to God by Jesus Christ, He will save you. In Him alone is perfect righteousness. In Him alone is a perfect offering for sin. And everyone who comes to Him shall be fully, completely, and perfectly saved. And all of this is by grace. It's by the grace of God, by the mercy of God. So what do you need to add? Nothing! This is our message. Our message is a simple message of grace, that God saves by grace. Listen to what God said in 1 Corinthians 1. He said, What of God are you in Christ Jesus? Now listen, the only hope for a sinner is that he's in Christ Jesus. That's it. There's no other place. Just like Noah. The only hope for Noah was he was to be in the ark. He couldn't be on top of it. He couldn't be strapped to it. He had to be in it. And so where does a sinner find refuge? Where does a sinner find hope? In Christ. Now who puts us in Christ? You put you in Christ, well you've shipped camps. If you put you in Christ, then you're in another camp. You've made salvation not by grace, but by will, by works. You're in Jeroboam's camp. We who believe in Christ, we who are in Christ, know this. I'm only in Christ because God put me there. See, election to me is vital. Without election, I never would have been put in Christ. I never would have put myself in. But God put me in Christ. And listen, but of God, who of God has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. We who believe the gospel, this is it, Christ is all. Isn't this what you believe? You that believe in Christ, do you not believe this, Christ is all? This is our message. He's all my wisdom. I never would have known God had Christ not revealed Him to me. You could have preached the gospel until you were blue in the face. You could have been as plain and as clear as you wanted to be. I know this, I was dead and there was no way for you to reveal Christ to me except Christ revealed God to me. I couldn't have known that. I couldn't have known Him. He's my wisdom. He's my righteousness. I know that, that He's all my righteousness. It's not a cooperative effort here. I'm not adding anything to His righteousness. When I do anything that's good, listen, what does that contribute? Nothing. I confess it contributes absolutely nothing to my righteousness. He made my righteousness. How much of it? All of it. All of it. And then He gave it to me. Isn't that astounding? Made it mine. I didn't do anything for it. He didn't add anything to it. He's my righteousness. Oh, He's my redemption. Oh, His blood alone cleanses me from all my sins. I confess, His blood is the most valuable thing in all the world. Why? Because His blood was so precious that when He shed His blood for my sins, God pardoned me. God washed away all my sins by His blood. He redeemed me. He bought me. Lock, stock, and barrel. I'm His. He redeemed me. What did I have to do with that? What did you have to do with your redemption? Tell me. You that were redeemed. Did you contribute anything to His redemption? So far, you've contributed no wisdom. You had none until He revealed it to you. You had no righteousness until He gave it to you. You had no redemption, you couldn't buy yourself out of sin. He bought you. What about this matter of sanctification? Is this now some way you contribute to that? What is sanctification? Holiness. What it is? It's holiness. Now, can somebody be more or less holy? If holiness is absolute perfection, can you be more perfect? No. Well, can you be holy and be somehow less perfect? No. You see, we also believe this, that Christ is all our sanctification. Why? Scripture tells me it is. Look at Hebrews 10. Look at this. Hebrews 10. Look at this in verse 9, Christ speaking, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second, by the which will. Lo, I come to do thy will, by that will. The will of God we are, what? Sanctified. Sanctified. Means, how were you sanctified? through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. How many times were you sanctified? Once. Once. Our Lord Jesus Christ is all our wisdom, all our righteousness, and all our sanctification. And listen, the day you add anything you do to Him, you've moved camps. You now are in another gospel. And I want you to see. Now go back and look at the message then of this man, Abijah. I know I've got to hurry. Now this message of the king of Judah, Abijah, took place as they were set to do battle. They were set to do battle. Look at this text. In verse 4 it says, Abijah stood up on Mount Zerahim, which is in Mount Ephraim, and said, Hear, O Jeroboam, and all Israel. It's kind of strange to me that this man's getting ready for battle and he stands up to preach. He stands up to talk to them. He stands up to tell them something. Preach the gospel to them. That's what he does. So this man, he is a picture of all God's people and the side on which all God's people land. Those who truly worship God. A believer in Jesus Christ, we who worship God, We should seek to live peaceably among all men. We're not here to fight with people. I'm not here to set in physical battle with people. This was going to be a physical battle. But that's not our purpose here, is not to physically protest. We're not here to protest. We're not here to change governments. I want you to understand that too. We're not here to change governments. Not here to change government policy. Now, I have strong political views. Most people do. It's alright, you have strong political views, but I know this. My purpose in this world is not to change this government. That's not my purpose. You as believers in Jesus Christ, that is not our purpose here. Our purpose is to do what this man did. Preach the Word. That's it. We're here to declare the Gospel and nothing else. Everything else is just to get by. You go to work every morning, why? Just so you eat. That's really all it's there for. Your main purpose is to preach the Word, to declare it. Our Lord sends us into this world to preach the gospel. And what is that? That Jesus is all. What I've just preached to you. What I've just preached to you is what you're to preach to others. To declare to others that Christ is all our salvation. That Christ is the only Savior for sinners. That Christ was victorious to save all that the Father gave Him. It is then you will find that the world and its religion are set against you. When you do that, when you declare what I've told you tonight, you'll find out that the world and its religion are set in array against you. And never will these two meet in agreement. The gospel of God's grace and the false gospel of works religion will never meet. Now listen, I know this, it is a temptation and it is a failure, believers, to compromise with the other side. Jeroboam did it at least two times, I think, maybe three. Jeroboam the king, you go from Asa to Jehoshaphat, I'm sorry. Jehoshaphat did it at least two times. He tried to compromise with the king of the north. It's the worst thing you can do. We are not here to compromise. Abijah did not compromise, and neither do we. We are never to compromise the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. What is this gospel? First of all, Abijah says this, Christ is King. Christ is King. Look what Abijah says here when he starts preaching to them. Look, he said this, verse 5, Ought you not to know... I like how he begins that. Don't you don't you just know this isn't this common knowledge. Don't you just get this Aren't you surprised when people don't understand the gospel? I mean, it's like what? You don't understand this Ought you not to know this listen That the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over to David forever even to him and his sons by a covenant of salt or preservation Surely, Jeroboam had heard this. What he was saying was true physically of the lineage of David, but how much more spiritually of Christ. Our Lord said to David, Thy kingdom and thy house shall be established forever. Where is the house of David today? Where is the lineage of David today? You don't know. Nobody can trace their lineage back to David anymore. Then is that promise gone? No! Because Christ is the fulfillment of that promise. What he was speaking here was prophetic. Don't you know that Christ is King? Don't you know the Lord God has sent Christ in a covenant of grace to be King? Isn't this what we declare? That Christ is King? Christ is King. I want you to see that things really don't appear as they really are. You as believers in Christ, I know you look around and you think things are in chaos. They appear to be in chaos. You can't make heads or tails of it. You think something's going to happen this way and sure enough it goes in the opposite direction. You say, how in the world did that happen? It appears. Look at the appearance of what's happening in this text. Jeroboam comes down with 800,000 men Abijah only has 400,000 it appears that Jeroboam is superior it appears that Jeroboam is going to take this thing no contest Believers take courage and don't let your hands be weak for the Lord God is not restrained to save by many or by few. Why? Because Jesus Christ sits as king on the throne of God doing his will. You want to know what's happening in the world? The will of Jesus Christ is happening. That's what's happening. Whatever happens is the will of Christ. Why? He's King. Ought you not to know this? Don't you know this? You believe in Him. Why are we so easily confounded? Why are we so easily brought to despair? Ought you to know this? Christ is King. What does that mean? That means He's moving everything according to His own sovereign will. Everything. And what is His will? His will is to save His people from their sins. Now, who's going to stop Him? Who will stop the Lord Jesus Christ from doing His will? Now, men can kick all they want to at this. They can stumble at this stumbling stone all they please. It's not going to move the stone. Our Lord Jesus Christ was set to be the stone laid by God, the foundation of His church on which we rest our souls. This evening you rest your souls on Him. Is He all your salvation? Yes. Let the church from kick if they will. I don't matter. Let him stand up there and say that he's the vicar of Christ all he wants to. I know this, in the day he loses his breath, he will not be able to stand before Christ. Why? Christ is king, not him. There's only one mediator between God and men. You can believe there's 20 mediators if you want to. That doesn't change the truth. There's only one. Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and men. the man Christ Jesus. The world boasts of their priests and their prophets they trust in their miracles, in their tongues, in their signs, in their wonders, in their morality, in their works. They can trust in all they want to. Listen to me, Jeroboam and his people truly trusted in their gods. They did. But the end of Jeroboam is the end of all false religion. He was destroyed. The end of all false religion is destruction. So let them boast in what they will. We know this, there is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved. There's only one Savior, isn't there? Who is that? It is Jesus Christ, the King. He's the King. All that men would lay down their arms. I think that was the idea of Abijah this evening. Abijah's purpose was that Jeroboam and his people lay down their arms. It's my hope that sinners would lay down their arms. That they would stop fighting against God. That's all you're doing. If you believe salvation is part Christ and part you, you are fighting against God. Men would lay down their arms. They would come to God for mercy. Any rebel need mercy. Any rebel need mercy. All who come to God for mercy by Jesus Christ will find mercy. Why? Christ is King. I think Old Mephibosheth, don't you? David went out there and fetched him. He couldn't run. He had no legs, he couldn't run. They dragged his old scrawny leg, crippled body and threw him down before David. He thought he was dead. He said, Mephibosheth, he said, thy servant. He said, I'm going to have mercy on you for Jonathan's sake. When a sinner comes and falls before Christ, he says, God says, I'm going to have mercy on you for Christ's sake. It does just the opposite of what we think He'd do for a rebel. What would you do to a rebel? If you were king, what would you do? He wouldn't show mercy. But He does. He shows mercy. And we preach that Jesus Christ has accomplished victory. Notice this. In verse 8, look what he says. He said, Now think ye to withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David, and ye be great in multitude there with your golden calves, which Jeroboam made for you. Look at verse 12. But behold, God himself is with us as our captain. You got a golden calf. We have God. You rejected His priest. We have His only true high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. His priest sounding the trumpets and cry alarm against you, O children of Israel. Fight you not against the Lord God of your fathers. Why? You shall not prosper. Why do we preach that false religions should repent and turn to Christ? Because they're not going to prosper. You're not going to win. You're not going to win. But see, we have a message of victory, don't we? I've got a message of triumph. Their message is a loser message. There's no hope in it. But I've got a message of victory. Why? Because Jesus Christ has triumphed. I preach He's King, but listen, He's triumphed over sin. Isn't sin what separated us from God? Yet Christ has accomplished a victory over our sin. He obtained righteousness for us. He's obtained pardon by His one sacrifice. Scripture says He has perfected forever them that are sanctified. Just like Jeroboam, many of the false religions just choose anybody to preach. They'll pick anybody. Jeroboam, he said to Jeroboam, he said, you just pick anybody to be a priest. You don't care who he is. Just pick anybody. That's what religion does. Don't they just pick anybody that sounds good? Listen, we have the prophet of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our high priest. I know this, that many people, they hear the doctrine of grace and they enjoy it for a while because it's tickling their ears. They hear something they never heard before, election. They say, oh, that sounds interesting. They hear salvation by grace and limited atonement. Boy, that sounds interesting. And they'll sit there for a while and they'll endure it for a while, but after a while they say, man, this is just the same old thing. And then what do they do? They start looking for other things. Paul said that most people when they come in, if that's all they're here for, they will not endure sound doctrine. But then soon heap themselves teachers having itching ears. Now if you don't desire to hear the gospel of Christ and submit yourself to the faithful preaching of the gospel, Listen, you followed after the sin of Jeroboam. The sin of convenience. But listen, our God is victorious. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the great high priest who has offered himself for our sins and God is forever satisfied with Him. We preach a victorious Savior. And this is good news to us because I know this. Our Lord says, upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. What does that mean? That means this, that when He died, He took the bars of the gates that barred us from heaven on His own shoulders like Samson did and carried them away. This means that when He is going to reach a sinner, He goes into the very pits of the enemy and gets him and takes him out at his will. And then what did He do with you? And then what did He do with you? Did He not go into the very depths of the grave and give you life, call you out? He did. Why? Because we serve a successful Savior. A victorious Savior, that of all that the Father giveth me, my Savior said I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. We worship a victorious Savior. I'm going to just mention this, because as he was preaching, now he's talking about a successful Savior, talking about, we have the high priest of God, we have the victorious Savior, and you know, you're worshiping these false gods, and all the while he's preaching. Now, it's going to say this, I think, in the next verse there, he says, Jeroboam set up an ambush. All the while he's preaching, Jeroboam's not listening. What is he trying to do? He's trying to scheme. And as he's done preaching, Abijah looks around and he's surrounded. He's surrounded. It's our purpose to preach the Gospel. When we do that, the world is going to ambush us. The world is going to ambush us. Aren't you surrounded by enemies? You that believe? What about flesh? Is he not an enemy? The world is our enemy. Satan is a real enemy. We are surrounded by enemies. You know what Abijah did? Listen, two things Abijah did when he found out he was surrounded. He cried unto God. We who believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, as we preach the gospel, we appear vulnerable. We appear foolish, don't we? Man, that's all they're doing is preaching. That's just foolishness. And so what do they do? They try to ruin us. Try to destroy our gospel. But you know what we do when we're surrounded? We cry unto the Lord. Abijah said, Oh Lord, help us. That's what we do when we're surrounded. Help me. And then the priest sounded the trumpets. What do we do? We pray and we preach. This is what the true church does. We pray and we preach. And the scripture says that God smoked Jeroboam. He didn't say Abijah smoked Jeroboam. He didn't say anything about his army smoking Jeroboam. The Lord did it. I know that we are surrounded and outnumbered. There are more of them than there are of us. And they appear mighty. But what is our hope? We have the Lord our God, the God of Israel, the King, on our side. What Paul says, if the Lord be for us, who can be against us? So as we face these two camps, gospel of God's free grace in Christ set against the gospel of works and free will religion. What are we to do? Preach Christ. Preach Christ. When they surround us, what do we do? Pray and preach Christ. Preach Christ. And then who gets the victory? God does. Who gets the glory? God does. Scripture says after this, he never had any strength. Jeroboam never had any strength to rise up again. You know, Lord Jesus Christ has taken the strength of our enemies. They appear vicious, but He's really taken their strength away. What can they do to us? If they can't remove us from Christ, what can they do to us? Can they change our gospel? They can pervert it, That doesn't do anything to us, does it? No. I pray that God would keep us and sustain us. In what? In the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul said, I determine not to know anything among you, what, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Why, this is our strength. God help us not to compromise with the other camp, but firmly declare the gospel, and then pray God would cause them to stack arms, to bow down, to believe on Christ. Not Christ plus something, but Christ only. I stand and be dismissed in prayer. Gracious Father, with your own mercies, bless the message as you please. Make the distinction very clear in our hearts that Christ is all. And anyone who would add anything to Christ is in the camp of Jeroboam. I pray, Father, that you would keep us in the gospel, sustain us by the gospel. Give us strength and wisdom and understanding as we go through this life surrounded by our enemies. Christ is all our righteousness, all our wisdom, all our sanctification, and all our redemption. Let us rejoice in the gospel of Christ. I pray this in His name. Amen. Oh, you're welcome. I love you too.