Now, this division that was made,
this division that was made was a result of sin, the sin of Solomon. You could read this later. I
don't have the time, but 1 Kings 11 tells us that because Solomon's
heart was drawn away by all of these women, he had 300 concubines
and so many wives, and he loved them. And they drew his heart
away from God. And because of this sin, God
said, I'm going to take the kingdom and divide it. I'm going to make
a division in the kingdom. But I'm not going to totally
destroy it. I'm going to set aside for myself. two tribes, which were Judah
and Benjamin. And of course, the tribe of Judah
is the one which the Lord Jesus Christ would come from. And you
know, the sin of Solomon should be an example for the older believers. You know, it was not when Solomon
was young that his heart was drawn away. It was when he was
old. You think that when I'm growing
in grace and when I get to maturity, then I'm going to be just safe
and secure. No, the more you grow in grace,
the more you see your sin, not the more you do away with it.
The more you see it, the more you should run to Christ. But
we are tempted sometimes to be settled in our maturity and thus
drawn away. Now, Jeroboam, he was not of
the tribe of David, but he was a servant, a son of a servant. Now Jeroboam, the son of a servant,
was given the ten tribes of Israel by God. And his sin was to turn
the hearts of Israel to forsake the worship of God. For it was only there did God
forsake the worship of God that was in Jerusalem. Now, in Jerusalem
was the only place that God was to be worshipped. Remember, that's
where the temple was, that is where the Ark of the Covenant
was, that's where the atonement was made. And Jeroboam said in
his heart, he said, if the people go to Jerusalem and turn again
to the Lord, He's going to take these kingdoms from me. So what
Jeroboam did is set up places of worship in the north. Places of convenience. He said,
oh, you don't have to go down there. You don't have to go to
Jerusalem. Surely you can worship God here
in Dan or in this other place. I'll set up gods for you. But
we know that the only place that the blood was applied for the
atonement of sin was in Jerusalem. So there was a great division
in the nation. Now then, by the power of the
Holy Spirit this morning, I pray that God would reveal this. There's
a great division among men. There's a great division. A division
between God and man. There's a great division. And
what has made that division is sin. Sin has made a great division
between God and man. Isaiah said, your iniquities
have separated you from your God. Now man was made upright
and enjoyed communion with God, but when Adam sinned, when Adam
sinned, the whole human race was separated from God. Man by nature fell into depravity
and could no longer commune with God. Therefore, the sin of Jeroboam
is not new. It was the same sin of Adam. What did Adam do when he sinned?
They saw they were nakedness. They covered themselves in fig
leaves to cover their nakedness. And when they heard the voice
of God, they ran from God to hide among the trees. They fled from the presence of
God. What was Jeroboam doing? He was
causing man to flee, to stay away from the place where God's
presence was. Jeroboam fled from the presence
of God and set up false gods to worship, even the gods, those
golden calves that are spoken of here in the text in verse
8. He said, you have with you golden
calves. He set up these golden calves
that they thought would accept their righteousness. They thought
these golden calves would accept their offerings for sin. But
these were nothing but false gods. Even so, there's still
a great separation today. Man by nature still refuses to
worship the true and living God. Man today have set up their false
gods and bow down to them. They suppose that their gods
will be pleased with their righteousness. They suppose that their gods
will accept their sacrifices. that their gods will be able
to save them from death and hell. But I want you to listen very
carefully to me. If your God accepts your righteousness
and your sacrifices, your God is not God. If your God accepts your righteousness
and your works, and your religion as payment for sin. Your God
is not God. He is a false God. He is a false God. I know men today say, well, preacher,
we believe everything that you believe. We believe in Jesus
Christ just like you. We believe in His blood and righteousness. We believe they're essential
for salvation. We preach words like grace and
faith, just like you do. But we also believe that you've
got to obey the law. That you've got to obey the Ten
Commandments in order to be sanctified. This is the new thing. This is not new, but it's just
out there. It's being preached. Sanctification. Sanctification. Jesus did it all, but you must
sanctify yourselves. Friends, if this is your hope,
to be redeemed by Christ, but sanctified by your obedience,
listen, you are worshiping a false God, and you have no hope. You surely have left Christ for
a false gospel and the gods of Jeroboam. Go to Galatians chapter 1. I
want you to read Paul's stern rebuke of the church of Galatia
for doing this very thing. Turning away from the gospel
to the law. Paul says this in Galatians chapter
1. He says in verse 6, He said,
I marvel that you are so soon removed from Him that called
you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. Which is not another, but there
are some that trouble you and would, listen, pervert the gospel
of Christ. Not do away with the gospel of
Christ, The false religion of today doesn't do away with the
gospel of Christ. It perverts it. It twists the
gospel of Christ. It perverts it. But Paul says,
though we or an angel from heaven preach another gospel unto you
than that which we have preached, let him be accursed. Let him be accursed. What is
this other gospel that is being preached It was the simple addition
of one legal requirement. Circumcision. That's what was
introduced. You believe on Christ. You believe
on His blood and righteousness. But in order to be set apart,
in order to be saved, you must obey this one commandment. And Paul said, if you obey that
one commandment, you add that one thing, what you've done is
polluted the whole sacrifice. You've polluted the whole thing.
To add one work of the flesh to the blood and righteousness
of Christ, Paul tells them in Galatians chapter 5, he said,
Christ will profit you nothing. Nothing. How much more than to
add the whole of the Ten Commandments? Does this defile the sacrifice
of Christ? I've heard men say this. Well,
we want men, we want to preach the law because we need to keep
people. Man, you can't keep people in
the church unless you start preaching the law. They say, you know what? If we don't preach the law, then
they're just going to go out there and live immorally. They say, surely men must then
sanctify themselves by obedience to the law in order to become
more holy. Therefore, false preachers try
to whip the flock of God and entice them to stay by guilting
them. Matter of fact, man by nature
loves to be guilted. That's just natural for us to
love the whip of the law. Men love to have rules and regulations
to bind them. By nature, they love it. The
Word of God said that in Jerusalem was the only place to worship,
the only place for atonement, the only place where the high
priest was to offer the blood. But this was only a picture of
how sinners may approach unto God. and be pardoned only by
the offering of Christ alone. If you are a sinner in need of
salvation, I'm pointing you to the only one who can save you,
Jesus Christ. And all who come to God by Him
through faith alone in His perfect righteousness. His perfect offering
shall be fully and perfectly and completely forever saved. This is the gospel. Do you not
see the distinction? Do you not see the separation
between the false and the true? The false gospel says work. The true gospel says grace. come to Christ and Christ alone. Christ alone. And all who come
shall be forever saved. This is the Word of God. Go over
to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30. Now, if you want the gospel in
a very concise passage of Scripture, here it is. Here's the whole
message of the gospel right here. But of God are you in Christ? You who are in Christ, how are
you in Christ? Did your faith put you in Christ?
No. My faith confirmed that I was
already in Christ. Because God put me there. God puts men in Christ. We don't put ourselves in Christ.
For of God are you in Christ Jesus. Who of God is made unto
us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. that according as it is written,
he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. Behold, this is
the gospel in its simplicity. Christ is all. Christ is all. He is all my wisdom. I could
not know God except Christ reveal him to me. You cannot know God except Christ
reveal Him to you. He is my wisdom in that how can
God be just and justify the ungodly? How could God save a sinner and
still remain holy? I only know that through Christ.
I only know that by Christ revealing that to me. That's not human
wisdom. Now, you can academically get
that, but I tell you, you'll never get it in your heart unless
He reveals it to you. So He's my wisdom. Jesus Christ
is all my righteousness. All my righteousness. You see, all my righteousness
was obtained by His obedience. By His faithfulness. Scripture
says, even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith
of Jesus Christ. The righteousness of God He obtained
and He imputed to His people and imparts it to His people,
to all who believe on Him. And Jesus is all our redemption,
even because He has shed His blood once for our sin. I like that word, once, in Hebrews.
He, by His one offering, one offering, hath perfected forever
Them that are what? Sanctified. Sanctified by who? Sanctified by God. Listen, Christ is not only my
wisdom, my righteousness, my redemption, but He is also my
sanctification. My sanctification. What does
it mean to be sanctified? It means to be pure, to be made
holy. Isn't that the purpose of God
and election? That we should be made holy? You read that in Ephesians 1. He's to make us holy. And behold,
Jesus is all our holiness. And by the power of His Holy
Spirit, He has created in us a new nature, which is called
the new birth. And Paul says in Ephesians 4
that that is created after God in true holiness. True holiness. You see, salvation is not part
our work and part Christ's work. It's all Christ. It's all Christ. If men believe that He is their
righteousness, their wisdom, and their redemption, why in
the world would they believe that they are their sanctification? Is there such a thing as less
holy and more holy? Can you say that? Is it possible
to be less holy? You see, holiness is an absolute
principle. You are either holy or you're
not. You're either righteous or you're not. Now, our old man, the old man
of sin, is still just as corrupt as he ever was. But our new man
is just as holy as the Son of God. He is created in the image
of God. That's what prompted the Lord
Jesus Christ to say, that which is born of flesh is what? Flesh. Your flesh is never gonna get
holier. And if you're waiting on that,
you're gonna be disappointed. It only is revealed to be worse
and worse. My flesh is just worse. But I know this, that which is
born of Spirit is Spirit. That which is born of God in
me cannot be corrupted. Cannot be corrupted. See then, to lay one part of
salvation upon the works and will of man surely divides men to the side
of sin, the side of Jeroboam, the side of a false god. Now
then, I want us to see something about this man Abijah. This man
Jeroboam is on one side of the division, which is a picture
of all works and free will religion. That is the side of the false
gods. But there's another side of this
division. I'm thankful for this side. And
it is the side of Abijah. And now I want us to see the
message of this King Abijah is the message of everyone who worships
God. Everyone who is saved by the
grace of Jesus Christ, this man Abijah is a representative of,
a picture. Matter of fact, you know what
his name means? Worshipper of God. See the division? Jeroboam. The sin of Jeroboam
is recorded throughout the Old Testament. The sin of Jeroboam.
The sin. Sin is always related to Jeroboam. But this man's name is worshiper
of God. And he represents all of God's
people. For all those who believe in
Jesus Christ, we worship God according as He has commanded
us and not as the world. Believer in Jesus Christ, surely
we should. We should, if at all possible,
live peaceably in this world. You, believer, listen. If you're
a believer in Christ and you have been by the grace of God
saved, we should strive to live peaceably. In other words, we're
not sent here to protest to change the government, or to impact
the culture. You hear that a lot, I'm sure.
Impact the culture. That's not what we're here to
do. We're not here to impact the culture. We're not here to
change the culture. But I'll tell you this, if we
follow after this man Abijah, we surely will be set against
this world. There was a battle fixing to
take place at this point. You have two opposing sides that
never can meet peaceably. Never meet peaceably. We are here, believer in Christ,
to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ with boldness and simplicity. And this is the mandate and command
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And if our message is clear,
that Jesus Christ is all our salvation, listen, you are instantly
set against this world. You're instantly set against
this world. Look at your text. It says, "...and
Abijah set the battle in array." With an army of valiant men of
war, 400,000 chosen men, and Jeroboam also set the battle
in array against him. He had 800,000. If we would preach the gospel
out clearly, that Christ is all, that Christ is victorious, it's then the world would set
themselves against us, and its religion would set itself
against us, and never will the two meet in agreement or compromise. Listen, I want to live peaceably
among all men, but I will not compromise the gospel of Jesus
Christ to do it. I will not, and neither will
any of God's people. We will not compromise with this
world. And listen to what Abijah preached. Here it is. In verse 4, he said,
And Abijah stood up upon Mount Zeruim, which is in Mount Ephraim,
and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel. Ought you not
to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over
to David forever? even to him and to his sons by
a covenant of salt." Now, as I said before, it's kind of strange
that they were ready for battle and this guy stands up to preach.
That just seems odd, doesn't it? It's evident that God set David
to be king over Israel. And this is what his message
that he preached. Ought you not to know. Ought you not to know? It was evident that God sent
David over by a covenant and said to David, surely your throne
was established forever. He said, your throne is established
forever. But friends, truly this speaks
not just of David physically, because David is dead. David
died. But this rather speaks of the
Lord Jesus Christ, doesn't it? How is the throne of David established?
Because of David's son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Psalm 110 in
verse 1, it says, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my
right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. This is the message of Abijah.
Ought you not to know that God gave the kingdom to David. And
so I tell you this morning, ought you not to know that Jesus Christ
is King? Ought you not to know that? It appears, as the righteous
suffer, it doesn't appear this way, seeing that the righteous
suffer and the wicked prosper. Matter of fact, it appears the
opposite, doesn't it? We're so few. And the world and
its religion is so large. Isn't that what is recorded here? There was only 400,000 for Abijah
and there was 800,000 for Jeroboam. It seemed opposite. It seems
as though that the wicked will rule, that the wicked are ruling.
Therefore, believers in Christ, take courage, take courage, and
let not your hands be weak, for the Lord is not restrained to
save by many or by few, even because Jesus Christ sits upon
the throne right now. And ought you not to know this,
did not God, God didn't do this thing in a corner, did He? God
did this in the open. You see, the Lord Jesus was crucified
before both Jews and Gentiles. Before the known world, Christ
was crucified. And God raised Him from the dead. And seated Him on the throne
of God. And He did this for what purpose?
What purpose did Christ come to die and rise again? To save
His people from their sins. That's what He came to do. came
to save His people, all that the Father gave Him. And listen,
He was not defeated. I don't care what it appears
like. He was not defeated. See then the vanity of all the
efforts of the religious, false religious age, who take counsel
against the Lord and against His Christ, They curse and they
kick at the rock of God which was laid for the foundation of
His church. They disallow it. They hate it.
But God has set it to be the cornerstone and the only salvation
for sinners. Therefore, let the Antichrist
rage. Let them boast. Let them set
in battle against us. Because our Savior, is King. Our Savior is King. There is
only one Savior and one King, and it's not you, and it's not
me, and it's definitely not them. It is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And therefore, as King, listen, you who are sinners, lay down
your arms against Him. Lay them down. Will you, Abijah
said, will you fight against the Lord? Will you fight against
God? Let the potsherd strive with
the potsherd. Oh, but would you strive with
your maker? Ought you not to know that Jesus
Christ is King? Ought you not to know you should
lay down your arms against Him? A mother once went to Napoleon
and begged for her treasonous son, committed two acts of treason. And Napoleon said, he doesn't
deserve mercy. And she said, I'm not asking
for justice. That's why I'm not asking for
justice, he's guilty. That's why I'm asking for mercy,
because he doesn't deserve it. You see, sinner, you should come
to God for mercy. Mercy! Not justice. Mercy. Don't you know that all
your works are filthy rags? Don't you know that? Ought you
not to know that? That you have rebelled and despised
the grace of God by trying to add your works to Christ. Now
come, come now, even as Mephibosheth came. How did he come? He came
falling down. Why? He couldn't stand. He didn't
have any legs to stand on. You don't have a leg to stand
on. You should come and fall before
Christ and say, what is thy servant but a dead dog? And you know what you'll find?
you'll find mercy. Those who need absolute mercy
will find absolute mercy. And second of all, we preach
that the kingdom of God will triumph. Look at verses 8. He said, And now think you to
withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons
of David. He tells them, you're great,
and you've got all these gods, and you've got all these priests,
you've forsaken the way of God, but, verse 10, but as for us,
the Lord is our God. He said, you have all these things,
but you won't win. That's what we preach to the
world. They have all these things, but they won't win. Why? Because they don't have God.
They don't have God. We have God, therefore, we will
win. We will win. Behold, God Himself, verse 12,
Behold, God Himself is with us for our captain. And His priest
was sounding trumpets to cry alarm. The golden calves of freewill
works religion that the world boasts of in their wealth and
numbers. The false church boasts, but
they will not succeed. They mock the preachers of the
gospel and say, surely there's got to be more than preaching
Christ. Isn't that what the natural man
seeks? He comes in and he hears about
election, predestination, it tickles his ears for a little
while, he gets into it, and then all of a sudden, man, that's
all he preaches. I got to go find something else.
And when they do, they go try to find something else. It doesn't
work for them. They say, surely there's got
to be more to this than preaching and hearing the gospel and believing
on Christ. These religious people cast out
God's preachers having itching ears for strange new doctrines. Those lost souls come in and
hear the gospel and for a while are amused but soon leave. They
say in their heart, my soul loatheth this light bread. The apostles
said the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine
but heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. If you do
not desire to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, if you will
not submit to him, if you will not be faithful to hear his gospel,
but you willingly forsake the assembling of the saints, beware.
That's the beginning of apostasy, isn't it? The beginning of apostasy
is to go away from the gospel, to find something else. But surely,
listen, God's saints will never go away from the gospel. Because Christ is all my salvation. I love what Peter said. He didn't
understand what the Lord was talking about, but he said, and
Jesus said, will you go away also? And they said, Lord, to
whom shall we go? Look, I don't understand everything,
but I know this, I'm not going away from you. And that's what
the soul of every believer says. And we who are in Christ, listen,
we will triumph because He has already triumphed. All the enemies of our soul have
already been under the foot of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's already
conquered them. God's saints, I'll tell you,
we surely can sin I know we can and we do. But God will never
allow His people to remain outside of the sound of His gospel. But those who can leave it will.
And in doing so, they forsake the only hope for their souls.
And verse 10, it says, But as for us, the Lord is our God.
Joshua said this, Choose you this day whom you will serve. That's not too hard, is it, to
understand? You see, I serve Christ not strictly
out of a choice, but total necessity. If a man were starving and I
were to offer him bread, do you suppose that he would have a
choice as to refuse? No, He would take it out of necessity. He has to have it. And this is
for me. This is for every believer in
Christ. We need Him. And our confession is, the Lord
is with us. Believer, let your hearts rejoice
in the gospel of Jesus Christ and trust and serve the risen
Savior. And I tell you, I have not forsaken
Him. Why? Because He has never forsaken
me. The only hope I have to continue
in the true religion of God is that Christ keep me. Keep me. Behold, Jesus is our High Priest,
and He has offered the only sacrifice for sins, and has forever sat
down on the right hand of God because He has accomplished all
our salvation. Therefore, Jesus promises to
us, to us who believe upon this rock, I will build my church,
and listen, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I like that because gates are
to keep people out, aren't they? Gates keep people out. You know, at one time I was under
the bondage of sin. I was under the rule of Satan
and the dominion of his power. But praise God, those gates that
He put up, our Lord Jesus picked them up, bars and all, and carried
them away. And this is comforting for us,
because I know this, when the Word of God goes forth, it accomplishes
exactly what He sends it to do. That's my only hope. That's my
comfort. When I'm preaching this gospel,
I know this. God determines to have a purpose for that gospel
that goes out. And His will, His will is always
accomplished. And nothing can stop Him from
saving His people. And lastly, look at the scheme
of Jeroboam. I'll close with this. And Jeroboam
caused an ambushment, verse 13, to come about behind them. And they were before Judah, and
the ambushment was behind them. And Judah looked back. Behold,
the battle was before and behind. Believer, is that not true of
us? The battle is before and behind. The battle is within
and without. Constant battle. The world is
constantly enticing, constantly tempting to draw us away from
Christ. It's constantly, the flesh is
constantly kicking against the Spirit, and the Spirit is constantly
engaged against the flesh. We are surrounded. We are outnumbered. And so they scheme. I like this. There's Abijah, he's preaching,
and all the while Jeroboam is scheming as to how to defeat
him. I tell you, all the while I'm
preaching, the enemy is scheming. But what ended up happening here
is going to happen. The priest sounded the trumpet, and God smote the enemy. That's it. That's it. God is
going to have the victory. So what do we do? We preach.
We sound the trumpet. And God gives the victory. God
gives the victory over the flesh. It says in this passage that
after this battle was over, it said that Jeroboam In verse 20,
neither did Jeroboam recover his strength. You know what happened
when the Lord saved me? The flesh never recovered its
full strength. It'll never have dominion over
me again. The world has been conquered. It'll never have that
dominion over me again. It'll never recover its strength
it once had." Now, it has strength, but it's not near as bad as it
was before because Christ has come in, set up His throne in
my heart, and it cannot be removed. This is our comfort when we're
ambushed, is that God always gives the victory. through Jesus
Christ, our Lord. And may this, by God's grace,
may the church learn our mandate. In this world of separation and
division caused by sin, God has provided a way for his people. He has paid the ransom by Jesus
Christ, and all his people are budges. Worshippers of God. And what is our business in this
world? Preach the gospel. You know you've got nothing else
to do here? You've got a job. Why do you
have a job? So that the gospel may be preached. That's what we're here for. We've
got no other thing to be here for. Not family, not friends,
anything. Preach the gospel. That's what
we're here for. Support the work of the ministry.
That's our mandate. And you know what? We're assured
of victory. We're not going to lose. We won't
lose. And by God's grace, we won't
compromise. May Jesus Christ be honored. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed
in prayer.