Can anybody tell me how long
we've been meeting in our new place here? A month? A month and a half? This was to be the inaugural
message. But I couldn't get it together,
couldn't outline it, couldn't... I'd listened to the message,
I'd read this text months ago and I thought, well, this will
be the keynote message. The dedication, if you will,
or however you want to term it, as we gathered in this new place. So here it is. A month, a month
and a half, or however long we've been meeting here. 1 Kings chapter
14. 1 Kings chapter 14. What we have here before us in
first Kings in the 14th and verses 14 through 16 is fully recorded
from the words of the Holy Spirit regarding a king named Jeroboam. He's the king of Israel because
the kingdom is now divided. You've got this Northern kingdom
and the Southern kingdom just took place, Israel and Judah. And what we have is a absolute
horrible commentary describing this wicked and abusive king.
Look with me at a few verses in first Kings chapter 14, and
then we're going to go back and look at some of his history and
find out just what were these sins that he committed What were
these sins that He caused the people who followed Him to commit?
And what relevance does this have in this time of gospel dispensation? Look with me at 1 Kings chapter
14. I'm sorry, yes, chapter 14, and
we'll start in verse 14. Moreover, the Lord shall raise
Him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam
that day. But what even now for the Lord
shall smite Israel as a reed is shaken in the water and he
shall root up Israel out of his good land, which he gave to their
fathers and shall scatter them beyond the river because they
have made their groves provoking the Lord to anger. and he shall
give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam who did sin
and who made Israel to sin. Now, you could rest assured that
if there's a pastor, a preacher, a man who's in charge and he
doesn't do those things which is right, if he continually sins
and causes air to be preached and air to be believed, that
the people are going to, just what you said this morning in
Bible class, you're going to have somebody who's up there
tickling ears, and the people are going to want to have their
ears tickled, and they're going to just follow that man right
down. And that's what the charge is
to this one Jeroboam. It says, the sins, because of
the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who he made Israel to
sin. Just what were these sins and
or and or sin that made him the most infamous king in the Old
Testament by far? And as I said, what parallel
or what correlation does that have? to this hour and this moment
and this minute in our gospel dispensation, what does this
have for you and I this morning? Well, let's find out. And maybe
the reason why I didn't preach this on the first message is
because this is pretty well right up in our face. This is right, I can't tone it
down, I won't tone it down. And as I said before, I'm so
thankful that you You won't let me tone it down either. You will
not let me pair off the gospel, the corners of the gospel, but
speak the word as the word is laid out. Turn back a couple
chapters to 1 Kings chapter 12. We're going to look at five areas
of sin, five things that this man did that were so horrible
and caused Israel to stumble with him. First Kings chapter
12, look at me at verse 25 through 30. Then Jeroboam built Shechem
in Mount Ephraim and dwelt therein and went out from thence and
built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart,
because like I said, the kingdoms are divided. You've got Rehoboam.
And with Judah, he's king, the kingdoms have just split, and
you got Jeroboam, and Jeroboam is one of those, Rehoboam is
one of those kings, he says, here's the problem, I can see
what's going on, let's fix it. You know, Bruce and I were walking
around here yesterday afternoon and was looking at some different
things. Okay, here's the situation. Let's fix it. Rehoboam was that
way. He saw an issue. Jeroboam was
one of those kind of guys that looked way far ahead and said,
this might happen. So you know what? I'm going to
have to do all these things because this might take place. So Jeroboam
He built these couple places, the kingdoms divided. He's over
Jerusalem, or Israel, I should say. And Jeroboam said in his
heart, now shall the kingdom return to the house of David.
So his intentions are pretty noble. If this people go to do
sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, see, he's
not king over Jerusalem. He's king over another kingdom.
So in order for his servants to go and his subjects to go
worship the way it was set up in the Old Testament, they're
going to have to cross enemy lines because It's like if you've
got to pay taxes and you've got to go to Cape and Cape and Jackson,
they've got issues and you can't cross that line. Well, what do
we do? Well, let's just start building
our own stuff here in Jackson so we become self-sufficient.
That's what he did. He's worried about the king,
this other king. If the people go up to sacrifice
in verse 27, in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall
the heart of this people, my subjects, turn again to their
Lord, even to Rehoboam, the king of Judah, and they'll kill me
and they'll go again to Rehoboam, the king of Judah. So he's got
all this stuff. It might, it might happen. He's a worrier. So what does
he do? Verse 28, whereupon the king
took counsel and made two calves of gold. Now Aaron only did made
one. He made two calves of gold and
said unto them, the people, it's too much for you to go up to
Jerusalem. Like God says, you're supposed
to do behold your gods. Oh, Israel. which brought thee
up out of the land of Egypt. Now who does that? That sounds,
if you go back and look at Aaron's phraseology, it's very close
to this. So he set one of the golden calves in Bethel and he
put the other one in Dan, which was in his provinces. And this thing became a sin,
number one. For the people went to worship
before the one or they went today into the other is convenient. Nevermind what God says and where
God says or what God says. Let's do what's convenient. And he made a house, this is
the second thing, he made a house of high places and made priests
of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of
Levi, because the priest could only come from the tribe of Levi. But they're in Cape Girardeau,
we're in Jackson. So let's just make our own system. Verse 32, and Jeroboam ordained
a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month,
like unto the feast that is in Judah. And he offered upon the
altar, so did he in Bethel, sacrifice unto the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests
of the high places which he had made. So he offered upon the
altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth
month, even the month which He had devised of his own heart
and ordained a feast under the children of Israel, and he offered
upon the altar and burnt incense. Here's the five sins that this
man committed and caused Israel to fall right in with him. Set
up the golden calves. He had contempt of the priesthood,
contempt of the temple, contempt of the solemn seasons and feasts
set aside by God. And lastly, he appointed himself
as a priest. Say, well, preacher, we can see
that that's not a good thing just from what you've read. Well, what relevance does that
have for us today? Let's look at all five of them.
In chapter 12, verses 25 through 30, the first thing he did is
he set up golden calves. What he did is he worshiped God
or tried to worship God under some sign or type of symbol or
ritual. God said, this is how I am to
be worshiped. I'm a God of spirit and God of
truth, and I'm to be worshiped in spirit and truth. But what's
easy is symbols. cross that I identify with that. He was not worshiping God in
spirit and truth, but in tradition and rules and simple and symbols. And I mentioned this before,
it's nothing new. That's why we don't, we don't have beads.
We don't use beads in our, in our worship. We have no crosses. We have no candles. no manger
scenes, no pictures, nothing but hymns and songs and preaching from the word. It's not man made. It's not the
Baptist system concocted, but it's simple, singular, gathering
ourselves in order and for to worship. You see, the way to
worship God is not left up to us as to how we are to worship
Him. We are to serve Him in His own
manner, and nothing can symbolize that. The Egyptians, calves, symbolized
strength. An ox, I don't think that symbolizes
a sovereign, majestic, holy God, do you? What will you liken? God says, what are you going
to liken unto me? Who are you going to compare
me to? There's none like me. No, not one. And for people to
use things in order to make, they think it makes them closer
to God or it's more spiritual or it's something they can touch
or handle, that's what he did. That's what he did. We gather
in this place, but if something happens here, we gotta go over
there. We've met at Bruce's house before. It's not so much where,
it's who we're worshiping when we gather together. Now, this
is the place that the Lord has opened up. This is the place
that we gather together. So to neglect it, well, let's not forsake
the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is. But
as far as these walls, They're here today and maybe in 50 years,
I pray they're still here and I pray the messages of God's
gospel will be carried on by perhaps one of our, Lord would
raise up one of our children to preach the truth. That would
be wonderful. But really when it's all said
and done, it's all gonna decay anyway. But here's the first
thing that he did, the first thing he did is he built, he
set up these calves. He's, he set these things up
and people have all sorts of trinkets and toys and things,
symbols that is supposed to remind them of God and the salvation
or whatever. No, let's just simply stick to
the way in manner in which God says to worship him. Secondly,
This man showed contempt for the priesthood. Look at verse
31, still in chapter 12. And he made the house of high
places and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were
not of the sons of Levi's. He used the lowest people. It's like today. Be honest with
you, it's like today. If you can't hold a job, if you
can't do much, hey, go to seminary, get your degree and become a
pastor. So I told Melinda, we were laughing
about this, that, you know, when I was growing up, this is not
what I wanted to do. This is not what I wanted to
become. I ran from this kind of stuff. And now I'm doing two
things that the world considers, there's probably only one other
thing that I could do. Bruce was laughing, we talked about
this. I work in sales, and you know what people think about
salesmen. And I'm a preacher. I told Bruce probably that probably
the other if I got if I lose this job or quit this job or
go somewhere else, probably the worst thing would be if I use
car salesmen. Because you talk to people and
most people, oh, you're pretty lazy. And so here's what he does. He doesn't he neglects what God's
order is. And anybody will do now. The priest. represents the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now it's a little more serious,
isn't it? These were those people who were
to represent God, and then they were to represent the people
to God. They were the go-betweens. This
priest is a type, a shadow of Christ. And Christ by nature
was not the lowest, but he was holy and pure and separate from
sinners. He was above reproach and held in highest regard by
the angels and all who served him. We need one who can stand
between God and man, because of who God is. And that's the
high priest we need. We need God himself to provide
a sacrifice, and he did, the Lord Jesus Christ. We need one
perfect, holy, harmless, and undefiled, says Hebrews. So he
could represent God, and then we need someone that has absolute
righteousness, perfect obedience to represent us. You want somebody
like this representing you? Let me ask the kids. Do you want
a person who can't read, who can't write, who can't do math
to take your final exam? No. He said, I'm going to do
it myself. That's what they did. Let's just
let anybody up here anytime just say anything you want to say.
No. No. Well, his third crime, his third
sin, he had contempt for the temple. Again, in verse 31, he
made a house of high places by his own architectural design,
his own structure, the temple. And the temple in the Old Testament,
representative, this is where God met with his people. This
is where the Shekinah glory resided. Oh, the beauty of such a place.
Can you imagine that in the Israel of old, to go to the temple? To see that thing is your kind
of glory. The holy of holies, the tent
of meetings, the candle, the showbread. It's where the high
priest went in and did what you need to have done every year. It's where God could be just
and justify the ungodly as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
bless this place. We bless the Lord's blessed his
people from this place. And that's where they gather
together. Well, what did he do? What was
his crime? Well, he made one suitable. So people didn't have to sacrifice.
Let's make it easy and as contemporary as possible. So, you know, where
I'm heading here, contemporary worship. Let's just have worship
for the old folks and let's just have worship for the kids. Let's
bring in the puppets. Let's bring in the actors. Let's
bring in. We don't want, you know, worshiping
God to be a burden to your busy schedule, to your job, to your
recreation. Well, up the road here, they'll
even let horses in. Let's let horses come in and
have different kinds of worship services, plenty to do for the
kids and plenty to do for the adults. We don't want to bore
anybody by mentioning the Redeemer. Let's memorize our creeds and
constitutions and letters, but let's not memorize the book and
let's not hear what God has to say concerning the book. I heard
it. I heard a good example that illustrates
this. about men taking their traditions
and making them what they think God has said. And this only happened
about 50, 60 years ago, and it happened to a pastor that I know
very well. He was telling about it. I think in the land of Haiti
is where this took place. This pastor that you and I know
was supporting a missionary. there and he and he happened
to was able to meet and spend a time, some time together with
the bishop, the bishop on that island. And they got together
for a meal and they were speaking and conversing about different
things. And this bishop who was going to be made cardinal in
about a month. He was quoting the fathers, and he was quoting
the prior popes, and he was quoting all these different theologians
and all these different things. He knew the father's creeds,
and he knew all these different things, and everybody was impressed
with this man whose mind was sharp, and he's quoting all these
past popes in the 1500s and the 1300s. He's quoting all these
things. Well, this missionary started quoting the Scriptures.
And this bishop who's soon to be a cardinal said, who said
that? And the missionary said, why
sir, that's right out of the Bible. And you know what that
man said? I got it written down. He says,
I know the old fathers, but I don't know much Bible. You know what? Take the old fathers
and bury them. We're going to be judged by what's
in here. Not what Drew Dietz says, or
not what Zwingli, or not what, what think ye of Christ. The fourth issue that this Jeroboam
had, the sin, was he had contempt for the solemn seasons and feasts.
Look at verses 32 and 33 in chapter 12. Then Jeroboam ordained a
feast. Now look at it real close because
hold your finger here and be turning to Leviticus chapter
23. Hold it here and be turning to
Leviticus chapter 23. Actually, I'll get there with
you. Leviticus chapter 23. Okay, let me read in 1 Kings.
This sin that this man had was content for the solemn seasons
and feasts that God set aside as command. And Jeroboam ordained
a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month,
like unto the feast that is in Judah. And he offered up upon
the altar. And so did he in Bethel, a sacrifice
unto the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests
of the high places which he had made. And so he offered upon
the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of
the eighth month." Okay? Turn to Leviticus. So what's
the difference? Leviticus chapter 20, excuse
me, Leviticus 23 and look at verses 33 and 34. And the Lord
spake unto Moses and said, this is what you're supposed to do.
Speak unto the children of Israel saying the 15th day. Okay. If you look back at our text
in numbers, the 15th day, look back in Leviticus, the 15
day of the seventh month. shall be the feast of the tabernacle
for seven days under the Lord. He did it on the 15th day, the
seventh month. Jeroboam, the 15th day on the
eighth month. It's one month. God will understand. It's like today in this country,
we're going to rush through Thanksgiving from Halloween to Christmas.
We're just going to kind of, you know, a holiday that actually,
you know, you sit and you reflect about what God has given and
be thankful for it. And if people just want to run
right over it. He shifted the month, not the
day. What's the difference? There's not much difference.
Pastor, you're nitpicking. You're nitpicking. I believe
in grace. But you have to. We're saying the same thing.
No, we're not. I believe that Christ died and His sins covered
my sins. He died for my sins. But I have
to do this in order to make that effectual. We're not saying the
same thing. You're saying it works. I'm saying grace. He's just one little thing. Don't let one word, don't let
one letter come between you and Christ. You see what I'm saying? A little leaven leavens the whole
lump. It's never Christ plus something. It's always Christ is all and
all and nothing else. You see what I'm saying? Well,
there's not that... Yeah, there is. 15th day, 8th month. Looks like grace, sounds like
grace, even smells like grace. But if you don't keep the law,
if you don't do this, if you don't do that, Christ is all in all. Like I
say, it might seem to be small. You say, that's nitpicking. I
have had many people say, well, we're saying the same thing.
You're splitting hairs. No. No, I tried to say something
to my cousin one time. You're splitting hairs. You're
just being nitpicky. But they said that if they weren't
baptized, then they weren't saved. And what they were saying is,
and they were baptized as children. And that's not baptism, whatever
you want to call that. But I said, we're not even on
the same page. We're not even in the same ballpark.
And I'm not saying I'm anything better, nor am I absolutely right. I'm saying the Scripture's right.
People say, like Bruce made a comment in Bible class, well, you say
you're the only ones, and you say you're right and everybody
else is wrong. No, what we're saying is God's right. And I want to be found
with Him and in Him. Lastly, chapter 13 verse one
and behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word
of the Lord unto Bethel and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.
Now he's, he's appointed himself as a priest. He's taken upon
himself. And we know that this right only
belongs to the Levites of old. And more particularly, this points
to Christ, our great high priest. Only he can present us faultless
before the throne. Only Christ can bear the iniquity
of us all. Only he can present us as a pure
bride. Only he has the right to redeem,
to reclaim and rescue sinners from eternal ruin. Probably the summation of this
whole thing is simply put, this is what God said and this is
what Jeroboam decided he wanted to do. And that's one reason
why I'm glad we took Baptist out of our title. You know, the
church at Jackson, the church at Ephesus, that would even have
been... Well, what do you all do there? See, people can't figure
it out. What do you do there? What persuasion are you? Well, according to Hebrews, we're
fully persuaded. There's three things. I thought, well, what a message.
There's a message. There are three parts of the
believer. Fully persuaded, embracing, and confessing. There's all three. If you're
fully persuaded that Christ is your righteousness, he's going
to lie, you're going to embrace him. And then you're not going
to be able to keep it quiet. You're going to have to tell
somebody. The problem is with people like
Jeroboam and people who's, well, you're just splitting hairs and
we're saying the same thing, all those different things. The problem
is, with this type of sin, with this type of false worship, with
these type of false preachers is found in Isaiah 26. In closing,
turn to Isaiah 26. This is the problem with us, unless God
give us grace to understand the book, Isaiah 26. And look at verse 10. Let favor
be shown to the wicked. Yet will he not learn righteousness? In the land of the in the land
of uprightness, will he deal unjustly? And will not behold
the majesty of the Lord? You can talk and talk and talk.
And it's only until God opens the heart and opens the mind
that anything different. Okay, well, let's not be so firm
in the preaching. Let's show them favor. Let's
try to help them out. Let's give them some money. Let's
open the doors and be a community, which we should. We should help
folks. I'm not saying that, but some churches, that's all they
do, talk about what they've done for the community. Show them
favor. Let's not preach them the gospel. Let's just do good.
We can get them to come in that way. Let favor be shown to the
wicked and he'll not learn righteousness. You cannot make a proselyte.
You cannot make a believer by doing those things. It's got
to be only solely by the grace of God. They won't turn. They
won't turn. May our gracious Lord and Savior
keep us from these sins, keep me and keep you, let's pray for
one another, from these sins of Jeroboam, altering and playing
with the Word of God, or playing religion because the end result
will be the very destruction of our souls. I've said it before
and I say it again, Christ is enough for us because He is enough
for the satisfaction of all that God requires from us. It's either Christ or nothing
at all.