Morning. Would you turn to 1st
Kings chapter 12. This says low battery. Can we get another battery? I remember seeing that last time. First Kings chapter 12, I'm going
to go ahead and read this. And Rehoboam, that Solomon's
son, went to Shechem, for all Israel were come to Shechem to
make him king. And it came to pass when Jeroboam,
the son of Nebat, was yet in Egypt, heard of it, for he was
fled from the presence of King Solomon. And Jeroboam dwelt in
Egypt. You'll remember God said Jeroboam
was going to become king of Israel. And when Solomon heard about
this, he wanted to kill Jeroboam and Jeroboam went down to Egypt
to flee from him. Now, after he was dead, they
sent and called him and Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel
came and spake unto Rehoboam saying, Now this is because of
all the building projects that Solomon had. Thy father made
our yoke grievous. Now therefore make thou the grievous
service of thy father and his heavy yoke, which he put on us
lighter, and we will serve thee. Don't be so hard on us. Okay,
I'll pick up reading as soon as I get this speaker. Well, it's not working at all,
maybe for that, but we'll just not use that for this, and I'll
get it later. Verse 5, and he, Rehoboam, said
unto them, Depart yet for three days, then come again to me. And the people departed. And
King Rehoboam consulted with the old men that stood before
Solomon, his father, while he yet lived. and said, how do you
advise that I may answer this people? How should I respond
to them saying, lighten up the yoke? And they spake unto him
saying, if thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day and
wilt serve them and answer them and speak good words to them,
they will be thy servants forever. But he forsook the counsel of
the old men which they had given him and consulted with the young
men that were grown up with him and which stood before him."
Now picture this in your mind. These were young men of wealth
and privilege. Solomon was the richest man in
the world and Rehoboam was his son, so he grew up in wealth
and privilege. And you can bet all of his buddies
were like that. So he forsook the counsel of the old man, went,
let's not listen to them, and wanted to listen to his buddies
that he grew up with. Verse nine, and he said unto
them, what counsel give ye that we may answer this people who
have spoken to me, saying, make the yoke which thy father did
put upon us lighter. And the young men that were grown
up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this
people that spake unto thee, saying, thy father made our yoke
heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us. Thus shalt thou say
unto them, my little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins. And now, whereas my father did
laid you with a heavy yoke, I'll add to your yoke. My father has
chastised you with whips, but I'll chastise you with scorpions."
Now look at the difference between the two men's counsel. Let's
go on reading. Verse 12, So Jeroboam and all
the people came to Rehoboam the third day as the king had appointed
them, saying, Come to me again the third day. And the king answered
the people roughly and forsook the old men's counsel that they
gave him and spake to them after the counsel of the young men,
saying, My father made your yoke heavy. I'll add to your yoke.
My father also chastised you with whips, but I'll chastise
you with scorpions. Wherefore the king hearkened
not unto the people, for the cause was from the Lord. Now he did what he wanted to,
but the cause was from the Lord. Don't you love the way God is
completely sovereign over the free actions of men? These men
were doing what they wanted to do. It was wicked, but it was
all according to God's purpose. Wherefore, the King hearkened
not unto the people, for the cause was from the Lord, that
he might perform his saying, which the Lord spake by Hijah,
the Shilohite, unto Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. And you'll
remember in the previous chapter, he told him, you are going to
be king of Israel and the kingdom will be divided. And so this
is how that took place. Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name, and we're so thankful Lord, we're so thankful. That salvation is by your grace
and not by our works. We're so thankful that everything
you require of us, you look to your son for. And how we thank
you for his glorious righteousness, our righteousness for his precious
blood. How we thank you for the forgiveness
of sins. How we thank you for the acceptance
we have in Christ. Now, Lord, we ask that you would
speak to our hearts from your word. We ask that your gospel
would be preached in the power of your spirit and that you would
enable us to hear by your grace. Be with all your people, wherever
they meet together. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Now, if I was going to give this
a title, I would call it Law and Grace. We see law so clearly
in the way that the young men said to answer, and we see grace
so clearly in the way the old counselors of Solomon answered. Now, Rehoboam, Solomon's son,
and the Lord was going to cause everything that happened. So
I want to read a couple of verses. I read one of them, but look
in verse 15. Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people,
for the cause was from the Lord, that he might perform his saying."
Now you can write this down. This is true about everything.
There's nothing that is separated from this glorious truth that
the cause is from the Lord. God is always working his purposes. He's only got one purpose. It
includes everything. The cause was from the Lord.
Look down in verse 22 of this same chapter. But the word of
God came unto Shemaiah, the man of God, saying, Speak unto Rehoboam,
the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto the house of Judah and
Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying, Thus saith
the Lord, You shall not go up, nor fight against your brother.
Now he got a big army together, and he was going to fight. God
said, Don't do it. Return every man to his house,
for this thing is from me. This is why this is taking place.
And I find such comfort in that. Everything is from Him. Now, that doesn't take away our
personal responsibility in any way. It doesn't make us, after
we sin, we can't say, well, it was from the Lord. It was His
purpose for us. We don't look at things that way. Yet we know
He is completely sovereign over everything. Thank the Lord for
that. He's so glorious. But verse two, it came to pass when
Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who was yet in Egypt, heard of it.
For he was fled from the presence of King Solomon. Jeroboam dwelt
in Egypt. And they sent and called him
Jeroboam. And all the congregation of Israel
came and spake unto Rehoboam, saying, thy father made our yoke
grievous. Now, you'll remember from past chapters how many building
projects he had. I mean, there were these tremendous
building projects that took tremendous amount of money, and he put a
tremendous amount of tribute on everybody and all kinds of
labor. And so Rehoboam comes back, who was representing Israel,
and said, your father Solomon made it awful. He put a horrible
yoke on us. I mean, we had all kinds of trouble,
money, the tribute, the work. He says, make, thy father made
our yoke grievous. Now, therefore make thou the
grievous, sir, and his yoke heavy, which he put upon us lighter,
and we'll serve thee. If you're not so hard on us,
if you ease up on the taxes, if you ease up on the labor and
don't make our lives so grievous, we'll serve you. We'll be yours. And he, Rehoboam, said unto them,
depart yet for three days, and then come again to me. And the
people departed. And King Rehoboam consulted with the old men. These
were the men of Solomon's cabinet. And Solomon was a very wise man.
And you can bet that these men were wise men. And he said to
them, and King Rehoboam consulted with
the old men that stood before Solomon, his father, while he
yet lived, and said, how do you advise that I may answer this
people? And they spake unto him, if you'll
be their servant. if you'll be their servant. Look
in the Chronicles account, 1st Chronicles, 2nd Chronicles, chapter
10. Here's what they say to Rehoboam,
2nd Chronicles, chapter 10, verse seven, 2nd Chronicles 10, seven. And
they spake unto him saying, if thou be kind to this people,
and that word kind is gracious. If you'll be gracious to this
people and please them and speak good words to them, words of
grace, they will be thy servants forever. Look back in our text
in 1 Kings. If thou will be a servant unto
this people this day and will serve them and answer them and
speak good words to them, words of grace, they'll be your servants
Forever. And there we have grace. That's
all you can call this. Grace. And I think it's interesting
the way he says, if you'll be a servant to this people. You
know how you can be great? It doesn't take gifts. It doesn't
take wealth. It doesn't take education. The
way you can be great is by being a servant. Now that's, didn't the Lord say,
he that should be great, let him be the servant of all. And
how our Lord exemplified this. What about when he washed the
disciples' feet, being a servant to them. Turn with me to Matthew
chapter 20. Hold your finger there and go
to Matthew chapter 20. You know, this is what grace
does for somebody, makes them want to be a servant. Verse 24, And when the ten heard
it, what did they hear? Well, you'll remember James,
And John's mom said, let my boys be at your right hand and your
left. And when the ten heard it, I think it's funny, they
were moved with indignation against them. They were upset. This is not fair. They were moved with indignation
against the two brethren, but Jesus called them unto him and
said, you know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion
over them. and they that are great exercise
authority upon them, but it shall not be so among you, but whosoever
will be great among you, let him be your minister. and whosoever
will be chief among you, let him be your servant, even as
the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister
and to give his life a ransom for many. Now, I just love the
way he, if you want these people to serve you, be their servant. And if you're their servant,
if you speak words of grace and kindness to them, they'll serve
you forever. Now that's called grace. Not
heavy up the yoke, not put the yoke upon them. I think it's
very interesting that wherever you find people who are under
law, they're always trying to put the yoke on somebody else
and make it more heavy and unbearable. Well, we'll, we'll see that as
we go on, but this, this is the key being a servant. Verse eight,
but. That didn't sound good to Rehoboam.
He was raised in wealth and influence and he thought they ought to
be serving me. That was his attitude. They ought to be serving me.
Hey, I'm Solomon's son. I'm Rehoboam. The kingdom is
for me. It should be for me. He didn't
have any idea of this thing of being a servant. So what does
he say? He forsook their counsel. And I think of his buddies that
grew up with him. He asked these young men, they
were all young men of privilege and wealth and didn't have any
understanding of anything. Verse nine, and he said unto
them, what counsel give ye that we may answer this people who
have spoken to me saying, make the yoke which thy father did
put upon us lighter. And the young men that were grown
up with him spake unto him saying, thus shalt thou speak unto the
people that speak unto thee saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy,
but make thou it lighter unto us. Thus shalt thou say unto
them, my little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins.
And now, whereas my father laid you with a heavy yoke, I will
add to your yoke. My father's chastise you with
whips, but I'll chastise you with scorpions." Now, this is
the answer of law. Here we have the law. The answer of grace was found
in verse seven, give them kind words, but this is law. I think it's interesting in law. There's no mercy. There's no
kindness. There's no grace. As a matter
of fact, you find me somebody who is under law. And I'll show
you somebody who's mean and vindicative. And they, they, I think, hold
your finger there and turn to Galatians chapter six. I think
that this will be a, tell us something about people
who want to be under law. And I remember law is salvation
dependent upon what you do in some way. That's what law, that's
salvation dependent upon what you do in some way. Now look
here in verse 12 of Galatians chapter six. As many as desire
to make a fair show in the flesh, and that's what law is. I'm trying
to show you how good I am. It's a fair show in the flesh.
I'm trying to demonstrate to you how God is using me and how
God's hands on me and I'm somebody special. A fair show in the flesh. That's all it is. Now look what
he says. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh,
they constrain you to be circumcised only lest they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ. Here's the real reason
they're constraining you to be circumcised. They don't want
to deal with the offense of the cross because the offense of
the cross says that your works have absolutely nothing to do
with salvation. It's holy in Christ. Verse 13,
for neither they themselves who are circumcised, keep the law.
They say, I want you to keep the law. That's what you need
to do. He says, they don't, they don't. They can talk all they
want, but they don't. Here's what they want. He says,
they desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh.
Now what's that mean? I've been a good influence on
that person. I've got them to keep the law. I don't keep it,
but I've got them to keep it. I've influenced them for good.
Look how the Lord's using me. And that's when Paul says in
verse 14, God forbid that I should glory, saving the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Now these people were trying
to put these people under law. When they come up and say, lighten
up the load, I'm going to make it heavier. That is salvation
by law. I think of the Lord's words in
Matthew 23, they say and do not. They say and do not. And that's
an example of law. Now, here's how Rehoboam answers
now. So Jeroboam, verse 12, so Jeroboam
and all the people come to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had
appointed them, saying, come to me again the third day. And the king answered the people
roughly. That's the same word that's used
in to describe how Pharaoh treated the children of Israel, bitter
bondage. The same word is called bitter bondage, law, bitter bondage. He answered the people roughly,
and forsook the old men's counsel that they gave him, and spake
to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father
made your yoke heavy, and I'll add to your yoke. My father also
chastised you with whips, but I'll chastise you with scorpions.
That's the answer of law. There's no mercy in it. Verse
15. Wherefore the king, speaking
of Jeroboam, He hearkened not unto the people, for the cause
was from the, I mean, Rehoboam. He hearkened not unto the people
because the cause was from the Lord. Now you'll remember Solomon
committed idolatry and the Lord said, I'm going to rip the kingdom
away from you. I'm going to give Israel to Jeroboam
and I'm going to make it to where all you have is Judah. But it's
not going to happen in your lifetime because your father was David.
That's interesting, isn't it? I mean, he says to Solomon, who
committed the sin, because you're David's son, it's not going to
happen to you. It's going to happen to your boy. Now, somebody says,
how could that be fair? Well, whatever God does is fair,
right? Just write that down. We're not
supposed to question. Whatever God does is fair. If
he did it, it's fair. It's right, it's just, it's holy, and it's
good. But I think that is also such a picture of the gospel.
Solomon doesn't pay for the consequences of his sins for David's sake.
And that just typifies the gospel, doesn't it? But God says, this
is all from me. It's happening because I ordered
it and I ordained it. Verse 16, so when all Israel
saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered
the king saying, what portion have we in David? Neither have
we an inheritance to the son of Jesse, to your tents, O Israel,
now to see thine own house. Now see to thine own house, David.
We're not going to have anything to do with you, the house of
David. We're going back to our own tents because you're not
going to lighten this load." They said, we're not going to
have this. And thus began the divided kingdom. And the division of the kingdom
is seen throughout first Kings, second Kings, you know, the whole
story. It was now Judah and Benjamin and the 10 tribes of Israel,
the divided kingdom. And what I was thinking about
this, law always divides. And all the denominations in
religion, how many different denominations are there within
what's called Christianity? And every one of them, they have
some distinctive law that they think makes them different than
everybody else. That's what all these denominations are about.
They got some kind of law that it's distinctive to us. We're
closer to the truth because of this we keep. And thus we have
the beginning of the divided kingdom. Verse 17, but as for
the children of Israel, which dwelt in the cities of Judah,
Rehoboam reigned over them. So Jeroboam became the king of
Israel and Rehoboam was the king of Judah. And we're going to
see next week what a mess Jeroboam made of things. He introduced
idolatry into Israel. Verse 18. Then King Rehoboam
sent Adoram, who was over the tribute, the taxes, and all Israel
stoned him with stones. Now this is after they said,
we're not gonna have anything to do with David and his house. So Rehoboam, he
doesn't take what they say seriously. He sends the guy to collect the
taxes and they stone him and they kill him. They're letting
him know, we're not gonna have anything to do with you. Therefore,
King Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot to flee
to Jerusalem. He knew he was in trouble, so Israel rebelled
against the house of David unto this day. And it came to pass,
when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again, that they sent
and called him unto the congregation and made him king over all Israel,
just like God said would take place. There was none that followed
the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only. Now, when Rehoboam
was come to Jerusalem, He assembled all the house of Judah with the
tribe of Benjamin and 104 score thousand chosen men. That's 180,000
people. He's getting him up an army and
he's going to squash this rebellion. He's going to bring Israel back
to him. Which were warriors to fight against the house of Israel
to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon.
The word of God came to Shimei, the man of God, saying, speak
unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and into all the
house of Judah and Benjamin, to the remnant of the people,
saying, thus saith the Lord, you shall not go up, nor fight
against your brethren, the children of Israel. Return every man to
his house, for this thing is from me. They hearkened, therefore,
to the word of the Lord, and returned to depart according
to the word of the Lord. Now, I want you to turn to Matthew
chapter 11. We see law. They come to say, lighten the
load. We're going to make it worse.
We see grace. Speak kind words. Words of grace. And these people will be your
servants forever. We see the difference. Law and
grace. Jeroboam said, lighten up the
yoke. Lighten up the yoke. And I thought about what Peter
said when they were wanting to put the Gentile believers under
yoke. He said, why are you placing a yoke upon the disciples, which
neither we or our fathers were able to bear? Why do you want
to put somebody under law? We believe that through the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, we should be saved just like them.
Now, Matthew chapter 11, this is one of our favorite passages
of scripture. Beginning in verse 28. This gracious
command. I've heard this called the great
invitation, and I suppose in some ways it could sound like
that. But the Lord doesn't invite, he commands. And what a gracious
thing that is. The gospel is a command. Your
right to obey the command is because he commanded it. It's
not an invitation. You know, you've been invited
places and turned it down and it wasn't a sin to do it. But
to disobey a command of divine authority is sin, isn't it? So
this is a command and I'm so thankful it is, but look at the
graciousness of this command. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, laboring under a burden of sin. It's a heavy burden.
He says, come to me and I'll give you rest. What a glorious thing. Rest. They which have believed do enter
into rest. He that's entered into his rest
has ceased from his own works as God did from his rest. Nothing to do. The work is already
done. That's the rest of the believer. Now, look what he says next.
He says, take my yoke upon you. and learn of me. Not learn about
me, but learn of me. Learn of me and look what the
Lord says about himself. For I am meek and lowly, humble
in heart. Now this is the God of glory.
This is the creator. This is God, the son. And what
does he say about himself? He said, you can come to me now.
Now, remember the way Rehoboam was. You come to me and I'm going
to put the yoke heavier on you. And my little finger will be
thicker than my father's loins. And he chastised you with whips.
I'll do so with scorpions. What arrogance? What? And yet,
when the Lord speaks of himself, he says, come unto me, for I
am meek and lowly in heart. Do you know when sinners were around Christ, they
never felt threatened or judged by him who is absolutely holy.
That's how glorious he is. Meek and lowly in heart. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. I am meek and lowly in heart
and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy. Now, that word easy is gracious. Now, yoke of law is bitter bondage. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made us free, and don't be entangled in that yoke
of bondage. But the Lord says my yoke is
easy. Oh, to have his yoke upon you,
a yoke of grace, what's better than that? A yoke of grace. It's light. My yoke is easy and
my burden is light. Why is it light? Because Christ
carries it. He carries the burden. He carries
all the weight. You're just yoked up to Him.
I think it's kind of like a mouse being yoked up to an elephant.
Well, the elephant bears the weight of the yoke. The mouse,
he's He's there, he's in the yoke, but it's light, isn't it?
It's light. And what a glorious yoke is the
yoke of the gospel, being yoked to the Lord Jesus Christ. A yoke
always has to do with two. It's a coupling. That's what
the word means. That means you're yoked to Christ. What a yoke
that is. And we see from this story the
different responses there are to grace and law. You put a person under law and
they're going to rebel and they're going to come out swinging. You
put a person in the light yoke of grace and they'll be your
servants forever. They'll be Christ's servants
forever. May the Lord cause us to be people of grace and not
people of law.