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Amen so in second Kings chapter number 15 tonight we're fast approaching Israel's being led off into captivity just in chapter 17 we're gonna stand the Assyrians take them captive and obviously in this chapter there's just a lot of names coming at you there's just a lot of this this king that captain this king you know this land that land there's just there's a lot of that it's kind of hard to maybe keep it all straight but I'll do the best I can for you tonight really what I'll point out to begin with is that verses 1 through 7 and verses 32 through 38 are kind of a bookend because you have the kings of Judah and you get this chronology real quick chronology with Azariah and then it moves on to his son Jotham and then it picks up again at the end with Jotham goes back to the kings of Judah so it switches back and forth and really I think it's just giving us this quick chronologies with Judah's kings just as kind of give us a you know a time frame which is a stick to the text tonight it's real tempting to just go to that story right but we got to stick to where you have Zechariah, Shalom, Menehem, Pekiah, Pekah and Shalom so these six kings just go by in a blur just one chapter they just fly by and you'll notice with these kings and Israel's I kind of already mentioned these much shorter reigns everyone's you know you have one what's his name Menehem reigns for 10 years sin can take you down a very very dark road you know not every person that wakes up you know is sleeping under an underpass tonight addicted to drugs you know thought in the fourth or fifth grade or whatever said I want to grow up to you know be an addict sleeping under a bridge when they first took that first drop of alcohol when they kind of say yeah I know the sins were pretty bad well let's go back tonight and let's look at first Kings chapter number 12 let's go back to the to this Jeroboam son of Nebat and be reminded again of what it is that he did and we'll make some application when we get there if you go back to first Kings chapter number 12 see you know when I preach through first Kings I pointed this out but I'll remind us again because we're seeing now the results the end results we're gonna begin to see you know the death throes of Israel where this has led to that these sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat because when you first hear about it you might not think well that yeah idolatry that's pretty bad but what makes it truly tragic is the fact that it didn't have to be this way you know this it didn't have to go this way for Israel it didn't Jeroboam or yeah he didn't have to do what he did he could have in fact been a good king and led Israel in righteousness but for his own reasons he chose not to first Kings chapter number 12 let's just look at verse 25 we'll start there it says and he gathered men unto him need for self-preservation for his short-sightedness for his inability or reminding us of the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat I mean it's been a while they've got their own sins right don't you think they've got their own sins by the time we get to second Kings that we could just focus on that well I'm gonna judge them for this no he's reminding us that all these things came from one man who was given a promise that he could have a righteous kingdom but because of his own selfishness his own self-preservation he tore your nice coat up and said you're getting these kingdoms and I'm leaving these other ones to Judah there's gonna be two kingdoms so he's having a huge lapse in faith he doesn't have his trust in the Lord okay and we don't have our trust in the Lord we become very short-sighted in life when we think that there's nothing better for us than to just eat drink and be merry and to not think about the things of the Lord when we get that short-sighted we make very poor decisions we start to make decisions based on the flesh and when we start making decisions in the flesh you know a lot of people are willing to do that and think well it's only gonna affect me I'm the only one that's gonna suffer these consequences you're wrong it will affect everyone around you you know even if you're somebody who made me if you're somebody who made me eat about his own neck but you know what what would have been so bad if they would have rejoined the other king it wasn't gonna happen but what it would have been so bad about that if the kingdom was united that would have been a good thing this is a judgment from God that they you know if that happened if you if the nation was reunited then they wouldn't end up going to war so often as we're gonna see here at the end of the chapter tonight you know that you know one of those last Kings is joining the the heathen bands of the Assyrians to go to war against Jerusalem they're fighting against their brethren what would have been so bad about that Jeroboam well that's not his concern all he's cared about is what they kill me what I'm gonna miss out on what I'm not gonna get out of this and this is this is how people think in life they think well it's I'm just gonna get what I want it's gonna do what I want and they don't think about the impact that it's gonna have for generations sometimes it can alter the entire course of a church or of a family's you know spiritual tree you know sometimes you know people get saved later in life they come out of an ungodly lineage you know they alter the course of you know future generations spiritually you know I I can kind of testify to that you know my parents weren't saved you know you know my dad isn't saved still pray for him and pray me to get saved you know my mom I believe got saved on her deathbed but you know I'm not a hundred percent sure about that point is this they weren't independent fundamental King James only soul-winning Bible believing Baptists are the farm it my friend you know and they came from a long line of people that let me just say you know for brevity sake just we're not that you know but I'm somebody who got saved by the grace of God and have endeavored to try and alter you know start a new branch on the family tree that's a little bit more spiritual you know that cares about the things of God but you know the exact opposite could happen to you know you could be somebody that maybe does have that godly heritage but you could get it end up being like a Jeroboam and just think about only you and what you want and only care about yourself and not care about you know all the sacrifices that have been made to get you where you are before and you know the effect that you're gonna have on everybody that comes after you and you could actually alter that you undo everything that's been done you know that's that's that's the gravity of our decisions in life you know they there are consequences that go beyond the scope of just our own lives okay so he's freaking out oh they're gonna kill me verse 28 we know what he did whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto them it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem behold thy gods of Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt and he said one in Bethel and he put the other in Dan you know he made a nice and convenient for everybody and this became this thing became a sin for the people went to worship before one even unto Dan yeah I'd say it became a sin it became a huge sin it became a sin that they never got away from and it led them into idolatry and it led them to where we find them today we find them in in just you know full-blown idolatry and now they're about to be just wiped off the face of the earth and just scattered unto all nations so you know it's let's go back there to second Kings 15 I mean that's what the Bible is pointing out with these kings you have all these violent successions of Kings these all these violent overthrows taking place very quickly one after the other and then there's just common thread that's got running through them they did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat they did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat they did not turn from the sin it just you know the Bible's pointing it out and we ought to pay attention when the Bible reiterates things things we've already read things you know how many times have we read that phrase first Kings second Kings first Chronicles or we haven't gotten the first Chronicles we've read you know if we unless we've read it on our own hopefully you know we've read about all these things taking place we read about all the sins that they got into but it's just that one sin that keeps getting brought up over and over and it's a sin that was we know one man selfishness one man getting out of sorts with God you know pretty much destroyed a whole nation in the end of the end of destroyed a whole nation in the end and the worst part about it is that you know it didn't have to end like that we saw that in first Kings 11 that he had an opportunity to establish a godly nation you know and there's people in this room you know everyone in this room I don't care where you are in life you have the opportunity even now to establish a godly life to establish a godly home to start a godly home you know you're being given the same opportunity to have you know you're being given something you know you're saved you have the Holy Spirit you got a good church you love the Bible you love the Lord you know you've been given this opportunity to have a godly life are you gonna squander that are we gonna just look at the world and just say you know I don't really care about the consequences because after all it's just me and this is how people reason things away in their mind this is the logic they have well it's only me that I'm affecting that's not what we see in Scripture that's now we see in this story it's not me see with Jeroboam Jeroboam thought well it's just me it's just gonna care about myself and this thing became a sin for Israel through the whole history from the inception all the way to the end this same sin was just there haunting them that's the common thread here it didn't and the tragedy is it didn't have to end like this you know the lesson also is that you know if we quit on God it has these far-reaching consequences doesn't it far-reaching consequences when somebody quits on God when you're a Jeroboam in life and you just throw in the towel there's consequences you won't know until you get to heaven you know where God's gonna maybe you know the worst thing that could possibly be is that we get there and you know I know we're not God's not gonna bring up all of our sins to remember it's in front of our face you know they're gonna be removed from us but just hypothetically just follow me here what if we did get there and instead of showing everything you know bad that we did he showed us everything good that we didn't do everything we could have done all the people we could have gotten saved the godly life we could have lived all the contentment and the peace and the joy the compassion the love and all the things the peace of God ruling on our heart the past with all understanding you know all the things we could have had in the Christian life that we traded away just for some some temporary you know gratification for just for the flesh just because it was convenient or you know we're you know it was just too hard to do that to live for God all the things we could we all end up just passing on that would be heartbreaking friend to get to heaven and just have God say well you know I had so much more for you you see all these crowns over here you see this this big pile of jewels I this was intended for you but now you don't get it you know all your works are just burned up all you gets ash now don't sneeze you know hopefully there's no breeze in heaven because all you gots ash to show for your life down here look that would be a trap and you know what I know I'm kind of going off but that's gonna be a reality for a lot of people friend there's gonna be a lot of people in this life that are Christians that don't do anything for God that's gonna be their reality in heaven and they're gonna go well you know and people again they reason it away in this life well I'm just glad I'm saved well I'm glad you're safe too but you know how long you're gonna think that in heaven probably not that long when you see all these other brothers and sisters in Christ running around who were serving God who maybe didn't you know have all the fun you had that are now in glorified in heaven with Christ they got a closer seat to Jesus than you got they got a bigger brighter mansion you know whatever they're glorified in heaven and you're you're this dull little Italian light you know like the little nothing against Italians okay that's what they call them it was an Italian who told me that joke you know why they call them Italian lights because they're dim anyway some of you must be Italian anyway but that's gonna be some of us in heaven just this dim little lights others are gonna be out there just like you know this huge I don't know how do they measure light like it was a candle beams or nobody knows lumens thank you yeah it's interactive tonight you guys are awake out there all right what's a really bright amount of lumens 4,000 I want to be that 4,000 lumen you know I don't want to be the the dim I should probably quit saying it Italian light right the little it's probably got a different name for now it's probably totally I'm probably gonna get canceled huh you're racist but you know that's the illustration and that's that you know that but that's gonna would be is gonna be for a lot of people you're gonna see over there you're gonna can't even look at them they're 4,000 lumens why because they weren't like Jeroboam you know they actually thought about spiritual things they thought about the reality of a spiritual future in heaven and they they lived their lives accordingly and they didn't just follow the course of this world and just you know follow everybody else into sin you know the Bible says in Proverbs that the backslider and heart shall be filled with his own ways you know I was reading that story I was thinking about Jeroboam like it's kind of a you know if you want to just kind of look at Israel as a person like their whole history that nation just think of them as like one person if they were kind of personified right the nation you know they start out with this little sin right little sin just these couple of calves not no harm here you know we're just gonna have a couple of calves we're gonna set them up there's no reason to go down to Jerusalem you know we're just gonna backslide a little bit but now look where they're at I mean it's it's getting violent it's getting cruel it's getting wicked I mean look at verse 16 of 2 Kings chapter 15 it says then men Menahem smote Tipsa and all that were therein and the coast thereof of Terza because they open not to him therefore he smote it and all the women therein that were with child he ripped up I mean the Bible just puts it I don't have to say anything more about what that is I mean that if the Bible just paints the picture for you he ripped them up I mean he just shredded them he just tore them up he slaughtered these women pregnant women walking around with children ready to give that's what it's talking about all the women there and that were with child he ripped up this is you know this is somebody that is in that decision is is of Israel this is you know somebody that is of that lineage he's one of these tribes or whatever and yet he's resent he's just like that heathen King back in chapter 8 remember Hazeel when Elisha went to him and told him hey you're gonna be the next king of Syria and then he started to weep he says why are you weeping he says because I know the the cruelty I'm paraphrasing but he says that thou shalt rip up the women that's what he said about a heathen King right and then that guy goes home because he was sent on a message at a quiet you know he sent to get a message from the king of Syria to him about whether or not the king was gonna heal they said oh yeah you're gonna be fine remember he put the wet cloth on his face and suffocated him and then he did exactly what he said it was gonna happen the Prophet said that he was gonna go and rip up those women and that's what he did and you know we'd read that go man those heathen are so wicked and amen it's really wicked but yet here we are the backslider should be filled with his own ways you know we it just starts out with this little sin of just you know just a little backsliding a couple of calves and then just you know things get compounded time goes on it's a little more backsliding a little more backsliding to now you have this king who's just ripping up women with children I mean and that shows it tells you something about their society when a society gets to the place where it just has no care for the unborn where it's just it's just become callous to the unborn that's a society that's on the brink of destruction I mean cuz it's just it's just two more chapters and they're just they're just gone they just get carried away where God just finally says that's enough and he has to atone for all that innocent blood but the point is this is that you know we can if again going back and looking at Israel as a person it could be the same way in our life you know just a little boozing on the weekend you know I'm just gonna go out and just smoke a little pot you know whatever it is just a little bit of it and then the next thing you know it's just that's all you're doing all the time and it leads into harder things and then you're addicted and then you're out of church I mean you know that that's the picture that we see here that the backslider and heart shall be filled with his own ways you know we don't want that in our lives you know but we don't see that when we start out in sin do we that's not how we look at it we just think about how much we want to sin and how it's just a little sin and it's not that big a deal and it's only gonna affect me and I can live with the consequences but but the problem is is that those consequences become more and more severe as time goes on so Jeroboam sin we see all the way back there ends up leading to these wicked leaders like Menahem who is as wicked as Hazeel back in in second Kings 8 the other thing we kind of learned from this is that the devil you know he only he's only people people get wicked and they do wicked things you know they need to realize that you know the devil just is there to use and abuse his own the devil doesn't care about anybody you know and that's what you know you hear about these people who sell their soul or whatever or they they want to act you know these Satanists and things like that that worship Satan or you know people say stupid things like oh I'm gonna go party in hell you know whatever you know they think it's cool to associate themselves with things that are satanic you know the devil doesn't care about those people all that all the people that the devil uses in the world in this world he's got him fooled I don't know exactly what it is he's told them but they I mean how do you how does somebody knowingly worship and follow the devil you think nobody worships the devil friend there's people in high places that worship Satan I believe that you know you can call me whatever you want you can call me conspiracy nut you know whatever that's what I believe I mean he's the prince the power of the air he's the he's the present that little G God of this present world he told he told Jesus that all that all the kingdoms of the earth are given to me and who I give it to whomsoever I will I don't think he was lying and God has given him dominion down here and lets him get away with things and he's been working on man for a long time and he knows how to set up systems you know I don't want to go on and on about it because I don't like to just throw things out there you know that sound crazy like that you know I would never say anything like Washington DC's monuments are laid out like a like a pentagram I would never say that although they are you know but if I just said that it would sound crazy right although they are right but I'm sure nobody there worship Satan although they have this giant obelisk you know this pick you know this pagan Egyptian obelisk like the Washington Monument coincidence right it's it's just full of all kinds of idolatry things like that but I'm sure nobody there worship Satan you know I'm sure everybody there is it's just it just loves the Lord loves the Bible loves God I'm sure nobody's made a league but you so maybe if you know maybe you don't see I'm maybe I'm not so crazy after all to think this but you ever wonder you know if you're like me if you're crazy like I am to think that there are actually people out there that are worshiping literally worshiping Satan knowingly doing his will consulting with Beelzebub or whoever I mean I don't know how it all works I really don't care I just know what's out there but you ever wonder what he tells them to get them to do that you ever think about that because let's let's just say like let's say the devil came to you and was gonna make a deal with you said hey if you do the XY and Z I'll give you XY and Z well then you know right away that the devil is real and then you would know the Bible is true and then you would know there's a place called hell and wouldn't that send you screaming in the other direction but it's because the devil is a liar and he and he pulls the wool over these people out in people's eyes what you know people need to realize is the devil doesn't care about them he just uses his his minions and he abuses them and that's kind of what we see happen in the story if you look there in verse 17 it says in the 9th and 13th year of Azariah king of Judah began Menahem the son of Gadai to reign over Israel and he reigned 10 years in Samaria so we've already kind of gone over a couple of kings he had Shalom you know he usurped another king I'm not gonna take the time to read all this we just read it and he did that which is evil in the sight of the Lord he departed not all the days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin and Pol the king of Assyria came against the land and Menahem, excuse me, gave Pol a thousand talents of silver that he his hand might be with him to confirm the king kingdom in his hand so when the Assyrians come when Pol comes to you know start making war with him he gives him a thousand talents of silver he pays tribute basically right but notice also where he you know he didn't just have this money laying around right it says in verse 20 and Menahem exacted the money of Israel even of all the mighty men of wealth of each man 50 shekels of silver to give to the king of Assyria so the king of Assyria turned back and stayed not there in the land and yeah he gets to keep his position but now he's got to you know exhort you know he's got to extort you know these other men and look we have a wicked leader ruling you know people suffer I mean I know we're not taxed hardly at all in this country right we don't pay much in taxes and oh yeah that's right we do what a coincidence that when you have wicked leadership you start having to you know pay out the nose just to keep them in power just to keep their system in place just so they could do what they want to do you know he's just he's just taking that money just so he can keep his own neck and keep his own self in the throne and then it goes on the rest of the acts of Menahem and all that he did are they not written the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel and Menahem slept with his fathers and Pekahiah his son reigned in his stead and then he gets slain right it says in verse 25 but Pekah the son of Remaliah a captain of his meaning Pekahiah conspired against him kind of like his dad did to the previous king it kind of all comes around again and smote him and Samaria in the place of the king's house with Argob and our IE and with him 50 men of the Gileadites and killed him and reigned in his room and the rest of the acts of Pekahiah and all that he did behold they are written the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel and the two and fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel and Samaria and reign 20 years now this is how bad it gets this Pekah this captain takes over the throne he continues on verse 28 and he that which is even the sight of the Lord he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel a sin in the days of Pekah the king of Israel came till Gath-Pileser king of Syria and took I John and Abel Bethmecca and Genoa and Kadesh and Hazor and Gilead and Galilee in the land of Nathalie and carried them captive to Israel so it's starting already this isn't that they're not getting complete pulled away completely that happens a little bit more later but they're already going into captivity and if you notice there in verse 36 now the rest of the acts of Jotham so we're jumping back in at the end with the kings of Judah the rest of the acts of Jotham are they are and all that he did are they not written the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah and those days the Lord began to send against Judah reason the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah so this is how bad it gets for Israel in the end now they're joining league with the Assyrians and they're going against and fighting against their own brethren in the Southern Kingdom and and you know that's a picture of the devil you know he will just take you and use you in ways you never thought he would you know yeah maybe you get to have a little bit of fun there maybe he gets to be the king for a little bit but look what the devil's got him doing it means fighting against his own and it just reminds me of you know people who I've seen over the years who you know are one time are a member of this church and then go out and become our worst enemies I can't tell you how many times I've seen that I mean I'd have to say and think about it I mean it's more than I could count on one hand that people have come to a faith word Baptist Church and gone soul-winning sat in all the services and said amen to all the preaching and we're just on board with everything and then from one moment to the next now they're joining up with you know the king of Assyria and they're fighting against the southern kingdom they're and then they're they become God's people the worst enemies of God's own people you know I just had this happen to me recently I've had this this this this guy emailing me for you know the church and he's you know it started off a while back and and you know he was asking counsel some of brother Chris you know and Chris isn't always available so I answered his question and he's all just like well you know if I wanted your opinion I would ask for it and I was just like okay sorry you know he's all yours Chris you know I just turned him over but then I'm getting emails from this guy or you know he sees me preaching up in Tempe and it was a guy that came to this church I baptized this guy here and now he's calling me a murderer and a Judas and he's calling all these derogatory names I couldn't figure out who it is and then I kind of then I kind of connected the dots I know who it is he's been contacting other church members down here in the last month or so and I remember at one point I just told the guys and all sincerity I just said you need help because the guy was delusional and he was he was losing he's losing his mind and you know another church member said it sounds to me like this guy might even be on drugs like he's met out or something and just out of the sincerity I'm just like hey you need to get help man you need to get your feet back on the ground and now all of a sudden I'm this Judas it's just it reminded me that in the story you know people who you know were at one time a part of the kingdom of God get on there on earth they're a part of that United Kingdom you know all the sin all these things take place and now they're fighting against them with the heathen you know and that's just one example but I mean there's so many I could we could talk about where it's just this person came turned into a Judas and now and they're they're out there and they actively fight against our church other churches you know they were they were on staff they were members of the staff in that church and now they're taking the pastor to court they're taking other pastors to court for defamation like who does that remind you of it reminds you guys like this these these Pekas of the world who would just join up with the heathen and attack God's people that kind of thing is out there they become our church's worst worst enemies I got to wrap it up so what do we what is you know what's the the break the the the maybe the more practical application of this chapter well what's taking place right as I pointed out in beginning there's these two bookends where you see just the three kings of Israel just kind of peacefully you know as much as you know it's not ideal but it's not these violent you know overtakings it's not this violent overthrow for the throne it's from father to son you know it's as it should be over many years over three generations in that time six kings go by in Israel it's violence wicked kings that are slaughtering women taxing the people paying tribute to the heathen eventually you know more up peoples take place and they're fighting against Judah what it shows us is is that Sten sin has a very unstabilizing effect in our lives it makes things it just it just throws everything up in the air we don't know where it's gonna land that's what sin does in our life sin will keep you looking over your shoulder for the rest of your life sin will have you you know worried about getting found out or caught or whatever sin makes us very nervous and unstable and it's not something we want in our lives it happens to nations obviously that's what we're reading about here it's a very does it sound like a very pleasant place to live right now in the northern kingdom because it doesn't mean you know it happens to individuals too we'll close in second Peter we'll close there go to second Peter chapter number one and second Peter chapter number one you know sin has a very unstabilizing effect in our lives and it's a and it just like you know it anybody that that knows the truth has been taught the truth that they walk out of the Christian life and they have this happen to them it's just like it's just as tragic as it was for Israel because remember how did it start with Israel with Jeroboam right that's the theme we kept seeing brought up over and over and Jeroboam was told I will establish you I will bless you I will be with you if you do right but you know it led to this this this instability and eventually captivity of his own people it would be just as tragic for you to walk out of here and be like a Jeroboam and just throw it all in the wind and just say it's me and the devil and it's me and my flesh it's me in the world and it's me and sin you know it's gonna lay down that same unstable road it's just gonna be your life is gonna be turmoil upheavals and it never had to be that way look at chapter 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 2 grace be and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that have called us to glory and virtue you know we have been given things that pertain unto life and godliness in the Word of God you know if you have the Word of God as a major part of your life you know what God expects you know what God wants of you you know how what it takes to live a life of godliness you know what it takes to live a life that is pleasing unto the Lord a life that God can and will bless look God blesses people who are faithful to him I've seen it over and over again my life and the lives of others you know as my old pastor he's telling me all the time just give God something to bless just do right and give God something to bless and he'll bless it and that's true you know I and I praise God for that I'm not saying I didn't have my own upheavals but a man just staying faithful the Word of God staying faithful to serving God God in a long run blesses it but what if you just thrown that all the way and just say well I'm going back to the world you know who knows what kind of wickedness that would have led to who knows how much more turmoil upheaval there would have been in my life or you know any other people that have been through similar circumstances sin leads to instability there's pleasure and sin for a season you know but in the end it's death it's uncertainty it's instability it's nothing you want in your life it's the complete opposite how do you end up there well if you live for your sin for sin if you live for self like Jeroboam that's that's how you get going and and there's gonna be severe consequences not just in the here and now either not just here now think about and again I'm gonna reiterate this point because this is how people you know explain away their decisions it's just me it's just my life I'm only affecting me that's what Jeroboam thought oh I don't want him to kill me I don't want to lose my position I don't want him to forsake my kingdom was he was only thinking about himself he didn't see the king that's gonna be ripping up the women he didn't see the king that is gonna be joining hand in hand with the Assyrians and fighting against his brethren that's not what he saw but you know we have to have that same outlook and understand that the consequences for living for self and being selfish and sinful it's not just the here and now that suffers there are far-reaching consequences in the time to come let's go ahead and pray good Lord again thank you for the great warnings that you give us in the book that you the Bible that you repeat over and over to us again Lord I prayed help us to not be dull of hearing that we would hear these things we'd listen we take heed to them Lord and help us to understand that sin in our life has far-reaching consequences not just in the here now Lord but in for generations to come even sometimes Lord I prayed help us to Lord avail ourselves to the knowledge and the wisdom that's given to us in the Word of God help us to know what it means to live godly in Christ Jesus Lord so that we can truly live a life that is blessed by you we ask these things in Christ's name amen all right we'll sing one more song