One of the adversaries that we didn't have a chance to talk about Thursday night was
Jeroboam.
And it says there in verse 26 of 1 Kings chapter 11, it says in Jeroboam, the son of Nebat,
an Ephrathite, excuse me, an Ephrathite, an Ephrathite of Zeratah, Solomon's servant,
whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow woman, even lifted up his hand against the king.
And you know, that's kind of a synopsis right there.
That's basically just, you know, him summing up what we're about to read, you know, and
then he kind of takes us back a little bit and explains to us how this whole situation
played out, how it was that Jeroboam lifted up his hand against the king.
Because, you know, no doubt about it, Jeroboam becomes, we find out very quickly, in fact,
you know, in chapter 12, is a wicked man.
He sets up the two calves in Bethel and causes Israel to worship there.
So he is a wicked man, but what I want to point out is that he didn't start out that
way.
Maybe, you know, there are at least some things about him that we could look to and say he
does have some, you know, some better qualities, maybe some redeeming qualities, obviously
not enough to make up for the fact that he turned Israel to idolatry.
There's really no quality in the world that can make up for that, but there are some things
about him that we could look to and learn about, okay?
And again, so verse 26 is just kind of telling us, hey, this is how it all played out.
He was raised up, he turned, he lifted up his hand against the king, and it says, and
this was the cause that he lifted up his hand.
So he's kind of saying this is how it happened.
This is what took place.
Because if you notice there, it says in verse 27 that Solomon built Mylo and repaired the
breaches of the city of David his father.
Now the first thing I want to point out is that, you have to keep in mind, and this plays
into this Thursday chapter 12, is that, you know, building a temple in the house of God
was not the only thing that Solomon had going on.
He had a lot of these other civil projects, you know, he's building Millo, he's building,
repairing these breaches.
If you go back to 1 Kings 9, we won't.
You could go back there and you could read about all these other cities that he built.
So he's got a lot going on.
So you can see in chapter 12 when they come to him, and they say, hey, you know, your
father made our yoke heavy, you know, they're kind of complaining about all the work that
he had to do.
They weren't complaining necessarily about, you know, the temple and his house and that
whole complex.
What they're complaining probably about is all these other civil things that he had going
on.
These walls, these walls, all these other things that Solomon was busy building.
And one of those things that he built there was Millo.
But notice in verse 26, it says that Jeroboam, the son of Nebat and Ephrathite, of Zeradah,
Solomon's servant.
So this guy starts out as Solomon's servant.
And before I really kind of get into the meat of this, what I want to get at is, it's worth
pointing out this too, is that, you know, we know that Solomon's being punished.
At this point, God is going to stir up these adversaries.
But notice he's stirring up, he's going to use somebody that's actually Solomon's servant.
And it's actually somebody that we'll see in a second, that Solomon promotes, that he
puts over all the house of Ephraim and Manasseh over the house of Joseph.
He puts them over these two tribes because he sees that he's such a great servant.
So you know, God can always have a way of putting us in the funniest ways.
We think, you know, we're getting away with it.
We won't see it coming.
You say, oh, if God's going to punish me, I'll see it coming.
It's like, no, you won't.
He'll find a way to get you and you'll know it's him when he does it.
But it's interesting that the guy that Solomon himself promotes turns out to be the guy that
God uses to, you know, to punish him.
Anyway, that's a whole other sermon.
But it says there that he was Solomon's servant.
So there's some good things about Jeroboam, okay, that we could at least look to and take
some lessons from, okay.
And let me just point out before you think that I'm just promoting Jeroboam.
Look, again, what he did was wicked.
But notice there, it says in verse 38, this is what the Lord said to Jeroboam.
He said in verse 38, it shall be if thou wilt hearken unto me, all that I command thee,
and wilt walk in my ways and do that which is right in my sight to keep my statutes and
my commandments as David my servant then, that I will be with thee and build thee a
sure house as I built for David and will give it Israel unto thee.
So God, you know, is giving Jeroboam a chance.
Jeroboam's given this great opportunity to be used by God.
Of course, you know, it's not ideal.
It's not what God wanted, and it's part of Solomon's punishment.
But at the same time, God's saying, look, Jeroboam, I'll give you a chance to be, you
know, used of God, to be a sure house.
So he has this chance to be used of God.
And what he ends up doing, as we understand, is that he blows it.
He blows this opportunity.
But so, you know, keep that in mind when you're reading about Jeroboam.
You know, yeah, obviously what he did was wicked.
But you know, there are some other things about him that we can look at and say, well,
there are some qualities that are at least admirable humanly speaking, okay?
One of them was that he was the servant of the king, right?
He's serving him.
And it says there in verse 27, and this was the cause that he left up his hand against
the king.
Solomon built a millow and repaired the breeches of the city of David, his father.
And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor.
You know, he wasn't just some weakling.
He wasn't just some coward.
He was a mighty man of valor.
And Solomon seeing a young man that he was industrious.
So you know, he's telling us in the one verse, you know, verse 27, that Solomon's doing all
these projects.
He's building all these things.
And then the next verse he's saying, and he saw that Jeroboam was what?
Very industrious.
So that tells me that Jeroboam was probably involved in these works that Solomon was doing.
You know, he's involved in these civil projects, building these walls, building these cities.
And through his hard work, through his industriousness, you know, he kind of, it gets noticed by the
king because he's a hard worker.
You know, that's the one thing I really want to drive in tonight is the importance of being
a hard worker, not being somebody who's lazy, somebody who gets to work and gets stuff done.
Okay.
Now, if you would keep something there, let's go back to Lamentations chapter 3 verse 25.
Because notice it says there of Jeroboam that he was industrious.
And because of that, he was made ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph.
In Lamentations chapter 3, you know, of course this is a book where a lot of it is applying
to the persecution that's taking place.
But I believe we can make application with verse 25 and some of the following verses
when it comes to this topic of work and being a hard worker.
And Jeroboam is a young man, I believe.
I don't believe he's a very old man.
He's working hard.
And it's important that young men learn to work hard because that's the rest of your
life.
You know, that doesn't stop.
I'm not saying, well, we're just going to work hard, you know, through our twenties
and thirties and then just stop working.
No, it's you need to learn to work hard when you're young because that is life.
You're going to be a worker.
You're going to work hard.
I mean, I remember the day my dad came to me and said, you know, he just told me, hey,
life's going to be long.
You're going to work hard and you're going to hate it.
I said, that's a hell of a thing to tell an eight year old, 18 year old.
Sorry.
I'm just kidding.
Right.
And I said, man, I don't know about that.
But you know what he's trying to tell me?
He's like, you better just get used to hard work.
You better get used to running that shovel, moving that wheelbarrow, getting, grabbing
ahold of that rake, getting out there in the hot sun and working because that's life, son.
That's what he was saying.
You know, and, and, and people can either get all down to the mouth about that, get
sad about that and think that's not fair or they can just buck up, you know, and take
it and understand that's what life is and be like Jeroboam in the respect that he was
industrious, that he was somebody that worked hard, that got after it.
And as a result, you know, he was promoted.
Okay.
And again, we understand already that Jeroboam, you know, blows his opportunity.
Okay.
And we'll talk about that.
But what got him to the dance to begin with?
It was his industriousness.
As a young man, he was willing to work hard in building these cities, building these walls.
He was somebody that was not going to shy away from hard work.
If you look there in Jeremiah, uh, Lamentations chapter three, verse 25, it says, uh, the
Lord is good unto them that wait for him, the soul that seeketh him.
Verse 26, it is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of
the Lord.
It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
You know, youth is not, you know, and our culture today wants to turn your time of youth,
you know, your twenties into this time for you to just go on, you know, go to college
and just experiment, you know, whatever that means anymore, you know, and just go on some
pleasure cruise and just spring break and just, you know, have all this fun.
You know, the Bible says that it's good for a young man to bear the yoke in his youth.
You know, that's a time to get after it, to get involved in a career, get involved
in work, you know, whether that's some kind of trade or whether, you know, today, you
know, we're very privileged where we live, where it could even be, you know, something
where you're going to be working indoors, you know, you could be working hard, you know,
uh, using your head, you know, you can be working hard, learning how to code or working
on computers or doing some kind of, you know, that kind of work.
But either way, you know, in your youth, you should make your youth about bearing the yoke
You know, what's a yoke? It's not talking about eggs here. Okay. Like, yeah, I'll bear
some yokes, you know, let's go home and have some eggs. No, that's not what he's talking
about. The yoke is what you would put a beast of burden in to pull a plow, to do work. That's
what a yoke was used to do. And he's saying here, and this is the Bible, by the way, this
is what the Bible says, that it's good for a young man to bear the yoke in his youth.
It goes on and he says, it is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. He sit at the
loan and keep a silence because he had to burn it upon him. You know, sometimes the
best thing to do in your youth is just to shut up and work. That's what he's saying.
I mean, that's how I get out of it, right? He's saying, look, he, he put it in his mouth.
Excuse me. He said at the loan and keep a silence because he had borne it. What the
yoke upon him. He's just saying, you know what? I just got to put my head down. I just
got to plow forward. I just got to work, work, work and get some things done because that's
the rest of your life work. You know, and we, we want to just make this great big pie
in the sky called retirement and I'm not against retirement. You know, people can save
up and work hard and work towards retirement. That's great. You know, that's probably not
in the cards for me. You know, forgive the gambling reference. You know, retirement is
not something, it's not even really something I'm trying to do to be honest. You know, I
would rather just preach and win souls and lead this church, you know, until I drop dead,
you know, and my retirement plan is called my children. All right. You say, well, how
are you going to provide for yourself when you get older? Well, my kids are going to
do that because that's what children are supposed to do, right? That's what it says
in first Timothy chapter five, that they should requite their parents for that is good and
acceptable in the sight of God. Okay. So that's a whole nother sermon in of itself, but look,
you need to learn, you get to need to get this mentality that life is work, that you're
going to work hard in your youth. Don't wait till you're, you know, you've squandered your
twenties, squandered your thirties, just squandered your life. We finally figured out that, Hey,
something's going to be handed to you. You're going to have to go out and work for everything
that you want. You have to go out and work hard. It says in verse 29, he put his mouth
in the dust. If so be, there may be hope. You know, of course that's probably talking
about, you know, bowing down, getting your face in the dirt, you know, bowing, you know,
getting on your face before God. But you know, another way to apply that, you know, putting
your, getting your mouth in the dust would be, you know, when you go out and you work
hard, sometimes you kick up some dust. I mean, I know when I was swinging sledgehammers and
running diamond saws and cutting concrete and digging holes and following tractors around,
spreading seed and hay and everything, there was a lot of dust involved. And you, you would,
you ever wonder what dust tastes like? Well, you find out, you know, you got a free meal
at your job too. You know, you got a dirt sandwich the whole day long, you know, and
you're just breathing dust. That's probably not the best thing to do. All right. Now,
if you find a job where you're getting a lot of dust, get yourself a respirator, right?
Don't do what I did. It's not worth it. All right. But look, getting out there, getting
some dust in your nostrils, getting a little dirt under your fingernails isn't going to
hurt you. You know, it's probably going to be good for you. A little dirt never hurt,
as they say. Get some vitamin D for dirt, okay? What I'm driving at is you got to work
hard in your youth and not be lazy, not be slack. Go over to 1 Peter chapter 2, 1 Peter
chapter number 2. It says there at the end of Lamentations where he were, he giveth his
cheek to him that smiteth him, he is filled with reproach. This is something that he does
in his youth. He giveth himself his cheek to him that smiteth him, he is filled with
reproach. You know, in the context of working, this reminds me of, you know, there's probably
a chance, you know, in your career that you're going to have a mean boss at some point. You're
going to have a boss that's maybe not smite you, right, but he's going to reproach you
or he's going to be a hard boss. And look, some of my best bosses have been the harder
bosses. The harder ones to please. Because when you finally do, you know, it makes you
want to work harder. At least it should. Because you don't want to get yelled at. You know,
you don't want the 200 pound foreman coming over all red face screaming at you. You want
him to stay in his excavator and happily dig away, you know. You don't want the boss calling
you into the office and giving you the hour long lecture or whatever. You want him to
just be happy with what you're doing. You know, so don't, if you're going to work hard
and go out there and make a living, you better just get used to the fact that, you know,
there's going to be some people, some supervisors, some boss that aren't there to hold your hand
and be friendly. And they're not interested in being your best friend. All they want you
to do is to work hard and make them money. And by the way, there's nothing wrong with
that. I mean, there's nothing wrong with making money. Business is not a dirty word. Profit
is not a dirty word. You know, these people, they put a lot on the line, they take the
risk, they hire other people. And by the way, the human resources are the most expensive
part of any company. You think, oh, you know, where's all the money going? It's going to
you. It's going to pay your salary, you know, your wages and half of your taxes and everything
else that they're getting charged, right? It's no wonder they're getting a little upset
from time to time when, when we mess up or do something wrong. But look, you need to
learn to bear the yoke in your youth. You need to learn to work hard. And along the
way, if you have some mean boss, you know, who might, you know, proverbially smite you
on the cheek, you know, don't get mad about it. Just take it and work hard and keep working.
Say, well, I only want to work, you know, for, I only want to work for, you know, Mr.
Rogers. You know, I only want to work for Mr. Nice Guy. Well, you know what? You're
not going to work for Mr. Nice Guy all the time. You're not always going to have the
best boss. Look there in 1 Peter, I have you go there, chapter 2, verse 18. He said, servants
be subject to your masters with all fear. You know, that's an old term there, servant
meaning employee. Servants, you know, you're serving at work. Obey your masters, you know,
those that have authority over you in work. Obey them with all fear. And notice what he
says, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the forward. Not only those that are
just the good and gentle boss, but also those ones that are, you know, a little bit of a
hard case. Those ones that are a little hard, you know, rough around the edges. You should
still be subject to them. He didn't say, you know, but if they're a little rough, if they're
a little rude, if they don't just treat you with kid gloves, if they don't handle you
like the sweet little snowflake you are, then, you know, go find another job. He said, no,
you need to be subject to them. You know, you need to be subject to them. You need to
obey them with fear. He said in verse 19, for this is thank worthy of a man for conscious
grief, excuse me, with conscience toward God, endure grief, suffering wrongfully. Okay,
now go to 1 Timothy chapter 5, 1 Timothy chapter number 5. We'll look at verse 8,
1 Timothy chapter number 5. Say, what are you preaching about tonight, brother? Come on,
we're talking about Jeroboam. You know, Jeroboam, we know he didn't turn out well,
but one of the things, one of his, you know, his qualities that he did have going for him
was that he was industrious, that he was not lazy, that he worked hard, that he wasn't afraid
of some hard work. You know, and we're living in a day where people, and young men especially,
are getting afraid of hard work. You know, everyone wants to be a video game designer now.
You know, everyone just wants to follow their dreams. Here's the problem with everyone following
their dreams. You know, that means no one's a plumber. No one's an electrician. No one's
gonna pick up the trash. I mean, are you gonna sit there and tell me that's somebody's dream?
That someone will say, what do you want to do? I want to, you know, I want to run a Roto-Rooter
in strangers' apartments. I want to deal with other people's septic situations. No one dreams
that. I want to drive a truck with a bed in the back that has just tons of rotting hot
trash in it. And several times during it, my dream is to take that truck to a giant pit where
there's just tons and tons of trash. That's my dream, right? Look, if everyone just followed
their dream and just did what they felt like they wanted, none of the, all these important tasks
wouldn't get done. Those things get done because there's people out there that understand that,
hey, sometimes, somebody's got to do it, right? And they'll say, I'll do it. You pay me. And you
know, the plumber makes good money. The trash guy makes good money. I know guys that have driven
trash trucks. They don't do too bad. You know, you can make that money, it's out there, if you're
willing to do that work. But today, we have so many people that are just, you know, they want
to hold out for the perfect job, the perfect situation, the perfect career. You know what,
it'd be better for you to just bear the yoke in your youth, get your face in the dust, go out
there, be industrious, and work hard at whatever so that I can't find it to do. Do with all thy
might. That's what the Bible says. And work hard and provide, okay? And it says here, you say, well,
why should I care about working hard? Why should I care about getting a job and working? Because
you need to learn to provide for yourself and your family. You know, it's funny because a lot
of young guys, they just, you know, they get a certain age and they just start thinking about
marriage. They just start thinking about, oh, who they're going to marry. You know, and that's great.
I'm not against that. You know, I think, it's great to get married young, but you know, it's
not just a catchy little nursery rhyme. As it goes, first comes love, then comes marriage,
then comes the baby and the baby carriage. Okay? And we don't tend to think about that too much,
especially if you're fulfilling God's will for your life, and it's not just a baby and a baby
carriage. It's first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby and a baby carriage,
and then comes a baby and a baby carriage, and then comes a baby and a baby carriage,
and then comes a baby and a baby carriage, and then comes a baby, and it's just like, ah! Right? Amen
to that. Be fruitful, multiply. That's what the Bible says. So, you know, here's the thing. That
all takes money. That all costs money. These babies ain't free, right? You know, the wife
isn't free. She has needs. She has things she has to do. She wants to be provided for. That's why
you need to, you know, you want to get married, great, but the first thing you should probably
work on is getting a job and getting to work and working hard and succeeding, getting a career path,
getting, you know, some kind of skill, something that you can market out there. The Bible says
there in 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 8, but if any provide not for his own, especially for those of
his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. That's some strong
language. What's he talking about? It's a guy who doesn't work. He's a bum. You know, if you're not
providing for your own, he's saying you're worse than an infidel. You're unfaithful. You're like,
you're worse than the heathen in God's eyes. That's pretty serious. You know, and of course,
the context here is beyond that too. It's talking about requiting your parents. You know, it's about
taking care of the widows and things like that, providing for your own, especially of his own
house. You know, the Bible says if a widow have children and nephews, let them learn first to
show piety home and to requite them. Okay. Go to Proverbs chapter number 24. Proverbs chapter
number 24. Because again, you know, you say, why are you preaching about work? Why are you preaching
about being industrious? Why are you preaching about bearing the yoke in your youth? Because a
lot of guys, you know, they want to get married someday. They want to have the family. And amen,
I'm all for that. I think that's great. I think that's the God's will for 99.9% of young men,
you know, and, and young ladies to get married and have children. You know, I believe that's,
that's going to, especially if you get the younger, you can do that. Probably the better,
you know, if you're mature enough and you can handle all that, you know, great, go for it. Okay.
But you got to think about it a little bit more practically. You know, you have to think about
these practical matters of how you're actually going to provide for a home. You're going to do
that by being like Jeroboam in this regard. They're going to be industrious that you're
going to work hard, but you're going to get after it. Look at Proverbs 24 verse 27. He says there,
prepare thy work without and make it fit for thyself in the field and afterwards build thine
house. He's saying, you know, get the, get the one before the other, right? Go out there and work in
the field, make it fit for thyself, get the job, you know, be fruitful, you know, get, get the,
the, you know, the career going, start getting, earning the income and then worry about building
your house and then worry about, you know, buying the, the, the two story, four, three bedroom,
you know, with one and a half bath and two car garage and a little white picket fence that you
could put the misses in, you know, but the first thing you need to do first is to go out and make
it fit for thyself in the field and afterwards build thine house. Cause you say, well, I don't
know about that. I don't know why is the Bible put it in the world. Let me just, you know, give
this is for the guys especially is that, you know, wives, here's what women want. You say,
what do women want? No one knows what women want. Oh, we figured it out. We know what it is. They
want security. They want stability. That's what they want. And I see some heads nodding, right?
Not just the guys. There's some, some ladies in this room. They know that's what they want. You
know, they, it doesn't matter how good look, you know, you could be the best looking guy and just
be the Mr. Charming. But if you're, you know, working some just dead end job, that's not going
to pay the bills. You know, a godly woman's probably going to, hopefully she's got any
brains, probably turn you down. Honestly, you know, cause they're, they, they, they, you know,
an intelligent young lady is going to understand, Hey, it's, it's love baby. It's love marriage in
the baby carriage, right? And there's all this, it's going to come with it. So when she's looking
at the guys, you can think, well, what are you doing for work? And look, I'll tell you this much.
If she's not thinking about it, there's somebody else in her life that's that is, it's called her
dad. You know, you're going to, you're, you're looking at that, that sweet face and she's just
looking back at you and the dad just kind of comes up from behind, you know, just looking right back
at you. Like you look at, take a picture, you know, and amen. That's the way it ought to be.
You know, I know not every situation is like that. It's not always the ideal, but you know,
I know that's, that's going to be with my daughters. You know, some, you know, some young
guy is going to want to come around. He's going to like the way they look. They're going to get
along. They're going to find love, right? And he's going to want to put a ring on her finger. And
it's, I'm not just going to marry her off to some bum who can't take care of her. I'll say, you know
what? I got it, buddy. I've been taking care of her for however many years it's been, 30. You know,
I've been taking care of her for 40 years now. I don't need you to come along. You know, I got
this, you know, he's going to have to, you know, compete with me a little bit, right? He's got to
prove to me before I just marry off. And by the way, that's something I believe in. I have veto
power. I can say no. I could say, not him. Yeah, but he's a bum. You know, and if that guy comes
around and I say, well, what do you do for a living? And his response is, I say, do you want
fries with that? I'm probably going to say, I'm probably going to say, you need to get out in the
field and make it fit for thyself. Now, look, don't get me wrong. I don't think that the guys
have to be able to support five kids right out of the gate. You know, unless you're planning
on having quintuplets right out of the gate or something like that, right? But he's got to be
able to provide for himself, a wife, and a child. And it should probably be a job that has some
upward trajectory. You know, and this is why, you know, and I understand there's all kinds of
different jobs, but you know, if you're wondering, if you're one that's out there scratching your
head about what you're going to do for a living, you know, I highly recommend the trades because
of the fact that there's such a huge gap there. You have all these guys that are retiring, you
know, and getting out of the trades, and just, you know, a lot, a lot of young guys are wanting
to go into the trades. And look, you can do very well for yourself in the trades. I mean,
you can just, you can do just as good as about anybody, enough to support a family. You get in
there, you get good, you learn the skills, you can start your own business. I know several people
that have, you know, learned, that's what they did. They learned a trade and they started their
own business, you know, and they take care of themselves and, you know, they provide for several
other people. They employ other people. But again, I'm not saying that you have to have that before
you can even get married, but I am saying you should have that mentality. You should be pointed
in that direction that you're preparing your work without in the field because at the end of the
day, that's what a lady wants if she's smart. It's security and stability. Somebody's gonna be able
to take care of her. Yes, love her. Yes, tell her she's beautiful. Yes, do all that other lovey-dovey
stuff that they do, right? But also be able to actually provide for her and fulfill that role
that her parents were fulfilling at one point. You say, well that sounds like a lot of work,
I don't know if I can handle that. I don't know if I want to do that. Well, you know what, that's
adulthood. You know, that's called being an adult. That's called growing up. You know, so I was
planning on just, you know, playing video games the rest of my life. You know, I was planning on
just playing video games, getting married, and just, you know, working at being a greeter at
Walmart or something, just being a bag boy somewhere, and I thought that would work fine. No,
that's not gonna work. In fact, there might even be seasons in your life where you have to work two
jobs. You know, maybe that first job during the day isn't quite cutting it, and you got to go out
and get the second job, and you might have to work that 70-hour week. And a man, a man would
have no problem with that. A real man would say, hey, I'll do it. You know, especially if it's a
man that's learned in his youth to be industrious, that has learned to put the yolk on and put his
face in the dust, and is afraid of some hard work and putting in long hours. You know, the guy
that's gonna shy away from that, and look, there's plenty of them out there today, aren't there? You
know, the stay-at-home dad types, you know, these guys, well, she makes more money. Well,
then you need to go get a second job, bud. You know, and that's another sermon, too. But look,
a bunch of man-childs are out there today. They just want to take it easy, let her work. You know,
it's completely backwards. You know, they just don't want to get married at all. They just want
to live in their parents' basement and just think that all women are evil. You know, they want to
take these big towels or whatever and just act like big babies for the rest of their life. You
know, Paul said, when I was a child, I spake as a child, but when I became a man, you know, I put
away childish things. He said, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, right? I thought as a
child. You know, I said, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. Look, there's a time
where you just have to start putting away the childish things and grow up and start doing
these things and start getting to work and getting after it. You say, well, I don't know,
that's pretty harsh. Well, go over to Deuteronomy chapter 21. If you think that's hard, let's try
this one on for size. You know, we all know this one, hopefully, right? This one's that this is
something that I don't think was ever in fashion, right? No, I'm never, I'm just going to stay at
home and I'm just going to be, I'm never going to get married and I'm not going to work hard. I'm
just going to, you know, just be a, uh, just, just drink sodas and, and, uh, you know, watch YouTube
and just, I'm going to be a streamer or whatever. You know, I'm just going to, I'm not going to
support anybody. I'm just going to, you know, do my own thing. You know, I'm going to be a sluggard,
right? I'm going to be a glutton. How about that? I'm going to be rebellious. How about that? Well,
look at Deuteronomy 21 verse 18. You think I'm being harsh? Let's see what God thinks about it
when you want to be somebody who just drags their feet, doesn't want to work, just wants to please
the flesh all day. Deuteronomy 21 verse 18, it says, if a man have a stubborn and rebellious
son, which will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and that will, and
when they have chastened him, he will not hear, hearken unto them. Then shall his father and his
mother lay hold on him and bring him out unto the elders of the city and under the gate of the place,
and they shall say to the elders of the city, this our son is stubborn and rebellious and will
not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard. He's a big lazy jerk is what he is.
Okay. He won't work. He just wants to sit around and stuff in his face. And, and he's a drunkard.
He's a glutton and a drunkard. And look, I know the, the, the, the fagnostics out there and the
Gaethius like to read that to us, say, Oh, you believe in killing kids. Last I checked,
it wasn't children that were guilty of being gluttons and drunkards. You know, my, I've never
had to, I don't, my children have been, you know, we've had to correct them on some things.
Being a drunkard is not one of them. You know, this is talking about the kid who's just never
going to leave the nest, never stand on his own two feet, never, you know, and, and look,
I'm not against staying at home, you know, before marriage, you know, that, you know, you, you,
you leave mother and father and cleave unto your wife. I get that. But, you know, the problem is,
is when you're just going to stay home with the parents and not work and just be a glutton and
drunk and just be a freeloader. And that's what this is. That's what he's describing here as an
adult child, you know, it's in the, and the, and the world just wants to just say, Oh, it's a
failure to launch or something like that. They have all these cute little things that they want
to call it. Bible says it's, it's, it's worthy of death. That's what he says. He says, look verse 21,
and the men of the city shall stone him with stones that he die. So that I shall put away
evil from among you and all Israel shall hear and fear. You know what? We don't see that ever
happening in scripture, you know, and I, and, but it's there. Maybe they never did it. Or maybe they
had to do it like one time. I mean, imagine if that was the law of the land. If every derelict
jerk out there, who was just too lazy to clean up his act and go get a decent, you know, go get a
job and start earning an honest living, got drugged to the, you know, down to the courthouse
and stoned to death. I mean, the trash around here would clean up real quick, literally and,
and figuratively. You know, the figurative trash individuals down there, and that's what they are,
these jerks that just want to panhandle after everybody else that's working hard because they
just want to feed some drug addiction because they don't want to work because they just want to be
free, man. You know, those guys, if that's, if we start dragging them down there and say, oh,
you're a glutton, a drunkard, you refuse to work, you're just a big lazy jerk. Let's go see this
pile of rocks around back in the courthouse, right? You watch how many of these, that would happen a few
times, all these other guys would just be like, oh man, I, turns out I need to just get a shave here,
you know? You know, they'd get, they'd make that last panhandle, they'd be in that motel room,
instead of shooting up or smoking, whatever, you know, they'd be rubbing shampoo in their hair and
shaving and buying a button down and go, and go in an interview and say, learn how to say, yes sir.
Then that's God's take on it. Let's go back to 1 Kings chapter 11 before I go off on too much of
a rant. Look, all that comes from just that one verse there, just that one thing about Jeroboam,
the fact that he was industrious. You know, he was somebody that worked hard, that wasn't afraid
of getting out there and getting after it, and as a result, he gets this promotion, right? It says,
he made him, verse 28, ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph, and remember that's Ephraim
and Manasseh, so he's the head of two tribes at that point. Like, so this is a pretty high-ranking
position, you know, and a lot of, a lot of people, a lot of guys, they just want to step right into
that position. They just want to go from, you know, like getting the college, the high school
degree, to like the six-figure income. Well, there's this whole big span called working hard
between those two things. Sometimes the six-figure income just never comes, you know, but you can
still do fine, you know, you can still be frugal and take care of yourself and take care of your
family without that, but you know, the position, the promotion comes when you are already industrious,
when you already are just somebody who's a servant, just somebody who's willing to just work
hard, and it's something that Solomon noticed about him. He wasn't, you know, tooting his own
horn. He wasn't in there insisting. It was just something, you know, you just put his head down,
he got in the yoke, he put his face in the dust, he kept silent, he worked hard, he gave his cheek
to the smiters, and eventually, you know what, he got promoted because he was just a hard worker.
It says in verse 29, it came to pass that when Jeroboam went out to Jerusalem that he, the prophet
Ahijah, the Shiloh knight, found him in the way and clad himself with the new garment, and they
too were alone in the field. So Ahijah, you got to remember, is a prophet. He's a man of God, okay,
and this is always, this story is always interesting to me, and what's interesting to me about it is
Jeroboam's, I want to say his reaction, but it's actually his lack of reaction here, because again
what the story is saying, okay, it came to pass that when Jeroboam was out of Jerusalem, at this
point, you know, he's probably already been promoted, he's kind of a big deal, right, he's
up there, he's over the house of Joseph, he's proven himself, he's probably got a good reputation,
it came to pass that when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah, the Shiloh
knight, found him in the way and had clad himself with the new garment. Now the he there is Jeroboam,
he has clad himself with a new garment, you know, he's got the promotion, so he goes to Jerusalem,
he goes down to the men's boutique or whatever, you know, instead of going to Sears, or you know,
to Target, or you know, whatever, the Walmart to get the threads, now he's going down to the
I don't know where the nice places are, I couldn't even name one, right, men's warehouse,
all right, I walked in there, I was like, I turned right around, I was like, that's a little pricey,
right, but he's going down there, he's, you know, he's get picks himself up a nice, you know, new
garment, right, and he's walking out, he's going back to do his business, he clad himself with a
new garment, and they too were alone in the field, so Ahijah catches up to him, and Ahijah caught
the new garment that was on him, and rent it in 12 pieces. I mean, how would you like that,
if you came to church one day, and I just walked up to you, and just tore your shirt off, and then
just right in front of you was like, and just tore it up in 12 pieces, and look, the fact, you know,
to sit there and tear it up in 12 pieces tells you that it took a minute, right, he took his time to,
because he's going to make an illustration here, but he's sitting there, and he's grabbing a new
garment that Jeroboam might have just gotten, and was pretty proud of, and now here comes this,
man of God rips off of him, and just starts tearing it up in front of him, and what I love
about this is that Jeroboam doesn't react. He'd say, what are you doing, you jerk? You know,
if I did that to one of you, and rightly so, you'd probably say, what are you doing, you jerk? Right,
because I'm not trying to make an illustration out of it, right, but what this shows me is that,
you know, Jeroboam, not only was he somebody who was industrious, not only was he somebody
that worked hard, he was somebody that had respect for the man of God, he was somebody that had
respect for the Word of God, he was somebody that respected, you know, had a level of respect for
godly, for holiness and godliness, to some degree. Now obviously he blows it at the end, I understand
that, but he has this quality going for him, is that he has respect for the man of God, and if
you would, quickly, please go over to Hebrews chapter number 13, Hebrews chapter number 13,
and I'm almost done tonight, I know I'm going a little long, you know, but the Bible does teach
us that we should respect, you know, those that have the rule over us in the house of God, it's
important, you know, and when people don't have that, look, if you can't come to church and show
respect to the preacher, respect to, you know, your elders, and look, not just, not just me,
you know, the Bible says that we should, you know, we should not rebuke an elder, okay, but
then treat him as a father and the younger women, or excuse me, the elder women as mothers, so it's
not just about, you know, those who are ordained, it's about your elders, period, you know, and,
and yes, you know, chapter 5 of 1 Timothy goes on and does talk about how the elders should be kind
of worthy of double honor, and in that instance, I believe it is referring to the pastors and things
like that, but he's saying, you know, we should all honor our elders, we should respect them in the
house of God, and look, if you can't come to church and show respect to God's people, you know, I doubt
you're gonna be very, I don't think you're gonna go far in the workplace, you're probably not, if
you can't respect God's people, how are you gonna go out there and respect some heathen? If you can't,
if you can't come to church and call, you know, the preacher by, you know, you know, deacon or
brother, you know, I doubt you're gonna go to work and call your boss sir, you know, that, and let
me just come out and say, you know, my, my name is not Corbin, you say, yeah it is, no, my name is
brother Corbin, or deacon, okay, that just as a sign of respect, and I don't always jump down
people's throats about that, sometimes people just got to learn that, I get it, you know, I don't
always take that as a sign of disrespect, people usually catch on to that and figure it out, but
when that's like kind of known, and that's kind of, and I've run, and I'm saying this because it's
happened, because I've known people that know that you should show respect to the man of God, and then
just purposely right to my face in front of people, hey Corbin, just to, just to disrespect me, you know,
say, oh you're, you should just get over it, like, no, I'm not gonna just get over it, you should show
respect to the man of God, you know, and, and that's important, you know, the Bible says, you say, well
where's that in the Bible? Look at Hebrews 13 verse 7, remember them which have the rule over you,
which have the rule over you, that there's some people that have the rule over us, those who have
spoken unto you the Word of God, whose faith follow, considering the other conversation, you know,
and, and who, who is this referring to? It's talking about the preacher, it's talking about the people
that, those are people that rule. Obviously I don't rule over every aspect of your life, nor do I want
to. I don't, I don't want to be, as the Bible says, you know, a lord, a lord over God's heritage. I want
to be an ensemble to the flock, that's all I'm looking to do. But look, somebody has to rule in the
house of God. We're not, we're not deacon run here, this isn't a committee church, we don't vote on
things, it's a, it's a pastor-led, you know, man-led church, you know, and Pastor Anderson obviously has
all veto power here in this church, but, you know, has given me the authority here, you know, and
allow me to preside over these services, right? And he goes on in verse 17, obey them which have the rule
over you, and verse 24, salute them which have the rule over you. You know, we should have some respect
for the man of God, we should have respect to the people of God, we should have respect for elders.
I mean, if Jeroboam can do it, you know, we should be able to do it. If a guy who turns out as rotten
as Jeroboam can be hard-working and respectful, there's no reason why God's own people can't do
that. And these are things, these are some qualities that hopefully, you know, Jeroboam
doesn't have a leg up on us in. So he rins his new garment, you can go back there to 1 Kings and we'll
wrap it up. So, you know, Jeroboam, you know, he had this chance, he had this great, you know,
opportunity, but he ends up blowing it. He had some good things going for him, you know, he's
hard-working, he's respectful, he gets the promotion, and God even makes that promise to him. Where he
says, look, I'm gonna punish Solomon, but I'm gonna give you a chance here in verse 38, if thou
will hearken unto all that I command thee, and will walk in all my ways, and do that which is right in
my sight, to keep my statutes, my judgments, as David my servant did, then I will be with thee,
and will build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto thee. He's given
this great opportunity, but we understand that he ends up blowing it. If you go over to chapter 12,
chapter 12, we'll look at verse 26, and this is, of course, after, you know, Jeroboam and Israel
have departed from Rehoboam, Solomon's son, after the death of Solomon. You'll learn about that
Thursday. And he goes to set up shop, and he's gonna start ruling up there in Israel, the
Northern Kingdom, but it's verse 26, and Jeroboam said in his heart, now shall the kingdom return to
the house of David. Now we start to see, we start to see Jeroboam's flaws here. I mean, didn't we
just read the promise of God? Didn't God just tell him, look, I will be with you, I will build you a
sure house, even as David. I'll do the same thing for you that I did for David. There's great
opportunity, and Jeroboam blows it. Because he starts to doubt, and he says in his heart, now shall
the kingdom return to the house of David. If this people go up to sacrifice in the house of the Lord
Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord. And he's not referring
to the Lord, but the king there, Rehoboam. Even unto Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they shall kill
me and go again to Rehoboam, king of Judah. But here's the thing, no they wouldn't have. You know,
that's his own reasoning, that's his own doubt creeping in. God's already said, look, I'm gonna
keep one house for David my servant's sake, you know, and for Rehoboam and Judah, but you know,
I will build you a sure house. And we could see where Jeroboam starts to lose it, how he blows
this great opportunity. It's because he's doubting the promises of God. And look, you'll blow your
opportunity too, if you doubt the promises of God, if you doubt the Word of God. You know,
if you don't think that being industrious, and working hard, and being respectful, and doing
what you ought to do, you know, is for you. You think, well that doesn't apply to me. You know
what, you're gonna blow it. You're gonna blow it in life. You're gonna miss out on a great
opportunity to do something for God. To raise that godly family, you know, to have that godly spouse,
to raise those godly children, to excel in that job, to do well, to prosper, to have God with you,
you'll blow it. Because you're doubting the Word of God. Oh yeah, 1st Timothy and all that,
everything that preacher just said just now, nuts to all that, it doesn't apply to me. You're gonna
blow it. Just like Jeroboam. Because you're doubting the Word of God, you're doubting those
things which have been told unto you. And of course, we know the story. He, whereupon, verse 28,
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 God, so is Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
So he just turns the people of God to complete idol worship. And look, if you know the story
from here on out, it just, this just becomes, you know, just a thorn in the side of Israel until
they're ultimately destroyed. These calves, these golden, these false gods, these idols,
are just something that just draws them completely away from God. Generation after generation after
generation. It all starts with one guy, who you know, from what I see, started out halfway decent.
He was a servant of the king. He was a hard worker. He was respectful. He had all these things going
for him, but you know what? He doubted the promises of God at some point. And we'll get a little bit
more into him next week, but you know, that's, that's the message tonight. You know, we don't
want to just focus on the bad things about Jeroboam. There are a couple good things you
could learn from him, and take heed to the warning that if you don't listen to the Word of God, what
it's saying to you, if you don't have respect to what's being preached to you from the Word of God,
you'll do exactly what Jeroboam did. And I'm not saying you're gonna go set up golden calves
somewhere, but I'm saying you're gonna blow your opportunity to do something great for God. Because
he did have that promise to do something great for God. He could have been established. I mean,
the story could have been completely different for Jeroboam, but the problem was is that he
doubted the Word of God. He blew his opportunity. Don't blow your opportunity. Be a hard worker. Be
somebody, you know, who works hard for the Lord, works hard, whatever so, like, whatever so ever
thy hand findeth to do, do with all thy might. And, you know, and be respectful to the man of
God, to the, to those that have preached unto the Word of God, your parents, you know, other people.
Be respectful at your job, to the good, and to the forward, and you will excel. That is the promise
of God. That God will prosper you and bless you. But you have to believe it. You know, you have to
believe that and you have to obey it. Let's go and pray. Dear Lord, again, thank you for the example
of Jeroboam. Lord, I pray it help us to be at least in his better, you know, his good qualities that
we see that we, we are like him and that we're hard-working and respectful. And Lord, I pray
that we would take heed to the fact that he blew his opportunity, Lord, by doubting your Word. And
he turned and turned to a very wicked sin, Lord, and affected an entire nation of people for
generations. Lord, I pray that you'd help us to see that, Lord, our attitudes, our actions have
very severe consequences, Lord. Not just for ourselves, but for those around us and, Lord,
even those to come. It'll affect our children, grandchildren. Lord, again, help us to be an
industrious people that want to serve you and love you. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.
All right, we'll sing one more song before we go tonight.
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's
last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed
at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's
last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed
at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What
so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's
last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we
hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the
twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so
proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's
last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly
we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's
last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so
proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the
twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at
the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at
the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at
the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at
the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's
last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so
proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the
twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed
at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's
last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so
proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the
twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we
hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the
twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we
hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's
last gleaming? What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?