(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Right, amen. We've got this story here in 2 Chronicles 10, where you're at, which can also be found, by the way, in 1 Kings chapter 12, although we won't be going there, where the new King Rehoboam, he has an early test at the beginning of his reign and he basically fails miserably, resulting in the splitting of the northern and southern kingdoms and continuous wars. So this was a pretty monumental time in the history of the kingdoms there and we're going to look down at the middle few verses to just get a reminder as to what went wrong. So 2 Chronicles 10 and from verse 6 says this, And King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men that had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, What counsel give you me to return answer to this people? In verse 7 now. And they spake unto him, saying, If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be thy servants forever. But he forsook the counsel which the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men that were brought up with him that stood before him. And he said unto them, What advice give ye that we may return answer to this people, which have spoken to me, saying, He somewhat the yoke that thy father did put upon us? And the young men that were brought up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou answer people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it somewhat lighter for us. Thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins, for whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I'll put more to your yoke. My father chastise you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. Now look at verse 8 again. He said, But he forsook the counsel which the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men that were brought up with him that stood before him. And the title of my sermon this morning is Advice on getting advice. Advice on getting advice. I'd like to pray and then we're going to get going with the message. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for, well, this story and the principles, the lessons we can learn from it, Lord, help me to preach those clearly today, accurately and boldly, Lord, and fully your spirit and help everyone to just have attentive ears and want to apply this to their lives, Lord, and to just put it into action in their lives, in this area of life that we all, you know, will be dealing with in many areas and many, many times. In Jesus' name we pray all this. Amen. Okay, so this is one of those stories, like I say, in the Bible, that we can all get a lot of application from it, as we all regularly receive advice, don't we, in many areas. Whether we ask for it or not, okay, you just get advice. You get advice, whether you ask for it or whether you don't ask for it, a lot of people are kind of serial advice givers, you might have them around you in various places. And not just when sitting down over a cup of tea with a problem that needs solving, sometimes we're looking for advice, sometimes you're sitting down and you want to get some advice, but we're receiving advice in many areas, aren't we, from work colleagues, they're going to be advising you on maybe how to do the job and other things as well, from family, from friends, from the internet. I mean, if you think about it, Google is a big advice giver, isn't it? I mean, people just, will just type something into Google, what do I do about this? How do I do that? And that's kind of, and then cue a load of sponsored results and everything else coming up. So there's advice in all areas of life, people seek advice, people get advice, people just get offered advice. Politicians, celebrities, social media influence, pastors, preachers, and from the Word of God of course as well. So this afternoon I want to see what we can learn from Rehoboam here in this story in 2 Chronicles 10, so we don't make similar mistakes in our lives. Just to give you a bit of background, okay, to this story, and then we're going to go into the message. Rehoboam is Solomon's son, okay, he's heir to the throne. Solomon has died and Rehoboam is to be made king. Look at verse 1 again, 2 Chronicles 10, it says, and Rehoboam went to Shechem, for to Shechem were all Israel come to make him king. And it came to pass when Jeroboam, the son of Nebat who was in Egypt, whither he had fled from the presence of Solomon the king heard it, that Jeroboam returned out of Egypt. So now Jeroboam had been prophesied to take the ten tribes from Solomon's son Rehoboam, so God knew what was going to happen here, okay, God was very aware of what was going to happen. This resulted in Solomon wanting to kill him, this guy who Solomon wanted to kill had been prophesied to take the tribes, was now returning. Look at verse 3, it says, and they sent and called him, so Jeroboam and all Israel, it said all Israel, came and spake to Rehoboam saying, my father made our yoke grievous, now therefore ease us somewhat the grievous servitude of thy father and his heavy yoke that he put upon us and we will serve thee. So all his people of his kingdom seem to be at the least represented here, and they're asking for an easing of the burden that they had, okay. Now if you're thinking, well what burden are they talking about? Well earlier on in Solomon's reign he was building loads, wasn't he? Okay, he's financing it through levies or we would call them taxes nowadays. Now go back a few chapters to chapter 8 to get a quick idea of this, so 2nd Chronicles chapter 8 and verse 1, so 2nd Chronicles 8, 1 says, and it came to pass that the end of 20 years wherein Solomon had built the house of the Lord and his own house, that the cities which Hurim had restored to Solomon, Solomon built them and caused the children of Israel to dwell there, and Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and prevailed against it, and he built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the store cities which he built in Hamath. Also he built Bethoran in the upper and Bethoran in the nether, fenced cities with walls, gates and bars, and Beilath and all the store cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities and the cities of the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon and throughout all the land of his dominion. Now here's the thing is, whereas his father spent most of his reign in battles, Solomon seemed to spend most of his reign in a hard hat and steel toe cap boots. He was like a sort of just, just, well maybe not quite hands-on builder, but he seemed to be at least the architect, the planner, the designer. His whole reign it seemed, or a lot of his reign was just spent building things, wasn't it, right? He was a big-time builder, and all that cost money, doesn't it? Okay, it cost money to build all this stuff, to build these cities, to build these things, and he raised a lot of it from his people, including a lot of the man power too. Now you don't have to turn there, but 1 Kings 5-13 says, and King Solomon raised a levee out of all Israel, and the levee was 30,000 men. But they were happy, okay? This wasn't a problem, this was a happy kingdom. When the Queen of Sheba came, she noticed it. Look at chapter 9 and verse 7, chapter 9-7 where you are in 2 Chronicles says, Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee and hear thy wisdom. So at this point in time, it was a happy bunch, even though they were, you know, there was attacks, you know, men were being provided, etc. However, towards the end of his reign he continued to build, okay? But these weren't honourable building projects now, okay? Look at, in fact, look at, go over to 1 Kings chapter 11, where he went from God's house and cities for his people, like we've just read about in 2 Chronicles chapter 8, you're going to 1 Kings 11, he went from that to building for false gods. After marrying 700 wives and 300 concubines, they're going after their idols, it says in verse 7 there, Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burned incense and sacrificed unto their gods. Now you wouldn't mind working hard, paying high taxes, even giving labour to your local and national government, if it was actually used for something worthwhile. Now you'd be fairly content, if we had, suddenly our taxes went a bit higher here, and suddenly you were actually even being required to give maybe extra work on the side, but they were just doing good stuff with it, you know, they were building like, right, we need a building for that strong tower bunch, you know, we need, we need some more, we need some more place for legitimate soul winning churches around the country, we're going to make the buildings, we just need the people to come in and do it, we'd be like, yeah, this is good, right? Or maybe similar sort of stuff, they were building good things, there was good infrastructure, it wasn't just being wasted on, you know, on sodomite propaganda, and all the other weird stuff, and just given money to like, to drug addicts and stuff like, if it was being given to things worthwhile, you'd probably be a bit happier, wouldn't you? You'd be content, you'd be like, yeah, at least the money gets spent on something worthwhile, the place is clean, it's looking nice, things are good, but not when it's used for abominations, okay? Then you're not so happy, oh, you're not so content, you're not so satisfied as a citizen when you're giving your tax money, and look, we have commanded to give our tax money, we give to Caesar, we render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, however, when they're spending it on all sorts of weirdness and freakery, it does frustrate you, doesn't it? And it says in verse 9, and the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods, but he kept not that which the Lord commanded. So back in, if you go back now to 2 Chronicles 10, it sounds like a pretty reasonable request. The genuine building projects have been completed, okay? So they've done all the good stuff, they've built the cities, they've done all of that, that's all done, and instead it kind of become like sod story time venues or something, it was like the equivalent, it was like they're just putting money into abominations, abominations, abominations, these guys are like, look, can you ease the burden a bit, because we've been paying for all these abominations, okay? All the good stuff's done now, do we still need to be paying so much, does the burden still need to be so high? Said in verse 3, and they sent and called him. So Jeroboam and all Israel came and spake to Rehoboam, saying, Thy father made our yoke grievous, now therefore ease out somewhat the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee. So they didn't demand the world, just that he eases somewhat, just somewhat, some form of ease. Of course, the end of Solomon's reign had gone downhill, okay, he had started worshipping false gods and stuff to say, can you ease the burden a bit, okay? And he said unto them, Come again unto me after three days, and the people departed. So this seems to be so far so good for Rehoboam, doesn't it? He sensibly not made a decision on the spot, and that's something we need to remember to do a lot. You know, something I have to remember to do sometimes, you don't have to make an immediate decision with things, okay? Sometimes you want to take some time, say to someone, go away, and I'm going to think about that and come back. Proverbs 21, 5, you don't have to turn there, it says, The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness, but of every one that is hasty only to want. So a good lesson there, try to remember not to just make hasty decisions in life, especially important decisions, especially big decisions. Sensible to think things through, right? Verse 6, it then says this, And King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men that had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, What counsel will give ye me to return answer to this people? And they spake unto him, saying, If they'll be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be thy servants forever. But he forsook the counsel which the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men that were brought up with him that stood before him. And he said unto them, What advice give ye that we may return answer to this people, which have spoken to me saying, Is somewhat the yoke that thy father did put upon us? And the young men that were brought up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou answer the people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it somewhat lighter for us. Thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins, for whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I will put more to your yoke. My father chastise you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. The title is advice on getting advice. And well, advice number one is get advice from people with experience. Yeah, get advice from people with experience. Here in Second Chronicles 10, there's a contrast here between the old men that stood before Solomon and the young men that were brought up with him. Okay, that's what we're seeing, the contrast in the two bits of advice offered here. Okay, the young men are those that were brought up with him, they stood before him, so they're his friends, they're his buddies. Okay, they're his sort of inner circle, the guys he hangs around with. Who gave the best advice? The old men. Those with experience. The guys with the experience gave the best advice. Now just a caveat here, okay, just because someone's old, it doesn't mean they're automatically going to give you good advice. Okay, just bear that in mind, okay. There are people out there, I mean, imagine half the people we knock on the doors of, you probably wouldn't want to ask advice of them, however old they are, okay. You're not like, oh yeah, well, they must just be wise because they've got a hoary head, right. There's no fool like an old fool, some might say. There are some pretty wicked old people out there, okay. So, just bear that in mind, it's not just because they're old, but there's some experience here that we're going to look at. But those that were brought up with Rehoboam had no experience of this sort of thing. Okay, so they were brought up with Rehoboam, they weren't experiencing this sort of thing in basically politics, in dealing with the people en masse. And the world is full of people with no experience giving advice on things. Okay, they're everywhere. People with no experience giving advice on things they have no experience of. For example, the childless child psychologist. They don't have any kids, they've never raised any kids, but they're giving advice to everyone about how to raise kids. And they're everywhere, aren't they? Childless child psychologist, childless child behaviour experts, and it just always makes me think of old Supernanny, which was like this TV show many years ago when I was younger, who was just this clown liberal woman who apparently didn't even have kids. And she was going to people and telling them how they needed to deal with their out of control child. She should have said they need a whooping, but instead she'd be like, they need to sit on that step, you know, or you need to get down to their level and ask them why they're punching you in the face or something like that. You know, it was madness, wasn't it? Yeah. The family member, and on that subject, the family member that never had kids, often want to give you advice on how you should be raising your kids, don't they? Okay, we often have to deal with that, you know, in life, don't we? The people, those parents out there, it's just non-stop. People that don't have kids trying to tell you how to raise kids, right? The person, and no offence to those that do, but the person with one child, you get a lot of that as well. They've got one child and they're trying to tell you how you should raise your kids. And again, you know, we've had people, family, friends, try and do this sort of thing. And it's like, you've got no idea. You've got no idea how to have multiple children, because they all behave differently. And you quickly notice, you're like, what might work for that one, doesn't work for the second one. And what works for that second one, doesn't necessarily work for the third one, in fact. And they all, kids are different. Girls and boys are different. Just, kids are different, right? And in what order they're born, they become a bit different and they behave differently and you learn that from experience, don't you? Turn to Proverbs 15. In the workplace, it might be that guy that's done a course. He's done a course, so now suddenly he's an expert. And they're everywhere as well, don't they? They're kind of fresh out of college, university, something else, and suddenly they're an expert. But give me a hands-on worker all day long to learn from. Someone that's been there, that's done it, that's dealt with the problems that arise, it's done. Someone with some experience, right? When we're getting advice, we're getting instruction, we want to learn how to do things, you want it from someone who's experienced it, right? Someone who's got experience. The guy down the local sports class, you might have come across these ones, who wants to teach everyone but they only joined a few months earlier. And there's a lot of those out there, aren't they? They've only just started the sport, they've done a few months, and suddenly every newbie they want to go with and start teaching them, and they're teaching them wrong a lot of the time as well, and they're getting things wrong, they don't understand how to do it. In church life, the person that's only just started soul-winning, we'll get those a lot, right? I've had it many times, you bring someone out, first time soul-winning, and try and tell you how to do it. Well, have you tried doing this? Have you done that? It's like, oh, I just never thought of that, you know. There's a lot of those about people, just people who have no experience, just want to give advice, right? The newly saved convert trying to teach you the Bible. And those are at, we always get them, don't we, you know? They've just got saved time to teach you the Bible, you know, and it's like, look, fine if you want to talk about the Bible, but you've got to get that line right, yeah? And when we're looking for advice, we don't want to be going to, for advice from people with no experience. Think about the amount of influences in the online world that just have no experience of what they're influenced, you don't even know, or at least you don't know, you don't know their experience, you don't know what they do and don't know. A few weeks back we looked at Proverbs 15 and verse 31, which says this, Proverbs 15, 31, the ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise. So there's a reproof that we get from life, from experience, but not everyone hears it and then is accounted wise, okay? So she's going to lead on to point two in a second, but before we do, just a couple of other thoughts on that as well, is, you know, kids for example, kids like to remember that when you're getting advice from your parents, they've got experience. They've been, we were all kids once, we know what it's like to be a kid, we know it's like to be a young kid, we know it's like to be a teen, we know it's like to be a young adult, we have experience, you know, listen to your parents, listen to those with experience, don't think that you know it all, and that's in all sorts of areas of life. But here he said, the ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise, so you've got to hear it, and there's a reproof of life, there's there's something that comes from experience, you can get wisdom from the experience of life, but like I said, not everyone hears it and then is accounted wise. Go back to 2 Chronicles 10, we're looking at advice, we're getting advice. So point number one is get advice from people with experience, okay, the old men here had experience, but point number two is get advice from people that are qualified, get advice from people that are qualified. Look at verse 6, it said in King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men that had stood before Solomon his father Wally Yetly of saying, what counsel give you me to return answers people? And they spake unto him saying, if thou be kind to this people and please them and speak good words to them, they will be thy servants forever. So these guys had stood before Solomon his father and were still there, weren't they? They were still around, they were experienced, they hadn't gone anywhere, they hadn't turned on Solomon, they had seen the heyday of the kingdom and they hadn't been kicked out of the kingdom, or put to death, or whatever else sacked from their jobs. They were qualified to give advice, they'd lasted the course, they were qualified and when it comes to getting advice in all areas of life, you don't want to give too much heat to the flash in the pan with no experience, okay, just remember that in all areas. The flash in the pan, it doesn't actually have experience, but then also you want to be able to see some sort of fruits ideally as well, don't you? So experience doesn't equal qualifications. Some evidence that they're qualified to give advice. So here they lasted the course and in many areas that is qualifications, okay, just lasting the course. They stayed standing before the previous king all of his life and they were here ready to advise the new king, okay, they were still around, they're still ready to give advice. And in our Christian lives, if you want some spiritual advice, some counsel, find the people that are still standing before the king. Yeah, find people that are still there, still standing before the king, still doing the things they're meant to do, that are free to thrive. They're still standing, they're still serving. You want spiritual advice, find people that are doing what God wants them to do, that are still soul winning. You know, if I want advice in a Christian life, I want advice for people that are still serving God, not people that are kind of a bit in, a bit out, not really there, that are still growing. People that you see are still just growing and improving and changing their lives, accepting fault in their lives as well, and changing it and trying to get stronger and grow in the Christian life, that are still serving, that are still looking for ways to serve, that are still serving God, still in the things of God. Because the eternal backslider, the latest kick out, the once a month attendee isn't lasting the course. They're not the person they're going to advise from. Okay, because they haven't lasted the course. Because it is, let's be honest, if you just serve, if you're serving God, it's pretty easy not to get kicked out of a church, isn't it? It's pretty easy not to just, just start coming less and less and less. If you're really, if you're serving God, you want to do the things of God. Now I'm not talking about people that live far away and stuff like that. If you're local, you're, you're within like a couple of hours of a church, you just come to church, right? Do the things of God, you serve God, you just get on with it. Yeah, the Christian life can be hard, but getting, people getting kicked out, they ain't the people to get advice from. Okay, they're not the people to seek counsel from. But it's the same, for example, if some pastor out there isn't soul winning, for example, okay, you're like, oh well I just love this person, I lie, they just seem to be so charming, they just such lovely things, but they don't soul win. They've, they've failed, they haven't lasted the course. I don't care how wise they might seem to be, how much they could copy what someone else has said or whatever else. If they're not doing the things of God they haven't lasted the course, why don't want to get advice from them? You want to make sure people are qualified, don't you? And that can be hard in the online world, because you don't really know half of them. And how many people still just go away and it's like, well this, this guy, he's got his own little channel, he seems to speak the truth, I'm just going to listen to everything he has to say. It's madness, because you don't know if they're experienced, you don't know if they're qualified. Turn to Proverbs 1, but it's the same in other areas, okay, don't hang off relationship advice, for example, from the singles. They don't have the experience, they don't have the qualifications to give it to you. Now don't get me wrong, you can hear what someone has to say, some people still have some interesting insight and other things from afar, but don't hang off that advice. Don't get cooking advice, for example, from most of the men in this room. Okay, because we don't have the experience, we don't have the qualifications. Yeah, you get cooking advice from me, it's probably going to go pretty wrong. Yeah, it's true though. And obviously parenting is a big one, okay, with the unqualified world, governments, media, universities, all these people that are unqualified trying to give advice, not just advice, sometimes it's worse, but they're failing miserably, miserably. Look at the fruits of what they're producing. Giving advice, advice, sorry, or worse still, instruction, because we've got parenting laws now, haven't we, that they're trying to introduce, they've already introduced in Scotland, they've already introduced in Wales, where you can't even smack a kid's bum. Like what, what on earth, and who are these people to give not just advice, but laws on raising your family, based on people completely ill qualified, completely ill, what on earth, what are they producing? Look at the kids out there, kids that are into fornication, kids that are into drugs, kids that are into booze, kids are into self-harm, like kids who are just a complete mess, depression rates through the roof, the rest, oh but they know best, it's madness, absolute madness, and whether it comes from some think tank joke group somewhere, or whoever it is, they ain't qualified because the fruits of all of this stuff, when the more and more they try and delve into the family area, and overstep into that area, which has got nothing to do with government, the more we're seeing the fruits, the qualifications showing they're unqualified, because it's all a joke, there's failures everywhere, same with marriage roles, what about marriage roles? They're constantly trying to push and tell you how your marriage should run, how a marriage should be, what you should do, look at the state of it, less and less marriages, because most people are like, I don't even want to get married, look at the state of the people that are married, and divorce rates through the roof, and now we've even got the gender stuff, and look at the state of that in just a small amount of time, you got people that have been pushed and promoted into it by their wicked, vile, disgusting parents, who have encouraged, pushed, and even just allowing that shows that you are a disgrace of a parent, to get your child, encourage your child in some sort of gender reassignment, I mean what on earth is that? And then what's the result? Kids that regret it, kids that are depressed, kids that kill themselves, kids that are just like, like, it's just like, what a mess, right? In just a small amount of time, let alone, what are we going to see in the future with that? They're completely ill-qualified, and it's the same with advice from those around us, okay? You'd like to see some qualifications, wouldn't you? Because you've got to be careful, and not just, you know, in a church group, in the workplace, around family and friends and stuff, be careful just giving advice on things that maybe you don't have the experience, you're not qualified to do so. You know, when people are, and some of you just want to give you parenting advice, parenting advice, parenting advice, look, you want to see some qualifications, though not perfect kids, no one's got perfect kids, okay? But happy, healthy, well-rounded, just sociable kids, like normal kids, kids that are just like, well-rounded, right? That's what you want to see in the workplace, from the work colleague that's not only experienced but clearly does a good job. That's what you want to see, don't you? You don't want to get advice from the guy who, yeah, he might be there for a long time, but the boss just would love to get rid of him but can't. Yeah, again, you want to go to the right people, that's just normal, isn't it? Someone that's pleasing the boss. Proverbs 1 5, Proverbs 1 5 says, a wise man will hear and will increase learning, and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels. When getting advice, you want to seek it from those ideally with wisdom in that area, okay? So if you're looking for advice, and obviously if you're off, and really, you know, try not to give advice when people aren't asking for it, right? But, and the way I see it is if you're coming into a church and sitting in here where you're asking for it, okay, so you're going to get it from the Word of God. But in other areas, right, we want to be, we want to, we want to, we want it to be sought for first, and ideally when we're seeking it, we should be looking for those with wisdom in that area. Now notice how that man of understanding shall attain, it said here. A wise man will hear and will increase learning. A man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels. So reach, you could say, come to wise counsels, because he's seeking counsel or advice. He's seeking it. And that leads on to point number three. So go back to 2 Chronicles 10. We're looking at advice on getting advice. Point number one, get advice from people with experience. Point number two, get advice from people that are qualified. And point number three, get advice, not validation. Get advice, not validation. He gets the first advice from the old men here. Look at verse seven, it says, and they spoke unto him saying, if thou be kind to this people and please them and speak good words to them, they will be thy servants forever. But it wasn't that he weighed up the two pieces of pieces of advice and then went with the second, okay. Look at verse eight. He's already been given the advice only by the old men, look at verse eight, but he forsook the counsel. He forsook the counsel which the old men gave and took counsel with the young men that were brought up with him that stood before him. Okay, now I don't want to lose you here. Look at that again. Verse seven, they gave him advice. He forsook the counsel. Then he went and took counsel with the young men. He rejected the counsel before he went to the young men, okay. Before he went to the young men, he had already rejected the counsel from the old men. He had already made a decision to forsake the first counsel. And you get the feeling that he'd already made his mind up, really. He went to the young men because he knew that they would say what he wanted to hear. That's why. He'd already forsaken the old men. What was the other option? No. No, we're not going to ease the burden. And basically he goes to the young men because he knew that they would say what he wanted them to say. And isn't that what so many people do? Don't a lot of people do that? Instead of seeking advice, they go to what's also known as opinion shopping. So when we say opinion shopping, it's like they're looking for the one that already suits them. If I go to enough people, they'll find the person that says the thing that I've already decided I want to do. That's not going for advice, that's just going for validation. Okay? And that's not really what we should be doing. They ask advice in a way that will get the result that they want. Have you ever had people do that? So they're acting like they're asking advice, but they're being very selective with the information and already angling your response to what they want to hear. People do that. People are crafty like that. They're selective with the facts, with the way it's worded, because really they just want validation for their decision. And that's something we need to be very careful not to do. When you're going for advice, you should be going for genuine advice, not going to just get someone to agree with you to validate your already made up mind. And if you want someone to agree with you, there are plenty of yes men around that will do that. Okay? So if you want someone to agree with you, you'll find them. They're everywhere. So be careful how you ask for advice. For example, this is one way someone might do it. Wouldn't you agree that the only way of dealing with this is X, Y and Z? That's not asking for advice, is it? Oh, do you agree with me that I think but, and that could be hard kind of when someone's going, do you agree that this is this, and we just kind of, oh yeah, yeah, you're probably right, you know, because it's putting you in a position already where you're basically having to contradict and say no, you're wrong. And that's hard sometimes for many people, especially when you're just trying to get on with people, you're trying to be friendly. So that's not how we ask for advice, is it? That's not how we should ask for advice. Then failing that, you can always just get validation from someone online, can't you? I mean, you type in enough search terms and stuff, you'll find someone to agree with your kooky theory, with your preconceived idea, with whatever it is. There's enough people, there's enough ideas out there, you'll find, so well, I read it online, oh well, a lot of people are saying the same thing. Really? I mean, that's how the news media do it, don't they? They go, people have called for this, you know. We've spoken to someone who said, and it's like, you've just got one soundbite of one person saying the thing that you want to make headlines about, you know, and it's easy to find someone to agree with you if you want them to. Turn to Proverbs 28, and now, spiritually speaking, isn't that, isn't this what many people do when it comes to salvation? They want to be told that their works are enough, or there are some works they can achieve to take some credit for salvation. That's what people do. So, what they're looking for, they're just looking for validation, looking for someone, some form of religion that will say, and sometimes when you preach the gospel to someone, they're kind of hoping you're going to give them some sort of works that they can do, or some sort of validation of the works they're already doing, and when you say, no, that's not enough, that's when they're kind of not interested anymore. They don't want the free gift. They don't want salvation to be graced through faith. They want some sort of validation for their works, or some sort of works that they can easily achieve to do it, right? Many choose the work salvation that suits them, don't they? That's what happens. Many choose the form of work salvation that suits them that works with their life. You can preach the gospel to someone, and they will forsake it and choose works, won't they? Even though they claim to believe the Bible, you're showing them just clear, in-context scripture, in-context scripture from the Bible, yet they choose works. Now, believers also do this with sin and sinful life decisions. So, instead of seeking genuine advice, many just want validation. Did you turn to Proverbs 28? Look at verse 13. So, cover them by justifying it with, well, so and so said it was okay. I got advice on it. Someone told me it was okay. Well, you know, well, I went to these different people. They thought this. They said this. So, that was okay. And this leads on to point number four. So, go back to Second Chronicles 10. We just read, he that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. We're looking at advice on getting advice. Point number one, get advice from people with experience. Point number two, get advice from people that are qualified. Point number three, get advice, not validation. And point number four is get advice, not a scapegoat. Get advice and not a scapegoat. I said in verse eight in Second Chronicles 10, but he forsook the counsel which the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men that were brought up with him that stood before him. Now, look at verse nine. And he said unto them, what advice give ye that, notice this this word here, that we, we may return answer to this people which have spoken to me saying is somewhat the yoke that thy father did put upon us. Now, notice how Rehoboam wanted to shed a responsibility. And you think, oh, it did he really well contrast it with verse six. Look at verse six. When he's talking to the old man and King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, what counsel give ye me to return answer to this people. So, here he's asking for counsel for them to give to him to return answer, but in verse nine talking to the young men and he said unto them, what advice give ye that we may return answer this people. Suddenly it's a collective. It's all of them. Which has spoken to me saying he's somewhat the yoke that thy father did put upon us. He wants to share the blame. He had already rejected the old men. He knew the answer that he wanted, but he wanted a scapegoat too. He wanted someone to share the responsibility with. And this is something that people so often do when seeking advice, okay. They've already made their mind up. They just want validation and escape-go. Someone to blame it on. Someone to say, but they told me to do it like this. Well, so-and-so said this as well. We, you know, this is what the advice that I got was and this is why I did it. What do most do when they read this story? If you've read this in your Bible reading, you just think those stupid young punks, don't you? That's what I used to do. I used to read this story and go, those stupid young punks and stupid Rehoboam trusting them. Why did he trust them young punks? He should have gone with the old men. That's what you think, don't you? But something to remember really is personal responsibility here. Rehoboam went for what he wanted. Rehoboam is the one to blame here. Rehoboam is the one who has responsibility and in fact, he just, he also included them as a scapegoat and we read the story and just think, oh those youngsters, what a stupid answer. Young, they're foolish, you know, they're brash and everything else. He should have gone with the old men, but he'd already made his mind up. He'd rejected the old men and he went for what he wanted with the young men. But something to remember, like I said, is personal responsibility, okay. Just because someone has encouraged you in something, okay, it doesn't shift the blame. Okay, whoever, whoever's advised you, told you to do this, told you to do that, whatever it is, you're still responsible. It's your choice to make your, if you're seeking advice, you're seeking advice, you're not seeking someone to tell you what to do. And when seeking advice, don't do it to then be able to blame the person when it goes wrong. And people do that. They, they just want validation, they want a scapegoat to then blame them for your actions. I was given bad advice. How many times have you heard people say that? Yeah, I was given bad advice, that's why this happened. Well, it was, I was told this, it was because of that, because of that false profit, because of this person, because of that person in my private life. Well, that pastor told me to do this, well, this person, that work colleague said I should do it this way. Now, how about I chose bad advice? That's how it should be. I chose bad advice. When getting advice, it's down to you ultimately. You're only getting advice, your choice. Don't give up your own responsibility. And often, like here, people are just choosing support for the decision that they've already made. Okay, that's what he was doing here. We need to be accurate with the information that we're that we're relaying when we're getting advice. Look at verse nine here, it says, And he said unto them, What advice give ye that we may return answers, people which have spoken to me, saying, He somewhat the yoke that thy father did put upon us? But is that what they asked? Did they say, He somewhat the yoke that thy father did put upon us? Well, look at verse four, look at how they said it. They said, thy father made our yoke grievous, now therefore, ease us somewhat the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee. So they didn't just come up going, He somewhat the heavy burden. They were saying, it's grievous servitude. They said, we will serve thee. That's a bit different to how he relayed it, isn't it? There's a big difference there. Why didn't he relay the rest of it? I'll tell you why, because Rehoboam had already made his mind up. He knew what answer he wanted, he knew what advice, in inverted commas, he wanted. He knew the validation that he wanted, he knew the scapegoat that he wanted to include within it. He was opinion shopping. Turn to Proverbs 15. And listen, as a pastor, and obviously previously an evangelist, okay, I've noticed people do that, to get me to support their course of action. So they'll come and they'll give me just a certain amount of info whilst trying to get me to validate and support their course of action, whether it's a work decision, a relationship decision, a something decision, whether to move here or do this or get involved more with the church or whatever else. They're only giving you a certain amount because they want you to validate. They want to get you to say, yeah, I agree, or no I don't, or yes, do this. And people do that a lot. And it's something that we all have to be careful of. Careful not to be on the receiving end and careful to be genuine when seeking advice. So if you're looking for advice of someone, be genuine, right? Like, you know, that's something you have to question yourself. Am I just trying to get someone to just say what I want them to say? Am I genuinely seeking advice? Am I genuinely seeking impartial advice? In which case you need to give them as much info as possible for them to be able to give you impartial advice. Proverbs 15 14 says, the heart of him that has understanding seeketh knowledge, but the mouth of fools feedeth of foolishness. So if you have understanding, and remember that's the knowledge of the holy, okay, don't seek someone to blame, seek knowledge. Okay, that's what we should be seeking when we're going for advice. Seek knowledge. Actually seek some impartial advice, and people need to have, you know, sort of an impartial sort of amount of information to give you impartial advice. If we're asking advice, we should be trying to grow in knowledge by hearing another angle, okay? Another viewpoint, a knowledgeable opinion. Isn't that what we're looking for really? To grow in knowledge, to hear some different angles, to make a more informed decision, a more informed choice, but it's still an opinion. It's still an opinion. It's advice for you to choose to act upon or not, which leads on to point five. Go back to Second Chronicles 10. We're looking at advice on getting advice. Number one, get advice from people with experience. Number two, get advice from people that are qualified. Number three, get advice, not validation. Number four, get advice, not a scapegoat. And number five, get advice, not instruction. So get advice and not instruction. Look at verse 90, and he said unto them, what advice give you that we may return answer to this people, which have spoken to me saying he's somewhat a yoke that thy father did put upon us? And the young men that were brought up with him spake unto him saying, thus shout thou answer. The people that spake unto thee saying thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it somewhat lighter for us. Thus shout thou say unto them, my little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins for whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I will put more to your yoke. My father chastised you with the whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. Now by the way, that's him still speaking. They're basically telling him exactly what to say, yeah. Let's contrast that with the old men. Look at the old men in verse seven. The old men gave him advice and they said this, and they spake unto him saying, if they'll be kind to this people and please them and speak good words to them, they'll be thy servants forever. What's the difference? The old men just said look, this is the sort of thing, this is how we believe you should deal with it. They said if they'll be kind to this people and please them and speak good words to them, they'll be thy servants forever. The young men said this is exactly what you need to say, thus shout thou answer. This is how you're going to say it, this is what you're going to say, and they're even, they're even framing the sentences for him. They instruct him exactly what to say, okay. They said, thus shout thou answer people that spake unto thee, this is in the middle of verse 10, saying thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it somewhat lighter for us. Thus shout thou say unto them, my little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins, for whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I'll put more more to your yoke. My father chastise you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions, and he did repeat verbatim, well at least the cool sounding part of what they instructed him. Well you can't blame for that bit, you know, where he said my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. You can understand, like that sounded cool, right, that sounded like yeah this sort of thing we need to be saying, right, and sometimes the advice can sound like it can be a bit of a sound bike, can't it? Sometimes you hear some advice and something it's like this is what you've got to do, you've got to say it like this, but is that really what we should be doing? Just because it sounds good, is that the right advice? Is that the right way to act? And that does sound good, doesn't it? I mean we, you know, sometimes there's a bit, you get a bit of Baptist banter with verses like that, you know, but really it was the wrong thing to do. Look at verse 12, he repeated it verbatim, it said, so Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day as the king bade, saying come again to me on the third day. The king answered them roughly and king Rehoboam forsook the counts of the old men, and answered them after the advice of the young men, saying my father made your yoke heavy, but I will add there too, my father chastise you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. That's exactly what they told him to say in verse 11, my father chastise you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. He didn't change it, he didn't come up with a new insect, he didn't come up with any different, you know, wording with it, and as we've seen, that was of course what he was looking for, to the point of being happy to follow their instructions word for word. Yeah, that's ultimately what he wanted, but when we go to someone for advice, like I said, we still need to take responsibility for our decisions, and therefore be wary of the thus shout thou say, or thus, thus shout thou do kind of advice, okay, and that stuff's everywhere. A lot of people out there just say this is what you have to do. Sometimes people will come up to you and give you unsolicited advice and tell you this is what you need to do, this is what you must do, but even when we go to someone for advice, when someone's telling you this is what you have to do, this is what you have to say, in my experience with this sort of thing we're talking about, these are often people that are compensated for their being unqualified in the first place. So a lot of people who stand there and go 100%, this is what you, a lot of the time they're just compensating, because they don't really know. I've noticed this a lot of the time in life over many years, is people that just claim everything is fat, that they know 100% what you must and mustn't do, etc., in various situations, most of the time they actually don't have a clue. Okay, they don't have a clue. Beware of people that do that. You must do this, you must do that, because when it comes to advice with difficult decisions, okay, it's very difficult to give a definite, isn't it? Really, because there are often so many factors. Very difficult to say this is what 100%, you've got to do this, because there are so many facts involved of which if you're giving the advice you don't really usually know them all, do you? Wise people are usually aware of that. People that are wise know there's many facts, it's hard to give just black and whites in many situations. Thus shout thou say is usually foolish and overstepping the mark of advice. I'm going to give you the caveat on this in a minute in case anyone's wondering, okay? And whether we feel that we have someone to now blame, the consequence though is still very real. So whether or not, you know, well I've managed to get the advice now, look, the consequences are real and ultimately we want the best consequence to any situation. So therefore we want to try and seek the most impartial, the most informed advice and not just opinion shot. Verse 15 says, so the king hearkened not unto the people for the cause was of God that the Lord might perform his word which he spake by the hand of Ahijah the Shiloh knight to Jeroboam the son of Nebah. So God knew, excuse me, God knew this would happen. He knew what was going to happen here. Verse 16 says, when all Israel saw that the king would not hearken unto them, the people answered the king saying, what portion have we in David? We have none inheritance in the son of Jesse, every man to your tent, so Israel. And now David, see to thine own house, so all Israel went to their tents. But as for the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. Then king Rehoboam sent Hadoram that was over the tribute and the children of Israel stoned him with stones that he died. But king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot and to flee to Jerusalem and Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day. That's some serious consequences isn't it? Some serious consequences to his going and just opinion shopping, to his finding validation, finding a scapegoat, to his just following instruction because he liked the instruction etc. Now like I said, there's one caveat to all of this. I turn to Psalm 119. 1 1 9. Psalm 119. There is a source of advice that is experienced. There's a source of advice that is qualified, that you can get validation from, that is happy to be a scapegoat, that you can take instruction from. Psalm 119 and verse 24. Psalm 119 verse 24 says, thy testimonies also are my delight and my counselors. So when the advice is coming clearly from the word of God you can trust it. Okay, if it's clear scripture, clear thou shalt and thou shalt not type scripture, it's the inspired preserved words of God and he has ultimate experience. Yeah, he is qualified. You can trust him to instruct you and pastors and preachers, okay, some of what we will tell you will be what God's telling you and some will be interpretation and opinion. Okay, that's just life. You try speaking for an hour, you know, unless you just want me to read the Bible to you, there's going to be interpretation, there's going to be opinion. How do you know how to differentiate? How can you know what is what, right? How can you know if that interpretation, that opinion is correct? By reading your Bibles daily. It all comes back to that. Read your Bibles daily, search your scriptures daily. The psalm is said in verse 11, sorry, psalm 119 verse 24, thy testimonies also are my delight and my counselors. So how do you know what is and isn't bad interpretation? How do you know what is and isn't maybe a verse out of context by someone? Well, Proverbs 24 6 says, you don't have to turn there, but Proverbs 24 6 says, for by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war and in multitude of counselors there is safety. And there are doctrines, there are truths, there's instruction in the word of God that you can hang your hat on. Do you know why you can hang your hat on here? Because there's a multitude of counselors in the word of God on here. So, for example, salvation being grace through faith alone, it's not of works, there's multitude of counselors in the Bible. Because, yeah, there are verses, let's be true, there are verses that, if you didn't look at the context, you would think, that seems like work salvation. But there aren't a multitude of counselors. It's because it's a verse out of context in a passage that's got nothing to do with salvation. It's a verse out of context, it's talking about physical salvation in the end times. It's a verse out of context, or it's a verse even in context, or at least to some degree, but it's, they got it wrong. They don't, they're not looking at the actual verse of what it's actually saying and misinterpreting it. And then you've got verse after verse after verse after verse saying, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe. For by grace you say through faith, and they're not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For by the works of the Lord shall no flesh be justified. There's no works, you have everlasting life, it's yours, and that's a multitude of counselors, isn't it? And there are other doctrines in the Bible, it's just a multitude of counselors. There's just a multitude of it, and that sort of stuff you could go, right, I'm hanging my hat on now. Okay, you can stand on that, you can stand sure on that. But aside from the clear scriptural advice, when the council isn't so clear maybe in the Word of God, or it's maybe a grey area, or it's a less spiritual situation just in life, these points apply. Number one, get advice from people with experience. Number two, and there are, look, there are just many areas in life where, look, don't get me wrong, the Word of God is sufficient, okay. It covers so much, and obviously the more you read it, the more you understand it. But there are, there are unique situations and circumstances in life where, kind of, it's good to get some counsel, and ultimately when it's a spiritual situation, a spiritual decision, you want that to be biblical counsel, don't you? You want it to be, to line up with the Word of God. But there are things that maybe aren't so much like that, that you still want some advice and counsel, counsel in. Well, point number one, get advice from people with experience. Point number two, get advice from people that are qualified. Point number three, get advice, not validation. Point number four, get advice, not a scapegoat. And point number five, get advice, not instruction, okay. Be careful of those that just want to instruct your every move. That was advice on getting advice, and on that we're going to finish in a word of practice. Father, thank you for your word, thank you for the, uh, the teachings there, the principles we can get out of, uh, Second Chronicles 10 there, Lord, and, um, just where, where Rehoboam went wrong there, and the errors there, and the things he did wrong, Lord, and obviously as well with, you know, there being two, uh, sort of, uh, contrasts in the council there, but help us to just be wise when we're seeking counsel, so wise when we're giving counsel, Lord, help us to, to give counsel in the right way, Lord, um, and, and to seek it as well in the right way, Lord, and, um, not to just seek validation, not to just seek a scapegoat for our, um, for our decisions that we've already made, Lord, help us to, to just be genuine in these areas of our life, um, help us to, um, to, to, you know, think about these sorts of things, not just today, but going into the week as well, Lord, and into the month, into the year, and just try and just, just be, be better in those areas, Lord, better in those areas, you know, when we're giving and seeking advice, um, help us to, um, to go out and preach the gospel clearly this afternoon, Lord, help us get people saved, and to return for the evening service, and do stand before all this. Amen.