Many have a knowledge of God’s ways but have chosen to pretend they know a better, more convenient path. Jeroboam's first encounter with Ahijah (1 Kings 14:6) was like a road sign on any highway. “If you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments... then I will be with you.” It was an invitation to travel on a highway of holiness. Jeroboam chose another road and made an attempt to make worship of God convenient for others rather than holy and acceptable by God. The enslavement to everything unholy cannot be covered by pretense before God. It is only in the ways of God, and his holiness, that we can find true freedom and holiness. Romans 6:22 "But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life"

The following message is a presentation of the National Center for Family Integrated Churches, where we're proclaiming the sufficiency of scripture for church and family life. More information about the NCFIC is available at www.ncfic.org. Is available at www.ncfic.org. It's good to see you and I would have the pleasure, time won't allow it for me to get to know each of you individually. And then distance would forbid it beyond that because I live west of the Rockies.

And that's a long drive from here. But it's good to be here and I'm so grateful to have the occasion to open up the Word of God with you. I would direct your attention to 1 Kings and to the 14th chapter. Essentially what I want to do in handling this friction that lays upon the text here is the misery that lays upon pretenders. And so as you're making your way to that 14th chapter, I also want to just bring you greetings from the kind people that I pastor in Twin Falls, Idaho.

Those of you who are of the older generation, you'll remember back In 1974, a crazy man by the name of Evel Knievel tried to jump what's known as the Snake River Canyon. That's where I live. And there are crazy people that are trying to still do that. There are currently two ramps built to attempt it again. If you ever come to visit me, I highly recommend you taking the bridge to get across the Snake River Canyon.

It's much more successful. I think you will have greater success than those who attempt to jump it. But I do bring you greetings from a kind people known as Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls, Idaho and they they give given me the opportunity to be here for this season And so I'm glad to be here and returning multiple times to the conference here and so grateful for the benefit that the Lord gives my own life in regards to this. So I'm grateful to be with you. I wish I could I wish I could know your names.

So maybe maybe the Lord will allow some of that. There is this great problem that the Old Testament shows us and it's primarily in this realm of the kings from the split of the kingdom with Rehoboam of the southern kingdom and Jeroboam of the northern kingdom, and there is a long line from the institution of the division of the country, of the nation of Israel, where the Northern Kingdom runs as fast as she can toward idolatry. And the strange thing about it is that their run to idolatry is through the pathway of pretense and disguising their activity as honoring God. So it's actually a very beneficial and helpful picture, but it's also a tragic story at the same time. What I'll do is start with the sixth verse, and then essentially we'll need to back our way up to chapter 11 through the observation of this and essentially in light of that is that we want to see how God is using these events to show us both his glory, to show us his holiness, to show us even in looking in a forward direction toward if the Lord would allow for next year's conference toward the fear of God, we would see that these things are all being played out here in this text that we have in 1 Kings chapters 11 through 14.

But let's look at this sixth verse together. First of all, these may be some characters that you're familiar with and they may be individuals that these are foreign names to you. So don't let the don't let my bad pronunciation of the names confuse you. I preached this text some several months ago in my own church and I was given the wrong name to the wrong guy the whole sermon. So you have the text in front of you.

And if you see me make that kind of blunder, I'll appreciate in advance your grace. And then I'll also appreciate the fact that you're a good reader. And you'll see who I'm trying to say if I get that mixed up, alright? So this sixth verse, we are introduced to an individual that will require some background in a moment. Ahijah, he's a prophet of the Lord and he's a prophet that has a very interesting connection here inside of the story, but Ahijah, he heard the sound of her feet, and we'll learn who the her is in a moment.

He heard the sound of her feet coming in the doorway, and he said, come in, so we at least know that she's the wife of Jeroboam here in this text. The wife, come in, wife of Jeroboam, why do you pretend to be another woman? For I am sent to you with a harsh message. Lord, we do want your Word to do an ordained work in our lives today. So Lord, when we examine this life of primarily of Jeroboam and his foolishness and his...even in his foolishness, Lord, we see he's very sincere in what he wants to accomplish, what he wants to do.

But, oh Lord, he's so unaware of the dangers that he is to himself, that he is to his household, that he is to the nation of Israel. Oh God, may you help us today as we observe this text. Give us help. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

So, Jeroboam's first encounter with a Hijjah is pretty important. So, in the history of the nation of Israel, the benefit of chapter 11 comes into play for us. And so I would just simply take you back there for the sake of seeing who is this Ahijah. Jeroboam, we know this, that he is the first of a long line of evil bad kings of the Northern Kingdom. How does he come into this position?

How is he given the position of being a ruler? Ultimately it's important that we see when we're reading the text of Scripture that we're watching a sovereign hand of a holy God orchestrate and work in all that's happening. And so when we're introduced to who Ahijah is and who Jeroboam is, I would take you to the 26th verse of chapter 11. We at least get some background upon him. He's the son of Nabat and he is at the time of before he's king he serves as a servant in the house of Solomon so he's he's well respected in the house of Solomon, or one could certainly make a good biblical argument.

He's given a position, he's given an office, he's given responsibility there in the kingdom, and so the people have an acknowledgement of who He is. He's also one who's rebelled against the king. He rebelled against the king while Solomon was still alive and the necessity for him to flee is critical. Verse 27 says, this is the reason why he rebelled against King Solomon. Solomon had built a milo and he closed the breach of the city of his father David.

And now the man Jeroboam was a valiant warrior. And when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, he appointed him over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph. And it came about at that time when Jeroboam went to Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah, so here's that man that we jump into the middle of hearing what he's saying to Jeroboam's wife, here's how we come to know him as. He's a Shiloh knight And he's found Jeroboam on the road. So keep in mind, Jeroboam was elevated to a position of office inside of Solomon's house.

He rebelled against Solomon, and he flees. And so it's on his fleeing path that he comes into the encounter with this prophet by the name of Ahijah. In the middle part of that 29th verse, Ahijah had clothed himself with a new cloak and both of them were alone in the field. And Ahijah took hold of the new cloak and which he had given him and he tore it into 12 pieces and he said to Jeroboam take for yourself ten pieces for thus says the Lord the God of Israel behold I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon So Solomon is still alive at this time. God is speaking through the prophet Ahijah to the man who once worked in the household of Solomon who's rebelled against him and the prophet of God is saying this is what the word of the Lord is saying, you, Jeroboam, will rule.

So we see a sovereign work of a holy God in the midst of great disaster that's even happening here. So Hijjah tells Jeroboam, you take ten pieces of the cloth for yourself, verse 31, where thus says the Lord, Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give you ten tribes. But he will have one tribe for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city in which I've chosen from all of the tribes of Israel." So there's the institution, the instigating or the starting point, the headwaters of the division of the Kingdom of Israel. It comes as a rebellious man leaves the house of Solomon. Solomon's already introduced idolatry to the nation.

He's already walked far away from where God had spoken to him about how he should lead the nation. But now listen to what Ahijah says to Jeroboam. They're very similar to the very same charge that David, Solomon's father, gave to him about the leading of the nation. In a very similar way, the word of the Lord gives a promise to Jeroboam. Look at verse 33.

33. Because they have forsaken Me, My nation, and they have worshipped the Asheroth and the goddesses of the Sidonians, and Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milkum the god of the sons of Ammon. They have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight, observing my statutes, my ordinances, as his father David did. Nevertheless, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler of the days of his life for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose and observed my commandments and my statutes. But I will take the kingdom from his son's hand and give it to you, even ten tribes.

But to his son I will give one tribe, and my servant David will have a lamp always before me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen for myself to put My name." Let me just stop for a moment to make some passing observations. You see them as you read it as well. You see that God is the one who's orchestrating it. You see, God's the one who's saying, this is my people. My people have not obeyed my commandments.

My people have not followed my statutes. My people have not followed my commandments upon them. And so as a result of that, I'm going to tear the nation apart. I'm going to divide it. So because of their inability or their desire not to follow the commandments of God, God comes and divides the country.

Now in the 37th verse you see it, I will take you Jeroboam, So keep in mind this is Ahijah speaking, the voice of the Lord to Jeroboam, the rebeller against the house of Solomon. He says, I will take you and you shall reign over whatever you desire. You shall be king over Israel. So God appoints him, God gives him the position. It's God to Jeroboam.

Verse 38, then it will be that if you, listen, I don't know if you're in the habit of noting this most significant word in Scripture, this word if. This is very important. You don't ever want to miss when you see the word if in the Scripture. It's going to be followed by a then. It's going to be followed by a promise.

If you will do this then this will happen. So it's an important note here. This is God speaking to Jeroboam and he says, if you listen to all that I command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in my sight by observing my statutes and my commandments as my servant David did, then I will be with you and will build you an enduring house as I built for David and I will give Israel to you." So note that. If you will do these things according to my standards. This is a really important thing for the people of God to understand.

God has a right to set standards. He has a right to set expectations. He has a right to demand these things of us. Not because he's an ogre, not because he's a tyrant. He has a right to do these things because he is holy, because he is God, because he is sovereign over all things.

So when he says this to Jeroboam, these are not petty little threats that he's giving to him. If you'll do this, then I'll do that. And by the way, if you don't do it my way, then I'm gonna crush you because I'm bigger than you, because I'm stronger than you. It's Jeroboam because I am God. I command you to obey my commandments, to follow my statutes, to walk in my ways, as my servant David did.

So Jeroboam has this word from the from the Lord through the prophet and he's given this even with an illustration of a torn cloth torn into 10 pieces and given to him. These 10 pieces of this brand new cloth represents the kingdom that I'm going to establish you as the king of and listen Jeroboam I'm gonna make you a great king I'm gonna do amazing things with you I want to make your name great among the nation of Israel Can you imagine the kind of arrogance that just begins, the kind of feeding of arrogance that does to an individual? I'm going to do, God's saying, I'm going to do something amazing with you. It appears that Jeroboam doesn't pay any attention to any of the criteria that's required for this to be the case. We see quickly after the death of Solomon, so keep this in mind, Solomon is still living at this time, and So it's necessary for Jeroboam to continue to flee.

He is a refugee, if you will. He's on the fly for his own preservation of his own life. Chapter 12, we see that there's another individual whom God appoints over the House of Judah, this one house that God preserves for his namesake, for the sake of his servant David, as he even says. So there's a division here of the house, and Rehoboam is the son of Solomon. And I won't take all the time to unfold the family history the family tree here but Raya Bohm is an important figure in this but we're essentially going to have to leave Raya Bohm alone and make quick way over to the 16th verse of chapter 12.

What's happened from chapter 12, verse 1 through verse 15 is where this division is taking place and the establishment of the two kingdoms. So in the 16th verse, when all of Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king saying, so there is prior to this a, if you will, a type of a union talks, contract talks about, hey by the way we don't like the way that our conditions are and so Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, we want you to make things better for us and so that's that's the the background here and the people are rebelling against this. Rehoboam comes out real arrogantly and says, listen, if you think my father was harsh, you don't know harsh. I got more strength in my little pinky than all of my father Solomon had." And so the people get really agitated over this and they begin, the union talks if you will, just completely fall apart at this time. And that's where we are in the 16th verse here.

That all of Israel saw that the king did not listen to them. And the people answered the king, saying, What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Oh, look after your own house, David!

So Israel departed to their tents. But as for the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. And so God gives this southern kingdom to Judah to be ruled by the son of Solomon, the grandson of David, Rehoboam. Then if you'll make your way, for the sake of the continuity of what's happening here, to the 25th verse, then Jeroboam is now the one who's been established by the northern kingdom, who's rebelled against Solomon, rebelled against their brothers, rebelled against the household at large, and the establishment now here of the northern kingdom. And they choose for themselves the one whom has been appointed by God, Jeroboam.

So what does Jeroboam do in his leadership of the people? Verse 25 tells us this. That Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and he lived there. And he went out from there and he built Penel. So he's building a capital city of the northern kingdom.

And these will be, these are familiar territories to the nation of Israel as a whole, but they are places where Jeroboam is establishing for himself. Jeroboam said in his heart, now the kingdom will return to the house of David. That's really an important thing. It exposes something for us about Jeroboam's heart. It exposes an early thing about Jeroboam's heart, and that is this, that Jeroboam is so interested in people applauding him.

He wants the applause of men, he wants the attraction that comes with that. He wants everything that's built upon this. In this place where Jeroboam is going to establish as the capital of the Northern Kingdom, he also realizes that there is something about the worship of God's people. They are still worshiping, they're still traveling largely to Jerusalem. Why are they doing this?

Because this is what God's commanded them to do. So Jeroboam knows this about the people That in this position now where I am now the king of the people, I'm the ruler of the people, if I don't do something to stop them from going to the house of God to worship God, then their heart is going to remain attracted to the homeland and they will not have a loyalty to their new king. So Jeroboam in that 26th verse when he says, now the kingdom will return to the house of David, he is not necessarily interested in the establishment of a united kingdom. He's really wanting to establish for himself a name for himself. If this people, verse 27, go to offer sacrifices to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their Lord, " meaning Jeroboam, their king of the capital city of Jerusalem, "'and they will kill me and return to Jeroboam, king of Judah.' So the king consulted and made two golden calves and said to them, it is too much for you to go to Jerusalem.

Behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt." Now this is really critical whenever we get back to the 14th chapter in just a moment. This is really critical that we have this on our minds when we get there. What Jeroboam has done here is he has hired himself a group of consultants. He's gone out and hired a survey group. He's gone out and hired a consultant firm to come in and tell him, what do the people want?

And so the consultants come and I assume he pays them a lot of money and they do surveys and they send words out across the land. What do people want? Whenever they worship God, what do they want? What do the people want? So the survey report results start to flood in and you know people talk about how inconvenient it is.

Can you imagine the the financial expense of having to travel to Jerusalem to offer our sacrifices. That's a burden on a household. I mean we got to get all the children together. It's kind of like coming to a conference like this. You know the expense of such a thing.

You gather all the children. You got to think all the food it's going to take, the days off of work it's gonna take this thing of worshiping God it hinders harvest time, it gets in the way of the planting season there's problems all around this and so the people send word back to Jeroboam through the consultants we need something that will be much more convenient for us, something that will meet what we want. And so Jeroboam gives them what they want. So as a result of this, he does the unthinkable, but this has already happened. The nation of Israel have already done foolish things like this.

Jeroboam doesn't want to be outdone by anyone it appears. So you could almost take this, take verse 28 out and take it over to the book of Exodus and you hear another individual leader of God's people. We don't know that Aaron necessarily hired a consulting firm out there in the desert to tell us what do the people want. Moses is gone, he's up on the mountain, we don't know when he's coming back. The people pressure him and they push him and they squeeze him and so then he comes out and he makes something for them that is comfortable for them.

Something that they're familiar with. Something that everything else they do it fits into that same that same realm it's how their businesses work it's how their their lives work it's how all the marketing in their system does and so what do you do you you go out and you you make things comfortable for people and so not to be outdone by Aaron there in the wilderness, Jeroboam builds two golden calves. Not just one, he builds two of them. And then actually if you go back and look at Aaron's language, Jeroboam is saying the exact same thing. The only thing that's different in Jeroboam's declaration to the people and Aaron's declaration is Aaron says, behold your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Jeroboam says, behold your gods. Plural. It's the only thing that's different. Jeroboam says, here, there's multiple gods and these gods brought you out of the land of Egypt. That's going to be helpful for us in a moment in the 14th chapter considering the misery that comes upon a people who pretend to worship God.

There is an immense misery. There is an enormous burden that lays on a people who pretend to worship God. I'm pretty convinced that Jeroboam is not wanting to lead the people into idolatry. I think to some level here he's doing what he saw his master Solomon do. Solomon had already introduced idolatry into the nation.

Remember Jeroboam served in the house of Jeroboam, in the house of Solomon, and in that practice Jeroboam's been watching Solomon lead the people. And listen, the people love Solomon. They liked what Solomon brought for them. Name recognition to all of the world. Solomon brought wealth and prosperity.

Ease of life came from Solomon's rule of the people. Jeroboam saw this. So now as he's in a strange position as being an appointed leader of God's people of the northern tribe, he's really just doing what he's seen others do. He's really just practicing that which other kingdoms that he's been intimately involved in with, never asking the question, is this okay? Is it all right that we do this?

I think even to some degree he doesn't even know that he's engaged in idolatry. Let me speak this on a sideline, he should know that that's what he's doing because we also know from the book of Deuteronomy that Moses tells the nation whenever you have kings, when you have rulers, here's something you must do with them. You must make sure that your kings write out the law of God, meaning what we have is known as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. They're required to write out in their own handwriting the Torah. There is no excuse for any King of Israel to ever be there wondering, is it okay for us to do this?

Because it would have been required of him to write out the law of God in his own handwriting. So he would have even known at this point that what he's doing, he's letting what he saw and he's letting what appeared to be success trump that which he's written in his own handwriting. And so the consultants came back and said, here's this would be a good thing if you'll build two temples where the people don't have to travel so far to worship God and bring their sacrifices and if you'll also do this to them, give them golden calves because these people have already, we already know this from chapter 11, they've already disobeyed God. Solomon's introduced all of this wickedness into the people. They're very comfortable to worship God, to worship any God, and to give that God any name that they want to give it.

One thing of interesting note in that 28th verse, when Jeroboam is saying, behold your gods, this is a, this is, he's literally meaning the same way that that Aaron meant when he presented the people with the golden calf. Aaron was literally saying behold your Jehovah, behold your God. Don't change anything, don't change the name you want to give this God, don't change anything else about it. We're gonna change the way we're gonna do it, we're gonna change perhaps some of the convenient practices of what would work better for us, but essentially, behold your Jehovah's, little J, and not meaning at all Jehovah God, but this is exactly what the people are hearing. They're hearing familiar things.

This is very dangerous. Very critically dangerous. So I would then from there, I want us to go back to chapter 14. Let's get caught up on something. We still need one piece of background information for verse number six and that's verses one through five.

At that time, Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, became sick. Good background story for you to do is go back and read chapter 13 so you know about what that time is referring to. For the sake of time I don't have the time to do that. The only thing that's hindering me is lunch and I think you will rebel if I go too long. So I'll let you do the background for the what the at time means here but Abijah, Jeroboam's son, has become deathly sick and Jeroboam says to his wife Arise now and disguise yourself so that you will not be known that you are the wife of Jeroboam and go to Shiloh behold Ahijah the prophet is there who spoke concerning me that I would be king over this people.

Just want to make a quick little passing observation of this. Notice the intentionality. Notice the intentionality of the pretenders. Jeroboam is so far, at this point, he's so far engaged in idolatry that he, I don't think there's any mistaking that he knows what he's done at this point. If there's no mistaking where he's at, if in his ignorance he thinks all is well and I just need to go find a good word from the prophet, then why disguise his wife?

Why cause his wife to become part of the party as well? Why be a pretender now with your wife? It's because Jeroboam completely understands that he has walked away from the hand of God and if his wife shows up at the Prophet's house he'll know who she is and so we got to put on a front we got to disguise ourselves because we know the prophet is a man of God. We know he's a man of God because I've had other encounters with men of God, Jeroboam. Chapter 13, that section there that's there, you recall this particular time when Jeroboam is serving at the altars that he's built to these false gods, to these golden calves, and there comes a man of God to speak directly to Jeroboam while he's serving at the altar, while he's burning a sacrifice at the altar, the man of God comes and says to him, Jeroboam, this altar stands as a testimony against you.

It's going to be broken and split into and out of the ashes of this your people will be destroyed, Your household will be completely destroyed. And while this man of God is speaking to Jeroboam, you recall the history part of this? Jeroboam reaches out his hand and demands the court authorities to seize the man of God because the man of God is speaking truth and God forbid that the people hear truth because if they hear truth they'll rebel against what I've put before them and if the people rebel against what I've put before them that's false and it's fake it's it's all pretense then I've lost everything so he stretches out his arm he tells the the court guards to arrest the man of God and you remember what happens, his arm literally seizes up. Now how it happens and what form was it in and was he pointing? I don't know any of that thing but we know this that his arm seized up and it dried up and Jeroboam immediately knows that what's happened to him is an act of God and he speaks to the to the man of God and you notice in the text and what I'm looking at is closely however actually, at the end of the time I'm going to tell you the whole story so while his arm is stretched out he speaks to the man of God and he says plead to your God that my hand be restored It's a very important thing that Jeroboam acknowledges that the God he's serving, the God he's giving sacrifices for, is not Jehovah.

He knows this is true, but he can't stop pretending for some reason. So when he speaks to the man of God, plead that your God, Jeroboam, knows that the God he's serving is not this God. But he knows the man of God that he's ordered to be arrested. He knows the God that he speaks of, so he pleads that your God would restore my hand, and so the man of God does, and God does restore his hand. So Jeroboam has an amazing encounter with a holy, righteous, Jehovah, singular, sovereign, holy God.

And yet he continues to go his pretense ways of putting pretense in front of people and calling it worship of God. He's done other things. He's appointed his own priest. Why do you appoint priests who are not qualified to be priests? Because priests that are qualified to be priests are going to speak truth.

So Jeroboam knows he's got to do something different here. So he appoints people who want to be priests, who don't have the right to even be called priests. He appoints them and gives them positions and gives them offices, gives them power and gives them influence. Jeroboam knows now when his son has grown deathly sick, he remembers this man of God. So he calls his wife in, puts a disguise on her, sends her out, not just to go and do this.

Look at verse 3. He even sends her with bribes along the way. Take with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him, that he will tell you what will happen to the boy. So essentially Jeroboam has been so wrapped up in the silly mysticisms of a... If you can trick the man of God to say a positive word about the sick boy.

He doesn't even have to know who he is. This sick boy, the power of the God that this prophet, this man of God serves is powerful enough that he doesn't need to know the details. He doesn't even need to know who the boy is. He doesn't need to know who the boy's father is. Matter of fact, I think Jeremiah is convinced it would be better if he doesn't know.

Which is why he disguises his wife that she would go. And he'll send some cakes along the way. Send some honey. Send a little bribery along the way because the man of God, maybe we can buy him off and he'll say a good word for us and the boy will live. So verse 4, Jeroboam's wife did so and arose and went to Shiloh and came to the house of Ahijah.

Now Ahijah could not see. This is beautiful, isn't it? Jeroboam's gone through all this trouble to disguise his wife and Jeroboam doesn't even know that Ahidj is blind and can't see. This is beautiful. So, So as she's on her way we get the information that Ahijah is blind and can't see because he's old age.

Verse 5, so the Lord then comes. Man's attempting to pretend, man's attempting to pull the wool over God, man has from the beginning of time thinking, I can trick God, I can hide from God, I can disguise myself against this God. So the Lord came to Ahijah and He says to him, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. And you shall say thus and thus to her, for it will be that when she arrives she will pretend to be another woman. So here Ahai just old in age, can't see, he's blind.

I don't think Jeroboam's aware of this. I don't think he would have sent his wife in disguise. He's thinking how clever I'm going to be. I'm going to put my wife in disguise, send her down there with some bribes, and we're going to get a good word back for my boy, and the Lord will have to honor the word of the Prophet and my boy will live he'll be okay." So along the way the news for us the reader the historian gives us this information a little twist a little a little bit of tension in the story. Ahijah's blind and can't see.

But by the grace of God, God doesn't allow human shortcomings to hinder His own work in their lives. I don't think there's anything along the way that's going to indicate to us that Jeroboam's wife begins to wipe the sweat off of her brow and thinking, oh, I've heard word that Ahijah's blind, I guess the disguise is really going to work. I was a little iffy about it before but now that he's blind, whew, I got it made. I'm going to be alright because here comes the Lord to give clarity and to speak truth into the matter. And so when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet.

So Ahijah is no magician. Ahijah is a simple man, obedient to the Word of God. He doesn't have super power hearing and has studied and memorized the sound of every person's footsteps. It's because God has told him who's going to enter the house. As he hears the sound of her feet coming in the doorway, he says to her, come in wife of Jeroboam.

Can you imagine what kind of greeting that was for Jeroboam's wife? She gets a personal greeting from a blind prophet and she's in disguise. Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another woman? For I am sent to you with a harsh message." That last phrase is beneficial for us.

All along here it appears as though Jeroboam is the one who's doing the initiating work. Jeroboam is the one who's in control. Jeroboam is the one who's working things out for his own benefit. Notice how the historian phrases the statement. Jeroboam didn't send his wife to get a word from God.

Jeroboam has spoken to his man, and the man of God is sent with a word to the pretender. And here's the harsh message that he has for her. Go away and say to Jeroboam, thus says the Lord of Israel, because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over My people Israel and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you. Yet you have not been like My servant David." You remember what we read of in chapter 11? The man of God, Hijjah, says to Jeroboam, if you will, then I will.

Here's the end result of the reality that Jeroboam did not do the if parts of the prophecy, the if parts of the Declaration. He did not keep the commandments of God, he did not walk in the ways of the Lord, He did not honor the commandments of God. He completely ignored them and established...God told his people how to worship him. And Jeroboam rather went and found it a more convenient and easier way. And then even put things in front of people and said, here is your Jehovah.

He's pretending himself and the end result is he's creating people who are a part of the pretense as well. So he says to his wife, he says to Jeroboam's wife, the man of God Ahijah, go to Jeroboam and say these things to the man. Verse number nine, You also have done more evil than all who were before you, and have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back. Behold I am bringing calamity to the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam every male person both bond and free in Israel and I will make a clean sweep of the house of Jeroboam as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone. Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs will eat and he who dies in the field the birds of the heavens will eat for the Lord has spoken it." So do you see here that there is there is this risky dangerous activity that Jeroboam has participated in.

It's had influence on his own behavior toward God. It's impacted his household. It's impacted his entire nation. And now the result of this is God is going to bring calamity upon the whole of the house. We see this, We see the dangers of this.

We can read about this, and by the way, every time we read about a Northern Kingdom king, similar statements are made. He did more evil than everyone prior to him. Each succeeding king who either becomes king by birthright or by by a battle and overthrow, the historian tells us he did more evil than the previous king. I mean we're adding evil on top of evil so long as pretense is the rule of the household, as long as no one's doing anything to correct the pretending, the behavior that's only there to make us moralistic people and make us able to survive and endure one another. So we put these rules into place and we call these things holy and we call these things even honorable unto the Lord, but there's no worship of God taking place.

So do you see the danger, the intensity of this, that one generation takes what this generation does and they take it further and they say, they can even see themselves saying, we're just going to do what we've seen, but each step along the way they get further and further and further and further away from God. This is part of the misery of pretending. This is part of the misery that comes not only to the household but also to the people. So we see that this can have an impact on an individual, it can have an impact upon a household, it can have an impact upon a nation. So when we see this, we see that Jeroboam was given an option in chapter 11.

There is a highway. This is a theme that we've seen throughout the entirety of our time together here this week, this weekend, and that is there is a highway of holiness and Jeroboam, you're given an opportunity. You can walk on this highway. You can go on this highway and you can walk on this way and you can put the glory of God on display through your activity, through your actions, through your worship, and through your honor of the Lord. This road is an invitation, Jeroboam, to come up onto this road of holiness.

It's not a road of moralistic values that gets the applause of men. This is a highway that calls humble people, that calls broken people to enter upon it and to walk upon it in a way, in an obedient way, to a holy and a righteous God. You see, there is no place on this highway for a pretender. There is not even an entry ramp onto this highway for a pretender. Only those who have been broken and crushed by the sovereign work of God is given an invitation to walk upon this highway of holiness.

Jeroboam was given a moment and He chose another road. He chose a more convenient road. He chose an easier road, or he thought was an easier road. He chose a road that would force his household, his people, to obey him. He chose a road that looked to other people as a glorious road to be on, but the end result of it all is disaster.

Disaster is no longer looming on the house of Jeroboam. Disaster and complete ruin of his household is on the brink of happening because of his disobedience to the Lord. So you think of that in our own households, think of that in our own communities, think about that in our own churches, think about that in our own nation. Many in our land are acknowledging that they're following God, aren't they? Many do.

They've built for themselves altars, and they call their altars God. They give familiar language that everyone in this room would be familiar with, And perhaps even so familiar that we're not even aware yet ourselves that we too have chosen a lesser road to walk on, one that doesn't require holiness, one that doesn't require worship of a holy God, but it's convenient and easy and works well in our schedules. Many have a knowledge of God's ways, but few have chosen, most have chosen to pretend, because it's just easier in the flesh. It's just easier that way. We see the results of it in our nation.

Men and women are open to alternative routes now. No longer willing to walk on the highway of holiness that requires man to obey God's commandments. Man has now put himself in position of being God. And so men and women choose alternate routes and on their routes of alternative lifestyles and alternative choices in their lives. They're now filling our church houses.

Statistics are always a bit of a problem for me because I don't really know how do we know these things? Are they real representative across the land? Recently in our church we had a pastors conference and invited a gentleman by the name of Richard Owen Roberts, which by the way you should drop everything you're doing right now and go upload every Richard Owen Roberts sermon you can find. I got nothing for you. Go listen to Richard Owen Roberts is what I would say to you.

Some of you are going to take me up on that and leave. But one thing, he mentioned this, that now in our land, the most accepting place for everyone choosing an alternative to worship of God is what's known as the church house. It's the most welcoming place. It's the most desired place and it is the place now where many are pretending that they are honoring God by their alternative ways of living. Really they're no different than Jeroboam.

They're no different at all. As parents, don't you know it's so tempting to look for alternative ways to raise our children. There's easier ways to do it. You know this, those of you who have taken the responsibility and you've heeded the duty call of God to raise your children in the ways of God, you know this temptation is always lurking at your door. There's an easier way to teach your children.

It's not a highway of holiness though. It's a highway that leads to sure ruin. And so you begin to look for shortcuts. Our children may reject the road maps we've given them. Our children may choose another road.

They may be like all who follow Jeroboam and take the sin of this household and increase it. Pastors give way to the applause of men. Churches consider adopting the ways of men rather than seeking the face of God and what God has told us about how to worship Him. Nations go the way that leads to this ruin. We've heard it multiple times, haven't we, in our time here this weekend.

Go with me to the book of Romans and let me conclude from here. This misery of pretending there is, you don't have, By the way, you don't have to live in this misery. It appears that God wanted to give Jeroboam. He gave him a lot of grace. He gave him a lot of mercy along the way.

He gave him encounters where he saw the holiness of God. That moment when his hand seized up and he pleaded with the man of God to pray that your God would heal my hand. And he does. Jeroboam was given a moment there to repent of everything he had been doing that was offensive to God, but it appears that his craving was so self-centered and selfish that he just continued to get further and further and further away. And in Romans chapter 6 we see we see this beautiful conclusion to the chapter in our translations anyway.

Verse 20 through 23, look at this. These are largely, you'll hear familiar, verse 23 for sure you heard, sometimes the dangers of memorizing a short little piece of scripture we miss something that's as gloriously beautiful as that was. Verse 20 and following, for when you were slaves of sin. In my conclusion I've got to get this in here. Part of the misery of pretenders is that they don't know that they're enslaved to sin.

They think, you may be even thinking that in your own practices, in your own household, how good things are and how beautiful things are going right now and you don't even know that you're a slave to sin. Paul says when you were slaves to sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. This is dangerous scripture. We can read this and think, well it would have been better for me and to some degree the scriptures support this argument. It'd be better for you to have never been introduced to anything holy of God than to be given and shown the holiness of God and then choose to reject it or choose to call something else God.

You would literally have been better off in that place. Now understand and get this firmly in mind, the judgment of God takes you down to the same road that those who know of the holiness of God and reject it. But it appears that Paul's wanting us to see something in the temporal experience of the human experience. You'd have been better off never knowing any of these things if you're going to keep pretending. You'd have been better off never being introduced to the holiness of God if you're going to rebel and go down another road.

You'd been better off had seen the entry ramp to the highway of holiness and never even considered it than to have considered it and chosen otherwise. And I know we have a lot of doctrines engaged in this process, but let's let the Word of God do its ordained work here. So when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. You were not required to be holy then. You were not required to be a righteous people.

You were able to be who you wanted to be. You weren't pretending. You just were. You just were a sinful person. There was no pretense upon you.

You were free in regard to righteousness. Verse 21, Therefore, What benefit were you then deriving from the things which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now, having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit resulting in sanctification and the outcome, eternal life. Here's the one we all know, the wages of sin is death, the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That's beautiful. But we miss something even even, I don't want to call it more beautiful, we miss something beautiful prior to this as well. Be careful that you not let verse 23 impact your desire to want to speak the gospel to people. You don't want to build a doctrine, a bad doctrine, a false doctrine, a pretend doctrine like Jeroboam and never tell anybody about the glorious riches of Christ in fear that if they hear these things and reject them that they'd be worse than if they had never heard before. Don't buy into that false doctrine.

It's rampant in the land. Many people who don't want to take any part of spreading of the gospel to the ends of the earth, they'll take something like that and they'll build a bad theological doctrine that is from the pit of hell itself. You must be a speaker of God's grace as a follower of Christ. But get this, what is the benefit to us if we have not surrendered, if we have not been arrested by the glory of God, if all we have done is seen, there are on the fringes things that appear to be beneficial for me. I want to raise good children, I want to raise moral children, I want to, I want a wife that will, that will love me all the days of my life, I want to be a good husband, I want to be a profitable, beneficial wife to my household, I just want that.

That's, that's good but listen, that's what the pagans want. This is what some of the pagans want. So there's really nothing that's separated you out at that point. You've chosen a good thing, you've chosen a high thing, but really at this point you've done nothing but choose a moral thing. What would be better would be for you to be arrested by the holiness of God.

For you to be captured by His Holiness, captured by the fact and the reality that He has permission to call you to obedience. Now you've been, prior to this, you were not free to be righteous. You couldn't do it, you wouldn't ever be able to do it. In the eyes of men you'd be a moral person but you'd never be a righteous person. But now that you've been set free from sin and enslaved to God.

That's a missing part of our language in our culture today, to be a slave of Christ. Oh, that we would consider ourselves slaves of Christ. You see, the moment we start, we stop thinking about ourselves as slaves we start thinking independently and we start thinking how good I am and how right I am and how how much I don't need God even though we would never articulate these words out loud. But if we would consider ourselves slaves of Christ, it actually puts us in position then to be the most liberated to walk in the holiness of God than we ever could establish for ourselves. My dear friend in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, who took good care of us in those unknown, confusing days, One way that he always concludes a text with me or a phone call with me or a letter that we write or in visits that we have with the girls at our home, he always refers to himself.

It's been a good lesson for me. He always refers to him as Christ's slave. Every day for 19 days in jail he brought food to us. It wasn't a lot of food, it was some crackers and a couple of oranges and perhaps a couple of bananas and maybe a couple of water bottles. But every time he would come and introduce himself, the conversations we had with him, he always identified himself as a slave of Christ.

He did the work of Christ with joy and it was easy because he was a slave. He understood and he understands who he is in Christ. Listen, the raising of our children, the establishments of our homes, the fortification of our churches, it's easy when we consider ourselves slaves of Christ. We're not liberated to go and do whatever we want to do. That's the bondage.

That's the flesh that's in shackles doing whatever he wants to do as the wind blows. Our joy comes from being a slave, a slave of Christ. God, we bless you and we thank you. Oh, how we want to live our lives in obedience to Your Word. Lord, can You help us?

We know You can. Will You help us delight in Your laws? Lord, help us to love Your commandments, not because they make us moral people, not because they make people applaud us for how good and moral our households are, but oh God, may we love, may we delight to obey you because we are slaves. Oh God, how sweet this road is, how sweet this highway is. I pray, oh Lord, I pray that you would help every individual bring every household into liberation, bring every church to being liberated from the bondage of the creativity of man.

Lord make happy homes here, not homes built on pretense, homes built on your holiness. Or may the churches we represent in our communities be known as pillars and buttresses of truth, not households of creativity and not places of secular and cultural pleasures, but Lord, places of worship. Oh Lord, help our children. Oh how we love you. We thank you for the good words we've received all weekend.

May they be a benefit to us on this highway of holiness. In Christ's name I pray, amen. Thank you for listening to this presentation of the National Center for Family Integrated Churches. We invite you to visit our website at www.ncfic.org Where you can keep up to date on what is new, as well as find articles, videos, audio sermons, and much more at no charge. The NCFIC exists to proclaim the sufficiency of Scripture for both church and family life.

Thank you.