The Sin of Jereboam

Introduction

Good morning, everyone. It’s good to see you this morning. I want to thank Brother J.R. for doing a wonderful job leading us in our singing. Brother Sean for doing a wonderful job leading us in our singing for all of our brothers who’s a fantastic job leading us in our worship. It’s so good to see all of you here this morning. It is a blessing to be together to be able to worship God in spirit and in truth, and I appreciate the opportunity you’ve given me right now to lead in a study from the Word of God. In fact, as we begin our study this morning from God’s Word, I want to begin by asking you do you by any chance know what this is? Do you by any chance know what this is?

This right here is something that I was blessed to see in person when visiting the land of Israel back in 2015, and it is of great importance. It is a great archaeological discovery. It is actually something that we can read about in the Bible. In fact, we just read about it in the Bible in 1 Kings 12, verses 25 through 33.

What’s going on in those verses? Well, in those verses, brothers and sisters, we read about a man named King Jeroboam inventing a new religion. He invented a new religion in the land of Israel. You see, after the kingdom of God’s people divided, due to a foolish decision made by Solomon’s son named King Rehoboam, in the scriptures, we can read about ten of the tribes of Israel actually leaving Rehoboam to form another kingdom to themselves. They actually formed what is referred to as the northern kingdom of Israel, and they appointed this man named Jeroboam to be their king. Jeroboam reigned as king over ten of the tribes of Israel in the north, while Solomon’s son Rehab continued to reign over two of the tribes in the south.

In fact, one of the very first things that Jeroboam did to solidify his kingdom was he built what I showed you in that picture. He built an altar for worship in Dan, where the remnants of this altar was found, and then he built another one in Bethel. He did that because while the vast majority of the tribes were still under his rule in the north, the city of Jerusalem was still in the south. Jerusalem was still in Judah. It was still in the southern kingdom of Israel, and Jeroboam knew how important Jerusalem was to God’s people. He knew that Jerusalem was the city of worship for God’s people. It’s where the temple was. It’s where the priests offered their sacrifices to God. It’s where feasts were celebrated.

It was the religious spiritual center, not just for the two tribes that remained in Judah, but for all twelve of the tribes of Israel. Jeroboam knew how significant the city of Jerusalem was to the people of God. And so to keep his citizens from traveling to Jerusalem to worship God, he decided to invent a new system of worship. He decided to build alternative worship centers. And Dan and Bethel. And he also set up golden calves or idols in the image of God. And then he also built altars for the people to offer sacrifices to God. He did all of these things at the beginning of his reign. And in verse number 30 of that chapter, the Bible makes it very clear that everything he did, everything he did was a sin.

It was evil. It was evil and wicked in the eyes of God. And while we don’t live 3,000 years ago in the land of Israel, I do believe, my dear friends, that there are many lessons that we can learn from his sin. There are many lessons that we can learn from the sin of Jeroboam. And the first lesson we can learn is this.

1. Jeroboam’s Sin Was Deceptive

Or in the land of Judah or in Jerusalem. For example, the object, the object of the people’s worship was the same. The object of the people’s worship. And this new system of worship invented by Jeroboam was God. This worship was directed at Jehovah. It was not directed at Baal. It was not directed at one of the false gods of the Egyptians. It was not directed at the God of the sun or the God of the frogs or the God of the cattle or the guile, God of the Nile River. No, this worship was directed at God. How do I know that? Well, go back to the text again, please. First Kings chapter 12 and verse number 28. What does the Bible say? It says in verse 28, so the king consulted, and he made two golden calves, and he said to them, he said to the people, the people in his kingdom, it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem.

Behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt. Who is he talking about right there? Well, you and I know exactly who he’s talking about right there. He’s talking about God. It was God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. It was God who had brought them across the Red Sea. It was God who had delivered them from hundreds and hundreds of years of Egyptian bondage. What is want you to see is the object for the people’s worship, and Dan and Bethel was God. It was the one true God, just like the people in Jerusalem were worshiping the one true God. The object of the people’s worship was the same, and like what was going on in Jerusalem.

Jeroboam’s new religion also had a system for offering up sacrifices. He had a system for offering up sacrifices, just like they were doing in Jerusalem. And he also had altars set up for the people to offer those sacrifices on, just like they were doing in Jerusalem. And he also had a feast day, just like the feast that was going on in Judah, the Bible says, and he even had a priesthood. He even had priests set up to minister unto the people. This new system of worship invented by Jeroboam had many similarities to the true worship that was going on in Jerusalem. But, brothers and sisters, I emphasize to you, it was still wrong. It was still sinful, it was still an abomination before the Lord because it deviated from his word.

It deviated from his standard. For example, for example, the golden calves that the people offered sacrifices to, and Dan and Bethel deviated from one of the Ten Commandments.

Violated one of the Ten Commandments. And while they did have a priesthood, just like there was a priesthood in Jerusalem, the text makes it very clear. These priests in Jeroboam’s religion here, they did not come from Levi, even though that’s exactly where God said they were supposed to come from. The priests were supposed to come from the tribe of Levi. They could not just come from any tribe in Israel. Jeroboam’s religion had many similarities to the true worship going on in Jerusalem, but it was still wrong. It was still a sin. And I want us to understand that that same thing is still going on today. It’s still going on today. Like in the time of Jeroboam, today in 2025, we need to understand that there are so many false systems of worship that possess some similarities to what you can read about in your Bible.

For example, there are churches across this country and across the globe right now who assemble to worship God. They assemble like we are right now to worship Jesus, but maybe they just change the day in which they do that on. Maybe they do it on Saturday. Maybe they do it on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday instead of the first day of the week, like you read about the Christians doing in Acts 20 in verse 7. And there are churches who partake of the Lord’s Supper. Just like we partook of the Lord’s Supper a few minutes ago, but maybe they just do that once a month. Or maybe they do it just twice a month, or maybe they just do it once a year. Maybe they just do it on Easter instead of every first day of the week, like we can read about Christians doing according to Acts 20 and verse 7 in the Bible.

And there are churches that do gather to sing on Sunday, to sing spiritual songs, just like we sang spiritual songs this morning. But maybe they also do it with the accompaniment of instruments. Or maybe they add some bands or some rock concerts, even though there are no passages that support that kind of stuff in the New Testament. And there are churches that take up a collection on Sunday, they take up money just like we do here. But maybe they use that money, maybe they use those funds to support social and recreational activities, even though the Bible authorizes us only to use those funds for evangelism and benevolence for needy saints. You see, today there are so many churches that are doing things that are similar, that are similar to what you read about churches doing in the Bible, but like what was going on in the days of Jeroboam, is still not pleasing to God.

It’s still not pleasing to Jesus, it’s still not pleasing to the one who demands to be worshiped because it deviates from his word. It doesn’t go in line with exactly what you find in the Bible. And this reminds me of so many different places that we can read about in our Bible. For example, what about what we find in Leviticus chapter 10? Many of you are familiar with what we find in Leviticus 10. Go in your Bible, please, to Leviticus chapter 10. In Leviticus chapter 10, we read about two priests of God. These are sons of Aaron, the high priest.

Leviticus chapter 10 and verse 1. What does it say? Now Nadab and Abyu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, they placed incense on it and offered, watch it now, strange fire, unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. What was the result of that? Verse 2. And fire came down from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, It is what the Lord spoke, saying, By those who come near me I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored. What a horrible scene. What a horrible scene. We read about in our Bible. Here we find two guys being struck down dead by God.

They’re killed on the spot. They are burnt up by the hand of God because they offered up strange fire. Because they offered up to God worship that he did not authorize. God did not take kindly to them, changing his prescription for worship. That’s what you find going on there. And then you put that with what you find in Matthew chapter 7. We made reference to this text earlier today. Remember in the Sermon on the Mount? What did Jesus say? I think we find here a judgment day scene. I think this is a judgment day scene in Matthew chapter 7. And it says in verse number 21, Jesus said, That everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of my Father, who’s in heaven, will enter.

Many will say to me on that day, on the judgment day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? And in your name cast out demons, and in your name before many miracles, and then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Notice how there are gonna be a lot of shocked people on the judgment day. There are gonna be a lot of shocked religious people who stand before the Lord on the judgment day. Even though these people did a lot of religious stuff and they slap Jesus’ name on it, Jesus said they still are gonna be lost because, verse 21, they did not do his will. They did not do what was prescribed and authorized in the word of God.

You add to that what you find in Galatians chapter 1, please. Look at Galatians chapter 1. Because in Galatians chapter 1, the apostle Paul is mad. He is hot as he begins this book. And he is upset with these Christians in Galatia because they were being deceived. They allowed themselves to be deceived by false teachers. False teachers who were teaching the gospel plus. The gospel plus. Yes, you Gentile Christians, these Jewish teachers were teaching Gentile converts. Yes, you need to obey the gospel. You need to believe, you need to repent, you need to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, but you also need to become a Jew. You also need to be circumcised according to the law of Moses. You need to be converted to Judaism as well.

The gospel plus.

That you’re so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel, which is really not another. Only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort. They want to change, add to the gospel of Christ. But even if we are an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be a curse, as we’ve said before, so I say again now if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you’ve received, he is to be to be accursed. You get the point, don’t you? You see what’s going on there in all those verses. Notice how when we put all those verses together, we see very clearly that there is such a thing as false religion.

There is such a thing as a false gospel as counterfeit religion and involves doing anything that goes beyond what is written. It involves doing anything that goes beyond what we find in the word of God. That means practically that when we hear people say today that it doesn’t matter what we do, and it doesn’t matter what we believe, and it doesn’t matter how we worship, and we can just take whatever path we want religiously because all paths lead to heaven. Whatever we hear people say that kind of nonsense, we need to beware. We need to be on guard. We need to understand that while that message might fill the pews, and while it might tickle people’s ears, and while it might be popular and cause us to feel warm and fuzzy inside and not feel a sense of urgency when it comes to evangelism, it is wrong.

2. It Offered Convenience

It’s unbiblical, it’s unscriptural. When people think these kinds of ways, they are deceiving themselves, and the result of that is sin. It’s just like what was going on in the time of Jeroboam. Jeroboam’s sin was deceptive. It deceived a lot of people, but not only was it deceptive, it also, secondly, offered convenience. It offered convenience.

If you go back to 1 Kings chapter 12, I want you to think about this. You know, I suspect that this new system of worship that Jeroboam invents would not have been easy for him to sell to the people. This would not have been an easy sale for Jeroboam to make. I mean, think about it. For for generations. For generations, Jerusalem was where the people worshiped. Jerusalem was where they offered sacrifices. Jerusalem was where they kept the feast. Jerusalem was the place where the priests ministered unto God. It was not going to be easy for Jeroboam to sell this new religion, but he’s able to do it by offering the people something that a lot of people want today. And that’s convenience.

It’s too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold, your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt. And he set up one in Bethel and he put the other in Dan. Do you see the tactic he uses? Notice the chief tactic Jeroboam used to convince people to participate in this new false system of worship was convenience. He offered them convenience. He essentially said to them, Hey, if you do this, it’s going to save you. It’s going to save you a trip up to Jerusalem. He said to the people, you don’t have to go all the way up there. You don’t have to use all that time. You don’t have to spend all that money. You can just stay right here.

Stay right here at home. And you can worship God. You can do here what you could have done there. He offered the people convenience. And that goes against what Jesus teaches us about discipleship throughout the gospel. For example, in Luke chapter 9 and verse 23, what did Jesus teach us about discipleship? Well, Jesus says, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must what? He gotta deny himself. You gotta deny your will for the will of God. Deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow me. That’s discipleship. And then in Luke chapter 14 and verse 28, Jesus says that discipleship involves counting the cost. You gotta count the cost of what it means to be a disciple. You gotta be willing to sacrifice, you gotta be willing to give up stuff to follow the Lord.

And then Brother John did a great job teaching us from the book of Romans, the last quarter. And I just want to share one verse from Romans, please. In Romans, the 12th chapter and in verse number one. In Romans the 12th chapter in verse 1, do you remember this verse for those of us in the Romans class? It says, Therefore, Paul says, Therefore, I, therefore, I, brethren, by the mercies of God, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. You see the common thread that kind of weaves its way through all those verses. When we put all those verses together, we see that the way you come back, since lure of convenience is to understand that God doesn’t call us to that.

God doesn’t call us to lives of convenience and ease. Instead, God calls us to lives of sacrifice. God calls us to lives of service, God calls us to lives of truth and discipleship and to put his will before anything else in our lives.

3. It Resulted From a Lack of Faith

By offering the people convenience. And we got to beware of that. But not only did this sin offer convenience, the third thing I want us to understand is it actually resulted from a lack of faith. A lack of faith in Jeroboam. Let me ask you a question. Why didn’t Jeroboam, why didn’t Jeroboam want the citizens of his kingdom to go to Jerusalem? I mean, he’s the king, he’s got power, he has what he wants. Why doesn’t he want his people to just make the trip to Jerusalem to worship where God has told them to worship? You ever thought about that before? Go back in your Bible to 1 Kings and look at verse 25. Look back at 1 Kings 12 and verse 25. Because the scripture says this.

Brother Wally wrote or read this earlier for us. And it says, Then Jeroboam built Shechem and the hill country of Ephraim. And he lived there, and he went out from there and built Penul. Jeroboam said in his heart, that’s the problem right there. He said in his heart, now the kingdom will return to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to the Lord, even to Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they will kill me. And return to Rehoboam, king of Judah. You see the problem.

You see what the problem with Jeroboam? He’s afraid. He’s afraid that if he allows his citizens to go to Jerusalem to worship God, eventually they will rebel against him. Eventually they will kill him and return to Rehoboam. Jeroboam is being led by fear when committing this sin. And my next question is Did he have a reason to feel that way? Did he have a reason to be afraid that the people will rebel against him and kill him and go back to Rehobam if he allowed them to go to Jerusalem? As we think about that. Go back one chapter to 1 Kings chapter 11. Look at 1 Kings chapter 11. Because in 1 Kings chapter 11, this is before Jeroboam takes his throne. And there’s a prophet named Ahijah who is sent to him by God.

And Ahijah has something to say to him. This is something that is a message from God through Ahijah to Jeroboam. And this is what God has to say to Jeroboam in verse 37. And 1 Kings 11 and verse 37. God said to Jeroboam, I will take you, and you shall reign over whatever you desire, and you shall be king over Israel. Verse 38. Then it will be that 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’ll be with you and build you an enduring house of built for David, and I will give Israel to you. That is powerful. That is powerful because there you know what you find God doing?

God’s making Jeroboam a promise. He’s making him a promise similar to what he made to David. He promises Jeroboam that not only would he one day be the king of Israel, but if he remained faithful to him, if he obeyed his word, if he walked in his commandments, he would build for him an enduring house. He would build for him an everlasting dynasty. He would make it so that his family reign forever. That’s the promise that God made to Jeroboam. But in the next chapter, you know what you see? You see, Jeroboam doesn’t trust God. He doesn’t trust that. He doesn’t trust the promise of God. If he did, he would not have acted in fear and set up this false system of worship. If he did, he would not have believed.

That God would allow him to be killed and assassinated and then his kingdom given back to Rehoboam. Jeroboam’s sin was a result of having a lack of faith in God. And brothers and sisters, that same thing can happen to us. That can happen to me, and that can happen to you. Like in the case of Jeroboam, we also can be led down a path of sin when we don’t have faith and trust in God. When we don’t trust in the wisdom of God. When we don’t trust in the standard that God has given us in his word, when we actually believe that by living by our own standard and directing our own steps, that can lead us to having the best possible lives right now. When we don’t trust what God says about the dangers of alcohol and drunkenness and the need to maintain sexual purity, when we’re so afraid to lose that boyfriend or that girlfriend that we’re willing to just reject what God says and compromise what we know is right when we don’t trust in his promises, when we don’t trust in what he has said about heaven and the blessings of heaven, and we feel like we got to live it up right now because this might be our only shot to get some satisfaction and happiness.

When we allow ourselves and our minds to stay consumed and worried about things beyond our control, when Jesus says in Matthew chapter 6, verses 33 and 34 that we need to take life one day at a time. Because tomorrow has enough trouble on its own, and if we just seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, God will make sure we have everything we need to be sustained in this life. Jeroboam’s sin was a result ultimately of having a lack of faith.

4. Turning Their Backs to God

That if you remember in the book of Daniel, in Daniel chapter 6 in verse number 20, as Daniel is living in Babylon, the Bible says that Daniel prayed three times a day. And when he prayed with his with his windows open, he always prayed facing which direction? He always prayed facing Jerusalem.

And when it came to the synagogues that were built. Remember in Jesus’ ministry in the gospels, we read about all these synagogues all over the place. Well, when it came to synagogues and their construction, they were always constructed facing Jerusalem. The people of God, the Jewish people in the ancient world. They always did things facing Jerusalem, but it is interesting that when archaeologists dug up this altar, one of the things they discovered is when they dug this altar up, they discovered that when the citizens of Jeroboam’s kingdom traveled to Dan to worship at this altar, what they literally had to do is they had to turn away from Jerusalem. They literally had to turn their backs to Jerusalem. They literally had to walk up steps to this worship center that was going away from Jerusalem.

What powerful symbolism that was.

You see, by participating in this sin that involved practicing false worship, what the people were really doing is they were turning their backs to God. They were turning their backs to him physically, but more importantly, they were turning their backs to him spiritually, and that same thing can happen today. That same thing can happen to us today. Like Jeroboam and the people of his day, we got to understand that we can also turn our backs to God. We can turn our backs to God if we ever decide to leave his son Jesus Christ. We can turn our backs to God if we ever decide to depart from the pattern of New Testament Christianity, we can turn our backs to God if we ever abandon his church to go be part of a church that we consider to be more fun and more loving and full of all kinds of emotionalism, but it’s not teaching the truth.

We can turn our backs to God if we reject his standard for morality. If we reject what he has said about things like about marriage, divorce, and remarriage, if we ever find ourselves determined to find happiness on our terms so much that we will divorce our spouse for unscriptural reasons so that we can go marry somebody else that we don’t have a scriptural right to be with. We can turn our backs to God if we decide to no longer assemble with the saints, to worship God because somebody in the church made me mad, or somebody in the church hurt my feelings, or somebody in the church won’t shake my hand, they won’t give me a pat on the back, they won’t tell me I did a good job.

They don’t give me enough attention. They didn’t call and check on me or write me a card whenever I was sick, and so I’m not gonna go to worship the Lord. My dear friends, hear me very carefully. Hear me carefully. If we ever get to a point in our lives where we take our frustrations with other people out on Jesus, or if we ever stop worshiping the Lord, or if we ever decide to selfishly put our desires before what God says in his word, what is really going on with us, is we’re being just like the people in Jeroboam’s day. We are turning our backs to God. We’re turning our backs to Jesus. Jeroboam’s sin involved him turning his back to God. But then finally, I want to leave you with this.

5. It Impacted Other People for a Long Time

Jeroboam’s sin also impacted other people for a long time. It impacted other people for a long time. And I want to ask you to bear with me. As I read to you several scriptures, I want to read to you from the Bible. Sometimes a preacher just needs to get out of the way and let the Holy Spirit do the talking. And so I’m going to read to you several scriptures, and if you have a hard time keeping up, I understand. But I have to read these scriptures to emphasize the point. And we’re going to start in 1 Kings 14. In 1 Kings chapter 14 and in verse number 16, after Jeroboam takes the throne, God through the prophet Ahijah says this concerning Jeroboam. In 1 Kings 14 and verse 16, it says, He will give up Israel.

God’s going to give up Israel on account of the sins of Jeroboam, which he committed and with which he made Israel to sin. If you go to chapter 15 now, in chapter 15 and verse number 26, when describing the reign of Jeroboam’s son, Nadab, it says in verse 26, he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and he walked in the way of his father and in his sin, which he had made Israel sin. If you drop down to verse 34 in that same chapter, 1 Kings 15, 34, it says, when talking about the reign of a man named Basha, he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and he walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin, which he had made Israel sin.

If you go to chapter 16 now, look at verse number 19. When talking about the reign of a man named Zimeri, in verse 19, it says, Because of his sins, which he has sinned, doing evil in the sight of the Lord, walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, making Israel sin. If you go now to chapter 22 of 1 Kings, 1 Kings 22 and verse number 52. When describing the reign of a man named Ahaziah, it says in verse 52, he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and he walked in the way of his father, and the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nabod, who caused Israel to sin. If you go to 2 Kings now, chapter 3, and 2 Kings chapter 3, and verse number 3.

When describing the reign of a man named Jehoram, it says, Nevertheless, he clung to the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabah, which he made Israel sin, he did not depart from them. If you go to chapter 10 now, 2 Kings, look at verse 31. And 2 Kings chapter 10 and in verse number 31, when describing the reign of a man named Jehu, it says, But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel with all his heart. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel sin. Look at chapter 13 and verse 11 now. And 2 Kings 13 and verse 11, when describing the reign of Jeoash, it says he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and he did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabah, which he had made Israel sin, but he walked in them.

Look at chapter 14 and verse 24. And chapter 14 in verse 24, when describing the reign of Jeroboam the second, not the Jeroboam we’ve been studying this morning. This is another another Jeroboam, Jeroboam the second, in verse 24 of 2 Kings 14, it says he did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabot, which he had made Israel sin. Look at chapter 15 and verse 9. And 2 Kings 15 and verse 9, when describing the reign of Zachariah, it says he did evil in the sight of the Lord as his fathers had done. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabod, which he made Israel sin. One more section.

Look at chapter 17, 2 Kings 17, verse 21. And 2 Kings 17 and verse 21, it says, when he had torn Israel from the house of David. This is describing what God did back in 1 Kings 12, the kingdom divided. And it says, when he had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nabot king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the Lord and made them commit a great sin. The sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam, which he did. They did not depart from them until the Lord removed Israel from his sight as he spoke through all of his servants, the prophets, so Israel was carried away into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day.

But you see it, don’t you? You see what the Bible is saying to us. The Bible is telling us that Jeroboam’s sin impacted a lot of God’s people. In fact, as God concludes the history of his people, back in 2 Kings chapter 17, notice how he explains one of the reasons why they went into Assyrian captivity. A big reason why the people of Israel, the northern kingdom, went into Assyrian captivity was because they kept walking in the wicked footsteps of Jeroboam. They kept doing the kind of stuff that he was doing, going all the way back to 1 Kings 12. He went all the way back to what we’ve been studying. It went all the way back to his idolatry, to this false system of worship that he invented because of his own lack of faith and trust in God.

That’s what the Bible says, and that’s something we need to take to heart this morning. We need to take that to heart. We really need to understand that the Bible is telling us about how one man’s sin impacted not just himself, but also a lot of other people. It impacted millions and millions of people. It impacted several generations of Israelites all the way up to the time of the Assyrian captivity. Jeroboam’s sin had far reaching spiritual consequences, and mine could as well. Mine could as well. The things I do today have the potential to impact so many people. So many people that I love, so many people that I care about, so many people that I have influence over in my life. This is especially true when it comes to my family.

This is especially true when it comes to my children. My actions have the potential to impact my children for a very long time. How I worship and how they see me worship every Lord’s day. How I treat my brethren and the kind of things they hear me say about my brethren when I’m at home. How I dress and view modesty, how I talk, how I walk, how I treat their mama on a daily basis, the kind of priorities they see me set for myself in my life. Like Jeroboam, my actions have the potential to impact the people I’m supposed to love for a very long time. They can either influence them for good or for evil. They can either influence them for righteousness or for unrighteousness.

They can either be actions that are remembered as actions that brought glory to God or actions that brought God shame. Jeroboam’s sin impacted people for a very long time. And so going back one more time to this altar.

Conclusion

Because we can read about it in the Bible, but I’m going to tell you something. After processing, processing this for a couple of hours, that excitement that I had actually went to sadness.

Jeroboam sin teaches us so many things. But the question is where are you right now? Where are you right now in your life? In your life right now, are you like Jeroboam? Are you rejecting God? Are you rejecting His Word? If so, you can change. You can change right now. You can decide to give your life to God. You can decide to give your life to Jesus for the first time through faith and repentance and baptism for remission of sins. Or if you are a child of God, if you are part of spiritual Israel, but you have deviated from God’s word, you can repent and ask God to forgive you, and He will forgive you because He’s faithful. If there’s anyone here who needs to respond to the Lord’s invitation, this song is for you.

Come to the front. Let’s stand, let’s sing together.