An Idolatrous People Receive Judgement
TGP A Nation Divided • Sermon • Submitted
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· 4 viewsGod's love for His poeple leads Him to warn them of their idolatry and to discipline them so that they might repent.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Good Morning. How are we doing this morning?
We are continuing today in our Gospel Project initiative where we are looking at all of Scripture through the lens of the Gospel. Even the weird and uncomfortable parts of the Old Testament, and that is where we have been over the past several weeks.
This is just not most people’s favorite part of the Old Testament. At this point the glory days of Israel are long in the past. The Kingdom of Israel as it was under King David and Solomon has been disintegrating and is divided into two Kingdoms. [map]
The Northern Kingdom called Israel still, and the Southern Kingdom called Judah. Both of these broken kingdoms are being led by a string of evil kings. The Southern Kingdom of Judah has a few good kings mixed in, but the Northern Kingdom of Israel has all evil kings.
The Northern Kingdom called Israel still, and the Southern Kingdom called Judah. Both of these broken kingdoms are being led by a string of evil kings. The Southern Kingdom of Judah has a few good kings mixed in, but the Northern Kingdom of Israel has had all evil kings.
Since the kings are not following the LORD, He has sent in messengers called Prophets. These messengers are to communicate, “The Word Of The LORD” to the people and right not that Word is not good. The people are living in rebellion against the LORD and so these Prophets are sent in with repeated declarations of stop it, repent, turn back…and if you don’t, God will send judgement.
So we are not in the most encouraging section of Scripture right now:
And today we have gotten to the part of the story where that judgement has come, at least for the Northern Kingdom. It will be another 120 years before the Southern Kingdom meets the same fate.
But to understand God’s judgement here, we have to remember that our God is a patient God. He literally has all the time in the World…but we don’t. And for 200 years, He has been pleading with His people sending prophet after prophet with warnings that call them to the repentance that He desires so that He could relent from the promised judgement.
Elijah warned them. Elisha warned them. Hosea warned them. Amos warned them. And God was so patient, but what kind of promise keeping God could He be if the things that he kept warning them about never happened? Wouldn’t that make Him out to be a liar? But we have to understand that at the same time, God takes no joy in bringing judgement on His people.
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
This is always God’s attitude toward His people. He desires us to repent and turn back and that is why he is so patient with us... but the day will come. If we continue in disobedience, disregarding His warnings, He will and does discipline us…in His love for us, He disciplines us, desiring that the discipline would work as a catalyst to turn us back to Him again.
, but when we continue in disobedience, disregarding His warnings, He does discipline us…in His love for us, He disciplines us, desiring that we would turn back to Him again.
Tension
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
their own people and a new king assumes the thr
That is an easy thing to say, when it apply to someone else, but when it is aimed at us it is not as easy to accept is it? But the Bible is clear that The LORD disciplines those He loves.
Is this a fair thing for God to do? No, it isn’t fair that God should punish these people like this. It isn’t fair... that a God of perfect love should have to watch for 200 years as the people that He lovingly rescued, redeemed and forgave over and over again turned their backs on Him. And it is not just that they are ignoring his commands, but they also are giving other false gods the credit for what God has done for them. How many times did we seem them point to some idol and declare “Behold Israel, the god who brought you out of Egypt.” This was the sin of the first king of the Northern Kings of Israel and it is the same sin that every king after him committed.
The great and glorious Kingdom of Israel has been divided
The Prophets warned them. Elijah warned them. Elisha warned them. Hosea warned them. Amos warned them. And God was so patient, but what kind of promise keeping God could He be if the things that he kept warning them about never happened?
Well the things that God had warned them about for so long … happen in our text today.
Tension
They are being ruled by evil King after King
Is this fair?
It is not fair, because it is not fair to God. He would have been justified in allowing this destruction a long time ago but He is patient with His people. He is so patient with us. It is easy to forget that.
It brings new weight to New Testament verses like where it says
says
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Is this a fair thing for God to do? No, it isn’t fair that God should punish these people like this. It isn’t fair... that a God of perfect love should have to watch for 200 years as the people that He lovingly rescued, redeemed and forgave over and over again turned their backs on Him. And it is not just that they are ignoring his commands, but they also are giving other false gods the credit for what God has done for them. How many times did we seem them point to some idol and declare “Behold Israel, the god who brought you out of Egypt.” This was the sin of the first king of the Northern Kings of Israel and it is the same sin that every king after him committed.
God sends Prophets to again and again warn them that judgement is coming if they do not repent and turn back from their evil ways
It is not fair, because it is not fair to God. He would have been justified in allowing this destruction a long time ago but He is patient with His people. He is so patient with us. It is easy to forget that.
King David knew this:
12 Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law,
18 The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death.
King Solomon knew this:
11 My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, 12 for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.
And then in the New Testament book of Hebrews we have these very words affirmed:
5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
Fathers who love their children, discipline their children. Many parents have lost track of this, and it is making life so difficult for so many people in our society. Discipline is loving correction, and no Father loves as much as our heavenly Father, so He disciplines us.
And specific to the judgement that we will talk about today, the prophet Jeremiah says:
Even specific to the judgement that we will talk about today, God says through the prophet Jeremiah:
The judgment that we will cover today will come in the form of a foreign empire coming in and wiping out Israel and carrying them off into other countries so that they might lose their national heritage and identity and so end the people of Israel. But later, through the prophet Jeremiah, the LORD tells His people that while the first part will happen to discipline them, the second part will not
Even specific to the judgement that we will talk about today, God says through the prophet Jeremiah:
Even the prophet Jeremiah, speaking of this judgement that we are talking about today said:
specific to the judgement that we will talk about today, God says through the prophet Jeremiah:
11 For I am with you to save you, declares the Lord; I will make a full end of all the nations among whom I scattered you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.
and just in case they missed it the first time, he repeats it again almost word for word in chapter 46:
They do not repent, nor turn from their evil ways in fact they just get worse and worse.
28 Fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the Lord, for I am with you. I will make a full end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”
So the message here is clear, “The LORD disciplines the ones that He loves”...but lets not pretend that this is easy to remember or accept when we are in the middle of it.
Heb 12:
5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
Heb 12:
Heb 12:
3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
So the message here is clear, “The LORD disciplines the ones that He loves”...but lets not pretend that this is easy to remember or accept when we are in the middle of it.
I mean what did they expect would come next? What do we?
When the discipline of the LORD comes into our lives we often cry out like a young child who is being corrected in discipline. If not in our words, then in our actions we cry out: “This isn’t fair” or “I thought God was a loving God” or “Those people do worse than me, why am I the only one that is being punished”
When the discipline of the LORD comes into our lives, it is easy to cry out like a young child who is being corrected in discipline. If not in our words, then in our actions we cry out: “This isn’t fair, yeah I did do wrong, but I am not as bad as other people, why aren’t they being punished instead of me!”
It is easy
“This isn’t fair”
The comparison argument. Listen to what the text says of Hoshea, the man who was King when God sent this punishment on Israel: And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, that is nothing new, the same thing was said of every king of the Northern Kingdom, but listen to the next part...
“I thought God was a loving God”
This is something that the king of Israel could have said. does say about this King named Hoshea, “And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord,”
“Those people do worse than me, why am I the only one that is being punished”
We rarely think of responding in gratitude, although sarcastically we might beg “well maybe God just doesn’t love them as much as He does us”. No that is not what we hear in that moment, our cry of “unfair” is just too loud.
Listen to what the text says of Hoshea, the man who was King when God sent this punishment on Israel: And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, that is nothing new, the same thing was said of every king of the Northern Kingdom, but listen to the next part...
2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him.
So Hoshea was a bad king, but not as bad as the kings before him. There were a lot more evil kings that Hoshea, but God didn’t send His judgement during their rule. Is that fair? Yup. Because Hoshea was still not walking with the LORD and leading the people in the same.
I hope we are getting the clear message here, The LORD disciplines the ones that He loves. He does this to right out lives and get them back on track from where they once were.
It’s a good reminder for us. God doesn’t grade on a curve. He doesn’t ask us to be someone else, He doesn’t judges us according to anyone else. He calls us to be faithful with what He has given us. We are responsible for how we are honoring God with the time, treasure and talents that He has given us. Comparing ourselves to someone else is never a valid defense, and it typically a sign that are not where we know we should be.
Some of us have been a Christian for a long time and maybe it’s been almost as long since we allowed our relationship with Jesus to change anything in our lives. We just keep doing the same weekly routine we did when we first met Jesus and we have become comfortable stalled out at that same level of growth. Spiritual disciplines like reading our Bible, praying and gathering with God’s people are meant to be always expansive in nature, but we live them as boxes to check off a to do list. And since they are so predictable we just fit them in comfortably in these restricted areas of our lives, so that our schedule looks hardly any different than our friends who aren’t Christians.
a schedule that looks exactly like it always has, and not much different then our neighbor who the same as a friend of neighbor who has never met Him. As if having a right relationship with Jesus just “tweaks” our life a little rather than completely transforms it.
inside of a life that mostly looks just like those around us who have never met Him.
I am not saying that this is all of us, all of the time, but I bet it is most of us, some of the time…and that is why we are able to relate to God’s people in our passage for today. Because those things are the very things that God judged Israel for.
Sure, it looked a little different in the ancient world as it does today, but at it’s heart both of these things are Idolatry.
God’s people who w
Remember that there was a point when these Israelites committed their lives to God too. After they were rescued from slavery in Egypt the LORD gave them the law at Mount Sinai and with one voice the people said, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do,”
After they were rescued from slavery in Egypt the LORD gave them the law at Mount Sinai and with one voice the people said, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do,”
After they were rescued from slavery in Egypt the LORD gave them the law at Mount Sinai and with one voice the people said, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do,”
Then again when they finally entered the promised land, after 40 years of wandering because of their disobedience, they declared again to Joshua, “The LORD our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.”
But when they entered into the promise land they didn’t obey. They allowed the people and the practices of the world around them to draw them further and further away from the commitment they made. They forgot that their time, treasure and talents were already promised to the one who rescued them and they began to spend them on the things that the people around them spent them on. Any of this sounds familiar…and this is how they and even we became Idolaters.
This is what Idolatry really is. I took this long trip to get here because
Sure, For these ancient Israelites, Idolatry involved pagan rituals, but understand that the root of those practices were aimed at two things: Increasing ones financial status and enjoying personal pleasure. When we remember this, it’s easier to relate to this whole Idolatry thing, isn’t it?
Put simply...
Hoshea’s problem was the same problem that every king before him had. He was an idol worshipper and He led the people in idol worship. For these ancient Israelites, Idolatry involved religious practices like praying and worshipping little statues of gods or goddesses. We don’t practice idolatry like that anymore, but that doesn’t mean that we do not struggle with idolatry.
This is one of the best definitions that I have come accross
Idolatry is anytime we take a good things, and make it a “god” thing. Said another way:
This is one of the best defintions of Idolatry out there
“Idolatry is anytime we trust in created things rather than the creator for our hope and happiness, significance and security”
That is good, you should write that down...
. You can even save some time by just filing in the blanks on the notes page in your program if you want. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
“Idolatry is anytime we trust in created things rather than the creator for our hope and happiness, significance and security”
“Idolatry is trusting in created things rather than the creator for our hope and happiness, significance and security”
It doesn’t really matter what those created things are, for the ancient Israelites they were carved images but we have our own world of created things that we can trust in more than we do our God. You see if the only thing I bring you this morning is a story about some “other” people who at some “other” time received judgement… then none of us are leaving here learning too much. But when we understand that everyone of us has at some point struggled with Idolatry, all of the sudden the nature of God’s Judgement matters to us.
God’s discipline in always motivated by His love an
It was a long journey to get here, but my hope is that in that process you will better equipped to apply our test this morning.
I imagine, if we were honest, we can all find ourselves in th definition of Idolatry, and that has been my goal so far this morning.
To teach a message entitled “An Idolatrous People Receive Judgement” I first had to help us see what God’s judgement is all about and then bring us all to an understanding of Idolatry that we can relate to. Otherwise it is just a distant story of other people doing other things and we can’t find application in it. But if we understand that God disciplines those He loves and that we have all struggled with Idolatry to one degree or another, then this story has many things that we need to learn in it.
So if you haven’t already, open you Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 17, p. 323 in the Bibles in the chairs. I’ll pray and we will look to learn even more about our Idolatry and God’s loving judgment together.
n fact, as we read on it seems that the real problem of Hoshea’s rule was that he was not good at understanding how political alliances worked. Assyria had already starting chipping away at Israel, conquering (1/3 ?) of their land and so making the current King a vassal that paid tribute
.
The Lord follows through on what He said He would do in response to the future and sustained rebellion against Him. All the Kings of Israel were evil in the sight of the LORD because they followed in the steps of Jeroboam and embraces idolatry alongside of worship of the LORD.
The LORD disciplines the ones He loves - instead of wiping them out like he does the Assyrians who came in after them who were also unfaithful to the LORD. ????
14 Moreover, the Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam today. And henceforth, 15 the Lord will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and root up Israel out of this good land that he gave to their fathers and scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the Lord to anger. 16 And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and made Israel to sin.”
Tension
Truth
So at this point the prophets have been warning God’s people for more than 200 years and still there is no sign of a repentance from their idolatry and unfaithfulness. In fact, things just keep getting worse and worse. The Northern Kingdom had become so corrupt that some of the last few kings only last a few months before they are assassinated by someone hungry for their power.
Well they happen here in Chapter 17.
So Chapter 17 is a very passage in the Old Testament. It begins familiar enough, with with the military and political details of how the Northern Kingdom was finally lost to the Assyrian Empire, but from verse 7 on we get something that we rarely get in the Old Testament. Much of the Old Testament gives us the answers to who, what, where and when, but a large section of chapter 17 gives us the answer to the ever elusive “Why”. Ok, these things happened but Why did they happen. We just don’t get this much in the Old Testament, the New Testament is full of the Why explanations, but in the Old Testament we are often left to deduce the “why” from what happens next. So that makes this chapter very unique.
Starting in verse 6 we get the summary statement of the capture of the Kingdom...
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
So the Northern Kingdom is lost …but not in . Verse 7 starts out like this
So the Assyrian King captured the power center of the Northern Kingdom and then relocates the people of Israel all over His Empire so they could no longer band together against him. In essence they were a kingdom no more. And now we can ask our question: Why did this happen?
7 And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods 8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. 9 And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. 10 They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, 11 and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger, 12 and they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.”
Our first theme for the week is that
It goes all the way back to the Exodus and explains that the rea
It is a long theological statement explaining why it is that God allowed the Assyrian Empire to conquer His people.
It is a a narrative explanation of how the Northern KingsoSo in addition to being steeped in idol worship, Israel’s King Hoshea was also not very good at understanding how political alliances worked. The King of Assyria had already starting chipping away at Israel, conquering (1/3 ?) of their land and so making the current King a vassal that paid tribute
Idolatry results when people fail to see God’s goodness ()
Idolatry results when people fail to see God’s goodness ()
W are taken back all the way to the Exodus where God rescued them from a different oppressive Empire. They had no hope of salvation except that the God of their forefathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob showed up in such a powerful way that it brought that empire to it’s knees. And not only did God rescue them from slavery, but he led them into a into a rich and fertile land full of milk of honey. They were given good houses that they didn’t have to build and fertile vineyards they didn’t have to start.
In response to the goodness of God’s salvation they rejoiced!
In response to the goodness of the new lives that God had given them, they rejoiced!
But after a while, they forgot the goodness of God and began to do just like the people around them did.
An new lives they rejoiced! they rejoiced in the goodness of their But as committed as God’s people once were, they have now forgotten his goodness and have been living their lives something else. They had forgotten how He was the one who saved them, and they began to trust in other things for the hope and happiness, significance and security. They began to trust in the things that those around them did. In their case it was a system of pagan idols and worship.
They began to trust in other things for their hope and happiness, significance and security. In their case it was a system of pagan worship that was made to order. Their neighbors taught them that if you need more money all you have to do is bring this sacrifice to this “god”. If you really want more children then all you need to do is pray this prayer to this ‘goddess”. If you just want to get lost in pleasure then all you need to do is show up to that particular temple. It was explained as a simple exchange system where you could get what you wanted out of these different so called deities, but before long they had ordered their lives around these things in such a way that they could no longer even hear “The Word of the LORD”.
13 Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.” 14 But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. 15 They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them. 16 And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. 17 And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.
that they didn’t even give God’s messengers the time of day.
Which brings us to our second theme for the week:
and the Baals were the gods of war and
when they could not save themselves and he until God intervened and destroyed the army of the greatest empire known to man at that point. Assyri
1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years. 2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. 3 Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria. And Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute. 4 But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison. 5 Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. 7 And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods 8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. 9 And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. 10 They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, 11 and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger, 12 and they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.”
Asherah=source of life, fertility. Where do you find you life?
They think that their is something else out there that is better.
Idolatry prevents people from heeding God’s warnings ()
Idolatry prevents people from heeding God’s warnings ()
13 Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.” 14 But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. 15 They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them. 16 And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. 17 And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.
14 Moreover, the Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam today. And henceforth, 15 the Lord will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and root up Israel out of this good land that he gave to their fathers and scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the Lord to anger. 16 And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and made Israel to sin.”
If you were to go back and read these verses carefully you can see the dowward spiral of it all. They start with ears that would not hear. Then they despised and neglected God’s guidelines that He gave them so that they would flourish as a people. Then they went after these false idols, and they became what went after. They followed the nations around them into rituals and practices that eventually had them giving up their own children as sacrifices.
Anyone who has ever been caught up in a cycle of sin can tell you that you just can’t give an inch in that direction because everything is just downhill from there and in not time at all you will find yourself somewhere that is so much darker than the person who took that first step would ever have thought possible.
And finally the culmination of this entire explanation :
Idolatry leads people to experience God’s discipline ()
Idolatry leads people to experience God’s discipline ()
18 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only. 19 Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced. 20 And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight. 21 When he had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord and made them commit great sin. 22 The people of Israel walked in all the sins that Jeroboam did. They did not depart from them, 23 until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.
God disciplines the ones He loves. He made them to flourish, but they are destroying themselves and their children. Giving their entire lives over to a system of Idolatry that they will never just wake up from. So God wakes them up. First He warned them. Over and over again He warned them. He put his messengers in their face so that they would know how to repent and turn back, but they would not. So God removed his protection from them, and the nation of Israel was no more. In Judgement, they were a conquered people, but they were not a forgotten people.
12 Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law,
; ; ; ; ;
18 The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death.
; ; ; ;
11 My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, 12 for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.
1 Kings 14:1
11 For I am with you to save you, declares the Lord; I will make a full end of all the nations among whom I scattered you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.
; ; ;
28 Fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the Lord, for I am with you. I will make a full end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”
3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
16 And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and made Israel to sin.”
Gospel Application
You see God never leaves His people without hope. Just as He kept His promise to discipline His children for their rebellion, He also keeps his promise to never leave them or forsake them. God continues to send His messengers, the Prophets, to speak the Word of the LORD. And in later days, He sends them to the Israelites in exile to give them hope, the only hope that any of us have. Ok Gospel Project people, lets see if you can find it...
8 “And it shall come to pass in that day, declares the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and I will burst your bonds, and foreigners shall no more make a servant of him. 9 But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. 10 “Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the Lord, nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid. 11 For I am with you to save you, declares the Lord; I will make a full end of all the nations among whom I scattered you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.
: 8-
The LORD disciplines the ones He loves, but He does not leave them without hope.
Landing
So what are we going to do with this teaching today Church? As we look over the cause and effect of Idolatry in the live of ancient Israel, what is God trying to get our attention on today?
Idolatry results when we fail to recognize God’s goodness.
Idolatry results when we fail to recognize God’s goodness.
Is there anything in your life that you are looking to for your hope and happiness, significance and security other than God? And remember we don’t typically make idols out of things that are intrinsically evil. Most often it is a good thing, a good thing that we have begun to depend on as if it was as dependable as our God is. What could it be for you? We have to be careful, because
Idolatry prevents us from heeding God’s warnings
Idolatry prevents us from heeding God’s warnings
Idols are not always easy to spot, and we are all very quick to defend them. The best way that I know to identify an idol in my life is to have someone challenge me on something that they are concerned might be out of balance. If I go off on them, acting like there bringing this up is some great threat to my life then I know that I am dealing with Idolatry. Because if this good thing is filling the role that God intended then I have nothing to be threatened by. I only get defensive when I have questions of my own that I don’t want to deal with.
Listen Church, we need to build relationships here where we can be this for one another. Where we can see something out of balance in the life of a brother and sister and feel lovingly compelled to ask them about it. Not to make the judgment call, but at least to inquire about what it is that we think we are seeing. And these kinds of relationships don’t happen at the big show on Sunday Morning. They happen in one on one relationships or smaller groups like our Life Groups or Sunday Morning Bible Studies. If you aren’t plugged in to one of these then I would encourage you make it happen. Just stick around after the service and we will get you connected to a group that is meeting this morning.
This idolatry is serious business, because
Idolatry in our life will lead us to experience God’s discipline.
Idolatry in our life will lead us to experience God’s discipline.
I don’t know what that will look like today. It probably won’t be a world power carrying us away into exile, like it did for ancient Israel, but I can tell you this. Often God’s discipline involves limiting or removing our access to whatever it was that we turn into an idol. When I think of some of the idolatry that I have struggled with in my life, that scares me. But we all have to remember that God disciplines the ones He loves, and His discipline is always to bring us to repentance, that we would turn back to him again.
Landing
25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Asherah was worshiped as the source of life...
5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Hebrews 12:5-
God’s gooness - we think we have found something better.
Landing
Let me invite the worship team forward and I want to pray with you. We are going to do something just a little different this morning. As the instruments begin to play quietly in the background, I want to give you an opportunity to do some quiet prayer on your own...
Maybe you have felt for some time that your relationship with Jesus has stalled out and you haven’t really grown in some time. It could be that you are struggling with some idol in your life and God has been tryign to get your attention.