1 Kings 12:16-20

1 Kings 12:16-20; Isaiah 9:6-7, Psalm 118:8-9

[Read 1 Kings 12:16-20]

Brothers and Sisters, today I am sure many of us are with heavy hearts. We are seeing the decline of a nation. We are seeing a society that wants to reject the truth of God’s Word and live by its own sinful morality. A nation that wants abortion, a nation that wants to be godless, a nation that wants the name of Jesus silenced.

This week, I have struggled with the message for this morning. Now, if you know me, I like to be ahead of the game. But for some reason, as much as I read in the word, nothing was coming to me to preach. But then the Lord came an began to make me understand, that as much as we would like things to work the way we want them to work, God says, I’m going to do it my way. And we must learn to accept that.

The will of the Lord is a mystery to us, but we can take assurance in knowing that whatever is happening in our lives and in this nation, God still reigns supreme.

Now in our passage today, we saw a nation divided between two men. One the rightful heir to the throne of David, named Rehoboam and another man, who the people thought would make a great king, named Jeroboam. Now both men were not living for the Lord like they should and because of this it caused a nation of people to split over who should be in charge.

This passage almost seems to be today’s news as we are seeing the same thing happening here in America. Our nation is deeply divided on who should be in charge and because of this, we are taking to the streets, protests are starting to occur, media outlets are forcing their ideology on the nation and we are here caught in the middle.

There is the old saying that history has a way of repeating itself. And indeed, that is what is happening here. So, how did this scenario play out in the scripture? And what can we learn from this and apply it to today and in our lives?

1. Sin separates a nation and people.

· Now the problem that this nation was facing was that the one who should have been in charge, the people didn’t like what he was saying. And the other one was a scheming politician who was trying to take the throne from the other.

· But the blame wasn’t so much on the leaders as it was the people. The people had trended away from God and were relying on themselves and their economy to see them through.

· Now what is the driving force behind politics? Money. And what is the driving force behind most people? Money.

· We are making money our god, aren’t we? What did you do when you heard who was the projected winner of the election? Did you go and look at your 401k, your investments?

· Here was a vast part of the nation that was trying to get away from the throne of David, so they could establish their own interpretation of what the kingdom was to be.

· The same thing is happening today, we as individuals, as a government, as a nation are trying to get away from the throne of David, because man cannot accept Jesus as King.

· Now God allowed this nation to be split because they were not seeking him for leadership. The people were more concerned with the man and what he was going to do, rather than to trust the one who was really in charge.

· Because of their unwillingness to turn to God like they should, here was a nation that was divided.

· I have heard that people say that my vote really doesn’t matter, it isn’t going to change anything. And we say the same thing about sin. That my sin is going to affect anyone else. But you are so wrong. Sin doesn’t just affect you, if affects a nation. And if we allow sin to reign, this nation will be separated from God almighty.

· The nation of Israel, when they went into the promise land to claim it for God’s people, was a ordinary man, he wasn’t a leader. He wasn’t in charge of the troops. He was just a man with a family. A man that went and sinned and disobeyed the Lord, and a little city that should have been easily conquered, ended up defeating the nation of Israel because one man was disobedient.

· If we are not careful, we are about to see the nation we live in defeated and separated from God. We have got to turn back to the Lord.

2. Whoever is declared the leader, we need to pray for them.

· Now the next thing we must do as a God’s people, is pray for whoever oversees our country.

· 1 Timothy 2:1-4 “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”

· Now I know for the last four years, there have been those who have been on the other side of the fence, saying that President Trump is not their president. And it is easy for many of us to say the same thing if Joe Biden becomes this nation’s next president. But listen, regardless of what we might say, whoever it is who wins, will be in charge, and you know what they will need? They will need you praying for them.

· If people had spent the last four years praying for Donald Trump instead of complaining, they might would have seen a different country.

· But that is our nature, right? We do not want to pray; we want to criticize. We do it nationally, we do it statewide, and we do it locally.

· Brothers and Sisters, this is the time we need to call back to God like we should and beseech the Lord for his favor to be shown upon us once again.

· Now let me ask you, what would the nation of Israel been like right here in this passage, if the people were seeking the Lord like they should? There would not have been this uprising, this division.

· Folks, we are seeing a nation divided like never before, but it is not just our nation, it’s our community, its our churches, its our families, its our workplaces, its our own lives.

3. We must understand who is really in control.

· Now I want to draw your attention to something we may not have realized that no matter who is in charge of the nation, it is really God who is control.

· Look with me at verse 24 “Thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from me. They hearkened therefore to the word of the Lord, and returned to depart, according to the word of the Lord.”

· Listen, this nation was divided because they were out of the will of the Lord. Guess what, we may not realize it, but God will allow problems into our lives when we are out of the will of Jesus. It’s called chastisement!

· Now these men were both at odds with one another of who should be charge of the Nation but somewhere along the way, they forgot their place.

· Isaiah 9:6-7 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”

· Have we forgotten who is in charge? Listen the nations of the world are under the rule of God. The devil may think they belong to him, but it all rest on the shoulders of Christ.

· Let me ask you this question before we move on, who’s in charge of your life? It ought to be Christ. But are you forcing your will, are you make the calls, are you not listening to the voice of the King?

· Listen, when we observe and recognize the real King, then we will see a government and a kingdom that will last forever, and we will witness it!

4. That our confidence is not in man and not in government but in the Lord.

· Now, I know many of us are worry about what is going to happen next. And its understandable. But let me give you some scripture that we all need to heed.

· Psalm 118:8-9 “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. 9 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.

· You know we put a lot of confidence in man, we think that with man and the knowledge he has gain, that we can solve any crisis. But let me ask you, in all of man’s marvelous achievements, have they come across a cure for cancer? How about dementia? How about growing old? Listen that list can go on and on.

· Man will let you down. Man will fail you. Man will not be there to keep you from dying. Man cannot keep you from the pits of Hell.

· Nor should we put our confidence in government. Listen, I can’t recall a single politician who has kept all of their promises. I can’t remember when the government was there to solve the problems of hunger and homelessness. I can’t remember when government was more concern with its own people than it was with the illegal immigrants that have come into this land.

· No government and rulers of this world are not ones we can put our confidence in to lead us to victory, there is only one that title belongs too.

· I don’t have confidence in the so-called president elect, but I know this, I’m going to be praying for him. I don’t want to see this nation torn apart, I want this nation united under God who is the one we should trust.

· Who is it that you are trusting today? The media? The Governor? The Local Government? Yourself? Everyone of them will fail you my friend. The only one we can trust is Jesus.

· Have you placed your trust in him? Then demonstrate that trust by coming and praying for this nation, for our families, and for ourselves, that Jesus Christ may lead us.