You, Me and the Sins of Jeroboam, Son of Nebat

Well, the topic of the sermon today is something I found to be very interesting as I put it together. It's a mix of history and modern times. And to this very day, the whole world knows where the Jews are, where the tribe of Judah has migrated to around the world. Of course, there's a modern state of Israel that contains a large number of people from the tribe of Judah. But also in New York City, we find entire suburbs that lived in mostly by Jews. And you can go to Russia, you can go to Hungary, you can go to Germany, and other countries of the globe and find Jewish towns, communities, and neighborhoods. Because of the sign of the Sabbath day and the biblical festivals, even Jews who do not take their religion very seriously anymore have kept their identity down through the millennia and across the globe. And it's an amazing story of people that have been admired, blessed, cursed, persecuted by humanity. And the average person, if you would walk out there today, believes that the terms Jew and Israel are synonymous. And without a little bit of study, it's easy to assume that the Jews of today comprise the ancient nation of Israel, especially since the modern Jewish state is called Israel. So people just think that Israel is the Jews. But they are two different groups of people. There are ten other tribes that took on the name of Jacob, the name Israel, and they have mostly disappeared from history.

Each of those tribes is much harder to find today. And this story of the dividing of the descendants of Jacob into two main factions, Judah and Israel, goes back 3,000 years to the time of King Solomon's death and the rise of two men, Reboem and Jeroboem. And from one of these men comes the biblical phrase, the sins of Jeroboem, the son of Nebat. And it's found 14 times in the book of Kings in the Old Testament, a reference to the sins of Jeroboem, the son of Nebat.

It's quite a harsh legacy that Jeroboem left. So what caused the legacy of Jeroboem to be so harsh? In the sermon today, we're going to look at the sins of Jeroboem and see why they were so bad and why they are recorded in Scripture for us to read. What are we supposed to learn from Jeroboem? What warnings might we find? I've titled today's sermon, You, Me, and the Sins of Jeroboem, Son of Nebat. There's actually another Jeroboem. We're talking about Jeroboem, the son of Nebat, the one that lived at the same time as Reoboem, which was the time that the kingdom divided to North and South, Israel and Judah. So we're going to start first with a history lesson. I've divided the sermon into kind of two halves. The first half is the history lesson. The second half is how it applies to us today, kind of the modern application. So let's go to the beginning of the story in 1st Kings chapter 11. 1st Kings chapter 11. Let's turn over there for a moment and let's read a few verses that talk about Jeroboem. 1st Kings 11 verse 26. Then King Solomon's servant Jeroboem, the son of Nebat, and Ephraimite, from Zareida, whose mother's name is a widow, rebelled against the king. So Jeroboem rebelled against King Solomon. 1st Kings 28. The man, Jeroboem, was a mighty man of valor, and Solomon, seeing that the young man was industrious, made him the officer over all the labor force of the house of Joseph. So King Solomon put Jeroboem over Ephraim and Manasseh. Jeroboem was an Ephraimite. Verse 29. It happened at the time when Jeroboem went out of Jerusalem that the prophet Ahijah, the Shilonite, met Jeroboem on the way, and he clothed himself with a new garment, and the two were alone in the field. Then Ahijah took hold of the new garment that was on him, and he ripped it into twelve pieces. So he, walking out in the field, and a prophet comes up to you, rips off a brand-new shirt, and just tears it up. He said, what on earth? Imagine if that happened to you, right? These crazy things that the prophets had to do from time to time. Verse 31. And he said to Jeroboem, take for yourself ten pieces. So Jeroboem took ten of these torn-off pieces, and I guess the prophet kept two of them. For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, quote, Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to you. Well, that's what the ten little pieces of cloth meant. Why? Verse 33. Because they forsaken me, and worshipped Ashtaroth, that's where we get Ishtaroth-easter from, right? The goddess of the Sidonians, they worship Chemosh, the god of the Moabites, and Milcom, the god of the people of Ammon, and have not walked in my way to do what is right in my eyes and keep my statute to my judgments, as did Solomon's father David. Oh, so Jeroboem is going to get these ten tribes, because these ten tribes had gone astray. Verse 35. But I will take the kingdom out of Solomon's hand, out of his son's hand, and give it to you. Ten tribes. So here's a promise to Jeroboem from God. I'm going to give you these ten tribes and take them out of King Solomon's hand.

Verse 37. So I will take you, and you shall reign over all your heart desires, and you shall be king over Israel. Verse 38. Then it shall be, if you heed all that I command you, if you follow my commandments, walk in my ways, do what is right in my sight to keep my statute to my commandments, as my servant David did, then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house, as I built for David, and I'll give Israel to you. So you go, wow! What a fantastic offer from God!

If you obey me, keep my commandments, keep the Sabbath, follow the, you know, the biblical festivals, you can have, you can be in charge of ten tribes out of the twelve. But what happened? Here's where the story takes a turn. After Jeroboam received these promises, did he do what was right in God's sight and keep God's statutes and commandments like King David did? No. He strayed from the commandments of God, and so then the phrase, the sins of Jeroboam, start to take shape. It's found 14 times in the Old Testament and all in the books of first and second Kings. Any future king who did badly was told, you're just like Jeroboam. It was like the worst thing you could be told. The once united kingdom of Israel and the King Solomon became split between two people. Solomon's son, Rehoboam, became king over the tribes of Judah and Benjamin in the south. And as promised by God, Jeroboam did reign over the remaining ten tribes to the north. So when King Solomon died, the kingdom split. And Jeroboam did get the ten tribes of the north. Rehoboam, Solomon's son, kept Judah and Benjamin. So now let's go to first Kings 12. Let's look at how Jeroboam governed those northern ten tribes. First Kings 12 now. Let me read in verse 25. Let's start in verse 25. First Kings 12.25. Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim. That's where he's from, right? He was an Ephraimite. And dwelt there. Also he went out from there and built Penuel. So he's building these cities. And Jeroboam said in his heart, I'm worried that the kingdom might may return to the house of David. Verse 27. So if these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord of Jerusalem, then the heart of these people will turn back to their Lord Rehoboam, king of Judah. And they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam, king of Judah. So Jeroboam says, I'm worried that if on the Holy Days people go back to Jerusalem, they're gonna like it down there and I'll lose my power over the ten tribes. Therefore, verse 28, the king asked some advice and made two calves of gold and said to the people, it's way too far to go up to Jerusalem, here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt. You know, in during the sermonette we heard about Exodus 30. Well, in Exodus 32 was when Moses went up to collect the Ten Commandments. And while he was there, remember what Aaron did, he built one golden calf. And Aaron said to the Israelites, this is your God who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

So now, Jeroboam is doing the same thing. He said, here's your God, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt. And verse 29, he set up one in Bethel and the other he put in Dan. Verse 30, that this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. So it worked. The people didn't go up to Jerusalem to keep the feast or to do their offerings. Instead, they did it before two golden calves, one in Dan and one in Bethel. Verse 31, and then Jeroboam made shrines on all the high places and all the hilltops. And he made priests from every class of people who were not the sons of Levi, to meet up his own priesthood that you would go to to have your sacrifice at the foot of the golden calf. And verse 32, Jeroboam ordained a feast on the 15th day of the eighth month. He actually made his own version of the Feast of Tabernacles a month early, so that you didn't even have to go to Jerusalem for the feast anymore. In fact, you could do it early.

Says like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did it Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And at Bethel, he installed the priests of the high places which he had made. So what we read here in 1 Kings 12 was Jeroboam erected new shrines, and he placed golden calves in those shrines. So this was Exodus 32 times 2, not just one golden calf, he made two. And he established a new priesthood in place of the Levites.

The National Feast of Tabernacles was changed from the seventh month to the eighth month to widen the breach between the kingdoms to preserve Jeroboam's own power and influence. So the people would not have to go up to Jerusalem for anything. And these verses here describe the act which so often referred to with horror in the book of Kings as the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat.

It actually reminds me of being in the church 40 years ago. And then later in our former association, after we left, which in many places around the world, they started keeping the Feast of Tabernacles in the month of August. And now in Melbourne, Australia, where my family is from, a lot of them are still in our previous association, and they were keeping the feast in August because it was more convenient for school holidays.

Now they've been given an ultimatum, apparently. They're not even allowed to do that in August. They've got to go to church on Sunday or else. But it's kind of like this. The church decides to keep the feast in a different month. To Jeroboam here, nothing would appear more natural or for political gain than this conduct. He had been driven into Egypt, actually, by Solomon. Solomon kicked Jeroboam out, and Jeroboam went to Egypt to escape Solomon's wrath. This was before Solomon died.

And Jeroboam actually married Pharaoh's daughter, and no doubt became familiar with the worship of Apis and Minerva in Egypt. According to the Septuagint, Jeroboam's wife was an Egyptian princess called Anno. You don't find that in the Bible, but the Septuagint says that Jeroboam's wife was the princess Anno in Egypt, Pharaoh's daughter.

What were the Egyptian gods, Apis and Minerva, at the time? It's actually interesting. They were gods that were bulls, calves, and bull cults were popular in Egypt 3,500 years ago. And this might shed some light on why Moses' brother Aaron, and now even Jeroboam, decided to create golden calves for worship. It was going back to Egypt for both Aaron and for Jeroboam. You lived in Egypt for a time. The most famous of the bull cults is that of the Apis bull, and you can Google the Apis bull, A-P-I-S. The powerful and virile bull was associated with the Pharaoh, and as early as 3,100 BC. It's way back before, you know, the Israelites. The king was depicted in the form of a bull.

I found this online from ancientegyptonline.co.uk. It says, a sacred Apis bull was identified by specific sacred markings and housed in plush quarters, given only the best food, provided with a harem of the best cows because it was like a god, right? The lucky animal would live in the lap of luxury until its death, when it would be mummified and buried with full honors in the manner befitting royalty. In a stone sarcophagus that could weigh over 60 tons, so this bull was a god.

And it continues here at ancientegyptonline.co.uk. The Manevist bull was the sacred bull of Heliopolis. The bull was usually completely black. The bull was associated with Ra. Two Manevists or Manervus burials have been discovered, dating from the reigns of Ramses II and Ramses IV.

So there's historical evidence of this bull worship in Egypt that have been uncovered by archaeologists today. So when Jeroboam fled to Egypt fleeing Solomon and married Pharaoh's daughter, he would have become intimately aware of these Egyptian gods. So now he returns to Israel, finds himself in charge of the ten tribes to the north, the first king of the separate kingdom of Israel. And what does he do? Well, recognizing as he did the religious tendencies and memories of his people, he saw that the National Assemblies for worship in the Temple of Jerusalem would sooner or later become a threat to him and possibly unite the tribes again under one king and could knock him off his throne.

So rather than trust in the promises that God gave him, that if he did the right thing he would have these ten tribes his whole life. Instead of trusting what God said, he took matters into his own hands and created his own worship system so that people would not have to go down to Judah at all. So 2 Kings chapter 17. Let's go to 2 Kings chapter 17. You'll see we see a summary now of why Israel, these ten tribes to the north, eventually were punished and went into captivity at the hands of the Assyrians. And of course this was many years after their first king, Jeroboam, led the people away from God into idolatry of all kinds.

And the reason Israel went into captivity many years after Jeroboam is that subsequent kings after him acted in the same way, in the way of the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nebat. 2 Kings 17 verse 13. Says the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, so against both of the kingdoms, by all of his prophets.

You know, continually warned them through every seer saying, turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. So God says, you know, do what I tell you. Keep my commandments. Keep my Sabbaths. Verse 14. Nevertheless, both Israel and Judah were not here, but stiffened their necks like the necks of their fathers who do not believe in the Lord their God.

So what did they do? Verse 16. They all left the commandments of the Lord their God, made for themselves a molded image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshiped all the host of heaven and even served Baal. And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, child sacrifice.

How far they got from God's truth. Practiced witchcraft and soothsaying and sold themselves to do evil. Sold themselves to the devil. In other words, in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. So, verse 18, the Lord was very angry with Israel, removed them from his sight.

There was none left but the tribe of Judah alone. And of course, you read the history, you go through the prophets and those northern ten tribes were attacked by the Assyrians and dragged away to basically disappear for thousands of years, right? The last ten tribes they referred to. Only Judah remained to the south. But, verse 19, Judah too did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God but walked in the statutes of Israel, which they did the same thing as the tribes to the north.

So the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, delivered them into the hand of plunderers until he had cast them from his sight. So the Jews then, as we know, the Babylonians came and got them, not the Assyrians, the Babylonians came and got the Jews. Interestingly enough, as a side account, the Babylonians let the Jews keep their religion. The Babylonians and then the Persians later let them return to Jerusalem, right?

And they rebuilt Jerusalem 70 years later. The Jews, as an identity, were preserved. Verse 21, for he tore Israel from the house of David, this is when the kingdom was divided, and made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king, that's when it was divided, and Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord and made them commit a great sin. Verse 22, for the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam, which he did, and they did not depart from them.

Verse 23, until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as it said by all his servants of prophets, so Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day. So the punishment for following the sins of Jeroboam was conquest by the Assyrians, and eventually it hit Judah too, and they were carried away to Babylon, as I said. Here's a list of the kings of Israel, specifically listed in Scripture as having led the nation in the same way as the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat.

So if you do a word search for the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, these are the kings that were given this, you know, title, shall we say. There was Ahab, Jehoram, Jehu, Jehoaz, Jehoash, Azariah, Zechariah, Menachem, Pekaniya, and Pekar. As you go through the Books of Kings, all those guys that said, you guys are just like Jeroboam, the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat. And we're not going to go read about all those kings now that got that title. But the point is Jeroboam was labeled in this way because of his sins.

So what exactly were the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat in modern-day language? Looking at the Scriptures, we come to the conclusions of what the sins of Jeroboam were and how if we're not careful, we may be guilty of entertaining those same thoughts or sins today.

And of course these things are written for us to learn from. Some like idol worship are quite obvious, but others may be a bit more subtle. You know, if you came in one day and checked your email and found out at the home office you'd put a golden calf up, you'd kind of notice, wouldn't you?

Now, other things are a little bit more subtle than that, than a golden calf. And so they can be very tricky. So now we move from the history part of the sermon into the modern-day application. I have four main points for us to consider. Each of them can be very appealing to us. So number one, these are all appeals, shall we say.

Number one, it was an appeal to take matters into one's own hands. It was an appeal to take matters into one's own hands. God promised that Jeroboam would reign as long as he walked in God's ways. But Jeroboam decided to take matters into his own hands to ensure that he remained in power, not rely on God. He doubted what God said and said, I'm going to secure my empire myself. And so in effect, Jeroboam said, why should you people of Ephraim be dependent for your worship on Judah? Why should your tithes and offerings, why should your tribute go to support their temple in Jerusalem?

Let's have a place of our own. And for you and me here today, it sometimes can be no different. We have to trust in the Word of God. We have to trust in the promises of God and not take matters into our own hands. We must not take matters into our own hands and deal with a problem ourselves just because the people responsible for dealing with it may have failed to do so. In society, that can be very dangerous. You can imagine what it would be like in society if everyone went after criminals themselves because we felt the police are not doing their job right.

There's a system, there's a process, there's a team of men, there's a police force that takes care of criminals. We don't have to go out there as vigilantes and try and do that ourselves. We don't have to spread news about our fellow church members' sins because the pastor is not handling it correctly.

We don't have to take it upon ourselves to police the inadequacies of the ministry and send emails to prove it or take it upon ourselves to show others how they should be doing their parenting. Remind you of Romans 12 verse 19. Romans 12 verse 19. We don't need to take matters into our own hands if it's not our responsibility to do so. You know, it may be something's our job to do. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves.

I'd rather give place to wrath for his written vangency's mind. I will repay, says the Lord. If something's not right, God says, I'll fix it. If it's not your responsibility to take care of it, God says, I will repay. And in Philippians 4 verse 6, we read to you Philippians 4 verse 6, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. Let your request be made known to God. There are some things that only God can correct. If those people responsible for fixing it, they're acting recklessly and not doing it.

So don't be appealed to take matters into your own hands if it's not your job to do so. Because Jeroboam certainly did that and said, I got to make sure I seal my kingdom, create our own worship system, because otherwise God may not keep his promises. Number two, it was an appeal to self-importance. What Jeroboam did was an appeal to self-importance. God had commanded that his people must keep certain feasts on certain days. Yet we find Jeroboam changing those dates. And the Levites were to be the ones who offered the sacrifices and burned the incense.

But Jeroboam changed that too. After all, he's in charge, wasn't he? I can make some new rules, he thought. Let's go to 2 Chronicles chapter 11. Go back to the Old Testament for a minute. 2 Chronicles chapter 11 verse 13. 2 Chronicles 11 13.

And from all their territories the priests and the Levites who were all in Israel took their stand with him, which is actually you read up, that was Rehoboam. So the priests and the Levites stood on Rehoboam's side, even the ones up in Israel, said, Oh no, we're with Rehoboam down in Jerusalem. Verse 14. For the Levites left their common lands in their possessions and came to Judah and Jerusalem. For Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from serving as priests of the Lord. So if you're a Levite up in the northern kingdom, Jeroboam said, You are forbidden to do any religious work. So the Levites and the priests up north fled. It says they left all their possessions behind and fled back to Jerusalem, where Rehoboam, of course, let them serve in the temple. The priests and Levites had to flee from Jeroboam.

Verse 15. Then Jeroboam appointed for himself priests for the high places and priests for the demons. What? And the calf idols which he had made. Jeroboam created his own priesthood.

And if you were a Levite, you have to get out of there and flee down to the south.

And as we all know, the worshipping of idols was forbidden. And it says here in verse 15, it was like demon worship. Demon worship. In all these sins and more did Jeroboam follow. And today it's the same. Man does what he pleases and ignores what the word of God says.

We see that in society today, rejecting what God has said for personal indulgence and convenience.

Jeroboam really had a sense of self-importance. An exaggerated sense of his own value and importance of making up laws of his own. Making up religious worship services of his own.

He really felt that he had the authority to do so. It reminds me of the praying Pharisee. You want to make a note of it? In Luke chapter 18. I'll read it to you. Luke 18 verses 10 through 12.

Two men went up to the temple to pray one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed with himself, saying, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men.

Distortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector over here.

I fast twice and we've got gift ties of all that I possess.

Self-importance. So, of course, something we have to be very careful of, right? Even today, that we are following God and not taking on the importance that's in our house.

I've got here, a bit of a lighter side, some top comebacks for people who have inflated sense of self-importance.

I'm pretty sure the earth revolves around the sun. Not you.

Congratulations on your uncanny ability to take something that is not at all about you and make it all about you.

You might want to get over yourself. Everyone else has. Everyone else has.

If you're as important as you think you are, you would be a lot quieter.

You need a big flag on the hood of your car with HB on it for humongous big head.

So, I did a search for self-importance on Google. These are some of the ones that came up.

Here's one from the book, The Cocktail Party by T.S. Eliot. T.S. Eliot says, half the harm that is done in the world is due to people who want to feel important.

So, they do crazy stuff.

Ephesians 2.8, however, tells us, Ephesians 2.8 tells us, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God.

The faith, the grace that's been extended to us, is not because of anything we did.

It's not of ourselves. It's because of it's a gift from God.

Here's a quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald from his book, The Beautiful and the Damned. He says, He thinks himself rather an exceptional young man.

Thoroughly sophisticated, well-adjusted to his environment.

He thinks himself somewhat more significant than anyone else he knows.

Self-importance.

So, ultimately, where does this come from?

Comes from Isaiah 14, verses 13 and 14, where Lucifer said in his heart, Isaiah 14, verse 13, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of the congregation on the farther sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. Ultimately, self-importance is something that comes from that spirit. And Jeroboam certainly had a sense of self-importance. And so, we too need to be careful that we don't take upon ourselves things that aren't ours to have in that regard.

Here's probably my favorite quote about self-importance. And it's from the great philosopher Darth Vader.

It's from Rogue One, a Star Wars story that came out a year or so ago.

Darth Vader says this to Imperial Director Krennic. Darth Vader says, be careful not to choke on your own aspirations. I wasn't going to try and do the voice, though.

So, don't be appealed to self-importance, is what we're told here, because it is of the devil. That's where it ultimately comes from.

Thirdly, what Jeroboam did was an appeal to former memories. It was an appeal to former memories.

And there's some fascinating conclusions and thoughts we can make from this point.

Jeroboam made Shechem his capital.

Shechem was a place associated with Abraham and Jacob. It was such a religious place with great history. So, this place where it had a lot of notoriety because of Abraham, that was where he erected one of the calves. It was at Bethel.

It was considered a holy place on the borders of Benjamin and Ephraim.

No doubt his design, his thought, was to appease those who were proud of their past, proud of their heritage, were sons of Abraham. These were former memories of the good old days. So, he actually chose a place that had religious significance to put his golden calf in Bethel.

It was an appeal to former memories. We read earlier 1 Kings 12, 28, where the king asked advice and made two calves with gold, and he said to the people, Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt. So, say to the people, perhaps it really was the golden calves that saved us on our way out of Egypt.

Take us back to the garlic and the onions. Let's worship this one, this calf.

And so we have to be careful ourselves that we don't entertain the thought of going back into spiritual Egypt ourselves, going back to our past life for things we used to do, dabbling just a bit in the past traditions. It's kind of like sacredism.

But we have to remember that salvation is found in no one else.

There is no other name under heaven given by Ben, by which we must be saved. There's only one path to salvation, not many. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He said, no one comes to the Father but through me.

There's only one way. You can't set up your own golden calf. You can't have your own religious ideas and traditions in competition with Scripture. We can't appeal to former memories.

But today we find Christianity blending biblical teachings with the pagan customs, of course, of Christmas and Saturnalia and Easter, Valentine's, New Year's celebrations.

Today we see people in the religious world having a syncretism of old and new, of pagan and biblical, just like Jeroboam tried to do. What we see in religious tradition today is very much like what Jeroboam did. He made up his own worship system. And in Christianity today, we see people making up making up their own version of Christianity to keep converts, to keep people coming back.

It's like the golden calf and appeal to former memories.

There was an interesting article written in the Vancouver Sun by a fellow named Randy Shaw.

December 26, 2008. This was 10 years ago he wrote this. The title of his article in the Vancouver Sun was Pagan Party, New Year's Traditions that Hailed from the Depths of Antiquity.

She shows how New Year's traditions actually are based on old religious observances.

So let me quote you a few paragraphs from it. Randy Shaw says, if your head really hurts on New Year's Day, you could point your finger at the Babylonians.

You started this New Year revelry nonsense.

Though the ancient Romans added the idea of alcoholic excess, or at least perfected it.

So he says, Julius Caesar fixed the start of the year on January 1 by letting the previous year run to 445 days rather than the traditional 365. The Roman citizenry made their Winter Festival Saturnalia a celebration without rules. So he says, let's blame the Romans. So what he's saying here is that New Year's Day celebrations are based on Pagan Saturnalia idol worship. They even shifted the date of the calendar to make it fit with Saturnalia. And then Randy Shaw says, anywhere you slice it, you know, no matter which way you look at it, New Year's is among the very oldest and most persistent of human celebrations. It goes back thousands of years. He says, the Western world celebrates the New Year on January 1 in the early weeks of winter, which is about as sensible as a wooden fireplace. Because as you remember, God's calendar begins in the spring, right? Not in the middle of winter. He says, the Catholic Church has at times banned revelry around the New Year, ignored it through the Middle Ages, and even tried to schedule its own holiday to replace it with the rather unappetizing Feast of Christ circumcision. So I guess the Catholic Church tried to replace New Year's with the holiday, the Feast of Christ circumcision, which nobody caught on to, apparently. And then he says, at the stroke of midnight, as the old year passes into the new, only one tradition is left, the kiss. Of course, that's this mistletoe thing, right? The kiss. He says, thank the Romans again. So even that kiss at midnight, it comes from the Romans. They loved kissing and incorporated into their solstice and Saturnalia celebrations. Thus, kissing as a New Year's Eve tradition persists today in most of their empire, and as a result, it is spread throughout the New World. So it's an appeal to former memories. Former pagan traditions have been carried forth by much of Christianity today.

New Year's Eve celebrations are a throwback to solstice and Saturnalia pagan god celebrations, filled with sin, of course, and excess. And of course, not much has changed for people today, has it, on New Year's? Police have got to be out in great force on New Year's Eve.

Here's another throwback for two old memories, perhaps one of the biggest deceptions and throwbacks of all. It's appeal to former memories and former traditions of the god Zeus, Olympian Zeus. Did you know that we have pictures of Zeus everywhere today?

Here is one of the biggest deceptions and throwbacks to former traditions, and that of the depictions of Jesus that we're seeing out today. BBC Magazine from December 24, 2015. It's interesting they actually wrote this December 24, the day before Christmas, in 2015. It's an article by Joan Taylor called, What Did Jesus Really Look Like? So here's a real appeal to former memories. Joan Taylor is a professor of Christian origins and Second Temple Judaism at King's College in London.

And the author of the book, The Essenes, The Scrolls, and the Dead Sea.

Here's what she says. Everyone knows what Jesus looks like.

He's the most painted figure in all of Western art, recognized everywhere as having long hair and a beard, a long robe with long sleeves, often white, and a mantle, often blue. She says Jesus is so familiar that he can be recognized on pancakes or pieces of toast. But did he really look like this? She says, probably not. In fact, this familiar image of Jesus actually comes from the Byzantine era, from the fourth century onwards, and Byzantine representations of Jesus were symbolic. They weren't what he actually looked like. It was symbolism. They were all about meaning, not historical accuracy. They were based on the image of an enthroned emperor. So in the Byzantine era, when they did a painting of a king, they had to put him in certain regalia, so you could say, oh, that's a king, based on the image of an enthroned emperor. She says Jesus is dressed in a gold toga. He is the heavenly ruler of all the world, familiar with the famous statue of long-haired and bearded Olympian Zeus on a throne. Byzantine artists, looking to show Christ's heavenly rule as cosmic king, invented him as a younger version of Zeus. What has happened over time is that this visualization of heavenly Christ, today sometimes remade along hippie lines, has become our standard model of the early Jesus. But they're actually modern representations of Zeus. And she says when early Christians were not showing Christ as heavenly ruler, you know, if the paintings weren't supposed to show him like a leader or a king or an emperor, they showed Jesus as an actual man like any other. Beardless, short-haired, in the first century Greco-Roman world, being clean-shaven and short-haired was considered absolutely essential. She says a beard was not distinctive of being a Jew in antiquity. In fact, one of the problems for oppressors of Jews at different times was identifying them when they looked like everyone else. So, she's saying Jesus wouldn't even have a beard. So, I remember when Terry and I were over in Greece years ago during Unleavened Bread Holy Days, and we visited the Temple of Zeus, which of course is, you know, in ruins and a few pillars left now. But all the depictions of Zeus, if you look at them in the museums over there, it looks like Jesus. Well, it's vice versa, right?

And that's what they've done. And Joan Taylor then goes on in his article to show that even the white robes and other pieces of clothing that we see in artistic depictions of Jesus are not what he would have worn at all. It was to make him look like a Byzantine emperor, you know, a kingly, heavenly king, because that's what they associated those clothes with.

In fact, she says, no other men of Jesus' day wore anything like that. She says, in fact, he would have been accused of being a transvestite if he did. That's not what men wore.

And so, people are appealed to these former memories, even of these, like Zeus.

So, we have to be aware of modern Christian traditions today that are not biblical or godly either, right? And we know what those are today, and we avoid them and we're very careful.

So many Christian traditions today are full of paganism, whether it be New Year's, Christmas, or Halloween, or Easter, whatever it might be. Even pictures of Jesus are pagan, based on Zeus. So, we too cannot be appealed to any kind of former memories, whatever it might be.

I know we don't, you know, carry on pictures of Zeus, but we have to be careful of any kind of compromise we're making that may be a throwback to an earlier part of our life before we were converted. There may be a throwback to something in our past before we were in the church. So, we have to ask ourselves, what are we slipping into our life? That's from a past that may be unbiblical, a belief or a memory that's promoted by the world and not by God. Because what Jeroboam did was an appeal like this to former memories, the golden calf. And then fourthly, it was an appeal to deceive the people. What Jeroboam did was an appeal to deceive, to deceive the people.

Thank you.

Jeroboam pretended that it was the old worship re-established, that God was really represented by the calves. He said, these be the old gods that brought you out of the land of Egypt.

People said, oh yeah, of course.

He was pointing people in another direction then to God. New laws, new commandments, new holy days, new temples, even new gods. And the people went along with it.

Appealing to gods made of metal or stone, appealing to astrology, witchcraft, and having people depart from the paths that God has told mankind to follow is deceitful.

And Jeroboam had an appeal to deceive the people. And so today we ask ourselves, do we look at different ways of doing things other than what God said? Do we find ways to bend the truth and come up with our own ideas? Because after all, the leader of this world is the master of all deceit. Remember Revelation 12 verse 9? Watch out for that dragon, the serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. Watch out for him, because he deceives everyone.

And so without God's spirit and calling, we too would be deceived.

I'm going to turn to Matthew chapter 24 for a moment, read verses 23 through 25. Matthew 24 verse 23. Matthew 24, 23. If anyone says to you, this is Jesus' own words, if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ or there, don't believe it. For false Christ and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the very elect. And Jesus says, see, I've told you beforehand. You're saying, watch out for this. I'm telling you ahead of time that there will be people who will try to deceive you.

And so Jesus warned us ahead of time.

But deception starts out in small, almost imperceptible ways.

It's the little things that don't seem all that important. Not worth fretting over. What are you worried about it for? A little gulf on the Sabbath, compromising on the holy days, a little spiritual dabbling. Not too much at first, it seems.

Like I said, it's not a golden calf out in front of the home office. It's just little things.

And these things do start small and convincing and deceitful. And we have to be on guard.

There's a big budget series on Netflix called The Crown. We've watched the first two seasons. I think they're working on the third season now. But it's a huge, expensive production that rivals the best of movies. It's about the rise of Queen Elizabeth II to the throne in the 1950s.

It's actually more about the meaning of The Crown than it is about Queen Elizabeth. And as we understand, The Crown is directly related to the throne of King David today, which we're told would exist until the return of Christ. And in episode 7, the Queen's private secretary cautions the Queen against choosing a less experienced secretary to replace him. So he's got a lot of experience, and he's retiring, and he says, be very careful who you hire to replace me. Don't hire some young buck. Get someone who knows something about the work of the royal family. He's worried that she may compromise or find someone who compromises on the lasting values and history of The Crown. Now, listen to this fascinating exchange between the two of them. I actually played it back and typed out what they said here, and paused it and typed it again. Here's what the private secretary says. And think of this in terms of God's Word and as staying true to the truth, right? And not being deceived.

So he says to her, there's a way of doing things here, and order developed over time and generations.

And individuality in the House of Windsor, any departure from that way of doing things is not to be encouraged. Of course, we'd say that today with the Bible, wouldn't we? We don't encourage people departing at all from the truth. He says it results in catastrophes like the abdication, he was referring to the Queen's uncle who abdicated the throne. So at least the things like that.

The King had to abdicate because he wanted to marry a divorcee, which is against the biblical allowance for marriage and against the Church of England's doctrine as well. God, I think they've changed since the 1950s. So the Queen says, abdicating the throne like her uncle did, and choosing my private secretary is hardly comparing like with like. It's not related.

Here's what the private secretary says. I disagree. I served your uncle, as you know, and it's in the small things that the rot starts.

Do the wrong thing once, and it's easier to do it again. Do the individualistic thing once, and it's easy to do it again. Now, in the case of your uncle, it started with wanting to use Buckingham Palace simply as the office, and York House as his home.

Then he stopped attending church, decided he wanted to sell Sandringham. He dismissed courtiers who had served under his father in favor of younger, sycophantic supplicants.

He says, of course, no one saw the abdication coming then, but the ego, the willfulness, the individualism, the rot had set in. Which is an amazing scene if you saw the series.

Just the danger of doing the wrong thing once, and just how the rot starts to set in.

For us, too, you've got to watch out for any appeal to deceivous.

You see, it starts with a hurt feeling. What position you wanted.

Someone else was asked to organize the church social. You wanted to be noticed.

Well, you want it done your way, not like the way the person organizing activity wants it done.

After all, I'm an individual. I've got talents.

Why can't I carry the Passover wine down the aisle?

Why can't I be in charge of the church tape library? I wouldn't want to be doing that anyway.

It's time for some new deacons around here. I'm not getting noticed.

But there's an even greater warning for us than individualistic motives.

The Bible does warn of a great apostasy at the end time.

It's much more than two golden calves.

There is coming a huge end time appeal to deceive the world.

To deceive the people.

Look at 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 3.

Here's the ultimate appeal to deceive the people.

And it's in the end time.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, speaking about the return of Jesus Christ.

And here's what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 3.

Let no one deceive you.

Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come, you know, Christ will not return, unless the falling away comes first.

So it's a falling away from the truth. This is not just a world. This is a warning to the church.

And Paul then proceeds to explain this falling away in greater detail here.

Paul starts to talk about the man of sin.

Some man is going to style himself as greater than God, pretending to be God, and people will believe him.

Why? Why?

Verses 9 through 11.

Because they did not receive the love of the truth. That's in verse 10.

They did not receive the love of the truth. You have to love the truth if you're not going to be deceived.

Says that they might be saved. And it says, and for this reason, verse 11, God will send them strong delusion that they should not believe the lie.

I'll say that they should believe the lie. If you're not loving the truth, you'll believe the lie.

So this is a warning of the ultimate deception for us today into the church, as Paul wrote to the Thessalonians.

And of course, Revelation 19, verse 20, describes this powerful religious leader as the false prophet as well, working with a political leader called the beast.

The ultimate deception in the end time.

And Daniel chapter 7 even says that this person persecutes the saints of the Most High, this persecution upon God's people.

It's interesting that in Daniel chapter 7, this great religious deception, this great leader intends to change times and law. So in the end time, he changed times and law. Well, that's what Jeroboam did.

He changed feast days and laws and commandments of God.

So in contrast to the deception of the people of Israel by King Jeroboam, an end time deception will be so much greater.

There'll be an end time appeal to deceive the people.

Even the people of God, if they do not love the truth, that's what we read in Thessalonians. You have to love the truth.

And so we are warned, you and I are warned, keep the commandments and love the truth.

The relation talks about the saints who have the testimony of Jesus Christ and keep the commandments.

And so we're reminded not to be appealed to the deception of sin.

And in Jeroboam's time, it was an appeal to deceive the people.

And apparently it's coming back, the end.

So let's wrap it up right now.

All four of these points from the life of Jeroboam can be appealing to people.

And looking at the Scriptures, we come to conclusions as to what the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, were and how many practice the same sins today.

It was an appeal to take matters into one's own hands.

It was an appeal to self-importance.

It was an appeal to former memories. And it was an appeal to deceive the people.

And each of them, if we're not careful, can be appealing to us.

You and I must stay pure.

The society that mixes truth with error, that has all kinds of religious syncretism, and that encourages religious syncretism, says it's good to believe whatever you want.

And how easy it is to be sucked in at different levels by persuasive arguments that are appealing to our human nature.

Things that make us feel good.

And so, as I conclude here, as we look at the life of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, don't believe the lie.

Instead, love the truth.