reality is Jesus says to us I came not to bring peace but a sword there's going to be division in a family and you're going to have to choose who you love more is it going to be me or them and sometimes it is required of us we take a stand for the Lord and it means that we're going to choose him over family it's good to be in the house of the Lord tonight everybody let's take our Bibles and go to First Kings chapter 15 First Kings chapter 15 what's where we left off last
time if you have your Bibles First Kings chapter 15 people always ask me I read from the new King James but I often will quote from other translations but um that's what I read from and um I'm going to pray before we jump into our study tonight Lord willing we might even get through two chapters this evening 15 and 16 but let's have a word of prayer God thank you for meeting us here time and again when We Gather here in your house here you are in our midst and we just want you to be
glorified in all things so thank you for this evening thank you Lord for those who were here thank you for those who came from many miles away to be here thank you for those watching online we just want to commit this time to you Lord that you'd speak to us through your word and we love you and we Praise You In jesus' name and everybody said amen well again the nation of Israel is a divided nation at this point and we've been looking at this map to kind of Orient us although this is not the
entire nation of Israel we just have given you a glimpse of the northern kingdom and the southern Kingdom to get an idea of what is happening here the northern kingdom is known by the greater name Israel the southern kingdom is known by the smaller tribes because there's only two tribes in the South one of which is Judah so that is why the southern Kingdom is called Judah and um they they have their own separate capitals as well the northern capital is Samaria the southern capital is Jerusalem and therefore there are two kings in this divided
period of Israel's history the king to the north we we finished reading about him in chapter 14 his name was rabam and um rabam dies and his son um sorry he's the king of the South and uh yeah he's the king of the north rabom is King of the North his son abijam takes over as king and the the king to the um no I I do sorry I do have this backwards rabam is to the South see how conf this is confusing and I'm supposed to be the one teaching it rehoboam is King of
the South jeroboam is uh King of the North and rabo has died but jeroboam is still alive and rehoboam's son abijam has taken his place that's the way chapter 14 ended so here in chapter 15 follow along as I as I read now in the 18th year of King jeroboam again this is King of the North the son of nabat jobal is the son of nabat abijam became king over Judah abijam is the son of rabom was now deceased and he that is abijam reigned 3 years in Jerusalem so so that's all but we're going
to hear about him notice his mother's name was maah the granddaughter of abish Shalom now Circle the abish shalom in your Bibles U most Bible scholars believe that that is the same person as absolum absolum was one of the sons of David absolum led a revolt against his father David absolum tried to assert himself to the throne and uh he was defeated and ultimately he was killed but but this is an important Point here because maah this is the mother of the king abijam MAA is the granddaughter of abash Shalom or Absalon which makes her
the great granddaughter of King David verse three and he that is we're still talking here about abijam and he walked in all the sins of his father rehoboam which he had done before him his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God as was the heart of his father David nevertheless for David's sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by setting up his son after him and by establishing Jerusalem it says in verse 5 because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had not turned aside
from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life and then here's this little asterisk except in the matter of Uriah the hittite now UAH was the husband of bath Sheba and David took bath Sheba committed adultery with her UAH her husband was a soldier in the Israeli Army and David wanted to cover up his sin because basba got pregnant and so he put Uriah on the front lines hoping that he would die and then everybody would just think oh the father of bba's baby is Uriah but he died in battle so David
tried to cover up his sin by putting Uriah in the front lines he ended up getting Uriah killed Uriah died for this and it is the asterisk on David's life here but but as I mentioned last week I love the fact that even though David committed adultery and he was also guilty of capital murder because he put URI on the front lines so that he would die yet David plad for the mercy of God when David was confronted by by the prophet Nathan David was quick to repent and because of that it says about David
there in verse 5 that David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had not turned aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life there is this little asterisk there but otherwise God sees David as someone who has been redeemed and forgiven and I just love that all throughout God's word because God is the god of redemption God is the god of multiple chances God is the god of forgiveness and mercy and Grace so much so that the commentary on David's life is that he did what was
right in the eyes of the Lord and so I love that about the Lord the way he forgives us the way he gives us multiple chances and the way he brings rain in times of drought you guys hear that that's loud all right so in verse uh six it says and there was war between rabam and jeroboam all the days of his life now the rest of the acts of abijam and all that he did are they not written in the book of The Chronicles of the kings of Judah and there was war between abijam
and jeroboam okay the the um Chronicles of the kings of Judah are the books that we have in our Bibles of first and second chronicles and that's why sometimes I'm going to compare what we're reading to First and 2 Chronicles because it gives additional commentary to what we have here but now keep reading with me because we're moving into another king this is verse 9 it says in the 20th year of jeroboam okay so jeroboam is to the north king of Israel ASA became king over Judah in the South and he reigned 41 years in
Jerusalem now that's the longest of any King's Reign up to this point um there will be a couple of other kings that exceed 41 years but he's one of the few that has such a long reign as king and he reigns in Jerusalem that's the that's the capital of the Southern Kingdom and and it brings back this maah lady his grandmother's name was maah because remember we just read that abim's mother was maah so now we have the son of abijam Asa so now his grandmother maah is mentioned here and she is again mentioned as
the granddaughter of abish Shalom verse 11 ASA did underline this ASA did what was right in the eyes of the Lord as did his father David here's we've been taking different principles from all these chapters and here's principle number one from chapter 15 you don't have to repeat the sins of your father you can leave a new Legacy can I hear an amen to that praise God if you had a good and righteous and godly father but even if you didn't the good news is that if you have a relationship with God you can leave
a new Legacy that you were not handed because in Christ you can hand a new legac Legacy to your children this is Asa ASA did not repeat the sins of his father which was abijam or his grandfather which was rabam ASA did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and he's compared to David who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and look at what verse 12 tells us because Asa brought great spiritual reform to the nation of Israel it was much needed so verse 12 says and he banished the
perverted person from the land some of your footnotes might say sodomites these were homosexual prostitutes that were part of the cult worship because there was great idolatry in the land of Israel now and it will continue to excel idolatry will at different periods in Israel's history ASA comes along and he removes the homosexual prostitutes from the land verse 12 says and removed all the idols that his fathers had made Okay so he's bringing great reform here he's getting rid of idolatry in the land of Israel but it says in verse 13 also he removed maah
his grandmother from being queen mother because she had made an obscene image of Ashera all right now maah his grandmother here she makes an obscene image so this is naughty Nana and uh and and he's like you got to go naughty Nana and what does it mean mean here that she made an obscene image of Asher okay to understand this you need to know who Ashera was Ashera was a false goddess she was a goddess of the Canaanites she was the goddess of sex and fertility and sensuality now there's a lot of debate about what
were the Ashera Pooles what were the idols that were made in Devotion to Asher and you can read different commentaries some say it was just a treat just a wooden tree that uh that people would would carve and set up and that's what they called an Ashera pole but look the word here the operative word is obscene okay it's obscene a tree is not obscene so you read some commentaries and they believe sorry that this is a bit graphic but that the Ashera pole was a phallic symbol because of the worship of ashra as the
goddess of sexuality so they had placed these Idols in different places over the landscape of of Israel because they're worshiping these false gods and goddesses and Asher is one of them and maah the great granddaughter of King David the grandmother of the current King Asa has made one of these images and so ASA says you got to go your image and Grandma you got to go and and look in all seriousness this this is point number two and some of you get this sometimes we must choose God over family sometimes we must choose God over
family Jesus said something very sobering in Matthew 10: 34-37 he saido not think that I came to bring peace on Earth I did not come to bring peace but a sword for I have come to set a man against his father a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and a Man's enemies will be those of his own household he who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me those are very challenging words from
the lips of Jesus now when he says I came not to bring peace but a sword of course he came to bring PR peace in the sense that he is the the the prince of peace and he even said my peace I give un to you not as the world gives give I unto you so what does he mean when he say says I came not to bring peace but a sword is it a contradic of what he has said about his own peace that he brings it's not a contradiction he's talking metaphorically and he
doesn't mean a sword like violence he means a sword like division families will be cut in half because some will believe in Jesus and others will not and if you are in a household where you have some who are believers and others who are not you know how divisive this can be and how difficult it can be and Jesus says but at the end of the day you better love me more than anybody else including your family members you better love Jesus more than mom or dad you better love Jesus more than your kids you
better love Jesus more than your spouse if you supremely love Jesus you will love them supremely but you have to first love him and so when we see here that ASA made this hard decision I mean yeah I've thrown a little humor about noding Anna but the reality is he had to do something courageous he had to stand up to his own grandmother and say you will not perpetuate this idolatry and this perversion this vicinity in the land of Israel so long as I'm King you are deposed you are no longer Queen Mother and your
Idol goes with you and there are sometimes hard conversations we have to have with family members why we can or cannot participate in certain things they do why it is we will not join with them in certain activities or or or you know have certain Gatherings because it conflicts with whatever our personal convictions are that don't not line up with their convictions because they don't follow Jesus like you do I'm not saying we have to be harsh or unkind about it but sometimes we have to draw a line even within family members and say because
we follow Jesus we're not going to allow this in our home or we're not going to contribute to this or we're not going to join in on this and even though it can be awkward and even though they might say to you you know stuff like you know they're going to hate on you a little bit the reality is Jesus says to us I came not to bring peace but a sword there's going to be division in a family and you're going to have to choose who you love more is it going to be me
or them and sometimes it is required of us we take a stand for the Lord and it means that we're going to choose him over family and so um it says in verse the rest of verse uh 13 and ASA cut down her obscene image and burned it by the Brook Kidron uh the Kidron Valley is uh on the Eastern side of the city of Jerusalem and it says in verse 14 but the high places were not removed now this is a little crack in the door that ASA is leave is leaving open to further
idolatry so high places in those days were these open a cult outdoor worship areas where a lot of times they would choose higher elevations that's why they're sometimes called high places but these are basically open a little areas of cult worship where they would set up their idols and they would you know worship these false gods and you know this is the kind of thing that is happening in Israel the god of Abraham Isaac and Jacob is not being worshiped exclusively they they are worshiping him they're worshiping other gods like the Nations around them it's
this terrible time so Ace is coming in here he's cutting down these asholes he's burning these Idols he's bringing this spiritual Revival but he does leave this little crack in the door because he doesn't remove all the high places in the land they're they're allowed to kind of still will remain there and says nevertheless asa's heart was loyal to the Lord all his days he also brought into the house of the Lord the things which his father had dedicated and the things which he himself had dedicated silver and gold and utensils now there was war
between ASA and Basha king of Israel all their days and again in in First Kings now we're going to go back and forth between northern kingdom and Southern Kingdom and vice versa so verse 16 uh tells us that ASA is the king of the Southern Kingdom and Judah this guy named Basha were introduced to he is king of Israel uh in the north and it says in verse 17 Basha king of Israel came up against Judah and built Rama that he might let none go out or come in to ASA king of Judah okay so
what what uh BOS is doing in the north I'm going to put our matap back up on the screen is he is basically now bringing uh war against the southern Kingdom of Judah the first thing he does is he sets up this place called Rama which is right on the border so that there can be no um going back and forth between the North and the South so he is he's ready to launch War here against uh the South and so uh there in in r he sets up this place so that no one can
come or go and in verse 18 it says and then ASA took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the treasuries of the King's house so he's got a pile of money here and he delivered them into the hand of his servants and King ASA sent them to benh Hadad the son of tabon the son of heion King of Syria who dwelt in Damascus okay this is the same Damascus that gets talked about today in the news Damascus is one of the oldest continuously occupied
cities in the world and so this is what Ace is doing he's getting this threat from the north Basha is breathing down their necks from the north so ASA King in the South takes all this money from the treasury of the house of the Lord gives it to his servants and he does a an end round going to put a little arrow up he's going to do an Ender Round Up to benh Hadad who's King of Syria and he says to his servants go ahead and take this money up to benh Hadad let's keep reading
because he tells them here verse 19 let there be a treaty between you and me as there was between my father and your father see I have sent you a present of silver and gold come and break your treaty with bosha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me so he he pays him off he gives benh Hadad all this money and says make a treaty with me ASA says and why don't you come against the northern kingdom and so that's that's what benh Hadad does he comes from the north so what is
basa King of the North going to do he's like well I need to retreat I can't be coming down into Judah because now I got war in the North and so this is going to work it's going to work at least temporarily here it says in verse 20 so benh Hadad heeded King ASA and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel he attacked Ean Dan Abel Beth MAA and all Kino the karoth is an ancient name for the Sea of Galilee so it's all this region in the northern part of Israel
around the Sea of Galilee with all the land of neali that's that's the area just north of the Sea of Galilee and it says and now it happened when Basa heard it that he stopped building Rama and remained in Turza okay so it it works um but is it what God wanted um what we find interesting is as I mentioned earlier Chronicles gives us some more details that Kings does not so it's always a good commentary when you when you let the Bible comment on the Bible and you don't need to turn there but I'm
going to read from 2 Chronicles chap 16 I'm going to read verses 7 through 10 because it tells us something here that Kings does not and what it tells us is that a Prophet by the name of hanani confronts ASA about this little peace treaty that he does with benh Hadad in the north because strategically it looks brilliant but what does it really say what it really says is Asa did not rely on the Lord ASA wanted to use another king to help him fight his battles instead of trusting the Lord and this is what
the prophet says so it says here in 2 Chronicles 10 16:7 and at that time hanani the Seer came to ASA king of Judah and he said to him because you have relied on the king of Syria and have not relied on the Lord your God therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand were the Ethiopians and the and the Liam and it not a huge Army with very many chariots and Horsemen yet because you relied on the Lord he delivered them into your hands we talking about a previous time
when ASA relied on the Lord he was getting attacked from the south and and yet God delivered him and so the prophet's reminding of this he's like you know weren't they a great Army God delivered you then because you relied on him yet because of because you relied on the Lord he delivered them into your hand for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of the those whose heart is loyal to him in this you have done foolishly therefore from now on you shall
have wars and then ASA was angry with the sear and put him in prison for he was enraged at him because of this and ASA oppressed some of the people at that time like he took his anger out on some of the people of Israel so it's interesting that even though ASA is called a righteous guy who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord he followed the ways of David brought great spiritual reform he knocked down the idols he he loved the Lord yet even people who love the Lord can still do
some foolish things once in a while do I have a witness in the house but it is a good reminder to us number three if you're taking notes don't rely on human solutions for matters that require God's intervention I'll say again don't rely on human solutions for matters that require God's interv vention there's so many times that we will resort to things in our flesh to try to overcome things that really need God's help and you know sometimes it might quote work um but what is what are the consequences when we do things in our
flesh instead of really seeking the Lord's help ASA was a good guy he was a good King he was one of the few good Kings but even good Kings can make some foolish decisions and so back here in our story in First Kings 15 it says in verse 22 then King ASA made a proclamation throughout all Judah none was Exempted and they took away the stones and Timber of Rama which Basha had used for building and with them King ASA built Gabba of Benjamin and mispah the rest of all the acts of Asa all his
might all that he did and the cities which he built are they not written in the book of The Chronicles of the kings of Judah but in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet and so ASA rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father and then Jehosaphat his son reigned in his place so that's again the southern Kingdom of Judah Jehoshaphat now is going to take over after 41 years his father ASA reigned you know interesting it gives us a little description
of what led to Ace's death it just says he he was diseased in his feet but again when you look at what the book of Chronicles tells us it says that he did not inquire of the Lord which in insinuates that had he inquired of the Lord God might have healed him of the disease in his feet and so again he was a good guy uh for the most part but he did some things that really were not considerate of the Lord and the Lord might have intervened in wonderful ways had he invited the Lord
into that situation how many things in our lives might the Lord intervene if we would simply ask him if we would simply ask him so Jehoshaphat is now King in the South but now the Bible keeps going back and forth to give commentary so it's kind of like when you watch a movie and you have different scenes happening in two different locations and it kind of goes back and forth we're going back to the north now because in verse 25 it says now naab the son of jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year
of Asa who was King in the south of Judah and he reigned over Israel 2 years and he did evil in the sight of the Lord and he walked in the way of his father and in his sin which he made Israel sin and then basa son of ahijah of the House of issachar conspired against him and basa so this is giving us some insight now we already heard a little bit about basa but now we're going to find out how he became king this is going to tell us and basa killed him killed the
king at gibon which belonged to the Philistines while naab and all Israel laid Siege to gibon basa killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah and reigned in his place and it was so that when he became king that he killed all the house of jeroboam so this guy was just bloodthirsty basa just killing people in order to become king then he takes Vengeance out on jeroboam all the house of jeroboam of the north which by the way was a fulfillment of a prop prophecy back in chapter 14 there was a prophet
who came and pronounced to jeroboam's wife that because of jeroboam's sin of idolatry that he had continued to perpetuate in Israel the prophet said all your sons are going to die all your sons are going to die and this is the Fulfillment of that basa Slaughters them basa it says in verse 29 he did not leave to jeroboam anyone that breathed until he had destroyed him according to the word of the Lord which he had spoken by his servant ahijah the shilonite because of the sins of jeroboam which he had sinned and by which he
had made Israel sin because of his provocation with which he had provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger now the rest of the acts of naab and all that he did are they not written in the book of The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel now that's different from The Chronicle of the kings of Judah we do not have the books of the Kings of Israel other than what we're reading here there is no additional commentary like there is with Chronicles so we don't know anything about those books and there was war between ASA
and basa king of Israel all their days in the third year of Asa king of Judah basa so we're still here in the north the son of ahijah became king over all Israel in Turza yeah because he killed the king to get the throne and he reigned 24 years he also did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of jeroboam and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin chapter 16 and then the word of the Lord came to juu the son of hanani against basa saying so here's
another Prophet who shows up and says to basa in as much as I lifted You Out of the Dust and made you ruler Over My People Israel and you have walked in the way of jeroboam and have made my People Israel sin to provoke me to anger with their sins surely I will take away the posterity of basa and the posterity of his house and I will make your house like the house of jerob boam the son of nebat okay well that's not good cuz basa just killed off a bunch of jeroboam's family so now
the prophet is saying basically what you did is going to happen to you verse four the dogs shall eat whoever belongs to basa and dies in the city and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the fields this is exactly what was said of job's descendants back in chapter 14:1 it's like the dogs are going to eat the The Descendants uh in the city the vultures the birds are going to eat The Descendants in the fields they they're all going to go all of your descendants basa now the rest of the acts
of basa what he did and his might are they not written in the book of The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel and so basa rested with his fathers and was buried in tisra and then aah his son reigned in his place were still in the north and also the word of the Lord came by the prophet juu the son of hanani against basa and his house because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the Lord in provoking him to anger with the work of his hands and being like the house
of jeroboam and because he killed them in the 26th year of Asa king of Judah this is just you know to give Clarity of the timeline so you you it it kind of goes backwards as you as you notice here so when ASA was king of Judah in the 26th year of his Reign Ella the son of basa in the north became king over Israel and reigned 2 years in a now his servant zimri commander of half his chariots conspired against him as he was in Turza drinking himself drunk in the house of ARA Steward
of his house in Turza and zimri went in and struck him and killed him in the 27th year of Asa king of Judah and reigned in his place so you know there's a lot of murder going on here folks Zim is the commander of the Army half of his chariots at least and he's like you know what this drunken King doesn't know what he's doing I could be a better King and so he kills him when he's over there in Shenanigans there in ARA and uh getting himself all all drunk and silly and so zimy
strikes him he becomes king that's not going to last long verse 11 and then it came to pass when he began to reign as soon as he was Seated on his throne that he killed all the household of basa he did not leave him one male neither of his relatives nor of his friends and thus Zim destroyed all the household of basa according to the word of the Lord which he spoke against basa by juu the prophet for all the sins of basa and the sins of aah his sons by which they had sinned and
by which they had made Israel sin provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their Idols you know you would think at some point when everybody realizes you know what the more we disobey God the worse it goes for us you'd think that somebody would learn from this but but they don't verse 14 now the rest of the acts of Aya and all that he did are they not written in the book of The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel verse 15 says in the 27th year of Asa in the South King of Judah
we're still talking here about zimri in the north he had reigned in Tura seven days so just he's one week on the job and the people were encamped against gibon which belonged to the Philistines now the people who were encamped heard it said hey Zim has conspired and also has killed the king like isn't this the guy that killed our King when when he was drunk and so all Israel made alry the commander of the army King over Israel that day in the camp and then alry and all Israel with them went up from gibon
and they besieged Turza and it happened when zimri saw that the city was taken that he went into the Citadel of the King's house and burned the King's house down upon himself with fire and died so Z Zim's like I know it's coming because you know I killed the king now they're coming after me so he commits suicide he burns himself in the house here he died verse 19 because of the sins which he had committed in doing evil in the sight of the Lord and walking in the way of jeroboam and in his sin
which he had committed to make Israel sin now the rest of the acts of zimy and the treason he committed are they not written in the book of The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel I don't know how much would be written there because he only served for like a week you know so not much to his name now we got omry omry this hry guy comes you know he's like okay well I'll kill him because he killed our King and I'll become king and so then the people of Israel were divided into two parts
half of the people followed tipney the son of gath to make him King we don't know about that guy and half followed omry but the people who followed omry prevailed over the people who followed TIY the son of ginath and so TIY died and doesn't say just like I don't know you know the bad news killed him I don't know but Omni uh omry becomes king now omry reigned and in the 36 31st year of Asa king of Judah omry became king over Israel and reigned 12 years 6 years he reigned in Turza and he
bought the hill of Samaria from Shamar for two talents of silver and then he built on the hill and called the name of the city which he built Samaria so this is when Samaria becomes the official capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and he named it Samaria after the name of Shamar owner of the Hill here we go again omry did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did worse than all who were before him I mean at some point you have to ask like how bad can he get he did worse than
all who were before him for he walked in all the ways of jeroboam the son of nebat and in his sin by which had made Israel sin provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their idols and now the rest of the acts of om which he did and the might that he showed are they not written in the book of The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel and so omry rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria and then Ahab his son reigned in his place okay now Ahab this is a bad
dude and Ahab um is going to marry a bad Dess okay as we're going to see here in a moment we're only going to finish out this chapter but um but this is what it says here in the 38th year of Asa king of Judah so that's in the South Ahab the son of omry became king over Israel and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria 22 years now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him it just keeps getting worse
and this is how he contributed to the evil verse 31 and it came to pass as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of jeroboam the son of nebat that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of ethbaal King of the sidonians okay so pause there uh Jezebel she's the daughter of ethbaal ethbaal in the ancient sidonian language means Baal or Baal is with him so we find out from scripture that her daddy is a cult priest and he worships Baal and so you have to imagine now his
daughter has been introduced to this growing up in a very Pagan home Jezebel is not Jewish she is a a Canaanite and her father is a cult priest got the picture and this is the guy that the king of Israel is going to marry and he's like you know Jezebel you come into my home I'm going to marry you so guess what she brings with her she brings all the cult worship all the cult practices that she had been exposed to with Daddy the priest ethbaal who is also King of the sidonians it says there
about him and he went and served Baal and worshiped him and then he set up an altar for Baal this is verse 22 in the temple of Baal which he had built in Samaria and Ahab made a wooden image Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him and then it says in his days helel of bethl built Jericho now this is also we talk about Damascus being an old city Jericho is cons considered the oldest continuously occupied city in the world and
it's the same Jericho in Israel today and during the reign of King Ahab um this guy comes heel of Bethel and he built Jericho what's wrong with that well it says he laid its foundation with abam his first born now with literally means at the cost of aam is firstborn I'll explain and with his youngest son or at the cost of his youngest son seub he set up its Gates according to the word of the Lord which he the Lord had spoken through Joshua the son of nun what in the world is happening here okay
you can turn back or just listen but this is out of Joshua chapter 6 if you remember if you if you know a little bit about your history in your Bibles when God delivered deled the Israelites after 400 years of slavery in Egypt he brought them a roundabout way so I mean part of it was their own wanderings and after 40 years the roundabout way was they come from east to west they go they go across the Sinai Peninsula they come up in through Israel on the other side of the Jordan River and they're coming
east to west and when they come east to west and cross the Jordan River Joshua is leading them and the very first city they take is Jericho and they they destroy it and Joshua prophesies at that moment and it's Joshua chapter 6 and I'll read what verse 26 says Joshua 6:26 and then Joshua charged them at that time saying cursed be the man before the Lord who Rises up and builds this city of Jericho he shall lay its foundation with his firstborn in other words at the cost of his first born and with his younger
he shall set up its gates in other words the prophecy was whoever rebuilds the city of Jericho the Builder Sons will die because God never wanted it to be rebuilt it was to be a lasting testimony of God's faithfulness to deliver the Israelites out of their bondage in Egypt into the promised land take the first city because the promised land has been given to the Jewish people and God said I want want Jericho to remain in Ruins as a living testimony of how I defeated this city on behalf of my people as they came into
the promised land But Here we are now in First Kings chapter 16 and this guy heel builds back the city of Jericho whether he knew the prophecy of Joshua we don't know but his two sons die because it is a fulfillment of the word of the Lord how many years have passed since Joshua prophesied that in Joshua chapter 6 until it was fulfilled here in First Kings chapter 16 answer roughly 500 years God does not forget it is our last point for tonight and then we'll pray God does What God Says in God's time and
I probably could have added every single time that God doesn't forget when God says something he will accomplish it it may not be tomorrow it may not be next year it might be 500 years but God is is faithful to all his promises even the scary ones like this because God is faithful to his word and so therefore if God is going to fulfill his promises all the good and the bad we can in our Salvation in Christ always be comforted to know what God promised he will deliver and in my walk with Christ knowing
him as my Lord and Savior means my sins are forgiven because God is a god of his word Heaven is my home when I die because God is a god of his word and God will accomplish his purposes in my life just as much as he did here 500 years after the fact because God is always faithful to do what he says in his perfect timing amen amen and amen let's pray next Wednesday night is our Thanksgiving Eve service so we'll have a great time of testimony and worship and then we'll pick up the Bible
study the week after that but let's pray for tonight father God thank you for this time in your house Lord and thank you for your word and the reminders of all these different things that we can glean from the stories that we're reading here Lord these are real people who lived real lives some of them were righteous before you and some of them were Wicked before you we have much to learn from both and we thank you for this closing reminder here from chapter 16 that you are faithful to all your promises Lord so thank
you for the Assurance of our Salvation thank thank you Lord for the promise of Heaven thank you that we can always know that what you say will come to pass in your perfect timing and so we even think about your blessed return when Jesus comes again we are looking forward to a second coming because you are faithful to all that you say and so Lord we are grateful we are thankful we love you and praise you together in jesus' name and all God's people said amen and amen
