This Week's Sermon

The Satisfaction of Relative Righteousness

I Kings 15:1-24

 

            Last week we looked at the reign of Rehoboam, king of Judah.  And for the moment we remain in the southern kingdom of Judah and examine Rehoboam’s immediate successors.  Historically, Asa his son is viewed as a relatively good king, while Abijam the grandson is viewed comparatively as a bad king.  But both of these kings were not completely adequate, and the reason is that they were both satisfied with a relative righteousness.

 

I.                   Abijam (vv. 1-8)

 

The first king that we will examine this morning is Abijam, and his story occurs in the first eight verses of chapter fifteen.  And the Bible tells us at least four things about Abijam.

 

A.     He had a righteous heritage (vv. 3b-5)

 

The last thing that the Bible tells us about Abijam in verse 3 is that he was a descendant of David.  And obviously that was a blessing because as verse five says, “David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord.”  When David was commanded to do something by God, he did not turn aside from the task.  Now to be sure there were times in the life of David when he blew it.  The most notorious of these was when he killed Uriah the Hittite after he had slept with his wife.  But for most of his life, David was a man who feared God and walked in God’s ways.

 

And this, of course, had a residual benefit upon Abijam.  One of the reasons that David was such a successful king was because he followed the light of God.  Turn back to II Samuel 22:29.  That was the song of David.  David had committed himself to following the light of God.  Well, what is the light of God?  Turn over to Psalm 119:105.  David tells us what the light of God is.  The light of God is the Word of God.  When you follow the Word of God, it enlightens your path.  Turn over to Proverbs 6:23.  Here we have this same idea that the only way you can make it through this dark world is by the Word of God.  The Bible shows you how to walk without stumbling.  The Bible adds clarity to the gray issues of life.  The Bible does to our spiritual walk what light does to our physical walk.  And David as a whole followed the light of God.

 

And because David followed the light of the Lord, all of Israel was benefited.  Turn over to II Samuel 21:17.  When you walk in the light, the people who are around you are benefited from that light.  And thus, even after David was dead, the light of Israel was not entirely put out.  There was an afterglow as it were from David’s administration.  Turn over to I Kings 11:36.  Because of David, a light continued to shine in the nation of Israel.

 

I submit to you that it is a great thing to be part of a godly heritage, to have people who have gone before you and lit the lamp so that you can walk the path correctly.  If you have a heritage like that, you need to the praise the Lord.  If you do not have a heritage like that, you need to make sure that you leave one for your children and grandchildren.  Rehoboam was a blessed man because he had a religious heritage.

 

B.     He had a rich expansion (v. 6-8)

 

Abijam because of his religious heritage was able to expand the southern kingdom.  The Bible tells us in verse 6 that there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.  The point is that the skirmishes that existed between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continued under the administration of Rehoboam’s son, Abijam.  And the Bible does not leave us in the dark as to the outcome of that war.  As verse 7 says, the book of Chronicles tells us about it.  So let’s turn over II Chronicles 13:19-21.  Abijam was able to expand to the southern kingdom.  And as the earlier portion of II Chronicles 13 indicates this victory was in part due to Abijam’s relationship to David. God had made some promises to David concerning the city of Jerusalem.  That’s where the lamp was lit according to verse 4.  God had promised that this city would be established.  And that is why Abijam was not defeated but was able to die still a resident of the city of Jerusalem.  And so Abijam not only had a religious heritage, but he also had a rich expansion because of that heritage.

 

C.     He was relatively better (vv. 1-2)

 

The very name Abijam means “my father is Jehovah.”  That is interesting because the Bible does not stress to us that his father was Jehovah; the Bible stresses for us that his mother was Maachah.  And she was a descendant of Absalom.  Now, of course, we remember Absalom was not exactly a bastion of fundamentalism.  He was a rebel.  And so it appears from these opening verses that there was a tension in the life of Abijam.  Was he going to follow the lighted path of David and make Jehovah his father?  Or was he going to follow in the rebellious path of Absalom?

 

Well, let’s go over to II Chronicles 13 again and see if we cannot get an answer.  Turn to II Chronicles 13:3-12.  We know from this text at least one thing.  Abijam was relatively better than Jeroboam.  For all of his problems, he was still better than the fellow who ruled in the Northern Kingdom was.  So Abijam had a religious heritage, and from this religious heritage he engaged in a rich expansion.   And God permitted him to do that because he was relatively better than his counterpart Jeroboam.

 

D.    He was religiously corrupt (v. 3a)

 

For all his heritage, and for all of his expansion, and for all of his relative goodness, there was still something missing in the life of Abijam.  Verse 3 tells us that he walked in the sins of his father.  He committed some of the same transgressions that had been committed before.  He was not perfect with the Lord his God.  In other words, his heart was not wholly devoted to God, entirely devoted to God.  Abijam was a double-minded man.  And you know what the Bible says about double-minded men.  Turn over to James 1:8.  The Bible says that double-minded men are unstable in all their ways.

 

Now here is the great danger ladies and gentlemen.  We can run on the stored battery juice of a great religious heritage.  And even for the time, God can grant us expansion.  And that may appear to be okay to us because after all we are relatively better than our neighbors are.  But if we are not careful, in the midst of a great religious heritage, and in the midst of a rich expansion, and in the midst of a relative righteousness, we can become religiously corrupt.  Our hearts can become divided and not entirely devoted to God.  And in three years or so we are off the scene.  That is a great danger.

 

II.                Asa

 

Abijam was succeeded in office by his son Asa.  And Asa, relatively speaking, was even better than Abijam.  But once again, there was still a missing element.  As the first part of verse 14 tells us, he did not completely destroy the high places.  Let’s notice three things about Asa.

 

A.     He did not fear his family (vv. 9-11, 13)

 

Compare to Abijam, Asa was a good king.  His heart was committed to the way of God, and he stayed that way all his life.  He followed the pattern of David and shunned idolatry.  He removed idols that were made in previous administrations.  And at least part of the reason that he did this was because he did not care what his family thought.

 

Remember that Abijam had a divided heart.  And at least part of the reason that he had a divided heart was because his mother was related to rebellious Absalom.  But Asa vowed in his heart that he was not going to make that same pivotal mistake.  And he went so far as to depose his idolatrous grandmother because of her perversions.

 

Ashteroth was one wicked goddess.  The sculpture of this idol was round and was meant to resemble the male sex organ.  It was so repulsive that the people who passed by it were meant to shudder.  The same word that was used of their reaction was used of an earthquake.  People ought to tremble in their boots at the vile idol.  It was a repulsive image.  It was obscene.  And so Asa deposed the queen mother for worshipping this vile image, and he destroyed that image out at the city’s main rubbish dump in the Kidron Valley.

 

And so Asa was going to do what was right.  It didn’t matter who was guilty.  He would not compromise principle even if his own family violated it.  And this is in keeping with Biblical thought.  Turn back to Genesis 12:1.  From earliest days when God started separating men to follow Him, that call necessitated a separation from idolatrous family members.  And today in the church age, Jesus Christ demands nothing less.  Turn over to Luke 14:26.  There are some times in life when you have to make the tough decisions.  And Jesus says that you have to be willing to take him even over your own family.  And really when you stop and think about it, this entire universe is in the state it is in because Adam chose his family over God’s Word.  We have to have the courage to take God over family.  Asa had the courage to make that commitment.

 

B.     He did not fear his society (vv. 12, 14-15)

 

The second thing that Asa did was that he took a strong stand against sodomy.  Now ladies and gentlemen that was not the popular thing to do.  This was a time of peace, and Asa could have said, “Well, let’s just keep the peace.”  But he did not do that.  The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable.  It was his desire, as verse 15 says, to restore the things that were lost in the previous administrations.

 

And I submit to you that when you begin to expel the evil that is in the land and bring back to the house of God the things that ought to be there, you run the risk of not being a popular fellow.  But just as Asa did not fear his family, so Asa did not fear society either.

 

C.     He did not fear his God (vv. 16-24)

 

Asa had a long administration, especially when you contrast it with the administration of Abijam.  Abijam was only in office for three years, but Asa was in office for 41 years.  He saw five kings in the Northern Kingdom during his solitary reign in the southern kingdom.  And the second king that Asa saw was Baasha.  And these two kings fought against each other.

 

And it appeared early on as if Baasha was getting the upper hand.  He pushed himself into Benjamin and fortified the city of Ramah which was only a few miles north of Jerusalem.   Needless to say, King Asa got very nervous.  And so he sent a gift, more literally a bribe, to the nation of Aram in order to purchase them as an ally.  Now some commentators have thought that this was the right thing to do, but we are not left in the dark as to the Bible’s assessment of all this.  Turn over to II Chronicles 16:7-10.  When Asa trusted in the king of Aram for his deliverance, he revealed that he was not trusting in the Lord.

 

Notice that King Ben-hadad was the son of Tabrimon.  That name means “good is Rimmon.”  Rimmon was the thunder-god, another title for Baal.  These people were nothing more than idolaters, and yet Asa gave them a substantial payment of silver and gold out of the temple treasury.  Now from a practical standpoint, the payment was effective.  The Arameans attacked Israel north of Galilee.  This interrupted the main trade route to Tyre and Sidon.  And the Northern Kingdom lost her possessions north of Gilead.  Consequently, she had to withdraw from her southern invasions.  So from a practical standpoint, the southern kingdom had won.  But in winning physically, they lost something spiritually.  They thought they needed the help of the world to win the war.  They didn’t trust God to supply the victory by Himself.

 

And this is very significant especially when you consider the last days of Asa’s reign.  Asa had some type of problem of with his feet.  Some commentators believe it was gout.  Other commentators believe that it was vascular disease that eventually resulted in gangrene and took his life.  Sometimes the word “feet” is used euphemistically in the Bible for a man’s private parts.  Some people therefore believe that he had a venereal disease.  We can’t be sure.

 

But though we are not sure about the identification of the disease, we do know the cause of it.  Turn over to II Chronicles 16:12.  The author of the book of Chronicles places the disease’s continuance as a result of the fact that Asa trusted doctors rather than God.  And that all started when he sent some money to Aram and paid professionals to do what he should have trusted God to do.  And it eventually resulted in his death.  Now I am here to tell you that God does use doctors, but it is God who uses them.  And if your trust is in the professional rather than in the God who empowers the professional, you have a problem.

 

And Asa started off so well.  He didn’t fear his family.  He didn’t fear his society, but unfortunately, he didn’t fear his God either.  And some of us today, we don’t fear our family.  We don’t fear this evil generation either.  But we try to fight our family and our generation through our own ingenuity and finances.  And we fight the right war with the wrong methodology.  And because we are fighting the right war, we are satisfied, because after all, most people are not fighting the right war.  But we have to make sure that we are not fighting not only the right thing, but also the right way.

 

Not to the strong is the battle,

Not to the swift is the race,

But to the true and the faithful,

Victory is promised through grace.